What is detail Tasting?

Per Eileen's request, I am explaining step-by-step method of "Detail Tasting". This is by no means a traditional method, practiced by tea master. It's simply a method I and Michael developed, based on our try with success and errors.

First of all, you need 3 vessels. A brewing pot/gaiwan and 2 tall cups which hold the same volume of the pot. Why two cups? The 1st is to pour the brew in, then transfer the brew into the 2nd cup for drinking. After the transfer, 1st cup becomes the smelling cup which one can appreciate dry cup smell of the fresh brew. The second one is for slow drinking, after consumption, you can then compare the dry cup smell from the 1st cup to the 2nd cup.

Always smell and look at the tea after a overnight or 2 days brew. Smell the lid first and look for signs of oil or mold developing at the surface of the filled pot. Instinct and intuition play a big part in tea drinking, at least for me. If your gut feeling tells you not to drink, then just try a tiny slurp and discard.....


A step-by-step pic. for a flush steep after a overnight session. From Left to Right:
1. Pour out the overnight brew to the first cup and drink slowly. Enjoy the smell of the dry cup afterwards.
2. Refill the pot with boiling water.
3. Close lid and seal the pot with another pour.
4. Observe the surface of the pot, until all the surface water is sucked up dry. (You kinda have to feel it for timing)
5. Pour and drink the flush brew. (Traditional Cantonese Kung Fu will always dry up the previous pot by hanging it vertically (as shown on the far right pic. This is to drain out all the remaining water from the pot before the next steep.)


PeekABoo! What's in the tub?


After the first flush steep, probably after the 3rd day of "detail tasting". I will then do a double vessel brewing for the overnight or 24 hr. steep. This double heating technique can extend the high temp. inside the pot for a longer period of time. Tea addicts will apply this technique to vintage puerh. Also works with good quality Long Jin, instead of boiling water and a yixing pot, I will use luke warm water for the brew and a gaiwan. Then fill half way up with boiling water for the outer vessel. (That will be another pots next May : )


This is the 7th weeks brew at the tea gallery. Michael used 18 grams of this 04 SX tea in this large Gaiwan for the test. The back is the 2008 harvest, on its 2nd weeks.

Second day of Kung Fu tasting....

The spark of the idea to search for the perfect Kung Fu oolong dated back to this post:
http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/2006/08/what-is-traditional-kung-fu-tea.html

After a long journey to find the origin of Kung Fu tea, from Chaozhou to Anxi and Wuyi mountain in China, the frustration of a deeper understanding of what Real Kung fu means still lingers.... Until 2 years of testing and tasting with Michael at the tea gallery, the result is this SX from Wuyi San....

Second day of tasting. The tea made a turn from masculine to scholastic this morning. Cigar to floral, acacia flower fragrance to be exact. First thing I did is to taste the overnight brew: lychee and floral notes, hint of tobacco sweetness around my mouth. Following with a rush of sandalwood coating my throat, creamy apricot aftertaste. I then pour boiling water into the pot, awakening the leaves again. The distinctive aroma of this refine fired SX covered my tea room, what a talent this tea master processes.... The man who is responsible for this addiction is under 40 yrs of age!

Wuyi or Anxi (high fired) is "crafted tea", or perhaps "Real" Kung Fu tea.

Why? From picking trees to aging such tea involved skills and experience every steps of the way. The reason why this tea outlasts every others is that, the master firing had penetrated to the core of the leaves, without changing the nature of its character. Almost "preserved" it. It tastes very normal for the 08, but if aged properly (btw. Storing/aging this kind of oolong is 10 times more work than puerh.) The tea will develop like fine wine.

This is the link to the finding of this tea:
http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/2006/08/wuyi-rock-oolong-tasting.html

After enjoying this quick steep, (Hot water in, hot water over the pot until the pot suck up the surface dry.) I refilled it again with boiling water and sealed it for tonight.

Related Posts:
http://phyllsheng.blogspot.com/2008/09/marathon-has-ended.html

A Marathon Relay Continues....

