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Tea Family Clan in Oakville, Ontario

I just got back from a visit to a small sort of "out of the way" shop/restaurant in my hometown, and I wanted to attempt a review.

Please keep in mind that I am pretty new to tea (2 years) and still developing tea "taste buds" and they are far from developed!

With those caveats in place, I have to say that I just had a GREAT experience in this shop. I had a Spring Oolong tea (this years, I was specific about asking that), and it was absolutely amazing. My only real Oolong experience in the past has been fairly generic blended and probably machine harvested, and I could not believe the difference between those teas and this one.

The tea is High Mountain Tea From Taiwan. I did not catch the estate name, but from what I could gather, the owner of the shop was actually part of the family that ownes the estate, which I believe when she explained to me that she was going home to help with the harvest shortly.

She explained that the tea is hand picked and rolled. I don't know yet how to tell the difference, so I will describe what I saw. The tea that I had was 4 leafs and a bud. It was served "Gong Fu" style (is that the right way to say it?) and was rinsed, then brewed and served. The owner explained that she did not brew for a set time, but rather filled the pot, and when the water level went down, she knew it was ready.

She also showed me their award winning tea, and that was 2 leafs and a bud, which she explained was their highest quality tea. The awards that the tea had won were on the wall, tho I personally could not make much out of them, as I really did not know what I was looking at.

The owner was very happy to talk to me about the tea, in halting english, but fairly understandable, I would say that what I did not understand was more my lack of comprehention rather then her explaination.

Bottom line was as I left she offered for me to return at any time to do a tasting of all their varieties (4 or 5 I believe). Very friendly and helpfull, and I will definately go back to grow my own knowledge.

If there is any experts here in the Oakville/GTA region that is interested in checking this place out, I would love to hit it with someone who knows good quality tea from bad, I know what I like to taste, but admittedly I am no expert when it comes to discerning the higher quality tea from the generic tea that is out there (as demonstrated by my previous posts ;) )

Anyhow, as Dominic previously pointed out I have not contributed much to this board before, so hopefully this little discovery is a valuable one, to be assessed by the experts here! :)

Cheers

Mike

Reply to
Mike Morton
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Sorry, I don't understand this. The water level went down? After evaporating for a long time? That couldn't be it! Could you please elaborate?

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

Because I did not see it happening (she did the brewing on the bar while I was @ a table) watching from afar....

What I sensed that she was talking about was the water being absorbed by the tea. She was doing the brewing in a Yixing pot - very small, and then pouring it from there to a porcelain pot for warming and serving. What I gathered she meant was when she poured in the water, I noticed that it literally overflowed the small pot, so perhaps as the leaves unfurled, they also absorbed the water, and at a certain level she figured it was ready?

I have never done this way myself, I thought it was a bit different, as I have always timed it, but this method worked, as the tea tasted wonderful, not too strong, and very light in color. I sort of mind timed it and it seemed to be about 1-2 mins steeped.

Does that make any sense?

Reply to
Mike Morton

The leaves had better have absorbed the water; otherwise they couldn't release their essence into the tea liquor. But I don't see why the level inside the pot would go down.

Yes. I encourage you to try it yourself. Small brewing vessel, lots of leaf, many short steeps. Either a Yixing pot or a gaiwan will do.

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

I'm from the GTA, except I'm in China now, but I will get back eventually, sometime. One thing I find weird about tea stores in Toronto is that recently - looking at their websites - they got photos of old tea! That's really scary. Are they really selling old tea?

Reply to
niisonge

I agree that it does not make logical sense, it could very well be that I am mis-interpreting or not understanding what she was explaining. Logically there would not be a lot of water that would be evaporated, not enough to make a significant difference anyhow, and even if the water was absorbed into the leaf the volume would still be there.

*shrug*

I wish that I did have a Yixing or gaiwan to test it with myself - little short on the paraphernalia at the moment ;)

Reply to
Mike Morton

What sites are you referring to? How do you tell if a tea is old from the picture? I am curious....?

Reply to
Mike Morton

Then why not get yourself a gaiwan? 100 ml or so is probably a good size if you only use one. A decent porcelain one will quickly repay you, I think. (Heavy stoneware is cheaper but not nearly as good in terms of heat management and the pleasure your hand takes in wielding a good tool.)

/Lew

Reply to
Lewis Perin

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