Week Two of Tea CM, and things are off to a pretty educational start. I’m liking this format so far: a short informational presentation at the beginning, followed by actual tea prep and a nice amount of hanging out and discussing interesting things. The topic of blogging was raised again — I’m sensing a pattern here.
Here’s a brief review of several basic types of tea:
- White tea: Wilted and unoxidized
- Yellow tea: Unwilted and unoxidized, but allowed to yellow
- Green tea: Unwilted and unoxidized
- Oolong: Wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized
- Black tea: Wilted, sometimes crushed, and fully oxidized
- Post-fermented tea: Green tea that has been allowed to ferment/compost
And did you know that all of this comes from the same plant, Camellia sinensis? Yes, it is related to those lovely flowering camellia shrubs people keep in their front yards. Plantlife is an extraordinary thing.
Tea of the Week: Some sort of herbal forest fruit thing whose exact name and brand I neglected to write down. One of those alarmingly red teas made with hibiscus, which is not a fruit of the forest, unless we’re talking tropical rainforest. A bit too potpourri-explosion-flavored for my liking, but then again I’ve never been keen on fruity herbal teas. (Except, of course, for peach iced tea. That stuff is amazing.) No offense meant in your selection of tea, gents, I’m just an annoyingly opinionated soul when it comes to my sources of caffeination. Please feel free to ignore me in this case. *grins*