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March 2, 2008
Tea - The Journey Continues
Note: all my blog entries won't be as extensive as my piece Tea The Journey Begins - that was written as a spec piece for publication :)
My tea journey continues. I've made more trips out to Fubonn and Serenity Art than reasonable (considering it's a full 30 minute drive from my home). I now consider myself 'fully equipt' (with the notable exception of a gong fu table which I'll get at some point). The basic pieces of my tea set are: a Zojirushi hot pot, several ceramic or clay pots, two glass decanting pots, a small tea filter and several cups. Its with these simple tools that I've been enjoying my exploration of the world of tea.
From Serenity Art I've purchased: A Fujian High Mountain Oolong - an amazingly bold, carmelly and delicious tea, this tea has become my 'comfort tea' and an absolute sure fire home run every time I brew it. I bought several packets of this tea and will feel quite sad when it runs out.
1996 Meng Hai Pu-erh Shu - a Shu is a pu-erh which has been cooked to speed fermentation, it's considered by many a 'lower grade' of tea than a sheng uncooked or 'green' Pu-erh. Still earthy this tea is a perfect example of how a Pu-erh mellows and evens out over time, it's a nice blend of smooth sweet and rough earth tones. Delicious tea, but not my #1.
1998 Meng Hai Pu-erh Shu - WOW. Simply the tastiest shu I've tasted yet, a fantastic union of flavors with a nice sweet overtone. So far my #1 Shu.
Ti Kuan Yin - I tasted it in the shop but have yet to brew my own. It's in the 'queue of things to brew'.
From the next door supermarket in Fubonn I picked up a tasty Barley Tea. It's a tea that's brewed in both Korea and Japan. The Korean variety is called bori-cha and the Japanese called mugi-cha. I call it YUM. I devoured an entire 2 cup pot the other day with lunch. It's a great sweet tea that doesn't have any caffeine in it.
My tea adventures turned into misadventures when I tried to pick up some high grade Sencha at Uwajimaya, after getting home and brewing a 'funky cup' I looked at the bag of tea and found it expired a FULL YEAR before I bought it. Yikes! I emailed the company whose tea it was: Den's Tea and the guy who owns the company called me the next day to personally apologize and say he'd talked to the head person who deals with tea at Uwajimaya to address the issue. He also sent me a packet of samples of his tea. I've only had a chance to try the Den's Genmaicha Extra Green and it's easily the best Genmaicha I've ever had in my life (and I've traveled through Japan!!).
On the Uwajimaya plus side I picked up a Chinese New Year Tea set which was deeply discounted (as the new year had just past). It had two varieties of tea from Ten Fu Teas: Bi Lo Chun - a very drinkable and floral-y green tea which goes down easy and is best described as 'pleasant' and Tieh Kwan Tin - a delicious Oolong which has a buttery orchid floral taste and is an absolute favorite of my kids.
Back on track I paid a visit to Portland's Tea Zone where I had my first sheng Pu-Erh an organic Green Silver Tip Tou-cha that simply blew my socks off. I neglected to ask for the tea in a Gaiwan so they brewed in a standard tea pot. Big mistake! By the third pot I was flying so high on caffeine that I was clenching my teeth! Needless to say I picked up a Toucha to bring home and brew in my little Yixing Pot. This Pu-erh is divine, it's a fresh mix of sweet honey and peppery tones. I brewed so many pots and each was strong and tasty. I don't think I've had a tea go this far yet.
Also from The Tea Zone I picked up 2oz of Keemun Hairpoint Mao Feng a contender for my regular morning cup of black tea. It's a Chinese black tea that makes a wonderfully golden brown tea. I added some agave and soy creamer and sipped it down. It has a hint of smokiness, not as strong as Adagio's English Breakfast Tea.
Since I was looking to find my regular morning black tea I decided to pick up a sample of Silk Road Teas Yunnan Gold (Dian Jin) which made a perfectly golden cup of tea, also delicious with agave and soy creamer.
Finally I got a sample from Zhi Tea of their Wuyi Oolong. I really enjoyed the tea, it had a nice subtle flavor and really pleasant finish. The only issue I had was I never had a 'WOW' steeping, it never really peaked. It was a few pots of fairly similar tea and then it petered out. I'm going to give it another shot in a few days and use more leaves to see if I can't pull a fantastic pot from it.
I've been exchanging emails with Paul Rosenberg and might do a short instructional class with him about tea. I'm interested in furthering my tea education and get more knowledge about Pu-erh, since some of the Pu-erh tea cakes are much more expensive than a very very fine bottle of wine. I plan to ultimately place an order for some tea with Hou De and Yunnan Sourcing
Posted by gkleinman at March 2, 2008 7:34 PM