For those of you who have taken part in a lengthy gungfu session with
friends (or wthout I suppose)...what are some of the teas (and in what
order) that you've done a session with? Will you, say, sit down with
multiple oolongs for a few hours? Go from lighter-oxidized oolongs to the
darker ones? Just do sheng puerh? Or do one of each catagory (that's a lot
of tea)? Or even jsut do one tea for a few hours? I'm talking the intensive
sessions here, the ones where you're seriously JUST drinking tea.

Melinda, curious but planning some heavy drinking this weekend,

--
"I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows,
and Henry knows we know it."
We're a knowledgeable family." ::smiles:: -Geoffrey, Lion in Winter

Personally, I don't know too many serious tea drinkers in my neck of the
woods, so my tea sessions are usually held to introduce friends to a
different way of appreciating tea (different from tea bags etc),

I usually tend to start light then work up to the cooked pu'ers.

Typically start with some nice Dragon Pearl jasmine to get them on board -
most are familar with jasmine teas. Then work up into the oolongs going from
light to dark roasted, then on to the green and then black pu'er. I try not
to overwhelm them with too many teas of the same type as they tend to forget
what they had. We can easily pass 2-3 hours drinking and chatting this way.

Others may have a different approach - would be interested to hear them as
well.
--
Cheers
Mal
Oz
http://maloz.bigblog.com.au/index.do
"Melinda" wrote in message
...
For those of you who have taken part in a lengthy gungfu session with
friends (or wthout I suppose)...what are some of the teas (and in what
order) that you've done a session with? Will you, say, sit down with
multiple oolongs for a few hours? Go from lighter-oxidized oolongs to the
darker ones? Just do sheng puerh? Or do one of each catagory (that's a lot
of tea)? Or even jsut do one tea for a few hours? I'm talking the
intensive sessions here, the ones where you're seriously JUST drinking
tea.

Melinda, curious but planning some heavy drinking this weekend,

--
"I know. You know I know. I know you know I know. We know Henry knows,
and Henry knows we know it."
We're a knowledgeable family." ::smiles:: -Geoffrey, Lion in Winter

On Mar 30, 4:15 pm, "Melinda" wrote:
For those of you who have taken part in a lengthy gungfu session with
friends (or wthout I suppose)...what are some of the teas (and in what
order) that you've done a session with? Will you, say, sit down with
multiple oolongs for a few hours? Go from lighter-oxidized oolongs to the
darker ones? Just do sheng puerh? Or do one of each catagory (that's a lot
of tea)? Or even jsut do one tea for a few hours? I'm talking the intensive
sessions here, the ones where you're seriously JUST drinking tea.

It's usually up to your specific tastes, but it's best not to mix too
many different teas together because it can cause a stomach ache. I
haven't really figured out why, but it does occur. You also have to
make sure the participants begin to drink after a meal or after eating
something. Drinking a bunch of different types of teas can cause you
to feel "tea drunk" which is basically a condition that comes from low
sugar in the blood or caffeine overload.

Order depends on what you are trying to showcase. I usually tend to
save the better teas for the latter tasting. Just make sure you serve
water or maybe some little cakes between teas to help cleanse the
palate; sorta to reset your tastebuds to get ready for another
flavor.

If you are just there to drink, it's best to save the very strong
flavored, lingering teas to later. Like, I never serve flower tea (I
hardly ever drink the stuff...actually) last because it is so unlike
most 'real' teas and the flavor stains your tastebuds so it's hard to
taste other things.

Anyway, no real order. Just enjoy your teas.

On 2007-03-30, Melinda wrote:

For those of you who have taken part in a lengthy gungfu session with
friends (or wthout I suppose)...what are some of the teas (and in what
order) that you've done a session with? Will you, say, sit down with
multiple oolongs for a few hours? Go from lighter-oxidized oolongs to
the darker ones? Just do sheng puerh? Or do one of each catagory
(that's a lot of tea)? Or even jsut do one tea for a few hours? I'm
talking the intensive sessions here, the ones where you're seriously
JUST drinking tea.

We've been doing some tastings here in LA (with a few RFDT posters) -
see Phyll's web log (http://phyllsheng.blogspot.com/) for more info.
Anyway, you can get an idea from that what kind of range we've been
drinking.

