Wholemeal Crank

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?

I've had a more delicate version of a rotary grater with a larger hole drum, but at that time only wanted the finer grind of the nuts when using them for cookies and cakes, so never tried the larger size for nuts. For softer nuts--walnuts, pecans--the nut choppers sold in supermarkets etc--the kind with a rotating set of things that stick out from a drum, and push the nuts through narrow openings--give a nice uniform piece 3-4 mm in diameter, but I broke too many of those when using firmer nuts like almonds, and finally tossed out the last one. For situations where I want the nuts to replace flour (usually 2 parts nut meal for one part flour) I use the rotary grater, and for coarser nuts, chop by hand, and if I really care about the uniformity of the nuts (hardly ever, but it has happened once or twice), I use a knife and then a colander to shake the fines out.

30", 15", 30": that was the key. I am enjoying my third infusion of Yuuki-Cha's Tenryu Misakuo Organic Shincha. It is sweet, light, and vegetal, a hint of the expected astringency in the third infusion, but overall, quite a delightful experience. Infusing 4.5 gram of tea in my 5 oz kyusu (about 150 mL water) with water at 160 degrees, the first is light and sweet and vegetal; the second is sweet, a bit heavier with some sweet vegetal flavor and a bit of vanilla, a touch of umami but not much (a 30" second infusion was too heavy bodied), and the third infusion is more like the second, but the astringency starts to increase a little. Delicious. I think that shorter 2nd infusion allows the elements that have already started to leak from the wet leaves to be recovered without too much more coming out of the leaves (which would result in in an overly strong infusion for my tastes), and then the 3rd infusion, there is not so much rushing out into the water, so an infusion the length of the first works fine. The 4th infusion is trickier, and length depends on how much the water has cooled in the teapot, and how much time I have before I must run out the door (the usual situation in the morning), and this morning, with the water too cool at 120 degrees, I left it for a good couple of minutes, and was well rewarded. Should also add that the dry leaves in their bag smell vegetal and sweet, and transform from very deep dark green when dry to bright and lighter green of the fresh young leaf when wet afterwards. Pretty. Yumm.

I can't answer your exact question, but I have played around a bit with nut meals, and my preferred tool for grinding nuts finely for my walnut cookies and pfefferneuse is my rotary grater: (the rotary grater is on the left) It makes finer, drier, and more uniform ground nuts than the food processor or blender. Apologies if this is a duplicate of what you're already doing.

Three teas today: started with the Tenryu Misakubo Shincha from Yuuki-Cha, which came out much better with a little attention; midday had a pick me up with a Numi tea bag of a mix of lemon myrtle, green tea, and mate--very nice, a gift from my tea-loving student; and in the evening, I did a tasting of several Ti Guan Yins. An all-good tea day. Yay! I think one more try tomorrow and I'll have the Tenryu Misakubo pretty well optimized. Also today, straightening up and putting away the latest tea orders, and happy to note that the tea cupboard & tea drawers at work have enough room for everything. Whew. I was a little afraid it wouldn't this time.

Started today with the Tenryu Misakubo, trying to prepare tea and photograph tea and tea setting at once, and mauled the tea more than anything else--1st infusion too short--lovely delicate sweet flavor, but very light--then overcompensated by forgetting the 2nd infusion for too long! I think this is going to be a wonderful tea if I can keep focus better. Now that I have pictures, tomorrow I will just brew the tea! I also tried some Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha (loose puerh) from Norbu, the tea from our recent tasting, but used too much leaf and had trouble getting back to that sweet spot from my earlier experience. I think I was so pleased to not have to use it sparingly that I overdid it. I came back to these leaves later in the day with very short infusions and was able to recapture the earlier sweetness but obviously will have to give this one the attention it deserves too. Then moved on to what was going to be a shared gongfu session with the new Taiwanese Charcoal roasted Tie Guan Yin from Norbu, but the sharee had to skip out after one cup, so it ended up as a bulk brewing to share for the afternoon. First impression is that this tea is more refined than my Sea Dyke red-tin Anxi Ti Kuan Yin, mellower and smooth. It deserves better attention in a gongfu session also. Ended the tea day with the Yunnan Bao Hong green tea from Yunnan Sourcing, which did get the attention it deserved, and was a lovely few cups of tea. I knew today was going to be crazy busy, and really I shouldn't have been trying the new teas under such pressure, but I couldn't stand to wait any longer.

This afternoon I headed into oolong territory, with the last of some of Chado's Pouchong. It's a tricky dark roast oolong that can be brilliant, spicy and sweet, but easily crosses into astringency like it did this afternoon. I did not pick it to share with the newest member of my tea circle, who was recently told by her doctor to avoid coffee due to colitis. We're going to see if she can tolerate small quantities of some mellower teas. Then this evening, Yunnan Bao Hong, my best infusions yet from this tea. All done very casually while working, so no weight/temp parameters, but it started off smooth, and ended mellow, and samples were given as offerings to some of those who drank my unfortunately brewed Pouchong earlier in the day. I think my reputation was somewhat restored. And after that, some Lemon Myrtle Rooibos. Such a bright, zippy tea, it manages to help with alertness I think simply by making the tastebuds dance. Now pondering which new Yuuki-Cha tea to open first in the morning. All look so scrumptious. Eeeny, meeny, miny, mo, catch a teapot on your toe.....

Starting this morning with the last of my Den's Sencha Zuiko--amazed I was able to muster the willpower to not rip into all of the beautiful packages of tea I just received from Yuuki-Cha yesterday. The Zuiko is exceptionally mellow and welcoming this morning, putting on its best after spending the night in the cupboard, face to face with the new rivals.

Got my order from Norbu, yay! I am almost out of sencha, trying to ration the last of it while waiting for the first shipment from Yuuki-Cha, so I started the day with Jin Xuan instead, a beautiful Taiwanese green tea from this Norbu shipment. There are wonderful Alishan-like notes coming through in this rolled green tea. I shared a gongfu session with a gaiwan, small tasting cups, and a fair cup with my tea-loving student (with us only through the end of the week). He thought it was pretty amazing too. I then moved on to the 2009 spring TGY, shared with a lot of my clinic companions, and now am ending with a long, many-infusion finish of Ba Xiang Dan Cong from Tea Habitat. Mmm. The lucky person I shared this one with this evening was wowed, as am I, every time I brew some.