Tea and Drinks: 46 posts

As the weather cools, my tea shelf changes character. The delicate greens of summer give way to darker, more contemplative leaves—Pu’er, Liubao, and smoked black teas. Recently, I discovered Teayucafe, an artisanal Chinese tea house founded by Michael Laing, whose family has grown tea for generations in Guangxi. His collection of teas captures that same shift in mood—from brightness to depth, from freshness to warmth.

When Michael wrote to introduce his work, I was drawn to his story. He grew up in Wuzhou, Guangxi, the birthplace of Liubao dark tea, a region where tea is not merely a drink but a way of life. His goal with Teayucafe is to share the joy of authentic Chinese teas with the world, at affordable prices. “Even in China, opportunities to drink truly high-quality tea are rare,” he told me. “I hope our website can serve as a window—a way for people everywhere to experience these flavors.”

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I used to look down on flavored teas. If tea is of high quality, why add anything else to it, I thought. Then, I reconsidered my prejudices, because it turned out that a well-crafted flavored tea could be a thing of beauty. Additional aromas highlight the complex flavor of Camellia sinesis leaves, revealing different nuances. A hint of osmanthus, for instance, can make certain types of oolongs seem sweeter, while rose softens the smoky edges of black teas. It makes for a different but no less enjoyable experience than drinking a cup of unadorned grand cru blend.

Some of the most interesting combinations are of tea and flowers. Scent science explains why such pairings have become classics– tea leaves and blossoms like rose, osmanthus, gardenia or violet share a number of fragrant compounds in common. When blended, the complementary aromas create affinities that enrich the flavor of tea as well as its fragrance.

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Snow Mountain Pai Hao black tea (Trà Shan Tuyết Pái hảo) is a rare tea variety harvested from 300-year old tea trees in the central Vietnamese province of Ha Giang at an altitude of 1,300m above sea level. The tea is harvested in the “one leaf, one bud” fashion, which makes it one of the highest grades that you can find. The processing is mostly manual, which is becoming rare in tea-producing countries. Although fine teas can be produced with mechanical methods, a human touch makes a difference. This tea is not only one of the most beautiful black teas I’ve encountered, but also one of the most fragrant.

Fragrance is the main reason I wanted to share this tea with you. It has a rich chocolate nuance, with an undercurrent of caramel. The chocolate is complemented by a malty note, and the aftertaste is that of honey. Despite these voluptuous notes, the tea is not heavy on the palate. It remains refreshing and sparkling.

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“Would you like to try butterfly pea flower tea?” asked a friend as we were getting ready to order drinks at a small restaurant in Georgetown. After several days eating and drinking through this charming town on the Malaysian island of Penang, I already knew that I was in for a treat. Georgetown’s legacy as a trading entrepôt is its blend of cultures—Malay, Chinese, Indian—that results in a diverse and vibrant cuisine. A standard hotel map will organize the town’s sightseeing locations by the different delicacies one can taste around its neighborhoods, from noodle soups and seafood curries to coconut-scented cakes and dim sum. Of course, I had to try the butterfly pea flower tea.

When the tea came, it was the color of sapphire, an intense, vivid blue. Crushed lemongrass stalks gave it a heady floral and citrusy perfume. As my friend explained, butterfly pea flowers have a mild earthy taste, and the tea—or more properly, tisane—is mixed with other ingredients to give it a bolder flavor, such as fragrant herbs and spices. The color, however, is so striking that it’s a beloved ingredient in drinks, cakes and even savory dishes such as nasi kerabu, rice with coconut stewed chicken and a variety of accompaniments. Local lore has it that butterfly pea flower tisane is rejuvenating and toning. I found it mesmerizing.

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While driving around the Indonesian countryside, especially in Sulawesi and Java, you see sheets of tarp spread along the side of the road with cloves or scrolls of cassia drying in the hot sun. The archipelago produces most of the world’s nutmeg and clove, spices over which wars were fought and nations colonized. Most of the produce drying on the plastic sheets is intended for export; the higher the quality the better the price farmers would fetch. Yet, no part of a spice tree is wasted, be it cassia, nutmeg or clove. Javanese tea, wedang uwuh, is an example of this philosophy.

Uwuh means rubbish in Javanese, and the tea uses all of the refuse from the spice production–nutmeg leaves, clove branches, cassia foliage and stems. (Another theory is that the tea is so called because the bits and ends floating in the liquid look like garbage.) Either way, garbage it is not, and one legend credits the Raja of Mataram with the discovery of wedang uwuh.

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