The Lunar New Year begins when the new moon appears between 21 January and 20 February - which in 2022 is February 1st. Therefore, we are now in the Year of the Tiger, which defines itself as brave, confident and unpredictable: fitting characteristics for another year of uncertainty and change. Despite the turbulence, we here at Pekoe Tea are very grateful for your support and are working hard to supply you with stellar customer experiences. From tea tastings to beautiful tea-ware and sharing knowledge with other tea lovers, we can't wait to see what this exciting new year will bring.
Jon and Esther visited Yunnan province in 2013 and wrote about their visits to traditional tea estates and growers, which you can read more about here.
China is the largest tea producing country in the world, and we stock a variety of Chinese loose-leaf teas from cooked Pu-Erh teas to delicate white teas. To celebrate this wonderful event, here are some of our favourites.
Pai Mu Dan, also known as White Peony, is a beautifully mild and subtly sweet tea. As it is made using sets of a single bud and two young leaves, this gives it a beautiful full flavour. White Peony's counterpart, Jasmine Silver Needle, is famous for its sweet and delicate flavour. The Silver Needle buds undergo a traditional scenting process of being repeatedly placed between layers of fresh jasmine blossoms in the evening, when the blossoms naturally open, thus imbuing them with the jasmine flavour. Jasmine Silver Needle is one of China's finest jasmine teas, and as a white tea lover myself, these are two of the best - trumped only by Zhou Family Handmade Silver Needle, which you can find out about here.
This wonderful oolong tea, which when translated means the 'frozen summit' of a mountain, is hand crafted by a tea master in Fujian province before landing on our shelves. Dong Ding tea has tightly-rolled leaves, the size of small peas, and the flavours are toasty and woody. This is a wonderful tea to drink Gong Fu style, shown in this brilliant video here, as this allows for a greater appreciation of the drink and leans more towards tradition and process; something to be enjoyed, savoured and celebrated.
Also known as 'Dragon Well', this green tea is a national drink in China, where it is known simply as Long Jing or Lung Ching. The origin of the 'Dragon Well' name comes from Hangzhou, where the tea is grown, as there is a well nearby in which fresh rainfall is said to create ripples that resemble Chinese dragons. Good quality Dragon Well should have flat, spear-shaped leaves with a light green colour. As one of our most popular green teas, this delightfully gentle and nuanced blend can be brewed according to your own tastes. If you prefer a grassy and earthy green tea then a stronger brew can help you achieve this, however personally I like to keep it milder, so the gentle sweetness of the blend can sneak in and the after-bite isn't too harsh.
This cooked Pu Erh is made from trees that grow wild in the high mountains of Jing Mai in Yunnan province. Some of these trees are hundreds of years old and are cultivated completely organically and bio-dynamically. There are two types of Pu-Erh tea, 'Raw' and 'Ripe', but both are made from sun-dried Saiqing Mao Cha tea leaves and traditionally produced in Yunnan province. Raw Pu-Erh, known as shēng, undergoes a longer process of production, the fresh picked leaves are left to ferment slowly and naturally developing a rich, earthy flavour. Learn more about Pu-Erh tea here!
