cdh

I use the term "craft cocktails" to describe them.

To a limited extent, yes. I love making sage butter in the micro... and the sage leaves come out crispy fried. So it is possible to get things crispy fried out of the nuker.

Stopped by this afternoon and it was a total zoo. The beer selection was wonderful! IT almost felt like living in a state with rational beer sales laws.

Cool! Thanks for the pointer. Reciprocally, I'll point out that the Patel mart on 309 a bit north of Montgomeryville is pretty well stocked with Indian stuff as well.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/conde-nast-to-close-gourmet-magazine/?hp The NYTimes media blog indicates that following a cost audit by McKinsey, Conde Nast is going to stop publishing Gourmet. While I was never a subscriber, I've flipped through a few issues and liked what I saw. Is this a shocking blow to anybody here, or just new media killing old media?

Going with liquid yeast on the second recipe will open lots and lots of opportunities to experiment. The Red Ale recipe is all about maximizing the unfermentable components in the beer that will leave a rich body and some residual sweetness behind. Yeast strains all have different "apparent attenuation" numbers, a measure of how much of the fermentable stuff in there they'll chew through. If you go with a low attenuating yeast, you could end up with a sticky sweet beer, which with a boost to the red ale's hopping, might be pretty tasty. Or you could go with a hungry yeast that chews through most of the fermentables, and might munch on some of the traditionally unfermentables too.. Given my taste preferences, I'd be looking at either a Scottish or a Belgian styled yeast strain. Scottish for some sweetness, Belgian for some interesting funk. If you really want to funky it up, ferment it with a brettanomyces strain.

Indeed. I have made Assams in the same pot. Interesting that only the aroma carries over. No hints of malt in the flavor, but in the nose it is front and center. Will have to try brewing in a stainless vessel to eliminate carryover.

Never heard of that happening before, actually. Unusual. How old was the bucket?

So how did batch one turn out, Pilori?

Wow! Good link to the agar clarification page. That is a very cool idea.

A Gin Stinger would do the job. Ingredients are both clear. The minty-ness might be a nice difference.

Ok. Initial observations- Visually it looks like a darjeeling, with the standard uneven coloring and wiry appearance. Dry aroma begins with the characteristic papery note of very young darjeelings, and then segues into a more floral and earthy aromatic space. Upon a bit of reflection, I'd say there is a very strong suggestion of geranium flowers in the aroma. Brew 1: 2.5g of tea in my black-tea-making 250ml yixing, with water from the steam wand of the espresso machine set to steam mode and fully heated up. Brewed for 3 minutes. Initial aroma is malty, more in the Assam vein than I'd expect from a darj. Initial flavor shows a bit of the young darj paperiness, followed by a woodiness, followed by the expected astringent tail. The floral aroma isn't expressing itself in the cup. (or maybe it is being overpowered by the bartlet pear I just ate.)

Received and have brewed once. Will report on thoughts after a second brewing. Tomorrow seems a rainy day suited for tea consumption, follow up will likely happen then.

Just go and revel in the greatness. BBQ, beer and bourbon are all top notch.

Interesting. I always assumed the number called for was the number that met the leaves... Based on what I know about espresso machines, the water in the boiler with the steam switch unflipped is probably at about 192, and can't lose much on the short journey down the steam tube.

