Sunday is TeaDay, 4/27/08

BYOT! Enter TeaChat here, you never know what you may find!


Friday's philosophical TeaDay "colloquium" centered upon which tea would you be, today, we get deep again. What teaware would you be?

Teapot
8
18%
ingenuiTEA or similar
2
5%
Infuser cup, infuser basket
3
7%
Teacup
5
11%
Big mug
1
2%
Teaspoon or scoop
3
7%
Digital scale
3
7%
Kettle
3
7%
Gaiwan
6
14%
Tea tin
0
No votes
Tray
3
7%
Other
7
16%
 
Total votes: 44

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Apr 27th, '08, 21:10
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by Chip » Apr 27th, '08, 21:10

henley wrote:I would be an English style cup & saucer... feminine looking on the outside yet tough enough to stand up to hot water.
...girly... 8)

Long Jing...just an everyday version, nothing special, but just a nice relaxing cuppa!

Busy here, but TeaChat is slower today than in some time. I would venture a guess that this was a record pace week for the forum. It is great to see all the activiTEA, and I can relax not worrying about vile spammers a bit. But you should see all the registrations that Mary and I must go through each day.

I heard a rumor about one slipping through this week, but have not been able to confirm this. Regardless, this is a huge relief for me. Life is stressful enough w/o worrying about porn pics on TC all day. :x :shock: :D It was literally making me sick.

But life is good, got tea, got friends... :wink:
blah blah blah SENCHA blah blah blah!!!

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Apr 27th, '08, 21:33
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Location: enjoying a cup of Red Rose down in GA

by omegapd » Apr 27th, '08, 21:33

Teasweetie wrote:
omegapd wrote:
Hey, EW! How much white tip oolong did you use?? I tried using my scale, but it amounted to so much more leaf than the typical teaspoon. I'm not sure I liked it. It just didn't seem to have much of a taste for me. I didn't taste any peach. I still have some sitting in my infuser--perhaps I'll try again with less (soggy) leaf and some agave nectar. Thanks for the tip. I look forward to hearing how you brewed it, too. Cinnamon Kitty and Victoria, feel free to chime in, too!
V was the one who sent me my sample. :wink:

I've tried it about 3 different times now and found the best way was with non-boiling water and a steep of 3 minutes. That seemed to bring out the flavor better than today. Today I tried it with boiling water and 4 minutes and it came out pretty dark and almost murky looking. :? I don't fool with scales so used 2 1/2 tsp. for my 2 cup teapot that holds about 17 oz. when actually measured. Did you try a second steep with the already brewed leaves? I didn't today but had better luck when I did that last time with the natural peach flavor coming out...

Apparently it takes a little bit of "tweaking" to get it just right. :idea: Good Luck!

EW

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Apr 27th, '08, 21:49
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by daughteroftheKing » Apr 27th, '08, 21:49

I would definitely be a pretty, English style teapot. It signifies friendship and sharing and talking and tradition. (yea, there's also some physical resemblance between me and a teapot :lol: ).

TiGuanYin has been in my cup all day.
"Top off the tea... it lubricates the grey matter."
(Jerry Ledbetter, "Good Neighbors")

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Apr 27th, '08, 21:52
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by henley » Apr 27th, '08, 21:52

Chip wrote:
henley wrote:I would be an English style cup & saucer... feminine looking on the outside yet tough enough to stand up to hot water.
...girly... 8)
Jealous :?: :wink:

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Apr 27th, '08, 22:49
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by Cinnamon Kitty » Apr 27th, '08, 22:49

omegapd wrote: I've tried it about 3 different times now and found the best way was with non-boiling water and a steep of 3 minutes. That seemed to bring out the flavor better than today. Today I tried it with boiling water and 4 minutes and it came out pretty dark and almost murky looking. :? I don't fool with scales so used 2 1/2 tsp. for my 2 cup teapot that holds about 17 oz. when actually measured. Did you try a second steep with the already brewed leaves? I didn't today but had better luck when I did that last time with the natural peach flavor coming out...
That is pretty much exactly the parameters I use to get the best tasting cup of White Tip Oolong: 2-3 tsp of leaves, not boiling water, and 3 minutes for the first steep. I add two minutes for the next steep with boiling water and the third is steeped for 7-8 minutes also at boiling. In fact, I am currently brewing the second steep of that tea right now.

