moot wrote:By the way - don't take her endorsement of the usage of a CZ pot on one particular tea to be a general claim of "pots over gaiwans". I know she prefers she thinks different teas match well with different teawares. I've heard her claim, at least for one dan cong, that the 09 was better in a pot, and the 08 was better in a gaiwan. Etc.
Umm, I would take her blogging and more 'public' pronouncements with a bit of tongue and cheekiness? She's not so fussy about all the particulars, though she does have her favorites.
All these questions from the teachaters. I'm guessing Imen will tell you there is less wrong or right about it, than doing what you prefer. Of course the more experience you get, the more refined your preferences become. And I think Imen's preferences/experience has been changing over the 3 years she's been writing her blog.
Heh Thi, maybe we should all make a trek over to TH this Sunday, and inundate her with questions, all of us holding up dict-a-phones clinging to her every word :p. I'm planning to be there this Sunday, but who knows. Last Sunday I asked her, she said the prior Saturday was not all that busy. Guess LATimes article was only good for one or 2 busy weekends?
At any rate, I'll ask her again to be sure. Pastry chef/teachat member bought one of the CZ pots while we were chatting for the better part of 2hrs worth of tea drinking. He will remember (Imen told me he made a creme brulee for her right in the shop) which two CZ's we were being single blind tasted on, in comparison with the gaiwan.
IIRC, Imen says the gaiwan is better for showing off the more intense floral qualities of the younger DC's. But you need to do you *own* experimentation, for you own level of tasting appreciation.
When we played 'stump-the-chump' (my wine jargon) with the gaiwan, 2 kinds of CZ's, 1st Imen let us know which pot was which infusion. Then she switched the order, blind for us, and asked us to tell her which cup of 3 we preferred. To my left, my female taster and I both preferred what we thought was the richer and smoother cup on the 2nd brew of single bush DC (after having a few infusions of the commercial grade DC). As from the previous blind tasting of the 3 different brews, after we were told which was which, we had our 'preferences' mapped out in our minds. Imen preferring the thinner walled CZ, for it gave the richer, deeper, more complex/flavorful...as well; as was we 3 lesser tasters noticed, but Imen did not seem to comment much about; noticeable bitter tannins/caffeine levels in that stronger brew?
Yes, the lady to my left and I were stumped, we both liked the 2nd blind infusion of the higher end DC from the gaiwan! We both noticed our cups had slightly darker light amber to the infusion< fooling me into believing , as well as what we both thought was a smooth, creamy richness...from the
thinner walled CZ from the 1st session, lol. Though on reflection, after the 'blinders' have been taken off, the gaiwan infusion lacked that overall complexity the better CZ seemed to impart. Who cares, my vote still went for the 2nd infusion from the gaiwan as what I liked best.
Definitely recommend, for those local to TH, to ask Imen for the 'stump-the-chump' tea tasting for infusions from 3 different vessels.
As far as what seems to be the favorite of both beginners and more experienced tasters (maybe not total 'teahead's as Imen calls them), the '08 Song Zhoung #5 'honey orchid fragrance'. Hard to fathom spending $56 for what amounts to barely more than a 'sample' amount of 1oz. But this particular tea has the most intense honey sweetness allied with wonderful smoothness that Imen says comes from the additional one year aging, that which the '09's do not at present exhibit.
For my imprecise palate, tasting the 'Cattleya Orchid Fragrance' flight, all of these are so subtle (to me) as to be compared with intensity levels of white teas. In contrast, the '08 SZ #5 is easily 2x as intense.
Last Sunday, while I was there all day (and pastry guy had to leave 1/2 through the day) Imen managed to
sneak in somewhere through the 1/2 way point of my tasting a dozen or so teas, 12 infusions of the '78 DC, almost as many of the '78 Hong Yin at the end--- her
special reserve stash. I asked her about it before I left, since she did not specify, but only in passing, like it was nothing, what was the name of her private stash. You know, could be anything, but it turns out it was the 2nd of her super expensive, not for sale, stash from her tea master. What a waste on me, and those others who don't read her blog and were completely unaware of what we were tasting! Stuck in between so many other teas... sadly, I was completely unable to appreciate it
. *note* to Thi, you haven't tasted this one yet?, it's quite different from her B-day stash.
http://tea-obsession.blogspot.com/2009/ ... -over.html
Still, I had (did not know it at the time, as she was pouring for her teahead friend, the one who brought in some supposed top grade Oriental Beauty) her other 'private stash' B-day reserve 'Big Dark Purple', referred to in great detail on her blog the prior week. And I was not all that impressed, even Imen's teahead friend agreed with my comment that it had a strong 'attack' (wine tasting terminology for flavor impact as the liquid enters your mouth, your initial taste sensations), but quickly dropped off in intensity. In wine terms, the finish was some what muted or short, did not linger in intensity.
^short version- I did not fall in love with it
.
I can just see/imagine Imen's tea master looking down on me in a Seinfeld 'Nazi soup' manner> 'No tea for you!' ...whaaa, why can't I pour some milk into it??? :p <(Imen actually had some Brits in the shop asking for that on Sunday)
from link above:
the aroma and sweetness sipped through every cells of my body. It reminds me what is excellence among the excellence. Well, this secret private stash of my teacher's is way better than Chuan Du Lao Ming Cong according to him. The tone he used when describing the tea sounded like a lover melting in a lover's arms. That's some serious love shown by a mature Chinese man. In case you are not familiar with Chinese culture, males hardly if ever show their love/feminine sides.
And then I recall from tasting it 2weeks ago, when the cup is allowed to cool off to luke warm, I do get *some* bitterness from oxidation showing the tannins-more so, I think?, from subsequent infusions towards 5+. Much like you get from younger tannic red wines in the glass, after enough aeration.
I think Thi needs to ply Imen with more hard liquor and we can get down to the bottom of all these intriguing and complex issues
