Wholemeal Crank
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Posts posted by Wholemeal Crank
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Darn. Did you have to do more cleaning besides the baking soda, or is this loss from baking soda alone?
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A black tea that needs a long steep to draw out some balancing astringency sounds like it might be my kind of tea--minus the balancing steep.
I've been away from my usual tea setups, making cold-brewed Huang Jin Gui in my thermos, and using a Kamjove device to brew other teas, including the marvelous White Oolong from Norbu to which I am fast becoming.....not addicted, that's too strong a term, but perhaps immoderately fond of the its sweet, subtle spiciness.
I've also been playing with a 'hot start' to brewing the Norbu Xi Hu Long Jing, starting with a 180 degree flash infusion to 'wake up the leaves', then brewing the rest of it cooler, 160-170 degrees, and it really is coming out nicely with the melon and pea and floral notes dominating, almost no toasty or cooked asparagus notes. It's a bit tricky controlling those temps with a tea kettle and a thermometer, after so much time with my electric set-the-temp-and-forget-it Pinos, but so worth it for the wonderful infusions I'm getting. I am a convert to this apparently quite traditional technique now--at least, I'll be trying it for just about all of my green teas for a while. I'm looking forward to getting back to my main tea stash and trying this 'hot start' with the fantastic Gu Zhu Zi Sun green.
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Frozen butter + coarse box grater = nice, uniform bits of butter for flaky pie crust or biscuits.
Whisking dry ingredients together for baking works as well or better than sifting for many things, and you probably already have a whisk even if you don't have a sifter.
The metal blade of the food processor works great for kneading bread dough described in more detail on my web site (here) (lesson learned from The Best Bread Ever by Charles Van Over).
And a touch of rice flour makes for crisper cookies (tip originally from Marion Cunningham in the Fannie Farmer Baking Book).
The internal temperature of a loaf of bread should be 195-210 degrees (195 for soft rolls, 210 for a baguette)--so much easier than 'tap on the bottom' and more accurate for those of us who don't bake daily (don't remember which book this came from, but I'd read dozens of bread books by then, without ever encountering this tip).
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I've been drinking plenty of tea lately, but having trouble getting on egullet to report. Today, started with some White Dragon white tea from Norbu--an inexpensive white tea that can give a few very nice infusions when I brew it right, though it does not have the stamina of a fine Yin Zhen silver needle. This afternoon, enjoying some very pleasant and rich shu puerh, 2006 Haiwan 'Peacock Quest'. Good to remember how nice shu can be.
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Quite a variety of tea today: the end of a sample of white tea from Norbu (Fuding Ye Fang Bai Cha) filled out with some Yunnan Silver Needles (also from Norbu), which made a lovely mellow morning mix. Later, Yi Wu sheng puerh (from Norbu), two brewings sandwiching some Huang Shan Mao Feng from Jing Tea Shop. Shockingly, no oolong.
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I ignore the scale in my kettles until I start getting lots of white flakes left in the bottom of my teacups. Then I treat with vinegar, rinse a bunch of times to get the vinegar out, and brew on. It's aesthetically unpleasing but harmless.
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1997: CNNP Wild Yiwu Camphor Raw Puerh by CNNP
I got a sample of this one in a tea swap via another forum. I wanted to try to figure out how much of my love for the 2008 bamboo-aged Yi Wu I've gotten from Norbu was due to the Yi Wu starting material.
I started with 2.3 grams of very powerful smelling dry leaves in a small gaiwan (about 75 mL), water 205 degrees.
A bit dusty/musty, going to flash rinse before drinking an infusion
Waited a minute, then first infusion pour in/pour out—less than 10 second steep
Let it cool a bit—grabbed the wrong cup for this—it is mild, sweet, bit of smokiness and earthy with the camphor. As the infusion sits between sips, the smokiness, earthiness and camphor all intensify, and the sweetness drops into the background.
2nd infusion—also pour in/pour out—sweet, smoky, earthy, camphor, but the first note is the sweet. Long camphorous aftertaste.
3rd infusion—pour in/pour out—the sweet is still there, and the smoky/earthy/camphor is starting to overtake the sweet even at the beginning of the sip.
Brought it home with me in the gaiwan, then left overnight, starting again in the morning, and it is again earthy, camphorous, smoky, powerful stuff….and this is another flash infusion.
