Richard Kilgore

Does anyone have web sources for herbal ingredients to make your own blends like teagal and Greg Glancy do?

That is dramatic, Andie. What kind of glass pot is that?

A search in the Texas forum for barbecue and/or Sonny Brian's has saved many a poor starving soul from 'cue grief. Thing's have not been the same since they expanded from the original shack on Inwood Rd. and Sonny Brian passed away.

Here's one strong recommendation I can make. Avoid the mini tuocha offered by many Puerh dealers as an easy way to experience Puerh or to travel with it. I have tried a few of the better ones. And even for them, one is much better off exploring with an inexpensive sample of a 2 - 3 year old cooked (Shu) Puerh cake. These things at their worst can discourage anyone from trying Puerh a second time.

What's everyone drinking today? I started out with my first cup ever of PG Tips and don't understand why people like it so much. It appears to be leaves broken into tiny bits, which = bitter. Maybe "strong" is a euphemism for bitter. What is it about PG Tips that keeps you PG Tips drinkers coming back for more? How do you brew it; maybe I'm not brewing it well. Now I am drinking an Oolong from Hue De.: the 2008 Spring "Natural Harvest" WuDong FengHuang DanCong. Brewed Western style, 2.5 g/120 ml (4 ou). Strong floral aroma and taste with honey following and in the after taste. That was the 1st two infusions, more to go. I have been getting at least 4 infusions out of this western style. Delicious!

This is an interesting take on a perhaps ancillary issue. I also recall reading, some decades ago (I have not kept up with my tea research, it seems), that certain teas - e.g. Darjeelings & Oolongs - improve with age while others, particularly Ceylons, will deteriorate no matter how you store them & are best drunk quickly. I've found this to be anecdotally true - when I've found a Ceylon or Assam that I've forgotten about in the back of the cupboard, it's generally gone flat - but certainly haven't done exhaustive experiments. I'm curious to hear others' experiences in this regard. ← Interesting point, ghostrider. My understanding is that Darjeelings may improve with age, but I'm not sure at what point that is optimal or when they start to fade. Don't know about Ceylons or Assams, except that I had to dump a tin of a blend recently because it was lifeless - it was several years old. So I would be interested to hear others comments, too. I think with Oolongs it depends upon whether they are greener or darker Oolongs. I have one aged Oolong from the 90's and it has a mild but distinct roasted flavor.

I tried a second infusion and then looked at the leaves carefully. There is not much hope here after all. The leaves were chopped not just broken a little. Not just astringent, but bitter. On the first brew I did not rinse and also thought maybe the leaves were smallish and just had not opened. Never mind.

I agree. While one may choose to pay more for a tea container for aesthetic reasons, as long as the container will take care of the tea you put in it, that's good enough. Different teas have different storage requirements, and as you say, one may want to be more careful with an expensive or hard to replace tea. I have found that the tin or stainless single- or double-lidded containers that have seams all leak at least a little, so they are not air-tight. But they are fine for smaller quantities, or any quantity, that I am going to use within a month or so of most green teas. Longer for Oolongs, depending upon whether they are at the green or the darker end of the oolong spectrum. Longer, much longer, for black teas or Chinese red teas. I mostly buy teas 25 - 60 grams at a time, so these work well for me once they come out of the sealed opaque bag they came in. When taking a serious belt-and-suspenders approach with a tea I think I may not be able to replace easily or at all, I have placed the opaque, zipped original bag inside a double lidded tin - the tall, wide-mouth ones from TenRen work well for small bags that have been opened. Of course this is not as secure as Mike's use of sealing equipement, nitrogen purging and refrigeration, but I'm not going there yet. Never say never.

The second of the three teas I picked up at an Asian market is a Pouchong tea (considered to be more or less a green Oolong).This may actually be okay for an everyday tea. Puochong's can be a little tricky to brew to their best advantage, so I'll have to experiement with it. This is in a round white cardboard canister with a green and gold label with Chinese characters and the English words "Pouchong Tea", the tea sealed in a stiff translucent material. The container also says: " Mese Hsin Tung Yang Foods Co. dba New Horizon San Francisco" It was $5 for 60 grams -- quite pricey for an Asian market tea. It was the only tin of this tea left on the shelves, suggesting it is from a 2007 or earlier harvest and not likely to be at its best. I'll play with it a little more and report back later.

I think what you have identified is the difference between a Western-style tea room and an Asian-style tea house. For the latter, the tea is the thing.

Anyone been to any of these tea rooms? If so, what do you think? Do they deserve the "great" designation?

Thanks, Mike. I also think that many people have a distorted impression of the cost of Pu-erh. If you compare drinking most young to adolescent Pu-erh with wine, Pu usually comes out well ahead in the affordability department. It's the very old stuff that stops me in my tracks. Even compared to good Oolong, which can easily run $150 to $300/lb and more, exploring Pu is relatively inexpensive. I think one problem is that people tend to assume they have to buy a whole 375 gram Pu-ehr cake to begin exploring. But, as joanne pointed out upthread, Guang at Hue De -- as well as Scott at YSLLC and other Pu dealers - usually offer small samples of Pu for $3 and up. At this point in my Puducation, I am mostly trying samples of shu and sheng from various dealers.

