Newsflash... this... just in from China. The mainland. It's official. Coffee is the new drink of choice in China. I was in the mainland about a month ago... and yesterday and today when I went back I counted at least six new coffee shops in about a one mile area. Six!!!! They were enjoying swift business... every single on of them... I had to sample a bit at each. You know... quality assurance. Flat white? Had it. Cappuccino? Had it. Espresso? Had it. Mocha? Had it. Cafe con Pana? Had it. Cafe Latte? Had it. Cafe Americano? Had it. Man they were on the ball!!!! Hong Kong too ages to get decent coffee shops. China just jumped right in with gusto. Yes Starbucks is there... two within a block of each other... there was Eskimo Coffee... there was e-Coffee... the craziest Starbucks knockoff ever.... I don't know how they don't get sued?!?! Anyhow... yes you can still get tea in China. And really I don't doubt it's still the leader by far... but it was a mind blower to see the Chinese sitting there sipping espresso like it was an everyday habit. If it wasn't it sure will be now. and yes there is a certain delight in posting about coffee in the tea thread.. Here's... the link to e-coffee's site: http://www.ecoffee.com.tw/english/about.htm
Lol! Always the rebel hey Slip! Interesting to see though, people can only resist the delights of coffee for so long! Perhaps I ought to start a coffee thread.
Mmmmm got some Huang Ti's Choice training tea. It is said that Huang ti (the Yellow Emperor) first drank this tea and it was the secret to his health, vitality and long life. the tea warms the body to increase the resistance, especially in the winter months. Really nice and smells nice and warming anyway!
Cool,thanks for that! I'm banned from buying anymore at the moment though as the shelves are fit to collapse under the weight of my tea! I did manage to sneak some Iron Buddha teabags into the basket at the weekend though,it's really nice actually.
I got some of this off a friend for Christmas, it's really good and the box is very very nice! I think it is Taiwanese? http://www.tenfu.com/Product/viewProduct.asp?Productid=182 It's green pu'erh in a tablet.
I tend to drink this: http://www.cupoftea.uk.com/shop.asp?cat_id=17 The Pai Mu Tan at the top. Been getting it for a few years. One bag used to last me about one term in Uni. Very nice stuff. I can get 3 cups from one tsp of tea in an infusion ball. IMO, the second cup is always the tops. I once bought this stuff (Nepal "Marsala"): https://secureweb.co.nz/pomeroys-co-nz/shop/viewItem.asp?idProduct=82 Probably not very authentic But it tasted nice.
Yeah the Iron Buddha can be tasty stuff. It's a good excuse to drink more warm water which can't be a bad thing either. My missus must go through about 10 cups a day of the stuff... all with the same tea bag.
Yeah that's a basic masala tea. There can be any number of different ingredients depending on who you buy your masala from. My missus just got back last week from India and she was laughing... she brought back a ton of different masalas (cooking masala's)... she said the same woman is still making the same masala's 20 years on.... selling them from the same shop in the same market as when the missus was a wee kid. Sort of comforting that thought in this day and age.
I may use the same one twice. I got my friends addicted to white tea with goji berries on holiday last week, I started them off with Iron Buddha.They had the cheek to mock "me and my weird tea" at the start of the week but they couldn't get enough of it by the end!