My Tea Break

Rediscovering Tea around the world

Category Archives: Scented Tea


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5 o’clock Tea with Thuy Tien

I was recently in Porto and had the pleasure to go for a 5 o’clock with Thuy Tien from MÙI-Gourmet/ MÙI- Concept shop in Porto. (Click here to check a previous post with an interview with Thuy Tien.)

As soon as I entered the shop I was welcomed by Yuko,  who still remembered me from our visit to Porto last August. Yuko gave me a bit of their amazing Keiko Green Tea Chocolate and gave us a preview taste of a new Tea that will be launched soon as part of the Mùi Concept Christmas Teas. I won’t spoil the surprise but I can tell you that will be a very traditional Portuguese flavour in a cup of Tea. Stay tuned as we will post more information about this new Tea. :)

Suddenly, Thuy entered the shops with a huge smile and a box of homemade Matcha scones.  Thuy is an inspirational person and we spoke about Tea, trip, recipes,  flavours and business while indulging ourselves with the amazing scones.

Thuy also gave me a taste of Vietname Lotus Tea, a rare green Tea flavoured with the scent of Lotus. The tea is made by allowing the green tea to absorb the flower’s natural scent. This Tea has a delicate fragrance and a floral sweetness aftertaste.

If you’re ever in Porto we highly recommend a visit to this shop where you will find not only fantastic and unique Teas but also a great variety of Tea accessories.

Happy Tea Break.

Tania


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@ TEKOE Tea Shop, Lausanne Switzerland

As some of you may know, I am living in Lausanne. I arrived last week and while exploring this beautiful city, I discovered an amazing Tea shop – Tekoe.

I was lucky enough that Monika, one of the workers, speaks English. She, very kindly, talked to me about the shop, the Teas and about the yummy Tea food they also sell (biscuits, ice creams!!).

They have a lot of Tea – from China, Japan, India, Taiwan, Kenya, South America, South Africa and others. They have all different kinds of Teas, from the simple and pure ones (like dragon well), to the typical blends (like English breakfast),  their own blends and flavoured Teas. I was fascinated by the amount of choice you have and by the different mixtures.

I usually prefer plain Tea, but yesterday I tried `Sencha aromatise au Caramel´. I drank it cold, as I have been melting in this city, for the past week.  It was a very interesting mixture and tasted very good!

I also bought a few biscuits – all made with Tea. They are excellent! I bought one with earl grey Tea and another one with green Tea. Delicious!

I do recommend you to try Tekoe Teas! I feel I have a world to explore in this shop and I am definitely going back to try new Teas.

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They have shops in: Basel, Ben, Geneva, Haute-Nendaz, St Gallen and Lausanne (centre and train station). You can always purchase their Teas online: http://www.tekoe.com/.

Happy Tea Break,

Mariana


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Jasmine Pearls Green Tea

Jasmine Pearls Green Tea is a popular Tea where green Tea is rolled into tiny balls like pearls , which is then repeatedly scented with fresh jasmine flowers.

Green Tea Jasmine Pearls

This Tea involves a detailed hand work as the green Tea leaves are rolled into a pearl manually and then wrapper into paper to maintain the pearl shape.

Check the following video from Jing Tea that shows the amazing hand-work involved in this process:

When infused the pearls open and you get a fragrant and refreshing Tea.

Happy Tea Break!


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Scented Teas

As explained previously Tea not only have different categories based on the fermentation level (White, Yellow, Green, Oolong, Black) but they can also have different modification methods.

The modification methods will change the character of the Tea leaves after they are initially produced. This includes crafted Teas, compressed Teas, scented or flavoured Teas, blended Teas, powdered Teas and ready to drink Teas.

Today I will focus on the scented Teas, which is extremely popular in North China but also in Western Countries. Dried Tea leaves absorb odours and flavours very easily and therefore Tea masters use the fragrant essence of flowers like roses, osmanthus, jasmine among others to create scented Teas.

Rose Buds

The process vary depending on the quality of the Tea and the flower variety.

In the traditional way of scenting Tea, Tea leaves and flowers are layered one after the

Jasmine Scented Tea

other as a multi-layer  sandwich. The heat of the flowers inside Tea layers releases the fragrance which is then absorbed by the Tea leaves. In some occasions, the flower and Tea mix needs to be laid in a low temperature oven to force the scenting. The flowers are then removed. 

Other modern ways of scenting include spraying Tea leaves with extracts or chemicals, or mixing flowers or flower parts in the Tea leaves.

Scented Tea should not be confused with blended Tea, which involves mixing different Teas and other ingredients to create a certain “blend”.

One of my favourite scented Teas is the Jasmine Pearls Green Tea and I will share some information about this during the next post. Stay tuned!

Happy Tea Break.

Tania

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