Recipes & Guides

As days continue to get shorter and evening brings a slight chill, thoughts start to turn towards the comfort of warm tea. Finally, tea season is here, and with it, an in-depth look at some of our most esoteric teas to continue your journey through tea.

Our favorite tea of the season is Jun Shan Yin Zhen Yellow tea from Hunnan. We love the beautiful uniformed leaves, pungent aroma, and deep taste that represents a classic Chinese green tea bitterness. Yellow tea is a hybrid style between white tea in appearance and leaf picking and green tea. It is quite laborious to process the green tea and then wrap it in cloth to oxidize from green to yellow. The final step is a flash roast at high temperatures over charcoal which fixes the tea from further oxidation and imbues it with this hint of smoke that is sharp and mysterious.

Yellow tea is one of the rarest teas in China due to the very short picking window and overall harvesting compared to other teas. The standard of quality requires that each bud contains two developed leaves inside and the picking timing is crucial. After brewing this tea, please take one of the buds and open it, you will be amazed!

This year's Yellow tea is quite exceptional in both shape and overall taste and aroma. The complexity of sweetness at the beginning compared to the sharpness of the ending is remarkable. This aftertaste is not just simple bitterness but also a mouthfeel that resonates in the empty cup and on the palette. It is a big flavor that surprises you every time considering it is a relatively light tea and the aroma makes your eyebrows pop up in amazement. Boil some water, brew the tea, smile, and enjoy the moment.

Shin & Stefen 

Gyokuro is one of Japan's highest regarded teas for it's demanding growing methods and requiring a high level of technical skill to produce.  Brewing this tea is equally challenging in terms of using the right water temperature, and amount of water to tea ratio. However, there is one fail proof way that is seasonally appropriate for the summer! Kouridashi or ice brewing is a simple and unique way to perfectly make any Gyokuro by using a large piece of ice and laying it on top of the tea.  After about 30minutes enough of the ice should have melted to gradually steep the tea and provide a small amount of pure umami! Throughout the day as the ice melts you can continue to enjoy the delicately brewed tea.  

Directions:

120ml houhin, shiboridashi, or a spouted bowl

10g of Gyokuro

1 large ice cube (several smaller ones will do but will melt much faster)

1 small glass or cup

Add the tea to the bottom of the bowl and try to create one small pile for the ice cube to lay on. 

Allow the ice to slowly melt and when a small pool of liquid is visible, pour it into your cup, keeping the ice and tea in the bowl. 

Continue to pour yourself a small amount at a time for optimum sensory impact but enjoy it within half a day to keep the leaves from oxidizing.  Feel free to add more ice to continue brewing the tea.  

Tea Dealers Uji Gyokuro

This is the time of year when plants start to show their first buds although it will be a while before they begin to wear that beautiful fluorescent green of early spring foliage. During the days when the temperature is still cold, we enjoy a bowl of Black Matcha in the morning and Artemisia Matcha Latte in the evening.

These two "Matcha" types are some of our most distinguished because they always bring up the conversation of "what is Matcha?" Both Black Matcha and Artemisia Matcha are powdered teas that are similar to the Song Dynasty style of tea making and the precursor to Japanese Matcha. Some of the main differences are prolonged storage and not having to sift before whisking due to the processing of these teas which fully dries them. Japanese Matcha has about 3-4% moisture and makes the tea extremely sensitive to storage while forcing the sifting procedure before making. Lastly, both Black and Artemisia Matcha foam up much easier with minimal effort!

Artemisia Matcha is stone-ground Mugwort and has a delicious array of floral and earthy notes. We love adding a tiny pinch of Maldon salt to bring out some of the natural sweetness and use only milk for a thick yet delicate tasting latte. At the tea shop we always use Oatley Full Fat to create a wonderful foam but you can substitute your favorite milk.

Artemisia Matcha Latte Recipe

10oz cup
4g of Artemisia Matcha
8oz of hot milk 190F
Pinch of Maldon salt (optional)

Add Artemisia Matcha to a bowl and add milk that has been brought to a slight simmer. Using a Bamboo Chasen whisk for about 1-2minutes until it is frothy. Sprinkle on some salt at the very last moment and enjoy! Alternatively, you can use a thermos instead and shake it like a cocktail shaker or add directly into a milk frother. We recommend drinking matcha after it was freshly made as it will separate and continue to oxidize over time.

