Ya-Ya’s Tea-Board

Yesterday, I’ve received an email from a customer which I would like to share with you since it provides some real-world feedback on some of the medical properties of tea.

My article on the calming properties of GABA tea piqued Michelle’s interest and she ordered some of our organic GABA oolong about a month ago. Yesterday, I’ve received an email from her and she wrote the following:

Can I please order 200 grams [GABA oolong] this time. The tea has been wonderful!
I found the tea very, very good for my anxiety, sometimes even experiencing ‘great elation’ which is unusual for me!
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who inquires after something to help with anxiety. To get the desired effect I drink 2-4 cups a day.

It is always great to hear if tea can help people to feel better. If you have a story to share, feel free to email it to us.

Uncategorized - know-how | No Comments »

It’s been a bit quiet around here lately - mainly because I’ve been travelling a fair bit. First Australia, then 10 days in Wallis & Futuna (I went there to work, if you can believe that!). But now I’ve truly arrived back in Christchurch and am trying to get on top of things. Answering to emails, sending out orders - everything that suffered lately.

But today was a special day when two shipments arrived together in one day: a large box with a bunch of pu-erh cakes of various ages that need sorting through (now, that’s exhilarating work!) and a special shipment from New Zealand’s own oolong producer, Zealong Tea. I’ll write a blog post about these special oolongs very, very soon. Today, I just want to let you all know that I’m very excited to share these outstanding teas with you.

In recent weeks, we’ve also received a few noteworthy teas from India: The Thurbo Muscatel, a rich and very satisfying 2nd flush Darjeeling black tea that - true to its name - is full of the much loved muscatel flavour.  Another new arrival and addition to our white tea selection comes in the form of the biodynamic Doke Premium Bai Mu Dan. We had that tea stocked 3 years ago and our customers loved it. I had trouble getting more stock in the past years, but finally managed to secure new stock of this great white tea this year!

Last but not least, we finally gave in to your constant requests for a way to purchase a ready mix of Ya-Ya’s famous Chai which had been THE staple at the teahouse. Finally, you can prepare Ya-Ya’s Himalayan Masala Chai in the comfort of your own home - and reminisce about the good times you had at the teahouse.

In the near future, we’re expecting a shipment with some very exclusive oolongs from Taiwan, but I’ll write more on that once they are actually here.

If you want to catch up in person and chat tea, we’re going to have a stall at this year’s Vegetarian Expo on 9th October at the Horticultural Centre in Christchurch. We might see you there…

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It is funny how encounters often happen at specific moments. An encounter last week reminded me of a plan I had a while ago but forgotten all about.
One day last week, someone contacted me to purchase some blooming teas. When he came round to pick up his assortment of blooming teas, he mentioned that his pregnant wife had difficulties sleeping and asked me whether I had a tea that would help her sleep. Well, yes… maybe, was my reply. I gave him a sample of the tea I had in mind and told him to let me know if it worked. A couple of days ago, he came back to buy some of the tea I gave him since it did indeed work the miracle of allowing his wife to sleep better. The tea I gave to him was a GABA oolong.

UPDATE: I’ve just posted some more real world experiences with GABA tea from our customers.

Uncategorized - know-how | 3 Comments »

I prepared this dish for a friend’s house warming recently and since they turned out very yummy, I thought they would make a perfect addition to our Cooking with Tea series. It is a very flavourful twist on the old time party favourite, deviled eggs.

Visually, these marbled tea eggs are stunning with brown veins running all over the egg white. A filling of egg yolk and oolong-flavoured mayonnaise adds a nice balancing touch to the slight smokiness of the eggs.

Uncategorized - Recipes | 1 Comment »

Today has been a very exciting day. Our shipment of organic Arya Ruby (in a wooden tea chest!) was waiting at the airport to be picked up.
Big deal, I bet you receive new tea shipments quite often, I hear some people mutter. While this is true, we don’t receive teas like the Ruby everyday; but I think I have to explain that a little bit more.

It is no secret that I have a longstanding love for Darjeeling teas, especially the lighter First Flush teas from the first harvest of the year after winter. These light, floral infusions never cease to enchant me. When we first secured some of the Arya Ruby a few years back, it was a huge success with our customers. Due to the small production of this tea, it is not easy to get your hands on an order and I didn’t manage for the last couple of years. But you can imagine how excited I was when I managed to secure some for Ya-Ya this year. Our customers seem to be as excited as me, since half of our order pre-sold in the first 6 hours after I informed some of the usual suspects of the planned order (I think it may have helped that the tea is much cheaper this time than in 2008). You guys rock!

Update 1 July: Less than 24 hours after my post, there are only about 1.5kg of the Arya Ruby left. If you want to secure some of this tea, I suggest you might want to get in touch soon.

Tasting Notes | 3 Comments »