Fu Man Chu Time – Tandem Tea Tasting #2

What happens when you combine friends, the Internet, a late night, and a tea made of the most unique combination? Luckily, for me I got to find out just what these combinations of ingredients really make.

First, let me start with my friends. I am of course referring to the Tandem Tea Tasting Group we started on Google+. This is a group of tea lovers that meet roughly every 3 to 4 weeks to review a preselected tea and blog about the tea and the events that transpired during our video hangout. This week I had the pleasure of being joined by Jo of A Gift of Tea (@jopj) and Darlene of The Tea Lovers Archives, and Nicole of @TeaForMePlease. You get all of us together and there is bound to be a little trouble.

Second, the tea of choice was provided to the group by no other than the lovely Jo Johnson. She sent us the following…

Tea Name: Fu Man Chu
Tea Company: SerendipiTea
Ingredients: Organic Jasmine Petals, Organic Pouchong, and Organic Pu-erh

Preparation: Gaiwan with roughly 2 teaspoons at about 195F degrees for roughly 4 mins.

Impressions: My first thought prior to even taking the first sip was just how creative the combination of ingredients were. I was thinking random tea leftovers or creative genius. How lucky for us, this was the work of a creative genius.

The flavors pulled together nicely. The liquor smelled heavenly of Jasmine. Did I mention I am not big on Jasmine flavored tea? In this case it was heavy on scent but light on Jasmine flavor. The best past is it did not at all taste like perfume in a teacup, a flavor I absolutely despise. I also left some tea to steep longer and I just loved how rust colored red the liquor turned. It was a thing of beauty. My first thought was how wonderful a color for tea staining. The brew itself was a bit to strong and far to earthy for me, which is a lot to say since I love a nice earthy tea. I prefer its lighter counterpart as it was intended to be made but I am glad I steeped it longer to see the difference as well.

All together a wonderful surprise that I feel very lucky to have tried and enjoyed.

As for next time, we are trying our hand at seasonal teas and a mini-project. Should prove a fun evening once again. I know we had a lot of laughs, and “oh and ahs” with this tea lets hope next time will be the same.

For Blogs From The Rest of The Group See Below…

Nicole – @TeaForMePlease
Jo – @jopj
Darlene – The Tea Lovers Archives