Wholemeal Crank

Lots of tea variety the last couple of days--yesterday, started with some Dragon Well, then on to some Jin Xuan green tea, a delightful infusion of my first puerh beeng to cap the day. First time in a long time I did it gongfu cha. In the evening, a bit of Diamond Tea Guan Yin from norbu, the 2010 spring version, but not the right conditions yet for a taste-off vs the 2009 and 2009 fall versions (soon!). Today, the 2008 Yi Wu bamboo aged sheng from norbu, a sweet and mellow puerh--'creamy' said my tea buddy who shared a cup. An untimely visit interrupted my discovery of a bit of the Cultured Cup Yin Zhen from a recent tasting, and I didn't get to pay as much attention to it as I wished to. Then finished the evening with a bit more Tie Guan Yin, this one a 2009 version from Jing Tea Shop. Tomorrow I won't bother with the single-infusion cup in case of visitors.

After trying the very aged sheng puerh from EoT the other day, today I came back to my very first purchased puerh beeng, bought before I knew the words sheng or shu, and one that I thought was ok but really not that special. Viewed through the 'lens' of this other tea, I see that while it doesn't have the intensity of flavor I'm coming to love in young shengs, it's really better than I gave it credit for in the past. It's not as spicy/fruity as the lovely EoT puerh, but quite nice. It's the one on the left in this photo, yummy.

Today I made a thermos full of charcoal roasted Taiwanese Tie Guan Yin from Norbu, a tea that at first I found a bit darker and more toasty than I really prefer, but it came out wonderfully in the thermos. A great tea for the road. And that's it. I had played iwth the alarms last night, mistook which was which, and overslept too long to get in anything else. Now just finishing the TGY.

Before I get to the puerh of the day, here's a shot of my Kamjove device: all plastic, nothing glass to shatter on the office carpeting. Heavily used! http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/5070332849_112436033e_m.jpg"]http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/5070332849 And then today's puerh: the oldest sample I got from Essence of Tea last month, the 1960s (early) Guang Yun Gong Puerh. This is a very expensive tea, so I wanted to be well prepared. I finished lunch 30 minutes before tasting, brushed teeth without toothpaste, rinsed mouth with plain water—didn’t want anything to interfere with the taste of the tea. 1.4 grams of tea in tiny gaiwan 30mL water per infusion (used a very small measuring cup) Water boiling or near boiling (205-212 per the thermometer when poured from the kettle) Flash rinse Wet leaves smell like forest floor—sweet clean compost scent first infusion 15 seconds earthy like the scent promised, but surprisingly strong sweet and spicy notes right up there with it 2nd infusion 20 seconds earthy, caramel, sweet, spicy, very very very nice 3rd infusion 25 seconds About the same as the 2nd infusion, a bit stronger is only difference 4th infusion 30 seconds earthy, sweet, spicy, caramel 5th infusion, 40 seconds Still strong and lovely It kept going well to about 11 or 12 infusions; at 16 it was just slightly sweet water, but pleasant all the way to the end. I have to admit to an ulterior motive here: I was hoping I might find that I actually prefer my young sheng puerhs to the ‘real deal’ of very aged sheng, since I have come to prefer them to most of the ripe shu—ripe shu designed to mimic the aged sheng, like young sheng better than ripe shu, so maybe will like young sheng better than aged sheng? So I was hoping to find this would be a rather bland experience like eating dirt. And it wasn’t. It is lovely. It is very, very lovely. Is it lovely enough to want to invest $$$ in drinking it regularly and in larger volume? Maybe not. I think stuff like this will remain an occasional tea, because even as it is sitting net to me in the cup, and the water has just boiled again, visions of Lao Ban Zhang loose mao cha are dancing in my head. But do I understand why some stuff like this is praised and prized so highly? Yes. I get it now. It is subtly but dramatically different than the best of the shus I have had, because it manages a wonderful balance of the elements of spicy, sweet, earthy, fruity, more complex than I’ve had yet from a shu.

