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!!

You can read about my review of Alishan Oolong from Wu wei Tea house here

Spring 2014, Dan Cong: Mi Lan Xiang(蜜兰香)

Directly translate as Honey Orchid Fragrance from the word Mi Lan Xiang (蜜兰香) is popular for its rich honey aroma and orchid fragrance from which it derived its name from. It is classified under the Phoenix Dan Cong(单枞)) family found in Chao Zhou, China.

Now Dan Cong(单枞) is a really interesting type of tea. If you catch the steeping timing just right and you be rewarded with the wonderful aroma and diabetic sweetness favour . Let it steep short it's bland. Too long the bitterness is overpowering. Hence, time and temperature are of essence.

REVIEW 

Tea Source: 2014 Spring Mi Lan Xiang (non-pariel)

Water source: Hyflux Filtered Tap 

Water Temperature: 90deg 

Tea Leaves rinsed prior to first steep 

First Steep with quick infusion of  7-10 seconds the honey like sweetness, lychee favoured, orchid lingering aroma will surely grab your attention.

Subsequent infusions as the leaves unfold, yields consistent favours. The sweetness is so intense, it taste like flowery nectar. Honey is an understatement when compared. This sensation of lingering orchid aroma combined with nectar works from your mouth, down your throat then stomach is the most awesome Cha Qi feel that makes you go ahhh...

So often with Dan Cong, when over steep, it gets really bitter But NOT the same way with this amazing Mi Lan Xiang. It's said, good tea when push to it's limit still is able to maintains and suppress the extreme level of bitterness and character. 

In fact if you are adventurous and brew it longer than you should. You be in for a treat. Yes, there will be some bitterness BUT it doesn't yield any sort of overwhelming medicine like bitterness instead, the mild bitterness is surprisingly very pleasant on the palate and quickly disappears overpowered by a sweet honey like aftertaste. 

Like the old Chinese saying of 先苦后甜, which translates, after much bitterness comes sweetness. This actually brings the complexity of this tea to another level from most.

CONCLUSION

I have tried various Mi Lan Xiang from various vendors but they have never excite my taste buds with such multi dimensional effect of the synergy between aroma and taste. This batch from JKteashop  is probably one of my favourite teas. Non-Pariel indeed!!!

In short, it's easy on the palate slicing through the different layers of honey foral sweetness and that ooomph aroma. If you need an introduction to Chinese tea, i will recommend this Mi Lan Xiang as the best tea to start with!

Spring 2014, Alishan Oolong Tea (無為草堂)

On my recent trip to Taichung,Taiwan, I visited the famous 無為草堂(Wu Wei Teahouse) after dinner next door. We decided to choose Taiwan’s famous Alishan Oolong(阿里山烏龍茶 ).

I can only reminisce the scent of floral and the taste of  milky, sweetness, with fruity aftertaste. Arguably, I think this is the best version of Alishan Oolong i tasted thus far. Hence, I bought 150grams at $1100NT. My Taiwanese colleague was commenting it was expensive. But truth to be told, when comparing to what you pay for in Singapore, you often cannot get this quality and exclusively here than compared to In Taiwan.

One thing I noticed though is  water in Taiwan taste somewhat sweet and really delicious straight out from the tap. I believe is probably one of the secrets why tea in Taiwan taste so damn good. nevertheless I cannot wait to get home and brew my newly acquired Alishan Oolong!

REVIEW

Tea Source: Alishan Oolong (1350m, medium roasted) from 無為草堂
Water source: Hyflux Filtered Tap
Water Temperature: 90deg
Brewing Time: 40sec @ 90deg
Tea Leaves rinsed prior to first steep 

Scent: The familiar smell of gao shan cha(高山茶) which smells a hint of vanilla. You realise regardless whether you are drinking Alishan, Lishan or Dayuling, they all have this distinct smell.

Taste: Ah!!!! Yes the exact distinctive sweetness similar to that i had at WuWei Teahouse.  It sported a fruity after taste. First 1-2 infusions had an introductory milky mouth feel sort of creamy oomph followed by the sweet sweet mid-body and lastly capped with plum after taste. This bold distinctiveness is very different compared to Tei's Alishan Oolong i tried recently.  A feminine feel. I love this tea!!!

CONCLUSION
It hits all the high notes on its creamy, sweet, floral and fruity taste and i am pretty satisfy. A must try and must visit place for Taiwanese Oolongs!

Check out my visit to 無為草堂(Wu Wei Teahouse) here