the Jasmine Pearl

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Today I took my daughters out to lunch. After we ate, we strolled up 23rd St. (one of Portland's great shopping district) doing a little window shopping, stopping in a couple of our favorite shops. 

Later, Polly took us over to East Portland to The Jasmine Pearl. The company is a wholesale dealer of exceptional fine teas. All the teas are blended and packaged  right there. You can click the title and find out more about the concept and their company. I love supporting local business. 

Chuck, pictured in the middle below, was our guide and teacher for the tasting. His patience was proof of his love of tea, as he encouraged us to try about 10 different teas. He brewed each tea and then poured it from a lovely handmade stoneware pot, into little Chinese tasting cups. Just enough

As the readers of this blog know, I'm not a flavored tea fan. I like good strong black tea sweet and milky. I don't like green tea, and I really dislike tisane. Polly likes flowery teas and Peggy likes the herbal/tisanes. We were all happy with our choices. I ended up buying an ounce of Darjeeling and an ounce of Lady Grey. I have always wanted to taste Lady Grey. It is a lighter version of Earl Grey, with the addition of orange zest, lemon myrtle, with the Oil of Bergamot that gives Earl Grey that familiar citrusy flavor. It will be nice mid-morning when I need a little pick-me-up. An ounce of tea sounds like a small amount, but it is really quite a bit, due to the fact tea is really rather light. My girls also bought some teas to take home. What a great time we had. I really look forward to returning soon, to discover some new varieties. I may even been persuaded to try some green teas.

As you can see in the picture there are rows and rows of tea. In the middle of the store a large table where teas can be opened and smelled before tasting. In the last picture you can see the long cement bar with stools to sit and sip tea. Lovely day, but it is always a lovely day when I'm with my girls.