KyaraZen

“古人说: 要积了三辈子的阴德，才能闻得奇楠香, 要八辈子修来的福气，才可品或饮用奇楠香。”

2088Tea is now the Official Kyarazen retail page

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Hello all, another sincere apology for the slowness in writing... it's hard to balance doing so many things at one go now. But good news! KyaraZen is now expanding a little, and soon we will have one or two other writers whom will be sharing knowledge on Chinese cultural arts, which may include brush painting, incense, calligraphy, guqin music, etc! But I thought I would write this post because there had been several concerned enquiries about a certain 2088Tea page that had its soft launch a couple of months ago. Friends were wondering if that was really an official page of mine and yes indeed it is! I've now stopped using ETSY but instead will be using my own e-commerce site at 2088Tea.com where we will be sharing with you a myriad of treasures and experiences! For this month, the KZ team had been very hardworking in making incenses and here are some of the examples of the handmade incenses available for the month, all made from selected and excellent raw materials, and if ... [Read More...]

Wuyi Cliff Tea Part 3 – A Tea Maker that cannot be helped

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This is Part 3 of the Wuyi Cliff Tea Series. Read Wuyi Cliff Tea Part 1 and Wuyi Cliff Tea Part 2 - Complexities here. It all started with a canister of tea (containing 75 grams) in a hand-beatened/hammered tin container. Tea leaves enclosed in calligraphy rice paper, sealed with a sticker with an image of a handsome, scholarly chinese man. It was a tea brought back by my student, the price tag was hefty, and always, such prices always hit my "skepticism" nerve, and also made me worry that my student might have been ripped off. Carefully weighing out six grams, into a thin walled Jingdezhen egg shell porcelain gaiwan, fresh water off the boil, intense and hurried steeps, and as the first gust of the tea's aromatics hit everyone........ It was the first Cliff Tea I had ever had, that had an intense siberian musk note, leading on complex florals and heavy mineral notes. For the "qigong" practitioners and others whom had greater sensitivity present at the tasting, the tea was a ... [Read More...]

Wuyi Cliff Tea Part 1

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This is Part 1 of a series on Wuyi Cliff Tea. Read about Wuyi Cliff Tea Part 2 - Complexities and Wuyi Cliff Tea Part 3 - A Tea Maker that cannot be helped.   There are 36 peaks at the Wuyi Mountains, and 99 valleys are formed by these ... [Read More...]

KZ ventures into oils

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We at the KZ team had been deliberating this for a very very long time. Every time we meet a trader, a merchant, a supplier, a distiller, a farmer, we see a diverse range of wares to which we are incredibly selective and meticulous. Part to why ... [Read More...]

  • Tanzanian sandalwood successfully sliced into slabs. Thanks @tombalekworkshop ! #incense #sandalwood
  • Built on the foundation of a lovely “kalakassi” oud oil, the mids filled by siberian misk/ambergris infused sandalwood oils of both mysore and tanzania, led by taif rose married with saffron and hints of several exotic flowers, a tiny bit of Aged mandarin peel to enhance the oriental feel, this is Al-ghaliyah 2018, precious as it is, lovingly conceptualized and seamlessly blended by Kz. Coming to you on the 24th of May as part of a ramadan sale. #agarwood #oud #perfume #kyarazen
  • A fond farewell to Chop Tye Ah as it shutters its business for good since a fortnight ago. With Mr Lee’s passing in 2014, the medicinal hall he left behind continued to ramble on for the next few years before it was deemed unsustainable. It is extremely unfortunate, they were around since 1934, and in their heydays they were a major herbal wine importer in Singapore, together with hosting top chinese physicians then. This was where KZ had spent a lot of time at, and where the KZ1985 was found... #oud #incense #agarwood
  • Demonstrating the way to make an incense coil by hand. #incense #agarwood #oud #香文化 #香 #沉香
  • As i has been asking Hauying Chen to be my taiwan procurement/package forwarding service, he often sneaks in tea into my packages and last week’s packages came with the 毛茶 from his tea gardens, harvested on 25th and 26th of April. The produce from both days are astounding, this year’s dongding spring tea uniquely has very strong high mountain oolong characteristics which hasnt been seen for many years, lush green florals, butteriness... so exciting! It will be very challenging for him to roast this year’s produce.. i would love to have the 25th tea unroasted if possible or at max a very light roast. #tea #taiwan #茶
  • Gratitude to a friend for sharing this tea, 2018 pre-qingming Dragonwell from a tea garden in Lion’s peak, said to be many generations old and well guarded by the family owning it. The brew has that lovely umami taste from ultra freshness, soft and cotton-y texture. A great tea to have on 立夏。 #tea #茶