Monday TeaDay 1/31/11 Teaof the Month?

[Chip]

Greetings TeaPeeps (people who drink tea ) Please do drop in and share what is in your cup throughout the day.

Over the weekend we discussed fear factors. You can still vote and discuss the weekend's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. What was your TEA of the MONTH for January? Please share details of course.

I am as always looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone, bottoms up.

[Chip]

Announcement!!! TeaDay Contest January 2011!

Who wants to have some fun!?!

Commencing on January 6th, be sure to post often and daily in TeaDay.
Details and prizes to follow in a few!
Contest ends at midnight on January 31st Eastern USA time.

Prizes will be awarded for various categories, so be sure to answer the poll, tell us what you are drinking throughout the day, discuss the topic, and post pictures! You know, "TeaChat!" The more you post ...

[IPT]

I just sourced Yan Wulong Tea, so I've been drinking a lot of it.

[auhckw]

This month bought Puerh and Liu An...

Same boring answer to the question: Puerh

[Poohblah]

only bought oolong this month... not much choice

[Nenugal]

Tea of the month: Organic Asamushi Sencha 7132 from O-cha. I hope this will go from limited edition to the permanent selection.

[Xell]

Mostly was drinking hg Yame gyokuro, still like gyokuro more than sencha

[el gringo]

Jingtea's sencha from uji, only because its the first sencha I have ever tried and appears to have opened up a whole new world of tea and tea wares for me

[David R.]

Hojo's Song Zhong dan cong, hands down.

[brlarson]

Red Circle's first flush Shi Feng LJ was unquestionably my tea of the month and it will probably be my tea of the year. I finally opened this on New Year's day with my son and one of his friends. The artistry of the firing master was evident as this tea developed a multi-stage flavor, with a mild eucalyptus-like briskness (active cooling sensation, like a gentle breeze through volatile oils) that transformed into a fully infused toasted nut creaminess, a perfectly balanced creaminess with excess untransformed oiliness. This multi-stage development was a key characteristic of this tea through most of its infusions, developing slightly with each new brew.

Tea Gallery Keemun this morning.

[bryan_drinks_tea]

For January, I drank Yuuki Cha's saemidori sencha, A fukamushi. I really enjoy the mellowness of this stuff, especially since I have used my kyusu frequently enough to have some flavor absorbed into the clay (if the clay even absorbs it, i dunno) Good stuff overall, nice pleasant umami, good and calming with a nice amount of sweetness. Long lasting too.

[hopeofdawn]

I've been drinking various Taiwanese oolongs from an Adagio sampler, mostly--though at the end of the month, I treated myself to some amazing Winter 2010 Alisan and Lishan oolong from Floating Leaves, yay!

Today is the tail end of my Adagio pouchong sample--it's decent, but I think I've been spoiled for finer tea.

[geeber1]

My tea of the month twas a black and twas Indian. Nilgiri Glendale (the "regular" leaf, not handmade) is one of my very favorites but seems hard to find. I finally found a website that sold it and bought 8 oz. so it better remain a fave for a long time!

Had my tea of the month in my cup this morning.

[artmom]

I'm becoming boring; tea of the month twas a black; twas from India; twas my go-to tea, Golden Lion assam!

I need to experiment more; have plenty of teas still to try; just like the fact that I can have a perfect cup of Golden Lion with such ease now. I know the temperature of the water; the amount of tea and water needed for my double-walled Tazo tea tumbler from Starbucks that my DH gave me for my birthday; the correct brewing time, etc., without even thinking about it!

[debunix]

I'm becoming boring.....just like the fact that I can have a perfect cup of Golden Lion with such ease now.....without even thinking about it!

Nothing boring about perfect cups of tea that just won't let you drink anything else because they're already perfect.

I had lots of good infusions this month, but didn't write many notes, so it's hard to pick a 'top' session. Instead, I'll go with the most interesting: the lovely locally grown Forbidden Fruit Orchards 'Green' Tea, grown near Santa Barbara. I put green in quotes because it was, by their description of the making of it, and the flavor of the tea, clearly a white tea, and quite a nice one at that. I'd like to taste the tea without the additions (there was a bit of dried blueberry) to better judge the quality of the tea itself, however.

And starting the day with Dragon Well (premium organic) from Wing Hop Fung.