Friday TeaDay 2/20/09 Casual or formal approach?

[trent]

Thanks to Cinnabar Red and Steve for the sample of this aged Danny Boy.

Salsero, what do you think of the dan cong? It's a little hard to brew, but it's one of my favorites from houde. When I brew it, I usually fill a thin yixing 1/2 way with leaves, then do short infusions. I think Guang's statement best describes it:

Extra lingering capacity! This is a tea that you can tune to be like a sweet-heart with very charming and soothing aroma, or tune to a robust energy drink.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

I tend to be very easy going. I don't have a scale and prefer my tea scoop. I only measure temperature for the first steep of Japanese greens. I do like my timer though, simply so I don't get distracted while I brew a cup of tea. I also love my zoji, which I suppose makes things a bit more precise.

Currently in my cup is hot mulled cider. It's not tea, but it is still awesome.

[Victoria]

Currently in my cup is hot mulled cider. It's not tea, but it is still awesome.

Mmmmmm love hot mulled cider. When I was visitig my friend in Binghamton we went to The Cider House and bought it fresh, and it was delish!! Great donuts too.

.

[ErikaM]

Middle of the road for me. I do use a timer & scale, but that's because I'm new at this and don't trust myself to have decent results otherwise. I'm pretty sloppy about teaware... I have decent teaware for brewing, but after that my tea often ends up in a heavy coffee mug, which is a little sturdier for me to have sitting right next to the computer. (I have fears of knocking over a gaiwan or teacup and frying my keyboard... I've done that once already with a can of Diet Coke.)

Currently drinking Shi Feng Long Jing.

[auggy]

Keemun is lower than your typical breakfast teas in caffeine, that's why it's sweeter and doesn't need buffering to cut the acidity - once your palate is acclimated to the difference. Whole different ballgame than PG Tips.

Your Hub is used to a hearty coffee or breakfast tea early in the morning. Probably best to serve him a hearty breakfast blend, with milk and sugar, and keep the delicate Keemun for later in the day, when his tastebuds are better attuned.

No actually he says he finds the Keemun too harsh and bitter and no longer wants to drink it. Since I make tea for both of us in the morning, this means that I haven't been getting any Keemun even though I like it. This morning I said to heck with it, I wanted Keemun. I offered to make him PG Tips, but he insisted he wanted loose and asked me to put sugar and milk in it.

I've threatened on more than one occasion to limit his tea to just PG Tips since our tastes do not match.

[Intuit]

I sincerely doubt you're stewing the Keemun. He might object to the unfamiliar, but characteristic smoky topnote of some Keemuns ...milk would absorb it, yielding a bland brew.

I wouldn't offer it to him anymore - its wasted on him.

Tell him you've run out. Hide it.

[Chip]

In my not-so-humble-opinion, fussy is not formal. Classics on tea don't talk about painstakingly worrying about details, but about practice. And how can painstaking lead to good relations with the tea or with others. No, I vote no. Fussy and painstaking is not what formality is about, at all. Being in the moment does not mean fussy, worrying, and all the rest of it. Think of good ballet or dance... the greatest practice by the greatest artist makes it look like anybody can do it, like you could do it. okay, okay...end of lecture.

Like I said yesterday, put on your TeaThinking caps for today's question Interestingly, the words were all taken from a thesaurus. Interesting points.

Currently Kabuse from Yuuki-Cha, a very good cup today. It is quite different.

[Dreamer]

Fun poll question!
I picked the most laid back casual answer.
I think of a "formal" event as an event where one wrong move elicits gasps from the attendees....that is NOT how I run my tea "ceremonies"!!! I am the only attendee at my ceremonies anyway, so I only need please myself...when I make tea, I want the process to be a nice casual vacation moment!

However, using attractive equipment that suits the tea, using pleasant cups, and doing some measurements (esp. with new tea) and timing all make that little vacation moment even nicer!

Happy Friday,
Dreamer

[GT500Driver]

Teaday has changed pace quickly for me... I started with a very large brew of Golden Monkey with a 3 minute steep time, followed later with a smaller brew with a 3:45 steep time.

Went to my guitar practice, which was very relaxing and inspiring. Got home, now working on my first brew of Adagio Oolong #8. Boiling water, 30 second steep time after a 30 second rinse. It's good, the smell is familiar to me, but if I've had a tea like this before, I don't remember it having even this much flavor. I've heard this isn't the most interesting of Oolongs, or the most flavorful, so we'll see how this goes. I'll talk later about how my next few steeps go.

Oops, guess I'm being a lot more formal now

[Pentox]

No actually he says he finds the Keemun too harsh and bitter and no longer wants to drink it. Since I make tea for both of us in the morning, this means that I haven't been getting any Keemun even though I like it. This morning I said to heck with it, I wanted Keemun. I offered to make him PG Tips, but he insisted he wanted loose and asked me to put sugar and milk in it.

I've threatened on more than one occasion to limit his tea to just PG Tips since our tastes do not match.

LOL i'd just alter how his Keemun is made. Put one leaf in his cup and luke warm water. No bitterness or harshness then!

[TaiPing Hou Kui]

Im not really sure how I would classify myself......I really only brew Japanese Greens daily and my main squeezes are Sencha Karigane, Sencha, and Gyokuro.....I have weighed out my teas to the precise grams that I like and I have then seen how this looks in my sakura bark tea scoop....after doing this many times you kind of get a feel for and and just "know" when its right....same with water......there is a semi-visible clay streak in my yuzamashi and thats where I know to fill my water up to........how do you classify that??? Anyway, I am currently about to ice brew some Karigane and finish up making dinner!
*On a side note....I have not been around for the last few days due to some intense geology stuff....we are in the process of presenting some new research on sediment transport in a local river and it has taken up an huge amount of time over the last couple of days....it was a success and its the weekend and time for some serious teadays.

-Nick

[Sydney]

Well, no matter how you define "formal" I guess I'm fairly formal.

I use the doohickeys and such, but I also practice forms in a way that's analogous to the forms we practice in the zendo. I make my matcha in a manner that's pretty predictable, which differs from the predictable way I make my fukamushi, which differs from the predictable manner in which I make my sheng.....

There's a certain ritual to it all, culminating in a cup of tea. And, to a greater or lesser degree, an exercise in mindfulness.

[Salsero]

presenting some new research on sediment transport in a local river and it has taken up an huge amount of time over the last couple of days

Very cool sounding science stuff.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Currently in my cup is hot mulled cider. It's not tea, but it is still awesome.

Mmmmmm love hot mulled cider. When I was visitig my friend in Binghamton we went to The Cider House and bought it fresh, and it was delish!! Great donuts too.

.

We learned that the local apple orchard was still selling cider and would be open until mid-March. Hot mulled cider really hits the spot at this time of year.

[murrius]

I'm precise with teas that are unforgiving (like Japanese greens and matcha) but I consider my approach to tea to be very casual.

Both this morning and this evening I had organic sencha.