Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

Made from leaves that have not been oxidized.


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May 4th, '16, 11:21
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » May 4th, '16, 11:21

hopeofdawn wrote:Fighting off leftover remnants of flu, which reminds me why I hate the flu/colds so much--not only do they make you miserable, but they make it so I can't really enjoy two of my favorite things--tea and music. :(

Am drinking the last of 2015 Mao Feng from TeaTrekker. In retrospect, I should have made an effort to drink this tea a lot sooner--after a almost a year in an opened foil package, it's really lost any green freshness it might have had. I'm abusing the heck out of it--boiling water, long steeps--and I still can barely taste anything. Lesson learned, I guess!
Give it a roast at 212F.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by JRS22 » May 5th, '16, 15:47

It's a chilly rainy day that probably would benefit from a yancha session, but new Chinese greens call to me. This year Teatrekker is offering hei cha (handmade) TPHK and it's a good way to begin the tea year. It's also another tea that does well in my Junzo Maekawa Black Kinsai kyusu.
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by daidokorocha » May 5th, '16, 22:30

That is beautiful, JRS. I love when teachatters post pictures of their sessions. It is nice to see the variation in teaware and also the beauty of the leaves.

As for me... tonight is bancha. In specific, the wakayanagi from Ippodo. Two tablespoons covered in boiling water. First steep 30 seconds, second and third, simply pour water on and off. I blended the first two steeps into a large cup and used the third as a reserve for refill. Great caramel and toastiness to it with a very pleasant grass. This cup makes me say, yappari, Japanese green tea is the best. The simple bancha, whether second, third, fourth, fall/winter, or winter/spring flush, is very important to me and is a reminder of the very reason I find life worth living.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » May 5th, '16, 23:09

Drinking 2014 shincha that's been kicking around in a cardboard box since I opened it. Not much aroma/flavor left, but it is still smooth and pleasant drinking. I have four or five bags of older sencha to work my way through. I know better than to keep bags of sencha kicking around now. I still have two sealed bags of good 2015 shincha in the fridge that I'll get around to once I get through the rest of this tea!

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by JRS22 » May 6th, '16, 13:07

daidokorocha wrote:That is beautiful, JRS. I love when teachatters post pictures of their sessions. It is nice to see the variation in teaware and also the beauty of the leaves.
TAD at work. This was my consolation prize when I lost out on the last tea ware SO. I'm probably happier with this. I really enjoy this potters work.
daidokorocha wrote:As for me... tonight is bancha. In specific, the wakayanagi from Ippodo. Two tablespoons covered in boiling water. First steep 30 seconds, second and third, simply pour water on and off. I blended the first two steeps into a large cup and used the third as a reserve for refill. Great caramel and toastiness to it with a very pleasant grass. This cup makes me say, yappari, Japanese green tea is the best. The simple bancha, whether second, third, fourth, fall/winter, or winter/spring flush, is very important to me and is a reminder of the very reason I find life worth living.
I used to get a bancha from Harneys that was flavored with sesame seeds and caramel. It was green, not roasted. I'm not sure I want to destroy that early tea memory, so I went to Ippodo's website. There's no detail there, jut prices, so could you say if it's green or roasted, and if the caramel flavor is inherent or added? Thanks.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by daidokorocha » May 6th, '16, 21:29

JRS22 wrote:
daidokorocha wrote:That is beautiful, JRS. I love when teachatters post pictures of their sessions. It is nice to see the variation in teaware and also the beauty of the leaves.
TAD at work. This was my consolation prize when I lost out on the last tea ware SO. I'm probably happier with this. I really enjoy this potters work.
daidokorocha wrote:As for me... tonight is bancha. In specific, the wakayanagi from Ippodo. Two tablespoons covered in boiling water. First steep 30 seconds, second and third, simply pour water on and off. I blended the first two steeps into a large cup and used the third as a reserve for refill. Great caramel and toastiness to it with a very pleasant grass. This cup makes me say, yappari, Japanese green tea is the best. The simple bancha, whether second, third, fourth, fall/winter, or winter/spring flush, is very important to me and is a reminder of the very reason I find life worth living.
I used to get a bancha from Harneys that was flavored with sesame seeds and caramel. It was green, not roasted. I'm not sure I want to destroy that early tea memory, so I went to Ippodo's website. There's no detail there, jut prices, so could you say if it's green or roasted, and if the caramel flavor is inherent or added? Thanks.
I could definitely use some more teaware. I am sadly lacking in that department at the moment with so much moving. My teaware is in many different locations at the moment.

