Tea With An Englishman

I had tea with an Englishman last Friday.

Russell Alderton, had through the Steepster forum, asked about Chinese tea in Singapore. He was in Singapore for a week and had wanted to visit the Chinese tea scene in Singapore. He contacted me and I arranged to meet Russell last Friday.

I guessed that he wanted to sample Chinese tea in Singapore. I met Russell in Chinatown and brought him to the famous Maxwell Food Market for a large plate of Hainanese chicken rice. You will noticed In the pix that I bought him a coconut drink as well. I wanted to make sure he had a good meal as the tea sampling session later that afternoon was going to be wild and intense.

Russell initially looked pretty stern but after sampling 3 old pu erh (5 infusions each), I got him tea drunk and you can see him grinning in the following pix. He appreciates his tea and took his time to describe the taste and aroma of each tea to me. He reminded me of Andrew Zimmern, the famed TV food host of Bizarre Food series. Let me explain.....when Andrew tried a food he liked, he would close his eyes and go into a 'bliss-like' state for a few seconds. Russell did that 'bliss-like' action (exactly) when he sampled the Feng Huang Danchong (we tried 2 old Danchong as well). He really liked that tea.

I learnt, during our conversation at the teashop, that Russell kept his tea in a refrigerator. The refrigerator was not turned on at all. He used his fridge somewhat like a pumidor or a mini cave to store his tea. He even used water pillows to maintain the humidity in the fridge.

It was an enjoyable tea session. I believed he was impressed with the puerh storage while sampling the tea cakes in Singapore.

I would like to thank Miss Chong of D'art Station for spending considerable time and patience for hosting us to a wonderful sampling session of old Pu erh and oolongs. Thank you.