De legende van Tie Guan Yin

Vandaag deel ik 2 legendes over Tie Guan Yin.

De eerste gaat zo: Lang geleden was er een Boedhistische tempel in Anxi, Fujian ter ere van de Boedist Bodhisattva Guanyin, de Godin van genade.

Bij de tempel stond een ijzeren standbeeld van haar. De tempel was ernstig in verval geraakt. Elke dag kwam er een boer Old Wei langs de tempel op weg naar zijn velden. Helaas had hij niet het geld om de tempel volledig te restaureren maar vond dat er wel iets gedaan moest worden om verder verval tegen te gaan. Daarom kwam hij 2 keer maand langs om de tempel schoon te vegen en brandde hij wierrook om de Godin Guanyin te eren.

Op een nacht bezocht Bodhisattva Guanyin, Old Wei in zijn droom om te vertellen dat er een grot vlakbij de tempel was. Zij vertelde dat er in die grot een schat lag te wachten en dat hij deze moest meenemen en delen met anderen.
De volgende dag ging Old Wei naar de tempel en vond een grot die hij nog nooit eerder gezien had. In de grot groeide één stekje thee. Hij nam het mee naar huis en verzorgde het. Het stekje groeide uit tot een grote struik en de thee van deze struik was fantastisch. Nog nooit had hij eerder zulke thee geproefd. Hij wist dat deze struik inderdaad een schat was en gaf stekjes van de struik aan al zijn buren. Hij begon de plant te verkopen als Tieguanyin, or Iron Godess of Mercy.

De legende van de thee bestaat nog steeds en wordt beschouwd als een nationale legende. Vlakbij de boom is in de rotsen de naam gegraveerd van de boer die, volgens de legende, de originele boom gevonden heeft.
Tie Guan Yin wordt ook wel: Iron Goddess of Mercy of Ti kwan Yin

Er is ook nog een 2e legende bekend over deze thee:

De legende van Meneer Wang. Deze meneer kwam tijdens het wandelen bij de rots Guanyin in Xiping de theeplant tegen. Hij nam een stekje mee naar huis en toen de theeplant volgroeit was maakt hij er thee van. Toen hij na op bezoek mocht bij Keizer Qianlong nam hij de thee mee als cadeau. De keizer was erg onder de indruk van de thee en vroeg waar Meneer Wang de thee vandaan had. En zo heeft de de Tie Guan Yin zijn naam gekregen.

De legende van witte thee – Silver needle

Witte thee is ontdekt door Langu, een meisje uit Fuding in Fujian.

Ze woonde aan de voet van de berg Taimu die toen nog Caishan heette. Langu was een welwillend en lief meisje. Toen ze op een dag aan het schuilen was in één van de grotten ontdekte ze een speciale boom waarvan de jonge knopjes omhuld waren met zilveren haartjes tijdens de lente. Toen er een epidemie uitbrak in haar dorp gebruikte ze de speciale knopjes om er thee van te maken. Dit hielp om de ziekte te genezen.
Volgens de legende leefde Langu een lang leven en bereikte onsterfelijkheid door al haar goede daden. Er wordt gezegd dat ze op 7 juli van de maan kalender is opgestegen naar de hemel op een negen kleurige drakenpaard. Vanaf die dag wordt ze gezien als een Godin. Taimu betekend moeder. De Yaodi (betekend keizer) voelde zich verschuldigd voor al haar hulp en heeft de berg omgedoopt tot Taimushan. Vandaag de dag staat Fuding, waar Taimu staat, bekend om haar productie van witte thee.

Een bekende witte thee is Silver Needle. Ook dit verhaaltje begint weer met: Lang geleden………werden de inwoners van Fujian geteistert door droogte. Het leven van veel dorpelingen werd bedreigd door uitdroging. Nu ging er een gerucht dat er een hemelse plant was die ervoor kon zorgen dat het sap uit deze plant voor meer water kon zorgen als je het in de rivier liet vallen. Ook zou het veel verschillende ziektes kunnen genezen. De plant werd bewaakt door een zwarte draak. Er waren veel dorpelingen die gezocht hadden naar de plant. Allen die een poging hadden gedaan werden versteend. Een jonge vrouw waarvan haar 2 broers dood waren besloot om haar leven te riskeren. Toen ze bij de draak kwam viel hij haar ook aan maar ze wist de draak te doden. Daarna plukte ze de hemelse plant en liet het sap uit de plant op de versteende mensen vallen waarna ze weer mens werden. De dorpelingen waren heel dankbaar en verplaatste de plant van de berg waar ze het wijdt verspreidde over de verschillende dorpen. En omdat de blaadjes wit dons hadden en de vorm van naaldjes had noemde ze de thee: Silver Needle….The End

Wat is Grandpa style brewing?

Ontdek de eenvoud en verfijning van Grandpa style brewing: Een traditionele Chinese thee-ervaring

In de wereld van thee bestaat er een schat aan tradities en technieken die elk een unieke ervaring bieden. Een van de meest intrigerende en toch eenvoudige methoden is de Grandpa style brewing, ook bekend als Glass brewing. Deze traditionele manier van theedrinken, populair onder de oudere bevolking in China, is een eerbetoon aan de kunst van eenvoud en geduld. Laten we eens duiken in deze boeiende praktijk.

