I was really excited for the December issue of Tea & Tao from +Global Tea Hut because Liu Bao is a tea that I never had a chance to experience before. Looking at the leaves you might think that it was a cooked puerh. That guess would be close but not quite on the mark. Liu Bao is a dark tea produced in Guangxi rather than Yunnan. The fermented leaves are pressed into baskets and then exported to Malaysia and Hong Kong. I was really fascinated reading about how intimately the story of this tea is woven with the story of Cantonese miners. Old Grove kept me company while I waited out the winter storm that was Jonas. The taste was earthy, sweet and very warming. Being snowed in my boyfriend and some excellent tea was my idea of a perfect weekend.
The gift was a pretty little glass ingot. It’s a symbol frequently found in Chinese culture that represents prosperity. We could all use a bit of that! For this month’s envelope I experimented with some new lenses that I bought for my phone. They looked a lot better on my phone than they did once I uploaded them! It doesn’t hurt to try something new but I definitely think I’ll be going back to my regular camera next time around. I’m locking down expenses because of my upcoming trip to World Tea Expo so I had to make the decision to unsubscribe from “the hut”. I miss it already and I know that I’ll be back but a tea drinker has got to do what she’s got to do.
