Your day in tea
Another day, and another absolutely remarkable tea session combined with finishing a meal vegetables dipped in hummus. As previously, this includes scallions, and each sip of tea which follows chewing some scallions is magically transformed to a honeyed sweetness, which somehow manages to be not cloying. It's amazing. And when the tea is the astonishingly fine "Ancient Heights" from Wistaria Tea House, it's...astounding. Wow.
One unexpected plus of having to wear a mask while in public: threw some Gaoshan in a thermos to keep me company while exercsising. The fragrant cloud that filled the inside of the mask was marvelous and lingered for a long while after I had take a sip. Very nice indeed.
The day was becoming night and I wanted to relax with some nice hong. I had a guest who decided they wanted tea also. I had already picked a tea for myself previously so I knew this was going to be a problem as I choose softer and sweeter teas for them normally. This Taiwanese hong was quite good and as I was starting to enjoy it.. I see someone's bitter face and I hear, "Eww this is bitter.. ooh eww uhh.." Gaah.. By the second and third steep the tannins were not as forward as they were.
I masked my rage face behind a crooked smile. I replaced the hong that I was enjoying with a nice Taiwanese OB and they were singing its praises as it was quite good also. This person wanted to leave the tea bags behind but she was so used to throwing the kitchen sink at those tea bags to get it to taste decently that drinking a tea without any additives was strange to her but she did really like the OB.
At the time I had not the patience to talk about tannic acid, or the differences between bitterness and astringency. During my puerh drinking days I learned to relish and embrace the bitterness. Its a gateway to appreciating the entire taste profile of tea.
##Rage Face
I masked my rage face behind a crooked smile. I replaced the hong that I was enjoying with a nice Taiwanese OB and they were singing its praises as it was quite good also. This person wanted to leave the tea bags behind but she was so used to throwing the kitchen sink at those tea bags to get it to taste decently that drinking a tea without any additives was strange to her but she did really like the OB.
At the time I had not the patience to talk about tannic acid, or the differences between bitterness and astringency. During my puerh drinking days I learned to relish and embrace the bitterness. Its a gateway to appreciating the entire taste profile of tea.
##Rage Face
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I don't know if it would be personally offensive, but sugar can help here. Adding sugar to oolong has a long history -- this was an American favorite for at least 100 years, and popular for a time in other countries, too. It's still something you might find today in a bottled oolong. Offering sugar allows the brewer to drink oolong the way they prefer without it causing stress for folks less used to bitter things. 
I’d rather not give these people nice tea than ruining it by adding sugar. Too little of it as it is.
It is done sometimes in drink shops in Taiwan (bubble tea & co) but usually with low quality material and by adding other stuff to it. Green tea with sugar though is almost always… something different entirely in the end, yuk.
It is done sometimes in drink shops in Taiwan (bubble tea & co) but usually with low quality material and by adding other stuff to it. Green tea with sugar though is almost always… something different entirely in the end, yuk.
Depends on the TGY I guess... I had surprisingly good iced Puerh with honey in one of these drink shops.
nice. I would imagine shou puerh would pair well with honey, like those herbal grass jelly with syrup. I think I had my first ginseng oolong from Ten Ren tea. TieGuanYin coated with some green powder (possible ginseng powder). My friends used to joke about those rabbit poop tea 
I've never had the "ewww biiter!" reaction from people I have served tea to. However, I have met a lot of people who knock back cups of tea literally as though they are taking shots of alcohol. They seldom pause to enjoy the tea. It feels like a waste to me. I avoid them afterwards. I wonder if they ever enjoyed their alcohol.
... speaking of well integrated smoke, having an enjoyable spread-out workday session with Wang Junan's QLC today.
Now that the sheng-pu season is officially over here (to be resumed come spring next year) there is very little variation in what I drink on workdays. I keep coming back to this and a few other similar teas for other reasons too: They brew excellent in larger quantities (which means less time spent brewing / bucketing brews) and they belong to the small family of teas that I think do better with water boiled in stainless steel than in my tetsubin (which means less time spent waiting for the water to boil).
