Review: Bai Mao Hou

Review: Bai Mao Hou

TouThe is really a fabulous little shop, dedicated entirely to tea and tea accessories. The staff are very friendly and will be sure to point you in the right direction, whether its for a gift or you are a die hard tea addict. There's a little cafe area out the back of the store where you can buy a cup of any tea they have in store.

Bai Mao Hou, Spring Harvest Tea [China, grassy] *** $$   by Palais Des Thes, from TouThe, Lausanne,  CN

Other names: 白毛猴,White Haired Monkey

Is this tea really called white haired monkey? I'm not sure, probably the french have some special name for it. This early harvest tea from Fuijan could be mistaken for a white tea, especially looking at its leaves. I didnt go wild about the smell of this one but in the cup it was pleasant with some sweet end notes.

Similar Teas: Chinese grassy teas, white teas

Review: Huo Shan Yellow Bud

Langass Tee is a fantastic tea seller and tea shop, certainly well worth a detour if you happen to be passing by the Swiss capital sometime. That's Bern, not Zurich. Nor Geneva.

I spent some time in Bern last year and had been looking to try a yellow tea....mostly because I didn't know what the term yellow tea means nor how it differs from green tea. It would appear Yellow Tea is all about post production processing, something to do with using a humid cloth which I don't quite understand. I also read that yellow teas were the preserve of Emperors in days gone by.

I wasn't sure about buying a 75g of a tea I had not tried but the shop assistant told me it would drink faster than I expected and she wasn't wrong!

Huo Shan Yellow Bud [china, yellow, grassy] ***** $$$   by Langass Tee, Bern, CH

Other names: 霍山黄芽,Huo Shan Huang Ya, 

First off, the smell this tea is amazing: fresh, buttery, slightly nutty. I could smell it all day long. For me the nutty notes become stronger when the leaves are wet and reminds me of Silver Needle white teas, with a long note of some astringency. In the cup, it turns to a rather sweet nutty very pleasant smell.

The leaves look somewhat like Long Jing leaves but these two teas are quite different. 

I'm someone who likes to steep my teas for quite a short time, most green teas are steeped too long for my taste even in speciality shops to extent when all I can taste is the bitterness. By contrast, this yellow tea needs a good 1m30 to 3min infusion or you risk missing its extremely subtle flavours. 

I find its taste very pleasant but rather difficult to explain, you can certainly taste the tannins but beyond that there's not too much to say apart from a slight bitter notes. Very easy to drink, very easy to like and one of those teas that is very comforting in the feeling it brings after drinking.

Recommended as a gift tea or for anyone who is starting out on the exploration beyond green tea bags. 

Similar Teas: The des Acores, Silver Needle

A sweet comforting little brew

We've done some shopping!

My very photogenic housemate Eliane went to Bern this week and came back with some goodies. She's moroccan so she knows a thing or two about tea. Apart from the classical mint tea from Morocco, she also enjoys korean teas and Genmaicha from Japan.

The latest additions to our collection

Review: FBOP SPEXN01 - High quality Black Tea from Sri Lanka

I spent a month in Sri Lanka in December 2016 and much of the tourist trail (such as it is) loops through the highland tea growing areas. Mostly Sri Lanka grows black tea for the mass and premium tea bag market so I didn't go out of my way to do any tastings or visit estates, although I did find a spectacularly good cuppa in the southern fort city of Galle.

However I found a speciality tea seller on a lazy walk one evening in the party town and surfers paradise of Hikkaduwa on the south coast. It was enough to turn my head and I came away with a few goodies. 

FBOP SPEXN01 [Sri Lanka, black, grassy] **** $$   by Ceylon Gold Tea, Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka

Other names: ??? 

There are dozens of black tea varietals made for tea bags, or essentially black tea made to be drank with milk (oh, the horror!). I don't tend to pay too much attention and the names usually wont mean anything to those who are not tea purchasers. 

Very often the names resemble this one - FBOP SPEXN01 - and are not exactly poetic. "First Bush Orange Pekoe" is the front part of the name but after that I give up!

As it was already quite late and the shop was closing, I didnt do any tastings so I picked this one strictly on smell from the handful of teas recommended by the owner once I told him what I liked.  It has a delicate nose, where the orange notes are fully evident - this is not often the case with Orange Pekoes I find.

