I had a real treat at A-Liang’s shop the other day. A friend had introduced him to a Mainland Chinese tea master who was visiting Taiwan, and he received a parting gift of some Original Da Hung Pao tea. I’m not too familiar with this particular tea, but I felt the story was interesting enough [...]
For a long time, I had believed (because I was told, naturally!) that pu-er was the only aged tea, and that other teas should be finished within 6 months to a year at most. I now know that, like English grammar, in tea there are more exceptions than there are rules. Case in point, this aged [...]
Some people feel that getting into ‘gong fu’ tea is a big hassle to learn, and requires large amounts of cash to pay for all the gadgets and tools necessary to create the proper atmosphere. To those people, I say, “Shame on you! You’re missing the whole point!” (I don’t really say that, but boy, [...]
If you read the post about the snake we caught last Sunday (see Name that Snake), you might recall that my purpose in cleaning up the yard was to have tea outside with some friends (actually my calligraphy instructor and her husband). In case you’re wondering what happened to the tea drinking, here’s a follow up [...]
I had friends coming over today, and was planning to sit outside for tea and sunshine. Wearing shorts and sandals, I went out to clean up the yard a bit . I had an old tarp piled up under the picnic table, so I laid it out over the fence to dry out. When I [...]
I’ve heard it said that making Chinese tea is complicated and bothersome, but it sure looks like child’s play in this photo! Hey, if a 6-year-old can handle it, there’s no excuse for the rest of you! We had my calligraphy teacher and her husband over for tea today, and the munchkin here stole the [...]
I had an interesting experience tonight. Thursday is my ‘tea lesson’ with A-Liang, and we usually end up hanging out at his shop until 11:00 - midnight (yes, I work on Fridays, and no, don’t ask how I manage it!). I was picking up some dinner on my way there, a little after 7:00pm, when he [...]
Success!!
The Jin Hsuen came out very nice - less astringent than light-roasted oolong normally is, but very refreshing. It wasn’t as cold as it should have been because I wasn’t able to keep in a cooler, but I’m planning to experiment with a few other teas and do a comparison test to see how they [...]
With summer on the way, it’s time to start working on my ‘cold brew’ techniques. Here’s a new one I’ve just learned, and am trying out for the first time. I’ll let you know how it comes out tomorrow. I’m using some Jin Hsuen Oolong, which has a light, slightly milky flavor, and is one [...]
Sorry to be away for so long. Work has been busy, and other ’stuff’ tends to happen . . .
Anyway, my web guy was just here, and we’ve updated the blog software, and worked out some technical bugs, so things should get rolling again very soon. I now have a youtube account, so expect to [...]