A kind of warming up for the return to office. I imagine the last two years of daily gongfu sessions at home will quickly feel like a distant past.
Now that the sheng-pu season is officially over here (to be resumed come spring next year) there is very little variation in what I drink on workdays. I keep coming back to this and a few other similar teas for other reasons too: They brew excellent in larger quantities (which means less time spent brewing / bucketing brews) and they belong to the small family of teas that I think do better with water boiled in stainless steel than in my tetsubin (which means less time spent waiting for the water to boil).
A kind of warming up for the return to office. I imagine the last two years of daily gongfu sessions at home will quickly feel like a distant past.
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swordofmytriumph
- Posts: 429
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 5:19 am
- Location: Seattle, USA
Went to Floating Leaves today, and picked up a bunch of new tea! I got some Four Seasons, their GABA oolong, the ”Tradional High Mountain” which is slightly more oxidized than most gaoshan (I’m most excited to try this), and the Gui Fei. They threw in a generous sample of the competition style baozhong for free, and naturally this meant I had to buy their farmer’s choice baozhong, for comparison purposes of course 
. Even better, I got the very last of their current stock of that and since it was the dregs I got a 50% discount! My timing was perfect it seems.
Also they had GIANT bags filled with tea! I’d never seen the huge bags it comes in before it’s portioned out, the bags are the size of dog food bags and for some reason this made me inordinately happy.
I also visited Miro tea, and had some of their dragonwell while there. It was quite tasty so I couldn’t leave without buying a couple oz to take home.
I did all this while my windshield was being replaced. The promise of tea was the ONLY reason I dragged myself into Seattle to get that done, so I got to feel all responsible and productive while I purchased my weight in tea.
. Even better, I got the very last of their current stock of that and since it was the dregs I got a 50% discount! My timing was perfect it seems.Also they had GIANT bags filled with tea! I’d never seen the huge bags it comes in before it’s portioned out, the bags are the size of dog food bags and for some reason this made me inordinately happy.
I also visited Miro tea, and had some of their dragonwell while there. It was quite tasty so I couldn’t leave without buying a couple oz to take home.
I did all this while my windshield was being replaced. The promise of tea was the ONLY reason I dragged myself into Seattle to get that done, so I got to feel all responsible and productive while I purchased my weight in tea.
- Attachments
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- My haul
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Getting good tea is a perfect excuse to go out of your way. Btw, from Miro Tea their Anji Baicha comes highly recommended by a few friends in the area.swordofmytriumph wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:55 pmI also visited Miro tea, and had some of their dragonwell while there. It was quite tasty so I couldn’t leave without buying a couple oz to take home.
You're lucky to have a shop like that not far from home. I've been listening to their podcast lately, very informative and entertaining! Sounds like you did well - enjoy the tea, one leaf at a timeswordofmytriumph wrote: ↑Thu Oct 28, 2021 4:55 pmWent to Floating Leaves today, and picked up a bunch of new tea! I got some Four Seasons, their GABA oolong, the ”Tradional High Mountain” which is slightly more oxidized than most gaoshan (I’m most excited to try this), and the Gui Fei. They threw in a generous sample of the competition style baozhong for free, and naturally this meant I had to buy their farmer’s choice baozhong, for comparison purposes of course
Also they had GIANT bags filled with tea! I’d never seen the huge bags it comes in before it’s portioned out, the bags are the size of dog food bags and for some reason this made me inordinately happy.
I also visited Miro tea, and had some of their dragonwell while there. It was quite tasty so I couldn’t leave without buying a couple oz to take home.
I did all this while my windshield was being replaced. The promise of tea was the ONLY reason I dragged myself into Seattle to get that done, so I got to feel all responsible and productive while I purchased my weight in tea.
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swordofmytriumph
- Posts: 429
- Joined: Sun Dec 16, 2018 5:19 am
- Location: Seattle, USA