De Kunst van Grandpa Style Brewing

Op het eerste gezicht lijkt Grandpa style brewing verrassend eenvoudig: je plaatst de thee rechtstreeks in je glas, giet er water op en drinkt het vervolgens zonder te filteren. Het is een proces dat onmiddellijke voldoening biedt en een diepgaande verbinding met de thee mogelijk maakt. Maar vergis je niet, er schuilt een subtiele complexiteit achter deze schijnbare eenvoud.

Belangrijke Overwegingen

Er zijn enkele belangrijke overwegingen om te onthouden bij het beoefenen van Grandpa style brewing:

1. Hoeveelheid Thee: Aangezien je de thee rechtstreeks in het glas laat zitten, is het cruciaal om de juiste hoeveelheid thee te gebruiken. Te veel thee kan resulteren in een overdreven sterke infusie, dus wees voorzichtig en gebruik een bescheiden hoeveelheid.

2. Theesoort: Niet alle theeën zijn geschikt voor deze methode. Theesoorten met grotere bladeren zijn ideaal. Witte, gele en groene theeën passen perfect bij Grandpa style brewing. Voor een onvergetelijke ervaring, probeer eens Hou Kui (Monkey Picked) thee.

3. Watertemperatuur: Omdat de thee in het glas blijft, zijn lichtere theesoorten het meest geschikt. Experimenteer met verschillende temperaturen om de perfecte balans te vinden. Je kunt zelfs een heerlijke cold brew maken door de thee te laten trekken in koud water, of gebruik water rond de 75-80 graden Celsius voor een warme infusie.

4. Halfvol is de Sleutel: Drink je glas niet helemaal leeg, maar laat ongeveer een derde over. Op deze manier voorkom je dat de volgende infusie te sterk wordt. Door een beetje van de thee achter te laten, creëer je een zachte en uitgebalanceerde smaakervaring.

Een Verfrissende Afwisseling

Terwijl de Gong Fu Style bekend staat om zijn precisie en ceremonie, biedt Grandpa style brewing een verfrissende afwisseling. Het is een kans om te vertragen, te genieten van het moment en een diepere verbinding met je thee te ervaren. Dus waarom niet eens een pauze nemen van de drukte van het dagelijks leven en jezelf onderdompelen in de eenvoudige pracht van Grandpa style brewing?

Grandpa style brewing is een waardevolle toevoeging aan je repertoire. Dus pak je favoriete glas, kies een heerlijke thee uit en laat je onderdompelen in de tijdloze traditie van Chinese thee.

Wat is Gong Fu Style tea brewing?

Gong Fu Style tea brewing is de Oosterse manier van theezetten. Dit klinkt ingewikkeld maar dat is het niet. Waar het op neerkomt is dat je:

De thee in een kleinere theepot zet.

Meer thee gebruikt in verhouding tot water.

Doordat je meer theebladeren gebruikt laat je de thee minder lang trekken.

Hierdoor kun je de thee meerdere keren opgieten met water.

Deze manier van theezetten zorgt voor een rijkere smaak en textuur van de thee. Om dit te illustreren gebruik ik even mijn andere passie: muziek.

De theebladeren zijn in dit geval de muziek. De theeproducenten zijn de muzikanten. Jij als theeliefhebber bent de muziekproducer. Je kunt een hele goede kwaliteit thee hebben maar als je het niet op de juiste manier zet komt de thee niet goed tot zijn recht. De uitdaging is om de thee zo te zetten zoals de theeproducent het bedoeld heeft. Dit proces kun je zo simpel of ingewikkeld maken als je zelf wil.

Er zijn verschillende manieren waarmee je invloedt kunt uitoefenen op de smaak van de thee.

De eerste is je teaware. Er zijn heel veel verschillende theepotten. Als je een MP3 download en via goedkope oordopjes luistert geeft dat niet dezelfde ervaring als een goede kwaliteit headphone. Net als bij afspeelapparatuur voor muziek zijn er vele soorten theepotten en Gaiwans. Wanneer je een theepot van klei gebruikt reageert het water met de klei en wordt thee zachter van textuur.

De Temperatuur van het water kun je vergelijken met j equalizer. Hoe heter het water des te meer componenten er in één keer vrijkomen uit het theeblad. Wanneer je je muziek keihard aanzet kun je de muziek niet alleen horen maar ook voelen. Alleen wanneer je het té hard zet hoor je alleen nog maar lawaai en hoor je niet meer de nuance van de gitaar, zang en bass. Dat gebeurd ook als je thee de thee niet op de juiste manier zet. De uitdaging is om de juiste balans te vinden. Een mooi voorbeeld is groene thee. Als je daar kokend water opgiet en 2 minuten laat trekken is het heel erg bitter. Heter is niet altijd beter.

Een ander aspect bij Gong Fu style is de hoeveelheid water. Dit kun je vergelijken met een klein bluetooth speakertje vs. een concertzaal. Western Style is dan het bluetooth speakertje, Gong Fu Style de concertzaal. Beide geven een hele andere beleving. In verhouding gebruik je minder water en meer thee bij Gong Fu brewing.

