Green Tea Brewing

I think it is a fairly common occurring among tea drinkers to enjoy green tea at times, yet end up not drinking green tea that often. The fresh green and slightly sweet taste of a green tea at its best is what keeps us buying green teas from time to time, even though we soon wonder what we were thinking when we struggle with the green tea ageing beyond its prime in our possession time and time again. The problem is likely not so much about the green tea itself but of how green tea tends to be one of the more complex teas to brew in how sensitive it is with temperature to the point that even Silver Needle is a lot more forgiving than a good Dragon Well or Zhu Ye Qing. I have experimented with glass brewing which I have had a little success at times along with a lot of swallowed tea leaves with the tea. Other times I have ended up with a bitter mess after the glass got too hot to pick up and by the time it had cooled down to a point that I was able to handle the tea was way too bitter to drink. I have tried letting the water cool and English Brew it in a mug infuser but lacking a thermometer it was a challenge to get the water right. Other times I have tried a semi-cooler water that I produced by mixing a half mug of boiling water with a half mug of room temperature water which also has mixed results from time to time. Not to mention that I found that with green tea English brewing tends to produce at most one good cup as any reinfusion of the leaves tends to result in a less than good cup of tea. The same thing with trying to flash brew green tea with boiling water and really little time, first with a mug infuser in a larger cup and later on with a gaiwan. While a gaiwan tended to have slightly better results and the ability to get a few decent cups of tea from the leaves, it was still a bit too hit or miss. So regardless the result was the same in the end of less than desired success results with my green tea for me to try to drink it often for me to finish off the tea before it was beyond its peak. Yet the few times that the planets and stars were aligned right for me to end up with a good cup of green tea was enough to get me to continue to lose control and buy more green tea in the moment only to wonder what I was thinking later on when I was faced with yet another bag of green tea going stale on me. Or at least until I learned about the other way of using a gaiwan …

When it comes to using a gaiwan today most people think about a gaiwan being used for brewing oolong or puerh tea with multiple short infusions. Sure a gaiwan is idea for short and quick infusions in how easily and quickly it can be emptied and unlike with a pot there is no spout to clog and result in an over brewed batch of tea. Yet what most people seem to forget or at least be reluctant to put into practice is that a gaiwan is not just a brewing vessel but is also a drinking vessel. In how the saucer of the gaiwan can be used to hold the bowl filled with hot tea comfortably in one’s hand and the lid can be used to both stir the tea and push back the leaves to keep them in the gaiwan when taking a sip of tea. Which turned out to be exactly what was needed to get my green tea brewing to a point that I actually get success time and time again to the point that I find myself drinking green tea more often. In fact I opened up my second to last sealed bag of 2009 Zhu Ye Qing tea which was still amazingly fresh and for once I am convinced that I will have the bag finished off in the next two to three weeks tops. I have also found that when drinking out of a gaiwan that I was able to finally find a use for the larger gaiwan that I bought a few years ago and only used a few times because I found it to be too hard to handle. Turns out nothing was wrong with the gaiwan, just that it was a drinking gaiwan and not a brewing only gaiwan. What a wonderful rediscovery and one that is too good not to blog about in the hopes that others may learn about the wonders of green tea drinking out of a gaiwan without as much trial and error as I had to go through to get there myself.

Steepster

I’m not sure how many people are following this blog but I want to tell everybody that I’ve pretty much moved on from Tea Blogging to keeping my tea reviews on Steepster which can be described as a bit of a Facebook for tea that simplifies the tea blogging experience.  I know a lot of people really enjoyed my tea photos but quite honestly the extra work of taking pictures was one of the main reasons why my posts were so infrequent.  But if I miss the occasional picture taking too much I’ll resurrect this blog as a tea photo blog so check back from time to time or keep me in your RSS reader just in case that happens.  Thanks for following and if you want to continue to follow me, my tea notes can be found at http://steepster.com/JohnGrebe and I would encourage you to create an account and follow me and in turn I will follow everybody who follows me.

