So interestingly enough, I brewed the tea in another teapot and it tasted great... The previous kyusu I was using was a 400ml porcelain one that I normally only use for hojicha. When I used 5g/200ml in that pot it was savory but bland, almost no "tea flavor". When I used 10g/200ml, it was just way too strong.
I tried brewing 5g/200ml in my 210ml flat tokoname kyusu and the resulting tea was great... It was savory, sweet, and had the tea flavor that it was missing previously. I'm thinking that maybe the leaves didn't properly unfold in the porcelain kyusu? Or does using clay (versus glazed porcelain) make that much of a difference?
What Green Are You Drinking
By @Victoria's popular demand, a few pictures from this morning's Anji Bai Cha session. It has been years since I have not taken pictures with my old DSLR, so that won't be a master class in tea photography. Please be forgiving.
I really was not able to properly represent the spent leaves. In order to get them to open up as much as they would, I performed a very hot last infusion which kind of messed with the color to start with, making it kind of dull green. The picture makes them seem darker than they were, and the white balance is off.
- Dry leaves
- 2020-05-08_1.jpg (74.87 KiB) Viewed 7144 times
- First infusion
- 2020-05-08_2.jpg (128.26 KiB) Viewed 7144 times
- Spent leaves
- 2020-05-08_3.jpg (76.32 KiB) Viewed 7144 times
I really was not able to properly represent the spent leaves. In order to get them to open up as much as they would, I performed a very hot last infusion which kind of messed with the color to start with, making it kind of dull green. The picture makes them seem darker than they were, and the white balance is off.
I shoot several, and sometimes dozens, of images for every one that ends up being worth posting, and that's with lots of practice, and unless I'm uploading straight from my phone (very rare), every one gets photoshopped for contrast, white balance, exposure, and cropping.
Your images are lovely, and well convey the beauty of An Ji Bai Cha.
Yes, nice share @faj. Those leaves look really tasty. I’m waiting for some fresh Longjing to arrive in the coming weeks. Tastes of spring to bring in the new year’s growth.
@faj I’ll ask around and get back to you. I’m getting the Longjing from a friend in China but not sure if he’s selling more.
I've gotten my chinese green teas from very variable sources: I got a lot over time from Norbu, which is sadly now defunct; I ordered several times from JingTeaShop.com and always included some greens; and I've gotten more variable quality (some wonderful, some just OK) from Yunnan Sourcing; and I've purchased others from my local brick & mortar shop, Wing Hop Fung. Today I had a lovely session with some quite old (neglected, not 'aged') Tai Ping Hou Kui from WHF; fortunately it keeps very well.
Posted about this here for ice gyokuro. Ice cubes over gyokuro. It’s best when using higher quality leaves. I also sometimes take the fourth steep of sencha or gyokuro into the refrigerator for an overnight steep.
Does using ice cubes to seep allow for multiple infusions like regular brewing? If I usually use a ratio of 1g:40ml for "hot brewing" sencha, should I use the same ratio for this ice cube method?
It’s been a while since I did a cold brew, I recommend you just experiment a bit. I think I got two sessions; one with ice, the second using slightly warm water and then into the refrigerator overnight. Using more leaf seems to be the way to go. I haven’t tried using less than 8 gram of leaf.
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bentz98125
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2019 10:08 pm
- Location: Seattle
I am far from an expert but have experimented a little. The best of course is gyokuro brewed with ice. But talk about brewing patience! For a while I used 3rd or 4th steeped sencha brewed hot and then chilled. I concluded it didn't taste good enough to justify compared to chilling first and second steeps. Good news is excessive water wasn't a problem drinking cold sencha with ice. Even a really weak dilution tasted great. Bad news is whereas I might even kind of like tea leaf particles in sencha at normal temperatures, after sitting in the refrigerator for too long they can cause a distinctly unpleasant, musty flavor. Filtering them out before chilling seems to take care of that. Most recent discovery and current excitement for hot days is: iced kabusecha. It is particularly fresh and invigorating. Interesting aside is, iced tea is a little jarring to Chinese cultural sensibilities. Still learning why that is.
Like other members, I recently ordered for the first time from Kettl. Being located north of the border, it took quite a while for the order to make it here, despite the actual distance being quite short.
I ordered a couple of shincha bags, one I tried but am not ready to comment on yet, and the other one being stored for now. I also ordered their Ogura gyokuro, which I am ready to discuss right away because, well, I drank that tea before, despite this being my first Kettl order. Actually, I had that tea just yesterday.
I am just about to finish a bag of O-Cha Yume no Ukihashi. This gyokuro was very different form any other one I had before, and I commented on it previously. I have not tried hundreds of gyokuros, mind you, but I have sampled more than a couple, and this one could never be mistaken for any of the others I tried. I like it a lot.
Today, before preparing the Ogura , I smelled the leaves. Weird I thought, it smells eerily like the Yume no Ukihashi. Well, I thought, I am sensing something many gyokuros might have in common without me realizing. The leaves were not as intact and uniform as those from O-Cha, but otherwise quite similar in color and shape, at least at a cursory glance. I infused the tea. Same shiboridashi and parameters I have used many times with the Yume. The first sip ticked all the checkboxes. I have trouble believing those two teas are not the same base material (maybe one being a higher grade than the other).
Has anyone else ever tried both?
I ordered a couple of shincha bags, one I tried but am not ready to comment on yet, and the other one being stored for now. I also ordered their Ogura gyokuro, which I am ready to discuss right away because, well, I drank that tea before, despite this being my first Kettl order. Actually, I had that tea just yesterday.
I am just about to finish a bag of O-Cha Yume no Ukihashi. This gyokuro was very different form any other one I had before, and I commented on it previously. I have not tried hundreds of gyokuros, mind you, but I have sampled more than a couple, and this one could never be mistaken for any of the others I tried. I like it a lot.
Today, before preparing the Ogura , I smelled the leaves. Weird I thought, it smells eerily like the Yume no Ukihashi. Well, I thought, I am sensing something many gyokuros might have in common without me realizing. The leaves were not as intact and uniform as those from O-Cha, but otherwise quite similar in color and shape, at least at a cursory glance. I infused the tea. Same shiboridashi and parameters I have used many times with the Yume. The first sip ticked all the checkboxes. I have trouble believing those two teas are not the same base material (maybe one being a higher grade than the other).
Has anyone else ever tried both?
No answer on the almost-same teas.....but I do often infuse sencha for drinking chilled in the summer.
If I have a lot of time, I add dry leaf to room temperature water and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.
If I want it sooner, I start with a little hot water, let the sencha sit with it 5 minutes, and add cool/cold water and wait about an hour.
Ice-brewed gyokuro is marvelous, but not an everyday thing for me.
If I have a lot of time, I add dry leaf to room temperature water and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight.
If I want it sooner, I start with a little hot water, let the sencha sit with it 5 minutes, and add cool/cold water and wait about an hour.
Ice-brewed gyokuro is marvelous, but not an everyday thing for me.