Monday, February 20, 2012

Work out routine

Hunan Fu Zhuan brick tea in the cup. Not really my favor~
Living in an area with easy access to one of the most beautiful coast lines, I should be ashamed not to take advantage of it often enough. A stroll along the rocky cliff or the sandy beach both within a couple miles distance present itself as the most attractive work out play ground. After new year, I am going to force myself to take an hour long walk at least twice a week. There are benches and tables in the light house St. Vincent park for picnics and whale watching. It would be a great place for tea as well. The small museum has restroom facilities which you don't have to worry about over propagating your body cells with tea. Years ago, my mother and I would take a book, a large blanket, two umbrellas, a set of tea were, alcohol burner, fruits and snacks, drove almost an hour to lay by the beach for an afternoon. It was lovely in between those 9 to 5 working days.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Teas I am drinking today


Having a cup of 2009 Gui Hua Xiang- osmanthus flower fragrance Dan Cong Oolong next to my valentine's gift from a friend, a white with slight pink trim dandrobium orchid. White orchids have the most clean, pure and magnetic fragrance compare to the same specie of a different color. I also find that is true for other flowers as well. Pure white rose smells more pure while a red rose has a sweeter and stronger aroma.

Being busy with cupping 2011 teas repeatedly, I forget some of the older teas although I know they can't be bad after a couple of years. The rich honey characteristic must be easy to detect compare to new crops. Bo Jai Ye is also very nice now, deep and rich.

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Palos Verdes Sunday

Sunday walk by the shore cliff of Palos Verdes. An afternoon of sunshine, breeze, peace, rainbow, whale watch, painters, and a good mood to match. Just want to share my sky with you~ :)








Friday, February 03, 2012

Articles that might be useful

Since 2006, tea obsession has marked baby steps of my tea journey through the years. There are some useful info and some not. It's time to sort them out and select a few that I feel useful.

This is a rather large tasks for me, so updates will be made continuously in several categories: Phoenix Dan Cong, brewing tips, equipments, understanding of tea beyond leaves.

To start with, information relates to Phoenix - Feng Huang Dan Cong Oolong:
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2007/12/get-to-know-phoenix-dan-cong-1.html
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2007/12/get-to-know-phoenix-tea-2.html
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-to-know-phoenix-dan-cong-3-naming.html
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/02/get-to-know-phoenix-dan-cong-4-seasons.html
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/02/get-to-know-phoenix-dan-cong-5-old-or.html
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2008/05/get-to-know-phoenix-dan-cong-6-kung-fu.html

Thursday, February 02, 2012

New teas arrive today!

Today is tea day! The little "bite" size tea cookie is the most innovative tea product in recent history. Asians can handle loose leaf teas especially broken leaves rather well, perhaps we aren't as fussy with spitting out the leaves while others find it absurd to show such ill manner particularly in public. :P Well, that's one of the reasons why tea bag is invented right?! There is a need for improvement, then ought to be an innovation to meet the demand. Today we are much more conscious about our health, what we eat and drink become the first and most important issue in our lives today. Myself do not like tea bags, the main reason being the bag rather than the content that's in it. A trend started a few years back, nice loose leaves are fed in those plastic pyramid bags, god knows how much plastic is steeped into that cup of tea! Tea bag is like sex with a condom, pardon me! :D Sorry for being vulgar, I can't think of a better analogy that makes a more impeccable statement. HAHA
A couple of new flavors came in today in addition to the existing 5 flavors, TGY (roasted) and Gardenia Dan Cong Oolong. I am having a cup of TGY now, only one cookie and I am on my 3rd cup. It's a much better TGY than the green pallets. The flavor slowly sip out of the powdered tea cookie, so it is not too strong being in the hot water the whole time, and it keeps on releasing flavor in the second and third cup. The slow pace keeps the tea flavor just right, unlike tea bags overwhelm you the first cup and leave you short of taste afterward. These tea cookies are engineered to make tea drinking easy and pleasant with out any effort! They perform just as nice with cold water with a little waiting. ANYBODY can brew a good cup of tea with these cookies, even a 2 years old, no kidding! You can't mess it up. No matter what level you are at the tea connoisseurship, everyone can use a cup of convenient flavorful decent tea that cost very little, on the road, working out, working, whatever you do when you are not sitting down to Kung Fu your favorite tea. If you don't poke it with a spoon or shake it violently, the powdered tea cookie stays whole at finish. Yes, they do, and not flavorings, preservatives, and additives are added. Laboratory examined to meet European standards.

I have yet to come up with a nice name to call them. Any suggestions guys? :)