I moved to a new place where it's practical for me to make tea in the
kitchen near the gas stove, and I have to say that I'm finally
enjoying gong-fu -made tea. Previously I always had to make it using a
variety of methods all involving electrically heated water - and that
never worked for me. It's hard to describe what precisely I did not
like but I think the tea comes out harsher-tasting and also more
watery, even if it's brewed very strongly. Yesterday I made some green
oolong using gas stove and a small gaiwan, then I made a Rou Gui from
Hou De and both came out very nicely. I'm still experimenting and I
think I can bring out more complexity out of the Rou Gui, it did get
some rave reviews but I'm only perceiving a fairly simple, smooth,
enjoyable drink not that different from Tung-Ting from TenRen, which I
also liked. Today I made a 2003 Yi Wu Zheng Shan Shi Pin puer and it
was simply amazing. Raisin notes and spice fuse sweetly and lightly,
and the aroma is to die and/or kill for.

I recently ordered from them and now I'm ****ed off that I did not
order this tea (I had a small sample from long ago). Anyway, just now
I'm trying to gong-fu Silver Needles and they're coming out just
smashingly, as well.

Apparently, no one else here minds electric water, but for me it's a
deal-breaker! (For the record, I tried different kettles and I
*really* wanted for it to work because that was the only way for me to
gong-fu at the time.)

On Dec 26, 11:35*pm, Rainy > wrote:
> Apparently, no one else here minds electric water, but for me it's a
> deal-breaker! (For the record, I tried different kettles and I
> *really* wanted for it to work because that was the only way for me to
> gong-fu at the time.)

It certainly is an "ah-ha!" moment when it all clicks. Great news.

As for the water, even in most tea houses now the water is heated
electrically... I'm not saying it is the ultimate but I think it may
be a psychological thing mostly. How the heat transfers to the kettle
is mainly of no consequence since in the end it is just a heat
transfer, the only real difference is the speed and intensity of the
heating. I had mentioned in a previous post that I'd love to get a
nice charcoal fired setup but it is because I have a personal draw to
it. I love to be outdoors and the real fire element, to me, rounds out
the experience and offers me yet one more thing to enjoy and
contemplate. I really believe it is mostly personal preference over
any flavor difference, but I only heat my water (electrically) at most
twice what is needed for one brewing so that the water is only ever re-
heated once and even then it is just a slight re-heating back to boil.
Never a full pot that gets heated and reheated and left to sit and get
flat.

- Dominic