Since I’m so bad at this, I found a way to make something that would never go wrong – chinese or green tea! Between the two, I like green tea better as it doesn’t release as much tenine as chinese tea. My current favourite brand of green tea is the OSK Japanese Green Tea (pictured below). It’s rather popular so I’m sure you would’ve seen it. Who knows, it might be your favourite too.
Some years ago, I had the opportunity to visit South Korea and while there, was served some very good green tea while shopping at a little shop. I asked to take a look at the packaging of the tea and went hunting for it at convenience stores and supermarkets. I saw the same ones that I bought at the Incheon Airport too, so if you are interested to buy them, you don’t need to search high and low. And they’re not any more expensive than the ones I bought in the city too.
What I like about the tea is that it’s very mild in taste which doesn’t leave any bitter after-taste even if the tea bag is left soaking in the hot water for long. It is very fragrant too, due to the roasted brown rice in the tea bag. Back home, I found the same type of tea in Lotte, a Korean mini-mart in Sri Hartamas. I can’t read Korean, but I remember the box of tea to look something like this:
I was in Japan recently and needless to say I was looking for green tea. I found some good ones (tea bags and tea leaves) from Narita Airport. The tea is somewhat similar to the OSK Green Tea above, but I find that it is a little better because the texture feels lighter, yet its taste is not compromised.
Tea is one of my favourite buys when I travel. Two years ago when I was in Cameron Highlands, I bought some very fragrant strawberry tea. When in Beijing, I bought Pu Er tea for mom but apparently I’ve been cheated. What I tried there tasted better than what I bought. So be wise about your purchase! Whilst in Hong Kong, I bought Loong Cheng. Loong Cheng is considered the most expensive type of chinese tea. Of course, there are many different grades so if you purchase a lower grade tea, it might come up to around the same price as other tea types.
Other than appreciating and learning about the aromas and fine tastes of chinese tea types from mom, I also learned the value of tea. Apparently tea is a good investment. It supposedly increases in value on an annual basis and it can go as high as 10% per annum. Isn’t this better than a fixed deposit??!
