2010 Handmade Rou Gui Wuyi Yancha

Delicious Yancha from The Essence of Tea: "This completely handmade Rou Gui comes from 60 -80 year old trees, growing deep within the Wuyi Scenice reserve (ZhengYan). The leaves have been completely handprocessed and given 2 charocal roasts."

After short seven steeps, left the tea in the gaiwan for the night with a little water, then brew it again the next day - longer steeps this time. 

Gao Shan Jinxuan Oolong from Tea Masters

Setelah menikmati matcha pada pagi hari (ritual yang tidak pernah terlewatkan jika tidak sedang berpergian), dan satu sesi Moonlight White pu-erh setelah makan siang, sore hari menjadi oolong time. Pilihan jatuh ke Goa Shan Jinxuan oolong.  Stephane dari Tea Masters  menyisipkan sekantong kecil sample oolong ini dalam order saya tahun lalu. Teh ini berasal dari Lu Shan di Taiwan dan dipanen pada tanggal 26 Oktober 2010.

Seperti halnya oolong yang berasal dari Gao Shan (aka oolong dari pegunungan tinggi di Taiwan), daun kering oolong dari Lu Shan ini bentuknya meringkel, dengan tingkat oksidasi yang ringan.  Sepertinya oolong ini melewati proses roasting yang tidak terlalu lama karena aroma roastednya tercium secara samar-samar saja

Aslinya, air teh seduhan berwarna kuning jernih dan lebih tua dari warna seduhan yang terlihat di foto-foto dalam halaman ini dan tidak sepucat warna seduhan difoto.  Rasanya manis,  ringan dan fresh. 

Hari minggu yang menyenangkan! 

New Year - New Teas

Started the new year with organic matcha from Den's Tea (Saemidori varietal from Nishio, Aichi, first flush). It was creamy, smooth and delicious. 

Matcha in "In Praise of Shadows" chawan by D. Michael Coffee

Shortly after that enjoyed a pot of French Breakfast Tea from Mariage Freres, bought at their store while in Paris last October but had left unopened in our tea cupboard until today.   

French Breakfast

Oriental beauty from Floating Tea Leaves after lunch. I liked its roasted and honey flavor. 

Oriental Beauty

Tea in Jakarta

I didn't get a chance to visit two tea houses as I originally planned, but I still managed to drink some good teas while I was in Jakarta last week as two tins of matcha and some oolongs from Floating Tea Leaves were traveling with me on this trip. 

At the hotel we're staying, my mother and I enjoyed our non-creamy and un-frothy matcha every morning at breakfast. I had all the tools with me; chawan, matcha shifter, chasaku and chasen. But after preparing matcha (Aiya organic ceremonial) with all those tools on the first day and didn't get a good result (but  got a lot of questions about the tools from the hotel waitstaff), I decided to just use regular teacup and spoon. Of course it didn't produce a fine and creamy drink, but the taste was good and we liked it. That's all the matters, right? 

Breakfast View from the hotel

At my parents house, my mother and I enjoyed our morning matcha in D. Michael Coffee's chawan prepared using more "appropriate" tools, and Alishan Oolong from Floating Tea Leaves in the afternoon. 

A day before I went back to the states, my sister, my mother and I decided to visit two tea plantations in Puncak.  Growing up, my parents often took us to different tea plantations near where we lived for a picnic lunch on the tea fields. During my college years, my friends and I often went to Malabar Tea Plantation in Pengalengan for the weekend just to breath the fresh air and walk around tea plants. I am always fascinated by the beauty of the tea fields. And I wanted to see it again this time. 

It was raining really hard when we reached the first plantation "Perkebunan Teh Ciliwung", so we just enjoyed the tea fields from the car. Fortunately the rain stopped when we got to "Perkebunan Teh Gunung Mas", a government-owned tea plantation about 87 km south of Jakarta. We went straight to the cafe inside the plantation to warm ourselves up with a pot of hot tea, fried banana and yummy grilled banana. We were the only customers at that time. Ah.. what a peaceful place... so calm, so quite, and so green.

