Tuesday, July 28, 2009

An Evening Tea Tasting

It was a lovely summer evening last Thursday when we ventured
out to the Portland Chinese Gardens to have tea with Veerinder Chawla
and the Teahouse Staff of The Tao of Tea.
There were 5 tables, each with it's own theme.
This table was serving Old Growth, Rare, Tea Forest
Puer Teas. Each table served 4 different teas, each different from the other.
My favorites here were the 25 yr old Guangdong Puer Cake and a new blend,
Yunnan, Black Pepper Puer.
We were served small finger foods at each table to go along with the tea.
Veerinder's table served Oolongs. My favorite tea!
Here I liked the Pinglin High Mountain oolong from Taiwan
and Single Trunk Oolong from Chazhou.
We also had the pleasure of tasting Drunken Cloud oolong, which Veerinder grew and
processed from his own yard.

The evening garden was so pleasant to walk through.
I also found two black teas, which I really liked. They were
Hunan Summer Black, very light, and Star Village, Wuyi, a slight smokey flavor.
A fun way to enjoy a summer evening tasting tea.
***
A poem by Sung Dynasty poet Tai Bing,
translated by Martin Tai (1998)

Tasting Tea
Fetch my own spring water,
Fragrant with fallen flowers,
Set up a fire in a marble stove
Try out my new tea,
Lying under the green shades in a tranquil garden
Listening to the bees
Reporting their latest harvest.

11 comments:

Relyn Lawson said...

Oh, how I wish we had had time for tea when I was in Oregon last week. Next time? Please say yes.

paris parfait said...

What a lovely place! I always have trouble deciding, with so many choices. Thanks for sharing these glimpses of your evening.

Angela McRae said...

My goodness, what a unique evening of tea tasting you enjoyed! This sounds divine!

Deanna said...

Oh Marilyn, I love your header! That's lovely.
What an experience having an evening out for tea tasting.
That would be fantastic.
Enjoyed this post and so glad you shared with pics so we could be a part of your fun,
d

Annie Jeffries said...

Oh Marilyn, what lovely memories this conjures. I can feel the breeze through the tea house window again and hear the music of the water and murmur of conversations as visitors enjoy the serene quiet of the garden.

Duchess of Tea said...

Marilyn darling let me start by first commenting on your new banner/header, darling it is absolutely gorgeous. The tea looks exotic and divine, you had things to eat and drink that I had never heard of, I am off Googling them ASAP. Have a sunny day Luv and thanks for visiting me on daily basis, you are such a good friend.

Huge Hugs
Duchess xx

Celeste Maia said...

What a fascinating and wonderful evening you had, thank you for sharing it. Ah the tea ceremony, such a lovely ritual.

somepinkflowers said...

ooowwww..
i could almost taste
the ooooolong
but i am an earl grey fan
myself.

:-)

{{ i love your portland
and all the art and book shops
there }}

say,

i do think it is hotter today
in portland
than here in florida


go figure ♥

parTea lady said...

What a delightful way to spend an evening. I love to try new teas. The gardens there look lovely.

La Tea Dah said...

One of my very favorite places! How I wish I could have been there too! Thanks for the report!

And. . .your header is beautiful. . .heirloom orchard tea!

Steph said...

This is one of my favorite things about Portland, and I look forward to the possibility of spending time there with you!