Traditional Kung Fu tea drinkers might brew only 3 steeps, ending the session in less than 30 mins. For my experience, if you can find a tea which can outlast more than a month, does that mean I have been wasting all the precious ones for my entire tea drinking life? Or is it only a mere 1 % of the tea I did crossed path with deserving this kind of treatment?

How could a tea keep on going after days of days of abuse, without fading or molding-up, but continuing to develop? Will find out how this marathon ends. The subject is more than 200 yrs old SX bush from Wuyi, refine fired 4 times from May to September 2004. The Kung Fu of this firing had penetrated into the core of the leaves without distorting the character of the tea.


3/4 filled, 1 sec. brew until the 5th brewing. Tastes like Summer mountain spring water stream, passing along the hot sun soaked moss growing next to rock. Clear, fragrant, and full of energy. What will be better to pair with an 1990 vintage Cohiba Robustos.

My view on Paring 101....

Thanks to Ms. J introduction, a tea friend from The Tea Gallery. David Oller (http://www.oller.net) and Rosanne Tartaro (sunrosearomatics.com) hosted a Kodo gathering this weekend. David was kind enough to bring over 1940's set of Aloewood samples, prepared and produced by a famous Master of Kodo. David then produced a perfect Ko from each of them. Heaven!


I have long been obsessed about pairing aroma to tea. The last time I smelled the waterless pot of the Qing Brick, there was a hint of aloewood in it. The fragrance is so noble and refined that it really opens up one’s mind. At the Kodo gathering, after sampling 5 different kinds of aloewood, David finally pulled out the best one. The molecule of the smoke coated my throat and the windpipe, and slowly developed out to the back of my tongue. Sweet and "Kim" the smoke turns to candy delicious. I can truly relate to a fine vintage pureh with that experience. But, what more is, I long for a cup of tea to pair with the moment....

I usually take at least 3 sessions to be convinced for one tea, then accept it as a "family member". Afterwards, I will pair it with a cigar. This "test" will certainly put it to a statics or if not, fail miserable.... So the question everyone is asking is "Why"?

Pairing fine cheese with choice wine brings out the hidden character of a bottle, which normally details one cannot detach. Some wine connoisseurs pair them with cigar, the smoke molecule that lingers inside the throat can add as a binding to the wine body. Spicy or woody, sweet or astringent, all these will be amplified by the smoke. If the British and the French have been doing this for more than 100 years, why can't we apply the same theory to tea with cigar?


With this question in mind, I enjoyed a beautifully aged 1998 Partagas D4 pairing with 1980's Silver Needle Golden lotus loose puerh. The Lotus flower aroma from the tea was enhanced by the creamy cedar of the smoke, then the spicy, crisp peppier from the body of the cigar was overlayered by the intense moist sweetness of the tea. Sweet and Sour Crispy fried pork loin, who would not appreciate?

7542 '88 Qingbing ended, Vintage Qing Dynasty Brick began.

During 2 weeks of babysitting a pot, what I was brewing in it was 16 grams of 88 green bing. Of course, I wouldn't have let each moment pass without having something special in it. The tea ended last night with detail tasting everyday for 2 weeks.... And new tasting began. I transfered 11 grams of the Qing Dynasty puerh in it and passed it on to Michael from tea gallery, the rightful owner of the pot. He will now refine brew it everyday, producing cold and hot pots of this rarest vintage puerh. Lets see if this session will break the record of 5 weeks of tasting.


Paring with it, a choice of OpusX Churchill 2007.

Vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!

She won my heart by her sacrifice. Everyone of them, shall win.... Even I don't know her name. She did whisper to us at this amazing night.


The group stayed after the session for dessert. My wife made green tea and coffee macaroons. Two aunties brought homemade mango ice-cream and angel food cake. What a feast!
We chatted and reviewed about our experiences, and our hearts were filled with content and thanks. Even though I could not pull a date and name or even origin of this puerh at the end, she did pull this "tea Moment" together.

