Hannerz

Seattle Best Tea in Seattle, Washington

5/5

2011-12-24 15:25:42 -0500

Going here has been a really wonderful experience every time that I have gone. The first time, I went on recommendation of my grandfather, and as I went in, the woman who owns it waved me over to the tasting table (a big, beautiful lacquered piece of tree) and sat me down, handing me a cup of tea from the tasting that she was doing for a wealthy tourist couple. The whole thing was very well done, and the tea was amazing. The second time I went, to stock up on some tea I was low on, the woman remembered me and hugged me, and it was just very nice overall. Their Taiwanese oolongs are, so far, the best tea I’ve ever had. Most recently, I went in to get some of the winter flush of shan lin xi, and the owner had friends visiting the US for the first time from China. Everyone talked a lot and we drank tea and everyone there was taking lots of pictures of everything, and it was a very, very friendly, warm experience. (And, of course, the tea was great.)

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I live with my paternal family on a small, family-owned alpaca farm in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve been drinking tea (not counting tisanes) since I was relatively small and first allowed caffeine. Here, we are lucky enough to have two lovely, non-chlorinated wells, so I have relatively unlimited access to nice water that doesn’t influence the taste of my tea, and it certainly feels like a privilege. I make my teas gong fu style, sometimes with an Yixing pot, and sometimes with a small porcelain pot, as that seems to work best for many of my greener oolongs. I love learning, talking about and making tea.
One of my favorite things about making my gaoshan oolongs is the focus and care that they take to make them truly shine. If I’m having a rough day, I can sit down and just focus on the time, temperature of the teaware, etc, and it is completely distracting from whatever is upsetting me.
I think that, however, the most fun is in trying new teas (particularly oolongs; they’re just too wonderful) and working with them to learn how to make them taste their best.