May the Tea Be With You
May. 14th, 2022 12:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glinda posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
tea_musingsBack in January, I blithely declared I was going to write monthly tea reviews. And then I just…didn’t.
I had good intentions in March, when I was at an outdoor craft market and discovered a tea stall, selling a variety of unusual blends. So often when I come across these kind of things, they’re properly tisanes or black tea plus additions rather than interesting blends of teas. However, joy of joys there amongst the usual suspects were a small selection of interesting sounding oolongs! I got to be decidedly nerdy about teas with the proprietor who shares my love for oolong teas, and came away with two lovely sounding new teas to try! Perfect for trying and reviewing for this project! Except that I opened my tea cupboard and was confronted by the numerous open and half-used packets and tins, and couldn’t in good conscious start a new one. I had good intentions to finish one of them, write it up for here, and try to trade off drinking and reviewing old favourites and new acquisitions, but unfortunately life happened and after some initial success using up some interesting tea bags that had lurked too long, other things took precedence.
This month, however, I decided to make a serious attempt at reclaiming my weekend ritual of pots of loose leaf tea and radio listening. This has been nicely encouraged along by the factor of the tea I fancied the first morning I attempted to restart the habit, was perilously close to it’s expiry date, so needing a concerted effort to be used up. Given how much I enjoy the tea, this was not a hardship. The tea in question is an Oolong, Tikuanyin - transliterations vary, I’m using the one from the packet, which came from a local Chinese supermarket here - which I first got a taste for from a delightful little sample set of Chinese teas that I got as a gift years ago. I liked it so much that I tracked it down and now buy it in more substantial packets. I recommend brewing it strong - in my case three generous tea spoons for a four-cup teapot, brewed for 5 minutes - though I have one of those tea pots with the filter baskets that can be removed so if you are a strain as you pour person then you may need to be a little more cautious on that front. I especially appreciate it as a tea that does not become bitter if it gets cold and that a forgotten last cup in the pot can be reheated with only minimal damage to the flavour. The flavour itself is a mellow, slightly smoky one, with a pleasant mouth feel and aroma that I can’t describe as anything other than comforting. It’s pretty much the platonic ideal of oolong tea for me, the gold(en) standard against which all others are compared.
I had good intentions in March, when I was at an outdoor craft market and discovered a tea stall, selling a variety of unusual blends. So often when I come across these kind of things, they’re properly tisanes or black tea plus additions rather than interesting blends of teas. However, joy of joys there amongst the usual suspects were a small selection of interesting sounding oolongs! I got to be decidedly nerdy about teas with the proprietor who shares my love for oolong teas, and came away with two lovely sounding new teas to try! Perfect for trying and reviewing for this project! Except that I opened my tea cupboard and was confronted by the numerous open and half-used packets and tins, and couldn’t in good conscious start a new one. I had good intentions to finish one of them, write it up for here, and try to trade off drinking and reviewing old favourites and new acquisitions, but unfortunately life happened and after some initial success using up some interesting tea bags that had lurked too long, other things took precedence.
This month, however, I decided to make a serious attempt at reclaiming my weekend ritual of pots of loose leaf tea and radio listening. This has been nicely encouraged along by the factor of the tea I fancied the first morning I attempted to restart the habit, was perilously close to it’s expiry date, so needing a concerted effort to be used up. Given how much I enjoy the tea, this was not a hardship. The tea in question is an Oolong, Tikuanyin - transliterations vary, I’m using the one from the packet, which came from a local Chinese supermarket here - which I first got a taste for from a delightful little sample set of Chinese teas that I got as a gift years ago. I liked it so much that I tracked it down and now buy it in more substantial packets. I recommend brewing it strong - in my case three generous tea spoons for a four-cup teapot, brewed for 5 minutes - though I have one of those tea pots with the filter baskets that can be removed so if you are a strain as you pour person then you may need to be a little more cautious on that front. I especially appreciate it as a tea that does not become bitter if it gets cold and that a forgotten last cup in the pot can be reheated with only minimal damage to the flavour. The flavour itself is a mellow, slightly smoky one, with a pleasant mouth feel and aroma that I can’t describe as anything other than comforting. It’s pretty much the platonic ideal of oolong tea for me, the gold(en) standard against which all others are compared.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-14 07:58 pm (UTC)There's no rule that declares May can't be the month where these monthly tea reviews begins.
You remind me I better check my teas to make sure none of them are close to their expiry dates either! I think maybe half of them are, unfortunately. It's hard, since I'm the primary tea drinker here, and everyone else in this household prefers coffee or soda. Thank you for helping me!
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 11:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 04:16 pm (UTC)Yes, I have, but it's a continual battle! x_x It sounds like it is time to come up with some sort of tea expiring alarm and stick it on my calendar to go off automatically at the proper time.
no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 10:57 pm (UTC)That said, I would love to try some of that Tikuanyin. I'll have to think about visiting the Asian supermarket in my hometown, maybe I could get some proper oolong there. Not for a good long while though- I still have my dragon's hoard to drink my way through, or at least make a large dent in.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 11:46 am (UTC)I do like having a dragon’s hoard of tea, but it’s even more fun to actually drink it!