Official what GREEN are you currently drinking?

[daidokorocha]

Tead Off, lovely set you have there. Curious about the tea you mentioned. Is it the 香美人 hanayaka one? I can't help but laugh at the name of this tea. The combination of 香美人、華やか (hanayaka)、and しゃんしゃん (shanshan/syansyan) make my stomach turn slightly.

[daidokorocha]

The last few days have been very busy for me, so very little tea. Mainly, I have only been drinking some oolong thrown in a bottle to take on the go for the day, but this really is not enough tea for me. Today, it was a few Teas Tea bottles, but tonight I decided to take a few minutes to try at least a couple of teas from the box I received yesterday from Hatvala Tea and Coffee of Vietnam.

The two I tried tonight are their Fish Hook and Wild Tree Tiger Monkey. Both, obviously, are green teas. Let me start by saying I enjoyed both teas. I will say though, like my prior post, I brewed these "western style" unfortunately. This attests to the little time I have to really sit down with tea lately. The Fish Hook smelled very nice in the cup but the tiger monkey really stood out to me between the two. First, I will say that it is hard to evaluate at the moment. Living in Philadelphia, the water is, in my opinion, not very good tasting. Already bad, at this time of year, they dump even more chlorine in the system, and therefore I have been tending more toward blacks at the moment--despite preferring greens--because the taste of chlorine is bothering me. I could fully boil the water and let it cool and see if that helps the taste.. but I don't have that kind of time at the moment. I did buy the other day a gallon of spring water and tried it on the greens I posted last time and they tasted much better as I did side by side comparisons of tap vs spring. The taste of the tea itself was the focus instead of having to compete with the chlorine. I'm going to have to work out something as I finished that gallon in half a day.

Anyhow... the chlorine may have lowered my view of the fish hook, but regardless of the chlorine the tiger monkey was very interesting. It had Pu Erh qualities. Doing a quick search I noticed that jayinhk has had this tea and says the same exact thing about it. Have you kept this in your rotation? I honestly could see myself doing so... it has a very nice taste and although I don't have time to resteep it much, according to Hatvala it does well this way. Cannot wait to have more time with it and perhaps with better water. Edit: Oh yes, I wanted to mention that when I opened the package it smelled woody but also floral. I get the floral standing alone well after having finished it.

I actually bought every single tea Hatvala offers, aside from those sold out. In other words, all but 2 of their teas, for a total of 13 purchased. I am interested to try them all but will have to hold off a bit.

[ethan]

dai, I don't understand you. You invest in tea but not in spring water. Why? I get a gallon of Acadia from Stop & Shop for 89 cents. Sometimes it is discounted to 79 cents. I am not pleased w/ the carbon footprint of plastic bottles of water being transported but there sort of is no choice for drinking tea since the water out of my tap is awful. Good luck & forgive me butting in.

[daidokorocha]

dai, I don't understand you. You invest in tea but not in spring water. Why? I get a gallon of Acadia from Stop & Shop for 89 cents. Sometimes it is discounted to 79 cents. I am not pleased w/ the carbon footprint of plastic bottles of water being transported but there sort of is no choice for drinking tea since the water out of my tap is awful. Good luck & forgive me butting in.

Nope, I completely understand. Having lived in many different places, I've come to realise just how important water is. I only recently moved back to Philadelphia from Japan and my new apartments water isn't that bad and makes pretty decent tea.In fact, some teas I prefer with the tap water to the spring water, even with the chlorination being higher. It is only in the last few weeks that it has become a bit more chlorinated. I am looking for a water station so that I can fill up cheaply in bulk. On many days I may drink up to a gallon of tea and I buy a lot of spring water for general drinking everyday so splitting between the two can be difficult because I go through it so quickly. Not to mention that my fiancee does the same. I've heard there are places to fill up for .39 a gallon which seems reasonable to me. If I could even find a gallon for .89 cents, the difference between .39 and .89 would be $10 a month compared to $25 a month. I am banking on this! I just need time where I can physically go to these places and get the water. Hopefully that is soon. Thanks for the care.

[Tead Off]

Why don't both of you invest in a water filter. Chlorination, gone. Heavy metals, gone. Odd smells and taste, gone.
Perhaps it will not suit every tea and you will still prefer to buy some special spring water to use with certain teas, but it will certainly make a big difference in daily drinking water and for brewing many teas successfully. I use one attached to my kitchen faucet that has an on and off lever so I can fill up containers with filtered water and then use the tap water for dishes and washing hands. We also use the filtered water for washing fruits and vegetables and for cooking them.

[daidokorocha]

Why don't both of you invest in a water filter. Chlorination, gone. Heavy metals, gone. Odd smells and taste, gone.
Perhaps it will not suit every tea and you will still prefer to buy some special spring water to use with certain teas, but it will certainly make a big difference in daily drinking water and for brewing many teas successfully. I use one attached to my kitchen faucet that has an on and off lever so I can fill up containers with filtered water and then use the tap water for dishes and washing hands. We also use the filtered water for washing fruits and vegetables and for cooking them.

I have been considering and researching that recently... but I've heard some mixed results. The worry I have is the high price of experimentation if it isn't fruitful. Especially if I can go back to enjoying tap for most purposes when the water goes back to normal next month. Especially since I am moving back to Japan shortly and really enjoyed the water there. I really do want to give the filter thing a shot though just to ease my curiosity. I can't decide between a mount on the sink or a pitcher version.