The leaves are very small and in the cup this is an absolute smasher of a tea, full of tannins and with a light subtle flavour. And no, I didn't try it with milk. Recommended for those who like lighter, high altitude black teas.

Similar Teas: Nilgiri, Darjeeling

I recommend a visit to this shop in south Sri Lanka

Review: Thé des Açores by Saveurs PimenThe, Switzerland

I was wandering around Lausanne city centre last Saturday, catching the last of the weekly market of local products. I went down a street I knew well and found a tea shop that I didn't know at all. The lady in the tea shop seemed surprised as the shop has been in her family for 3 generations....though it might not help that its easier to see the "Au Cafe do Bresil" sign then a sign of a tea shop.

The window display has the feel of an olde shoppe and the place is small and cluttered, so easy to miss that it is a shop selling loose leaf tea. They do also sell spices, crockery and a good selection of coffee from around the world - Guatemala is particularly smooth if memory serves though I'm not much of a tea drinker.

Thé des Açores [Azores Islands, grassy, green] **** $$   by Saveur PimenThé, Lausanne, CH

Other names: None

So there is tea from the Azores islands of Portugal. Who knew?

The leaves scent reminded me of some of the green teas I'd had in Malawi, and as the lady in the shop mentioned, there was a vague hint of vanilla.

The colour is a dark yellow, the first hint that this was not a typical green tea and in fact the taste was much more reminiscent of white teas to me, very subtle and extremely smooth. Azores green tea is a throughly likable tea and the kind of tea that will get along well with most people. This should make it an excellent gift tea. There is no bitterness at all and no hint of the vanilla comes through in the taste. 

The leaves are good for about 3 brews before it looses flavour, the tea also does well on longer brewing times, and doesn't appear to be very temperature sensitive. This tea is very good for those venturing into green teas for the first time. 

Similar Teas: Bai Mu Dan

Review: HuangShan MaoFeng

Another mystery tea from the stocks brought into the T2000 Chinese shop in Kigali in the run up to Chinese new year. Comes in one of those intriguing boxes where the only thing I can read is the name. Good luck reading their website :)

I vaguely recall having a MaoFeng sometime in Switzerland and not liking it but I find my tastes change from time to time and the other teas I bough were such good quality I thought I'd give it a go.

Huang Shan MaoFeng [China, grassy] *** $$   by  by Tea Tf, CN

Other names: 黄山毛峰,Yellow Mountain Fur Peak

The leaves were short and spiky, somewhat like white tea and there was a fresh, definite chocolate nose to the leaves which was divine. Indeed the "shan" part of the name would suggest that its a young tea, given my very limited knowledge of Chinese*

In the cup the tea was a light green, much like LongJing and the colour stayed pale even with longer brewing. There were grassy fresh tastes again like LongJing but also has a soft milkyness like some of the floral Oolongs. Overall a very likable tea indeed and recommended for it smooth drinking and wonderful colour. 

Similar Teas: Chinese grassy teas such as LongJing, Bancha, oolongs.

* Yes I know Chinese isn't a language, I'm using it here as shorthand for all of the dialects and languages in China!

Review: Moli Maojian

So it turns out Chinese new year was an unexpected boon for me, as the local Chinese mega-store (and in the running for Kigali’s oldest department store) T2000 got a whole bunch of awesome teas that they don’t normally stock.

I took the opportunity to restock on Puerh and Guan Yin and also found two others I didn’t recognize. First up, MoLi Maojian....

 MoLi MaoJian [China, grassy/floral] **** $$   by  by Tea Tf, CN

Other names: 信阳毛尖, Fur Tip

I had a vague recollection of having something with a name like Maojian in Switzerland and not being that impressed, however with the first smell of the tea when I opened the package I knew I was in for a treat.

Fresh, floral notes very reminiscent of Guan Yin and another aroma I could not quite place. In short this tea smells awesome! The freshness carried through to the taste and for the floral notes, it certainly contains some flower looking thing. Ozymandias maybe?

Footnote:

I am an idiot, the flowers in the tea were JASMINE. In my defense I didn't have jasmine tea for a very long time, however its one of the easier flavors to discern. Usually. 

That said, this is a remarkably well put together jasmine tea as the grassy notes from the MaoJian play off well against the Jasmine, which is not overpowering. Note that like most jasmine teas, if you try to reuse the leaves too often all you will taste is jasmine.