Your day in tea

[pepson]

Morning tea Yue Guang Bai prepared in Lucie Hrbkova chamotte clay shibo and cup.

[debunix]

was it as tasty as it looks?

[pepson]

was it as tasty as it looks?

Yes. Fruitiness taste and flavor, especially peaches. YGB is not my everyday tea. I have to be in right mood for this tea.

[Vinski]

Tasty and delicious peach scented Mi Tao Xiang from Wuyi Origin. Fortunately, there are still a few tens of grams of tea left.

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[pepson]

Mi Lan Xiang was not the best idea for morning tea on an empty stomach

Teaware from Czech maker Lucie Hrbková

[LeoFox]

I'm enjoying some 'natural' gyokuro from Obubu to start the day. This is a pleasant mellow gyokuro, a little grassy, a little sweet, and just right as I await the sun and a bit of warming.

I'll have maybe one more session at lunchtime, but because sleep right now is a bit dicey already, I'm stopping my caffeine at lunchtime. So many teas, so little time!

Looking at the obubu website, i noticed this statement suggesting that they only sell aracha and not finished teas. The pictures of the sencha also seem less sorted than finished tea from elsewhere. Is it true all their teas are aracha? I know that Hojo also sells some of his zairai sencha as aracha.

[DailyTX]

Using a little teapot today. Drinking an unknown age gong ting puerh to warm up the day. Cheers to Autumn!

[debunix]

Looking at the obubu website, i noticed this statement suggesting that they only sell aracha and not finished teas. The pictures of the sencha also seem less sorted than finished tea from elsewhere. Is it true all their teas are aracha? I know that Hojo also sells some of his zairai sencha as aracha.

This prompted me to look up the meaning of aracha, and it does fit with my impression that Obubu teas have more variable appearance of the leaf/stems than most. I am not experienced enough to say whether I really prefer the taste of aracha vs more 'finished' sencha. Kukicha from stems can be quite tasty, so I do not assume stem left in aracha in any way degrades my taste experience.

This morning I'm enjoying some Tsuen 'aoi' sencha via O-cha, and this blended and refined tea is definitely more predictable session to session than the teas from Obubu, but I can see how something may be lost in keeping that smoother profile. I don't get those sometimes surprisingly brilliant infusions where floral and herbaceous notes really sing out. Today, however, I need something comforting and predictable, so the Tsuen is just right.

[side note: searching for information about stem tea brings up a ton of sites about Cannabis stem tea; searching for kukicha is a much more efficient way to go when you want to study up on Camellia sinensis versions]

[debunix]

Today has been a pleasing day in tea. I have been sleeping better so able to drink tea into the afternoons now, so more sessions per day are possible. Started with the Tsuen 'Aoi' sencha, and then had a nice afternoon session with Hatvala 'Forest Genie' sheng puerh from Vietnam. It's gotten chilly enough at times that Puerh and darker oolongs are more appealing again after a summer of lighter oolongs and greens.

Enjoying this one from a Petr Novak 'tree bark' pot and the Suzuki steel glazed yunomi, whose wide opening allows the tea to cool to slurping temperature quickly, a good thing for quick infusions of sheng.

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[LeoFox]

Looking at the obubu website, i noticed this statement suggesting that they only sell aracha and not finished teas. The pictures of the sencha also seem less sorted than finished tea from elsewhere. Is it true all their teas are aracha? I know that Hojo also sells some of his zairai sencha as aracha.

This prompted me to look up the meaning of aracha, and it does fit with my impression that Obubu teas have more variable appearance of the leaf/stems than most. I am not experienced enough to say whether I really prefer the taste of aracha vs more 'finished' sencha. Kukicha from stems can be quite tasty, so I do not assume stem left in aracha in any way degrades my taste experience.

This morning I'm enjoying some Tsuen 'aoi' sencha via O-cha, and this blended and refined tea is definitely more predictable session to session than the teas from Obubu, but I can see how something may be lost in keeping that smoother profile. I don't get those sometimes surprisingly brilliant infusions where floral and herbaceous notes really sing out. Today, however, I need something comforting and predictable, so the Tsuen is just right.

[side note: searching for information about stem tea brings up a ton of sites about Cannabis stem tea; searching for kukicha is a much more efficient way to go when you want to study up on Camellia sinensis versions]

Thank you for the info!

[Iizuki]

... the Suzuki steel glazed yunomi, whose wide opening allows the tea to cool to slurping temperature quickly, a good thing for quick infusions of sheng.

A stunning yunomi!


Myself I Just got back from travels and it's nice to have all the varieties close at hand again

[debunix]

A stunning yunomi!

that's one where I looked at the chawans made by the same artisan with that glaze, and after drooling for a while, decided that I could afford a guinomi which would be fine for sheng.

Myself I Just got back from travels and it's nice to have all the varieties close at hand again

i'm almost done with the Tsuen sencha, so I'll be able to open one of the Obubu senchas to taste for that aracha character. since my Japanese greens are usually a once daily to start the day, it takes me a while to go through them and I only allow one to be opened at a time. so the variety is there stored up and ready to go but I have to stick with one of them for a couple of weeks at a time.

[debunix]

it's just chilly enough that the heat has gone on once or twice during the day today, and suddenly houjicha feels just right.

[Balthazar]

It's a special time of the year here, the cold weather has set in but significant snowfall has yet to happen. Some of the darkest and driest days of the year, with the alluring smell of ten thousand stoked furnaces as a constant olfactory companion when walking outside.

I'm particularly drawn to smoky teas on such days, though "smoky" is such a broad spectrum of different nuances that I find difficult to describe in words.

I have recently been enjoying two 2003 Bulang puers. These are commisions with good material and traditional processing, something I rarely encounter in the dodgy world of "commisions with unknown origin". It's a slightly drier profile than I'd typically prefer, but I don't mind it in this season.

A typical second (and last) tea of the day for me these days is the BSX 2006 QLC. Completely different type of smoke due to the seven-star stove process, and by now completely integrated, it's a very comforting tea whose strongest points are subtleties that demand a quiet atmosphere to be properly appreciated. As a side note, this was the last QLC production from BSX before bankruptcy, restructuring, and significant scale-up of production capacity in 2007. I hope to be able to try more of their pre-2007 QLCs.

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[LeoFox]

For some reason, these cold dark days have me reaching for japanese greens.

Tried a konacha for the first time - the cheap green dust that might as well be teabag stuffings. Works well just dumping 4-5 grams in a glass and filling it up with luke warm water. I cant bring myself to put this in a pot - lest the tiny flecks get lodged in the nooks and crannies.

The leaf bits are soft enough to just drink with no need for filter. Konacha, the nigori sake of teas.

This one from saga - grassy, grassy - fresh grass; dried grass; tall unkempt grass with some wild flowers.