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Richard Kilgore

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Everything posted by Richard Kilgore

  1. Welcome, Allan. You may find something of interest in the Chinese Green Tea topic and the Japanese Green Tea topic, as well as the Oolong Tea topic..
  2. While I am in general agreement with Will, few have three competition tasting sets or three gaiwans of the same size, so this is not conducted as a professional tasting. While we often do have a few brewing stipulations, the TT&Ds are really intended to introduce tea drinkers to teas they may not have tried before, and so much more casual. The varied approaches our tasters bring to brewing have actually taught me a lot.
  3. Wide variety of teas over the past several days. Jamirah Estate Assam, Castleton Estate Darjeeling - Wiry, Organic Hime hikari Japanese black, Wu Niu Zao Green Tea, San Nen Bancha, 2008 Spring Natural HabitatWu Dong Feng HuangDan Cong. So what are you all tea sipping this wintry day?
  4. I would suggest multiple infusions since you have the equipment. For a start try 20 sec rinse; 10 sec first infusion and then adjust from there. 185 degrees to start. About 1 1/2 g per ounce of water.
  5. Running late at breakfast time? Many years ago we found amazing things on the streets of the Upper Eastside on "large item trash day" or whatever it was called. One time we came away with a six foot high, double beveled glass door heavy, fine wood book case. I guess that could qualify as a bookcase for cookbooks.
  6. Yes, Shalmanese, that was my calculation, too. Was something I wrote unclear?
  7. This evening I have been drinking the terrific Sunpu Boucha (Kuki-Hojicha) from norbutea.com. I have not made this in a couple of months, but it is one of the best Hojichas I have had in the last 2 - 3 years. Early today, I enjoyed the Jamirah Estate Assam from The Cultured Cup. This starts off nicely robust in the cup, with the flavor even improving as it cools. Also earlier this evening I had the Organic Gokujo Sencha from yuuki-cha.com; five really good infusions! How about you?
  8. A friend received a snail mail invitation from The FreshDiet.com offering "Gourmet Dieting in the comfort of your own home". For only $29 per day per person (that's the low-priced package - they go up to $45) if you buy the service for a month; much more expensive by the week. According to the brochure, this is such a great deal, because we spend an average of $25 - $35 per day on food. Okay, when traveling on business I usually spend more than that, but my monthly food expenses are a little less than $900 per month. Someone out there must be spending $4,000 per month per person to off-set my food budget. I have friends that this may appeal to, but does anyone here subscribe to this? If so, what do you think?
  9. We taught me to think "plating" in the EGCI, so I never thought of it as pretentious. Presentation matters to me unless we're eating family style.
  10. Where have you people been? I always say "break up" the chicken...that's the new cool way. I think "plate" if I am, er, plating the plate, but I said that out loud once and got an irritated response from a couple of family members. And I said it once out loud with friends and received a somewhat uncomfortable, intimidated response. Other friends it would be no issue. But I have learned it's often better to not say it. So tonight, I'll "dish up".
  11. I think that for drip, and only if drip is all you do and plan to do in the near term, then the beans are the most important, the drip equipment as second and the grinder third. A blade grinder used properly should be adequate. If, however, you may want to try the French Press method, then a good burr grinder will make a difference. A burr grinder may make a difference if you are using a high end drip brewer ($200 - $250 range); I don't know, but maybe someone else here does. My 2 cents, from a former heavy coffee drinker.
  12. I often cook for someone who is vegetarian of one type or another, and myself prefer to have one meatless dinner meal each week. So I need some help with suggestions for vegetarian main dishes. What are your favorite veggie main dishes? Recipes?
  13. This morning it's been the Organic Gokujo Sencha from yuuki-cha.com; delicious and easy to brew. Over the last week or so I have also been drinking a lot of the Organic Tenryu Misakubo Sencha, also from yuuki-cha. Most mornings it has been black teas: an absolutely delicious Jamirah Estate Assam and the Puttabong Estate Darjeeling - both from The Cultured Cup (TCC), and the Ceylon Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special and the Ceylon Kenilworth Estate OP - both from teasource.com. Among the Oolongs, the Phoenix Mountain Dan Cong from TCC. Not sure about tea for the rest of the day, but I have been thinking a white tea. What about you, tea sippers? What's in your cup?
