Richard Kilgore
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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore
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Late night and it's the Houjicha Select from The Cultured Cup featured in a recent Tea Tasting Discussion. It's very low caffeine, easy to brew and tasty - this is competing with my tisanes for evenings.
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Today so far it's the Assam Sree Sibari Estate from Tea Source that was featured in a recent Tea Tasting Discussion. What a wonderful Assam it is!
So, what teas are you drinking in your part of the world?
I have opened a bag of early harvest 2009 Huang Jin Gui oolong - Anxi county, Fujian Province from Norbutea.com. Very much similar to TGY, and also known as Royal Golden Turtle and Golden Osmanthus. I am two infusions into it gong fu style and like it. I'll post more in the Oolong topic after I have brewed it a few times.
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I have in three spring 2009 harvest teas from Norbutea.com - first a Tie Guan Yin Diamond Grade from Anxi County, Fujian Province, China; second, Huang Jin Gui Oolong, also from Anxi; and third, a single bud Bi Luo Chun green tea from Simao County, Yunnan. I'll post at least a brief review of these in the Oolong topic and the Green Tea topic after a brewing session or two with each. I really like tgys; the other two are more exploratory.
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Other sources for Japanese tea pots and such include o-cha.com and artisticnippon.com. The latter has a variety of styles from different regions and some well-known Japanese potters, as well as less expensive, but well-designed ones by others. Worth checking out.
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In another topic, v. gautam posted an aside reagarding stevia.
.............I found a curious thing and don't know if others have noticed this: for me Stevia utterly destroys any flavor, from tea & coffee to strawberries, in hot or cold liquids. It completely kills anything worth tasting, leaving a wasteland in its wake. I was unpleasantly surprised with my first experience of Stevia sweetener; perhaps this is just my own peculiarity?
Anyone else have this experience?
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Today so far it's the Assam Sree Sibari Estate from Tea Source that was featured in a recent Tea Tasting Discussion. What a wonderful Assam it is!
So, what teas are you drinking in your part of the world?
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Just a reminder that there are only three free samples of this Taiwan Alishan High Mountain Oolong from Norbutea.com available, and that preference will be given to members who have not participated in the past two Tea Tasting Discussions until Friday at midnight. Please review the post above and send me a PM if you are interested.
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I assume yuuki-cha.com was previously named the Japanese Green Tea Shop. At any rate, there are two houhin and a shiboridashi set that are inexpensive to begin with and on sale...but only through Friday. Link.
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I am on the LS band wagon today, with a Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong from jingteashop.com. This is an elegant Lapsang Souchong, and I'll post more on it later in the Black/Red Tea topic after I have gotten to know it a little better.
So, what's in your tea cup/glass/thermos/mug today?
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I asked Dan at Yuuki-cha for advice about brewing the organic sencha from Uji in the post above. He wrote back in an email ---
The brewing suggestion we supply will give you a very "full" first infusion. To some this might be too intense. I would suggest that you increase the water volume. However, too much water will have an impact on the fullness of flavor. First, try 120ml/4oz per cup then increase or decrease it from there. For the other parameters I would recommend the following ranges:60-65C
1 1/2 - 2 minutes.
start with 6g of leaf (2-3g extra per cup)
It's probably the trickiest sencha we offer the others are fairly straight forward. I highly recommend the Yabe Supreme. It's very easy to brew and it has a very enjoyable, agreeable, distinctive taste.
Organic sencha in general brews well at 1 gram of leaves per 1oz of water at around 70°C (apart from gokujo sencha). Start with 6g of leaves from the get go (no less), and you will be on your way to enjoying organic sencha. Probably the biggest mistake people make with organic sencha is using too much water and not enough leaf!
I hope that helps a little.
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Organic Uji Hachiju Hachiya Gokujo Sencha (2009)
Harvested by Harima Organic Green Tea Farm
Grown in the Uji region of Japan
"100% first pick leaves picked on the 88th day of spring (hachiju-hachiya).
JAS and USDA Certified
This gyokuro-like sencha is a challege to brew and I would not recommend it to someone starting to explore senchas. Not that it's bad; it's just too much work and potentially discouraging when there are easier, more accessible ones available.
That said, it's interesting in that organic Japanese green teas are still fairly scarce and this one is brewed like a gyokuro. The brewing suggestion from yuuki-cha.com is 6 gr per 2 ounces water at 140 F for the first and second infusions, then for the third infusion shorter time and more water that is hotter.
I am brewing it better after four sessions, but think I can tweak it a little more. The third and fourth infusions have been rather consistently better than the first two, which have had a more vegetal quality that evolves into a more pleasant asparagus note by the third.
Anyone else drinking the 2009 harvest Japanese green teas?
