Thursday TeaDay 1/08/09 "AromaTeaTherapy?"

[Chip]

Good TeaDay everyone! Please share what is in your cup today.

Yesterday responders indicated a wide range of TeaPeeves. Overbrewing received the most votes. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Yesterday on TeaChat the subject of "heated" dry leaf aroma was discussed. So I wondered, do you ever smell the aroma of dry leaf as it warms in a preheated teapot/brewing vessel, BEFORE you pour the hot water over the leaves? Is it part of your brewing ritual? Is this a new concept for you? Please share.

I am looking forward to sharing TeaDay with everyone.

[Salsero]

Occasionally for me, but I never find the heady perfume Chip describes. Olfactorily challenged, I suppose. *Sigh*

Most Shui Xian is from the Wuyi Mountain area, but some comes from the same Feng Huang Mountains in Chaozhou district famous for Dan Cong. It's finished quite differently there.

[chamekke]

Pretty much always. I love the fragrance of leaf tea, esp. when it's sitting in a warmed cup waiting for the hot water waiting to hit it.

Who am I kidding... I'll even huff it straight from the container.

Or when a half-ladleful of water JUST begins hitting the matcha in the teabowl ... the aroma that rises up is heavenly.

(Incidentally, I bought a chakouro recently but haven't tried heating any tea in it yet. A chakouro is a type of fragrancer - literally, tea-furnace or tea-burner - in which you warm tea leaves to scent the room. It's a lot like one of those little doodads used to heat essential oils, except that the chakouro is always unglazed.)

[omegapd]

No, never in the pot. But beforehand, in whatever tin or package it comes in, all the time.

EW

[bcos]

Always do, there's something about the heat both magnifies and enhances the dry tea smell that I already love. My favorite smell is from Wuyi Oolongs, there's something about that smell that is just made for preheated teaware.

Tonight was some, well, Wuyi Oolong. Yes, I did smell it after preheating .

[Trey Winston]

beforehand, in whatever tin or package it comes in, all the time.

+1. But usually just black and oolong teas. Whites don't usually have that strong an aroma when dry.

[bi lew chun]

Yes, definitely, every time.

Yesterday, inhaling heated Tea Masters' Lily Flower Baozhong revealed a pure sugar rush of mango lassi and peach ice cream. It was incredibly satisfying even though the tea didn't turn out so great.

Today, the scent of Hou De's 2008 Winter Dong Ding nearly blew my mind: chocolate, evergreen and flowers.

[Drax]

Yes, I smell the dry tea every time, but I wouldn't echo the same fervency that I do it because I LOVE the smell. I do it because I want to understand the tea as best I can as we make our journey together. I also smell the leaves once they've been brewed. Even after 10+ steepings.

This will probably freak some people out, but due to an extremely busy day yesterday, I was only able to get one cup out of the 2008 Yong Pin Hao Yi Wu pu-erh I was trying, so I just picked up this morning where I had left off...!

[Vulture]

I wouldn't say I smell it in a heated cup/pot before brewing but I definitely like smelling all my teas before I make it. One of the things I like to do when I get teas for the first time, is open them all up to smell them (if they have resealable containers)

[battra]

Yes, almost every time, especially with sencha and wuyi yancha, and almost always I smell the tea when I open the canister too.

So far I have only had a few bags of PG today, since I didn't have time to make tea before I went to work.

[toastedtoads]

I answered all the time, but now that I think about it, I don't it when I brew "Western Style." I tend not to warm up my larger teapots to make Assams and such, so no heady aromas there.

When I'm brewing wrong fu (I love that term) in my smaller yixings or in a gaiwan, it's probably my favorite part, besides actually drinking the tea, to smell the tea leaves when they're dry in a warmed pot/gaiwan. It's an altogether different smell then the wet leaves, I think I like it better, especially if it's a darker oolong like a Wuyi or a Fenghuang Shuixian.

Going to work this moring if I can ever open my car door (frozen shut) so we'll see what I drink there.

[chad]

Not so much. But then I'm usually drinking tea at work and therefore not have a "tea experience".

Darjeeling this morning.

[Charlotte]

It was hard to answer that question because I got caught in the phrase "preheated pot" - I never preheat my pot so I had to vote NO. BUT I almost always smell the tea before I brew it.

Ali Shan in my cup this morning.

I'm really dragging this morning so I sure hope it perks me up.

[Chip]

Every time. It is a highlight of the tea experience for me. I also smell the dry "cold" leaf, then as it warms, and then as I pour the water over the leaf, and then of course the brew. It is part of the journey of the leaf and I like to experience it as it changes.

I am often so amazed at the different aromas of different teas, truly amazing.

Started the TeaDay with Sencha Zuiko from Den's. Premo asamushi leaf. I am now confident in the brewing of this and am preparing to share the leaf with others. I think Sweetie appreciated the aroma as well, Gandalf and Precious on the other hand could not have cared less. Nobody else showed up this morning.

The sun is out after another long absence. I pondered some of our extreme northern members who only catch glimpses of the sun this time of year.

[bsteele]

I've never done so out of a preheated pot... just out of the tin. Invigorating... it's like pregaming my senses.

Mayhaps me shall try sniffing the pot next go round...


But for now, I've got devil juice in my cup: