Toluu

teasphere

A small spot of tea.

Classic Dong Ding Oolong - Tea MastersNovember 12

Tea Masters is an amazing “blog” run by Stéphane Erler and is an almost perfect mix of information, highly skilled photography, amazing teas, and he even sells some teaware and tea straight from the source. Fluent in both English and French his posts at times can frustratingly alternate into one language or the other rather than posted bilingually… however I’m sure that is a big pain and time sink so I can understand but it is hard when you are left out of a particularly interesting looking post. I have however learned more than I can say here from him and his writings, and it is a must read site.

I am a relative newcomer to drinking oolong seriously as I have always concentrated on greens but for a few years now I have delved into this new and strange realm. Floral and “green” oolongs are right out for me, I have no taste for it and even after some years it is not even an acquired taste I can learn to enjoy. I like the more fruity/peachy/raisiny heavily roasted types and my all-time favorite was a double roasted Shui Xian from Singapore which was a hair’s breadth away from charcoal.

This “classic” Dong Ding Oolong from Feng Huang, Taiwan Spring 2008 (April 30) (how’s that for informative!) went into my gaiwan as small fisted very green leaf which had a slight raisin aroma. I wasn’t expecting much since the rich green  color is normally indicative of floral oolongs and not my pre

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2008 Spring San-Xia Bi Lo Chun - HouDeNovember 11

I’ve been in the tea doldrums lately between being sick and just not really into anything I’ve received lately. That’s changed, and in a big way. HouDe Asian Art is a very respected vendor and one I have dabbled with but never sunk into. Now I have and I’m glad I did.

Bi Lo Chun is a comfort tea to me. It is a solid green that has a unique flavor which can be as straight-forward or as subtle as you are feeling as long as it is of even middling quality. It is clean and refreshing but with a deeper nutty flavor and some other nuances that change with the year and location. It is always similar enough to be my comfort tea but with just enough variation to keep me interested and surprised.

I was shopping for a Taiwanese competition oolong tea tasting set (which I’ll cover soon) and HouDe not only had them but for a very reasonable price. I can never order teaware without a few teas and one that caught my eye was this 2008 Spring Taiwan San-Xia Bi Lo Chun. It was unique in a number of ways and unlike the “snail” shaped BLC it was more of a downy, wiry, and shabby looking lot… I was intrigued.

Mlesna Ginger Peach and Canadian Ice Wine TeaOctober 28

I’m almost over my cold but not quite to the point where I’d be doing any justice to some really great tea so I bought some small packs of Mlesna (Metropolitan Tea Co.) brand tea in their Canadian Icewine and Ginger Peach flavors. Mlesna uses Ceylon tea as the basis for their teabags and it is generally passable and at least uses natural flavorings. I used to enjoy the Icewine tea but now it just seems far too harsh and perfumy for me, I’m not sure if something changed with their flavoring or just my taste but it isn’t doing it for me. The ginger peach was a new one for me from them and one of the few flavored teas I do enjoy is Numi or Republic of Tea’s black ginger peach loose tea… this one is very different. I don’t really get ginger or peach as identifiable flavors and the ceylon in the background doesn’t hold up like the sturdier black tea in the other offerings. Overall none of it is really good and I think I’m going to finally do away with the notion of drinking a lesser tea just because I’m sick and can’t get the subtle nuances.

      

Ricola Schweizer Krautertee Instant TeaOctober 23

I’ve been graced with the presence of yet another wonderful cold… so although anecdotal I think I prove that even 10+ cups of tea a day can’t keep the doctor away. I refuse to use any cough drop other than Ricola and a while back I noticed a little coffee shop near work sold tins of Ricola instant tea. The problem is that there were three or four kinds and they are only printed in German and at around $10 I didn’t want to guess. After some research I found that the green tin that said “Schweizer Krautertee” which from my rudimentary understanding of German I believe means “Swiss Instant Tea” was the original. Unfortunately again there were no directions discernible to me so Google produced a few results claiming 2tsp per cup was right. I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised and completely hooked!

Ricola Instant Tea

It is light and sweet and while close to the flavor of the cough drops due to I’m guessing the same herbs it is much milder and the added warmth is pure heaven. It isn’t a powder as I thought but instant granules that dissolve immediately with little stirr