2006 Yunnan Tongqing Hao Puerh

Vendor:  Puerh Shop

Vendor Description:  This type of Pu erh brick is being consumed daily for two reasons. First of all, it’s not all that expensive – less than 3 cents per cup, and it tastes good. The reddish-colored liquor of its infusion is full-bodied, and yet mellow and smooth without strong scent that almost everyone could get used to, say if you drink coffee already. Good for multiple infusions.  Wash it twice and brew up multiple nice cups quickly. Just sit back and enjoy.  The term ‘earthy’ applies to this brick almost literally, as some pu-erh tastes remarkably like dirt. This is not a criticism, but novices should taste the tea before buying it.

Brewing Parameters:  Brewed in my ripe puerh pot with a quick double rince and then was able to brew 3 good brews and one

Overall Impression:  This brick is part of the Puerh Shop Taste of Mellowness sampling pack offered a few years ago and is a perfect example of the importance of rinsing ripe puerh and especially cheap ripe puerh when brewing.  The first round I initially confused the rinse water with tea and it was a very musty brew that was best fit for being dumped out upon the ground.  The first real infusion after the double rinse had a medium body with an earthy edge to it.  Not that much more to say about this brew as the earthy edge is the only thing really worth mentioning as if this brick were to mellow out more with age I think it would go downhill as it lacks any apparent depth.  Overall I tend to avoid earthy puerhs which I typically bash as musty but I must admit that with a proper rinse this is one of the very few good earthy puerhs that I have experienced and one that the price is right as I have to admit that it is better than some of the bad cakes that I’ve had.  Still in the end the brick is no value as its quality is still too low to result in a high level of enjoyment.

Tea Tortoise:  The little guy has tried running away and hiding closed up in his shell behind the teacup.  I think it is safe to say that he did not enjoy this one.

A Yixing Pot Experiment

The above yixing pot is around 100 mL in size and came from Knix as part of the puerh stash buyout a few months ago.  He told me that both of the pots were used to brew young sheng puerh and I initially had them both in storage being unsure of what to dedicate them to.  For the past few weeks I’ve been playing around with the pot and have decided to try to use it as a universal pot for my yixing friendly teas.  Yes I know that the so called golden rule of yixing pots is that you need a different pot for each type of tea because of how the porous clay will absorb the flavor of the tea that is brewed as it naturally seasons.  Yet over the past few days I have stumbled across 2 blog posts one by MarshalN and the other by T Ching who both express doubts over this so called golden rule of yixing pots.  After all what do I really have to lose, the pot came seasoned for young sheng puerh which upsets my stomach enough that I traded away the sheng I got from Knix with BearsBearsBears for ripe puerh?  Technically if I follow the rules I should boil the sheng pot to season it again to a new tea, but instead I am going to use start using it for a mix of gongfu brewed puerh, and oolong (Dong Ding, Ti Kuan Yin, & Wuyi) and see what happens over the coming weeks and rinse it out thoroughly after each use like one would with a gaiwan.  The absolute worse thing that could happen is that I could end up with a messed up yixing pot that needs to be boiled and seasoned again but that would only put me back to where I am now if I were to “follow the rules”.  Once the results of my little experiment become clear I’ll post an update to let everybody know how things turned out.

Twinings Prince of Wales

Brand:  Twinings

Vendor Description:  A superb black tea used in the days of the Imperial Tang Dynasty.  Prince of Wales is a pure China black tea sourced from regions including the Yunnan province and other southern regions of China. This blend is light in color and has a smooth and mild taste, with a well-rounded character. Great in the late morning or in the afternoon, it is perfect with or without milk and can be sweetened to taste.

