100g Xiaguan Tuo Cha, Bowl Pureh Tea

This is one of the best Pureh tea I ever taste in the GZ trip. We try different Pureh Tuo Cha in one of the store. All of them are Raw tea with 4-5 year old (2004-05).

Usually 4-5 years old raw tea do not deliver enough richness and still taste raw. Some of the sample really reflex the fact. However, when we try this Xiguan Tuo Cha we have a very good impression.

Though it is a raw tea, produced in 2004, it already taste sweet and smooth. The liquor color keep in light yellow even after several brew. Not much richness is expected, but overall rating from me is really high. Xiaguan is famous in producing Tuo Cha, and this one really convince me they still keep a very good quality. The most important point is we all afford to try it. Each Tuo Cha cost only RMB40, how can you resist to take them home?

How to differentiate good Puerh Tea

It is quite interesting that many tea stores got this post of "How to differentiate Puerh Tea" issued by the Chinese Puerh Tea Society. So what is the "Four Important" points in choosing good Puerh?
1. Clean : The taste of the tea should be Clean and clear, no moisture taste.

2. Pure : The liquor colour should be in clear deep red, nothing like ink black.

3. Formal : Tea should be store in formal dry storage, no high humidity.

4. Taste : After taste of the tea should be mild, no bitterness.

The second part of the post is talking about "Six Don't policy"

1. Don't mark a wrong production year of the Pureh tea.

2. Don't use miss leading packaging.

3. Don't judge the tea by only observe the liquor colour.

4. Don't add artificial flavour into tea.

5. Don't use humidity Storage as selling point

6. Don't judge the tea quality only by tea leaves or year of the tea tree.

Well, they are very good reference for those who try to learn more about Pureh tea. I will remember them all the time.

GuangZhou FangChu Tea Wholesale Park (Part three)

After trying some Iron Buddist, the next target is my favourite Pureh tea. We walked across the main road, the third tea wholesale mall just located in front of us. The market is 5 floor high and full of tea seller. We were entering a dream treasure world.

We didn't walk through ever store (there are two many). We just stay in the one which attract me most as they display many aging Pureh tea cakes.

The store manager realized we are not idiot about Pureh, he was very please to introduce something good for us. First one we try was a Seven Sons raw tea cake from the early 90's. The tea leaves look very big with amazing smell of fresh earth. I just talk to myself this tea cake should be in very high quality and very expensive. Of course, the taste of the tea is absolutely wonderful. I'm sure all the Pureh lovers will enjoy this piece. Strong feeling of tea character, sweet and mellow with no bitterness. The after taste was so impressive that you can't resist to drink more. We are so satisfy with this tea but, actually we cannot afford to buy it. I do not want to disclose the price but I am sure it is wealth.

GuangZhou FangChu Tea Wholesale Park (Part two)

Woo...I just realize that me and my friend were only step in a very small part of the Fang Chu Tea Wholesale Market. After we walk 5 minutes more, we meet another market area which I think there are over sixty store around. We went through the streets in a very quick way and finally we were invited by a woman. We went into the store, sat down and try their best tea, the Iron Buddhist (Tie Guan Yin ).

At first, the store lady introduce us something not expensive. Of course, the result was some raw and bitterness. My friend who is not really a tea love also feel uncomfortable about that. After we said that we can try something more expensive, the lady smile and take out some tea from inside room.

She said the tea cost around RMB 120 per 500g. We cannot resist to taste it. At the same time, we examine the tea leaves as well. The leaves are in light green colour, bigger in size and smell young. Iron Buddhist (Tie Guan Yin ) do not like Pureh, usually younger Iron Buddhist taste better. Something sweet and mellow went through our tongue. The smell was so good even my friend wanted to taste more. Finally I bought 200g and carry on our trip in the tea market.

GuangZhou FangChu Tea Wholesale Park (Part one)

It is so exciting that I have two day holidays last week. As a tea lover, I certainly desire to go to Guang Zhou and have a look of the biggest Chinese Tea wholesale market in China.

Fang Chu, actually is a subway station of the line one subway route. After you reach Fang Chu station, there are sign lead you to the tea market. Along road side, you already see many tea store around. The big Tea Pot is so interesting that I can't resist to take a picture.

After walking for 20 minutes, crossing a bridge, finally I arrived the wholesale market. A smaller market was in my first sight. I just rush in and found the area was not as big as I expected. Not much store was opened yet, maybe because the time was only 11am. I was quite disappointed at that moment. But when I kept walking, woo... the story just began.

The Killers Live in Hong Kong - Cancelled

The Killers Live in Hong Kong - Cancelled

(Ticket Refund from January 28, 2010)

It is with great regret that The Killers have been forced to cancel their upcoming appearances in Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, Manila, Tokyo and Seoul due to unforeseen circumstances.


The band deeply apologizes to their fans and hope to reschedule their shows in these cities soon.


IT IS TOO BAD TO KNOW THIS. HOPE THE BAND MEMEBER IS FINE AND BACK TO TOUR SOON.

