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Everything posted by Wholemeal Crank
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Alishan High Mountain Spring oolong. Working my way through the spring 2009 Oolongs so I will have room in my cupboard for the 2010s....
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What are the leaves called when they're for sale at 99 Ranch?
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Thinking here of celery and artichokes, where cutting them shorter--1/4 inch, say--can eliminate the need to peel: if you cut them very short, do they still need to be scooped or peeled?
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Thanks for the info, and the warnings on the flowers ! The friend who was describing this says he's never seen any part of it for sale in the US, but I don't know how hard he's tried. Los Angeles is a big place.... I'll keep my eyes open. I'm just curious after hearing his descriptions, but I'd love to find a reliable source as a gift to my friend.
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Today I brewed the Yunnan Mao Feng at about 175 degrees, and it is sweeter--still not a honeyed sweetness. I am particularly loving something camphorous that adds what I think of as a 'wild' note--it's quite present in the wild white camellia leaves from norbu, and also in the white bud sheng puerh. But today I realized it is a more general tea note that was also present in the black tea I made last night, just here the flavor contex is different. I like this one just as much as the senchas and gyokuros, each is a splendid but entirely different type of tea, and quite a bit better than the dragonwell that is 10 times the price.
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Last tea of the night, Golden Yunnan Xtra Fancy from Chado with some osmanthus blossoms. 2nd time I've combined them and it is fabulous. I may have to make up some of this combo to give as gifts for christmas. Today, starting with Yunnan Mao Feng green tea from norbu.
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Into the evening with a pot of the Spring Diamond Tie Guan Yin from norbutea. Next up will be something smokier or earthier to fit with the dank wet day.
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Have now had my stainless simplex tea kettle for several weeks. It has a lot of water spots, but a few seconds of rubbing with a clean towel and it is again brilliantly shiny. It whistles gently, and the build of the whistle is slow--gives you a chance to get to it before it goes full bore shriek. It pours much more neatly than my revere pot, which is now officially retired and heading for goodwill. I'm quite pleased with my little collection of teaware now, and have only a couple of small gaps that I'd still like to fill in. The sencha and gyokuro teas are cut so small that they rapidly clog the built-in strainer holes on the spouts of my little chinese teapots; and my larger japanese teapot with a metal mesh strainer is too large for brewing just a few grams of these teas at a time. If I could just stop breaking the glass pots....
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Tea Tasting Mao Xie, Harry Crab - Fall 09 Oolong Tea
Wholemeal Crank replied to a topic in Coffee & Tea
Yesterday, I finished off my Hairy Crab with just 1 gram of tea in a 60mL yixing, doing longer infusions to help make up for the again quite low leaf-to-water ratio, and I did about 5 in the morning, abandoned the leaves all day, and then after a quick cool-water rinse, did another 3 infusions in the evening, these last 2-3 minutes apiece, and there was still some flavor and body left. I will not be ordering more of this tea because my cupboards runneth over, but will keep it in mind when I need some more..... -
With those restrictions, I would want to feature fruit. Any number of cobblers and tarts should work, depending on what you put into the topping or crust. If eggs are ok, blood orange curd. If eggs are not ok, how about raspberry-nectarine tart? Or warm gingerbread topped with fresh applesauce--I have a simple gingerbread recipe that has butter and egg but no milk, if you need. And this is a vegetable disguised as a fruit--squash mock apple tarts. Also consider a sweet yeasted bread--thinking here of madnakash, enriched with milk, honey, and butter, and then dipped in a date syrup: should take easily to substitution with soymilk, or fruit juice. Dress up sorbet with shortbread cookies.
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More oolong this afternoon, the Alishan High Mountain Summer Oolong. Very smooth.
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Started the day with the last of the hairy crab, in little yixing pot. Very nice.
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A colleague at work yesterday was telling us about the drumstick plant, something that is apparently in every kitchen garden in Kerala, where he is from. A little googling revealed a picture of a vegetable I didn't recall ever seeing in the Indian groceries I've shopped in, and it's strange enough that I think I would have noticed it. Wikipedia has a good picture and basic description of Moringa oleifera here. Apparently the leaves, stem, flowers and fruit are all edible. Does anyone know if this is grown or imported into the US?
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Today I ran out of time to make my pre-clinic pot of tea, and I thus have been enjoying a pot of the 2007 norbu white bud sheng puerh all by myself. As usual, it's an exceptionally lovely mix of smoky and sweet, and I get impatient just waiting for each cupful to cool down before I can drink it.
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Tea Tasting: 2009 Japanese Organic Matcha Iri Genmaicha
Wholemeal Crank replied to a topic in Coffee & Tea
Message sent -
Today at work, a nice mix of an orchid oolong and the wonderful rishi peach blossom white tea. The peach blossom is overpowering on it's own, but lovely mixed with something else. Today the orchid oolong seemed like a perfect foil.
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Tea Tasting Mao Xie, Harry Crab - Fall 09 Oolong Tea
Wholemeal Crank replied to a topic in Coffee & Tea
I only have about 1 gram left. I think it's time for the tiniest yixing to eek out several more infusions. -
And finishing the evening with some ginseng oolong, "blue people" from vitaltleaf.com.
