Richard Kilgore
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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore
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Had a pot of kukicha fukamushi during the Ginny Marsh pottery show at The Cultured Cup today - chawan (teabowls), kyusu teapot sets with matching yunomi, individual yunomi, serving plates, etc. Very cool teaware.
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A safe ratio as a starting point for sencha is often considered to be about .6 g to an ounce, so I have to think it is astringency rather than bitterness with only 1 g to about 3 1/2 ounces of water. The first infusion is going to be more astringent and often times the sweetness emerges on infusion 2 or 3 for me. I think I have some of my sample of this tea and I know I did not brew the tea bag, so I'll do that tomorrow.
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Yes, the quality of chamomile varies widely. Most I see in grocery stores, from Asian groceries to the high end Central Market, is pretty pitiful looking. I have been getting superb Chamomile for years from The Cultured Cup; they have been great at sourcing the best. A heaping teaspoon per cup for five minutes or two or three teaspoons for two or three minutes, both good.
I'll be interested to see what you find out as far as chamomile pairing goes, Erin.
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I believe there was a piece on this man in the New Yorker a few years ago.
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A beeng it is, Wholemeal Crank.
Today started with the Organic Asahina Gyokuro Tsuyuhikari from yuuki-cha.com. Really like this, but it's the last of it I have.
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Out of curiousity, I bought a small bag of what looks like black tea leaves rolled into long cylinders. I should have asked after how to brew it properly, as once I got it home and made some, the black coating lifted off in a mess of black specks and the resulting brew was too foul to contemplate drinking. Any idea what I brought home with me?
Interesting. Maybe not tea leaves, but rather a medicinal plant leaf. I have some Greg Glancy gave me that look similar to your description, but I have not tried brewing it. I don't recall the name off-hand but will dig it up. Did you get it from a tea shop, grocery or what? If you go back, please ask for more detail about the whatever it is.
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Started the day with a 2006 Mengku Gong Ting ripe pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing, gong fu cha in a gaiwan. Smooth with more of a cmaphor note on the nose than in the cup. And an almost licorice note on the first infusion. More on this in the Pu-erh topic after I have brewed it a few times.
Drinking this again today. This time brewed in a Yixing. Not as much camphor, smooth, and a creamy mouth feel and that licorice-like note and sweetness showing on the third infusion.
Yet again. In a hurry earlier today, I scraped the leaves out of the Yixing and brewed them in a Brown Betty. Very tasty. And more still left in the leaves.
Later, a Spring 2009 Single Bud Bi Luo Chun Green Tea from norbutea.com. I brewed it with an infuser basket in a tall Ginny Marsh yunomi, 3.0 g to about 8 ounces, for 3 minutes. Very nice with no astringency. I'll brew it gong fu cha soon and post more in the Chinese Green Tea topic.
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You may find this topic on Barley Tea of interest. Maybe also this one on Korean Roasted Corn Tea.
I drink chamomile quite often in the evenings, but not with food. What foods do you think it pairs well with?
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I am curious. Do you drink teas with food? What type of tea do you like to drink with what foods? Any pairings that don't work well for you?
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Luckygirl, you may also want to check out jingteashop.com for dragonwell. While I have not had theirs, it's on my list to try, and I have found their Oolong and red teas to be exceptionally good. Even their lower priced ones.
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Five pounds of various Rancho Gordo beans arrived. Some just to be eaten as beans and some for the cook-along with Paula Wolfert's new book on Clay Pot Cooking.
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Started the day with a 2006 Mengku Gong Ting ripe pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing, gong fu cha in a gaiwan. Smooth with more of a cmaphor note on the nose than in the cup. And an almost licorice note on the first infusion. More on this in the Pu-erh topic after I have brewed it a few times.
Drinking this again today. This time brewed in a Yixing. Not as much camphor, smooth, and a creamy mouth feel and that licorice-like note and sweetness showing on the third infusion.
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Today starting with the Organic Kumamato Sencha Yabe Supreme from yuuki-cha.com. I did this with longer brew times than I have before (60, 30, 90 vs 60, 10, 30) and it was only okay rather than very, very good. Back to the shorter second and third infusions next time.
Sorry to hear about the tea bags, WmC.
So what's everyone else got in their tea cup/yunomi/thermos/whatever today?
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Not absolutely sure, but my best guess is that this was/is done with green teas at their lower temps rather than Oolongs and pu-erhs. Also probably less rich leaf to water ratio and longer infusion allowing for a little cooling.
