sometimes good things happen when you run off and forget your tea

Eight Immortals Phoenix Oolong

If you asked me, 'Do you want to try an Oolong you've never had before?', there's little doubt that I'd answer in the affirmative before you even got the question entirely out of your mouth. A High Mountain Oolong? I'd climb that mountain if I had to. But I have to admit, I like climbing mountains. It's not like that'd be a burden or anything.

While writing about white tea and the Teekampagne, I've actually been drinking a lot of quite good Oolong and working my way up to writing about it. When Jo Johnson sent me her beautiful children's book The World's Special Tea, which I wrote about several weeks ago, she mentioned that she'd thrown in a couple of tea samples. One of them was the Eight Immortals Phoenix Oolong from In Pursuit of Tea, and receiving it was like being asked the question up above. 'Would you like to try a really exceptional High Mountain Oolong?' Well yes. Yes, I would.

Their photo of the leaves is nice, but look how my sample looked:

I'm not going to do a tea review here. Not now. I read something that Alex Zorach said a while back about really getting to know a tea before reviewing it, and that's exactly what I'm doing with this one. Although I'm savouring it the way I would any exquisite tea, I'm also being a bit brutal with it to see if it can withstand the abuse. So far, it has stood up valiantly to every test.

Recently read about the origin of the term Wu Long (Oolong) in The Tea Drinker's Handbook, and thought it'd be a nice way to close out this post. Here it is:

'In Chinese, Wu Long means literally "black dragon" and refers to the very dark colour frequently taken on by the leaves during drying. However, according to legend, there's a different explanation for the origin of the colour: Wu Liang, a Chinese planter, was harvesting his tea one day when he saw a stag. He interrupted the harvest to give chase and arriving home with the carcass he got busy skinning and cutting it up and quite forgot to put the tea leaves out to dry. A few days later he remembered his precious crop and noticed that the leaves had changed colour. He fired them nevertheless, then infused some and was very surprised by the unusually soft and aromatic fragrance they gave off. The secret of his discovery spread around the entire province and the name Wu Liang was transformed into Wu Liang Cha or "tea of the black dragon."'

(source: The Tea Drinker's Handbook by Francois-Xavier Delmas, Mathias Minet, and Christine Barbaste)

accesible Gong Fu

When I think about who I write this blog for, other than for myself, I imagine people who're curious about tea and want to know more. There are certainly some rather knowledgeable people who come here, but there are so many beautiful and knowledgeable blogs about tea. I want to try and help demystify tea drinking a bit, and so I purposely write with the tea newcomer in mind.

Because I'm passionate about it in my daily life, I get a lot of earnest questions. I'm sure some of the more direct inquiries never get made. Along the lines of, 'Wow, this guy's a bit obsessive, isn't he?' But instead, people ask me a variety of questions both general and specific. And I figure such curiosity is the perfect sort of thing to write about here.

So my friend Gaby was over the other evening, and I offered her a glass of wine or some sort of sparkly fruit beverage. She knew I'd be drinking tea, so she insisted that sharing tea with me would be just perfect. I have a new Gaiwan that she hadn't seen, so I decided to go the way of Oolong. It wasn't immediately clear if I'd made the right choice.

Recently, I read something Alex Zorach said about not doing Gong Fu in a traditional way. Essentially his idea was, and I hope I'm paraphrasing it correctly, that he did a sort of a modified Gong Fu that might look a bit strange to a purist. Those are really my words, but the point was that he brewed in a way that worked best for him.

I think it's applicable if my above-mentioned goal was to make tea drinking a bit more approachable. As I poured the first infusion of the Milky Oolong for Gaby, she looked at the curious little snifter cup. 'Where did you learn about all of this?' It's a funny question. I've watched plenty of videos, been to tea ceremonies, peppered tea shop owners with a myriad of questions.

She didn't particularly like the smell of the first infusions of the Milky Oolong, so I didn't make such a big deal of sniffing every infusion. She did like the taste. She said it smelled like a flower you can get at the Viktualienmarkt, which is an open-air market in downtown Munich. Maybe it was called the Joshua flower, but she wasn't sure.

The nice thing was that she was so curious and so eager to try each new infusion. Although she preferred the taste of the tea to the smell, she continued to use the snifter cup. She liked the tea as it got weaker and lighter. As we continued through cup after cup, I tasted less 'milky' and more Oolong, but it wasn't the most complex tea.

What's my point here? Do I really think I can proselytise and convince everyone I know to not only drink tea, but go the way of Gong Fu brewing? No way. But it was a pleasure to see how accessible it was for a tea newcomer. It was nearly a foregone conclusion that I'd have a good time with all of this, but I was very pleased that Gaby did.

hot at the outset, but quickly cold

Read a post at Alex Zorach's teablog recently, which was inspired by another post at J-TEA International's The Oolong Tea Times about drinking tea out of dainty little cups versus big sturdy mugs.

