A Video on Tea Buying

As you may remember, my friend Jennifer Sauer (Bon Teavant) joined me on my Taiwan tour last May. She was very kind to produce some wonderful tea videos from our journey together. I have to admit that it was nerve-racking to watch myself in the video and to hear a voice that I can't believe came from me. Jennifer made a video about how I go about choosing a tea for purchase; the link is below. I hope that it is both informative and enjoyable for you to watch! Please let me know what you think of it and I hope that I can provide even more useful and interesting content for everyone in the future. Enjoy!

http://bonteavant.com/2011/03/tea-buying-high-mountain-oolong.html

Yixing Teapots

As I mentioned in my previous post, some online customers asked me to find them some Yixing teapots. I finally found several recently and wanted to figure out what kind of tea suits each Yixing teapot before I posted them on the website for sale. But before I had time to finish my project, many of the pots had already been sold!

I have just posted the remaining pots on the website so that everyone can have a chance to look at them. I will be updating everyone about what I find out about their qualities (slowly) on the website.


*This photo is provided by Douglas King: www.douglaskingphoto.com

Yixing Tea Pots

Some of you who don't live in Seattle have asked me to find some suitable yixing pots for you and to put some of my teapots on the website. I am finally getting my act together and will be posting some Yixing pots on my site.

I mostly drink Taiwanese Oolongs, a little bit of Chinese Oolongs and Puer in the winter, so the pots I will select and post will be for the teas that I drink.

I got the following pot from a tea friend. She has used this pot for 8 years for lightly oxidized Tieguanyin from China. She said she can't drink that tea anymore and has been drinking shou Puer. She sold me the pot and I have been testing it out on some high mountain oolongs from Taiwan and it works beautifully. It's a small and adorable pot. It holds around 70ml of liquid.

Next, I got this pot (below) around two years ago. I have mostly been brewing shou puer with it. It was owned and used by someone else before I obtained it and I don't know how many years it has been used prior to my possession. It also holds around 70 ml of liquid.

These two pots will be on the website soon and there will be more coming on as well.

Muzha Tieguanyin

The brief sunny days left us and the threat of snow is here. Well, I should say it's actually already been snowing these past few days. I wear so much clothing now that I look like a teddy bear (10 years in Seattle and I am still not used to the cold weather).

I saw the postman opening his truck and knew there was a box of tea for me. Perfect timing! The second shipment of Muzha Tieguanyin has arrived. I heat up the water and put plenty of Tiequanyin leaves into a Yixing pot. Yum! Hearty, warm, and satisfying. We were able to get a really good price for a tea of this quality, so we can pass on the good price to you as well.

Also, please note that Floating Leaves Tea shop will be closed at 4pm from March 5th to March 8th.

Bright Day and Baozhong

We have had a lot of rainy and dark days in Seattle this winter (not much for news, I know). This morning, I was awoken by sunshine in my room and I knew it would be toasty warm at the tea shop today, which made me happy. The tea shop faces south. When it's very sunny during the winter, the sun will come into the shop directly. Today is one of those days. It's bright and warm inside. I suddenly thought of the Baozhongs that I haven't had much of in a while. I have been drinking darker Oolongs and high mountain teas for the past few weeks.


I decided to taste Farmer's Choice Baozhong and Hon. Mention Baozhong side by side. The rinsed leaves of Farmer's Choice has a hint of seaweed and those of Hon. Mention carry that typical Baozhong floral note. As I proceeded to drink the teas, I found Hon. Mention Baozhong to be very pleasant, light, and floral. When I sip the Farmer's Choice Baozhong, there is a new flavor that I haven't noticed before, some sort of special and nice prune taste. It reminded me of a specific type of dried plum that I can get in Taiwan. It's extremely dry and hard and tastes salty, sour, and sweet. As kids, we would take one and put it in our mouths and slowly suck the flavor out. On hot summer days, I liked to take a couple of them and soak them in a glass of water until the flavor infused into the water. Then I would add some ice cubes to make a refreshing drink.

While I was thinking all of this, I noticed that I was drinking Farmer's Choice Baozhong really fast. I suddenly realized how much I was enjoying it. I was enjoying the simpleness of the flavor, the cleanness of the liquid, and the well-balanced texture and feel of it in my mouth.

I was sitting in the shop, sipping the tea, looking at the people and cars going by. I thought about how most people must have grabbed at the rare chance to enjoy sunshine today, and I was enjoying the sunshine from inside, thinking of some place very far away. Taiwan, I'll be back soon..............