New to tea?

Last night, we received guests from abroad who were probably very new to the concept of tea and brewing with loose leaves. Now, in a situation like this, I thought it would be easiest to start with a floral green tea scented with jasmine flowers brewed in a glass pot, served in neutral blue-white porcelain cups.

Why a floral tea? I find this tea to be the most widely accepted amongst tea rookies and to quote a friend, 'seduce their senses with fragrances'. This is not to say that I am a proponent of scented teas like orange-flavoured pu'er, strawberry flavoured ginger tea and what not. I believe that tea can be appreciated without the frills of artificial scents, milk and sugar. However, if certain scent and tea combinations work out seamlessly, I would embrace them with arms wide open. 

Take for example jasmine green teas, or orchid scented teas from Anhui province in China. These are labelled scented/ floral teas, but quite different from teas suffering from the wrong kind of marketing. The elegance in fragrance and the synergy between tea and flowers will not go unnoticed by discerning tea connoisseurs. 

Old Beijing street performers

I have just added a few items to my online shop and thought I would share a photo of one of them here: 4 men with 5 string instruments performing in a cross-linked fashion. With one hand playing on his instrument and the other reaching out for the next musical instrument, they perform in a neatly coordinated manner.

This set of two gaiwans reflects everyday, entertaining art forms of the past that are limited to select tea houses in China today and reminisced by older generations of Beijingers. They are now available in my teaware collection to anyone who is keen to bring home a piece of old Beijing.

Thoughts on tea (Part 2 of 2)

Have you tasted water at each boiling phase? How did they differ?

Thoughts on tea (Part 1 of 2)

Rinsing tea

Student: Sensei, do you think we should briefly rinse those tea leaves first?
Sensei: Why do you want to do that?
Student: To have a cleaner brew.
Sensei: If this is dirty tea, it will still be so after the 10th infusion. Why then would you want to drink it from the outset?

Blurring lines

In the world of tea, there is no lack of big brand names, luxurious designs and attractive marketing campaigns. How similar yet different a single pursuit of tea as a pastime can be! I am brewing Dongding oolong in a mixed clay pot and pouring tea into individual tea cups at equal concentration. The founders of TWG are probably enjoying scones and marmalade with tea steeping in a big pot. Sugar and milk on the side, no doubt. Two traditions, one piping hot beverage. Where do you fall in the spectrum?

Fin de siècle

I wasn't quite expecting to find anything like this in the forest during a short weekend getaway. A Russian train from the turn of the century parked in a small green field surrounded by forest. The interior brought us back more than a hundred years, to the times of the Czar. To one side of the room was a tea table that looked inviting enough. Its old-fashioned attractiveness made me question if I was still in the right space and age.

We brewed Dongding oolong tea and put together a sparser cha xi that will not overwhelm the tea experience visually. An attempt at bringing two rather diverse elements together somewhere amidst roaming wildlife that fortunately did not come anywhere close to our windows. Also, I would like to think that few before me have had the privilege of enjoying fine oolong tea in a setting like this.

Although a light oolong, the dried leaves are a bit more roasted and thus smell sweeter than regular green oolongs. More roasting removes the moisture and increases the leaves' sugar to water ratio. With nature on my side, I found that the clean forest air also helped to highlight this aspect of the tea and brought out the complexity of its aromas.

The infusion was light green with a broth-like aftertaste that reminded me of slow-cooked bouillon. With the mixed clay teapot, I managed to push the limits of this tea and reached 6 brews before I was ready to call it a day.