Richard Kilgore

How did you brew the aged TGY, WC?

Please tell us more about the Wuyi, ginko, in the Oolong topic.

Welcome to the eGullet Society, WAZ. Please do tell us more about your pu-erh in the Pu-erh topic.

It really is interesting to see the wide range of experiences with this tea. Partly due, I think, to different brewing parameters and partly due to differing taste buds. Thanks again to Dan at yuuki-cha.com for supplying the samples, and thanks to cdh, Wholemeal Crank, baroness and LuckyGirl for participating. More teas from yuuki-cha.com this year for future Tea Tasting & Discussions. If you subscribe to the Coffee & Tea forum, you'll be among the first to know.

I really have not cared for any Jasmine tea I have tried, few though that may be. So I am not one to say. Perhaps I simply have not met the right one yet. But I can say that if I make a tea and really blow the brewing, or it is unpleasant for any reason, I have no qualms about dumping it and starting fresh. Hope your cold improves soon - hate to have all that Wuyi Oolong tasting like soap...or worse. Whisked two bowls, rather than one, of my daily yuuki-cha matcha for the first time today. My head, I am pleased to report, is still attached. Now brewing a medium size (7.5 ounce/225 ml) pot of Organic Uji Tokusen Sencha, also from yuuki-cha.com, in a Nasu Banko Yaki Kyusu, and sipped from a rough sand Hagi teacup. The interaction between the leaf and the two clays makes for an interesting cup. How about the rest of you tea drinker's out there? What's in your cup today?

Is Taiwan Bok Choy different from the regular Bok Choy or baby Bok Choy at the Asian markets. baroness?

The three eGullet Society members who will receive the 10 g samples of three Wuyi Oolongs for our first comparative Tea Tasting & Discussion are... Wholemeal Crank baroness cdh

Just a reminder that priority will be given until midnight (US-EDST) to members who have not received a free sample in the last two Tea Tasting & Discussions. PM me now after reviewing the first post above if you are interested.

I have continued a gong fu cha session from yesterday with some of the Da Hong Pao Oolong that Greg Glancy gave me for the Three Wuyi Oolong Tea Tasting & Discussion. I'll hold my comments for now.

It's been many weeks since I have had a Keemun and even longer since brewing the Keemun Hoa Ya B from Tea Source. Rich and earthy, it's just right this morning. So what teas are you all drinking in your part of the world today?

Here's more information from the norbutea.com site on the first of the three Wuyi teas included in this Tea Tasting and Discussion. Used with permission.

Regarding BPAs and the Vita-Mix products specifically, I agree that if I were using it to make baby food or anything for small children, I would prefer the BPA-free container. Otherwise....

I have known Greg for several years since a presentation he once gave on a trip through the tea markets and farms of China fed my growing interest in learning more about fine teas. Since then he has become a tea friend and we drink tea together and trade teas and tea stories from time to time. Greg and I spent most of a Saturday recently drinking tea and selecting these three Wuyi Oolongs from his Wuyi offerings on norbutea.com. We picked them because we think there are interesting, if subtle, differences among the three: Da Hong Pao, Shui Jin Gui and Ban Tian Yao.

Interesting topic. I have been eating steel-cut oats as oatmeal for about 30 years, but it never occurred to me to use chicken broth or to treat them like risotto. Any more ideas or favorite recipes members have tried?

That's a 20% difference only if you are not counting state and local sales taxes. As I noted up-topic, my Vita-Prep 3 cost only $45 more than the 5200 when you account for taxes. Worth it to me. I'm not particularly concerned about BPA when I have ingredients in the machine for only a very few minutes. Is there research that shows I should be? That said, I am sure many people will be satisfied with the 5200.

So far today - a Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from Tea Source that the baroness first reported on in a Tea Tasting & Discussion last year. Followed by my daily bowl of matcha from yuuki-cha.com. And now an Organic Uji Tokusen Sencha, also from yuuki-cha, brewed in an older Hagi hobin. This Hagi clay seems to make for a smoother tea than a newer clay I have experience with in a Hagi tea cup. I should do a more rigorous comparison sometime. So what teas are you all brewing this day?

Today, WC, my two scoops of matcha weighed in at 1.1 g. combined. But it all depends on how much you load into the scoop. I fill it almost as full as possible.

