Thursday TeaDay 9/18/08 Group Tea Tastings?

[Proinsias]

Yeah I've done a few tastings in my time.

It's always nice to have a few friends to drag around who can appreciate the tea, this also means you can sound more far eloquent when writing up impressions as you can pass meatspace comments off as your own when shooting off tasting notes into cyberspace.

Drinking one of the best Darjeeling teas I've yet tasted courtesy of Salsero, stated brewing it just under 24hrs ago and the last brew should be ready soon. Yum.

Coincidently tonight I should get around to drinking a tasting sample that's been looking at me patiently for the past day or so wondering when I'll have the time to attend to it.

[Victoria]

Looking at my day, I feel like I'm drowning. It makes me want to just throw up my hands and go home. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the extra crap people are throwing at me right now.

Yeah, that's pretty much my workday everyday. Drowning in paperwork is my constant lament, as more and more is piled on. If you concentrate on getting a lot of the small jobs done and out of the way, you will feel like you have accomplished more and then it's easier to take on the big tasks. Or just stay after like I do, till I can see progress!

Today's cup at work: Cui Yu Oolong from Tea Spring

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[Cinnamon Kitty]

No group tastings for me yet. The closest that I have gotten is swapping tea with a friend and comparing notes, but that was it.

Auggy, I hope your day gets better!

Current tea for the day is White Peach. It goes well with watching the fluffy clouds in the sky. For once the weather in northern New York is absolutely gorgeous.

[olivierco]

Karigane gyokuro right now.

[leiche]

I've never been part of a group tasting, but it sounds interesting.

Assam Majulighur with breakfast, then a vanilla bean black from Mighty Leaf that reminded me how much I dislike vanilla flavored things. Couldn't taste it very well (still sick), but the smell was enough.

Very cold today (though the weather is warmish), need more tea. Maybe I'll go fiddle with my gaiwan and some oolong or another.

[Chip]

I've never been part of a group tasting, but it sounds interesting.

Assam Majulighur with breakfast, then a vanilla bean black from Mighty Leaf that reminded me how much I dislike vanilla flavored things. Couldn't taste it very well (still sick), but the smell was enough.

Vanilla flavorings really make me gag, even the thought of them. Especially either concentrated or the worst, artificial vanilla flavoring.

Group tastings, I have done a bunch and will definitely continue. I am a big advocate of group tastings. I currently conduct and/or participate in a few tasting programs.

One reason I used this topic today, because a tasting program for all TeaChatters is currently in the planning stages and very close to implimentation. I am really excited about it. PLEASE keep your eyes open for info very very soon.

Today, Adagio Keemun Concerto started the day.

Coincidentlally, my O-Cha version of Chiran Yutaka Midori arrived today!!! I will do some head to head tasting maybe this weekend. w@@t

[Pentox]

Today, Adagio Keemun Concerto started the day. Currently, a gift of another sample from Lupicia from the Hawaii store. It is their Chiran Yutaka Midori, supposedly a fukamushi, but I am not convinced totally.

Coincidentlally, my O-Cha version of Chiran Yutaka Midori arrived today!!! I will do some head to head tasting maybe this weekend. w@@t

The Lupicia Chiran doesn't seem like a fukamushi to me at all either. What gave you the idea that it's supposed to be a fuka? I didn't see that in their description of it.

The O-cha Chiran is most definitely a fuka. Personally I much more enjoyed the Lupicia than the o-cha because of this difference.

[Salsero]

I much more enjoyed the Lupicia than the o-cha because of this difference.

Pen, are you saying that you generally tend to prefer asamushi to fukamushi?

[Pentox]

I much more enjoyed the Lupicia than the o-cha because of this difference.

Pen, are you saying that you generally tend to prefer asamushi to fukamushi?

In general I do find that to be the case. In this specific case though the difference is that there is an unusual light flavor to be found in the Lupicia CYM, akin to the flavor of sweet potato as the description from the vendor suggests. The o-cha version doesn't claim to have such a flavor, but the light and delicate notes found in the Lupicia version feel masked by the rather distinctive aspects of a fuka. When I tried the O-cha the thought that it was a fuka were more prominent than it was a YM.

[auggy]

It makes me want to just throw up my hands and go home. I'm a bit overwhelmed with all the extra crap people are throwing at me right now.

Sounds like the story of my life as of late. You can persevere!

Gambatte! I'm slowly wading through my stuff (very slowly) so now I just want to hide under my desk.

Yeah, that's pretty much my workday everyday. Drowning in paperwork is my constant lament, as more and more is piled on. If you concentrate on getting a lot of the small jobs done and out of the way, you will feel like you have accomplished more and then it's easier to take on the big tasks. Or just stay after like I do, till I can see progress!

I admit, I do a lot of the little things (even that aren't as important) just to get them out of the way and help me feel more productive. But that whole staying late thing... yeah, I can't do that. And only part of it is because if I leave work any later than 4:15, it takes me 15 to 20 minutes longer to get home.

Auggy, I hope your day gets better!