En last but not least: de tijd dat je de thee laat trekken. Omdat je meer thee en minder water gebruikt is het belangrijk dat je de thee niet te lang laat trekken. Je begint met met 30 seconden. En bij elke keer dat je opgiet doe je dat steeds 5 seconden langer. Als je een goede kwaliteit thee hebt kun je wel tot 8-10 keer opgieten voordat de thee echt slap wordt.

En daar begint meteen het avontuur.

Binnen deze richtlijnen kun je zo ontzettend veel keuzes maken! Ik als thee connoisseur kan helemaal verdwalen in details. Spelen met de temperatuur van de thee, trektijden, materiaal van je theepot etc. etc. Maar om lekkere thee te ervaren kun je het ook heel simpel houden. Heel kort samengevat: een glazen theepotje is geschikt voor de lichtere thee zoals wit, groen, geel. En een theepot van porcelein of ander materiaal voor de donkere thee.

Als je weet welke thee je gaat drinken kun je ook verder op avontuur. Je kunt prima een theepot gebruiken. Let alleen op dat je een theepot kiest met een uitneembaar filter. Wanneer je de thee los in de pot gooit wordt het al snel Western Style Brewing (Lees HIER over Western Style brewing)

Kies welke Teaware je gaat gebruiken. Gaiwan of een theepot? Kies je een theepot? Glas, porcelein, of klei. Kies je voor klei? Kies je voor Yixing, Chaouzhou or Jianshui?

Je kunt een uitgebreide theesessie doen waarbij je meerdere keren opgiet. Of 1 of 2 opgieten als je niet zoveel tijd hebt. Het voordeel van Gong Fu Style is dat je de thee gewoon in je theepot/brewer/Gaiwan kunt laten zitten. Wel even de deksel eraf halen zodat de blaadjes kunnen uitwasemen. Je kunt het rustig een aantal uur laten staan voordat je weer opgiet.

Wie gaat er mee op reis in de wereld van thee??

Hieronder een overzicht met richtlijnen per thee. Het is aan jou om te ontdekken wat jij lekker vindt. Veel plezier! Have a nice thee……

Richtlijnen voor hoeveelheid thee per 100 ML:

Gele en groene thee – 3-3.5g per 100ml
Witte thee – 3.5-4g per 100ml
Zwarte thee – 4-4.5g per 100ml
Oolong – 4.5-5g per 100ml
Pu-Ehr – 5g per 100ml
Ball rolled oolong – 6-6.5g per 100ml

Tasting a Pu-Ehr from 2008

Posted on 3 November 2019

It’s been a while since I’ve sat down to do a Tea Blog. First of all because I’ve been on holiday. And I’ve been to London again to stock some Mei Leaf tea again. However the tea I’m drinking today is not a Mei Leaf tea! This tea was a gift from my nephews girlfriend. She got this tea from her uncle who travels a lot to China and is gifted tea. Fortunate enough for me she and my nephew didn’t like this tea and knowing that I am seriously into tea she gave this tea cake to me!

And this tea is a proper Tea Cake! I felt so lucky!! My first Tea Cake! IMG_20191103_1307038

This is not the first time I had a session with this tea. However today I felt this tea deserves it’s own blog. A few Months ago someone recommended a translate app for my phone. You can scan the text with your camera and translate from almost every language including Chinese! So that is what I did with this Tea Cake and that gave me more information about this tea! There was a lot of information on the wrapper once I translated everything and I found out that the leaves from these tea were picked and processed in 2008! So this cake is pressed into a cake and has been ageing since 2008!!

The producer of this tea is a company called Yunnan Dianhong group. They are producing tea since 1939.

The tea that I’m drinking now is made from the Feng Qing’s large leaf variety. The trees grow at an high altitude and the picking is leafs and buds.

As I said, it’s not the first time I drink it today. I had a few sessions with it and it never disappoints! The colour of the liquor is bright but dark. Red like dark cherries. And really thick. The taste is clean, fresh but it feels very warming and round. The smell of the cup smells like liquorice and hay and it reminds me of the barns I used to play as a kid. Luckily it doesn’t taste like that. The taste is sweet and refreshing with notes of chocolate and fresh mountain river water. I have literally been drinking this tea all day and the colour of the “soup” as the Chinese call tea is slightly lighter but still bright. The dark cherry colour is now more chestnut brown. The taste is more crisp like mineral water and still it remains warm and soft. I really love the overal feeling of this tea. Sometimes a tea can make you feel a bit stuffed. Especially when you drink the same tea all day there sometimes comes a point that you had enough of that particular tea. But this one keeps on going strong and stays interesting even after more than 10 infusions! I am so happy with this tea cake!

So a big thank you to my nephew and his girlfriend for not liking it. On the other hand I feel sorry for them on missing out on this spectacular tea as I am pretty sure they didn’t like it because they did not taste it in the right way.

So this is also an open invitation to my nephew and his lady to come over to do a proper tasting session with this tea. I am pretty sure it will taste different when they taste it when it is brewed in a Yixing clay pot and is being drunk from the Jianshui cup.

