New Video Describing Balhyocha!

So lately I have been doing a lot of personal searching, and personal development and goal setting. One thing that didn't sit right was how far I drifted away from tea, and while the past few months it has been getting a foothold in my life again, I did not want the blog or the videos to go.  I never quite announced this outside the group that challenged me to set these goals, however Tea was a central part of those goals.  Part returning to things that keep me balanced, and part returning to things that bring me joy.  As such, and I hope my blog readers can help keep me accountable.  I am setting out to produce at least 1 video each month, and 1 unrelated blog post each month.  (So look for a minimum of two posts a month from me throughout 2015!)

Happy New Year!

What happens when you mix a Camera, Tea, and a tired mind...

A video gets made that turns into a ramble about things that have been going on in my tea life while I brew up a delicious pot of Balhyocha tea from Korea.  Honestly I knew I was rambling while filming the video I was just nervous making my first video in the new setting, and as the tea was an unknown tea I could not talk too much about the tea itself, leaving way for the lips to flap incessantly because I was too tired to realize Silence can be acceptable at times.

Enjoy!

Balhyocha Brewing!

It is spring break, and while its filled with a massive amount of studying, I am taking breaks when possible to attempt to film a video.  I received a request for a Balhyocha brewing video, and I was more than happy to oblige with one of my favorite Balhyocha's.

I really should have calmed down a bit when filming this video as movements are rushed, and the teapot likes to drip excessively when you rush its pour.  But I think its a great video showing off how I brew Balhyocha, and use my Park Jong Il tea set.   Enjoy the video.

Jeong Jae Yeun Hwang-Cha

This Hwang-Cha has a rather interesting story behind it.  While this could be a little bit of marketing, I really enjoy Hwang Cha, the price was good, and I like supporting small business.  This tea, and the teaset I am brewing it in came by way of Morning Crane Tea.




The dry leaves look great, slender twisted leaves, that are oh so dark. They also have a lovely soft scent of both pine, and chocolate. The taste of the brew is rather hard to explain, it is oddly satisfying, though not overly strong.  A hint of rice, and touches of some light and delicate fruits (though lacking the sweetness).

Excuse me while I go off and sip this tea in the relaxed focus it gives me. 

The Non-Green Korean Teas

I have written quite a few posts about enjoying Korean Tea, though its quite hard to find, even harder to find without paying an arm and a leg for the tea.  While their greens are good, the Korean teas that haunt me are the Hwang cha/ Balhyocha, and their red/black teas.

For those of you who want a very detailed discussion on the many facets of Korean tea, I will point you to the following two blogs

Mattcha's Blog 

• Namely for those who have never had Balhyocha or Korean Hwang Cha ( yellow tea) before, the posts in his series discussing what it actually is, and how its not well defined by any of the Chinese Tea Categories.   Here is a link to his first post. 

Morning Crane Tea

These darker oxidized ( sometimes slightly sometimes fully) Korean Teas, continually rank among my favourite teas. Namely for their incredible versatility, they can be great when brewed "gong fu" style, yet for a lazy day of drinking, simply throw them in a teabowl and sip and refill all day long.  Another reason I feel like I enjoy these Balhyocha so much, is the fact that they often improve with age, unlike their green counterparts.  So while they rarely last long in my place, there is less of an issue if it should find itself lingering for awhile.

Thank goodness for my... corkscrew?

Of all the tools I ever thought I would use in making tea, one I never thought I would use, or be so eager to use given the situation as a corkscrew.  A little bit of background, I have already talked about this tea, but it was frustrating to get at it at that time, and when I picked it up again, it frustrated me even further.  The Tea I am referring to is none other than a Balhyocha Uricha.

As pictured this tea comes with a bunch of tiny twisted leaves grouped together into a ball.  Its the shape that makes this interesting, as I do not have a tuo pick (which may be ideal). and only a letter opener that I use as my Puerh knife as the only "picking tool" for undoing compressed tea.  This ball has no edges like Tuo chas which you can use to dig the knife into to remove the proper amount.  If I were to use my puerh knife for this, I would basically be splitting the ball in two, leading me to completely break the tea into pieces.

Bring in the cork screw, when frustrated with this tea, I was looking at items I had on hand, and I realized the leaves are not that tightly compressed but still enough to not be able to wiggle them loose, and the small point on the cork screw combined with the lever like aspect of twisting the cork screw works wonderfully for digging into the Uricha in small clusters, without mangling the leaves, and without completely dismantling the ball of Uricha.

I wish I had a tuo cha to test this on too.  Although I am slightly worried that the extra tight compression of a tuo cha, with the leaves not as thin and wiry might cause the leaves to break apart so much more than what happens with the Uricha.

Uricha, a tea that baffles me

Again this is a time when my lack of language skills are horribly apparent. I really do not know what Uricha is, but from its description it sounds like a compressed Balhyocha, which is a Korean Yellow/oolong tea. Neat little package as you can see above and below its a little ball but surprisingly dense.

