Monday 6/30/08 is TeaDay

[geeber1]

Thanks, Henley! It's a graphic that I got from our clip art service here at my work. Wish I was talented enough to have sketched it myself

Your photo was beautiful! I have a little toothpick holder that I've used as a vase also. They're great for those little flowers that won't fit in a normal-sized vase.

Auggy, I'm glad you saw the reply on Saturday's TeaDay! I didn't know if you had seen it and didn't want to miss telling you.

[Salsero]

(Darjeeling 20,2% in june)

This Gallic penchant for precision is starting to get to me. Do you really know that it is 20.2%? Are you estimating? Or are you just making the whole thing up?

Signed,

Just wondering

[olivierco]

(Darjeeling 20,2% in june)

This Gallic penchant for precision is starting to get to me. Do you really know that it is 20.2%? Are you estimating? Or are you just making the whole thing up?

Signed,

Just wondering

I have always been a little obsessed with numbers
26/129=0.20155
(japanese green 66/129=0.511)

[Chip]

(Darjeeling 20,2% in june)

This Gallic penchant for precision is starting to get to me. Do you really know that it is 20.2%? Are you estimating? Or are you just making the whole thing up?

Signed,

Just wondering

I have always been a little obsessed with numbers
26/129=0.20155
(japanese green 66/129=0.511)

That is a hoot! I was wondering a little about this myself. So, you had 129 sessions of tea in June? And you know the % of each type of tea?

I am cold brewing some Fukamushi Supreme for tonight. According the Hikiki-an site, he says cold brewing does NOT release the caffeine. Anyone know if this is true? If it is, cold brewing will become a boon and a boom to my nightly tea enjoyment!

Now, a hot tea....

[TimeforTea]

June has been an oolong month for me!

[olivierco]

That is a hoot! I was wondering a little about this myself. So, you had 129 sessions of tea in June? And you know the % of each type of tea?

Well, 130 now because I am finishing the day and the month with a rooibos.
I keep a list of what I drink each day.
I count every 100 sessions which type of tea I drink, so I don't have to calculate to get the percentage.
I had to do some maths to get the percentage for june

[Salsero]

According the Hikiki-an site, he says cold brewing does NOT release the caffeine. Anyone know if this is true?

I think Mary or Scruff or another of our chemistry gurus had a temperature at which caffeine dissolves in water, but I don't remember the particulars.

I figure, just have a 10th infusion of sencha and you should be in good shape.

[Salsero]

I keep a list of what I drink each day.

How far back does your list go?

I keep spreadsheet notes of pretty much every tea session I have had for almost 2 years -- excluding what I swill at the office. If someone asks what I thought of a puerh sample I had 12 months ago, I can usually come up with a pretty good answer ... even if I don't remember drinking it.

I may have a little French in me after all.

[olivierco]

According the Hikiki-an site, he says cold brewing does NOT release the caffeine. Anyone know if this is true?

I think Mary or Scruff or another of our chemistry gurus had a temperature at which caffeine dissolves in water, but I don't remember the particulars.

Not exactly

22 g/L 25°C,
455 g/L 65°C

[cane]

I keep a list of what I drink each day.

How far back does your list go?

I keep spreadsheet notes of pretty much every tea session I have had for almost 2 years -- excluding what I swill at the office. If someone asks what I thought of a puerh sample I had 12 months ago, I can usually come up with a pretty good answer ... even if I don't remember drinking it.

I may have a little French in me after all.

What details do you keep track of?
would like some ideas on how to organize my thoughts

[olivierco]

I keep a list of what I drink each day.

How far back does your list go?

I keep spreadsheet notes of pretty much every tea session I have had for almost 2 years -- excluding what I swill at the office. If someone asks what I thought of a puerh sample I had 12 months ago, I can usually come up with a pretty good answer ... even if I don't remember drinking it.

I may have a little French in me after all.

What details do you keep track of?
would like some ideas on how to organize my thoughts

It is a kind of draft notebook.
I write only the day and the list of teas.
I have done it seriously since the beginning of this year.

[Salsero]

What details do you keep track of?
would like some ideas on how to organize my thoughts

Never ask a compulsive for this kind of information: you will always get it ... and regret it.

Within the Excel workbook I have a sheet tabbed for each tea type: Sheng, Taiwan, Wuyi, Darjeeling, Japanese ... whatever categories you prefer. I include tasting notes the first few times I brew a particular tea. The notes may be very brief as below, or fairly elaborate ... esp if the tea is wonderful or if I anticipate having to report to someone else about the tea. If I have had the same tea several times, I will not make any notes unless the spirit moves me (usually it doesn't move me.)

I started doing this to have a record of what I did last time and how if worked so that I could make necessary changes or repeat successes. That is still a primary purpose of it. Sometimes I will brew a tea that I haven't had for a year or more. It's awfully handy to be able look back and see how it went last time, so I am not starting out at zero each time.

The following is a recent entry in the Sheng Puerh sheet. I tried to use the slash to indicate which items are in separate cell(s) of the worksheet. Spaces between lines indicate that the lines are on separate rows of the spreadsheet:


2005 Menghai Dayi 7542 / 2005 / PuerhShop / 400 gr cake / $24.28 / 0.06 per gram

Menghai Tea factory

05/07/08 Brewing: 5.00 g in 120 ml YSLLC Classic Hei Ni 2 pot, off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 30 s, 30 s, 25 s, 40 s, 1 m, 1 m, 2 m, 3 m, 5 m

To photograph for TeaDay. An unusual brewing due to photo, but still it seems astringent without being flavorful. Seems to make up in duration for what it lacks in intensity.

06/15/08 Brewing: 5.00 g in 120 ml huang ni pot , off boil: no rinse, infusions: 15 s, 15 s, 20 s, 25 s, 20 s, 25 s, 35 s, 45 s

Light and floral. Still pretty rough, but I think this tea may have fine potential. I could have kept brewing, but it is late.

[tenuki]

Thought I would share my lunch with you today.

On the menu:

West Lake DragonWell
Red Pepper Hummas with fresh veggies and whole wheat pita
A whole lotta joy


Simple can be sublime, this westlake dragonwell was wonderful brewed and drunk straight in the glass. Throw some leaves in, pour in some hot water half ways, wait a bit, throw in the ice to fill it up and carry it outside. The ice cubes serve as a strainer of sorts, no problems drinking this way. Yum.

[Salsero]

The ice cubes serve as a strainer of sorts, no problems drinking this way.

Beautiful lunch. One more reason why I need to move to your side of town. I love that the ice helps strain the leaves.

[omegapd]

Finishing the day here with an Oolong. I finally figured this one out with the perfect amount of dry leaf and brewing time and of course, it was the last of the sample...



EW