In the meantime I am the lucky lady that is happy to drink the rejected tea. Enjoying the luxury of my Gong Fu Guru with my Yixing clay teapot and a fancy Jianshui pixelsquare teacup. I will tell you more about my new tea ware in another blog.

I hope you had a lovely weekend too. For now I wish you all the best!

Introduction for future teaheads

Posted on 1 August 2018

Hi people,

I think I am getting good at spreading the word about TEA 😀

Mei Leaf Shout out for turning my friends into Tea Heads

In my opinion this blog is long overdue. People ask me about tea all the time and now I finally got a blog to refer to. A while ago I got a message from one of my friends from The UK asking me about tea. And while answering her questions I realized I almost wrote an entire blog.

I get a lot of questions about tea and I am always happy to answer them all. After all tea is one of my favorite subjects to talk about.

When I start to talk about tea I usually start with saying that most tea bags are not made from proper tea. And that it’s better to drink loose leaf tea. When I was in Sri Lanka at a tea plantation I was told that the tea that is used in tea bags is in fact nothing more than “Tea Dust”.

One of the misconceptions about tea is that loose leaf tea is “inconvenient” and tea bags are easier. But to be honest with you loose leaf tea can be very easy and convenient too. And you can make things as easy or complicated as you wish. Of course I like to have nice tea ware because it is my hobby. With tea it is the same as music. You can record your music in a very high quality. But if someone is listening to this awesome music through some cheap earplugs you won’t get the full experience as when you’re listening to it on a full hifi system. It is up to the individual what kind of experience you’re after. With tea you can buy fancy tea ware. But you don’t have to do it to enjoy the experience. However you can have very high quality green tea but if you don’t use the right tea ware or put boiling water on top of it the tea will still go bitter and be horrible! And the experience is not as good as it could be.

The way you brew your tea has an effect on the tea. Usually we brew Western style: with a teapot. You use less leaves and let it infuse for a longer time to extract the leaves. We leave the leaves in the pot so when the tea sits for a while the rest of the tea turns really strong and most of the time black and bitter. It’s not a really bad way to make tea. But you do reduce the amount of times you can infuse the tea leaves with almost half. With Gong Fu style brewing you use more leaves and you have a shorter time to infuse. You will see that the leaves expand after multiple infusions and the taste will change with every infusion.

I do like the connoisseur tea brewer because it is really easy to brew Gong Fu style in a very easy way. You just add the leaves to the top chamber. Put water on it and after 30 seconds push the button and decant the tea into the lower chamber. It’s easy and hassle free.

If you don’t want to spend money on things like that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy good tea. And it isn’t that much extra work either. You can also use a 2 mugs and a strainer. Just put the leaves in a mug. Put a strainer on another mug and poor the tea from one mug in the other after 30 seconds. It is that simple! And for the next infusions you just put the leaves back into the mug and continue to do so until the infusions get weaker. Just don’t leave the leaves in the water for too long and add about 5 seconds to every infusion. I promise you that this will change the way you look at tea.

I certainly don’t think there is anything wrong if someone loves a certain tea. Even if it’s a teabag. It’s the same with fast food. If you like that stuff and make a conscious decision that you want to eat at McDonalds or Burger King than that is fine. But if you want to be aware of what you drink and drink good quality tea that smells and taste good than loose leave is the step to take. And tea drinking becomes more exciting.

Actually teabags are not even filled with tea. It is tea dust. All the leftovers from processing tea is just used to put into a bag. That is why it is cheap and easy. Teabags are designed to extract all their flavor as soon as the water hits the teabags and then you throw them away. Tea bags are are accidentally discovered when a tea seller packed his tea in small bags when he send tea to one of their customers. When he got in touch with the customer he found out that they didn’t take the tea out of the packet and that they liked the convenience of it. And that is how the tea bag was developed. Loose leaf is more about getting more flavor out of the leaves over multiple infusions and really let the leave expand and develop the flavor with every infusion.

Which brings me to another misconception and that tea is boring. Tea got this image just because people don’t know about good tea. Good tea takes you on a journey. And seriously…. You’ve got no idea haha….it’s like following the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland….. once your down that hole you have no idea what hit you. Your life will never be the same! 🙂 The quality of loose leaf tea is much better. And in the end it is actually cheaper than teabags. Once you discovered the convenience of drinking tea that way there is a whole world to explore.

What people don’t know is that you can get a real kick out of tea! You might think that coffee, wine or beer is exciting and tea is not. But you must admit that the fact that you can actually get tea drunk must appeal to even the most resistant tea drinker. Tea can seriously influence your mood! When you drink Matcha that can have the same effect on you as a double espresso. Aged white tea can get you tea drunk. A ripe Pu-Erh tea can give you a satisfied feeling.

But there also are lots of health benefits. I haven’t explored that part of tea yet. But no doubt that I will dive into that side of tea someday. At this point my focus is on taste and how tea makes me feel. I am trying out different kinds of tea from different countries. I haven’t even scratched a bit from the surface. Slowly but surely I start to focus on certain types of tea and certain area’s. So that is the horizontal part of the tasting. Now I am going to dive into certain tea’s. I fell in love with Japanese green tea and now I am starting to explore the different types of Sencha and Matcha.

