Wholemeal Crank

Today I started with the same Zairai sencha, moved on to some fall TGY from Jingteashop, then some 2007 white bud sheng puerh from Norbu, and finally I'm enjoying some spring 2010 TGY from Norbu in a beautiful new cup from Petr Novak (a catalog of his wares is here--linking to that because I don't yet have a proper photo of this cup or the other goodies I got together with it).

I missed making a note first time I drank my 2010 Banpen puerh from Essence of Tea. I think I started a note and then may have lost it someplace on my computer along with some photos of the tea. This time, no photos, but a review.... I broke off a small quantity of this one to enjoy now, although I intend to let most of it age a while. For this infusion series, I used just 1.8 grams of tea in a very small gaiwan, which holds 50-60mL, and tap water at 205 degrees. The dry leaf is quite dark, with some paler leaves twisted in with the rest. The scent is light, herbaceous, soil-like. First a flash rinse, wait a minute or two, then a first flash infusion. Strongly herbaceous, some bitterness waiting in the wings, hint of sweet but only a hint. Leather, fresh-cut wood, umami noticeable after cooling, sipping more slowly. 2nd infusion was similar. 3rd infusion, still flash infusions, more sweetness starting to come to the fore, although the leather/earthy/umami is still dominant. 4th infusion, waited 5 seconds before starting to pour: sweet, anise/herb notes are stronger again. The leather/umami is still there but lightening, less overwhelming but still stronger than anything else. 5th, 10 seconds before pour: more sweet. 6th, similar, the long sweet finish starting to really take over. Yes, there is some bitter in there too, but my taste buds are doing a happy dance now. Nice nice nice. One more and I’ll be done for the evening [nope, make that 3, we’re up to 9 before retiring for the evening]. This is definitely one to continue tomorrow—want to see how far it can go. 10 and 11 down before I had this note open to edit: sweet, delicious, holding up well to some strong onion flavor in what I was eating before starting back with the tea. 12 was too short, about 5 seconds, just sweet water. 13, was barely patient enough to go 20 seconds (I am thirsty)—more flavor of herbs to back up the sweet—14, 15, 16, similar, beautifully balanced between sweet and herbaceous and sweet forest duff, tastebuds doing happy dance again. Then a horrible moment—I looked over for infusion 17 and the gaiwan was EMPTY. Filled, infused again, world righted itself on its axis. Whew. 18, 19, 20 still delicious, but starting to lighten up. Need to lengthen the infusions again. 21 to 2 minutes….still needs more. #22 will be 3 minutes, and was a little better. Going to push #23 for 5 minutes…..and it is again very nice. 10 minutes on #24, and it is nice, but back to nearly sweet water. Time to add water and go do some chores for an hour or two, maybe. #25 lost something to cooling down; #26 suggests the leaves are finally done. Overall, an excellent experience, and this is while it is still only an infant tea.

I've ordered from most of those on your list, except teasource, and this year I've also ordered a couple of puerh cakes from Essence of Tea, ordered some sencha from Dens, and had a first order from Dragon Tea House. I've been generally quite satisfied with most of my online orders, and mostly have branched out and tried different sources because they had a particular tea that I very much wanted to try, like when I wanted to try Rou Gui and HouDe was about the only place that had any left of that year's harvest; or trying Essence of Tea because they had both a good reputation and a good selection of affordably small samples of fine aged puerh teas. And of course it's silly to pay for international shipping for just one tea.... But now there aren't many teas left that are on my 'must try' list, and I've got a better idea of what I really like and want to focus on for the future. I anticipate fewer orders for the rest of 2011, because I ordered and have been enjoying so much tea from 2010 or earlier.

Hadn't really thought of using my pineapple sage leaves for tea.....but it's a great flavor and now seems so obviously perfect for pairing with a light green or white tea. Will try it shortly.

Today started with some Anji white tea (really a green tea, but it says white tea on the jar) from Wing Hop Fung, then moved on to some SeaDyke Ti Kuan Yin. When the Anji loses it (still going strong because I used a LOT of leaf and total infusion time is still not very long), I expect to sneak in a puerh of some kind. A little of this, a little of that, something light and floral, something deep and earthy....

So far no 2011 teas for me. I have lots of 2010 to drink still! But I do have some 2011 in the house and on the way--some senchas from O-Cha and puerhs from Essence of Tea. And I need to get hold of some of that shade-grown TGY before it's all snapped up. I hope to drink down the present inventory so that I'll be better able to take advantage of spring teas next year.

It's been a quiet tea weekend--had to work in the mornings so not as much time for tea as I'd have liked. Yesterday, I got in a morning sencha (Zairai Honyama from Norbu), a midday oolong (spring Alishan from Norbu) and an evening puerh that I kept drinking through today--2010 Banpen from Essence of Tea. Review to come in the puerh topic.

Mostly hot teas, although once or twice some teas cooled to room temp before drinking recently, and once a pot of sencha was left with cold water for the day after only drinking 2 infusions. It's been a bit of sencha, green oolong, dark roast oolong, a bit of puerh, and reload, no particular rhyme or reason except travel limiting choices on several recent days. Now working on some Rou Gui oolong from HouDe, towards the end of a bag that seems to have lost of bit of zip since opening a few months ago. Still a mellow pleasant tea--it's oolong, after all. Earlier, had some Bamboo-aged YiWu puerh from Norbu, and started the day with Yunnan Mao Feng. I also have discovered a new employee in this office is a tea drinker--have to see if I can tempt her from a steady regimen of British teas (spouse is from England). She surprised me by mentioning she bought a new tea-brewing device based on a great review on America's Test Kitchen. I was pleased to hear of a mainstream venue like that focusing on tea.

