Tea Thought

A thought that is always in my mind since i take up the art of tea.

"Why do most chinese youngster now would not wanna learn chinese arts including the art of tea?"

As for me , I am a decendent of the "Dragon People", as such i think i should have some resposibility in preserving this art. Moreover, tea is such a wonderful thing beside tasting great, the art of appreciating tea itself give an opportunity to learn our culture, history/past more.
Beside, tea is a very subjective matter. It constantly changes with different factors affecting it. That makes it very interesting.

Beside that, it really impressed me that even westerners know more about this art that us Chinese. As such, it reli give me the motivation to learn more about this art than before.
Think about it. Next time when someone offered you to yum cha.... don't just think of it as our regular mamak stall teh tarik. Try to think of oolong, puer, green tea etc.

Tea Settings

Having just bought a few more nice items from a recent sales, I've changed my tea appreciation setting twice. One might think that drinking tea or appreciating tea, the most important item is the tea. Not exactly the only items influencinf the session.. Beside having good quality raw materials, utensils such as the types of cups, teapots, the setting will influence the tea appreciation session that you will have.


Below are two examples of my recent teas session setting that i consider very nice in terms of items and the matching of the tea that i had for each session.


This setting I've used it for aged puer and the thicker cups is suitable for such tea.




As for this setting with its pear shaped teapot, i used it for green puer.


Both setting gave me two very satisfying tea sessions.
And trust me, a beautiful setting will enhance your tea appreciation sessions.

Wow!!!

The title says it all. Found a very nice oolong. It's a Mi Lan Dan Chong.
Never really like charchoal baked teas but this is a lightly baked oolong.
Its has the most incredible honey lychee fragrance I've ever tasted.
The "hui kan" or after taste of this tea is incredible as well. It leaves a sweetness inside your mouth like u just drank honey.
It's quite economy as well as it can last for 10 cycle (for those not so keen esp as this tea is not cheap)

Didn't manage to take some photos for this tea. Might post it in my next post.
Plus... might introduce 2 nice cups recently added to my collections.....

Green Tie Kuan Yin?

My second posting. Today I will shared 2 of my favourite items. One is a tea and one is a tea set.

The first the tea. This is an oolong from Fujian Province of China. According to the merchant, its a green Tie Kuan Yin or unbaked version of the famous tea.

The teas has a light yellow tint to it and the smell of the tea under the "gai bei" or lidded cup I used to make the tea in is incredible. It has the most lively orchid fragrance to it. As for the taste, it is quite lite compared to the baked version of the tea. It's like a very light oolong tea with the fragrance of orchids. The fragrance lingers quite long at the back of your throat after you drink it. It is slightly acidic though. This tea is generally to enjoy its fragrance than its taste.

This is one of the tea set I have in my collection. When i first saw it it was quite bland. Its was not one of my favourite set. When I looked at in details, some how the simplicity of it captured me. The craftmanship of this set is good. The cups have a fanning put rims which makes it easier to drink from and the pitcher or "cha hai" had a curved tip that made pouring tea into the cups less messier. The set had a slight off green tint to it which makes it special. I've used this set to make the aboven mention tea as it complementary to the tea spring and fresh flavours.

Its not easy to get the complete set of this tea set. I've only mange to get the pitcher only recently. As I'm stil serching for the gai bei of this series. I had one with the same motive but it was in pure white. Hopefully will be able to get hold of it.

First Sharing- Purple Leaves

This tea in literally translation means "Purple Leaves" due to the purple hue og the tea leaves in its fresh form. It's a green puer (Year 2008). It has a unique taste as compared to other teas i tried before. First the smell of the dry teas leaves is something like aromatic woods with a hint of flowers. The taste of it is some unique as well. Woddy incense and flowery after taste lingers in the back of your throat after that.

I've manage to get 3 version of the teas i.e. in the form of:

1. Teas Biscuit (cha ping)

2. Loose form - Cha Sin (The Heart of the Leaves)

3. Loose form - The leaves.

The most favourful of the three would be "Cha Sin".

It's a very smooth and mild tea as compared to others green puer.

Finally Its Up!

Hey!!! Finally this blog is up. Even though is not a sophisticated blog but I'm content with it for now.

Basically this blog will be about my experiences on Chinese Teas. Hopefully will be able to share and learn from others tea lovers as well.

Welcome everyone to the blog!