The Chinese tea culture has a long history. The first texts about tea are hailing from the 8th century. The tea-drinking habit became popular along with the rise of Buddhism. Buddhist monks cultivated tea plantations. We can find many Chan stories when monks are working in the tea plantation as part of monastery life.
When in the ’90s I went to China to study, I could widen my horizons. I used my scholarship to buy tea in the local Chinese tea shops in Peking. At that time the price of quality tea was still easily affordable. I used to buy some of the most expensive teas, but only 10-15 grams of each, and then I was drinking them for a few days.
There’s the fifth basic taste, umami between the flavour notes. Hints of spinach and the bit of tarragon in the first pours which turns to pine resin later. This tea gives us a calm feeling, like a cotton pyjama, which hugs and touches you almost imperceptibly.
It’s a cloudy, rainy night. I am driving home from Zhao Zhou. We tasted teas as every second Tuesday. My mood doesn’t match the weather, what I feel is pure tranquility. I am on the old well-known way to Etyek, I should be in a hurry because it’s almost 8 o’clock when the curfew starts. But now I don’t feel the usual urge to speed up a bit to arrive home in time.
Spring is the most exciting time of the year, when all the tea harvests start in Asia. There are legends about the high quality leaves picked before Qing Ming.
’There’s no greater joy than the endlessly changing horizon!’ Teahunting Finding good teas is always an exciting challenge. Finding the perfect one among old Chinese friends’ samples, discovering special producers of new regions or countries takes dedication. Main characteristics of high quality teas are: sourced from high mountains, old trees, organic plantation, handpicked and hand […]
Pre-order – Da Xue Shan 2020 No.866 old tree puer tea – 400 gram tea cake Every year we purchase one of our favorite sheng Puer teas from the Great Snow Mountain, Lincang, Yunnan province, China. We date back our teas from this tea garden since 2012, when we bought the first large stock from them. This […]
Local’s lore „Zhao Zhou is the kind of place that once you’re entering will never get it out of your head. It’s not only the prime service you’ve received, the tea you’ve tasted, the effect it had on you, the selection of pottery that took your breath away, but the whole space, the interior, the […]
Happiness in a teacup – Why drinking tea makes us happier? Everyone has their main reason for drinking Chinese tea: cozy habit, good program with friends, one person ritual, good refresher, tasty beverage or calming method. Whatever the reason is, We are sure that everyone who regularly drinks tea, can tell about the positive effects, […]
Sometimes when you are at home or in the office, you find yourself in the #wannadrinktea mood, but do not want to start a whole tea session. We found that this little glass tea gadget makes the difference. Just between normal tea making and the gongfu style, the AB glass teapot brings an additional artisan […]
Tea words Péter Galambos, the tea hunter of Zhao Zhou teahouse had extensive knowledge of history of Chinese Buddhism and Chinese tea, all kinds of tea and meditation practices, and the relation of the latter two. Moreover he was happy to share all this knowledge. However quite often we were simply drinking tea and having […]
Cold brew tea for the Summer heat One of the simplest and most effective tea making process is using cold water in the hot Summer. If you don’t have a kettle on hand or just want to make up for your daily liquid needs in a more enjoyable way than water, Mizudashi, the cold soaked […]
Our new Duyun Maoijian 2019 green tea is available for pre-orders till the 15th of July. The tea can be bought in packages of 100 grams with a 20% discount from its future price. Although some of you might know this tea from last year, here is a short summary for those who are […]
Da Xue Shan 2019 No.861 and DXS Yesheng 2019 No.862 fresh puer teas Every year we purchase one of our favorite sheng Puer teas from the Great Snow Mountain, Lincang, Yunnan province, China. This year we are currently deciding the size of the order for the new vintage, the tea is pressed into cakes, has settled a while, ready […]
Photo gallery of a beautiful and remote tea house in Ningpo, where tea meets music, calligraphy.
