Huang Shan Mu Dan

This chinese green tea was harvested this spring. Mu Dan means that the leaves were assembled by hand in order to give them a specific shape: similar to a flower, for instance. At first sight, my Huang Shan here reminded me both of a flower and of a sea urchin. OK with the flower but... well... let's say that my unconscious mind was a bit uneasy with the sea urchin image...

Being serious now, what really made me a bit reluctant at the beginning was the intense smoky vegetable aromas it emanated. I'm not - or at least I wasn't - very fond of such combination. The good thing is that I was positively surprised.

Let me give you some details about it.

I infused this tea 4 times in a small porcelain gaiwan (10 cl). I used filtered water (Brita) at 75° C, and the brewing time was rather long, as you will see.

Here's my tasting notes.

First infusion, 4' :  Amazing aromatic profile! Cooked cabbage and extremely smoky note were dominant and very persistent. The smoky note was not far from a strong lapsang souchong. Some light aromas developed at the end: first a caramelized one, then licorice root associated to the initial aromas (cabbage and smoky) which were lighter at that stage. 

Second infusion, 4' :  The cabbage and smoky aromas were dominant, even if not as strong as previously. Harmonious profile: those two aromas were associated to flowery ones, but I couldn't say precisely what flowers. Licorice note at the end.

Cabbage and smoky quite persistent.

Third infusion, 4' 50'' : Same thing, except that licorice root got stronger and longer in mouth.

Fourth infusion, 5' 20'' : Cabbage and smoky aromas were still there but getting more and more lighter. Sweet flavour. A new vanilla note developed combined with the licorice one. They were both quite persistent.

Fifth infusion, 4' 20'' : Sweet flavour. Sugar and licorice notes were dominant. Very refreshing at this stage.

Sixth and last infusion, 4' 50'' : Everything had vanished. Only a sweet global impression remained.

What can I say...? My initial reluctancy was completely un-jus-tified!

Gosh! This tea offered me exactly what I appreciate the most: strong contrast, variety, good length in mouth, clear succession of notes. And it was so refreshing at the end...! It was definitely a great tasting.

If you tasted it as well, and if you feel like sharing your views about it, please do drop some lines on the Comments. I'll be interested and I'm sure other people will be interested too.

Raw Puerh Jiang Cheng (1989)

I was very curious about this Puerh I bought to Stephane from Tea Masters. This was the first time that I tasted a raw Pu Erh and such an aged one. I searched for brewing parameters in the web before preparing it, and I did found some useful information. You might want to have a look on it as well. As you'll see I had three possible guidelines to my own Gong Fu Cha.

Firstly, I found a couple of parameters, tasting notes and impressions - in french.

They both tasted their raw Puerh (which was from 1990) in 2005.

Stephane suggested some variations himself (check the link).

J-C Maitre's parameters : 

15 cl yixing, quick rinse and then 6 infusions : 

20'' / 30'' / 30'' / 40'' / 40'' / ??

Lionel's parameters : 

2,5 - 3 g in 10 cl, quick rinse, 8 infusions : 

15'' / less than 15'' / 20'' / ?? / 30'' / 1' / 5' / 3'

Then I found some more information - this time in english.

Geraldo's parameters:

5 g in 15 cl (glass gaiwan), quick rinse, 5' of rest and then 5 infusions: 

15'' / 15'' / 25'' / 33'' / 52''

Geraldo's tasting notes are very detailed. He tasted his 1990 Puerh in 2005 as J-C Maitre and Lionel did.

I prepared my raw Puerh in a yixing teapot, more precisely the zisha Shui Pin Hou, by infusing 4 g of tea in 16 cl of filtered water (Brita) at 95°C. After a quick rinse I made 7 infusions. I stoped each infusion when the little drop on the edge of the spout got inside the teapot. Here's what I tasted.

Short rinse (well... I just couldn't sacrifice it...) : sweet and oily, I could feel that a wide variety of aromas was about to develop (earthy and undergrowth notes: damp soil, damp wood, damp leaves, humus), great freshness.

First infusion, 50'' : Great roundness and fullness, even more thick and oily texture. The earthy and undergrowth notes became stronger and then evolved towards something like burnt wood and humid earth you can smell at the end of the day in the countryside. When cold, this liquor became really - really - sweet (something close to licorice root) and fresh (almost the pine's freshness).

