Wholemeal Crank

The rest of the tea day: some Dragon Well after morning rounds; purple bud Hainan puerh in the afternoon, sweet and fruity and floral and mellow earthy, very nice; and finishing with some a mix of some spring Ya Bao I got in a tea swap with Richard and Yunnan Mao Feng, a very nice and mellow combination, relatively dilute, to be a relaxing evening drink. The spring Ya Bao are quite different than the summer Ya Bao I bought when the spring were sold out--more floral and delicate. I'll be sure to get some of this years' crop when it arrives.

Today again starting with this tea, and shorter infusions, water again 150-160 degrees, 5g, 1 minute first and 15-20 second 2nd and 3rd infusions, and today am noting clearly the brininess that was mentioned by LuckyGirl. The later short infusions have thinner liquor than the longer ones I did yesterday, but are still quite rich and deep and vegetal, and no hint of bitterness.

Not insane, given that I am making a pot of sencha with 5g to 6 oz water, and have used even higher proportions with some particularly nice green teas. At that rate of use, however, you should get several quite short infusions, so that 5 g of leaf is giving you 3-6 cups of tea.

I also brewed up a little bit of the 2009 Spring Zhen-Yen Handcrafted "Rou Gui" from Houde. Spicy, sweet, complex and toasty. Will do it up with pictures another day. Today was brewing tiny quantities to not OD on tea but to check out several of the way-too-many teas that recently came home with me.

Today I broke into the Hankook korean oolong I bought at Chasaengwon last week. I did not weigh the tea but filled the small gaiwan about 1/4 full by eye. I started with water about 190 degrees, and infused 30" after a quick rinse. Then multiple additional infusions about 30-60 seconds apiece, water temperature varying as the water in the pot cooled and was rewarmed a little. It's an interesting fruity tea, reminds me of the Bai Mu Dan I tasted last week--peachy, a hint of fermented fruit. I'm not sure I really enjoy that particular flavor note very much, and will have to play with this one a few more times before I have a good sense of it. It also resembles the Oriental Beauty from Yunnan that I drank this week, from Yunnan Sourcing. Not as toasty or spicy as Wuyi, nor greenly floral like the low-oxidized green oolongs.

First try, started with their range of 0.75-1 gram of tea per oz water, so 5 grams sencha preheated kyusu Water at 150°F 1 1/2 minutes 1st infusion Sweet, vegetal, rich body, not even a hint of bitter 155° 60 seconds flavor is darker, more intense, less sweet, hint of bitter, probably should have infused it shorter 160°, 30 seconds also a little 'darker', like the 2nd infusion, but not bitter, just more deep vegetable flavor, and still some sweet; getting a bit thin in the body. This is a lovely tea. I will try a little staying shorter for later infusions next time.

I've only ever tried this Yin Zhen from Chado. I liked it enough that I bought several ounces, and I've hardly made a dent.

First brewing of the Yuuki-Cha Organic Kumamoto Sencha Yabe Supreme for the tasting today. Will hold my notes until everyone is ready. Nice.

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.