Longer infusion is strong, earthy, camphorous, a little sweet….and if this is after a dozen years of aging, what must it have been like when it was young? 5th infusion was longer, about a minute, because I forgot it, but even though stronger than I really enjoy, it still was not bitter or actually unpleasant.
Quite an amazing tea.
Another half dozen short infusions character changing only gradually.
Infusion 12 still is potent, but the sweet is coming more strongly now, again. Those early infusion were rather rough, but this is really getting very nice. At this rate, this is going to be a 20-30 infusion tea, methinks…but will need to heat up another kettle’s worth of tea.
Mmmm.
2.3 grams may be a whole day’s worth of tea at this rate.
Started this one Friday evening, just four infusions; continued Saturday, probably 20 infusions; and Sunday, another 4 or 5 before I stopped. At about 2 oz per infusion, that was a couple of liters of tea from 2.3 grams of leaf!
The later infusions were well towards sweet water, but still had distinct flavor. Mmmm.
And the leaves were quite impressive—most were quite broken up, but look at the size of the one on the left—penny added for scale. Big leaf with a very big flavor.
1997 Wild Yi Wu puerh by debunix, on Flickr
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I've been continuing to work my way through some new teas, lots of green oolongs, mostly from Norbu, and finished the Mao Xie from Jing Tea Shop, a 100g package that was opened long enough to lose a little of the floral notes but still delicious to the last cup; finished off the Aoi sencha from O-Cha, using the last bit that was too little for my usual kyusu full to make a remarkably pleasant cup of iced tea, and opened a new pouch of Sayamakaori from Yuuki-cha (aaahhh); and enjoyed some really fine sessions of Tea Habitat Dan Congs (finished my Ya Shi, trying to drink the ultra wonderful floral Song Zhong sparingly); finished off the Hwang Cha from Hankook and been drinking more of the Bai Yun yunnan from Norbu to enjoy that highly oxidized but lightly roasted fruity flavor. Still not drinking much of the smoky/earthy puerhs, they shine brighter in winter weather, but have had a couple of nice sessions with the 2007 Menghai Silver Dayi from Norbu and a fantastic session with a sample of 1997 CNNP Yi Wu tea from a teaSwap that was quite incredible for the power and durability of the flavors.
Today, still working with Song Zhong started last night, and alternating between that and a couple of other teas I'm trying for the first time, "Snow Dragon" white tea from Yunnan, from Norbu, and I'm just about to try a Da Wu Ye sample. Reviews in the appropriate topics soon.
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Luck!
I've only got a couple of pots that might have enough seasoning to affect the taste of tea brewed in them, but those are exactly the pots that sit with leaves in them overnight, because I tend to brew my green teas in gaiwans, and the oolongs and puerhs that might sit overnight....or be forgotten for longer....are the ones that I brew in unglazed pots. I know it's going to happen to me someday, so I'll keep following along with your efforts.
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I've been drinking several new oolongs this last month, more from my latest order from Norbu. Today was my second time with a very green Dong Ding - 2010 Winter Taiwan Oolong Tea from Norbu. This one has a rich deep green sweetness from the first whiff of the tightly rolled leaves.
I prepared this one with 3 grams of tea and about 60mL of 205°F/96°C tap water, in a small unglazed porcelain pot. First infusions (about 1 minute) are very strongly floral, sweet, and delicate; the second one brings out a bit more spiciness; the middle infusions nicely balance a rich caramel sweetness, fresh summer hay, and a peppery spiciness, but if they go just a bit too long, some astringency and even bitterness comes out. Later infusions again fade to sweet water—with this tea to water ratio, the 5th and 6th are already stretching to 2-3 minutes, and by 7 and 8 it’s at least 5 minutes.
It reminds me very strongly of the other new oolong I've been drinking a lot, "White Oolong", also from Taiwan. These notes were started with my first tasting, which was so delicious that I'm already halfway through the bag, having brewed it already half a dozen times since I opened the pouch just over a week ago. I will try to get both of them together for a comparative session later, but meantime, here are my notes on the White Oolong:
White Oolong - 2011 Spring Taiwan Oolong Tea by Norbu Tea
1st 30 second steep, 205 degrees, leaf enough to coat bottom plus of empty gaiwan, filled up when unfurled (too lazy to weigh it, bad me)
Very delicate and floral, a bit underwhelming, really.
