Visiting the Gold Tips motherland

Let me sing you - if you could get me singing anything while I'm NOT in the shower - the praises of the Yunnan Gold Tips. This type of tea is the basis for the hot honey wine in my cup, lightly steaming, as we speak (write). It's total cheese (I know, I know), but I'm breathing in the malty aroma, and, in doing so, I breathe in a bit of smooth contentment. (CUT! - this commercial is a wrap!)

It's sorta making it hard for me to work. haha.

My taste for (the preparation of) loose leaf tea comes and goes; certainly for the past couple of months I've been a straight-up teabagger (um.. yeah), but I was inspired last week.. I *had* to break out my little tote of Ito-En teas from their dark hiding place - one of the many stashes of loose-leaf tea in my apartment - and indulge in some of this quality China snuff.

I mean, I brought so much tea back from my summer travels.. beyond this Ito-En shizz (acquired from their flagship store), I gots greens and blacks from Russia, from Kyrgyzstan.. Rainbow Grocery too! My Beehouse has been awaiting for me to fill it with more than just Honey Ginseng Green from Republic of Tea or the "new" Black Pearl pyramid tea bags from Lipton.

It's been waiting until this week, that is. My snooty little teapot got what it's been asking for; I'm glad to be an enabler. And, as I alluded to above, my favorite taste thus far has been the Yunnan Gold Tips from Ito-En; their look sets them apart from other black teas, but, once prepared, you can't beat the smell of that sweet, sweet, liqueur.

Ah, this reminds me.. I need to totally bring back mad amounts of tea - Gold Tips or otherwise - when I go to Beijing for a work trip this coming month. I'll, basically, be in the motherland! ;)