Wholemeal Crank

Den's tea has one for their teas here. And lots of other online tea sellers have similar guides. Here is one from Yuuki-cha.

I've not often seen a first rinse recommended for green teas. I have resorted to a long 'rinse' to get rid of some intense bitterness from a young sheng puerh but not a more typical green tea. That said, there seem to be as many ways to brew it as there are green tea drinkers and green teas for them to drink! I love my green teas infused cool and short, mostly done gongfu style in gaiwans (chinese) or kyusu (senchas), multiple infusions, gradually increasing the heat, rarely more tea per infusion than I can drink in a few minutes. I do occasionally fill the thermos with green tea, but only if I expect to share it widely and finish it before the tea is noticeably going off, within an hour or so after brewing.

What the heck, tried it blind this AM: 4.3 grams of leaf, about 8 oz water at 160 degrees, between 1 and 2 minutes of brewing--lost track there, and it was a little bit complicated. I used this setup: and the very fine filter slits clogged up so quickly that it took a while to drain the last of the water from the tea leaves, so the leaves saw water for probably closer to 3 minutes, but most of the water was drained off by about 2 minutes. So odd brewing, but a nice tea, medium umami, sweetness clear around the umami, young spring vegetable flavors. The only problem will be the extended cleanup of the tea cup insert slits.

Tea selection lately has been limited by travel (could only bring a couple along) and time (not time for careful brewing). I've been drinking the 2010 Spring Diamond Tie Guan Yin from Norbu, 2007 White Bud Sheng puerh, also from Norbu, and today tried my first infusion of some new samples of older sheng puerh from Essence of Tea--trying out my theory that the older shengs may be more like the nicer ripe shus then like my favorite young shengs. Preliminary results do fit this hypothesis, but there are more samples to go, and given how small (because so pricey!) some of them are, it will be a while before they get the full attention they deserve (and writeup in the puerh topic, naturally).

Can you suggest parameters for Western style brewing, baroness? I think I have enough of the saemidori for a go at that, but not enough of the Kabusecha.

Are you mostly buying little tins of cheap tea? Or does your market sell loose tea in bulk?

Playing today with the Saemidori: 3 grams instead of 4-5, and water 148 degrees in preheated kyusu when I added the tea, first infusion 30 seconds. The results is a little lighter in flavor, but still umami over the sweet. And a warm flavor of roasted corn--not supersweet corn, but regular sweet corn--is how the umami manifests, with no hint of briny oceans lurking about. 2nd infusion was more like a flash rinse, water 160 degrees, and the flavor is similar, although the hotter temperature seems to intensify the sweet a little. 3rd infusion at 170 degrees, 30 seconds, very deep green color just like the 2nd infusion, flavor again seems a little sweeter than in the very first infusion, I think because the umami is thinning and the sweet has less competition on the tongue. Quite nice. Towards the end of this infusion, there is a hint of astringency just peeking out from under the sweet, daring me to continue the temperature progression with the next infusion, so I will. 4th 180 degrees, holding with 30 seconds, trusting the hotter temps to bring out enough flavor, a little between the flavors of the 2nd and third, with the roasted corn umami coming up again, but the sense of sweet not fading, and still virtually no astringency. Nice. This is the most varied temperature series I've used yet in one brewing, and it is quite remarkable how it kept the flavor so nearly constant.

Huang Jin Gui by Norbu Tea, fall 2009 harvest Just opened this one, and it is lovely. Using a small porcelain gaiwan, about 2 grams of tea in 60mL with water 195 degrees, about 30-45 seconds per infusion to start. First impressions are sweet, floral, delicate, with less caramel than an Alishan and yes, less sharpness than a TGY, but these changes bring the sweet and floral notes front and center. Wow.

That's an interesting idea--rinse to the end. Tonight I am drinking the Honey Orchid Gold Medalist No 1 from Tea Habitat. I bought this tea and opened it thinking it was the same as the ‘commercial’ version that I had been enjoying so much, and was brought up short by some harsher notes it expressed on first brewing. I looked again at the label and realized this was the single-bush Dan Cong version, and unsurprisingly it demands a bit more respect. Tonight I am brewing it in the Chao Zhou pot I bought from Tea Habitat, and it is lovely. It’s flavors are sharper, spicier, and sweetness is more honeyed and distinct. It is like the prior tea brought into sharper focus. So far I am on about the 9th or 10th infusion, and anticipate plenty more infusions are left in it. I used about 2 grams of tea in the 60 mL pot, and infusions from 30 seconds at first to 1-2 minutes now, water 195 degrees, give or take 5, and the entirety of this gongfu session has been delightful. The tea and the pot are brilliant together.

