Wholemeal Crank

Note to self: need cups that hold at least as much as the gaiwan, but not so large that the gaiwan only fills it a quarter of the way.

I just made a pot of Pouchong yesterday for my afternoon tea, and was struck by how strongly it resembles the Taiwan Alishan High Mountain Oolong we're tasting over in another topic. The things I like best about both of them are the same--a warm, grassy, vegetal flavor without bitterness and a floral undertone to the aroma. I'd like to do a head to head comparison, but have to wait a couple of days for my Alishan to arrive in the mail from Norbu Tea, so I compared it to my Ti Kuan Yin. It looked quite different, twisted leaves instead of curled balls, with a color is nearly as dark as my Ti Kuan Yin But the tea is about the same shade as the Alishan Oolong, paler and less red than the Ti Kuan Yin and that brings up the question: what is the difference between pouchong and oolong, and is the similar taste a result of similar processing, or of different techniques being used to achieve a similar flavor profile? And now I'm intensely curious about the green ti kuan yin that I also ordered from Norbu Tea.

When I need to make tea fast, when I've only got five minutes before I have to go to clinic, I get heated water from the water cooler, steep some tea in it for 2 minutes, and dilute it with enough hot water to fill my quart thermos. Most days I take a little more care with water temperature and time than that, but not a whole lot more. Just an electric kettle to heat the water, a teapot, my tea, and the thermos. I'm having fun playing with the idea of gongfu, the flavor changes with multiple infusions and different steeping times, but don't ever see that being my daily thermos o'tea. It will be for times when I have time, and want to play with a new tea. It's an opportunity to add enjoyment, not an obligation to do it every day. I'm finding that the really nice teas stand up to the abuse of the quick and dirty, but that's not all that they can do.

good point about the bitterness of green teas and unglazed pots--I was pretty sure that would be the answer for the jasmine, but not about the greens in general. For work I will stick to my glass pot(s), as simplest and most practical. But may play with some more simple yixings for pus and oolongs at home. It will add some fun to my next trip to the tea shop.

will try straight lemon juice and powdered sugar plus a bit of corn syrup, plus drying in a warm oven for a few hours.

Some images from my first test brewing Before brewing--I'm guessing this is about 4 grams of the tea? After rinsing--looks like such a tiny amount in that vast pot..... I poured off a little sample at one minute of the first infusion (water 193 degrees), quite light in color but quite pleasing aroma and flavor At 2 minutes, the color is stronger a 3 minute 2nd infusion is again a bit darker and the leaves have now nearly filled the pot after being fully expanded 3rd infusion, 4 minutes 4th infusion, 3 minutes And a final view of the tea leaves, giving a nice idea of the leaves plucked

I've had those once--that may be where I first got the idea for using a lemon glaze on these.

That's what I would have guessed. I am finding it works best if I adjust the angle of the lid on the gaiwan before I begin the pour, so that I'm not trying to adjust it while holding it up. But if I guess wrong, it is quite slow. It should get better as I practice.

I am enjoying a thermos full of Pouchong tea from Ten Ren this afternoon. It's a bit tricky to correlate the in-store labels and prices with the web versions--in the store the tins are labelled by $/lb, and on the web site by grade and $/4 oz pkg, but I think this is the one I'm drinking: Pouchong tea 3rd grade which reminds me very much of the taiwain alishan oolong we're tasting in the other topic--very vegetal and light and warm flavored, with almost no bitterness. It looks quite different--the leaves are extended and spindly instead of almost rolled like the other--but the things I like best about them both are the same. Now wondering more about the relationship between Pouchong and Oolong: how close are the 'green' oolongs to pouchongs?

Today made some lovely pouchong tea in the little glass pot, that I brought with me to work. It works as well as the clay pot, but is more practical for the variety of teas I have here and the limited space.

