Tuesday TeaDay 2/17/09 Rate your personal TeaDays?

[leiche]

A little better, certainly. I've learned from my mistakes.

So far today, tea has been pretty dismal because of the water quality/temperature, rather than the tea itself. Oh, the joys of traveling and hot water dispensers set up next to the coffee.

[ErikaM]

Definitely better. I didn't start drinking tea until last November, and it took the first couple months to get a feel for what I like. I started off thinking I liked oolongs, then discovered greens & whites and ended up giving away most of my oolongs to a friend.

This year I'm having loads of fun trying some of the less readily available teas, and also developing a must-keep-on-hand list of favorites.

[Nexius8510]

Definitely way better for me personally. Last year, tea was fairly new for me and ever since I came here I've been learning so many new things and have loved trying and experimenting different things. I used to really only enjoy flavored teas but, this place has definitely converted me. I've learned a ton about the natural flavors and glory of tea and I'm very excited to see where this year takes me! I plan on ordering my first pu erh samples very shortly

No tea yet for me today, but I plan to make some Yunnan Jig here in a minute!

[snafu]

About the same for me - lots of good tea so far and good friends to share it with.

Hopefully things stay that way or get better - starting to look forward to shincha season and the spring oolongs.

[olivierco]

Kaboku sencha right now.

[Pentox]

So far it's been about the same for me. Nothing really new for me this year so far.

This morning Sencha Uji 2008 from Lupicia, almost done with this one.

[murrius]

So far, definitely better since I have learned how to use a gaiwan properly and, thanks to Gingko, have cracked the secrets of Moa Feng brewing.

Drinking Mao Feng right now in fact. Organic sencha earlier.

[Chip]

I would have to say about the same. By now I would hope that I know pretty much what I like and don't like. It seems the vast majority of my TeaDays are "great" and it has been this way for some time.

Yutaka Midori from O-Cha to start this TeaDay, another great start I would say. SweeTea seemed to agree, while TEAh was pretty oblivious to tea happenings.

A new part of my routine is to have a big pot of homemade genmai next and handy throughout the day. Just finished a nice cup of Fujian Baroque from Adagio.

[brlarson]

I've been drinking O-Cha's yutaka midori since late morning too and it is delicious. It has a gentle sweetness and less flesh than than the miyabe and it has lovely, lingering finish. I just finished my third pot and this last infusion was still very rich and delicious. I was expecting it Wow! me, but instead it is a quiet and comfortable pleasure.

My first steep used 5 grams in an 8oz kyusu for 90 seconds at 170F. Second and third steeps lasted 60 seconds. Let me know if you have better advice.

[Victoria]

In my cup at work:
Tea Habitat -
'08 Da Wu Ye - Big Dark Leaf
Just perfection.

[TeaCompulsion]

I wasn't drinking tea this time last year, so I guess "definitely better".

Mmmmsilverneedle.

[Dreamer]

I'm guessing about the same...last year was awesome, exploring, finding, tasting, experimenting and I think this year will be more of the same!

Intuit mention the Ceylon supply drying up. I LOVE my Ceylon Sonata sample from Adagio, and I was also sad to see that there isn't any more...I had not looked around for another supplier. Another reason to be glad that spring is just around the corner!!!

About this time last year I drank my first matcha...liked it and started to search for a reliable source...discovered more Japanese green tea. My first ever sencha was O-cha Yutaka Midori (sincha actually). It was oh so good...had I known how good it was and how much I was going to enjoy it, I would have ordered more...by the time I figured it out it was all gone

This morning before heading to work I enjoyed a quick bowl of O-cha Kiri no Mori matcha...beautiful, fast, delicious, and so uplifting. It foamed up so nicely and looked so beautiful in my favorite Hagi bowl that I grabbed the camera and took a few pictures.

At work my tea buddy brewed up a pot of Golden Monkey from my Adagio sample. (Look away if you're a tea-prep purist) She brews our tea in a small (24 oz) coffee maker...she puts about 3 teaspoons in a teapot sized teabag, pops that into the pot and sends the water thru the coffee maker. When I made Golden Monkey here at home, I complained that I couldn't find the flavor...Well let me tell you, she found the flavor! It was so strong it could peel paint! I drank a bit with milk and stevia, topped my cup off with hot water and then it was a nice cup of wake-me-up tea!

I'm thinking more matcha is on tap for the afternoon and maybe some green rooibos later in the evening.

Peace,
Dreamer

[Geekgirl]

blugh. some days better some days worse, so it's probably a wash. Today I didn't get any tea until just now. (1:00 pm) And I probably won't have time for more either. I also haven't done any photos yet today, and in fact forgot my camera at home on my desk. I have 4 clients back-to-back with no break (not sure why I did that,) and am feeling just a little bit disgruntled over my biz bookkeeping at the moment. ALL of this is my own d*mn fault, as I have control over my schedule, my books although maybe not my bad memory.



Need tea. and chocolate.

[silvermage2000]

Better I would say. Today I had a cup of tevanas mango green which sadly hardly has any mango taste. And now recently I have been drinking a cup of adagios valentines tea which Is good.

[brad4419]

This year was much better than last year because this is the first year I get to drink loose leaf tea everyday! Im still trying to get the bitter teabag taste out of my mouth from last year. I can't wait to get some samples from adagio this spring.

Green Chai in my cup today