I bought some Kyōbancha from Teemaa a few days ago and immediately fell in love with it!

Maybe I'm influenced by the name (Kyōbancha meaning "tea from Kyōto"), but one sip of this tea and I feel like I'm right back in the old Japanese capital!

I think it's because its light roast reminds me of hōjicha (which I drank a lot of while in Japan), and something about it's woodiness and earthiness reminds me of the many temples I visited in the city.
In addition, this tea has a subtle fruitiness, like dried cranberries or strawberry jam, which leaves me always craving another cup.

I find it very comforting and it fits perfectly with the snowy mornings we're starting to get here!

#tea #teaTime #kyobancha #kyōbancha #japaneseTea #greenTea #teemaa #茶 #日本茶 #京番茶

I was recently craving Dong Ding oolong, so I had Nari Tea's one, made from the Si Ji Chun cultivar in Nantou, Taiwan 🏔️

The dry leaf aroma reminded me of chocolate cereals in rich milk, as well as orange peel and dark honey.
The tea broth aroma was floral (lilac) and slightly milky, and the tea itself tasted of floral honey, with mineral and roasted notes.

It's sometime hard for me to taste the charcoal roast in a tea, but I've been trying to pay more attention to it when drinking tea lately, and this time I think I was able to grasp it.

Fun fact : I drank Nari's Dong Ding for the first time last December, and when I went back to check my notes, I saw that I had already noticed the chocolate cereals aroma in the dry leaves back then! That's such a specific one, I wouldn't have expected to get it consistently, but I did! 🍫

#tea #DongDing #oolong #wulong #TaiwaneseTea #gongFuCha #teaTime #Nari #NariTea #DongDingOolong #茶 #功夫茶 #工夫茶 #乌龙茶

A few weeks ago I attended a Tea & Techno event organized by Tearoom Utö / Timo Wright in Owan restaurant, Helsinki 🍵

I first enjoyed a deliciously sweet and smooth Okuyutaka Kirishima from Kagoshima, followed by a strong and umami Asatsuya, also from Kagoshima.

The music was lovely, surprisingly low volume so it created a nice ambience and we were still able to have conversations.

Great music, great tea, great chats and company, perfect vibes 💚

#tea #techno #teaTime #sencha #茶 #煎茶 #日本茶

As a way to welcome the start of autumn, I drank a tea which perfectly reflected the season a few days ago: 2021 Old Tree Jingmai Shu Pu'er by Nari Tea 🍂

The color of the broth was a fascinating bright ochre that I rarely see in teas.
The aroma was that of a forest after rain and decomposing leaves, but the taste was savory, with a hint of minerality. It also had a surprising sweetness for a dark tea, and this combination of flavors gave it interesting depth.

It overall really reminded me of a beautiful autumn afternoon 🍁

#tea #teaTime #puer #shuPuer #JingmaiPuer #ChineseTea #NariTea #autumn #gongfucha #工夫茶 #功夫茶 #茶 #普洱茶

Repost: Pixelfed had corrupted my image, and even though it gave it some cool and retro glitchy vibes, I'd rather repost the original picture instead!

I had visited Muyō a few times since its opening, but only for tea tastings and events.
A few weeks ago, I finally got to sit down for some relaxing tea time with friends in this lovely space. We shared two Chinese teas: the red Yu Sen Xiang / Jade Forest Fragrance (pictured) and a Phoenix Dancong. Both were delicious, as was to be expected!

We were also served a refreshing drink of matcha and yuzu upon our arrival, which felt amazing in the summer heat Finland experienced at that time.

Thank you Xinyuan for the warm welcome as always 🥰

#Muyo #Helsinki #teaHouse #Finland #tea #teaTime #YuSenXiang #Dancong #PhoenixDancong #gongfucha #茶 #功夫茶 #工夫茶

People sometimes ask me for teas with strong fruit notes, and now that I've tried Nari's 2019 aged GABA oolong from Meishan, Taiwan, I'll know what to serve them!