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Cooking is my primary creative outlet these days, because it is fun to do, fun to share, and everybody's gotta eat.
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One of the better batches of jasmine I've brewed in a while, because I knew I'd be sharing it with at a long meeting, where the jasmine lovers outweigh the puerh-holics.
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I gathered my dried chiles Seeded them and ran them through my spice grinder Took about 2 grams of each and added 2 tablespoons of boiling water to rehydrate them; sauteed some onions and garlic, and added a spoonful to each chile slurry, and tasted them. I used plain brown rice and some tortilla chips as the vehicles for the chiles, and tasted them from milder to hotter per the ratings on this chart. I decided not to toast or fry the chiles first because I wanted to taste them as simply as possible this time. Mildest group: The ancho was only slightly little hot, and mildly fruity. The mulato was very earthy, darker flavored, less fruity, and hotter. The pasilla was fruitier, less earthy, and not quite as hot as the mulato. In between heat: The New Mexico was fruity, lighter, and a bit tart, hotter than the first three but not by much. The guajillo was earthier than the New Mexico, but less so than the mulato, but hotter than the mulato. The chilhaucle negro was fruity, tart, less heat than New Mexico or guajillo, and seemed more like the New Mexico in the tart/fruity flavor. The cascabel was sweet and fruity, and not particularly hot. I have had these for a long time and hardly ever use them. I will use them more often now! Hottest (but still quite mild as chiles go!): The puya was a bit one dimensional with heat but not a lot of depth of flavor. The chipotle surprised me with how sweet and fruity it was under the smoky heat. All in all, a lot of fun, and although the chilhaucle negro did have a bit of a unique flavor, it wasn't so astonishingly good that I can see continuing to pay as much as I did for these. After the tasting, I took the rest of the chile tests and extra powdered chile (rehydrating in additional boiling water), added it back to the remaining onions and garlic in the pot, and cooked it a while before adding some stock, beans, etc, until it made a tasty chili.
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Tea Tasting Mao Xie, Harry Crab - Fall 09 Oolong Tea
Wholemeal Crank replied to a topic in Coffee & Tea
Today I am drinking the Hairy Crab again, with 2 grams to about 2 ounces of water in the gaiwan, and it is again quite nice. That flavor element we've been trying to describe seemed more like pineapple-coconut than pineapple today, but whatever you call it, it's interesting and pleasant. I also tried to find the hairiness in the tea today. Despite my best attempts to manipulate photo conditions and the actual photo in photoshop, I could find very little hairiness in the first brewed tea (and I did not rinse the leaves first, to maximize my chance to catch the little hairs), I can only see a couple of them here, on the right side of the image: and this is a link to my flickr page, where I put a tag so you can see the specks I'm talking about. Looking again at the dry leaves, about as closeup as I can get with the macro lens, I can see a faint downiness on the Hairy Crab that is more obvious than on the Alishan High Mountain Spring 2009 Oolong : So it is a bit hairy, but those leaves hold onto the hairs quite tightly. -
That might be the simplest way to go. I could prep the onions and garlic separately, divvy it up between the peppers, and use the leftover after the tasting for a nice batch of beans n' rice. A bit simpler for comparing flavors than a full salsa, but not as plain as just pureed peppers over rice or tortillas.
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Like a Birder’s Life List but for Foodies
Wholemeal Crank replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Some of the things that come to mind: Normandy beaten bread, with normandy butter, in normandy Jam made from nutmeg fruit Bouillabaisse in Marseille Couscous and bisteeya in Morocco Spanish acorn-fed hams A whole bunch of southeast asian street food Taste test a couple of dozen different potatoes in the Andes This past year, I ate bagels in New York, delicious; found Mangosteens in a local Thai market, which were good, but not as amazing as I'd fantasized; bought a country miche from Poilane's original bakery in Paris, which was fabulous, easily living up to my expectations; and had chocolates from Pierre Herme's, which were excellent, but not so utterly unique that I will pine for them. -
Tea Tasting Mao Xie, Harry Crab - Fall 09 Oolong Tea
Wholemeal Crank replied to a topic in Coffee & Tea
2 grams, hotter water, again with about 2 ounces of water in a small gaiwan. To help identify the other flavor, I am tasting it at the same time with some of my Honey Orchid Phoenix Oolong from teahabit.com, because it's a strongly fruity oolong. There is a resemblance, something tart and fruity in both, that is not found in the Alishan or Tie Guan Yin Oolongs also from norbu, but it is a little more vegetal than the Phoenix . And it seems remarkably sweet now by comparison to the Phoenix oolong. The phoenix oolong also has a bit of camphor that is quite absent from the Hairy Crab. I'm up to four brewings now, each a bit longer than the first time around, when I started at 30 seconds, and it's holding up nicely. I think I can get at least two more infusions out of it, but doubt it will go to a 8 or 10 like the super sweet and strong spring teas have done.