A Duet of Tea

Yesterday I put some Anji Duet from Adagio Tea in the fridge to brew. This is a very mild green Chinese tea with some white tea characteristics. If I brewed this hot, the directions say to do it for 3 minutes at 180 degrees. Since my pitcher holds 10 cups, I used 10 very large clumps, gave it a stir and set it aside for seven hours. I looked on the Adagio website and saw it was an extremely mild tea, so I quick went and added another 5 clumps. In just 5 minutes the water was already a pale green. The dry leaves are very attractive, tightly rolled lengthwise into long, thin needles, in a pleasing mix of greens. The dry tea gives off a scent of grass, with a hint of fruit, something in the peach/apricot line, but it is not specific to them – that sweet scent with a hit of astringency around the edges. The leaves did not unfurl much, remaining long thin needles.


The brewed tea was quite pleasant, with just hints of floral and fruit. There was perhaps a bit of grass/vegetable. All in all, very delicate and would go with some mild foods. I think this is not really a tea for ice tea, as it doesn't stand up to the cold because of it's delicacy. However, if you are looking for a delicate ice tea, this could fill the bill, rather, glass, nicely.

I will be trying more cold brew teas as the summer unfolds. Hot tea doesn't appeal to me very much, except as a morning wake-up.

Bertie and the Dormouse

For those of you who might want to see the kittens - now fully grown -
that I keep talking about, this is the infamous and very naughty Bert.
Tomorrow I will put up Ernie.


One of my fellow writers has a blog called “Life in a Teacup”. It is a well-written, serious blog, seriously reviewing high quality teas. Unfortunately, every time I see the title all I can think of is the dormouse in Alice in Wonderland who was in the teapot and I keep imagining a little mouse with a nice nest in a teacup, being disturbed every day by someone pouring tea in his home. Too much time on my hands these days. Perhaps I had best have a cup of tea, since this is a tea blog and stop being silly.

Adagio's Anji Duet is a mix of green and white tea leaves that smell a bit like dusty quality paper. The leaves are very long, at least an inch, and some longer. It brews up a pale yellow and is quite delicate with a sweet grass flavor that lasts. As it cools, the taste becomes fuller and more rounded. I think if you made ice cubes from this tea and then made iced tea with them it would be excellent. I would recommend the tea cubes as this is a delicate tea that would not stand up to being diluted. It may be one of those with which you could do a cold brew, as well. It is very good hot, which is my preference. I am one of those people who doesn't much care what's in my ice tea as long as it's okay. A sad failing.