Tea Journey

Matcha: Taste is Everything 1

 What is your favorite tea?  Mine is matcha, I first tried it in 2010 when I got a can of Kono-En Kirin Matcha from David’s Tea. They had a small amount which went fairly quickly. Now they have their own brand of Matcha.

 In September Kohei over at Tales of Japanese Tea posted about how matcha is not about price or origin. Which you can check out by clicking the link in the previous sentence. After reading his post it made me think about how I was trained to think that Uji matcha is the best. After some thought I started to try a few differnt matcha’s. Once a week  for the month of December I will be sharing my notes on various matchas I have encountered. 

  For my first subject, I will be tasting Teavana’s Matcha. This one is from  Nishio, Aichi Prefecture, Japan tea. They carry two sizes, 40g and 80g. The latter is the size I have on hand.

    After warming my winter tea bowl (Chawan), its time to whisk! This tea whisks well with a nice foamy froth.The colour is a beautiful vivid green that stands out well from the interior of the chawan.

 Time to taste! The taste
makes my mouth salivate and moves the taste throughout my mouth. I am surprised to find that there is a
slight citrus fruit taste, that dissipates in to a light vegetal flavour. The
typical chocolate taste is barely there. the final lingering taste is sweet. it
reminds me of mandarin oranges.

  Over all its a great tea. I found out that this tea was from Nishio, a few months after acquiring it. This initially prevented me from drinking it, but after Kohei’s post I am glad I gave it another chance. My only problem with this tea is that you need to remember to drink it quickly. The reason is this tea likes to separate on you.  Other than that, this tea is actually really great for daily use or even Sado practice. 

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 Have you tried this matcha before? Please feel free to comment below with your experience. I would love to hear from you~ 
Till next time- Kat

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Tao Tea Leaf- Spring 2011 Tea Tasteing

Everyone listening and watching Tao prepare the next tea.

 It has been a fair while since June. The tea tasting at Tao‘s had left me with a large list of teas to get when I could. The tasting landed on the one year aniversary of being with Teaopia and keeping this blog.

Tea Sampling order:
1. White tea:  White Peony
                      Silver Needle
2. Green Tea:  Anji Bai Cha
                       Long Jing
                      Bi Lou Chun
3. Yellow Tea: Jun Shan Yin Shen
4.Oolong Tea: Phoenix Dan Cong (Almond)
5.Black Tea: Golden Needle
6.Pu-er: 2007 White Moon Loose (Sheng)
            Jing Mai (Sheng)

                                                                                    

    The teas I have from this year only consist of Tie Kuwan Yin and the very delightful White Peony. I do have craveings for the smooth lightness of Anji Bai Cha and the warmth of Phoenix Dan Cong (Almond). Haveing tried Phoenix Dan Cong (Honey) it is a nice little change.
     But since the news of the rankings Tao received for some of his teas has made me eager to try this years Da Hong Pao as it received 3rd place in the North American Tea Competition. The rest of his rankings are:

  • Dragonwell (Shi Feng)-First Place
  • Keemun – First Place
  • Imperial Puer (shou) – Second Place
  • Golden Needle – Second Place
  • Da Hong Pao – Third Place
  • Silver Needle – Third Place

The previous year three of his teas were ranked, Keemun Kong Fu, Golden needle and Da Hong Pao.  Their rankings were in sequential order first, second and third place. As I write up this post I am even drinking Tao’s White Peony 2011 out of some fine china at my parents place (still need to leave my own tea equipment here). I encourage anyone that visits the Toronto Rosedale area to see Tao. I am eagerly sipping this white tea wondering what the next years batch will be like. ~

My Co-Worker thoroughly enjoying the afternoon with me