"We must do this more often!" Betty said, "I have so much more at home, which I do not know what they are...."

As Chinese business tradition, at the end of every year, merchants among merchants give each other some of their best goods of the year, as a 'Mutual Allies Gifts'. Fortunately, Betty's family has been receiving teas as gifts. My request to her: "Bring them over, I insist." One of the Uncle then suggested, "How much do you think this one is worth?" Ahhh... the Big Chinese Question sprung. If a 50's Red Label cost around 35000 per 370 gram, and a real 100 yrs old Song Ping Ho will fetch roughly round 75000, is it safe to say this might cost around 150 per gram? Their jaws dropped and started laughing.... "I like that," betty said "Here son, this is for your retirement! And I will keep the rest of the collection for mine."

If we really think a bout it, a 1982 Chateau Petrus roughly cost around 6000, which equals to 6 glasses. 1 pot of high priced tea might produce 60+ brews and cost 1650. That's cheaper than starbucks! So, there it is everyone... another gathering will soon come? We ended around 11ish. For me, the story of this tea has just begun.

Quick boiling water fine pouring*, from chest height around the rim and lower to the center, completed a full circle pour filled up the pot. A quick immediate pour out. And again a 2nd fine pouring sealed the teapot. A ritual I learned from a good friend. This initiated the long journey to find out her true character. I shared this quick rinse with my wife before we went to bed. Act II ended.


Tea moment only happens rarely in ones life time. It's not something you can force to have: 'By faith, Not by quest.' I am truly blessed, with more than a couple of these moments had occur in my short tea life. Asking one deeply inside his passion, and to be gentle and patient is the only way to walk on the path of tea, and of course, good friendship and sincerity will lead to faith. The essence of Vintage tea is the feeling of her aging path, the history, her birth place and her true spirit. All reviewed by the chi and effect she gives to ones body and mind. How she makes you feel. A love affair perhaps....

Sunday afternoon. The sleep was as calm and satisfying as one could ask. The cha chi opens up all the knots and relaxed / refreshed the mind. Beautiful day!

She had won, Victory!

Her story has passed on to 9 of us. Her love spreads, like every good teas that sacrificed themselves before.

The teapot also win : ) This had happened before: http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/2008/08/baby-sitting.html. First time Michael used this pot is for a 50's Red Label. The aggressive chi had gave the pot and immediate shine, almost oily and alive. As for my pot: http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-puerh-pot.html. This was taken in 2006 (no photoshop magic) the pot used to carry a greener hue. Once after the 1st rinse of this tea, it changed to oily reddish... with a youthful glow! Nothing to do with the heat, even the next morning, the reddish hue remains.

My method of 'Detail Tasting' is simple: 'Patient and No Rush.'
1. Pour out tea from overnight or at least 12 hrs. steep. Tasting the steep slowly. (taste and aroma)
2**. Pour rolling boil water for a instant brew. Tasting the steep slowly. (cha chi)
3. Refine pour* and store in cool place without sunlight.

Some strange things happens within this 12 hrs. (Not for cooked puerh, green, yellow, light oolong and low grade tea.) The tea will only gives as much to saturate the amount of water inside the pot, but will not exhaust itself. The more strange thing is, the color and taste of the brew will be much lighter but filled with elements. 2** much darker color and fuller body, even though it is one second brew.

My wife and I were sitting on our opium bed, with toki as our carpet, of course. It is around 1ish. We poured out the 1st steep into her Korean gimhae teabowl, and started our tasting.

Her notes:
Very clear color, golden reddish.
Fragrance of flower, mineral, rock and early morning mist from mountain.
Taste of floral, sweet, mountain water, smooth throat, clean and refreshing, gramma powder.
Aftertaste of sweet tongue and back of tongue, soothing, relaxing, calm and sleepy.

His notes:
Crystal clear reddish gold of Yellow Rosewood.
Chan Hong aroma, dry pale pink rose, rock and citrus.
Smooth slide down throat to stomach, sweet to the whole mouth with minty throat, mature talcum.
Aftertaste of gramma face powder, relaxing, cooling from the chest up and refreshing, numbing to lips, clearing nasal.
Cooling, relax and happy chi. Feels like after a massage.

