What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 2)

[Richard Kilgore]

Yesterday I brewed more of the Organic Magokoro Shincha from yuuki-cha and left a more detailed note in the Japanese Green Tea Topic on my brewing experiences with it.

Today so far it's a Bai Yun Oolong Yunnan Fall Harvest 2009 from norbutea.com. This is a delicious, multi-layered Oolong with a beautiful amber tea liquor.

[Richard Kilgore]

Made my last bowl of the yuuki-cha Organic Iroka, an unusually fine matcha at its price point. Tomorrow the new one should arrive.

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

[Richard Kilgore]

This evening I am enjoying the 2009 Norbu Lao Mansa Sheng Pu-erh, an outstanding young pu from Norbu Tea. Later perhaps an herbal tisane.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Yesterday was a lame day in tea: one thermos full of TenRen Pouchong.

Today, got a better start with the Tenryu Misakubo Shincha, then TenRen TungTing, and finally a 2nd infusion of hydrangea leafs.

A simple but nice tea day.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today's teas should all have been good, but my brewings were all off: the last of my Yunnan Wild Arbor Oriental Beauty from Yunnan Sourcing got bitter when I had to let some of it sit for 20 minutes steeping--serious tea abuse, and the first time this lovely tea showed such bite. Then I think I overdid the quantity of Silver Dragon white tea and ended up with a very tempermental series of infusions that I kept getting too light or too dark, and I even managed to find some bitter in the wonderful Taiwanese green tea I just got from Norbu. That took real talent, because it's been such a wonderful, forgiving tea for several prior brewings.

Gaak. Tomorrow I have to do better. Maybe I'll start with a nice ripe pu. Or Houjicha. Hard to go wrong with those.

[Wholemeal Crank]

So yesterday was a much better day than Friday, at least for tea: my first brewing of the Honoyama shincha from Yuuki-Cha (discussed in the Japanese green tea topic); a sloppy but nonetheless delicious brewing of Bao Zhong from HouDe (in the Oolong topic), such a forgiving tea; and then an evening cooking session with many infusions of Honey Orchid Phoenix oolong from TeaHabitat, such a marvelous tea.

And today I'm doing a head to head of the Tenryu Misakubo and the Honoyama shinchas from Yuuki-Cha (again, more in the Japanase green tea topic). Off to another excellent start. All the weekend needs for tea perfection now is some puerh.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Evening shincha: such a delightful concept. I ran out of time for morning tea today, am now making up for it with some Tenryu Misakubo from Yuuki-Cha. Happiness. Earlier a thermos of Yunnan gold black tea with osmanthus helped get through the afternoon, and the inevitable paperwork. It was ok, but the shincha is marvelous, morning or evening.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Guest commentary by Miss Emily:

Evening shincha is a most intriguing idea

but....(sniffs)....it really does need a few more seconds before it's ready

[Richard Kilgore]

My first prep of an interesting matcha from yuuki-cha.com that came in a new order - Organic Shizuoka Matcha Sakuraka, and I scooped a little too much into the tea bowl. More on this in the Matcha topic after I have tamed it down.

Then an Assam Konghea Estate, Golden Bud, from teasource.com, brewed for a friend, who also found this Indian black tea appealing.

So, what teas are you all drinking this week?

[rmillman]

Phoenix Single Grove Honey Fragrance from teance. Sweet yet with a slight bitter bite: wife thought I added honey since it was so forward on the nose and taste.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today second tea bowl of the Organic Shizuoka Matcha Sakuraka from yuuki-cha. This time I got it just right. Easy enough.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today second tea bowl of the Organic Shizuoka Matcha Sakuraka from yuuki-cha. This time I got it just right. Easy enough.

Followed that up with the Okuyutaka 2010 Spring Shizuoka Shincha (light-steamed)from yuuki-cha.com from a small sample that I got in a tea trade. A very pleasant three infusions and I'll see what 4 and 5 produce. Smooth, hay, a mild sharpness, best integrated in the third infusion.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Started with Honoyama Shincha from Yuuki-Cha, then on to Yunnan Mao Feng for afternoon meeting & clinic, and evening paperwork is rolling along with Norbu 2009 Lao Mansa sheng puerh, brewed cool & delicious. Mmmm. Need to be careful with this one: I broke off quite a large chunk of it when preparing to brew. May need to put a 'do not open for 6 months' sign on it, to remind me to take it slow.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Only two teas today, but wonderfully satisfying: started with the Tenryu Misakubo shincha from Yuuki-Chan, and then on to some Diamond TGY from Norbu.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today, more of the Organic Shizuoka Matcha Sakuraka and brewed a tea-trade sample of the 2010 Organic Uji Gokujo Shincha, both from yuuki-cha. More shinchas to go. And drank a lot of iced tea.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Broke into the Okuyutaka Shincha by Yuuki-cha this morning. First impression is bright, light, sweet, vegetal, very much to my taste. No time today for a full formal review, but it may be a while before I get to that. I especially want to do the comparison to the other two shinchas I have open at the moment.

