Organic Japanese Oolong - Yuuki-Cha

A very unique taste of oolong with a roasted taste and aroma. As a fan of greener oolong, I didn't expect to like this tea. But I did. It feels smooth and rich in the mouth. I brewed it gong fu style in shiboridashi and used 1:1 leaves to water ratio at 194°F without rinse or preheating the pot. First and second infusion for 30 seconds and third infusion for 40 seconds. 

From the vendor site: "A rare treat of JAS certified organic Japanese oolong tea single estate cultivated, processed, and packaged in Kagoshima, Japan... The dry leaf, which is semi-oxidized, is slightly curled."

Teh Bendera - In Loving Memory of My Father....

My father loved sweet Indonesian black tea. While I don't drink black tea that often anymore and rarely have a craving for it, I brewed one today. The tea was Teh Bendera brand that my father used to drink when we were kids. From what I remember, my father never missed a day drinking a big tall glass of sweet hot tea unless he was on business trips. He would enjoy his tea with some traditional Indonesian sweets prepared by our maid. A routine that he carried until he passed away in January this year. 

I haven't had this tea for more than 2 decades. So when I went home early this month, I bought a package of Teh Bendera and brew it occasionally to whenever I miss my father. Whenever I drink this tea or any black tea from Indonesia, I like to think that my father is also here with me .... 

  

2006 Yi Wu Pu-erh

First time I tried Yi Wu pu-erh. Very delicious. I will definitely buy more in the near future. I am easily finishing the 28 gram sample that was bought from Pure Puer. According to vendor's website the tea was hand picked and made from ancient pu-erh tea that are 500-800 years old. Very delicious.

Factory: Jin Yu Xuan
Harvest Year: Spring 2006
Type: Raw/Sheng
Harvest Area: Yi Wu Mountain

Kaboku Sencha - Ippodo

Delicious asamushi sencha we picked up at the store in Kyoto last year. It has been opened for about a month, so I plan to finish it very soon.  Granted it was not as fresh as when we first opened, but it was still delicious. 

2009 Winter Alishan - Floating Tea Leaves

What a sweet fragrant and refreshing taste! Alishan oolong termasuk dalam kategori Gao Shan (high mountain tea) dari Taiwan. Berasal dari perkebunan teh yang berlokasi di ketinggian 1000 - 2300 meter di sekitar Gunung Ali di Taiwan. Ciri khasnya antara lain medium oksidasi dan daun kering yang meringkel. 

Saya seduh di gaiwan yang berkapasitas 120 ml. Rasanya manis dan light  - enak banget. 

Teas on holiday...

Our office is closed in observance of Chesar Chavez Holiday today. Yippe! We started the day with a delicious bowl of organic matcha Tenkei Tori from Yuuki-cha that has become our favorite.  Since we first tasted this matcha about a moth ago, when we're home, we never start the day without it.    


Around noon before we left the house to run some errands, we enjoyed 4 infusions of Ippodo's Gyokuro Kanro. We always find this gyo to be very concentrated and smooth, but today we were also rewarded with a sweeter taste than ever. We were wondering wheather the beautiful Yamane Seigan cups had anything to do with this?

We finished the day with 7 infusions of 2009 Farmers Choice Baozhong from Floating Tea Leaves with a yummy pecan bars we picked up earlier from our favorite cakes shop, Jamaica's Cakes.  

Matcha Latte

For some odd reason, I was craving for a warm drink with milk this morning but at the same time I also wanted to have my matcha. Preparing and drinking matcha has been my morning routine for a while now and I really enjoy it. So I combined the two and made myself a nice cup of matcha latte!

It was so goooood.... and was very easy to prepare.

Here's my method:

1. Pour 2 chasaku of shifted matcha into a warm bowl or a cup.
2. Add about 100 ml warm water, and whisk with a chasen or a small whisk until the tea gets frothy.
3. Add warm soy milk and stir. 
4. Enjoy every sip of it with a big smile.

I like the taste of matcha by itself so I don't add any sweetener to my matcha drink.

Organic Hojicha from Yuuki-Cha

When I find myself craving a pot of tea in the late afternoon like today, I always turn to hojicha, a Japanese roasted green tea, that is supposed to be very light and low in caffeine. I agree the very light part, but not sure about its low caffeine content as I am always having a hard time falling asleep after sipping hojicha in the evening. I guess it's just me being extremely sensitive to caffeine. I read hojicha is normally served to children and elderly in the hospitals in Japan.

