"T"

I work in West Van, there are some hot grannies

I am not sure what the going price for a pot of premium loose tea should be but I will say this, if the tea is prepared incorrectly, meaning improper water temp, inadequate room for the leaves to swell and unfiltered water, then a higher price cannot be justified. That would be like drinking warm 1990 Latour in a dirty starbucks cup. Ok, not that bad but sort of. Stephen, PM me if you want or need another quote on highend loose teas. Cheers, T

Kabuse indeed means to cover the plants to mimic the way the tea plant would grow in a natural non human cultivation setting. I have found tea grown as Kabuse to be the most intense and true to terrior as a tea can get. I think this thread has been highjacked

Do you have a link for them? I did a search, but did not find anything. Is is Morioto or Morimoto or???? OK. I think I found them. But it's Iwachu, from Morioka, Japan. I was curious, because the tetsubin I've found outside Japan seem to me to be of lesser quality, but still quite expensive. If I make it to Iwate sometime in the next little while, I'll see if I can find some Iwachu to compare. I've always wanted a tetsubin. ← Yes it is Iwachu made in Morioka Japan. Ooops.......I blame the wine

tea/food pairings are similar to wine/food pairings. Remember, protiens soften tannins. Therefore, high tannin teas, such as ffl Darjeelings, Ceylons from higher elevations, Keemun Mao Feng can be tamed, if that's what you want, with either a small dose of milk or a pastry which incorporates whipped cream. Earl Grey indeed goes well with chocolate as does matcha. Both the acidic nature of Earl Grey and the bitterness of matcha pair well with the bittersweetness of chocolate. I once made an orange flavoured rooibos tea then added gelatin sheets and made oranges rooibos jello. works with earl grey and jasmine tea as well. In fact, gelatin sheets are great for many applications. Pardon the spellin', much wine after a bath = Mmmmmmmmmmmm....relaxxxxxx.

I reccomend the Iwasu line made in Morioto (sp?) Japan. Hand cast, enameld on the inside. Many styles and sizes. Like you said, hella coooooool!!!!! Cheers, T

oops

Yup BBQ in the rain. Actually kinda cool. Dinner was fairly simple, ribeyes marinated in red wine ,EVO, black pepper, and a blend of herbs, oregeno, basil, rosemary and thyme. Boneless chicken thighs in white wine, EVO, garlic, lavender, thyme,rosemary, lemon. Grilled veg basted in a garlic, ginger, EVO, rice wine vinager and soy sauce. Started with a simple Languedoc, Ch de Pennautier 2003. Medium acidity, medium to firm tannin at opening. Bright red fruit and spice(nutmeg) on the nose. At first I thought a bit of carbonic maceration as well. Simple, tasty. Robert Sinskey 2001 Cab franc. Los Carneros of Napa Valley Initially a bit tight but after 15 min it really openned up. Floral, dark berry fruit, a touch of spicy, smokey oak. Good acidity with present yet soft tannin. Rich dark berries and still the floral on the palate. Tannins were present but not firm or overwhelming. This wine took us all by surprise since none of us were expecting much. I know nothing of this producer but sure was tasty. With desert Ch D'Aydie Pacherenc Du Bilh 1999 375 ml. Dried apricots, dried peached, toasted nuts, peach pit on the nose. Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet on the palate with all the flavours of the nose with a bit of cinnamon and baked apples. My wife bought this for me a few years ago and now I wish she bought a few more. Music...Sonvolt, Pernice Brothers, The Cure and ending with Mr JC John Coltrane. Cheers, "T"

It's called U-Brew and it is terrible stuff. Every bottle I have tried tastes like cork taint. Since I doubt every single cork they use is infected it must be the whole operation that is tainted with TCA.

Just came back from dinner out. Paid $24.00 corkage for a mag of Fonterutolli CC 2000 and a 750 ml of Vire Clesse. Regardless of the legalities I thank restaurants that allow me to do so.

100% agreement on the Cedar Creek Ehrenfelser. Unfortunately very few wine lovers outside of BC will get a chance to try it. Pastis with ice cold water, vodka tonics and Super Bock beer from Portugal seem to be my current hot weather faves this year.

