Wholemeal Crank

My first and only tea of the day--travel day, yuck!--Winter Bao Zhong from HouDe. Nice.

Grabbed a different tea bag by mistake--the samples from Jing Tea Shop all have the same silver bag with handwritten labels--and instead of the Mao Xie, had a lovely session with their Huo Shan Huang Ya yellow tea, the best I've managed with this tea for a while. My first few sessions were excellent, then I had a few that were not so perfect, but this was back to the quality of the first sessions--but since my thermometer is on the fritz, I can't be sure what I did to make it so good. Checking jingteashop.com, they're out of the office for the next month, so I will have to wait until they get back to make a new order from them.

The look is much less important to me than the actual performance of the material. Lab benchtops are sturdy, but not so hard that things shatter easily against them. They do scratch more easily than would a hard natural stone, so that would count against them, but I can't imagine ever wanting to use a natural stone as a work surface, because they're too hard. One thing I am dreading, when I finally am ready to buy a house, is having to rip out the damn granite countertops that are so popular right now, especially when renovating a house for sale. Or the even more evil tile. Ick.

Started with some Jade Pole green tea from Yunnan Sourcing--love adding the 'poles' to the tea pot, fun to count them out instead of weighing or pouring. And it's a nice mellow tea. Then Purple Haiwan sheng puerh from Norbu, and I goofed on the brewing. I needed a thermos full and did not have a lot of time, so I infused for one very long concentrated infusion, without the first rinse, and then diluted with water to the desired volume. It came out a bit off, a touch of bitterness but more notably lacking in the sweet or fruity notes that I expected. Now going to relax with a little Mao Xie oolong to help me through a photoshopping project.

That's soapstone, which we discussed over here. It does come in different colors, but all of them are dark, sometimes with marble-like veining. Not at all what I was referring to, nor have I ever seen this in a lab. The standard benches in student & professional labs I've worked in were a very sturdy solid plastic-like material, much denser and less brittle than formica. They look like this, although I don't know if this is truly the same material.

Started today with some Dragon Well, sweet, green, mellow; then on to another 'mixed' oolong (Mao Xie and the last of a Winter Alishan sample), for a thermos full; and finished a sample of Da Hong Pao from Norbu after that, progressing lighter to darker through the day. Trying to get through some of the little bits before more teas arrive.

To late for another edit so just need to add that I am now working my way through the middle of the thermos of the two peacock shu puerhs, and two hours later, it is wonderful, sweet, earthy, mellow, not as spicy and deep as the shengs--I'm finally starting to really GET the differences there--but this is a nice batch of shu pu, and perfect for the end of a tiring frazzled travel day, when I wasn't ready to cater to a delicate tea.

Haven't been keeping up the last couple of days, but have been drinking tea. Yesterday was particularly fun: I started with some Anji white tea, then we were having a celebration at work and I brewed up a bunch of the Lemon Myrtle Rooibos from the Cultured Cup and shared it widely--it was quite a hit. Lots of 'wow!' comments. I bought a large quantity but may have to go back for a pound for Christmas presents this year. Then I brewed up some of the 2009 Lao Mansa puerh from Norbu, a previously rather tempermental puerh that seemed mellower this time around, already, after sitting in a drawer in my office desk, dry with A/C temperature control, and it put up with bulk brewing for the afternoon thermos with very good grace, and was well received. Did a lot of 'pour-through' infusions in the Kamjove, a couple slightly longer, and tasted the mix so far in the thermos a couple of times to get the balance of depth and sweetness just right, while keeping that bitter note in check. It is going to be very fun to follow this tea over time, if I can be disciplined enough to keep from drinking it all right now. It reminds me strongly of the Lao Ban Zhang from the recent tasting, and it was hard to put down. Today was a travel day, and I'm rehydrating after a long time in airports and airplanes with some mixed 'peacock' puerhs from Norbu, finishing off a few samples (a mix of a 2007 Mengyan Guoyan Tea Factory Golden Peacock with 2006 Haiwan Tea Factory Peacock Quest). Nice grounding after all that time in the air. And yesterday too I sent a swap package to a tea acquaintance who offered to take one of my not so good puerhs off my hands (a large beautiful beeng of 'mixed flowers puerh' that just never floated my boat). Since she mentioned she was just getting started with puerh, I put together a grab bag of some samples of different beengs for her, and while I was doing that, put together a package for my tea-loving student, with some of my favorite student-budget-friendly teas. Much tea sharing, and a little more room made in the tea cupboard and drawer for my next orders from Norbu and Yuuki-Cha. A good couple of tea days.

Another quiet tea day: shared jasmine/silver needle mix during clinic, and it was popular as always, despite being a bit too strongly jasmined for my taste; some korean green "not fermented" tea, shared again; then some green Bao Hong from YS, warm and mellow and not really shared as I did my evening paperwork. Tomorrow will need something darker, roastier, toastier to make up for such a mellow light tea day.

Today started with hot chocolate, no tea. I made up for it with a nice brewing of the 2007 White Bud sheng puerh from Norbu, and now am finishing up a sample of Mao Xie oolong from Jing Tea Shop. This one does have a hint of that elusive flavor we were discussing in the tasting of another version of the tea from Norbu, but not quite so strongly. Halfway through the brewing now, spicy is dominant over sweet. I probably shouldn't have prepared an order from Norbu before the 2nd tea of the day--it was like shopping while hungry! But except for the puerhs, where I have bought more beengs to get to know the wide variety of the teas, knowing they'll keep for sampling from time to time, there is coming to be a balance between the teas in and teas being drunk. White and green teas especially, being infused fewer times, and probably also at a higher leaf to water ratio than formerly, go quickly. Sharing brewed teas at the office and giving away a few ounces here and a few ounces there to those still tentatively working their way towards loose leaf from tea bags also helps the turnover.

