368 Tasting Notes
A lot of ideas got exchanged yesterday, and so in the spirit of an open mind, today I am steeping this in the shortest possible intervals. I have to confess, I was highly skeptical this would produce anything other than weak tea.
The first steep (about 5 seconds) had a bit more of a green, vegetal flavor than I’ve gotten from peony in the past. Less of the dry hay.
The second steep (also about 5 seconds) is much darker in color, since the leaves are more hydrated. The green has passed now, and this cup is all warm sun and dry hay. Always amazing to me how a tea can taste like something “dry” while having no astringency to it whatsoever.
Preparation
Hey Jim. Nice to see you willing to try the short steep. I was drinking with a tea friend all morning today, and talking a bit about what we discussed yesterday. I was reminded of one thing I forgot to point out about the mentioned method. When brewing tea this way you should generally use more leaves and less water per steeping than you typically would for a longer steep approach. This typically means about 5 grams of tea for a 4-5 ounce gaiwan or yixing pot, versus the teaspoon of tea in an 8 ounce cup that is commonly done for “western style” brewing. I don’t know how much leaf to water you used here, but I’d suggest increasing the leaf and reducing the water if you’re not already trying that.
On another note, I don’t drink white teas very often, but I find they usually yield 3-5 good short steepings, unless it’s really high quality – in which case it might be good for 6 infusions. If you’re still feeling adventurous about this, I would recommend trying it with a more robust tea sometime, like an oolong, pu-erh or Chinese black tea. I’d be interested to know if your experience is different on a second attempt.
I already do a much larger leaf to water ratio than the Brit method, but I am not quite as generous with leaf as avid aficionado seem to be — mostly because I can’t cover the expense. I drink tea all day every day and I just can’t afford to be burning through 20 grams of leaf a day.
Oddly enough, after this third steep, I was able to revive these leaves and I’m on steep #5 right now. I think I just made #3 a bit too short. Once the leaves fully opened after #2, they needed more time to pull anything out (because #2 pulled out so much).
But that’s just the thing, JIm… I drink all day every day too, and I can steep out one 5-gram-full gaiwan of say a quality Teiguanyin all day if I want, even for two days sometimes…
Well, until I get past half a dozen steeps, that’s not happening, so… chicken/egg cart/horse, call it what you want. I can’t afford, right now, to waste tea.
The two of you should have a tea talk show. Your viewpoints are very different yet you are both correct. I tried the short steep with a Pu-Erh and I wasn’t enjoying it until I let it stew. I would think with a white tea or green a shorter steep is ideal. Although you both may disagree, I enjoy a cold water brew. I brewed the Handpicked Verdant Iron Goddess for 24 hours and the result was sublime.
So I’m on my third steep of this particular pile of leaves, at 1 minute per steep each. Amusingly, this delicate green holds up better to a third steep (at 1 minute each) than the bai lin gong fu robust black tea does, but there you go.
Still buttery and soft, this third steeping has lost all resemblance of a Japanese shaded and now has those sunny hay notes common to Chinese pan fired green teas.
Preparation
This tea is really impressing me — as have all the TeaVivre teas, I have to confess.
Again, one could say that this is “what bag tea should be” in a sense. A very no-nonsense cuppa. But rather than elevating this tea to the level it belongs, such a comment would imply it was common, dull, or something of that nature, which isn’t at all what I mean.
Once upon a time, all tea was “good tea”. Then The West discovered tea and the tea growing regions of the world suddenly had to deal with economies of scale they simply weren’t prepared for. And so, traditions like putting fannings or dust into mesh bags were developed to help cover the margins. But the leaves those fannings and dust came from were, probably, at least initially, good leaves that would have made good tea.
But meanwhile black tea has gotten a bad name.
Which is a shame.
At any rate, I’m going to have to learn more about Bai Lin teas.
Preparation
And there we go. The second steep completely opened up the leaves and a much better cup results. Why do tuocha get packed so tightly? Are they “superior” in some way to fermented pu-erh which isn’t pressed?
Preparation
I don’t think it’s about superiority. It all comes down to storage and trying to preserve the leaves for as long as possible. If you’re not going to drink a piece of pu’er for years and years, it might as well be packed tightly. This way, even if you move it around over decades, it won’t be as easily damaged. However, it’ll also age more slowly (less leaves exposed to less oxygen).