Hojicha that I brewed today was from Yuuki-Cha. I always loved sniffing the aroma of the dry leaf.  Its light smoky fragrant reminded me of the aroma of the banana leaf used to wrap lemper, an Indonesian snack made of sticky rice and chicken. My preferred brewing vessel for this hojicha is a ceramic teapot -  its spout was pictured on this post -, it's a part of a set that was gifted to me by a group of very kind Japanese women in Miyanoshita in 1991. For some odd reasons, the brew from this ceramic pot always came out very mild, smooth and sweet. Just a lovely cup of tea to sip. 

Vietnam Note de Lotus dan Hanami Imperial - Jin Patisserie

The tea adventure continues.....
Hari ini kami mencoba teh hijau Vietnam Note de Lotus dan Hanami Imperial Tea di Jin Patisserie.  Dari informasi yang tersedia di menu, Vietnam Note de Lotus dihasilkan dengan cara mencampurkan bunga teratai segar yang dipetik dengan tangan hanya pada musim semi  kedalam teh hijau. Konon proses pencampuran seperti ini pertama kali dilakukan oleh Raja Tu Duc dengan cara menyebarkan teh hijau kedalam danau yang dipenuhi bunga teratai. Sementara Hanami Imperial adalah teh hijau Jepang (tidak ada informasi jenis yang mana) yang telah dinifused dengan  bunga sakura.  Disebutkan juga bahwa pada awalnya campuran teh dengan bunga sakura ini terbatas untuk kalangan kaisar saja. Tetapi sekarang dinikmati oleh orang Jepang untuk menyambut musim semi dan sebagai atribut ke bunga sakura.

Suami dan saya sepakat kedua teh hijau ini tidak terlalu istimewa, bahkan terasa aneh untuk teh hijau. Lebih terasa seperti herbal tea karena tidak bisa ditraced rasa khas teh hijau sama sekali, terutama Hanami Imperial. Mungkin karena kami berdua cenderung lebih menyukai rasa teh hijau murni tanpa campuran apa-apa. Tapi pada akhirnya kedua teh ini dihabiskan  tanpa kesulitan dengan dibantu oleh sepotong venetian - flourless chocolate cake untuk saya dan poire - Poached pear flambé wrapped in dark chocolate mousse & Pear William crème -  untuk suami. Rasanya kedua jenis teh yang kami coba lebih cocok untuk dinikmati sebagai teman minum home-made cakes mereka yang rasanya memang boleh dipujikan.  

Teh yang tersedia di cafe ini berasal dari Theodor, Tea House di Paris.  

Megami Sencha - Royal T

Our tea adventure today brought us to Royal T Cafe in Culver City. It's a tea cafe, shop and art gallery combined. The main space is very open, bright and has a cool ambience.  It's really a fun place to enjoy your foods if you don't mind your wait staff wears French maid outfits. 

We scouted down their tea menus before checking out their lunch items. I decided to get one of their classic brews, Megami Sencha from Kagoshima region. To go with it, I ordered roasted beet salad. The husband tried Iced Kyoto Sunset from their modern brews list.  It's a premium Ceylon black tea with apricot flavor and a peach syrup on the side. He enjoyed it with Kobe beef burger which was really tasty. The sencha was delicious with spinach, slightly grassy flavor and very smooth. I will definately include Megami sencha in my next tea list. The color of the liquor reminded me of the color of ocha we had in one restaurant we visited in Tokyo

Blue Moon from T Salon

So we went to T Salon in the West Hollywood neighborhood this afternoon.  It is  a sustainable tea cafe, bar (for teas of course) and market. The store has a huge selection of loose teas.  Most of them are blended teas, which I am not a big fan of.  After smelling about six tea blends, I decided to try the blue moon, a blend of white tea, blueberry and flowers. Out of the six, it was the one that has the least floral aroma and didn't smell like perfume. My husband tried the white darjeeling.

I was pleasantly surprised with the smooth taste of the tea. I liked the aroma of the tea liquor and was glad to find it didn't have strong floral smell either. Yes that's my tea cup on the table. I brought my own cup because that's one of my favorite cups to drink my tea from. While I couldn't brew my own tea at a tea house, this cup will enhance my enjoyment in sipping a cup of tea. 

