What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 2)

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today started with Sencha, taking some precious morning minutes; then midday some Yunnan wild arbor 'Oriental Beauty' oolong added pleasure to a rather dull meeting; a bit of my favorite Diamond Tie Guan Yin from Norbu got the evening off to a good start; and a Menghai 2005 'early spring' puerh tuo accompanied a long baking session (three kinds of bread and cookies, almost finished washing up). I had a real craving for puerh and this sweet, spicy, earthy, delicous tuo just fit the bill perfectly.

[f3xy]

Hi

This is my first post ever on eGullet

I received my order from imperialtea.com today. So I started out with their Sword of the Emperor. It's listed on their website as a green, but it seems like a white to me. It's from the Da Ye tree which is the same tree that Rishi's moonlight white comes from. I compared the teas. They buds look identical. The sote (sword of the emperor) is all buds as the moonlight white is the bud and a leaf. I did three infusions of each and compared them side by side. In all the infusions the sote was much lighter than the moonlight. On the second infusion the sote seemed to turn a bit creamier and the moonlight began to mellow so the flavors grew more similar. On the 3rd the sote was still very nice and fruity. The moonlight started to take on more astringency I think. I always thought the moonlight white a very delicate tea but compared to the sword of the emperor it's like a bull in a China shop.

The real fun begins with the other part of my order. I received a cute little(4.5oz) Yixing tea pot. I have christened it with Yunan Puerh Brick from imperialtea. This is the first puerh I have ever ordered and I am quite please. I am ignorant though so perhaps that is why. I took a picture of my setup with my cellphone. I've steeped this puerh 10 times. I think that's as far as I can take it.

I also had a Jade Oolong from Rishi today. Let me know what you folks think and if you've tried these teas before or what you think of imperial tea. etc. Thanks

[f3xy]

The Puerh brick might be from Xiaguan? I'm not 100% sure since I have no idea what it says, but the kangi(?) looks identical to writing on the Xiaguan puerh bricks. If there is an edit feature I apologize. I couldn't find it!

[Wholemeal Crank]

Welcome to the tea forum!

When I first started drinking tea, I would go to San Francisco's chinatown, but the tea I bought came from the grocery stores--not the cheapest stuff there, but not too fancy either. I knew just enough to know I had no idea what differentiated what I drank from the stuff at Imperial Tea Court, and never actually tasted or bought any tea from them. Returning to San Francisco just a month or so ago, I actually did step into their 2nd store at the Ferry Plaza, but had no time to actually try/shop/buy tea. They do have a reputation for selling quite good tea, but that's about all I know about them. I do not like that they don't tell you if that tea is sheng (raw) or shu (cooked/ripe), however. That is not good policy when selling puerh!

That SOTE looks and sounds delicious.

I am enjoying some Yi Wu bamboo-aged puerh right now, lovely stuff with simple dinner. And earlier today I had some fall Alishan oolong and then some yunnan Mao Feng green tea, all three from norbu. A very norbu day.

[f3xy]

Thank you for the welcome

In retrospect I am not very pleased with imperial tea court for not being upfront with the information on the puerh. They mention aging the puerh. That wouldn't make much difference unless it was a raw puerh correct? Of course they could just be blowing smoke.

Today I had a Genmaimatcha (Ito En), Nilgiri (Rishi), Shiso Sencha (Ito En), and Imperial Keemun Mao Feng. I also met a rep from Rishi today. Apparently the Taiwanese Oolongs are pretty fresh right now. I also ran in to a rep from Ito En as well. I sampled their bottle teas Oi Ocha—Ryokucha, Oi Ocha—Koi Aji, a Jasmine Green, and an Oolong Blend. The Oi Ocha—Ryokucha and the Oi Ocha—Koi Aji are basically the same except the Aji is brewed with more tea for a longer period of time. It has a stronger green tea taste but it is a bit bitter. After all that I had a Darjeeling (Rishi). Whew looking back I have drank a lot of tea today. Any way. I am currently drinking some Umegashima Sencha (Ito En). I will probably switch to some Uji Gyokuro (Ito En) later. Oh and one more note, I brew my green tea in this little number.

[Wholemeal Crank]

They mention aging the puerh. That wouldn't make much difference unless it was a raw puerh correct? Of course they could just be blowing smoke.

