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.  

2007 Mengku Cake - Pure Puer Tea

Factory: Guagtong

Harvest Year: 2007

Type: Ripe/Shu

Harvest Area: Mengku, Shuangjiang County

Brewing vessel: 120 gaiwan

38 gram sample dari teh ini sebetulnya saya beli bulan Desember 2009 namun baru hari ini sempat dinikmati. Karena saat itu masih banyak persediaan teh yang perlu dihabiskan jadi sang pu disimpan dulu. Toh semakin lama disimpan semakin enak rasanya. Tapi gara gara disimpan di barisan belakang di lemari penyimpan teh, keberadaan teh ini sempat terlupakan. Baru ingat kembali setelah asik mencoba beberapa pu dari Bana Tea belakangan ini.

Menurut informasi dari vendor, teh ini merupakan hand-picked, stoned pressed dari Mengku, dibuat dari the finest Emperor leaf sized yang dipetik dari pohon teh kuno. Saya menggunakan gaiwan ukuran 120 ml untuk menyeduh 4 gram pu kering, dengan dua kali bilas. Hasil seduhan sangat smooth, samar-samar terekam rasa manis menyenangkan. Delicious tea. 


Update: 24 November 2010, I am finishing up this tea today after enjoying it for  several more sessions since the first session in May. Setting saya usahakan semirip mungkin dengan setting yang saya gunakan saat mencoba teh ini untuk pertama kalinya 5 bulan lalu termasuk tea cups dan kain batik untuk alas. Teh kering diseduh dengan menggunakan gaiwan dengan ukuran yang sama pula, tapi berbeda pada ketebalan dindingnya. Gaiwan yang dipakai sekarang agak sedikit lebih tebal dari gaiwan yang dipakai saat mencoba pertama kali 5 bulan lalu. 

Rasa seduhan tetap enak tapi terasa tidak semanis atau se smooth yang saya ingat. Mungkinkah karena pengaruh gaiwan yang dipakai atau karena teh tidak tersimpan dengan baik setelah kemesannya terbuka?

3 days later, it was still going strong and the color was still beautiful...

The leaves after more than a week and 15 something infusions ...

Treasure from 5 Mountains

Treasures from Five Mountains
2008 vintage from early spring harvest
Raw pu-erh, Grade 1
Production area: Lincang, Yunnan Province
Vendor: Bana Tea Company


From Bana Tea website: This tea is a blend of leaves from five different tea mountains in the Lincang area.  The raw materials of this cake were selected and blended  according to each tea’s strength, mouth-feel, body, aftertaste and an assessment of how each tea complements the others.  

2009 Long Feng Xia Oolong - Tea from Taiwan

LFX dari Shan Li Shi adalah salah satu high mountain oolong dari Taiwan. Tercium aroma manis dan sedikit floral dari hasil seduhan pertama yang masih bisa terdeteksi sampai seduhan ke 4 dan hanya samar-samar tercium dari hasil seduhan ke 5 dstnya.  Rasa seduhan lembut membelai dan soothing.  Simply delicious!  Jika saja saya tidak punya masalah dengan caffeine, LFX akan jadi pengganti air putih sebagai minuman sehari-hari.

2006 Silver Tip - Bana Tea

This vintage pu erh was included in my order from Bana Tea Company. Per the website, "the tea is harvested from arbor trees ranging between 50-100 year old. It is made entirely from tippy buds plucked during early spring."
The tea was so clean, light and delicious!


Harvest year: 2006
Type: Non-fermented, premium grade, 100% tippy buds
Origin: Nannou Mountain, Xishuangbanna Perfecture

2006 Jin Mai

Another delicious sheng from Pure Puer Tea. According to the vendor, the tea comes from the Jin Main Mountain in Simao, Yunan and the leaves are from 500 - 800 old trees, hand picked and stone pressed. 

Factory: Jin Yu Xuan

Harvest Year: Spring 2006

Kulov's 10th Annual Tea Festival

Some pictures from the festival my husband and I attended this afternoon.

Japanese sweet served for those attending the Japanese Tea Ceremony workshop

Angie & David from 1001 Plateaus

Organic Uji Gyokuro Gokou - Yuuki-Cha

From Yuuki-Cha: A first harvest organic gyokuro tea from a small organic tea garden in Uji. It is made exclusively from the tea bush varietal known as Gokou. Rich and sweet flavored tea! 2009 First Harvest, light steamed.

I used 2 minute brewing method in a pre-heated houhin with the following parameter: 6 gram/2oz at 122ºF. The first infusion was robust, intense, buttery and very delicious, slightly bitter at the background. The liquor color was shinny, reminded me of olive oil consistency and beautiful green. The second infusion was for less robust, but still intense, buttery, sweet and bold. The later infusions developed spinach and less bold flavor but still delicious.

My favorite gyo cup - just amazingly beautiful!

2010 Shincha!!!

Shincha or "new tea" is the first harvest of the green tea growing season in Japan. This is the freshest Japanese green tea man can get because the tea is immediately processed and packed after it is picked. It is seasonal tea, available only from late April to July. I am a newbie to shincha. So I wanted to try both asamushi (light steamed) and fukamushi (deep steamed). 

I pre-ordered my shincha while I was on vacation last month. Most shincha I ordered have not been released yet. So I am still waiting patiently for the following from Yuuki-cha. I cannot wait to try my first shincha! 

2010 Organic Shizuoka Tenryu Misakubo

2010 Organic Shizuoka Tenryucha

2010 Organic Shizuoka Okuyutaka
2010 Organic Kagoshima Saemidori

Edit: All shinchas are in the house now and we had tried Saemidori and Tenryu Misakubo. Loved them. Hubby liked the Saemidori a lot so decided to order another package with the following order. Yes, we cannot get enough of shincha! 

2010 Organic Shizuoka Sayamakaori

2010 Organic Honyama Tokujo

2010 Organic Shizuoka Kanayamidori 

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.