Already the dry leaves have an incredible aroma: dry strawberries, raisins, watermelon and stone fruits 🍓🍉
The tea broth smells both fruity and floral, with notes of honey and cooked oranges 🍊
The tea tastes sweet, is full bodied and round, with a fresh after taste like pine needles. This keeps the overall experience balanced, without an overly sweet feeling afterwards.

I know GABA oolongs often taste like cherries, and I was surprised to not find this taste here. I think the aging also helped making it so smooth and sweet!

#tea #teatime #tee #茶 #oolong #gabaOolong #乌龙茶 #烏龍茶 #gongFuCha #taiwaneseTea #taiwaneseOolong #工夫茶 #功夫茶

summer night gyokuro　·　22:04

Gyokuro by Sakurai Japanese Tea Experience
Cup by Oondobang
Backdrop by Finland

I never got around to posting about the teaware I got in Japan last December, so here we go!

In Uji, I went to the beautiful Asahiyaki gallery, where I bought four cups. I only had mugs to drink larger quantities of tea at home, and had been wanting hand made, smaller cups for a while, so those fit my wishes perfectly! They're 100ml, fit nicely in the hand and have a texture that is somehow both smooth and rough. I also love that the green color comes from pine ash glaze, created from the wood burnt to heat up the kiln! I use them all the time at home, and never get tired of admiring them 🍵

Later, in Tōkyō, I decided to look for a kyūsu because I usually use a gaiwan at home, which isn't practical for the thin leaves of Japanese green teas. The internet directed me to the Thés du Japon shop in Taitō, which happened to be owned by a fellow French person, who's also the author of a tea blog I've read through quite a bit : Japanese Tea Sommelier! There, I found (actually, my wife chose it!) a beautiful 250ml kyūsu made by Yūsen II in Tokoname. The unglazed clay is really smooth and I love the "scales" that have been created by removing small slices of clay from around the pot 🐍

Finally, on our last evening in Japan, we decided to go to the Japan Traditional Crafts Aoyama Square shop in Minato. Officially I was looking for miso soup lacquered bowls, but I ended up leaving with the smallest tea scoop I ever laid eyes upon! It was made in Tsubame, a city known for its beautiful tsuiki-dōki copperware tradition. It has a fascinating blue hue, and is perfect for rolled oolongs and small amounts of Japanese green teas 💚

I really love all of the teaware I found in Japan. They always make a simple moment more special by reminding me both of my travels and of the fact that they were carefully handcrafted on the other side of the globe only to end up in my small Finnish flat! How lucky I feel to handle all of them regularly!

#teaware #kyusu #asahiyaki #朝日焼 #tea #teatime

I had the pleasure of visiting Helsinki's Tee Polku tea house today 💚

I sat down for some Korean Hwangcha, a type of tea I hadn't drank in a long time.
The dry leaf aroma was strangely reminiscent of tomato soup and french herbs, with dry blueberries undertones. The tea itself tasted lovely, of fresh apricots and green wood, with a strong minerality to it.

It was also very nice to chat with the new employee Anni about what it's like to work in tea houses 🍵

#tea #teatime #koreantea #hwangcha #gongfucha #helsinki #teepolku #teahouse #茶 #功夫茶 #工夫茶

This Bihu High Mountain Qing Xin Oolong from Nari Tea felt very refreshing during the few hot days we had last week!

The dry leaves had a lovely creamy, milk chocolate and dry apricot aroma, which transformed into a sweet peach and floral flavor once the tea was brewed. It was very smooth and well balanced!

I brewed it with 3.2g/80ml in a gaiwan at 95°C for ~30 sec to start. I was able to brew it many time and it held up very well!

#tea #cha #茶 #taiwanesetea #oolong #highmountainoolong #bihu #naritea #gongfucha #teatime #工夫茶 #功夫茶 #乌龙茶