2nd, again 30" (short but this is now well-opened and this 30" is more than the prior 30", effectively) similar, delicate, spicy, and very like an Alishan….but not quite.
3rd, went longer—2 minutes—still delicate, floral, light, delicious, and not-quite-Alishan! I guess this is the ‘flavor of the tea varietal’ used. Mmmm.
Somewhere 5th or 6th infusion….yes, I see the difficulty in labeling this tea. The flavor is very like a white tea in delicacy, but there is an element of depth and richness and spice that is distinctly oolong in nature, and the staying power of the tea is all oolong. This is wonderful stuff.
Preparing a 2nd series of infusions after the first one started to lose power….delicious stuff, spicy sweet. I am a fan.
….
(Sometime later) Stopped taking detailed notes, but the flavor of this one kept it pleasant right out to sweet water stage. I must have liked it because I drank 3 sessions of it in a row. Drinking it again now, a couple of days later, with some Dan Cong and Tie Guan Yin in between, and it still sings to me. Mmmm.
I let the first infusion go longer and am loving it from the first sip now.
Even the leaves are elegant and lovely as they unfurl—a rich deep green--but the dry leaf balls are larger and a bit paler than the Dong Ding. I just have to stop drinking it long enough to do the comparison tasting before I finish off my first batch of it. It's quite different from my favorite TGY, but I am equally smitten with it.
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So far I haven't had any clearly visible mold on the leaves or the pot, but I have let some leaves go more than one night in the refrigerator, forgotten, and they were definitely becoming unpleasant.
I wonder whether this sort of thing might be simply cured by baking the pot at a high temperature in the oven? Thinking now of how we sterilized things in the lab--most stuff was autoclaved, basically pressure cooked to 250 degrees. Some of the glassware that could take the heat was baked to 300+ degrees (can't remember now if it was 300 or 350), temperatures that break down even prions. Even a self-cleaning oven cycle ought not harm an unglazed clay pot, right? Though at that temp you're breaking down all the carbon compounds and probably losing all your seasoning too....
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Up to 143 now, last count I gave was 124--probably 25 new books in the last 2 years, and culling half a dozen. So add 19 to the total.
Bread 20
Other baking/dessert 15
Chocolate 6
Chinese 8
Other Asian 12
Indian 7
Latin America & Mexico 6
Vegetarian, vegetables, grains, beans 16
Mediterranean including Africa 15
Italian 9
French 3
general 8
Reference 18
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When I worked in an ice cream shop, the official way to make a float was to start with a small quantity of ice cream in the bottom of the glass, stir in a bit of rootbeer to dissolve it, then add a full scoop of ice cream and pour rootbeer over all to fill the glass. So the rootbeer in the float was sort of tempered with the ice cream--the flavor softened a bit--before the big scoop of ice cream was added.
And that's how I prefer my root beer floats now too. I rarely have the makings of them at home, and if I order one while I'm out, I stir it a bit to dissolve some of the ice cream before starting to alternate drinking the rootbeer with a straw and spooning up the ice cream. And sometimes I have been known to simply drink some root beer with a little milk stirred into it.
When I used to drink a lot of these, the local rootbeer selection was very limited, Mug or A&W or Shasta, and I preferred the Mug.
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One resource I find handy for keeping track of my tea notes is steepster.com. I don't use most features of the site much, but do keep my tasting notes there in one place. I copy/paste them in bulk to my own web site from time to time, but find their format handy for keeping up.
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This topic has been too quiet for quite a while. Is it just too hot for tea right now where you live?
I'm drinking something cold brewed almost daily right now, green oolongs and some white teas especially; lots of green oolongs, trying to work my way through a couple of open packages before I can try some new ones in my last shipment from Norbu. I'm drinking some Bai Yun yunnan oolong from Norbu today, a tea reminiscent of taiwanese oriental beauty, but before that it was mostly Jin Guan Yin from Norbu and Mao Xie from Jing Tea Shop. Also drinking some sencha, chinese green teas including various Dragon Well and Long Jings; and had a few lovely sessions with puerhs, including the 2009 Lao Ban Zhang loose mao cha from Norbu and the 2010 Bangwai sample from Essence of Tea (it really grew on me the second time around, tempted to buy a beeng, but my puerh cup already runneth over).
How about you?
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Looks quite interesting. Will have to check them out next time I'm in SF.
