I anticipated that Puerh Special Grade, a loose leaf pu’er from TeaSource, would brew into a nice liquor after I smelled the intense sweet aroma of the dry leaf. I was not disappointed. In general, but especially in the initial steep, it was very malty, almost like graham crackers or Ovaltine. It opened up more [...]
Weekend before last, at the Second Annual Northwest Tea Festival, Marcus of Teahouse Kuan Yin gave me a very unusual fang cha pu’er to try. (“Fang Cha” are single cup or mug sized, square, flat pu’er cakes.) I was told that this curious little square block of tea was made with a coffee bean in [...]
I picked up a couple pieces of this 2003 Fang Cha Pu-erh at Teahouse Kuan Yin a couple of weeks ago. I don’t believe I’d ever seen pu-erh in tiny squares before. They are about an inch and a half wide.
They brew into a wonderful, sweet pu-erh that lasts for at least six infusions. Each [...]
Rishi’s Organic Ancient Pu-erh Classic is a very nice, somewhat mild pu-erh. I would hazard a guess that even people who dislike most pu-erhs due to their earthiness would find it pleasant. At the same time people who are accustomed to drinking pu-erhs are likely to find it perfectly respectable as well.
It’s a flexible tea, [...]
The ideal scenario for buying pu-erh is to go in person to a Chinese tea shop and taste the teas to determine which you like before buying. The proprietors of these tea shops can be a useful resource for information on pu-erh, guiding you towards teas that they think you will like that are within [...]
Sometimes a full gongfu cha ceremony is beyond the scope of time or practicality or attention span. One method that I use at times like this employs two gaiwans. I use the first one to brew the tea. Then after the requisite steeping time, which is dependent on how many infusions I have already brewed, [...]
The cicada is quite a fascinating little creature, appearing as a symbol of longevity or immortality throughout the arts of China and Japan over the past several centuries. The accompanying photographs are of a yixing teaset that we sometimes use for brewing and serving pu-er. The tea pouring down over the pot was the initial [...]
More accurately, this very large and lovely green Southeast Asian fruit is not a grapefruit, but a Pomelo, although sometimes it is called a Chinese grapefruit. Like the grapefruit it is distantly related to, the pomelo is a very large citrus fruit with thick skin and membranes. Unlike the grapefruit we usually see in the [...]
I’m still off the caffeine most of the time, but I was able to sneak in a little treat last weekend during our backpacking trip along Ingall’s Creek on the east side of Blewett Pass. There were 9 of us in the group, and many of them have had the joy of gongfu tea [...]
Last weekend we picked up a really fabulous cake of 2005 Yunnan Pu-ehr from New Century Tea House. We had obtained some pu-ehr tools a few weeks ago, but had no tea to use them on. We did a tasting of the 2005 in the store and were suitably impressed. One cake is quite a [...]
