Keemun Congou

One of the things I love about Teaberry's is the sample jar. A large, clear glass jar, brimming with samples of a few ounces of all their different teas. I was buying some tea things as thank you gifts for my housesitters, so the very nice lady in the shop urged me take a sample to accompany the cosy. Than she urged another, and a third. This tea lover will never turn samples down.

I kept the one black tea, the Keemun Congou, for myself, and decided on Sunday that my Unplugged Independence from Immediacy Day was the perfect morning to try it. Delicious!

I tend to be partial to Indian teas, so I was surprised how much I enjoyed this Chinese tea. It's very robust and strong, and held up well to milk and a small bit of agave nectar. (Tea purists, I know a keemun should be drunk black, but we here in the parlor love a little bit of milk and sweet in our tea and don't feel anyone should be told how to drink their tea, just urged to enjoy it.) Perhaps the milk masked any fruitiness inherent in the tea, but it maintained its distinctive flavor. Most enjoyable, and keemun congou will be be added to the tea selection in the parlor.

By the way, the keemun was served with a homemade cinnamon coffee cake (photograph forthcoming). The perfect accompaniment to a lazy Sunday morning spent on the patio, reading P. D. James and listening to the birds chatter while the dogs loafed in the shade and the cat explored the backyard.

Here's a definition of keemun congou:    Keemun Gongfu or Congou (祁門功夫) - Made with careful skill ("gongfu") to produce thin, tight strips without breaking the leaves.