And I recently decided that I it was time for me to upgrade my teaware and invested in Mei Leaf’s Gong Gu Guru. A set of cups and special teapots to turn drinking tea into a bit of a ceremony. This is of course not everyone’s cup of tea. But for me it takes tea drinking to another level. There are so many things that influence the taste of tea. And like I said before, the right teaware makes a difference too. The set contains a Yixing clay teapot. The clay of the pot will react with the water and the tea and makes for a more smoother tea than when you brew the tea in porcelain or glass. This teapots are especially desirable when you brew oolong tea which needs to be brewed quite hot. And the clay retains the heat longer than a glass teapot.

However that is not something you want with a green tea. Green tea is better when brewed at a lower temperature so a glass teapot is more suitable for green tea because the glass doesn’t retain the heat as long as clay. The Gong Fu Guru contains both and also includes all the other accessories you can use when you are Gong Fu style brewing. But as I said before, you don’t need all that to enjoy a good quality tea.

It all might sound very intimidating but it is all up to the individual what kind of experience you’re after. And don’t get me wrong. When I’m travelling I will be happy to drink teabag tea. No problem. It’s not that I’m a tea snob now. It’s just when given a choice I’d rather go for the loose leaf tea. Having said that, the quality of the tea that is being served when I order a cup of tea in The Netherlands is getting slightly better. They’re still teabags but you can tell that tea gets more attention than before. More people decide to drink tea instead of coffee.

I hope that by sharing my experience more people will discover the wonderful world of tea. It’s not just about the tea. There is a complete community of people who love “the leaf” and love to share their experience and even their tea with each other. I would love to have a platform like Goodreads. Goodreads is a social network where you can post your book reviews and can befriend people. A little bit like Facebook for bookworms. Mei Leaf gives you the opportunity to share your tasting notes. All I miss is the opportunity to swap tea with other Teaheads. I mentioned that idea on the Mei Leaf facebookpage and I got the response that it is something they intend to implement in the future. And I also mentioned it at several Live sessions. So who knows what the future brings.

In the meantime I will keep drinking the good stuff with my Gong Fu Guru. Until next time: Stay away from the teabags too!!

Miranda.

Gong Fu Guru

Posted on 1 August 2018

Oh dear! I became a real Tea Head!! A couple of blogs ago I mentioned that I was not ready to invest in a special Clay teapot because I didn’t think it was necessary to enjoy tea. That lasted until I visited Mei Leaf last October and completely fell in love with the Gong Fu Guru!! However, this exclusive tea set is extremely expensive and I just couldn’t justify spending so much money on a very tiny teapot!!! I don’t care how cute it was, over €300,- for a tea set is way over my budget!

So…. I can hear you wonder…. that background in that picture does not look like Mei Leaf teahouse……… NOPE!! True….. it is indeed what you think….. it’s my living room!!

YEP!! I got a Gong Fu Guru!! But don’t worry. I didn’t spend over €300,– on this. This is one from the B- stock. Which basically means that they are sold with a discount because there is a small defect on it somewhere. Having said that. It is such a minor thing that I haven’t even spotted “what is wrong” with mine!!! At one point I had the brilliant idea that I was going to visit the Tea House in June. So I thought it would be a good idea to ask if they would set a Gong Fu Guru aside so I could pick it up in June as that would safe me over €40,- on shipping. However they suggested to have a look if they could send it with another courier for less and they made an offer I could not refuse!

So here it is…….. my Gong Fu Guru! The picture is taken when I only had it for a week and a half but you can tell from looking at the porcelain that I’ve used it a lot! It already started to have the characteristic cracks inside the cup to map out my tea journey. To be honest with you it isn’t something I particularly like but I looked at buying the GFG2 without the teaware and it didn’t save me a lot of money. If I had to buy the teaware separate it would still be a lot of money. So I decided to buy the set anyway. I can always buy other teaware in addition to what I’ve got now. But I do love to use it!!

It is very easy to use as well! There is a coloured ABS tray inside that prevents the bamboo from staining and this is also very easy to lift out of the bamboo tray to empty it and clean it. When you’re finished you just rinse the Yixing clay pot and leave it to dry. And you rinse and dry the stainless steel watercatcher and put it back on the bamboo box. It’s such a pleasure to work with it. And of course I had to do a taste test! I wasn’t sure if I could taste the difference between tea brewed in glass or in the Yixing clay pot. But I have to say: I do taste the difference! The tea gets much smoother. More velvet like with a rounder and softer taste. I never thought my taste buds where this developed!

Over the last couple of Months I’ve been using it almost every Sunday and I still love it as much as the first time I’ve used it.

The Gong Fu Guru also contains a glass tea pot which perfect to brew green tea. When it’s nice and warm day I like to drink green tea. You brew this tea at a lower temperature so unlike with oolongs and black tea you don’t need a teapot that retains the heat. I love green tea when it’s warm because it’s also very nice when it cools down. And because the glass teapot doesn’t retain heat as long as the Yixing teapot the tea cools down slightly quicker.

I just love the look of the Long Jin Dragonwell.

pixlr_20180506184318073

So the glass teapot is perfect for this tea. Having said that. It’s such a pleasure to do tea sessions with the Yixing Clay pot!! It is so cute and the taste of the tea is amazing! I can’t wait to go to the Mei Leaf Tea house again to get my hands on new tea. It is not just about the taste of the tea. But is just so nice to just sit and enjoy the tea. From smelling the leaves to pouring the tea into you cup. You really experience the tea.