Bulk commodities are terribly expensive to buy online--often quite high prices for the goods, and then extremely expensive shipping. I have had to resort to online for purchases of wheat for my mill because at times local stores have had such trouble getting my special orders right--they ordered flour instead of wheat berries, red berries instead of white, hard instead of soft wheat. But the online ordersmay cost 2-3 times in freight more than the actual cost of the grains--making it worth trying to educate the local shops. And I resorted once to online to get dried pears recently, because they seem to have vanished from all the local stores. Other than that, these are goods I buy locally, or pick up the oddity here and there while traveling. I'll take a fine bag of beans over souvenir shoes any day!

My burnt mouth recovered enough to try my oldest sample from Essence of Tea today--more later in the puerh topic, when I have had a chance to find out how far it can go. It's marvelous how fast mouth tissues can heal! Already started the day with Honyama sencha from Yuuki-cha, and had an interlude with some of the white bud sheng puerh from norbu that I love so much.

Glad I didn't start the evening with the aged EoT that I was considering to start off with, because I burnt my tongue and mouth more than a little while eating some pizza at lunch today, and simply can't take the heat. Sigh. Here I am at home, it's early enough to start a long gongfu session, and I have a bunch of puerhs I want to work with, and I can't drink them. Bummed. Seriously bummed.

Today so far, just a thermos of SeaDyke Ti Kuan Yin. Soothing. After a nap, hope to work on some of the older Essence of Tea Puerh samples.

Here's a related thread that may be of interest: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/125273-internet-tea-merchants-what-do-you-likedislike/ My favorite oolongs come from Greg at norbutea.com, his 'Diamond Tie Guan Yin' and 'Ali Shan High Mountain Oolong'. I've had an equally wonderful Tie Guan Yin from Jing Tea Shop, and have dabbled in some Mao Xie and Huang Jin Gui from one or both of these shops, but the TGY and Ali Shan are the staples, and the others are occasional treats. I've also enjoyed some greener oolongs from Wing Hop Fung, not that far way from you in Chinatown, but haven't really explored their full selection, because I am a bit wary of the very large jars the tea is stored in before purchase.

Indeed, welcome! Today I was running late as usual for my meeting and dropped a few clumps of the Lao Cha Tou shu puerh from Norbu into my thermos, added hot water, and got myself through the meeting and afternoon just fine. This evening, some Sichuan yellow tea, Meng Ding Huang Ya, from norbu, a tea that has been touchy at times but today is behaving very nicely. Mmmm.

I have a Kamjove KJ-350, much like this one. The primary problem with using it for puerh is that it requires a certain minimum volume to get the water level above the filter and with the tea, so I can't make a series of very small infusions with it. But it does fine for larger volume infusions and is what I use to make my thermoses full of tea for work.

