mama potato: September 2014

Spring 2014, Dong Ding(凍頂) High Mountain Heritage Oolong Tea

Today, the light refreshing medium roasting of Taiwan High Mountain tea(高山茶) Alishan, Lishan etc are the trademark when one discuss teas of Taiwan but not many know that Dong Ding(凍頂) Olongor loosely translated frozen peak was the crème de la crème back in the 70s & 80s.

How will high mountain Dong Ding(1100m) processed at a higher-oxidized as tradition requires to make a Heritage Dong Ding flares :)

To be continued..

Colours of Tea @ LATENT SPACES

I heard about Colours of Tea organised by Pekoe & Imp through Ladyteamel's blog. Today session is located at LATENT SPACES, Har Par Villa. With the many new friends, it was a great session tasting and giving each our views on the various types of tea with the help of our facilitator Hong Yuan and master brewer, Jaq. Green, White, Yellow, Oolongs,Red & Black Tea we tried them all!! Most importantly It was really fun and enriching meeting peers of similar interests.

Of all the teas we tried I felt i really enjoyed Junshan Yinzhen(君山银针), Yellow Tea the most something I haven't tried and most willing to explore. About 5% oxidation, the Yellow tea or golden needles sports a bold green grassy favour yet mellowly delicate sweetness It's like a mixture of Green tea with Lighter oolongs perhaps with a slight astringency that gives you an excellent Cha Qi.

Scheduled for 1.5hours but dragged on for almost 2.5hours shows how passionate we were!!

Pekoe & Imp's Facebook page of the event!

Yellow Tea brew in a Low Profile Yellow Duan Ni Pot ^_^

If you are keen to learn more or make new friend while enjoying a good cup of tea, you can join Pekoe & Imp for their tea events :)

Mid-Autumn Festival 2014

The highlight of this year's Mid-Autumn Festival from the previous years is the addition of pu erh enjoyed with the yummy Singapore Airline’s maiden traditional lotus egg mooncakes.

I’m very much a Oolong person but pairing of those light oolong with moon cakes just didn't seem to match. Heavier roasted yan cha seem to also lack that oomph to go with these lovely moon cakes.

A couple weeks back, I brought some mooncakes to Tei’s place.We decided to pair it with his newly purchased 郎河 2010(Lang he) 熟(cooked) pu erh. I will review this on a later date. Prior to this I have only drank Pu Erh a handful of times. But boy does the earthly rich smooth pu erh is compliments the sweet floral moon cakes. Hence, i decided to immense myself into the new world of pu erh.

I bought a cake of cooked pu erh, Yi Zhan Chun "一盏醇" 2012 literally means "a cup of rich, smooth & mellow tea" and the rest is history. So while i enjoy that with my family i was also fixing my little sister's faulty iPod home button. Yes, an iPod classic in year 2014 haha..

Oh pardon the funky coloured photos taken with my iPhone.

Visiting 無為草堂 (WuWei Teahouse,Taichung)

I recalled before heading to Taichung, Taiwan, I googled for famous landmarks in the city.Blogs after blogs, 無為草堂 popped up. A 8min Taxi ride from my hotel, I had to visit this place! You'll find in most blogs the whimsical side of 無為草堂 in the daytime but unfortunately I can afford only time off in the evening. But hey, it looks great even in the evenings!

Traditional looking shop front with a short passageway inside, this teahouse stands out quite distinctively amidst the modern landscape of Taichung. Welcoming you in is the friendly and pretty Ms Wang( I shall grab a photo of her when I visit the teahouse again). It's my 2nd visit and Ms Wang recognising me, offered a complementary sponge cake to go with tea ^_^ Thanks!!!

With regards to photos, because I'm on a business trip, let's make do with my trusty iPhone.

En route the rooms, I passed many large Koi pond. Sadly, it was too dark for a decent photo. The rooms are Japanese styled with beautiful artworks lining up on the walls, the temperature is regulated at around 26 degrees C. Just perfect and comfy.

For dinner, I chose one of their house favourites; Hakka duck, pickles, green bean soup, sweet melon fruits and delicious 珍珠糙米(Taiwanese unpolished pearl rice). The food was really awesome. All food in Taiwan is nice to be honest :) I shall try some of their other set meals the next time!!