Tea Zensations

Since no one has done a blog entry on tea sampling, I thought I'd be the first one to add a tea twist to it given that Chinese New Year celebrations are still going on at the moment. As sweltering as it was today, I couldn't resist the opportunity to get in touch with my culture I was brought up in. Since this was an indoor thing, I much preferred to do something like this where I'd be surrounded by tea fans and foodies, as opposed to dancing in the heat at an outdoor music festival. As I stepped in, I was awed and impressed by the range of clay and porcelein teapots displayed. Immediately, I knew that I was in the right place.


I couldn't wait to sample the different teas. I was surprised that there

were cold teas like the Hibiscus Blossom Tea which was a perfect summer thirst quencher. I couldn't help admiring the ruby red colour which could have been mistaken as a juice. What was even more perfect was the fact that we drank the tea in combination with eating steamed lightly-salted fresh soya beans. Gee, this is really healthy I thought.



Next came along the green tea Long Ching (Dragon Well) tea which comes

from Hangzhou. This is considered to be the most premnium green tea all around. The tea leaves are shaped like a flat sword which gives a cleansing nutty flavour and bitter aftertaste. I could always recall Raymond always smelling the teas and chewing the tea. This went beautifully when eating when buckwheat soup noodles.




Thirdly, there was the Milky Oolong which came from Taiwan. I tried to

emulate and learn how Raymond poured the tea in a cute little cylinder-shaped cup and placed the small bowl-shaped cup on top of the cylinder. He then places his thumb and 2nd finger and turns it upside town and rolls the cylinder in both palms while smelling it at the same time. I could smell and taste the sweet vanilla aroma.

Second last was the Pu-Erh (Vintage Black teas) which was presented as a cake form. I loved it how Raymond described the tea as being "deceptive because most people thought of it as being high in caffeine levels with its dark appearance than green tea leaves when it is actually milder than most green teas. This went perfectly with the assorted Dim Sims.





Then there was the bouquet tea which I could clearly describe it as having

a sea urchin and floral appearance. As I poured, it gave a lovely golden colour. During the numerous tea demos, I noticed how Raymond prepared one of the teas by cleansing the little cups and pouring the tea onto a clay teapot. He emphasised that a good clay teapot should have a lid that tightly seals the fitting. More shots from the session can be seen here.