Here's the original:

The Oolong Tea Times

And here's Alex's take:

One Advantage to Drinking Tea from a Mug

Then I got into a discussion about it with other tea drinkers on twitter, and realised I've held back the fact that I often drink out of a mug. For some reason, it doesn't seem like the actions of a tea obsessive to be swigging from these bulky ceramic mugs. And the point J-Tea makes is really true: mugs are ineffective.

As he says, 'As soon as the tea is ready, it is too hot to drink. Then, near the end of the mug, the tea is cool. This wide range in temperature combined with the volume of tea results in a very narrow window in which tea stays at the ideal temperature for consumption. This problem is particularly exaggerated with using large mugs.'






I'm not yet planning on giving up my mugs, but what he describes is definitely the case. Above you'll see a mug with a picture of a happy Bavarian with his little Dachshund, which always puts me in a better mood. Here's a mug I found years ago at the Chagall Museum in Nice. It also makes me smile every time I pull it out of the cupboard.






And here's a ridiculous one I found on the Baltic Sea a while back. It's a very thick ceramic mug. Always works for me. If by working for me, you mean 'It's too hot at the outset and too cold at the end'. That's not really working for me now that I think about it. Nevertheless, when I'm feeling a bit whimsical, it's nice to have a cup that bends in the direction the wind blows.









When I brew Oolong, I use the little cups that I got with this teapot. Well I should say, I pour the two little cups full, but then I fill what's left in a big ungainly mug. I love the way the tea tastes from these little cups.





This is the cup that goes with our dishes, and I really like the pattern. When I serve tea to guests, this is what I normally use. Although the tea doesn't necessarily stay warm that long, I'm too busy pouring a new cup for you to notice.




And finally, here's a Hermès cup and saucer that always makes me nervous. While I'm drinking from this cup, I'm not enjoying the tea. I'm very simply trying not to break the cup. That's no way to enjoy tea, is it?



Am wondering how the rest of you enjoy your tea. I often try to open up such a topic to discussion with varying results. So I'll ask a few pointed questions:

Have you ever thought about the impact what sort of cup has on the way a tea tastes?

Do you like thin, bone China sometimes?

If you still prefer a mug, then why?

A few Nice places for tea

Nice, Côte d'Azur, France



For the first few days I was in Nice, I had a horrible time finding a good place for tea. On my last full day, I stumbled into a handful.



If I hadn't seen these teapots, I'd have thought this was merely a coffee shop. The smell of coffee was overwhelming, but here and there mixed with the coffee were tins of tea. The variety for such a small shop was impressive, but the prices were a bit on the steep side. It's Nice's old town, so I shouldn't be surprised. As Alex said in the comments of my last post, the French seem to be focused on blends. This place was no exception. There were some very interesting looking blends, but since many of them were scented, I just couldn't be convinced to try one.







One corner of the shop was devoted to loose-leaf tea, and luckily these seemed to be predominately unscented teas. Like I said, quite a variety. There were a few selections of tea from each well-known region of the tea world. Were I staying here in France much longer, I'm sure I'd purchase a few of these teas on display.








So, this place is called Cafés Indien, and you can find it at 2/B, rue Sainte Reparate 06300 Nice (phone 04 93 85 67 08). They were very friendly, as well as helpful with all of my questions.



Once I found the first shop, then really nice cafes, which also sold tea, started coming out of the woodwork. The first one was around the corner from La cathédrale Sainte-Réparate and was called Le Café Marché. I've even located a website for this one (http://www.cafe-marche.fr). Very inviting little place, where the teas offered were served beautifully. You can find it at 2 rue, Barillerie 06300 Nice (phone 08 99 23 02 80).





This is exactly the kind of place I've been searching for the last week. So many places call themselves Salon de thé, but only have cheap teabags to offer (Ice Hellion explained why in the comments to my last post). Here's the board listing what tea they serve:






And here's what it looks like from out front:



The next place I happened upon serves tea from Mariage Frères and was a shop with exactly my kind of vibe. It's advertised as a cookie shop, but don't let that fool you. It's called Emilie's Cookies & Coffee Shop, and according to their website (http://www.emiliescookies.com), there's another location in the modern city centre. Until I've seen both, I can only vouch for the one in the old town. Here it is: 1 Rue Préfecture, 06300 Nice (phone 04 93 79 88 40). The front door doesn't scream out 'Drink tea here':




But once you go inside, it's another story. Really comfy couches and chairs, and free wifi. Not a bad deal. Exactly my kind of place.









