This famous Chinese Tea is from the province of Anhui. Wonderful large wiry leaves produce an aromatic tea with a full sweet taste. It is these needle shaped green and silver leaves that are used in the making of the wonderful ‘Peony’ or ‘Urchin’ arrangements, the leaves tied together with silk in the form of a rosette, which slowly opens up in warm water. Traditionally Lu Mu Dan Tea is picked under strict harvesting conditions that help retain its rarity and value for tea connoisseurs and collectors. I made this at 75°c and 2 minutes.
Sencha Spring Melody seemed an appropriate choice today.(First day of Spring an' all that) It was particularly nice to sit and sip it in the blazing sunshine this afternoon. Wild strawberry pieces and orange peel blended with a really good Japanese sencha gives a light, bright and refreshing cup. It also contains Cat's Foot (the herb not like..y'know the thing) I'm not sure whether it adds anything to the flavour or not but according to herbalists it has a really wide range of medicinal uses. Happy Vernal Equinox! It's not just me that liked it either - Russteas gave it a lovely review.which you can read here.
Day 81 of #yearoftea is an oriental spice black tea. A really good blend flavoured with cinnamon, ginger, clove, vanilla and orange. It's a little bit of an acquired taste, mainly due to the cloves. In fact I wasn't best pleased with the first cup, but the second (and third) really hit the spot. I think now I'm a bit obsessed with tea latte, it's simply a matter of time before I try it with this one.
Really enjoyed this Vietnam OP black tea.
Nothing special, just a good, stout and reliable brew. Plenty of tannin and plenty of character. This tea comes from the far north of the country close to Yunnan in China, so has a good heritage. Not bad. Not bad at all.
An Indian tea today: Nilgiri Thiashola Estate SFTGFOP 1. These beautiful leaves of varying colour make a surprisingly strong brew. I only steeped it for 3 minutes and to be honest I think I would've preferred it at 2 and a half. Very rich, very malty, and quite fruity. This is one of the highest grade Indian teas you can get and if you like a tea with some welly, you should give it a go.
An unfermented herbal tisane with well-documented health benefits is Day 84 in my #yearoftea. Green Rooibos (so surely that's Greenbush?) has even more anti-oxidants and super-duper stuff than it's better known Red counterpart. Taste-wise it's totally different - where Redbush tastes rich and almost syrupy, the green version is much lighter. It's still has that lovely woody taste but is much less challenging if you're new to herbal tea. As with traditional Rooibos, it's apparently impossible to spoil it by overbrewing.
Considering I hate the smell of bonfires and tarmac, this Lapsang Souchong tea was never going to be a winner with me. The leaves are withered over fires of pine needles which is what gives it that distinctive smoky aroma. I decided to use it for washing down a particularly good Stilton. It worked so well with the cheese that I found myself enjoying it (sort of) it has a much more subtle taste than smell. I still had to pinch my nose in order to drink it...
