Middle eastern black tea

Oxidized tea
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LeoFox
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Tue Sep 07, 2021 9:44 am

I was recently gifted a bag of green black tea from Iran. [I thought it was green at first but I misheard my friend's voice message] I was told that it is usually prepared on samovar- or with boiling water. My friend who sent it to me said he tried gong fu ing it with a gaiwan - that it is okay this way but he prefers it simmered for a long time over steam.


Background
The tea is from Lahijan, Gilan province near the Caspian sea. There has been a tea industry in that area since the late 19th and early 20th century when the Persians "borrowed" some of the tea saplings and techniques from British India. The history is interesting.

From wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahijan
Iranians failed in their first attempt to cultivate tea in their own country in 1882 with seeds which were imported from India. In 1899, Prince Mohammad Mirza known as "Kashef Al Saltaneh" who was born in Lahijan, imported Indian tea and started its cultivation in Lahijan. Kashef, who was the first mayor of Tehran and an Iranian ambassador to India under British rule, knew that the British would not allow him to learn about the secrets of tea production, as it was their biggest business in India at the time. So being fluent in French, the prince pretended to be a French laborer and started to work in the tea plantations and factories to learn how to produce tea. Ultimately his plan was to take back some tea saplings to Iran to cultivate. He was successful in this endeavor only because of his diplomatic immunity which stopped the British from searching his secretly stashed saplings. At the time, Kashef brought 3000 saplings into his country from the Northern part of India, Kangra. He started the cultivation in the region of Gilan, south of the Caspian Sea. In Gilan, the climate is well suited for the cultivation of tea, and the tea industry quickly expanded in regions of Gilan and Mazanderan. Kashef's mausoleum in Lahijan is now part of "Iran's National Tea Museum".In 1934 the first modern style tea factory was built. Now there are up to 107 tea factories and a total of 32,000 hectare of tea farms.

Most of the farms are located on the hillsides of Iran, similar to the farms in Darjeeling. These farms produce an orthodox style of black tea. The color of Iranian tea is red and its taste is fairly light, and even without adding of milk or sugar, it is delicious.

In 2009, the total production of black tea was approximately 60,000 tons.

My friend says he got the tea directly from one of the farms. The leaves are from an early spring harvest. He bought the tea while visiting family, and then took it to london where he lives.

This is the bag. I cant read it but it betrays an association with olives. Indeed, very close to the tea fields is a rocky area where olives are grown. I am told about 30-50 km away, lemons are grown. My friend says the climate is comparable to the Mediterranean. Elevation is around 1000 m.

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The leaves are pretty chopped up and stemmy. They have an interesting dried tomato scent.

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Brewed 1g in 85 mL for 4 min and then doubled the time 3x.

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As the hot water hits the tea, an interesting toasty scent rises from the gaiwan. It reminded me of toasted seeds and nuts as well as a touch of chocolate.

The brew reflects this: there is nice toastiness that reminds me of hojicha, as if the leaves had undergone some kind of firing at the end. It is a warm, comforting toastiness.
The flavor is quiet- more like ceylon than assam with no need for milk. There is a little bit of malt and a hint of citrus. There is a pleasant cooling aftertaste that reminds me a little of olives (though maybe that is because I was primed by knowing it is close to the olive fields). Seems to go very well with savory food.

I also tried 4g /85 mL starting at 20s. It actually works well! Brew is much richer with no bitterness. Astringency is a bit stronger.
Last edited by LeoFox on Sat Sep 11, 2021 1:25 pm, edited 15 times in total.
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Bok
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Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:06 am

Sounds intriguing!
RayClem
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Feb 22, 2022 6:48 am
Location: Chicago suburbs

Mon Feb 28, 2022 8:32 am

I have not tried Iranian tea, but I have tried Turkish tea as I have a friend who comes from that region of the world. I am going to have to do some experimenting with Turkish Cay to find the best way of brewing for me. The Turks consume more tea per capita than any other nation in the world, something like 25 cups per day.

The Turks use a double teapot that is similar to the Russian/Persian Samovar, but not quite as elaborate.
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