It takes a brave person to say they drink chard. I will stand beside you and proclaim, "my name is Steve and I also enjoy well made chardonnay"> Wow, I feel much better now. I wish more producers would make unoaked versions. Think of the money they would save on barrels and or chips.

I went to Dub pre Ai. The chef instructors were great. The problem with Dub isn't that they fill you with high expectations it's more likely they attract students fromm wealthy backgrounds who have been pampered since the day they were born, therefore they feel they deserve 50K a year to make chicken stock. I always reccomend NW to those who ask me. I was taught by Chef Tony, worked with Christophe and Chef Ian is so full of passion and joy, although, he can be tough( and good on him for it) these people care about what they do and that is something that will stay with you for a long, long time.

Others have said what I was going to say but they said it much more diplomatically. The pay sucks. I understand passion. Man do I ever. But, a person needs to earn a livin' and it is hard in this city to live a decent life at those wages. I/we all state how cheap it is to medium-fine dine in this city whichis great for the customer. So does that mean the alternative is 200-300 % markup on wines so the boss can afford to pay the back of the house more or do prices need to increase to justify the amount of work it takes to make good veal stock? Personally I say increase prices, train front end staff so they understand wine therefore can sell a product better( I say this because I was in a restaurant not too long ago and the staff pronounced Vosne Romanee, Vosssnee Romaneeeeeee. That's just plain embaressing) Vancouver needs a price increase. That is my unpopular answer Neil.

Good on ya man!!!!! Don't feel shy about your victories. I checked out your website for a glance. Liked it enough to bookmark it, so that means I will come back to it over and over again. Congrats and enjoy the accolades. Cheers, Steve

Holy shite!!!!! If at proper tastings you don't spit then you pass go, do not collect $200.00, skip wine lover, wine snob, wine geek and go straight to wino. Spitting is paramount. Without spitting there is no wine appreciating. Only drinking. Which leads to more drinking which ends up to staggering. Great at parties, shamefull at tastings.

I often begin my evening as a wine lover. But, if there are others who are as passionate as I, I/we can slide into winesnob/ boardering on winegeek. But by the end of the night as I drunkenly weave my bike through darken carless streets, I more than likely become the Wino/Drunk. That's cool. As long as it doesn't happen too often I can live with it.

I agree it is pretentious but not ludicrous. When at informal(meaning at peoples homes) tastings and we all have one glass each often after tasting a wine we will all pour a small amount of the next wine in the glass, swirl, then into the spit bucket before pouring a proper glass full. It makes sense.

On April 10th 2005 my son Max was born. My hope is that he will also chose integrity over profit or advancement everytime. I suppose that is, as a parent, a challenge to teach my son. Would you say that how we raise our children defines us as to how we are as productive citizens of this planet? Way off topic I know. I blame it on the Pappy Van Winkles 20 year Family Reserve Bourbon I just had. Thanks again Jim. Cheers, Steve

Slap my hand Mr. Cowan if I am wrong but I am assuming V V means vielles vignes or "old vines".

Mr. Gothe(sp) in the Straight was wetting himself over the 02 vintage which is good since I have many bottles I just found in a case I had forgotten about. I may crack one on the weekend.

No offence but isn't wine appreciation a bit pretentious to begin with. No different from being an audiophile or tea snob. BTW I am guilty on all three fronts. Apologies all around.

I had one from d'Arrenberg, I think, last year and although it was tasty it didn't excite me as much as it did others in the room. Mind you I'm not a huge bubble kind of guy, except Salon. Now that is a fine wine. Hard to find though. In my market antways.

Hmmmmmm...... well Bergerac is lots of clay and limestome so I find it can be minerallyat times but not what I would call funky, but then again, we all have our own interpetations of said descriptors. Oakey Chard is oakey chard regardless of where it is grown. Incredibly simplified I know but I am a bit drunk at the moment. Kabinet Riesling can still have a slatey nature, so it all depends on what you mean by funk. I would let your co workers taste the bottles you have openned and see if there are any faults in the wines. I know I have openned up to 3, yes count them 3, corked bottles of different wines in a row. A very bad evening indeed. Luckily number 4 was fine but still very dissapointing.

Jim: The quality and variety you drink astound me. I always look foreward to your notes and to what gems you will pull out next. My cellar is nowhere as diverse or as large as yours but slowly I'm getting there. Cheers, Steve