Tea Time Thursdays

I'm starting a new tradition on this blog, in the style of Sugar High Fridays, except I would like to feature all things tea. Thursdays will be my day to feature gourmet teas, food made with tea, or nibbles that will go well with tea. I hope everyone will enjoy this as much as I will and if you wish to join me please email me at onigirifb(at)yahoo.com.

For my first Tea Time Thursday I thought I would write about the lastest tea I'm addicted to Wu Yi Shan Ti Kwan Yin, an Oolong tea, that I purchased at my favorite Des Moines tea store Gong Fu.



Oolong teas are in the middle between black teas and greens teas. They have a light floral taste with a bit of a bitter aftertaste. I've found that this is a great all-around tea that goes well with most of my Asian dishes.



As you can see in the picture above the color of this tea is a little darker than that of green tea. According to Mike, the kind part-owner of Gong Fu who is nice enough to put up with me, Wu Yi Shan Ti Kwan Yin is a good oolong that embodies what an Oolong tea should be.



I found this interesting information on Gong Fu's website:

"Our finest Ti Kwan Yin comes from Wuyi Mountain – the legendary home to Ti Kwan Yin (the Buddhist Iron Goddess of Mercy). It is one of the most oxidized of the Oolongs, and yields a heavy aroma and fruity fragrance. It can be steeped many times without becoming bitter. The classic choice for a Gong Fu Ceremony."

If you look on the plate next to the tea cup I took some of the brewed tea leaves out of it's pot so you can see what it looks like. Once again the gentlemen at Gong Fu have astounded me with how wonderful their products are. You can see that all the brewed tea leaves are actually whole tea leaves. This is a sign of good quality. Kudos to Mike and Rusty for once again providing me with a wonderful new tea to be addicted to.

Well, folks, that's it for this inaugural post on Tea Time Thursdays. I hope you all try Wi Yi Shan Ti Kwan Yin, it's my current favorite. I'm sure I'll have lots more to share with you in the coming thurdays and I'll be down hunting for the lastest tea once Emily un-bans me from going to the tea store!