What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 2)

[Richard Kilgore]

Keemun Hao Ya B from teasource.com in my cup first thing today. Nice cup.

Yesterday and today I got back to my daily bowl of matcha, the Organic Uji Matcha Yuuki Madori from yuuki-cha.com.

[Richard Kilgore]

Also sipping some of the Organic Uji Tokusen Sencha from yuuki-cha.com. Have about two, maybe three, sessions left in this bag.

[LuckyGirl]

And odd tea day today: fumbled the sencha this am, then made some nice silver needle for the afternoon, and tried out a gift of a thin green tea that might be from An Hui, will need to post pictures & info to help get an ID on it, then some more silver needle, these last two being brewed in the new celadon travel set. It works like a charm, although it lacks one thing to be absolutely perfect: the gaiwan holds too much for the cup. I was hoping the volumes would match better, but I'm resorting to pouring the water in the cup first, then into the gaiwan, to avoid overflow or having to drink veryfast.

Whose silver needle were you drinking? I have several and at the moment am partial to the one from Special Teas.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I've only ever tried this Yin Zhen from Chado. I liked it enough that I bought several ounces, and I've hardly made a dent.

Edited March 7, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[JWangSDC]

I'm drinking some Mauna Kea premium green tea. http://www.maunakeatea.com/our-teas/14/105.

It reminds me of gyokuro green tea, but the instructions suggest 5g of leaf for 1 cup of water. Does that sound a little bit insane to anyone? Especially since it's $1/g and $2.5/g for the first picked.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Not insane, given that I am making a pot of sencha with 5g to 6 oz water, and have used even higher proportions with some particularly nice green teas. At that rate of use, however, you should get several quite short infusions, so that 5 g of leaf is giving you 3-6 cups of tea.

[Wholemeal Crank]

The rest of the tea day: some Dragon Well after morning rounds; purple bud Hainan puerh in the afternoon, sweet and fruity and floral and mellow earthy, very nice; and finishing with some a mix of some spring Ya Bao I got in a tea swap with Richard and Yunnan Mao Feng, a very nice and mellow combination, relatively dilute, to be a relaxing evening drink. The spring Ya Bao are quite different than the summer Ya Bao I bought when the spring were sold out--more floral and delicate. I'll be sure to get some of this years' crop when it arrives.

[Argol]

I drink tea from Mark T. Wendell almost exclusively, their Hu-Kwa Lapsang Souchong is haunting. I also like Lichee Tea (Golden Sail Brand) in the afternoon. It is hard to find outside of California, New York City, or Seattle, but worth the search.

[Richard Kilgore]

I'm drinking some Mauna Kea premium green tea. http://www.maunakeatea.com/our-teas/14/105.

It reminds me of gyokuro green tea, but the instructions suggest 5g of leaf for 1 cup of water. Does that sound a little bit insane to anyone? Especially since it's $1/g and $2.5/g for the first picked.

Interesting, JWangSDC. Do you mean that it looks like and tastes like gyokuro? The ratio of leaf to water (5g:8ounces) is about that for not-organic sencha - and less than for other organic senchas, so it does not seem unusual. But the prices are 4X or more than organic gyokuro. Is it good enough that you find it worthwhile?

[Richard Kilgore]

I drink tea from Mark T. Wendell almost exclusively, their Hu-Kwa Lapsang Souchong is haunting. I also like Lichee Tea (Golden Sail Brand) in the afternoon. It is hard to find outside of California, New York City, or Seattle, but worth the search.

Welcome, Argol. When you have time, please tell us more about the Hu-Kwa Lapsang Souchong in the Unflavored Black Tea topic.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started the day with an unusually smooth Keemun: an Anhui Gift Grade Gongfu Keemun from Yunnan Sourcing.

What teas are you all drinking today in your part of the world?

[Richard Kilgore]

Also an Aged TGY Oolong from The Cultured Cup. More on this in the Oolong topic.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today's only tea (a sad state of affairs not to be repeated) was my first tasting of the 2007 Menghai "Golden Needle White Lotus" Ripe Pu-erh. I brewed it in bulk for the thermos and am amazed by the mellow smoothness of this tea. It has a lot of body for something so mild. More notes in the tasting topic when I do a proper gong fu with it.