Perkebunan Teh Ciliwung

"Agrowisat Ciliwung" seberang Cagar Alam Cibulao

Kecamatan Tugu, Cisarua

Perkebunan Teh Gunung Mas

Jl. Raya Puncak, Bogor

(0251) 25 2501

2009 Lalashan - Floating Tea Leaves

Setelah menikmati oolong dari Alishan dan Lishan (termasuk dalam kategori high-mountain tea dari Taiwan), sayapun ketagihan dan ingin mencoba variasi lainnya dalam kategori ini.  Pilihan jatuh ke teh oolong dari Lalashan, perkebunan teh yang berlokasi di Taoyuan yang konon hampir sepanjang tahun tertutup kabut, suatu kondisi yang ideal untuk perkebunan teh premium. Disebutkan juga belum banyak orang yang mengenal keberadaan Lalashan oolong, termasuk di Taiwan sendiri.  Konon daun teh yang dipanen di Lalashan dibawa ke Lishan dan di jual sebagai Lishan oolong. Kolega saya yang orang Taiwan dan sempat  bekerja paruh waktu di pabrik teh di Taiwan saat usia sekokah malah bengong ketika saya tanya tentang oolong Lalashan ini. 

Lalashan yang saya coba dari FTL adalah medium roasted yang dipanen pada musim dingin tahun 2009.  Daun teh keringnya  bulat meringkel mirip oolong Alishan dan Lishan. Air seduhan sangat bening dan bearoma fruity dan terasa manis. Saya mencoba mentrace rasa peach seperti yang disebutkan beberapa vendors. Karena Lalashan merupakan daerah penghasil buah peach, banyak yang menyebutkan oolong dari Lalashan mempunyai rasa  seperti buah peach, yang sayangnya tidak saya rasakan. Yang jelas teh ini terasa sangat potent, rich dan walaupun diseduh sampai 7 kali, rasa dan warna air seduhan tidak berubah. Daun hasil seduhan terlihat mulus dan utuh, tidak bolong-bolong. 

2010 Spring Alishan - Floating Tea Leaves

Varietal: Chin Hsin Oolong
Region: Alishan ZhanShuHu 
Varietal: Chin Hsin Oolong

Cold brew Teas

The weather has been hot lately as June Gloom is finally over.  The thought of having a cup of hot tea is not really appealing so I decided to cold brew my teas this week. After searching online for how to prepare cold brewed teas, I decided to try brewing my teas with iced water and left it overnight in the fridge. First try was saemidori shincha. Wow I really liked the taste!  It was sweet,no bitterness, less astringent and very refreshing. 

Then I tried other type of teas that I normally brew hot; oolong, darjeeling and matcha. I liked all of them too. I am very pleased to know that I can still enjoy my teas even in very hot days! Life is good.  

2010 Farmer's Choice Bao Zhong from Floating Tea Leaves

2010 Spring Farmer's Choice Baozhong - Floating Tea Leaves

I really liked the 2009 Winter Famer's Choice Baozhong from Floating Tea Leaves. So while in Seattle early this month, we stopped by FLT to see if Shiuwen, the owner of FLT, brought the 2010 Spring harvest of this Baozhong from her recent trip to Taiwan. I was glad she did. She kindly invited us to have some teas with her.

I tried the Baozhong today and compared it with the 2009 Winter. While the 2010 version was not as great as the 2009 version, it was still delicious!

1st and 2nd infusion

2009 Long Feng Xia Oolong - Tea from Taiwan

LFX dari Shan Li Shi adalah salah satu high mountain oolong dari Taiwan. Tercium aroma manis dan sedikit floral dari hasil seduhan pertama yang masih bisa terdeteksi sampai seduhan ke 4 dan hanya samar-samar tercium dari hasil seduhan ke 5 dstnya.  Rasa seduhan lembut membelai dan soothing.  Simply delicious!  Jika saja saya tidak punya masalah dengan caffeine, LFX akan jadi pengganti air putih sebagai minuman sehari-hari.

