What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 2)

[Wholemeal Crank]

Sencha, matcha, puerh; sencha, matcha, oolong; sencha, matcha, rooibos; sleep, eat, repeat: I see no rut and no problem aside from possiblity of oolong deficiency arising.

Yunnan gd with osmanthus in the thermos today, yum.

[Richard Kilgore]

Thanks. I'll keep a close eye on any Oolong deficiency. Do you think getting labs on it every six months is often enough, or should I be more vigilant?

[Wholemeal Crank]

I think a dose a couple of times a week is probably sufficient to keep clinical deficiency at bay, but would suggest closer to every-other-day dosing for optimum satisfaction. After all, with oolong you're dealing with dark and light, floral and toasty, so much encompassed in one simple phrase.

Edited April 20, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[nakji]

Do you have a fine strainer to help with the dust?

I usually rinse it in the fine mesh infuser that comes with my teapot. I usually use cold water to rinse - should I be using warm?

[rmillman]

High Mountain Dark Roast from Teance. Supper roasted almost barley malt mouth feel. I like it.

[Richard Kilgore]

Is that a taiwanese tea, rmillman?

Started the day with the nutty, veggie Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori from yuuki-cha.

Later, in order to prevent any Oolong deficiency, I again brewed the Phoenix Mountain (Dan Cong) from The Cultured Cup. This time with more leaf and longer time, and with fine results. Two good infusions so far, and at least a couple more left in the leaves.

Edit: Oops! This is a 2008 Spring Natural Harvest WuDong Feng Huan Dan Cong from Hou De, not the Phoenix Mountain from The Cultured Cup. I'll do that soon, however.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Excellent step to prevent oolong deficiency. I took care of that today with some pouchong. Now pondering a first infusion of the puerh from our current tasting--cooler? warmer? Will start with a small quantity in a gaiwan to get a sense of the tea.

[rmillman]

The dark roast was the 2009 winter San Lin She, Taiwan. By the fourth steeping it was less malty on the front of the mounth but still had the malty drying umami like mouth feel with more clear fruit tones.

This morning is the last of a Imperial Tribute Harvest Purple Tip Pu-Erh from imperial tea co.

Not my favorite as it has almost a kombu seaweed iodine like presence. Leaves the mouth nice and coated for a long lingering woodyness but still with the kombu like taste.

[Richard Kilgore]

This morning it was an Assam - Konghea Estate, Golden Bud, from teasource.com. I like this Assam a lot, but it is apparently sold out at tea Source. I'll call and see if they will be getting more.

Later it was green tea time, with the Organic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori - even had a decent fourth infusion from it today. Also a bowl of Organic Shizuoka Matcha Iroka, which is showing itself to be a pretty forgiving matcha. Both from yuuki-cha.com.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started off very early today with the Vithanakanda Estate, Extra special Ceylon from teasource.com. Then on to the Oganic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori from yuuki-cha.com that I have been enjoying over the past week.

Now sipping the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha Sheng Pu-erh from norbutea.com featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Baptized a 2nd kyusu today with sencha zuiko this morning--more in the teaware topic. Then midday shared a batch of silver needle with some jasmine, and overdid the jasmine despite trying for a 3:1 ratio. I will swear off jasmine for a good while when this batch is done. Shared a lot of that combo with others who are more enamored of the floral teas. Now working with one of my last packets of Norbu spring 2009 Diamond Tie Guan Yin. I am sharing this tea less and less as it runs out, hoarding the last bits a little.

Next up, and from here it looks like there is need for a next up, another infusion of the loose sheng puerh from norbu in the current tasting.

[Richard Kilgore]

Do you have a fine strainer to help with the dust?

I usually rinse it in the fine mesh infuser that comes with my teapot. I usually use cold water to rinse - should I be using warm?

I use water as hot as I will be brewing in, or close to it. Let the leaves soak in the hot water before pouring it off. For lighter Oolongs it's usually a flash rinse; in other words, pouring almost immediately...sometimes up to 5 seconds. I may go a little longer with high roasted ones.

Letting the leaf float freely in your brewing cup or pot, and then pouring the rinse water through the strainer may help.

If it is terribly dusty, it's probably low quality leaf, but you could also try shaking it in a kitchen strainer to see if you can get rid of some of the dust that way.

Hope that helps. Let us know if anything works...or not.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started the day with a traditionally roasted TGY that Wholemeal Crank sent me in a tea trade. This is a good grocery store tea in a tall rectangular red tin. Brewed in a Yixing. Nice everyday drinking tea.

[rmillman]

Mu Za (honorable mention) from j-tea. nice partially roasted oolong that still has fruit presence over the roasted notes.

