Contemplations of a Closet Curmudgeon

danabren

Anyway, after a momentary dither about what to try first, I fired up the kettle and measured out some Pure Bud Silver Strand" First Flush.  I completely forgot to check the website for brewing/steeping recommendations (turns out, there weren't any), so I used the green tea setting of 175F and steeped for about a minute.  Anyway, I got a pale golden tea in my white cup with a fresh, spinachy scent, vegetal flavor with little astringency. A very nice, refreshing sipping tea that was still nce when it went cold in the cup. More of same on the second steep (I gave it about 30 seconds that time, would add 15 seconds for each additional steep). 

I'll probably do another cup for a third steep and then throw the leaves in a spaghetti jar and cold brew the rest. 

 Sometimes a cup of tea is not my cup of tea and this is one of those times. 

Pu-ehrs are aged teas. Raw or sheng pu-ehrs are harvested, processed (withered, fired or steamed, etc.) and then pressed into cakes and allowed to age in a process that dates back to the days of Lu Yu and the Tang Dynasty, when tea might take months or even years to get to its final destination. Ripe, shou pu-ehrs are a 20th century development: when demand for sheng pu-ehrs became high, growers looked for a way to accelerate the aging process. The tea would be sprayed with water and left to ferment in a hot, humid environment for several weeks, then made into cakes. 

My first pu-ehr was some loose leaf abomination in a foil bag from Cost Plus World Market several years ago. It tasted fishy. I ended up throwing it out. 

When Jade sent me that amazing tea sampler, she included two very nice sheng pu-ehrs that have "Like" checked on my tea spreadsheet. 

Yunnan Sourcing has sold me some very nice teas, this was marked "premium grade," came in single serving mini-cakes which is convenient and appealing, and for four bucks, it ticked the "cheap enough not to feel bad if I hate it" box. 

Fired up the kettle for a 200F brew after looking up what to do with caked tea. Broke up the little cake with my fingers easily enough, then rinsed the leaves twice with hot water (the first pour looked surprisingly silty from tiny fragments of tea). Short steep of 20 seconds still produced a dark red-brown cup of tea. 

It's earthy, complex and weird as opposed to rich, mellow and smooth (the qualities that made sheng pu-ehrs the choice of Emperors). You can taste and smell a sort of grass-clippings-left-out-in-the-sun thing going on, simultaneously green and a little musty at the same time. 

I'm glad I gave it a shot, but no, this is not a tea I am going to reach for again.  Prices for sheng pu-ehrs are eyewateringly expensive, so there's obviously a difference. 

 (Meant to post this yesterday and got sidetracked by going back to the first season of "The Expanse" for a re-watch.)

This is another dragon ball. As it's a white tea, I did 185F at 30 seconds for the first steep. The tea took on more color than I would have expected from a white tea, honey colored in the cup. I'm not certain how much of that was the orangey brown chrysanthemums. It had an autumnal scent like the vague memory of burning leaves. Or that cedar, pencil-shaving smell. Woody, anyway. The flavor was lightly spicy with a sweet finish at the back end. 

On the second steep (45 seconds), it was about the same. By the third steep (60 seconds), the leaves had unfurled all the way, the color had gone the reddish brown I would expect of a black tea, and the flavor had opened up a bit. Warm, cedar-y and still sweet. 

Definitely not what I expected based on the name, but a nice tea nonetheless.

 I wasn't going to open this, seeing as I had so much tea in the house, but after a week of wimpy, lackluster black teas from Portland, I wanted a big old mug of Brown Leaf Juice. 

I reviewed two Vahdam teas last year, including their aspirational, reminiscent-of-Harrods green and gold packaging. You can read what I thought of their Assam Exotic here. 

Their Daily Assam  is a second flush tea, which means it's picked in the summertime. (First flush teas are usually picked in very late winter to springtime and are prized for freshness and delicacy of flavor.)  I can see why they grade this as a "daily" choice. Its happy place is a 212F brew for five minutes, resulting in a hearty reddish brown brew. It's robust without bitterness, just a slight astringency. 