Organic Tenkei Tori Matcha - Yuuki-Cha

I really enjoy the morning ritual preparing a bowl or two of matcha.  Dari ketiga matcha yang telah saya coba, Tenkei Tori dengan mudah menjadi pilihan pertama. It was sooo smooth and sweet.  Sangat-sangat delicious!  Karena kualitasnya yang tinggi, Tenkei Tori bisa dipakai untuk menyiapkan Koicha, matcha dengan konsistensi yang kental yang umumnya disiapkan dalam upacara minum teh. Sesekali saya sempatkan mencoba menyiapkan koicha jika saya membutuhkan suntikan caffeine yang tinggi. It's a very potent stuff karenanya saya hanya minum koicha pada akhir minggu seperti hari ini. 

Menurut Yuuki-Cha, Tenkei Tori merupakan 100% handpicked organic matcha berkualitas unggul dari single estate di Kyoto. Daunnya berasal dari varian samidori dari perkebunan teh yang menkhususkan diri dalam mengembangkan organic tencha selama lebih dari 250 tahun.

Chai dan Yerba Mate

Chai 
Saat berada di Monterey pada hari Rabu sampai Jum'at kemaren, kembali kami makan malam di Restoran Ambroisa, restoran India yang cita rasanya cocok dengan selera kami berdua. Secangkir Chai pun saya pesan untuk menemani Baigan Bharta (tandoori baked eggplant), Palak Phaneer, Dal Bukhara (black lentil), Dum Aloo (kentang isi buah aprikot kering dan daun mit), saffron rice, dan garlic naan.
Chai (atau teh dalam bahasa Hindi) identik dengan India atau makanan India dan biasanya selalu tersedia di restoran India. Chai umumnya dibuat dari campuran teh hitam yang kuat, susu kental, campuran beberapa rempah a.l. cardamon, kayu manis, jahe, merica dan cengkeh serta pemanis. Konon Chai mempunyai efek menghangatkan dan menenangkan bagi peminumnya apalagi setelah menikmati makanan India yang serat bumbu dan rempah.
Chai yang saya nikmati malam itu memiliki aroma rempah yang kuat dengan rasa yang kompleks. Konsistensi air seduhan mengingatkan saya akan adonan keramik yang meleleh diantara jemari sang potter saat membentuk karyanya. Hm... untung saya suka rasanya.

Yerba Mate
Jenis minuman yang satu ini bukan berasal dari tanaman teh Camellia sinensis, melainkan dari daun Ilex paraguarensis yang dikeringkan, digerus dan kemudian diseduh seperti teh. YM umumnya dikonsumsi di Argetina, Brasil bagian selatan, Paraguay dan Uruguay. 
Pagi tadi adalah untuk pertamakalinya saya mencoba YM. Hujan deras menyertai kami saat meninggalkan rumah adik ipar di Shell Beach sampai ke Honeymoon Cafe untuk menikmati breakfast sebelum melanjutkan perjalanan pulang. YM yang panas dengan rasa astringent dan sedikit pahit yang sesekali muncul merupakan pilihan yang tepat untuk menghangatkan badan selain menjadi padanan yang pas untukd huevo ranchero yang saya pesan. Yum.

Gyokuro Kanro - Ippodo

Today seemed like a good time to enjoy gyokuro again. We really liked the taste but because of its caffeine content, we only enjoy it in the morning either on weekends or on our day-off. It's a Valentine's Day. This gyo would be perfect to flush fat or calorie from my husband's to-die-for home-made chocolate cake we had earlier :-) 

This time I brewed the leaves in the unglazed houhin Banko-Yaki teapot. The spent leaves look fresh, beautiful green in color and feel very soft to the touch. 

We slowly enjoyed drinking this gyokuro through its 4th brew with the company of these beautiful 2 dozens roses from hubby. 

2009 Dong Ding Special Roast

My husband and I tried this for the first time today.  Shiuwen from Floating Tea Leaves in Seattle included a sample of this oolong in my order.  I like the appearance of the dry leaves and it's fun to watch them uncurle beautifully and gradually during each infusion. 

The brew is light golden yellow and has a sweet taste and very smooth.  The color turned out lighter than the color of Shiuwen's liquor I saw on her website. Hers is more amber. Maybe I didn't brew it right or I used less leaves than I was supposed to?  But I really liked the taste and that's what matters most. 

We were able to enjoy consistent flavor and aroma during the first 8 infusions. After that the flavor and aroma started to fade gradually. Then it's my plants' turn to enjoy the 9th and 10th infusion of this oolong.

