Jun 10
Troy’s Teaview Snapshot
 | "A rare find, a well balanced Jasmine Green Tea."
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I decided to bust out the fancy and actually enjoy a pot of tea for once. It seems like its been forever and a day since I've actually "experienced" tea. Tasting a Tea is as different from drinking Tea as tasting wine is from getting nice and blotto. While true tea tasting can tell you many things about how best to prepare a tea, what foods it may pair well with, and how well its likely to keep and develop flavour over its respective shelf life, it is, for me, mostly just a meditative experience. I sit back and give in to the natural hypnosis of ritual, rhythm, and focus. I shut off my eyes, my ears, my skin, and focus only on those sensations, aromas, and tastes from my lips, tongue, mouth, and nose.Narien Teas is a new face (2008) and as such was completely unknown to me until I actually sampled it. Poking around their site reveals that they are a small, but growing, importer and retailer of loose leaf teas. Their site is clean, simple, and easy to navigate, they're also the only tea retailer I know of who sales grow-able Tea Seeds! (insert Loud Man-Squeal) Their prices are rather reasonable, which is odd since the Tea industry in America is a sort of wild west where pricing is concerned, Mostly due to an inexperienced market that doesn't know how to value and price the leaves of the emerald goddess.
Jasmine Yin Hao is a Jasmine tea from Fujian province, which is home to a bevy of unique and wonderful teas,wuyi Oolongs holding a place of immediate recognition. While the Jasmine part of the name is obvious from the dried blossoms in the mix, the first bit I'm far too unschooled to understand. I google'd it, but all I could find was a reference to an ancient Chinese politician who had a long history of miserably failing job interviews. A lesson to be learned from Yin Hao, don't ever send a blank acceptance letter to an emperor, it really pisses them off, and pissed off emperors can't be good for your health.
I put two teaspoons full of leaves and flowers in the basket of my warm and washed Wrought Iron teapot, and let it steep for about three minutes in the even heat it provided. I love Wrought Iron teapots, not only do they retain heat evenly, but they also make you look all manly, which helps counteract the Grandmas and Doilies image of tea in the west. I also had the virtue of a white ceramic cup which showed the lightly-green-tinged yellow liqueur of the brew with wonderful clarity. Its the same colour as the water from Green beans, although the smell is far more appreciable thanks to the Jasmine.
Ancient Persians considered Jasmine a gift from their elaborately bearded gods, and like many gifts most tea factories seem all too willing to use it up as quick as possible so as not to offend the offering party. Thankfully, its mild in this blend. Confusingly, I love jasmine, but too much tends to remind me of dry dog food for some reason (what did I eat as a child?). There was no Alpo in this cup, just a strong, but not overdone, jasmine caress, and currents of light green tea to provide a contrasting, and contributing, background.
This is a great late afternoon and evening tea, if your not one of those "Caffeine makes me jitter" types. Its light, mild, but not weak, I suppose gentile would be the best word for it. I can also imagine this pairing well with trout or salmon, either as the beverage, or as a garnish of wet speant leaves strewn about the fishy main course. For the price its a pretty good value, and certainly won't be a waste of your time or money.
Find this and many other top-quality teas at Narien Teas, Inc..
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