All our teas today were early harvest teas, picked when the leaves are young and tender – this is when green teas are at their most prized.
Tea Tasting: New Harvest of Chinese First Flush Green Teas Read More »
Last week, on 6th February, it was Finland’s National Tea Day. To celebrate I went along to a little tea party thrown by TeeMaa and Muyo in downtown Helsinki. In just over one hour, Xinyuan from TeeMaa took us on a whistle-stop tour of five very different teas.
Tea Tasting on Finland’s National Tea Day Read More »
Well, hasn’t it been a while. After the craziness of Christmas, I admit, it’s taken me some time to get back into the blogging groove. In the meantime, my White2Tea tea club packages, previously taking their very sweet time to get over here from China, have unblocked. I now have a big stack of intriguing teas to dive into. Here’s the lowdown on September 2021 tea club.
White2Tea Tea Club: September 2021 Read More »
Curious Cultivars: Oolong Tea Tasting [Japanese Oolongs and Dan Cong]
My interest was most certainly piqued when I saw that my favourite teahouse in Helsinki, TeeMaa, was putting on a tea tasting of Japanese oolongs. Oolong teas are unusual in Japan, a country most famously known for its green teas. So I was very intrigued to taste some Japanese oolongs. Plus we were going to taste them alongside a favourite category of oolongs for me, Dan Cong.
Curious Cultivars: Oolong Tea Tasting [Japanese Oolongs and Dan Cong] Read More »
I’ve been meaning to join White2Tea Tea club for some time now. So this year I gave myself a birthday present and signed up! That was back in July, just in time for August\’s tea club. I knew it was going to be a waiting game, what with the state of shipments from China. So I was pretty excited when the notification of its arrival came towards the end of August.
White2Tea Tea Club: August 2021 Read More »
In my Matcha 101 blog I wrote about the four main Matcha producing regions in Japan. Matcha has a very distinctive vegetal and savoury (umami) taste. And each region further adds its own unique flavour which is influenced by the growing environment – its climate, landscape and soil. In this post I compare Matcha from three of the regions – Uji, Fukuoka, and Nishio.
Matcha Tea Tasting: Uji, Fukuoka, Nishio Read More »
Wuyi Cliff Oolong also goes by the name of Wuyi Rock Oolong, Wuyi Rock tea, or Wuyi Yan Cha. For me, Wuyi Cliff Oolongs are the hardcore ones. I’ve dabbled before in their rocky charms, but as our tea guide, Xin Yuan says, they can take many years to get to know. It’s like a slow burn love affair. They’re complex, challenging, sometimes hard to love. It takes patience to fully appreciate their charm.
5 Wuyi Cliff Oolong Teas: A Rocky Love Affair Read More »
Taiwan is internationally renowned for excellent Oolong teas, having both inherited the Oolong tradition and developed many innovations. There are so many different types of Oolongs in Taiwan, it’s no wonder that this week’s workshop at TeeMaa overran by almost an hour! Too many delicious teas to taste and history to discover.
6 Amazing Oolong Teas from Taiwan Read More »
Oolong is my favourite type of tea. From dark oolongs to green oolongs, it’s immensely generous in its variety of colour, shape, aroma and taste. You can never get bored with oolong tea! Along the way, I’ve tried lots of different oolongs, but never in a systematic way. So I was super excited to see ‘A Deep Dive into Oolongs’ series at my favourite local teahouse here in Helsinki, TeeMaa, run by Peng and Xinyuan.
Tea Tasting: 5 types of Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong tea Read More »
I’m sat here in my Helsinki apartment, on a rapidly darkening November afternoon, wondering how to start writing my tea blog again. I didn’t stop drinking tea over these past 2 and half years, I just stopped writing about it.
