Drinking Tea with the Seasons

[jayinhk]

Some advocate drinking tea with the seasons:

1. Scented in spring (e.g., jasmine)
2. Green in summer
3. Oolong in autumn
4. Black in winter (pu erh, liu an, etc)

I find myself drinking a lot of green after my trip to Vietnam a few months ago; in my experience green isn't much good a year later unless stored vacuum sealed in the freezer. I'm only drinking greens and greener oolongs now; as it starts to cool down I'll go down to medium and high fire oolongs, and then black teas in winter. Anyone else find themself drinking their tea this way?

[BW85]

To an extent. I don't drink a lot of green tea, but this summer I've mainly been drinking a lot of young sheng and mid fired oolongs, and only green oolongs occasionally. Later at night, inside with the a/c on, I still drink older sheng and oolongs with a little more roast on them. But come the cooler weather of autumn I'll be bustin out my more cherished high fire oolongs and aged puers... After a long hot summer in the middle US I always look forward to the season change

[jayinhk]

I wasn't into green tea last year, but this year I can't get enough of the stuff! Same with the greener oolongs. Conversely I have absolutely no desire to drink pu erh or black teas this summer. Go figure!

[debunix]

I find my tea cravings mostly relating to temperature: if I'm hot, I am more likely to want a green or light oolong tea; if I'm cold, I more often want to warm up with roasted oolong or earthy puerh. But it's less about the weather outside than about personal comfort: too much A/C on a summer day when I'm lightly dressed, and I want to warm up; coming indoors on a cold day after intense exercise, I may want a light floral green or oolong.

[jayinhk]

It's hot and humid over here, but most HKers drink the same tea year round me thinks. They drink soups and sometimes herbal teas appropriate for the seasons and their own constitutions. I don't think your average HKer puts too much thought into it!

[daidokorocha]

All I know is Autumn is starting soon and I'm nearly strictly drinking oolong... however today I'll be spending my day with Japanese greens since I finally have a day off from life.

[kyarazen]

the ancient chinese used to focus on different tastes for each season, so it can be applied for tea as well.

[jayinhk]

That's an interesting point kyazaren! I'm looking forward to oolong season! I still have a lot of green to drink, though, which is fine since it will probably be hot into December! Alternatively, maybe I'll vacuum seal it all up and freeze it for next year!

[guitar9876]

Hmmmm for me it's mainly Oolongs and Puerh all day long haha. Though I have really started to like black teas much more after my recent China trip when some tea friends shared with me wild Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong and Gushu Bing Dao Hong Cha... Too expensive for me though haha.

[jayinhk]

Those would be red teas! I wonder where they'd fit in!

[Chip]

Shincha in the beginning of the TeaYear, April/May til I run out.

Summer and Fall ... Sencha.

Winter, while it does include sencha, it has always seemed logical and timely to at least enjoy some Gyokuro since it is best best aged til around this time.

Late Winter, early Spring ... finish off period in preparation for Shincha.

Repeat.

I have been happy with this schedule for a number of years. I will mix things up periodically ... or due to necessity, such as now. I am virtually out of sencha so I dug into a nice stockpile of Gyokuro.

[guitar9876]

Those would be red teas! I wonder where they'd fit in!

Right! In China they call them red but in the America/UK they call it black. No idea why... definitely not black in color haha.

[daidokorocha]

Shincha in the beginning of the TeaYear, April/May til I run out.

Summer and Fall ... Sencha.

Winter, while it does include sencha, it has always seemed logical and timely to at least enjoy some Gyokuro since it is best best aged til around this time.

Late Winter, early Spring ... finish off period in preparation for Shincha.

Repeat.

I have been happy with this schedule for a number of years. I will mix things up periodically ... or due to necessity, such as now. I am virtually out of sencha so I dug into a nice stockpile of Gyokuro.

Gyokuro and matcha strike me as going well with snow as well.

Also, I enjoy that this is called "mrgreen" which is very applicable to Chip.

[Chip]

Gyokuro and matcha strike me as going well with snow as well.

Also, I enjoy that this is called "mrgreen" which is very applicable to Chip.