Wholemeal Crank

A sweet and light start to the tea day: select sencha first, then on to some of the pomelo-scented Anji white tea, and now enjoying again the winter Bao Zhong from Houde. I will need to make some nice earthy puerh later before all this delicate floral light stuff floats me away.

Relatively quiet tea day: started with hot chocolate instead of sencha, but midday worked on my last bag of the spring 2009 Ali Shan oolong from norbu, and now am drinking the Rou Gui from Houde. An all-oolong day. But while the tea was all oolong, I just was pointed to this website selling japanese tokoname pots, and have sent an inquiry about ordering one of their lovely Kyusus for my almost-daily morning sencha.

That does feel like the right way to start the day to me too. I love my oolongs and puerhs, other greens and white teas, but somehow the senchas are particularly kind to my not-yet-fully-awake self and empty stomach in the morning, without being as demanding of attention as a more complex puerh or oolong. Just not sure what to order next--I'm about done with the current sencha supply. So many lovely choices: light steamed, mid steamed, deep steamed? briny or pea-like? decisions, decisions, decisions...

Today started sencha, moved on to yancha, Shui Jin Gui Wu Yi Oolong from norbu, and had a surprising interlude this evening with a bit of a sample of an 1999 Aged Liu An Basket of Anhui 'black tea' from Yunnan Sourcing, and now am finishing the remains of the spring 2009 Ali Shan Oolong from norbu, still a beautiful tea.

Ending the tea day with the smoky wonderful 2007 white bud sheng puerh from Norbu. I have been drinking some other lovely puerhs recently, including a wonderful new group of puerhs from Yunnan Sourcing, but this wonderful series of infusions reminds me why I will be ordering a couple more of these when I next get the chance, so earthy/smoky/sweet!

I have done this a lot with jasmine & similar floral teas. Most of them are too much like perfume drunk uncut. This morning's sencha, however, was perfect straight up.

An entirely satisfying tea day, so far. Started with some Anji white tea that I 'scented' with some pomelo (citrus) flowers from my garden. It was stunning. Cup after cup, and enough pomelo left with the leaves long enough to strongly but not overpoweringly scent it. Then midday more of my Ti Kuan Yin, to share in clinc. For the end of day paperwork, now drinking more of the Anji with pomelo. I left the flowers with the tea for so long that it picked up a lot of moisture from the flowers, so I have to drink it up fast. Heh, and yum.

Later in the day, brewed up a lot of silver needle prior to a meeting, but hardly anyone wanted to share, so I ended up drinking a lot of it after it was already well on the way to oxidized ordinariness. Sad. Now enjoying a tiny amount of Mao Xie from Jing Tea, infusing a remarkable quantity of lovely tea.

Yesterday kept on with the mostly green tea theme, another attempt at the two Korean green teas, a little Oriental Beauty, Bai Mu Dan, and Bi Lo Chun. Back to the office for lots of paperwork in the evening, so lots of sipping throughout. Today, thought I was going to the satellite office (but was wrong) so had already brewed up a thermos of red labeled Ti Kuan Yin for the day, and therefore am starting the tea day with the old standby. I managed it just right (water about 190 degrees, several infusions about 1 minute each, moderate leaf-to-water ratio but didn't measure), sweet, spicy, toasty, yum.

If and when I do try another matcha, I can make it in my pretty celadon mug, because the shape is very nice for containing the splashes as I whisk away, and the size is good. And when might be sooner than I thought because since I posted the above, I learned that my niece is going to take Japanese in school next year, and wants to visit Japantown during our upcoming weekend in San Francisco. Maybe I can have some professionally prepared matcha to see if it converts me. And I can check out the available sencha offerings too.

I have a little left of a couple of aged oolong samples, and I will try them with higher leaf to water ratios. I do remember feeling like they were a little thin, without the thick liquor body of the younger leaves.

Another day, another unsatisfying attempt at matcha. This was a bit more ambitious than usual, because I foolishly bought some Korean Gamnong powdered tea from Hankook at my first visit there and also bought a small package of Beeline organic Japanese matcha from the Korean market. All were 1 gram tea sifted into a preheated bowl, but the two shallow rice bowls I used for the first two teas were so messy with the chasen that I slacked off on the whisking, and stopped before there was much foam. The water was cool enough, nothing was especially bitter, but not really working for me. I suspect the problem fundamentally is not that there is any particular problem with the teas I've chosen, but rather that those elements I'm so carefully trying NOT to extract when I brew up my green teas cooler and more dilute than average are all right out there when you're drinking the entire leaf. I think it's time to put matchas aside for a while, and wait a few years to try again, and see if my tastes change.

