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…
Teance Spring Harvest Party
Category: Sweet
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(*)…
Sencha and yomogi 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…
Wednesday 04/09 – Four Season oolong, Mao Jian, and warming the yixing pot in style
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)…
Matcha and kabocha mochi
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)…
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…
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…
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.…