Brewing Parameters:  1 heaping teaspoon in my old Swiss Gold mug infuser for 4 minutes

Overall Impression:  First off I should give a bit of personal history with this tea which dates back to my freshman year of college and the start of my interest in teas.  At the time when I started college I was used to drinking mainly soda but being cheap I soon realized that tea (and sugar) was a lot cheaper than soda to have around the dorm room and I soon found that Twinings was not only the best brand of teabag tea in the grocery store but also frequently went on sale for 3 boxes for $5.  At first I focused upon English Breakfast and especially Irish Breakfast tea but when they added it I got a Twinings variety pack which included Prince of Wales.  Prince of Wales was my first exposure to Chinese black tea and was what initially lead to my lasting bent on favoring Chinese teas over Ceylon and Indian teas.  So when I happened to be at a tea shop that had tins of loose Twinings teas I could not resist picking up a tin of Prince of Wales for old times sake.

My initial taste of the brew in over half a decade was surprise at it being higher quality than I had initially expected.  The taste of the Prince of Wales blend is indeed light and smooth as described and it is clear that a good part of the blend is Keemun black tea.  Clearly it could be better especially if it was blended using higher quality whole leaves instead of the broken leaf grade, but while it lacks any slight traces of natural semi-sweetness found in some blacks I also would not call it bitter either.  The Keemun that it was made from is a good mild variety without any traces of smoke.  Finally to complete the experiment of duplicating my early tea experience after finishing half of the contents of the mug of tea I emptied 2 sugar packets into the remaining half cup of tea to make it in the style that I drank my tea during my college days.  Wow I never realized how much sugar can destroy the more subtle notes of tea before this experiment not to mention it is no wonder why I gained so much weight during my college years with all that sugar in my tea all the time.

2008 Menghai Dayi Adorned in Red Ripe Puerh

Source: Puerh Shop

Brewing parameters: a quick double rinse and then brewed with moderate length infusions in my ripe puerh yixing pot

Vendor Description: (Mix of Puerh Shop and JAS etea’s descriptions) A new blend from Menghai tea factory in 2007 and it is considered as a successful product. Thanks to its long history and rich experience, Menghai Tea Factory makes the best of ripen teas, this one is no exception, it is ranked top among the best Menghai Tea Factory teas.  Medium to lightly fermented Ripe Pu-erh Grade 5 through 9 has been compressed into these 400 grams cakes. Most likely composed of both new and slightly aged tea, it is ready to drink now but due to its light level of fermentation it will undergo significant change over the next few years.

Overall Impression:  The leaves of the Mengahai Dayi Adorned in Red cake are fine with some golden tips which are not only on the outer layer of the cake but mixed in throughout the entire cake.  When brewed it yields a very nice medium strength shu puerh with a nice clean taste without any musty earthy aroma or flavors present.  The brew has a nice mellow taste with a pleasant slightly smooth edge and the expected “Menghai scent” taste associated with good Menghai ripe puerh.  The second infusion got away from me and ended up a bit stronger than I usually brew my puerh but luckily Adorned in Red is a very forgiving tea which took on a slight maltiness to the brew but not one that was overwhelming enough to destroy the smooth mellowness experienced in the first round.  The third round I paid better attention to the brewing times and was just like the third round and for the fourth round I went for a long brew to finish off the leaves and successfully squeeze out one more yummy round of ripe puerh.

Tea Tortoise:  The little guy is looking up at me and acting very friendly.  Maybe he wants something from me like another cup of Adorned in Red puerh.

2009 Rongzhen Super Grade Ripe Puerh

Source: Puerh Shop

Brewing parameters: a quick double rinse and then brewed with moderate length infusions in my ripe puerh yixing pot

Vendor Description: You are looking at a great value offering, a tea cake made in 2009 with 2008 harvest from Youle and Nannuo mountains, a quality cake under $ 11!  Now, is there a price difference between western and Chinese?  The matter of the fact is that the price is not the only bright spot for this product, you got to try it to appreciate the goodness of it.

