Weekend before last, at the Second Annual Northwest Tea Festival, Marcus of Teahouse Kuan Yin gave me a very unusual fang cha pu’er to try. (“Fang Cha” are single cup or mug sized, square, flat pu’er cakes.) I was told that this curious little square block of tea was made with a coffee bean in [...]
Vietnam has a vibrant cafe culture, centered primarily around the tradition of drinking Cafe Sua (Cà phê sữa) – a style of coffee distinctly Vietnamese. Coffee was not always important to the Vietnamese, of course, as coffee beans are not grown very close to that part of Southeast Asia. Coffee and the concept of the [...]
As a rule, I do not buy or drink blended teas, but during the holiday season unexpected items ended up in my hands, one of those being a tea blend given to me by a co-worker.
Despite the name, The Teacup’s Snow Leopard Blend is not camellia sinensis flavored with snow leopards. It is not even [...]
Sometimes a full gongfu cha ceremony is beyond the scope of time or practicality or attention span. One method that I use at times like this employs two gaiwans. I use the first one to brew the tea. Then after the requisite steeping time, which is dependent on how many infusions I have already brewed, [...]
I must say before I get to the tea-related topic at hand, that I really love the food at Wild Ginger. It is quite a melange of cuisines and styles without feeling incoherent, the menu is always interesting and the food, in my experience, has always been well prepared: fresh, high quality ingredients, savory and [...]
Tucked away in Post Alley next to Kells Restaurant, the Perennial Tea Room is one of the better tea shops in Seattle. In addition to their fairly extensive offerings of teas from all of the major growing regions in the world, they also host themed tea tastings. I attended last week’s tasting, which was an [...]
Here’s the short list of my personal rules that are violated by the drink in the photograph:
Do not combine Chinese and Japanese elements.
Do not mix caffeinated beverages with alcoholic beverages.
Do not drink tea cold.
Despite all of the above, I tried – and enjoyed! – shochu oolong (Oolong Hai) this past weekend. One of the staples [...]
The more humble of Tao of Tea’s two Portland teahouses, Original Tao was built in 1997 and is tucked into a small neighborhood in the southeast part of the city. It is small, but well worth a visit. In addition to the extensive tea selection, which includes choices of traditional serving styles, the teahouse [...]
The Lotus is a very important symbol in India and of Buddhism. It refers to the complete purification of body, speech and mind, and the blossoming of wholesome deeds in liberation. The lotus refers to many aspects of the path, as it grows from the mud (samsara), up through muddy water it appears clean on [...]
Yesterday evening we had some spare time between appointments so we went to Floating Leaves Tea in Ballard – 2213 NW Market St, Suite 100. I had been there once before but had not ever sat down to tea in the shop. After very little deliberation, we decided on the Baojhong Second Place oolong, served [...]
