Rudyard Kipling's Oolong

An old church pulpit in Germany.

“We had a kettle; we let it leak:

Our not repairing made it worse.

We haven’t had any tea for a week…

The bottom is out of the Universe.”

Rudyard Kipling (author of The Jungle Book )
from The Voice of Tea Blog

I thought that was a neat quote, worth repeating for you.

Today is one of those wet, gray, chilly days that goes through all the layers of clothes to make your bones ache. A very good day for tea. I decided to try some of Aura Teas Formosa Muzha Tie Guan Yin. It comes in tightly rolled pretty brown balls, with the warning that they will greatly expand. I brewed it first for about a minute with water at about 190 degrees, 1 teaspoon per cup. Initially it smelled of that old-fashioned bush – mock orange and I was so pleased, as that is one of my favorite scents in the world. Sadly, it did not stay that way and became more heavily roasted tasting. When I looked it up on their site, I saw that it was an old style heavily roasted TGY. I really don't like that style of Oolong, so I didn't even finish the cup. I hope you all realize that is personal preference speaking and not a slam about the tea. I have had several Aura teas and they have all been of excellent quality. This is from samples they sent me to review.

To counterbalance it I brewed myself some Lady Londonderry, which is about as frou-frou floral as you can get.