Wholemeal Crank

Green, and greener, today: Yunnan Mao Feng for the long afternoon meeting, and now, a gaiwan of Imperial Shi Feng Long Jing.

I saw a pointer to this topic in the 'what tea are you drinking today?' topic. I have been posting here pretty much exclusively about tea from camellia sinensis, but sometimes I want something without caffeine, or crave the a different flavor profile, and make some herb teas. I used to drink a lot of celestial seasonings chamomile and various zingers, but then read the back of a couple of packages one day, visited the local co-op bulk herb section, and started to collect things to make my own mixes. Lately I have most often made a mix of chamomile (the base flavor), hibiscus (for tartness), a touch of dried orange peel (citrus flavor) and licorice root (a little adds a lot of sweetness). Sometimes I just want peppermint and chamomile. My most recent discovery is tulsi--Holy Basil. I was given a set of tulsi tea bags last year as a gift from a friend who went to India, and find it adds a nice spicy touch to whichever mix I put it in. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find more of it in the nearest Indian groceries, so I'll be running out soon. I've never tried saffron in the mix--that sounds interesting.

The yixing may have contributed; I was thinking the leaf to water ratio was higher, but actually it was about the same; and probably tasting it on its own, not comparing it to the other teas, allowed the flavors stand out more than when I was trying to find differences between them.

Today, drinking the Ban Tian Yao again, this time with 2 grams of leaf to the 60mL yixing teapot I'm using for oolongs. The first infusion was fruity, sweet, earthy and toasty all at once; the fruitiness increased nicely in the 2nd & 3rd infusions; but now, as I'm getting to the 9th or 10th (have lost count), the toasted/earthy flavors are more dominant.

Starting with Sencha select again today, and a few extra infusions of the Honey Orchid oolong leaves from last night.

After the Wuyis today, went for the Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong from Tea Habitat. More spicy and floral than the Wuyis. All in all a nice varied tea day, from a perfect sencha to the toasty wuyis to the spicy phoenix oolong.

This is a very difficult assignment. Using the matched gaiwans described above, I worked with these three teas and, for comparison, a Taiwanese oolong from TenRen. Why difficult? They're all lovely teas, and quite similar in their flavor profiles--toasty, spicy, a little fruity, a little sweet. Little separates them. I think I did the first infusions a little too dilute--1 gram apiece in 75 mL gaiwans but using only 30mL water just off the boil. I will try again with fewer at a time and a more concentrated brew to try to distinguish them better. But I think I did find a little more depth to the Wuyi's that might represent the 'rock' taste. Here are the teas before brewing Infusion parameters: 10" rinse; 30", 30", 30", 60", 90", 150" infusions 1--Da Hong Pao Wuyi Spring Harvest 2009 from Norbu Leaf aroma after rinse--spicy, tart, strong 1st--spicy, toasty 2nd--warm, spicy, want more 3rd--a little more fruity and toasty 4th--toasty, with a depth not quite there in the Ting Tung 5th--smoother than 2 and 3 6th--little change, not particularly sweet, still fruity/spicy/toasty 2--Ban Tian Yao Wuyi Spring Harvest 2009 from Norbu Leaf aroma after rinse--spicy, milder 1st--spicy, toasty 2nd--having trouble differentiating 3rd--dark, toasty, sweet 4th--toasty, more like the 3rd than the Da Hong Pao 5th--still delicious 6th--a bit more camphor than the ad hong pao, otherwise very similar 3--Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Spring Harvest 2009 from Norbu Leaf aroma after rinse--spicy, tart 1st--spicy, toasty, slightly bitter 2nd--similar 3rd--dark toasty but a little sweet 4th--again, like the 2nd more than like Da Hong Pao 5th--still delicious 6th--a nice sweetness coming out 4--Ting Tung Oolong from TenRen Leaf aroma after rinse--fruity, tart 1st --toastier 2nd--dark, toasty 3rd--toasty, less spicy 4th--warm, but something lighter about this one--I think this (the element that is not in this one) is the minerality discussed previously 5th--relatively darker, toastier than the 3 whys 6th--smooth, toasty, still less of the 'mineral' or 'rock' taste First infusion: Leaves after brewing:

Starting with the sencha select today. Looking forward some Wuyi oolongs next. Hard to remember how afraid of green teas I was just a few months ago. Now I'm drinking as much of them as oolongs.