I am really happy that I decided to buy the Gong Fu Guru after all. It makes drinking tea just a little bit more special. There is still so much I need to learn. Slowly but surely I start to get to know a little bit more and I start to develop a sense of what I like and what I don’t like. And I am just a beginner!

So I am really looking forward to dive even deeper into the rabbit hole and explore the world of tea! I hope you’re coming along on this journey and try some true tea yourself. To speak with Don Mei’s words: Stay away from teabags and drink the good stuff. Because nobody deserves bad tea!

Miranda.

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Sencha Gyokuro Asahi

Posted on 11 October 2017

Wow!! What an afternoon for a Teahead like me! This afternoon I went to Cups and Leaves in Haarlem. A wonderful Tea bar. But before that I went to my favorite shop in Haarlem: The art of Tea

What I love about this shop is that you don’t have to buy bulk. So if you want to buy 50 gram of a certain tea that is no problem at all. So therefore you can try more tea. Now that I’ve tried more tea my pallet starts to develop more and I become more adventurous. I am now discovering Japanese Green Tea. I had read about Sencha Gyokuro so my aim today was getting some of it. It turns out that I’ve got a pretty expensive taste! Not only do I like Matcha. Another favorite of mine is Milk Silk Oolong. But even the Milk Oolong is cheap compared by the Sencha. But if you can get your hands on it you are in for a treat! Just the smell alone is divine! I am still struggling with my tasting notes! I can’t put into words what I smell and taste! It is literally on the tip of my tong but I just can’t get my head around it! But I’m going to try it anyway.

From the moment the store owner handed me my packet I smelled something very nice and sweet. And when I opened my bag just a little bit later to get something I just could smell the tea. I expected green tea to be a bit savory and grassy. But this one it totally not!! It’s lubricating, thick and sweet. It smells like banana’s, milk, warm cookies. But it also got something fresh about it. You just don’t know what hit you! I think this is the most exciting tea I’ve ever tasted! It swirls you around. The smell, the taste. One moment you think: Ah, banana…. and then you think..ooh, it’s more like almonds, or milky. It’s not bitter but when you had a few sips there is a little hint of bitterness that turns into sweet. It feels a bit rough on the tongue but not in a unpleasant way. Like you just ate something that got stuck on your tongue. But it’s just on the top. The sides stay fresh and clean. And although it’s got a slightly bitter ending it is not unpleasant.

After about 7-8 infusions the tea gets less sweet and becomes more astringent, a little more savory, just a little bit more bitter with a sweet aftertaste. And it also the minerality gets more to the forefront. So it keeps surprising. But the aftertaste is still like cookies. Quite milky. It’s a very easy tea to drink. It also got something fruity to it. I can’t really put my finger on what kind of fruit. But besides bananas it also got notes of some fresher fruit. But the milk and cookies and bananas are the main smells and taste that keep coming back. It’s a stunner!! This tea got so much dept. And even after so many infusions this tea keeps revealing different layers. I keep thinking Wow, what is it now that I smell and taste. But it is a very clean, fresh tea. The aftertaste is amazing. I can taste it in the back of my throat. It doesn’t make me feel full. Some tea makes you feel stuffed. But this one doesn’t at all. I had so many cups and I feel like I can have some more. And I will! 😀 I am going to drink some more. This is the most exciting tea I’ve had so far! What an adventure! Not like any green tea I ever had. If someone had said to me that this was an oolong I would’ve believed it as well because this is such a different green tea. So yeah, I am a fan!! I’m going to drink some more………. absolutely awesome tea!

Until next time……keep drinking loose leaf tea teaheads!

White tea from Sri Lanka and Milk Silk Oolong

Posted on 17 April 2017.

Today I am drinking a rare White Tea from Sri Lanka. When I visited the shop in Haarlem the owner of the shop recommended this one so I had to try it. Now exploring the world of tea is not always as much fun as you think. In this case I was a bit disappointed. First of all the smell of the dry leaves didn’t excite me at all. My sense of smell is not too good anyway so in order to get excited I need strong smells. This tea was a bit faint. I could smell a bit of nuttyness (is that a word?? I think it is) and some minerals. But it was way in the back. The dry leaves looked okay so I brewed it at 70 degrees. I didn’t want the water to be too hot in case it would get bitter. Well, the verdict is that it was bitter anyway. Although the taste is fresh and grassy. It made my mouth feel dry. I had a clenching feeling at the back of my throat and it was quite bitter. That bitterness turned into sweetness after a few seconds. But the minerality of the tea is overpowering the grassy and nutty notes after a few infustions. I stopped drinking it after about 8-9 infusions because I got bored with it. The overall feeling was not as nice as I hoped. Not that it is a bad tea. I am sure there are a lot of people that like this tea. And I have not giving up on it yet. I want to do a cold brew with it as well to see how that goes. Because this might be a perfect tea to drink on a Summer day when it is a bit warmer because I think it will be very refreshing. But for now I have decided this is not my cup of tea. Hopefully I change my mind when I try it again in the future.

