Wholemeal Crank

At the office today, Rishi Golden Yunnan black tea. Good to be reminded that some black teas are brilliant. This one is particulary nice with some ginger shortbread cookies. It has the oomph to stand up to a lot of cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and pepper.

Today starting with gyokuro again. I think this is an excellent tea to start the day.

Nothing lovelier for a cold than HOT hot & sour soup. The soup makes me happy and my nose clears itself out a bit. As long as I'm prepared with plenty of napkins, handkerchiefs, etc, it's great.

Plate O'Shrimp! I was just drinking a bit of dragonwell yesterday, probably my best brewing yet. I only tried for two infusions--three seemed to be pushing it. Soon after I got the tea I was thinking it was a mistake, I would never really like it that much,and it was so expensive; but the infusion yesterday was so delicate and sweet and yes, nutty and vegetal too, just like you mentioned, that I do want to keep working with it. I especially enjoy coming back to a particularly nice tea after a while drinking a bunch of something else. Rediscovering the pleasure of a smoky roasty oolong or a delicate sweet nutty dragonwell is always lovely. Unfortunately I was distracted and rushing out the door this morning and I am not drinking any tea today because I did not make any, and the lunchroom here only has lipton. Sigh.

BTW, my answer did not mention the things you put out as examples in your first post. For peppermint, I would use a few drops of peppermint oil, and be sure to really mix it well into the milk/chocolate so it gets evenly distributed. A little ground black pepper reinforces the pepper in peppermint. I've not had a satisfactory result with peppermint leaf, fresh or dried. Peppermint extract is too much liquid for me to be comfortable with the dry mix I'm using. For Amaretto, I would use freshly ground mahleb (aka mahaleb), the pit of wild black cherry trees from the mediterranean. You would only need a little bit--1/4 teaspoon per cup should be plenty. The seed is a bit bitter, so you don't want to overdo it. Or give them a bottle of amaretto and ask them to add it to taste when they're preparing the chocolate.

Chocolate will keep for a good long while--cocoa butter is very stable, and in hot chocolate, since you're melting the chocolate, a bit of blooming or other change in the chocolate texture won't matter; powdered milk is designed for long term storage; what they'll lose first is the freshness of the spices in the mix.

Just bought it, will report back after I've read through it.

It came out with a lot of fanfare, but as a dedicated wholemeal crank, I was disappointed by the lack of conviction--the 1/2 or 1/3 whole grain flours, and they with access to the best quality fresh milled stuff. But I thought the recipes looked tasty and functional, and that they would easily adapt to 100% whole grain. But they were not very different from what I already had in standard cookbooks, so I didn't buy it. Just wondering what was disappointing about it to you--the same issues I had, or recipes that didn't work, or something else?

retreating to the safety of the Diamond Tie Guan Yin for a last cup of the day, while finishing up a bit of paperwork. Gentle even on a burnt tongue.

Used my citrus juicer. I have moderately heavy duty version, not quite as solid as this, but a similar design. The poms were so massive I had to cut them down to sixths or smaller to fit the wedges in.

Trying again with the keemun Hao A from Harney&Sons, and even at 1 gram for a full 8 ounces, there is simply a dominant flavor that I don't like. Maybe this is what someone else fancifully called "chocolate" but to me it is just unpleasant. Plus, after letting it sit a bit, I forgot to be sufficiently cautious and burnt my tongue. That's less of an issue with the cooler brewed teas, or those infused gong-fu style and enjoyed from little shallow cups. I did this one western style in a mug and ouch. I did enjoy the chado keemun, so will keep working on that one, but will retire this sample as not right for me.

