Thoughts on my Puerh Storage

In terms of fancy storage, I basically have none, I use rigid boxes ( I think a type of plastic covered in cloth), stored underneath my tea set up to store all of my tea, and one of the three boxes is used to store only Puerh tea.  My thoughts are that the box will help keep out any smells from cooking ( basically no where in my place is incredibly safe with it being a studio and all), but the proximity to the tea set up will provide as slight boost in humidity ( possibly not even measurable).  But at the same time the box I feel helps prevent excessive air flow which can dry out cakes too quickly.

So today I cracked open one of the few cakes I have that has been in my care almost its entire life, a Dayi 8582 batch 801.  While I may be imagining this but the cake did appear slightly darker, and while there definitely was no very golden/ copper tips, a few of the buds did appear to be progressing in that direction.

In terms of taste I actually appreciated the tea more this time than I remember ever doing in the past.  While it still is not great, and is definitely quite far from being close to what I consider an Aged puerh should taste like.  Throughout just about all of the brews they tasted like dried leather, and hints of tobacco, and almonds.

I do not know if I am happy or sad that it lost all of the lighter but sometimes harsh tropical fruits, but maybe it will gain some heavier fruits, or a wider variety of flavors as it ages a bit more.  Although next time it rains I think I need to open up all my puerh and have a window open so it can breath in a bit more humidity. 

Tea How I Missed Thee

Surprising as it may be, today was the first time I have had tea in about a week and a half.  This tragedy occurred due to pure exhaustion, and in slight part laziness. Let me just say that as a grad student the end of the semester is looked upon almost with disdain especially when you have a thousand finals or so to help grade in only a couple of days.  Once the finals were graded, I had decided I would take a break by going to visit my family for a week, and while packing, I was so tired I dreaded the decision practice which is actually quite laborious for us tea addicts.  

"What teas will I want to drink in the next week?  Believing those choices are true what is the least amount of teaware I can pack up to make that as enjoyable as drinking it at my own place? "

The shear thought of trying to decide and the extra trips out to the car were actually too exhausting in my already incredibly fatigued state, I decided that I could make do for a week of coffee for my caffeine fix. I quite missed my tea, and my teaware.  

The photo above is part of me trying to bring a little more life into my tea sessions, this lovely orchid made my two tea sessions today quite enjoyable.  There is something to be said for the Japanese practice of Ikebana, and while this was not a true set up as this was not a flower arrangement but rather a live blooming flower the added color, and additional life in the set up was great.  Sadly the Baozhong I had after the Sencha did not live up to the setting.

Do any of my readers try to incorporate flowers into their tea set ups/ ceremonies?

Practice makes Perfect

Earlier this month I wrote a post comparing the two chasen I currently have, an 80 prong vs a 100 prong chasen.  I would like to announce that after practicing at least once a week with the 80 prong chasen I can now produce matcha nearly as well as I could with the 100 prong.  Sadly the photo above is focused mostly on the bowl, but you can see that the mint green sheen in the depths of the bowl has next to no color variation, a sing of a nice thick froth on top of the matcha.

While it is much more improved, it is still not perfect, it still has some bubbles that are larger than I would like.  Though this is definitely minor compared to the issues I have been having previously.

So just like with all things, spend some time doing it each week, whether its working with a gaiwan, or getting down brewing techniques for a certain tea.  One thing that often daunts new tea drinkers, and leads them down a path I feel is far too distracting from the tea itself.  That is so many people stick to thermometers and timers, which while you will get the same results time after time, you loose the life a tea can have by spontaneously altering results ever so slightly.  Not to mention, when you do screw up a tea on one infusion, its a true brewing test to try and figure out how to make the rest of the infusions taste right.

It takes some time to get it at first, but now when brewing Japanese greens I know when its at the temperature I want by feeling the outside of the cup, or if its a cup whose thermal properties I do not know yet, touch the water itself.  Then I use my built in senses to judge how long it has been brewing.  Its common to make quite a few mistakes at first, but again practice makes perfect.

Fun with Cast Iron

I got this kettle nearly a year ago, and have used it on and off, in part because I was not completely convinced as to whether or not it had some sort of protective lining on the inside. There definitely was no sort of ceramic lining like a lot of iron teapots had.  What really scared me though is that this did come with an infuser basket and a little trivit/ base to use with a tea candle to keep it warm.  Why this scares me is after some use the inside has started to rust ever so slightly, making me firmly believe that this is indeed unlined.

So deciding to pull it out for a day of use to compare it with my typical Kettle a Lins Ceramic kettle, the first thing I notice is how unbelievably fast this gets to a boil in comparison. Granted that even half full my Lins kettle holds likely 4 times as much water, and the clay does not transfer heat as well as the iron.

The real test though is the taste test comparison with the tea.  Fist item up for a test is a matcha, and I am quite liking the effects.  Either I finally hit the sweet spot with this matcha today, or the added iron really made an effect. I am finally getting that bitter dark chocolate and cream note that I have come to like so much in Matcha.