Enjoy Fall with New Oolong Teas!

The glorious colors of fall are beginning to spread, so it's a great time to pause and enjoy nature. The picture above is of a honey locus tree whose brilliant yellow leaves carpet the outside of our store and provide a magical setting.

What a pleasure to enjoy the above sight with two new oolong teas from Taiwan. The first one is a Dong Ding oolong tea. This highly regarded semi-oxidized and roasted oolong is competition grade and it shows! We drink it gong fu style and through multiple steeps it offers layers of fruity sweetness that turns floral slowly. The roast is perfect - just enough to evoke and sustain a warm coziness in the heart even long after you have finished the tea.

Competition grade refers to the most exceptional teas being submitted by tea farmers in the annual Dong Ding Oolong Competition.

The next tea is Bai Hao oolong tea or erstwhile called Oriental Beauty. We have decided to refer to this tea as Bai Hao, its Chinese name rather than a name that many people consider out of sync with the times.

The Bai Hao oolong tea of this year is from the same farmer that made our last year's batch. Very similar to last year, the oolong is just as enjoyable. For those who may be unfamiliar with this tea: Bai Hao is made from leaves that have been bitten by leaf hopper insects. The tea plant produces certain enzymes to ward off these bugs which are believed to bring about a honey-like sweetness in this oolong tea. The idea of bugs improving the quality of tea is also prevalent in other parts of the world. You can read about it in this blog post.

While looking at our new oolong teas don't forget to check our tea ware collection where a lot of articles for gong fu cha have been recently added.