[BeerdedOne]

Greetings,

I've started off the day with a medium roasted Taiwan Dong Ding, and am just now moving on to an aged Bao Zhong oolong (1989) also from Taiwan. The Dong Ding is richly aromatic, with a mellow charcoal flavor that cuts the vegetal component nicely. The Bao Zhong has the earthy quality and color of raw puerh but with a lingering sweetness. Both teas were acquired from Josh at JTEA, and brewed gongfu style in a preheated gaiwan.

Edited March 9, 2010 by BeerdedOne (log)

[JWangSDC]

Not insane, given that I am making a pot of sencha with 5g to 6 oz water, and have used even higher proportions with some particularly nice green teas. At that rate of use, however, you should get several quite short infusions, so that 5 g of leaf is giving you 3-6 cups of tea.

Thanks, I was just double checking because I wasn't sure. Steeping about 2g of leaf for a good 3 minutes has produced the type of tea that I'm used to. I'm going to try the proper way and see how it works.

Interesting, JWangSDC. Do you mean that it looks like and tastes like gyokuro? The ratio of leaf to water (5g:8ounces) is about that for not-organic sencha - and less than for other organic senchas, so it does not seem unusual. But the prices are 4X or more than organic gyokuro. Is it good enough that you find it worthwhile?

I thought it did look and taste like gyokuro, but I'm not very well versed anyway. It sounds to me like it is simply sencha. I am so glad to have found this section of egullet as i"m going to be purchasing many different teas so I can become more familiar. As for if it is worth the price, I really have no idea. My friend is that farms next door neighbor and she gave me the packet as a present, thus far it is the most expensive tea I have had outside of teavana and yamamotoyama tea's.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I am so glad to have found this section of egullet as i"m going to be purchasing many different teas so I can become more familiar.

Glad to have you here. I would only add one cautionary note to suggest buying small quantities as you get started, because 4 ounces of a tea that sounds interesting are an awful lot when you find out you don't like it much or have discovered one you like a lot better.

25-50g sizes are great--100g is a lot of tea, especially if you order 2 or 3 that size from several different suppliers--it adds up fast!

[Richard Kilgore]

Started this day with the Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from Tea Source. A pleasant, smooth Ceylon. This is the one that baroness reported on in a Tea Tasting & Discussion last year that featured another Tea Source tea from Ceylon.

So what's in your tea cup today?

[Wholemeal Crank]

Starting with a pleasing mellow cup of Sencha Select today.

Yesterday brewed some Bai Mu Dan for the afternoon after my sencha tasting.

[Richard Kilgore]

The Assam Konghea Estate, Golden Bud from Tea Source to start the day, followed by the Organic Kumamoto Sencha Yabe Supreme from yuuki-cha.com featured in the current Tea Tasting & Discussion.

[Wholemeal Crank]

This afternoon, some always reliable Big Red Robe Oolong from WHF, very satisfying at first, but so many people wanted some that I resteeped the leaves for a 2nd batch, which was a little disappointing.

This evening, oddly enough, I seemed to be one of the few people from my clinic who was not drinking tea with our dinner at a nice restaurant. My tea-drinking ways are catching on....

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today started off with a poor brewing of a pouchong from Chado--oversteeped and let this very mellow pleasant tea get bitter, first screwup that bad in quite a while; and then worked on a comparative tasting of my four Dan Cong oolongs, much better.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Started this morning with more of the Dan Congs, then moved on to a nice spicey chamomile tea mix, sweetened with some more of those incredible hydrangea leaves from Hankook.

Another try at Matcha today next. Still not a winner for me.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started the day enjoying the Ceylon Lumbini Estate, FBOP from teasource.com.

Since then gong fu cha brewing the third of three Aged Oolongs. For more on these three from theculturedcup.com, norbutea.com and jingteashop.com, see the Oolong topic.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Green tea land to start the day, after puerhs last night. Started with sencha, and a cup of Dragon Well as I was working on setting up the green teas for a comparative tasting.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Finishing the tea day, now drinking some Menghai Golden Needles shu puerh from Yunnan Sourching, a nice mellow contrast to all the greens from the earlier tasting.