Richard Kilgore
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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore
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The Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP in my cup this morning.
Also over the last couple of days have been re-brewing one of the three Aged Oolongs to good effect. More in the Oolong topic.
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Yes, that would be cool if you can go to a Japanese tea house...or a Japanese tea ceremony. I'll be interested to read about it.
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That's an interesting looking tea pot, Erin. It may be better for display than brewing, however, since someone has smeared something (shoe polish is often used) to make it look old. It's not a Yixing, so no telling what is in the clay. May be fine, but I would not drink anything brewed in one like this. Still a kind gift and an interesting display piece. I once bought a fake Yixing knowingly; it had a similar treatment and have since used it as a model for the "how to avoid fakes" section of a talk on Yixing teapots.
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In the long run you may be right. But - while I'm not familiar with that Korean tea or that market, powdered teas in Asian markets are as bad as most teas in most Asian markets. And not much foam will have a more than significant effect on the result.
If you decide to try matcha again, my suggestion would be to get a smooth one such as the Organic Yame Matcha from yuuki-cha.com. It's inexpensive, not challenging and very easy to like. I went through a tin of it a few months ago and plan on getting more. Also get a proper chawan, a tall winter chawan rather than a shallow summer one. You should be able to find one from any number of tea merchants for $20 - $30.
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Yes, it's worth a try. the usual instructions are to brew them a little longer than you would most Oolongs, which I did with the three of them above at 1.5 g/1 ounce water starting at 30 seconds rather than my usual 20. But this time I did the 2.0 g/1 ounce at the shorter 20 seconds and it was fuller bodied and the honey and stone fruit dominated the roasty component, resulting in a more balanced taste...for my tastes anyway. YMMV, as usual.
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Yesterday I tried re-brewing one of the above Aged TGY Oolongs, the one from jingteashop.com. This time I did it with a higher leaf:water ratio - 2 g to one ounce water instead of 1.5 g.
Much improvement in an already tasty aged Oolong. This appears to be the sweet spot for this one. I'll try the other two over the next week or so and report back to see if I can get a similar improvement.
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Light tea days the past few days. Black teas in the morning: Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP; Keemun Yao B; Assam Konghea Estate Golden Bud - all from teasource.com. Don't have a favorite among these three; all different, all good.
And in the afternoon the sencha from yuuki-cha.com that is featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion. Easy to like.
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I don't know anything about the brand, but noticed that this one has a 3 year guarantee vs the K-R's 10 year.
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This has been the case here in all mainline grocery stores for about five years. Not like a bell pepper, but exceptionally mild. I buy mine instead in Hispanic or Asian markets. These bred-to-be-mild jalapenos are also what's used in many, if not most, Mexican-American/Tex-Mex restaurants; you could load a quarter of a pound of sliced jalapenos on an order of nachos and not notice much heat in many of these places.
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It's a Keemun Hao Ya B from teasource.com. Nicely smooth and malty.
So what's in your teacup/thermos/mug this fine day?
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Thanks for the interesting comparative tasting notes, WmC. I have been curious about Korean teas in general, but have not tried any yet, so the two Korean greens in particular appeal to me.
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If enough people (3) have a real (tea bowl) and a real chasen (bamboo whisk) I may be able to do either a single or comparative matcha Tea Tasting & Discussion.
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Started the day enjoying the Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from teasource.com.
Since then gong fu cha brewing the third of three Aged Oolongs. For more on these three from theculturedcup.com, norbutea.com and jingteashop.com, see the Oolong topic.
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This is the third of three Aged TGY Oolongs. This one is from jingteashop.com, and the others are from theculturedcup.com and norbutea.com. Brewing again is gong fu cha style, 4.5 g in the same 90 ml fang gu shape (more flat than tall) Yixing teapot made of qing shu ni clay, made some time in the last ten years. The pot with limited seasoning tends to smooth and round off the edge of roasty flavors, and may enhance other flavors slightly -- too soon to say for sure.
The dry aroma is mildly roasty and the wet aroma is stone fruit and mildly roasty.
flash rinse
1:20 sec - stone fruit and roasty aroma; medium-light body; light-golden tea liquor; lightly creamy mouthfeel, honey and stone fruit flavor over light roasted flavor. (By accident pulled this at 20 sec rather than 30.)
2:30 - stone fruit over faint toasted aroma; light-creamy; stone fruit and roasted flavor.
3:60 - fainter aroma than second infusion; deeper color to the tea liquor; creamy; stone fruit and roasted flavor.
4:90 - less aroma, color similar to last infusion; floral flavor emerging, as well as stone fruit; more astringent than roasty.