This just advances my belief that Korea is a great practically untapped resource for high quality, and incredibly unique teas. For instance, have you ever tasted "salted roasted peanuts" before in a tea? Well through the first two infusions of this tea I could think of little else. If the vendor I received this tea from lists it, I will be sure to let everyone know as it is certainly a peculiar tea.

One thing I will say while it was quite highly compressed, breaking off pieces was not that challenging, and should I have had a tuo pick, it would have been almost childs play. (As close as working with a sizable and quite sharp "needle" can get to childs play.) I just happened to find a slightly looser spot and massaged it with my fingers and leaves started to flake off ever so slowly opening up a larger and larger patch of tea to get more leverage on prying off more leaves.

To sample or not to sample?

There are many good arguments both for and against sampling, in the tea world. No where does the debate seem more heated than when dealing with Young Puerh, which many people in the puerh forum on teachat used to say " A cake is a sample" which is understandable because with certain big factory productions a 1 ounce sample would in some instances cost nearly as much as half the price of a cake. But the down side to that is if you then buy an entire cake and then hate the tea, well now you have several hundred grams of that tea with no desire to drink it.

In short I will say I am pro sampling in general, and I feel MarshalN gave good reasons in this post. I almost feel like I should have a footnote anytime I say I am pro samples. The following exceptions a centered around familiarity of the type of tea in the samples. I mean if you know very little about the tea you are making, it is like driving to somewhere you have never been before in an area with which you are unfamiliar. Basically you have directions or guidelines on how to get to the end result, but you are so focused on the details such as turn left on Vine street, that you tend to overlook the scenery for blocks leading up to Vine street because you are so focused on doing the directions precisely.

If I could stretch my driving metaphor a bit more, it may be that the person who gave you directions is a bit unfamiliar with exactly where you are coming from so it could be that the directions were slightly inefficient, or that you had a way that is much better for you to get to the end result of good tea. Consider the problems with the other route things such as construction or excessive number of traffic lights, which would translate into tea as something like excessive worry over leaf/water ratio, and water temperature. Though I do know some people that like to worry about those details in excess, which brings up a Tea Brewing Art vs. Science discussion, but in reality everyone has to find their own way, and I personally when it comes to tea I like to feel at ease, and in a sense let the moment judge certain steps.

The teas that are the main inspiration for this post are Dao Tea's Balhyochas. Which if you have been following along with some of the discussion associated with the tasting sponsored by Mattcha's blog. It honestly boils down to while trying the two Balhyochas were an eyeopener as a completely different type of tea than I have ever tried. Honestly it is a tea that is somewhat paradoxical the more and more I think about it, it is not quite a black tea, yet not quite an oolong. The most baffling part about this tea is the best sessions of it I have gotten the first infusion is a light amber color much like a mid to light roasted TGY. While that first infusion was good, the best infusions seem to come later where when given hotter water and longer steeps out comes a nice dark ruby color which is absolutely delicious. Though as with most teas the first infusion or two are often the best in a somewhat undebatable sense. So my first inclination was I have been messing up the first infusion or two of this tea, I should try and get the dark ruby color sooner, but as resistant and resilient as these Balhyochas are, if I should try and get more out in the first infusion it is always slightly too strong in certain senses, and then the whole tea fades to quickly.

So while I am in favor of sampling many different teas especially when exploring a category, I have a hard time believing that until you are rather familiar with that category of tea it may be a bit of an effort in futility.

Dao Tea Balhyochas

For reading on Balhyocha and what exactly it is / may be I highly suggest checking out the two part series created by Matt over at Mattcha's Blog, part 1 part 2.

These teas were part of the sampler arranged by Matt and the owner of Dao tea, and it has been rather amazing getting to try all of these, though I still have several more to try.

2009 Kim Jong Yeol Balhyocha.

This tea was loaded with lots of malt aroma, with a good bit of honey. It honestly has been awhile since I've had a any hong cha, which is really what this reminds me of. As its got that characteristic aroma which I want to describe as a malt and fruits sort of mixed together.

That being said I enjoyed this tea, but somehow I felt like it was highly restrained. so I guess I am going to agree with Brett at the Tea Goober on his view on this tea. Especially in regards to the fact that it seemed to have lost the kick it probably had when fresher.

2009(2010?) Kim Shin Ho Balhyocha

I am unsure of the year, as the packet it came in had the year 2009 on it, but on the letter that came with the samples it lists the year for this one as 2010.

Aroma after rinse: Hints of oak, malt and raspberries.

This tea was full of malt, and raspberries, all throughout, with a nice earthy sweetness in the finish.

This tea was much like the other one, and again it was enjoyable.

I am not sure how I can give a completely unbiased opinion of these two teas. As while they were enjoyable, they seemed to be enjoyable in the sense that they are unlike anything I have regularly. But that being said there is a reason I do not drink much hong cha, simply because the combination of flavors that occur do not really wow me, personally.