After green and white tea to start the day, I went on to the 2006 A-Gu Zhai Wild Arbor Pu-erh tea from Yunnan Sourcing, and then ended with a new oolong, Winter premium Bao Zhong from Houde. I ordered from Houde even though my cupboard was full primarily to try their Rou Gui oolong, which I'd been reading about elsewhere, and was in short supply from many online sources, and tossed in the Bao Zhong as an afterthought, which it certainly will not be in the future. More on that in the oolong topic, when I do it up right with pictures. Today, started with another matcha experiment. More in the matcha topic. That didn't go so well, so needed consolation with some Yunnan Mao Feng, and tried again the two Korean green teas I tasted last week. Now I am sufficiently caffeinated to do something more productive.

Today started with Dens Tea's special anniversary sample that was included in my last shipment: a sencha extra green sample with matcha added, and a sprinkle of gold leaf. Very glamorous emerald tea with the shimmery gold on top: Then some Precious Rare White Tea, building on yesterday's marvelous brewing at work. Next up, a little later in the day, I think I will pluck a couple of citrus blossoms from the yard and add them to some silver needle or more of the white tea.

Today, another mostly-green tea day, mostly because I'm playing with the new teapot's temperature controls. Started with the Sencha select. Then brewed up the mystery tea I passed on by a colleague who was given it as a gift, who said he can't take the caffeine any more. I'm almost certain that this is the same stuff as the Precious Rare White Tea I brewed in a tasting of white teas a few weeks ago. It came out perfect, delicate and floral and grassy all at once, no bitterness, and Brandon said he'd wished he saved some back for himself, because he didn't realize how wonderful and mellow it could be. Apparently all he's had recently is very very strong dark puerh that was not kind to his stomach. So I'll keep bringing the little gongfu tea cup to that clinic and tempt him with little bits of this and that. And several other people tried it and were wowed. Now playing with a little Bi Lo Chun, delightful.

Today was a hit and miss tea day. I started with an exceptionally fine cup of the Sencha Select, but then got overconfident and managed to make the ever mellow and forgiving Yunnan Mao Feng rather bitter. Still not sure how I managed that! Finished with a pleasing session of Honey Orchid Oolong. And that last was made with a new cordless electric teapot for work--I got tired of having to plug and unplug the simple model I've been using for the past year. More on that after I've had a better chance to use it for a while.

Couldn't stop with that sad attempt at bi lo chun; tried again with much cooler water and got a brilliant couple of cups. Mmmmmm.

Today is all green tea, all the time. Sencha, Dragon Well, and now Bi Lo Chun. I have not yet 'figured out' how to get the sweetness of the Bi Lo Chun without bitterness: my batting average with green teas is well above 50% now, but matcha isn't the only green that still gives me trouble.

Another day without the sencha start, but pleasing Yunnan Oriental Beauty afternoon, and then a quiet evening of the Menghai golden needles shu puerh. Mellow, and lovely.

Thanks for this thread. I'm bookmarking it, because I'll be spending a few days in Las Vegas every month starting very soon.

Green and puerh again today--starting with Yunnan Mao Feng, moving on to Yi Wu bamboo-aged puerh, and finishing with Tie Guan Yin, all from norbu. A sweet, mellow tea day.

BTW, the jars are NOT supposed to be submerged during pressure canning, unlike the boiling water bath where they are supposed to be submerged. The water should go a few inches up the side when pressure canning. Thank goodness, because otherwise it would take hours for the pressure to come down in my 22 quart canner when it's full up.

Can't believe the calibrations in the recipes are that precise given that pressure canners are sold in a variety of shapes and sizes and materials, and are filled with variable amounts of water, and quantities of jars--the thermal mass and heat capacity is already tremendously variable even with jars of the same nominal capacity and the same type of food. I had a lovely heavy aluminum canner that took far longer to cool and drop pressure than my current lightly built model with similar volume. If the recipes are built with a standard fudge factor for a mythical standard canner with a standard quantity of water and jars and food and cooling at a standard rate, and that needs to be accurate to ensure the safety of the processed food, then they're not writing safe recipes. The variability is too great already.

This is something I've heard before, but I can't see what is different between the pressure cooker and the pressure canner, except perhaps extra careful calibration for the pressure canner. If it gets to 10lb or 15lb pressure and holds it reliably, it will get hot enough to do what it needs to do--kill the botulinum spores that survive boiling but not the hotter temperatures achieved under pressure. Is there something else that I'm missing?

Finishing the tea day, now drinking some Menghai Golden Needles shu puerh from Yunnan Sourching, a nice mellow contrast to all the greens from the earlier tasting.