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With the heatwave here in Vancouver, it's iced tea for me. Tonight I will be making iced lapsang souchong, with lemon & a bit of sugar. Sounds bizarre, but it's astonishingly tasty!Lapsang Souchong with milk. Strong and hot. Probably wrong for the hot steamy weather we are having here, but it works for me!
Lots of Lapsang Souchong going on today! But I did not get around to it.
Instead I ended up spending time again with the Organic Sencha from Kuuki-cha I mentioned up-topic. More in the Japanesee Green Tea topic.
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Has anyone tried the Kuradashi Gyokuro that Hibiki-en has been talking about for a while now?
I'm very intrigued by the concept of an aged Gyokuro and would love to hear some opinions and thoughts.
Greg
I am curious about this, too. Here's a link to the Kuradashi Gyokuro that Greg mentioned. Does anyone have any experience with this?
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I am doing a session with the 2009 Norbu Lao Mansa Sheng Pu-erh from Norbutea.com. Wow! I don't really care to drink most young sheng, except to try to get some sense of what it may be like when it has aged. But this is delicious. More on this later in the Pu-erh topic.
So what's in your tea cup, or glass, or yunomi today?
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eG Society member Greg Glancy at Norbutea.com is contributing 10 gram samples of a new Taiwan Alishan High Mountain Oolong from the recent spring harvest 2009. Greg has provided four samples of 10 grams each, and I will mail three of them to the eG Society members participating in this tasting and discussion.
While the tasting is open to all members who have posted at least ten substantive posts in the Coffee and Tea forum, preference will be given until midnight (EDST) Friday, July 31st to those who have not participated in the last two tastings. Preference will also be given to those who will brew this tea gong fu (with skill) style in a gaiwan. ("Substantive posts" simply means "contributed something to the discussions".)
As always, everyone 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.
Here's more information on this special Oolong tea from the Norbutea.com website.
This is an excellent example of High Mountain Oolong Tea from the Alishan (Mount Ali) Scenic Area in Taiwan. Oolong tea is almost an obsession among the population in Taiwan, and tea grown in the higher elevation plantations on Alishan enjoys immense popularity throughout the region. Local demand in Taiwan is always higher than the available supply of true High Mountain Oolong tea, so I am very excited and lucky to have formed a partnership (and friendship) with a fantastic tea grower from the Alishan region to bring authentic 100% High Mountain Oolong tea to our customers.This particular tea was grown at an altitude of 1,200+/- Meters (3,900+/- feet) above sea level. This batch is from the second pluck of the Spring season of 2009. It was custom roasted just for us to maintain the fantastic aroma of the fresh, lightly oxidized tea leaves while producing a more flavorful tea liquor than if it was roasted to a lesser degree.
It has a unique "High Mountain Aroma" that can best be described as "orchidy" or floral, but it is an aroma (and resulting flavor) that is very hard to describe and truly unique to teas from this area. The mouthfeel of the infused tea liquor is nice and smooth without being too thick, and the flavor is light, crisp, and refreshingly sweet and floral as a result of the low oxidation and very light roasting. The Hui Gan, or sweet aftertaste that comes after the initial bittersweet flavor fades, is lovely and long lasting.
I recommend steeping this tea gongfu style to truly enjoy the layers of flavor that reveal themselves as the leaves unfurl over a series short steepings. I would start with about 5 grams in a small 100-150 cc Yixing type teapot or Gaiwan, and steep the leaves with 190-195 degree Farenheit water (under a boil). I have also enjoyed this tea many times steeped in the Western manner with good results.
I have known Greg for several years. A presentation he gave on a trip through the tea markets and farms of China fed my growing interest in learning more about fine teas. Since then Greg has become a tea friend and we drink tea together and trade teas and tea stories from time to time.
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I have started accumulating some herbs, rose buds and such for making tisanes, but have not done much of anything with them yet. Can anyone else help WMC?
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With the heatwave here in Vancouver, it's iced tea for me. Tonight I will be making iced lapsang souchong, with lemon & a bit of sugar. Sounds bizarre, but it's astonishingly tasty!
Thanks for the tip, Beebs. I have two iced teas in the frig, but I'll try your iced LS today.
Started the day with a Makaibari 2nd flush Darjeeling. Like it.
So what teas are you all drinking in your part of the world today?
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Having spent 24 years in the pottery industry in the UK, I would say that most modern, commercially made European or American teapots can and should be washed in the dishwasher. Care needs to be taken with older pottery and also with anything made from softer, cheaper earthenware bodies which may not be fully vitreous.
Thanks, but how can I tell if an older teapot is "fully vitreous"?
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My tea knowledge and experience has benefited hugely from having The Cultured Cup shop available locally. Although I have been drinking loose leaf teas for many years, being able to walk into TCC and smell the leaves of teas in 90 or so cannisters and buy just an ounce at a time, has made exploring fine teas much more interesting and accessible. Their tea pairing dinners at Sharon Hague's York Street restaurant have been a revelation. Not to mention, their monthly T-Bar Club meetings have added immeasureably to my tea education and curiosity over the past four or five years. And they're nice folks.
