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I had a nice pot of oolong (good!) and played terraforming Mars (badly) at a place here focused on tea and board games and it was a very nice afternoon
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Apr 18, 2021 03:32
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Yunnan gold is one of my favorites |
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Apr 18, 2021 06:57
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Escape From Noise posted:Yunnan gold is one of my favorites Cool! They have that as well so I will put it on the list to try
OMGVBFLOL posted:if you have the money and the patience, you can Hello Kitty anything   Thank you deep dish peat moss! |
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Apr 18, 2021 07:19
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Bilirubin posted:Cool! They have that as well so I will put it on the list to try Yunnan black teas in general are awesome |
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Apr 18, 2021 08:28
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i just mixed hibiscus with whiskey and i feel like this needs a tea name more than a mixed drink name |
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Apr 18, 2021 11:28
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Dip Viscous posted:i just mixed hibiscus with whiskey and i feel like this needs a tea name more than a mixed drink name Highbiscey |
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Apr 18, 2021 14:10
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Escape From Noise posted:Highbiscey brilliant thinking about just mashing some flowers straight into the bottle and leaving it for a few weeks |
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Apr 18, 2021 14:51
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Dip Viscous posted:brilliant Sounds like a plan tbh |
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Apr 18, 2021 14:53
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Bilirubin posted:Big, and light! Holy hell. But it will help the somewhat stale box of sleepytime in the cabinet. adding fresh dried chamomile flowers to the older, somewhat stale Sleepytime did in fact WAKE IT THE gently caress UP and KNOCK ME THE gently caress OUT Delicious.
OMGVBFLOL posted:if you have the money and the patience, you can Hello Kitty anything Thank you deep dish peat moss! |
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Apr 18, 2021 15:40
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Another successful tea adventure at the tea house! That is a new, never before used teapot that is taking its first steps into being seasoned. It's going to be dedicated to sheng puerh, and also, it is now my sheng puerh teapot. Also pictured is the slimmer cup from a smaller less well known mom and pop pottery shop in the same region the other more prestigious studios in China produce. I ended up pouring for a wide variety of people and the local certified tea expert of the house made an etiquette correction on my part to never let the spouts of any of the service vessels point outward at the guests, which makes sense in hindsight given that it is like you are constantly pointing at people. Someone who was in the area that was born and raised in Austin but lives now in Hawaii to do agriculture unionizing work out there was one of the people at the table today, as well as other folks coming through, mostly couples. We had lychee yellow tea (same as the one from Friday) and then a Wu Yi Da Hong Pao oolong. DHP is one of my favorite go-to standbys - when I was first getting into tea, I once bought a massive bag of really lovely DHP that I loved drinking just constantly when I was on the phones at work all day. I would take a thermos into work and just keep pouring hot water, and eventually, I would take an entire electric hot water dispenser and leave it at my desk to dispense directly into my service set while I was on the phones at another job. Buying the teapot came as a bit of a surprise to some of the staff since it is more on the expensive side, but really it is one of those things where I was thinking about purchasing a dedicated pot for puerh probably for years well ahead of coming to this place, and that teapot pretty much fit the bill handsomely for me. One of my close friends, a fellow goon, stopped by in the later afternoon to also have tea and catch up and chat. I also had someone join my table after I had migrated away from the main table about 5 feet just before closing, a new member of the house that is currently taking direct lessons from the resident teamaster, who admitted she is picky about the gong fu cha mise en place . The house one-eyed chihuahua also made an appearance, and pretty much wanted me to immediately pick her up and hold her, but only for about twenty minutes before she scattered off. Along with these guests there was someone who showed up dressed like a pinata, someone who had a cool cyberpunky-type jacket with a skull and wireframe evil eye hand sign on the back, and a whole gaggle of other folks, including a relatively clueless lady who parked so badly that pretty much everybody in the tea house ragged on it (she was there to try and pickup some kind of custom delivery). Also due to parking lot dynamics, we got to see her try to figure out how to leave the parking lot, which took...awhile. Also, there was an active shooter probably 5 miles away. They did not show up for tea, and that is probably for the best! |
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Apr 19, 2021 00:12
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The teapot: https://westchinatea.com/pear-yixing-aged-purple-sand-teapot/ Teas brewed for the new teapot: https://westchinatea.com/357g-2013-gu-shu-sheng-bing/ https://westchinatea.com/30g-2014-wild-purple/ We also had an impromptu dance session while I was brewing and pouring the first round of tea for people before new guests arrived, because, why not? |
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Apr 19, 2021 00:14