Second steep of same leaves holds flavor just fine and I'm getting a slight sweetness at the end of each sip that's very nice. 

Compared to the Assam Exotic (which their website currently only has in tea bags, so I suspect last year's batch has sold out), it's not as fruity. The Exotic is rightly a bit more special, but this is a perfectly nice tea for regular use and is probably going to end up being one of my at-work staple teas.

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By midafternoon, I'd had three cups of the Daily Assam and decided to break into the Daily Darjeeling. Again, this is a second flush/summer harvest tea. Lighter than the Assam with a very nice sweet/astringent balance on the finish after a 212F/5 minute steep. Their first flush Darjeeling has a much greener, citrusy profile, but this is a very nice tea as well and I think this one is going into my desk as well. Both of these should do well as they gradually cool in the cup as inevitably happens on a work day with a tall travel flask and would work iced as well. 

Price point on these daily teas was reasonable as well. $9.99 for the Darjeeling and $6.99 for the Assam, 3.5 oz package/50 cups. 

Yeah, I ordered more tea, this time from Yunnan Sourcing in China, because I didn't realize it was their US branch until I'd pulled the trigger on paying for it. Takes longer to get here (about 3 weeks), but they have a better selection. I discovered that they had a bunch of white tea and floral infused "dragon balls", and the fact that the in-laws are handmaking them and getting a cut didn't hurt their sales pitch. Plus you could buy a small amount at reasonable prices, which is good when you're not sure if you're going to like what you buy. I picked out several, then figured while I was at it, I'll look for a jasmine tea.

Now, the only previous time I'd ever had a jasmine tea, it was made from a teabag and served iced at a bookstore in Annapolis. It was ok, I drank the whole thing, thought it was interesting, but I definitely knew at some point I would want to try something a bit better. Today was that day.

From the seller's website: "Entirely fresh spring green tea and jasmine from the highest quality sources. Fujian green tea and Guangxi jasmine flowers. Nice small pearls that open up gradually when brewed. Balanced green tea and jasmine flavor and aroma. Very premium tippy jasmine pearls." The pearls are slightly smaller than a pea and the whitish strands are the jasmine petals. 

Unfortunately the seller did not give brewing suggestions, so I figured I'd go for 190F with a 20 second steep to start as other websites were recommending much higher temps and I'm sitting here thinking, "But it's a GREEN!"

On the first steep, the floral scent and flavor were extremely delicate. The color of the tea looked almost peach, though it's reading very yellow on my monitor. (Or I could have some weird side effect from my Moderna booster that's affecting my color perception. Nah, probably not.)

This may not be for you if you like strongly flavored teas. It's all about the jasmine, but not in a cloying, overpowering way. 

Second steep (40 seconds), the leaf unfurled all the way and the entire kitchen now smells like jasmine from the leaves just sitting in an open gaiwan. The tea color is still that peachy golden green. The jasmine flavor is more pronounced on the longer steep, but the green tea notes are more pronounced. 

I'm going to stop on two cups and maybe fire up the kettle and do another steep or two later on, just because I don't want this session to turn into, "Ew, I'm drinking potpourri." Because this is a nice sipping tea, particularly on an overcast December day.

In other tea news, a birthday present from my sister just arrived. Elaine, being wise in the way of Amazon Wish Lists, sent me the tea travel flask I had wanted. There are tons of so-called travel tea flasks with infusers out there, but I specifically wanted one you can drink directly out of. I don't care if Oprah endorsed it, if I have to faff about pouring into the lid and using that as a teacup, I cannot use it at my desk! There will inevitably be a spill. Anyway, now I can take some of my nicer teas into work and enjoy them there. 

This is special, all right. Flavor is deep, with a fruity, sweet plummy thing melding with those floral aromas, and a darker, slightly spicy thing going on in the background.