5:3 min - similar to last infusion.
There are more infusions left in this pot. I'll post a follow up note if I brew more.
Again, it is somewhat difficult to describe the differences between these Aged Oolongs. My descriptions are not as helpful as I would like since I brewed on different days and the length of infusions varied in a couple of instances. In addition, getting the same brewing parameters for the three may not represent each on at its best. All of them make a nice cup of tea for me. I'll post more when and if I find the sweet spot for any of them and if I brew them western style.
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Erin, if you have not already read through this topic from the top, you'll find a goodly amount of discussion on brewing Long Jing here that may give you some ideas about adjusting the brewing parameters to your taste. Since you enjoy the astringency, you may like it brewed at a higher temp (175 F) and with a higher leaf:water ratio than WmC. At the same time, grandpa style is just fine.
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This is the second of three Aged TGY Oolongs. This one is from norbutea.com, and the others are from theculturedcup.com and jingteashop.com. Brewing again is gong fu cha style, 4.5 g in a 90 ml fang gu shape (more flat than tall) Yixing teapot made of qing shu ni clay, made some time in the last ten years. The pot with limited seasoning tends to smooth and round off the edge of roasty flavors, and may enhance other flavors slightly -- too soon to say for sure.
The dry aroma is roasty and the wet aroma is a little more roasty.
flash rinse
1:30 sec - roasty aroma; medium body; golden tea liqupr; creamy mouthfeel, roast stone fruit flavor.
2:30 - roasty aroma; creamy; stone fruit flavor.
3:45 - similar to second infusion, with stone fruit more prominent than the roasted flavor.
4:75 - less aroma, otherwise similar to third infusion.
More infusions left in this Aged Oolong, which may be slighty fuller body than the previous one. They are different, but it's difficult to describe the relatively subtle differences.
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Tic-tock. Last chance.
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The Assam Konghea Estate, Golden Bud from Tea Source to start the day, followed by the Organic Kumamoto Sencha Yabe Supreme from yuuki-cha.com featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion.
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Thanks to Kent Wang for introducing me to Belgian beer. But I know nothing, so all of this is very helpful.
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The two remaining free samples will be available until midnight Thursday, EST.
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Richard, is this a paid class, or something free? If you've got a group of paid students who are already interested in pressure cooking, then things like stocks and canning would probably be appropriate. If it's just a free demo, though, I think you need to stay with something simpler.
One of the problems I've had doing pressure cooker demos (free ones, that is) is that there's really nothing to watch, and people get bored and wander away. But if you can come up with something to cook that takes only 15 or 20 minutes, something that's familiar to most people, you'll be more likely to catch and keep their interest. I've done chicken thighs braised with tomatillos and chiles, for instance; boneless thighs are falling apart tender in 20 minutes. And although I'm not a fan of pressure cooker risotto, it always seems to impress people.
My advice is to go ahead and start whatever dish you decide on right at the beginning of the class, then while it's cooking, talk about all your discussion points. When you're done talking, the food will be done and you'll have something tangible to show the students.
Thanks, Janet. I think we're going to start out with free demos - about a half hour, then see if there's enough interest to do a paid class. Yes, cooking something during the demo seems to be essential, although I had not thought about people drifting away without it. I like your idea of doing something with chicken thighs, too. And yes, the stock making and canning would only be passing discussion points for the demo. More on that in a class. (And my understanding so far is that canning should be done only in a pressure canner, not a pressure cooker.)
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Whenever possible, we like to present an "aha" moment: something that startles students and makes them think about things in a different way. Sometimes it can be simple: recently, we did a tasting of carrots prepared four ways. The class was mildly interested until they got to the juice. We had to show them the label to prove that we hadn't added any sugar.
For a pressure-cooker class, I'd consider hamine eggs, a la Dave Arnold.
Thanks, Dave. I followed your link, but was not able to find "hamine eggs" even with a search. Am I missing something obvious?
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Started this day with the Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from Tea Source. A pleasant, smooth Ceylon. This is the one that baroness reported on in a Tea Tasting & Discussion last year that featured another Tea Source tea from Ceylon.
So what's in your tea cup today?
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Thanks, Wm C. Nice idea for corn and tamarind stocks. Do you steam the artichokes?
What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 2)
in Coffee & Tea
Posted
Started the day with the Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from teasource.com.
The last couple of days I have also been brewing the Organic Yame Sencha from yuuki-cha.com that is featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion.
This evening it's Orange Rooibos from The Cultured Cup. More like a blood orange. I have never been that big on flavored teas or tisanes, but a pairing at York Street Cafe converted me to this Rooibos.