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I was worried about you with the situation. I'm glad you're ok and I'm sorry it happened. That pot is absolutely gorgeous, congratulation on having the most dedicated pots in the tea house, lol. |
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Apr 19, 2021 00:41
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On inspection, this teapot is not exactly like the one I linked - it's a little more squashed down but the chamber is still nice and big for allowing puerh leaves (particularly ones that are broken off of a cake) to expand fully. We did talk about the situation as it was unfolding, but for the most part kept things cool instead of in fear that someone would show up and start blasting. Technically, there are others who have more pots, but I'm building my collection back up. I also got pointers on how the other folks handle the yixing pots, and we got to discuss a little bit about holding technique for one hand (I like both one and two hand as the mood suits). I will likely bring some red string with me and tie the teapot lid to the teapot as a functional and aesthetic choice - it helps with the pot from losing the lid and also you can use the ribbon to help avoid burning your fingers when pouring with one hand. |
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Apr 19, 2021 01:06
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Those Nannuo teas look great. And congrats on the new pot! It sounds like you are learning a lot about Cha Yi (tea art). Do you (or the teamaster) have a bonsai or vase for the table? One of the little things I've picked up from masters is, when using a pot, to pour out (discard) just a tiny bit of each steep before pouring it into the fairness cup. That's because there is a bit of water in the spout that doesn't mix with the rest of the tea. Also, I hate to say it but the red string is lame. No one I know uses those things. Death Vomit Wizard fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Apr 19, 2021 |
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Apr 19, 2021 01:36
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There is a small plant feature on the table and there's a guy who comes by to deliver flowers from a community market garden just across the highway. No bonsai, but each table usually has some kind of plant feature to go with it. I may end up doing intensive cha yi studies in the future since they do offer classes. Rather than pouring out just before decanting to the fair cup, usually I will decant from the fair cup over the pot itself as part of keeping it at the temperature that I like. The water in the spout still comes into contact with the other tea that's brewing, so should mix during decanting (that and it's about 1ml or less of water, I'm not super concerned about it). I would use the red string mostly for placing a finger onto during the pour since for this specific pot I will often be doing rapid steeping and draining, and I will often invert the pot to drain it fully before adding more water for another round. Since placing a finger directly onto the lid can cause a slip and using two hands, while fine, may not always be an option (such as if you have a tiny one-eyed dog that you have in the other hand) then having more of a surface area is useful. Plus, I've never done one, but I would give it a go. |
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Apr 19, 2021 02:19
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Oh the spout water is definitely not a concern. I think it makes such an infinitesimally small difference it's like a pea under a princess's mattress. I just have heard about it from both of the tea masters I know so I like to share it with my friends as a "Hey, you want to look like you really know your poo poo? Try this." |
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Apr 19, 2021 03:00
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I get the sense that even though they put me in the hotseat to pour for everybody that comes through the door even though I am just like, a random customer and member of the house as of about 3 weeks ago, I am still a bit of a newbie when it comes to tea knowledge. The wealth of information that is inside of that place is mind-boggling and I am happy to be there. Maybe I will be able to pick up some more of the subtleties like this the more immersed I get! |
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Apr 19, 2021 03:10
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I am taking cha yi classes myself and it's really fun. Besides the master and me it's all bored rich housewives haha. I didn't think there was that much to teach, but it's really impressive how she comes up with a totally new area or technique to study each month. I'll report back after the next one. Also I am hopefully going to have enough free time to start translating the master's books to English soon. |
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Apr 19, 2021 03:25
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This is one of the most rad teapots I've ever seen. |
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Apr 19, 2021 07:46
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I wanted to go to the tea shop today but they're closed today to do cleaning and family-style cooking. I'll try going tomorrow! |
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Apr 19, 2021 21:48
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If 69 is the sex number lol and 420 is the weed number lol, what is the tea number?? 
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Apr 20, 2021 15:40
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:If 69 is the sex number lol and 420 is the weed number lol, what is the tea number?? Is it 11? As in  and elevenses?
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Apr 20, 2021 15:42
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1, since tea is one with the universe |
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Apr 20, 2021 15:54
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It's probably something like 7 which is about how many times I've made tea and let it go cold this morning so far. 
