What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)

[Wholemeal Crank]

This evening, yet another thermos full of tea--lots of dictations to be edited, sigh--and am immensely enjoying some 'Big Red Robe' Oolong from Chado. It has been a while since I last brewed some, and it is a delightful rediscovery. Earthy, darkly roasted, complex with sweetness and some fruity, floral, and vegetal notes.

I had a surprising experience this evening: my 'supertaster' kit arrived--an envelope with a tiny ziploc bag and two strips of paper inside that are supposed to be impregnated with a bitter chemical, likely propylthiouracil (although they actually do not say in the brief letter that came with the kit) and was shocked that I did not taste much, if any, bitterness. Given how much aversion I still have to bitter flavors, I was sure that I would at least be a 'taster' who would taste something mildly bitter if not pucker inducing. Now wondering if there was a problem with the test kit, or if there really is some hope of me learning to cope with more bitter teas. Until I figure this out, though, I won't go out of my way to stock up on any japanese teas, particularly given your experience with the gyokuro.

[Richard Kilgore]

Not stock up on Japanese greens in general, but I think you would really like Houjicha. Roasted, not astringent, not bitter and low, low, low caffeine.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I started with a nice Assam. This afternoon I began a gong fu cha session with a Spring 2009 Huang Jin Gui from norbutea.com. It's a very nice Anxi Oolong cousin of TGYs. More on this soon in the Oolong topic.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today, a thermos full of Rishi Pu-Erh Tuo Cha, one tablet to one quart of water just off the boil.

Just so calming, earthy, and a sweetness that comes out to surprise you at various moments.

And last night, a bit more of the diamond tie guan yin from norbutea, brewed gongfu style in a gaiwan, as a treat before bedtime. I ordered a bunch of that a few days ago, in the midst of a tasting session where it was so good to the 10th infusion plus. I'll be giving that one out for holiday gifts to a few of my tea-drinking buddies.

And since my tastebuds are now craving something smoky, tonight I'll try to see if I can get to the bottom of the 2007 norbu white buds sheng pu-erh tea, working my way through the 25g sample still while waiting for my full cake to arrive in the mail. I'm betting I'll get at least 12 infusions, if not 20....

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning it was the Mariage Frères Yunnan Imperial from The Cultured Cup. Then I continued brewing a Da Hong Pao from the evening before. This tea I bought from TCC also, but 1 1/2 - 2 years ago. I drink a little from time to time for it has been a special tea, not a daily one. The new Yixing really rounds off the tea, absorbs much of the mustiness and brings out the fruit notes. A great tea. I'll post more in the Oolong topic soon about this and other versions of Da Hong Pao.

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning it was the Castleton Estate, Second Flush Darjeeling from Tea Source. One of my favorites....okay a lot of Darjeeling tea drinkers' favorites.

Then on to a Sencha Fuka-midori in a sample pack from Den's. See the Japanese Green Tea topic for more.

[Richard Kilgore]

I also got around to trying the Organic Sencha from Den's Tea yesterday. I'll post more on that soon in the Japanese Green Tea topic.

Today I started with the Assam Panitola from Tea Source. Such a smooth Assam.

So, what are you all drinking in your part of the tea world?

[Wholemeal Crank]

Big Red Robe Wuyi Oolong, and after the better part of a quart of tea, I suddenly took a sip and could taste the kinship with the greener oolongs I've been drinking recently--something definitely essence of oolong, just wrapped here in a big red earthy tea. It's a little bit like the scent of a newly opened bale of a nice hay, and not the young-asparagus vegetal sweetness I associate with green teas, or the fruitiness at the edges of a pu-erh, but something else.

I'll call it oolongness.

[Richard Kilgore]

Ah, Big Red Robe (Da Hong Pao), many versions of this and one of my favorites.

Tonight I an drinking a Mariage Frères Genmaicha from The Cultured Cup. A nice toasty green tea, though I like The Cultured Cup's Matcha Genmaicha even better.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Tonight I an drinking a Mariage Frères

Plate o'shrimp!

I have just been trying to figure out whether to make this shop part of my itinerary if I am lucky enough to actually go to Paris for a business meeting in a few weeks. Their web site looks rather silly--lots of fancy teapots and flavored teas with silly names and gift packages and not a peep about oolong or pu-erh.

This mention bodes well.

