What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)

[Richard Kilgore]

I dug around in my teas today and brewed one I received last year from jingteashop.com. This is an Anxi Ba Xian and resting for this long has certainly not harmed it. Rich, delicious, floral, honey.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I am still getting over a cold, it is overcast and a bit chilly today, and I've been drinking that very sweet and aromatic Tie Guan Yin all week, so this morning I'm having some Big Red Robe for a refreshing contrast. Nothing more perfect for a gray morning.

[Richard Kilgore]

I have brewed the Organic Uji Gyokuro Karigane from yuuki-cha.com again with more on this in the Japanese Green Tea topic. A tasty, inexpensive alternative to all leaf gyokuro.

[Wholemeal Crank]

More earthy oolong today--traditional style Anxi Ti Kuan Yin. Feels just right for gray weather and persistent bit of cold.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I am really enjoying a Ceylon Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special I received recently from Tea Source. More on this wonderfully complex tea soon in the Un-flavored Black Tea topic.

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning I am brewing the Keemun Hao Ya A from teasource.com. Full bodied and rich. Very nice.

So what's in your cup today?

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today, for the first time in a month or so, a mix of rishi 'snow bud' with 'peach blossom' white teas. The plain 'snow bud' cuts the too-strongly-floral peach blossom beautifully. After so much aromatic and floral new style oolongs and pouchong, it was a nice change of pace.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today started with the Assam Panitola Estate, Whole Leaf from TeaSource.com. This is a really nice, smooth Assam, but I'm about out. I'll probably order another couple of ounces of this, but I also want to try some more Assams.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today started with the Assam Panitola Estate, Whole Leaf from TeaSource.com. This is a really nice, smooth Assam, but I'm about out. I'll probably order another couple of ounces of this, but I also want to try some more Assams.

Later, a "2000 Langhe Tea Factory Aged Ripe Tea of Menghai" from Yunnan Sourcing on eBay. Very smooth.

Now, a cup of Chamomille from The Cultured Cup.

[Wholemeal Crank]

2007 White bud sheng puerh from norbutea.com. I drink this tea only perhaps once a week, and every time I fall in love with it again--

sweet, smoky, fruity, exceptional.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday, a tea paired five course lunch at five time James Beard nominee chef Sharon Hage's York Street restaurant. More on that soon.

Today started with the Keeman Hao Ya A from Tea Source. I like the Tea source description, "If black rose was a flavor, this is what it would taste like."

[Wholemeal Crank]

Starting the day with more diamond tie Guan yon from norbutea. So nice to wake up to this one.

[Richard Kilgore]

Are you still drinking the Spring 2009 TGY? Last week I got the new Fall 2009 from Greg at norbutea.com and just opened it this morning, Greg thinks it is a little more complex than the Spring harvest and I think I agree, but have not done a side by side tasting. At any rate, I very much like it.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Yes. It was so good that I ordered a lot of it. I've for several months left at present rates of consumption, depending o

m how much I can bear to part with as holiday gifts...

[Wholemeal Crank]

Had some barely green tea at a Chinese restaurant last night. It was surprising to see a teapot with teabags with some bright green tea in them being used to pour my refill. Mist have been too dilute to get bitter.

Big red robe oolong today.

[Richard Kilgore]

Had a couple of infusions of yesterday's Fall 2009 TGY from norbutea.com. It sat in the Yixing for almost 24 hours, and was still wonderfully aromatic and lush.

Then went on to a black tea, which is more often than not my morning habit. Today the Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special from teasource.com. Extra special. No kidding. Wow!

[Richard Kilgore]

So...what teas are you all drinking today?

[Richard Kilgore]

Had a couple of infusions of yesterday's Fall 2009 TGY from norbutea.com. It sat in the Yixing for almost 24 hours, and was still wonderfully aromatic and lush.

Then went on to a black tea, which is more often than not my morning habit. Today the Ceylon (Sri Lanka) Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special from teasource.com. Extra special. No kidding. Wow!

Went on to do a little more gyokuro exploration with two brewing sessions of yuuki-cha.com's Organic Uji Karigane Gyokuro, one in the Tokonome kyusu and one in the Bank houhin. Each different, both good - stems and all. More on this in the Japanese Green Tea topic soon.

