Unique and bizarre tea beverages
Hey all, I was just thinking about different tea beverages like iced tea, hot tea, bubble tea, etc. And it got me thinking about unique or bizarre tea beverages that you’ve encountered. Please share your experiences, I would love to hear about different takes on tea and would love to try them as well! I’m excited to hear from you all!
A few interesting ones:
Kombucha (also known as “tea kvass” and “tea cider”). A sour Russian drink made by fermenting sweet black tea with a somewhat mysterious mixture of yeasts and bacteria. Supposedly from the area on the North Eastern China / Russian border that used to be known as “Manchuria”, although the earliest English sources I’ve been able to find can trace it back no further than Latvia in 1911, where they say it was introduced by traveling sailors.
Russian brick tea. Basically black tea dust compressed into rock hard tablets. Grate off a corner into your cup, and there you go. :) Once a common way of transporting tea in Tsarist Russia, the few remaining factories that make this sort of tea mostly sell it for novelty or decorative purposes now.
Pu-erh. Maybe not so exotic anymore, but it is still a green tea that is slowly aged using a fungus. :) There are also its cousins Liu-An and Liu-Bao Basket Tea and Mongolian Brick Tea from Hunan (designed back in the Ming Dynasty to suit the Mongolian habit of drinking tea with clotted cream).
Awabancha – Japanese green tea fermented with lactic acid bacteria.
Kukicha – “tea” made out of only stalks and stems of green tea (the stuff they use as fertilizer in other countries. :) )
Lahpet – pickled tea leaves used as a condiment in Burma.
Any Fujian province black tea from China is also likely to surprise, if you are used to the black teas of India and Sri Lanka. I would recommend one of the three famous black teas of Fujian: Zhenghe, Bailin, or Panyong. (Their older cousin Lapsang Souchong is also an odd one if you haven’t tried it before… it is a black tea smoked over pine!)
I haven’t ever tried this but I thought it was really cool. If I win the lotto, I’m rushing off to try it.
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/06/07/one-glass-seven-layers-of-tea/
“Wrestling of Dragon and Tiger” – basically a mix of liquor (small amount) and black tea (or puerh) in larger amount. Take with caution and get medical advice before hand :-p
http://gingkobay.blogspot.com/2010/12/wrestling-of-dragon-and-tiger.html
Has anyone tried Caterpillar Fungus Tea?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970203471004577142594203471950
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