Richard Kilgore
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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore
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And a very good question it is.
I have found that few people say whether their steep time includes the pour...including me. But in general I don't include the pour time when jotting times down. I make a mental adjustment, and adjust the brewing time as needed
So you can do it either way. Of course combining them gives you better info if you are looking back at your notes. I probably should do that.
Your gaiwans will usually pour really fast once you get comfortable with it, faster than your Yixing. A 100 ml gaiwan may pour in 6 seconds, but a 100 ml Yixing may take 9 - 15 seconds.
Have fun!
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Greg told me he makes iced tea by throwing some leaf in cold water and putting it in the fridge for a few hours. He doesn't measure, so I can't say much about what to do, but since you have about 8 grams left, how about 3 grams in maybe 8 ounces of water. Then use the last 5 grams in your 100 ml of water for gong fu cha.
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Nice Yixing pot, glass pot and gaiwans, Wholemeal Crank.
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Starting the day with the oh so smooth Lumbini Estate Ceylon, FBOP from Tea Source.
Howaboutyouguys?
What's in your cup?
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Thanks for the detailed tasting notes. Your photos are great, too. Hope you can make them display.
When you get more of this tea to work with, I would encourage to to try using more leaf, a lot more, with short infusions. For your Yixing, for example, try working with 5gr, 7 gr or more at 195 with an infusion series something like: 20, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, etc. Adjust to taste. People are often stunned by the effect of using more leaf than they typically do.
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Evening gong fu style brewing of a sample of a 2003 Menku Gong Ting Ripe Pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing. I started this in a gaiwan and had a bland reaction to it for the first three infusions. Then dumped it into a new Yixing pot I am trying to find a tea match for. Quite an improvement. I'll have to explore a few older shu pu-erhs to see if this is the match.
So who is drinking tea today? What's in your cup?
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One thing that is important to me is responsive communication on the part of both b&m shops and their websites, as well as web-based shops.
I like to be able to get helpful information and advice in a b&m shop, but don't like pushy sales people who will not leave you alone to browse. I like phone calls returned and emails replied to by b&m shops and their websites. While I would prefer a response the same day, I am okay with 24 hours.
From web-based tea merchants, I very much appreciate in-depth replies to phone calls and emails and willingness to go back and forth a number of times to answer a question or place an order. Actually, I sometimes find some advantage in email communication over in shop communication in that the discussion is spread out over time and additional questions typically come to mind in between emails about a tea or tea-thing I am considering purchasing. Somehow a half dozen phone calls about a product would seem odd to me, but a half dozen emails is okay.
I just checked my emails and for a recent order at Yunnan Sourcing, Scott and I had a series of 18 emails in order to get my questions answered about several items and make the final cut on the order. And even more for Greg Glancy at Norbutea.com and most recently Dan at Yuuki-cha.com.
I am sure there are other tea merchants on-line with exceptional communication. These are just the people I am most familiar with. What are your expectations of b&m shops and on-line shops regarding good communication? What has your experience been?
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The Cultured Cup has added a new line of teas in recent months they are calling "A Cup of Value". I have tried a few and they have done a good job of sourcing some very nice, inexpensive teas.
This "Cup of Value" series is in addition to their "Cup Above" line of some truly exquisite classic teas, such as Dan Cong, Great Red Robe and others. More expensive, but very high quality.
And they also continue to carry a large range of Mariage Frères teas. I think they may be the largest retailer of Mariage Frères teas in the US, but one of the largest at any rate.
As I have mentioned in other topics, I have known Kyle Stewart at The Cultured Cup for some time now, having bought tea from his shop for many years, at least 10 years I believe it is. And for the past three years or so Kyle has been instrumental to my tea education through the T-Bar Club at The Cultured Cup.
Kyle attended the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas recently and completed his three years of training with the Speciality Tea Institute to become the first certified tea specialist in Texas. I have had many pleasant times with Kyle and his staff, trading teas and sharing new tea discoveries. More than just a tea merchant I happen to buy tea from, Kyle is a culinary friend as well as a tea friend - the wonderful tea pairings at Sharon Hage's York Street restaurant and a shared interest in Asian food.
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What teas and tisanes are you all drinking today?
I started out with the MF Assam Napuk from The Cultured Cup. Then moved on to learning to brew the somewhat challenging Organic Gokujo Sencha from Yuuki-cha.com, with some success. Patience and persistence pays off.
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Yes, I know Wing Hop Fung. I have bought a few tea canisters on their website. Do they have more tea and tea-things in the store than on the site, as most b&m stores with a website do?
It is incredibly difficult to say whether a clay pot is actually made of any of the Yixing clays, especially without being able to see and touch it. There are a lot of fakes using other clays, and other good clays passed off as Yixing because they have the name and get a better price. But for $20, yours may well be an inexpensive Yixing, slip cast or made on a wheel, rather than half hand made using a mold (but even the latter is possible). I have several in that price range and they are perfectly suitable for brewing Chinese Oolongs and Pu-erhs. You would have to spend two or three times that much to do better.
