Paradise to me
Game of Thrones on laptop screen
Blueberries and tea
Game of Thrones on laptop screen
Blueberries and tea
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Brewing Vessels Matter->->-> o_O What?!
About a year or two ago now, I bought a pu-erh at Uwajimaya. It was on sale and they'd advertized it well. I went home to try it and was rewarded with the worst tea of my life. I tried brewing it several different ways with different temperatures and steeping times- but to no avail. It was as if I'd just brought in a fish factory to my house. Worst pu-erh experience of my life. It's a miracle I ever bought another, especially from Uwajimaya. Hahaha.
Speed forward to last week, I went and made my recent favorite in one of the glass Teavana tea tumblers so that I could have it with me on the go on my way to work. The tea is super dark and thick, just how I like it, and my coworker spots it. I have just taken my first sip and have noticed that it doesn't taste nearly as good as normal. I attribute this to maybe not having used enough leaves, but really, I put in a ton. But my coworker asks if she can smell it and I agree. I quickly tell her though, that it doesn't normally smell like this (because it doesn't) and have to make an excuse for the poor aroma. Days later and this memory still bothers me. I couldn't understand how my favorite pu-erh could have smelled so unpleasantly fishy. Then I made gyokuro in it. Miracle above all horrible miracles, even my gyokuro smelled bad!!! I was in absolute shock. That was just so ridiculous. This should not have been happening! This couldn't be happening! But it was!
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there had to be a connection between these two incidents and that original Uwajimaya crap pu-erh. Then it dawned on me. The tumbler. At the time of that original pu-erh, I didn't actually own a real gaiwan or even a real tea pot. I brewed all of my teas in my little glass Teavana tumbler. Most of them were just fine, but they had always seemed a bit sweeter on the bad side of sweet when coming from there. I thought it was the metal mesh, and have avidly avoided using anything metal in my brewing pots for a long time, but now I don't think it was actually that.
I've been reading up on wine and alcohol culture lately (which always confuses me anyways since I don't actually drink at all), but if any of you drink wine in particular, I'm sure you'll know that the air and how the drink is poured is actually very important to the taste. This is true of making cocktails as well. There is a reason why people can get degrees in being a sommelier or bartender. Mixing and pouring and making drinks brewed from plants are actually very complex chemical processes. So it could make sense that the brewing vessel actually makes a difference in the taste of the drink, in the taste of my tea.
I bash Teavana enough as it is, so I will say here that I do not think this is anything that's out of the way their fault. I'm pretty sure there are many other companies with straight tall glass cylindrical tea brewing tumblers. Also, as I've mentioned before, some teas taste just fine in one of them. But they're never that special kind of magical that I get with brewing them other ways.
Because of how much control you have, I think I like brewing in a gaiwan best. There are however, different shaped gaiwans. I'd known before that this was for different types of tea, but I'd always brushed that off as being way too nit-picky. I think now though that there probably is a lot more truth to those sort of thing than I thought before which only goes to show again that it's better to respect the words of your elders and give them more trust than doubt. I'd talk about the different shapes of gaiwans and teapots and what those are better suited for, but I'll just save that for another post another day. Or just put tidibits of that in as I go along like usual.
By the way, that I've brought out this tea (which now tastes MUCH BETTER brewed in a gaiwan) also means that I've brought out the other shu pu-erhs that I'd had in storage for the school year and... MOON WHITE.
I have it next to me right now and I keep opening the jar I have it in to smell it happily. I might even write a poem about this tea in my next post. Tea and poems go together, right? Or maybe I should just post a music video I find appropriate and let a pro do the mushy stuff for me. Haha.
Speed forward to last week, I went and made my recent favorite in one of the glass Teavana tea tumblers so that I could have it with me on the go on my way to work. The tea is super dark and thick, just how I like it, and my coworker spots it. I have just taken my first sip and have noticed that it doesn't taste nearly as good as normal. I attribute this to maybe not having used enough leaves, but really, I put in a ton. But my coworker asks if she can smell it and I agree. I quickly tell her though, that it doesn't normally smell like this (because it doesn't) and have to make an excuse for the poor aroma. Days later and this memory still bothers me. I couldn't understand how my favorite pu-erh could have smelled so unpleasantly fishy. Then I made gyokuro in it. Miracle above all horrible miracles, even my gyokuro smelled bad!!! I was in absolute shock. That was just so ridiculous. This should not have been happening! This couldn't be happening! But it was!