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Drinking straight from one's own gaiwan was the traditional way in China, and it is still done there. But most people decant directly into a cup large enough to hold all the tea liquor. Or, especially if preparing tea for two or more, decant into a "fair cup", a small pitcher (say 200 ml capacity or so) and then into small cups so that everyone gets the same strength infusion. Alternatively, if you have a tea table to catch the spills, you can pour from the gaiwan directly into the tiny cups, running back and forth so that, again, everyone gets the same strength infusion. A fair cup is simpler and what I use even when using a tea table.
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Started the day with a 2006 Mengku Gong Ting ripe pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing, gong fu cha in a gaiwan. Smooth with more of a cmaphor note on the nose than in the cup. And an almost licorice note on the first infusion. More on this in the Pu-erh topic after I have brewed it a few times.
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Richard,You mentioned in a post on this thread that there are a lot of fake Yixing pots made from clays passed of as Yixing and to buy your Yixing pot from a source you trust. Can you recommend a few sources for Yixing pots? I have already checked out the pots at Tea Source since I was on their site reading about the tea you had today. Are they a reliable source for pots as well as tea?TIA,Diane
And if I can add to that, what is a reasonable price to expect to pay for a real Yi Xing pot?
I have not bought a Yixing from Tea Source, but would not be interested in those I see on their site. The clays do not look good for brewing tea to me. This is not just Tea Source - few tea merchants know much of anything about Yixing pots and often feature the more decorative ones because they are cool looking and people are more attracted to them than the simple, plain looking traditional ones. One problem is that the decorative ones are much, much more likely to be made of lower grade clay because many designs require a lot of clay and the breakage rate on these fancy ones can be high. Potters don't want to sacrifice their good clays this way. So it's best to think of the artistic ones as display pieces.
Buying a Yixing without seeing and touching it in person is tricky. You can buy a useable Yixing teapot for as little as $12 plus shipping. This is modern Zisha clay of good enough quality to brew tea. If you are brewing gong fu cha for one or two people, I suggest one of about 90 - 100 ml as optimal, but no larger than 150 ml, which could serve as many as four people. Simple, traditional styles. No cute decoration. There is good reasons for not spending more than, say, $50 on your first two or three Yixings. It's a learning experience and we all pay some dues. Those dues are cheaper at $12 - $50 than at several hundred.
I have had the good fortune to see in person hundreds of Yixing tea pots of awful ($4) to good to very good quality since one of the largest importers of Yixings is here in Dallas. Robert Bo at Chinese Teapot Gallery on eBay. There is not anything in his eBay store I can recommend right now, but he should have a lot more stock in later this year or early next year. Don't consider anything in his store less than $12 and only traditional, simple styles. No appliqué, no open work. When you see something you like in the store, just email him and tell him you want a Yixing for brewing tea, not as a decoration, and ask if it has good clay for brewing. Ask for alternate suggestions in the 90 - 150 ml range.
Scott Wilson at Yunnan Sourcing on eBay is another tea merchant I can recommend for inexpensive Yixings in the $12 - $50 range. Again, simple styles in the 90 - 150 ml range. People almost always start larger and end up later with smaller (100 ml or less) pots. Scott is not a Yixing expert and the clays used in the pots he has listed may or may not be accurate, but regardless they are good clays and his prices are fair.
Older Yixings made of better clays that are "extinct" (no longer mined) usually start in the hundreds of dollars, go into the many thousands and are another subject entirely. And are not a reasonable place for most people to start.
All this said, my strong suggestion these days, which I am sure is usually ignored because of some intrinsic appeal of Yixing tea pots, is to forget about Yixings for now and learn to brew Chinese teas with a gaiwan. Spend time learning what teas you like in this neutral vessel that will not appreciably change, impact, improve or negatively alter the aroma and taste of the teas. I didn't do that, of course, but Robert Bo and I probably spent a weeks worth of hours over several months, squatting on the floor of his shop looking through hundreds of pots as he gave me my basic Yixing education. But today, I often try a new tea in a gaiwan before brewing it in a Yixing.
Gaiwan first. Yixing later.
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Today started with the Handmade Nilgiri from teasource.com brewed in a brown betty. A lovely tea in all respects.
Now the Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori from 0-cha.com brewed in a Banko kyusu. Pleasantly vegetal and sweet with little astringency.
What teas are you drinking in your part of the world?
Tell me about the Handmade Nilgiri. I read the description on Tea Source and it sounds lovely. I have put it on my list to try. Would love to hear your tasting impressions.
Better yet, take a look at the Tea Tasting & Discussion featuring the same Nilgiri.
