Padre,
In response to your blockbuster film epic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y5A8kUTK6Y
Here's how I hold the lid while I pour. Actually, it turns out I use my thumb.
(Any blur is the result of my lightning fast technique and in no way due to my 14-year-old son's lack of enthusiasm for documenting his father's eccentricities.)
When I want to up the ante a bit and clear that tea out quick, I lift the lid to let more air in and the pot empties much faster.
Feb 10th, '08, 00:39
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Feb 10th, '08, 02:22
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It just helps make the difference between, say, a 10-second and a 15-second steep. A shorter steep can help control a tendancy of some young puerhs to be rough on the mouth.olivierco wrote:How is the taste of the tea improved by this "open lid technique"?
(Also, since I am just a tad obsessive, it allows me to feel like my 30-second or 45-second steep is really exactly that.)
You wouldn't believe what I can do with the rest of my appendages!Chipster wrote:Nifty thumb work, Salsero!!!
Feb 10th, '08, 13:35
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Nice and seasoned pot! WOW Sal, I never thought of lifting the lip with my thumb to eccelatate the the liquor out of the spot!
Don't always believe what you think!
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Feb 10th, '08, 16:08
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I've actually been doing the lid lift (and some times a bit of a pumping action my camera's probably not good enough to film) from the start, because I observed it worked just like a manual carburator.
As of yesterday afternoon, I've also been using the same thumb position you suggested, and it's working out just fine.
As of yesterday afternoon, I've also been using the same thumb position you suggested, and it's working out just fine.
Feb 10th, '08, 16:12
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As far as the pumping goes, MarshalN recently commented on my video (where I do it a little) that it's not something one should try to do.
Who'd 'a thunk it?MarshalN wrote:The other thing is that it is better to not pull the pot when you pour -- better to not make a lot of splash when you are pouring. Part of it is aesthetic, but I have also been instructed long, long time ago that it distrubs the tea a bit when you do that, and dispersing the taste a little.
Feb 10th, '08, 20:24
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Yeah, I'm not really sure what the rationale behind it is either, but I do know MarshalN has *far* more experience than I, so I tend to trust him. That said, his 90% dry leaf measure for yancha still seems like a crazy amount, at least to my unskilled hands.
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Feb 11th, '08, 08:44
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It looks dirty and stained and I won't be soaking any more overnight in the old tea. I have even thought of throwing this one into a bath of unflavored denture cleaning tablets in order to try to go back to square one. But it seems to make good tea and who wants to mess with that?YEAH TEA! wrote:Salsero, that pot looks ancient from those photos. Did boiling it with tea age it well?
I think the whole process of soaking it in tea did more to adjust me to using that pot than anything. It's the one I turn to almost automatically now for sheng and sometimes even oolong.
Are you referring to shaking/stirring martinis? If so, it's the vermouth that'll 'bruise,' not the vodka or gin. You could put vodka in a cement mixer and it would still come out saying, "Who wants another round?!"LavenderPekoe wrote:Sounds a lot like "never shake vodka or you will 'bruise' it" to me.