Today we did three kinds of Chinese oolong, all of which are rinsed and steeped in 205F water. A little bit of background on oolong: they are 20-80% oxidized (as compared to green tea which is not oxidized at all,…
Wednesday 22/02 – Oolong teas
Author: Mai
The drinking vessel matters
I’ll risk sounding like a snob while actually being an illiterate by saying this: drinking from a little porcelain teacup gives a much different, and nicer, feel than drinking from a big tea mug. And I’ll try to dissect the…
Blooming tea
Until now I’ve tried 4 different blooming teas, but I’m not sure if they are 4 different kinds, if the flowers are different, the teas are different, or just the names are different. The constructions are definitely different from one…
Four-minute Vietnamese tea talk, in Korean
… with English subtitles. It’s no secret that I’ve been into tea recently, and the interest is going to last for a while. Just in time for my mini-presentation in the Korean class, the topic was open, and I chose…
Wednesday 15/02 – Green tea
My second meeting with TeaCal. Today we try 3 kinds of green tea, none of which require washing because they are too sensitive, the steeping time is also much shorter than for white tea. 1. Bi Luo Chun (“green snail…
Wednesday 08/02 – White tea
Today I started attending a tea class. At Cal (UC Berkeley), they have this DeCal thing, where the students (mostly undergrads, it seems) create and run a variety of “classes”. Basically, they are clubs. I found out about “TeaCal” after…
Two hours with Korean tea ceremony
Between 4 and 6 PM today was the most interesting 2 hours I’ve had this week, and also the most effortless educational experience I’ve had in a long time. That’s how the Korean tea ceremony is meant to be, as…
Golden Tea Shop in Oakland
Last fall I decided to learn about tea. The reason? People usually have wine pairings with food, I don’t drink alcohol, so I will do tea pairings. I searched around Yelp and found the Golden Tea Shop in Oakland. It’s…