My conclusion from these tastings - it's more fun not to have too narrow
a focus, and not to try and plan too much in advance. Plus, if multiple
people are bringing tea, people might have one or two special teas they
want to share. I think the right order tends to kind of work itself out
when you're in the situation.

We've been mostly ending with something sweet, and it's also nice to
drink something mellow (like an aged pu'erh) also towards the end....
Also keep in mind that too many strong teas might not be so easy on
people's stomachs or might be too much caffeine.

I don't know if we're ever JUST drinking tea - usually sitting around
and drinking tea leads to conversation, snacking, etc.

w

On Mar 31, 2:00 am, Will Yardley
wrote:


We've been doing some tastings here in LA (with a few RFDT posters) -
see Phyll's web log (http://phyllsheng.blogspot.com/) for more info.
Anyway, you can get an idea from that what kind of range we've been
drinking.

My conclusion from these tastings - it's more fun not to have too narrow
a focus, and not to try and plan too much in advance. Plus, if multiple
people are bringing tea, people might have one or two special teas they
want to share. I think the right order tends to kind of work itself out
when you're in the situation.

We've been mostly ending with something sweet, and it's also nice to
drink something mellow (like an aged pu'erh) also towards the end....
Also keep in mind that too many strong teas might not be so easy on
people's stomachs or might be too much caffeine.

I don't know if we're ever JUST drinking tea - usually sitting around
and drinking tea leads to conversation, snacking, etc.

w

I'd concur with the "not planning too much" thing, although it is
definitely a good idea to drink the lighter stuff first before moving
on to the heavier teas. One problem with the other way around is you
can wipe out any delicate flavours in a great longjing if you've just
had a really strong roasted oolong.

It's the company that's always the best in these sessions. Enjoy!

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

Melinda wrote:
For those of you who have taken part in a lengthy gungfu session with
friends (or without I suppose)...what are some of the teas (and in what
order) that you've done a session with? ...

Forget the tea - it's the pot that really matters. The correct order is:

1. Large, slightly flattened oval pot to indicate generosity, welcoming,
universal belonging in the tea-sangha.

2. High-form pot, leaning slightly toward the spout (like dragon
egg-style Yixing) to focus on ascendant energies.

3. Gaiwan for introspection over the leaves.

4. Glazed pot to re-establish boundaries between the inner open spirit
and the harsh realities of the outer world.

5. Low, flat pot to enhance grounding before heading out into everyday life.

To add another dimension, sequence the brewing waters from hard to soft
to native tap-water. And then...

Oh, never mind. I was channeling. Personally, I start with more
delicate, less astringent and generally colorless teas - white, tippy
low-ferment oolong, and the like. Middles might be well-balanced green
like lung jing or fragrant, higher-roast oolongs like my favorite Anxi
types. Then more challenging green Pu-erh. (Typically no food until this
point.) End with something really robust, liked cooked Pu-erh or a big
DJ oolong. I figure it's a balance between real-time taste training and
flavor fatigue.

I always use a different pot or gaiwan for each tea to help with memory,
and keep the various leaves on display in the pot or carefully tipped
into a wide, shallow bowl. If I'm tasting several nearly identical teas,
I'll tend to do them back-to-back to pick out differences; usually
worse-to-better to frame the advantages of the nicer example.

-DM

"DogMa" wrote in message
...
Melinda wrote:
For those of you who have taken part in a lengthy gungfu session with
friends (or without I suppose)...what are some of the teas (and in what
order) that you've done a session with? ...

Forget the tea - it's the pot that really matters. The correct order is:

1. Large, slightly flattened oval pot to indicate generosity, welcoming,
universal belonging in the tea-sangha.

2. High-form pot, leaning slightly toward the spout (like dragon egg-style
Yixing) to focus on ascendant energies.

3. Gaiwan for introspection over the leaves.

4. Glazed pot to re-establish boundaries between the inner open spirit and
the harsh realities of the outer world.

5. Low, flat pot to enhance grounding before heading out into everyday
life.

To add another dimension, sequence the brewing waters from hard to soft to
native tap-water. And then...

Oh, never mind. I was channeling. Personally, I start with more delicate,
less astringent and generally colorless teas - white, tippy low-ferment
oolong, and the like. Middles might be well-balanced green like lung jing
or fragrant, higher-roast oolongs like my favorite Anxi types. Then more
challenging green Pu-erh. (Typically no food until this point.) End with
something really robust, liked cooked Pu-erh or a big DJ oolong. I figure
it's a balance between real-time taste training and flavor fatigue.