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Apr 28th, '08, 00:33
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by tenuki » Apr 28th, '08, 00:33

A Shigaraki Chawan of course, the wild random imperfection caused by the firing method creating breathtaking beauty and evoking deep meditation. The kind with a real soul that changes the people who drink out of it, maybe even possessing them temporarily al la Yasunari Kawabata (although his were Raku I believe, not many old shigaraki chawan exist as they weren't commonly used in the ceremony before the 70s as I understand it, so rare too). :D

Image

Image
Image

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Apr 28th, '08, 01:33
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by Chip » Apr 28th, '08, 01:33

Random act of TeaPorn....

Finished the day with Sakura Sencha. Spring is great. Sakura comes along and you know shincha is not far behind!
blah blah blah SENCHA blah blah blah!!!

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Apr 28th, '08, 01:45
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by tenuki » Apr 28th, '08, 01:45

Chip wrote:Random act of TeaPorn....
I figured most people probably wouldn't know what shigaraki looked like. It's wood fired pottery where the flame and ash determine the look of the glaze. :D Check out this video 'Recording the Flame: Woodfired Pottery' for more info!

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Apr 28th, '08, 02:53
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by chamekke » Apr 28th, '08, 02:53

tenuki wrote:
Chip wrote:Random act of TeaPorn....
I figured most people probably wouldn't know what shigaraki looked like. It's wood fired pottery where the flame and ash determine the look of the glaze. :D Check out this video 'Recording the Flame: Woodfired Pottery' for more info!
Tenuki, the penny just dropped...

Did you choose your username because you are so fond of Shigaraki ware?

P.S. In case you haven't already seen it... here is the homepage of the Shigaraki pages (in English) on the Kougei (Traditional Crafts of Japan) website.

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Apr 28th, '08, 03:48
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by bi lew chun » Apr 28th, '08, 03:48

Teacup, positively. Incidentally, I have a burning desire to name my next cat Teacup.

Image

Today I got organic gold-flecked green to try some new tricks.

Lewis

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Apr 28th, '08, 09:02
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by CynTEAa » Apr 28th, '08, 09:02

My first reaction was gaiwan. Then I thought about it. Delicate but very functional, takes a bit of finesse but really helps get the most out of the precious leaves... :)
hehe!...I should add occasionally clumsy.
:wink:

Looking forward to hearing about Chip's shincha! Is there an eta?

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Apr 28th, '08, 11:48
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by tenuki » Apr 28th, '08, 11:48

chamekke wrote: Tenuki, the penny just dropped...

Did you choose your username because you are so fond of Shigaraki ware?
Nope, that would be tanuki. :)

Tenuki is a iGo term. It loosely translates to 'playing elsewhere'. The basic idea is that you ignore your opponents last move in the local tactical fight to play a bigger, strategic play, accepting loss in the local area for greater gain overall.
Last edited by tenuki on Apr 28th, '08, 14:49, edited 1 time in total.

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Apr 28th, '08, 12:00
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by chamekke » Apr 28th, '08, 12:00

tenuki wrote:
chamekke wrote: Tenuki, the penny just dropped...

Did you choose your username because you are so fond of Shigaraki ware?
Nope, that would be tanuki. :)

Tenuki is a iGo term. It loosely translates to 'playing elsewhere'. The basic idea is that you ignore you opponents last move in your local tactical fight to play a bigger, strategic play, accepting loss in the local area for greater gain overall.
Well, I've seen tanuki misspelled a lot (my all-time favourite being "tanookey"), so I wasn't making any assumptions :wink:

If I may say so, you have a very cool username.
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Apr 28th, '08, 18:10
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by Victoria » Apr 28th, '08, 18:10

Chiming in late, as I was away -

I am most definitely a Bodum glass cup. Simple and transparent. What you see is what you get. What I have inside is reflected outside.

And of course I love having a lovely oolong poured into me.

No tea today.

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Apr 28th, '08, 18:14
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by tenuki » Apr 28th, '08, 18:14

Victoria wrote:Chiming in late, as I was away -

I am most definitely a Bodum glass cup. Simple and transparent. What you see is what you get. What I have inside is reflected outside.

And of course I love having a lovely oolong poured into me.

No tea today.
Are you also double walled?
Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )

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