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It's All About Tea — aged tea

Discovering Delights: A Tea Tasting Experience at a Tea Market

Posted by Boyka Mihaylova on

Today, we continue our tea tasting experience, climbing up to the third floor of the tea market's dedicated building. This place is reserved for private tea places. Here, tea owners often invite friends and customers and organize thematic events.

We enter a place with a charming atmosphere imbued with old-times charm. A collection of antique tea items, including various Zisha and Nixing teapots, graces the glass window, and the heaps of medicine-flavored tea promise a memorable experience for a tea lover's palate. This is a company dedicated to the exclusive sales of Liubao - a fermented tea from China. The owner greets us and starts preparing one of the exclusive teas we will try in today's tea tasting experience (Read More)

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On Tibetan tea: interview with a tea master and brewing tips

Posted by Boyka Mihaylova on

Today, we invite He Jin - a local producer of Tibetan black tea, and our proud supplier - for a chat. She will teach us on the various types of this chinese fermented tea, and will share tips and tricks on storage and brewing methods in order to get the most out of this artisan tea.

He Jin lives in Ya'an city, where she's been engaged in Tibetan tea production for quite a few years now. She creates fine-quality Yaxi Tibetan tea in loose-leaf form and the region's signature Tibetan Jasmine tea. (Read more)

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Hei Cha: Tibetan black tea – a thousand year old treasure

Posted by Boyka Mihaylova on

Tibetan black tea is made from more mature tea leaves. The picking standard for it includes a bud and up to five leaves. Modern days processing includes typical steps for producing Hei Cha – fixing, rolling, wet piling (Wo Dui – 渥堆), drying, steaming, pressing, and finally, aging. While the processing changed with time, some believe it is namely Tibetan tea that precedes all other types of Hei Cha and served as a model for all subsequent Hei Cha production and processing in other areas of China. 

Tibetan tea processing includes 5 stages and a total of 32 processing steps. The aging period alone requires a minimum of 6 months. Some claim its production process is the most intricate and time-consuming among all tea types. (Read more)

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Washing tea: drink or discard the very first brew?

Posted by Boyka Mihaylova on

"Washing tea" ( or rinsing tea) is a well-known expression for everyone who enjoys drinking loose leaf tea in a traditional way – f.ex. Gong Fu Cha style. We call "washing/ rinsing" the act of pouring out the very first brew of tea. Its purpose is to literally "wash" the tea leaves.

Washing tea has become an essential step in the tea ritual. Some people go to the extent of "washing" even the most gentle and delicate teas, like green tea. What good does it bring, though? And is it really necessary? Let's find out what stands behind the custom of washing tea. (Read More)

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Aging Pu-erh tea: wet storage vs. dry storage (Part II)

Posted by Boyka Mihaylova on

Following up from last time, here’s the second part of our blog post, dedicated to storing and aging Pu-erh tea. We talk about the phase of transitioning from wet to dry Pu-erh. We explore the advantages of dry over wet storage and give an answer on whether wet storage is good or bad after all.

You will learn the two essential factors that guarantee effective storage for your tea cakes. You will also understand how the shape influences the storage. Finally, you will learn the best ways to store tea at home, depending on its shape and quantity. Let’s dive in! (Read more)

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