Wholemeal Crank

And odd tea day today: fumbled the sencha this am, then made some nice silver needle for the afternoon, and tried out a gift of a thin green tea that might be from An Hui, will need to post pictures & info to help get an ID on it, then some more silver needle, these last two being brewed in the new celadon travel set. It works like a charm, although it lacks one thing to be absolutely perfect: the gaiwan holds too much for the cup. I was hoping the volumes would match better, but I'm resorting to pouring the water in the cup first, then into the gaiwan, to avoid overflow or having to drink veryfast.

Another sencha start, fukamushi again, and rishi puerh in the afternoon (needed tea in a hurry, so dropped in a tuo and off I went), and then a long gong fu session with the 2009 diamond tie guan yin from norbu this evening. As I drink my way through this one, I'm starting to look at the calendar and wonder when the next crop comes in....

Finished yesterday with a relaxed comparison of two Dragon Well teas. Today, it was Fukamushi Sencha to start, Silver Needle for the afternoon, some orchid oolong for the evening, and may yet need a small nightcap depending on how long it takes to prep for a meeting tomorrow

I checked and my chasen does fit into the celadon mug set. It holds 6 ounces, so big enough for a 3 ounce matcha session, which was the volume suggested by the Dens tea site, and will also serve for a general tea session. I like it enough that I'm tempted to get another one for work too, so I can have the pretty cup for drinking from my thermos in clinic, instead of the lid of my thermos, which is practical but not at all elegant. The travel set is much smaller; per their web site it holds 3.5 oz. I expect to use it at work for my evening gong fu sessions while doing paperwork, when I don't have so many to share the tea with.

Tonight, at work, holding a little gong fu tasting session, comparing the Jing Tea Imperial Shi Feng Long Jing ($64.65/100g) to Wing Hop Fung's Premium Organic Dragonwell (~$33/100g). 1.3g leaf to about 60mL water in small gaiwans, water 160-170 degrees, short infusions of 30" to start, and there is a noticeable different right off the bat that continues through several infusions: the Jing has a much stronger vegetal flavor, with rich asparagus body; the WHF is more delicate, sweeter, and less vegetal, although the two liquors have a similar creamy mouthfeel. The leaves look virtually identical, except the WHF is a little brighter green, and the leaves after brewing have a little more delicate aroma too. Very interesting comparison, head-to-head. I seem to like best whichever one I just finished drinking: they're quite different but both lovely teas. Next I need to compare these two to the "Precious Rare White Tea" from WHF.

With my almost daily 3-4g of sencha to start the day, I am well on my way to finishing my current batch within three months of receiving it. Today I started with Sencha, and this afternoon I'm drinking an interesting oolong from Yunnan Sourcing, Yunnan Wild Arbor "Oriental Beauty" from Wu Liang Mountain, sweet, fruity, floral. It feels a little lighter than the Wuyis and TGYs, but I am enjoying it much more than the rose-scented Oriental Beauty I got from Ten Ren last year.

Started the day with some Fukamushi Sencha; then on to a white tea tasting, notes here in the green tea topic.

