Oolong Time August 02, 2009
Well, finally did it. Released the promised oolongs finally. It is always so much more work than you’d imagine, Photos, labels, descriptions (long and short), pricing, last minute changes, awaiting shipments…
It_was_worth_the_wait. I always do this thing where I second guess a purchase or decision, so I go back to the grindstone, recupping said tea (I did it this year with the Golden Lily (a popular oolong that varies widely in quality). Suffice to say that after an evening of recupping and talking myself out of doing it with a few others, I realized we had totally scored again this year. A little luck, some great and deepening friendships, contacts, and connections, and an unwavering focus on quality and sustainability.
So, now I need to post some photos of a tasting session and tasting notes! Also, I need to give props to my friends Brett in Seattle who manages Tea Cup. He turned me on to a solid Ali Shan that was the first of the teas we got this year. It is almost gone, and a few others are disappearing rapidly, but I expect to have some well into the year. We got near whole crops of a few select ones from tiny farms. Totally sweet.
I’ll be scheduling a tasting on my meetup page zhi tea tasting group for mid-September. it is still 100 degrees here every day and no one is here or wants to do anything.
So now I will go and fill my gaiwan with some of my new favorite, a gui fei oolong we have dubbed royal courtesan. it is to die for. Maybe I’ll feature that in the next posting.