Gong Fu!
This one is weird because it’s from the sort of “limbo” period between when I was feeling really sick and when I was feeling a lot better (though still not 100%). It was a really nice session, and after nearly 48 hours of being stuck in bed, sore, and quite sleepless I found the routine of brewing Gong Fu quite calming and peaceful, and the tea made me feel very relaxed.
I’m still very new to Liubao/Heicha in general and I’m dipping my toes into this new area of tea fairly slowly – but this seemed a lot different than the few other kinds of heicha that I’ve tried before. It’s very tightly compressed into a brick shape but steeping it broke apart so quickly (after like infusion two!) in the little glass Gong Fu teapot I was using and basically was this highly broken up sort of CTC looking grade of leaf. I’m glad I did choose to use a teapot with a strainer in it, because this leaf was pretty fine! I don’t generally use a strainer as part of my Gong Fu set up, so I imagine with a gaiwan this would have really gotten into my Cha Hai and cup…
Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwVaGWiHKX5/
You can see how fine the leaf was in the final image/video…
Still pretty earthy, but also surprisingly sweet and fruity. I don’t 100% trust my taste buds from this session though because the finishing note for nearly every steep was reminding me heavily of sweet blackberry leaf and Fuzzy Peach candies; which is certainly strange. Probably better to retaste this when I feel completely fine…
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDZkdkPHQ00
(Good music for calm, slow evenings – and when you’re feeling sick and kind of hazy…)
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Had a good and very different experience with some liu bao Togo sent me, so I bought a few each of some liu bao, liu an and fu zhuan to try out.
I’ve yet to venture into Heicha outside of Liu Bao – that was what was recommended to me by someone on instagram who is VERY into heicha that I trust quite a bit with recommendations. I’m sure I will at some point, but I like the idea of getting very comfortable with one type first before jumping into others. Where did you purchase yours from?
(Also, we should totally swap at some point!)
The liu bao and fu zhuan came from YS and the liu an from Yunnan Craft. I will keep you on my swap radar :) Have about 50 swap samples to make my way through until I’m ready.
It sounds a lot more sweet and fruity than any version of Liu Bao I’ve ever tried, but then I’ve only tried a half dozen or so, all on the mineral and earthy side. A 2012 Three Cranes version had too much off storage flavor to be a fair representation, but after close to a year of airing out that faded.
Had a good and very different experience with some liu bao Togo sent me, so I bought a few each of some liu bao, liu an and fu zhuan to try out.
I’ve yet to venture into Heicha outside of Liu Bao – that was what was recommended to me by someone on instagram who is VERY into heicha that I trust quite a bit with recommendations. I’m sure I will at some point, but I like the idea of getting very comfortable with one type first before jumping into others. Where did you purchase yours from?
(Also, we should totally swap at some point!)
The liu bao and fu zhuan came from YS and the liu an from Yunnan Craft. I will keep you on my swap radar :) Have about 50 swap samples to make my way through until I’m ready.
It sounds a lot more sweet and fruity than any version of Liu Bao I’ve ever tried, but then I’ve only tried a half dozen or so, all on the mineral and earthy side. A 2012 Three Cranes version had too much off storage flavor to be a fair representation, but after close to a year of airing out that faded.