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I had some very nice teas from Harney's the one time I ordered from them. My only complaint would be that the samples were rather pricey. But the teas were good. I didn't continue ordering from them because other vendors had a wider variety of the teas I prefer.
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I just finished a lovely session with a pair of Long Jings: Premium Organic Dragon Well from Wing Hop Fung, probably 2010 harvest (bought sometime in the past year), and Xi Hu Long Jing from Norbu, Spring 2011.
The dry leaves of the Xi Hu are much brighter green, and they're larger, but the smell of the leaves is similar--bright vegetal scents, just a little stronger for the fresher Xi Hu tea.
2 grams of each in gaiwans with 75 mL of 160°/71°C water to start
30" first infusion
Prem Org (WHF)
very nutty, vegetal, peas and asparagus
Xi Hu (Norbu)
softer on the nutty, more sweet peas
20" second infusion
Prem Org (WHF)
again, the nutty notes are very strong,
Xi Hu (Norbu)
sweeter again, but still some nutty
40" third infusion
Prem Org (WHF)
lighter, still vegetal and nutty
Xi Hu (Norbu)
now more peas with hints of nuttiness, less sweet
increasing temp--177°F/81°C for the fourth infusion, 1 minute
Prem Org (WHF)
sweeter this time, still astringent, toastier
Xi Hu (Norbu)
lighter than the WHF, still some warm toastiness
174°F/79°C for the fifth infusion, about a minute
Can't tell much difference between them--light, tasty, but just not very distinct
193°F/89°C for the sixth infusion, 2 minutes
first sip is nutty, warm, sweet, still quite dilute but delicious
Xi Hu (Norbu)
first sip is sweet, delicious, and it keeps on as somewhat nutty sweet water
205°F/96°C for the 7th infusion, 4 minutes, just to see if there is anything else left in the leaves
Prem Org (WHF)
light now, simply sweet summer hay,
Xi Hu (Norbu)
light, sweet water, subtly different than the WHF
Overall impression is that I definitely prefer the Xi Hu, because it is sweeter and less nutty, and I do not think the difference is solely due to harvest age--nuttiness has generally been very strong in the several versions of WHF Dragon Well I've tried, from the moment of purchase.
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Got a couple of pieces whose shipment was delayed, and now have a full set of teawares from Petr Novak:
I brewed up the Zhejiang green tea from Norbu that I've been raving about in this shibo, and it was fantastic. I brewed it next in a tokoname kyusu (long used for sencha, but switched to a variety of green teas after the new kyusu arrived), and wasn't quite as impressed--still a very good tea, but not a transcendent experience. Finished the sample with another infusion in the shibo again, and it was again fantastic. The iron-rich clay does seem to sweeten and enhance the tea brewed in it quite dramatically.
Also got a couple of nice little (4-5 oz size) teacups from Michael Coffee (shyrabbit on etsy)
I manage to enjoy my teas even when I have to drink them from a plastic thermos bottle-cap, but they're definitely more fun when brewed and sipped from things like this.
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Zhao Lu Bai Cha - 2011 Spring Taiwan White Tea by Norbu Tea
(Another free sample with the current order from Norbu)
90mL shiboridashi, preheated, with 3.1 grams of tea, delicate intact leaves, with sweet delicate scent
160°F/71°C, 90 seconds
Peaches and honey, flowers and fruit, delicious.
160°F/71°C, 2 minutes
Peaches receding, still honey, fruity, flowers, and delicious
180°F/82°C, 2 minutes
Vegetal grassiness to the fore now, still some floral overtones, fruit/peach essence gone now
186°F/86°C, 3 minutes
Floral, sweet, vegetal, pleasant, but I think the leaves are mostly done now.
This is a lovely tea, very reminiscent of Bai Mu Dan, and should be delicious iced. I’m going to prepare a cup of that to drink tonight—will update when I do.
(later)
As anticipated, this one also makes terrific iced tea. I used about 3 grams in a 10 ounce up, cool tap water, and refrigerated it. 12 hours later, rich and floral and fruity with a bit of something not bitter, but a bit of a counterpoint to the sweet fruitiness. Mmmm.
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I've been back with a lot of oolong the last few days--Mao Xie, Jin Guan Yin, Huang Jin Gui, sweet green floral teas--and a very nice Da Hong Pao last night as a counterpoint, toasty and spicy and also a bit sweet. Mmmm.