I think that many who are "into" tea have had similar experiences and become big supporters of their favorite shop.
B&M tea shops are widely different one from another. TCC is a sophisticated European style salon, and I love it, but I would love to have a Japanese or Chinese shop nearby that would serve tea in traditional styles.
All that said, I am also a supporter of high quality web-based shops in the US and in other countries. I have ordered from on-line dealers I have come to trust from China and Japan, and sooner or later I'll order directly from India, too.
So why use an internet shop if I have a great local shop such as TCC available? Even though they carry a large number of teas, Kyle and his staff at TCC are very selective in the teas they carry, both at the highest quality teas and the value-priced teas. Buy their Phoenix Mountain Dan Cong Oolong and I know I am going to get a very fine tea - easy, no risk. Buy their inexpensive (Blood) Orange Roibos, and I know I'll get a very good tea at a very good price. So I continue to frequently buy many Chinese and Japanese teas and tisaines from "The Cup", and I always recommend TCC to friends and family locally and at a distance who don't know a lot about tea, but who are interested in broadening their tea tastes and experience, rather than directing them to a website in China or Japan. Easy, accessible, quality assured.
But as my interest and knowledge has deepened, I am willing to take more risks in order to understand tea better. It's much like wine...grape variety, blending, vintage, terroir, processing. How a tea from one mountain in China differs from one grown on another nearby or in another region. How different processing affects the tea. How a tea harvested in the Spring, Summer and Fall are different. How this year's Spring harvest of a specific tea differs from last years. And I can get that kind of tea experience by dealing with highly specialized tea merchants in the US and other countries, who provide that kind of in-depth detail about their focused tea stock. They also offer quality Yixing teapots and Japanese ceramic teapots that are difficult or impossible to find locally.
So when it comes to tea merchants, web-based or b&m, here are some of my preferences as to the information and service they provide. And few, if any, offer all of them.
* Tea names translated similarly to what they would be called in their country. region and specific area of origin, with date of harvest, hand-harvested or machine harvested, processing type and roasting level, notes on dry leaf aroma, wet leaf aroma, tea liquor taste, and brewing recommendations.
* Info on historical background on the tea.
* Photos of dry leaf, wet leaf and tea liquor.
* Maps
* eMail, in-person or phone accessibility, and willingness to answer questions. Sometimes lots of them.
* For b&m shops, ability to smell leaves and drink small samples or order cups or pots of tea.
* For b&m shops - offer tea classes.
* Quality teapots and accessories at a range of price points.
* Competitive pricing, considering level of quality.
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This evening it's an Aged Late 1990's Tie Guan Yin Oolong from Norbutea.com, brewed gong fu style. I have brewed it before in a gaiwan, but I think it's noticeably better in this Yixing I am trying out on several teas in order to decide what to dedicate it to. Could be I am just brewing it a little better with experience. At any rate, a very nice tea. I'll post more on this tea in the Oolong topic after getting to know it a little better.
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If your water is very hard, I suggest filtering it. Something simple like a Britta jug filter may do. Chek out the topic on Best Water for Brewing. The tea will taste better and you will not have to deal with mineral deposits. I rinse my pots with filtered water after using for the same reason.
Tell us more about what kind of tea pot you have (glass; ceramic - glazed, unglazed; metal?) and where and how bad the mineral deposits are. Are there tea stains in addition to mineral deposits?
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Welcome to the world of fine tea!
Cleaning is easy!
Each time you use it, you can just rinse it out with hot water, towel dry the exterior and let it air dry. Don't scrub or towel dry the interior. Don't use soap.
If it's an unglazed pot, I don't even towel dry the exterior.
If the pot has been sitting for a day...or a week while you have been away...just use boiling water after clearing out the old leaves.
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This morning I am enjoying the Assam Panitola Estate, Whole Leaf from TeaSource.com that baroness mentioned in the recent Tea Tasting Discussion on another Assam from Tea Source.
So, what teas are you all drinking in your part of the world?
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It's unusual for me to drink a Dan Cong and a Da Hong Pao on the same day, but I am experimenting with a new Yixing teapot to see what type of tea works best with it. The Dan Cong was okay, but the Wuyi Seasonal Da Hong Pao from jingteashop.com is working better. (This is the 2008; I have not tried the 2009 yet.) This DHP is inexpensive, but not the flat shadow of a DHP that comes with some lower-priced DHPs. More on this later in the Oolong topic and the Yixing topic.
So what are you all drinking today?
What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)
in Coffee & Tea
Posted
Today so far it's an Anxi Ba Xian (2008) from jingteashop.com, brewed gongfu style in a gaiwan. A good, tasty everyday tea that I got last year, but it's no longer on their site.
So what teas are you drinking today?