In my mind, green teas are more monotonic and oolongs are more multi-flavored, greens are lighter and oolongs are roastier. I can tell the category of tea from the type of gaiwan/pot that we use at Teance, the water, and…
Sesame mochi is different from the other mochis. The coat is hard and chewy. The black sesame filling oozes out as I press the fork down. The filling, salty, sweet and resembling wet sand, is addictive. It’s a wonderful mochi.…
The third pairing of mochi and Japanese green tea. Perfect! Yes, finally a mochi that goes perfectly with sencha. Yomogi (Japanese mugwort), julienned into tiny strings and mixed with the mochi dough, gives the mochi a clean, refreshing taste, which…
The tea purists will never forgive me, but I’m not a purist. I like to experiment. This tea studying thing started as me trying to learn as much about tea as possible to pair it with food or to cook…
We had two blind taste tests today to distinguish types of tea. In the first one, I failed horribly: mistaking an oolong (Baochong) for a white tea because it was so light, and thinking that a green tea (Lu Shan)…
While listening to John Kokko about the benefits of tea, we tasted a white, an oolong and a pu’er. I’m ashamed to admit that I thought the oolong was a green tea. 1. Jasmine Silver Needle: white tea infused with…
Today we had a guest lecturer: John Kokko from the Turtle Island Health Clinic, who came to talk to us about the benefits of tea in scientific terms. For notekeeping purposes, the following is taken from the copy that John…
Another pairing of Japanese tea and Japanese snack. A bowl of matcha is supposed to suffice your daily vegetable need because you’re actually consuming the leaves themselves, in powder form. Matcha is served in a bowl. Mix water (205 F)…
Today I went for a pot of Phoenix Pomelo Fragrance, a rare Chinese oolong. Normally, oolongs must be rinsed with hot water (205 F) before the first steep, but this particular type is instead only steam-rinsed: you warm the gaiwan…
Winnie Yu, the owner of Teance, was the special guest speaker of TeaCal today. Instead of trying new teas, we spent the hours doing 3 blind taste tests. 1. Chinese red tea vs. Assam: They’re both in the “black tea”…