Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[debunix]

Yue Xi Xui Lan Wild Tea from the TeaHabitat green tea sampler set. A marvelous floral sweet delicate green tea. I started it at 190 degrees then dropped the temp for the next two infusions, and didn't find of a hint of bitterness until the aftertaste at the end of the 3rd infusion. I will do a more formal tasting later, with photos and timings, but I happened to leave my camera elsewhere so decided to simply be thankful for this lovely tea today.

I've only tried about 4 or 5 so far of the dozen teas in the set (10 teas plus a few 'extras'), and it has been an amazing experience.

[jayinhk]

Organic biluochun-style green tea from somewhere or other in China. Cheap and it was smokey when fresh, but that appears to have passed. Brewed strong for ten minutes in a fancy bone China infuser mug from jingdezhen. Came out strong, but not bitter since I cooled the water down by pouring into another mug first. Really quite pleasant, especially for the price. Sweet stone fruit and berries, more than bean.

[debunix]

Warmed up some Zairai sencha from OCha yesterday (it was in refrigerator). This morning, enjoying green liquid gold. Mmm. Sweet sencha start to the day.

[Puerlife]

I'm drinking this one today:
http://lkytea.com/index.php?route=produ ... duct_id=61
I bought it on a recent trip to Hong Kong. It was an afterthought, something to use up the last of my Hong Kong dollars on my last day and I'm glad I bought it. It's not the most refined green tea you'll find but it has loads of umami and for the price is very reasonable. The old master doesn't speak English but does speak some Thai so we had some fun with that. There were other staff who speak English. The master looks really old but he is just as sharp as you or me; must be all that tea. Gotta love a shop that's been open since 1955.

[jayinhk]

Lam Kie Yun is a good store. Not outstanding, but very reliable and prices are fair for HK.

Drinking top grade baozhong I bought in Taipei earlier this year. Good stuff. It's not as fresh as it was when I bought it, but still has lots of great flavor and it has smoothened out somewhat. I love baozhong.

[Puerlife]

Lam Kie Yun is a good store. Not outstanding, but very reliable and prices are fair for HK.

Drinking top grade baozhong I bought in Taipei earlier this year. Good stuff. It's not as fresh as it was when I bought it, but still has lots of great flavor and it has smoothened out somewhat. I love baozhong.

Hi Jay,
I was going to contact you but I did so much research that I felt I had enough to go on for a first trip. Next time I'll definitely ask for advice.

The Internet has so much info, and Hong Kong is so organized, it was pretty easy to decide what shops to go to based on these three sources:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mi ... vpCs&hl=en

http://www.nicolastang.com/tea/hongkong/stores.html

And last but not least, the super long thread that you started, which was very helpful.

[GeorgeGR]

Warmed up some Zairai sencha from OCha yesterday (it was in refrigerator). This morning, enjoying green liquid gold. Mmm. Sweet sencha start to the day.

I noticed that you had posted about Gyoku-Hou earlier in the thread. Do you have any specific parameters for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd infusions? I just had Gyoku-Hou today and I used 4oz of water and 5.6g of leaf at 155F for 2 minutes for the first infusion. For the second one,I did closer to a minute at the same temperature. I would appreciate your input as I am pretty new to brewing Gyokuro.

[jayinhk]

Back on the Tiger Monkey Tea from Lung Phin, Vietnam via Hatvala. Man, I like this stuff. Tastes like wild old tree pu erh, but without the bitterness (just the flavor), and incredible cha qi. I could drink this tea every day.

[debunix]

I noticed that you had posted about Gyoku-Hou earlier in the thread. Do you have any specific parameters for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd infusions?

Before I ran out of the Gyoku-Hou, I was brewing it up like this but as it's been quite a while, I can't give tea:water proportions. My shibos were generally about 1/2 full when the leaves were fully hydrated, if that helps. But I think my parameters are not typical as I was enjoying this one brewed hotter and more dilute than most guides I've read.

[Kevangogh]

Warmed up some Zairai sencha from OCha yesterday (it was in refrigerator). This morning, enjoying green liquid gold. Mmm. Sweet sencha start to the day.

I noticed that you had posted about Gyoku-Hou earlier in the thread. Do you have any specific parameters for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd infusions? I just had Gyoku-Hou today and I used 4oz of water and 5.6g of leaf at 155F for 2 minutes for the first infusion. For the second one,I did closer to a minute at the same temperature. I would appreciate your input as I am pretty new to brewing Gyokuro.

Make sure you are pre-warming your vessels. You can take this gyokuro to 3 minutes if you do that and your temperature is low.

[blairswhitaker]

An unknown vendor sample of some fukamushi.

[Frisbeehead]

So I go to get the mail today, and to my surprise there was a package from Japan addressed to me. I was confused, as I had not been expecting any tea (I am however, expecting a kyusu from Hojo and a Hong Seong-il hohin...which are both stuck in customs ). I open it up, and it's an 100 gram packet of Thes du Japon's Wazuka, Uji Meiryoku futsumushi sencha (long name). It was wrapped in a wrapper that said "happy birthday" on it.

I was so surprised and amazed at they would send me so much quality sencha for my birthday! It was on December 4th, so they weren't far off. The package said they had shipped it on the 26th of November.

So cool.

[William]

So I go to get the mail today, and to my surprise there was a package from Japan addressed to me. I was confused, as I had not been expecting any tea (I am however, expecting a kyusu from Hojo and a Hong Seong-il hohin...which are both stuck in customs ). I open it up, and it's an 100 gram packet of Thes du Japon's Wazuka, Uji Meiryoku futsumushi sencha (long name). It was wrapped in a wrapper that said "happy birthday" on it.

I was so surprised and amazed at they would send me so much quality sencha for my birthday! It was on December 4th, so they weren't far off. The package said they had shipped it on the 26th of November.

So cool.

This is a quality customer service!

[Frisbeehead]

Seriously. It would have costed $30 otherwise, which means it's the highest costing thing ever for me to receive for free from a shop. And I don't even remember entering in my birthday...

[jayinhk]

Wow, that would be quite the surprise to receive! That's some customer service on their part!