Lotus in ShangHai

2012 Phoenix Dan Cong Oolong in stock

 

2012 is a great year for Phoenix Dan Cong.   Trees are recovered from the frost damage back in Spring 2010.  Price has come down significantly compared to 2010.  The law of economy never fails right!  Supply and demand, when demand for Dan Cong tea in 2011 weights more than supply deprivation due to shortage of 2010, price went up.  Over all, this year is a great year to stock up on old single tree Dan Cong teas for both better quality and much better prices.  I am very happy about the correction!

After loosing sleep for a day from tea drunk, here is a list of this years stock at Tea Habitat.  Description is never my strength, so some what brief.  I will update them periodically when I drink more sessions of them and if I would be inspired with better terms.  :)

2012 Chang Xin - Long Heart ***NEW

2012 Gong Lan - Tribute Orchid Fragrance ***NEW

2012 Gong Xiang - Tribute Fragrance ***NEW

2012 Hong Di - Red Stem ***NEW

2012 Lao Cong Dong Fang Hong - East Rising Red ***NEW

2012 Po Tou - Ginger Flower Fragrance ***NEW

2012 Shi Hua Xiang - Persimon Flower Fragrance ***NEW

2012 Yan Shang Zhen - Treasure Above the Cliff ***NEW

2012 Zhi Lan Xiang - Cattleya Orchid Fragrance ***NEW

2012 Zhong Ping Ji Dan Hua - Plumeria Fragrance ***NEW

Single Tree Dan Cong Sampler (2) - 2012 All ***NEW

Click here for all the new items

 

Tea tasting day

I am drunk! 11 Dan Congs on the menu.....

Yue Xiang Long Jing

Sheng Shan is located only 1.5 hour bus ride away from Hang Zhou, south east direction, and south of Shao Xing City where Lu You and Tang Yuan exchanged poems at the Shen's Garden.  Zhe Jiang Province is one of the most beautiful places in the world with rich history hence legendary stories are abundant, many of which are sad love stories.  Such as Lu You and Tang Yuan, Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai.  Sheng Shan is where Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai went to school together, then Zhu developed a strong crush for Liang while Liang believed Zhu was boy.  Well, it's a story I'll write later, let's get back to tea for now.

 

Sheng Shan produce Long Jing tea for a long period of time, although it is not quite well known as the Xi Hu Long Jing.  An old gentleman Mr. Shan (not the same last name as mine although pronounced the same) who has been in the tea business for 35 years showed us the mountain, treated us a farm meal of true free range chicken, local grown wild vegetables, freshly dug bamboo shoots, and the highlight of all is fresh picked Long Jing tea leaves fried free range chicken laid eggs.  OMG, it was so delicious, I'll remember for the rest of my life!!!!  Yeah, go ahead be jealous.  :P The long jing young leaves were fragrant without bitterness or astringency.  It's young and tender, floral, sweet and I am out of words!   An extremely common and simple dish with an impression of a meteorite attack!  I am going to get a tea plant just so I can have fresh tea leaves to fry eggs.  :D

I ate one of them.. :I

I ate them as well... :P

Mr. Shan is in his late 50's with a heart of a young kid.  He is playful and thus tea trees are his project, tea mountain is his play ground.  In the picture is a flat of Long Jing, a combination of varietals - Qin Ti varietals grown from seeds, hence are not exactly the same by looks and taste.  Because of this combined varietals, the end product is richer and fuller, without the obvious flaws of a single varietal tea product.  You may called it the original and natural blended tea.  Long Jing #43 is an early crop tea compared to the Qin Ti varietal, however Qin Ti LJ is much more desirable than #43 for the taste even though the look is less attractive.  I ate fresh leaves from a few different trees, the slow growth leaves are much tastier than the big fast growing leaves.  High yield crop is not necessary good in terms of quality.

Various color of leaves indicating different varietals.