Some of the loose young sheng I've been drinking can be very bitter if not handled delicately. I haven't tried this one yet but Greg's description including strong raw/young aspects makes me suspect this one is no different. So the way to control the strength of the tea and the bitterness is through tea to water ratio and the length of time the tea is in contact with the hot water. I can enjoy even quite strong young teas like this despite my bitter phobia if I use a moderate quantity of tea for the amount of water, and keep the water in contact with the tea very briefly at first, and gradually extend the time the tea & water are together as I make a series of infusions. Because I'm going to do it this way, I use a very small tea brewing vessel so that I can drink that volume 10-20 times without getting waterlogged myself. My preference usually is to start with a gaiwan, but the same should apply to a pot, although I'd preheat a thick-walled yixing and don't usually bother to preheat the thin walled porcelain gaiwan, because the flash rinse is going to take care of that for me. So....preheat a liter or quart of water to boiling and keep it very hot in your kettle (I set my pino to 205 degrees, and the water temp will thus vary from 200-212 during my series of infusions). I measure about 2 grams of tea (using scale) for my 75mL/2.5 oz gaiwan. If using a similar size teapot, preheat it with one rinse, about 1-2 minutes, of the hot water, with no tea inside. Dump out the water. Now add the tea to the gaiwan or pot. Pour in hot water to cover the tea, wait a second or three, putting the lid on, and pour out this water as fast as you can. This is the rinse, and is carrying off some of the dust etc from the tea surface, and the flavor is very variable depending on how fast each leaf hydrates, so it is not predictable as to strength of flavor. I dump it and don't try to drink it. Sit on your hands for 1-2 minutes, letting the tea leaves hydrate with the water that clings to them. Now pour in more of the hot water, and as soon as it hits the leaf start counting or tracking the time on your timer (an easy way to do that is to set one to count up and just watch the numbers click by), while you're putting down the kettle, slapping on the lid, and getting reading to pour when you get to five seconds since water hit the leaves. At 5 seconds, start pouring the tea out into your teacup, and if you're handy with your gaiwan or pot you should be able to accomplish this within another 5 seconds or so. Wait a few seconds, sniff the tea scent, sniff the wet leaves, blow on the tea, then carefully sip/slurp to avoid burning your tongue, and drink it all up. And start over with adding more hot water to the tea, and this time vary the time you wait before pouring off the tea depending on how you liked the first batch. Was it just right? Then wait 5 seconds and start pouring again. Was it a little weak? Then wait 10 seconds. Was it too strong? It's hard to infuse shorter than 10 seconds, so either remove a little of the leaf, or add some extra hot water to dilute the tea in your drinking cup after another 5 second infusion. Now lather, rinse, repeat. 5", 5", 7", 10", 10", 15", 15", 20", 20", 30", 30"....and so on, a series of short, small infusions, each delicious, lasting until you're too full of tea to continue, or your leaf runs out of flavor to give. Adjustments for the strainer in pot--you can either remove the strainer, if you can do so without burning your fingers, or pour out the tea from the pot with strainer in place. Depends on the pot/strainer setup. The one part I am most wary about here is the possibility that the pot is quite large and your infusion volumes might be huge. In that case, you might still start with about 2 grams of tea, which will look ridiciously small in that pot, and infuse longer for fewer times. It's harder to adjust the time to get the flavor just right with fewer longer infusions but you can do it if you pour out a few drops for one sip now and then to check the 'doneness' of the tea as it is infusing, and stop when it gets to something you like to drink. I do essentially this when I 'bulk brew' in the kamjove tea thingie to fill up my thermos for the day. Does that help? Also, another link togreg's video on gongfu style brewing can't hurt. Scroll down the page a bit and you can find the video linked for download to your computer or watch on youtube.

I have some of this tea in my cupboard, but haven't brought it out to try yet. I've loved the 2006 yong de braided sheng puerh I tried recently, and this one sounds very similar. I'd suggest starting with a low leaf to water ratio (2 grams for my 75mL/2.5 oz gaiwans), water just off the boil, flash rinse, then sit 2-3 minutes, and start the infusions with 5 seconds, and move on from there to adjust to your taste. I am very eager to try this tea, but had a few others to get through first.

Today was the first drizzly rainy day of fall, so I had to break out the White bud sheng puerh. Nothing better for a dank gray day. Now thinking of something lighter and greener as a followup. Lots more paperwork to get through this evening....

(regressing to early toddlerhood, stamping feet impatiently)....but I want it now!

Have never had an oolong by that name. But it sounds delicious. TGY green, TGY roasted, love it any way I can get it, pretty much. Tonight I'm doing an experiment: comparing the ginger flower fragrance dan cong (Po Tou) from Tea Habitat prepped in my small Chao Zhou pot vs a porcelain gaiwan. Using just 60mL water (measuring cup, to be sure it's even) for each infusion, water about 190-200 degrees, and so far, no significant difference in flavor. However, the tea is delicious (fruity, spicy, sweet), so the experiment will continue. I love the little Chao Zhou pot--the fit and finish are definitely a step above the rest of my collection--so it won't be neglected even if the results continue to be a draw.

