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What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 2)


Richard Kilgore

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Starting with the sencha select today. Looking forward some Wuyi oolongs next.

Hard to remember how afraid of green teas I was just a few months ago. Now I'm drinking as much of them as oolongs.

Really amazing, isn't it! And it appears you are enjoying increasingly richer leaf:water ratios, too.

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Started the day with a Dian Hong "Pure Bud" Black Tea (Spring 2007) from yunnansourcing.com. A malty, tasty one, though not in the same league as the Dian Hong Imperial from norbutea.com. I did not drink this when it was younger, so don't know if it is past its prime or not. A nice cup of tea, at any rate.

So what are you all brewing today?

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Another eclectic tea day. First, brewed an aged shu that I started yesterday and had been sitting in the Yixing overnight. Still good.

Got in an order from yuuki-cha and have tried a new matcha and brewed a gyokuro twice today. And no, I have not turned green. More on these in the Japanese Green Tea topic after I have had a chance to play with them a bit more.

And there was a sencha in with this order that will be featured in an upcoming February Tea Tasting & Discussion, with three free samples available to members who have at least a mere 10 posts in this Coffee & Tea forum. Watch for it!

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Today it was Dimbula Ceylon with Matcha buttercream macarons; not a bad way so break up the afternoon.

Not bad at all! Welcome beef_and_burgandy! Can you tell us any more about this Ceylon?

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Mostly playing with brewing parameters for the two gyokuros from yuukicha. Plus first brews of two black Japanese teas and a Japanese Oolong...yes, you read that correctly...both from yuuki-cha, also. More on all these later after a bit more experience with them.

The newest Tea/Tisane Tasting and Discussion features an interesting rooibos from The Cultured Cup. Free samples for three members who have never received a free tea sample for a past Tea Tasting and Discussion. Check it out.

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Makaibari Tea Estate (Darjeeling) Bai-mu-Dan (white tea). 80oC, 9 minutes first infusion, subsquents longer. No trace of bitterness. Golden, ethereal and a delight. Not sure it's going to help my beauty however!

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Thank you for the welcome.

I enjoy a broad range of tea - the hardest problem is finding reliable, quality suppliers locally. The Internet is certainly helping that but Australia is a smaller market. The purveyors of tea locally are fine for your average leaf but finding anything more interesting or of higher quality (or freshness when appropriate) is tricky.

Importing direct from the estates or tea-growing countries seems to be the best bet. Some friends also have a few very special Oolongs from Taiwan they bring in (Oshmanthus Autumn etc. from an estate I always forget the name of!).

Green, black, white or in between doesn't bother me depending on the mood and situation. Favourites include: pu-erh (especially after a rich meal), gyokoro from Kyoto - but watch out for the caffeine; and Darjeeling of all sorts. Oolong is very special but I know so little of it apart from the one mentioned earlier; also great memories of great cups in Korea and Singapore with tea-loving hosts.

As for the Makaibari Tea Estate Bai-mu-Dan, it's not an expensive tea ($2.50USD for 25g) but offers a refined rustic honesty I find pleasing when I seek a delicate drink. You can find out more about Makaibari at: http://makaibari.com/ .

I look forward to reading this forum, learning plenty and sharing what I can.

Edited by AdrianB (log)
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finishing the day with the Ginger flower fragrance dan cong from tea habitat, after the Da Hong Pao from the current Wuyi tasting in the midafternoon. There's nothing better than a toasty oolong on a drizzly day. Now that the rain has stopped, the more floral Dan Cong feels just right.

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After another brewing of an oolong from the Wuyi tasting (actually, a bit of a sample of the same tea from a sample swap with LuckyGirl), I am finishing the day with some of the 2009 Lao Mansa sheng puerh from norbu. Used a boiling water steep, then cooler water for short infusions to fill up my thermos. A nice evening tea.

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Started the day with the fine Vithanakanda Estate, Extra Special Ceylon tea from Tea Source. Followed by the Ali Sha High Mountain Oolong (Fall '09) from Norbu Tea. Then later in the day the Da Hong Pao from Norbu Tea that's one of the Wuyi Oolongs featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion.

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Hi Richard,

Thanks for the welcome. Any updates on the yuuki-cha Oolong experience?

I don’t know too much about the Ceylon unfortunately, except that it is a late-summer harvest from Dimbula and OP grade.

Following an odd logic, I keep seeing the discussing on Makaibari and thinking that it’s been a long time since I enjoyed Mokalbari Assam. I’ll have to put that on the shopping list for the weekend. It’s almost certainly the Scottish winter that’s making me favour strong dark tea lately.

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I'll leave some notes on the Japanese Oolong after I have had a chance to get to know the leaf a little better. Thanks for IDing the Cylon, b&b.

Last night I finished with the Lemon Myrtle Rooibos from The Cultured Cup featured in a new Tea Tasting & Discussion.

This morning it was a Keemun Hao Ya B from Tea Source. Then a bowl of matcha, an Organic Uji Matcha Yuuki Midori from yuuki-cha.com.

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