2010 Spring Farmer's Choice Baozhong - Floating Tea Leaves

I really liked the 2009 Winter Famer's Choice Baozhong from Floating Tea Leaves. So while in Seattle early this month, we stopped by FLT to see if Shiuwen, the owner of FLT, brought the 2010 Spring harvest of this Baozhong from her recent trip to Taiwan. I was glad she did. She kindly invited us to have some teas with her.

I tried the Baozhong today and compared it with the 2009 Winter. While the 2010 version was not as great as the 2009 version, it was still delicious!

1st and 2nd infusion

2010 Jing Mai

Raw Pu-erh, Spring 2010

Harvest Area: Jingmai Mountain, Lancang County
Vendor: Bana Tea Company

This pu-erh was served at a workshop my husband and I attended during Kulov's tea festival in May. I fell in love with its crisp, fresh and sweet aftertaste as soon as I had the first sip. It was a kind of tea that I really like. Unfortunately the tea was not available for purchase. Linda, the owner of the Bana Tea Company, only had a small amount of this tea from her recent trip to Jingmai tea mountain. And that was not for sale. Good news that about a week after the festival Linda informed me that her farmer was able to ship a smaller amount of this tea via airmail and I could taste this tea again by end of May. 

The tea arrived sooner than I expected. Thanks Linda! I did Gongfu-style brewing method in a gaiwan using filtered water. I rinsed the tea with boiling water twice before brewing. 1st infusion: 10s, 2nd: 20s, 3rd:30s, 4th: 40s. I took a break after the 4th infusion. 5th infusion was for 1 minute then gradually increased the brewing time by 1 minute after every infusion. 

It was as delicious as I remember it.  And the spent leaves looked so pretty!

Today's Matcha

Organic Marukyu-Koyamaen in Robert Fornell's chawan

2010 Organic Tenryu Misukubo Shincha

This 100% handpicked asamushi (light-steamed) Yabukita shincha from Shizuoka was simply delicious! The dried leaves smelled very fresh and had a sweet vegetal aroma. On my first session, I used brewing parameters provided by the vendor; 3 grams of leaves in 4oz of water at 158°F in a pre-heated kyusu. The first infusion was 60 seconds and yielded a delicate, sweet and smooth tea. The second and third infusion was around 20 - 25 seconds. The brew was sweet, a hint of astringent and an umami taste.

On my second session, I used 1 to 1 leaves to water ratio and brewed it at a slightly cooler temperature but similar steeping time. I preferred the taste from this brewing; deepest umami but not overpowering, sweet, more astringent and vegetal. I enjoyed a very aromatic and delicious cup. 

Tea in Seattle

Teas we had while in Seattle last weekend:
Sencha Fukujyu at Wild Ginger Restaurant

The first cup of this sencha (green spider leg from Shizuoka) was actually tasty. It had good balance of sweet, vegetal, astringent and slightly bitterness. But since the tea was served in a pot and left brewed, the second and the third cups became very bitter. Someone needs to tell the restaurant not to cook this tea please! 

Vietnamese tea at Green Leaf Restaurant
It was a free flow drink that was served with our meals. Didn't know what it was and was not able to ask the waitstaff either (the restaurant was very busy at that time). The tea tasted a little bit like Bori Cha (Barley Tea) served in Korean restaurants. 

Delicious 2010 Spring and Aged Taiwanese Oolong at Floating Tea Leaves
Without doubt the teas we tried at FLT were the best teas we had in Seattle and they were all free! Shiuwen brewed the newly arrived Spring teas and an aged Baozhong for us to drink together. The 13 years old Baozhong was from Chin Hsin varieatal from Pinglin. The 2010 Spring teas were Farmer's Choice Baozhong and   Alishan. All was delicious.