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post #31 of 523
11/8/06 at 4:52am

Teafi bump

Tea-Fi! I am all over this thread.

I sat at a tea bar for two years, learned so much about tea and made so many friends. Just a moment ago at my desk I finished a fourth steeping of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong prepared with great care. It was perfect. I should post some pictures of my drinking cups. They are a bit unconventional....

My teas: Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong, Orchid Oolong and Jasmine Dragon Tears.
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post #32 of 523
11/8/06 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wower
Tea-Fi! I am all over this thread.

I sat at a tea bar for two years, learned so much about tea and made so many friends. Just a moment ago at my desk I finished a fourth steeping of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong prepared with great care. It was perfect. I should post some pictures of my drinking cups. They are a bit unconventional....

My teas: Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong, Orchid Oolong and Jasmine Dragon Tears.
I LOVE Iron Goddess. It smells so nice! The nicer ones are so expensive though (eg Guan Yin Wang) Jasmine is also one of my favourites!

Pu-erh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea) is also very nice and by far the most expensive type of tea (although you do get cheaper, lesser-aged and still enjoyable variants), especially the really aged ones from some random places in China. My next door neighbour in Hong Kong is a bit of a tea fanatic and she buys very nice tea. All the better for me!

Have you ever tried Long Jin? It's quite nice too and a popular choice for Dim Sum goers in Hong Kong.
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post #33 of 523
11/8/06 at 12:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhw
Barley tea? That sounds like it could be pretty interesting...
Barley tea is one of my favorites. Its taste is very transparent, as if the flavor is seperated from the liquid that suspends it.
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post #34 of 523
11/8/06 at 12:28pm
My favourite tea is the Pekoe variety of the Tea Plant ( Camelia Sinensis). It is the result of the second harvest and has a great balance of aroma and strengh. The one I drink is planted in the Azores from a family run company.
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post #35 of 523
11/8/06 at 4:49pm
That's it...I'm going Team Tea-Fi (Oolong).

I must try Iron Goddess and barley tea...
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post #36 of 523
11/8/06 at 5:35pm
Just made myself some Jasmine tea (Mo Li Xiang Zhu/Mo Li Long Zhu) or 茉莉香珠/茉莉龙珠 in Chinese





How I made it using my ceramic cup (it may be different if you have a proper tea set):
1. Put 12 "pearls" into the sieve element.
3. Place sieve element into cup. Ideally, the cup should be rinsed with boiling water beforehand so that it's nice and hot.
2. Boil water.
3. Wait until water is about 70-80 degrees Celsius or below boiling point.
4. Pour water into cup until "pearls" are fully immersed.
5. Place cover over cup and wait for 3 minutes.
6. Take cover and sieve element w/ tea leaves away. Do not leave tea leaves immersed or you will ruin your tea!
7. Enjoy your tea while it's still hot! Cold tea doesn't taste or smell nearly as nice.

Tea leaves can be reused 3-5 times depending on how long you leave the leaves immersed each time you use them.

With some teas, the first "pot" is not for drinking. It's merely to wash the leaves. I think this is the case with teas such as Iron Buddha/Tie Guan Yin (鐵觀音) or the nicer variant, Guan Yin Wang (觀音王）。
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post #37 of 523
11/8/06 at 7:44pm
Wow...great photos!
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post #38 of 523
11/8/06 at 7:59pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhw
Wow...great photos!
Thanks

Just made more. This time I left the tea leaves in for 6 minutes. Slightly more aroma even though it was the second steeping.

Note that I've joined TEAM TEA-FI

The good thing about Tea-Fi is that it's quite affordable. It only gets very expensive when you buy extremely rare or aged teas.
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post #39 of 523
11/8/06 at 8:14pm
I'm a big fan of Gyokoru Japanese tea, it is one of the best out there and the price reflects. It is about 25$ per 100g at your local organic or specialty food store. I also like a much cheaper but also very tasty Oolong tea, belongs to the brown teas and it is very mellow and earthy, mix with some honey and enjoy a great cup of tea!

Most green teas I add honey to, but the Gyokoru I like to drink just plain, has a very good taste and smell.
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post #40 of 523
11/8/06 at 8:25pm
A good tea bag tea is co-op Indian Prince, nambari and Yorkshire Gold.

Loose leaf teas I like are darjeeling, assam, English breakfast tea, orange pekoe (pronounced peekay) earl grey (with real oil of bergamot)

Nothing quite beats a mix of 4 tsp assam, 2 tsp English breakfast tea and a tsp of earl grey (infuse for around 7 minutes, lovely
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post #41 of 523
11/8/06 at 8:28pm
By the way you just can't beat Jacksons of piccadilly IMO, quality teas indeed. http://www.jacksons-of-piccadilly.com/ Pretty chic website too when you get used to navigating the buds.
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post #42 of 523
11/8/06 at 8:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mcsamms
I'm a big fan of Gyokoru Japanese tea, it is one of the best out there and the price reflects. It is about 25$ per 100g at your local organic or specialty food store. I also like a much cheaper but also very tasty Oolong tea, belongs to the brown teas and it is very mellow and earthy, mix with some honey and enjoy a great cup of tea!

Most green teas I add honey to, but the Gyokoru I like to drink just plain, has a very good taste and smell.
How do you prepare Gyokoru tea? I'm interested in trying some new stuff.
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post #43 of 523
11/8/06 at 8:34pm
I mainly drink Twinings Irish breakfast tea with milk and honey, or Twinings Lady Grey tea straight, with nothing added. With the Lady Grey, though, I let the tea steep for maybe 40-60 seconds, way less than recommended. This creates a nice even blend of the citrus undertones and the sharpness of the black tea.
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post #44 of 523
11/8/06 at 8:50pm
My wife and I have loved this tea for years. We'd pick up 2 or 3 boxes when we visited London, and sometimes ordered by phone. A few years crops came in beautiful mahogany-looking wood boxes, but this year's looks like a less luxurious, simple white wood box. Doesn't affect the tea's taste, but not as much fun to handle. I wonder how the 2006 is. Has anyone tried it yet?



Sadly, I discovered today this notice when I checked "delivery" info at the F&M site: "Due to a new FDA legislation - US BIOTERRORISM ACT - we can no longer deliver food products to mainland USA from the UK."!!!

The F&M USA website does not show the First Flush Darjeeling as available for purchase here.

Gyokuro (noted above by mcsamms in post #39) is a very intense and delicious green tea (very stimulating).

There are also many fragrant and flavorful "shin-cha" (each current season's fresh green teas), some first flush green teas, "monkey pick" selected most delicate tips, matcha (powdered green tea used in tea ceremonies - bright green and made frothy with a bamboo whisk)

Somehow, despite our love for various green teas, we always crave the lovely aroma, delicate taste and beautiful color of F&M's First Flush Darjeeling.
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post #45 of 523
11/8/06 at 9:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Romanee
Somehow, despite our love for various green teas, we always crave the lovely aroma, delicate taste and beautiful color of F&M's First Flush Darjeeling.
Does it matter when you consume the tea? If they were picked during Spring, that would mean that it's been picked quite a few months ago! Is Darjeeling meant to be aged?

I was in a tea shop a couple months back and the owner said that some teas are meant to be consumed asap for the best taste.
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