I have scored 1 only, a meal at Chez Panisse, which was good but not amazing, probably because the menu that night was just not my thing. I did get to Pierre Herme on my trip to Paris, but only for Macarons, which actually were rather disappointing, and for some lovely chocolate cookies. Didn't know to go for the cake. When I toured Tsukiji, I it was too cold and drizzly for sushi afterwards, so we ate in a Ramen place full of market workers. So close, but not quite 3.

I have little trouble with any of my beengs--the layering there seems to break up more naturally with something slipping between the layers. But the bricks and one small tuo are super dense and very difficult. Coarser tools won't penetrate and fine tools are too delicate. Since I like to drink a little of this one and a little of that one, breaking up the whole thing at once doesn't appeal. But I may have to make an exception for these few--break up a large portion of them at home to bring to work, so I don't end up with tea scattered all over the keyboard and carpet again. The Lao Cha Tou from norbu is equally dense, but there the preformed nuggets break up quite easily and neatly. And after a pleasant sencha start (almost done with the Sayamakaori), and some chilled Yunnan Mao Feng, puerh sounds very fine. It's even cooling off enough to make the very hot-brewed tea sound appealing. But I'll be working on some loose tea or samples of beengs, no pick or hammer required!

A letter opener--thin, sharp but not too sharp, and really a lot like the tea knives I've seen online. Also have worked on this particular pu with a knife, screwdriver, but haven't yet broken out the vise grips.

More puerh yesterday, some Menghai 2007 Golden needles white lotus, and if there is a next time, I will get the beeng and not the brick. I got so frustrated trying to chip enough off of the brick, and in the end I had too much tea for the brewed volume--lost track of how much all those fines really added up to, because most of it was fines. Fortunately, it's a forgiving tea!

Last night drank a cup of the Mao Feng that I'd prepped several days ago, and not had the right moment to drink yet. It just steeped three days in the fridge. It was still quite nice. Not as fabulous as the same tea hot in my thermos a few days ago, when I made a particularly perfect batch, but still, delicious. Amazing.

Today is puerh day: just two puerhs, but a long time enjoying each. First, some of the Norbu Lao Mansa 2009 sheng, bulk brewed in the thermos, and now some 2007 Rui Cao Xiang wild arbor Wu Liang sheng from yunnan sourcing, a long gongfu session as I mostly fail to concentrate on paperwork.

No tea ice-pops, but several cups of cold-brewed green teas, last few days--even took the leftover leaves from brewing a thermos of oolong (to be enjoyed hot) and left them with cold water to sit in the fridge all day, and drank the result in the evening--not great, but cool, and gently tea-like. At work, in the A/C office, plenty of hot tea--Huang Jin Gui yesterday, and a positively brilliant brewing of Yunnan Mao Feng this afternoon that really stood out from the many good prior brewings of this tea. Wow. And some Tai Ping Hou Kui to end the evening.

Another successful cold brew experiment: Silver Dragon white tea (from Wing Hop Fung) and Yunnan Mao Feng green tea (from Norbu) brewed up cold overnight. Put a relatively small amount in a teacup-with-infuser, and left in the refrigerator overnight. This morning, cold and tasty tea. I think the Mao Feng works better this way. Based on prior sad experience, the keys for me are •going light on the leaf •cold brewing the whole way •selection of the right tea And if the hot weather stays around, I'll be trying some more. Fortunately, I've got a lot of the Mao Feng.

Sayamakaori sencha from Yuuki-cha this morning, extra nice (more about that in the japanese green tea topic). Will be trying something puerh a little later, not sure if it will be a young loose sheng or one of the aged samples I got from Essence of Tea. Yesterday I started with the sencha, and moved on to some Lemon Myrtle Rooibos from the Cultured Cup (brewed hot but chilled a bit with ice, we're finally into some scorching fall heat here), and then some Dragon Well. Also yesterday set up a couple of cold brewed tea experiments with more of the Dragon Well and some Silver Dragon white tea steeping overnight in the fridge, because the heat made me do it. Will report elsewhere if the experiments are successful!