Reading the Tea Leaves

Tea Education, Consultancy, and Tastings

Archive for Category : Black Teas

  1. Gold Rush

    There are Silver Pearls and Silver Needles to be found in teas, and as these Jasmine and White teas become better known, “silver” attached to tea has entered common parlance.  The grey-silver sheen of certain types of teas comes from the fine, downy hairs of unopened buds.  Silvery sproutings contrast against darker leaves in some [...]

  2. Looking at Leaves, Learning to Taste

    Last month (May) I gave a tea talk at UCLA along with a tasting that was part of the school’s annual “Asia in LA 2010″ day-long program.
    Most of  the material I presented has been covered in various earlier posts, but I provide here the teas that I brought for the tasting and my reasoning for [...]

  3. I don’t know about the reading habits of other people but when I read magazine or newspaper articles online, one topic leads to another and yet another, and the ease of clicking on links means I often end up quite a ways away from my original search.  And so it is with tea-related  browsing and [...]

  4. Where There’s Smoke

    It’s one of things you either seek out or try to avoid, like durian.
    Lapsang Souchong Black is a tea much sought after by those who can’t get enough of its “tarry” smoke taste or assiduously avoided by people who can’t abide the smoky smell, much less the thought of actually drinking this smoky brew.
    Its proper [...]

  5. Gunpowder Black

    Readers of earlier posts know that I am not fond of Gunpowder Green tea.  When I see it on a tea menu (in shops, on menus, as pods for automatic brewers), I always wonder why this tea was chosen when there are so many better tasting Green teas.  From casual observation in China, I realize [...]

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