Overall Impression:  Just like with the other Rongzhen beeng I was not overly impressed with this one but I have to admit that it is slightly higher quality than the previous one.  The dry leaves appear to be a good quality which show a few golden buds while not being overwhelmed by too many twiggy stems.  While it lacks any mustiness and has a slight maltiness to the brew, it also lacks much depth coming off as a fairly plain brew without any of the desired mellowness or smoothness of a really good ripe puerh.  Although I do have a slight disagreement over the description saying that the cake is a great value.  Granted it is still a much better quality puerh at a lower price than the musty loose ripe puerh being sold by a lot of vendors it can not compete with the quality ripe puerh from the more established factories.  So with that being said I have no plans on buying any more “great value” puerh cakes once my existing supply of them is consumed.

Tea Tortoise:  The little guy is pulling his head in and wondering if he should start slowly backing away.  While he isn’t overall impressed with this brew it also wasn’t that awful either; he hopes the quality of his tea will be better next time around.

2007 Rongzhen 9878 Ripe Puerh

Source: Puerh Shop

Brewing parameters: a quick double rinse and then brewed with moderate length infusions in my ripe puerh yixing pot

Vendor Description: The cake is carefully made by Rongzhen Tea Factory. The look of it is very much presentable with a lots of gold buds. It brews a wonderfully strong soup, it’s great for drinking now and even better to put away for aging.

You might think that this cannot be good since it is selling at such a low price. On the contrary, this tea cake is good, as it was selected from a dozen candidates from multiple factories in the same price range. In addition, we have built such a cozy relationship with Rongzhen’s boss, so we paid a heavily discounted price. Now the saving is all yours!

Overall Impression:  Brewed light the tea comes off as a light tasting mellow brew that is fairly plain without any traces of mustiness. Brewed darker the tea picks up some malty and earthy tones to it with a slightly rough edge to the overall brew.  Overall I am not that impressed with this tea and consider the description of lots of gold buds to be a bit of a joke as it clearly has a lot more stems & twigs than buds when one examines the leaves.  While it is a better quality than the low end cheap musty ripe puerh, it is not by much so it is a good example of how one often gets what they pay for in the end.  Although to be fair I must add that my grandmother really likes this tea and she had me order multiple cakes of it for her, so there are some people who really love it.

2009 Mongshan Premium Zhu Ye Qing Tea (Bamboo Leaf Green)

Source: Puerh Shop

Brewing parameters: around 1 tsp in a 100 mL gaiwan with multiple short infusions, also very fitting to be able to brew a bamboo leaf green tea in my new bamboo gaiwan

Vendor Description:  A 2009 first flush early Spring tea from Mongdingshan (蒙顶山) Sichuan, the place famous for its status as the oldest royal tribute tea producer since Tang dynasty. It is now often sold as “Mt. Emei Zhu Ye Qing” to fatch top dollars.

This beautifully made single tip variety brews a flavor that is full, rich, smooth and distinctively fruity. The tea leaf is beautiful. Almost looks like small pine needles and has a nice vibrant green to it. It may be prepared in a regular teapot, a traditional steeping cup (known as a gaiwan), or in individual teacups.

Overall Impression:  The first thing that stood out to me about this tea was the very fresh and green aroma of the dry leaf.  The dry tea leaves are flat and needle light and appear to be all buds which show signs of opening up slightly when brewed.  The taste overall is is light and sweet with flavor notes that are a tad fruity and woody but not grassy.  A taste which is fairly consistent with what I remember bamboo tasting like so it is not by any means a stretch to call this a bamboo leaf green tea even though I’m confident that it lacks any bamboo. The tea also has fairly good multiple infusions for a green tea. As expected the first two infusions were clearly the best and the third was still very good. The fourth infusion started to go down hill but was still fair before the tea died on the fifth infusion.

A New Beginning

After being away from tea blogging for over a year I have decided to return but on a new blog given that my level of experience with tea has increased.  It also beings with a note of mixed feelings as today I acquired Knix’s puerh stash for a small price who has since fallen away from the practice of drinking puerh.  This is the second time that a person has thought of me when unloading their puerh collection when they lose interest.  While it is great to know that I’ve made enough of an influence on others in the world of tea to come to mind, it comes with a bit of sadness to know that my new found collection of puerh and teaware comes at the loss of one less puerh drinker in the world to show for it.