Tuesday TeaDay 9/5/10 Brewing style influence?

[entropyembrace]

Starting teaday with Keemun...still not feeling well so will be drinking it with honey though I normally dislike additives.

[Chip]

Neo Asian?

Newer or more modern versus traditional.

[Proinsias]

ah, I thought you were talking about this guy:

[Chip]

Starting teaday with Keemun...still not feeling well so will be drinking it with honey though I normally dislike additives.

Get back to Japanese greens! Stay the course, and in 2-3 weeks you will be miraculously healed!

A prelim tasting of Fuji SP from Zencha currently, really nice. I may prefer this to the more costly the Ultimate.

[Chip]

ah, I thought you were talking about this guy:

No, more like this ... http://yumirestaurant.com/ ;P

[entropyembrace]

Starting teaday with Keemun...still not feeling well so will be drinking it with honey though I normally dislike additives.

Get back to Japanese greens! Stay the course, and in 2-3 weeks you will be miraculously healed!

A prelim tasting of Fuji SP from Zencha currently, really nice. I may prefer this to the more costly the Ultimate.

I don´t really like how they taste with honey...but I will have some matcha at least at some point today

[laura99]

I went with Neo Asian. With Japanese greens and the occasional Matcha, I use traditional Asian techniques, but minus any ceremony. For other teas, I use an IngenuiTEA (or something very similar) in a mostly western style. Well except at work, I will admit to brewing sencha in an IngenuiTEA, but using the same leaf/water ratios as in a kyusu. I already have too much tea ware at work!

The experimenting with Pu-erh lately has got me using a Gawain though.

Tea for today was all Shu. Finished off a sampling from yesterday of 2009 Norbu Lao Cha Tou, and then a sample of 2008 Menghai '7572'. I think the Lao Cha Tou was the winner of these two, but still need more sampling.

[tortoise]

I am a post-modern/futurist tea brewer. I began my journey with representations of teaware instead of the teaware itself. Now, I simply brew the tea directly in my mouth to avoid having to clean up. There is a traditional gong fu element to this as I still prefer a large leaf to water ratio and do many infusions in one sitting. I can almost do it without choking now, but it does take practice.

Fukamushicha from O-Cha this afternoon. Deep steamed sencha can get messy using my method. I'll be sure to floss afterwards.

[LauraW]

Modern? Predominantly. Especially with how much I use an infuser (darn you work and my being too lazy (and cheap) to have a full set of tea-things at work), and a IngenuiTea (yea, I'm lazy at home sometimes too).

Ok, so my style's really more "Other:" Lazy.

Snowbud this morning at work, no tea this afternoon. Headed downstairs at present to finish dinner and start some more tea though, otherwise I'm not sure I'll make it through the evening with my eyes open.

[Mr. Usaji]

I might be in the minority, but I don't really like the idea of drinking tea being a "ceremony." I don't think it should involve following rules, or imitating someone else's culture (as if someone's else way of drinking tea were more authentic than yours). Whatever way works for you is the right way.

I came across a great article a while ago about how gong fu cha is only a few decades old: it was invented in the 1970s in Taipei, in a conscious attempt to create something that seemed traditional even though it was new.

Anyway, today's tea was Den's shin-ryoku sencha (forgot about this one; have to finish it up!), some hojicha, and Essence of Tea Bangwai. My taste buds were not working so well today, so I didn't record anything about the latter.

[Skippyandjif]

I picked "other" because mine is very eclectic with a good helping of nerdiness! (Because my "tea ceremony" usually includes either comics, anime/manga, homework, or all of the above. )

Rose congou this afternoon. Currently drinking a chrysanthemum tisane.

[tortoise]

I might be in the minority, but I don't really like the idea of drinking tea being a "ceremony." I don't think it should involve following rules, or imitating someone else's culture (as if someone's else way of drinking tea were more authentic than yours). Whatever way works for you is the right way.

nice!

[the_economist]

I came across a great article a while ago about how gong fu cha is only a few decades old: it was invented in the 1970s in Taipei, in a conscious attempt to create something that seemed traditional even though it was new.

could u reference the article? i don't think this is quite true, unless you're referring specifically to the taiwanese tea ceremony. for sure the chaozhou (teochew) tea ceremony has been around since the early qing.

but i agree that it shouldn't be about being 'authentic' for the sake of being 'authentic'. the true goal is always how to best extract tea flavours.

personally, i use the ingenuitea for English teas, traditional asian for chinese teas, and casual japanese tea brewing for matcha. I try to be more formal when i'm entertaining guests. I.e., my full gaiwan + tea boat set for chinese teas. i have no clue how to perform chanoyu and i thankfully have never hosted an english tea party.

for traditional chaozhou style, the formal and informal are not really different at all. no extra tools (unlike the taiwanese version), no aroma cups, nothing except the teaboat/tray, gaiwan/pot, and cups.

i like this statement: "The tea set used by Chaozhou people is all basically the same. The difference lies in the quality of the tea set which is finer or coarser in accord with the means of the householder." This is the foundation of the saying "Enjoyed alike by gentleman and commoner."

[debunix]

Neo-asian, I suppose, since my tea is from China and Japan and Korea, and I brew it in vessels made in Japan and China, ranging from simple gaiwans, kyusus and clay pots to modern glass pots and plastic kamjove devices, but I brew tea to drink and enjoy it, with very little ceremony.

Today, unceremoniously, a thermos of Huang Jin Gui oolong from Norbu, which unfortunately ran out before the paperwork was done. Now debating the next step--herbal tea & hope I get done with the last paperwork before I fall asleep, or some nice puerh, green or white tea but risking delayed sleep?

[Seeker]

ah, I thought you were talking about this guy:

ZOMG!!!


ps - I apologize for confusion, but I wasn't actually asking about meaning, more making a comment on the audacity of my deigning to identify my tea play with such a high falutant term such as Neo-Asian.