TeaChat

Hey teafriends, I'm planning a trip to mountain farm from the 1880s with a group of friends. I need something to do in idle hours, a brick of pu seems perfect spring pastime! I want to try and carve a tea table also, but that's a different story.

It's a pretty rough hike; the last part is called "the blood hill", and for very good reasons. I was thinking a cheap gaiwan from ebay, but I fear it will be very thin ceramics/glass and as such risky.

How would you brew pu in the mountains? Assuming you didn't have a closet full of spare yixings, that is

.. or would you just bring some infusers and loose leaf for simplicity?

cheers

I had similar trip before and I brought along a MSR Whisperlite International stove, a MSR titanium kettle and a titanium cup. That is good enough to power up any Pu.

Whatever you bring- stuff it with your socks, then pack it well. Having these things supported inside, as well as out, is your best bet.

Teaism wrote:I had similar trip before and I brought along a MSR Whisperlite International stove, a MSR titanium kettle and a titanium cup. That is good enough to power up any Pu.

That is some nice gear for sure! I'm a bit confused, did you just brew in the cup then? Or boil water elsewhere and brew in the kettle?

Found some interesting titanium teaware at keith-ti.com (can't post links yet; product is in "drinkware" category)


Just over $300 for the lot, waaaay out of my range of course.. I think I will request a price for just the gaiwan, otherwise getting something sub-$20 and crossing my fingers.

paul haigh wrote: Whatever you bring- stuff it with your socks

I may be new around here, but I'm NOT falling for that!!

teatre wrote:

Teaism wrote:I had similar trip before and I brought along a MSR Whisperlite International stove, a MSR titanium kettle and a titanium cup. That is good enough to power up any Pu.

That is some nice gear for sure! I'm a bit confused, did you just brew in the cup then? Or boil water elsewhere and brew in the kettle?

I prefer titanium because they are light and has no influence on the water when brewing tea. If I am alone, I would boil the water in the kettle and brew the tea in the cup. In the wilderness, normally we have to compromise a bit. If in bigger group, I would boil the water and when it boils, I throw the Puer in. The jet fuel stove boil very quickly so the subsequent brew, I will boil the water and Puer and pour the brew out when the water boil.

I used to enjoy hiking up hills and water falls and brew tea from various natural spring water to enjoy the tea. With natural spring water, the tea seems to taste much better. It was nice to hike for hours alone and brew tea and cook some meals to enjoy nature and tea quietly. Hmmm...I better start to dust my gears and go for a tea hiking trip soon.

Wow, titanium gaiwan. That's a new one!

If you're not worried about weight, I'd just get one of those cheapie gaiwan sets (you can put nicer teaware in the case once you've got it). Love the titanium set, but not for that price!

wyardley wrote:If you're not worried about weight, I'd just get one of those cheapie gaiwan sets (you can put nicer teaware in the case once you've got it). Love the titanium set, but not for that price!

Good idea with the Gaiwan. Those titanium are really pricey. It took me a long time to consider before I bought them. Finally I bought it because I also need to use it to cook for meals during hiking and weight was also another consideration. I saw a titanium French press on sale and also tempted. Can use it to brew tea and also coffee. ...again the price is the deterrent.

I think if you can improvise your camping cooking gear to brew tea it should suffice. There was once I hike with full tea ceremony wares. It was a shorter uphill hike of less than 1.5 hours to a very nice natural spring waterfall. The group consist of a few crazy tea fanatics who shared the load of carrying the wares up. We just wanted to do it for record but it was not practical but was really fun and memorable.

Cheers!

How about celadon? Very sturdy material...you basically need to drop it down a cliff to break one of those.

The RU Kiln variety is as hard as a stone:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Kinking-Moon ... 336376db36

We often take tea with us for outdoor pours, whether it is on a hike, along with us camping, or when just headed to the park to brew outside. For all those trips I use the Soto Micro Regulator OD-1R stove (http://sotooutdoors.com/products/item/OD-1R.html). It's quiet, the flame is adjustable, lightweight, and burns very well. Previous canister stoves would lose pressure as the canister lost compressed gas. Newer canister stoves will keep their pressure and burn well at altitude...though the piezo ignitions may not light at high altitude due to decreased oxygen. This is not a problem; all one has to do is light the stove with a lighter or match.