Today, seesawing back and forth along the sweet--umami spectrum: Okuyutaka shincha, then on to the 2006 Haiwan purple bud sheng puerh from Norbu; and now back to the lightest side with Anji 'precious rare white tea' from Wing Hop Fung. Only horror is that the teakettle is empty and the white tea has a few more infusions left in it. Must rectify this soon!

A quiet tea day yesterday: my favorite white bud sheng puerh from norbu, a thermos full. At the satellite office I am always torn between being sad that I do not have anyone to share the tea with when it is so very good, and glad that I get it all to myself. Today, finishing off the Okuyutaka shincha from Yuuki-cha, and idly considering it vs two shinchas from the tasting. I suspect the balance in umami and vegetal is in between the lightest Sayamakaori and Honyama shinchas and the Saemidori, probably closer to the first than the last. But because it has been open for a good long while now, and is no longer in prime condition, it's not really a fair comparison to the fresh teas from the tasting.

Another shincha session: 2 grams of each tea in porcelain gaiwans using 2 ounces of water Waiting for water to cool down in a pitcher for the Kabusecha, then pouring from the teapot which maintains temp for the Saemidori First infusion 30 seconds: Very similar flavor profile, except that the Saemidori seems to have a deeper vegetal element with more umami; both are mellow, bitter-free, pleasant. 2nd infusion about 5 seconds until I started to pour, then variable long pour times because of less than ideal match between brewing instrument (gaiwans) and finely broken teas: Near bitterness coming out in the Saemidori, none in the Kabusecha, both still mellow and the SaeMidori is still more deeply vegetal and umami-rich. No brininess anywhere, even in this difficult infusion. 3rd infusion, 30 seconds, water 160 degrees for both: Again nothing bitter or briny, but there is a deep sweetness coming out in the Kabusecha that reminds me of roasted corn. This might be the best infusion yet. Experiment stopped after the 3rd infusion, because of frustration with the messiness and scorched fingers. But overall, successful in pointing out the mellowness and gyokuro-like aspects of the Kabusecha, and demonstrating that the depth of the umami in the Saemidori might be even greater than the Kabusecha, and which one I prefer at a given moment will be vary depending on which exact infusion I'm comparing. My first experience with the Kabusecha was a little rougher than my first brewing of the Saemidori, but after playing with the Kabusecha, I can find conditions like today's where I clearly prefer it. This brewing today, and another brewing of a different tea yesterday, where I finally had the feeling that I was tasting the difference in the same tea brewed in different vessels, are really giving me a better sense of what is possible when you really pay attention to your tea. Amazing to think that I was *afraid* of sencha until just about a year ago.

Just two teas today, because it was so hot this afternoon. Started with the tail end of the Sayamakaori shincha, then on to some Po Tou ginger flower fragrance Dan Cong from Tea Habitat. This was my first time with this particular Dan Cong in the Chao Zhou red clay pot I bought from Imen, and it was quite interesting: the tea was mellowed and rounded considerably. I need to do a head-to-head vs the gaiwan to be sure of what I think I'm perceiving here: if the impression holds up, and wasn't an artifact of diluting it too much, it will be the most dramatic effect yet of any brewing vessel on a tea that I've been able to perceive. Tomorrow: the shinchas from the tasting, head to head.

Today got in 4 teas: Anji white tea to start (just didn't feel like sencha today); then the wuliang loose Mao Cha again; Bao Hong green tea from Yunnan Sourcing; and finally another Wuliang puerh, this time the 2007 Rui Cao Xiang 'Wu Liang Wild Arbor' Sheng from Yunnan Sourcing. Got sweet, earthy, floral, vegetal, spicy; only missed the fruitier, highly oxidized part of the tea 'spectrum'.

As I found out when I was trying to decide which ingredients to add or leave out of a canned version of a homemade soup recipe, the variables include things that are highly non-intuitive. To prevent botulism, every bit of the canned product must be acid, or held at a sufficiently high temperature for long enough time to kill the botulism spores. So....when you're looking at a recipe for a vegetable soup, and considering altering it a bit, consider the possible substitution of vegetable X for vegetable Y: do you know if vegetable X will alter the pH balance of the recipe? will it take more or less time to reach that 'safe' internal temperature to kill any bacteria or spores in the middle of a chunk of it than it would a similar piece of vegetable Y (what's it's heat capacity?)? will hard, dense vegetable X it absorb less liquid from the broth and thus maintain a higher internal pH than porus vegetable Y? There are so many variables: pH, piece size, density, absorption, heat capacity--those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. It's just not something to mess with until you've got a very very good idea what you're doing. The once or twice I felt I had extended processing times to sufficiently to truly cover all the possibilities of my changes, AND taken the recommended precaution of making sure that a non-acid canned food is reheated to boiling for the recommended fifteen or twenty minutes after opening (to be really really really sure you break down any botulinum that may have grown because of an error in the original processing) I was left with custom made mush. I play fast and loose with my jams made from acid fruits, because botulism is out of the picture, and I don't worry too much about my meat and vegetable stocks because they're just flavored water. But I've given up on having stocks of curried lentils and split pea soup and all the other dishes that seemed to natural for home canning. Just not worth the risk for the results.

