One woman's journey to make tea a daily, meditative all-encompassing journey as she begins the second half of her life.
A poet, fiction writer and creative editor of hundreds of publications now turns her full attentions towards a new-ish passion.
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A deep and abiding love of Oriental Beauty
Flowery Oolong from Hatvala Tea in Vietnam!
Hatvala is a rather wonderful company who produces tea in Vietnam and has a tea-house I'd like to visit someday in ho Chi Minh City. This is a wonderful green Oolong of amazing sweetness and very easy to brew. I love it and am enjoying it slowly as I only have a little! This is one I am going to be needing more of, and soon. My first Vietnamese Oolong and Hatvala was nice enough to send me four others I will be sampling and writing about soon. I brewed four grams of this in a 120 ml gaiwan with water ranging from 203f down to 195f. All three steeps, four if you include the delicious rinse, were soft and smooth and really delicious.
'Flowery Oolong is produced using a premium bush varietal (Thanh Tam or “Qingxin”) that has been specially developed for Oolong tea production in Taiwan. The tea is grown on a 40 hectare estate at altitudes between 1000 and 1200 metres on the fertile, rolling plateau of Moc Chau in Vietnam's Son La province. Oolongs sit between Green and Black teas and offer the most variety and complexity depending on the degree to which leaves are allowed to oxidize and how the processed tea is rolled. Flowery Oolong is a green Oolong resulting from a relatively light oxidation. The tea is produced from early April to late October each year.
After picking, the young tea leaves are sun dried and are then shaken in traditional bamboo drums before withering and drum baking. The tea is rolled up to ten times to achieve the final characteristic small bead shape. Flowery oolong provides an exquisitely fragrant, floral tea that is full bodied with a smooth, creamy texture. It is a slightly sweet tea and is sure to delight any Oolong lover.'