I'm giving the gong-fu style another try with more success. I threw frugality to the wind and used the remaining 6.6g of tea. The increased dose of tea is having a marked impact on the results, all for the better. After heating the pot, and doing a 10 second rinse with 180-ish water (espresso machine hot water w/o the steam switch flipped after ending up in the pot measures around 180), I flipped the steam switch, waited 20 seconds and filled the pot with somewhat hotter than 180 water. A 20 second infusion has resulted in a highly aromatic cup. Lilacs and new mown hay predominate. Flavor carries through on the aroma's promise, though the body of infusion 1 is a bit thin, and a slight touch of chlorophyll-y vegetal comes through. A lovely long aftertaste lingers. A second infusion of 20 seconds brought more fantastic aroma but the even-hotter water introduced an astringency on the palate I'm not a fan of. I'm keeping my water closer to 180 from here on out. Third infusion of 40 seconds at 180 took care of the astringency. Aroma becoming more rounded and less just lilacs and hay... more tea-like... but with hints of lilac remaining. Body still light. Not as much natural sweetness in this oolong as in many. This might benefit from a pebble or two of ginsenged oolong dropped into the pot... ginseng packs huge natural sweetness. Fourth infusion, 180F 30 sec, turned out much like the third. Interesting technique... but I don't have the feel to apply the requisite skill to extract the best qualities and concentrate them... It seems that such should be possible... with enough practice and skill. Unfortunately, the teas that can be made to benefit from this trick seem to be the ones at the $100/lb and above price point... and it seems to me that I just don't have financial fortitude to stock up on enough of them at any one time to learn properly.

Your keeping rehydrated leaves in the fridge just made me think of Burmese tea leaf salad... Anybody have a good recipe for that? I've enjoyed it at Rangoon in PHL several times, and now that I think about it, all of these fantastic oolong leaves I'm generating might be a reasonable base for such a thing.

Indeed... Or I'm just a happy blasphemer.

While we're engaging in tea blasphemy, some personal observations: 1. I never boil the water, or take its temperature when I'm brewing greens and oolongs... I just use the espresso machine to shoot hot water out of its steam wand. I don't flip the steam switch for particularly green teas, and I do flip the steam switch for teas that need water a little hotter. 2. I have never accomplished the very short infusion gong-fu style of brewing in a fashion that makes me think it is worth the bother. I brew in a hybrid style. I use yixing pots. I use probably 3g/150ml. It swells up and fills 2/3 of the pot nicely after a few infusions. And I infuse for a minute or two. That keeps good leaves giving for 5 or more infusions... 3. If they're not done giving, I'll leave the leaves in the pot overnight. It seems that they keep oxidizing, as they tend to brew darker the next day. Maybe this will kill me someday when deadly mold/bacteria/boogeymen take hold in my teapot. Hasn't done so yet. 4. Dragon Phoenix Pearl jasmine tea makes some damn fine iced tea. 5. Pouchongs and lightly oxidized oolongs make a great adjunct to brewing Belgian style wheat beers. May the tea gods forgive me my apostacy and spare me the lakes of Lipton that such blasphemy is punished by.

I've gone away from the gong-fu rules and gone back to how I like to do it for steeps 4 and 5. Water at 180F, and steeps of about a minute produce a much fuller flavor, a less "dry" body and rounder aroma.

Here are some pictures of the process so far-- Equipment- 3.3g of dry leaves in the pot- Those leaves after 3 steeps-

Am trying gong-fu now. Am finding that 3.3g for 110ml is not enough to get any intensity out of a 20 second steep. Very nice floral aroma, a bit sweeter in the aroma than in the flavor. Only filling the pot to 75ml for steep 3, and it emphasizes the and lengthens the aftertaste, but the initial upfront taste is still lacking. I think it is time to try water at temps other than 195.

This tea is on the agenda for today. I've dusted off my 110ml gourd-shaped tan yixing pot for the brewing, and have done 5 or 6 infusions gong-fu style of a Chinese green oolong I've got for practice. Amazing how some teas just keep on giving. I may dust off the tall narrow aroma cup and wide shallow tasting cup too. It seems that a 100 ml batch should split nicely between them. They appear to be part of the whole gong-fu setup. Any thoughts on why this tea has differing guidelines from the link above? It suggests 6-7g of tea to gong-fu 100ml... and this thread recommends 5g/150ml...

It sounds like a riff on the Bull Shot might work. Use maybe a more southeast asian soup base than beef consomme... citrus, sriracha, fish sauce... lemongrass garnish...

How easily cleaned are the works inside the pump thingy? I'd be wary of putting something pulpy like OJ into it if it's got fiddly little tubes that the pumping actions sucks stuff through.