Kyarazen on Tea/Incense.

[kyarazen]

I very seldom write on tea, more on incense and all other related fragrant wood matters. But sometimes when I find the time and inspiration to, I'll write something once in a while.

Here's a latest write up on some tips/tricks on how to choose yixing tea ware, and how to understand and gain mastery over using those pots that you own.

http://www.kyarazen.com/articles/secret ... g-teapots/

[William]

Nice and interesting article. Thanks for sharing!

[ChinesePottery]

I like your style.

[Teaism]

Well done! Great article and I am very happy that now at least the future tea culture in Singapore is secured. We now have a young and talented incense and tea master to continue the culture. Many eastern cultures have been lost here since the last few decades but there are an emerging group of young talented and passionate people like you that give hope to the revival of the culture. Some of your friends I met has similar passions. And now you are the leader and the master to lead the way. I look forward to the resurgence of this culture like in the 80s where tea culture is in abundance. Those days were the great days and I look forward to your generation to bring it back!

Bravo!

Cheers!

[bonescwa]

Great article. This is the kind of detailed, practical information that has been so lacking in online writing about tea.

[puyuan]

Superb article, thank you for sharing. And, if the book is entirely not possible, may I suggest you cover the rest or some of its intended topics in other outlines like this one? I was particularly interested when you mentioned translating lesser known sources on gongfu technique in the other thread. I would gladly offer my help with those, but my chinese wouldn't be enough for this sort of document, I'm afraid. Just a suggestion, as I'm sure loads of people would benefit from this data.

[kyarazen]

you flatter me too much! It was only possible to consolidate and re-rationalize all these knowledge with the inspirations and the kind generosities of many tea lovers, including you and Mr E, in sharing knowledge and experiences

Just like mainland china had its resurgences from early 2000s, I too, hope for a resurgence here. one of the biggest challenge in the near future is securing good tea, preserving "heritage", and weeding out mis-informations

Well done! Great article and I am very happy that now at least the future tea culture in Singapore is secured. We now have a young and talented incense and tea master to continue the culture. Many eastern cultures have been lost here since the last few decades but there are an emerging group of young talented and passionate people like you that give hope to the revival of the culture. Some of your friends I met has similar passions. And now you are the leader and the master to lead the way. I look forward to the resurgence of this culture like in the 80s where tea culture is in abundance. Those days were the great days and I look forward to your generation to bring it back!

Bravo!

Cheers!

[Teaism]

You are too humble.

We are learning a lot from your recent research and articles. Old tea drinker like us has too many presumptions and old habits. Our taste buds are numb and our hands are slow. Many of us went into hiatus to enjoy the tea quietly and emerge only recently because there sign of interest by younger generation. What we know may be outdated although our group still approach tea relentlessly and your scientific approach definitely enlighten us. Keep up the good work!

Sadly, the future of the tea culture here in Singapore has also most gone. Our most precious old tea are taken to Hong Kong and Taiwan bought for a song because it was not appreciated here.

Notwithstanding, it is not too late. There is a big group of younger generation tea drinker here now. I met a guy in early 20s and he travelled and stayed in Yunnan and many tea region in China for 2 years to learn tea. It is really an unprecedented milestone and an encouraging sign. The wonderful part about tea is there is not structured level of knowledge and experience, the old can learn from the young and vice versa.

I definitely hope this is the sign of the emergence of tea culture here. In the 70s, 80s and 90s tea culture is really very robust and would be wonderful to see its revival with the commitment and passion of younger generation and passionate and knowledgeable tea hobbyist like you. China has already retained what has been lost in this culture and they are pushing forward.

On good materials, it is not too difficult. It is only the current pricing and there is no point chasing the market. With knowledge, there are still a lot of good stuff out there, just search patiently.

Hmmmm...a long private discussion over public forum, perhaps a nice tea session to continue this nice conversation...


Cheers!

you flatter me too much! It was only possible to consolidate and re-rationalize all these knowledge with the inspirations and the kind generosities of many tea lovers, including you and Mr E, in sharing knowledge and experiences

Just like mainland china had its resurgences from early 2000s, I too, hope for a resurgence here. one of the biggest challenge in the near future is securing good tea, preserving "heritage", and weeding out mis-informations

Well done! Great article and I am very happy that now at least the future tea culture in Singapore is secured. We now have a young and talented incense and tea master to continue the culture. Many eastern cultures have been lost here since the last few decades but there are an emerging group of young talented and passionate people like you that give hope to the revival of the culture. Some of your friends I met has similar passions. And now you are the leader and the master to lead the way. I look forward to the resurgence of this culture like in the 80s where tea culture is in abundance. Those days were the great days and I look forward to your generation to bring it back!