Because I felt a bit disappointed with this White Tea I went on to one of my favorites: Milk Silk Oolong

This is the first Oolong tea I’ve ever tasted. And from the moment I smelled this tea I knew I was onto something! It smells sweet and comforting and this enhances when you start to brew. This is a feelgood tea. As soon as you take a zip it’s like someone throws a comfy blanket over your shoulders. It smells sweet and the taste is rich and creamy. It reminds me of buttered popcorn and condensed milk with hints of coconut. It coats your mouth and leaves it soft and smooth. Only when you infuse the leaves more than 6-7 times the sweetness transfers into nuttyness and it starts to get just a little bit more clenching in the back of your throat. But only a little bit. Not too much. The smoothness stays but the nuttyness is getting more to the front and it also starts to taste a bit weaker and the minerality takes slightly over. But overall this tea is just so soft and smooth. And the look of the leaves is just stunning. The dry leaves are ball rolled. But when you start to infuse they expand to this huge wonderful coloured leaves.

Look at the size of the leaves! Just absolutely amazing. I compared the one I bought at The Art of…..Tea, Haarlem with the one from Mei Leaf and I was happy to conclude they both tasted and looked pretty much the same. The only difference I could spot was that the Mei Leaf one had a few more stalks with the leaves attached to them. I don’t know (yet) if this is a good or a bad thing but as I said I didn’t taste any difference. They were both smooth and sweet and absolutely gorgeous. I both brewed the first infusions at 80 degrees. Later infusions were around 70. That was when the taste became slightly more nutty and you started to get that little bit of clenching feeling in the back of your throat. But as I said, it is just a minor clench. Nothing too strong. This is a very creamy, smooth tea that I can easily drink all afternoon (which I did) Only after 20-25 infusions the tea gets weaker if you keep brewing at 70 degrees. But as soon as you start to brew with a higher temperature and longer infusions it gets stronger again. So this tea might be slightly expensive. It is definitely worth the money because you can infuse it so many times. I also tend to let the leaves in the tea brewer overnight with the lid open and start infusing them again the next day and it will be just as good as the day before.

So if you are looking for a smooth and creamy, and sweet tea. This is your cup of tea.

Next step will be finding out which cheese goes well with this tea! I am really looking forward to combine tea with cheese. At the moment I am still educating myself about the do’s and don’ts of tea pairing. But there are a lot of nice videos on You Tube. I am currently binch watching the videos of Betty Koster from ‘L Amuse. She runs a cheese shop in IJmuiden and is a well known name in the world of cheese. She was also one of the first people to tell everyone about tea pairing with cheese so there is a lot to learn from her!

So that is it for today. I am going to curl up on the couch with a book and drink some more tea before heading for bed.

’till next time!

Getting tea drunk on Jade Star

Posted on 12 March 2017

So today I felt a bit worn out. Beaten, tired and uninspired. In my state of boredom I usually get my laptop out, sit on the couch and take it from there.

Today was not any different. However, as always I sometimes just get a spark of inspiration from somewhere. Usually from listening to music. Today it won’t surprise you the inspiration came from Duran Duran. I started watching You Tube clips and from there I ended up linking to other videos and then inspiration hit me. I needed some tea!

Yes, this is just an ordinary lazy Sunday with my favorite things.

I stumbled upon a video of the Jade Star Tea. And I suddenly realized that I bought this tea when I visited the Mei Leaf Teahouse last Month when I went to see Thunder at the HMV at Oxford street.

So that is how I got the inspiration……….

Getting Tea Drunk on Jade Star sounded like the perfect way to spend this Sunday. So here I am…. It is 13:50 and I just got my first infusion of this golden liquid in my glass….

As Don Mei is my Mr. Tea(cher) you will notice I borrow a lot of his Tea vocabulary.

In this blog I won’t go too much into detail of what the tea taste like. I will leave that up to Mr. Tea himself. You can watch his video on You Tube via the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNRHPDJ8eUk

But I will try to describe what this tea does to you. First of all the smell is very uplifting and bright. So that down and beaten feeling that I experienced earlier is lifted just by smelling the freshness of the tea. It feels like breathing fresh spring air. And since the sun is out and it starts to get spring slowly but surely this makes your heart jump with joy.

Funny enough when I started drinking it gave me a warm and satisfying feeling. It made me feel warm and comfortable like someone put a warm blanket around me. But still having your head in crisp, slightly freezing air.

After a few glasses of tea I already feel I am getting more and more rebellious and starting to feel mischievous. I feel the need to be extremely funny. Which I know I am not (well, maybe I am sometimes. But not now!)

And I do feel I want to explore my mind. That is one of the reasons I wanted to drink this tea. Because I feel I was a bit uninspired. And I definitely feel like I start to loose up a little mentally. I felt a bit stuck lately so I was hoping this tea would just wash down some mental barriers. Which is does, so it seems.

Most people who know me won’t recognize the difference in my writing as I tend to be on the sentimental and spiritual side of things anyway. But as I said, I kind of lost my inspiration a bit. And it does feel like it is getting back now. Funny enough, slowly but surely, I feel the things fall into place again! At this point it is hard to describe what is going on in my mind. And you probably don’t even want to know. But what I can tell you is that you will find out sooner or later hahaha……….