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That's pretty much what I have been doing. It's awkward to impossible if you try to slice lengthwise the whole stalk, since I seldom meet one that's straight.
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Last night I was at Tei-An for a soba making demonstration by Mr. Akila Inoue. Mr. Inoue is Master Chef of the Tsukiji Soba Academy, a professional soba and Japanese culinary school.
This is Shin Soba (new soba) season, the best time of year for soba. Every year in the fall the Shin-Soba-matsuri Festival (New Soba Noodle Festival)is held in Japan in the soba producing area to celebrate the harvest of the buckwheat crop.They call Shin Soba "the Beaujolais Nouveau of buckwheat".
Some were seated around the long curved dining bar, but more of us were gathered around standing one or two deep as Mr. Inoue began the demonstration. He worked on a board about three by five feet. He is rather soft spoken, so despite a microphone the background noise from the waiting area bar and kitchen made it impossible to hear more than fragments of what he said during the hour long demonstration. But soba making is a physical act, so there was no problem in following along as he mixed the buckwheat flour with a carefully weighed amount of water in a large - about 30 inch - stainless steel bowl and began working it. And working it. And working it. Athletically. Dancing and working.
After about 25 - 30 minutes this soba master produced a large piece of dough that he then worked into a large disc about three inches thick. Using his hands at first, and then a set of wooden dowels of various lengths, he methodically rolled, folded and rolled again the dough and reduced the three inch disc to 5mm, then 3mm, then 2mm, then 1.5mm, then 1mm in thickness. This process took another 30 minutes. Finally slicing the noodles thinly with a specialized knife.
Mr. Inou and I were talking after the demonstration and I commented that soba making is athletic enough to be an Olympic sport. He has been making soba for 20 years and is here for only a few days before flying to LA where he has four soba classes to teach and a friend to visit.
After the demonstration came the food. The menu for the evening included Zuke Tuna, Kisu Tempura and fresh from the demo - Shin Soba from Hokkaido and House Soba with two dipping sauces, black sesame and soba Tsuyu-Soy base. The presentation was elegantly simple, the tuna fresh and delicious and the soba a revelation of slurpable goodness.
I also ate at Tei-An a couple of weeks ago with friends, so more on that later.
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Today started with the Handmade Nilgiri from teasource.com brewed in a brown betty. A lovely tea in all respects.
Now the Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori from 0-cha.com brewed in a Banko kyusu. Pleasantly vegetal and sweet with little astringency.
What teas are you drinking in your part of the world?
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One other thing is that is is slightly tannic on the front but not in an overbearing way. I'm actually enjoying the little bit of tannin. Is what I'm thinking of as tannin what I have read in others' tasting notes as "astringent"?
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I brewed it in my tetsubin pot with a removable filter. I eyeballed the tea and water. I used about half of a .33 ounce sample and about 18-20 oz. of water.
Yes, what Wholemeal Crank said. It's probably astringency, which is dryness to the front...a little pucker. It should not get bitter unless you over steep it.
Dragonwell can be wonderful. You may enjoy brewing this a little stronger...a leaf to water ratio of say 2.0 - 2.5 g (teaspoon) to 6 - 8 ounces of water.
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Had a couple of infusions of yesterday's Fall 2009 TGY from norbutea.com. It sat in the Yixing for almost 24 hours, and was still wonderfully aromatic and lush.
Then went on to a black tea, which is more often than not my morning habit. Today the Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special from teasource.com. Extra special. No kidding. Wow!
Went on to do a little more gyokuro exploration with two brewing sessions of yuuki-cha.com's Organic Uji Karigane Gyokuro, one in the Tokonome kyusu and one in the Bank houhin. Each different, both good - stems and all. More on this in the Japanese Green Tea topic soon.
What teas are you drinking in your part of the eG world today?
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I don't know alcohol infusions, so I may be way off. Take this with a grain of your experienced salt.
My guess is that the problem with your tea infusions is the quality of the tea. Tea bags are highly likely to give you an astringent pucker or worse just by looking at them. As Chris mentioned, high quality Ceylon teas might be a good place to start. Check out the Ceylon teas at your local shop or the Ceylon (Sri Lanka) teas listed under black teas at teasource.com. Their best ones show little or no astringency when brewed hot.
I'll be interested to see how this works out.
Japanese Green Teas - Sencha, Gyokuro...and more,
in Coffee & Tea
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I notice that Den's recommends 2 minutes for the first infusion of this gyrokuro, and that's pretty typical, so why such a short first infusion?