What drew me to Canton Tea was actually the fact that they had some very reasonably priced flowering tea in their end of season sale. I decided that I may as well make the most out of the postage, and started browsing through the rest of their sale lines. They are a little more expensive than what I normally buy, but as you delve into the tea world what you discover is that the more you pay the better the tea.
This is one of the "taster packs" that I chose. It contained 7 pearls of tea, they are about a centimeter in size and you have to ignore the fact that they look like large rabbit droppings. The brewing instructions provided are easy to follow- 1 or 2 pearls, water at ninety five degrees, 250ml of water and 2-3 minutes.
I left 2 pearls for 2 minutes. When poured out, the tea was a lovely gold colour, without any little bits of tea dust. I checked the infuser to find that the unfurled leaves are surprisingly large, and nicely coloured in coppers and caramels as well as browns. I would have taken a picture, only it would have looked like wet leaves. Sometimes the camera takes away part of the magic. So here is a picture of the liquid instead.
My tasting notes told me to expect plum and caramel. I hadn't really thought to try and find plum in tea before, but now I understand as there is definitely something a little plumy about this taste. It's certainly fruity. And as for the caramel? It's there, in the aroma as soon as you pick up the mug, and in the sweet taste. It's a smooth tea, and I really enjoyed it- which is praise coming from someone who normally only slurps milky tea.
The second infusion of the leaves was just as nice- while using a standard teabag a second time is not something I would do out of choice, when a tea is of a good quality it is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.
I have enjoyed this tea a lot and look forward to choosing my next sample to try- there is 10 left...
More information on Yunnan Gold Pearls here
No comments:
Post a Comment