Loose pu’er is easy for ready drinking and ages faster. However, if it’s not going to be used for years, you’re likely going to end up with a good portion of your stock turning to dust and fannings at the bottom of your jar/what-have-you. The leaves are more exposed, more delicate, more easily damaged.
Pressed pu’er is more traditional just because it was meant to be traded..traveling over long distances in journeys that could take years. Also, the more tightly packed, the less volume the cargo takes up.. the more you can pack on your bags. Tea isn’t traveling by horseback anymore, but it still has a long international journey to get from Yunnan to North America.
So in part tradition, in part practicality, with a healthy does of global trade.
A big sack of toucha is probably a pretty good balance of the benefits of loose vs bings. They’re not going to fall apart, but you can also just take a little bit at a time (just one head) without damaging the integrity of the whole.
Then again, they don’t need to be so tightly packed. That really only comes from hydrolic presses. Toucha’s generally only come from bigger, more industrialized factories, since a smaller traditional one would probably prefer to put their leaves in a more traditional brick.
See, this is why I don’t like tuocha.
These are so perfectly made that they may actually be too perfect. The one I just steeped, despite some attention with a chopstick, didn’t actually open up on the first steep.
The resultant cup is still just fine, but I simply find loose pu-erh to be much easier to work with for short steep times.
The free sample explosion continues.
I have to confess to always preferring Japanese shaded green teas to most Chinese varieties. Some of the pan fired options bring an interesting, roasted note, but otherwise I tend to find them very flat.
Dragon Well are always the exception to this trend. In fact, I find that most Dragon Well taste very similar to a Japanese shaded green tea — bright, green vegetal notes, a hint of ocean water tang, and high mountain air. Nothing brown, roasted or floral going on here and that’s the way I like it.
Once again, Teavivre is providing exceptional value for money with the quality of what they have on offer. I have to say that so far I am extremely impressed with the amount of flavor in the cup for what their website tells me they charge for these teas.
Preparation
I am a fan of the Japanese shaded green teas as well. Gyokuro was my first love in the world of tea. The one that just opened everything up for me. I most recently enjoyed the Shaded Leaf Kabusecha by Mellow Monk, which is very good and worth trying if you have a chance. I’ll have to look through your backlog of notes sometime to find leads on worthwhile shaded greens to try.
I was drinking a lot of shaded greens from TeaGeschwendner’s Edmond’s collection back some time ago. But the more tea distributors I find, the less and less price competitive TG seems to be — they claim of course to be selling only the best of the best, but I have tasted very few teas from them that justify the price point compared to what I can get from other vendors.
My most recent shaded greens came directly from Japan as my wife was over there doing field work this past Summer.
Seeing that… “Today TeaGschwendner has more than 130 shops in seven countries on four continents…” I think it’s safe to assume a significant percentage of their price point can be put off on paying for the massive overhead of their operation. I get the same sense about Samovar, based on reports I’ve heard.
The annoyance with that is that TG only has, as far as I know right now, only two of those retail shops in the USA. The original in Chicago and a very recently opened one in Manhattan. I believe the other six countries are all in the EU.
You really nailed this one.
Ocean water….I like that comparison!
Blessed Feast to everyone of the Western Rite this morning of All Saints Days!
Another one of my free samples from TeaVivre.
Oh how I love Yunnan golden teas.
We made homemade pizza last night, and of course I burnt my mouth eating it (how is it so impossible not to do this?) so my taste buds are a bit dull this morning and even so, all those great citrusy notes are popping through followed by warm, round, soft, sweetness. This variety is a bit more citrusy and a bit less warm, round, soft and sweet than some, but without having that kind of lingering bite that makes your throat tense up late into the cup.
Given TeaVivre’s fantastic pricing, this is probably my new go-to Yunnan golden.
It is “cold” in Houston this morning, by which I mean high 50’s, and this is the purrrrfect cuppa for a morning like this.
Preparation
For some reason I stopped buying pu-erh teas.
Probably because for some reason I stopped ordering tea online and the local merchants mark their pu-erhs WAY up.
In the wake of this, probably temporary change, I have realized that this Wuyi oolong has become my default, go-to tea.
It is a classic yum cha/dim sum type toasted oolong and while my local premium grocer charges way too much for it, this Republic of Tea variety is very much center of the road.
I usually get 3 steeps from these leaves, but with a fresher supply I could probably get more.
