Verity's Adventures in Wonderland

I headed off to T2 this morning as forecast and came home with a few things (very restrained of me, really): a new tea strainer, a box of their 'Soothe' herbal blend (one of my favourites) and an 'Exotic Stack' which includes Buddha's Tears, Gyokuro and Pai Mu Tan. 

I've had Pai Mu Tan before, but hadn't tried the others and figured it was a relatively inexpensive way ($40 for the 3) of testing them out - especially given that the other option for Gyokuro was the 100g box at $48 (a bit much to shell out for a tea I wasn't sure I would like).

The shop itself was a little smaller than I'd hoped, and a bit crowded at the front - they have their big sample table, where you can smell all the different teas, very close to the entrance. This made it a little hard to get in, given that there were a number of customers browsing the shelves towards the front, so I had to squeeze to get into the actual shop. On the plus side, it is of course a Good Thing that they were relatively busy even on a Sunday morning in Canberra at 10.30.

I noted a sign saying that they are currently looking for assistant managers... *sigh* 

I have just shared a pot of the Buddha's Tears with my husband - I took some photos of it while the leaves were unfurling. It is the best jasmine tea I have ever drunk - really floral and with a beautiful sweet aftertaste, a lovely golden colour too. I was surprised at how large the leaves were when they had unfurled - the balls are so small and intricate when they are rolled up. I can't imagine how tricky it must be to make these kinds of teas...

I'm going to go and see if I can get another pot out of it. There seem to be differing views on how many times you can re-infuse particular teas, and how long for - e.g. I've read that a first infusion should only be for 30 seconds, and the second and third ones can be longer. Well, I'll see what happens with the remains of the Buddha's Tears (after a first infusion of about 4 minutes)...