Finally, I'm going to mention a very pleasant looking place that serves quality tea, as well as fantastic chocolate. Had I not found the other places, I might've stepped into Lenôtre at 14, avenue Félix Faure 06000 Nice (phone 04 92 26 17 00). It's very chic, and I'm sure it's the only acceptable place for tea, for some people, after an exhausting day at a bunch of high-end shops. The chocolates looked divine through the window, but luckily (because I'd had enough tea at that point) I didn't have to make my way past them to get to the tea room. I've chosen to wrap up my tour of tea salons in Nice with a couple of photos of this beautiful place:

every last drop

One of the best known Wu Longs from Taiwan. Mildly fermented, the leaf produces a liquor with a flowery, almost peppery aroma. -Le Palais des Thes' description of Bao Zhong Oolong.

I've been waiting to write about this because I wasn't sure if my enthusiasm for this tea would waver. Somehow the two teas I found in Athens have managed to be of superior quality. Maybe I'm getting better at selecting tea. Maybe I simply got lucky. I wrote about the Grand Yunnan black soon after I got it partly because I drink so much black tea, but also because I was overwhelmed by how delicious it was.

Thought that possibly my trip was clouding my judgement-that any tea drunk while staring out at the Aegean while on an isolated, practically unknown island would be perfect. So the Yunnan I delighted in and wrote of it glowingly and that was that.

The truth is that although I write more frequently about black tea and enjoy the bitter tannins that turn off so many other tea drinkers...the truth is that I drink quite a bit of green tea and Oolong. More than I talk about here. Several days ago, I mentioned one of the Oolongs I like most (Dung-ti Oolong), and said that I had another lightly oxidised tea to report on.

In the comments section, both Sir Will and Alex sang the praises of these teas and Taiwan Oolongs in particular. I've read so many blogs and accounts of them, I knew I'd finally locate some of the finer ones. Bao Zhong Oolong is definitely in this category. Definitely.

The first infusion made me wish I did what so many do and discard it. I've said before that I have a hard time throwing any tea away. I steeped it only a few minutes and there just wasn't much to the taste. It smelled very similar to the Dung-ti, but I was really disappointed at the outset.

Here's the thing though...here's why you infuse Oolong multiple times: the second time around was divine. Like most if not all Oolongs, there was absolutely no bitterness. None. 'No peaks, no bites,' is how Pratt says we tea drinkers describe these teas and here it's definitely the case.

By the third infusion I could nearly taste flowers in the cup. The above-mentioned description says it almost tastes 'peppery', which I couldn't quite locate. But it had the nicest vegetal notes that made me slow down and savour every sip. I cannot recommend Bao Zhong Oolong more highly.

Whether you're an Oolong aficionado or still trying this sort of tea on for size, this one is unquestionably worth a taste.

tea weirdos

This has been quite a weekend with the beginning of the World Cup, but I can't keep writing about that everyday. As a matter of fact, I think I've exhausted the 'What sort of tea would I give each player' schtick. It's getting a bit tired, eh?

Lately, there's been quite a bit of talk at tea websites such as LeafBoxTea about winning people over to tea. This weekend there's a big tea thing going on in Las Vegas, and the rumblings are that tea needs to be better portrayed to the public. I'm reading people's tweets about the old, tired cliches about tea and tea drinkers, and what must be done to rebrand the whole product. The whole industry.

I think you're going to see me talking more and more about that here. On the one hand, you have this vision of the aged sitting around eating biscuits and talking in hushed tones. I've already talked about the funny assumption that some people have when you're drinking tea that you must be ill. Some would never fathom getting down a cup of tea without being under the weather. I imagine those people with a few boxes of herbal tea in the cupboard that are perpetually getting dusty.

So, we don't like the well-worn picture of a doddering tea drinker. Or we think it's inaccurate considering we know so many active and vibrant tea drinkers. What do we want then? How should tea be seen? Tea drinkers?

There's something Alex Zorach has said on his blog that I like a lot, which explains a bit why tea sometimes confounds. The more varieties of tea you drink, the more likely it is that your palate will change. I've certainly seen it with my development. Multiple infusions of decent Oolong and green teas can bring out tastes that I used to read about but never really comprehend.

Does this mean that one has to become a tea-weirdo to actually get what we're talking about here and on so many other sites that cater to tea obsessives? To a degree, I believe it's rather pointless to try and market tea to the masses. Not because they can't get it. More because they wouldn't want it.

I'm also well aware that there are multitudes of tea drinkers out there who would never consider loose-leaf tea. They've always been happy with their PG Tips and they likely always will. It's a reliable blend. Why not?

That's it for me tonight. I really do invite your comments on this one. Am curious where you see us going.