Second one, 40'' : Same thick oily texture. Round, very sweet and fresh. Earthy and undergrowth aromas were dominant and very sustained.

Third, 46'' : Liquor a bit less unctuous and slightly astringent. My mouth became dry and I started to feel slightly thirsty. Some changes among the aromas (damp soil grew stronger, then licorice root and pink pepper developed).

The day after at noon...

Fourth, 52'' : Liquor not that sweet nor thick, but still quite oily. Earthy and undergrowth aromas (similar to the first infusion). Light brown liquor.

Fifth, 1' ... '' : Sweetness vanished, but the texture remained a bit oily. Same damp earth, damp wood aromas, and once again the smoky, burnt wood note. Slight global astringency (dried mouth again). Very pleasant warmth in the throat.

Sixth, 4' 12'' : I tasted it cold. Very sweet liquor once again, but barely oily. Astringency grew stronger at the end. All the aromas vanished.

Seventh and last infusion, 6' 45'' : Dark brown liquor. No more aromas left. Global astringency (dried mouth and throat).

I was pretty amazed by the intense aromas and the texture of the five first infusions. I had the feeling I was somewhere in the heart of the woods, let's say early in the morning or perhaps at the end of the day, in autumn. Great feeling. Very nice tea!

Later on, I found another article in english which provides more information about this raw Puerh.

Wojciech's parameters:

5 g in 13 cl (gaiwan porcelain), quick rinse, 7 infusions : 

40'' / 25'' / 35'' / ... / 22'

I hope all this information gathering was useful to you.

Please feel free to drop a question or a comment.

Oriental Beauty Oolong, Taiwan

This was the first time I tasted an Oriental Beauty (also known as Bai Hao Oolong). At last...! And it was simply delicious!

Before I prepare a new tea I always check for optimal infusion time on the Net. And I always compare data to ensure myself that I picked the most trustful piece of information. So, when I'm about to discover a tea, I like to taste it following that optimal infusion sequence, and only then I start to explore it by infusing it according to other time sequences. Of course, when you proceed like that it's very helpful to write down parameters and tasting notes on a piece of paper.

For this first tasting I intended to follow the Gong Fu Cha brewing sequence suggested by Rishi Tea - 35'' / 20'' / 20'' / 2' - but I got distracted by all sorts of things happening during the Gong Fu Cha... so the first infusion was too short... and the others a bit longer...

I infused 3 g of tea in 14 cl of filtered hot water at 90° C. I used my zini Xishi teapot from Tea Masters - which is fabulous by the way - thanks again Stephane! 

So here's what I tasted.

First infusion, 25'' : pale yellow liquor, sweet and subtle; very silky texture; quick succesion of notes: a very delicate chocolate note as the one that I'm used to find in Quimen Mao Feng, then a flowery note, a fruity one (more like dried fruits as prune, California fig, raisin), and at the end honey. Balanced infusion; great harmony.

Second infusion, 50'' : very rich liquor, sweet flavour, three main notes: brown sugar, delicate chocolate, slightly flowery. Then a different type of notes: dried fruits and at the end quince marmalade.

Third infusion, 35'' : intense combination of three main notes (chocolate, flowers, dried fruits), than a quince marmalade and brown sugar even more intense.

Forth infusion, 50'' : sweet liquor; persistance of the previous notes and a slight woody one (scented wood).

Fifth infusion, 3' 10'' : dark amber liquor; previous notes developed in a different way; a bit less harmony; but the woody note evolved towards something warmer close to camphor. This note gave me a very nice feeling of warmth in the throat, which I could feel as well in my lungs.

Sixth infusion, 1' 10'' : nice prune note a bit covered by a mix of flowery woody notes (couldn't identify them precisely).

Seventh infusion, 35 '' : brewing time was not enough and so the aromas were rather indistinct, almost vanished. A short brewing at this stage was definitely not a good idea...

Eighth and last infusion, 2' 45'' : slight combination of three notes (flowery, dried fruits, camphor), and a global sweet flavor rather fresh (a bit like a green pear).

