I thought I’d switch things up a little and do a personal tea post, which means I will not be talking about flavours but more about memories.
When I was young, I wasn’t a fan of tea. Nope, I was a fan of coca-cola, milo [1], ribena, and basically all the sweet drinks. But after I moved to Japan, I discovered tea and grew to love it. These are the four teas that represent ‘firsts’ in my tea journey.
1. Mlsena’s French Cake Tea
This is the tea that started it all. My senpai brought me to the Kunitachi Tea House for one of their lunch sets [2]. The lunch set came with unlimited servings of tea and over those one or two-hour lunches where I got to ask everything and anything, I fell in love with this tea. This is the tea that I drank during my first year in Japan, when everything was new and which I will always associate with my senpai’s and their advice.
My love the French Cake flavour is pretty legendary among my friends in Tokyo, which is how I ended up with this huge packet. Every time I drink this, I get both happy and sad. Happy because I am drinking one of my favourite teas but sad because now I have one less cup of this tea to drink [3].
They also do a very good muscat tea, but my favourite will always be this french cake one.
2. Lupicia’s Rose Royale Tea
This is the only tea of the four that I don’t currently have on hand because I lost it. I remember seeing that there was only a little left and decided to hide it so that I could slowly savour it, but I must have hid it too well because I CAN’T FIND IT ANYMORE.
Anyway, this is the tea that got me moved me away from being a fan of the french cake tea and into a fan of tea in general. I realised that there are so many more flavours out there for me to drink and that has turned me into the tea hoarder that I am today.
This is also a great tea to drink iced, which is great for Japan’s summer and Singapore’s hot weather.
3. Mulberry Tea from Kagoshima
I’ve talked about this tea before and it’s my favourite non-caffeine tea right now. Because this tea is so easy to drink, I realised that herbal teas can be awesome too! This is the tea that expanded my tea universe by making me realise that there is a whole other category to explore.
While I can’t say that my collection of herbal teas is as large (or even comparable) to my collection of green teas, it is definitely much bigger than before I found this.
4. Gryphon Tea’s Pearl of the Orient
This was a part of an unexpected present from a Dayre friend and this is the tea that introduced me to Singapore brands. While it’s a bit heavier than the other three, I really loved the intense floral fragrance. Until I met this tea, I was basically a Japan tea fan. I didn’t even know that Singapore had its tea brand. But drinking this opened my eyes and I’ve since discovered 1872 Clipper tea and TWG.
And these are the four ‘first’ teas in my tea journey. Thanks to them, I’ve learned to enjoy and seek out a variety of flavours and am slowly figuring out what my favourite teas are and where to get them.
Notes
[1] Best part of making milo is nibbling the condense milk mixed with milk powder mixture before you add hot water.
[2] Back then the sets featured the most amazing savoury galettes but I’ve heard that they have since changed to sandwiches. Link to the shop
[3] Unless I find it in Singapore or someone comes back from Tokyo.