Yu Hui Tseng
Yu Hui Tseng is a Gongfu tea ceremony master. She was born in a family of Zengzi ancestors and is the only lady among the ten most recognized masters today.
Though she studied music initially, she went on to study the Gongfu tea ceremony with Master Zhang Tia Fu. Following a long apprenticeship, Tseng became a genuine tea master. She has been practicing the art since her childhood, first with her family in Taiwan’s Nantou region, then with several tea masters. When she was a child, she was woken up by her grandfather in the middle of the night to have her smell the scent of the “Queen of the Night”, a special flower that blossoms at night only once a year.
Though she grew up in the world of tea plants and preparations, they do not fully account for Tseng’s rare mastery which came about as a result of manifold skills. She explored various fields like calligraphy, martial arts, music and traditional medicine all of which helped her in understanding the spirit of tea.
Tseng practiced acupuncture in a Taiwanese hospital for two years. Later on, she won top national awards as a clarinetist in Taiwan in 1970 and 1971 and went to Europe and eventually to Paris, where she decided to stay in 1990 where The Taiwanese tea master opened her Maison des Trois Thés (House of the Three Teas) in 1995, the sleekly serene architect-designed boutique. It is the prime Parisian source for literally hundreds of the rarest blue-vert (Oolong) teas, as well as for white, yellow and aged black teas. Tseng is proud for having created the first traditional Taiwanese style tea house in Europe that offers quality and range – there are 40 kinds on the menu, and many other kinds for sale.
Tseng is a member of a Taiwanese family that has been associated with the business of growing and selling quality teas for generations. During her six months of travel in China and Taiwan each year, Tseng visits selected small-scale artisanal growers who meet her exacting specifications for quality. Once she selects them, her teas are brought to the Paris shop for immediate sale, or for aging in special basement chambers designed for optimal temperature and humidity control.
Tseng developed an important network the “Tea Road”, within the very private club of tea connoisseurs and growers, allowing her to pinpoint the right soils and best vintages before going there herself to taste the newly harvested teas. Handpicked tea leaves undergo operations, from seasoning and withering to fermentation. Every step is monitored closely – time and heat forming important factors. Storage forms another critical operation.
As a tea master, Tseng has won wide recognition and has her own mastership seal. Several top tea houses and shops in Paris call on her for her expertise and her sharpness is astonishing. She can even tell what kinds of plant grow in the surroundings of a tea garden.
Knowing how to use the right implements like the right teapot is integral to mastering the preparation of tea. Tseng procures hers from potters in Jiangsu province, where the famous Yixing pots are made. Colored teapots and rather ferrous clays are good criteria. Tseng goes to small and highly protected quarries, to find the right clays and pots. Technical qualities, such as its “air-tight aspect” is also a factor that is kept in mind while choosing the right pot.
Asked about the right water to use, she opined that this was in fact the hardest part of the job. After she tested many mineral waters her decision was that the best thing to do was to filter tap water. Although the best would be to use the famous Galloping Tiger spring water in China.
- Ramyajit Gupta
Tags: gongfu, tea, tea ceremony, yu hui tseng
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