Wholemeal Crank

The question of how many infusions with the gyokuro vs the sencha is not so much because there's anything wrong with getting fewer infusions from one vs the other, but more pondering whether the shaded gyokuro leaves are more delicate and release their contents faster than the senchas, in general, or if this might be more to do with the size of the leaf fragments in the different teas. As for the question of what clays do to the teas brewed in them, that brings up a point to ponder: chinese yixing pots are used for oolongs and puerhs, but less often for green teas because the bitterness of an off-brewing might be absorbed and released into the next batch of tea. But these banko pots are unglazed, and being used for green tea, and prized for an ability to favorably alter the flavor profile of a tea. Why would the unglazed clay be preferred in the one circumstance but not the other? Different tea flavor profiles, brewing temperatures, clay chemical composition?

Inspired by the discussion of a Roman recipe for honey cake, I'm toying with the idea of a making a very simple cookie that would be worthy of my beekeeping brother's prize-winning honey. And though I have quite a few recipes that use honey for part of the sweetener, I don't have any that are simple enough--like the honey, egg, flour recipe discussed in that topic--to really show off the flavor of the honey. I'm thinking instead of honey, egg, flour and a custardy or cake-like texture, using just honey, butter, flour, and ending up with a crisper cookie-like texture. This leads to a bunch of questions: Honey is hygroscopic and not conducive to crisp baked goods. But regular sugar (sucrose) is also hygroscopic, and you can make very crisp baked goods with it. Why is honey so much more hygroscopic than sucrose? And are there other common baking ingredients that are--making up a word here because I have never heard of a term for this--"anti-hygroscopic" that could be used to counteract this effect? Is there any role for an alternative non-wheat flour (other grain? nut or seed meals?) to slow the sticky softening of honeyed cookies after baking? More questions: if I recall correctly things made with honey should be baked at lower temperature because it browns and burns more easily than sugar. Again, is this a property of the simpler sugars in honey?

Curious now: After another batch of gyokuro this evening, I am curious as to why this gyokuro doesn't last through multiple infusions as well as the sencha does--the sencha has a lot to give through 6 infusions in my hands, but the gyokuro is pretty flat at 4. Is this a general property of gyokuros and senchas, or something specific to these particular teas? I'm referring there to the gyokuro kin I got from denstea vs the sencha select from the cultured cup we just did a tasting with here.

Ending the work evening with some gyokuro. Have some questions about this vs the sencha--will take those over to the japanese green tea topic.

Any chance of some more details in the puerh topic?

Today, Pouchong from TenRen. When I finish this batch (I bought several ounces, so it will take a while), I will try their top grade Pouchong for comparison.

2007 White Bud Sheng Puerh from norbutea.com. Just amazing that the same plant can produce the variety of lovely stuff I've been drinking this week--the Big Red Robe, the AliShan High Mountain oolong, Japanese sencha and gyokuro, this and the Lao Mansa puerhs, and a basic green jasmine.

I have been reading about how aging alters puerh, some detailed accounts that are all about chemistry, and some poetic flights of fancy about how fabulous old pu makes you feel, and I think it will be fun to see the process up close for once. This is the first pu I've tasted that has such an interesting mix of things I really really like (the wonderful sweet and fruity and spicey notes) and dislike (significant bitterness if I brew it too hot). So, I'm curious to see if the sweet and spicey and fruity stay and amplify as the bitter fades. I'm getting a single beeng, and will break off some now and then and drink it see if I like it better or not over time. If it gets better, terrific, and if starts to lose any of the good qualities, I'll just drink the rest faster. This is play, and will bear no relationship to the controlled, monitored, serious aging of a dealer or serious connoisseur.

It's an interesting question--how do you tell the difference between better and lesser teas? I've been reading a lot and asking questions here and elsewhere as I try to figure out what teas are worth my time and effort and which aren't. The ones I generally like best have a lot of flavor from each leaf or piece of leaf, give me some leeway in brewing conditions, and when I get them just right, are terrific. An example of one that I used to like a lot, but have mostly put aside now, is an inexpensive green jasmine tea. If brewed just right, it can be ok, but if I am just a little distracted and use water that is too hot or let it sit a bit too long, it rapidly gets bitter--and not just a little bitter, a lot bitter. And if I do get it just right, its best is never anything to sing about. At best, it's good. In comparison, the japanese Sencha we're also tasting now is so sweet and lush that even when I don't hit it just right, the sweet outweighs the mild bitter, and when I get it just right, it's pure heaven. Another example would be the Lao Mansa puerh from Norbutea that we're tasting right now. The first time I brewed it I got quite a bit of bitterness, but also could tell that there was a lot of wonderfulness there too. In subsequent brewings, a lower brewing temperature after the first rinse really downplayed the bitterness, and suddenly the sweet, fruity and spicy flavors came through big time. So a moderate downside if I do it wrong, but a very big upside when I get it right. The cooked puerhs I started with are less prone to bitterness, but at their best, they're not nearly as interesting as the Lao Mansa. I tried to think of some other rules that would distinguish the keepers from the try them once, and these rules didn't help: leaf size--some of them have big intact leaves, some little tiny buds, some are broken bits; intensity of color of the dry leaf--some are bright green or rich dark brown, but some are pale gray; scent--some strongly scented before wetting, some almost odorless until they're infusing; and price--it's a relief to realize that I'm not automatically preferring only the most expensive ones!

