Richard Kilgore

Very interesting. Could be a source of income, too, since there is interest in heirloom produce.

Today I have been drinking two teas. This morning it was an American Breakfast Tea, which is essentially an Irish breakfast tea, from The Cultured Cup. A solid, inexpensive morning tea. Brisk, not overly astrtingent. This evening I started a gongfu session with a 2007 Norbu White Bud Sheng, the first private label puehr from Norbutea.com. Greg sent me a small sample with my last order and this is another delicious and accessible raw pu from Norbu. I brewed 7 grams in about 110 - 120 ml water in a 130 ml Yixing pot. Rinse: 3", 1: 20", 2: 20". More in the leaves but I am out of day. I may have to order a whole 250 gram beeng of this sheng.

The last couple of days I have been drinking MF 1851 from The cultured Cup and the lasst of the bamboo puerh from Norbutea.com. The bamboo pu is some of the most accessible and pleasant young raw puerh I have had.

Enjoying a delicious Nilgeri from India this morning. How about you - what's in your tea cup today?

You're quite welcome, Chris. Glad you are enjoying it. And yes, it's worth experimenting with a range of brewing times for many teas. Oolongs also are often interesting with a first infusion of 7 - 9 minutes when brewed western style as you have done here with this Keemun. Exploring the base teas for blends can be an interesting experience. If they are the quality of what goes into tea bag blends, you're not going to have a good time. If they are the quality of what goes into commercial loose leaf blends, some will be better than others, but they should be drinkable. Good to high quality loose leaf teas from China, India and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) are another experience altogether. I can assure you that any tea of the quality of this Mao Feng is highly unlikely to appear in any tea bag or commercial blend. Since you enjoyed this Keemun, I'll be interested to see what you think of the Dian Hong Imperiale from Norbutea.com in the current tasting.

That may be the only good source. A number of us ordered from this purveyor a few years ago when Paula Wolfert recommended him here. You want an unglazed one for cooking. I can recommend the Riffi.

Yes. I agree. Those are the two best guesses about what the hybrid means. If it is [art indineous, the question is whether such a hybrid is considered a true Darjeeling, since there is apparently a huge problem with fake Darjeeling on the market. Is this the first time you have ordered from this purveyor? How long did it take to reach you? So, how do you like this tea, whatever it represents.

Thanks. I think they are simply distnguishing the small leaf Chinese variety grown for Darjeeling from the large leaf Asssam tea leaves more common in India. The leaves can be processed to different levels of oxidation, but there does not appear to be anything in their content describing their various Darjeelings that states specifically how they are processed. They indicate which flush from which estate, but calling it Chinese alone does not tell us whether it was processed toward the lighter or darker end of the spectrum. But I find the term "China-hybrid" they use to be a little confusing. I know a few people who who have traveled the tea areas of India and who know more about Darjeelings and Indian teas in general than I do. I'll talk to them and see if I can add anything more to clear this up.

Good question. Can you tell us exactly which tea it is on their site? Or give a link?

I have promised a dining companion that I would find an Asian restaurant that serves fresh, house-made noodles. Does anyone know if the bakery has table service? If not, are there restaurants in the Chinatown Center that serve freshly made noodles?

What tea:water ratios and steeping times are you all using? Are you doing multiple infusions? If not, give it a try. These leaves will continue to unfold over several infusions. Even western style I have gotten 5 or more out of these leaves.

Here are the dry leaves of the Imperial Dian Hong we are tasting from Norbutea.com. The wet leaves after one infusion, brewed western style for about 3 minutes in a 300 ml Yixing teapot filled with about 240 ml water at 208 F and 4 gr of the dry leaf pictured above. As you can see they are only partly opened and have several more infusions left in them. The liquor from the first infusion. Note: While very good, I would go 5 grams next time with the same paramaters for time, temp and water.

Hope everyone will find their tea sample in the mail by today. I'll try to take some pics of the dry and wet leaf and the liquor tomorrow so others can see what we are brewing.

