Wednesday 8/13/08 UNOPENED teas, how many?

[Victoria]

Oh and the birds on the cup I believe are Feng-Huang from both Japanese & Chinese mythology.

If you Google it you will find many descriptions.

[auggy]

Today we have an oolong from the Nantou area of Taiwan, brewed “grandfather” style in a cup that says Nippon (<--linky) on the bottom and features two strange birds (?) leaping at each other. The birds seem to have whale tails instead of heads. I love the cup, does anyone have any idea what’s going on with the rampaging bird creatures or the flowers (peonies? no, they’re Chinese) and vines?

I believe those are Japanese phoenixes? Maybe?

Of course, a cup/saucer set I saw on eBay had those birds listed as flying turkeys. And yes, now I want a teacup with turkeys on it.

As for the poll, I voted wrong. I read how many teas are opened, not unopened. So I voted for 20 with less unopened when I should have voted "Less than 10 and more open than unopen". Most of my opened ones are black, though. I have about 12 or so greens unopened in a drawer in my fridge. At this point, I don't even remember what I had, though I did open a package of fuka-midori last night. Yum.

[chamekke]

Today we have an oolong from the Nantou area of Taiwan, brewed “grandfather” style in a cup that says Nippon (<--linky) on the bottom and features two strange birds (?) leaping at each other. The birds seem to have whale tails instead of heads. I love the cup, does anyone have any idea what’s going on with the rampaging bird creatures or the flowers (peonies? no, they’re Chinese) and vines?

I believe those are Japanese phoenixes? Maybe?

Of course, a cup/saucer set I saw on eBay had those birds listed as flying turkeys. And yes, now I want a teacup with turkeys on it.

I think they may be meant to be phoenixes (hou-ou), too-oo.

They're often depicted in Japanese art as having a little crest on their head, and a fantastically stylized tail.

Although if they're turkeys, it's a lot more fun!

You never know, they might be turkeys. I've seen turkey-themed haori (kimono jackets) turning up on a couple of vintage kimono sites. I think the design was meant to be modernistic, not traditional, but even so I was impressed.

[Salsero]

Of course, a cup/saucer set I saw on eBay had those birds listed as flying turkeys.

Although if they're turkeys, it's a lot more fun!

Might could be I have a special Thanksgiving Day tea cup. I still find the condition of their heads muy disturbing. They look more like tails. Maybe it's just poor workmanship. And maybe they are not depicting an ancient Asian theme by running at each other but just arranged symetrically at the whim of some porcelain factory bureaucrat. Mmm, seems to me I once heard that Chinoiserie also means bureaucracy.

[auggy]

Just heard more about my friend: she, hubby and kids are making plans on moving back to Texas (they are in Germany) and she's already applied to get into MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. So yeah, here's hoping!

My friend is a bit pissed off about the whole thing, but she's using that frustration to be active, so I'm thinking that's a better response than other options. As for me, I'm firmly in denial, so I'm good.

GO MD ANDERSON!

[Jack_teachat]

5 open, 3 running low, none in stock! Order needs to be placed! Today has been a big tea day for me, my first order of quality Chinese tea arrived and I was first of all blown away by the beautiful toasty, almost honey like notes of Yunnan gold and then by the subtle roasted slightly vegetal edge of Long Jing. These teas are so different to what I have been drinking all year and they have got me all excited once again about discovering new varieties of tea! Jack

[Victoria]

I still find the condition of their heads muy disturbing. They look more like tails. Maybe it's just poor workmanship. And maybe they are not depicting an ancient Asian theme by running at each other but just arranged symetrically at the whim of some porcelain factory bureaucrat. Mmm, seems to me I once heard that Chinoiserie also means bureaucracy.

You can see from this pic how they arrived at the styalized version of the head:


I'm at work now enjoying the last of my fragrant oolong, I finally made it though an entire package!! Yay. One less opened one now.

[Salsero]

toasty, almost honey like notes of Yunnan gold and then by the subtle roasted slightly vegetal edge of Long Jing ... got me all excited once again ...

Wow, your descriptions are getting me pretty fired up too!

[Dizzwave]

I went with less than 10, and more open. I didn't count the pu-erh cakes that I haven't opened, but that I have open cakes of the same kind of.
Yawn..... too tired to decide which tea to make....

I need a cup
to wake me up
to help me choose
which tea I brews

Maybe the problem is too many options. Ok -- if I can pry some off with this butter knife, I'm going to try this new (and very tightly packed) 2008 Xiaguan "Happy tuo" (a sheng pu). Wish me luck!

[Salsero]

You can see from this pic how they arrived at the styalized version of the head:

Yes I noticed this one and a couple Google images that had a bit of that anvil shape. But stylized or not they should still look like heads not tails or anvils, so I think it is just slapdash workmanship by the graphic artist. Also, nothing that I have seen on line -- neither images nor text -- suggest that there is a tradition of a stylized head. The one in the photo above resembles the one on the cups only because of the strange angle the photo was taken at. Equally disappointing, there seems to be no meaning to their seeming to charge one another, just another aesthetic shortcut. I like the cup less now, having considered the design carefully. It lacks heart and commitment: it's just a commercial design. Oh well, it is a nice size and it doesn't leak!

[Pentox]

It looks like i'm in a minority here. I've got well over 20, probably in the range of 50+ of unopened teas. And sadly I have way too many open. Although in my defense most of them are small samples 1/2oz or so that I just need to finish off. I try to only have maybe 3 large packs open at a given time, but most of the time I fail at that.

Working on finishing some more stuff off today. So far an odd mixture of leftover senchas.

[jewelbug]

I'm one of those open-everything-immediately folks, so a big fat ZERO unopened for me. I just have to sniff everything as soon as it arrives on my doorstep. I have a *ahem* "small" perfume addiction, as well, and the same is true there...

This morning I started with a bolivian black (sample from a tea shop in western md--note, this is NOT coca tea). Is anyone here familiar with this? Its very mild, a little sweet and has what I can only describe as a porcini-ness to it. Or if not porcini, then a truffle oil scent...I guess that sounds odd, but I'm rather enjoying it. I'm on my second cup (decided to infuse twice to see if it'd work, and it did).

I brought some kukicha to work for later.

[bronzebed]

thanks to this thread i decided to do a little bit of organizing. i found out that i have exactly 40 teas, only one of which is unopened. that's a bit embarrassing.

i also realized that i have teas that i will never drink. i get a lot of tea as presents and some of them just aren't my thing at all and i've made a few bad choices myself. anyways, i have some teas that i'd like to offer up if anyone on the forum is interested. i'll send them for free, i'd just like to see them get used because i know i won't.

so if anyone is interested in the following teas, please pm me:

1) bo nan (aged one)-a tribute to puerh (roughly 4 oz)
2) lapsung souchong-2 oz
3) teavana-flavored black tea, strawberry slender pu-erh (unoppened) 2oz
4) teavana-chinese honey dew white & caribbean breeze
5) teavana-jasmine dragon phoenix pearls & rooibos tropica (why on earth would someone mix these two?)
6) teavana-scarlet cloud (white tea with something fruity in it)

[Chip]

Try as hard as I may, I always end up with too many open. But I am much better than I used to be. I would guestimate that I have 12 or so unopened and around 20 open, mostly samples.

Started my day with Adagio Golden Monkey.

Now, Fukamushi Supreme a la O-Cha.

[RussianSoul]

I am BAD! I have one unopened and several dozen opened. But most opened are samples with exception of 3 or 4. So it may not be so bad after all.

Just cold-brewed the last of Adagio's Sencha mixed with the last of Den's Guricha. That's two less opened! A good feeling!