I recently posted in some detail about my experiments with flavored hot chocolate in this topic. I prefer hot chocolate to hot cocoa, and when I travel and have access to hot water but not milk, I prepare a mix with powdered milk that has gone over very well as a gift. I like one ounce of 70% cacao chocolate per cup of milk; for those who like their chocolate lighter, a 50-60% cacao may be preferable. Per cup of hot chocolate 1 ounce chocolate, coarsely chopped 1/4 cup instant powdered milk and seasonings to taste, e.g., Chile-cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground hot chile (not cayenne; aleppo pepper, hot new mexico chile, etc) 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon Add the coarsely chopped chocolate, milk powder, and spices to the blender or food processor, cover your ears, and let it go until the chocolate is finely chopped and evenly mixed with the milk powder. Instructions for the end-user: place 1/3-1/2 cup of mix into your cup. Heat some water to near boiling. While it is heating, stir a tablespoon or two of water into the mix in your cup--if you get all the milk at least damp you're less likely to end up with lumps. Then gradually stir in just under one cup of hot water. Adjust the quantity of mix to make it as thick as you like. And alternate seasonings that lend themselves to this: Mixed spices 1/4 teaspoon cardamom 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon Pink pepper and star anise 1/8-1/4 teaspoon powdered star anise 1/8 teaspoon ground pink peppercorn Orange-cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon powder 2-3 drops of orange oil or a small piece of dried orange peel Mace, star anise, and cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground mace or nutmeg, freshest is best 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon powder 1/8 teaspoon ground star anise or anise seed With coconut currry 1/4 teaspoon ginger 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon coriander 3/8 teaspoon mild chili powder or sweet paprika 1/4 teaspoon turmeric 1 tablespoon coconut milk powder or unsweetened dried flaked coconut, whirled with the spices in a spice grinder With lime and cardamom and long pepper 1/4 teaspoon cardamom 2-3 drops lime oil 1/4 teaspoon long pepper Hope that gives you some good ideas.

Couldn't find the pH paper, so winged it. Because I prefer a less buttery curd, and wanted to be sure it would set, I used a bit of cornstarch (yes, I'm a heretic). It still came out a bit too buttery for my preference, but is delicious. 2/3 cup sugar 2 T cornstarch 1 cup pomegranate juice 1/4 cup lemon juice 5 egg yolks, whisked together 1/3 cup butter, cut into chunks Stirred the sugar, cornstarch and juices together until there were no lumps, then brought it to about 160 degrees. Gradually added it to the whisked eggs, returned to heat, brought to near boil so the cornstarch thickened, then strained it into a bowl, whisked in the butter, and poured into serving dishes to chill. It is not very clear, but I don't taste any raw cornstarch flavor, so I'm not sure what that is about. But it is delicious, and I think it will go over well with my target audience tomorrow. I got nearly a quart of wonderfully sweet juice from these four giant pomegranates--they were about one and half pounds apiece--and am freezing some for another try.

Today, starting with the Phoenix Honey Orchid Oolong from TeaHabitat. mmm.

Maybe I'll try that when I run low on the Big Red Robe Wuyi, since TenRen is easier to get to than Chado.

Looks interesting. It would be nice to be able to preprogram a tea maker the day before to have tea ready to go to clinic at the same time every afternoon--saving those last minute rushes that are not so kind to nice teas. But until they come up with one that has a fully variable temperature--the ones with variable temp seem only to have two preprogrammed settings--I'll stick with lower tech versions plus my thermometers.

This has been the year of tea for me, and I've added enough different teawares to my collection to warrant clearing a shelf in the kitchen for them. But it's still too early yet to know what I really like best of all that. The one gadget that I think may be the best find of this year is a silicone spatula, but not just a silicone spatula. It's a silicone spatula with backbone, and a sharp edge, unitary construction that should not only make it last, but avoid the tragedy of the plastic handle that couldn't take the same heat as the silicone part; and it's a spoonula too. Move over, bamboo paddles, wooden spatulas, rubber scrapers, and earlier versions of silicone wonders of the week: I bought the first one while looking for something else at Bed Bath & Beyond, on a whim, but got more this week from Amazon.com when it was clear that they are the best stirrer/scraper/scooper ever.