What teas are you drinking in your part of the eG world today?

[Doc]

I am drinking one of my favorite herbal blends as the fall air scents the house and leaves it pleasantly chilled. I try to avoid teas with caffeine in the evening, so I'm drinking Fall Harvest Tea herbal blend from Mystic Thyme. Great all organic blends.

[LuckyGirl]

I am trying one of my sample packs of Dragonwell from Ten Ren. This one is 2008 First Flush Organic Dragonwell. I am liking it a good bit.

It is slightly green and vegetal in an enjoyable way for me. I tried the 2009 Spring, Green Oolong last week and I did not care for it at all. It was very vegetal and green, like artichokes, too much so for me and it was also very thin. This dragonwell though is just slightly green and vegetal up front and it hits me as slightly nutty in the middle and then finishes lightly toasty. I guess I would say that the liquor has medium body.

The more I sip it the more I am enjoying the fact that the tea is not as bold in flavors and body as some of the oolongs I had over the weekend and yesterday but it is also not a thin tea. It is sort of elegant. It has the nuttiness I have liked in the dragonwells I have had thus far but it is more subtle.

One other thing is that is is slightly tannic on the front but not in an overbearing way. I'm actually enjoying the little bit of tannin. Is what I'm thinking of as tannin what I have read in others' tasting notes as "astringent"?

It is a medium straw color in my white cup.

I brewed it in my tetsubin pot with a removable filter. I eyeballed the tea and water. I used about half of a .33 ounce sample and about 18-20 oz. of water.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I tried the 2009 Spring, Green Oolong last week and I did not care for it at all.

One other thing is that is is slightly tannic on the front but not in an overbearing way. I'm actually enjoying the little bit of tannin. Is what I'm thinking of as tannin what I have read in others' tasting notes as "astringent"?

I have not tried anything labelled 'green oolong' from Ten Ren, but have adored their Pouchong, which is a very light, floral, hay-like oolong, but though the liquor color is a green-tinted gold, the tea has little other resemblance to a straight green tea. I've enjoyed their less expensive third grade quite a bit.

And I suspect your tannin is my astringent, although it might also be my bitterness. I like a little astringency from time to time but not bitterness.

[Richard Kilgore]

************

One other thing is that is is slightly tannic on the front but not in an overbearing way. I'm actually enjoying the little bit of tannin. Is what I'm thinking of as tannin what I have read in others' tasting notes as "astringent"?

************

I brewed it in my tetsubin pot with a removable filter. I eyeballed the tea and water. I used about half of a .33 ounce sample and about 18-20 oz. of water.

Yes, what Wholemeal Crank said. It's probably astringency, which is dryness to the front...a little pucker. It should not get bitter unless you over steep it.

Dragonwell can be wonderful. You may enjoy brewing this a little stronger...a leaf to water ratio of say 2.0 - 2.5 g (teaspoon) to 6 - 8 ounces of water.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today started with the Handmade Nilgiri from teasource.com brewed in a brown betty. A lovely tea in all respects.

Now the Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori from 0-cha.com brewed in a Banko kyusu. Pleasantly vegetal and sweet with little astringency.

What teas are you drinking in your part of the world?

[LuckyGirl]

I have not tried anything labelled 'green oolong' from Ten Ren, but have adored their Pouchong, which is a very light, floral, hay-like oolong, but though the liquor color is a green-tinted gold, the tea has little other resemblance to a straight green tea. I've enjoyed their less expensive third grade quite a bit.

And I suspect your tannin is my astringent, although it might also be my bitterness. I like a little astringency from time to time but not bitterness.

On their website the tea is calles "2009 Spring Tea" on the website it is described as a "special selection of "Green Oolong" that is delivered fresh from this year's spring harvest and has been judged worthy by Ten Ren's tea experts to be this year's Spring Tea 2009"

I have two Pouchongs from them that I am eager to try, probably later this week.

[LuckyGirl]

Yes, what Wholemeal Crank said. It's probably astringency, which is dryness to the front...a little pucker. It should not get bitter unless you over steep it.

Dragonwell can be wonderful. You may enjoy brewing this a little stronger...a leaf to water ratio of say 2.0 - 2.5 g (teaspoon) to 6 - 8 ounces of water.