Japanese green tea in the sky

Dalam perjalanan pulang ke Indonesia baru baru ini, rasanya beruntung sekali bisa menikmati teh hijau di pesawat yang rasanya boleh dipujikan. Bravo untuk Cathay Pacific yang menjaga kualitas makanan dan minuman yang disajikan. 
Untuk rute penerbangan dari LA ke Hong Kong dan dari Hong Kong ke Jakarta dan sebaliknya, Cathay Pacific menyediakan teh hijau dari Cina dan Jepang dalam menu minumannya. Saya memilih teh hijau Jepang sebagai pedamping setiap makanan yang disajikan selama perjalanan. 

Organic Yame Matcha

After tasting my first matcha prepared at home, I became addicted and have a bowl of it almost every morning ever since.  Some mornings hubby would join as well.  Yuuki Midori is now all gone. I am currently enjoying organic Yame also from Yuuki-Cha.  According to Yuuki, this matcha is from Okuyutaka and Yabukita varietals and was cultivated in Yame, Fukuoka. It is a tasty matcha with a mellow mouth-feel. But both hubby and I thought that Yutaka Midori has much better taste. 

Organic Pu-erh and Yunan Fancy

We went to Peet's again today and wanted to try something new. So we ordered pu-erh. In case we didn't like it, as a back-up, we also got Yunan Fancy, China black tea. 

Ancient Trees Organic Pu-erh

When our order were put on the table, I was a little bit intimated by the color of the liquor. It was bold, thick, very dark and didn't look appealing at all. Did we order tea or coffee? The aroma was so powerful and unpleasant. I was expecting to taste something bitter and strong but I was pleasantly surprised to find it actually tasted very smooth and was not bitter at all. I liked the fact the this tea is Fair Trade certified and 100% organic.

Yunan Fancy

I found this tea not as smooth as pu-erh, but has a more body and sweet taste. A little bit too strong for us. Maybe it was steeped too long? But after adding a little bit of milk and sugar, we liked it. This could become my morning tea if I hadn't discovered matcha.

What Peets.com says:"Yunnan Fancy is made from the broad-leafed variety known as Dayeh, an ancient variety that grows only in this province. In spite of the long pedigree of Yunnan teas, the current style F.O.P. black tea types have only been produced for the last 60 years or so. Yunnan Fancy has a full body and rich flavor, and it is a popular tea with the people who work at Peet’s. While the aroma is toasty, floral, and woodsy, the flavor is honey-sweet with firm fruity and spicy notes."

Lion Mountain Keemun and Snow Leopard White Tea

Lion Mountain Keemun
Setelah sekian lama hanya minum teh hitam yang decaffeinated dan sekarang perlahan-lahan mencoba beralih kembali ke teh hitam biasa, pagi ini saya dan suami mencoba Keemun, teh hitam dari Cina di Peets Coffee & Tea.  Seperti biasa teh disajikan dalam teko keramik yang sudah diseduh oleh baristanya.  Kurang lebih satu menit kemudian, seluruh isi teko dituang ke cangkir besar untuk menghindari daun teh di dalam teko mengalami penyeduhan yang berlebihan.  Air seduhan berwarna coklat kemerah2an dan warna kuning keemasan pada bagian luar seperti cincin tipis di sekililing air teh.  Aromanya sangat khas tidak seperti teh hitam dari Assam atau Ceylon. Agak sulit buat saya mendeskripsikan aromanya secara rinci dikarenakan belum canggihnya indera penciuman saya dalam mentrace aroma teh. Walaupun terasa sedikit strong, tidak ada rasa pahit yang menganggu. 

Karena saya agak sensitif dengan caffeine dan sudah cukup banyak teh bercaffeine saya nikmati dari kemarin, Keemun pun berpindah tangan ke suami yang menikmatinya dengan sedikit gula dan susu.  Setelah saya coba ternyata rasanya memang lebih nikmat. Senikmat teh yang saya minum hampir setiap sore dengan teman-teman seflat di Bournemouth awal tahun 90an. Setelah Keemun berpindah tangan, saya berkonsentrasi ke teh putih yang oleh Peets diberi label Snow Leopard. 

