Welcome to the Teacup’s Corner!
Join the Chattering Teacup on her adventures in all-things tea!
If I can tempt you to try something new and enjoy it, it would be my pleasure!
Comments are welcome!
Fourteenth Adventure
Obukucha, Japanese “Good Luck” tea, is usually drunk at the beginning of the new year. The tradition started centuries ago at a temple in Kyoto. A mild Sencha is poured over a dried plum and kelp. Sometimes even gold flakes are added. Find out more about it at: http://gjtea.org/obukucha
Thirteenth Adventure
This beautiful Dragon Turtle begged me to take him home. I couldn’t resist!
I thought it fitting to add him when brewing an oolong (meaning “Black Dragon”).
Twelfth Adventure
On the same trip I visited be-oom. London’s first Korean tea house offers teas from small farms in Korea and tea ware. You can taste their teas in the tea room or take it to go.
Eleventh Adventure
A trip to London is not complete without a visit to Postcard Teas. A tea company that only sells tea from small producers and let’s you know the location and name of the producer! They also have a range of beautiful tea ware and other accessories.
Tenth Adventure
Isn’t it a joy to use one’s new teaware?
After properly preparing the new black clay Yixing teapot here are the pictures of the first time brewing a Da Hong Pao with it.
Ninth Adventure
Here are two handmade Japanese teacups with Shino glaze made by Kato Juunidai. With use the fine craquelure will become more visible. I use one cup solely for Japanese green tea and the other for Japanese black tea. I wonder if the different teas will result in a different colouring and will see how the cups develop over time.
Eighth adventure
The Copenhagen Sparkling Tea company has created a special way of drinking tea. Using blends of different teas, they created five sparkling teas. It reminds you of a lovely Prosecco but either without any alcohol or with 5% alcohol. Even non-tea drinkers love it!
Seventh adventure
Tea is not only used to be drunk on its own but also as an ingredient for food and drinks. As I am partial to gin, I definitely had to try a few that use tea as an ingredient. The Ki No Tea surprised me the most with its aroma and taste, as the tea is really noticeable. All of them are good choices to drink!
Sixth adventure
Take 2: Another try of “Making a Matcha” video. This time with audio!
Fifth adventure
First Matcha in 2022!
Fourth adventure
After attending the Japanese Tea Marathon the last summer I wanted to know more. The Global Japanese Tea Association that organized it also offers online tea courses. So I grabbed the chance and took part in them where I learned a lot and had the chance to taste and compare quite a lot of different teas. It was very informative and fun!
Third adventure
Fortnum & Mason has this lovely box filled with three different Christmas teas (black, green and a fruit infusion, all in teabags). It’s a good way to try them out or you can give it as a present.
Second adventure
First adventure
A black tea from the Lakyrsiew tea garden in Meghalaya, India, found at the Rare Tea Company. The aroma when you open the package is wonderful. This tea has a malty flavour with notes of vanilla and biscuits.
I absolutely LOVE the Fortnum & Mason flagship store on Piccadilly and make it a point to go there every time I’m in London! =) What tea blend of theirs is your personal favourite?
It really is a pleasure visiting their store! I’m partial to their Royal Blend; the Explorer’s Blend is rather nice, too. Do you have a favorite one?
Lovely 🙂
I’ll give a try to prepare the Matcha with boiling water 😉
cu
I was sceptical at first too but with the matcha sourced directly from Japan it really worked.
Let me know hot it turns out.
Happy whisking!
Mission completed …
To be honest: I did not recognize a difference to the preparation with water cooled down to approx. 70 or 60 degrees. Of course the tea was hotter, but the silkiness was the same and the taste too. But what I learned from your videos (and some others on YT): I used too less Matcha powder – or too much water.
However, our conversation led me to more frequent drinking of Matcha tee (daily) – and I really enjoy it. I probably don’t have Matcha powder in the quality obtainable in Japan, but of course I use a high quality powder. But if you have a good source please feel free to let me know. cu
I’m glad you enjoy drinking Matcha and I got you to make it more often! :o)
The last few I ordered from Japan: https://yunomi.life and https://obubutea.com – on their websites you will also find a lot of information.
A German site that looks very interesting but I haven’t ordered yet from is https://matcha.de/
A lovely shop where you can also drink tea and get some snacks is https://www.chanomavienna.at/ – I like to drink matcha there but somehow I only ever bought leave teas there.
Jesus! I never gave you a feedback to the five samples of Matcha you gave me as a gift earlier this year.
Thanks a million! It was a pleasure to taste them. Of course I recognized some differences in silkiness and taste. They were all splendid, I liked all the samples. What I can say: all the Matcha powder of this samples were from a top high quality.
Once I will have finished my Matcha cans (I still have two of them in use) I will give a try with this Japan companies.
However, I’ll take the opportunity here to wish you and Edith a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2023. Looking forward to some visits to the Vienna’s English Theatre and to the Long Hall for meals and pints. Cheers.
Greetings, dear friend!
I’m glad you enjoyed the samples! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you too!
We’ll work on a date for a visit at the pub!
Happy New Year!
Looking forward to meeting again in 2023!
Cheers!
I have never heard of “sparkling tea” and am fascinated. Available in the US? Good for you!
Hello!
Yes, some shops in the US sell it! Maybe you can find a suitable vendor through their “find it here” page: https://sparklingtea.co/find-it-here/
Alternatively, you can try making your own. Simple version: Take a bottle of 750ml sparkling mineral water, highly carbonated is best(I used Perrier). Pour out about 50ml and add about 12g first flush Darjeeling to the bottle. Store upright in a fridge for 3-4 hours. Carefully open and pour through a strainer into glasses! (Taken from “Easy leaf Tea” by Timothy d’Offay!)
You can also try this recipe with other teas and adjust the amount of tea according to your taste!
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Hi Chattering Tea Cup 🙂
Unfortunatly my tea dealers closed their shops (it’s a shame !) and so I’m forced to buy my teas online in future. And I’m pretty shure you can recommand a good online shop for high quality green teas.
I’m looking for loose green teas of all kinds both from Japan and China mainly.
Cheers
Karl
Hello Karl!
I’m sorry to hear that your shop has closed. I like to buy from: yoshien.com, postcardteas.com (UK), the-chinese-tea-company.com (UK), or directly from Japan: yunomi.life, the-tea-crane.com. Also worth a look are: palaisdesthes.com (FR), tee-kontor-kiel.de, moychay.nl just to mention a few. I hope you find something you like!
Cheers,
The Chattering Teacup