Tea of the Month February- Blueberry Fruit Tea

I know that I am late putting out this tea of the month post once again- so I have devised a bonus post for you- sort of a little tea present!

I have a guest in town (who is on the side list under Kay) who happens to be one of my greatest tea of the month fans. Actually, I could say that she is a really big fan of tea. So for her, the China experience includes a trip to the tea market. It also happened to coincide for my need for two new teas, so we set off to the market on Thursday last week. We did a quick once around the first floor of the market and then settled on a shop that I had been to once before (I took CS and KS there). At this shop, we started with a taste of white tea. It was my first taste of this tea- and at that price, it may be my last, unless some tea daddy buys it for me in the future. It tasted like a very mild green tea.

After a few more cups of that and then an oolong, we moved on to another shop where I purchased my pu'er tea. I had a tip from a close Shanghai friend (LKB) that this shop carries a number of fruit teas; she has had the peach tea waxes darn near poetic about it- especially with the addition of the large sugar crystals. I sniffed several canisters and decided that I really wanted the blueberry tea. I bought 50 grams at the cheapest price I have ever paid for tea- about 12 RMB - which is a little over two dollars Canadian at this time.

We finally had a chance to brew it up this afternoon and to sit down and enjoy it. It of course brewed up light purple in color. In the bag, the tea smells very fruity and with a light blueberry scent. Happily the tea also tastes like blueberries and fruit. It was delicious with a dry basic cookie and mango flavored Pocky. I think that I will also be able to make this into a delicious summer tea- I was thinking that I could do exactly what I did with the jasmine tea last summer.

I know that the tea in the cups looks dark,but really it came out a lovely shade of purple. The tea itself is a collection of dried blueberries and other dried fruits- not shot of it, since it comes out too dark.