Recently I had the opportunity to cup three different teas from Indonesia, thanks to samples from PT Harendong Green Farm. They are labeled simply Red, Green and Oolong. Exciting, huh? Well, yes indeed! Each of the dry leafs appeared to have been rolled in a half-ball style, with leaves that were slightly distressed-looking once unrolled [...]
My tea world has been an embarrassment of riches for years. So presented with the task of writing under the topic “my favorite tea” as part of the Association of Tea Bloggers‘ lead-up to the “Bloggers’ Choice Awards” it was quite a challenge to sift through that immense history of deliciousness and try to extract [...]
I suspect that for most tea people in the United States, the most familiar high-end Wuyi rock oolong is Da Hong Pao (“Big Red Robe”), but it is not the only famous tea at the top end of this respectable family of teas. I recently had the opportunity to taste some Bai Ji Guan Yancha [...]
Editor’s note: This review is a guest post by Brett of Black Dragon Tea Bar blog. When my friend and business partner Cinnabar asked me if I wouldn’t mind reviewing Canton Tea Company‘s Superior Bai Lin Gongfu (白琳工夫) red tea I was quick to say yes. Phoenix Tea has been selling a selection of great [...]
This past weekend I took the opportunity to try some tea that I purchased from Michael Coffey of Tea Geek quite some time ago. This tea is, in essence, very large leaves from the bushes of a pu’er varietal simply dried and tied into bundles. As described on the Tea Geek blog: [This] limited availability [...]
Adagio Teas’ Roots Campaign, which has been operating for the past two years, was created for the purpose of connecting tea drinkers more directly with information about the producers of the teas they drink. More than a dozen tea growers have been featured so far, providing Adagio’s customers additional insight into the people who comprise [...]
My contribution to this month’s ATB-sponsored Tea Blog Carnival is on the topic of my general methods for brewing shu (cooked) pu’er. The steps and the accoutrements: I almost always use Crystal Geyser spring water for shu pu’er (and other teas). It’s affordable and works just as well or better with tea as some of [...]
Sometimes teas seem to come to me thematically, with several examples from a certain category from different sources all ariving in sequence. One example of this is that over the past couple of months I have had at least six different batches of Da Hong Pao, all from different vendors, which is something of an [...]
Last weekend I had the great fortune to find and acquire this perfect and beautiful ceramic pu’er storage vessel. Of course I have no idea whether the talented clay artist who made this piece intended for it to be used to store tea, but it is undeniable that he or she modeled it after traditional [...]
Confining scope to just the teas of China, it seems to me that tea drinkers in the United States tend not to approach green teas with the same level of seriousness that they afford rare aged pu’er teas or high quality oolongs. But there are indeed some fabulous and exquisite green teas from China, some [...]