New York,I Love You

Something turns me on that I want to go to the cinema today. A couple of movies on shown are attractive at the beginning of the 2010. Finally I pick "New York,I Love You", hoping to catch some kind of warm feeling. Woo, it makes me...

Sorry to say that I didn't get what I want. 12 famous directors, mix with many Oscar stars, making 12 different stories with the background of NYC. But I did not get to know deeper about this city. Stories are so generals and some of them even say nothing but sex. Does NYC is really running like that? Can we say that it is a city of dream? I cannot resist to compare this movie to "Love Actually", a Christmas classic years ago, which really touch me with tear. Maybe the movies is out of my expectation, or I need to see it in a different angle. The only story really impress me was the one talking about a pair of old couples (directed by Joshua Marston). Within the 1 hour and 44 mins, I can only carry these 8 mins home and have a good sleep.

Happy New Year 2010 !!

Happy New Year 2010 !!

Huang Bei Ling Antique Town

Boxing Boxing......I don't know why I keep thinking of "The Boxers" by Morrissey on the Boxing day. I like the Smiths and Morrissey very much, but it is nothing to do with Christmas time.

Today I visited a friend who open a Chinese tea shop in Huang Bei Ling Antique Town. The Antique Town is not far away from town, as the area cannot be reached by subway train, so it is a less famous treasure searching place. Behind the Arch there is a big area for flea market selling all kinds of so and so antique, jade, china, jewellery, paintings, books, even cameras and everything you can imagine.

We didn't spend much time on the market and went straight to my friends' store. It is a rather well know store around the place so quite a number of customers around while we stay there. My friend keep a lot of valuable antique tea cakes and we love to seek if there was a chance to have a taste. Of course we try some of those we cannot afford to pay for, but finally I did buy two tea bricks. The bricks were made in the 90s and they are raw bricks. It taste very sweet and seems like already aging for more then twenty years. They cost me not much (500 HKD) and refresh me some 80s memories.

What happen to the LAST CHRISTMAS?

What happen to the LAST CHRISTMAS?



:P

Chinese Tea Beauty wish you very Merry X'mas.

Hello, Chinese Tea Beauty wish you very Merry X'mas. What are you going to do tonight? Having a crazy party? Sleeping? No matter where u are, what u are doing, just promise to having fun.

I'm going to have a crazy party as well. A tea party. Woo. I'm not sure how many kinds of tea I will taste tonight, but sure it must be extremely amazing.


How can you spend the night without this song!!

China(Shenzhen) International Tea Expo, episode 4, compressed tea making

People are always wonder how tea cake or Tuocha (bowl shape 沱茶 ) compressed tea are made. There are demonstration of making tea in the Expo, catching many ppls attention. Normally they steam the raw tea leaf, then some of them use to make tea cake and some of them make bowl shape compressed tea.

On the tea cake making side, we can see there are four steamers (look like rice cooker), two big tea cake compress stone and several workers.

On the other side, two worker are working on bowl shape tea. Actually I'm not sure what kind of tea they are making, however they said it is a kind of organic tea and can be drink immediately. Many ppl are trying at once, but I do not have much interest. But it is nice to see a live demonstration of making compressed tea. The bowl shape tea weight over 300g and cost 320 dollars.

China(Shenzhen) International Tea Expo, episode 3, TAETEA Group

One of the focus of the tea Expo should be TAETEA Group which located in the middle of the exhibited area. Taetea, regarded as the major brand of Menghai Tea Industry Ltd. , is a kind of quality guarantee for most of the lovers, at least you will not be cheated when you buy tea in Taetea group.

Besides there are many tea trying desk area, ppl also attract by many of the special made tea cake. You can see the price of those product in the picture. Honestly, I am not really interested in those newly made tea, no exception form Taetea. New generation will be attract by the famous name, and the history, but so what? If you say are there any good stuff from Taetea? Yes, honour goes to the first production, dated around 1996 which cost around 3000 to 4000 HKD a piece of tea cake.

China(Shenzhen) International Tea Expo, episode 2, 千兩茶

Needless to say, the picture shows the most expensive tea in the Expo. It cost 68000000 Chinese dollars. The tea produced in 1953, packed as round column with 147cm long and weight around 36kg. In Chinese it called "千兩茶". Originally grown from Hunan Baishaxi, it is a kind of very high quality black tea. Tea dated from the '50 is so rare that some were carefully stored in the Palace Museum in China. I wish I had the chance to taste it.

Now Baishaxi still produce tea, but not as big as "千兩茶". They make it smaller and lighter such as 1/10 as before or even in brick shape so that more ppl can enjoy that. (continue...)

China(Shenzhen) International Tea Expo, episode 1

How can I resist to attend the Tea Expo in China, especially the hosting location was very close to Hong Kong this time. The Expo last 4 days and I went on the third day. You have to pay 2o dollars for entrance fee, which it was free last year. The whole Tea Expo is rather eclectic, whereas there are Tribal Dancing, Chinese painting auction, Chinese Emperor drama show and Tea making demonstration. Of course there are numbers of booths selling various kinds of Chinese tea and tea related products such as Jiangsu tea bottles, cups or even newly designed tea drinking desk.