What peets.com says:"smooth, sweet taste characteristic of the finest Keemun teas. Hints of pine and incense. Keemun teas are grown in an area with dense forests and many mountain springs, on hills that form the northern tip of the Huang Shan mountain range. Lion Mountain Keemun is a rigorously graded tea, with only the smallest orange pekoe grade leaves selected for this type. The result is a highly uniform leaf, deep green to almost black, with little visible tip. The tea has a complex aroma, containing perfume-like orchid and smoky incense notes, while the cup is rich and concentrated with sweet, flinty, plum-like flavors. Keemuns are the best keeping of all black teas, mellowing with age but keeping their sweet and aromatic character." 


Snow Leopard
Teh putih yang betul-betul smooth, light dan mempunyai clean taste ini berasal dari Fujian, Cina. Daun teh Snow Leopard aka Snowbud ditutupi semacam debu halus berwarna putih. Rasanya sangat mellow dan relaxing. Saking enaknya, tidak terasa tiga cangkir teh Peets yang cukup besar dihabiskan dengan mudah. 

What peets.com says: "Snow Leopard is the finest quality white tea of the style known in China as Pai Mu Tan, and is made from specially selected varietals of the tea bush. White teas go through minimal processing, but are highly dependent on environmental conditions for their quality. Plucking must occur in spring when the “flush” is at the correct size, and there is no rain or dew on the leaves. The fresh-plucked leaves are first briefly withered in direct sunshine, and then brought into open-air sheds for full withering/drying for a couple of days, where the wind moving over the tea is regulated by shutters on the shed walls. The final removal of moisture is done by very low baking. The resulting leaf style is open and irregularly shaped, composed of whole wilted leaves with whitish tips. Snow Leopard is smooth, with a fragrance reminiscent of herbs, fresh grass, and flowers, finishing with a white grape sweetness." 

Golden Dragon and Ti Kwan Yin Oolong

Gara-gara menikmati oolong di Tea Habitat minggu lalu, kami berdua jadi ketagihan tapi malas untuk kembali ke Tea Habitat lagi, maklum lokasinya agak jauh untuk ukuran kami berdua :-) Jadilah kami balik ke Peet's di dekat rumah untuk mencoba oolong mereka. Saya memilih Golden Dragon sementara suami mencoba Ti Kwan Yin. Untuk rasa kedua oolong ini tidak mengecewakan tapi tentunya tidak fair jika membandingkan keduanya dengan oolong dari Tea Habitat.


Golden Dragon Oolong
Termasuk salah satu Rare Teas-nya Peet's. Rasanya manis dan tidak ada rasa pahit sama sekali.  Air seduhan berwarnanya berwana coklat kemerahan.

Peets's on Golden Dragon Oolong: "Golden Dragon Oolong is our top quality Formosa tea, with a distinctive sweet, dry, peach-pit flavor and floral aroma. This tea receives more attention from its planting through leaf processing than almost any other tea on earth. Bushes set aside for growing Golden Dragon Oolong are grown in shade to slow the leaf growth and develop unique properties. Unlike other fine teas, the leaves are allowed to grow longer prior to plucking, and instead of two leaves and a bud, three leaves and a bud are plucked. After infusion, one can pick out of the pot entire leaf bud sets, still intact from the moment of plucking. To make the tea, the leaves are first withered in the sun for two hours. Then, several pounds of leaf are wrapped in cotton and hand-pressed, so as not to tear the leaves. The leaves are then unwrapped and allowed to wither and oxidize in shade; then all three steps are repeated multiple times. To finish the tea, the leaves are first pan-fired, graded, then finally fired in baskets over hot coals." 


Ti Kwan Yin
Rasanya agak kompleks dan sulit untuk dilukiskan dengan kata-kata. Kami berdua sepakat TKY terasa lebih 'mild' dari GDO. Untuk kami berdua yang masih awam soal oolong, TKY terasa lebih cocok. 

Peet's on Ti Kwan Yi: "Ti Kwan Yin translates as "Iron Goddess of Mercy," and is the most famous oolong tea produced in mainland China’s Fujian province. The bushes grown for producing this tea are special varietals unique to this province, where hundreds of small tea farmers dot the mountainous terrain. Ti Kwan Yin is a "greener" style of oolong than the Formosa teas, with perhaps half the degree of leaf oxidation, and a flavor that tends much more toward the vegetal. The aroma of this tea can be very complex, with hints of orchid, herbs, nuts, melon and even candle wax commonly made reference to by tea tasters. Ti Kwan Yin is easily recognized by its dark green color, large leaves, and unique crumpled appearance."