As I wrote on my facebook page yesterday: Once you know me it is hard to get rid of me. If that is a good thing or not that is up to you to decide.

What I do know is that this whole Tea Thing is just as much a part of my evolution as a human being as my blogging. And I am getting some insane ideas as I blog (and live) along……..

The other day I was on Twitter and someone reacted to one of the posts of Mei Leaf. It turned out this guy had his own Tea blog!! Funny enough he is from Amsterdam and shared some amazing blogs that inspired me again. It is so amazing how the world goes around! Who knew that there are other Tea Heads that got inspired by Don Mei and spread the word just like he says in his videos!! And how cool is it that you as an individual can inspire someone else! I mean…. That is what I keep saying every time in this blog! Keep it simple, do what you love, be honest to yourself. And don’t be someone that you’re not comfo rtable with. You as an individual can inspire people just by being you.

And I happen to be a human being that is passionate about music, tea and animals and food. And I also am passionate about writing and sharing my thoughts about this subjects. Wouldn’t it be fun to make a living out of this?!!

Well, having said that, I already kind of do that anyway. So maybe I need to fine tune my wish and focus more on the writing side of things. In the meantime I keep on trying to post something here so now and then. I certainly enjoy this blogging a lot. Letting you inside of my world and let you know what is on my mind.

Back to the getting Tea Drunk state…… The next infusion of my tea will be my 7th or 8th infusion and it is now 15:30 I feel relaxed, but bright and the tea is still feeling very smooth in the mouth. The inside of my mouth feels soft and I feel like I can drink more tea. Some tea makes you feel full and give you this heavy feeling. This tea is one you can keep on drinking. It’s really refreshing but it leaves you feel warm and cozy instead of chilly. I got a bit of tingle going on in my whole body. I really love this tea! It really makes you feel buzzing. But not hyper. So far I can’t say that I am really Tea Drunk. I still feel like my usual self. I do feel this tea got an effect on me. It made me feel more refreshed. And because the tea is so soft an smooth I got this nice sweetness and smoothness in my mouth. I hope the creative reflection is kicking in later. And the way I feel now I got the feeling this might be the case. So hopefully I will be blogging some more in the not too distant future. I will definitely try to get my hands on a few sample bags once I go back to Mei Leaf in October this year. Yes, I’ve already planned a new trip and getting my hands on more tea. And if I can’t wait that long there is always the webshop. 🙂

On that note, there are some very nice tea shops in my area. One of my favorite places to stock up is :

https://www.the-art-of-tea-herbs-spices.nl/

What I love about this shop is that you can fill up your own bags. And you can take as little as 40 grams. That way you can just try and sample as much tea as you like without having to spend a fortune. In my case I still do as I tend to buy so much samples!! 🙂

So I will continue to sample this lovely tea. Hope you had a wonderful Sunday as well. Go ahead and try some loose leaf tea as well! Once you experienced good tea you really don’t want to go back to teabags! And I haven’t even touched the subject of all health benefits of tea! I hope I find time to tackle that subject in future blogs.

Bye for now!
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From the Mei Leaf webshop: http://chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/jade-star/202/

Blended white tea from Taimu Mountain in Fuding. Aged for over 6 years, this white tea is like drinking your way into dreamland. Intensely euphoric and energizing with a meditative foundation.

ORIGIN: Taimu, Fuding, Fujian

HARVEST: Spring 2011

ALTITUDE: 1000m

There is a common misconception that White tea should be drunk fresh. This is not true. White tea can be aged and in fact if it is aged correctly then it is more valuable than fresh. There is an expression in China – One year white tea is tea, three year white tea is medicine, seven year white tea is treasure.

There is a big difference between old tea and aged tea. Old tea is tea that has been sitting in a cupboard in mediocre conditions and it has lost its verve and vibrancy. Aged tea has been meticulously produced and stored to accentuate complexity in flavour and effect.

This tea was picked in Spring 2011 and aged loose for three years before blending and compressing into a cake for further ageing.

This tea is a blend of Bai Mu Dan and Shou Mei white tea. Yinzhen or Silver Needle tea can be aged but is very expensive and does not tend to change as much through age as Bai Mu Dan and Shou Mei. The Shou Mei is normally considered to be a lower grade white tea but when it is aged it becomes rich and dark and adds a beautiful roundness to the flavour, texture and effect of this tea.

This tea will get you tea drunk. A magic happens in the ageing process that increases the psychoactive effects of this tea. The effect is quite energetic, giggly and floaty but a kind of creative reflection is possible too. If you would like to feel this effect then be sure to brew strong and over several infusions. Preferably this tea should be drunk Gong Fu style.

We would not advise drinking this tea before bed. Instead this is a tea for going out, socialising or a reflective and creative day.

The tea is a pale amber gold, medium bodied and very smooth. Wet forest, moss, nuts and a touch of muscatel fruitiness and fermentation to begin with but then the tea moves into more herbaceous tones like verbena. From there the minerality of the tea takes over with a sweetness reminiscent of rain on hot stone. The tea becomes slightly more quenching though subsequent infusions.