Wholemeal Crank

Yesterday and today both started with Shincha, such a pleasant morning ritual. It just seems right to start the day with a light sweet tea and move darker as the day goes on. Midday yesterday was a thermos full of Yi Wu Bamboo-aged Puerh from Norbu, and today a thermos of Yunnan 'Oriental Beauty' oolong from Yunnan Sourcing. I had run out of my main stash of the latter and was very pleased to find I had some left. There was a smaller brewing of some Fall Alishan Oolong from Norbu last night as well, and as typical with the Alishans, it was amazing how long it kept going. I didn't have any herbal tea with me on this trip, which was a mistake. Next time I'll have to be sure to have some for hot afternoons or evenings when I want something chilled to drink. I'm betting the Lemon Myrtle rooibos will be brilliant.

I was very pleased with my recent infusion of the Lao Mansa, and realize that I do need to be careful to ration it out some if I am to keep to the planned scheme of watching it age and sampling every so often for a good number of years. Today I started with Dan Cong--the Honey Orchid--gongfu cha, sharing during a morning meeting. Probably wasn't the best time for sharing, since for most people there it was probably too soon after their morning coffee. Then on to the Menghai Golden Needles shu puerh, and now drinking some Organic Royal Dragon Well from Wing Hop Fung.

I may try that. One of the things I love about the Dan congs is the parade of different impressions I get with each infusion, and that was what seemed to get lost in the bulk brewing--the succession of sweet, spicy, fruity, vegetal flavors, cycling almost randomly as I am not that precise about the brewing times with a long gong fu session. This evening having a lovely session with the Zhan Shu Lake oolong from Wing Hop Fung.

Did you find the same range of flavors in the western-style brewed dan cong? I was quite disappointed in the Dan Cong I brewed up for a thermos a few weeks ago, but I was not sure how much of the disappointment was from delayed drinking, and how much from the bulk brewing.

Another day, another pot of the Okuyutaka shincha. Mmm. Loving all of these shinchas from Yuuki-cha. And yesterday, after the morning shincha, had a delightful afternoon thermos full of the 2008 Yi Wu Bamboo-aged puerh from Norbu. Sweet, a bit earthy, so nice and welcoming. Shared this with colleagues as always with good results. In the evening, some Silver Dragon white tea from Wing Hop Fung, sweet and delicate, although one forgotten steeping did get rather bitter, and then a long session of Honey Orchid Phoenix oolong from TeaHabitat. Kept going and going and going, and I did eventually exhaust those leaves, but it took a lot of water and effort!

Broke into the Okuyutaka Shincha by Yuuki-cha this morning. First impression is bright, light, sweet, vegetal, very much to my taste. No time today for a full formal review, but it may be a while before I get to that. I especially want to do the comparison to the other two shinchas I have open at the moment. First infusion 30" 160°F/71°C with 4.8 g tea in a 5 oz (150mL) kyusu, 2nd infusion 15 seconds at 168°C/76°C, 3rd infusion 1 minute at 135 °C/57°C (cooling too much in Kettle*, got careless). All delicious. *After several months of getting so used to my Pino holding temperature for gongfu in the office, have broken down and ordered one for home too.

Only two teas today, but wonderfully satisfying: started with the Tenryu Misakubo shincha from Yuuki-Chan, and then on to some Diamond TGY from Norbu.

Started with Honoyama Shincha from Yuuki-Cha, then on to Yunnan Mao Feng for afternoon meeting & clinic, and evening paperwork is rolling along with Norbu 2009 Lao Mansa sheng puerh, brewed cool & delicious. Mmmm. Need to be careful with this one: I broke off quite a large chunk of it when preparing to brew. May need to put a 'do not open for 6 months' sign on it, to remind me to take it slow.

Guest commentary by Miss Emily: Evening shincha is a most intriguing idea but....(sniffs)....it really does need a few more seconds before it's ready

Evening shincha: such a delightful concept. I ran out of time for morning tea today, am now making up for it with some Tenryu Misakubo from Yuuki-Cha. Happiness. Earlier a thermos of Yunnan gold black tea with osmanthus helped get through the afternoon, and the inevitable paperwork. It was ok, but the shincha is marvelous, morning or evening.

I would not assume anything certified organic is going to be truly 100% organically produced, whether in the US or abroad: there's always going to be some cheating somewhere. To me, buying organic is is less about fear of pesticide effects on me than about environmental effects of pesticides and non-organically produced fertilizers, so news like this is saddening, but not going to put me off of drinking tea or eating food labelled organic.

Absolutely true. I suspect my tastes are not typical of a lot of people drinking japanese green teas, a preference for a certain lightness and sweetness over the usually more favored umami, and I try to make that clear in my notes. Do you think it is a difference in the tea, or in your brewing skills?

Today, a head-to-head comparison of the Tenryu Misakubo vs the Honoyama organic shinchas from Yuuki-Cha. Both are lovely teas. As anticipated, the Tenryu was richer with umami than the Honoyama, which was lighter bodied. I prefer the Honoyama for the lighter taste, which allows the sweetness I especially enjoy to come through, but if you prefer the deeper umami flavors, you might prefer the Tenryu.

