#gongfucha

[lowbudgetfan]

Absolutely loving my new tea set. Im so lucky to have friends who enjoy tea as much as I do

[apoostrotea]

Gold Duck Shit | White2Tea | Oolong

This oolong boasts a rich charcoal and mineral aroma. Its flavor is dominantly roasted, accented with hints of stone and fruit like a freshly rained on mountainside. Nicely sweet with a smooth, oily texture, it’s delightfully free of bitterness. It strongly emanates that rock oolong flavor amidst the charcoal. An enjoyable tea. Slightly more roasted than most duck shit oolongs, but just as good.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

[dufflemantrika]

Lao zini mellon teapot, with dancai images.

from mudandleaves.com

[morimatea]

People enjoyed the tranquility of a slower pace of life at the moment.

[greenvelveteen]

My friend & I are opening a teahouse named Twinflower. Photos by Margot Moss.

[sandytree1]

First cup goes to the tea pet

In Chinese tea culture, the first cup of tea should be given to a tea pet. This water from the first steep is normally not used anyways. Some people believe that the first time you feed it, that's what gives it its soul.

So they live on the tea table, and you raise them by pouring/feeding them tea. Tea pets should not be soaked in hot water, but drenched in tea water. Gently brush it after washing.

What are tea pets?

A tea pet is a clay figure that sits on your tea table. There's two reasons to use it. First, to get rid of unneded water or tea leftovers in an elegant way. Second, people believe it shares a positive energy to everyone gathered around the tea table. Another practical reason to use it, is that it can help you test the temperature of the water as well.

Tea pets originated as a way to make use of excess clay in potteries in the 13th century. They make great gifts and costs as little as 5-10 USD.

Each tea pet has its own special meaning. It can bring luck, wealth or any kind of auspicious happenings depending on what kind of animal they are.

Sources

Crystal Lim-Lange

Color changing: Swan

Temperature gauging: 001

Visual pun: Rat next to money for counting

[prismatic-melody]

You say a wine has complex flavors and notes and a lovely evolution nobody bat's an eye

You say a tea has a perfectly reasonable flavor profile like raisins and cherries that changes to cedar wood then leather (with a touch of sweetness) with a cooling finish and everyone loses their minds

[meeshnut]

Late night pu’er tea orange with Jibi the Golden Rabbit.

I might not sleep tonight.

[moshintheteagaiwan]

It’s 2023 And I’m Back At It!

Wow – it’s been a while hasn’t it!

I think the last time I was active on my blog was around October of last year. I stopped posting for a time after I got Covid and lost my sense of taste and smell. I’m happy to report that it has since returned and I am back to normal. I lost my senses for almost a month give or a take. However, by the time I had regained my senses the Christmas season was beginning to get in gear which ended up taking up a lot of mine time. Little known fact about me is that during the Christmas season, which in our house starts the first weekend after Halloween because we love Christmas, I stop drinking all tea except for my special Twinings Christmas Blend. No gongfu sessions, no Puerh, no Oolongs, just Twinings Christmas Blend. I fell in love with that blend years ago. It’s the most perfectly warm and bold black tea with just the right amount of spice. I drink it all the way through to new year’s. Then once the new year starts I switch back to my normal tea routine. I find it really helps my taste buds settle down and take a break from vigorous tastings in preparation for the countless number of new teas to come in the new year.

With that being said, I have indeed begun tastings again. In fact, I have tasted 30 new teas this year already! I’ve been working away at the batch I got from Yunnan Sourcing last fall before I got Covid. The batch has had a few real winners so far and I will likely mainly blog about them in the near future. For the new year though I really want to be a bit more adventurous and dive into teas from other parts of the world that you don’t commonly hear about. Right now I have a few baskets lined up from online retailers for teas grown in Thailand and Vietnam, which I’m really excited for. I’ll also be posting a bit on some new Dark teas I got from the Vancouver based O5 Tea Bar. I recently discovered their shop and it’s on my hit list of tea shops to stop in and visit when I get around to traveling around Canada a bit more.

If you’ve been following me for a while now and are still here, thank you, glad you’ve stuck around!

[rdyfrde-there-can-be-only-one]

First gongfu tea session of the New Year. I'm brewing three of the six teas included in my New Year's tea grab bag that Fuyu got me for Christmas via Yunomi Tea:

- Organic Oolong (Osada Tea)

- Shizuoka Oolong Tea Aoi (Japanese Green Tea Farm)

- Snowing Mountain Kanayamidori black tea (Chiyonoen Tea Farm)

Of the three, I liked the black tea best. Green oolongs tend to be a bit too astringent for my liking and these are no exception. However, the black tea was smooth with a slight fruity aftertaste. A perfect ending tea for the night 😊

[marlo-noni]

I'm lucky to live in a city with some very good Chinese tea shops. This morning I tried 黄玫瑰, (huáng méi guī, 'yellow rose'), a Wuyi rock oolong I bought from Treasure Green, for the first time, and damn is it ever good.

The celadon cup and the yixing teapot are also recent purchases from Treasure Green.

[lowbudgetfan]

Good Morning 🌅

I wanted to try something a little different so here's my morning tea. It was an earthy Pu erh I've been drinking for the past month or so.

[apoostrotea]

15 Years Aged Golden Melon Ripe Tuo | Yunnan Sourcing

This aged ripe has a strong energy and thick flavor. It’s now one of my favorites from Yunnan Sourcing! The wet leaf smells of wood, chocolate, and mashed berries. I may have a bias for aged shou, but the flavors are very pleasant. A nice broad wet wood flavor with hints of vanilla at the forefront. Behind it, there are notes of brown sugar and rich earth. This tea lasted me many steeps, however the tuo is tough to break apart. You will need a strong tea pick for this one! I found this shou to be a perfect example of what an aged ripe can be. If you’re planning on making a Yunnan sourcing order, and have never tried aged shou, this is the tea for you. It’s affordable, but is a lovely goalpost for new sippers.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[tea-kittenz]

A lazy day off spent on the balcony with good tea, good book and one attention seeking cat.

[morimatea]

Within a luxurious setting of serenity and pure tranquillity, people are cocooned in total comfort and refinement, away from the frenzy and madding chaos of the city life outside.

[greenvelveteen]

A meeting over tea.

Photo by Margot Moss. February 2023