As a Chinese tea lover, you can find Oolong tea, green tea, black tea, Tieguanyin, Taiwan high mountain tea...etc, and most favourable me Puerh tea, all over the expo. (continue...)

Love live Hong Kong, Long live Hong Kong

We are the champion, my friend. It is amazing that Hong Kong football team defeated Japan in the final game today. Hong Kong football team, had never been any attention in Asia, but surprisingly won the game. Although Japan, South and North Korea all did not show up the strongest player in the games, it doesn't really matter because Hong Kong won finally. This is the very first champion of the HK football team in rather important games. I really love the share some exciting moments.

Loverly Fiorentina

I did not wake up at the midnight to watch the final match Liverpool play in the Champion League (They out anyway). It is not out of imagination that they were defeated by Fiorentina, again. Although Aquilani join as the lead, Torres came back, the six sense told me they won't win. I think there must be a dramatic change in the team. It is not necessary talking about changing of players, but the team spirit. I wish there was a magic stick, please inject more power to them.

On the contrast, I never no like Fiorentina, because of the beautiful Italy city and the awesome purple soccer jersey. I even bought some of them as my jersey collection. Actually I know nothing about Fiorentina's play, except the famous Mutu. As a team leader, he play a very important role, like Gerrard in Liverpool, is to pump up the spirit of the whole team. He he failed a drugs test for cocaine in 2004 and was a troubleman on contract with Chelsea. Hopefully, he will never do stupid things again and bring us some entertaining football.

How many Chinese tea lovers are there in Hong Kong?

As a Chinese tea lover, I'm not sure how many people have the same hobby like me. Around these days, I suddenly want to know the answer. The first thing I target to is to find out how many Chinese tea are there in Hong Kong. Of course, I cannot have the very precise statics. But I'm a walking person who like to search around the street, for window shopping. I just find there are quite number of tea shops around. No matter they are located in big shopping mall, decorated with very modern style, or some shops just around corners.

It is amazing to know there are at least 4 tea shops in the Kowloon City (a place famous for the pre-1997 Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport). One of them do have a very long history, the other one is my friend's friends shop, and one of them should be operated by Taiwan people.

Besides, I started to search how many Hong Kong discussion forum are there talking about Chinese tea culture. Actually there are quite a number of them which I overlooked. I really glad to know about that. It is very interesting and valuable to look at the post, and I'm really want to join them.

A few days later, there are a China(Shenzhen) International Tea Expo hold at the Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Center. I would love to attend that and share something to all the tea lovers, may on the forum as well.

East Asian Games 2009, Volleyball

You may know that Hong Kong is hosting the East Asian Games 2009 at the mean time. The game create not much noise in the world, and even in Hong Kong. People dont expect world class athletes will join the game. Hong Kong never pay much to support sports, so, the tickets for many events do not sell well.

I'm not a very sporty person (I do like watching football). However, it is nothing to loose to buy two tickets, each one cost only $50 HKD, and spend a lovely afternoon and night with valleyball team players. We do not know which country team will show up in the game while we got the tickets. However, when we know we have the chance to watch the China women volleyball team, it increase my attention a lot.

We watched three matches today. The first match was Japan Vs Korea, men. It was more exciting than expected, as two team's strength were very close. Each team head two games and needed to play the final game. Japan won finally.

The second match was very interesting. Hong Kong Vs Guam, women. As Hong Kong people, we certainly support Hong Kong. When we looked at Guam, they really look like armature. I did not think Hong Kong play well, but they beat Guam 3:0. This game bring a lot of fun indeed.

The big show came the last, that is China Vs Chinese Taipei, women. All audience came to watch China. Every time China score, the stadium move. A very pleasant game, and Chinese Taipei also play well. But if your competitor is China, you were in a very difficult situation. No exception, China won 3:0 and all the big hands from the audience.

How healthy Chinese tea drinking are?

If you are tired of coffee, try Chinese tea. It is not necessary to compare coffee with Chinese tea. All I can say, there are many benefits of drinking Chinese tea. Let's look a the ingredients of tea. There are Catechin, Vitamins, Caffeine, Organic acids and other nutrition ingredients such as magnesium, natrium etc. We can talk about that in more detail later.

Scientist already proof the advantages to human body of drinking tea. The famous legend of 5000 years ago: Shennong, he tasted 72 kinds of herbs, and finally was badly poisoned and laid down under a tree. Suddenly, the wind blew down a leaf into a bowl of water. Shennong drank it and the water served as an antidote and he was cured from the poisoned herbs.

The leaf is just the tea leaves nowadays. So he introduced the tea drinking to Chinese people, that believe to be healthy and treated as medicine. Today, people drink tea to prevent cancer, for better digestion, losing weight. I'm not sure if you can losing weight by drinking coffee.