Shu puerh is also aged: while shu is considered 'artificially aged' by processing so it seems older than sheng of the same harvest year(s), it still is considered to improve with age, although probably it reaches its 'peak' sooner than sheng.

I drank a very nice shu a few days ago, and a very mellow sheng last night (2008 Yi Wu bamboo aged sheng from Norbu).

[f3xy]

I looked at the information Norbu had on Shu puerh. I have to say the puerh did have a very prominent musty/earthy flavor to it. Is that a good indication it was ripened? I'll need to figure this out so I can keep my Yixing pots separate. Thanks for the info.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Sounds more shu-like. But sheng is earthy too, but more earthy like ripe cheese rather than earthy like damp fresh compost.

[nakji]

I'm drinking a very sour bi luo chun from nearby Dong Ting Shan, purchased from my local tea shop San Wan Chang. It's going great with the litchis that have just come into season.

Today I had a Genmaimatcha (Ito En), Nilgiri (Rishi), Shiso Sencha (Ito En), and Imperial Keemun Mao Feng. I also met a rep from Rishi today. Apparently the Taiwanese Oolongs are pretty fresh right now. I also ran in to a rep from Ito En as well. I sampled their bottle teas Oi Ocha—Ryokucha, Oi Ocha—Koi Aji, a Jasmine Green, and an Oolong Blend. The Oi Ocha—Ryokucha and the Oi Ocha—Koi Aji are basically the same except the Aji is brewed with more tea for a longer period of time. It has a stronger green tea taste but it is a bit bitter. After all that I had a Darjeeling (Rishi). Whew looking back I have drank a lot of tea today. Any way. I am currently drinking some Umegashima Sencha (Ito En). I will probably switch to some Uji Gyokuro (Ito En) later. Oh and one more note, I brew my green tea in this little number.

I enjoyed Ito En teas very much when I lived in Japan. There's nothing better than a bracing cup of genmaicha first thing in the morning!

[Richard Kilgore]

jingsteashop in china.

ordered several samples and small 25g batches to try: looking for my perfect roasted oolong, fruity oolong and puerh.

1998 Raw Feng Qing Tuo

1999 Raw 7352

puerh tea cooked 93MHgr

Feng Huang Milan Dancong AAA

Competition Shui Xian

Mao Xie

Shui Jin Gui

Thanks! I have had their Milan DanCong AAA. Very nice.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Ended the tea portion of my tea day with some yellow tea from jingteashop.com--Huo Shan Huang Ya, always nice. Also today, fall Alishan Oolong from Norbu; gyokuro suimei from Den's; and finishing off with some Lemon Myrtle Rooibos from the cultured cup, because my order came in, yay!

[nakji]

I'm drinking Wu Yi Da Hong Pao and some more Hangzhou Long Jing - I'm trying to drink up my stores at the office, as we'll be moving to a new building soon.

[f3xy]

Starting off today with a Rishi Keemun Black Tea It's quite nice when you are a little less generous with the leaves. Never a need for milk or sugar when brewed correctly. Definitely a good everyday black.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Started the tea day today with some Silver Needle from Chado, warming up my tea taste buds for the upcoming tasting. I go hot and cold with this tea: sometimes it is exactly what I want, other times, just not quite satisfying enough. Today, it was exactly what I wanted.

Then moved on to some Menghai Golden Needles White Lotus shu puerh. Needed the grounding calming influence of this one today, first day back in the main office after a week of visiting two satellite offices, and of course my mailboxes, physical and e-mail, are completely full. Yikes. Hence, the need for mellow tea!

[Wholemeal Crank]

Starting with Anji precious rare white tea this morning, trying to stretch the last of the sencha a bit and get past the decision paralysis to order some more.

[f3xy]

I started out today with a China Breakfast from Rishi. It tastes quite similar to English Breakfast actually. Then I came to work and decided to try this "green tea" my manager brought back from his trip to China. No one knows what it is or how to brew it. It looked like gunpowder to me. Not that having the leaves rolled up really tight means anything. I did the first infusion at 165 for about 2 minutes I lightly covered 3/4 of the bottom of my pot. After sampling the first infusion I initially thought I had overbrewed the tea, but the taste was definitely odd. I then gave the now expanded leaves a good sniff. The odor is very algae like. It definitely has a salty sweet taste. The flavor didn't change with the 2nd or 3rd infusion. Perhaps this is seaweed with some tea thrown in?