[Richard Kilgore]

Also today the Oganic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori and a bowl of the Organic Shizuoka Matcha Iroka from yuuki-cha.com.

Now gong fu cha brewing a very nice Da Hong Pao that I got from The Cultured Cup two or three years ago. Still good. Still very good despite storage in a too large cannister exposing it to more air than would be optimal.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today overslept, no sencha, but despite great hurry had a lovely brewing of yunnan mao feng from norbu this afternoon--lots of leaf, low water temps (didn't have time to get it those extra few degrees, to the 175 or so I usually use), and basically poured a quart plus of hot water through 10g or so of leaves, hardly two minutes total contact time of leaf and water: it came out so delicate it was like a white tea, very lovely, and quite popular with several people lucky enough to share this afternoon.

Now working on the Rou Gui 2009 Oolong from Houde; will hold off on the next amazing infusion of Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha from the tasting until tomorrow when I can shoot some pictures. The Rou Gui is spicy, sweet, so very very nice, on the 4th infusion now. Mmm. Interesting aside: the Rou Gui does not have long legs: the special spiciness is noticeably weaker already after just four infusions. Can't have everything, I guess!

Edited April 24, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

I let the Da Hong Pao sit for a while and brewed a two year old shu pu-erh from Yunnan Sourcing. Don't recall the name of it, but it was not just inexpensive; it was a dirt cheap tuo. One dimensional, but smooth. The back to the Wuyi, which continues to give fruit and honey infusions after five steeps, the fruit being more dominant than the roastiness.

[Richard Kilgore]

Another day of the Oganic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori and the Organic Shizuoka Matcha Iroka.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Started with some dens sencha zuiko, then on to the Lao Ban Zhang Mao Cha Sheng Pu-erh from the tasting. Going to steep it some more, but I feel a need for some oolong after this.

[Richard Kilgore]

More of the Da Hong Pao that I let sit overnight. Hot 20 sec rinse and have had two more infusions and it's not giving up yet. But I have.

[Wholemeal Crank]

After some more steeps of the Lao Ban Zhang, noticed and for the first time opened the Tencha-Kuki Houjicha from Den's tea.

It was part of my first order from Den’s Tea. I was shy of bitterness in green teas, hadn’t yet figured out how to steep them, and Richard suggested I try this as an entry to Japanese tea, knowing my fondness for dark roasted oolongs. I ordered a little of this, and a little gyokuro, because that wasn't supposed to be bitter, and a green tea sampler.

I figured out how to enjoy the senchas and the gyokuro, and now am drinking one of them nearly every morning, and then this tea got left in the back of the cupboard. But tonight I opened it up, and I am enjoying the toastiness. It is a little more one-note than a serious oolong, with the toasted note over a mild herbaceousness, but still entirely pleasant, easy, mellow. I will doubtless pick up a little of this from time to time.

And thank you, Richard, for suggesting this one. It is still a very good fit for me.

[Richard Kilgore]

More of the Oganic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori and the Organic Shizuoka Matcha Iroka. A note on this matcha in the Matcha topic.

Now brewing from a small sample of a Zengh He Bai Mu Dan white tea that came in an order from jingteashop.com last year. A pleasant white tea, and I'll add a note in the White & Yellow Tea topic after a couple of brewing sessions with it.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today has been a busy tea day, and there will be at least one more.

Started with Sencha Zuiko from Den's, then on to finishing off a bag of the spring 2009 Diamond Tie Guan Yin from norbu. It was opened quite a while ago, and the fines and bits at the end of the bag didn't have as many steeps in there as usual (although of course it was delicious as far as I went), so I moved on to a formal tasting with photos of the oolong I bought from Hankook. That's described in the Korean Tea topic.

Then I had a cup of chocolate milk to fuel the end of a good afternoon session in the yard--weeding, but most importantly pulling out the roots of a particularly invasive plant growing between the curb and the street, hand work with small tools.

Now that's done, and I deserve a nice dinner and some good tea. No idea what it will be. I'd like to wait a little longer before returning to the Lao Ban Zhang for the tasting, to not push my taste buds too hard with it. Green, white, pu?

[Richard Kilgore]

Today it has been the Oganic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori from yuuki-cha and the Sheng Pu-erh Mao Cha from Norbu Tea featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion.

So, what's in your tea cup today in your part of the world?

[Richard Kilgore]

Brewed a cup of the Ceylon Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special from Tea Source to start the morning. Later, more of the Oganic Kagoshima Sencha Saemidori from yuuki-cha.com I have been drinking regularly. And now having a gong fu cha brewing session of a 2005 Shui Xian Oolong that I got a year or two ago from Hou de. It may have improved with age.