Gunpowder Teas

Yes, I found it unusual at first. I really crave it now as well. Do all Japanese oolongs have this characteristic? What other tes in particular have this?

Pete

sencha and gyokuro taste to me like something I'd scrape from the bottom of my lawnmower.

Too grassy for me. YMMV

Quoted from another thread: Well, as I was chipping off a chunk from my Pu Er cake today for my morning tea, imagine my surprise and delight to find a little curled white feather sticking out from deep inside the cake!

I think it's a chicken feather.

Has anyone else found any "surprise bonus gifts" in thier Pu Er before?

I'm keeping this one. Maybe there's a beak or a foot in there somewhere! Exciting!

Thanks, Troy .

That's a good enough reason for me to wash my pu!

Chicken feathers?

Who are you talking to?

Dunno. Not "unpalatable", just tastes heavy and -- not really pleasant; can't describe it better than that. It's not just that the leaves aren't opened up yet; I enjoy first infusions of Se Chung oolong and jasmine pearls which also don't really unfurl until the second infusion and beyond. But something about the pinhead makes it much better the second time around.

stePH (not "Steve") in cup: just finished jasmine pearl from Costco

steve, I'm a big fan of se chung too. Many people here think of it as low- to mid-grade wulong but to me it's the best I've tasted.

Who is this "Steve" you are talking to?

stePH in cup: English Breakfast (bulk) from Top Foods

Milk takes the edge of astringency far more effectively than sweeteners. Some may recall I posted about a tin of Wedgwood English Breakfast that was unbearably astringent even after a short brew; I managed to finish the tin by having it with a bit of milk.

I don't take sweeteners either, except on rare occasion and only in a fruit-flavored tea (orange spice, ginger peach, Earl Grey, etc.)

stePH in cup: English Breakfast (bulk) from TOP Foods

They do have that green and grassy flavour. I think it's a nice thing on a summer day. It's not something I want every day, though.

--scott

Japanese oolongs? Such as?

/Lew

Umm...Suntory? Duh.

--crymad

Absolutely. The chemical process is called conjugation. The tannins that caused the astringency become attached to both fats and proteins in milk and thus become deactivated. With regards to nutrition there is some debate as to whether tannins become more or less absorbable in the small intestine after they have become conjugated with milk. I'm of the belief that at least some of the flavonoids become more bioavailable when conjugated.

I've found that adding 1/2 teaspoon of finely granulated soy lecithin (a type of lipid) to a cup of tea also conjugates tannins and removes astringency. Lecithin is low calorie and slow burning, and also produces some healthy effects for the cardiovascular system (serum cholesterol reduction). It also works with choline (a B vitamin) in the body for the production of acetylcholine, which is necessary for proper function of the nervous system. It is also an antioxidant.

Look what I started (chuckle). Inexplicable. Sorry about that stePH.

Convenience and personal efficiency is an important consideration for my brews. Seems to me that with so many brands/varieties of green tea available and with such infinite combinations of steeping time and temperature to adjust, that you should be able to achieve a flavor very close to the 2nd steeping of pinhead with a just a single steeping of some other brand/variety.

Maybe so, but the third and fourth steepings of pinhead are nice as well. Sometimes even a fifth.

stePH in cup: Frontier English Breakfast (bulk purchased at Fred Meyer)

How does it affect flavor? What does it taste like?

stePH in cup: Frontier English Breakfast (bulk purchased at Fred Meyer)

Sorry, I meant Chinese......it's Tung Ting Oolong ...or something like that! I bought it at the same time as some really nice Japanese bancha green tea.

Pete

Seriously, if you've tried those pre-brewed oolongs, are they any good? Any idea where the leaves are from?

/Lew

Actually, as soft drink refreshment not to be dwelled on, they are perfectly acceptable. In the wintertime, when you can get cans toasty hot straight out of the vending machine, they are salvation on the street. As for the source of the leaves, I couldn't say. Certainly not Japan, that's for sure -- they're too costly for this sort of utilitarian drink.

--crymad