Thanks! I've pretty much hit the point where I just don't care anymore. I just finished most of the stuff that I had on my to-do list yesterday. Now I have to finish one more thing and can work on today's to-do list. And a good bit of that consists of hunting down folks involved with our building construction to see about warranties. No fun!

On the plus side, we finally completed the bulletin redesign, so that is ready for prime time (well, Sunday).

[Salsero]

In this specific case though the difference is that there is an unusual light flavor to be found in the Lupicia CYM, akin to the flavor of sweet potato as the description from the vendor suggests. The o-cha version doesn't claim to have such a flavor, but the light and delicate notes found in the Lupicia version feel masked by the rather distinctive aspects of a fuka. When I tried the O-cha the thought that it was a fuka were more prominent than it was a YM.

Great insight! Is sweet potato supposed to be a common flavor of all YM varietals? or just that particular Lupicia offering? And I suppose the more general implication is that fukamushi processing in general tend to overwhelm certain characteristics of individual teas in favor of a fukamushi character? Mmmm, would that mean that more experienced drinkers would tend to gravitate to asamuchi processing in order to get more insight into the specific tea?

Or am I just over thinking the whole thing as usual? Just throw a towel over my cage.

[Chip]

I much more enjoyed the Lupicia than the o-cha because of this difference.

Pen, are you saying that you generally tend to prefer asamushi to fukamushi?

In general I do find that to be the case. In this specific case though the difference is that there is an unusual light flavor to be found in the Lupicia CYM, akin to the flavor of sweet potato as the description from the vendor suggests. The o-cha version doesn't claim to have such a flavor, but the light and delicate notes found in the Lupicia version feel masked by the rather distinctive aspects of a fuka. When I tried the O-cha the thought that it was a fuka were more prominent than it was a YM.

The paper that came with the Lupicia product describes the Chiran Yutaka Midori to be "deeply steamed." In addition the leaf certainly appears deep steamed, consisting of finer particles only.

Strangely, the brews are more the asamushi yellow and the taste is lighter as you say. I will try more leaf next time, having tried 5.25 grams per 6.8 ounces (.77 ratio) which is what I used for the original Yutaka Midori from O-Cha.

I just received the Chiran YM from O-Cha today and hope to try them side by side over the weekend. If what you say is true, I will likely enjoy the O-Cha version more since I like this rich full character (as found in the original O-Cha YM).

I might go really crazy and pull a small sample of O-Cha YM from cold storage and compare all 3, but I might not survive such an experiment, clearly likely to exceed my pleasure maximum.

[Pentox]

In this specific case though the difference is that there is an unusual light flavor to be found in the Lupicia CYM, akin to the flavor of sweet potato as the description from the vendor suggests. The o-cha version doesn't claim to have such a flavor, but the light and delicate notes found in the Lupicia version feel masked by the rather distinctive aspects of a fuka. When I tried the O-cha the thought that it was a fuka were more prominent than it was a YM.

Great insight! Is sweet potato supposed to be a common flavor of all YM varietals? or just that particular Lupicia offering? And I suppose the more general implication is that fukamushi processing in general tend to overwhelm certain characteristics of individual teas in favor of a fukamushi character? Mmmm, would that mean that more experienced drinkers would tend to gravitate to asamuchi processing in order to get more insight into the specific tea?

Or am I just over thinking the whole thing as usual? Just throw a towel over my cage.

The sweet potato flavor is something unique to that one particular offering from Lupicia. I had the Yakushima Yutakamidori from Lupicia recently and this tea had no traces of the sweet potato flavor of the Chiran Yutakamidori.

I wouldn't go so far as to say an asamuchi gives you more insight into a particular tea, but rather a different flavor. It is not that there is an easy comparison between the two either. Unless you have a vendor which is processing the same tea in two different ways, you won't know if there is a difference between the tea itself or the processing. The processing is intended to do what is best for the tea. The reason I made the comment in regards to the o-cha vs lupicia is that they are rather similar to each other, same town and varietal. But there are still going to be significant differences between the two and not just processing. Grower, harvest date, and all the rest of the line of usual suspects. But because they were so similar I was trying to note to see if I could find in the flavor the same aspect in the o-cha version that I found in the lupicia. But the aspect where I found the interesting flavor in the Lupicia was masked in the o-cha by what seems to be charachteristic flavor changes of a fuka. I don't attribute this as a general case of fukamushi, but rather my opinion of this particular instance. Now that Chip has both as well he could provide his thoughts on the matter as well once he's had a chance to sample.

[caligatia]

I haven't participated in anything official. My mom, sister and I try each other's teas at the tearoom, and last Friday I took a couple of different teas over to my sister's so we could all try them. It was fun, but the comments on the tea weren't anything more than "I like this" or "this is okay but not great".

Right now I'm drinking some black chai. I'm about to leave the house, so I'll take some blueberry-flavored iced tea with me. (I tend to stay thirsty, so I always take a drink with me when I go out...)

[Wosret]

I chose Other, because I've participated in a tea tasting, but it was not shipped to me. There are regular tea tastings at various tea shops around here, so there's no need for me to order the tea myself.