I see a cup of tea as a blend of yin and yang energy. The water is yin and
the tea infusion is yang. Understeeped, too much yin. Oversteeped, too
much yang. The perfect cup is a proper balance.

I don't like the idea of using mechanical measuring devices to try to
achieve the balance. Eg., thermometers, timers and measuring scoops. I do
use a timer sometimes but prefer not to.. usually when I have other things
I'm doing simultaneously. I think that a proper cup should be made through
listening to the water come to (or near) a boil and knowledge of the
different sounds of the water and how those sounds affect tea taste. And
simply waiting while the tea steeps and finding a natural timing mechanism
within one's mind to understand how time affects the taste.

Nothing is more rewarding than brewing a perfectly balanced cup simply by
measuring the right amount of tea by sight or feel, pouring the water onto
the leaves at the right time and pouring off the brew at the right time,
just using knowledge and perception. You will miss the mark more often when
you're starting out but after you achieve mastery of the tea experience I
think the cups you brew with only the use of your brain will be better than
anything a mechanical measuring device would give you.

Right now I'm drinking a Ceylon in the morning and an autumnal
Darjeeling in the afternoon. The Darjeeling won't oversteep, at least
not easily, but the Ceylon is very tricky. So I begin to brew it, then
take it to the dining room for two-thirds of a three minute sand glass
timer. Watching the sand run through is meditative. Toci
Zarky Zork wrote:
> I see a cup of tea as a blend of yin and yang energy. The water is yin and
> the tea infusion is yang. Understeeped, too much yin. Oversteeped, too
> much yang. The perfect cup is a proper balance.
>
> I don't like the idea of using mechanical measuring devices to try to
> achieve the balance. Eg., thermometers, timers and measuring scoops. I do
> use a timer sometimes but prefer not to.. usually when I have other things
> I'm doing simultaneously. I think that a proper cup should be made through
> listening to the water come to (or near) a boil and knowledge of the
> different sounds of the water and how those sounds affect tea taste. And
> simply waiting while the tea steeps and finding a natural timing mechanism
> within one's mind to understand how time affects the taste.
>
> Nothing is more rewarding than brewing a perfectly balanced cup simply by
> measuring the right amount of tea by sight or feel, pouring the water onto
> the leaves at the right time and pouring off the brew at the right time,
> just using knowledge and perception. You will miss the mark more often when
> you're starting out but after you achieve mastery of the tea experience I
> think the cups you brew with only the use of your brain will be better than
> anything a mechanical measuring device would give you.

Amen to that. There is a most sublime joy in the synchronicity of
making a perfect cup without any mechanical aids. I find it most
rewarding with green pu-erh, because it is so finicky to all the
parameters, and when you get it just so it feels as though you have
accomplished a great feat.

Nice post, very true.

A friend gave me a sample of 6 Famous Tree Mountain "1000 year old"
pu'er, which I brewed according to my usual parameters (in the absence
of any experience with it so far). It was SO bitter, it was
reminiscent of that scene at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", when
the Nazis open the Ark and their faces melt. It was the Tea of the
Covenant.

Months later, and I'm feeling brave, so I get out a second quantity of
this most hideous leaf. I brewed it in the manner that you so
eloquently describe, and it actually turned out to be really very nice.
No bitterness, no face-melting, no firework display in the background
while the German army trembles in fear. Just a smooth, rather nutty
brew.

Good stuff. I've been drinking the rest voluntarily ever since.


*Tip of the battered brown hat*

On Sat, 21 Oct 2006 04:03:38 GMT, "Zarky Zork"
> wrote:

>Nothing is more rewarding than brewing a perfectly balanced cup simply by
>measuring the right amount of tea by sight or feel,
>... the right time and pouring off the brew at the right time,
>just using knowledge and perception.

So true, and it works well when I brew just for myself. But when I
have guests and I need to brew in a larger pot I never get it right.

It is very unrewarding when I have just told people about this
excellent tea we are about to drink, and it is actually way too strong
or all watery and tasteless.


Lars
Stockholm

Zarky Zork > wrote:
>I see a cup of tea as a blend of yin and yang energy. The water is yin and
>the tea infusion is yang. Understeeped, too much yin. Oversteeped, too
>much yang. The perfect cup is a proper balance.

It's more complicated than that, because it's a balance of more than two
different things. You have temperature, you have steeping time, and the
huge varieties of different kinds of tea. There are three major factors
that you can vary to produce a whole lot of different kinds of cups. Some
of them are perfect. Some aren't.

>I don't like the idea of using mechanical measuring devices to try to
>achieve the balance. Eg., thermometers, timers and measuring scoops. I do
>use a timer sometimes but prefer not to.. usually when I have other things
>I'm doing simultaneously. I think that a proper cup should be made through
>listening to the water come to (or near) a boil and knowledge of the
>different sounds of the water and how those sounds affect tea taste. And
>simply waiting while the tea steeps and finding a natural timing mechanism
>within one's mind to understand how time affects the taste.

That's fine, although I think a more systematic approach is worthwhile,
just because there are so many different factors to contend with. And
your notion of what constitutes a perfect cup is possibly different than
mine. That's what makes life interesting.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

{ZarkyZark]
>> I see a cup of tea as a blend of yin and yang energy. The water is yin and
>> the tea infusion is yang. Understeeped, too much yin. Oversteeped, too
>> much yang. The perfect cup is a proper balance.