So, what's the capacity of your pot?
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Just a reminder that preference for the free tea samples will be given to members who have not participated in the last two Tea Tasting Discussions....until midnight Tuesday.
Please see the first post and PM me if you are interested.
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Ah ha! I finally got it right. I switched to a larger Banko teapot and brewed 7.5 gr in a little over 5 ounces of water. And poured 150 F water into an unheated pot, rather than 140 F water into the pre-heated smaller pot shown above. The first infusion is now pleasant. I think the sour component was too much for my taste on previous sessions.
Using about half the capacity of this larger 10.8 ounce pot is working better for me at this point than using a little over half the capacity of the 4 ounce pot.
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Don't know anything about the "Just Vegetable Company", and couldn't Google them. These are not hard chips. The best description of these vacuum fried veggies that I can do is above.
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I have not seen these, Richard. Are they making them in house in the Dallas store? Are there other types of veggies available?
I don't think they are making them in-house. Look for them in the bulk foods section. And yes...carrots, green beans, maybe more.
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And where did you buy it?
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I'm just curious. Have you made any changes in your tea brewing and drinking this year?
Teas that are new to you?
New brewing equipment?
New tea cups?
New brewing techniques?
Pictures welcome!
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Late night brewing of the Organic Kumamoto Yabe Hojicha that Dan at yuuki-cha.com sent complimentary with an unusual open kyusu I bought from him along with another kyusu. My second infusion was even more aromatic than the first, with more of its sweetness.
Also brewed a jug of Korean barley tea to drink iced tomorrow.
So what teas are you all brewing in your part of the world?
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I recently bought "vacuum fried" vegetables at Central Market in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. I sampled several and left with okra and garlic. These things are addictive, and are a great addition to a salad, as well as nibbles.
These vegetables are dehydrated, but retain their shape and are airy, light, crispy crunchy and dissolve in your mouth.
But how do they do this? Could you do it at home or in a restaurant, or does this require commercial equipment. Adria would admire this I think.
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Yes, it is dehydrated, but retains its original shape, so it is airy and light and dissolves in your mouth with a little crispy crunch and great flavor.
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I have shopped at this store a couple of times now, the Houston H-mart topic spurring me on to finally make the trip. This place is worth a regular stop. Huge produce and seafood sections. It will take me months to work my way through trying their huge selection of in-store made Kimchee. And an interesting food court offering a variety of Asian dishes. Checkout the one serving dishes in hot stone bowls.
I picked up bags of Korean Roasted Corn and Roasted Barley and have been making the teas. A savory iced tea may be something of an acquired taste, but actually is quite refreshing.
I can recommend the Korean melons also. There I have bought them at 99 cents and $1.20, but see them in mainline grocery stores for $1.99. However, some of the melons, such as Hami, are no cheaper than Central Market.
Anyone else shopped at H-mart? Anything special to recommend?
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Has anyone else tried the "vacuum fried" veggies at Central Market? The garlic and the okra are terrific.
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This is a Kuromatsu Tokoname teapot made by Tokoname craftsman Gyokko that I got from Yuuki-cha.com. At a 120 ml capacity it is good for brewing about 60 - 90 ml of higher quality sencha or gyokuro. I love the texture of the unglazed clay.
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I'm getting a little better with the challenging gyokuro-like sencha from Yuuki-cha.com. I've been tweaking the leaf:water ratio and think i may be able to improve my brewing a little more, but rather consistently the third and fourth infusions are favored by me and those I have served it to. The first is the least liked.
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Most of today I have been drinking the Taiwan 2009 Spring Harvest Ali Shan High Mountain Oolong contributed by eG member Greg Glancy for a Tea Tasting Discussion. I like it so much that I'm going to buy some of the first pick harvest from him to try out soon.
I just pulled out an adolsecent Pu-erh sample from Scott Wilson at Yunnan Sourcing on eBay. This is a 1998 Lin Cong CNNP Green Wrapper Raw Pu-erh that I got last year about this time and didn't much care for. I have come to take my first impressions of a tea with a large grain of salt, however, and always consider the possibility that the problem is with the brewer rather than the brewee. Thinking my brewing skills may have improved, I tried this one again.
The first infusion at 10 seconds after two 20 second rinses was pretty flat. Ho hum. But the second one I bumped up to 30 seconds and the Pu began to respond. I need to run through the infusions, but this is one that I might consider buying a whole cake, however, I see that Scott no longer has it on eBay. I may email him, though, just to see if he has one stuck away.
Edited to say that having brewed several infusions, I just can't get that excited about this Pu-erh after all. Not that it may not be my brewing rather than the leaf.
Gaiwan Gongfu Style Tea Brewing
in Coffee & Tea
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You got it! I always tilt the lid just before I am ready to pour...except the times I get distracted or forget, in which case I fumble around a bit.
You're on your way.