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there had to be a connection between these two incidents and that original Uwajimaya crap pu-erh. Then it dawned on me. The tumbler. At the time of that original pu-erh, I didn't actually own a real gaiwan or even a real tea pot. I brewed all of my teas in my little glass Teavana tumbler. Most of them were just fine, but they had always seemed a bit sweeter on the bad side of sweet when coming from there. I thought it was the metal mesh, and have avidly avoided using anything metal in my brewing pots for a long time, but now I don't think it was actually that.
I've been reading up on wine and alcohol culture lately (which always confuses me anyways since I don't actually drink at all), but if any of you drink wine in particular, I'm sure you'll know that the air and how the drink is poured is actually very important to the taste. This is true of making cocktails as well. There is a reason why people can get degrees in being a sommelier or bartender. Mixing and pouring and making drinks brewed from plants are actually very complex chemical processes. So it could make sense that the brewing vessel actually makes a difference in the taste of the drink, in the taste of my tea.
I bash Teavana enough as it is, so I will say here that I do not think this is anything that's out of the way their fault. I'm pretty sure there are many other companies with straight tall glass cylindrical tea brewing tumblers. Also, as I've mentioned before, some teas taste just fine in one of them. But they're never that special kind of magical that I get with brewing them other ways.
Because of how much control you have, I think I like brewing in a gaiwan best. There are however, different shaped gaiwans. I'd known before that this was for different types of tea, but I'd always brushed that off as being way too nit-picky. I think now though that there probably is a lot more truth to those sort of thing than I thought before which only goes to show again that it's better to respect the words of your elders and give them more trust than doubt. I'd talk about the different shapes of gaiwans and teapots and what those are better suited for, but I'll just save that for another post another day. Or just put tidibits of that in as I go along like usual.
By the way, that I've brought out this tea (which now tastes MUCH BETTER brewed in a gaiwan) also means that I've brought out the other shu pu-erhs that I'd had in storage for the school year and... MOON WHITE.
I have it next to me right now and I keep opening the jar I have it in to smell it happily. I might even write a poem about this tea in my next post. Tea and poems go together, right? Or maybe I should just post a music video I find appropriate and let a pro do the mushy stuff for me. Haha.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
What a Gem I Found!
So as you know from my previous post, I've been having a hard time finding new tea sources in Portland, Oregon. This is extremely depressing to me, and so I resolved to head directly in to Portland, hoping that some small tea-shop owner just didn't know how to use the internet. Brett from Black Dragon Tea Bar Blog was kind enough to point me into the direction of the Portland Tea Enthusiasts' Alliance and J-Tea in Eugene, Oregon, but for anyone who doesn't know Oregon geography, Eugene is not very near to Portland at all, and even the Portland Tea Enthusiasts' Alliance is on the other side of the Willamette river (making it more difficult to get to). I intend to get over to the Alliance eventually, but this week I really just wanted to check one more time that there wasn't anything in Portland.
First, let me tell you a little bit about Portland. Portland is a generally large city full of hippies and hipsters and emos and punks and steampunks and gay people and intellectuals and activists and animal lovers and bicyclists and tech geeks and comic geeks and book lovers and... Okay just go watch an episode or two of Portlandia and you'll know what Portland is like. Hahaha. It's really wonderful here. But there is like no options for tea! That is not to say we don't have any good tea available at all, we actually have one major brand that's very good: The Tao of Tea. They are a tea importing company based in Portland and spread all throughout the Northwest. I had the opportunity to meet some people from that company when I went to the Northwest Tea Fest last year, and was pleasantly surprised by how small and friendly this company is. They offer a HUGE variety of teas, and essentially every store stocks their teas. Honestly, if you want a good shot at getting a good tea without too much hassle, just hit up a store and get some of their tea. My only problem with just buying from them like that is that I really like to connect to the tea shop owners or workers and join a community of tea drinkers.
I don't know if any of you have realized this yet, but tea is much more than a simple beverage for me. It's a science, an adventure, a process, a refuge, a comfort, an entry into a community, and an international connection. Oh, and of course it's also a SUPER DELICIOUS beverage. Haha. So I'm not just looking for a new source of tea, I'm looking for new people and places to go and things to do.
In terms of tea, I am new in Portland. So maybe it's not as bad here as I basically feel like it is. But either way, I spent the entire day in downtown Portland, and even though I went up and down EVERY STREET in Chinatown, I only found ONE very small tea shop.
But! This was a super cool tea shop.