One of Mr. Shan's play project began with a mutated tree, one of the LJ tree leave turn white and so he crafted branches for propagation, during the years, some keeps on mutating, the leaves were so white, it's whiter than An Ji Bai Cha (it's called white tea, but it is a green tea).  Harvesting only began last year, being the second harvesting year, about 750g finished tea was collected, I got my hands on 250g!!!!  The taste is extremely fresh and MSG!  I finally understand the term Zi Wei - nourishing taste, like chicken soup that soothes your body and soul. 

Shui Jing Bai - Crystal White Long Jing
Delicious and refreshing, exceptional taste!  You may eat the leaves.

Here is a special grade Long Jing made of combined varietals of long jing trees of age over 50 years, they are planted during the 50's when the government ordered the whole country to expand economic plantation to obtain foreign currency.   The most tasty leaves are these dark green, bubbly surface, sharp saw tooth rim, very slow growing leaves.    Unfortunately, single tree or even single varietal processing is not available here.  If opportunity arises, I'd spend a month on the mountain, live on eating fresh tea leaves and make a small batch of selected varietal leaves for my own single varietal LJ tea.  :D  This is my motivation for revisiting China again soon.

Special grade Long Jing
Rich and strong for the first brew, smooth and mellow, very sweet for the next few infusions. 

 

Both LJs require boiling hot water to open up the flavor!  It can take the heat~~~  Crystal white LJ is very tasty leaving an impressive flavor.  Special grade LJ reveals itself after the first infusion with long lasting sweet after taste.  One is feminine and the latter is a powerful middle aged male then refined later.  :P

Update

Turns out I am busier than I expected during this July 4th week.  An out of town guest dropped by unexpectedly as soon as I got home on Monday.  Other than shipping out of orders, nothing has been done so far.  I have not had time to catch up on sleep either, sleep deprived, jet lag and tired from all the walking in China.  I must had filled up 3 years quota of normal walking in the past 6 weeks!  One thousand steps stair case that I climbed down the mountain!  It's beautiful, so worth 4 days of leg pain.  :P

Unpacking will begin some time this weekend, picture taking, tea cupping and posting will take place slowly next week.  I apologize for the delay!  Travel notes will be slowly posted as well as soon as I sort through almost 7 thousand pictures.  :D

I am back~

I am home after a long 6 weeks exile!  :P 

Safe and sound which is enough to put a smile on my face, especially on my mother's face~  :)

Will follow up on all the orders tomorrow.  Thank you all for your patience! 

Lots of goodies came home with me, and more on the boat drifting this way slowly. 

If you like old cups, I have them, if you like old teas, I have some, if you like Dan congs, I have a lot!  :P

Posting might be slow and painful, will update as much as I can as soon as possible, check back periodically for new items if not everyday from now on.  :D

Tea Habitat Shipping schedule change during tea hunting trip in China

Tea harvest season is in full swing, is tea hunting season now in China!   We will be climbing the tea mountains from Guangdong to Fujian to Huangzhou to Hunan for 6 weeks, from May 21st to July 2nd. It's exciting!

Stock up your tea supply now before Imen leaves for her long trip!

During our absent period, shipping arrangements will be postponed until we return from China.Orders received on and before Sunday 5/20 will be shipped before departure, orders received on and after 5/21 will be shipped after July 2nd upon returning.

Take advantage of our special

Bonus Gift
1/2 ounce of Jasmine Fragrance Dan Cong Oolong
with purchase of Single Tree Dan Cong Teas
Only 32 sets available, one gift per order, valid while supplies last

Have a great summer everyone!  We will share pictures of our exciting trip for tea and of course great tea when we return!

Bamboo Leaf 2011

Southern California is known for its sunny sky all year round.  Spring no matter where on earth, is rainy season even though we get very few rain falls even in Spring.  Out of a handful of rainy days, afternoon tea is greatly enhanced in mood during these days.

A day began with cloudy sky, live fire made it cozy and warm at heart, a few teas later, the sun peaked out behind the grey sky so I wrapped it up with a 2011 Bamboo Leaf Dan Cong.  A session of Wuyi rock tea when rain, to an aged tea flower bud tea, then a Bamboo Leaf Dan Cong oolong seems to move along with sun in the right vitality.  Some times, things happen in its own way without any conscious planning.  Lao Zi - author of Daoism had discovered all matters in the galaxy happen in its right time and right frequency.  

