The Sparrow Tongue

Only the second blog post and I'm already feeling the fatigue!

Those who know me will know that I mainly focus on Wu Yi Yan Cha (武夷岩茶), Pheonix Single Bushes (鳳凰單叢), and Sheng Pu-er (生普洱). And today, out of the kindness of my father's heart, I got to brew some Yan Cha on my own.

The Yan Cha that I got to brew today was the Sparrow Tongue (雀舌), it is the direct descendant of the middle bush Big Red Robe. Problem with Big Red Robes today is that there's simply too many, and none of them are real! Essentially everything produced in the Fujian Province are now glorified Big Red Robes. But enough of the ranting. I forgot to take a picture of the dry leaves, and I'll be sure to do so next time. I've only added half of pack, which is about 4 grams or so in the Gaiwan, this way one pack of tea can go for two separate brews.

Fully released tea leaves

Small amount of water with small amount of tea. Actually a very good way to train one's patience, as there's just not that much tea to go around. This forces you to really savor each sip, and it's great.

I'll have to admit, I'm simply terrible at describing flavors. English writing has always been difficult for me, but I try my best. The tea itself was silky and smooth, but not without strength in its Qi, I always find it funny how any tea brewed by me always end up softer than my father or my friends. The aroma was simply phenomenal, with a mix of fruity milky texture.

Normally I don't get to brew tea of this caliber on my own, as my father would prefer me brew something like Da Wong Feng Rou Gui (大王峰肉桂) or the Yellow Rose (黃玫瑰), but hey, sometimes you got to enjoy life, and I literally sat through the rest of the afternoon, just sipping on this tea, brewing it over and over again all on my own, while completely ignoring all the guests at the time. But I'm sure they wouldn't mind, at least I didn't. 

Beginning

It's about 3 A.M. or so here in China, but what the heck, I can't sleep anyways.

I'll have to admit, starting a blog was not anticipated by me before the trip, but sometimes boredom can drive  you to do incredible things. Starting a blog is probably not the best idea I've ever had, since the blog will most likely fall into ruins after a while. But before that happens, I will be jotting down some of my random thoughts and notes on my tea journey.

Perhaps a quick self introduction is in order. But to explain who I am and why this blog exists, I must first explain who my father is. My father is an artist who specializes in Traditional Chinese Painting, and he is also a tea fanatic. And when I say fanatic, I mean seriously hardcore all the way crazy zealous fanatic. He's been drinking tea for over 40 years (going to hit 50 soon, I think), and has been hoarding huge amounts of tea in whatever vicinity he claims his own.

Naturally, I've drank my share of tea as well, and I liked it, a lot. But it is not until recently that I've started to travel to China, and really started to dive into the world of tea. Initially I didn't really think about having a blog or anything, but then like I mentioned before, boredom is a scary scary thing. From now on I will be recording my own journey to the best of my ability, and hopefully tea drinkers everywhere can share their experiences with me as well.