What teas have you been drinking today? For me it started with an English Breakfast Ceylon from TCC. Since then I have been drinking the inexpensive Asian grocery market TGY that Greg Glancy mentioned a few months ago in another topic. While it is a modest TGY, it is quite enjoyable and much better than most teas you find in Asian groceries.

I like my I-Roast2 a lot. I roast outside due to the smoke, so not during the Winter months. It took me a couple of roasts to get an acceptable result - mostly a matter of not trying to use them right away and letting the beans rest for two days to de-gas. Check out sweetmaria's.com for green beans and equipment.

In my cup this morning it's the Indian Nilgeri I like so much. So what are you guys drinking today?

I added water three times to the leaves floating loose in the cup. The leaves promised to give a little more, so I covered the cup with plastic wrap and left it overnight in the frig. The next evening I had two more cups from the leaves, and this morning three more and counting. This started out with about 1 1/2 tsp in a 9 ounce cup.

That's interesting, Sam. I'll have to try the EVOO alone at high heat.

If you really like it, you can buy directly from the MF website. Six euros per 100 grams, but they don't have standardised shipping fees (they're based on the weight of your order), so I don't know what the total cost would end up being. I had MF Bolero today, and some kind of chocolate-flavoured tea from Lupicia (a Japanese tea company). I don't really like Lupicia teas, but the tin the chocolate tea came in was so cute, I couldn't resist! Who cares about the tea when you can have a cute tin!? ← Thanks, but I don't like it enough to pay what I think will be the shipping from France. And I forgot...I had a glass of iced Bolero at The Cultured Cup late today. Yes, warm enough here that we're drinking iced tea.

This morning I had the Mariage Freres 1854, three infusions and think there may have been a fourth left in it. I like this occassionally in the morning, but unfortunately The Cultured Cup will not be carrying it any longer...too few of us buying it. Tonight I've been enjoying a green TGY from jingteashop.com -- grandfather style.

The electric water kettle - I can usually tell from the sound when it has hit one of the three most common temps for tea - 75 F, 95 F and 208 F (205 F for coffee), within 5 degrees on the low side and often closer.

Eating out much less, even though previously most of my eating out was exploring inexpensive "ethnic" restaurants. Great cheeses much less often. Okay, but less complex, less expensive (ie. cheap!) wines more often. Slow to replace any liquor. (Fortunately, great teas of the world are a bargain luxury.) Less beef, more chicken and pork. The local Dunn Brothers Coffee shop went up dramatically on their coffee prices -- to normal urban coffee prices -- previously $5 per half pound, so truly great coffee has gone away until it warms up and I can start roasting green beans again. I have not totally given up coffee outside the house. There is a bakery-cafe with free wi-fi that provides a pleasant alternative workspace for the price of a cup of coffee. I shop selectively at Central Market and Kroger, but have been shopping as much as possible for several years at Asian markets and Hispanic markets where produce prices are generally at least 40% less than mainline grocery stores. Central Market seems to be having more sale items than before, so that helps. None of this bothers me a great deal. I have lived on much less and much, much worse in the distant past: how many ways can you cook and serve Campbell's soup and rice? Rice in soup - soup on rice - soup with rice as a side. On the other hand, I am concerned that due to so many of us economizing that many of the wonderful foods from other parts of the world will disappear from our B&M and internet stores for at least a few years.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll try several over time, but I popped into a TJMAXX/HomeGoods yesterday and looked through what they had. Got a one litre bottle of a Sicilian EVOO that is clearly good enough for drizzling and I may end up thinking it is too good for cooking. I was also interested to read that several of you like the Goya. While I am a big supporter of many, many Goya products (best canned beans), I did not care that much for the Goya Olive Oil -- too green for my tastes. But that may not make any difference when cooking with it. I may have to give it a try. I often mix canola oil with olive oil -- in the pan -- to raise the burning point. Does anyone else do this? Does using a light, filtered olive oil work better at this?

I had been using just one moderately priced EVOO for cooking and drizzling...for everything, but like most people these days am looking for ways to economize. So what are the best inexpensive olive oils you have found for cooking? Is EVOO necessary?

I think that if you have an extra food processor, you could probably strip out the motor, strap this knife to it, and cut firewod.