Teas Etc
All posts tagged "Teas Etc"Mao Feng Reserve from Teas Etc
If you want to learn more about tea, spend a week studying one specific variety. That’s what I’ve been doing this week with mao feng green teas, and it’s what I did in early March with ti kuan yin oolong teas. Both times, it has been rewarding to focus in one variety, sampling similar teas from different merchants. It’s a journey of small discoveries.
Today’s small discovery is this: Mao feng is not a very aromatic tea. It shares this characteristic with most Chinese green teas, but mao feng is particularly light in the nose. Mao Feng Reserve from Teas Etc, has a mildly sweet aroma hinting at chocolate or sweet corn, but you’ll barely detect it.
Direct Trade Tea: Interview with Beth Johnston from Teas Etc
Fair trade is something I’ve written about before on Tea Finely Brewed. I wrote last year about why I believe it’s important and before Christmas I shared a post about four online shops selling fair trade tea.
A while after writing that second article, I noticed a note on Teas Etc about direct trade tea. Until then, I hadn’t heard of this concept; intrigued, I asked Beth Johnston, Teas Etc’s tea purveyor, if she would mind sharing a bit more about what direct trade tea is, how it compares to fair trade, and her thoughts on fair trade tea in general. I hope you find her responses as interesting as I did!
Bi Lo Chun Reserve from Teas Etc
Just a few weeks after reviewing Chicago Tea Garden’s Golden Bi Lo, I turn to Teas Etc’s Bi Lo Chun Reserve, a delightful green tea with a remarkable nose.
Bi Lo Chun is a specialty of tea makers in Jiangsu Province, China. This particular sample from Teas Etc (a free sample, by the way) features lovely white downy leaves, indicating that the leaves were harvested at a young age.
Ceylon OP1 from Teas Etc
What does it take to be a championship-winning tea?
That was the main question I had in mind this morning as I enjoyed Teas Etc’s Ceylon OP1, which took first prize in the Ceylon category in last year’s World Tea Expo. It was one of three Teas Etc teas to win a prize (you can get all three together in a special Championship pack).
Shui Xian Oolong from Teas Etc
“May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire.”
When Bec and I got married, we had those words printed on a card and placed on a table by the entrance to the winery. I still love them. There is something so homely and comforting about them — truly a wonderful benediction.
I am reminded of those words today, as it rains outside (a much needed rain) and I enjoy my morning tea ritual inside. Bec and Benny are asleep and I am trying a new tea: a shui xian (also known as dancong) oolong from Teas Etc.
Keemun Double-Header: Keemun by Narien Teas and Teas Etc
Long-time readers of this blog will be well aware of my fondness for black teas. While I concede that black tea doesn’t — for the most part — have the depth or range you can find in other types of tea, I remain an avowed fan of our fully oxidized friend. This morning, with heavy eyes from too little sleep, I decided to turn my attention to one of the most well-regarded of all black teas: keemun.