Toki notes:
boring parents...

Smelling the pot:
Early high mountain mist in fall. Smell of morning dew on flower. Moisturizing the nose.

2**notes:
Even on the one-second pour, the color is pale yellowish amber gold. Hot bowl of tea, but when slurp, the rush of a cooling chi travels thru the body.
Very Calming, and refreshing like drinking cold mint tea (without the sugar!)


I lit my favorite smoke paring with the tea character. My choice was 2000 epicure No.2. Then sealed the pot with another refine pour for 24 hrs. brew.
Listening to Turandot: Act III "Diecimile anni al nostro Imperatore":

Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me; il nome mio nessun saprà! No, No! Sulla tua bocca lo dirò quando la luce splenderà!....

Vincerò! Vincerò!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Vincerò!

Coincidence or just faith playing out in an interesting sequel? After more than 3 months of learning water quality and a life long of being patient with brewing tea. An interesting learning experience unfold last night. One of my mother's dear friends stopped by yesterday, accompanying a group of entourage, who all have exquisite taste in wine and culinary skills. Brought over a tea which is unknown to them in what tea varietal it is.

The brief history of this tea is from her husband's prestigious family. Uncle Conran is in his early 60s, and this was a gift from his grandmother. His family was originated from Quangdong, nine rivers province. This puerh brick had been handed down to his generations as a "guidance" to the house. In total weight of 600 gram, highly compressed and solid as a rock.

I had heard of many stories about generations-old tea before, the sudden appearance of lost storage and it fetches for astronomical price. Most of them are unfortunately stunt from tea vendors or tea masters who have no idea what they're talking about.... I was quite surprised in this cast.


Close examination reveals looser layers of tea leaves on the surface, but well compacted interior. The whole brick carries a grey blue hue, with a brown grayish core. It was not stored in a good condition at first impression. The last time consumed was about 15 yrs ago, as mentioned by auntie Betty: "It is so hard, so we used a hammer and a saw to saw off a corner..." The mark of the cut had aged in a redish brown tone with clay like quality.

We had 9 people, so I decided to use 11 grams to satisfy our curiosity. I brought over my qing dynasty puerh pot (350 ml) to match the date of this tea. It took me more than 15 mins to ply out 2 whole layers and half dust mix.

Water from a Republic Period water pot, storaged for 3 days using Poland Spring. This water will provide a perfect neutral foundation for the brew... act of 3, to be continue....

A Proud Retirement....

Not for me, of course. But my faithful office puerh pot.


No Thunder or Lightening, it just simply thru across the studio.


Now it found its final resting place. Salute!

Thick Granny Face Powder?

Nannou 2004 private edition, commissioned by Master Chan from The Best Tea House Hong Kong.

This is a classic example of an experienced tea master craftsmanship. Every steps of the way, from picking the trees, to harvesting, overseeing the processing and pressing. Mr. Chan had complete control of what he wants and what he expects it to be.

Nannou is the most fragrant and feminine of all Yunnan puerh (in my opinion). Pleases the senses with a delicate palate and carries one to a calm and scholastic journey.

This 2004 spring buds harvest holds some characteristics of a fine vintage should have:

1. Talcum
2. Orchid
3. Sweet dry plum


Hint of hay / camphor and mild sweetness aroma on rinsed leave. Smoothing but "blurt", offering multi-dimensional aroma, without heaviness in the first session. Layers upon layers in progressive quality, hint of Metallic and Talcum (granny face power) occurs in the 3rd brew on, numbing to the lips. Then it hits you with the orchid fragrant and aged plum's sweet after-taste that coats the throat. Usually, only fine harvest has Talcum characteristic, but not until 10-15 yrs of aging, like the 80's 8582. That is why this bing surprised me.

