What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)

[llc45]

Started off with my usual Barry's Irish tea. Just tried roasted Kukicha from Special Teas. Wow - I really liked it. Beats many of the green teas that I have been drinking.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started off the day enjoying a Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP, from Tea Source. This is the most complex Ceylon I have had.

I'll have an Oolong later today. Have not decided which one yet.

And what teas are you all drinking today?

←

Changed my mind and am gong fu style brewing a 1999 CNNP "Old Tree" Ripe Pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing. I'll post more about this in the Pu-erh topic after playing with it a little more for a few sessions.

[Richard Kilgore]

Enjoying an Oolong today, gongfu style. A Feng Huang ShiGu Ping from jingteashop.com. Wonderful dry leaf aroma and complex taste - floral, stone fruit (peach to me) with a lingering honey after taste. I have had this since last year and it has not faded a bit as far as I can tell.

I'll also confess to making multiple infusions of the Ceylon I started the day with yesterday, turning them into iced tea drunk today. On the one hand much too good for iced tea; on the other - what an iced tea!

[Richard Kilgore]

Started out with the Assam from Tea Source for the current Tea Tasting and Discussion in this forum. More on that in the topic.

Just started a gong fu session with an aged (mid-90s) Feng Huang Dan Cong from Hou De Fine Tea. It's not your classic Dan Cong - more astringent and a little citrus, but you can certainly tell its roots. Interesting variation on a theme.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I have been enjoying the Makaibari 2nd Flush Darjeeling that has been discussed much in this forum. Found it locally at The Cultured Cup.

So what teas are you all drinking today? Hot? Iced?

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday I enjoyed a Yunnan FOP, Organic black tea that came as a sample in my last order from Tea Source. Brewed western style in a Yixing. Earthy, full-body, smooth.

Today I have been brewing a 1999 CNNP "Old Tree" Ripe Pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing. Gongfu style in a small Yixing. I like this tea and am playing with the brewing paramaters to get the best out of it. More on that later in the Pu-erh topic.

It's in the triple digits here. So I'll be making some iced tea today, too.

So what teas have you all been brewing?

[Yajna Patni]

I had a recent impromptu trip to San Francisco for the weekend and found myself eating brekfast in a rather nice cafe. Great pastries, and a selection of the most frou frou fruity teas I have ever seen.

THe closest to a tea I would want for breakfast was the earl grey. They made it to my surprise from water from the steamer on the espresso machine.... what a brilliant idea! the water was hot enough! Much more than when it is made with water from the coffee machine which is just too cold.

I found myself really enjoying it. IT was a great earl Grey, with the black tea strong enough to shine through the bergamot. I came home and got some earl grey leaves.... bleagh. perfumey and no taste of tea.

Any one got some good recommendations for a robust earl grey?

And i posted it here because that is what i am drinking this morning. weak earl grey. Help me please.

[v. gautam]

Richard,

You mentioned drinking a SECOND flush Makaibari, referring to the discussions here which mainly centred around the AUTUMN flush, a later picking. I may be wrong on both counts, though! What did you think about the second flush, and the Sri Lanka & Assams, compared, strengths & weaknesses, according to your taste? Did you re-infuse & did you use milk with any?

I generally can appreciate the taste & bouquet better only when the tannins are 1/5 the suggested level, so I brew a very weak liquor compared to the prevailing British or Indian standards and hesitate using milk, at least for any Darjeeling i.e. China derived species. I found a curious thing and don't know if others have noticed this: for me Stevia utterly destroys any flavor, from tea & coffee to strawberries, in hot or cold liquids. It completely kills anything worth tasting, leaving a wasteland in its wake. I was unpleasantly surprised with my first experience of Stevia sweetener; perhaps this is just my own peculiarity?

Edited July 9, 2009 by v. gautam (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

More on that later in the Indian Tea topic.

[Richard Kilgore]

What teas are you all drinking today?

This morning for me it is the Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from TeaSource.com. I really enjoy it.

[Richard Kilgore]

I am going to make two jugs of iced tea for the weekend later today, but I have been drinking an Anxi Oolong - a Shui Xian from Hou de, gong fu style. More on that in the Oolong topic.

What's in your teacup (or glass) today?

[Jossa]

Wow and I thought we were a nation of tea drinkers!!

I'm a Tetley girl myself, sometimes like a raspberry and echinacea or ginger tea but mostly for medicinal purposes!! Tetley wins out for me every time.

[Richard Kilgore]

Up late watching the Tour de France and drinking a white peony from The Cultured Cup - a Grand Pai Mu Tan that I have had around much too long. Enjoying it gong fu style, sweeter as the infusions progress.

