Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Party after Torrance Symphony's "Taiwan Night" Concert



1/30/2011
TUF President, Mr. Simon Cheng, invites a few friends from Torrance Symphony, including conductor Frank Fetta and several Board members to meet up with TA musician plus TUF Board... Maestro Tyzen Hsiao is very happy with the concert on 1/15/2011... Good time for all to share the good memories of this co-sponsored music event. We are looking forward to having another concert soon...
Josephine and I, set up a little tea bar to serve Taiwan Oolongs to our guests...just to show our appreciation to these good people for all their hard efforts.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

A fun experience in our cupping room



This morning, I invited our staff to have an in-house tea class in our cupping room.
We talked about the 4 T - Tea amount, Temperature of heated water, Time of Infusion and Tea Vessel. The four major factors that will affect the quality in a cup: aroma, flavor and taste out of the same tea.

There we went through a few experiments together...

From the photos, you can see the timer, thermometer, scale, and vessel of water to be highlighted in four sets.
You can see the results of four color cups on each set.
"Set other things being equal, to experience with one variable" -
in the study of economics, we has this "laissez-faire" - so I found it in our tea experiments.

A good cup of tea is a journey of pursuing the Harmony of 4 T.

Often in my tea workshops, I joke with the crowd:
The No.5 T to make a good cup of tea...is to select the tea from Taiwan !

...then, Josephine and our audience will humorously add my favorite statement:
There is another T, that is to get tea from Thomas!
*Hahaha... I like it...always.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Tea Cozy, keeps your tea warm, makes your room cozy, and your heart happy!

 These grass-woven Tea Cozies that we bought at a small Hakka village in Taiwan on our way to visit tea gardens in Miaoli during March 2010. A few aged ladies were making these tea cozies to support their families and raise their grand children while their parents working at the cities.... In Taiwanese, they called these tea cozy, 茶壽, what a great imagination for a tea cozy. We were told the idea was originally from the Bird's Nest...and now it become an energy saving warmer for our tea, and makes our room cozy. When we are relaying our orders to those ladies...from our friends and our fellow tea colleagues...we know we are also making many families happy! We sure will like to keep this handcraft to be preserved and will also further introduce it to the upcoming World Tea Expo. Josephine and I plan to have one as the raffle drawing prize.
If your tea rooms or your tea shops plan to get one, we will be more than happy to serve. Every piece is different in size, weight, and the fabrics also varies. >

Write your own Tea Stories!


We have custom made this package for displaying 6 teas at a time with their stories...
The first Azusa Tea Club MeetUp, we introduced "A Taste of Taiwan Oolongs" - 6 different Taiwan's specialty Oolongs: Wenshan Pouchong, Oriental Beauty, Classic Tung-Ting, Alishan Jade Oolong, Mucha TieGuanYin, Chichong Pouchong (Baked Pouchong).

The second Azusa Tea Club MeetUp, we introduced "USDA Certified Organic Teas, Around the World" - another 6 different Organic teas: Taiwan Jade Oolong, Formosa Bonita, English Breakfast, Rooibos Bourbon, Genmai Cha, Pomergranate Tea.

We plan to have 6 teas in a group to make each Book with 6 tea stories...and serves as a Live Tea Menu for tea rooms or fine diners...even the traditional Dim-Sum Restaurants...

Wishing to have more inputs from our fellow tea enthusiasts, tea lovers... Let us write up many more tea stories...

Azusa Tea Club (2/12/2011) - USDA Certified Organic Teas Around the World



2/12/2011
This is our second meet up. 15 friends show up for this event.
Our topic for this one: USDA Certified Organic Teas, Around the World.
Taiwan Jade Oolong, Formosa Bonita, English Breakfast, Genmai Cha, Rooibos Bourbon and Pomergranate Tea. Devan and Josephine have done a wonderful job to lead this topic. Karen and Ben are helpful all along.
When and what topic will be up? Please check our event that will be published on:
www.MeetUp.com/Azusa-Tea-Club
We have listed so many topics...and we welcome your inputs...
Here are two good video clips on the cupping session:

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