I don't know for sure, since I have only been to one tea shop on the list, The Cuiltured Cup, but my guess is that there are probably a small handful of noteworthy tea shops that didn't make the list, but carry, say 75 or more fine teas regularly, along with a variety of tea-things..and provide knowledgeable, helpful service. Anyone else have a favorite B&M shop that they feel should have made the list?

It was a Chinese red tea this morning, followed by a Phoenix Mountain Oolong this afternoon. What tea(s) have you been drinking today?

I was pleased to see that The Cultured Cup made the list. Well deserved for many reasons. Kyle and Phil have contributed hugely to the growing tea culture in Dallas through sponsoring the T-Bar Club, a monthly gathering to share information, learn more about tea regions of the world and taste teas that are difficult or impossible to source in the US. They have a sophisticated shop with a tea bar and a seating area where you can stop for a cup or a pot with friends and try any of their extensive inventory of MF teas or select group of other special teas. And they have a friendly and helpful staff. In addition, they provide consultation, teas, equipment and training to some of the best restaurants in Dallas. Much more in the shop than shows on their website, too.

Yes, Mike's site is a store house of info on pu-erh and worth checking out. Given the current economic conditions, do you think the price of new Puerh will be dropping significantly over the next year? How about the adolescent or older Pu?

The Chinese porcelain jars with the synthetic ring seal are very good in all respects save one: they do not keep out all light. But I have no idea how critical this is for medium to long term storage -- of course, you could keep them in a closet or darkened room. For short term storage, anywhere except a brightly lit area, I think it would be fine. Has anyone experienced a loss in flavor or aroma with any type of tea stored in these porelain jars?

I am fairly new to Pu-erh, not having tried any of this Chinese tea from the Yunnan province until 2 -3 years ago. The complexity of Pu, similar in many ways to the comlexity of wine, increasingly attracts me. My impression is that Pu-erh knowledge and enjoyment is at the point today in the US that wine was in, say, the late 1950s - early 1960s. I have gotten some samples and a tuocha tong from Yunnan Sourcing LLC on eBay, two bricks from Puershop.com, and samples and a cake from Norbu.com. Some shu (cooked) and some sheng (raw). I have tasted only a couple dozen pu-ehr and am just starting to learn what to expect and what to look for in shu and young and adolescent sheng. Have you tried Pu-ehr? If so, what Pu-erh have you found interesting, and what vendors do you like?

Have you been able to make this? If so, how did you do it?

TeaSource threw in a free sample of "White Sunshine" with a recent order. It's a blend of a white tea, chamomille and natural pomegranate extract. This is a bit tricky to brew, or can be if you deviate too much from their temp and time recommendations. I have doubled the tea to water ratio and it works okay, but go long or high and the chamomille will over-power the white tea. I'll have to try actually following their directions to the letter. While this is a pleasant enough blend, I really prefer my white tea straight and my chamomille stronger.

Thanks for the break down, Mike. I am storing small samples of Puerh in plain zip lock bags inside two large double lid Yixing containers, thinking the zip locks would not restrict the breathability too much. Make sense?

Here's a Bill Addison review of Urban Taco from August of 2007. Mr. Addison enjoyed most of the offerings, liked the hippster environment and the prices, but found the fast-casual service pushy. It's been over a year, so YMMV. From the review: "Fernando Huerta, formerly a sous-chef at Stephan Pyles, craftily specializes in several proteins (and one astute vegetable combination) that could be insinuated into several styles of dishes: chicken tinga, barbacoa, red snapper and a trio of poblano, potato and zucchini. The Dos Equis amber pot roast barbacoa leads the horde. A coffee-and-cream-colored snarl of ragged beef interwoven with equal notes of sweet and pleasant bitterness from its beer braise, it melds equally well tucked into a masa empanada, splayed in a tuft over a corn tortilla or spread between crusty telera bread in a warm torta."

What do you use to store your teas and how well do they work? Which containers for which teas? Are the aesthetics of tea containsers important to you, or do you just want whatever will protect the teas from air, heat and light? I have been working to understand what different teas require in the way of storage and how well different storage containers work to provide the level of protection they need from their common enemies: air, heat and light. I have tried: - single lidded tins - single lidded tins with synthetic seal - double lidded tins with plastic inner lid - double lidded tins with tin inner lid - quart Mason jars - opaque zip lock bags - opaque stand-up zip lock bags - Yixing clay double lidded containers - porcelein containers with synthetic seal I'll post some pics and more about my impressions of these and how well they work, or how well I think they are likely to work, with what teas later. All of them have good and bad points to consider. How do you store your teas?

There is a nearby very good bakery-cafe that I sometimes go for a change of scenery to work on my laptop (or sometimes even on paper...you remember paper?) and have a cup of coffee. The other day I looked through their tea bag selection and asked if I could bring my own, but pay the tea charge. The woman at the register said, "Sure. And it's only hot water, so it'll probably be free if you buy anything else." Now, that's tea service!

Had a cup of Lapsong Souchong from TenRen Tea: http://tenrentea.com this morning. Yikes! Good tea, but a little too smokey for me this morning. It would be great with a smoked brisquet or pulled pork or charcoal grilled burgers. Now drinking a pleasant Shui Xian Oolong from TCC, but the smokiness lingers. So, what are you drinking today? Tea, that is....