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

[Naftal]

Hello-I recently had a really amazingly wonderful Lapsang Souchong from Zhi Tea. I really cannot say enough about this tea. It has all the smokey elements one would expect, plus other undertones (fruit?) as well.Check out their site-Zhi Tea. Lastly,is anyone else familiar with this company?

[Richard Kilgore]

Started out today with an Assam Napuk from The Cultured Cup. A pleasant, smooth cup with a hint of astringency.

Now continuing to gongfu brew a 1999 CNNP "Old Tree" Ripe Pu-erh brick sample I started brewing yesterday and kept in the fridge over night. I ordered this small sample from Scott at Yunnan Sourcing in my last order, and have liked this aged ripe pu well enough that a 250 gram brick is on my current order.

So what are you all brewing today in your part of the world?

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday evening I experimented with an organic Sencha I received recently from Yuuki-cha.com in Japan. More on this later in the Japanese Green Tea topic as I learn how to brew it.

This morning I am enjoying again the MF Assam Napuk from The Cultured Cup.

So what teas are you all drinking today?

[Richard Kilgore]

Drinking tea today? What's in your cup?

Yesterday it was the Nilgiri Glendale Estate, Handmade from Tea Source that will be the focus of a Tea Tasting Discussion in the forum soon.

Today, I'm starting out with a 1999 Shu Pu-erh "Old Tree" Ripe brick from Yunnan Sourcing on eBay. I like this sample a lot and am waiting for a brick to arrive from China anytime in the next couple of weeks. More on this in the Pu-erh topic once I have played with it a little more.

[jpr54_]

I just received from www.shanshuiteas.com this tea-i will brew a cup later this evening

baozhong spring 2009

pinglin wenshan

5 th place in competion

[Richard Kilgore]

Today I have been drinking a shu pu-ehr, a 2008 Nian Jian Tulin 803. An inexpensive, inoffensive everyday pu that has improved since I got it.

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday, it was the organic Sencha from Yuuki-cha.com and the Kukicha Fukamushi from The Cultured Cup that we're discussing in a Tea Tasting Discussion here in the forums. I'm having inconistent results with this unusual, but interesting, Sencha and will sum that up in a few days in the Green Tea topic.

Late last night prepared a pot of the Hojicha from the ongoing Tasting Discussion and tried it iced as well as hot. Like it both ways.

Today I am enjoying a TGY, Spring 2009 Harvest from Norbutea.com that I got yesterday. Wow! Intensely floral aroma and honey liquor. I'll post more in the Oolong topic after a couple of sessions with it.

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

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday, it was the organic Sencha from Yuuki-cha.com and the Kukicha Fukamushi from The Cultured Cup that we're discussing in a Tea Tasting Discussion here in the forums. I'm having inconistent results with this unusual, but interesting, Sencha and will sum that up in a few days in the Green Tea topic.

Late last night prepared a pot of the Hojicha from the ongoing Tasting Discussion and tried it iced as well as hot. Like it both ways.

Today I am enjoying a TGY, Spring 2009 Harvest from Norbutea.com that I got yesterday. Wow! Intensely floral aroma and honey liquor. I'll post more in the Oolong topic after a couple of sessions with it.

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

←

I have had six infusions of this tgy, each one a little different, but it still has aroma and an intoxicating floral-honey taste, and there is more left in the leaves. And the after-taste lingers for hours, overcoming even toothpaste and a pretty awful cup of decafe in a store today. More later in the Oolong topic.

[cdh]

A friend recently brought back some ginseng oolong and green oolong from China for me, and I'm playing with them right now. They're both very nice, but labelled entirely in chinese, so I can't determine what they are with any more detail.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today, Pouchong from Ten Ren teas, a not-too-fancy grade (from the website, it looks like it is a '3rd grade').

Trying to think of how to describe it. I've been loving this tea for some weeks now, drinking a lot of it when I'm not drinking pu-erh. It's like a green tea that has been tamed a bit, without the bitterness that so often lurks in wait behind the sweet front of a green tea.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning it's a Da Hong Pao from jingteashop.com. I love higher quality DHP and got this one last year as a candidate for a less expensive everyday version. I brewed it western style today and it's pretty good and improving with each sip, but I'll have to give it a try gong fu style soon.

So, what in your tea cup today?

[Yajna Patni]

I am about to brew up a pot of either Russian caravan or lapsang souchong, before i go out and brave the heat in a 10 mile run. And yes. If i had got up when the alarm went off at 6, it would all be over by now, and it would not have been so hot.