Page 21 of 33
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 4:13 pm
by GaoShan
mbanu wrote: ↑Fri Aug 19, 2022 4:49 am
I was reading a short book by Dolly Yates called
Tales from the Teapot that mentioned off-hand a style of tea from her childhood I had never read about before -- coal-miner's tea:
Dolly Yates wrote:I have in my mind an indelible picture of a miner walking down the street on his way to begin his shift down the coal mine. This was in the days before pits were equipped with showers, so miners went to work in the clothes they would wear underground. Around his waist was a belt. Strung on the belt were his snap tin and his "dudley". The snap tin was so shaped that it would be impossible for a rat to prize it open and consume the miner's lunch of the traditional jam and bread. The "dudley", or you may be more familiar with the word "canteen", was filled with, yes, you have already guessed, cold tea. This very simple and basic fare of tea and bread and jam was proved to be most practical and suitable in such working conditions.
So we see our miner with canteen and snap tin flapping from his belt, getting closer to the pit head. I wonder what his thoughts are as he leaves the sunlight to be lowered deep into the mine and crawls on hands and knees to his place of toil. Let's try to take a glimpse of our miner in our mind's eye, as he takes time out for his "snap". Often times he would be quite alone, his only light being that of his carbon lamp, which would be strapped around his forehead. By now he will have discarded all his clothes apart from his pit "hockers", in other words, baggy shorts.
Hopefully he will be able to locate the spot where he deposited his lunch, knowing that it was impossible for rats to break into his snap tin. Probably he would reach for his "dudley" first and take a really long drink. Oh, what rapture! No place to wash hands or take a walk, just crouched there in the darkness with only the flickering light from his helmet, which on occasion would reveal the eyes of a waiting rat, hoping to snatch the smallest crumb which could fall.
After the bread and jam our miner would once again reach for his canteen of tea. It was so cold, maybe have some sugar in it, but oh, how refreshing. Over time there must have been gallons of tea drunk down the mines and every drink a drink to be remembered. I'm sure if our miner had the choice of taking tea down the mine or taking tea at Buckingham Palace he would choose the latter. On the other hand, if you asked him which he needed the most, obviously the answer would be when he was deep in the bowels of the earth.
You always find interesting excerpts to post. I imagine they would have strained the leaves before putting the tea into the canteen, or it would have become really bitter.
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2022 2:38 am
by Twistedoolong6
Sample pack from nio teas
Kiki-houjicha
Wonderfully malty and warming on a cold night
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Fri Aug 26, 2022 5:15 am
by LeoFox
Thought this was nice
- SmartSelect_20220826-061308_LinkedIn.jpg (541.48 KiB) Viewed 3392 times
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Sun Aug 28, 2022 1:30 pm
by GaoShan
Today I'm having my final session with my Super Special Spring 2022 Baozhong. I had my penultimate session about a week ago and finally decided to stop hoarding these leaves. There were some bits at the bottom of the bag, and the tea has more menthol/grassy notes as a result. It also isn't quite as peachy and dewy as I remember, so maybe it was time to say goodbye. This is easily one of the best teas I've had this year.
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 9:53 pm
by debunix
Enjoying some lovely sparkling sencha, after weeks of primarily drinking various more highly oxidized Taiwanese oolongs (“brandy“, “black“, “red“ oolongs).
It’s just so nice on this hot hot night when I’m trying not to turn the AC on again.
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:22 pm
by LeoFox
Late night LB
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 9:33 am
by debunix
More days of cooled tea, chilled sparkling tea, sencha, oolong, oolong, sencha, but today's
Astronomy Picture of the Day is from Pu'er, and I'll be back in the fully A/C'd office today, probably shivering at some point, and Pu'er will again look like a very good idea.....though no guarantees it will turn my clouds into rainbows like this
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2022 12:58 pm
by polezaivsani
Amazing shot,
@debunix! Guess that's what 'storm of a cup of tea' some folks here can brew looks like
.
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2022 10:18 pm
by Andrew S
1994 cooked tuocha chunks from Yee On today, brewed somewhat casually and inattentively.
I've been playing with all sorts of yancha for a while now, usually brewing my way through two or three different yancha to try to understand them a bit before moving on to a different one, and it is quite a different experience to brew an old puer that I've had a fair few times before.
For me, brewing something like yancha (especially ones that I haven't tried before) helps to teach me discipline and attention to detail, whereas brewing a pot of familiar old puer encourages me to relax and to feel the tea rather than to think about it too much. Both of those styles of tea and styles of brewing can be fun and rewarding, though...
Andrew
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 8:09 pm
by LeoFox
Happy mid autumn festival!
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 7:56 am
by Balthazar
Likewise!
Enjoyed a 70s Sichuan fuzhuan on the mid-autumn festival. Today I'm sipping on a 90s production from the same Beichuan factory (which was destroyed in the 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake). No mooncake today though.
Both teas feel remarkably clean (
) with a mellow
huangjiu-y flavor profile. Curiously tasting some marzipan in the 1992 Beichuan "Red Seal" fuzhuan. Has more going for them than the aged Anhua fuzhuans I've had, though the sample size is small.
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:31 am
by GaoShan
Today I continued a session of Shan Lin Xi that I began yesterday in my cheap porcelain pot. The leaves filled most of the pot and the lid is large and a bit unwieldy, and when I went to pour the tea, the lid fell into my cup with a plunk.
Fishing it out of the hot tea with my fingers wasn't fun, but at least it wasn't broken! After all that, the tea was pretty good.
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:38 pm
by Ethan Kurland
LeoFox wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 8:09 pm
mid-autumn festival....
What's your favorite flavor of moon cake?
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:55 pm
by LeoFox
Ethan Kurland wrote: ↑Mon Sep 12, 2022 2:38 pm
LeoFox wrote: ↑Sun Sep 11, 2022 8:09 pm
mid-autumn festival....
What's your favorite flavor of moon cake?
I only get the red bean ones
Re: Your day in tea
Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2022 1:28 am
by Andrew S
1994 Xiaguan cooked tuocha chunks from Yee On, thrown into a big porcelain pot at yum cha on a dark, humid, rainy day, with lots of boiling water refills.
Two and a half hours later, we finally left before the tea had given up. There's only so long you can sit around drinking tea, taking up room that could be used by more financially-rewarding customers...
Andrew