  14. I found an over-the-top excellent Assam at The Culture Cup a few days ago: a Jamirah Estate Assam. But still looking for other recommendations. Any other Assams to recommend?
  15. Plain white French porcelain much of the time for me, complemented with serving pieces that provide color and texture. Fine china that has color and pattern around the rim and white or off-white for the center offers both elements, but I use it rarely. I also enjoy solid color ceramics on the tables of friends.
  16. I have never attempted to dry the leaves, though Andie's post may result in me trying it sometime. For day to day, it's just more trouble than it's worth to me. I am quite satisfied with the number and quality of the infusions I get. "As for number of infusions" it is more complex than category of tea and age. Within a category the number of infusions vary, often correlated with the subspecies; the quality of the leaf - which may be related to environmental growing factors (soil, micro-climate, etc.); and the nature of the picking and processing. In general, the better the quality of the leaf, the better the quality and quantity of the infusions. Trial and error is your friend. With a given leaf and a given brewing method, the first infusion that is unsatisfactory to you is...one too many.
  17. Trial and error, as far as different teas responding, well, differently. I usually try in one day to get through how many ever infusions a tea will give up, and do a hot rinse if it has been more than two hours since the last infusion. I have been known to hold leaves overnight, doing a hot rinse the next day, but there is some risk and I do not recommend it to others.
  18. It's time for me to re-stock a few Assams as I am just about out. Which ones from which tea merchants do you like the best? They vary, so what characteristics do you like in an Assam?
  19. Today the Ceylon Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special from teasource.com is in my cup for several infusions - and still my favorite Ceylon so far. Yesterday it was an extended session of the Big Red Robe Oolong I started two days ago. So, what tea leaves are you brewing today in your part of the eGullet world?
  20. I'll start. While I tried a number of new teas, most of my exploring was focused on Japanese teas - more organic senchas at all levels of steaming; more organic gyokuros; more organic matchas; and even Japanese black teas. I'll poke around in my tea collection and see what else was new for 2010. For 2011 my focus will continue to be on more, varied, Japanese and Chinese green teas. Plus more higher quality Wuyi and Fen Huang Chinese Oolongs. Not that I will not be open to trying a wide variety of black teas: Assam, Nilgeri, Darjeeling and ceylon teas that I have not met before.
  21. I am curious about what teas everyone discovered the past year and what you want to explore this year. New categories of tea? Teas from new countries or regions of countries? Teas processed differently? So what did you try in 2010 and what are you looking forward to for 2011?
  22. Today it was a Japanese black tea to start, the hand picked Organic Makurazaki Hatsumomiji from yuuki-cha.com. A very smooth black tea that brewed four infusions today. Now I am sipping the Big Red Robe from The Cultured Cup. Hope they have more in stock Friday for the T-Bar Club. How about you all? What's in your tea cup/tea pot/tea thermos today?
  23. I used the Brita pitcher filters for years and it made my tea, coffee and water taste noticeably better. For the past 1 1/2 years I have been using the Pur 3-Stage faucet mount, and the water taste is even better, since it adds desirable minerals back in after doing its filtering job. I may go to an under the sink filter or a Berkey at some point. If you have chlorine flavor or other off-tastes, the pitcher designs are better than nothing.
  24. There has been a wide variety of cookbook and food references published during the first decade of this century. Excluding Food Literature, what are your top 10 cookbooks and references during the first decade?
  25. During the first decade of this century there has been a wide variety of books, journals and magazines devoted to food literature. Not cook books as such. While these publications may have recipes, they are predominately food lit: history, essays, autobiography and biography, and other non-fiction, as well as fiction. What are your top 10 of the decade?
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