tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17582043038904257372024-03-13T20:24:20.235+01:00Tuo Cha TeaTuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-59646105751416042042019-09-06T10:52:00.000+02:002019-09-06T10:52:08.377+02:002016 王者歸來 Return of the King
One of the new teas from San Ho Tang tea factory of Xi Zhi Hao brand named after a Lord of the Rings novel - Return of the king.
Ok, I suppose this is not really a LOtR rip-off but more like a reference of a past Cha Wang (Tea King) cake by Xi Zhi Hao.
Leaves are nice and big, the sample I got from the cake (an expensive one, being $326 for 400g from my source) looks losely Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-1920373169476391862018-07-03T21:02:00.000+02:002018-07-03T21:08:04.018+02:002018 Essence of Tea Wuliang Forest Garden
This is one of the cheaper beengs from EoT 2018 preorder cakes. Unfortunately, it's already sold out.
The cake is double wrapped, with inner wrapper from handmade paper with a blue cloth sewn into it (a style typical for EoT since last year) and a name of the cake sewn under the cloth. The second, inner wrapping paper is clean white, not hand made.
Cake itself looks really goodTuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-48810614150184665242010-04-26T11:30:00.001+02:002010-04-26T14:08:29.050+02:002009 Xi-Zhi Hao Shu minibeengThis is the second minibeeng from the Xi-Zhi Hao pu-erh tea gift set sold by Hou De. As Hou De stated, it's made from tiny pieces of mao-cha that left after sieving the spring 2009 Xi-Zhi Hao mao cha used for sheng cakes. These leftovers were then fermented by an ex-Meng Hai Factory master. The beeng looks and smells good, the smell reminded me of 2005 Menghai Golden Needle White Lotus I have. Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-41200299513989477852010-04-25T22:30:00.000+02:002010-04-26T12:17:57.348+02:002009 Xi-Zhi Hao Jing Gu minibeengA good sheng beeng, at last! Or, according to the small size - a good sheng sample, at last! (© by Hobbes)This is one of the two xiao (mini) beengs from the Xi Zhi Hao gift set sold by Hou De. According to the description, this is from Jing Gu area, same, as the 2007 Pu Zheng beeng. Unlike MarshalNs experience with Jing Gu teas, the Pu Zheng is one of my favorites. Expensive, yet very solid Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-40306014107218656112010-04-13T09:14:00.003+02:002010-04-13T09:53:21.939+02:00Inner changeToday I (finally!) got my parcel with Xi Zhi Hao samples from Guang. The long waiting is over. I haven't tried the teas by now, but I immediately noticed a slight change - the Xi Zhi Hao changed its logo. As Guang wrote, the original Xi (Double Happiness) character contained a drawing of an 18th century educational poster. As I heard, that made harder to sell Xi Zhi Hao pu-erh in conservative Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-50008897964595697272010-02-01T21:12:00.004+01:002010-02-01T22:07:40.855+01:00Light Roast Da Hong PaoMost tea lovers in my area become addicted in the same way. They were introduced to tea other than tea bags in tea-houses or by friends. Most of us started with simpler and cheaper teas and only gradually learned how to enjoy expensive high quality specialties.But in search of great tea the tea lover should never underestimate the cheap ones. Happens, not often, but nonetheless, that even among Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-39818850509176525212010-01-22T19:18:00.002+01:002010-02-01T23:36:11.407+01:00Gamma - "Bulang Shang Yun"After quite a some time I'm finishing the five samples Hobbes sent out to us in the Yunnan Sourcing tasting event. This is Bulang tea made of semi-aged 2006 autumn maocha harvested in Man Nong village near Ban Zhang. The leaves should be harvested from wild arbor trees.The beeng looks nice, with medium-light compressions – it separates easily into leaves. The leaves are definitely darkest of all Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-6419927123848145782010-01-08T23:02:00.005+01:002010-01-12T12:05:38.858+01:00Korean Tea JellyOne of my favorite blogs is Mattcha’s Blog. I love his photos of Korean pottery – cups, pots and other teaware. Also, his description of Korean teas makes me drool like a Frankensteins monster. Unfortunately, genuine Korean tea is very hard to get, with probably none online sites where one can get few grams of these delicate tea specialties.So I was very happy, when I discovered, that not far Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-34437012243830740872009-11-08T20:41:00.004+01:002009-11-08T20:46:43.779+01:00Oolong speculationsA very disturbing article about speculation with prices of Taiwan oolong teas can be found at TC Formosa Tea. I hope this will not become a regular activity next years and we will be able to acquire a good quality lishan tea in next years.Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-9422049098258544462009-09-25T13:07:00.007+02:002009-09-25T15:12:21.826+02:00Beta - "You Le Zhi Chun"This is the second sample of tasting of pu-erh teas made by Yunnan Sourcing. First was one of the most expensive teas made from high altitude Yi Wu mao cha, this tea is made from spring 2009 mao cha harvested in Long Pa village of You Le Mountain. The beeng is on a looser side with nice whole leaves. The fresh scent is less powerful, than the smell of the Yi Wu sample.I liked this tea less then Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-18113138618511120402009-09-23T23:19:00.003+02:002009-09-23T23:46:12.862+02:00Alpha - "Yi Wu Gua Feng Zhai"This is the first of the series of cakes produced by Scott at Yunnan Sourcing LLC. The tea leaves were picked at "Gua Feng Zhai" (The Stockaded Village of Howling Wind) - according to descriptions, one of the remotest and highest regions of Yi Wu. Leaves from the same area were used by Chen Guang He Tang in his 2006 and 2007 Yi Wu beengs.This tea is very fresh. After opening the sample bag I Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-44355874305877169242009-09-16T23:34:00.004+02:002009-09-17T09:57:07.393+02:002009 Wen Shan Fo ShouI had the Fo Shou (Buddha hand) oolong harvested in summer 2009 in Wen Shan area of Taiwan. I got this tea from a local vendor, Longfeng, who delivered me lots of great teas before. This particular oolong is hand harvested and home roasted.The leaves are small and even with light fruity smell. I prepared this tea “Czech tea-house style” – it is actually a gong-fu preparation in a yixing teapot, Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-43757583428919612992009-09-09T10:58:00.004+02:002009-09-09T22:44:11.303+02:002007 Hai Lang Hao Bulang Wild ArborThis tea sold by Yunnan Sourcing claims to be wild arbor pu-erh made from first flush 2007 spring mao cha harvested in Bulang mountain range from 70-80 years old tea trees. I got a sample of it together with various other Hai Lang Hao samples, and I decided to give it a try, since Hobbes praised it quite high.From the sample I got I decided to use the whole part – as for most of my stone-pressed Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-52144246886193379142009-09-02T21:40:00.005+02:002009-09-09T11:26:01.657+02:002005 Chen-Guang-He Tang "MengHai Yieh Sheng"According to information provided by Guang, the Menghai Yieh Sheng (Wild) is a beeng produced by Chen Guang He Tang in 2005 as a blend of Ban Zhan (not Lao Ban Zhang) and other Menghai wild spring leaves harvested at 2005. This is one of the more expensive young pu-erh, a standard 357g beeng costs $120. It must be an exceptional cake to justify that price – so I decided to try a sample and if Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-62973808308380993392009-08-30T19:59:00.004+02:002009-08-30T20:47:12.340+02:00Ceramic tea tray by Xu De JiaI use my wooden tea tray since 2003 and it serves me well since then. Unfortunately, because of its size it’s quite unhandy to use on my work desk, and since last winter I had to work quite a nights, I decided to get a smaller, ceramic tea tray.This is a celadon tea tray made by Taiwanese artist Xu De Jia I acquired from Guang at HouDeAsianArt. The tea tray is made from bluish "Chin Tzi" celadon Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-9252554700403455052009-08-24T20:56:00.008+02:002009-08-24T21:43:05.119+02:00White JadeI spent the last week in Prague, so I took the opportunity and met with Mr. Prachař, owner of Longfeng tea shop. Even though I had extremely little time - it was the last day of our course and my colleagues were very, very eager to go home, I left them and returned an hour and half later with big bag full of teas and tea samples.Among the teas that I bought there were some Chinese red teas. I Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-76637860142581002952009-04-27T12:06:00.003+02:002009-04-27T12:10:28.237+02:00The Leaf issue 5I just wanted to let you know, that 5th issue of free internet magazine The Leaf is out.You can read about yixing, tetsubins, Weng Ming Chuan bamboo tea-tools, Ban Zhang pu-erh and more.Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-15461269468413054462009-04-04T21:47:00.006+02:002009-04-04T22:29:36.288+02:00Limited Karigane Gyokuro Super PremiumIt’s quite a time I haven’t written anything. Probably a sort of laziness I developed in most recent times. But it caused not only stopped blogging, but also drove me to some easier ways to prepare tea, than gong fu. But spring is finally here, as you can see from pictures. Yes, it's real sunlight. And as the nature wakes up this time of year, I finally gathered enough will to continue writing Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-81486260977478063362009-01-28T12:00:00.001+01:002009-04-04T22:32:36.842+02:00Bacon, tea, potatoes, euroTwo months after my last blog – not counting the one from Monday – Slovakia lost it’s currency, Slovak Crowns, the Euro has a new set of coins with Slovak symbols and we all try to be used to think on much, much lower scale. What was 1000 Crowns before now is 33 Euro. But we will live with it, somehow.But let’s tea! I got 50 grams of this fine tea from local vendor, LongFeng (Dragon- Phoenix) Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-52144245600340299072009-01-26T21:56:00.008+01:002009-01-27T21:15:43.441+01:00What a coincidence!Even though I haven’t purchased tea for some time, I still check HouDeAsianArt regularly. And few days ago I noticed a new beeng from Chen-Guang-He Tang in stock. Source: HouDeAsianArt.comI knew that wrapper, I see it somewhere before. But it took me some time to realize, that I have a beeng like this in my possession. Good beeng, by the way. I took a picture of this cake to remind you, how it Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-30865879156287534882008-11-24T00:18:00.003+01:002009-04-04T22:30:02.886+02:002003 Menghai Bulang Jing PinSome tea has its own story, and few stories are quite interesting. Today I drunk a five years old Jing Pin (Superb Product - 精品) by Menghai Tea Factory. It's a sheng pu-erh made from wild mao cha harvested in Bulang mountain range. The tea was sold by Hou De, and it was sold out very quick, within a day, despite the fact that it was limited to two or three beengs per customer and the price was Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-55921319580556087192008-11-21T00:00:00.000+01:002009-04-04T22:30:46.520+02:002006 Longyuan Yi Wu Aromatic Pu-ErhThe tea is dead. Not all the tea, but some of my tea already deceased. Last time I drunk some powerless mao cha and I found some similarities with this 2006 Longyuan Yi Wu Aromatic beeng. Now is the time to confirm my findings.The beeng isn’t single region but is a blend of Yi Wu (third) and Jiang Cheng (two thirds) leaves. But why is it called Yi Wu Aromatic Beeng instead of Jiang Cheng AromaticTuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-5999034730217409982008-11-18T21:59:00.004+01:002009-04-04T22:30:35.341+02:002008 Spring Chun ChaA lot is happening today. Slovakia, the country I’m from will loose its national currency Slovak Crown by January 1st 2009 – we will switch to Euro. And because I work in a company producing and distributing enterprise-wide information systems, we have now a lot of work ahead to help all our clients to convert their systems to euro. That’s why I haven’t had too much time to blog. Yet I still Tuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-61192922027802705152008-09-21T17:32:00.004+02:002009-04-04T22:32:16.183+02:002008 Spring Pin-Lin Bao ZhongAs far as I can remember, I never drank Bao Zhong oolong before. But I found a really inviting quote on Another Tea Blog about how Bao zhong tea tastes.I took a whiff and said, "Fuck me." It smelled good.That made me curious. So, when I made my last order from Guang, I also order 2oz of his Bao Zhong. Because of the small price difference between the Premium and Grade A batches, I have chosen theTuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1758204303890425737.post-23603433520175013522008-09-17T21:14:00.004+02:002009-04-04T22:32:16.183+02:002007 Winter Li-Shan "Da Yu Ling" OolongI got a sample of this winter oolong from Guang. Although this batch is already sold out, on HouDeAsianArt spring 2007 and spring 2008 batches are still available. On the other hands, the spring batches could brew different tea than the winter batch. And how does the winter batch taste?I prepared this oolong in my new über-small teapot, so I used only 4 grams of leaves on 80cc teapot. Still I wasTuo Cha Teahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14948259434826911982noreply@blogger.com1