Red Pearls

31/12/2010, posted by Cha in tea

This tea is not a usual red tea. It comes from Taiwan and it’s name was given only in 2007.  I don’t know how you can obtain this tea other than directly mailing Stéphane Erler.

What’s very nice about it is that it actually  has cinnamon notes  and it’s very very sweet. It’s one of the best red teas I had.   The tea is  made from a luanze oolong cultivar and also rolled as a oolong tea (!).  Further more, the tea has been roasted four times after being fully oxidized.  You can read more  tasting notes about this tea here .

I have this tea for a while now, but it is one of those teas that you don’t want to stop and take photos because it is that good.

My only concern is to be able to find more of this tea after I finish my current stock.

Since 2010 almost ended, I want to thank you all who read this blog and I wish you a Happy New Year.

Tea table

18/12/2010, posted by Cha in teaware

In most of the cases, I drink tea while sitting on the floor. Not only me, but also my guests. While it’s great for me,  it does require my  guests to bow when you pick a tea cup.   I have noticed many times that many use low tables for their gongfu tea.  On flickr, I most often see this on Aeternitas photostream ( Great tea photos btw).

So, after a while, I noticed one for sale at a local tea shop.  While it’s very rough, it does improve the quality of my tea sessions.  First, once you sit near it, it creates it’s own space.   You feel like in a tiny tea room once you sit down, rather than having tea in a larger room. My guests also feel more comfortable.

The pic above shows a tea setup based on a Cha Bu (while using the table) . The pics bellow depict a typical Saturday morning for me.    No special setups, and the table also ‘hosts’ the previous tea (see the glass jar and the wet leaves).

No words

04/12/2010, posted by Cha in journal