Running low on my sample, so I ordered a beeng, some for now and some for ageing.

Supreme Wuyi Big Red Robe from Wing Hop Fung, just right for the day, with that delicately sweet finish to the warm roastiness. Mmmm.

Before I finished off my sample, I wanted to share how pretty this sencha is, from this morning's brewing:

The simple bamboo tea tray I bought a couple of weeks ago--the top lifts off to clean it up. and the character on the tea tray, which I presume means 'tea' And a pretty small cup for drinking, which doesn't show the liquor color, but I'm quite happy with it anyway--the darker glaze sparkles.

The Lao Mansa leaves are quite green even before steeping: And although there are some stems, many leaves appear intact

Today I am brewing this tea again, in the gaiwan, about 2 grams to 2 ounces of water, and drinking it with some fine cheddar, sopressata, and bread. In another topic we were discussing tea with food, and I have to say that tea stands up to the spicy, savory flavors of this meal superbly. The fruitiness and sweetness is perfect counterpoint to it. Happy camper here.

I didn't notice much that I could define as ginseng, but I have no idea what ginseng tastes like. There is a nice sweetness that I was assuming is the coating, powdered ginseng plus whatever that they're using to mix with the base oolong tea. Don't know if the sweet is the ginseng or some sugar to cover up a less attractive ginseng flavor. Can anyone else here describe what ginseng should taste like? And not sure if it was the brewing conditions (in a hurry, a bit chaotic) or the tea, but the Alishan Oolong today was an interesting contrast to the Diamond Tie Guan Yin I've been drinking so much of: a bit less sweet, and more of a deeper flavor that I'm having trouble characterizing--not earthy, not haylike or vegetal, more like umami + caramel, maybe? At any rate, although I am still craving the Big Red Robe roasted notes, it was interesting that this was a little closer to that than the Tie Guan Yin was.

I have a ginseng oolong from Vitaltleaf.com called 'blue people' with rolled balls of tea that look a bit blue, I presume from the ginseng powder. I find it a nice oolong, mild, sweet, but not one that I crave the way I do the tie Guan Yin or the Big Red Robe. Today starting with the Alishan High Mountain Oolong from norbutea, subject of a recent tasting, a very bright green and floral oolong. I was craving Big Red Robe Wuyi today, but am out of it here at the office. Sigh.

These are my two umbellularia, from two different native plant nurseries. Their leaf shape is not quite the same, but they do have the same characteristic odor. and Not sure either of these photos are clear enough at this scale to demonstrate that the young leaves can be quite small; and the leaf shape is also pretty variable between the very elongated potted plant and the less elongate one planted in the yard.

I do drink tea into the evening, finishing off my daily afternoon brewing, but less often start brewing. When I do, it is usually in very small quantities, starting with 1 or 2 g leaf in a small pot; or I drink an herbal tea, such as chamomile and peppermint or chamomile hibiscus. I could use some with a little caffeine in it right now, as it happens.

I tried sprouting some seeds I found on a sidewalk from a tree in someone's yard (not from the parks), but didn't succeed. I've only seen the plants twice since I moved to LA, both from specialty native plant nurseries.

Drinking the gyokuro kin after a couple of days with the sencha from our teaching, and today I tried the same infusion timings I've been using for the sencha--30", 10", 30", 30". On the 4th infusion it was distinctly less losing power, whereas the sencha lasted another 2 infusions. I guess the gyokuro just extracts faster.

Starting with gyokuro today, plus apple tart with pineapple sage. A sweet start for the week.

Is it a separate part that comes off, or permanently attached? I've been trying to figure that out since I first looked at these images.

Ooops, just rereading and realized I assumed LuckyGirl was referring to M&B, my mistake. I do recall seeing leaves from them that reminded me of the california laurel, but was conflating two posts when assuming they were who she had written to.

I didn't find anything about umbellularia on the MB& site either, but LuckyGirl referenced an e-mail from the company here. I don't know if their California Bay is labelled differently or not. But I thought I had seen the darker green and more elongate leaf appearance that I associate with the California Bay in their jars. I have never *bought* their leaves, however, and they may simply have fresher L nobilis leaves that are not as sad and washed out as what we usually find in the supermarket. Horticulturally, U. californica is now in the news as a major natural host for the cause of sudden oak death, Phytophthora ramorum. It gets infected but not usually sickened by the pathogen. Probably not a good idea to plant one, if you can find it, if you have oaks around.