Steep This: Not Milk Oolong

Ok, so I'd said that my next entry would be about this tea called Quangzhou Milk Oolong, but I lied. I had every intention on doing it, but as it turns out I still have quite a bit of research to do on this somewhat mysterious tea. The fun part of the research is that I actually emailed my "tea gurus", Mary Lou & Robert J. Heiss, who wrote The Story of Tea, A Cultural History and Drinking Guide. If one of them or their staff replies to me, I'll most likely post the response. I was actually a little nervous sending the email to them, but they seem like very down-to-earth, friendly people. Even if they don't answer, I'll still write about it. So stay tuned!

This morning I enjoyed a large cup of KTE Organic, which I also got from my dad - he brought it back from Nepal (did I mention how lucky I was?) Oh, it's so smooth! Dad gave me the teabags in Ziploc bags, so I didn't have any info from the box, but I decided to Google the information that was on the tag, "KTE Kanchanjangha Organic Tea", and was happily surprised to find a great website about their estate. It's so much fun to find this kind of information, especially knowing that Nepalese tea is not very common in Canada (yet), so it is a treat to dream about a district in eastern Nepal bordering the tea area of Darjeeling.

Have a look at this amazing place: http://www.organickte.com/

This afternoon I had another homemade masala chai - with the added benefit of beautiful spices from The Spice Emporium in Hamilton. Fresh cardamom, whole cloves and peppercorns brewed with a cinnamon stick and Assam Rainforest tea? I could have cried! I feel like selling this stuff on the street - hmmm. Perhaps I will become a chai wallah after all...I wonder what the licensing would entail?

I'm topping off the evening with a blend called Bangkok White Rose. It contains Pai Mu Dan white, Chinese Sencha, peppermint, elderflowers, red and black peppercorn, and rose blossom. It's a great way to end the day, calming to the mind and tummy. I got it from a store called Shanghai T Merchant (hailing from Nanaimo, BC), located in Jackson Square (of all places), Hamilton. They offer beautiful tins to keep your tea, and I'm thinking of collecting them.