Tea Haul

[jill_dragon]

So I've been doing a lot of traveling around the province in the past couple weeks, not all of it for pleasent reasons, but I'm not going to discuss that here.  The upside is that during my travels I managed to find two great tea stores, one of which is in a very small town (which surprised me).  Being the tea fanatic that I am I went nuts and

Comments

[iguanahey]

Thanks for the heads up on The Blue Teapot! I shop for tea in Vancouver monthly but haven't run across that one before. I don't know if you've tried tea shopping in the south side of Vancouver, specifically Richmond near the Aberdeen Center -- you can't walk a block in any direction without running into two or three top-notch tea shops!

I'm curious what you think of gunpowder. I've tried many and never been too impressed, but I'm still hopeful I'll find one I like. I'm pretty sure you'll like the Formosan Oolong though -- they tend to be very sweet and vegetal with complex flavors. It may not be as dark as you think of at the term oolong -- formosan oolongs are almost entirely green. Russian Caravan teas are one of my favorites too; the smokiness comes from the inclusion of some lapsang souchong (a black tea smoked over a pine fire).

Thanks for sharing!

[jill_dragon]

I've never really been down as far as Richmond, but the new Skytrain line goes there, doesn't it? It definitely sounds like something I want to check out the next time I'm visiting. :)

I'll post what I think of the Gunpowder tea when I try it. Just out of curiosity what don't you like about it?

[iguanahey]

Yes, the new line does indeed go down right past all the Asian malls! I'm not sure when it's open though -- a month ago they were still building the stations.

I've tried a half dozen gunpowders, from pinhead sized to pea-sized. I know gunpowder refers more to the shape than the tea used, but in each case the tea always had a dry, dusty, uninteresting bland-green taste. I will admit though that I've never seen a high-end gunpowder tea -- it's generally a shape used for lower-grade leaves.

[sicher]

But if it's called "Formosa oolong," chances are it's Bai Hao which isn't green at all.