Tried a sample of Imperial Shi Feng Long Jing from Jing Tea today. I found it harder to get to that sweet spot I was hitting with the Royal Dragons Well from wing hop fung of late--it was nuttier and more astringent, but admittedly I was not very consistent with timing or temperature. After that, I brewed up a gaiwan of Tian Mu Qing Ding T-65 from Chado tea, about which they say "The finest green tea from the top of Mt. Tianmu. This tea is mainly from the cloud and mist zone. Relaxing, pleasant and sweet." But in my hands this tea is smoky, earthy, not at all vegetal or sweet. The leaves are spindly and brown more than green, strongly resembling the sample photo on the web site, so it doesn't look like it was taken from the wrong bin. It's quite nice, but just doesn't bring 'green tea' to mind when I drink it.

A four-tea day....started with more Ali Shan summer oolong, then moved on to a first gaiwan of Imperial Shi Feng Long Jing from JingTea, another of a mysteriously smoky Tian Mu Qing Ding from Chado (T-65), and finishing with several infusions of Chado's Grand Pouchong T-103. More in the green tea topic.

Looks good. I have 6 like this from Wing Hop Fung that were $2.99 apiece and hold 75-80mL to the lid line

It's for insane things like this that I really could use the dinky little gaiwans.

More of the same puerh as yesterday, had forgotten how nice it is; then moving on to the 'summer beauty' ali shan high mountain oolong from norbu.

Got mine last night, won't be able to do a proper tasting until the weekend. Can't wait to try to figure out 'the rock'/mineral taste we've been discussing in the oolong topic. I have several non-wuyi oolongs to compare these to as well.

Finishing off the Royal Dragon's Well from wing hop fung, and earlier had a lovely brewing of my first puerh beeng, this one on the left which was so sweet, earthy and lovely that I have fallen in love with it all over again. And started the day with an excellent cup of sencha select.

Another day, another several infusions of Dragon Well--the 'Royal' grade from Wing Hop Fung--and all have come out very nicely. This time I remembered to measure, and I am using about 2 grams of tea with 75-80mL water at 160-170 degrees, brewing in a gaiwan at 30", 10", and 30". Sweet, vegetal, moderate astringency, almost no bitterness. I bought more of it this weekend when I went to Wing Hop Fung.

Just finishing a brewing of the Yunnan Mao Feng, and trying to figure out what to have next. I have at least another full quart of tea's worth of work to finish tonight.....

Drinking a gorgeous cup of Sencha Select from the Culture Cup tonight, after a thermos full of Big Red Robe oolong this afternoon. The little kyusu from Dens is lovely to handle, even if not especially beautiful to behold.

An assam-free day as usual, with a thermos full of white bud sheng puerh followed by several infusions of the spring 2009 alishan oolong from norbu.

My smallest gaiwans actually hold between 75 and 80 mL filled to where the lid sits. These small travel gaiwans looked about half their size. But I didn't bring a bottle of water and my pocket scale to verify....

I had a happy accident today, eating garlic potatoes with some of my favorite white bud sheng puerh from norbu. There is so much garlic in these potatoes that I ca still taste it, and it blends brilliantly with this puerh.

Finally saw some really small gaiwans yesterday at Wing Hop Fung. The smaller standard ones like those I already have hold between 2 and 3 ounces; these smaller ones came with travel tea kits including a small padded zippered case, 4 impossibly tiny teacups holding maybe 15-20 mL, and the gaiwans looked to hold about 40mL. They didn't have separate bases for the gaiwans. These are the size I was looking for for comparative tastings of oolongs or puerhs where I want to sample many infusions of 2-4 teas at a time, but it feels very wasteful to buy the whole travel kit (admittedly cheap enough at $10.99) when I just want the little gaiwans. In time, if I don't find another source, I'll probably cave in and buy a couple of sets of them. Maybe I'd be able to give the cups to someone whose doll could use them....

Used the full 0.6 g leaf per oz water this morning, and got an intensification of the vegetal flavors without any amplification of bitterness; but there was no increase in sweetness. Amazing how rich the flavor got without astringency or bitterness.

How do you clean & store your chasen? The container it came in is hard plastic and mostly airtight....seems like an invitation to mold.

Bought a chasen today and a simple 8 oz white porcelain rice bowl for a first go at matcha, and an extra pair of gaiwans soni have a matched set of four for tastings. All ready for the Wuyis.