Were you unable to see the leaves?
https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/kyoto/sho ... gcd=604102

It is not roasted and there are no additives. I read someone say some time ago on this board that they had the Harney's sesame seed/caramel bancha. It may have been you! I believe it was Chip who suggested to the user to perhaps leave it in the past. :lol: To me it sounded horrible, but thinking about it I suppose it is just accenting the nutty and warm sweet notes already found in the bancha. Depending on the bancha (the season it is picked in), the intensity of these flavors is certainly different. This wakayanagi is certainly delicious though. I am having another cup right now. The caramel will not be an up-front prominent flavor as I imagine the caramel in Harney's is, but it certainly is there both in mouthfeel and sweetness near the throat. I did a search to see if anyone has ever felt the same, but the Harney's tea really dominates for bancha + caramel search results. :lol:

The tea is cheap enough, but if you haven't ordered from ippodo before I suggest placing order for a few teas because if I remember correctly they have a base shipping price that will be the same whether it is 1 tea or 4-5. Then it starts going up bit by bit based on weight.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by JRS22 » May 7th, '16, 12:39

Yes that conversation about Harneys was between me and Chip. I was introduced to tea by a visit to Harneys tasting room north of NYC. I moved on to Adagio when I discovered that, at that time, if I ordered in the morning I received my tea the next day. I moved on for most teas, but I still buy rooibos from adagio.

I need to plan a visit to the Ippodo store in NYC. There are lots of times when I'm close enough to detour.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by JohnnyChai » May 7th, '16, 15:35

JRS22 wrote:Yes that conversation about Harneys was between me and Chip. I was introduced to tea by a visit to Harneys tasting room north of NYC. I moved on to Adagio when I discovered that, at that time, if I ordered in the morning I received my tea the next day. I moved on for most teas, but I still buy rooibos from adagio.

I need to plan a visit to the Ippodo store in NYC. There are lots of times when I'm close enough to detour.
It's a cute little shop, my personal recommendation would be to eat at Kajitsu for the full experience...Regardless, definitely a breath of fresh air touching down in that environment.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Frisbeehead » May 11th, '16, 12:34

I just got my order of Chinese greens from Life in a Teacup in. I got their Anji Bai Cha, Tai Ping Hou Kui, and Mao Feng.

What are everyone's preferred brewing parameters? I tried the Mao Feng the other day, used 2g in my little ~80ml gaiwan and steeped for 45s-1min. It was good, but I think I will have to experiment with it more. I haven't had much experience with Chinese greens, other than quite a bit of longjing.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by JRS22 » May 11th, '16, 15:41

I've been using 2.8 grams of An Ji Bai Cha in a 140 ml pot, beginning with 150° for 2 minutes and raising the temperature on subsequent steeps. Mine is from Jing Tea Shop. They had sent me a coupon code a while ago and so early on I ordered 100 grams of the 2016 tea and got free shipping. I'm very happy with it, which is good, because 100 grams of a chinese green is a lot!
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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by daidokorocha » May 11th, '16, 18:48

Yes, well the leaves certainly look beautiful. You always have such beautiful leaves. They accent well against the black of your teaware. they look so green and fresh! Why do you say 100 grams of Chinese green is a lot? Is this because you do not drink them often? I find myself not wanting to order in 100 grams in general though anymore so...

Today.. Long Jing and bancha for me! What else should I make today... I don't know. Probably going to do more long jing. I am running out of long jing. That is okay. I ordered 21 teas off of Yunnan Sourcing yesterday. 6 of them were greens and one of those greens was bao hong. Apparently like long jing but grassier. Yes, that sounds great.

