TeaChat

Here is my new yellow tea - Wild Kwan Yin - aka Sparrow Tongue
From TeaSource

This is only the second yellow tea I have tried, they are not all that easy to find. I like this one much better than my first. This one is very sweet and silky somewhere between a second infustion TKY and a white tea.
Very nice.

Very pretty. Might have to try that one myself. While I'm not a super fan of High Mtn oolongs, I do like Yellow teas a LOT, go figure.

Thanx for sharing, Victoria. Great presentation! You should do this for each tea you try. But then you would not have time to try all those teas...a catch-22.

Victoria wrote:Here is my new yellow tea

For a minute there I thought I was staring down the throat of a gaiwan! Lovely photos, especially the one with the multicolored ... whatever ... reflections of something, stained glass, prism? ... cool.

How much leaf did you use? It looks like enough spent leaf to start a compost heap or a worm farm. Does one normally use a lot of leaf for yellow teas? ... I think white teas use a lot, but my experience is close to nil.

It looks like the cups are very small, and the dry leaf is probably twice as much as she actually used. I think I use that much when I brew 8oz of most (non-rolled) teas, those oolongs and yellows need space!

I wonder if a worm farm would like tea leaves? Reminds me that I've been meaning to get one of those counter-top compost collectors, I've been wasting a lot of tea leaves, though I do throw them out under my shrubs often, I think our NW foliage likes the tea leaves as much as they like the coffee grounds I used to give them.

The cups are dwarfed next to Victoria's big Bodum...16 ounces or close to it.

The tea looks really flavorful...a little reminescent of Luan gua pian green.

One cup is dry leaf and the other is spent leaf? I guess my rolled oolongs expand to fill the entire cup by the time I am finished with them, so maybe this isn't so much. Sorry worms, you'll have to eat coffee.

Salsero wrote:One cup is dry leaf and the other is spent leaf? I guess my rolled oolongs expand to fill the entire cup by the time I am finished with them, so maybe this isn't so much. Sorry worms, you'll have to eat coffee.

Today, a tiny ant was nibbling on some used Hatsumi sencha leaf that was sticking out of my kyusu. I found this curious that after 4 steeps an ant would be interested. My gaiwan full of still relatively fresh 3 steep Da Hong Pao Oolong was completely left alone. I draw no conclusion except the obvious...ants prefer used up sencha to oolong!

Looks great! I have only tried one yellow but my experiences was a good one.

Thanks all! Yes, one is the dry leaf and one is the brewed leaf.
Those cups are teeny, tiny 40ml. How much did I use - oy! I never measure!
For a 16oz pot, I guess 1.5 tablespoons.

No stained glass, just a reflection from the trees in my backyard and the bougainvillea.

that stuff is good, really big leaves. they tried to make it for me in-store and the beehouse strainer could not contain them.

greenisgood wrote:that stuff is good, really big leaves. they tried to make it for me in-store and the beehouse strainer could not contain them.

I guess you are in the Twin Cities. I am likely going up there later in the month and plan to stop by TeaSource. Which location is better and what else should I get there? The employees don't seem too helpful, or maybe I just don't know how to communicate with them. Is Bill ever in either store?

TeaSource is a new favorite for me. I have been very impressed with everything I have ordered from there. So I'll be anxiously awaiting your report.

Their website needs work though. I have probably placed at least 6 orders from them and there is no order history.

I've never been to the St. Anthony one, but I really like going to the one in St. Paul. I've seen Bill there a couple times but my guess is he might be at the other one...there's another manager at the highland park one a lot.

Some stuff that's unique are the Handmaid Glendale Nilgiri which is a really good light black tea with big leaves, the Blue Beauty Oolong which is flavored with ginseng and licorice and is kind of interestingly spicy, a good green called orchid plum which is unflavored but tastes like it says, and a green from ceylon called bonnie blink thats really odd but good. Besides that they have a lot of solid chinese greens and darjeelings. And if you're into chai, their house chai is reallly good.

I like Nilgiri. Where can you find Handmaid Glendale Nilgiri? Is it like a Darjeeling?