New Year’s Day, Opening a Ban Zhang Cake for Good Fortune
On the first day of the New Year, the first thing I do when I wake up is not to collect red envelopes—it is to boil water and brew tea.
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Category: Lam Sam Tea Tasting Notes
Master Lam Sam (Old Tea Master) tea tasting notes: Personal tea reflections, connoisseur reviews, and tea wisdom.
New Year’s Eve Closing, A White Tea Cake Hopes for the New Year
The last hour of New Year's Eve is the transition between the old year and the new. The reunion dinner is finished, the Gala show is over, the fireworks have been set off.
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After the Reunion Dinner, A Pot of Ripe Tea for Digestion and Staying Up Late
On New Year's Eve, the reunion dinner leaves you so full you can barely move. Roast chicken, roast pork, steamed fish, fat choy with dried oysters, tang yuan—everything is delicious, but afterward your stomach is inflated like a balloon.
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New Year’s Eve Night, A Family Reunion Over Ripe Tea
On New Year's Eve, the whole family gathers around for the reunion dinner. The table is loaded with wonderful dishes: chicken, duck, fish, meat, soups, desserts—everything is complete.
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Drinking Aged Tea in the Great Cold, The Warmth of Time
Da Han, the Great Cold, is the last of the twenty-four solar terms. The weather is so cold your fingers go numb, and you need several layers of clothing just to go outside.
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Winter Mornings, White Tea and Pear Soup for Nourishment
On a winter morning when I wake up with a throat so dry I cannot speak, I do not reach for water. Instead, I make a pot of white tea and pear soup.
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The Longest Night of Winter Solstice, Aged Tea Until Dawn
The night of the Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year. The ancients said, "The Winter Solstice is greater than the New Year"—not only because it is important, but because this night is so long.
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Winter Solstice, Greater Than the New Year, A Pot of Red Tea for a Warm Reunion
"The Winter Solstice is greater than the New Year"—this saying is taken very seriously in Cantonese culture. On Winter Solstice, no matter how busy they are, family members gather for a meal together.
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Winter Solstice Night, A Pot of Red Tea That Warms to the Heart
Winter Solstice night, the longest night of the year. Cold wind howls outside, but the house is warm.
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Ban Zhang’s Bitterness Gives Way to Sweetness, A Lesson on the Path of Practice
From the very first sip of Ban Zhang tea, you know its weight. The bitterness is not ordinary—it is bitterness with power.
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Twenty Years of a Tea Cake, Time Is the Greatest Teacher
Today I pulled out a 2005 Yiwu Zheng Shan cake. The moment I opened the cotton wrapper, time seemed to flow backward twenty years.
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The Gentleness of Ripe Tea, The Body’s Most Needed Embrace
If raw tea is the spirit of youth, then ripe tea is the gentleness of an elder. The first thing I do every morning is not drink coffee—it is brew a pot of ripe tea.
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