2nd Tea Meeting

For this meeting we had two classic Fujian oolongs, Da Hong Pao and Tie Guan Yin. The tea was provided by Roksena from her trip to China.

We had the Da Hong Pao first, made in my yixing. The Tie Guan Yin was made in a caledon gaiwan.

Da Hong Pao.

Tie Guan Yin.

Misinformed Tea Vendor

I don't know where this man got his information from, but it's quite evident that he's not a pu-erh drinker. He gives me the impression of someone who is very good at reading a teleprompter and being able to convey a sense of spontaneity; a good actor, in other words. It's evident also that the video is catered towards an audience that knows nothing about pu-erh, "now, you've probably never seen a beautiful pu-erh cake, or a tea cake for that matter..." How does he get away with this? Probably because the average person walking into his store knows nothing about pu-erh. So this the form that deception takes: a charming sort of chap, clean, well organized tea containers, and soothing light jazz. Interestingly, lots of people on Youtube seem to know much more about pu-erh than he does, and undermines his authority through their comments and the 'dislike' function.

This commenter makes a pretty good case:

"How could he get such an old Pu'er which not even the most enthusiastic tea lovers in China can find when he doesn't even know how to brew the tea. That's live (sic) giving a drunk hobo a bottle of the worlds (sic) most expensive wine. Doesn't happen."

It's pretty startling how misinformed someone who owns a tea store can be.

Tea Gift: 2003 Mini Pu-erh Bricks

Ripe pu-erh from 2003. I bought these guys in China in 2008. As they are among my earliest pu-erh purchases, they're not great; but they are not bad either and can be nice as a casual brew. Each club member can claim up to two.

Tea Buy

It's time to start thinking about our tea buy. My tea shelves are not looking as full as I'd like them to be, so it's a great chance for me and everyone else to save on some shipping and buy some tea for themselves as well.

I think we will buy club tea in one of these ways, depending on our funding situation:

- If you get money for free from the University, then we will use that to buy club tea.

- If we don't get much from the University, or if free money is contingent on us putting our own money, then we will raise some funds from among us, in order to get some free money.

-If funds are not easy to get, then we pool some money among us, or simply buy tea on our own and host tea meetings with our own teas.

If we do end up getting shared tea belonging to the club, I think we will most likely be buying samples. 10 - 25 grams at a time, enough to have a small tasting session, and then to revisit the tea after a while.

I've put together some links for some reputable vendors, some of which I've personally tried. Much of what I usually want to buy, especially Pu-erh and Yancha, I just can't find locally (and by locally, I'm including Toronto). So have a look.

http://www.essenceoftea.co.uk/

description:

Chinese teas. This outfit offers Pu-erhs around 50 years old, as well as it's own line of single village young pu-erhs. Great looking website. Their teaware selection includes antique cups.

http://www.jingteashop.com/

description:

Chinese teas. Great selection of Oolong, Green, and red tea. Some very affordable teas can be found. Some nice affordable teaware as well.

http://stores.ebay.ca/Dragon-Tea-House/Porcelain-Gaiwans-/_i.html?

description:

Very nice selection of Chinese teas from across the spectrum. I've browsed from this vendor but haven't made any purchases.

http://www.yunnansourcing.com/store/

description:

Huge selection of recent production pu-erhs, and relatively inexpensive examples of other types of teas.

http://denstea.com/

Japanese teas. They offer samples packs.

If you know of any good vendors, please make a post!

First Tea Meeting

Our very first event was a lot of fun. Four dedicated tea lovers gathered to drink tea and engage in pleasant conversation. The first tea we had was a Phoenix oolong from Jing Tea Shop, included as a free sample from my last order from them. The tea is called Ya Shi, and according to Jing is harvested on the lower part of Wu Dong mountain.

The tea was long lasting and pleasant. After about eight infusions, we moved on to a 2005 single estate raw pu-erh from the Menghai area made by Xing Hai factory.

Tasting notes:

The Ya Shi was surprisingly lightly oxidized, with flavours that reminded me of Tie Guan Yin. The Menghai tea was brewed a bit strong, I underestimated the density of the compression and put a bit too much leaves in. A deep, dark sugar cane aroma and flavour was present but a bit overwhelmed by the bitterness. The tea is yielded about four or five intense and quite bitter flash brews before calming down a little bit.

My inexperience with brewing for several people combined with carrying on conversations definitely compromised my tea brewing and tasting. I feel that I didn't really do justice to either of these teas. The Ya Shi probably would have benefitted from cooler water and slightly longer brews, while the Menghai could have used a bit less leaf. However, it was a great deal of fun.