I have loved drinking tea since childhood. If offered a choice between tea or any other drink, I will always choose tea. I don’t know why, maybe because of the fragrant aroma, or the not-so-bitter taste when compared to coffee, but not as sweet as drinks with artificial sweeteners.
Even so, the tea I usually drink is just regular tea that can be bought at the supermarket, nothing special. This year, because I already have my own job and a steady income, I want to try exploring the various types and variations of tea that exist. While trying and assessing the various tea brews, I hope to find out more about why I love this drink so much.
My tea exploration started in a cafe near my campus. I ordered Assam Black Tea and my girlfriend ordered Earl Gray Tea, both were cold. We both shared our tea orders. I thought Assam Black Tea would be black, because of the name. But apparently not. Assam black tea tastes familiar to my tongue, maybe because Black Tea is the base for other tea blends. You can taste the bitter aftertaste, more bitter than usual tea. Maybe because I ordered pure tea…
For the Earl Gray Tea, I was a bit surprised. The taste is slightly spicy with a subtle mint aftertaste. Again, because of the name, I thought this tea would be gray. Turns out they both have the same color. Maybe because the base tea for Earl Grey is Black Tea. I should have learned not to assume weird things. The fragrance of this tea is similar to regular jasmine tea, and again has a subtle hint of mint to it.
I learned a lot from my first tea-drinking exploration, mostly the lesson that there is a wide variety of tastes and aromas that can be obtained from different tea blends and leaves combined. For the next step, I will buy Black Tea to try to brew it myself. Maybe from that experience, I will learn the techniques of brewing tea. Wish me luck!