What HeiCha are you drinking

[OCTO]

while I do like plenty of more betel nut and woody/nutty and sweet liu baos, at the same time if I didn't like the earthy forest floor and basement flavors too, and specifically want them sometimes, well then I'd probably just drink oolong or something.

@wave_code

Didn't realise I've got Japanese pots here and there.... hahahaha..... You may want to try pairing your LiuBao with different pots that might give you a slightly different outcome in the cup. I do that pretty often too. I find brewing young, 6 yearold LiuBao, with Mumyoi and poured over to DiCaoQing pot as a pitcher, a very enjoyable experience.... food for thoughts??

Cheers!

[Bok]

6 yearold LiuBao, with Mumyoi and poured over to DiCaoQing pot as a pitcher, a very enjoyable experience.... food for thoughts??

Cheers!

Please stop! Introducing ever more possibilities... where is all this going to end?

[StoneLadle]

DCQ pitcher (read another pot) for Liu Bao works well, especially traditionally stored (dry stored LB is .... Like sandpaper water, it just doesn't integrate and brews up insipid and lifeless)...

The DCQ seems to promote the high notes and betelnuttiness without muting the earth tones...

[wave_code]

An interesting additional option, plus those mumyoi pots are so nice looking. Theres a lot to look into both from a clay perspective but also just aesthetics with a lot of the current Japanese potters I can see. Some really gorgeous work and if handling or heat is a concern quite a few artists making more rear handle and smaller size pots like Ito Gafu or Shiro Shimizu (beautiful work... I'm a little obsessed at the moment). Maybe it is just what I manage to come across but it seems like there is a lot of work and interest in Japan in finding new ways forward with different styles of tea and ceramics, and that includes drawing inspiration from more of a Chinese direction while also trying very new things, but that maybe a lot of the Chinese market is catered towards more classic styles and techniques? I don't want to generalize too much because of course this is all just what I see, and that involves a lot of language and regional limitation and that is also without looking at other places like Taiwan, so on... maybe there is a lot more stuff going on than I know about. Some of what I see from Japan seems closer in general idea to what people like Bero or Duchek are doing in Europe by taking bits and pieces from various traditions and regions and mixing it into something distinctly local and new.

oof when you start adding in cups and pitchers you are really just making a mess. I have one nixing and one that I think is zisha but they are very tiny one sip cups so you are not gonna really be able to tell anything from them. I also have a pair of "red clay" cups, probably just standard cheaper yixing, but they don't see much use - maybe I need to work it into rotation and see how they do. I was eyeing up some hong-ni cups the other day...

the banko this morning seemed to work pretty favorably with the more storage heavy liu bao. again with thicker liquor/mouthfeel, took out what would be considered the less pleasant aspects of storage, made things very mineral but also more mild. its a little bigger than my other pots so I'm not filling it all the way, which can further add to the mess if maybe using larger pots not totally filled like one does with sencha could also have a noticeable effect or not. I have to admit while all this is interesting I do have my budgetary interests in doing these experiments both for myself and to hopefully advise others that maybe there are less obvious and just as or better performing options when looking into clay pots than the often more pricey options that seem to always come up as the best. this also probably comes from my kinda stubborn/oppsitional nature. a bit of "oh yixing is the best huh? well we will just see about that!"

this is all going to be way too much soon and I'm gonna have to just go back to the old porcelain gaiwan and say forget it

[wave_code]

But I did grab a bag of this, ordered from Wuzhou and kept in baskets in KL and packaged by the same merchant...

so you just gonna leave us hanging on if its any good??

Have you had teas from Leong Swee Sang tea shop? Looks like they are in your home town, on some FB posts it looks like they are offering some older LB in small quantity so I'm kinda curious. Though they may not ship international anyway.

[StoneLadle]

But I did grab a bag of this, ordered from Wuzhou and kept in baskets in KL and packaged by the same merchant...

so you just gonna leave us hanging on if its any good??

