Category: Red/Black tea

Bailin Gongfu of Spring 2013

Last season, we had the best Bailin Gongfu. It was an instant eye-opener. It was one of the teas that I just had to buy. It had depth, layers, sweetness, kick, strength, warmth, everything. It was a tea that I…

Teance Spring Harvest Party

Ten minutes before seven on a Friday night, and Teance was already half full. The guys were handing out Lavender Mint as a preface, which I suppose could make a great palate cleanser. I was focused on snatching a seat…

Flight of five, or 5-course tea session

Tiana, Kristen and I went on a tea date today, the perfect thing to do on a post-finals Sunday afternoon. And we don’t tea-date half-heartedly, we did a flight of 5 teas (people normally do flights of 3), with mochi(*)…

Sunday 15/04 – Sesame mochi and teas

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.…

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…