13 Jul
slow movement

bright tea dim cloth

Beijing’s ritzy Qianmen district was home to 2 very special shops little over 100 years ago, a teashop & a silks shop. 2 Beijing shops c1900 used very advanced marketing principles including Ming Cha An Bu 明茶暗布 (‘bright tea dim cloth’), Mary Portas would be proud! Fine teas should be viewed in good lighting as Zhang Yi Yuan Teashop showed back in 1908. Tea requires light to view whilst silks/cloths are best viewed in subdued natural light as at Beijing’s Rui Fu Xiang founded 1893. The fine Beijing teashop Zhang Yi Yuan was famous for its aromas because teas were scented onsite.

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29 Jun
slow movement

Bubble Teas

Bubble tea has become a ‘fast food’ kids drink from disposable plastic cups with an extra wide straw. Bubble tea’s called ‘bubble’ cos of the chewy pearls/boba of yam, tapioca, sago or jelly, or else the foam topping. Original bubble tea consisted of hot Taiwanese black tea, tapioca pearls, condensed milk, syrup or honey but are now mainly a mixture of coloured syrups. Delicious Dragon Well bubble tea caught my eye at a Hangzhou street stall & recreated in London with purple yam mochi. Recipe for Singaporean Nonya ice dessert called Chendol.

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14 Jun
slow movement

Mistake Tea: Emperor’s Golden Monkey

Great things come from accidental discoveries, penicillin, champagne & now my own new v modest addition. Chinese character for ‘vinegar’ combines 3 characters for ‘wine’, ’21’ & ‘days’: wine that’s been left to go off for 21 days!
How I ‘discovered’ Emperor’s Golden Monkey and found it was surprisingly delicious! Red tea is really ‘black’ and black tea is actually ‘red’ – an accident of history, or a misunderstanding. Emperor’s Golden Monkey tea liquor is red/mahogany, tastes malty, earthy, caramel, marmalade & sweet longan.

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26 May
slow movement

tea and meditation at kyoto garden

Nine of us gathered with our own tea-sets in a silent & serene tea-sharing circle round the Kyoto Garden’s stunning lake. I spent a restorative, meditative 45 min at Holland Park enjoying a simple ritual of sharing tea with eight amazing people! Rain stayed away and the sun came out for last Sunday’s 1st open-air medTEAtation in beautiful Kyoto Garden Holland Park! The ducks, squirrels and tourists were curious & bemused as we sat in the park to brew our teas for medTEAtation. Holland Park medTEAtation went so smoothly, all were delighted, & we came back to Chaya Teahouse for more tea & chitchat.

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18 May
slow movement

t – video profile of a tea artisan

Profile of tea artisan Pei Wang, at teanamu chaya teahouse, explaining how he has made the sensual gong fu cha tea ritual central to his lifestyle. Brewing tea is pressing a pause button in a stressful life, taking a few minutes to be in the present, attend to the tea leaves ‘dancing’ in their tea pot and enjoy the calm, focused, meditative state that we need for social, emotional, physical, spiritual and mental wellbeing. Pei takes the tea ritual out into unlikely, busy, spaces: an unusual tea event in Trafalgar Square promoting mindfulness. Teanamu chaya teahouse is in Notting Hill, London (www.teanamu.com).

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25 Mar
slow movement

yuan yang: mandarin ducks of coffee-tea

Yuan-Yang tea-coffee is the ‘Mandarin duck’ of Hong Kong beverages, i.e. a solid tho unlikely pairing! Mandarin Ducks symbolise conjugal affection & fidelity & the name’s bn gvn 2 this tea-coffee-combo concoction! HongKongers appreciate the oomph of Yuan-Yang tea-coffee. I tried it out in Birmingham! Yang (warming) coffee mixed with Yin (cooling) creamy is a delicious HongKong drink: here’s the recipe! I’m intrigued by Yuan-Yang, complex, nuanced, East-West fusion of tea and coffee!

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11 Feb
slow movement

Chinese New Year Tea

Celebrating year of Golden Rabbit @ home in boiling hot Singapore & mom makingg Taoist offerings to gods & demigods (inc Tie Luo Han tea!) Helping my mom prepare New Year dinner but the numerous rituals she does on her own. A god 4 everything & each must get a gift from us! Mom offering sticky caramel glutinous rice cake to Zhao Sheng kitchen god so he can’t “tell tales” about our family to the Heavenly Emperor! Mom is burning gold paper to Cai Sheng, Taoist god of fortune, to ensure that we have prosperous New Year of the Golden Rabbit. Mom making New Year offerings to the Earth God of a nutritious sweet soup, glutinous rice cake & steamed cake that splits like a happy laugh! Neat little parcels of single portion Tie Luo Han oolong tea.

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31 Dec
slow movement

random acts of kindness

A little year end thanksgiving blog post to usher in the fantastic brand New Year! Year 2010 was filled with many, many chanced meetings made possible through random acts of kindness and meeting people from all walks of life at the tea open houses, despite rain or heavy snowfall, who enjoys tea or want to know more about teas.

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