First infusion 30" 160°F/71°C with 4.8 g tea in a 5 oz (150mL) kyusu, 2nd infusion 15 seconds at 168°C/76°C, 3rd infusion 1 minute at 135 °C/57°C (cooling too much in Kettle*, got careless). All delicious.

*After several months of getting so used to my Pino holding temperature for gongfu in the office, have broken down and ordered one for home too.

Edited June 18, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

In addition to my daily tea bowl of matcha, I brewed a chinese green - the Jade Dragon Yunnan Green Tea from Norbu Tea. I'm on my fourth infusion and sloppily learning how to brew it, so one and two were good, three brewed too hot and four good again. More on this later.

So what teas are you all brewing in your part of the world this week?

[Wholemeal Crank]

Another day, another pot of the Okuyutaka shincha. Mmm. Loving all of these shinchas from Yuuki-cha.

And yesterday, after the morning shincha, had a delightful afternoon thermos full of the 2008 Yi Wu Bamboo-aged puerh from Norbu. Sweet, a bit earthy, so nice and welcoming. Shared this with colleagues as always with good results. In the evening, some Silver Dragon white tea from Wing Hop Fung, sweet and delicate, although one forgotten steeping did get rather bitter, and then a long session of Honey Orchid Phoenix oolong from TeaHabitat. Kept going and going and going, and I did eventually exhaust those leaves, but it took a lot of water and effort!

[Richard Kilgore]

Today a pot of the Ceylon Vitahanakanda Estate, Extra Special, a great Ceylon from TeaSource. and a pot of a Chinese Oolong, the Phoenix Mountain DanCong from The Cultured Cup. This time I brewed the DanCong in a large (400+ml), older Yixing (how old? don't know, but the clay has not been mined for some time), with a Western style leaf:water ratio for 5 minutes. Great this way, too, although gong fu cha is still my preference.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Did you find the same range of flavors in the western-style brewed dan cong? I was quite disappointed in the Dan Cong I brewed up for a thermos a few weeks ago, but I was not sure how much of the disappointment was from delayed drinking, and how much from the bulk brewing.

[Richard Kilgore]

Not sure I can answer your question directly. The main thing is the astringency increases with longer brewing, but the flavors and mouthfeel are richer and more intense with gong fu cha. That said it's worth doing at least once with 2.5g/6 ounces water for 7 minutes.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I may try that.

One of the things I love about the Dan congs is the parade of different impressions I get with each infusion, and that was what seemed to get lost in the bulk brewing--the succession of sweet, spicy, fruity, vegetal flavors, cycling almost randomly as I am not that precise about the brewing times with a long gong fu session.

This evening having a lovely session with the Zhan Shu Lake oolong from Wing Hop Fung.

Edited June 20, 2010 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

I agree, WC. Gong Fu Cha is more interesting. For me at least, it is more difficult to identify all the components when a great tea is brewed Western style. I know people who are better at it than I am, however, and it can be interesting when a tea is paired with well matched food.

Yesterday, in addition to my daily matcha (more in the Matcha Topic, I had the Jade Dragon Yunnan Green Tea from Norbu - brewed in a glass, repeatedly adding more water as I sipped it for several hours.

First today it was the Organic Kagoshima Magokoro Shincha from yuuki-cha.com. I have been drinking this for a few weeks and it is still very good. Anyway, that's what my taste buds tell me. Now I'm brewing gong fu cha the very fine 2009 Norbu Lao Mansa Sheng Pu Erh. I do not always enjoy young raw puerh, but this is wonderful. I am working from a small sample, but I may need to buy a beeng. Missed the matcha today.

[Wholemeal Crank]

I was very pleased with my recent infusion of the Lao Mansa, and realize that I do need to be careful to ration it out some if I am to keep to the planned scheme of watching it age and sampling every so often for a good number of years.

Today I started with Dan Cong--the Honey Orchid--gongfu cha, sharing during a morning meeting. Probably wasn't the best time for sharing, since for most people there it was probably too soon after their morning coffee. Then on to the Menghai Golden Needles shu puerh, and now drinking some Organic Royal Dragon Well from Wing Hop Fung.

[Richard Kilgore]

Started out with the Mariage Freres Puttabong Estate Darjeeling from The Cultured Cup. Two infusions of a first flush that I really enjoy. Later my daily tea bowl of matcha, the best bowl yet, of many good bowls, from the Organic Shizuoka Matcha Sakuraka from yuuki-cha.com. And I learned something new that I'll pass along...avoid taking a sip of iced tea too soon after drinking matcha. Does not do good things for the after taste of the matcha. Blech! I'll blame it on the England vs Slovenia match.