British style

Sorry it has been such a long time. I have not had access to my computer in quite some time.

One day while in Florida I woke up to find a teapot on the table next to me. Apparently my parents bought me a new teapot. (probably an early birthday present I guess) Being it was opening day of Harry Potter and that the teapot looks like a snowy owl the pot quickly got the name Hedwig.
I have always wanted to try the British milk and sugar type tea. To me there has always been something odd about adding milk to water/tea. Being in the south I am used to sugar in tea, it is actually rare to get tea without sugar here. I thought it was about time I try milk and sugar in my tea.

I selected "Ceylon" tea from red leaf teas. This was because of it's British ties and because I didn't want to experiment on s better quality tea.

Plain Tea: Was very strong and tasted sort of like how damp earth smells. However it was surprisingly smooth with a bitter aftertaste.

Milk And Sugar Tea: The first taste was alright. I did not put a lot of milk in the tea but a sickly creamy presence was there. The liquor had a weird texture to it, almost like the tea was thicker and smoother. I did not like that. It has some merit and I am glad I tried it but frankly I don't think I will be trying it this way again, but you never know.

I do however want to try milk tea where you add tea leaves directly to the warm/boiling milk. I think this would get ride of some of the weird texture that I wasn't fond of.

2010 Yunnan Golden Bud

This is another wonderful tea Gingko so graciously let me sample! Thank you.

The dry leaves are so stunning. I never thought they could be such a golden color. The aroma from these lovely dry leaves is a sort of dry bitterness.

While brewing this tea a lovely smell of sweetness came up with the steam swirling from the brewing vessel. I always enjoy watching steam come up from the tea and swirl around in the air.


The dark ruby brew lead to a perfectly balanced bitterness and sweetness. It was such a smooth flavor. I literally sipped this tea all day. Though it did get weaker overtime it remained balanced the entire time. I could drink this tea all day. It is a wonderful way to start the ever busy day. Sorry for the short post, I am busy packing and getting ready to leave for Florida in the morning.

2010 Sun Moon Lake (Small-leaf cultivar)

Once again thanks to Gingko for this great tea!

I have always heard about Sun Moon lake tea, admittedly the "Red Jade" cultivar, and have always wanted to try some of this well known tea. Also it is Organic, at some point in time I would like to compare organic vs nonorganic tea from the same region. Also I would like to taste the difference between the "Red Jade" cultivar and this "Small-leaf" cultivar. The smell of this is spiced and sweet, it also smells like damp grass. It is a wonderful aroma.
Brewing the tea lead to an even more powerful aroma that lost it's spiced smell the sweetness changed to make it even more noticeable.
I could not wait to taste this tea.
Three wonderful infusions came from this tea, without any change really other then the flavor becoming weaker. This tea has a wonderful darkness to it. It is sweet yet there is this subtle flavor underneath that I am having a hard time to describe. It's not really spicy, but is a warmness that you can feel inside and taste in your mouth. What a wonderful feeling and calmness it creates. This is a wonderful tea and I suggest anyone who likes black/red tea to try it.
On a different note I am sorry I have not been posting as much. This was because sampling teas that I feel that I cannot blog about because they are frankly not my cup of tea. So I have an excess of Red Leaf Tea's products that I probably won't be drinking myself so let me know if you are interested in trying any. Also college applications had been taking up most of my time. Thankfully those are finished for now!