oolong

There have been wild accusations around the ’net of me being one to spill the beans. To live up to this unsavory reputation, I offer you all a tour of the as-yet unnamed collaboration between The Tea Gallery and The Mandarin’s Tea Room. Somewhere along the way, we noticed that the phrase “The Tea Gallery slash Mandarin’s Tea Room” is a “mouthful." There are still mountains of boxes to be unpacked, but I was invited to visit the new tea room on the twenty-sixth anniversary of my birth.

The Philly Tea Club (and guests!) assembled in the back yard for an introduction to Chanoyu. Being far from a proper tea room, Pamela L - a third year student of the Urasenke school - performed one of the more casual forms, o-bon temae. This ceremony is performed with the utensils arranged on a round tray, and draws hot water from a tetsubin rather than ladled from the kama.

This Thursday at the Random Tea Room Philadelphia, the crowd was hanging from the rafters for the chamber music flash mob “Classical Revolution," and, of course, tea. In their own words: “The mission of Classical Revolution is to present concerts involving both traditional and modern approaches while engaging the community by offering chamber music performances in highly accessible venues, such as bars and cafes, and collaborating with local musicians and artists from various styles and backgrounds”

We made our second trip to the Royal Orchid Tea Museum, currently under a serious program of improvements. The event carried a water theme - an exhibition of Shui Pin Yixing teapots from Ming to modern, and, a sampling of several Shui Xian teas. I offered two pots of my own - 1970s hong ni and 1930s zi ni. Kai suggested my elder pot was originally made for export to Japan.

I usually pride myself in being able to rattle off the 8 to 10 teas we drink during the course of a meetup. However, in the company of Dae and David I finally met my match. Dae says she hasn’t drank this much tea since her trip to Taiwan - I am indeed struggling to remember every tea. I’ve done my best to recall them in no particular order. 1996 Huang Yin - Sun Sing 1997 Menghai 8582 1980s Xiaguan Traditional Characters 2004 Silver Tip Puerh - The Tea Gallery

In search of the elusive Tea Pearl, brave friends gathered at The Tea Gallery for the first NYC Tea Meetup. Being the inaugural I decided to document this one in some detail - I expect that I may drop off sooner or later as the journal of record. Mystery Formosa Oolong When I arrived Tim had already wrestled Winnie out of her seat and had taken over as Tea Master. In a large pot of Taiwanese clay, Tim brewed up several rounds of the unknown tea.