Tony Gebely said he is going to send me some tea samples. I can barely wait to try the Zealong. I used to have a real thing for oolong. It was my first loose tea experience on my own. I bought some jasmine oolong in China Town in Los Angeles. I was 15 and with my church group. The other teenagers were really surprised at my purchase. They had bought useful things such as plastic fans and back scratchers.
But I was already in love with tea. I bought the jasmine oolong and a green tea. I loved the way both of them smelled. I had never smelled anything so fresh and natural as that green tea. I can still taste it in my memory. There are probably some official tea cupping words to describe it, but to me it was just green, like the green of nature. I had grown up on black tea, a taste I now recognize as Ceylon tea. I still love that flavor. But the green tea and the jasmine oolong were very exciting to me. It was what started me on a quest to experience as many flavors of tea as I could.
The Zealong will be a new experience. I am trying not to anticipate how it will taste. I cannot help wondering how being grown in New Zealand will affect the flavor and color of the tea. I hope I will know the right words to describe it. I have a good sense of taste and smell, though, and I make up my own descriptions for the tea whether they fit the standard cupping vocabulary or not. I am sure readers will know what I mean even if I do not know the exact proper words.
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