I’m always surprised by how dark of a color white teas tend to have. While the greens, oolongs, reds and puer for the most part have colors that match their names, white teas look yellow. The color of the steeped…
White teas and New Year
Category: Light
Jin Shuan oolong winter 2015 and return of the mochi
A photo posted by Mai Truong (@flavorblvd) on Nov 21, 2015 at 6:59pm PST A light, easy-going green oolong, this Jin Shuan (also known as “milk oolong”) just arrived at the shop last night. After a trek to the tea…
Pre-rain Dragonwell 2014 – the chesnut note
“At first I didn’t really comprehend it, but then it struck me: this tea was literally on the bush just a few days ago [in Hangzhou], and here it is in my cup [half way across the globe]”, said Teance’s…
Uji Gyokuro of Spring 2013
It’s been a long time since I last went to Teance, between research and editing, I can no longer afford 2-3 hours with tea. However, today was one of those days when things didn’t go as planned, I was up…
Spring unfolds in yellow, green and white
The new spring harvest teas are arriving at Teance, and so am I. I tried three teas earlier today, a yellow tea, a green tea and a white tea, all of which I have had from previous seasons, but a…
San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden and Four Seasons Oolong
Every April, my mom asks my dad to drive along Highway 105 and Highway 6 to look at the wild bluebonnet in bloom. She likes the flower viewing drive as much as the Japanese are into their hanami (花見, cherry…
More dimsum and oolong pairings
The Minimalist’s bookkeeping: Taiwan Beauty – citrusy and light. Aged Baochong – plumy and coffee-y, then smoky in subsequent infusions. Yushan High Mountain oolong – simply light, Nancy detected a fantastic smell that I couldn’t because I was already in a food-induced stupor…
Green puer
Recently, I had a few amazing evenings drinking puer at Cheryl’s place. In all honesty, I never liked puer before. The puer I’ve had at Teance, minus the Fragrant Leaf green puer, always struck me as muddy with a medicinal…
One-year-old shincha
Last spring, I got two bags of last-spring (Spring 2012) shincha (新茶) from Yaoya-san in El Cerrito. The soft green color of the bags was so pleasing, I like shincha so much (it immediately became my number-one favorite green tea when I…
Baochong oolong and a little history behind Taiwanese tea
Ran across this newsletter from Teance today, and I just thought I should take notes: Oolongs from Taiwan enjoy renown and prestige, as well some of the highest prices, in the world today. The locals happily consume most of what…