You raise an important point. There are three basic variables we can adjust to brew any tea: leaf:water ratio, temperature and length of the infusion. But lower leaf:water ratio for a longer time does not necessarily produce the same outcome. Your first larger cup, the 12 ounce one, was also at half the suggested ratio and 15 F higher than the suggested temp. So there may be more to see. While I think it's fine to play with all parameters as I get to know a tea, I have found I am usually best served by starting at the suggested brewing parameters and then adjusting from there. It's most often infusion time that I adjust first to tweek my brewing. It's the easiest and usually most effective thing to adjust, since most teas have a fairly narrow temp range (sencha and matcha being particularly sensitive to brewing too hot), and I can easily adjust timing from infusion to infusion within a brewing session.

Please note that the recommended 80 C brewing temp is 176 F.

LuckyGirl, I just noticed that on your second brewing you also brewed very thinly - 10 g to 11 ounces (about 330 ml), rather than the 8 - 10 g to 150 ml yuuki-cha.com recommends. That's less than half the leaf. It would be interesting to see what you think if you have the opportunity to brew a matcha genmaicha again sometime. My guess is that your second brewing was so weak that the sencha leaf and matcha powder were not able to come through very much at all.

Nick is correct in pointing out that there is usacha (thin matcha), which is what you would be starting with, and koicha (thick matcha). It's not only the amount of matcha powder used, but different matcha is used for thick and thin. I think most matcha powder for koicha may be used for thin matcha, but not vice versa. Here's a link to the brewing instructions for matcha on yuuki-cha.com, which may interest you. I think the only crucial equipment is a chawan (tea bowl) and a chasen (whisk). Different whisks are used for usacha and koicha. In a pinch you could try using a bowl you already have, although I think the texture of the surface of a good chawan makes the whisking more effective, but you really, really need a bamboo chasen. Sifting is important for the matcha not to clump when you whisk it; you can try using some other kind of tea strainer or kitchen sifter, but I ended up with the dedicated matcha sifter from yuuki-cha. I have been using a chasaku rather than measuring weight, but I'll weigh it today to find out. Some matchas are best with a little more powder than others in the powder to water ratio.

Here's a link to a post with photos of my matcha making routine in the "Everything About Matcha: show us your chawan" topic.

For our first comparative Tea Tasting & Discussion, eG Society member Greg Glancy at http://www.norbutea.com is contributing samples of three Wuyi Oolong teas. I will mail three of the sets of three 7 gram samples to the eG Society members participating in this Tea Tasting and Discussion. Here are the three featured Oolongs from the Wuyi Mountain area of the Fujian province. Please follow the links for more information on each of these teas and for brewing suggestions. Da Hong Pao - Wu Yi Oolong Tea - Spring 09 Shui Jin Gui - Wu Yi Oolong Tea - Spring 09 Ban Tian Yao - Wu Yi Oolong Tea - Spring 09 The sets of three free samples are available to members who 1) will do at least one gong fu cha style brewing session with multiple infusions from each sample, 2) will report on their experience and participate actively in the discussion within ten days of receiving the samples, and 3) who have previously posted at least twenty-five (25) substantive posts (questions, answers, comments that add to discussions) in the Coffee and Tea forum. While the tasting is open to all members who have posted at least twenty-five (25) substantive posts in the eG Coffee and Tea forum, preference will be given until midnight (EDST) Monday, January 18th, to those who have not participated in the last two tastings. As always, everyone who does not receive the free samples is welcome and encouraged to participate in the discussion. So, please PM me now for details if you would like to receive one of the the free samples and participate in this Tea Tasting and Discussion.

I have been on the road this week and drinking less tea, though I took a houbin and sencha with me. We did stop in at the Steeping Room in Austin, Texas, where they have a light menu as well as tea by the pot and bulk tea to take home. We had a Ceylon, which they brewed in the kitchen and brought in a pot ready to drink. Also a Da Hong Pao (Big Red Robe) served gong fu cha at the table. Starting the day with an Assam Kongea Estate, Golden Bud from Tea Source. Rich, malty and fruity. So what teas are you all drinking in your part of the world this weekend?

I think you are on the right trail. A minerality as a component of the taste perhaps.