Let the Tea Journey begin……

Today’s Tea is Anji Bai Cha

It is no secret that I love my cup of tea. And a while ago I discovered a Tea House in Camden – London that posts videos on You Tube. Not only are they fun to watch. You actually learn a lot from them. From time to time they also run little competitions where you can win samples. And whenever you leave a comment they often answer to them very quickly.

One of my favorite video’s are the onces where they “SCOPE” a tea. They will select a tea and make a video for them where they tell about:

• S: Season: when is the Tea harvested
• C: Cultiva: from which teaplant or tree is the tea
• O: Origins: where is the Tea from, which country and area
• P: Picking and Processing: Which part of the tea leaf did they pick and what process went the tea through to make it the way it is, is it hand rolled, dried, steamed etc.
• E: Elevation: which height are the tea trees/plants growing

Mei leaf @ China Life Tea House London

I was lucky enough to get my hands on some Anji Bai Cha through Hotsoup.nl  And today I am testing if the one I’ve got is as good as Don from Mei Leaf received.

Hotsoup.nl is a webshop specialized in Tea and Teaware and I find them very interesting because you can order samples of different tea instead of having to buy 100 gram. You can just order a sample which is usually about 5 gram with prices around €2,-/€3.50 Which makes it super fun to order and try out all the different kinds of tea. There is a whole world of tea I need to discover!!

 

Today I am sampling Anji Bai Cha. I have to admit that this is not my favorite tea. It is a little bit too weak for my taste and it leaves a bit of a raw feeling in my throat. The taste is a bit flowery with hints of vegetables. When you smell the cup it smells a bit like elastic bands strange enough! Overall it is not a bad tea. Especially after the 3rd infusion the taste is more complex and brings out some more sweet notes to the mouth. I tried to brew with 70 degrees celcius and later a bit hotter. But it’s best when you brew it around 75. The taste is more clean and fresh like Don said in the video. However, if you like to have a little bit more body and like stronger tea you might want to brew it at 90. It’s still nice at 90 but more heavy and the taste is more grassy and less flowery.

In the video below you can watch everything else you like to know about this tea courtesy of Don from Mei Leaf, China Life house Camden Town London.