Our friends over at Teaity posed an interesting question a couple of weeks ago via their Facebook page. “What tea did you formerly hate, but now love?” I thought it was such a great question. Immediately I was flooded with fond memories of the tea I formerly hated, but now love – oolong.
My tea cabinet, which is currently busting at the seams with oolongs, would lead many to believe that I had a small obsession with this particular type of tea. So how did I turn the corner with oolongs?
Back in 2005, when I first started drinking tea, and specifically loose-leaf tea, I was an avid flavored, black tea drinker. The fruitier, the better. I popped into my favorite tea store in Chicago and purchased an Orchid Oolong blend. I thought I was so sophisticated, although I had no idea what an oolong was. But I loved the name and wanted to jump right into the tea scene with two feet. It was the most disgusting thing I ever drank. Unfortunately, I let that tea steep for six minutes, resulting in an extremely bitter brew. Had I to do it all over, I am sure I would appreciate the cup much more now. However, at the time, I thought this was how all oolongs tasted.
Fast forward two precious years of non-oolong drinking. I was invited to visit an awesome little Victorian tea room in La Mesa, California, and I had the chance to try a roasted oolong. My eyeballs bulged, my mouth salivated. I had no idea oolongs could be so flavorful. I learned a really important lesson that day. Never judge an entire group of teas based on just one cup! I was so sad to realize that I had squandered two years of my tea-drinking life by avoiding oolongs. I have since used that lesson to delve into pu-erhs. Those first few experiences have not been totally enjoyable, but I am working on it.
Now tell me – what’s the one tea you swore off that has since become your favorite???
I had a similar experience with pu-erhs. I thought they tasted like mud. I actually refused to try them again. One day, while at a friends, he brewed up an old pu-erh but didn’t mention what it was, just served it up. I thought it was delicious so I asked him what I had been drinking. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I found it so hard to believe this sweet brew was a pu-erh, I actually asked him to show it to me. I smelled the small cake and yes, it smelled bad to me…….but the taste was devine. I’m now always eager to try a pu-erh when the opportunity presents itself. I haven’t found one I like as much but I’ve tried a few that I have to say were good.
Us human beings, we’re creatures of habit. We get something in our head and it’s not an easy task to release it. I’m working hard at doing just that.
I actually almost passed on all loose leaf tea. I had purchased some green tea and brewed it with boiling water and overstepped it (4~5 minutes if I remember correctly). It was terrible. I felt tea was some acquired taste that for me would be unacquirable. I tried it a few more times before giving up. A few months later having suffered coffee fatigue I decided to reapproach tea. This time I decided to get by with a little help from my friend google on brewing temps and times. Sure enough, the tea was everything I expected it to be: energizing, relaxing, and most of all delicious.