What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)

[Richard Kilgore]

I have started a new topic on Chinese Green Tea and copied Wholemeal Crank's two interesting posts above to it.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I brewed a 2009 Spring Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha - Loose Pu-Erh Tea from norbutea.com. More on this interesting leaf in the Pu-erh Tea topic.

Edited to add: Also had the Assam Paniltola Estate, Whole Leaf from Tea Source earlier in the day.

Edited August 24, 2009 by Richard Kilgore (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

Started the day with the fine Assam Sree Sibari Estate from teasource.com featured in this Tea Tasting Discussion.

How about you?

[Wholemeal Crank]

Started tha day with hot chocolate, but now moved on to a mix of rishi tea peach blosso

mixed about 50:50 with yellow tea fro vital tea leaf in San Francisco, sadly thelast of what I bought from them. Have ordered more, though. They're the only source I've used for yellow tea: although Wing Hop Fung calls several of their teas yellow, that appears to be related to the color of the liquor rather than special processing technique.

[Richard Kilgore]

Gong fu style brewing of a 2007 Haiwan Lao Cha Tou Brick that I commented on previously in the Pu-erh topic. Really like the leather and wood notes.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I like the scent of a new leather saddle, but it's never made me hungry or think of tea.

Just not a term I would ever have thought to use, although itmight have fit the pu I drank last nite.

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning it was a 2003 Mengku * Mengku Gong Ting * Ripe Tea Cake. A little more on this smooth cooked pu-erh in the Pu-erh topic.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Rishi Ancient Tree Golden Yunnan organic black tea.

Lovely fruity stuff.

Not quite as wonderful as the 'Royal Golden Yunnan Xtra Fancy' I got last year from Chado that finally made me realize 'black tea' was not synonymous with 'english breakfast' type teas that I couldn't stand, but delightful nonetheless.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started the day with a MF Assam Napuk from The Cultured Cup.

Then the Diamond Grade Tie Guan Yin Oolong, Spring Harvest 2009 from norbutea.com. A lovely TGY. More on this tea in the Oolong topic.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started the day with a MF Russian Breakfast Tea from TCC, a Sri Lanka black with a little bergamont...with milk, both of which are unusual for me. Good for what it is, but just not my cup of tea.

[Yajna Patni]

I am in tea heaven right now, having received a fantastic gift of a box of all kinds of different teas. I will probably be up till 3 am tonight because i am drinking tea right now.

For breakfast this morning i opened up the Kalami Gulabi, i had seen this box at my friends house, and is Chaldean, from Baghdad and LA. She says her grandmother makes this tea. She boils it Indian style with cardamom and sugar. I just made it in a pot with boiling water. It was the perfect breakfast tea for me. Whole leaf, and Assam i would guess. Strong, "tea" flavored, with out the kind of nasty back taste of boiled sock that sometimes afflicts the cheap bag tea i.e. PG tips.

It struck me that due to its strong flavor it would be excellent to blend with other teas. So this evening I mixed it with another tea from the box! This one has the most fantastic packaging. Kusmi teas, Prince Wladimir. It says it is flavored with spices and citrus and vanilla. To me it smelled of clove vanilla and orange. Like a kind of warm Earl Grey. I mixed this half and half with the Gulabi tea. Delicious, mildly spicy, like a warm Earl Grey.

PS... I expected the kalami gulabi to be rose flavored. Gulab is hindi for rose. I don't read Urdu or Arabic, so i have no clue what the rest of the box said... any one know if gulabi means something in Arabic?

[Richard Kilgore]

Very interesting, YP. Any photos of these teas?

[andiesenji]

The description of the Kusmi tea is here.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday I brewed a raw pu-erh, a 2008 Hai Lan Hao Lao Ban Zhang & Man 'E Cake sample from Yunnan Sourcing. Yikes! So bitter! Curiously puzzling, I found it interesting - in a good way - the first time I brewed it. I'll post more on this in the Pu-erh topic soon.

[Wholemeal Crank]

FInished the last of some orchid oolong today....and now, am drinking some of my traditionally dark roasted ti kuan yin.

So amazing that such variety is coaxed from a single plant.

And looking forward to tomorrow and sunday, when I will be trying out my new scale with many new teas from recent orders including oolongs, puerhs, white teas, and keemun black tea, to see if the much-discussed chocolate notes resemble actual chocolate in any way.

[Richard Kilgore]

FInished the last of some orchid oolong today....and now, am drinking some of my traditionally dark roasted ti kuan yin.

So amazing that such variety is coaxed from a single plant.

And looking forward to tomorrow and sunday, when I will be trying out my new scale with many new teas from recent orders including oolongs, puerhs, white teas, and keemun black tea, to see if the much-discussed chocolate notes resemble actual chocolate in any way.