[Richard Kilgore]

The Cultured Cup caries dozens of their teas, so I expect that they have many, many more teas in their Mariage Frères tea room shops than on their website. It's true that they have many flavored teas, but they do it incredibly well. MF is a historic tea merchant and should be more than worth a stop.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I have been drinking the 2009 First Pluck Alishan High Mountain Oolong from Norbutea.com. This is similar to the Alishan featured in the 2009 Alishan High Mountain Oolong Tasting & Discussion: floral aroma and taste, creamy mouthfeel, lingering after taste. And it goes a long time - I'm on my eighth infusion and it is still going strong.

And what teas are you all drinking today?

[baroness]

Today I started with the Assam Panitola from Tea Source. Such a smooth Assam.

I was a bit exuberant in my measuring of the Panitola this morning.

Result was almost tea-spresso, but STILL smooth and enjoyable.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Tonight I am drinking some of the Alishan oolong that was featured in the tasting. It is hitting the spot at the end of a very difficult day at work.

[Richard Kilgore]

Drank several teas and other tea-like drinks at The Cultured Cup's T-Bar Club tonight. The topic was "Odditeas". I took no notes so I'll have to report detail on this later with a pic in the T-Bar Club topic.

[prasantrin]

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.

What measurements of tea and water are you using? And what temperature of water?

Ideally, it's 10grams to 80mL of 60C water for gyokuro vs 10grams to 210mL of 80C water for sencha. The brewing time is a wee bit longer than sencha--90 seconds vs sencha's 60 seconds.

To me, gyokuro is smoother and less astringent than sencha, so it's either your brewing method or the quality of gyokuro you're using.

[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.

What measurements of tea and water are you using? And what temperature of water?

Ideally, it's 10grams to 80mL of 60C water for gyokuro vs 10grams to 210mL of 80C water for sencha. The brewing time is a wee bit longer than sencha--90 seconds vs sencha's 60 seconds.

To me, gyokuro is smoother and less astringent than sencha, so it's either your brewing method or the quality of gyokuro you're using.

I am sure it's me and my brewing method and maybe, just maybe, the quality of the leaf. I'll be posting over the next couple of days in the Japanese Green Tea topic on the multiple approaches I have been trying.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I started with the Assam Napuk from TCC that's in my morning black tea rotation, and then went on to the Gyokuro that I am using to learn how to brew them. I drank so much Gyokuro that I'm turning into a cousin of Kermit the Frog. Folllowed by a smooth aged shu pu-erh.

[Wholemeal Crank]

After a lot of neglect, today I went back to my first favorite tea, the red label Ti Kuan Yin, darkly roasted, and brewed it more carefully, 2.5 grams in the 200mL glass pot, three infusions with water in the 190s, and remembered just how lovely it is, roasty, earthy, fruity, yum.

When I recently found it, for the first time in more than a year, I'd brewed it with too much leaf, and it came out too strong, with the roastedness overwhelming the fruitiness that should be there. Done like this, it can hold its own with the Big Red Robe Wuyi.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started today with the Yunnan Imperial from TCC. Then a fine sencha from o-cha.com.

What teas are you all drinking today?

[Wholemeal Crank]

A very interesting tea from Chado today

Tian Mu Qing Ding [T-65]

about which their site says it is:

"The finest green tea from the top of Mt. Tianmu. This tea is mainly from the cloud and mist zone. Relaxing, pleasant and sweet. A tea for calming moments."

It is a tea of fine buds or needles, more a brownish shade than green, with a smoky earthy slightly sweet taste, not very vegetal, and not a bit bitter. Delightful, but surprisingly un-green-tea like.

[Richard Kilgore]

WmC - Sounds like an interesting tea. Their brewing suggestions are broad (as are most). What brewing parameters are you using?

[Wholemeal Crank]

As usual at work, the parameters were loose. Probably two or three teaspoons of very loose tea needles--they didn't expand much and there are probably two tablespoons of wet leaves in the pot now. The pot is about 200mL. I turned off the kettle when I started to hear sounds I associate with lots of fine bubbles--in my thermometer-less office that passes for between 170 and 180 degrees. I did not time the several infusions--the first one I did look at the color of the infusion, but after that, it was add water, do a brief task, pour it off, but overall the leaves probably infused a total of 6 to 8 minutes to yield a quart of tea.

[Richard Kilgore]

Right, sounds and color of the tea liquor can tell us a lot. I have found that I can usually hit temp within 2 degrees from listening to the sound and watching the bubbles in my glass water kettle.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Hmmmm....probably should play with the spare/travel kettle at home and my thermometer to calibrate my bubble-ology. I have seen some pretty elaborate bubble/temperature schemes on more than one tea web site, but it's hard to know what they mean without actually standing next to an expert looking over the same pot of bubbling/boiling water.