So yesterday was a much better day than Friday, at least for tea: my first brewing of the Honoyama shincha from Yuuki-Cha (discussed in the Japanese green tea topic); a sloppy but nonetheless delicious brewing of Bao Zhong from HouDe (in the Oolong topic), such a forgiving tea; and then an evening cooking session with many infusions of Honey Orchid Phoenix oolong from TeaHabitat, such a marvelous tea. And today I'm doing a head to head of the Tenryu Misakubo and the Honoyama shinchas from Yuuki-Cha (again, more in the Japanase green tea topic). Off to another excellent start. All the weekend needs for tea perfection now is some puerh.

Long time, no posts! 2008 Winter Grade A Pin-Lin Bao Zhong, by Hou De This is probably the 4th time I’ve brewed some of this wonderfully delicate tea, but I goofed in a way that probably limited the potential of the infusions significantly: I used a too low leaf to water ratio, and I was let the water cool too long before the infusions—too much attention to the camera setup as I was working on photographing what I was doing. In spite of that, the tea was good, being an exceptionally forgiving leaf. Leaves are twisted, large, green to black, with a light sweet scent. 2.2 grams of leaf into my 6 oz glass pot, because the leaves are so pretty as they unfurl. 1st infusion 175°F/79°C 30", sweet, hay, floral, but too light, should have been longer. 2nd infusion water closer to 160°F/71°C (let it cool too long, misjudged), let it go nearly 2 minutes, again a very light, sweet, floral infusion. 3rd infusion 175°F/79°C several minutes, similar—light, sweet, floral. 4th and 5th infusions were with water just off the boil, several minutes’ steep, and were still lovely. I've previously used water closer to 195 and 30" steep with about 2 grams in my 2 oz gaiwans, but hadn't been trying to manage cameras etc at the same time.

Honoyama Organic Shincha from Yuuki-Cha today, my first tasting of this one. Dry leaves are needlelike, very dark, rich sweet vegetal scent 4 grams of tea in 5 oz preheated kyusu 30" 160°F /71°C sweet, vegetal, delicate 10" 160°F/71°C umami, sweet, vegetal, nothing overpowering, 30" 168°F/76°C sweet, vegetal, hint of astringency aftertaste 1 minute 168°F/76°C sweet, vegetal, no astringency a 5th infusion, with water that had cooled to 130°F/54°C in the kettle, for about 2 minutes, was losing steam, very dilute, but still sweet, vegetal, mellow. Leaves after infusion are light green, small, few are entirely whole, but not very small pieces, with mild vegetal scent This is wonderful, wonderful stuff, and my tastebuds are dancing with happiness.

Artichokes with mayonnaise for me, artichokes with butter if you insist, but no salt is used in a proper artichoke prep.

Today's teas should all have been good, but my brewings were all off: the last of my Yunnan Wild Arbor Oriental Beauty from Yunnan Sourcing got bitter when I had to let some of it sit for 20 minutes steeping--serious tea abuse, and the first time this lovely tea showed such bite. Then I think I overdid the quantity of Silver Dragon white tea and ended up with a very tempermental series of infusions that I kept getting too light or too dark, and I even managed to find some bitter in the wonderful Taiwanese green tea I just got from Norbu. That took real talent, because it's been such a wonderful, forgiving tea for several prior brewings. Gaak. Tomorrow I have to do better. Maybe I'll start with a nice ripe pu. Or Houjicha. Hard to go wrong with those.

Yesterday was a lame day in tea: one thermos full of TenRen Pouchong. Today, got a better start with the Tenryu Misakubo Shincha, then TenRen TungTing, and finally a 2nd infusion of hydrangea leafs. A simple but nice tea day.

Today has been a mixed day for tea. It started off on a high note, with a very fine brewing of the Tenryu Misakubo Shincha again, and then I finally said, what the heck, I have my long afternoon meeting coming up, with several people who love tea, and I will finally break down and try a Dan Cong bulk brewing to share with them. I used a large quantity of tea in the gaiwan--not really trusting the Kamjove with this one--and many infusions to fill the thermos. I sipped a few times along the way--too concentrated, quick rinse & poured a few infusions, a little too light, let one or two go a little longer. Then when it was time to drink it an hour later, it was....ordinary. All the marvelous spiciness and fruitiness was unrecognizably mellow and soft and bland. I will never do that again! Now enjoying the Jade Pole Yunnan green tea from Yunnan Sourcing, which looks nothing like but tastes almost identical to the Yunnan Mao Feng I've been getting from Norbu: green, sweet, but also peachy and fruity. Interesting. I will also warm up last night's hydrangea leaves for another infusion. They only went one last night, so sweet and concentrated that they surely have power for a couple more.

Interesting. I've always figured the meat grinder would make them into nutbutter, as the poppyseed mill does. May have to try that one day, to see if the result could be finer than the rotary grater.

Doesn't that make it damp and sticky? Or can you use that to make dry/light meal?

As noted in the Japanese tea topic, I think I have the number of the Tenryu Misakubo. Mid-afternoon, I was enjoying a tea-trade sample of a lovely puerh, 2007 Autumn Xi-Zhi Hao "Pu Zheng Yuan Cha" from HouDe. There are a lot of stems and the leaves are very irregularly twisted and long, so I ended up with a larger pot than expected, and really not quite enough leaf to show off the tea to its best, but it was still warm and sweet and lovely, and now I am drinking some Ya Bao Wild Camellia bud tea. Very peachy and floral and nice.

Steamed asparagus with grated pecorino on top.

And should have asked--how large do you mean when you say 'larger' pieces?