Near the end of March I had the honor of attending the Urasenke-Foundation hosted Founder’s Day Tea Ceremony at Shoseian (“Arbor of the Murmuring Pines”), inside of the Seattle Japanese Garden. The following month I attended the lecture/demonstration of Chanoyu at Seattle Art Museum, again sponsored by the Urasenke Foundation. Details on these two experiences [...]
There are tea mascots that are entirely charming and wonderful. Of course I am partial to my wonderful bat, who I decided to name Xingfu (幸福), and who sits at the tea table during nearly every session of Gongfu Cha, receiving frequent doses of tea and water over his shiny clay body. But there are [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 has [...]
