Global Tea Time

A trip to the tea shop means new teas to try. While I did get several of my old favorites, I still have new teas on the menu left to try. This time I decided that I wanted a dark oolong to try. Well, technically I got a red cape oolong as a sample with some tea ware I bought last year, so this isn't a completely unknown tea, but its been a while. They are beautiful, heavily oxidized leaves. As usual, I'm gushing over some quality leaf. Of course the leaves I'm interested in are tea leaves. I know some people have interests in other types of leaves, but I'm too boring for that. I wanted a dark oolong tea in the mix, so I opted to get a bag of wuyi shan red cape. It's not an entirely new tea to me since I got a small sample bag of this tea when I ordered my gaiwan and first two tea pets. It had been a while since I'd had it, so it was time to get a bag. I was in a phase where I was really liking my darker teas, so it seemed appropriate to get an oolong that coul...

Today I'm trying "My Growing Love". That's really what it's called! This is one of those packets that doesn't have a real flavor written on it other than saying it is green tea with rose flower. Remember those colorful, shaped sponges that came in little plastic pills that you put in hot water to dissolve the pill and watch the sponge burst out? This is the tea version. This water tea sculpture went for height. I had to add more water to my teapot, and it still didn't reach its full height. As I said before, this is not gourmet tea, but it is fun to watch it. The instructions say to steep for 5-10 minutes (which is a really long time for green tea). Considering that the teapot holds more water than the mug I'm drinking from, the water that doesn't fit has to hang out with the tea a while longer. I had to laugh at the stack of flowers floating on its side in the teapot. I could imagine saying that it was some sort of aquatic alien struggling to...

I got a 12 pack of blooming teas as a Christmas present from a friend. I was amused looking at the selection of teas. The left hand side of the box has love themed teas, and the right side of the box has fruit flavored teas. The teas with the red backgrounds do tell what flavor they are, and technically floral sunset isn't a particularly romantic theme. The teas with the pink background pictures give no hint as to the flavor other than green tea with rose flower. I'm not sure that they all taste the same since they have different flowers in the pictures of the tea. I'm thinking the names have something to do with the shape of the flower sculpture in your teapot. I decided to give the pineapple tea a try this morning. Thank goodness that big storm that started Friday morning made the roads coming home slick, but not impassable. The condo complex where I live doesn't clear the snow until it is done snowing. I'm worried there will be a day when I can't come home...