In all honesty, this tea shop is almost a perfect model for how I'd want my tea shop to be like if I ever had one (which I'm beginning to want as I get more and more into tea). The place is called the Red Robe Tea House. I did find it in my initial search online, and I think they need a better description of themselves on their website, because I was not expecting what I got when I went in. The super cool thing about this little tea house is that they are essentially a restaurant. They have a full menu of food selections, and most people I saw that went in there were there for the food. But in addition to their food, they have a tea selection menu! And not only can you just buy a cup of tea there, you can get them served Gongfu style!
In a normal tea shop, I'm used to this being almost complementary, but it was also really nice to have this in a restaurant setting instead of a tea shop setting. What this included was a tea tray with a small yixing pot, a fairness pitcher, a cute filter and holder, and a pot of hot water with a candle burner underneath to keep it warm for longer. An employee washed the tea and woke up the leaves for us, telling us about the tea we'd chosen and the method of brewing for Gongfu style and then poured us our first cup. From then were able to simply pour the hot water ourselves and just chat the entire time happily. When we ran out of hot water she would replace it for us. I think this provided my friends in particular a much more relaxed first Gongfu style tea tasting because they didn't have to have the added stress of meeting someone new and being in front of someone trying to sell you something the entire time such as when I go tea tasting at tea stores in Seattle. Since I've been to them all it's not stressful for me, but this was a much more relaxed and comfortable setting for all of us it seemed. I think it's a better model for the store too, since the whole service costs something so they don't feel the pressure to have to try and sell us anything more. This also provides the opportunity to give many more tea tastings than a regular tea store can do since it leaves the tea and water with the customers, giving the employees the time to pay attention to more customers. This shop is only 10 months old apparently, and unfortunately their area doesn't get the most traffic ever, but it seemed like they already had several regular customers and were obviously getting new ones very easily.
Now of course, all of this would be useless if the quality of their product was horrible! But oh my~! The tea is DELICIOUS there. I chose a 2006 Menghai Imperial Pu-erh (2006 勐海宫庭普洱), and this happens to be a higher quality tea than I realized apparently after looking it up online. So freaking delicious!!! I forgot to mention, but the other reason this trip was so imperative was because I'd just ran out of the cooked pu-erh I had for consumption this summer. Technically I have a few I'd left at home for storage until after college somewhere, but I really wanted to keep those safe until after college. I also really wanted to find a tea store nearby to support. This tea house completely has my support; I bought more than I usually buy of loose leaf at a time. It's really, really good tea. I think the Long Run 2898 that I love so much is very similar to it, being similarly thick and dark and smooth. But I think that this one's age gives it an advantage and has made it even smoother than my 2898. I think I want to put a 2898 in storage and see how it is after college too. But seriously, this '06 Imperial goes right up there with the 2898, Moon White, Dan Cong, and Gyokuro as one of my special favorite teas. It's really just lovely.
They had about 3 other teas for drinking in store, and then they also had a nice set of bricks for sale too. I was tempted to get one of them as well, but I'm such a picky buyer that I am just going to wait for now, I think. Also, they're super expensive because they're already mostly at least 6 years old, so I think I'd rather find similar ones that are younger and therefore cheaper instead. I guess I could get one and just be super happy with it, but I also don't know how they taste, so I don't know which one I'd want. Anyways, yadda yadda I just stuck with what I tried because I loved it. I will definitely go again one day with friends again and try out a different one. If they're all very good then maybe I will trust that store's tastes more and splurge for my birthday or something. Or ask someone to splurge for me for my birthday. Hahaha. (My 20th birthday is coming up in 22 days!)
Good job, Portland! You may not have the biggest selection ever for me, but you certainly have provided me with a great first try selection!
By the way, if any of you guys have any questions about tea in any shape or form, just let me know! Please feel free at all times to comment on any of these posts pretty much whatever you want. Haha.
First, let me tell you a little bit about Portland. Portland is a generally large city full of hippies and hipsters and emos and punks and steampunks and gay people and intellectuals and activists and animal lovers and bicyclists and tech geeks and comic geeks and book lovers and... Okay just go watch an episode or two of Portlandia and you'll know what Portland is like. Hahaha. It's really wonderful here. But there is like no options for tea! That is not to say we don't have any good tea available at all, we actually have one major brand that's very good: The Tao of Tea. They are a tea importing company based in Portland and spread all throughout the Northwest. I had the opportunity to meet some people from that company when I went to the Northwest Tea Fest last year, and was pleasantly surprised by how small and friendly this company is. They offer a HUGE variety of teas, and essentially every store stocks their teas. Honestly, if you want a good shot at getting a good tea without too much hassle, just hit up a store and get some of their tea. My only problem with just buying from them like that is that I really like to connect to the tea shop owners or workers and join a community of tea drinkers.
