Happy Solstice

No additives here today (not that there's anything wrong with that!) Just 4 Dancong samples from Tea Habitat, 2 young and 2 old, drunk with a friend, showing a really wide range of taste and aroma. The one that really knocked me out was the '07 Huang Zhi Xiang, much more refined than other examples of that cultivar I've tasted, and one of the few teas I've ever had where we purposely left lots of time between steeps so we could let the finish develop each time.

/Lew

Wow, sounds delicious! Could one describe the 07 Huang Zhi Xiang as ranging wildly -- in the best possible sense -- among the bitter sweet flowers of the field, corn butter softness, cucumber-melon flower rich with citrus tones, and yan-spiciness mixed together and dancing around the tongue and mouth in joy and gladness, permuting with each step? Just asking. Michael

Remarkable - it's almost as if you were there with me, drinking the same tea!

/Lew

Ha ha! Well I wasn't, unfortunately, and having left my new order of white african peony from Chrissie a little too late (and my last remaining Zomba on the table at work) saw Christmas in with some pretty ordinary but good enough dianhong - made myself a cup of so called Guo Li Dianhong (hidden away at the back of a drawer) whose chocolatey flavour didn't clash with the poor seasonal afternoon diet too badly.

Will probably treat myself to something green, Japanese and expensive tomorrow when the chaos of family and kids has abated.

Happy Christmas all!

Im mo T

Guo Li in the sense of National or Public, or what?

Today I'm settling down with roasty Hong Kong Tieguanyin that The Tea Gallery imports: just the thing for winter.

/Lew