Iron Goddess of Mercy After the last year’s green Tie Guan Yin, this year we brought two dark, slightly baked ones: Hongxin Tie Guan Yin and Yesheng Tie Guan Yin — both teas are of extreme quality and very delicate processing. The first one is a moderately-baked tea, with a warming, creamy texture and smooth […]
Da Xue Shan 2018 No.852 and DXS Yesheng 2018 No.855 fresh puer teas. Every year we purchase one of our favorite tea from the Great Snow Mountain, Lincang, Yunnan province, China. This year we are currently placing the order for the new vintage, and thought we would extend this opportunity to our customers. Good puer teas, mainly coming from old trees, […]
“清明時節雨紛紛” —During the Festival of Qing Ming drizzling is the rain. (Du Mu, 杜牧) Qingming Festival The Qingming Festival (清明節), alternatively called as Tomb-Sweeping Day (掃墳節) is an ancient Chinese tradition with a history of more than 2500 years. The first day of the festival falls on the 1st day of the 5th solar term […]
In the past few months we have been experimenting with our matcha tea as well as our matcha accessories. As a result, we have just received a set of beautiful azure-glazed chawans from Tünde Ruzicska’s workshop along with our KEZEMURA pieces. Besides, we decided to indulge ourselves in the world of chasens as well. Chasen […]
It is a pleasure to announce that our first art exhibition starts 19th of February. Come and join us at 7pm at the opening ceremony or visit the exhibition later. Please register here for the opening event. The artist behind a magical camera Mariann Fercsik is a Hungarian photographer, based in England; she spent 4 […]
Not all tea is the same For many people the common assumption is that tea is solely a stimulant which has the primary effect of activating the central nervous system via the main chemical component, caffeine. It turns out that tea is much more complex than that. The different types (ex. green, black, Oolong, etc.) […]
When ordering from our Wuyi supplier — a small garden in the so-called real, or centre rock area (正岩, zheng yan) — we received a sample that was made of a special cultivar, called Mei Zhan (梅占, plum fragrance) and was harvested in 2013. Thanks to the 4 years it has been ageing, by now […]
A brief introduction how to make the most out of your Matcha powder and what do we need for the preparation. Accessories The four vital accessories are: chashaku (茶杓), a thin bamboo scoop; chawan (茶碗), a ceramic bowl; chasen (茶筅), a tea whisk, also made of bamboo; and a sieve. All of the necessary accessories […]
Why Mao Jian? In the Spring of 2017, while in the quest of Taiwanese green teas and oolongs, we paid a visit to a friend of Peter’s, a well-known abbot from Taipei, Taiwan. Chatting with him, we were offered a wonderful, lightsome and elegant green tea of superior quality, a Mao Jian. We were thinking […]
New teas from Japan We have just received our new Japanese teas and we are really happy with them! This year, it is the second time that we ordered tea from the Yoshida Mei tea garden. One of Uji’s ancient tea-gardens, spreading around the Kōzan-ji (高山寺) temple, is tended by the Yoshida family for 16 […]
The Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋節, Vietnamese: tết Trung Thu, is the second biggest festival of the Year in some Asian countries. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Lunar calendar (this year the 4th of October). It is said, that the Moon appears to be the biggest and roundest […]
As you probably know, different kinds of tea need to be steeped at different temperatures to ensure you are getting the best flavour out of your tea. This is particularly true of delicate whole-leaf green teas which may be most optimally steeped at temperatures as low as 70°C (155°F). But how do you know when to stop your kettle at a lower temperature than boiling?
It is like a good and efficient stock exchange: we receive and taste all kinds of different teas, then as quickly as possible choose and get the best ones from Jun Chiyabari tea garden. They produce a great variety of teas, but of course each year the first teas of the year are the most […]
This spring, along with our trip to China, we looked around the world of Japanese teas. We discovered, then soon made friends with Yoshida Masahiro, the member of the Yoshida family with 200 years history in tea making as well as the caretakers of Japan’s oldest tea plantation.
Every year we purchase one of our favorite tea from the Great Snow Mountain, Lincang, Yunnan province, China. This year we are currently placing the order for the new vintage, and thought we would extend this opportunity to our customers. Good puer teas, mainly coming from old trees, can be aged for years, and even decades like fine wines. In […]
