Tea

Bao Zhong: After some experimentation, I found it works best in this way: ~7.3-7.5 g/125 mL. Basically a little less than yancha. Boiling hot water No rinse 30s /35s/45s/1 min etc Keeping it at 6.5 g but longer time makes the later steeps less balanced for me. Going higher to yancha ratios overwhelms me with qi. Oriental Beauty  This tea can behave like hong cha and white tea hybrid with some oolong notes. for natural clean stuff - 4.5-5.5g / 100 ml - start at 15s and slowly go up increasing by 5-10s.  Allow the cup to cool each time- treating it evenly And gently but also with strength (boiling water) like a fine lady results on full appreciation of aromatic journey For green gao shan Ive learned it depends a lot on the nature of the leaves and the brewing vessel. When using thin porcelain, 6 grams/100 mL, doing Rinse/45s/35s/45s is a good starting point When using a thicker vessel like kobiwako clay, a similar ratio can be appropriate, but maybe a slightly faster first infus...

  Opening the bag, I was greeted with a thick fruity aroma like grape juice and ripe melons! Brewed 3.5 grams in my 110 mL late 70s hqsn. Flash brewing of course. Wow is this green tea or sheng? Very juicy fruity flavors like white grape juice and some honey. Is this really young sheng? Where is the bitterness??? Where? Can't find it in this tea. There is the slightest throat prickle of astringency...or was that from drinking the tea while it was too hot? Felt very energized after drinking - 3.5g is more than enough! Could actually drink this on a daily basis! Update : after a few sessions, it is clear the tea "changes" quickly once exposed to air, shedding its fresh fruity aromas and gaining more oolong like characteristics. 3.5 g per session quickly becomes too flat - and I find myself progressively using more leaf. On the plus side, the tea gains body and properties that remind me of good gaoshan. The aftertaste is exceptionally robust and comes back in strong waves. V...

 At 0.8/g from da xue jia dao Steeped 8g/110 mL boiling Flash/ 10s/15s/20s/25s/30s/40s/55s/1min30s/2min/3min/5min/7min/10min/15min/ steeped out in large volume A stunning tea like a velvet hammer. Soft and rich yet presenting a strong but pleasant astringent note that establishes a firm flavor structure. Taste is difficult to describe but includes rich milk chocolate and strong minerality as steeps progress. The early steeps include a bright plummy note that balances out the darker flavors. There is a sensation of walking into an ancient church and seeing a dusty canvas in the shadows layered with little mountains of paint - defined by strong textures and a vague impression of old, long forgotten madness. The minerality is bound tightly with flavors of dried ginseng and ginger. .

 Western method using indian whites: 1.5-2g per 85 mL 3.5min with 85C water to start  Chinese white- large leafed bai mu dan or shou mei can  brewed like chinese green:  is 3.5-4g in 100 ml boiling water starting at 1 min.  Chinese Silver needle or smaller bai mu dan: 5-7g/100 ml starting at 15-20s - this is preferred method

Ceylon Starting with 1.5g/85 mL for 3 min as a test and go from there. Boiling water of course. Side by side tasting at this ratio can be very revealing. A second steep would need at least 6 min.

 Vendor: We asked a champion of less well-known cultivars, Mr. Nalin Modha, for this exceptional example of the Tukdah 383 cultivar, which he processed at peak second flush in June 2020 at Temi estate in Sikkim, India. This tea, from an east-facing garden at 1300m, has thick leaves and midribs, and is very well processed, with relatively intact material for the Darjeeling style.  Review: Brewed 2-2.5g/100 mL, 90-95C 60s Alternatively, 4 g/ 100 mL 30s Grape must, old barrels filled with port wine, strong rose aromas. Gets sweeter as i brew harder. An unbelievable tea.

 Vendor: Hand picked, gokoh varietal from uji. Shaded 20 to 30 days by tana (straw/bamboo shading). Review: Enticing floral aroma in the long intact leaves. This tea is able to withstand hotter and longer infusions. The aroma and aftertaste are complex and persistent with citrus rind, menthol and savory herbs. The taste is citrusy and slightly tropical with a hoppy character from some terpenes.  Best way to brew is using don mei's cold brew method. The 15 min infusion is out of this world

Vendor: Grower:  Chen Huan Tang Cultivar:  Qing Xin Wulong Region:  Lugu, Nantou County Altitude:  700m Review: The tea has a layered structure: sweet dried fruit, roasted nuts, chocolate and some dried flowers and herbs. Each layer is clearly expressed, separate yet playfully interacting, like baroque counterpoint, long into the aftertaste.  The roast is very clean. The one flaw to me is that the flavors are a bit thin when brewed according to the vendor: 6g/100 mL 35s/30s/40s and so forth. This may be due to the poor winter harvest. Interestingly, the leaves expand so greatly, that I cannot fit more than 5g into my 85 mL gaiwan making it hard push harder with leaf:water. This tea should benefit from a teapot with high heat retention and longer brewing time. In Peter Kuo's teapot following same parameters, the tea is perfect and dynamic. With third infusion, bright fruit notes emerge like a flute over the ensemble.

