Tea Tasting

[Chip]

Hey Space, er Alex...how is the black Japanese coming along. If Space wants to maintain the list, that is great.

I hope we continue this small group thing. Let's not let it fade away.

My recent revelation...I am thinking I would like to offer a Shincha!!! So, I would need to be April or even May. If I am needed for March, that is okay too, but I prefer to offer a Shincha. That is my new first preference!!! So, March April, or May is ok.

If I do April, it would likely be a Shizuoka shincha, May could be shincha from any prefecture...

I would suggest one rule for our group, no flavors.

So...let's step up and taste tea and share the experience with each other!!!

January: Alex, Japanese Black
February: Salsero, ?
March ?
April ?
May: Chip, Japanese shincha
June
July: Mary, ?
August
September
October
November
December...am I being too optimistic????

[Space Samurai]

Chip, thanks for asking.

The tea will arrive from UPS on Monday. My UPS guy always comes late, after 6 pm, so I wont have the tea in the post till Tuesday. I'm hoping at least some of you will have it by Friday or Saturday.

There is still one spot open for anyone interested (Adagio employees need not be shy), but if there are no takers, Ed has begrudgingly voluntered.

[Wesli]

Sounds great all around.

And Chip, Doesn't a... Kago Shincha sound good?

[Chip]

You know it Fuka

Kago shincha is tough to get...aside from Yutaka Midori, my current resources are nil for Kago Shincha. I also have one all Japanese language site that is possible.

I might go for a special limited edition shincha...but I am not saying any more yet.

[Salsero]

I would like to take February, but I don't know what tea(s) to send.

This 2003 Keyixing Yiwu Pu-erh Tea Cake from the puerh shop seems like a selection that all our group (including the slant-eyed green drinkers) would probably enjoy, but so many of us already have it!

I have Harney's Golden Mudan that Jamie reviewed in her Tea on Tap blog a couple weeks ago. It also seems like a good choice since it has a likeable "biscuits with butter and honey" taste as she calls it, that most of us would probably like.

I would be happy to order about anything, if someone has a suggestion, but it should probably be available in the US or Canada for delivery by February.

Maybe Jason could suggest an adolscent sheng, or a shu or a good quality hei cha that might be available Stateside.

I'm not knowledgeable enough about the Japanese teas to come up with something other than what most of you have already tasted. I like Assams and DJs but haven't found anything that I am all that confident about. I'd like to try some really good Ceylons or Nilgiris--since I have almost no experience in that area--but I don't know where or what I could order with any degree of confidence that it was a good example!

Does anyone have any suggestions? After typing through these thoughts, I'm leaning toward the idea of something from subcontinental south Asia -- India, Nepal, Ceylon, as most us don't drink such things very often, maybe from TeaSource, The Simple Leaf, or SpecialTeas.

[Chip]

I think it can as much an adventure for you as it is for us. Let's face it, you will not please everyone with your choice, that is a given. So, yes, try to make it kind of unique...

Just a thought since you want February, Alex is doing a black this month, I would try to keep it mixed up...perhaps another rule, lol. No successive months of the same type of tea. That does not have to be cast in stone, just a consideration when making a selection for your month.

Any thoughts from anybody else???

[Mary R]

I guess the variation isn't a bad idea, but I'd be more inclined to make it a guideline rather than a rule. If someone has their wee heart set on sending an oolong they love, but an oolong was sent the month before, they shouldn't have to go crazy planning for something else. But that's just my two cents.

Can I have July?

[Chip]

Looks to me like July is wide open...Any idea what you will be passing along (white peppermint oolong???), Mary? No biggy, like you said, a guideline about the successive months.

Alex, I took the liberty to put Mary and Sal on the schedule a few posts back, OK? Until we have some other method of showing who has what...

Anybody else want to commit to a month? HINT, HINT!!! Post here. At the top of the page is what is already taken.

[Mary R]

Yes. White Peppermint Oolong and Tibetan Tea Brick.

Actually, I was going to try and track something down from some locale we've never thought of trying. Like Lenkoran. Which is in Azerbaijan. Problem is, that's really freakin' hard. If I can't get it to pan, then I don't know what I'll send...but I have 6 months to figure it out.

Whatever I do send, I might just include some Tibetan or Mongolian stuff with it. I've joked about it so often that I should probably follow through.

[Space Samurai]

Even if we don't get every month filled, I still think it's awesome that this thing is taking shape.

[Space Samurai]

I just thought about addresses.

Is there a better way to keep track of that information, so the same people don't have to email or pm it to someone every month?

Shoult it be like SS, where one person keeps track of all that information and dispenses it to whoever is hosting that month? If so, I'd be happy to, as I already have seven of them--Mary is another logical choice since she has all the SS addys, but I don't want to keep dumping everything on the Mods.

[brandon]

I could host it on my web server with password only access if everyone is comfortable with that. I would have said that I was ok with posting them out in the forum here, but with the flood of nominees I am not sure I would *continue* to inherently have some bond and trust with all the members, or want it to be out here for eternity.

[Mary R]

I do have all the SS addys...as well as the internet contact info for several others in the Tea World. They're all nicely organized in my address book as "Tea Nerds." I'd be happy to keep maintaining the list and sending out the info as needed if that's what everyone would like. It takes next to no time now that I've got them, and I for one don't feel entirely comfortable posting my contact info online. (I had a facebook stalker that got kind of scary a while back...so now I'm uber-cautious.)

[Space Samurai]

It's here.



It's kind of exciting to be the first to try something new.

[Chip]

Jeez, Space, great pic as usual!!!!! Your pics are always so well composed, balanced and have great content. Always eye candy.

I will be trying this black Japanese tea soon. I look forward to the experience.