Richard Kilgore
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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore
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Started with the Keemun Hao Ba A from Tea Source, tasty with fig preserves and butter on Central Market Black Russian Rye.
The last two days I have also been brewing the Hairy Crab Oolong featured on the current Tea Tasting & Discussion. An elusive flavor. Check it out.
So what teas are you all drinking today?
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I blended 1 Tbs of flax meal with the liquid for 60 sec today. While it did heat up the liquid a little, I could not detect any graininess in the mouthfeel. The frozen fruit cooled it, but not as much as I would have preferred. I think I'll go back to using the mortar and pestle; it doesn't take but about 60 seconds anyway.
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i have been using 2 Tbs for 16 ounces. I'm not sure I really need to live past 150, so perhaps 1 Tbs would be enough.
The graininess simply may not bother others. I much prefer the smoother texture when I grind the ground flax seed further.
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Have you considered putting just the flax seed and liquid into the VitaPrep and letting that run for 60 seconds or so before adding the other stuff?
I tried this today, but with two minutes in the Vita-Prep; this got rid of the graininess in the mouthfeel and produced a warm smoothie - 78 F after pouring it into my glass and letting it cool for a few seconds. Salvaged with a few ice cubes and re-blending. Not sure why I remembred your suggestion as 2 minutes, rather than 1. I may try again tomorrow.
Huh. How grainy is the preground stuff? I wonder if it might be easier to whirl it around in a spice (aka coffee) grinder?
It's like grains of sand. I don't mind using a mortar and pestle, which are right on the counter top anyway.
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My two cents - I like a light interior on an enameled cast iron pot because it's difficult to do gumbo when you can't see what's going on. Le Cruset is guaranteed for 99 years; I understand that they are good about replacing items that are defective. That said, I have Staub as well as Le Cruset and like them both, just don't use the Staub for certain things.
Le Cruset cleans up pretty easily as long as you have not walked away from your hot stove for two or three days - then some serious cleaning is in order and a little Bar Keeper's Friend to finish. But go easy on the BKF, because it will dull the finish. I agree with JAZ that it is harder to clean the Staubs - and more difficult to tell when they are clean, but the Staub finish is tough, as Tony pointed out, and Staub designs really are cool, so....
The cheaper cast iron pots I have seen do chip more easily; typically the display item in a store is already chipped. Clearly inferior enamel, but that may or may not make any difference to you. While I use Lodge raw cast iron for camping, if I needed a non-reactive surface I would probably pick up one of the cheap enameled ones.
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Started the day with a cup of the Mariage Freres Noel from The Cultured Cup. I was going to feature this tea in a Tea Tasting & Discussion, but it arrived too late from France. Too bad, because this blend is so well balanced among it's components: a Chinese black tea, orange zest, dried apple, vanilla and Cinnamon. In general I don't care for vanilla in a tea or tisane blend - not that I don't like vanilla, but too much of it in the blend would kill it for me. And I'm not fond of flavored teas in general either, but this is really well done.
Then continued with my fledgling matcha making with the Organic Yame Matcha from yuuki-cha.com. This is only the third or fourth time I have made it and think it the best so far, though I am not sure what I am doing better each time. This is an inexpensive matcha - my matcha training wheels, and although I find the taste quit acceptable, I am beginning to get curious about what the better matcha tastes like. Photos to come.
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Thanks for the report and the photos, Wholemeal Crank.
I wonder what was growing near these tea plants that may have contributed to the ambiguous flavor component. Pomelo perhaps?
I got about 9 infusions out of my first brewing session (above) in the gaiwan. 185 - 190 F worked better for me than 195 F. The leaves probably had a little more left, but I was ready to stop. Oh, and I did find a few floating hairs on my first infusion, which I poured without use of a strainer.
Today I have started a session with the remainder of my leaf, 4.2 g, in a Yixing teapot of 180 ml, but filled only to the 120 ml level. So this is similar to WmC's second session leaf:water ratio. My Yixing, pot bellied in shape and made of hei ni clay, is one I have not dedicated to anything yet and have not used in a long while, so I decided to give it a try.
I am on my third infusion and I like it best of the first three (flash rinse; 1:20; 2:15; 3:20), all at 185 - 187 F. The floral aroma of the wet leaf carries to the tea liquor and to the taste, and all is more intense - the floral and fruit flavor and the growing sweetness. The hui gan (after taste) lingers pleasantly for a while - longer than I anticipated from Greg's notes on norbutea.com.
These leaves expand quite a bit, so if anyone does not have a scale, filling your gaiwan or Yixing no more than 25% with the dry leaf should be about right; then you can adjust your infusion timing to taste.
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The remaining two free tea samples from Yuuki-cha.com, located in Japan, are now available to all members. If you are interested in this matcha genmaicha Japanese green tea, please review the first post and then PM me now.
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So far today it's been the Nilgiri Glendale Estate, Handmade in my cup, from Tea Source. Absolutely delicious tea, as well as beautiful dry leaf.
How about you? What's in your tea cup, or thermos or whatever?
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This morning I enjoyed the Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from Tea Source.
Later I started a gong fu cha session with the current Tea Tasting & Discussion tea - a Fall 2009 Mao Xie, Harry Crab - Oolong , another interesting Anxi Oolong from norbutea.com.
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If you compare ss bowls at, say, Wal-Mart and heavier ones at restaurant supply house it will be easy to tell the difference between heavy gauge and not. I got mine several years ago, made by Vollrath, from Ace Restaurant Supply: click here to see the Ace offerings, which include light weight, cheaper ones, and those made by Vollrath.