Got the porcelain tasting cups, and as I reported in the Lao Mansa tasting topic, they did distract my tongue less, although I didn't notice any different flavor of the tea. So a good thing overall, but not strictly necessary. The joy of Wing Hop Fung being so easy for me to get to is that even though I picked some of the fancier porcelain cups, they were still only $1.79 apiece, so not a large investment. I also replaced yet another teapot whose lid broke, but before this one was put in the cupboard it and all the rest got restrung to keep their lids from meeting a similar fate. Again, that was a $5.99 mini yixing pot. I figure I need to go at least a few months without breaking anything before I dare consider investing in a higher quality of teapot or drinking cup. I also bought a bamboo tea tray with a drip drawer, and it worked beautifully. The counter required a lot less cleanup after my session, because the tray did indeed catch the majority of the drips. There were beautiful ones in porcelain and hand carved wood, but again, I need to figure out what I'm doing here before considering anything special or fancy. Shockingly, no actual tea came home with me, in a most uncharacteristic display of restraint. And I found a small basket with a handle at another store that I can use to carry a small teacup with me even down to clinic, so I don't have to drink the more delicate teas from the plastic thermos lid. My teaware shelf is not yet anything like the retail displays at wing hop fung, but some of the missteps along the way will soon head off to goodwill, leaving the rest a bit less crowded. This includes a couple of overly large teapots with glass infuser inserts whose tiny slits are essentially uncleanable, clogging very quickly with even a single batch of tea that has any quantity of fine particles, and are simply hopeless with chamomile; or the deep and thick tasting cups that don't let tea cool quickly when tasting many short infusions of hot-brewed puerh; or the glass gaiwan lets you watch the color of the tea liquor but has a little rim that the lid settles on that makes it awkward to tilt the lid the tiny bit needed to pour the tea out but retain the leaves.

1.2 grams tea to 60mL yixing pot; four wide porcelain bowls for tasting. Boiling water used to preheat the pot and to rinse the leaves and then steeping water was 180-190 degrees. Infusions ranged from 10 seconds to 1 minute. 10" smoky, sweet, bit of fruity, no hint of bitterness 10" sweet, fruity, lost the smoky, and some astringency but still no bitterness 15", 15" same as 10" 20" didn't rinse leaves after a short break to briefly cool and drink the first four infusions, so this one has a bit of odd taste, and some of the smokiness is back 20" smokiness is gone, so is the odd flavor that was not simple bitter, but pronounce in the earlier cup; now the sweetness is stronger 30", 30" both very similar, sweet, floral, fruity brief break 45", 45" --stronger impression of sweetness, and that fruity other flavor still there 1', 1'--lovely, with bit of astringent aftertaste lingering And that's all the tea I can drink at one setting... The cooler temps were a good thing for me, although I think hotter water would have brought out that smoky flavor more. Again, I think this tea will age beautifully, and next time I'm ready to order from Norbutea, I'll get one of these to let sit for a while, now that I've figured out a way to keep them. And the porcelain bowls didn't alter the taste, but the simpler texture vs the slightly rough unglazed surface of the other tasting bowls does make a difference. I suspect that it's simply a matter of less stimuli to distract from what the taste buds are experiencing.

Today started with the gyokuro kin again but this time a longer first infusion of 2 minutes. There was a little more of the astringency coming through with the longer infusion. I prefer the shorter first infusions I used before.

Tried the tea again as LuckyGirl did it: 1.5 grams to about 6 oz boiling water, brewed 3 minutes, and all the things I like about it are there--fruitiness, floral aromas, sweetness, but also some unpleasant bitterness--I think here more bitterness than astringency--that interferes with my enjoyment of the other aspects of the tea. The leaves are quite green, and that led me to wonder how this would do brewed cooler, like one of the lightly oxidized oolongs. A second cup brewed with the same water that had been allowed to cool in the teapot, and brewed shorter, about 1 minute, was much nicer, with all the fruitiness, sweetness, and hint of vegetal flavors, but the bitterness now is reduced to a very acceptable hint in the background. I'll try gong fu style this afternoon, with water on the cooler side.

started the day with some more gyokuro kin, very nice with honey-on-poilane-toast. mmmm.

If I understand your post correctly, the tea mate brings the water to your desired temperature, dumps it on the tea, holds it there for the programmed time, and then decants it? That's pretty cool. How short can you set the brewing to be? And today, my thermos was filled with my first puerh from wing hop fung--probably a shu, but don't really know. The earthiness was a nice grounding during a goofy giddy costume day at work.

This is what I am loving about the really nice oolong and puerhs: a little goes a deliciously long way. While I am also very much enjoying my first foray into japanese sencha and gyokuro, once I get past the tasting sampler, I can see that these will be more costly teas, because of fewer infusions per gram of tea, and their shorter shelf life.

Lower lip and a small portion of the tongue. It has a noticeable texture and maybe a flavor although I'm not sure what I'm really sensing here. But it does seem a bit distracting.