One question comes up as I contemplate the very short brewing times suggested for the truest gongfu experience: how do you adjust the brewing time when the leaves are to steep for 20 seconds and it takes 15 to 20 seconds to drain the gaiwan or teapot? Do you consider that part of the steep time or not?

And thanks for the good ideas about the glaze. I wonder if making it thinner last time--because I wanted it really lemony, and I just substituted lemon juice for hte milk--made the problem worse. Maybe a thicker glaze, spread on after baking, and more drying time before attempting to store them might do it. That, plus I can try adding lemon oil or zest to the dough. I think that will also be nice but not provide the same flavor/texture contrast I'd like to get--what I'm reaching for is more like the crunchy glaze on those commercial cookies that EmilyR mentioned.

A long time ago I came up with a recipe for a ginger cookie based on one my Dad remembered from when he was a kid. It is a simple ginger cookie that is not very sweet, finished with simple vanilla glaze. Frosted Ginger Creams The last time I made it I got inspired and added a lemon glaze made with lemon juice instead of the water or milk. They were terrific, and disappeared even faster than the chocolate mint cookies based on Hermes' Korova Cookies from Paris Sweets. The problem: the glaze makes them hard to store, being prone to sticking when they're stacked. So....I'd like a less sticky solution for a simpler to handle cookie. I've tried putting on a light coat of glaze before they're baked, which just makes for a crackly fractured top and alters baking times quite a bit. I've tried brushing it on after they're baked and then returning them to the oven with the temp down to 200 degrees for a few minutes to try to dry out the glaze. Each worked a little but not very well. And i thought about putting the lemon in the cookies, but can't see adding enough lemon juice to the recipe without unbalancing it, and that would avoid the nice contrast between ginger cooking and lemon topping. Is this problem why the sandwich cookie was invented?

I am loving the little pot just posted above, and understand that traditionally these are kept one per type of tea. To what level of detail do most of you try to go with that-- would the same teapot for green and white teas be stretching it too far? what about green/white vs yellow teas? and should the light Taiwain oolong we just tasted be ok in the same pot as some basic anxi ti kuan yin? green tea with green tea with jasmine? Just curious. And then, how do you keep track of which pot is which? I can easily see keeping track of 'plain pot with dots on the spout' is for oolong, 'decorated pot with dragon on side' is for pu-erh, but beyond that, they might need to be labelled or a photo key posted inside a cabinet to keep track of them.

Images posted for gullet now--first the clay teapot The glass teapot The glass gaiwan The ceramic gaiwan and the cute porcelain gaiwan Have now used all but the porcelain gaiwan, and the glass teapot, and am slowly figuring the gaiwan out.

Lot of clicks for what should be a simple job, but here is the pot in question: The box--again, not sure if that is specific to this pot or not--says in english 'association of ceramic arts masters' and 'traditional family of ceramic arts'.