←

Sounds like a fun tea weekend!

This morning I am starting off with one of my favorite Chinese red teas - the Dian Hong Imperial from norbutea.com. Brewed western style in a Yixing teapot.

[Wholemeal Crank]

After yesterday's pu-erh tastings, I wanted to go simpler today, and I'm going to be on the road a bit, so brewed up a pint of yellow tea from vitaltleaf.com (5 grams of tea in the 200mL glass pot, infused a total of three times for 1 1/2-2 minutes each..

I was trying to restock a lovely tea I bought someplace that looked almost like a black tea with a lot of golden tips, but was a few shades lighter, scented strongly of fruit, and made delicate, mildly fruity infusions. I thought I bought it at their shop in San Francisco on a trip there last year. This brewing came out a bit darker, a touch smoky, and not sure if it was a difference in the brewing or a different batch of the tea--or if I was confused and the yellow tea was from a different source originally.

Also trying a pint batch of 'champagne ti kwan yin' S-329 from chadotea.com, a very light green leaf, 5 grams in the 180 mL yixing pot, several infusions of about a minute. First sips are very nice, and it deserves a head-to-head with the diamond grade ti kuan yin from norbutea.com soon. Maybe next week.

But today, brewing quicker & in bulk for the roadtrip.

And that Dian Hong Imperial sounds marvelous. A close cousin to the golden yunnans I've been loving.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday did two gong fu cha brewings of pu-erh teas from Yunnan Sourcing. First a 2005 Yong Pin Hao Stone Pressed Yi Wu Mountain tea cake (sheng, raw) and then a 2003 CNNP Yellow Mark Ripe tea cake. More on these two in the Pu-erh Tea topic.

Also brewed a very fine Kagoshima Sencha Yutaka Midori from O-Cha.com. More on this later in the Japanese Green Tea topic.

How about all of you? What tea have you been drinking?

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning enjoyed the Assam Sree Sibari Estate from TeaSource.com featured in a recent Tea Tasting & Discussion.

This evening, unwinding with an Organic Kumamoto Yabe Hojicha from kuuki-cha.com that was included as a complimentary gift with a futanashi kyusu, an open Japanese teapot (no, I am not kidding - lidless).

So, what are tea are you drinking today?

[Richard Kilgore]

Started off the day with the last of my a Mariage Frères Ceylon Pettiagala from The Cultured Cup. Hot. But I have made it as iced tea and it is a smooth one that some use as a base for flavoring.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Yesterday I started with a a piece of my Palace Seven Sons Puerh Cake from Nannuo Mountain Plantation in Yunnan, brewed to yield a quart and a half of tea, more impressed as I drank my way to the end of all that by the smoothness and sweetness of this tea.

Then last evening, a pot of Pouchong from Ten Ren, a delightful tea despite being only 'third grade'.

Today, had a less than perfect brewing of some Rishi Golden Yunnan black tea, which just was a little off from what I was hoping for today--a little black tea bitterness crept through despite some care in the brewing.

And this evening, to make up for that, some Diamond Grade Tie Guan Yin from Norbu tea, which makes an interesting pair with the Pouchong. It has more in common with that than with the dark roast Ti Kuan Yin I grew up drinking. But it is a silkier, smoother, sweeter tea, with richer body than the Pouchong 3rd grade. Need to reserve some of this Tie Guan Yin from Norbu and compare it to a top-quality Pouchong for a more interesting brew-off.

[Yajna Patni]

Earl grey.. from my tea parcel! a really good one. half one that came in a bag that says two for the price of one, and half the gulabi tea. strong bergamot and strong tea.

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning it is the Assam Panitola Estate, Whole Leaf from Tea Source. It seems particularly good today.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today, the first thermos-full for a long meeting was the Alishan mountain oolong from norbutea. The only problem with this and the diamond tie guan yin I made yesterday is that they are so delicious they encourage excess rates of consumption, which can have slighty uncomfortable consequences when the meeting is a long one.....

And then, a bulk brewing of the 2007 norbu white buds sheng pu erh from yunnan, which was entirely tolerant of this treatment, remaining a little sweet, earthy, and deliciously smoky.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I have also been trying to make friends with gyokuro. I have not brewed it before and the good stuff is rather spendy, so I picked up a tiny amount at Central Market. My guess is that it is maybe average quality, though over-priced. But this way I can try to figure out how to brew gyokuro without too high an absolute cost. More on this at some point in the Japanese Green Tea topic. For now, vegetal-grassy, not particularly sweet, a little astringent and I am certainly not finding its sweet spot, if it has one. If I can get this to work for me I'll consider the better quality versions later. Well, if I can't get this one to work for me, I'll also have to consider a better one.