Quotations About Tea

My pu is bigger than your pu.

I was browsing the internet when I chanced upon this site that actually complied quotations about tea. There was no author I could credit to this collection. I found it pretty amusing reading these tea quotes and I have selected a few quotes for my readers from this nifty website. Do check this site out (and there are many similar sites on the net as well).


http://www.quotegarden.com/tea.html




1. Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage. ~Catherine Douzel


2. A true warrior, like tea, shows his strength in hot water. ~Chinese Proverb


3. Perhaps it is while drinking tea that I most of all enjoy the sense of leisure. ~George Gissing, The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft, 1903


4. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tea-lover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water. ~George Orwell, "A Nice Cup of Tea," Evening Standard, 12 January 1946

2004 Yiwu Sheng

I had purchased this puerh cake from Sin Fook Tea House in 2013.  Sin Fook Tea House is in Hong Kong and is located at 83 Tak Ku Ling Rd, Kowloon City.  This tea shop was formerly operating at Kowloon City Shopping Mall but have moved into a shophouse unit (2 streets away from their former shop) few years back.  Kowloon City is primarily a housing estate comprising of many apartment blocks, and shops there like Sin Fook mainly cater to the local residents.  

This 2004 Yiwu Puerh cake is dry stored.  This tea was not stored in the traditional Hong Kong 'higher humidity' warehouses where pu erh tea are characterized by a slightly more aged taste and aroma and a hint of dampness in the tea.  Many serious tea drinkers in Hong Kong I know are now preferring their pu erh to be dry stored.  

I like this tea cake.  This tea has nice floral and honey notes  that is characteristic of yiwu.  The nice long lingering fragrance of the tea stays in the mouth after I had downed a cup of tea.  There was a nice warming sensation after a few cups.  Being a 11 year old pu erh, the tea is smooth without any harshness seen in many newer pu erh offerings.  

New Yiwu cakes are getting very expensive.  I have seen many new YIwu cakes retailing at over US$100 per cake.  With the many economies of the world including China experiencing slower growth, I am hopeful the speculative element for Chinese tea will be reduced and prices will be lower for tea drinkers like us.  

My souvenirs from Japan

I performed my tourist duties well when I was in Japan. My kids wanted everything Japanese. On my last day in Japan, I went to a local supermarket and stuffed a bag with Japanese cucumbers, fruits, rice, seaweed sheets, confectionary and more Japanese tea, which included matcha teabags. Sound crazy, but I do save up to 70% when I purchase these things here. I even got myself a Canon G16 camera, which I had been eyeing for some time. It was less than $300 here, a 50% savings. Now with HD pix and wifi, my pictures should be slightly better.


And………I bought a Tetsubin. I dropped by a Nambu showroom and came out of the shop with this kettle. The sales staff reminded me that this was a kettle for boiling water and I had to discard the 1st boiled water in the tetsubin before actually using the kettle.


The tea drinking culture in Japan is strong. Whether you go an eatery (where you choose and pay your food choices from a vending machine and give your selected coupons to a waiter) or a high end restaurant, you will be served tea. Tea is easily available. At convenience stores, you have fridges full of teas for your selection, from matcha latte to unsweetened hojicha. At a town at Kanazawa, I stopped by a famous sushi eatery for lunch. Notice the condiment bottles, where the green bottle is actually matcha tea where you squirt matcha powder in your teacup and fill you cup with hot water from the dispenser on your table. What more could you ask when a plate of 10 piece sushi comes with a bowl of traditional salmon soup, drink as much tea as you want - all for only 500yen or $5.

Vacation In Nagoya

I had just returned from a week's vacation from Nagoya, Japan.  I always loved Japanese food, and upon landing in Nagoya and checking my bags at the hotel, I rushed over to Unagi Horaiken, queued for more than an hour for my table to enjoy the famous Unagi set meal.  Unagi is roasted eel, and the preparation of this dish at that restaurant was magnificent.  

I spent most of my Japanese holidays outside the city of Nagoya including staying 2 days in Shrirakawa, a Unesco world heritage site where this town had very well preserved Gasso-zukuri, which are farmhouses that are characterize by steep thatched roofs.  It was a fun 2 night stay at one of these farmhouse, where the proprietor personally cooked meals for all her guests.  

I also stayed in Takamaya, another old town where I chanced upon this tea shop.  This tea shop only sells Japanese tea.  Green tea are sold as loose tea leaves in packets of 50g.  The shop also has roasted Japanese tea known as Hojicha, also sold as loose tea leaves.  Lastly the shop has matcha, which is grounded green tea (think face powder).  Matcha is normally prepared in a large bowl and the tea drinker need a traditional tea whisk (chasen) to whipped up a creamy froth, making the tea a very refreshing drink.  The matcha sold here were packed in 30g packets.  In that shop, there were 3 grades of tea, whether green, roasted or matcha tea.  You can select from standard, No.2 or No.1 grade.  I bought their top grade tea except for matcha, I purchased their No. 2 as I felt a little fishy scent in their top grade matcha.  I am happy I had also purchased similar amounts of tea from a few more Japanese tea shops, while on my trip, and I look forward to brewing them and learning more about the various grades of tea.   

Though the proprietor of the tea shop could not speak English and I could not speak Japanese, I felt we had a common connection with the tea. He described his higher grades matcha's aroma as very long, stretching out his arms.  He also reminded me to brew with 90 degree celsius water and to keep my tea in a refrigerator. 