Since I am no longer allergic to chocolate, I have no more need to make my fondant and dip carob candies from scratch. I just go to See's. Or Recchiuti's.

Today finished with a gong fu session with the 2007 Menghai Silver Dayi sheng puerh from Norbu. It was smoky and sweet, still a bit astringent on some infusions, threatening bitterness if I wasn't careful, and yet, never getting there even when I was quite sloppy with the infusions times. A nice tea that deserves a better gong fu session & review one of these days.

Yesterday only had my starting sencha--no other tea all day long. Shocking and strange. Just a lot of errands and hithering and thithering and not a lot of time for tea. So today started with some sencha (only a little left, but Dan gave me an update and the senchas I'll be ordering from Yuuki-cha should be ready in a few days) and then I prepped a thermos of the Zhangsu Lake oolong from Wing Hop Fung. Didn't want to miss mid-day tea because I was in too much of a hurry to make it! This is a honey-sweet and floral tea that is not losing much with being held in the thermos. Yum.

On days when I don't immediately reuse it, it goes into a cupboard, but mostly it ends up in the dish drainer, upside down.

I am very happy with my sweet little tokoname kyusu but for one thing: the rim curls back in on itself sufficiently that there is a little rim that catches a few drops of water when it is turned over to drain after use--usually it is left in the dish drainer overnight. By the next morning, when I flip it over to use it again, some water drips down from the inner rim. How worried should I be about this leading to mold or other distasteful stuff? Is this a situation where any of you would occasionally dunk the whole pot in boiling water, or set it in the oven to heat through from time to time, or should I just ignore it? The pot sees water at something between 150 and 180 degrees F nearly every day.

This evening enjoying a green Bao Hong from 2009 from Yunnan sourcing, in my 'seafoam' yunomi, a nice basic green tea, without a lot of tolerance for multiple infusions, but sweet and mild with the first couple of rounds. Today started with a delicious round of Den's sencha zuiko, and then shifted to the distinctly odd: a tea suggested and requested by a colleague, 'gabaron' from Zen Tara Tea. It is specially processed to be rich in gamma-amino butyric acid aka GABA. I was disappointed that it wasn't bright green as in the photo from their online catalog, and the flavor was that of a highly oxidized oolong tea, nearly a black tea, pleasant and nonbitter, but quite thin, and that was using an amount of tea leaves that filled my kamjove when fully wetted and opened, for a quart plus a bit more of tea, an amount that usually results in rich and deep flavor from a good wuyi, taiwanese or anxi oolong. I doubt I'd buy the gabaron again, when there are so many lovely oolongs out there that I like much better.

I'd be interested in it either way--shinchas alone, or sinchas plus senchas. I'm still very new to the japanese greens, and find the prices and minimum orders and need to consume the teas quickly after opening to all be barriers to trying a wide variety of them. A large order split between three or four of us would help with the cost and the what-to-do-with-so-much-tea dilemma both.

That is a great idea. I'd be happy to go in on that. I'd love a chance to compare all the different teas and be able to confirm a couple of things I've been suspecting about my tea preferences, or better yet, be proved wrong by falling in love with some teas that right now seem 'outside' my comfort zone. It's certainly happened before! Right now I'm just waiting a bit longer for the three teas Dan recommended to me to come in, and then I'll be placing an order for those in larger quantity.

I got a very nice reply to my inquiry from Dan at Yuuki-Cha, and now have a plan for an order as soon as the recommended teas come in. May browse through those ito-en teas in the meantime.

Yeah! another successful tasting! Today I prepared some of the norbu Diamond Tie Guan Yin for sharing in afternoon clinic, quite deliberately, because we have a student with us for a few weeks who loves tea. I introduced him to puerh just 2 days ago, and the beautiful oolong knocked his socks off. I also sent him home with a tin of some nice pouchong. But because of a dinner out (yay!) no more tea this evening (boo!). Had a very nice brewing of sencha Zuiko this morning.

I sent a request to yuuki-cha for suggestions for specific teas I might prefer, and am waiting for a reply. Meanwhile, the Den's sencha is running low. Might have to just go ahead and order....

Today moved on from the Anji white tea to some Houjicha which did beautifully as a no-time-to-brew tea, going from one meeting to another, dumped small handful of tea into thermos, added hot water from water cooler (temp probably 170-180 degrees), and went to meeting. No bitterness or astringency to the end of the batch a few hours later. Nice stuff. Will definitely need to keep some on hand for just that use. And now moving on to some spring 2009 Norbu Tie Guan Yin. Website says the 2010s are on their way, so I don't have to worry about running out and don't have to be so sparing of the last packets. Yay!

Very intriguing. Hard to see closely enough from the pictures to tell whether the loose tea has more of a natural leaf curliness, or the tight gunpowder roll. But within the limits of the resolution (when I click on the links, I get large but not sharply focused images), it looks like ordinary tea to me. A briny sea flavor is apparently quite common in some japanese green teas, particularly shade-grown teas--perhaps it was steamed like a japanese tea, or partly shaded during growth?

Starting with Anji precious rare white tea this morning, trying to stretch the last of the sencha a bit and get past the decision paralysis to order some more.

Started the tea day today with some Silver Needle from Chado, warming up my tea taste buds for the upcoming tasting. I go hot and cold with this tea: sometimes it is exactly what I want, other times, just not quite satisfying enough. Today, it was exactly what I wanted. Then moved on to some Menghai Golden Needles White Lotus shu puerh. Needed the grounding calming influence of this one today, first day back in the main office after a week of visiting two satellite offices, and of course my mailboxes, physical and e-mail, are completely full. Yikes. Hence, the need for mellow tea!