Hello and Thank You

Welcome Warbler,

It's always my standard to suggest a read through Okakura's "Book of Tea" especially since it is available free online:

... the actual book will only set you back $4 at a book store though.

My other suggestion is to not worry so much about categories of tea at first. Buy a few of each, and they can be lower quality tea bags from an Asian/Indian market even. A few Assam's, Darjeeling's, Blacks, Greens, Oolongs, and even a couple cheaper Pu-Erh tuo/mini tuo. Then don't think too much and just try them each, you will find that you gravitate towards certain ones naturally. Then delve into those areas a bit deeper and then you can really appreciate the better quality teas and what it is that you enjoy.

Personally I enjoy greens, but I also can get into some oolongs and pu-erh and occasionally I'll go for a DJ, Assam, or black. My tastes change with the seasons and sometimes with my moods, and they will most certainly change over time.

Best of luck, and most importantly Enjoy!

- Dominic Drinking: Brewing some Young Hyson as I type.

Hi Warbler, and welcome. How do you like your Zoji? I love mine. You have a long and fascinating road ahead of you, enjoy the journey and let us know if you have any questions along the way. Let us know what strikes you as you progress.

_____ Mike

Mike or Warbler,

What exactly are you referring to? Zojirushi makes all manner of things, I'm guessing maybe an electric kettle or some such. I own a beautiful Zoji 10-cup rice cooker that I would fight to the death for. The reason I ask, is that I have been looking for an electric kettle for my office and I'm planning on getting a basic cheapie Procter/Silex one but if Zoji makes a good one that is reasonably priced I may splurge.

- Dominic Drinking: The afore-mentioned Young Hyson and enjoying myself greatly :)

Dom, you probably know this, but make sure you get one that actually

*boils* the water. Many American models do not, and so aren't really suitable for ool> Mike Petro wrote:

Actually, I mainly drink greens so the cheapie one is sufficient for my main needs at work even if it doesn't reach a perfect boil (which it claims it does). I do have access to a "Hot Shot" which produces very hot boiling water for Pu-Erh or an Oolong if I need, but this was more just for on my desk to be small and easy.

- Dominic

I have a Kamjove, too, and it's rather fab. Recommended: good control, good materials.

Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Kamjove is what most teashops use here. If you can get one of those, you are doing good. I think the Chinese name is "hailei" or something. I have two of them here in my house. One in the sitting room and one in the tea room.

Hi Dominic,

I have owned two Zoji kettles, the larger 5L one (maintains 175, 195,

208 or boiling) can be seen at  and the smaller newer 2.2L one (maintains 140, 195, 208 or boiling) can be seen at

They both maintained the stated temps very precisely and they both would achieve a full rolling boil. They can be made to maintain at

208 and then boil within a minute at the push of a button. Choose your model based on the most common lower temp you would regularly use. The newer (smaller) model has firmware that is marginally better. They are not perfect, but damn close. I wish that you could dial in any specific temp you desired, but you are limited to the three temps supported by whichever model you choose. Like the rice cookers, they are also not cheap, eBay had the best prices.

I am glad to hear you like their rice cooker as I have been considering one myself. Which model do you have. What features did you find important.

The Kamjove from China was also mentioned. That was my first real kettle and it burned up on me in just under a year. The contacts in the base literally melted down and burned up. Until that happened I loved it for black puerhs that steeped at the boil, but you could not maintain lowers temps automatically on any model I saw.

-- Mike Petro

Thanks again everyone!

I just purchased the 4 liter version:

Like the 5 liter Mike is describing, the temp. settings are 175, 195,

208, and boiling. I was going to go for the 2.2, but I figured that I didn't want to have to refill it too often, and I wasn't sold on the 145 setting. I figure if I'm steeping a decent green, I'll just pull out the old thermometer.

I did a little research and the going rate for the 4L is about $150, while the 2.2 is about $110 (in the US anyhow). Pricey, yes, but I think it will pay for itself in regards to the time I will save.

I haven't actually had time to read through the manual or set it up yet, but I'll be happy to report back once I do.

Cheers, Warbler

I like the 2.2L model, I think I'm going to pick one of those up for home and still get the cheapie Procter/Silex one for work. It uses and immersion heater coil and has a number of automatic shutoff features and safety stuff for $9.99 at the kitchen store next to me.

This is the one I own:

it is the model: NS-RNC18 which is 10 cups. But they make a smaller 5.5 cup model. My parents bought it for me as a gift some years back, but I believe it was $130. It is actually a no-frills model (Cook and Warm) and came highly recommended by a few restaurant owning friends. There is no need for me to have any more controls or features as I have never had a problem making any type of rice in it (jasmine, regular, basmatti, brown, sushi, etc). I've heard mixed reviews of the electronic ones, but you can't find one person to say something negative about these. It has been in use for over 4 years straight and is beyond perfect in every way, I seriously would kill a man if they tried to take it.

- Dominic Drinking: Ten Ren 2006 Lung Ching (minus oil slick with new spring water)

Damn, If my brother-in-law didn't have one at the wedding rehearsal lunch. I was impressed considering it could boil 1.7L of water in no time flat without blowing the copper fuses in a 100 year old house. Here are the characters.

KWIC HaiLea KamJove(JinZao)

Jim

PS When I see > Dom, you probably know this, but make sure you get one that actually

...Sopranos...

Jim,

Any idea about the "Jove" part? The character is interesting and seems like it must have some direct symbolism, like a man near a cross. (I'm guess it has no biblical relationship, but that was my initial thought).

I always think it is interesting when someone points out the picture in a character, and then I feel like an idiot when I swear I see a picture and find out there really isn't one. Like is probably the case here. :)

- Dominic

Dominic, the characters 金灶 mean 'gold stove' or 'gold hearth' and are pronounced 'jinzao' in Mandarin. 'Kam' is an approximation of gold in Cantonese, but I have no clue where they got 'Jove'. Any Cantonese speakers out there?

By the way, the symbolism > Space Cowboy wrote:

Well, the company is based out of Chaozhou, you know the Dan Cong place, so if anything the kamjove name could have come from the Chaozhou dialect. It is quite different from Cantonese and Mandarian; also quite different from the Kejia and Fujian languages, but closer to the Fujian language.

Besides this, often when Chinese companies choose English names for their companies, they sometimes just randomly choose a word or follow the pinyin from the Mandarian. Many times, the names are quite inexplicable and meaningless. For instance, I know a guy that has a shoes manufacturing factory and the English name for his company is LT. That makes good sense because the factories name is "Li Tian"; meaning something like powerful sky. heh. I know another guy that has a tires trading company that named his company Haibo going along with the pinyin in Mandarian; also makes good sense. But, I know a lady that owns a fabric company that called it something like "Orienmtial Yellow Pearl Company of Chengdu" (that's the exact name; spelling errors included). Now, the Chinese name is something like "jin wang" meaning like golden king. Get my drift.

Some people attribute the word "tea" as from coming from the Chaozhou area. In Mandarian, you say drink tea like: "he cha"; the 'e' is pronounced like the 'u' in dumb, "cha" is pretty straight forward. In the Chaozhou dialect they say something, there is no pinyin for their language, "jia tei". The last word sounds like tea if it's pronounced wrongly.

I'll call my student from Chaozhou and see if he knows; probably doesn't though.

Good theory, but I don't think so. Kam is Cantonese for gold (verified by the name of every business every opened by a person from Hong Kong), and a Cantonese friend tells me that 'stove' is jou, so 'jove' is not far off.

As for Chaozhouhua, it is in fact a dialect of Minnanhua, as is Taiwanese - Chaozhou was populated by people from around Xiamen. I speak a little Taiwanese (very, very badly) and gold is pronounced something like 'gim'. I don't know how you pronounce stove but I bet it's tsau.

You're correct that the English word 'tea' is from M> Alex wrote:

This might be disputable. Some of the old folks I know in Chaozhou say that it isn't of minnan origin; who knows.

"Jove" sounds like an entirely plausible transliteration for Cantonese zou3 (Mandarin zao4, stove):

N.