As far as using a ss bowl as a double boiler for making scrambled eggs, I doubt it makes any difference if you use the cheapest, thinest bowl.
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That's what I had been doing, Sam, and it just doesn't get rid of the graininess. I may not have let it run a full 60 seconds, though, so I'll try it again tomorrow.
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There are now only two free samples left. Preference to those who have not received samples for the last two Tea Tasting and Discussions until midnight Friday as posted above.
Please PM me now if you are interested.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
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Thanks for the detailed notes, LuckyGirl. I am on my second infusion of this today, brewed gong fu cha in a small 55 ml gaiwan with 2.8 g leaf at 195 F. With this richer leaf to water ratio, I find an oily mouthfeel - and not in a bad way. I think that what you are experiencing as pinneaple must be that note that Greg has had a hard time identifying. Me too - it's there but I don't have a word for it.
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Art & Science of the Smoothie, Engineering Department:
I have been adding Bob's Redmill ground flaxseed as someone here, Steven I think, suggested. While living forever is an obvious plus, I have not enjoyed the grainy texture that this gives my smoothies. Today I took about 60 seconds extra and ground the pre-ground flax seed with a mortar and pestle and now my smooth smoothie is even smoother.
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There are now only two free samples left. Preference to those who have not received samples for the last two Tea Tasting and Discussions until midnight Friday as posted above.
Please PM me now if you are interested.
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[Moderator note: The original What Tea Are You Drinking Today? topic became too large for our servers to handle efficiently, so we've divided it up; the preceding part of this discussion is here: What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)]
Started the day with the MF Queen Victoria Darjeeling (2nd Flush) from The Cultured Cup. A very pleasant Darjeeling.
Then on to a Sencha Select, also from TCC. This is the one featured in a recent Tea Tasting & Discussion, and as would be expected after so many weeks, it is a shadow of its former self - though still a pleasant shadow. -
Photo by yuuki-cha.com. Used with permission.
Dan at yuuki-cha,com in Japan is contributing an Organic Matcha Iri Genmaicha for this Tea Tasting & Discussion. The tea is composed of organic sencha and matcha from Kyoto and roasted organic brown rice from Nara. I will mail free samples of 10 grams each for up to three eG Society members.
This is the last Tasting & Discussion for this year. However, several interesting Tea Tasting & Discussions in a new format are already slated for the first part of 2010. If you subscribe to the eG Coffee & Tea forum you will be among the first to know when one is posted.
While the tasting is open to all members who have posted at least ten substantive posts (questions, answers, comments that add to discussions) in the eG Coffee and Tea forum, preference will be given until midnight (EDST) Friday, December 4th to those who have not participated in the last two tastings.
The three free samples are available to members who also 1) will do at least one brewing session with multiple infusions from the sample, and 2) will report on their experience within one week of receiving the sample and participate actively in the discussion.
As always, everyone who does not receive a sample 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 the tasting and discussion.
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Yes. Icky. That's the word for it.
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Ended the day with a tisane: Sunset Orange Roibos, which has a blood orange flavor, from The Cultured Cup. This is a nice one I may never have selected on my own, but had it paired with a first course that had a citrus sauce at York Street Cafe.
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That's interesting WmC. I use a Britta filter, too, but keep it on the counter. Could it be picking up some odor from the fridge?
Regarding your "carelessly prepared brewing", my experience has been that my skill in brewing a specific leaf often improves over time in difficult - and sometimes impossible - to identify ways. I am doing something different, but I just can't tell you what it is.
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I found it on Zingerman's site and on Amazon, where there are several options. I could not find it here locally; though I got it a few years ago at Central Market, they no longer carry it. Low demand for a very high priced unfamiliar item took it off the shelf I imagine. Even the two Spanish cookware and food sites don't carry it.
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No tea this morning. The electricity was out and I opted for a decafe, a cranberry scone and a newspaper at Central Market, rather than building a campfire in the kitchen to heat water.
Have just started on a shu pu-erh from YunnanSourcing.com: a 2008 Menghai "Hong Yun" Ripe Pu-erh Mini tea cake (100 grams). Scott at YSLLC says on his site to go for very short infusions at first, and gong fu cha it's difficult to pour this too fast on the first few. Tasty, rich, thick mouth feel. I thought I detected a little hint of cocoa in the first infusion, but it was gone on the second.
Continued brewing the 2008 Menghai "Hong Yun" Ripe Pu-erh Mini tea cake left over night. It's still tasty and after a total of 3 rinses and 8 infusions (longest 1 min 15 sec) it is not done.
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I finally did the Red Beans, Chorizo, Blood sausage and Piment d'Esplette. I did it in a 4 1/2 qt. La Chamba Covered Roaster that works like a deep casserole. I'll do this again at least once this Winter and use better beans.
The recipe calls for small red beans, heritage of course. I have some Rancho Gordo Scarlett Runners, but they are not at all small. In visualizing the finished dish, I thought the small red beans from Central Market that I had on hand would look better as background for the larger chunks of chorizo and blood sausage, so opted for those. Mistake! They turned out to be slightly grainy and no amount of cooking improved the texture. So the RG Scarlett Runners go in the next batch.
Photo later.
What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 2)
in Coffee & Tea
Posted
Prepared matcha again today, but used a little bit too much and it was more astringent than the last two times.
Am now drinking the Organic Kumamoto Sencha Yabe Supreme from yuuki-cha.com; with three infusions so far I enjoyed the first and third the best. Sencha being sencha, this package is into at least late middle age and it is still tasty with a whiff of the sea dry, and then the aroma and flavor of sweet young asparagus and a lingering after taste. Before brewing I was afraid it would not show much and was surprised how well it has held up.