Friday TeaDay 3/18/11 They're heeeeeere, are you?

[Chip]

Good TeaDay good TeaFriends! We hope you will drop in and share what is in your cup throughout the day.

Yesterday we celebrated St. Patty's Day. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's GREEN day.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. 2011 harvest teas have already begun to surface from vendors such as TeaSpring and Jing (China). Will you try a 2011 ultra early harvest tea ... or have you with previous harvests? Please share including your impressions of such teas.

We are looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with ... everyone. Bottoms up.

[ChinesePottery]

I still need to wait 2 days, but for Sunday I hope to get my hands on tea as fresh as it gets.

[Tadpole]

I generally don't care for the super early stuff like Chinese greens. Funny because I used to really dig Dragonwells. Now moving on to sencha. Having said that, I won't turn down a sample tasting cup of any new teas from Red Blossom Tea Co. If something really stands out, I would buy a few ounces--green, oolong, black, white, puerh, anything!

Some new white teas are supposed to be available soon, though, right? I may be interested in those.

Just got back from work. Perhaps a relaxing shower (grocery store work makes me a stinky Tadpole), then a mini glass teapot of 2010 Silver Needle. I'm thinking this late in the evening, some sliced apples and bananas are good enough.

[Trey Winston]

I have and I will. Silver Needle straight from the bush... drool...

No tea so far today, but it looks like there will be some SN later on.

[ChinesePottery]

I still need to wait 2 days, but for Sunday I hope to get my hands on tea as fresh as it gets.

now it looks like I'll have to wait more like 4 days as bad weather delayed the yang xian xue ya harvest here a little.

[ChinesePottery]

I still need to wait 2 days, but for Sunday I hope to get my hands on tea as fresh as it gets.

now it looks like I'll have to wait more like 4 days as bad weather delayed the yang xian xue ya harvest here a little.

Thinking about it, I should probably give a word of warning. Since this years weather conditions delayed the new tea harvest a bit, there is a considerable amount of "fake tea" on the market. Make sure you can trust your vendor when buying chinese greens as some try to pass on last years autumn tea as the new 2011 spring harvest.

Here a local newspaper article with the same warning

newspaper.jpg (96.11 KiB) Viewed 1425 times

[Chasm]

I'd be delighted to have ultra-early harvest silver needle or dragonwell of decent quality, if I could be sure that's what I was getting. I don't currently have the kind of contacts to achieve that, so I'll leave it for if and when I ever do.

[dokpm0]

Ignorance can be bliss. I'm still trying to figure out which teas I like. I don't need the added complexity of figuring out which harvests I like.

Is it primarily green tea fans that get excited about the new harvests? I've found very few green teas that I like. I kinda liked a gunpowder that came with Adagio's green tea sampler. I've sampled several other green teas but most have been way too lite for my taste. My tastes seem to lean towards Chinese blacks and Pu-Erhs.

It's about time to add something different to my tea collection at work. I'm once again starting the day with a Lapsang Souchong. I should have an order arrive tomorrow with a tin of Russian Caravan plus a few samples - a Pu-Erh and a couple of Earl Greys.

[Chasm]

I think the excitement over getting early harvest new tea as fast as possible is mostly about the green to white end of the spectrum.

I've got the opposite palate to you -- the teas you like tend to feel like a violent assault on my senses, but I perceive a lot of enjoyable flavors in teas that others would just call slightly colored water.

If you like tea with a punch to it and want to settle whether you might have any future interest in greens, get Chip to recommend you a fukamushi sencha. Some of those pack such a wallop I'm not sure how to cope with them. O-Cha's Yutaka Midori might be a good candidate -- I had trouble the one time I tried it and I don't think I ever got the brewing right for my tastes -- it stayed too overpowering for me.

Also, matcha can be a powerhouse drink in terms of flavor. I tend to drink mine more diluted than is usual.

[gingkoseto]

Chose yes because I've already had some since a month ago I enjoy gifting new green tea to a few friends at this time of the year and making them adore me

[brlarson]

I think my 2011 greens will all be Japanese. I have two preorders in already for shincha. As I mentioned before I am planning to order modest amounts from as many good vendors as I can.

Jing's traditional shui xian so far this morning. Perhaps some shi feng from Hojo in early afternoon -- I still have 190 grams of Chinese greens from 2010 that I need to work down.

[LauraW]

I have not, but I'm sure I will eventually. Once the TeaBudget opens up a bit more..

No tea today at work, finished the last of the Fujian on Wednesday and emptied my work container of Peach Flambee blend, and completely forgot to take more with me to work.

[Chip]

I generally had not been impressed with the super early harvest teas such as ones recently released by TeaSpring nor the Hashiri shinchas. I had felt that they were just produced to be first and often NOT the optimum timing for harvest. Last year's Hashiri from Den's however was outstanding!

So, I might consider the hashiri this year, but will otherwise likely wait for optimum harvests for Chinese and Japanese greens.

Began the TD on Friday with Kaboku from Ippodo with the Mrs. Next up, Musashi from O-Cha.

[olivierco]

Began the TD on Friday with Kaboku

Nice daily sencha isn't it?

[putibungsu]

Began the TD on Friday with Kaboku

Nice daily sencha isn't it?

+1
Ippodo's Kaboku was my introduction to "real" sencha. I picked Kaboku and Gyo Kanro because both had the nicest aroma amongst several samples available at their store in Kyoto at that time.