[Scott]
> It's more complicated than that, because it's a balance of more than two
> different things. You have temperature, you have steeping time, and the
> huge varieties of different kinds of tea. There are three major factors
> that you can vary to produce a whole lot of different kinds of cups. Some
> of them are perfect. Some aren't.

[Michael}
Perfect? Might be in the mouth of the bedrinker.

[ZZ]
>> I don't like the idea of using mechanical measuring devices to try to
>> achieve the balance. Eg., thermometers, timers and measuring scoops. I do
>> use a timer sometimes but prefer not to.. usually when I have other things
>> I'm doing simultaneously. I think that a proper cup should be made through
>> listening to the water come to (or near) a boil and knowledge of the
>> different sounds of the water and how those sounds affect tea taste. And
>> simply waiting while the tea steeps and finding a natural timing mechanism
>> within one's mind to understand how time affects the taste.

[S]
> That's fine, although I think a more systematic approach is worthwhile,
> just because there are so many different factors to contend with. And
> your notion of what constitutes a perfect cup is possibly different than
> mine. That's what makes life interesting.

[M]
ZZ is describing an intuitive dance, and Scott is describing science. Given
the choice, I go with ZZ's model. The more intuitive it becomes the better.
That's my opinion. A religious master of mine once said to me that there are
many paths that lead to the same thing, at least superficially, but the end
result bears the prints of the method. The tea will teach you all you need
to know.

[More M]
Full disclosu I often use thermometers, and I own digital scales. But, I
stand by what I've written above. In the end, whatever floats your tea
leaves.

Michael

My local tea shoppe is now more or less run by 'staff'. It is hard to
find the owner pulling duty anymore. He gets in new stock about every
three months. This time he had pre QingMing Fujian which would be my
first pre anything. I usually get a cup to go with a purchase so the
gal asked if she should use a two or three minute timer. I told her to
put the pouch in a cup and I'd worry about it. There was a look of
shock and awe on her face since she hadn't seen me before. Parched pre
QingMing is more hype than taste. Wait for the rains.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:
....I snip because I can...
> ZZ is describing an intuitive dance, and Scott is describing science. Given
> the choice, I go with ZZ's model. The more intuitive it becomes the better.
> That's my opinion. A religious master of mine once said to me that there are
> many paths that lead to the same thing, at least superficially, but the end
> result bears the prints of the method. The tea will teach you all you need
> to know.

[Jim]

snip

> Parched pre QingMing is more hype than taste.
> Wait for the rains.

Jim at the risk once again of parading my ignorance
before this disassembled body, what is "parched
pre QingMing" in your sentence above? I take it
you are referring to Long Jing (Dragon Well) tea
picked before the rains...but "parched"?
Michael

This is a pre QingMing white tea although only identified as pre
QingMing Fujian. The leaf look and feel reminds me of BaiMuDan (which
is post QingMing with the rains) but with more immature smaller Yinzhen
bud and less green leaf. It feels lighter than even the anemic
BaiMuDan. It soaks from the surface. I say 'parched' in the sense
there is no sense of any moisture content and in the taste because of
lack of soil nutrients ie it is more aroma than finish. In my
ignorance I was expecting green spring sprout from any pre QingMing
tea. I was lucky the clerk stuffed a bag because none on the shelf and
she wasn't sure of the amount. So I forgive her for asking me to wait
two or three minutes.

Jim

Michael Plant wrote:
> [Jim]
>
> snip
>
> > Parched pre QingMing is more hype than taste.
> > Wait for the rains.
>
> Jim at the risk once again of parading my ignorance
> before this disassembled body, what is "parched
> pre QingMing" in your sentence above? I take it
> you are referring to Long Jing (Dragon Well) tea
> picked before the rains...but "parched"?
> Michael

Space 10/24/06


> This is a pre QingMing white tea although only identified as pre
> QingMing Fujian. The leaf look and feel reminds me of BaiMuDan (which
> is post QingMing with the rains) but with more immature smaller Yinzhen
> bud and less green leaf. It feels lighter than even the anemic
> BaiMuDan. It soaks from the surface. I say 'parched' in the sense
> there is no sense of any moisture content and in the taste because of
> lack of soil nutrients ie it is more aroma than finish. In my
> ignorance I was expecting green spring sprout from any pre QingMing
> tea. I was lucky the clerk stuffed a bag because none on the shelf and
> she wasn't sure of the amount. So I forgive her for asking me to wait
> two or three minutes.
>
> Jim


Thanks, Jim. I understand your meaning better now.
I want to say that with these white teas, you get your
first little bud as Yin Zhen, the bud and the next
leaf or two as Bai Mu Dan, and the older leaves
further upstem as Shu Mei (Mee?). Thus, the really
delicate tea will be the first, a more robust but
still subtle tea will be the second, and a rougher
one, the third. I haven't had a decent Bai Mu Dan
that I'd call enemic, but it's nothing but a matter
of taste.

People seem challenged by Yin Zhen in that they
expect a robust tea. This is a gentle, delicate tea
whose style is like a lovely spring breeze. It should
be hardly ever stronger than that. That's my opinion.

Michael