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.
Showing posts with label 2898. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2898. Show all posts
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Coffee Floats and Tea Sinks? Where To Put Your Leaves?
"Coffee Floats and Tea Sinks" is apparently the title of some book, but it was a book about coffee, so I didn't bother looking at it much more than that on amazon.
Today, kind of like usual, I was looking around online for a nice Gongfu tea tray. Upon looking around, I found out that some people call it a "tea sink"! I started looking for one using those keywords, but came across something interesting about tea leaves sinking into the water instead.
Vicony Teas Tea Encyclopedia How to Brew Tea
I'd never heard of this before, but apparently there are 3 different methods of brewing tea concerning when you put the leaves in the water. Most of us use "Bottom-Putting Method" (下投法), but it appears that for green teas we should be either using "Middle-Putting Method" (中投法) or "Top-Putting Method" (上投法). What is the difference between these 3 methods? Well simply put, it has to do with where you put the leaves in the water.
For those of you who don't know, this can be important to consider because some leaf flavors are more sensitive to heat than other. My favorite tea, Gyokuro (a Japanese green) is a perfect example for what the different temperatures of water do to the flavors. Green tea in general likes water at about 175 F. Personally, I never like my greens at anything higher than 160F (unless it's Houjicha). When the water is too hot, it brings out a very disgusting bitter taste in green tea. When the water temperature is correct, you will taste sweeter, grassier, more flowery and vegetal flavors instead (unless your tea is either crap or too old). About every 5-10 degrees between 35F and 140F (the highest I'll ever go with Gyokuro), you will notice a difference in the flavor of Gyokuro. Why? Because different chemical components of the leaf are being pulled out (lower temperature= more L-theanine, less caffeine) and the temperature also highlights different flavors too. Ever notice how American beer tastes like crap at room temperature, but the Germans think we're insane for drinking beer cold? Or how ice cream is way too sweet when warm?
As I tried to imply with Bottom-Putting Method (henceforth BPM), this is where you put the leaves in before putting the water on top. This is what most Americans use, probably because we're so used to doing dry ingredients before wet ones when baking. You're really never supposed to do this with green tea because that's too harsh on the delicately steamed leaves (or pan fried if they're Chinese). This source seems to suggest that you shouldn't really do that with any type of good quality tea, but I guess I'll have to do an experiment with that using pu-erh and oolong (I don't have any black teas) and see if there's any reason to fuss about that with the hardier, more oxidized teas.
Middle-Putting Method (MPM), seems pretty interesting to me. In this method, the source says to fill the brewing container about 1/4th of the way with water at brewing temperature. Then you need to put the leaves on top of that and let them soak a little until they start to float down (vessel may be shaken slightly). Finally you fill the rest of the vessel with brewing water and then wait until the leaves fall to the bottom (it suggests that if they don't then your water is too cool, but that appears to be partially because it looks like they're suggesting drinking "Grandpa style") and then wait for it to brew (about a min or so) and only then drink. This is suggested for Chinese greens like Longjing (Dragon Well) and Huang Shan Mao Feng (Yellow Mountain Fur Peak) with are both delicious.
Top-Putting Method (TPM) is where you put the leaves on top of the brewing water. They recommend this for even more delicate teas like white teas apparently (they say Bi Luo Chun, but I haven't ever had this one or seen it before which isn't surprising because I'm not typically a white tea person).
I'm curious to see if these really do make an impact on flavor. For more delicate teas for sure, I would imagine that they do, but I'd like to try it out for myself too. If any of you have experience with this as well, or know anything more, please feel free to comment on this post!
On a more personal note, I'm down to my last 5 grams of my absolute favorite 2898!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness. When you get a new brick, it looks like it'll last you forever, but I'm down to the last tippy little corner now, and in another 2 hours or so it'll be gone. I'll possibly post something in it's memory. Hahaha. But funnily enough, getting a larger gaiwan and hand strainer has really increased my tea consumption. I had nearly 50 grams still left a month ago when I came back to Seattle from Mount Holyoke. Hahaha. Oh well. I've loved every drop of it!