This tea shop also sells green tea ice-cream.  He even sprinkled my ice-cream with matcha, which made this treat a very enjoyable snack.

Japanese Tea Caddy

My recent tea ware purchase was this Japanese tea caddy.  This tea ware is made in Kyoto and such ceramic works are known as Kyo ware.  This tea caddy measures about 2.8 inches high with its girth at about 2.8 inches as well.  This tea caddy comes with a cow bone lid with gold foil lining the base of the lid.  A cloth bag call shifuku was included in this purchase.  

I was informed that the lid of the tea caddy was made from cow bone.  Such lids may also be made from resin, bone and even ivory.  I found the lid extremely light.   It looks very nice aesthetically but I would prefer the lid to be designed like a stopper so that this caddy can be carried about easily without worrying about losing the lid.

The overall appearance of this tea caddy is very attractive.  The high reflective surface easily makes this tea caddy a great conversation piece while you are having a tea session with guests.  Did you notice the reflection of a camera tripod on the tea caddy? 

But I digress…..I had put some oolong in this tea caddy and took this tea caddy to visit my friend for a tea session. He had the impression that the oolong was expensive since I had used such elaborate tea ware.  He remarked, when we had brewed the tea, that the oolong was an old and high grade oolong.  We had a good laugh when I told him the tea was a Sea dyke oolong.   Lesson learnt - never judge a tea by its tea caddy……or buy an expensive tea caddy; your tea will taste much better.  

Teacup Plate

A teacup plate is a plate where you rest your teacup.  I believe the term 'saucer' is used in the UK, to described these tea ware.  Saucers are normally circular in shape and may have a depression in the middle of the plate to prevent the teacup from sliding around on the saucer. 

Call it anyway you want - plate, saucer, tray, coaster, holder or dish.  The 1st two pix shows some of the teacup plates in my collection.  You will observed that even a gaiwan (literally means covered bowl) comes with a plate.  And….such plates need not be circular in shape.  The wooden rectangular teacup tray in the 1st pix is made from vietnamese teak.  The 3rd pix shows Lau Yu Fat teashop in Hong Kong, where I had a sampling session with Mr Lau.  Notice the square wooden teacup holder that came with my teacup.  If you google Japanese tea ware, teacup plates can be very pretty and well decorated.  Some of these Japanese plates are made from copper or tin.  

Why use a teacup plate?  It helps keep the table dry.  Some teacups may have a rough base and using a teacup holder may prevent scratches to the table top.  To me, the indirect advantage is that it gives the tea drinker a sense of personal space.  If you have a tea session with 3-4 friends, using a teacup plate would help the tea drinker know where to place his teacup after drinking…..not to his left or right but on the teacup plate. For a bigger tea session with 5 friends or more, and if you use similar cups, having teacup trays may help the tea drinker drink from his right cup.  

There are tea sets that does not come with teacup plates.  The last pix shows a new goldfish theme tea set that does not have teacup plates.  When I brew tea myself, I do not use teacup holders for my teacups.  

Using teacup plates in a Chinese tea session have its usefulness and help enhance the ambience of drinking Chinese tea.  Do you use a teacup holder? 

Sea Dyke Lao Chung Shui Hsien - Premium Tin

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Sea Dyke recently introduced their premium Lao Chung Shui Hsien that came in a small fancy gold tin.  Sea Dyke's famous yellow can Lao Chung Shui Hsien in the last pix (link) had been around for more than 30 years and remains today a favorite among many oolong tea drinkers, myself included.  

This premium edition tin has 4 gold foiled packets of shui hsien nicely packed inside.  Each packet holds 10g of tea meaning you get 40g of tea in each tin.  This tin retails today for US$10.  This a not a cheap tea as a kilogram of this tea would cost US$250.  This tea is to me, slightly expensive as this price point would also allow me to purchase much older oolong.  I do give credit to Sea Dyke for selling this amount of tea at a not too intimidating price of $10.

This Lao Chung is a very good tea.  The aroma is very strong and pleasant.  Taste of this tea is good with nice combination of sourness, sweetness with a floral hint in the tea.  There was good salivating sensation when I consumed the tea and there was a nice extended aftertaste of the tea that lingered in the mouth for quite a while after a tea session.  I suspect that Sea Dyke had used a slightly older shui hsien in this premium tin.   

Brewing a 10g pack of this set would cost $2.50 but you could mitigate the cost by using a 80-100ml teapot and this would enable you to use only 5g (half pack) of this tea.  I had a few good sessions with 5g of this shui hsien and I am into my 2nd tin now.  

I do not rate Sea Dyke oolong as a top shelf tea.  I find that Sea Dyke oolongs, especially the tinned ones very good.  It is my opinion, that starting or drinking Sea dyke oolong would give any tea drinker a good platform to appreciate traditional roasted oolong.  I recommend my readers to skip the boxed Sea Dyke oolongs as they are of a lower quality.  I had brought Sea Dyke tea to a few tea sessions with my serious oolong drinking friends and they were not willing to acknowledge the quality of the oolong after they had discovered that the tea drunk was a Sea Dyke oolong.  

If you like traditional high roasted oolong, I recommend you get a tin of Sea Dyke lao chung shui hsien.   No regrets.