I really would like to keep a blog...

I've never been any good with blogging and journaling. I now have an interest in knitting that is currently surpassing my interest in tea. (Although I still love tea, I have learned enough so that my thirst to acquire knowledge, and tea, rapidly is diminishing.)

I'm thinking about starting a separate blog for knitting, but I'm keeping track of most of that on Ravelry. So maybe this is going to become a universal blog, or maybe I'll quit blogging....who knows.

Fruit-Flavored Tea

Just browsing around the tea-web and came across this from anotherteablog.blogspot.com.

Fruit Flavored Tea

Very entertaining, and true!

H2O

So I've been thinking a lot about water.

I think out of everything I've tried at home, the Brita probably makes the tastiest tea. The bottled water doesn't have enough minerals it seems, and is also expensive, and straight tap water is far too hard and will scale up my tea kettle in a week.

I'm probably fine with the Brita, but it's ugly and I don't like the fact that it's sitting in plastic. I did find this however:

Design Within Reach Water Pitcher

And as semi-impractical as it may be, I kind of really want one. It's $85 to start out, and $25 for the replacement charcoal and stones that you'd need to replace every 6 months, but it only holds 30oz, and should sit for an hour for perfect taste. We'll see.

2001 MenKu "Yuan Yieh Xian"

2001 MenKu "Yuan Yieh Xian" Meng Sa Mountain Iron Cake
from Hou De

I'm apparantly lazy with my tasting notes, so here's some observations and more pictures.

Dry leaf: Dark with silver/gold hairs on the buds

Rinse: Bamboo / Woodsy

Smells: like pu!

Taste: earthy, musky, deep mushroom taste (shitake)

2001 Yiwu Zhengshan

2001 Yiwu Zhengshan from Nada

Very smooth. Quite drinkable. Enjoyed it so much I didn't actually analyze it. So here's a picture.



As you can see I got my new cups in from Dragon Tea House. Love them!

2008 Nannuo

2008 Nannu 'Cha Chan Yi Wei' from Nada.

Very long leaves - army green - sinewy.

Dry Scent - apples, caramelized sugar

Brew:
Lid smell - fruit, leaf smell - collard greens

Taste - brothy, green. lacking woodsy, bitter

Brewing correctly? Doesn't taste like a young pu, more just like a green tea.



Trying iced pu with discarded infusions (I can't drink everything by myself.)

1999 Da Du Gang

My first Hou De purchase I'm trying. 1999 Da Du Gang 'Yunnan Yuan Bao' Chi Tse Beeng. (I have no idea what any of that means except 1999 and Beeng.)

notes first...editing later

Dry leaf-dark forest green & brown; smells like leaves, wood, deeper than the last pu I tried



Liquor - pale caramel

Smell - leafy, woody

Taste - sweet, mushroom, floral

Later infusions - deeper taste, golden amber liquor