All I drank yesterday was black tea. Today, I shall aim for green tea. Thought, I might throw a yellow tea in there. Yes, next teas will be long jing experimenting with different waters and then En Shi Yu Lu, a steamed Chinese tea. Then it is back to writing research. So maybe no yellow tea after all.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by daidokorocha » May 11th, '16, 22:38

So, seeing as I hate my city's tap water and cannot drink it whatsoever without wanting to vomit, I bought some Poland Spring water today... and decided to brew up this vs my tap water. I did this with Long Jing and En Shi Yu Lu. The Long Jing grandpa tap is much sweeter with a weaker roasted note whereas the poland spring makes the long jing taste exactly like a chestnut. Exactly like a chestnut. However, the sweetness is diminished. Both were boiled to 175. After that, I did a boil to 212 and cooled that down to green tea water temperature in my shiboridashi and they turned out somewhat similar with the tap water having a bit of that tap water taste. They both brewed up nutty though and the difference wasn't as large as the grandpa brew. The en Shi Yu Lu I only did one steep each and the poland spring brought me a smokier, meatier tasting brew that I did not like. The tap water performed better. However, I didn't control these very well, so they don't mean much to me. Having said that, the smell of the leaves, being steamed, was gorgeous. I also performed a test on a black and an herbal. I am going to try again tomorrow, perhaps on some different green teas. In the end, I am thinking I will just stick to my tap water despite the fact that it isn't perfect. I think it performed better on the black and potentially on the herbal as well. I do not think Poland Spring is the right alternative.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » May 12th, '16, 06:45

Drinking Sanxia green tea that the vendor in Taipei didn't want to sell me, as she didn't think I'd like it and 'green tea is only for old people, who only drink it for their health.' Her father drank it every day since he smoked cigarettes, and it was meant to protect his health. His daughter didn't like it and assumed I wouldn't either--she thought I'd have to be into oolong and pu erh like a normal person. :D The daughter had all kinds of ideas about what I should buy and shouldn't and what I should be into. She didn't think I should buy pu erh in Taiwan since I'm from HK...yet her parents sold some lovely pu erh for less money than in HK.

Lovely green tea that is sweet smelling and tasting and floral and fruity and just delicious all around. One of the best green teas I've ever had and something I could drink every day!

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by Frisbeehead » May 12th, '16, 07:35

jayinhk wrote:Drinking Sanxia green tea that the vendor in Taipei didn't want to sell me, as she didn't think I'd like it and 'green tea is only for old people, who only drink it for their health.' Her father drank it every day since he smoked cigarettes, and it was meant to protect his health. His daughter didn't like it and assumed I wouldn't either--she thought I'd have to be into oolong and pu erh like a normal person. :D The daughter had all kinds of ideas about what I should buy and shouldn't and what I should be into. She didn't think I should buy pu erh in Taiwan since I'm from HK...yet her parents sold some lovely pu erh for less money than in HK.

Lovely green tea that is sweet smelling and tasting and floral and fruity and just delicious all around. One of the best green teas I've ever had and something I could drink every day!
Interesting, is green tea seen as more of an "old person's drink" in Taiwan in general? On the mainland, I know green tea is popular with mostly everyone, including people who aren't really that into tea (like oolong and pu'erh). People will drink it at work, in class, etc. I suppose gaoshan oolong would be like the standard Taiwanese tea for daily drinking.

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Re: Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

by jayinhk » May 12th, '16, 07:46

Frisbeehead wrote:
jayinhk wrote:Drinking Sanxia green tea that the vendor in Taipei didn't want to sell me, as she didn't think I'd like it and 'green tea is only for old people, who only drink it for their health.' Her father drank it every day since he smoked cigarettes, and it was meant to protect his health. His daughter didn't like it and assumed I wouldn't either--she thought I'd have to be into oolong and pu erh like a normal person. :D The daughter had all kinds of ideas about what I should buy and shouldn't and what I should be into. She didn't think I should buy pu erh in Taiwan since I'm from HK...yet her parents sold some lovely pu erh for less money than in HK.

Lovely green tea that is sweet smelling and tasting and floral and fruity and just delicious all around. One of the best green teas I've ever had and something I could drink every day!
Interesting, is green tea seen as more of an "old person's drink" in Taiwan in general? On the mainland, I know green tea is popular with mostly everyone, including people who aren't really that into tea (like oolong and pu'erh). People will drink it at work, in class, etc. I suppose gaoshan oolong would be like the standard Taiwanese tea for daily drinking.
Taiwan does produce a fair amount of green tea, but I'd say it's less popular than on the Mainland. A lot of tieguanyin appears to be consumed in Taiwan too--the standard tea on Eva Air (Taiwanese airline) is a roasty tieguanyin. I think the view on green tea was just this vendor's daughter's view, and she seemed to think I should have the same views and tastes as her, which was interesting. We were fortunate she was around, however, as ethan and I don't speak Mandarin. The couple's daughter spoke both Cantonese (she'd worked in Hong Kong in the past) and English, so we were able to communicate with her very well!

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