Today some Big Red Robe, from Wing Hop Fung, a little rough around the edges, but toasty roasty warm and nice.

I always refrigerate it.

What kind of teas?

After a pleasant afternoon with some green Jin Xuan, I am now drinking some more of the Winter Dong Ding oolong from Norbu, such a smooth stand in for my old Ti Kuan Yin, all that smoky earthy odor but none of the rough edges. A very good tea day, and I will try to bring the teapot home tonight for the tea tasting showdown between the shincha and the kabusecha.

The siren call of Honyama sencha won out this morning over another session with the Kabusecha. Also forgot to bring home the 2nd pino to control the temps better.

Today has been a pleasant day of tea: started with the kabusecha from the current tasting; moved to the other end of the spectrum iwth some loose puerh Mao Cha from Norbu, the Wulian Shan I reviewed recently, which went over very well with my colleagues in the office; then back to green with some Tai Ping Hou Kui; and ending with Dan Cong, always a nice punctuation to the day. Mmmm.

Tap water; and my tokoname kyusu that I shared in the teaware topic. For the second infusion, I am counting to 10, and pouring. I have not attempted to count the timing on my pour, but the sasame certainly halved it or more vs a gaiwan or small glass teapot with small strainer spout. I have not tried tap vs bottled or filtered water with this tea, but have never noticed a difference with water from the water cooler ("spring" water, IIRC) vs the tap, or one time brewing with filtered tap water from the fridge at home (when the tap water was turned off), although I have not done head-to-head tests with the same tea.

That's almost exactly what I'm doing already for the saemidori: set the teapot for 160 degrees, preheat the kyusu, weight the leaf out until I have something between 4 and 5 grams, and then fill the 5 oz pot completely if I end up with 5 grams of tea, or a little less if I end up with 4 grams and a bit. And then watch the temp gauge on the teapot until it is within 2-3 degrees of the goal, and pour into the kyusu. The less water in the pino, the more it tends to over- and undershoot as it attempts to keep the temp close to the requested setting. First infusion 30 seconds, second infusion--where I believe the wet leaf is already releasing a lot of the things that we want in the tea liquor into the water that clings to the leaves--little more than a flash rinse, and 3rd infusion back to about 30 seconds, or a little longer. May try the head to head with slightly lower temps for the kabusecha, but it's going to be tricky to manage both at once. Might be easiest to just tote the office pino home for the event.

147 degrees when I added the Kabusecha to the prewarmed kyusu this morning, for 30 seconds first infusions: the temperature difference softened it very nicely. Still umami that outweighs any sugar-sweet, but the edge of harsh brininess is completely gone. So easy to see, with a tea like this, how I initially was very frustrated and indeed skeptical about all green teas, because I was starting with water that was way too hot. I had some vague idea, a couple of years ago, that water should sit a bit after boiling before preparing my then-favorite jasmine green tea, but it was still so often bitter. And when I started trying other greens, I was doing the same thing: trying not to use water right at boiling, but had no idea what temperature I was really using. So I had one lousy cup after another, and discarded several of those teas. Wonder how many of them might have been good if I'd known how to brew them? Just give this Kabusecha the temperature it wants, and it shows its true character: at the second infusion, just 10 seconds, there is rich vegetable greenness, abundant umami, a hint of spiciness, a gentle touch of brine, just enough to accent the smooth richness of the umami. A 3rd infusion, again about 30 seconds, water a little hotter now, up to 149 degrees, is very similar, a little lighter. Tried for a 4th infusion, but the water in the pot was depleted, so this was a 'double-concentrated' version, let go a shorter time because of that, about 30 seconds, and it was about the same: vegetable, umami, not bitter, not sweet, just fresh spring vegetable--asparagus stalks, peas, green beans. Next up, maybe tomorrow, I will be trying a head-to-head in gaiwans, which will be a little tricky since I need to use different temperature water. I just want to compare them directly, since this infusion now very strongly resembles my taste memory of the Saemidori.

Today there was little tea, but it was good. I drank some dragon well during a long meeting, refilling from the hot water on the water cooler, and it was either not hot enough to bring out the flavor, or the length of the meeting required too many infusions from the leaves. At the end of the afternoon, has some lovely infusions of the Norbu Wulian Shan Mao Cha from my recent tasting. Very nice. But the day was seriously lacking in shincha. Tomorrow hope to make up for that.