Tea For The Special Occasion

 

Do you keep aside some tea for a special occasion? It could be a tea you especially like and this tea is now too expensive, hard to get or simply no longer available.

Many people celebrate milestones in their lives; like a birthday, graduation or buying a new house.....by eating or drinking something special.  It is common to see people popping a bottle of bubbly or having a party to celebrate such occasions.  

I keep some tea I liked for such occasions.  I would make a brew of these tea.  I do not consider these tea to be top grade or expensive tea  but I had purchased them some years ago and drinking these tea make me happy.  You will notice its not much tea.....I will simply replace them with some other tea when I have finished with this batch of special occasion tea. For me tea is meant to be appreciated and drank and not kept as a butterfly collection.   

What A Difference 17 Years Make

 

As I turned on my Spotify to listen to 'What a difference a day makes' by Dinah Washington and at the same time typing out this blog entry (that's multitasking for me), I am drinking a 17 year old 6 famous mountain raw pu erh.

17 years of storage is quite a long time.  Things were quite different ....... we were younger and I believed things were more simple.  This raw cake was produced in 2004 by an old factory called 6 famous mountains. Located in the Menghai region of Yunnan, this factory is a well known among pu erh tea drinkers. 

I remember having a sample of this tea many years back and it did not leave any buying impression to me.  I found this tea again in Singapore and the sampling session this time was a treat.  With 17 years of storage under its belt, this tea is simply smooth, mellow and sweet.  There are complications in taste and aroma that is only achieved through very long term storage.  Herbal, spicy, Chinese medicinal and dried floral notes with an ever so slightly lingering whiff of smoke.  Quietly intoxicating.  I find myself finishing a session of this tea very quickly. 

What a difference 17 years make.