Wholemeal Crank

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.

SOunds delicious.

Interesting that it would be different than a gaiwan or yixing, where it should be completely full to Help keep the temp steady.

The kyusu was rated 6 oz capacity, and when typically full, it holds 170 ml, so that was about 0.4 g/oz. I can easily see trying a bit stronger: there really wasn't much bitterness in it.

Not ready to try the matcha yet, but today opened the fukamushi sencha. For the first time. About 2.5 grams leaf in 6 oz kyusu, infused very short to avoid bitterness, 30", 15", 60". That last infusion was fairly flat; I guess the "deep steaming" makes it give up more of te sweet vegetal flavor earlier. I'll work on optimizing the first infusions instead of trying to stretch it out to three or more.

Is it particularly floral? Or does it have a strong fruit aroma? That name is very intriguing.

And this evening, a 3rd set of infusions from a ginger flower fragrance dan cong.

Today, yunnan black tea with osmanthus.

I think the basic brewing was just fine--perhaps a touch light on the leaf:water ratio, and there were no off flavors. I think I just prefer the non-aged versions.