Sent down memory lane By this 80s shou Remembrance of my grandfather's dusty library in Shanghai Can almost smell the wood shelves again and those old volumes of russian classics that somehow survived the cultural revolution

 Vendor Origin  : Kozeto, Aoi ward, Shizuoka city, Shizuoka prefecture Cultivar  : Kôju Harvest  : Aprile 23th & May 9th, 2020, hand picked Zairai so should have low bitterness unique fruity fragrance, recalling white grapes, peaches and also sweet citrus. Review Based on the description I treated it like a chinese oolong: threw 5 g in 85 mL gaiwan. Off boiling water: Rinse/35s/30s/35s etc The dry and wet leaves smell a bit like a hybrid of baozhong and zairai sencha: floral and vegetal. Unfortunately the first few infusions are quite bitter. The bitterness in the front is eye popping and devastating - I will start with the positives. The flavors in the back and in the aftertaste are much more pleasant: sweet grape juice, some light savory herbs, and a greenness that reminds me of gao shan. The aftertaste lingers for a long time and is nice. The infusion is also thick with a medium to heavy body. Regarding the bitterness, it is so strong and off putting that when...

 Cannot identify every tea. For both shou and sheng brewed ~ 5g / 100 mL, 2x rinse and then for sheng: flash brew until no more flavor followed by longer brews. For shou, first brew is about 30s followed by flash brews. 2019 brown sugar: white2tea makes a brown sugar. Very sweet with caramel, molasses and red bean notes. No wodui.  2019 raw man zhuang: possibly from ys. Very floral. Brew 3g/85 mL.  Fruity, floral.  Lively..beautiful at first...then funeral, sickly abominable. "brick shou":  Not much more info than that. I suspect it is the 2018 Dragon Brick, a shou puerh brick from XiZiHao, since that is the only brick shou he sells.  Tastes different from all other shous i have had: subtle balance between herbal chinese med2icine, light incense, fresh plum, strawberry jam, earthy minerality and beef bone broth. There is also a floral aroma like acacia and jasmine. The aromas and flavors shift as steepings progress. Infusions are very clear and elegant even...

Finally decided to brew the small sample of Hojo's high mountain formosa oolong that came with my order last year. The dried leaf is very tightly rolled and fragrant, smelling strongly like honey and green oolong. This is 5 grams in an 85 mL gaiwan. The balls look tiny to me: IMG_20210227_123912_928.jpg (90.99 KiB) Viewed 123 times Brewed like this: boiling water Rinse 40s 30s 40s 50s 1min 1min5s 1min10s 1min20s 1min30s 1min40s 2min 3min 5min Dropped in pint glass and steeped it out As those parameters suggest, yes very high stamina! First infusion was filled with honey sweetness. This sweetness was slightly reduced in the second and third infusions. Then it was reduced a lot but remained present at a similar level - sweet and enjoyable. The flavor is like a winter harvest gaoshan mixed with honey. The honey is not cloying and reminds me of an artisanal avocado flower honey. Hojo mentions ripe mangoes. Not sure I get that. Overall, It is quite refreshing. Price is high relative to ...

Vendor notes: Growing Region   Yame Year   2020 Harvest   First and/or Shincha Breed   Yabukita Shading   Full Shade (Gyokuro / Matcha) Steaming   Light Color   Green Aroma   Medium Taste   Sweet Astringency   Mild Clarity   Clear Review: After a several days of awful winter storm water, decided to test a local spring water with a budget gyokuro from o cha: yame gyokuro. Brewed like this: 5.5 g/ 65 mL in carbonized reduction mumyoi 13 min room temp 150s 50 C 180s 50 C 150s 70C 150s 75C 150s 80C 150s 90C Ate the leaves with rice, avocado and bagel spices and a bit of yuzu sauce Early steeps tasted of smooth dark chocolate. As I increased temperature, there was more fresh grassiness and sweetness. Best infusions were #3 and 4. Leaves had a nice nutty flavor. Ultimately, I preferred brewing in this way, 40 mL with 5.5 g 90s 40C 60s 45C 90s 50C 120s 55c 120s 65c 120s 75c 60s 90c Eat leaves  The umami in the first infusion is except...

