AllanSantos

Li Shan oolong from Red Blossom. A nice change from the roasted teas I've been drinking lately. Very pleasing sweetness with just a tad bit of astringency to keep it interesting.

I finally had some no distractions time to try the San Nen Bancha. Dry leaf has shades of chocolate to dark chocolate in the stem and twig portions with a more olive drab color to the little but of leaf. Overall a nice toasty aroma to the dry leaf and I wondered if the flavor profile would be similar to the Hojicha. For the infusion I used the Norbu suggestions of 1g/oz 1st infusion 188 for 2 minutes using a 5oz tea cupping tasting set. Wet leaf aroma has a roast quality note that reminds me of dark roast coffee beans. The liquor is a crystal clear dark honey/copper color. The first tastes of this are really nice. The mouthfeel is very clean and smooth....a very 'wet' mouth feel to it. I get that nice toasted quality like the Hojicha had, but this is more mellow and round. 2nd infusion 180 for 30seconds. Wet leaf aroma still has that roast coffee bean note but a little sweetness comes through behind that. Liquor takes on a more yellow/orange/copper tint. The taste reveals so sweetness and I pick up a light caramel candy note from time to time. I decide I want to push the leaf a little and see what happens. 3rd infusion is just off boil for 3 minutes. Wet leaf aroma begins to take on a steamed quality. Liquor is around the same color as the 2nd infusion but it seems more clear. The taste rounds out even a little more. The roast quality is mellowing into a more toasted rice note. I do a 4th infusion at just off boil again for 5 minutes and the tastes gains a more charcoal quality to it which surprises me. The sweetness is still there and it is still a very smooth mouthfeel. Overall I am not really sure what to think. I enjoyed all the infusions but can't quite decide how to brew next time I give this tea the go around. It gives a few pleasing things over the infusions. Maybe I'll just try a slightly high tea/water ratio and use roughly the same time/temps and see where that takes it.

Hi Richard, I used one of those professional cupping sets that is 5oz. I like using this over a gaiwan when there is a chance that when pouring, tea leaf fragments may pour into the actual tasting cup. What is the typical brewing vessel for these teas anyway? Allan

I'm very excited to be part of thus TT&D. Just a little about me first to know where I'm coming from. I started exploring loose leaf tea this fall and have gravitated towards oolongs. Lately as I get a little better at brewing, Ive been enjoying Dragonwell or Sencha as my morning brew. Mostly I enjoy stronger tasting things....big red wines, hoppy beers, peaty scotches. I found it odd that I gravitated toward the floral or fruity oolongs, but I think it was simply because when I started drinking loose leaf tea I could brew them and mess up pretty good but still have something that tasted OK. I also felt like in could relate to the flavor profile of oolongs but didn't understand or really know what I was tasting when I brewed greens. I've also gravitated toward teas that have a roasted or toasted quality since it gives me something familiar, something I can hang on to while trying to sort out what else I'm tasting. I have been looking forward to trying these Japanese teas and they arrived yesterday. I started off with the Hojicha. The dry leaf has a great aroma to it lots of roasted, charcoaly quality to it. The dry leaf is super dry and brittle. I brewed the leaf using the Norbu brewing recommendations of 1g/oz. First infusion 180 for 2 minutes. The wet leaf has a really nice burnt aroma. Behind that is a rich sweet scent that I can't quite put into words but The things that came to mind were the sweet quality black licorice has. Dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling too. The color of the liquor is really pleasing. I love the taste of this, the aroma is what I get in the taste as well. Nice roasted quality with a sweetness that balances it out. I usually try to see if I can pick out 3 notes when tasting, but that's all I could manage here. 2nd infusion 30seconds at 180. Wet leaf aroma: the roasted note has subsided a little and is more like wet or damp wood now. Taste is a little more relaxed both in the burnt/roasted/toasted quality but also in the sweetness. The color of the liquor was much more pale than the first infusion. When I poured, I wondered if I should let brew more. 3rd infusion: 3 minutes at 190 Even less of the roast quality but the sweetness is still there. Liquor color us darker than the 2nd but not as dark as the 1st. While it's not terrible to drink, I don't find the 2nd and 3rd infusions all that interesting as the roasted quality drops off. In the first infusion, I like the roasted quality providing the structure and the sweetness hanging off of that. Maybe my next try at this will be western style brewing. Look forward to hearing the rest of the tasters experience! Peace, Allan

Sencha start here as well. Whole Foods had a sale on Houjicha so I'll give that a go later today.