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Apr 20, 2021 16:02
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 I think I'm going to take the kind leaf today at the tea shop, since they're open. Apparently also as a member not only do I get a nifty shirt (which I got last Friday) I also get a welcome pack of tea! I am also going to probably start the habit back up at home in a much more focused way. Due to my diet I probably need to eat even less and tea helps stave off hunger while keeping the noggin sharp, and it doesn't interrupt fasting. No wonder monks were like "drat this poo poo is fuckin' tite as hell" |
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Apr 20, 2021 16:17
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aldantefax posted:
I too have discovered I am snacking and drinking somewhat less and have lost a little weight over the past few days too! I am also sleeping more soundly with weirdly animated dreams. Don't feel terribly rested today but I am up super early because of a water shut off in the building. Might be some post injection immune response shenanigans of course. I suspect tea might help this too!
OMGVBFLOL posted:if you have the money and the patience, you can Hello Kitty anything Thank you deep dish peat moss! |
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Apr 20, 2021 16:29
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Post tacos lapsang and carrot cake combo time. |
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Apr 20, 2021 19:02
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Another successful day at the teahouse!  The seasoning continues with the following sheng puerh: https://westchinatea.com/2005-doom-roy-sheng-puer-bing/ https://westchinatea.com/30g-buddha-fragrance/ - the owner for some reason gave me a hell of a lot of leaf for this  https://westchinatea.com/30g-gu-shu-single-tree/ Doom Roy is a house favorite. Supposedly, the story goes are the owners were out on expedition to hunt for new teas and made friends with some Vietnamese travelers who kept saying "That's right!" in Vietnamese, which sounds like "Doom Roy" in English. It became the catchphrase of that part of the journey, and upon finding this specific tea, the phrase stuck. The owner mentioned that if he had five minutes to get to the airport and fly to Bali or somewhere else in the world with no preparation, he wouldn't pack clothes, tea sets, or anything like that - but he'd take a bing of Doom Roy to go with it. That's right! I also had an oolong in a gaiwan, the Buddha's Hand, once again, which is one of the more classic wu yi cha that I have tasted before and quite like. This one has a longer roast profile which comes out in the liquor, but I didn't take any shots of this brew since I was also juggling a meeting at the time while drinking. However, this tea certainly invites conversation about many things, and we talked about games, game design, and the trajectory of social media and how people are treating online identities. As we progressed through the afternoon, we broke into the other sheng puerh and started doing the needful. Each of the shengs that are brewing inside of that new teapot are aged for at least 6 or 7 years, and the Doom Roy was from 2005. I like to think of it as the aged teas are teaching the wisdom and flavor to the teapot, which is new and has yet to taste the experience of the world, but will soon begin to develop its own perceptions. For those reading, maybe you do not buy into superstition or when things are used and loved that they develop their own personality and a fragment of consciousness - there is a superstitious Japanese term for it, tsukumogami, where a spiritual being will come to inhabit the thing. A particularly well loved and treasured thing may develop its own characteristics, and for teapots like this, they actually do develop flavor over time by seasoning, since you do not wash the insides with soap and water, and instead just rinse clean with water. Yixing clay specifically comes from a very specific river and region in southern China which has this certain porousness that allows for this property! Perhaps one day, both the general purpose oolong yixing pot I have as well as the new sheng puerh yixing pot I have will become so well-seasoned that I can just pour hot water in them, let it steep, and serve tea during the lean times. The local tea master also put me to work again for serving the few guests that came by and also gave me another excuse to brew more puerh in the pot. A retired gentleman who fancies himself a libertarian wanted to talk about bitcoin, while two sisters-in-law met to console one another at the same table and celebrate one of them becoming a computer whisperer at a local company responsible for the code delivery for apps such as Duolingo and Grindr...Which, if you are in the know, have quite the separate markets. The cha yi instructor made a big show behind the other folks and went "I'm leaving you to pour while I go do other stuff!" with a big silly flourish before she shuffled off to go do dark deeds. All told, it was a good time, and I was able to see someone I had previously met at the teahouse before they flew back to the Bay Area to have tea with a respected figure, Mr. David Lee Hoffmann, who I thought I had bought a book from, but it turns out there was another guy who I got him confused with. Pretty dope, though! Anyway, new friends were made, topics were discussed, and maybe I will head back to the teahouse later this week. Of course, the tiny dog came to say hello and be held by me - I suspect she now expects me to pick her up and give her head and belly rubs whenever she sits down next to my foot. |
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Apr 21, 2021 02:37
