Tea that feels like a cool mountain breeze + upcoming projects
Our last event of the summer and a much-anticipated sourcing trip!
Hello tea friends,
I hope everyone is staying cool during this historically hot summer. Here at our current Broken Cup Teahouse headquarters (aka my house), I have been cold-brewing tea nonstop. One of me and Fernando’s favorite cold brews to have at any time of day is Taiwanese high mountain oolong (高山茶). The fresh grassy, lilac, and honeysuckle fragrances become especially prominent through the cold brewing process, and every sip feels like a refreshing, cool mountain breeze. Ahhh.
Here’s a little tip for cold brewing this particular genre of tea: Start it off with a splash of boiling water first, before topping off with room temp or cold water. Then, just like for any other cold brew, simply stick it in the fridge and let chemistry and time do their thing. This way, the cold brew will taste a little more multi-dimensional and complex than if you brew with room temp or cold water right off the bat. The reason is the shape of the tea - this style of oolong is rolled into very compact little nuggets, which benefit from a little extra catalyst to release their flavors fully.
Here’s how we cold brew high mountain oolong:
Measure out or eyeball the desired amount of leaf (we recommend 4-5 g per 500 mL spring water).
Put the tea leaves in a mug and pour just enough boiling water to cover them and let them “bloom.”
Let the leaves steep until half-bloomed (1-2 minutes) before pouring the mixture into a larger, closed vessel for cold brewing and topping off with room temp or cold water.
Put in the fridge for 8-24 hours (steep to taste). Serve over ice or simply chilled.
Voila!
Our current selection features three winter 2022 high mountain oolongs from the central mountains of Taiwan, including Alishan, Lishan, and Longfengxia. They are each available separately and also altogether in this variety-pack sampler and gift set, together with our summer 2022 Red Oolong (also fantastic as a cold brew). We are running low on stock on these high mountain oolong teas, so pick up whatever you need now to tide you over the dog days of summer!
“Try me yum”
Here’s another way to experience some of our teas cold-brewed, as alluded to mysteriously in the last newsletter involving something that rhymes with “try me yum”: our upcoming tea-paired, 5-course farm-to-table dinner at The Herb Lyceum! If you haven’t heard of them, The Herb Lyceum, a sister of Puritan & Co in Cambridge, is a farm, restaurant, and place of learning (hence, lyceum). Chefs Ryan and Andre run the culinary show here, and I had the pleasure of working together with them to co-design a 5-course menu that highlighted the interplays - both bold and subtle - that our teas can have with food. The evening of Wednesday, July 19, will be filled with gathering, eating, drinking, and learning - aka all the best things in life. The menu and all reservation details can be found here. The chefs and I are excited to share our co-creations with you all!
“I want”
The event at The Herb Lyceum will be our last this summer, as shortly afterwards, I’ll be going on a tea trip to a place that rhymes with “I want”… aka Taiwan! I first fell in love with tea while working in Taiwan ten years ago, and Taiwanese teas and tea culture have been near and dear to my heart ever since. During my two weeks there in August, I’ll be focusing on building new relationships with tea makers, and strengthening existing ones. I’ll also be on the lookout for some vintage and artisanal teaware!
I will be documenting the trip on Instagram as much as possible, so please feel free to follow along on our adventures there.
Whew, that’s all for now!
A happy weekend to all,
Yin