Author: Mai

Buddha’s Hand oolong

From Shiding, Wenshan, Taiwan. A light oolong with such natural floral aroma and delicate taste. It is similar to Baochong in oxidation level, which means it’s green. The color is a light greenish yellow tint akin to green tea. It…

Sencha and Mochi

Sencha in yunomi, a typical Japanese thick, tall teacup, whose name I’ve yet to find out, accompanied by a matcha mochi, whose fillings include: satsuma sweet potato, red bean paste, orange juice and walnuts. (Thanks Masaaki for telling me the…

Wednesday 14/03 – Pu’er, the Chinese Black

Back then Darius told us that there are 2 main tea varietals: Camellia sinensis sinensis and Camellia sinensis puer. Obviously, pu’er tea comes from the latter. It’s the only kind of fermented tea. Fermentation and oxidation are two different things:…

Wednesday 07/03 – Black teas

Black teas today. Black tea is 100% oxidized, and like green tea, it needs no rinsing step prior to steeping. The reason is its surface is too small because it was cut into shreds or tiny bits, the flavors are…

Wednesday 29/04 extra

I’m looking for a tea with a sweet but strong, long lasting taste. Green and white are out of the question, but after tasting the Yellow Gold and the Da Hong Bao last week, I thought I’ve narrowed down my…

A little bit on teapot materials

Usually, for bar use at tea houses, glass pots are for white and green teas, yixing brown ones are for oolong, and others for black and puers. The reason: not to mix up the flavors, as yixing pots are known…

Wednesday 29/04 – Taiwanese oolong

Last week we had 3 kinds of Chinese oolongs. This week is 3 kinds of Taiwainese oolong. The difference between Chinese and Taiwanese teas? The region in which they were grown, which includes the soil, the climate, the biodiversity, etc.…

Genmaicha

Green tea mixed with roasted brown rice (genmai). Of the 6-7 types of tea offered at Ippuku, except for sencha and matcha, I had no idea what is what, so I just randomly pointed at genmaicha. Its color: a beautiful…

Wednesday 22/02 – Miscellaneous

I came early so Sam gave me a cup of cooled White Down that has sit on the counter since morning. The taste is still smooth, gently sweet, and a bit floral like the usual white teas. However, the color…