Cup of Tea and a Blog

Welcome to my spot for musing about all things tea. Here you'll read reviews of quality teas, click through comments on tea rooms and shops I've visited, and see photos of leaves and cups. You’ll also find things I might talk about over a cup of tea, like philosophy, literature, current events, or fun ways to pass the time.

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Location: Pacific Northwest, United States

Please see my current blog at http://www.meltingteapot.com

23 April 2005

Leaf: before & after

This week I've been sipping a medium-roast oolong from Floating Leaves Tea. Some oolongs have a late summer or fall vegetation flavor (tomato leaves, falling leaves, mosses), but this tea is on the other end of things -- the end with flavors of fresh spring, early blossoms, and young grass. It's very fresh in the cup, and it brews up easily and quickly.

The first time I tried this oolong, I used way too much tea and the resulting brew was too bitter. What I hadn't expected was the dramatic change in size when the leaf unfurled; I ended up with a cup full of leaf and nowhere for the water to go. Now I know to only use 6-8 of the rolled leaves. Here are a few photos that demonstrate the change between leaf in the bag and leaf 2 gaiwan steeps later.



Click either photo to see it as a larger, more detailed image.


The smaller, furled, "before" leaf is circled.


note added: a few people have asked where I found the glass gaiwan. I purchased it from TeaSpring, one of my favorite online tea shops.

CW

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