I got a shipment of oolong from Norbu last night, and this morning had a revelatory experience with one of the free samples included with the shipment--the best green tea I've had yet. I wrote a review in the Chinese green tea topic. Now finishing with some Dragon Well, which is not doing so well by comparison with the amazing Zhejiang tea.
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I posted in this topic a while ago about my puzzlement over a phrase from The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea: "the honeyed quality of many Chinese green teas". I have tasted a lot of sweetness in various chinese green, oolong, and even puerh teas, but rarely anything approaching 'honeyed'. Today, I tasted a free sample included in my latest order from Greg at Norbutea, and I found the answer. Gu Zhu Zi Sun Zhejiang green tea from Norbu has the honeyed sweetness I thought didn't exist:
3 grams in 3 ounce preheated iron-rich clay shiboridashi
170°F/77°C, 30 seconds--weet, vegetal, grassy, a delicate floral note too. VERY NICE!
170°F/77°C, 30 seconds--sweet, and the floral is stronger this infusion, fantastic
170°F/77°C, 45 seconds--wow, how does this one go on like this? I am drinking a meadow of spring flowers--THIS is the "honeyed sweetness of Chinese green teas" that I read about in one of my tea books, and haven't ever properly tasted in tea before. I've had some fine green teas that have had hints of this, but usually tempered with nuttiness or astringency or bitterness when the tea is pushed a bit, or just lower-key with the floral elements, and here there is nothing roasted, just sweet, floral, wow.
190°F/88°C, 30 seconds--still that astonishing sweetness, and my tastebuds are dancing.
185°F/85°C, 1 minute--oh my….I am in love.
190°F/88°C, 2 minutes--still delicious, the floral richness a little less intense now.
(remaining infusions between 190°F/88°C and 200°F/93°C)
3 minutes--enough sweet floral flavor remains to encourage a 4th infusion.
4 minutes--mmmm, a little lighter now, still pleasant.
5 minutes--closing in on sweet water, done now.
What a marvelous tea!
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Another amazing infusion of the "cold brew Da Yu Ling" from Dragon Tea House. They aren't kidding when they recommend this stuff for cold brewing. It's definitely the most interesting of the teas I ordered with my teeny-tiny teapot.
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It's been sencha, celebrating a new shiboridashi that matches the kyusu and cups I got a few weeks back (the shiboridashi was in a separate shipment), and lots of oolongs. I was at camp, bulk brewing for the thermos, and didn't take any puerh with me. Also some cold-brewed tea, including a cheap sencha that is more refreshing cool than hot, silver needle, and the 'cold brew Da Yu Ling' from Jing Tea Shop.
What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 3)
in Coffee & Tea
Posted
I've been having a lot of connection issues to egullet lately, so my tea reporting has been much less than my tea drinking. Today, I'm having Sayamakaori sencha from Yuuki-cha to start the day, my first time back with this tea in a couple of weeks due to travel and limitations of tea making equipment on the road. Mmm, sweet and light and grassy and delicious. One of the teas I brought with me on a trip was San Nen Bancha from Norbu, a delicious toasty warm tea that I shared with several other tea fans in the evening. I love how japanese tea makers turned stems plus a few leaves into something so lovely. It also further piques my interest in the new TT&D of pan-fired japanese teas from Yuuki-Cha--what other interesting flavors will be coaxed out of the leaves?
There has also been a lot of White Oolong from Norbu (finished off my second package of this now-favorite tea already); some pleasant shu puerh from a super-densely compacted smaller Tuo, that required a chocolate pick to remove enough leaf for a brewing; and several sessions of Huang Jin Gui from Norbu, brewed at room temp in the big thermos. Still lots of greener oolongs but today it's distinctly gray outside and I am craving Yancha and puerh.
One unpleasant episode recently started with the HJG room temp brewings: after doing this four or five days in a row, keeping the thermos almost constantly filled with room-temperature leaves and water, I thought I smelled something a bit off before I filled it for the next batch, and decided to wash the thermos out with soap. In a great hurry to prepare a day's worth of tea on my way out the door a few days later, I turned to cold-brewing--dropped in some leaf, added tap water, and left the house. Later that day, I discovered that even fine tea leaves cannot overcome the vileness of residual soap flavor.....oh, the horror of wasted tea!