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I may loan my massive 300 lb tea table over to the tea house since they opened front of house. In the meantime, I have observed that tea is a fantastic appetite suppressant and helps curb hunger pangs - likely a result of caffeine and the L-theanine together helps to take the edge off not constantly shoving cheetos in my mouth (which never sounds like a bad idea even if it is one). Today I'm at home having a houjicha from Shizuoka region. I picked this up from Cha-To about a year ago but never gave it a fair go, only brewed it once. Japanese teas are a bit different than Chinese ones in that they do not particularly last for lots of rapid infusions, usually you will brew in the more familiar Western style where it is one and done. Houjicha is roasted and does have similarities to the more roasty teas from Taiwan and China, particularly Wu Yi rock tea style. Higher roast profile highlights a nice rounded toastiness to combine with the sweetness of the tea leaf, and since the temperature went from 71F to 44F in a day it is good to drink while in my jammies. I am also reminded that this is the perfect season for sakuranbo, or Japanese style green tea mixed with cherry blossom petals. The flavor is tart and a little sweet with some of the characteristic grassy notes. I recommend anybody looking for a new teaventure to try one out! |
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Apr 21, 2021 19:07
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The tannins in green tea can make you nauseous on an empty stomach, so it is good for curbing hunger so long as you eat at least a little bit of something with it. A cup of matcha will make you feel pukey, which is why it's usually served with some kind of light sweet |
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Apr 21, 2021 19:16
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Oh yeah. Wagashi is great to help pad that out or any other natural sweetener. I had breakfast already today so I'm in the clear, but particularly for ready to drink green teas they definitely make you feel pretty yucky if you are pounding them without anything to accompany. If I wasn't enforcing some strict dietary restrictions on myself at the moment I'd probably have a snacky thing. As a corollary, my favorite thing to have with tea is madeleine cookies or palmiers. Madeleines go fantastic with Earl Grey especially, but none of those frosted or chocolate dipped ones. Plain with some lemon zest is right on the money. |
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Apr 21, 2021 19:29
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I was going through the roasted wheat tea pretty fast because it's good both hot and iced and it has a pretty mild flavor, so I grabbed a whole pound and a half of roasted barley. Oh man, I am never getting through all this. The barley tea has a more distinct, piquant flavor and I think it's especially good iced, so I'll alternate it with the red tea I'm already making. I do still drink real tea on occasion, but I'm mainly an iced herbal tea nerd at this point! |
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Apr 21, 2021 20:05
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My two cups of Russian caravan I had at lunch are the only thing keeping me going this afternoon
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Apr 21, 2021 20:12
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aldantefax posted:Oh yeah. Wagashi is great to help pad that out or any other natural sweetener. I had breakfast already today so I'm in the clear, but particularly for ready to drink green teas they definitely make you feel pretty yucky if you are pounding them without anything to accompany. If I wasn't enforcing some strict dietary restrictions on myself at the moment I'd probably have a snacky thing. We got a real Marcel Proust over heah!! |
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Apr 21, 2021 20:15
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Why does some black tea really stain my mug and some doesn’t? It all comes off in the dishwasher but like Irish breakfast leaves brown lines and the Ceylon orange pekoe doesn’t
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Apr 23, 2021 14:06
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I always wondered, I think it has to do with tannins since other teas that aren't as oxidized don't leave behind the same stain. It's always some poo poo with tannins. Probably. I have no idea what I'm talking about. |
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Apr 23, 2021 15:27
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i don't get how it works, but water quality matters too. i moved from a place where the tap water was decent to a place where the tap water is incredibly hard and smells like ammonia and my tea went from not staining the mug at all to turning it solid brown after one cup. |
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Apr 23, 2021 16:29
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Dip Viscous posted:i don't get how it works, but water quality matters too. i moved from a place where the tap water was decent to a place where the tap water is incredibly hard and smells like ammonia and my tea went from not staining the mug at all to turning it solid brown after one cup. I think this is really it. It's not the tea itself binding to the porcelain as it is binding to stuff in the water which is then binding to the cup |
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Apr 23, 2021 20:40
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Huh! 
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Apr 23, 2021 21:42
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I mean I don't have proof that that's what causes it but I definitely see different results with tap water va purified re staining |
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Apr 23, 2021 22:29
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