Bamboo Leaf Dan Cong is one of the Zhi Lan Xiang type of fragrance, known as orchid fragrance.  Among numbers of old trees fall within this orchid fragrance type, Bamboo leaf is crowned the best of all for its highly aromatic fragrance and purest taste, but small harvest.  2011 production are all in my hands with less 10 lbs in total. 

A mouthful of floral honey taste that lingers for long is very enjoyable to the soul.  The nurturing effect is not any young crop can replace, I call that the chicken soup effect.  Out of many teas I had, only old trees have such body and soul nurturing effect.  I have been told by many after drinking such teas, concentration becomes easy, focus is greatly enhanced.  On my most stressful days, 3 sessions of old single tree Dan Cong tea saved my day.  

Mo Li Xiang Jasmine Fragrance Dan Cong a gift for you

Bonus Gift
1/2 ounce of Jasmine Fragrance Dan Cong Oolong
with purchase of any Single Tree Dan Cong Teas 
Only 32 sets available, one gift per order, valid while supplies last

In 2009, Mo Li Xiang Jasmine Fragrance Dan Cong was a memorable tea for its unique and familiar fragrance, the rich honey like taste lingers on.  After it was sold out, I thought of it often.  When 2011 came, I bought out the entire crop yield.  2011 crop took a good 9 months to transform itself into what I remember it in 2009, rich and floral.  When you smell a jasmine flower, you sense it in your breathing track, yet so unreachable.  A sip of Mo Li Xiang, the sensation travels in your mouth, throat and deep into your chest, is there, you can hold on to the fragrance~   

A day of tea drinking by the sea

 Mr. H is a friend for many years!  Last week, we finally had the chance to have tea together, at a selected spot, my favorite corner on earth, sea cliff of Palos Verdes.  As the weather warms up, out door tea drinking is a must, with such a background view, what more to ask for. 

 

A day of tea drinking started around noon with only 2 cups and self serve sandwich lunch.  Simple yet complete~

 Hydration is not an issue, do you think?  :D

 That's sight seeing too  :P

 A solo singer brightens the day even more. 

 Many many teas later, the sun has traveled. 

Many many more teas later, the sun goes home at 8 pm, so should we~

The memory is as fond as this colorful cloud decorated sky

We had some where around 9 or 10 teas, 7 or 8 dancongs, 1 cooked puerh, and 1 Fu zhuan.  A full day of tea drinking for 8 hours.  :)

Tea by the sea tomorrow

Tomorrow should be a lovely day by the sea, Mr. H is having a west coast tour and just happens to stop by LA tomorrow. Look forward to having tea by the light house~

Teas worth noting

11 Mo Li Xiang - Jasmine Fragrance Dan Cong Oolong, finally the full texture has surfaced after almost a whole year of manifestation. Very nice~


Wild Chi Lan from Lady M, wild! :)


8582 Menghai Shu from Lady M


06 Lao Ban Zhang

Simply complete

A session of tea can be elaborate with many cups, dishes, fancy toys. Simple as it can be for one, an afternoon for tea with all the essentials, tea's awe to be good. All I ask for is a cup of tea that soothes the soul....
This stove is one of the very first batch came over sea, one of the few arrived broken with minor cracks. It's been 6 years! It's still in tack, still working well, still handsome~ :P

It has been a hectic two weeks. My mother broke her hand/arm and running around town visiting doctors can be exhausting. Tomorrow is her surgery day. Hope the healing will take place quickly afterward.

If your email is not answered fast enough, please excuse me. I will follow up as time permits. Thank you!

Cherry flowers of South Coast Bontanic Garden at PV

Pink Hand Made Tea Bowl

Pink Hand Made Tea Bowl

Brown Spot Cup

Poker dot cup

Brown Splash Glaze Cup

Brown Splash Glaze Cup