Adventures in tea

 Many years ago when I became friends with Kevin and Andy and did Costume Con 26, I met a lot of their friends and many of us have remained in contact via Facebook, even though I don't do conventions. Among those is Jade Falcon, a talented costumer, modern fencer, modern archer, photographer and tea fiend. She and her Viking, Erik (he really does kinda look like one), were in Japan just as Covid was making itself known, and I was following their adventures with interest and concern. She bought a shit ton of tea. 

Anyway, she had posted about something she was drinking one day and I asked her about it, because the one and only time I tasted a Chinese pu-ehr, it was kind of nasty and I was not inclined to try it again. One thing led to another, she asked for my address and yesterday a box arrived in the mail. Not only were there a bunch of individual packets of Chinese teas (plus four sencha samples she thought I'd enjoy), but a five page letter with instructions for tea/water amounts, brewing temps, steeping times, how many steeps you can get out of a pot of tea, etc. 

So, in the interest of furthering my knowledge of Chinese tea varieties, I've decided to try to go about this somewhat scientifically. 

Tools in my arsenal include a Cuisinart electric kettle with various temperature settings and a "keep hot" setting that kicks in if the water temp drops while one is farting around the kitchen. Two small teapots for steeping, one a cheap kyusu from Daiso, the other a cute one in the shape of a tanuki which is not glazed on the inside. Chinese Yixing pots are unglazed and not only season the tea with trace minerals, but retain seasoning from tea with re-use. Japan's unglazed pots are known as Tokoname and have similar properties. By using two teapots I hope to see if I can taste differences. Methodology: warm pots and teacup with warm water from the tap, measure tea into pot, measure hot water from kettle into measuring cup, pour over tea in pot, steep for however long is recommended, pour ALL of it through tea strainer into cup. (A gaiwan is on order so I can try that as well.)

From Jade's letter: 

"I realized I might have missed giving some information about Chinese style brewing. Unlike Japanese or Western style, Chinese tea brewing (gong fu cha) involves 

• smaller teapots or "gaiwans"
• high tea to water ratio (typically 5g of tea per 100ml water
• short brew times, anywhere from 10-30 seconds for the first steep, then adding additional (10-20 seconds) per additional steep. Good tea will give 6-12 steeps per 5g of tea.
• water temperature varies on type of tea (oolong, black, green, puerh) and their preparation (roasted, balled,oolong, or strips.

All of these are general guidelines so adjust to taste. The purpose of gongfucha is to know/understand the tea and be able to brew a good cup of tea."

Yesterday's tasting: Hua Xuang Da Hing Pau (red & black foil packet). Jade's notes: "I think of this as very typical of what you'd expect as a rock oolong." Brew 5g tea per 100ml water. Water temp: 200F. "Steep for 15 seconds, then 30, 40, 50, 60, continually adding anywhere from 10-20 seconds depending on your taste." Subtle, toasted flavor, did first two steeps in a cup (because I couldn't find the kyusu) then pulled out the tanuki pot, put the wet leaves in and did two steeps in that. Steeping in the unglazed pot gave it a sweeter flavor. Stopped after four cups because I didn't want to reach Conquering The Demons Of Sleep* stage.

Today's tasting: Da Hong Pao. Jade's notes: DHP is a blend of different teas to achieve a characteristic DHP flower profile "True" DHP is rare and expensve as the mother trees (ancient) are protected from harvest."  Brew 5g tea per 100ml water. Water temp: 200F. Steep 20-30 seconds, then add 15 seconds for each subsequent steep. Good black tea aroma, very mild, delicate flavor. Makes Darjeeling seem in yo' face. This time I did two steeps each in both pots. Flavor seemed to open up and become warmer and slightly earthy on the second steep in both pots, though more so in the unglazed one.