I don't see any buds. I do see a fair amount of stems. It definitely seems like there is more "seaweed" than "tea." Any of you have something similar before? Anyone know what this is? Thanks.

P.S. Click the links for the full size image.

Box:

Tea:

Tea Post Brew:

[Wholemeal Crank]

Very intriguing. Hard to see closely enough from the pictures to tell whether the loose tea has more of a natural leaf curliness, or the tight gunpowder roll. But within the limits of the resolution (when I click on the links, I get large but not sharply focused images), it looks like ordinary tea to me.

A briny sea flavor is apparently quite common in some japanese green teas, particularly shade-grown teas--perhaps it was steamed like a japanese tea, or partly shaded during growth?

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today moved on from the Anji white tea to some Houjicha which did beautifully as a no-time-to-brew tea, going from one meeting to another, dumped small handful of tea into thermos, added hot water from water cooler (temp probably 170-180 degrees), and went to meeting. No bitterness or astringency to the end of the batch a few hours later. Nice stuff. Will definitely need to keep some on hand for just that use.

And now moving on to some spring 2009 Norbu Tie Guan Yin. Website says the 2010s are on their way, so I don't have to worry about running out and don't have to be so sparing of the last packets. Yay!

[nakji]

I don't see any buds. I do see a fair amount of stems. It definitely seems like there is more "seaweed" than "tea." Any of you have something similar before? Anyone know what this is? Thanks.

My co-workers report that this is a tea for weight-loss/lowering cholesterol. Consensus is that it should be just a certain kind of tea leaves, with nothing else added in, but that is not expert opinion.

[f3xy]

Today I tried to compare Uji Kabuse and Uji Gyokuro. The only thing I really noticed was that the Gyokuro was much creamier and the Kabuse was much stronger. I think I'm going to try this again since I didn't brew these the same. The Gyokuro was brewed at 135 and the Kabuse was brewed at 175. Oh well it gives me another excuse to drink some more tea.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Oh well it gives me another excuse to drink some more tea.

Yeah! another successful tasting!

Today I prepared some of the norbu Diamond Tie Guan Yin for sharing in afternoon clinic, quite deliberately, because we have a student with us for a few weeks who loves tea. I introduced him to puerh just 2 days ago, and the beautiful oolong knocked his socks off. I also sent him home with a tin of some nice pouchong. But because of a dinner out (yay!) no more tea this evening (boo!). Had a very nice brewing of sencha Zuiko this morning.

[Wholemeal Crank]

This evening enjoying a green Bao Hong from 2009 from Yunnan sourcing, in my 'seafoam' yunomi, a nice basic green tea, without a lot of tolerance for multiple infusions, but sweet and mild with the first couple of rounds.

Today started with a delicious round of Den's sencha zuiko, and then shifted to the distinctly odd: a tea suggested and requested by a colleague, 'gabaron' from Zen Tara Tea. It is specially processed to be rich in gamma-amino butyric acid aka GABA. I was disappointed that it wasn't bright green as in the photo from their online catalog, and the flavor was that of a highly oxidized oolong tea, nearly a black tea, pleasant and nonbitter, but quite thin, and that was using an amount of tea leaves that filled my kamjove when fully wetted and opened, for a quart plus a bit more of tea, an amount that usually results in rich and deep flavor from a good wuyi, taiwanese or anxi oolong.

I doubt I'd buy the gabaron again, when there are so many lovely oolongs out there that I like much better.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Yesterday only had my starting sencha--no other tea all day long. Shocking and strange. Just a lot of errands and hithering and thithering and not a lot of time for tea.

So today started with some sencha (only a little left, but Dan gave me an update and the senchas I'll be ordering from Yuuki-cha should be ready in a few days) and then I prepped a thermos of the

Zhangsu Lake oolong from Wing Hop Fung. Didn't want to miss mid-day tea because I was in too much of a hurry to make it! This is a honey-sweet and floral tea that is not losing much with being held in the thermos. Yum.

[Richard Kilgore]

Away a great deal this month. Mostly sipping matcha from yuuki-cha.com. More tea in my life soon.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today finished with a gong fu session with the 2007 Menghai Silver Dayi sheng puerh from Norbu. It was smoky and sweet, still a bit astringent on some infusions, threatening bitterness if I wasn't careful, and yet, never getting there even when I was quite sloppy with the infusions times. A nice tea that deserves a better gong fu session & review one of these days.