Started out with a kick ass first infusion of Red blossom's spring Dragonwell....additional infusions pretty flat and craving more tea I decided to leave (dragon) well enough alone and switch to sencha. Awesome brewing of that this morning too! I picked up the scent of freshly snapped dandelion stems in the aroma of the wet leaf and that totally surprised me....I could find a little of that in the taste and was able to follow that along as it morphed into something else. Great morning of tea! Allan

I got some Rishi sencha at Whole Foods. Wanted to try a Japanese green. Interesting getting to know more and more teas. I've tried this at a few different temperatures and find I like something out of each one. With the greens that I drink feel like I learn a lot about brewing. Still think it's gonna be a while before I know how to get the best out of a green tea. I lean towards the oolongs because they seem to have a flavor profile I can understand a little easier. It seems the general idea is that oolongs are also more forgiving in the brewing department an that makes me wonder if I'm getting the best out of those, even though those cups taste pretty good to me. Allan

Hong Yue from Rishi....at first pretty much turned off by the overwhelming menthol flavor/aroma. I stuck with it though, that gave way and some sweetness came through along with a little brisk quality at the end. The twisted leaves are giving more infusions than I have room for. I'll stick it in the fridge and come back to it again later. Allan

A li Shan oolong from Red Blossom tea. Maybe a lighter taste overall than what I actually wanted today. Next time I'll try a higher leaf to water ratio and see what happens.

What a pleasure it must be to use that teaware! Love this charcoal roasted tung ting I got from Red Blossom. I also got some dragonwell from there and have been playing around with the brewing searching for that awesome cup.

A charcoal roasted tung ting from Red Blossom Tea Company. Great 2nd infusion looking forward to 3 and 4.

Im on the road for a few weeks and have been stopping in at Peet's coffee for TKY. It satisfies my tea craving but I'm finding it interesting how I miss my multiple infusion gaiwan sessions. Trying to make time to get to Samovar and Red Blossom tea.

First tastes ever of a Li Shan oolong (more Rishi). Every oolong I try seems to be better than the last. While I really enjoy the roast quality to the TGY I recently tried, the caramelized sweet fruit from this is great. It's giving lot of infusions too. Watching the leaves unfurl from the little dry pellets into the big leaves is quite something to behold. I've also had some really good luck brewing my Dragon Well too! Been using a high leaf to water ratio, a little cooler temp than instructed and the longer side of what is suggested time wise. Been getting something that gives me something pretty nice. Allan

Couple new things in from Rishi. Trying the Iron Goddess of Mercy for the first time. Boy this stuff is delicious!!!!

Howdy! Still trying to work out brewing Dragon Well to my tastes. I'm zeroing in although, I've been over brewing the past few mornings. I figured out that I like a lot of tea to water. A few mornings ago I tried a tablespoon + a scant tsp per 9oz water and I really enjoyed it. The past few mornings I've been brewing a tbs in a small guywan but using a little hotter temp water and it's been turning out bitter. I need to reduce the time and see what happens. I'll get it right soon! I've also REALLY been enjoying the Rishi Dong Ding and Jade Bao Zhong oolongs. Is the term 'Jade' actually indicative of something? Allan

Ahhh. So either a quick rinse or a longer first infusion...got it, Thanks. Not much there to a 3rd infusion of the Dragon Well using boiling water. Oh well.

Thanks for the welcomes and the info....very much appreciated. This morning I tried the Dragon Well again, this time using a little longer infusion time. The package instructs 1tbs per 8oz 175 water for 3-4 minutes. I gave it 5 minutes for the first infusion. I do notice a change in the tea, mostly in the mouth feel but I am also getting more flavor. I still feel like the flavor is not as strong as the aroma leads me to believe. The second infusion was roughly 6 minutes and a tad more mellow than the first. I will try a third infusion at a higher temp and see what happens. Perhaps tomorrow morning I will try the first infusion with a higher temp and the 5 minute steep as well. I do have another question about the gong fu style. From what I gather most use quick infusions then lengthen time each subsequent infusion. For the oolongs I have, Rishi suggests starting with a 1 minute infusion then dropping down to 20 seconds and then adding time from there. Can anyone explain why the longer first infusion? Thanks again! Allan

I'm new to the world of tea and have been having a great time exploring so far. I put in an order to Risihi a bit ago and have pretty much been drinking those teas for a couple of weeks now. Started off this morning with dragon well. I really want to like this because the aroma of the wet leaf is so nice, the actual tea is just so mild that it frustrated me a little. I haven't given up on it though and keep wondering if tinkering around with how I brew it will help. I've had better luck with the oolongs I've tried than with the greens I've tried. Right now I'm going through several infusions of the Rishi dong ding. I really enjoy this. Still trying to work out vocabulary for what I'm tasting but I get nice roast quality and pine in the wet leaf aroma for the first few infusions. Taste wise still hard for me to describe, but I like it! Allan