Today was a travel day with limited access to tea. I started with some still hot 2007 white bud sheng puerh from norbu, and just now am finishing a thermos of spring Alishan oolong. I'm feeling a lot less zombie-like now that I'm no longer sitting inside a moving object, hydrated, and modestly caffeinated. Ahhhh.

I happen to have 'inherited' an office with one very large and one medium file cabinet in addition to the desk drawers. So at the tea overflowed the middle desk drawers, I had an inspiration about a better use for that desk file drawer. No regrets. I keep a lot of tea on hand but also go through it pretty quickly there because I prepare some several times a day and share quite a lot of it with colleagues who mostly use tea bags for their own occasional brewing, but are very happy to enjoy my loose teas too. Most seem quite content with the occasional cuppa of the good stuff, with no burning desire to care more about it, and that's ok with me. Sharing means I do get to enjoy more variety of tea than I could otherwise if buying strictly for me.

Had completely missed the release of that, looks terrific. Putting it on the shopping list.

Found the 'Aqualife' version at a shop with a good selection of candies recently. They were pretty good, but the color/flavor combos weren't quite the same as what I remembered from the original fish in the bulk boxes. I didn't care so much for the purple ones.

Same here. I've been alternating white teas with sencha for morning tea since shortly after that time. Today, a very pleasant day with sencha to start, then moved on to Lao Ban Pen loose Mao Cha, a 2010 offering from Norbu, which just kept going and going in a small yixing pot. I am ending with some Song Zhong dan cong from Tea Habitat, and occasionally alternating with a few last infusions of the Lao Ban Pen.

My kitchenaid primarily is used for cakes and cookies--baked goods that require a lot of beating. I do breads in the food processor, and haven't generally been impressed by the functionality of the various attachments, although I recently pulled out the slicer to cut some vegetables for making stock--the food processor is a better cutter, but needs frequent emptying. If I gave up cookies tomorrow (hell will freeze over first), I'd have very little use for mine.

It's been a couple of pleasant days with tea. Yesterday's highlight was a beautiful session with my 2006 Purple Bud Haiwan puerh from Norbu, where I suddenly noted a very tasty resemblance to the lovely aged shengs I've been tasting from Essence of Tea. I am torn between wanting to drink it faster now, and wondering what might happen if I wait longer and let it age more. Today, a very sweet session with spring Alishan oolong from Norbu, and a pleasing session with Dragon Well.

Today I've only had two teas, a start of Tai Ping Hou Kui from Jingteashop, and the rest of the day working on a series of infusions from some of the 2007 Menghai Golden Needles White Lotus Shu puerh from Yunnan Sourcing. The leaves just keep giving and giving, so I haven't had a chance/need to start a third tea.

I did start small, mostly 2 oz/50g or less of each tea at a time, and sometimes up to 4 oz/100g of teas I especially liked, participated in lots of tastings, and still rarely buy larger quantities except for the occasional full-sized cake of puerh, which are usually 300-400g apiece. I don't have very many of those--still well under a dozen. I do have a lot of teas around, because through reading, tasting, and brewing lots of teas, I've discovered that I like so many of them.

Naah. This is just the work collection Tea at work ii by debunix, on Flickr Haven't got a current photo of the home tea cabinet...

Brilliant repurposing of the strap wrench. I bought one of those for a single kitchen faucet repair (still cheaper than calling the plumber), but have not used it since. It's going to come back to the ktichen to stay now.

Nothing is better for cracking nuts than a Vise-grip. I have been working on a small bag of whole macadamia nuts brought back from Hawaii, and the Vise-grip gives a nice, controllable crack, far superior to the otherwise inevitable hammer. I've even contemplated getting a nice stainless-steel version from a medical supply house to keep in the kitchen for this and other tasks that get it wet and risk rusting.

I've been drinking the usual nearly random selections of green teas, oolongs, puerhs, but no black teas recently. Yesterday I had the pleasure of introducing puerh to a tea-drinker who mostly drank green tea from tea bags. I'd stopped by her desk at the office with the occasional oolong, first some light greens, then some deeper traditional roast TGY and Da Hong Pao, but yesterday I prepared some Menghai Silver Dayi sheng puerh (from Norbu) and she made a point of telling me later how much she had enjoyed it, before I had a chance to ask her about it. Heh. Had some wood-roasted Shui Xian from HouDe last night, and this morning enjoying some Den's Shin-ryoku sencha to start the day properly, with jam and toast.

I have so many parents bring kids to my clinic and tell them that if they won't behave for me, they won't get their McDonald's afterwards. And the kids aren't just after the Happy Meals. Blech!

I can second the recommendation for the Story of Tea. When I tried the Sunpu Boucha, I brewed it very cool--about 150 degrees--and started very short infusions--30 seconds, then 15, 30, 45, 45 seconds. In those infusions, I had no bitterness.

As it happens, I'm drinking it again for the first time right now. It's coming out light and sweet and delightful. I didn't weigh it before preparing the tea, but I'm pretty sure I brewed it a lot lighter--you'd find my sweet water amusing. But it is delightful right now, sweet and mellow, not at all nutty like a Dragon Well. It's actually a lot closer to the very delicate and fantastic 'white' tea of An Ji (actually a green tea). I'm brewing it very cool--150 degrees. Mmmm. I think the key for me will be to keep it VERY dilute.

I discovered this thread and have been following with some interest. I really haven't had much opportunity to try modernist dishes with new foams (but have MC, will be trying some), but in theory I love the idea of using a foam to bring some strong flavor to a dish without turning them into a traditional sauce that dilutes the flavors with thickening agents and may add a lot of fat calories. I would not be excited if the foam looked like spit on my plate, but as long as it didn't bring up strong associations of bodily effluvia, I'd love to try more of it.