TeaZen!

As part of my morning tea routine, I drink a bowl of matcha because it's a super-fast high-octane start to my day. It's kind of a tricky tea to make. You need to get the water at just the right temperature, not too hot and not too cool, with just the right amount of powdered tea. I don't always get the parameters right, but when I do--ahhh! It's a warm rich mellow tasting tea that I slurp down while the water boils and I make my next tea.

I have been buying my matcha from Hibiki-an. It costs me about $45 for four little boxes, each of which lasts a two or three weeks. But recently I let myself run out. Shopping in the local Korean market I found this tea and decided to try it. (It's kind of funny actually, because the reason I was in the Korean market was to buy some kim chee for the Zen meditation retreat we were organizing. The retreat was WAY better than the tea. You can click here for some photos.)

I cannot recommend this brand of powdered green tea!

Drinking Old Puer

OK. So I am the worst blogger ever! I think about writing and don't write.

I've been drinking a lot of old puer the last couple of weeks. First, I decided to brew up part of the sample of a 1980s / 1990s Tong Xing sent to me by Yat at Grand Tea. I did not expect to like this tea as much as I did. Such a warm and mellow taste. Not very complex, but very very deep. I will probably buy a beeng, but am waiting for the spring Dragon Well to arrive before I place my order.

Next, I drank some of the Traditional Characters that I purchased from Sunsing Tea. Mind you, I did not buy a whole beeng, but rather 37.5 grams. This is a justly famous tea, extremely rich and complex, lasting well over twenty steeps. Six or so months ago I investigated buying a beeng, but the best Sunsing could do for was unwrapped beengs for $2K. Not for me!

A couple of days later, I decided to break into the 35.7 gram sample 1958 GYG that I also purchased from Sunsing. I'm pretty sure that I did not get the best of this tea--too much haste, I think. It reminds me of the Tong Xing in terms of mellowness, but perhaps there was an edginess--a Chinese medicine taste. I have more of it. I'll try it again soon.

Today I am drinking some of the 1980s Red Iron Beeng I bought from Grand Tea. I think this tea is also called "Simplified Character." I'm kind of disappointed. The flavor seems very very muted. It's a soft tea, with a lingering mouth feel, but somehow not very flavorful. I'm sure I'm using enough tea. Perhaps I need to use better water? I paid a lot for this tea (but WAY WAY less than it currently costs). I probably would not buy it today.