Setup:2 grams of tea in 75 mL gaiwan, water 160 degrees, 1st infusion 1 minute; 2nd infusion 165 degrees 1 minutes; 3rd infusion 170 degrees 2 minutes Silver Needle Yellow Tea from Hunan (Wing Hop Fung) Dry Leaves: green, needle-like; grassy, lemony, sweet Liquor, 1st infusion: grassy, lemony, astringent Liquor, 2nd infusion: grassy, astringent, bitter developing Liquor, 3rd infusion: grassy, astringent, bitter, but not strong Wet Leaves: single or paired narrow small leaves, grayer than the very fresh yellow-green of the last tea, but otherwise similar; overcooked vegetable odor Yin Zhen Silver Needle (Chado) Dry Leaves: pale, downy, narrow; light, floral, sweet Liquor, 1st infusion: sweet, floral, delicate Liquor, 2nd infusion: sweet, floral, delicate, touch of astringency Liquor, 3rd infusion: camphor, floral, astringency increasing, weaker Wet Leaves: thin narrow sage green leaves; still sweet, vegetal aroma Organic Bai Mu Dan aka Peony White Tea (Wing Hop Fung) Dry Leaves: some downy needles, a bit twiggy, some open very thin green leaves; sweet, floral, grassy Liquor, 1st infusion: very vegetal and also peachy, delicate, camphor, sweet Liquor, 2nd infusion: peachy, sweet, floral, less vegetal Liquor, 3rd infusion: peachy, floral Wet Leaves: mixed leaf pieces and stems; peachy, camphor aroma Precious Rare White Tea (Wing Hop Fung) Dry Leaves: neat, even, deep bright green needle-like leaves, not downy; delicate grassy odor Liquor, 1st infusion: sweet, vegetal, nutty, strong resemblance to long jing Liquor, 2nd infusion: sweet, vegetal, like a very delicate long jingo Liquor, 3rd infusion: nutty, vegetal, very very nice Wet Leaves: delicate single or paired tiny leaves, intact; sweet cooked pea aroma upper left is Silver Needle Yellow Tea from Hunan (Wing Hop Fung); upper right is Yin Zhen Silver Needle (Chado); lower left Organic Bai Mu Dan aka Peony White Tea (Wing Hop Fung); lower right is Precious Rare White Tea (Wing Hop Fung) Dry leaves Infused liquor Wet leaves That Rishi Moonlight white tea is clearly a Bai Mu Dan.

Bought a couple of prettier tea pieces at the Korean tea shop today, and a couple of small things at the Wing Hop Fung too. Celadon cup/infuser insert/lid set: the cup is big enough for my chasen, to use for matcha, if I can find one that I like. Green gaiwan and drinking cup set Mini-gong fu travel set--bought this because of the tiny gaiwan, holding just 45-50 mL apiece. I wanted the smaller gaiwans to be able to do gong fu tasting sessions comparing several different teas without drinking inordinate quantities of tea. Mini-aroma cup set--the cup holds about one ounce.

Tea cup runneth over today: Received my order from Yunnan Sourcing, and found a tea shop in Koreatown, and stopped at Wing Hop Fung. And I bought enough from the Korean tea shop that I got a free sample of hydrangea tea, which was astonishingly sweet and lovely: two twisty leaves into a good pint of near boiling water, a few minutes' wait, and then wow, sweet, spicy, amazing.

Went with the Dragon Well to get through the evening. This morning, Dens Fukamushi Sencha Maki.

Today started with Sencha Select from the cultured cup, and this afternoon had a Taiwanese oolong that was given as a gift, with no additional description on the label. It's a rather ho-hum cuppa. Now facing a mountain of paperwork, trying to decide whether to fortify myself with the Jing Tea Dragon Well, or the Spring Diamond Tie Guan Yin. Decisions, decisions.

Weird sencha-free morning, but now enjoying the white bud sheng puerh from norbu. Smoky goodness that just feels comforting on a day when I had to get up too early.

After a nice sencha morning, a Mao Feng afternoon, and on to the Da Hong Pao, brewed in a mini yixing, but multiple infusions mixed in a larger cup, about 6-8 infusions for the first cup. As always, it's toasty, warm, sweet, fruity, and delicious. Will see if I can get another 'cup' out of it a little later--bet I can, because these were quite short infusions, and the leaves pretty much fill the pot after being wetted.

Fukamushi Sencha Maki today, a better cup than I've gotten in several previous attempts, not sure what I did better, following directions, AFAIK no differently than a couple of times before when it didn't work so nicely. Mmm.

