TeaForum.org

I've been drinking the House Green (Mao Feng) from Floating Leaves, a gift. First time with Chinese greens in many years. https://i.imgur.com/QT4WcEZ.jpg 4g/100ml in a gaiwan from Ferg, 195F 60s, 205F 60s, 212F 90s, 212F ~3min. Slight vegetal flavors (peas, mostly) and sweet caramelized wheat notes ...

I reached out to Toru Yoshikawa at artistic nippon in November to ask about left handed hagi teapots. He didn’t have any at the time but did say he would reach out to Mukuhara Kashun to see if he would make some. A few days later he informed me that Kashun would make some and if they turned out wel...

I've been trying different sencha from Den's for quite some time now. Their Fukamidori, a medium steamed sencha from Shizuoka, became my daily drinker a few months back. ~4.5g per ~100ml, 160F 90s, 180F 60s, 212F 90s. https://i.imgur.com/UOQtbhE.jpeg Today I couldn't resist trying the nice tulip sha...

Having a neutral vessel like a gaiwan would be wonderful. I could put a pitcher to good use as well. Thank you for your generosity.

Made another purchase from Den's Tea yesterday. I'd been waiting for their inevitable Thanksgiving/Black Friday sale so I could save a few bucks. Happy to take advantage of 20% off.

I can confirm that this is an excellent tea... With slightly longer steep times, I get the coconut cream you mentioned, though not consistently. In one session, I steeped about 2 g of leaf in 150 ml of water, approximating Ethan's parameters, but the tea was too light for me to notice much. Ethan i...

Did you use a tiny amount of leaf like Ethan does (2 g in 230 ml, if I remember correctly)? I typically use 5-6 g in 120 ml for gaoshan, though I go a bit lighter with some greens. I tried 4g 80ml 185F, 20s, 40s, 60s. The flavor was nice, but it was a bit subtle for me, so I added the rest of the s...

Has anyone tried the Lishan Dong Pian Ethan was selling several months ago? I'd love to hear what others are thinking about it, particularly if they drank it fairly recently. I don't have much experience with gaoshan yet, but for what it's worth, I was impressed with the sample I just finished. Thi...

Beautiful teaware with lots of striking character, thank you for sharing, I enjoyed looking at them. Certainly my knee jerk reaction to be concerned over a small flaw was unwarranted, rather I should have realized such things are part of the charm of hagi ware.

@debunix I see Yamane Seigan makes gorgeous cups. The glaze on this one reminds me of the night's sky. Yes things like that are often quite charming and add character. I was concerned the tiny flaw would grow into a structural crack and the yunomi could eventually break apart, yet in retrospect ther...

That doesn't look like a chip, but rather like a tiny imperfection in the glaze, something that happened during firing. It's a beauty spot. A beauty spot is a good way to look at it. You're probably right that it happened during firing. Certainly I feel more enamored with the piece the more I hold ...

The teaware arrived today. Quicker than I expected of Japan Post, especially given the (seeming) current strain on them and that I ordered it before the Japanese holiday week. It was packaged well and as expected, except for 1 of the yunomi. The clay cannot be scratched with a fingernail, so it appe...

Regarding heavy metal testing, I am sorry to say that most of the testing kits sold out there for consumers are not very precise. Even those that are "epa" certified just means they are above 60 or 70% accurate. Also, these kits are designed in this way: they allow for higher false positive to decr...

Welcome to TeaForum bebop8. All three pieces look pretty contemporary so I wouldn’t be too concerned about heavy metals. Not much crazing either so a simple hot bath with some baking soda paste rubbed with your finger or a soft cloth should be fine, followed by a distilled vinegar wash. Regarding c...

Hello, I'm bebop8 (or call me Noah if you like). I'm from Connecticut. I started drinking tea about 10 years ago but was always underwhelmed by it. I recently discovered I was buying low quality tea and not using enough leaf per cup. Then I had the increasing realization that I enjoy setting aside s...