Click here to order a subscription of our matcha selections

This is the time of year when plants start to show their first buds although it will be a while before they begin to wear that beautiful fluorescent green of early spring foliage. During the days when the temperature is still cold, we enjoy a bowl of Black Matcha in the morning and Artemisia Matcha Latte in the evening.

These two "Matcha" types are some of our most distinguished because they always bring up the conversation of "what is Matcha?" Both Black Matcha and Artemisia Matcha are powdered teas that are similar to the Song Dynasty style of tea making and the precursor to Japanese Matcha. Some of the main differences are prolonged storage and not having to sift before whisking due to the processing of these teas which fully dries them. Japanese Matcha has about 3-4% moisture and makes the tea extremely sensitive to storage while forcing the sifting procedure before making. Lastly, both Black and Artemisia Matcha foam up much easier with minimal effort!

Black Matcha is a black tea stone-ground into a wonderful coco like powder and can be enjoyed traditionally with only hot water or your favorite milk. Depending on your preferred thickness you can use half water and milk or your own ratio.

Black Matcha Recipe

10oz cup
3g of Black Matcha
8oz of hot water 195F (substitute your favorite milk)

Add Black Matcha to a bowl and add water. Using a Bamboo Chasen whisk for about 1-2 minutes until it is frothy and enjoy! Alternatively, you can use a thermos instead and shake it like a cocktail shaker. We recommend drinking matcha after it was freshly made as it will separate and continue to oxidize over time.

Click here to order a subscription of our matcha selections

The single most important part of making tea is the quality of water. Tap water contains heavy metals, chlorine, and fluoride that can negate almost half of the flavor and aroma in tea. For those of us who live in states where the water quality is not overly hard and comes from a good source, the implementation of a simple water filter is sufficient but filtered bottle water or spring water is even better. If you want to enjoy the most of your tea I urge you to reconsider what water you are using. It will not only benefit the taste of the tea but also the quantity of tea needed and the length of steeping to produce more flavor. The delicate nuances produced by carbohydrates, amino acids, and flavonoids in tea don't stand a chance when competing against chlorine and fluoride.

Since ancient times, tea lovers have held the origin and quality of water in very high regard. It became a contest amongst connoisseurs to identify the source of the water being used. There are passages written about Lu Yu where he could tell that his lazy disciple drew the water from the bank of a famed river instead of walking over the bridge and dropping the bucket into the stream to draw the purest water. Some of the most famous water sources were wells, rivers, or even mountain creeks, and each had its distinct minerality, pH level, and taste.

When it comes to enjoying a very high-quality tea, you absolutely should use good water! Some of our favorite bottles of spring water are Volvic and Fiji because of their near-perfect pH of 6.5 and you should avoid distilled water. At the teahouse, we use a two step filter that connects to our water faucet to fill our kettles and our ice machine for making iced tea. We've compiled a list of our most fragrant teas that will simply astound when brewed with good water. Enjoy!

Ming Qing Long Jing - One of the finest representations of green tea made with extremely young tea leaves that are expertly pressed against a hot pan into a flat shape and infusing it with a delicate "smokey" aroma.

Organic Buddha's Balhyo - A black tea that is lower in oxidation to preserve the delicate floral undertones from this hybrid varietal with a robust roast to make it taste like a perfect chocolate mousse! 

Okumidori Tamaryokucha - Okumidori is a marvelous cultivar that expresses notes of Granny Smith apple with a slight white flower aftertaste and moderate amino acid levels (umami) with a refined baked taste. You will marvel at the beautiful emerald green color from the deep steaming. 

Wen Shan Bao Zhong - This tea is often referred to as a green tea due to its extremely low oxidation levels yet it pungent floral appeal is a signature of the oolong family of teas. So bright with very little vegetal taste at all. 

Da Hong Pao 2019 - One of the most expressive representations of this legendary oolong by using 18 different cultivars! It is a full bouquet of flowers that is waiting for you to discover with deep layers of roasting done over the course of five months. Each successive steeping reveals incredible undertones of taste and aroma that beckon the use of only the best water!