Tag: Oolong
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Orchids in My Oolong
I’m used to running into an oolong I’ve never heard of. It’s kind of my thing. But finding next-to-no information on a particular style of oolong is my greatest joy . . . and biggest pet peeve. It all started when I was put into contact with this guy. This is Jeff Kovac of Four…
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The White Forest Oolong Finish Line
NaNoTeaMo, Day 30: “The White Forest Oolong Finish Line” Holy heck . . . I made it. This is it, Day 30. The final post in my self-inflicted NaNoTeaMo challenge. No one put me up to it; I wasn’t trying to prove anything. The only reason I did it was to see if I had…
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A Bug-Bitten Beauty of a Black Tea
NaNoTeaMo, Day 28: “A Bug-Bitten Black Beipu Beauty of a Tea” If you’ve spent any time around hardcore Taiwanese tea drinkers, you probably ran into the term “bug-bitten”. And probably thought of this. No? Just me? Anyway . . . “Bug-bitten” refers to teas that come from tea plants where pest involvement is encouraged. In…
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My Love/Hate Relationship with Wuyi Oolongs
NaNoTeaMo, Day 23: “My Love/Hate Relationship with Wuyi Oolongs” I remember the first time I heard the word “yancha”. In an unlikely move, I was attending a local gathering of fellow tea folks. I was nowhere near as knowledgeable as I am now (which – admittedly – still isn’t much). In order to be social,…
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Darjeeling Fit for an Emperor
NaNoTeaMo, Day 16: “Darjeeling Tea Fit for an Emperor” The Singbulli tea estate has a very old history, like a lot of such Darjeeling gardens. It was established in 1924 by British planters, and then was taken over in 2003 by Jayshree Tea and Industries. The garden resides near the town of Mirik, and teas…
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Nut Tea
NaNoTeaMo, Day 10: “Nut Tea” You – fair reader – might think I’m certifiably nuts, but . . . I asked to leave work early today, so I could write about tea. If I had left at my normal time – 5PM – that would’ve left me with exactly a half-hour to formulate today’s article.…
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A Devotea Taiwanese Tea Tasting
NaNoTeaMo, Day 1: “A Devotea Taiwanese Tea Tasting” If any of you fine folks were paying attention to my social media yammerings, you may have noticed a peculiar update. I said that I wouldn’t be participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I tried two years straight . . . and gave up halfway through…
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A Mellow Yellow Tea Tasting
Most people cultivate a close group of friends – those that share common interests, or that they feel most comfortable being around. One of the unfortunate drawbacks to being a tea blogger is . . . most people within my close-knit group reside in several different locations across the country. Or outside the country. As…
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What Makes a Moonlight Tea?
What makes a tea a “Moonlight” tea? It’s a question I’ve asked myself several times over the last six years, and the one answer I’ve always returned to is, “I don’t care as long as it tastes good. “ But perhaps that was foolhardy. I originally assumed that when the name “Moonlight” was applied to…
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Bitter Gourd Oolong for a Bitter Day
Everything that could go wrong this morning – did. The original plan for today was to be up by 6AM, showered and clothed by 6:30AM, and gassed up and ready to go by 7AM. The destination? Northwest Tea Festival in Seattle. It was the first tea festival I ever attended (back in 2012), and I…