The Golden Lotus

teabagging

ever since the detox, i haven't had a drip of coffee - which means, i haven't had a drip of coffee in 2005. i realize that several cups a week has me breaking out in canker sores. yet another food allergy discovered, perhaps? one of my favorite things, i will not decline a rich and delicious cuppa joe, but i just have to moderate.

in the meantime, i've been having a field day trying different kinds of teas, and my favorites have been either green or white teas, with jasmine being in my top 5.

there's an amazing tea house in west hollywood called ELIXIR, with a nice and relaxing zen rock garden in the back. every time i go there, i usually get myself a pot of their jasmine pearls, which is one of the most fragrant and delicately delicious jasmine teas around. (fyi. i've recently found the pearls at a chinese herbal shop for much less.) anyhow, they were out of jasmine pearls so i decided to try the drum mountain mist, another green tea from china. i can't even describe this tea in words. it has an ethereal quality, with a slightly nutty and sweet finish.

i recently returned to the chinese herbal shop in monterey park, T.S. EMPORIUM (which is also in chinatown) to find some more interesting tea i can have in the morning. i found CLOUD & MIST premium green tea which is very similar to the one at elixir and just as good. i also found SUMMER JASMINE GREEN, which has become my favorite jasmine next to the pearls.

oh, another amazing thing is - i found empty teabags at little tokyo, so you can pack yr own teabags. i've been packing my own peony bai mudan white tea, summer jasmine, lungching dragon-well, dragon pearls, cloud & mist, and the drum mountain mist tea.

i will never look at tea bags the same way again.

posted by Pete @ 3:54 PM