Believe me, I did my best to shorten this post, but well... it was a two hours and a half tasting with very nice things to share with you all. So... I hope you can forgive me for its considerable lenght. 

Matcha Ikuyo-no-mukashi, 40 g

This morning the weather was rather unsteady: great light, deep shade, sun, clouds, heavy raindrops, great light again and so on, endlessly. I guess that's why I felt like offering myself a matcha. I set everything nearby the windows so I could fully enjoy those variations. I bought some flowers, lighted a small candle and took my time searching for the right balance amongst elements, colours, textures. I also looked for nice angles of view and did a couple of photographs, which is a marvelous way of rediscovering things we appreciate. 

For instance, my creamy chawan always makes me think about smoothness and simplicity and dunes: warmth and sea are never too far away. I just love it!  As for the whisk, I realized how close it can be to a flower...

I know that some people prepare matcha using hot water at 80° C. I must say I find it very odd. Firstly, because matcha is a shade tea as gyokuro which requires warm water rather then hot. Secondly, because you are supposed to prepare it and drink it right away which means that either you will drink it very hot or you will have to wait it to cool down. In both cases, it seems to me that you miss quite a few nice subtleties of it. An inferior quality or an average matcha that do not have much to offer might require such a high temperature, but not a superior quality matcha.

So, as usual, I prepared matcha with filtered water at 50° C. The matcha I have is not supreme quality, but it is quite beyond average. I made a very light usucha : one good chashaku mesure for something like 10 cl. I used a small stainless sieve to transfer that amount of tea to the chawan. Then with a circular movement I slowly poured water along the chawan rather then directly on matcha. I whisked it and after a couple of wide quick Z's I had a nice froth.

This was indeed a very light usucha. I normally put two generous scoops to prepare usucha, so today I did taste something different. This one had a nice creamy texture and a slight powder milk note. I tasted a hint of bitterness at a certain point. It was OK, but a bit more thicker, matcha Ikuyo-no-mukashi offers more than that.

Kuwapani Makalu KP1 "clonal" SFTGFOP1, Nepal

Here is a fine black tea from Nepal that I enjoy very much. It is a first flush 2009, made of long voluminous tealeafs: first leaf and bud mainly.

I prepared it in an porcelain teapot, infusing approximately 8 g of tea in 40 cl of filtered water at 80° C and infusing tealeafs twice at 4 minutes. I didn't want to constraint the leafs during the infusion so I just filtered them when pouring tea, making sure I had emptied the teapot completely before tasting.

I appreciate this Kuwapani for its fullness, its smooth flowing texture, and its well balanced profile. Some of its notes are extremely long in mouth (golden grape, caramelized sugar). Here is the range of notes I recognized.

Dryed leafs: especially nougatine and caramelized sugar, more slightly waxed wood and sandalwood.

Infused leafs: especially caramelized sugar, more slightly wood.

First infusion: especially fresh flowers (freesia, peony), then caramelized sugar and golden grape, and slightly sandalwood.

Second infusion: especially wood and caramelized sugar, slightly floral (freesia) and sandalwood, a final note more planty very slightly bitter (leaf).

First infusion was light golden while the second one was a bit deeper.

I did the second infusion 10 or 15 minutes after the first one.

As always, those 80 cl of Kuwapani made me feel very good: both dynamic and relaxed... sweet paradox.

Teadrops Prelude

Hi everyone!

I have been learning so much by reading tea blogs that I felt I needed to give you all a little something back. So here is my blog. Be very welcome!

 

I really discovered tea quite recently, a bit more than a year ago, and it has been a great experience. I started with japanese green teas, which I enjoy very much, then I learned more about red teas (from Darjeeling, Assam, Sri Lanka, Yunnan and Quimen), I discovered white teas, as well as Oolong and Pu Erh.

 

At the moment, I am exploring Oolong and Pu Erh, and I am learning as much as I can about Gong Fu Cha. Stephane from Tea Masters kindly advise me what teapots to choose among his selection. So I would be happy to share my views on GFC tasting with you as soon as I have my two teapots.

 

For the time being, let me share with you the pleasure I get from a couple of teadrops... well, OK, from a little more than that. As my tea tasting moments are often connected to Music and Poetry, I will mention here and there some of my favorite pieces and poems.