Organic Japanese Oolong - Yuuki-Cha

A very unique taste of oolong with a roasted taste and aroma. As a fan of greener oolong, I didn't expect to like this tea. But I did. It feels smooth and rich in the mouth. I brewed it gong fu style in shiboridashi and used 1:1 leaves to water ratio at 194°F without rinse or preheating the pot. First and second infusion for 30 seconds and third infusion for 40 seconds. 

From the vendor site: "A rare treat of JAS certified organic Japanese oolong tea single estate cultivated, processed, and packaged in Kagoshima, Japan... The dry leaf, which is semi-oxidized, is slightly curled."

2009 Winter Alishan - Floating Tea Leaves

What a sweet fragrant and refreshing taste! Alishan oolong termasuk dalam kategori Gao Shan (high mountain tea) dari Taiwan. Berasal dari perkebunan teh yang berlokasi di ketinggian 1000 - 2300 meter di sekitar Gunung Ali di Taiwan. Ciri khasnya antara lain medium oksidasi dan daun kering yang meringkel. 

Saya seduh di gaiwan yang berkapasitas 120 ml. Rasanya manis dan light  - enak banget. 

Teas on holiday...

Our office is closed in observance of Chesar Chavez Holiday today. Yippe! We started the day with a delicious bowl of organic matcha Tenkei Tori from Yuuki-cha that has become our favorite.  Since we first tasted this matcha about a moth ago, when we're home, we never start the day without it.    


Around noon before we left the house to run some errands, we enjoyed 4 infusions of Ippodo's Gyokuro Kanro. We always find this gyo to be very concentrated and smooth, but today we were also rewarded with a sweeter taste than ever. We were wondering wheather the beautiful Yamane Seigan cups had anything to do with this?

We finished the day with 7 infusions of 2009 Farmers Choice Baozhong from Floating Tea Leaves with a yummy pecan bars we picked up earlier from our favorite cakes shop, Jamaica's Cakes.  

2009 Dong Ding Special Roast

My husband and I tried this for the first time today.  Shiuwen from Floating Tea Leaves in Seattle included a sample of this oolong in my order.  I like the appearance of the dry leaves and it's fun to watch them uncurle beautifully and gradually during each infusion. 

The brew is light golden yellow and has a sweet taste and very smooth.  The color turned out lighter than the color of Shiuwen's liquor I saw on her website. Hers is more amber. Maybe I didn't brew it right or I used less leaves than I was supposed to?  But I really liked the taste and that's what matters most. 

We were able to enjoy consistent flavor and aroma during the first 8 infusions. After that the flavor and aroma started to fade gradually. Then it's my plants' turn to enjoy the 9th and 10th infusion of this oolong.

Golden Dragon and Ti Kwan Yin Oolong

Gara-gara menikmati oolong di Tea Habitat minggu lalu, kami berdua jadi ketagihan tapi malas untuk kembali ke Tea Habitat lagi, maklum lokasinya agak jauh untuk ukuran kami berdua :-) Jadilah kami balik ke Peet's di dekat rumah untuk mencoba oolong mereka. Saya memilih Golden Dragon sementara suami mencoba Ti Kwan Yin. Untuk rasa kedua oolong ini tidak mengecewakan tapi tentunya tidak fair jika membandingkan keduanya dengan oolong dari Tea Habitat.


Golden Dragon Oolong
Termasuk salah satu Rare Teas-nya Peet's. Rasanya manis dan tidak ada rasa pahit sama sekali.  Air seduhan berwarnanya berwana coklat kemerahan.

