Tuesday TeaDay 10/20/09 Vendor comfort zoning?

[Chip]

Hey there, been awhile. I buy from O-cha and the Ito-en store.I loooooove them. I was strolling arounf China Town and wandered into the Ten Ren Shop and was not thrilled with the original service I got (a woman brushing me off). When I started asking educated questions a man came over and gave me info on temp and brewing time. It was my first chinese green and I'm not crazy about it. Could just be that I've been spoiled by shincha and gyo and am not open minded enough.

Shincha and Gyo will do that to you! But then again, I am not thrilled with Ten Ren anyway, a notch above grocery store teas usually. In fact, they are often sold in Asian grocery stores.

Welcome back, btw!

[Janine]

I am so much in that I almost never order on line because I am spoiled by having many excellent tea shops I can visit. However I would order from Adagio; their customer service is excellent (that's beside this excellent discussion forum) and there are so many good recommendations from people here. Like today, Victoria mentioned black pearls... hmmmm, intriguing!

Today I tried a minor experiment. The puerh I drank yesterday only got two steeps. I left the leaves in a very wide mesh sieve so they dried out overnight and re-steeped today. Delicious and smooth and full. This tea can take many steeps; I hate throwing away a good amount that has done very little steeping. I wouldn't do this often, and I tend to do it only if I can dry the leaves overnight. But I have known and tasted fascinating experiments by others that went on for months...

[Janine]

Hey there, been awhile. I buy from O-cha and the Ito-en store.I loooooove them. I was strolling arounf China Town and wandered into the Ten Ren Shop and was not thrilled with the original service I got (a woman brushing me off). When I started asking educated questions a man came over and gave me info on temp and brewing time. It was my first chinese green and I'm not crazy about it. Could just be that I've been spoiled by shincha and gyo and am not open minded enough.

Clare, if you are in the NYC area I would recommend you try other stores to learn the taste of Chinese greens. Pop into Radiance Teahouse at 55th St. and 7th Ave. or make an appt. with Michael & Winnie at Tea Gallery to taste Chinese greens so you understand the taste. It is quite a different taste than Japanese greens. (BTW Tea Gallery also sells Japanese greens.) Radiance Teahouse does tea tasting (groups of teas at once, with great variety) 5 days a week now, I believe; they've become quite popular.

[leiche2]

70 in/30 out. I mostly buy from the same vendors, but am basically always willing to give others a go.

Thinking of having some houjicha with lunch. It goes with leftover cold pizza, right?

[chicagopotter]

Oh...the mailman just delivered my new Hagi!!!

Did someone say Hagi?

Kool. I have several newbies soaking at the moment!

Off original topic: Can I just wash it and start using right away or do I have to soak it first?

[brlarson]

Off original topic: Can I just wash it and start using right away or do I have to soak it first?

Check this out: http://zencha.net/how_to_care.php

Chip posted instructions for Hagi-care too but I can't locate it.

At a minimum, you should clean it with boiling water and then pour more boiling water into it to see if it leaks.

Congrats on your new Hagi piece. I'm not sure when mine will arrive.

[chicagopotter]

Check this out: http://zencha.net/how_to_care.php

Chip posted instructions for Hagi-care too but I can't locate it.

At a minimum, you should clean it with boiling water and then pour more boiling water into it to see if it leaks.

Congrats on your new Hagi piece. I'm not sure when mine will arrive.

Thanks for the link! Answered all my questions.

[Chip]

A good hot water soak of at least 4 hours is recommended.

I usually put then in a pot of hot water, then raise the temp to approaching boiling remove from heat and then allow to cool in the water on its own.

This is sufficient most of the time and should be for the SanSai.

It is important to allow a Hagi to dry before placing back into storage, at least several days, and for Oni-Hagi, up to a week, in order to allow the clay to dry thoroughly.

TD continues with Den's Kukicha.

[Intuit]

So do you folks soak your hagi cups and pots before each use, as the Zencha website advises?

Floating Leaves DongDing in my cup.

[Victoria]

Sometimes I do sometimes I don't. I'm usually in a hurry, so when I do ... even that is just rinsing and holding under the hot tap water. I never boil mine even in the conditioning phase. I'm too afraid I will somehow crack it. My tap water is pretty hot, I just put it in a mixing bowl and fill.

I have quite a few and in heavy rotation with the quick rinse method, I'm not seeing too much change. Light crackling.

In my cup currently - Iron Goddess King.

[brlarson]

So do you folks soak your hagi cups and pots before each use, as the Zencha website advises?

That's a good question. I fill mine with heated water before I use it, but that seem to be different from what they recommend.

[Chip]

I am a soaker for most Hagi. Some I simply fill with hot water. Most I will give a quick soak ... there is something soothing about the warm moist feel of a Hagi. It is part of the experience for me, anyway.

[JBaymore]

The last two polls sort of show that we are a conservative lot here: todays poll has 80% of the votes at 70 in comfort zone / 30 out or higher for in-comfort zone!

I'm at that 70/30 mark too.

best,

................john

[Intuit]

...which makes us really wonder about the ultra-conservative Chipster's claims of 50:50 in today's poll.

[Drax]

In my cup this morning Adagio Black Pearls ... arrrr.
I should probably break down and buy this instead of
working off samples, huh? Ayeeee.

Ooh, are these good? I bought these on a whim and I just got them yesterday along with some other stuff (though sadly not the 2009 sampler, grumble).