My tasting notes for two different sessions follow. I did three sessions, one with my clay teapot, one with a glass gaiwan, and a 2nd with a ceramic gaiwan. The 2nd time I forgot to rinse the leaves first, and used water that was overall hotter, and released more bitter flavors that were difficult to control. The first and third batches were much better. I took a set of photos of the first brewing, and they're on my flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/sets/...7202856/detail/ FIrst brewing Set aside the tea for brewing--sorry I don't have a scale, but given that the sample was 10g, probably used about 4 grams for my pot, which is about 160 mL Heated small clay teapot, rinsed tea, let sit 2 min before first brewing--teapot was 160 degrees exterior after first heating rinse 1st infusion 193 degrees 1 minutes sweet, floral, fresh mown hay; 2 minutes stronger odor--again, sweet, floral, new mown hay, vegetal/steamed fresh asparagus, caramel; warmer and stronger but still the same Much more like pouchong than the ti kuan yin then 2nd infusion 198 degrees 3 minutes deeper gold, stronger notes of hay and caramel, less floral odor, but stronger grassy/vegetal notes in the actual infusion, hint of bitterness but only enough to ground the flavors, like SB 70% vs some of the flatter single-origin criollos 3rd infusion, let the water in the pot cool, was 177 for final infusion of 4 minutes--more like the first infusion in being lighter, faintest hint of bitter, but much less floral, but still quite sweet (amazed at how the bitter flavors came out a bit with the hotter water in the 2nd infusion but were not still right there in the 3rd infusion) 4th infusion 3 minutes, forgot to take temperature, odor is much weaker, but otherwise unchanged in character; richer color; more straw flavor; some vegetal bitterness in last swallows; will stop here leaves now smell bitter and unpleasant, and did before this brewing as well, but the tea never was packs a powerful caffeine punch after the entire brewing x 4 small pots 3rd brewing heated gaiwan, rinsed the rest, maybe 3 grams of leaves, 20 seconds 195 degrees 30 seconds with 195 degrees full gaiwan: sweet, floral, lighter hay undertones 1 minute with 195 degrees gaiwan: a touch of bitter with the same overall aroma and presence 2 minutes with 195 degrees in gaiwan: more bitter, still lovely aroma 1 minutes with 185 degrees in gaiwan: light, almost too light, but the bitter is gone 1 minutes with 193 degrees in gaiwan: light, but lovely I think the key is the shorter brewing time and milder temps that bring out the sweet and floral and hay with a minimum of bitter And the tea may have a bit more to give, if I did worked with gentler longer infusions, but I do not have more time tonight! I will order some of this tea shortly.

They have a tea tasting are with about 50 different teas in bulk, and that might be an underestimate, plus many tinned teas, pu-erh cakes in plain wraps and fancy packages, and a large selection of teaware--relatively few gaiwans in simple styles, quite inexpensive, and lots and lots of the small pots like mine, though most were more decorated, may fancier presentation sets and lots of japanese cast iron pots, and more. It is quite amazing. And my little pot holds about 160 mL.

Wing Hop Fung, a tea/herb/grocery in LA chinatown. <http://www.winghopfung.com/>

Got the pointers, but this is still quicker for now My Webpage From a trip to Wing Hop Fung in LA's chinatown recently. Decided I should try a gaiwan, and since they were so inexpensive (all except the clay pot were $2.99-$6.99), I got several. Also, since my favorite little glass teapot broke, I got another one that has a filter built into the spout. A simple glass gaiwan, a porcelain gaiwan decorated with a fish, a simple ceramic gaiwan, glazed inside, a glass teapot, and a lovely unglazed clay pot. Will edit or repost with embedded images in a few days.

Ok, here is the pot in question, profile http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3806243025/ bottom stamp http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3807062878/ and the box that it was put in after I picked it off the shelf--no idea if this is the original pot or not http://www.flickr.com/photos/debunix/3806246481/ I paid just $20 for it. It was one of the simplest designs available. And it makes wonderful tea.

Found it, at my usual tea shop, but again the packaging--the outer box--had changed, although the inner metal tin and the tea inside seem to be the same.

Very lovely glaze and beautiful simple shape

First try with the gaiwan was quite successful last night. I'll try it again today with the lovely Taiwan oolong for the tasting. I started out with the glass gaiwan, which is very easy to use not only because I can see what I'm doing, but also because there is a little lip inside the cup where the glass lid sits that helps to stabilize the setup. I'll practice with it a few more times before I work up to the porcelain and ceramic ones where I'll be doing it blind. It's not yet 'gongfu style' because as I understand it, gongfu refers to a degree of skill that I do not yet possess....but I can see that with a little practice it will be quite easy and more straightforward and easier to clean than my teapot plus mesh strainer, where the mesh is always getting fines stuck in it that are tricky to clean.

Is the tradition hold the tasting notes until everyone has tried the tea? I'm enjoying the first batch in my little clay teapot, and taking notes. I am in love with this tea, and this pot.