What kind of tea today? Pumpkin Chai? A nice oolong? Maharaja Chai Ooling?
I decided on a simple cup of Chinese Restaurant Tea. That is the actual name of this particular tea from Dynasty brand tea. The box of fairly ordinary tea bags says Chinese Restaurant Tea is a “blend of oolong, jasmine and green tea served in fine Chinese restaurants.”
I don’t know any restaurants that serve this actual tea. But I have been served Dynaty brand tea at several Japanese restaurants before — usually green tea, green tea with roasted rice (called genmaicha), or jasmine tea.
I purchased Chinese Restaurant Tea at our local Asian supermarket next to several varieties of tea that are probably more authentic Asian teas — from vegetal dark green Japanese teas to a sweet milk oolong.
I’d have to guess that Chinese Restaurant Tea is Americanized based on the name alone. The fact that it’s a blended tea scared me away the first few times I saw it. But I really like it.
I can taste the blend of flavors like subtle jasmine and a nicely roasted oolong (a little less floral than greener oolong teas).
Years ago, when drinking tea at a restaurant with my dad, I think I drank an entire pot of tea myself. The restaurant refilled our pot at least once. I could hardly sleep that night from all the caffeine I must have had. But I still like the tea.
It was much more of a comfort tea than a connoisseur tea. Sometimes that is exactly what I want. This is very similar.
[Updating this the morning of November 18 to add an image and a few edits. Hopefully, I made it better. This is my 16(?) post for NaBloPoMo. I think I skipped one or two days…]
aLightningbug 