Have you had teas from Leong Swee Sang tea shop? Looks like they are in your home town, on some FB posts it looks like they are offering some older LB in small quantity so I'm kinda curious. Though they may not ship international anyway.

Hahahahaa...

Bought it and left it on the kitchen counter for a few days now. I'm out of town for now and I don't think I'll get around to it till next week sometime...

Leong Swee Sang is an institution. I was just there a couple weeks ago and posted a picture. Good people. My family has been buying tea from them for a long time. Just ask them if they will ship, I didn't even know they have a website !

[wave_code]

thanks, good to know! they only have a facebook page but its a way of at least contacting them. the only other Malaysian places I've really seen websites for (granted, in English) is Chin-bee who seemed to close down web sales pretty quickly, and Cha-No-Yu Tea Art who do have a website but not much on there, and the one you posted the other day.

[Balthazar]

On the topic of Di Cao Qing, I've fed the pot I recently picked up from @polezaivsani some 2013 Zhu Yu Shan today. I've mentioned this tea before, it's a "wild" fuzhuan brick that I very often find myself reaching for when I'm in the mood for something that's both energizing, clean and easy on the stomach.

The DCQ definitely needs to raised for a while longer before the judge is ready to make a verdict on suitable pairings, but I think this pot will be more fitting for the typical liubao taste profile rather than the more elegant Anhua heichas (which I usually brew in hongni or zini, occasionally even a porcelain gaiwan). Really dig the pot itself though.

hc6.jpg (219.89 KiB) Viewed 6872 times

[polezaivsani]

@Balthazar, i'm starting to train (or get trained by) the replacement pot too. Got the very first session with liu an today and was meet with astringency i wasn't even aware was in there while brewing it in porcelain and DCQ pot of yours. The whole picture got rearranged with familiar flavors ending up in different places. The texture is still whole another level compared to porcelain producing a lush soup even in the very last infusion.

[Balthazar]

Nice looking pot! What clay is it?

I'm currently drinking liubao brewed in the DCQ pot. This combination works really well.

[OCTO]

I'm currently drinking liubao brewed in the DCQ pot. This combination works really well.

Now you're feeling the looovvvve .... hahahaha......

[wave_code]

also had a liu an morning for the first time in clay over porcelain. it seems to make quite a difference. I feel like a lot of the more aromatic elements I get from the warmed dry leaf actually stuck around in the liquor rather than vanishing as soon as the water hit it. I was blending some younger lighter sample leftovers together. im curious to see how some darker HK stored leaf will do.

I don't know if its that it is starting to break in a bit and I can push it toward something else or if this pot is going to just be better suited for liu an. it wasn't my intention, but it seems that the pot picks the tea rather than vice-versa.

[polezaivsani]

Nice looking pot! What clay is it?

Said to be Jiang po ni - a naturally occurring mix of zini and lüni as far as i know. A grainy, geometric and nice mix of plain yet catching in smaller details form - my idea for a vessel for liu bao & liu an teas. Now i'll go do some more practice and see how good my vision fits in with what the clay has to offer.

[thommes]

Balthazar, i'm starting to train (or get trained by) the replacement pot too. Got the very first session with liu an today and was meet with astringency i wasn't even aware was in there while brewing it in porcelain and DCQ pot of yours. The whole picture got rearranged with familiar flavors ending up in different places. The texture is still whole another level compared to porcelain producing a lush soup even in the very last infusion.

I love that pot. Might you tell us where you got it?

I bought a kilo brick of fuzhuan today. I need a pot for it. Anyone have a suggestion?

[polezaivsani]

@thommes, his twin brother is supposedly still looking for a home at https://yannzishagallery.com/products/% ... 8%E6%A1%B6. Got couple more sessions with it and the glaring astringency is nowhere to be found while all the beautiful parts of the palette begin to shine.

Please, post some photos should you up adopting it - it'd be nice to check up on the sibling soul