Peets's on Golden Dragon Oolong: "Golden Dragon Oolong is our top quality Formosa tea, with a distinctive sweet, dry, peach-pit flavor and floral aroma. This tea receives more attention from its planting through leaf processing than almost any other tea on earth. Bushes set aside for growing Golden Dragon Oolong are grown in shade to slow the leaf growth and develop unique properties. Unlike other fine teas, the leaves are allowed to grow longer prior to plucking, and instead of two leaves and a bud, three leaves and a bud are plucked. After infusion, one can pick out of the pot entire leaf bud sets, still intact from the moment of plucking. To make the tea, the leaves are first withered in the sun for two hours. Then, several pounds of leaf are wrapped in cotton and hand-pressed, so as not to tear the leaves. The leaves are then unwrapped and allowed to wither and oxidize in shade; then all three steps are repeated multiple times. To finish the tea, the leaves are first pan-fired, graded, then finally fired in baskets over hot coals." 


Ti Kwan Yin
Rasanya agak kompleks dan sulit untuk dilukiskan dengan kata-kata. Kami berdua sepakat TKY terasa lebih 'mild' dari GDO. Untuk kami berdua yang masih awam soal oolong, TKY terasa lebih cocok. 

Peet's on Ti Kwan Yi: "Ti Kwan Yin translates as "Iron Goddess of Mercy," and is the most famous oolong tea produced in mainland China’s Fujian province. The bushes grown for producing this tea are special varietals unique to this province, where hundreds of small tea farmers dot the mountainous terrain. Ti Kwan Yin is a "greener" style of oolong than the Formosa teas, with perhaps half the degree of leaf oxidation, and a flavor that tends much more toward the vegetal. The aroma of this tea can be very complex, with hints of orchid, herbs, nuts, melon and even candle wax commonly made reference to by tea tasters. Ti Kwan Yin is easily recognized by its dark green color, large leaves, and unique crumpled appearance." 

Dan Cong Oolong - Tea Habitat

Pagi ini selesai belanja mingguan di Farners Market, suami dan saya segera meluncur ke Tea Habitat di Rancho Palos Verdes untuk mencoba tea tasting Phoenix single bush (Dan Cong) oolong Tea mereka. Jika saya tidak salah mengerti jenis teh oolong ini dipanen dan diproses dari pohon-pohon teh yang sudah sangat tua yang hanya berasal dari satu varian: Song Zhong atau varian Song (dari Dinasti Song) di pegunungan Phoenix (Feng Huang Shan) di Cina. Karenanya teh ini dinamakan single bush oolong atau Dan Cong.  Jenis oolong ini hanya dipanen satu kali setiap tahun pada bulan April. 


Dari 6 menu pilihan Tea Tasting Flights yang tersedia, kami memilih Age of Tree Flight yang terdiri dari Zhong Ping Xiong Di Jai - Little Brothers, Li Jai Ping Lao Cong dan Song Zhong Jai - Song Varietal. Semua hasil panen bulan April 2009.  Teh disajikan secara Gong Fu dengan 6 seduhan untuk setiap jenis teh. Total 18 seduhan teh kami habiskan dalam waktu kurang dari 2 jam.

Zhog Ping Xiong Di Jai dari desa Zhong Ping dari pohon teh yang sudah berumur 80 tahun dan berada diketinggian 980 meter dari permukaan laut.  Seduhan teh berwarna kuning pucat dan sangat bening.  Rasanya begitu kompleks, manis, smooth dan mellow.  

Li Jai Ping Lao Cong dari desa Li Jai Ping dari pohon teh yang berumur 150 tahun dan berada pada ketinggian 1200 meter dari permukaan laut. Seduhan juga berwarna kuning pucat dan bening, terasa lebih manis dari Xiong Di Jai serta lebih mellow. Suami dan saya sepakat menjadikan Li Jai Ping Lao favorit.  

Song Zhong Jai, dari desa Da An dari pohon teh berusia 347 tahun yang berada diketinggian 1100 meter dari permukaan laut.  Warna seduhan agak sedikit lebih pucat dibandingkan dengan kedua teh yang kami coba sebelumnya tapi rasanya tidak kalah nikmat dan terasa menyegarkan.  Wangi daun hasil seduhan terasa lebih kuat dibandingkan dengan kedua teh yang kami coba sebelumnya.