Bi Luo Chun Hong Cha from Teaspring

Last night I came home to my long-awaited shipment from Teaspring!

So this morning I was able to start my work day with some Bi Luo Chun Hong Cha, a welcome change of pace from the green tea I've been drinking to the near exclusion of other teas for the last several months.

I figured Teaspring's brewing suggestions were bogus based on the fact that they say to start out with 212°F water and increase temperature with subsequent infusions (For the science-disinterested, that's not exactly something easily done in the average kitchen.)

So I measured out a rounded, but not heaping, spoon of leaf weighing in at 4.8 grams into my preheated yixing pot. I didn't rinse the tea, as this isn't that kind, but made the first infusion really short to err on the side of caution. (Every now and again you can destroy a perfectly good cup of tea on the first infusion if you try hard enough.)

The color, flavor, and aroma were much to my liking, but I decided longer infusions were in order.

Most of my infusions were probably in the 30-second range, but I guesstimated instead of using a timer.

I eventually lost count of the number of infusions, but kept it coming until early afternoon. The tea prevailed!

This is a great little black to shove in your tea hole.

What Is Genmai Cha with Matcha, and How To Brew It

Genmai cha is roasted/toasted brown rice kernels and bancha green tea. The bancha has a less refined flavor than some of the more exotic Japanese green teas and mixes well with the nutty, aromatic qualities of the cooked rice.

In the rice cooking process, some kernels pop, leading to the nickname "popcorn tea" used by nobody I know personally but seen in marketing propaganda.

The matcha green tea powder adds more essential green tea characteristics to balance out the rice notes, which some people don't like as much in traditional genmai.

It's inexpensive, easy to brew, forgiving of mistakes in the brewing process in comparison with some other, more esoteric Japanese green teas.

Brew at 175° F in 6-8 oz. of water for a minute and a half, up to 2 minutes in a pre-heated kyuusu (or kyusu, if you prefer) with the lid off.

Konghea Assam "Golden Bud"

I was just rooting around in some pu'erh and found this sample that must've fallen into effective invisibility among the larger Hou De bags.

So I preheated a kyusu, and spooned 4.8 grams of leaf to several ounces of water cooled down slightly from a rolling boil to infuse for 3 minutes.



The result was the fine cup of tea shown here.

It's a thick, dark brew with a clean, earthy smell. While I love my white, yellow, and green tea, I was raised on strong tea the Southern tradition, and this one hits the spot.

I love happy accidents!

Late 80's Meng Hai 8972 Brick Uncooked (from Hou De)

According to Hou De, this is a "blend of early 80s and late 80's leaves" produced "1989~early '90s".



I preheated my trusty yixing pot and rinsed 3.6 g of brick. The rinse was as clean a rinse as I've ever seen.

I didn't pull out the clock for this session, but thumbnailed my infusion timing.

The first steep was pretty highly aromatic, with a scent that gave me a better idea of what shu-producers must be shooting for. Only this didn't have the funk and gunk I normally associate with even good shu.



The second infusion was mellower, less aromatic, and seemed very well-balanced. The third has continued this trend.

I'm sipping this tea for breakfast, and I think that may be an ideal application for it. Historically, I've found many breakfast teas to be way too aromatic and heavy, but this is closer to the sweet spot.

I have enough left for a few more sessions, fortunately, and look forward to them. I may take these to the office for good day-starters.

tea at Saigon

# El Padre - 4:37: At the vietnamese place where we had lunch today, they brought me hot water and a tea cup that looked like a diner-style gaiwan-ish cup

# El Padre - 4:38: I pulled out the xu fu long ya and weighed out 2.1 grams, and proceeded to make some tea

# El Padre - 4:38: in the porcelain gaiwan salsero gave me

# Ed - 4:38: lol you brought your scale?

# El Padre - 4:38: The waiter wanted to try my tea after smelling that first flush yummy fresh smell

# Ed - 4:39: :)

# El Padre - 4:39: yup, the digital scale, also from salsero heh

# Ed - 4:39: lol

# El Padre - 4:39: my lunching partner said if I had pulled that stuff out at any other kind of restaurant, he'd have walked the **** out

# Ed - 4:41: lol dre... if I saw a dood pull out a scale in an eatery, I'd probably go ask him for a dimebag

current teas and other tasty beverage treats

This week, I've divided my tea time between 2008 Emperor Long Jing from Teaspring on the hyper-fresh end, through the spectrum to include some Phoenix Bird Oolong from Mighty Leaf (which I enjoyed more than most oolongs I've tried over the last several months). But I've also dipped into staples like genmai cha and (this morning) Citron Green from Adagio.

Tea is not my only tasty beverage, but it's really my default beverage of choice for daily activities. It's caffeinated, but tends not to be ridiculously so. (Oh, but the exceptions! Some sleepless nights can result from unwary overconsumption of sencha too late in the day.)

I like to delve into the different when I can, which is one of the treats of the local Vietnamese restaurant. There one can find many cool things to sip, including durian, lychee, mango/avocado (not to be missed, that one), papaya, or even what I had last night: a milk egg soda. (It was what it sounds like, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.)

With a few exceptions, like the iced tea we drink here in Mississippi and Thai tea, I don't take sweeteners in my tea. I find the stuff sweet enough, as a rule. Same for yerba mate.

Now, coffee's a different story. Unless I can find something like a nice Hawaiian kona, I generally like to turn my coffee into a dessert. Adding contrasting flavors can help highlight that which is enjoyable in a mediocre coffee, and mediocrity is abundant in the coffee world.

I guess there's plenty of tea mediocrity, as well. It's just so easy to find superior tea that I don't bother with the crappy stuff much any more.

first flush fever

I'd like to say I've been enjoying some first flush green tea lately, but "enjoy" just doesn't get it.

When the first freshly-harvested green teas began to hit the part of the tea market I frequent, I went to teaspring.com and just ordered up 25 grams of each first flush green they had available, and 50 grams of meng ding huang ya, a yellow tea that rocks my socks.

In the last few weeks I've killed off the huang ya and lion xi hu long jing, and have just broken out the zhu ye qing this evening.

This stuff is just about inexpressibly good. Fresher is just plain better.

The zhu ye qing is the wild card so far, and I had no idea what to expect. But when I pried open the sealed pouch, a thick, luscious aroma danced up at me. Wow. Then the taste of the tea itself. Mmmmm.

I've been steeping all of these in the 70-80° C range for a minute or two, repeatedly until I feel content or otherwise diverted. They hold up unbelievably well.

Get some, dammit, and feel the love.