Richard Kilgore

Interesting. Sounds like more fruit notes came through with this session using the Yixing, compared to the one with the gaiwan. Was the leaf: water ratio about the same, or slightly more concentrated? Timing the same? What do you attribute the difference to?

Welcome, Cyndi. Since you enjoy blending your own, you may be interested in the topic on DIYS Tea Blending, as well as one on Herbal Teas/Tisanes. And if you enjoy green teas, the topics on Chinese Green Teas and Japanese Green Teas may be worth checking out.

The fine Ceylon Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special from Tea Source was my first cup today. There were also two Yixings with yesterday's leaves in them waiting to be brewed again, so I have been working my way through them: the 2000 Longhe Tea Factory tea of Menghai from yunnansourcing.com and the Ban Tian Yao Wuyi Oolong from norbutea.com. So what's brewing in your part of the world?

Also today had the Uji sencha from yuukicha.com that I have not been using up fast enough. I know, I know...two months is way too long to hold onto a sencha. Still drinkable, but a mere shadow of its best tea-self. Next time I'll try to finish it within a month. This evening been sipping infusions of the Ban Tian Yao Wuyi Oolong from norbutea.com, one of three Wuyi cliff Oolongs featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion.

Sometimes visitors are not really aware of the distances here. Austin is probably not practical, unless you have 2 - 3 days and you are not trying to get only one meal (barbecue) into the trip. You could pack sandwiches, start at 5 am and get back at 2 am the next day, I guess, but not my idea of fun. You'll need to get out of Austin to find the best stuff. Check out the post Jeff mentioned above for some barbecue suggestions within a couple of hours drive. I would focus on the top 3 - 5 or so on their list. Not that I have tried them, but I have tried some of those lower down that they recommend...but I can't. If you do barbecue and good Mexican like Mia's (but not high end), you'll spend so little that you can easily do Tei-An if you stay away from the high-price sake.

Started out with two cups of the beautiful Dian Hong Imperial from norbutea.com. A few hours later had my bowl of matcha from yuuki-cha.com, and now continuing with the Shui Jin Gui Wuyi Oolong from Norbu, one of the three Wuyi "cliff" Oolongs featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion. Out of matcha now and looking forward to the next shipment from yuuki-cha arriving from Japan on Monday or Tuesday - that's something like three - four working days door-to-door, not bad. So what are you all drinking in the way of tea this weekend on your spot on the planet?

The Assam Kongea Estate, Golden Bud from teasource.com this morning. My usual pattern is Japanese green tea next, but it's a cold, rainy-sleety day, so it was a smooth aged ripe pu-erh, a 2000 Longhe Tea Factory tea of Menghai from yunnansourcing.com. The sample was a little pricey, but delicious. All gone. Now it's an Uji sencha from yuuki-cha.com. And waiting for a delivery of more. So what teas are you all drinking today?

I'm going to order a handful of this 80 ml gaiwan from yunnansourcing.com. Not as small as you were looking for, but probably a useful gong fu size, given the various leaf shapes we may be trying to fit into a gaiwan. And not just inexpensive; they are down right cheap!

Hope your taster/smeller returns to normal soon, Chris. That's an ambitious approach, Wholemeal Crank, in an already ambtious Tea Tasting & Discussion. I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Air, light and moisture being three of the four primary enemies of tea leaves, more of mine are stored in the dark zip bags they came in, than they are loose in tins. My wet leaves also often sit overnight, sometimes on purpose, sometimes not.

The Yixing seasoning with aged TGY continues. Tasting a few infusions, rather than drinking, and nothing much to report until the seasoning begins to take hold. Also brewing the yuuki-cha.com Organic Uji Tokusen Sencha. This inexpensive, light-steamed Uji sencha is still pleasant and holding up well, now into month two. I have been drinking a Tisane in the evening for a few days, and I plan on brewing a cup again tonight: the Sunset Orange Roibos from The Cultured Cup.

This may simply be that Japanese green teas are brewed at lower temps and it is not so important to maintain the initial temp. On second infusions, these green teas usually benefit by dropping the temp another ten degrees or so, which may fit in with this explanation. On the other hand, with Chinese teas we often raise the temp on later infusions. In addition, there is less clogging with partially full pots if you pour slowly. Avoiding bruising the leaves by slow pouring and by not swirling the leaves in the pot may also help avoid astringency.