The Yixing zisha clay teapot is brand new. It's been properly rinsed and seasoned, but it's NEW. My rational brain is yelling at me that it has not had time on a single steep to do anything. Emperor's new teapot and all that. But - is that black licorice???? The difference is so subtle I'm having a hard time being objective. Is the clay brewed tea flavor just the teensiest bit warmer? Or is my brain just wanting it to be?

I don't know. What I do know is that this is a delicious tea and I will dump the gaiwan leaf into the teapot and happily enjoy more steeps.

From the seller, info about this tea. https://verdanttea.com/spring-laoshan-gongfu-black-special-grade 

Second steep, all in the teapot, drinking from a thicker walled chawan now. Still delicious, warming. This tea is a winner and I need to make sure I note that on my spreadsheet. 

In other news, that high edged plate from Reannag Teine works quite nicely as a tea boat. The plate was a token from the late Countess Berengaria for representing her in the 2018 Valkyrie Rose Tournament at Great Western War. Miss you, Bera.  These clay teapots benefit from getting wet with tea, so you're supposed to overfill the pot a little bit, which means you need something that catches the water, like a "tea boat" or slotted tea tray with a reservoir under it. (If you saw "The Blind Banker" episode of "Sherlock," there's a scene showing the Chinese ceramicist character pouring tea this way as part of maintaining the pot.)

In the "Phew, I didn't buy a fake" column*, the pot pours efficiently and elegantly without the need for a strainer, the lid fits snugly and the pot sheds/absorbs water from the overpour almost instantly. Besides, that woodgrain pattern is just gorgeous! (Buying off the internet makes it hard to examine what you're getting and the shipping mixup on the extra teapot set alarm bells ringing in my head. BTW, they emailed yesterday to tell me to please keep the extra teapot as a gift and would I mind giving them a review? So I did: pleased with my purchase but careful to point out how long it took to ship and that they did send that second pot by mistake, which means somebody somewhere did not get their order, so I hope they're fixing that.)

Third steep, darker and even richer because I let it steep for a bit longer. Good stuff, this! 
 

 No place to be this Saturday so I slept in, then decided to look at my recently acquired collection of Little Green Pouches from Verdant Tea and pick out a tea to enjoy. This morning, it's the 2021 Golden Fleece sourced by Wang Yanxin.

This is another tea that smells delicious when you unseal the package and inhale. It was like opening a package of dried apricots. Or maybe mango: sweet and fruity was the main impression, anyway. 

Verdant's website furnishes all sorts of details about each tea. This one comes from 40 year old wild growth Yunnan Da Bei tea bushes grown at an elevation of 2000m (6561 feet: Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada is 7057 feet) in the Lincan region of Yunnan Province. This batch was picked in the spring of this year. 

First steep: 200F (they recommend 205F, but my kettle settings offer 200F and boiling, so I opted for a slightly cooler temperature), 8-10 seconds, add 3 seconds for each additional steep.  

The aroma keeps the fruit and overlays it with a gently floral note. It's sweet and soft on the tongue. There's a lot going on but it's all subtle and soft and stays that way even as it cools in the cup. "Here, (whiff of jasmine). "Here, (cool silk on your forearm). "Here," (is that apricot)? 

I don't know. I am not an expert and taste is VERY subjective. The tea seller may list things in a flavor profile and I'll be sitting here and going, "Banana? What banana? I don't get banana at all!" 

This is not an in-your-face wake up cuppa. I feel like I should be in a garden pavilion, swathed in silk, composing poetry to the sound of bird song. (Even as a motorcycle starts up next door and sets off the crows.)

The second steep is just as soft and relaxing as the first. About to go for a third. 

Lovely stuff! 

 Last night, Brann MacFinnchad did a tea post around 9PM my time and I thought, "I want tea. No, if I have tea I'll wake up at 3 AM and not get to sleep. Oh, fuck it, tomorrow's Saturday, go make some tea." 

I decided to open up a packet from Old Ways and I honestly do not remember whether this was something I ordered or a freebie they put in my last shipment a few months ago. So I looked it up and determined it was an oolong, set the kettle at 190F and put some in my gaiwan. It is now Saturday afternoon and I am on steep #4. (First steep was 190F for 20 seconds, second was for 30 seconds. Today's steeps were turned up to 200F with no adverse effect and steeped for 45 and 60 seconds.) 