Today, kind of like usual, I was looking around online for a nice Gongfu tea tray. Upon looking around, I found out that some people call it a "tea sink"! I started looking for one using those keywords, but came across something interesting about tea leaves sinking into the water instead.
Vicony Teas Tea Encyclopedia How to Brew Tea
I'd never heard of this before, but apparently there are 3 different methods of brewing tea concerning when you put the leaves in the water. Most of us use "Bottom-Putting Method" (下投法), but it appears that for green teas we should be either using "Middle-Putting Method" (中投法) or "Top-Putting Method" (上投法). What is the difference between these 3 methods? Well simply put, it has to do with where you put the leaves in the water.
For those of you who don't know, this can be important to consider because some leaf flavors are more sensitive to heat than other. My favorite tea, Gyokuro (a Japanese green) is a perfect example for what the different temperatures of water do to the flavors. Green tea in general likes water at about 175 F. Personally, I never like my greens at anything higher than 160F (unless it's Houjicha). When the water is too hot, it brings out a very disgusting bitter taste in green tea. When the water temperature is correct, you will taste sweeter, grassier, more flowery and vegetal flavors instead (unless your tea is either crap or too old). About every 5-10 degrees between 35F and 140F (the highest I'll ever go with Gyokuro), you will notice a difference in the flavor of Gyokuro. Why? Because different chemical components of the leaf are being pulled out (lower temperature= more L-theanine, less caffeine) and the temperature also highlights different flavors too. Ever notice how American beer tastes like crap at room temperature, but the Germans think we're insane for drinking beer cold? Or how ice cream is way too sweet when warm?
As I tried to imply with Bottom-Putting Method (henceforth BPM), this is where you put the leaves in before putting the water on top. This is what most Americans use, probably because we're so used to doing dry ingredients before wet ones when baking. You're really never supposed to do this with green tea because that's too harsh on the delicately steamed leaves (or pan fried if they're Chinese). This source seems to suggest that you shouldn't really do that with any type of good quality tea, but I guess I'll have to do an experiment with that using pu-erh and oolong (I don't have any black teas) and see if there's any reason to fuss about that with the hardier, more oxidized teas.
Middle-Putting Method (MPM), seems pretty interesting to me. In this method, the source says to fill the brewing container about 1/4th of the way with water at brewing temperature. Then you need to put the leaves on top of that and let them soak a little until they start to float down (vessel may be shaken slightly). Finally you fill the rest of the vessel with brewing water and then wait until the leaves fall to the bottom (it suggests that if they don't then your water is too cool, but that appears to be partially because it looks like they're suggesting drinking "Grandpa style") and then wait for it to brew (about a min or so) and only then drink. This is suggested for Chinese greens like Longjing (Dragon Well) and Huang Shan Mao Feng (Yellow Mountain Fur Peak) with are both delicious.
Top-Putting Method (TPM) is where you put the leaves on top of the brewing water. They recommend this for even more delicate teas like white teas apparently (they say Bi Luo Chun, but I haven't ever had this one or seen it before which isn't surprising because I'm not typically a white tea person).
I'm curious to see if these really do make an impact on flavor. For more delicate teas for sure, I would imagine that they do, but I'd like to try it out for myself too. If any of you have experience with this as well, or know anything more, please feel free to comment on this post!
On a more personal note, I'm down to my last 5 grams of my absolute favorite 2898!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness. When you get a new brick, it looks like it'll last you forever, but I'm down to the last tippy little corner now, and in another 2 hours or so it'll be gone. I'll possibly post something in it's memory. Hahaha. But funnily enough, getting a larger gaiwan and hand strainer has really increased my tea consumption. I had nearly 50 grams still left a month ago when I came back to Seattle from Mount Holyoke. Hahaha. Oh well. I've loved every drop of it!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Shocking Discovery... TEA AND CHEESE?!
Long Run's 2989 Cooked Pu-erh tastes extra delicious with those little Mini Babybel Original cheese rounds. How strange! I'm going to have to do more tea and cheese combinations now...
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