I prefer and collect commissioned bings. The extra thickness (almost doubled a reg.) provides more energy / chi to the aging process and it also gives extra cushion for micro-climate maturing. One could relate to fine vintage habanos, most comes in 50 / 100 cabinet, rather then 10 or 25s box.


With all these text book characters, giving another 5 yrs to age in a refine 70% humidity environment, could be an interesting experiment.

'Guan-Xi' tea...

A spring of one single tea, could blossom to a distant friendship. The love of tea once again connect me with a like-minded mandarin, thousands miles away.

This "Guan-Xi"="...measure which reflects the depth of feeling within an interpersonal relationship..." paid-off! A generous and rare Oriental Beauty from Stephane, and brewed by a good friend from the Tea Gallery. Perhaps I could also reflect this moment of joy with Matt, whom just reviewed this tea at: http://mattchasblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/2007-perfect-oriental-beauty.html

Comparing to what I had: http://themandarinstea.blogspot.com/2008/04/beautiful-tea.html

This "Perfect OB" is more flamboyant in character. A Perking Opera if I may: Bright, Colorful and Sharp (but not rough).
I requested Michael not to push it at all, instead, just to enjoy what it slowly provides... until the 7th brews. Good memory remain.

Thank you again Stephane, for another wonderful Taiwanese gem.

Baby sitting....

What would one do, if a good friend gave you his favorite pot to baby sit for 2 weeks?

1. Use it!
2. Document it's behavior and style.
3. Store it.

I will try to make it shine better. Keep feeding it with good tea for the rest of my baby sitting time : )

A moment of peace

Shih-t'ao and Wang Yuan-ch'i: Bamboo and Orchids. Enjoy.

btw. I started picking up painting yesterday... just to keep my tea mind calm : )

The weight on Water....

Finally, the quest for good water in the City is over. Over the past 3 weeks, I was lucky enough to taste water with Michael from TTG.
The process was a "Summit Climb," challenging but rewarding. From the previous post, we did experienced differences in water quality change using 3 sources of water and storing it in an old water barrel. The 3 sources are: Poland Spring, Brita water filter and finest NYC tap water.

Just to drink straight from the source, the winner is Brita. Sweet, alive and light, with refreshing aftertaste. Then tap water: Still fresh and sweet, but with added organic body and metallic finish. Finally, Poland Spring: Heavier and still, a bit out of life, "Sterilized" in another word.


How about in the Ming dynasty barrel? Result is night and day. We tested the above 3 categories in a day to a week storage.

Brita -
1 day - double the lightness of the body, sweeten with a cleaner and more refreshing after sense to throat. Feels like the water I had in the tea mountain in Korea.
1 week - an organic smell has developed, a bit like fresh pond water, still very light and sweet. But not lighter.

Tap-
1 day - Metallic finishes replaced with lighter and clean sensation. Feels like really drinking "Water" in its original stage. Goes down to stomach without drying the mouth or throat.

1 week - did not dare to try....

Poland Spring -
1 day - Almost as good as Brita. But still, the lifelessness of the quality still persists.
2 days - Best! A lively quality, clean, clear and refreshing (minty sensation). Clear the throat, no drying and washes all the way down to whatever!

It is quite a interesting study of what an old vessel can change the texture of water..... and now we can finally have some tea.

James Norwood Pratt: A Respectful Stranger....

Hope one day I will have the fate and pleasure to meet.

http://www.chow.com/stories/10721

Credit: Documented by Meredith Arthur and Eric Slatkin
Original post from: www.chow.come

Hare's Fur and tea...

The Classic Jian tea bowl (temmoku) must be one of the most perfect fusions of glaze, form and body in the history of Chinese ceramics. If not the main inspiration for Korean and Japanese pottery.


This rare example is from the late Tang dynasty (618-907) to early Song (906-1279). Will see what it might do to the tea character....

.... Beautiful Water...

Carrying on my ongoing quest for better tea sets, water container is the first thing I want to target. For almost 2 weeks now, with the help of Michael of TTG and my wife, we have been tasting water most of the time....
Sounds boring? Perhaps this is the most critical element to have a nearly perfect cup of tea.