 This is the earlier harvest of the da yu lin from Ethan kurland The tea is on another level in quality- floral and minty! There are less stems, and the leaves are a bit smaller. The tea had the best aromatics in a gaiwan. Interestingly, the tea tasted like the winter harvest version from the same farmer in kobiwako clay.

 Vendor: Jubuzan (鷲峰山 682m) is a mountain located between the Wazika (和束町) and Uji Dawara (宇治田原). Once upon a time, these places were the bottom part of the Biwa Lake. We choose tea from the garden which practices natural-farming method. The natural-farming means using no fertilizer and no pesticide. Most of those natural farms do not even remove grasses in order to maintain ecological balance and keep the soil healthy Aracha refers to the freshly produced tea on the same day when it is plucked The Uji Sencha Jubuzan is completely an aracha. We only remove the dust and foreign object and then reduce the moisture content. This is the crude taste of tea that is freshly processed from a tea factory.  Review: Long yellowish leaves. Little smell. In 100 mL kobiwako, 3 g/ 100 mL 90 C: 30s, flash, flash, flash, 30s, 1 min, 2 min And then off boiling: 5 min, 5 min, 10 min First infusion was a bit dull. Comparable to spent and oversteeped gaoshan Second steep was eye popping! Very hard...

 Vendor: Cultivar:  Qingxin Oolong Harvested by hand:  October 9th, 2020 Origin:  Da Yu Ling (2350 m), 96 K. Review: From what i understand, the 2020 winter harvest was poor due to too much rain. Leaves are on the smaller side. Has an intense aroma from the moment bag was opened Brewed 6 g/100 mL in kobiwako Rinse/40s 90C/35s boilin,/ 45 s / 1 min / 1min 25s / 2 min 30s / 5 min / 12 min / steeped out The wet leaves are much smaller and much less glossy than  Ethan Kurland 's DYL tea. So far, bad signs. Tea itself has much stronger taste than Kurland's spring DYL.  But  this taste is more aligned with much cheaper summer shan lin xi or alishan. By this I mean a strong, green resin sappiness and green peppery note! Floral aromas are sharp and defined. The umami is present but underwhelming, playing the bass notes for the first 4 infusions. Umami and tropical fruit sweetness increased a little as steeps progreased. There is a long aftertaste of tropical f...

 Brewed 10 g/ 150 mL in wood fired pot Rinse/45s/35s/50s/1min/2 min/5 min / 8min/ steeped it out 3x Strong coffee and chocolate scent from the dry leaf. Surprisingly restrained brew. Early brews surprisingly similar to low to medium grade da hong bao yancha but with a cleaner finish. Second steep has a distinct sour plum note. Am told this is not in the flavor profile of hy chen tea directly from the farmer and is indicative of poor, storage with moisture issues. Flavors fall apart after third infusion. Longer brewing time in later infusions are good. Pairs will breakfast food. I am starting to suspect hy chen dong ding is primarily meant for grandpa or western brewing... even in grandpa brewin, sour note is present. This is acceptable to me Note, this tea is almost undrinkable in a thin gaiwan. The roast is like cigarette butts. 

Vendor: The DYL is from Spring 2020.  I don't know the mile or the very exact altitude of the farm.  If it were being graded, it is not the very best.  If going by what I like, this the DYL that I prefer, which luckily is far from the most expensive Review: This is a green oolong, not hong shui!  In porcelain, 5 g / 85 mL Rinse / 45s/40s/55s/ 1min25s/ 3min/ 5min/10 min / steeped out many times The leaves say it all! Thick, glossy full leaves that can steep out all day. Some even appear bug bitten! A sweet aftertaste that lingers on and on! The leaves themselves taste so good in the end: nutty and sweet! Am i crazy to eat them? In kobiwako, 5 g/110 mL (since larger leaves, needs less leaf more time! This clay can retain temperature well so this works) Rinse/1min20s/1min15s/1min30s/2min30s/5min/10min The tantalizing bouquet of aromas is now gone! Where did it go?? One whiff of the clay lid and the clay body reveals the truth: the clay sucked up all the aroma! Wow! The ...