Hi everyone, I've got a piece of pork belly in the curing chamber right now at about 15% weight loss. When I took it out today and unwrapped it from it's cheese cloth I noticed what looked like a white mold forming but when inspecting it closer it appears to be more like a salt crust forming on some parts of the belly, more so on the underside where the ribs would have been but also just a little bit on the otherside. Anyone experience something like this? Any clue as to causes? Thanks, Allan

My weekend project was pork belly confit. Such satisfying work and I keep thinking it's pretty much one of the tastiest dishes I've ever made. Here it is on the plate with some sauteed spinach that's been drizzled with a little balsamic, also on the side is some mustard and some baguette. If I have some time later today, I'll post pics of the process in the Ruhlman Charcuterie thread. (sorry for the poor picture quality of my phone....I really need to get a decent camera) Allan

Howdy again, Just an update on the dinner to see what people think. After discussing amuse ideas with a friend, he came up with a slice of carmelized pear with a simple gastrique. I thought this was a great idea and seemed to fit exactly what I was loking for. I added some braised red cabbage to the main dish and tried it out but I didn't like the dish at all. The pork was great, the perogi were great, the port wine sauce was great. I hated the red cabbage on there. Too much of the same color and braising the stuff in wine was a bit much for the sauce...duh. So back to thinking about veg for the main dish. Allan

That's a good point. The first things that came to my mind are chard and kale, and I assume both should be available as local produce. I'll give it some thought as to how I can work it into the amuse. Do you think the main dish needs some sort of veg as well? Thanks, Allan

Chris, As of now the count is at 6 including me. Over the next week or 2 a few more from the club will be able to commit but at the most the count will be at 10. I'll have access to the kitchen for 5 days prior to the dinner and the full day of the dinner. The 5 days prior I have good solid portions of the afternoon to dedicate to the dinner. I only have commitments in the evening after dinner. The day of the dinner I have the whole day free and planned on hanging in the kitchen and organizing, prepping whatever needs to be prepped, etc. The kitchen is a standard home 4 burner gas stove with 1 oven, nothing special. As for kitchen appliances, a friend who will be helping has a decently equipped kitchen so we can use whatever is there (there isn't anything of real use in the event kitchen). We'll definitely be using his pots and pans. I've catered a brunch for 30 in this same kitchen and made out fine with what I brought and what we used from his kitchen. It's a medium sized kitchen with good counter space on one side for prep and mise and on the other a huge island/bar type counter space for plating. Even if 10 show up I'm not worried about room for plating. The thing that will have the most elements that need to be going at the same time is the main dish. So it doesn't look like dishes will be competeing for burners. Thanks, Allan

monavano, I was gonna do the creme fraiche on the soup but I like your idea of the pancetta and roasted pumkin seeds better. It'll also give me an excuse to make try out the pancetta recipe from Charcuterie. On the other stuff: I'm in northern ohio and although it's not set in stone, in trying to keep to the local theme, it sort of vetos some of the other great ideas you've given to me. The frittata idea is turning some wheels though. Thanks very much, Allan

Howdy all, Some people I work with have started a dinner club and I volunteered to cook and plan for a dinner coming up on the 28th of Oct. Menu planning has always been a weak spot for me so I'm excited to cook for the group to have an oportunity to work on that aspect of things a little. The group tries to do various themes for each dinner and I chose a local products dinner. I'll have one other person to help cook and serve. What I'm trying to learn is what I should be thinking about that I'm leaving out of the thought process. In the actuall cooking, I'm trying to keep things simple with everyday direct flavors rather hard to find ingredients. I know I'll learn something from keeping a focus that way too. I live 2 hours away from where the dinner will be but the things I know I can get are dairy, eggs, chicken, ducks and rabbits and pork. Veg wise the growers market will supply me. I followed the 'Dinner Degustation' thread with great interest and thought I'd ask for some help through this process. This is what is in my notebook so far: Amusee: ? Soup: Butternut squash Something before entree? Main dish: Pork ternderloin with potato perogi (maybe something with apples or maybe tart cherrie mustard sauce, I'm not to sure what to do sauce wise.) Cheese: I need to see what I can find to see if this would actually work. Dessert: Vanilla Pots du Creme with ohio honey I keep wondering if I need a small something before the main dish, it seems abrupt coming from the soup. Also for the amusee I was thinking of making some sort of small bite of sausage type of thing..... Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance, Allan