[ethan]

For drinking water we use Brita counter top pitcher & filter, but sometimes I just drink tap water though it tastes bad. For tea the Brita filtered water is not okay. I don't know why. I won't buy a different filter. I won't buy anything that I leave behind in my sister's apartment anymore. Every time I go away I return to find some of my things missing. (This time it was the bin w/ my dress shirts, good blue jeans, & wonderfully thick terrycloth bathrobe that had been my father's. At age 64 I have only 3 long-sleeve shirts & only 3 longpants until I have good luck at a Goodwill store.) Anyway carrying gallons of water home is exercise.

[jayinhk]

I use Brita-filtered water. Works fine for me!

David, the Tiger Monkey is excellent and I'll buy more when it runs out for sure. I tried almost all of their teas, and that's what I took home from them.

[Tead Off]

For drinking water we use Brita counter top pitcher & filter, but sometimes I just drink tap water though it tastes bad. For tea the Brita filtered water is not okay. I don't know why. I won't buy a different filter. I won't buy anything that I leave behind in my sister's apartment anymore. Every time I go away I return to find some of my things missing. (This time it was the bin w/ my dress shirts, good blue jeans, & wonderfully thick terrycloth bathrobe that had been my father's. At age 64 I have only 3 long-sleeve shirts & only 3 longpants until I have good luck at a Goodwill store.) Anyway carrying gallons of water home is exercise.

Years ago, I used the Brita filter. One day, I checked the ph of my tap water. It was 7. Then, I checked the filtered in the Brita. It was 6. I did this several times thinking how could this be. Indeed, it was the case, the Brita lowered the ph of the water. Then, I went out and bought the filtration system that I currently use. Better tasting and a ph of 7. I always wondered why the Japanese teas that I made with the Brita were always so sharp in my mouth. Lower ph will do that and Japanese teas need at least 7.

Maybe you should move in with Jay in HK. I don't think he will take any of your things and then both of you can begin to enjoy the filter that you wind up buying, or share the cost of it!

[jayinhk]

Well, Brita filters do remove solutes, chlorine and the activated charcoal might change the pH, too. My money is on the filter reacting with the water and adding carbonic acid (which is present in all natural water, including rainwater, which contains dissolved carbon dioxide).

Hong Kong tap water is pH 7.8, so a fair bit more alkaline. Our water here is pretty soft, but tastes a little murky and has a fair bit of chlorine. It is also very low in magnesium. Up in China, tea stores get carboys of spring water delivered for tea brewing. I use tap water for brewing here often and it works fine, but has a fair bit more calcium without the filtration. I should try adding a little epsom salts to my kettle to see if it makes a difference.

Since you have your filtration all worked out, and ethan's familiar with Thailand, maybe he should move in with you! Space is at a lot less of a premium in BKK too. I'm sure you can spare a room so he can access your filtered water supply!

Drinking a commercial Shan Tuyet (Hmong high mountain assamica green) I bought in Hanoi right now. Lovely when brewed lighter; I was using too much leaf before, and it was bitter and astringent. I have to use half as much as my other greens. Brewed light, it is sweet, lightly floral and very pleasant. Interestingly it tastes less like an assamica brewed light, and more like a sinensis--like your standard Vietnamese Thai Nguyen green.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEa_U6FSClt/

[Rui]

Well, Brita filters do remove solutes, chlorine and the activated charcoal might change the pH, too.

Yes it does modify the pH as well as I did tests sometime ago for JohnB here in the forum.

[jayinhk]

Breakdown of filter types. Almost all of them use activated carbon. I always thought the on faucet ones were junk, but they appear to have improved since the 2000s.

http://www.reactual.com/home-and-garden ... ilter.html

[Teaarch]

Breakdown of filter types. Almost all of them use activated carbon. I always thought the on faucet ones were junk, but they appear to have improved since the 2000s.

http://www.reactual.com/home-and-garden ... ilter.html

Thanks for the link. My search to find the best water continues. I've settled on a spring water I like, but I'd eventually like to ditch the plastic as well. The gravity filters seem like they're a good quality/price trade off.

[jayinhk]

Breakdown of filter types. Almost all of them use activated carbon. I always thought the on faucet ones were junk, but they appear to have improved since the 2000s.

http://www.reactual.com/home-and-garden ... ilter.html

Thanks for the link. My search to find the best water continues. I've settled on a spring water I like, but I'd eventually like to ditch the plastic as well. The gravity filters seem like they're a good quality/price trade off.

Best option? Find a local freshwater source! I may try the water from here:

http://hikehongkong.blogspot.hk/2012/05 ... m.html?m=1

[daidokorocha]

Striving for the best tea can be difficult sometimes.

Today, all I have had so far is a grandpa brewed Tiger Monkey and I just have to say I am in love with this tea. Lately I've been craving Pu Erh but I don't really have any except a small sample. This really hits the spot but adds a nice twist with the huge floral taste that lingers after you've had it. It really grandpa brewed lovely at 2 teaspoons for 12 oz of water. Already, I feel that I must insert this into the pantheon of favorite teas.

I think I will go brew some long jing grandpa style before bed while I do translations. I will also ponder the question of water in the process. It has been weighing heavily on my mind lately.