God Bless China
Our Chinese contingent is visiting the office, and (as all of us tend to do) they brought food. Yesterday the foreign offering was a box of really interesting "fried dough twists", which are pretty much what they sound like, except the twists were fairly small--so that the whole thing looked like a six-inch-long, inch-thick Twizzler. On top of it, they alternate dough, so it was honeyed strands alternating with sesame-seed strands. It was almost more savory than sweet, very crunchy, with a delicate flavor.
Today they brought loose tea.
I love loose tea. There are two cannisters: one of full leaf, and one that looks like pellets. (Both green tea, of course.) Being curious, and because Leiying said the pellets were a famous, quality, tea, I tried that one first.
Each one of those pellets was a whole tea leaf rolled into this perfect little package. The pellets looked a little like the paper twists full of gunpowder that you ignite by throwing onto the ground; open, they became large, dark green leaves. When the tea brewed to a pale green they sank to the bottom of the cup and hovered, waving like kelp. It's probably the prettiest cup of tea I've ever had. It had a little bit of a seaweed taste, too, so I'm not sure if that reflects where it was grown or that it was actually made of kelp.
The second kind looks more like what I'm used to, long thin leaves, and tastes a lot grassier. Without sugar it tasted like green beans. I'm sure there are fancier words for that, but I don't know them, so I'll just stick to saying that the first one was fishy and the second one vegetable. Either way, they made my day a lot more interesting, and I'll be sure to bring in my strainer and give them another try on Monday.
Today they brought loose tea.
I love loose tea. There are two cannisters: one of full leaf, and one that looks like pellets. (Both green tea, of course.) Being curious, and because Leiying said the pellets were a famous, quality, tea, I tried that one first.
Each one of those pellets was a whole tea leaf rolled into this perfect little package. The pellets looked a little like the paper twists full of gunpowder that you ignite by throwing onto the ground; open, they became large, dark green leaves. When the tea brewed to a pale green they sank to the bottom of the cup and hovered, waving like kelp. It's probably the prettiest cup of tea I've ever had. It had a little bit of a seaweed taste, too, so I'm not sure if that reflects where it was grown or that it was actually made of kelp.
The second kind looks more like what I'm used to, long thin leaves, and tastes a lot grassier. Without sugar it tasted like green beans. I'm sure there are fancier words for that, but I don't know them, so I'll just stick to saying that the first one was fishy and the second one vegetable. Either way, they made my day a lot more interesting, and I'll be sure to bring in my strainer and give them another try on Monday.