I doubt that shrewd marketing has much to do with it. After all, el Bulli already receives more requests annually than they could fill in something like 50 years. While there will certainly be a great deal of anticipation as the re-opening approaches, if marketing were the whole story, why not simply keep the restaurant open all year long starting this year? There is certainly enough demand. I am sure there is a story here, but don't know what it is. While I have never eaten at El Bulli, never applied for seating, and don't do any form of molecular gastronomy at home, I have considerable admiration for the creativity of Feran Adria and his team.

Your stainless caddy sounds better than most. I have never seen one here. Some teas can tolerate a tea caddy that is not well-sealed, but some deteriorate much, much faster in them. Your's would be perfect for Chinese or Japanese green teas. Or for many teas that one wanted to age for a few years.

Yesterday I also had another aged TGY. Still seasoning the Yixing. More on these aged Oolongs over the next week or two in the Oolong topic. Also yesterday a sencha from yuuki-cha.com after putting in an order since I am running low-or-out of organic matcha, sencha and gyokuro. And I needed the gyokuro soon for a talk on gyokuro brewing and Japanese houbin teapots next week at The Cultured Cup's T-Bar Club. Today started with a Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP - a very nice, inexpensive Ceylon from Tea Source.

Nice teawares, Erin. I particularly like your rough pottery yunomi and the two Vietnamese cups. The stainless tea caddy is good looking, too. Does it seal well?

I also can recommend Tei-An. Call ahead and ask them to do the Chef's Table for you. There are two versions at $50 and $80. We did the $50 version and everyone felt it was not only a great meal, but also plenty of food. For high end Mexican, it may be worth the drive to Ft. Worth to Lanny's Alta Cocina Mexicana. Haven't been there, but it's high on my to-do list. If you have two or three days, the barbecue trail through the Hill Country is a great thing to do, but this is not a day trip from McKinney. At least not for most of us. If you firm things up a bit and can give us an idea of how many meals in what price range/type of food/in what geographic area, we can probably be of some additional assistance.

The aged TGYs are an interesting subgroup, and I am continuing to explore them - three now. But I am also seasoning the pot that I hope to dedicate to them, and although it is coming along nicely today, it may be a few weeks before I can do some of the comparisons I would like to do between the teas and the brewing vessels: a porcelain gaiwan and two Yixings made of different clays.

Brewing guidelines for all three Wuyi teas. From the norbutea.com website, and used with permission.

Yesterday started out with a Keemun Hao Ya A from Tea Source. Later the fine Dian Hong Imperial from norbutea.com. Also had a couple of aged TGYs, and I'll be brewing more of them and commenting in the Oolong topic over the next week or so. Today, starting the day with the Mariage Freres Queen Victoria - second flush Darjeeling from The Cultured Cup. In the near future, I'll be starting a Tea Tasting & Discussion for members who have never participated in a Tea Tasting & Discussion in the past. If you subscribe to this Coffee & Tea Forum, you'll be among the first to know. So what teas are you all drinking in your part of the world today?

I agree. Describing teas is a challenge for me certainly. There are things in the growing environment, such as plants that do not grow here that can lend a note to a tea. But since these are teas grown in different areas of China, we can't really say it's the soil and probably not the other surrounding plant life. I'll pay very careful attention to the next brewing sessions with this tea (and the other two) and see what I can come up with.

You bring the fish and chips; I'll bring the tea.

Interesting, I'll have to pay attention next time. I had not thought dried figs and apricot, but I suspect that's a good description of the fruit notes. I am pretty sure that what you are detecting is some aspect of the baked flavor, since this is not a rock tea. And, being new to teas, I am also sure you are not aware that describing that element as "chemical" is the same in the tea world as saying the tea is tainted. If you think it is tainted, that's one thing, but if not, you may want to find another way to describe it. I am seasoning the Yixing I am trying to dedicate to aged TGYs, and hopefully after a few weeks of brewing it will smooth the baked flavors and pull for the fruit and result in a richer, better balance than the porcelain gaiwan gave, as noted above. The clay is on the softer side and is absorbing flavor at this point, rather than putting it in my mouth. At some point in seasoning, this should begin to change. Here's hoping.

Also had my daily bowl of matcha, now two bowls, and running low, so time to order another to try. And finishing the day with a pleasant cup of Sunset Orange Roibos from The Cultured Cup - more like a blood orange.

And here's more background on Ban Tian Yao, our third Wuyi tea from norbutea.com norbutea.com in this three tea comparitive Tea Tasting & Discussion. From the Norbu Tea site and used with permission.