Monday, April 23, 2007

Some Ideas to share, before drinking puerh


I got a lot of these semi-glazed earthenware from a trip to Kwangju, Korea last year. After observing traditional way of making KimChi, which they aged kimchi in earthenware around 6 ft deep and 3 feet wide, half buried in the ground. Some of it are aged for 5 years before transfering into smaller jars. I immediately think of puerh storage, when I saw those giant tanks and the kimchi process.

Nowadays, i will take the tea out from storage, and put it into 8g jars at least 2-3 days before consumption. This way, the tea can have a chance to breath and get ready. Cigar connoisseurs will perform the same steps (or not more complicated) to their habañas also.


After the deadly rainstorm a week ago. My garden finally started to blossom. I have been waiting for this perfectly-framed apple blossoms thru the red tea room for the whole year.

6 comments:

Philippe said...

Hello,

I appreciate your blog and your nice pictures for a long time ago.

I added you to the tea links of my own blog (in french) called "La Galette de Thé" http://lagalettedethe.blogspot.com/

Perhaps you already knew it !
Hope you will do the same for me ;-)

Thanks and long life to The Mandarin's Tea !!

Regards,
Philippe

toki said...

Hi Philippe,

Beautuful photography and an amazing collection!

Are you in the art industry? You do have a wonderful sense on style and a great taste for Yixings.

Thank you for including me your link. We can surely enjoy each others company for a long time.

Cheers,
Timothy

Philippe said...

Thanks Timothy for the add !

No I am not in the art industry, but I enjoy photography. Otherwise authentic Yixing Teapots and old Pu Er are my passion. Everything comes from the famous shop "La Maison des Trois Thés" (tea master Madame Tseng) from Paris.

They sell Yixing's called "terre épuisée", it means : old authentic clay from Yixing (very rare and very, very expensive !!). In these teapots, the infusions are perfect.

Cheers,
Philippe

toki said...

Philippe,
How old are the "terre épuisée" that La Maison des Trois Thés usually carries?

Philippe said...

They are maybe at least 50 years old.

Very rare, you can still find some of them in this famous shop, but they are usually sold out very quickly !!

I had the chance to buy my old Yixings to a collector. All of them were bought by this person at La Maison Des Trois Thés.

The clay is amazing, you can't imagine !!

But Stéphane Erler's teapots are also very good (Tea Masters) even they don't have this deepth in the infusions. But they are certainly the best you can find on the net.

Jim T said...

What is the URL for La Maison des Trois Thés? I tried to find it on the web but the site could not be found.

Thank you,
Jim

 
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