beXnlog

Coffee or Tea?

Now that it's getting colder, be and i have been drinking a lot of tea. On our China trip in 2002, our tour brought us to a tea plantation famed for growing an ultra-rare, top grade green tea called Dragonwell. The top 2 grades are not even exported to other countries! We purchased 1 big canister and received a free mini one. The tea is full leaf, hand picked, dried and roasted. When you brew it, the leaves grow and you can smell the freshness in the steam. It makes you remember "tea" is just a certain leaf of a bush. We're still working on drinking it 2 years after the fact, not because it isn't good, but because i've gone through a major coffee phase which is only now subsiding.

This coffee phase made me acquire 2 stovetop espresso machines, another French press, a burr grinder and numerous little bags of different coffees. So far i really like the Costa Rican Dota from Whole Foods, but the pound of Kona peaberry we got in Hawaii is very very tasty. It's a rich cup of coffee that we try not to drink all the time (at $35 a lb -- in the place it's grown!)

You can't drink coffee at night so now it's all about tea. My constant favorite is Assam. I have this itty bitty amount left of organic Assam i found at Harrod's when we were in London. Like a dummy, i drank and drank this wonderful tea until i realized you can't get it online or at any store, even in New York! I previously thought i could just find out which plantation the exact tea is from or if it's packaged under another company but NO LUCK. I've tried every good looking Assam i could; i even requested a tea shop brew me some samples in case they had the one. There is just something very perfect about that certain Assam. Other brands are too dry, have too much tannin, no flavor or are in need of milk to make it drinkable. The next best brand i've had is Red Label. I like it a lot but there is something better about full leaf; Red Label is a loose tea but the leaves have been processed into little pellets.

Everyone who's had this Assam tea i'm raving about has proclaimed it's very good. Anyone going to London, i will pay you top dollar for this tea! It's in a wooden box, Harrod's organic Assam! Better yet, if anyone has any info about it, pass it on!

posted by beXn @ 2:40 AM