Posted on August 28, 2010
In any tasting session, brief or more time-intensive, I generally try to taste teas that belong to one subgroup.
Usually the range is narrower, but sometimes the exigencies of having to decide on one over another in preparing an order, or just plain eagerness to taste an unusual looking tea make for a grouping of teas [...]
Posted on December 22, 2008
In my posts I often refer to high or low grade teas. Besides learning to identify correctly different tea categories, it’s good to have some idea of standards not just within each category but within each varietal or sub-varietal.
Teas from Sri Lanka and India are accompanied by terminology that is specific and telling: BOPF, TGFOP, [...]
Posted on December 22, 2008
The sales of Jasmine scented tea rolled up into little pearls has out-paced that of any other I can recall. At times it seemed that we could never have enough in stock, calling in air shipments to fill the demand.
Known as Dragon Phoenix Pearls or Jasmine Silver Pearls (Mo Li Yin Zhu), each little sphere [...]
Posted on November 17, 2008
Last weekend I visited a tea salon (in New York’s meat-packing district), enticed by an impressive list of teas on its website. Wanting to try something new, and limiting myself to unflavored teas, I chose one that was listed as a White tea.
When the pot was brought and the tea poured, the first cup was [...]