A good 'oops': tonight kept going longer than usual with the long jing, and my 5th infusion was just amazing, almost fruity/floral, not very nutty, mildly sweet. Water was still fairly cool--maybe 150 degrees? and I lost track of time so don't know how long the infusion was. Didn't expect that so late into the infusions. But frighteningly expensive as it is, I forsee a real purchase of this one--not just a sampler--in my future, because I am enjoying it more the more I work with it. Serious tea indeed.

winding down a very nice tea day: sencha select for breakfast; a perfect jasmine tea, a blend of a fancy grade but overpowering jasmine green tea cut with 2 parts of silver needle tea, and brewed cool and very short, quite nice; and now several infusions of the Imperial Long Jing from jingtea.com. Forgot to bring the remainder of the Wuyi Rock oolongs from the tasting to work today, want to see how they pass the thermos test.

Started with sencha, but the Dens Fukamushi, not the Sencha Select from the cultured cup. Will probably stick with the lighter steamed versions after I finish this. Then onto some Mao Xie, hairy crab oolong from Jing Teas. Took it in my thermos for a day at the satellite office--not the nicest thing to do to a tea that deserved better.

After the oolong, relaxing with Mao Feng to finish the day.

Yesterday's tea day ended with the ginger-flower-fragrance Dan Cong from Tea Habitat, in a gong fu session that continued this morning, while I also prepared my daily sencha. Then moved on to some fall Ali Shan oolong. Not sure if there will be another bit of tea for the end of the day or not.

Started the evening with a sample of Rishi's Moonlight white tea, from a tea swap with LuckyGirl. It's an interesting tea, with a fruity and tart note that I associate with oolongs or black teas, in addition to the delicate flavors typical of white tea. Quite surprising stuff. It reminds me a lot of the spring Ya Bao from Norbu.

Tried again with the Dens organic matcha today. Prewarmed the bowl, 1 gram of matcha, sifted into the bowl, 3 ounces of 160° water, whisked as vigorously as I could, not sure for how long--did not set a timer. Still was very umami, not at all bitter, but a bit more like drinking nutritional yeast than like the gorgeous sweetness of the sencha I made afterwards. I was surprised and a bit frustrated by all those big bubbles that popped up as the tea settled while I was grabbing the camera.

Tried a new sencha from Dens today, the Sencha Shin-ryoku that I got as a sample in my last order. I did it as exactly as I could per their suggestions: 4 grams per 6 oz water at 160° in the kyusu for 90 seconds, first infusion, and 180 degrees for 30 seconds 2nd infusion. I was surprised by the deep golden color of the first infusion, and how clear the liquor was--very little of the fines in it. Astonishingly sweet, tasted and looked a bit like dilute honey. Wow. The 2nd infusion was still quite sweet, but with more umami and vegetable flavors and some astringency, not bitter, just different. And there is a sweet aftertaste in my mouth that is still providing pleasure quite a few minutes after the last sip. I will definitely buy more of this one. Also want to share a link I found elsewhere to a youtube video of , by a Living Treasure. That tea looks so gorgeous that it pretty much had me drooling on the keyboard. Now wondering how to get some of it, and how long I need to 'apprentice' with the conventional senchas that I've just begun to explore (now up to a total of perhaps 5 different preparations from only 2 sources, hardly ready to appreciate that grade of stuff yet) before I can justify seeking out some fabulous handmade stuff.

Looking forward to hearing more about them. Had such a nice brew yesterday of the Lao Cha Tou shu yesterday, but it was so popular that I didn't get as much of it as I might have liked. Lots of requests for a cuppa during a busy afternoon at work.

Another not-so-happy-matcha trial first thing, more in the matcha topic when I download the pics. Then Sencha Shin-ryoku from Dens, a sample included with my last order. Beautiful stuff, like this better than the Fukamashi Sencha. Will probably order this one next time. Not sure where the tea day will go next. Probably should fill a thermos with something to carry around the house while I do chores. Puerh? Oolong? Chamomile? Hmmm.....