I always use a different pot or gaiwan for each tea to help with memory,
and keep the various leaves on display in the pot or carefully tipped into
a wide, shallow bowl. If I'm tasting several nearly identical teas, I'll
tend to do them back-to-back to pick out differences; usually
worse-to-better to frame the advantages of the nicer example.

-DM

Aha! I knew there were esotaric secrets involved....need more pots...

I'm getting 6+ steeps out of this Ah Li Shan I'm doing...if one gets 5-8
steeps out of a tea that's...20-30 little cups of tea in a session if one
does four teas. I guess it's do-able. Not late at night though, be running
to the bathroom all night...
Part of my problem I think is when I'm ordering teas I always want to try
them right away when I get them. Those plus samples...I get overeager I
think and then I have half steeped little pots/glasses/gaiwans of tea all
over my counter.

Melinda

On 2007-04-02, Melinda wrote:

Aha! I knew there were esotaric secrets involved....need more pots...

I'm getting 6+ steeps out of this Ah Li Shan I'm doing...if one gets 5-8
steeps out of a tea that's...20-30 little cups of tea in a session if one
does four teas. I guess it's do-able. Not late at night though, be running
to the bathroom all night...

Oh yeah - if I didn't mention it in my earlier followup... I strongly
suggest using very small cups for a tasting like this - you'll end up
being able to do more infusions without everyone going into caffeine
overload. I use little cups that are probably 1 oz or so, and sometimes
don't even fill them completely. And have a waste water container (I
just use a little glass prep bowl) for people to dump in if they don't
want to finish the whole cup.

w

I second that notion. We each drank about 60 oz. of 12 types of tea
that session at Will's house, and I was on an empty stomach. It was
not a problem. We also brewed most teas lightly with very hot water
to bring out maximum flavor.

On Apr 1, 11:29 pm, Will Yardley
wrote:
On 2007-04-02, Melinda wrote:

Aha! I knew there were esotaric secrets involved....need more pots...

I'm getting 6+ steeps out of this Ah Li Shan I'm doing...if one gets 5-8
steeps out of a tea that's...20-30 little cups of tea in a session if one
does four teas. I guess it's do-able. Not late at night though, be running
to the bathroom all night...

Oh yeah - if I didn't mention it in my earlier followup... I strongly
suggest using very small cups for a tasting like this - you'll end up
being able to do more infusions without everyone going into caffeine
overload. I use little cups that are probably 1 oz or so, and sometimes
don't even fill them completely. And have a waste water container (I
just use a little glass prep bowl) for people to dump in if they don't
want to finish the whole cup.

w

On Mar 30, 12:21 pm, "MarshalN" wrote:
I'd concur with the "not planning too much" thing, although it is
definitely a good idea to drink the lighter stuff first before moving
on to the heavier teas.

Ditto. Best to end with the strongest possible thing -- tea-infused
vodka...which I predict what will happen at our next meeting (one of
our regular participants experimented with infusing vodka with
dongting gaoshan oolong).

Phyll

On Mar 30, 12:21 pm, "MarshalN" wrote:
On Mar 31, 2:00 am, Will Yardley
wrote:







We've been doing some tastings here in LA (with a few RFDT posters) -
see Phyll's web log (http://phyllsheng.blogspot.com/) for more info.
Anyway, you can get an idea from that what kind of range we've been
drinking.

My conclusion from these tastings - it's more fun not to have too narrow
a focus, and not to try and plan too much in advance. Plus, if multiple
people are bringing tea, people might have one or two special teas they
want to share. I think the right order tends to kind of work itself out
when you're in the situation.

We've been mostly ending with something sweet, and it's also nice to
drink something mellow (like an aged pu'erh) also towards the end....
Also keep in mind that too many strong teas might not be so easy on
people's stomachs or might be too much caffeine.

I don't know if we're ever JUST drinking tea - usually sitting around
and drinking tea leads to conversation, snacking, etc.

w

I'd concur with the "not planning too much" thing, although it is
definitely a good idea to drink the lighter stuff first before moving
on to the heavier teas. One problem with the other way around is you
can wipe out any delicate flavours in a great longjing if you've just
had a really strong roasted oolong.

It's the company that's always the best in these sessions. Enjoy!

MarshalNhttp://www.xanga.com/MarshalN- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -