So you're tossing and turning in bed wondering if you're gourmet or gourmand. That is Benny Hillesque. You're also gourmand if you don't own a scale,thermometer,timer. I'd also throw in filter but I see you got one. I've got some iron oxide bacteria living in my well system that would be perfectly at home on a beengcha. If I ever have to drill a new one I'll use the old casing to make puerh. I'll string together some compressed tea, lower into casing, cap, wait 20 years. You don't need a cave only an old well casing.
Locally it is easier for me to get good puerh than a Japanese green. We have a well established Japanese community with commercial enterprise. As I stated before you have to be in a store when matcha arrives because it will unstock that quickly. So my question for those who should know is there any commercial shelf brand you would recommend as being much better than average. I might be able to find it here but I gave up because I was disappointed at what was available commercially. AFAIK the really good stuff doesn't leave the country. My local tea shoppe has a limited selection of Japanese tea bancha,sencha,matcha but I don't think they are benchmarks.
Well, I wasn't tossing and turning because I was wondering if I was a gourmet. I was tossing and turning because I'd snuck in a nap earlier in the day, and that screwed up my sleep cycle.
I don't own a scale, my thermometer isn't digital, and my timer was included with the microwave.
Hmm, that's interesting. You think those fingers could tell the difference, say, between two and three grams in the spoon? I wonder what the spoon weighs.
yep. that's what the mastership is all about; knowing the ratios without having to measure. it's sorta like when someone that's been cooking for 50 years says that the salt in his/her hand is exactly a tablespoon and when you measure it, it is.
Mydnight
-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.
Commercial brand out of Japan? Instead of searching by brand, it's probably easier to just search for price. You might as well give up on penny/gram teas you're always so rapturously discovering in groceries devoted to other lands. Just go into a Japanese grocery and buy anything that's at least $10/100g. You might get lucky.
There's no such thing as a good penny/gram Japanese tea. Even that is throwing away loose change. I'm paying the price break you suggested and more. I'd still like one commercial recommendation regardless of price. I suspect the good stuff isn't on the shelf at any price. I'd just like to know if people in Japan are paying for quality at specialty tea shoppes or whatever. It's no indictment of the Japanese tea industry if those in the West have to travel East for a good sencha.
Man, I really am beginning to wonder exactly what brand and type of pu'er you tried. Did you try brand new, un-aged stuff or what? Did you try it several times or just once and hate it?
Mydnight
-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.
Some of it was loose. Some of it was pressed into birds nests.
I think the problem is that the aroma is simply too reminiscent of something I hated. I don't think less of those who like it, but I haven't been able to convince myself that it's good.
Try some by Maeda-en. I've had some bought here in the US and it was fine. The thing is, by commercial brand, the assumption is recognizable, never-changing, iconic packaging. This sort of thing isn't so common for Japanese teas.
You can get good tea in Japan at practically any grocery store.
The name you mentioned isn't ringing a bell. I'll look for it. My real quandry I can taste little difference between the expensive and cheaf stuff on the shelves. I say that because I'm sure that the selection I see is representative of what is available in Japan. How do Japanese develop product loyalty if consistency in taste isn't a given? I can understand it just doesn't work that way so what is my consumer hook to keep buying from me? I don't think something like 'trust me' would sell in the West.
*clears his throat* Step in boys and girls if I miss anything. heh.
Gongfu cha is a tea preparation method involving the small pots (made from a special clay material called yi xing) that you've undoubtedly seen in most tea specialty shops. The material is very porous and is said to soak up some of the flavor of the tea to improve the taste of the tea the more you use it for that certain type of tea.
The other method of doing 'gongfu' cha (translates to what we would colloquially know as 'kung-fu tea') is by using a gaiwan, which is a small cup with a lid.
The reasons for using such utensils as the small pots and the small cups is to try to have control factors such as the water temperature, the tea amount, and the length of time each brewing steeps.
Before going into too much detail, check out my friend Kam's excellent website that tells much about tea and the gongfu brewing method:
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I hope I was able to answer some of your befuddlement. heh.
By the way, our understanding of the words Kung-Fu may provide a misnomer in the understanding of why it's called gongfu cha. In Chinese, gongfu (kung fu is the Cantonese, Gongfu is the mandarian) is often attached to anything that someone shows high skill, profiency, and control over. You don't actually throw any cups around or anything that would resemble gongfu, although some shops in China feature some interesting variants on how they serve the tea.
Mydnight
-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.
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