A Google+ follower asked what matcha is. This question inspired me to start a series that spotlights the different types of tea. What is Matcha? Matcha is a finely ground green tea from Japan. Before harvest, the tea bushes are shaded from the sun for about 20 days. This slows their growth and increases the […]
Shopping for a clay teapot can be an exciting yet arduous exercise. There isn’t a lot of information available, especially for those that are just starting out. This post is meant as a basic guide but I wouldn’t consider myself an expert on clay pots by any means. Yixing is the type of clay discussed […]
It’s a little-known fact that kyusu is simply the Japanese word for teapot. We usually think of them as side-handled teapots but they can also have handles on the rear or even on the top. Porcelain and clay are the most common mediums but kyusu can be made from a number of materials. The handles […]
Bi Luo Chun, otherwise known as Green Snail Spring, is a green tea from the Dongting region of China’s Jiangsu Province. You might also see it called Pi Luo Chun. There are many lists of China’s 10 most famous teas but Bi Luo Chin is usually near the top of them, second only to Dragonwell. […]
I think that every tea drinker has the same problem. What is the best way to store all of the tea that we accumulate? The main enemies of tea leaves are heat, light, and moisture. There’s a handful of exceptions to that rule but this applies to most categories of tea. I find that a […]
You read that right. There is a tea called duck shit oolong! Ya Shi Xiang is a cultivar used to make a Dan Cong oolong by the same name, A lot of people in the US first learned about this tea when it was written about by Forbes in 2015. Unfortunately, they did not bother […]
Tencha is a Japanese green tea that is ground into a powder to make matcha. Ten can be translated as mortar or grind, and cha is the word for tea. The processing is similar to other shade-grown teas like gyokuro, but there are some key differences. It is not common to drink it in its […]
Dong Fang Mei Ren is one of my favorite teas, and I’m excited to share a bit more about it with you. This famous Taiwanese oolong goes by many names. You might also know it as: Peng Feng Cha Oriental Beauty Eastern Beauty Bai Hao Oolong White Tip Oolong Champagne Oolong Five Color Oolong Braggart’s […]
Tie Guan Yin goes by various spellings but it is probably the best known Chinese oolong tea. It is commonly referred to as Iron Goddess of Mercy and there are many legends about how this tea got its name. Traditionally it was made as a strip style tea with heavier roasting but that changed after […]
Silver Needle is one of my favorite kinds of teas. It is a white tea produced in the Fujian Province of China. Also known as Baihao Yinzhen, this tea is made only from hand-picked buds. Each leaf is covered in downy white hairs called trichomes. I typically steep it in a glass teapot so that […]
