Tuesday TeaDay 3/31/09. Fave tea for March?

[danibob]

My favorite this month was matcha. I went through a whole tin from o-cha in about 3 weeks and ordered 2 more kinds from yuuki-cha. I also bought a hagi bowl for matcha. So it was a very matcha month.

Getting a sweet-tooth fix from some flavored ceylon. (caramel apple) Next up is.. well, matcha!

Happy Birthday Chip!

[Janine]

For Janine, not exactly new, but gave this Hagi guinome (small sake cup) by Yamane Seigan its trial run today. There is more under info/pics under the Hagi topic.

Chip, it's GORGEOUS! I'll run over to the hagi topic and check it out.

[olivierco]

Green: wakamatsu no mukashi matcha or Kanro gyokuro which I have been drinking as daily gyokuro for the last weeks.

Kanro gyokuro in a few minutes.

Hi Olivier. How do you brew your Ippodo gyokuro and sencha? Have you ever followed their brewing guidelines? or do you follow general best practices?

For Kanro and Ippoen gyokuro I use about 7g for 80-90ml, 90s for first steep, 5-10s for the second one and 10-15s for the third.

With Kaboku sencha I usually use about 4-4.5 g for 100 ml and 80s for first steep.

So I am close to their brewing guidelines, but I don't follow their "you need 10g of leaves even for a single serving" advice.


Golden Monkey King (Mariage frères) just after dinner.

Happy birthday Chip!

and sakura trees have just blossomed in my street.

[Pentox]

Hm favorite tea for this month is a hard choice. Probably ashikubo gold from Chado Tea House. (green)

Happy Bday Chipperino

[GT500Driver]

My favorite this month would probably be green. Since I got my yunomi and kyusu I've been enjoying Adagio's sencha overture, and have been wanting to try some higher quality japanese greens, I just don't have any more money what with all the wares I've been buying

Also, just dropped a lot of money on car parts because they had a free shipping special

I haven't been doing well with my money...

Also, I've been enjoying Adagio Dragonwell brewed in my new gaiwan. There's another tea that I'd like to try some of the more expensive grades of it.

Resteep of some Yunnan Jig today. Enjoyed it a lot, best brew of it I've made I believe. I'm really enjoying smaller brews, I spend more time with the tea, and I drink with no sugar most of the time, as opposed to how i normally sweeten most teas brewed western style... Interesting how that worked out.

Happy birthday Chip!

[Dreamer]

Hi All,

I had to pick black for this month...I've really enjoyed finding loose leaf Ceylon. I think I've had some virtually every morning this month. It is just the thing for a cold morning. Many afternoons I enjoyed a 2nd pot (2nd steep).

Of course, I still crave some Japanese green every day!

Great picture Sal and Chip, thanks for letting us share your beautiful "virtual" birthday cake!! Hope you've had a great birthday!

Live well,
Dreamer

[Dreamer]

Oops, I was so distracted by that beautiful cake, I forgot to share what's in my cup today

This morning...Ceylon with my son...a few stolen moments with a 17 year-old over tea and breakfast in the morning are so precious...he, of course, doesn't really appreciate it now, but I know that we are building sweet memories!

I took a 2nd steep in my travel mug to work...I mixed that with Assam that my tea buddy made...mmmm, that was awesome with a bit of half-n-half and stevia. This morning, here, was very darkly cloudy and cold, so dark sweet tea seemed just the thing.

This afternoon the sun has popped out and I'm enjoying Den's Sakura Sencha...it goes well with this sunny breezy spring afternoon.

Be well,
Dreamer

[daughteroftheKing]

White Darjeeling seems to be the tea I keep coming back to this month.
In my cup so far today, though: Chai for breakfast then Blossoms of Spring at work. Mid-afternoon here, so I think a fresh cup of something fully caffeinated is in order.
All those flowers in bloom already? Snow is covering my tulip leaves and some trees have the beginnings of tiny buds. Waiting in hope .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHIP!

[Drax]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHIP!!

誕生日おめてどう！！

Hope you've been having a great day.

I cracked open a 2007 Yongpinhao Yi Wu that I had ordered a month or so ago. For some reason, I thought I had already sampled this one, but I had not...

I have a question about it, but that will go into the pu-erh thread. . . . . . . .

[Salsero]

Best wishes on your special day, Chip!

[shogun89]

My fav for this month is an oolong. I just got a bag (4 oz.) of TKY for $7 at Wegmans. I then remembered how good it was as I had not had it for a year. But it is good quality stuff for the price!

[kymidwife]

If you'd asked me one day ago... I'd have said green... its been a fun month with matcha, new senchas, and the sakura sencha. It's also been a busy month for flavored blacks as I get the contents of the Signature Blends Box Pass ready for travel.

But... today, I got something that settled my favorite tea. My first 2009 First Flush Darjeelings from Tea Emporium!!!! The Puttabong has been in my cup all afternoon and will remain there with refills until I go to bed. Reminds me of why I fell in love with Darjeeling... floral, sweet, lots of umami which translates to an almost "meaty" taste... so freakin delicious. If this is going to be a bad year for Darjeelings, I may not survive the ecstasy of a good year. Can't wait to try the other 3 teas... one is Margaret's Hope FF and also 2 white darjeelings.

So, I answered black, but I violently object to FF Darjeeling being put in the black category... the leaves are green! The taste is more oolong! Where oh where does darjeeling belong? It's like a square peg in a round hole... it doesn't fit "black" at all.

Sarah

[kymidwife]

Happy Birthday Chip! <hugggs>



No Hagi in the box, sorry! Someone already bought it all!

[entropyembrace]

I think my fav this month has been Jasmine pearls so I voted green...though there's some debate going on elsewhere in the forum as to if it's really an oolong.

[Cinnamon Kitty]

Green for me, yet again. I think it is currently a toss up between Den's Sakura Sencha and the Gyokuro sample from Yuuki-Cha that I received in a tea swap with Gingko.

How did you brew this gyokuro, everytime I brewed it like gyokuro, I felt like I was doing something wrong?

Trying to think what I want next ...

130*F water, might have been a tad bit cooler, about 1 tsp of leaf plus a tad more in a 5oz kyusu for 90 seconds, not counting pour. Kyusu was preheated, so was my tea cup. The tea turned out very mellow and grassy with a bit of astringency. It was definitely in a class above sencha, but I think that after reading some of the tasting notes from other people on gyokuro, this one was a little bit on the mild side compared to other ones, probably from being organic. If I used more leaf, it probably would have been more potent, but I was given enough that I could have two sessions of it if I split it just right. I will probably end up getting a bag of it to experiment with along with what ever I decide to order from Yuuki-cha for shincha.

Today was rather exciting in terms of other teas that I enjoyed. I received the awesome New to Puerh set from Brandon and was having a good time playing with the little Yixing pot. I also tried one of the samples that was sent with it. I believe it was labeled "1990s Mystery Tuocha." It was very earthy, almost reminding me of mushrooms or a red wine. It was definitely better than the other puerh that I have sampled (Mini Bricks of some sort), but still slightly odd.

Currently in my cup is some Big Red Robe.