Malacca Trip (21 Apr - 22 Apr 2012)

Just went to malacca last weekend for food massage and photography.  Had Bak Kut Teh at Ah Lang which is recommended by the locals. 

*sorry no pictures of food 

After lunch went for massage at scent and senses.  Although it is the most expensive massage at the area it is still full book and we only manage to get a slot as some people cancel last minute.  Went for the aromatherpy (90 mins) + 30 minutes bodcy scrub for 125 ringgit (about S$52).  Good deal compared to Singapore.

A short walk from our hotel (equatorial) bring us to Dataran Pahlawan shopping centre.  There is a ktv and cinema there.  Exiting from the back of the shopping centre brings you to a big grass field.  Walking across the field (if you want to avoid the heat you can go to the basement of Pahlawan and walk the underground across) we arrive at the recently popular millie creps (layered cake).

 Tiramisu

 Original

Cheese

Double Chocolate

 

Its better to order a few and share among friends as it can get abit too much (as it has a lot of whip cream) if you were to eat it yourself.

Next we head to Masjid Selat Melaka (Malacca Straits Mosque), it is located on a man-made island and you can have a good sunset view from there.  It is about 10-15mins drive from our hotel.

Tea Drinking Part II

There are many types of tea but basically they are classified into green tea (e.g long jing, bi luo choon), white tea, yellow tea, oolong tea (e.g tie guanyin), red tea, black tea (e.g pu-er) and flower tea(e.g jasmine, camomile, rose, forget me not).  Green tea, white tea and yellow tea goes well with seafood and dim sum.

Through the use of tea bags I always thought that we can just leave the tea leaves soaked in the hot water and drink and refill as you like but that is the wrong way to have a good cup of tea.  Tea leaves should only be soaked in the hot water for around 1 min for the first round and about 1 min to 1 min 30 secs for 2nd and subsequent rounds.  Usually good tea leaves can last you for around 3 rounds with the tea still tasting good.

Temperature is another important factor in brewing the perfect cup of tea.  For example pu-er tea should be brewed with very hot water (around 95 degrees celsius) hence using porcelain tea pot to maintain the temperature.  While for long-jing we use water around 85-75 degree celsius and usually a clear transparent tea pot is used.  But at home we can just use 1 teapot, I prefer to use a transparent one as it looks better in a comtemporary setting, so i use the lid when brewing pu-er and without led and lower temperature water when brewing long-jing.

So far I have only really tried long-jing and pu-er excluding those which I drank at chinese restaurant.  For long-jing the longer you keep it the more it depreciates in value, while pu-er appreciates in value with time (for sure keep it in the right environment is crucial).

Long-jing is classified into ming qian (before early april) and yu qian (after early april).  For yu qian long jing its has quite a wide range also with those near early april costing alot more as they have more of this 'sprout' which leave in their early stages which is white.  You will find alot of these 'white leaves' if you buy ming qian long jing.

For pu-er it simpler the longer and older it is the more valuable it is.  They have the 'cake' type which you need to break them down and store properly they usually cost less than loose tea leaves which you can use immediately.  But as I prefer convenience I bought the loose tea leaves which cost about $50+ for 500g.

So after learning so much decided to ditch the tea bags and start appreciating quality tea.