The MSR Whisperlite stove Teaism mentioned is a good, quiet stove though the flame is not adjustable unless one uses pressurization of the fuel bottle to try to regulate the flame. MSR XGK and Dragonfly(http://www.amazon.com/MSR-11774-Dragonf ... B000BBGQ7O (the XGK lacks flame control but the Dragonfly is adjustable)) stoves burn well at any altitude and can burn multiple fuels, but you'll have to yell over your stove, which is not exactly conducive to a peaceful pour. The XGK, Dragonfly, and other stoves like them hold up well in high wind though, something smaller canister stoves do no do well; they also offer better pot stability than the canister stoves. Since one does not want to cause an explosion of their canister stove by putting a wind screen around the canister, one has to be more creative in creating a wind block if there is a lot of wind. But canister stoves, like the one I linked to above, are light, efficient, and burn well. I can fit my stove head and fuel canister inside of the titanium pot, which makes for a tidy package.

As far as gear goes, I noticed after numerous mountain pours, that a thicker walled vessel brews better outdoors due to wind convection heat loss (this is why I'd be concerned with a titanium gaiwan; titanium cools very quickly). The green gaiwan and cup set in the pictures is thick-walled and brews tea very well. I take the gaiwan and two cups and slide them, wrapped in cloth, in a used tea canister. This makes for a tidy package as well and protects the teaware very well. Even if you bought a generic gaiwan kit, I recommend this method for protecting your teaware; it's tidy and packs well in a backpack. I also bring along a large bpa-free Nalgene bottle. The stove and pot, tea ware, and large Nalgene all fit in a small-medium hydration pack nicely and allow for easy set up. Once arrived to my destination I sometimes take a peaceful moment to carve a simple tea pick from a fallen stick.

If you want to save money Evernew and other companies make some nice, small, stainless steel backpack kettles that are much less expensive than titanium. You can also make your own, efficient alcohol stove from a tin can that burns well. Just search the internet and there are many instructional videos on youtube (http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=do+ ... ORM=HDRSC3).

Blessings!

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Wow!wow!wow! Well done. Now that is what I call total dedication! Bravo!

TeaArt, I realy like it!

Lots of good suggestions above.

If weight were a real concern I'd take the following:
* Pu'er brick
* Folding knife
* Aluminum cup for heating water - beaker style instead of tapered.
* Water
* Tin-can alcohol stove (see above) - they're pretty good - DIY so it can fit in the cup, plug cup with cloth
* One bottle of alcohol per day of camping
* A couple waxed paper cups
* Small tea ball

No idea how long you'll be out. You can reuse the paper cups, and they weigh basically nothing. If they get crushed (due to a fall or something) they at least wont break something.

Alu conducts well, so something 8-12 oz will heat up enough for 1-2 people at a time. You'll be steeping the tea in the alu cup and using the tea ball as a strainer to keep the leaves out. Alternatively bring one ball per person and steep it in the cup.

You could also bring plastic cups - again for break resistance.

Total kit weight about 5 pounds, unless you bring a lot of alcohol and water. If you're near moving water, you can use it instead of humping more than a canteen's worth.

M.

Thank you for your insightful words everyone, most appreciated!

I've managed to collect some outdoors equipment over the years, was mostly looking for a brewing vessel - should have been more clear on that. Norway is about 45% mountains/plains and 40% woods IIRC, leaving about 15% for water, agriculture and habitation. A lot of beautiful nature, and hiking, fishing etc is very popular. In part, I guess, because it costs you $10+ for a beer if you go to a bar instead.

bagua7 wrote:How about celadon? Very sturdy material...you basically need to drop it down a cliff to break one of those.

Very nice, exactly the kind of thing I need! Thanks for the tip. My plan is to leave it at the farm for my next visit, or in case some other visitor happens to like tea.

茶藝-TeaArt08 wrote:As far as gear goes, I noticed after numerous mountain pours, that a thicker walled vessel brews better outdoors due to wind convection heat loss (this is why I'd be concerned with a titanium gaiwan; titanium cools very quickly).

I'm a bit worried about that too, but I requested a price anyway -- it's so shiny! More likely going to get the celadon. Thanks for sharing your photos, setups are very beautiful, and with the surroundings it looks magical!

MEversbergII wrote:No idea how long you'll be out. [...]

About 10 days total; but some of them at the farm helping with maintenance work. Hoping to get a two-day trek not counting the return trip there. I would love to stay longer, but I'm just a month into starting a company and with the rate of tea(ware) accumulation around here, I doubt I can afford it

Luckily some equipment has found its way up over the years, plastic and some ceramics, and miraculously a "dual" gas stove that some enterprising soul brought up there in the 80s, judging by its look. Brewing will be comfortable there for sure; crystal clear mountain water right outside the door and a 100+ years old cast iron kettle to boil it in.

Getting late here, and I'm dreaming already, so g'night Thanks again for input!

Will you share some pictures of your tea sessions at the farm with us later? I'm very keen to see! (To the point that I'd love to take part in such a rejuvenating adventure, sounds great!)
What kind of farming do you do, or did, in such a remote place of Norway? Is the place abandoned and open for all or owned by someone you know/related to?