A Bount-tea-ful Trip

Thank you to the Husband for coming up with that pun. My grandpa Ollie would be so proud. 🙂

I bought an Alice in Wonderland themed tea at the Food and Wine Fest. It’s an “Indian black tea with hints of ginger, peach, and apricot.” I haven’t tried it yet, but it smells nice.

It says that it works for real birthdays too. 🙂

My father in law took us to Vital Tea Leaf in Chinatown while we were taking a rainy tour of San Francisco and it was so cool. https://vitaltealeaf.net/index.php/

I wish I hadn’t been shy and had asked to take pictures. There were so many different kinds of tea! I’m still new to this blogging thing and feel weird sometimes about asking to do that.

The tea was in big glass and metal containers along the back wall. They had black/red, green, white, and oolong teas. They had plain ones and mixes. The front of the store had a long counter with tea stations where you could pour out your sample if you didn’t like it disguised with pretty screens. One of the staff people was giving out tea samples and providing all sorts of information about the teas.

One thing that I learned is that you are supposed to rinse the cup, teapot, and the tea leaves themselves with hot water before drinking. Chinese tea isn’t supposed to be served with boiling water either as it takes away the healthy properties. I tried that tonight while making my tea. Yes, that is a flamingo tea infuser. 🙂

You are also only supposed to brew the tea for 30 seconds and reuse the tea leaves 3-4 times for most of the teas. One of the green tea blends we sampled could be reused up to 8 times! You were supposed to drink at least 5-6 cups per day to get the full benefits. I believe it was the Blue People tea.

Black tea is referred to as “red” tea in China because it brews up with a red tinge. Here’s the water from rinsing the leaves, which you then throw away. It does have a little red in it and this was just the rinse water!

Green tea is more bitter and the white tea has the least amount of caffeine. I had wanted to try the green ginger tea, but the tea lady suggested I try the red ginger instead. The red ginger has a smoother taste and more ginger flavor and the green is more bitter.

More about this tea from the website- Ginger Red:

“Yingde “Hong Cha” is a black tea from the area Yingde in Guangdong province. These tea leaves have natural cocoa like aromas. Blended with ginger flavoring, resulting in a smooth spicy beverage. Reputed to alleviate migraine, motion sickness, reduce heartburn and inflammation.”

I like it and have a huge bag, as my father in law convinced me to get a whole 1/4 pound. I need to drink more tea!

My father in law knew what he wanted and I tried a couple of his choices too. I normally don’t like jasmine tea, but this Jasmine Silver Needle was much less perfumy than regular jasmine tea. It’s the tea on the left. The right is regular Earl Grey.

The silver needle is the “most highly prized” of China’s white teas, as they only use the tops of the buds. This version has jasmine petals with it. It has a low caffeine content and is high in antioxidants. It can be drunk all day for a refreshing drink.

I liked the name of this one and I think it’s this one on the website, but am not completely sure. I have no idea if it is actually picked by monkeys. 🙂

https://vitaltealeaf.net/index.php/monkey-pick-4-oz.html

Also, purchased were a cake of 10 year pu-erh tea, jasmine pearls, and a mystery set of tea balls. I’ll have to find out what they are from my father in law.

Pu-erh has been aged and has undergone a micro-fermentation process after the leaves were dried. It is good for heart problems, digestion, acid reflux, and constipation. Some of this type of tea is actually aged underground. It is a very dark, smooth, earthy tea, with no bitter taste.

Jasmine pearls are made from white tea leaves from the Fujian province blended with sweet jasmine petals from the Guangxi province. Each pearl is hand rolled. Can you imagine your job being to roll these tiny pearls? I might go crazy!

It was neat to learn about all the different types of tea and the many uses. I had no idea there were so many! I definitely need to drink more of it.

The Vital Tea website is a wealth of information and is where I got all the info for this post. I’d encourage you go poke around on it, if you are at all interested in teas.

Now, I need to go finish my second cup of ginger tea and put the sleepy puppers to bed. She won’t go to sleep in the bedroom unless one of us is already there and is currently snoring on my foot.

Have a good night!