I don't know if any of you have realized this yet, but tea is much more than a simple beverage for me. It's a science, an adventure, a process, a refuge, a comfort, an entry into a community, and an international connection. Oh, and of course it's also a SUPER DELICIOUS beverage. Haha. So I'm not just looking for a new source of tea, I'm looking for new people and places to go and things to do.
In terms of tea, I am new in Portland. So maybe it's not as bad here as I basically feel like it is. But either way, I spent the entire day in downtown Portland, and even though I went up and down EVERY STREET in Chinatown, I only found ONE very small tea shop.
But! This was a super cool tea shop.
In all honesty, this tea shop is almost a perfect model for how I'd want my tea shop to be like if I ever had one (which I'm beginning to want as I get more and more into tea). The place is called the Red Robe Tea House. I did find it in my initial search online, and I think they need a better description of themselves on their website, because I was not expecting what I got when I went in. The super cool thing about this little tea house is that they are essentially a restaurant. They have a full menu of food selections, and most people I saw that went in there were there for the food. But in addition to their food, they have a tea selection menu! And not only can you just buy a cup of tea there, you can get them served Gongfu style!
In a normal tea shop, I'm used to this being almost complementary, but it was also really nice to have this in a restaurant setting instead of a tea shop setting. What this included was a tea tray with a small yixing pot, a fairness pitcher, a cute filter and holder, and a pot of hot water with a candle burner underneath to keep it warm for longer. An employee washed the tea and woke up the leaves for us, telling us about the tea we'd chosen and the method of brewing for Gongfu style and then poured us our first cup. From then were able to simply pour the hot water ourselves and just chat the entire time happily. When we ran out of hot water she would replace it for us. I think this provided my friends in particular a much more relaxed first Gongfu style tea tasting because they didn't have to have the added stress of meeting someone new and being in front of someone trying to sell you something the entire time such as when I go tea tasting at tea stores in Seattle. Since I've been to them all it's not stressful for me, but this was a much more relaxed and comfortable setting for all of us it seemed. I think it's a better model for the store too, since the whole service costs something so they don't feel the pressure to have to try and sell us anything more. This also provides the opportunity to give many more tea tastings than a regular tea store can do since it leaves the tea and water with the customers, giving the employees the time to pay attention to more customers. This shop is only 10 months old apparently, and unfortunately their area doesn't get the most traffic ever, but it seemed like they already had several regular customers and were obviously getting new ones very easily.
Now of course, all of this would be useless if the quality of their product was horrible! But oh my~! The tea is DELICIOUS there. I chose a 2006 Menghai Imperial Pu-erh (2006 勐海宫庭普洱), and this happens to be a higher quality tea than I realized apparently after looking it up online. So freaking delicious!!! I forgot to mention, but the other reason this trip was so imperative was because I'd just ran out of the cooked pu-erh I had for consumption this summer. Technically I have a few I'd left at home for storage until after college somewhere, but I really wanted to keep those safe until after college. I also really wanted to find a tea store nearby to support. This tea house completely has my support; I bought more than I usually buy of loose leaf at a time. It's really, really good tea. I think the Long Run 2898 that I love so much is very similar to it, being similarly thick and dark and smooth. But I think that this one's age gives it an advantage and has made it even smoother than my 2898. I think I want to put a 2898 in storage and see how it is after college too. But seriously, this '06 Imperial goes right up there with the 2898, Moon White, Dan Cong, and Gyokuro as one of my special favorite teas. It's really just lovely.
They had about 3 other teas for drinking in store, and then they also had a nice set of bricks for sale too. I was tempted to get one of them as well, but I'm such a picky buyer that I am just going to wait for now, I think. Also, they're super expensive because they're already mostly at least 6 years old, so I think I'd rather find similar ones that are younger and therefore cheaper instead. I guess I could get one and just be super happy with it, but I also don't know how they taste, so I don't know which one I'd want. Anyways, yadda yadda I just stuck with what I tried because I loved it. I will definitely go again one day with friends again and try out a different one. If they're all very good then maybe I will trust that store's tastes more and splurge for my birthday or something. Or ask someone to splurge for me for my birthday. Hahaha. (My 20th birthday is coming up in 22 days!)
Good job, Portland! You may not have the biggest selection ever for me, but you certainly have provided me with a great first try selection!
By the way, if any of you guys have any questions about tea in any shape or form, just let me know! Please feel free at all times to comment on any of these posts pretty much whatever you want. Haha.
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