Bravo!

Cheers!

[kyarazen]

Sure! always a pleasure to have tea at your place, perhaps one of the sundays after your return from malaysia

Notwithstanding, it is not too late. There is a big group of younger generation tea drinker here now. I met a guy in early 20s and he travelled and stayed in Yunnan and many tea region in China for 2 years to learn tea. It is really an unprecedented milestone and an encouraging sign. The wonderful part about tea is there is not structured level of knowledge and experience, the old can learn from the young and vice versa.

I definitely hope this is the sign of the emergence of tea culture here. In the 70s, 80s and 90s tea culture is really very robust and would be wonderful to see its revival with the commitment and passion of younger generation and passionate and knowledgeable tea hobbyist like you. China has already retained what has been lost in this culture and they are pushing forward.

On good materials, it is not too difficult. It is only the current pricing and there is no point chasing the market. With knowledge, there are still a lot of good stuff out there, just search patiently.

Hmmmm...a long private discussion over public forum, perhaps a nice tea session to continue this nice conversation...


Cheers!

[kyarazen]

Just another load of late night rambling.. now it took me 3 hours instead..

but some thoughts on tea and the seasons, and what aging does to tea.

http://www.kyarazen.com/articles/secret ... ons-aging/

forgive any spelling mistakes or some incoherence, sometimes i write in point form before expanding out the text and there are sections that i miss

[kyarazen]

just wrote some thoughts on "oolong" pu-erh after almost a year of investigation

http://www.kyarazen.com/oolong-pu-erh-tea/

[ethan]

Just read your blog. Interesting. Thanks.

[William]

This will also allow for the formerly bitter, unpalatable gushu teas to become milder, more drinkable and having better aromatics than needing to age the tea.

Just a question.
Why do you assume that Gushu material is originally bitter?

[kyarazen]

This will also allow for the formerly bitter, unpalatable gushu teas to become milder, more drinkable and having better aromatics than needing to age the tea.

Just a question.
Why do you assume that Gushu material is originally bitter?

if it isn't bitter, it isnt tea! i had surveyed information from several seasoned tea drinkers/importers of the past few decades together with some meagre personal experience

in reality, before the new processing methods, the only less bitter, more palatable gushu teas are the first buds of spring, i.e. first flush, but that is so little, and can be quite harmful to the tree to pick so the formerly responsible tribe people often picked carefully. late spring, summer, autumn seasons, no harvests were made.

due to the strong bitter and potential astringency of gushu materials, in 1985 xiaguan factory had requested government agencies to test if gushu materials were safe for consumption, this was to expand the possibility of incorporating gushu into pu-erh tea production as plantations were far from coping with the sudden surge in demands. it was deemed safe but it was apparent that they did not incorporate gushu into their production line and continued with their "average-rough" plantation teas.

towards the end 90s, there were increasing pressings of gushu teas made using "traditional" methods, when the first "Da Xue Shan" products hit the market in end 90s to early 2000s, the C. Taliensis product was horrid in taste! Merchants in south east asia had a hard time. in some way many of these cakes and bricks were marketed to consumers whom had only the intention of aging them and not for consumption immediately. for the past few years, Da Xue Shan teas started picking up fruity profiles, grapey, raisiny when new, the brew color was a stronger yellow, the bitterness went down, the tea was quite drinkable straight from production.

from my observation these are some of the lines of gushu products on the market
1) traditional methods (less popular)
2) pure modern method (strong fruity grapey aromatics that intensifies if stored sealed and reasonable humidity)
3) blend of some modern tea into traditional tea
4) blend of some modern tea into autumn harvest
5) pure autumn harvest (aromatic)
6) etc etc...

for long term potential, maybe types 1 and 3 are safer, the aged product has a reasonable tracked record.

for drinking now and watching how it will evolve, for the good or better, type 2 or type 4, 5 seems ok.

[William]

Thank you for the shared informations, Kyarazen!

So, if I understood, in your opinion, Gushu material processed with traditional methods, regardless of the quality, it should be formerly bitter and unpalatable?

Another question comes to mind.
Can we really talk of right and wrong processing method? I mean, if it is now carried a processing method that transform something formerly bitter into something sugary/raisiny/fruity etc. etc., can we really talk of right and wrong, since no one can say how this tea will age over the next 30/50 years?

Surely you have adopted, in my opinion, the correct classification (traditional methods/modern methods), without falling into the the classical ideology that if something is not done in the traditional way then it is definitely wrong.

Regards.