Anyway, Jin Mu Dan (which means "Golden Peony,") is a roasted hybrid of two oolong cultivars. The leaf came out of the packet a deep tobacco-y brown. It steeps to a honey gold in the cup which is probably how it got it's name. Delicate floral aroma and some fruity notes with some sweetness, though I am now noticing a light astringency that makes your tongue feel dry and reach for another sip. That may be because we're several steeps in. 

Nice tea though. 

If you're looking to get into Chinese teas, oldwaystea.com is a good place to start. While their products are all from one tea region, specifically the Wuyi mountains of Fujian Province, they offer a nice variety of teas in amounts that make sampling a breeze (you can buy as little as 5 - 8 grams, which is enough for one or two tea sessions and if you don't like something, you don't feel like you're stuck with a tea that was a dud. Both times I ordered, my package included a free sample and a nice little card thanking me for my order. And they do bundles and a bi-monthly tea club if that appeals to you. 

Last week, while reviewing the matcha I had, I posted some internet sources that claim shade-growing dated to the early 19th c.

While watching the "Matcha" episode on "Trails to Oishii Tokyo" on NHK, featuring a visit to a tea grower in Uji, the program stated it dated to the 16th c. Clearly more research was indicated!

The following is from Joao Rodrigues's Account of Sixteenth-Century Japan, translated and edited by Michael Cooper for the Hakluyt Society, 2001, pages 272-273 in a chapter which describes tea production and compares the Chinese and Japanese methods of entertaining with cha.

"Its new leaves, which are used in the drink, are extremely soft, tender and delicate, and frost may easily make them wither away. So much damage can be done in this way that in the town of Uji, where the best tea is produced, all the plantations and fields in which this cha is grown are covered over with awnings or mats made of rice straw or thatch. They are thus protected from damage by frost from February onwards until the end of March, when the new leaf begins to bud. They spend a great deal of money on this for the sake of the profit that is to be obtained, as we shall say, for the trade in cha is very great." 

"In Japan, the best [cha] is grown only in the town called Uji, three leagues from the court of Miyako, whence it is taken to all parts of the kingdom. The cha leaves used in the drink are the soft new ones and the first to sprout in the spring in march, when they are picked. Just as in our vineyards, so too this crop is brought in by large numbers of people, who can distinguish the good new leaf that is to be picked from the old and inferior one that is left." He goes onto describe steaming, lightly roasting in baskets while constantly moving the leaves by hand, going on to say that the Chinese will drink it "cooked in hot water," while the Japanese prefer it ground into powder. 

The rest of the chapter describes packing, distribution and how the Chinese serve their guests without ceremony. A further chapter details what we can recognize as cha no yu, the Japanese tea ceremony. 

Rodrigues lived in Japan from 1577 until 1610, arriving as a teenager. He picked up Japanese quickly and, after a briefish trip to Goa to be ordained a Jesuit priest, returned. His ability as a translator meant he knew a lot of the feudal movers and shakers. Toyotomi Hideyoshi (who was suspicious of foreigners) was nonetheless so impressed with him, he took him on as personal interpreter. Additionally, he produced a Japanese grammar, Arte da Lingoa de Iapam (The Art of the Japanese Language). His "History" was written in the early 1620s based on his experiences and recollections and was to have been part of a multi-volume opus on the Jesuit mission in Japan. Only one volume survives. It's a clunky read - Rodrigues did not consider himself a good writer and expected someone else would come along and pretty up his data dump. Translator Michael Collins describes the challenges in cleaning up repetitions and so forth. That said, it's a remarkable bit of source material, not only for its detail, but for Rodrigues' sympathetic view of the people he was describing. 

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Today's tea was the Ippodo hojicha. I brewed it a little weaker today. Flavor is still quite nice, if not as in-your-face. 6g/150ml, 200F, multiple 45 second steeps.