La Magie des Lanternes au Jardin Botanique

La Magie des Lanternes (The Magic of Lanterns) is one of the biggest festivities in Montreal organized by the City of Montreal. Every year, tones of thematic lanterns are being made and shipped from China to the Chinese Garden of the Montreal Botanical Garden. This year is no exception. For lovers, families, friends and photographers, you will not want to miss this year’s Lantern Festival!

The art connceptual team chose to match the theme of the Pavilion of China at the World Expo at Shanghai – Qingming Shanghe Tu (清明上河圖, Along the River During the Qingming Festival). It is the title of several panoramic paintings that measures 24.8 by 528.7 cm; the original version is generally attributed to the Song Dynasty artist Zhang Zeduan (1085-1145). It captures the daily life of people from the Song period at the capital, Bianjing, today’s Kaifeng. The theme celebrates the festive spirit and worldly commotion at the Qingming Festival. The entire piece was painted in hand scroll format and the content reveals the lifestyle of all levels of the society from rich to poor as well as different economic activities in rural areas and the city. [read more the history behind] Click on the image below to view the complete panoramic painting.

I can’t wait to see how the Chinese Garden reproduces the architectures and characters in the Qingming Shanghe Tu to the colorful lanterns! It must be amazing!! If you like to get more information, visit the website of Jardin de Chine du Jardin Botanique de Montréal. Besides the beautiful lanterns, other great activities will be offered to visitors such as Chinese calligraphy, traditional Chinese paper cutting workshop, and also the Chinese tea rituel. CHA GUAN will continue to give out demonstration of the Chinese tea rituel during the lantern festival. Also, there will be a Top 10 Chinese teas exposition. Come visit us! Every Fridays & Sundays 6pm to 8:30pm from Sept.12 to Oct.31

Meanwhile, there are two dates left to join us for a small workshop at the Chinese Garden: August 27th 11:15 to 1:15 and August 29 11:15 to 15:15. Come and learn more about the big 5 categories of Chinese tea and tea services through the Chinese Tea Rituel!

Jin Gua Chai Wang cooked pu’erh

Pu’erh tea is the most interesting tea among all the tea categories. It has the longest history and is also one of the teas the most drank in China. When it comes to pu’erh tea, it’s either you like it a lot or not at all. However, it’s always worth the try for its countless health benefits and interesting facts, maybe you will fall deeply in love with it like most of the pu’erh drinkers. Please allow me to present you this newly arrived cooked pu’erh produced from Lancang Lahu Autonomous County in the province of Yunnan – Jin Gua Chai Wang. 

Jin Gua Chai Wang, a completely fermented (SHOU)  pu’erh produced in 2009, is pressed in the form of a “Jin Gua” (pumpkin) or we call it “Tuo Cha”. It is produced with tea leaves and branches from the old tea tree over 100 years old. These old tea trees are protected and monitored by experienced pu’erh producers. Roughly over 10 meters tall and over a meter in diameter of trunk, they grow in a very natural and organic environment, which gives a great taste, pure aroma, and maximum health benefits.

Pu’erh tea is very collectible since they become more valuable over time. However, it is not the case for all and every pu’erh tea, which most people don’t know about. Different processing technique of pu’erh gives a different taste and aroma through different natural chemical reactions. What makes a pu’erh tea to be able to age in a good way with a more profound taste over time?

To answer this question, we must talk about one of the processing step – kill green. Kill green is a very important and very first step of the tea processing. There are mainly two methods of kill green: 1.drying by machine 2.natural withering. These two methods influence the aging of a pu’erh. The  drying by machine method takes not more than 7 minutes with temperature over 130 degree celcius. The advantage is the drying process can be done very quickly. However it kills completely the active enzymes that are stored in tea leaves, in turn stopping the main factor of tea leave’s transformation.

Not like drying-by-mchine kill green method that usually gives a very good taste when it’s young and develops the moldy-kind of tea taste when it’s aged, Jin Gua Chai Wang went through the natural withering kill green method. It has the basic requirement to start for a natural aging process. The high quality tea leaves from the big old tea tree is of course a plus. Its tea color is dark red but bright and clear. Its taste is profound but soft and gentle. Its fragrance is pure and long-lasting. It is definitely a collectible pu’erh. It will for sure become better in taste and also gain more character every year with a good natural aging process. I just can’t wait to taste it again next year! 

Okay, I am writing a long and boring tea post again… but if you are still reading, here is the best part. The most researched green tea is said to be the healthiest tea ever. Let’s not narrow our mind drinking only green tea. Pu’erh tea has tones of great properties to prevent other diseases than just cancer. Pu’erh tea helps to lower and maintain the sugar level in blood, prevent and control diabetes, it as well helps for blood circulation, strengthen the cardiovascular system. It also has properties such as clear mind and regulate digestive system.

There are just too much to share in pu’erh tea. You are always welcome to come by our tea shop to have a further discussion and also to have a tasting of different pu’erh!

Trip to Blue Lavande Farm

The great summer continues with the amazing weather in Montreal. I took avantage of the sun and heat by visiting the Blue Lavande Farm at Fitch Bay, Quebec.

Of course I have not forgotten to make my daily dosage of tea with my double layer glass travel bottle! Sitting at the center of the farm filled with the elegant parfum of lavander and enjoying a cup of green tea, it’s a step closer to the nature!

I had one of the Top 10 Chinese Teas, Liu Ann Gua Pien. A very green green tea, it almost has this spinach-like flavor, strong taste but nicely soft in mouth. From the province of Anhui, Liu Ann Gua Pien is really good to clear eyesight and ease thirst. I guess I made a good choice of tea on this Blue Lavande trip!

How to brew the best iced-tea?

Most of you would agree with me that we are having such a great weather this summer compared to the every frustrating rainy weekend during summer last year. No matter you are on a beach enjoying the beautiful sun and ocean or you are at your backyard BBQ-ing with your family, you must have some cold drinks inside your cooler.

Iced-tea is one of the favorite drinks in summer. Although there are tones of different brands of iced-teas available grab-and-go in the market, there are so few of them can actually ease your thirst – the more you drink, the more you feel thirsty. If you have the same feeling as I do, why not try out the following methods to make your own iced-tea?

The Fast Way

This takes no more than 2 minutes to have a glass of cool iced-tea ready in your hand. The trick is to use a double portion of tea leaves to do a hot infusion for a minute or two. Then fill your glass with big ice cubes, pour the pre-infused hot tea in the glass. You have your instant iced-tea done!

The Hot Way

This method requires few hours of preparation. Using a normal portion of tea leaves, roughly 20 grams per 2 L, infuse the tea leaves with hot water (85°C for green tea; 100°C for black tea) for around 8 to 10 minutes. Add sweetener if preferred, mix well and let it chill for one hour. Then put it in the fridge for another two hours or more. There you go for a cool nice iced-tea! Or should I say “cooled-tea”?

The Cold Way

It is also suggested iced-tea can be infused with cold water and here are the steps. Instead of using hot water to do the infusion, use cold water and store it in the fridge immediately afterwards. Leave it overnight for at least 12 hours. Then you can add syrups or other sweetener to add flavor.

From the three above suggested methods, I prefer the hot way because I enjoy so much the process of making tea, both hot tea and cold tea. Oh, forgot to mention that you can also use the pre-made iced-tea as an ingredient of cocktails! The best that I ever tried was “lychee red tea martini” with the following ingredients: fresh lychee, iced red tea, vodka and SOHO. *keep this a secret!*

Have a great summer!