The final candidate for nesting our water is a early Qing dynasty (1644-1911) water container. We used Poland Spring water, which has a clean, sweet but mild hardness quality. After storing the water over night in this container, it has been sweetened, softened, smoothened and lightened.


We are also testing this lighter water with flowers to see if it will bring them LONGEVITY. Hopefully, we can finally have some tea soon....

Beautiful Things....

What will be an ideal set for tea? Of course the older the vessel the better... or is this a tea myth that's been brewing for a long time? Will this Ming dynasty (1368-1644) silver kettle turn regular poland spring water to morning dew?



Or is a Song dynasty (960–1279) Qingbai cup really going to bring out the brightness of the high notes?


Perhaps accompanying a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) Yixing could be a sure win for brewing any teas? To find out the difference will be my ongoing mission.

Salute to MarshallN for dropping by last week, bringing his friend, himself and this beautiful Yixing!

New Understanding...

Over the years, I have been solely concentrating on drinking Chinese tea. Perhaps it is the myth of lengthy ceremony on other tea cultures? Maybe it is my laziness to learn different traditions and their complicated preparation.... or the blind intimidation of doing something not respectful to the host, which, of course, they will never tell what I did wrong.... That being said, there is nothing better than a good old Chinese style cup of tea: the honesty of do-whatever-suite-your-style kind of tea, until before my travel to Korea and Japan recently. I bet you all know how down to earth I was, drinking tea in the mountain. No rules, no extra fancy techniques required. Just pure focus of how the tea reacts with my body and how it makes me feel. Tasting the nutty gritty does not interest me anymore... Where my nectar orchid or my 15 year-aged citrus blossom are really do not do much anymore.... in other words, the surface is too shallow if it can not awaken.... Moreover, tea is not just to quench your thirst, and let people start a war on each others selection, but to relax and smooth ones mind.

My trip to Japan this time lead me not to the cosmopolitan, but to the country side, 2 hrs. south from Tokyo. Izu Peninsula was my destination. Staying at 2 different Onsens in the western and the eastern coast of the peninsula, I was immersed into the tradition of hundred-year-old ryokans.


The first welcome treat was Sencha and a steamed red bean-filled bun. I didn't really taste the tea, but the combination of the treat and the tea react with my body. The tea makes your body tranquil and settle down, sitting in the Noguchi styled tea room, feeling the present of the ocean and its breeze, you slowly find your center of peace. The whole time after I entered the place, I did not have a moment of rush or impatient. It's all the elements that the place zen you.


When I first encountered the tea sets in my ryokan room, I was over joy and started experimenting. The 2 sets consisted of a tea tray, tea pot, tea cups and coaster, tea towel, waste water deposit and of course tea, green and roasted. Heaven! Too busy to play around, I was pouring water everywhere until my butler showed me how it should be done: 2 tsp of tea and 5 mins brew gives nice and clean lively green liquor. It felt soothing to my throat, clean and refreshing to my body. It just tasted like it is really good for you.


Over the 5 day-trip, I had over 4 kinds of new Sencha harvested only weeks ago. The osmanthus tree, the bamboo forest, the camphor forest all surrounding the onsen. The tea brings your body to a warm comfortable level, listening to birds and ocean and at night the scents of the osmanthus flower gently relaxes the mind. From this experience, the taste of the tea is no longer a priority, but the sensation of the energy which it radiants out and let you appreciate the surrounding.


Before, I was always judging the tea. Trying to categorize them, challenging them and being authoritative on what I hope it should be.... How ignorant! I was missing the real meaning to tea enjoyment. If my DC is missing its rare orchid or is not from the highest mountain a tree could exist, I would think less of it. "This is not the top, where is my long finish... this seems short on the taste. It's not what I expected..." I also let my host understand that his second best tea will be too distant to satisfy me 100%. If I did carry on this path, I am sure one day I will be truly disappointed about myself and my collection....