Rebecca Ore > writes:

> [...machine-made teas...]
>
> I'm guessing that most of the Chinese market teas that are under $20 for
> 4 oz./125 grams are machine made -- and these are the ones that have the
> smokey/burnt problem. The Tung Ting was recommended by one of the Hong
> Kong market clerks. It was the same in many respects as the Specialteas
> sample, only the Specialteas sample didn't have the smokey/burnt
> overtones.
>
> Since at least one of the teas was from Taiwan and the current one is
> from China, I wonder if the machinery can be maladjusted.

I suppose so, but presumably a smoky or burnt taste wouldn't come from
mechanical rolling or twisting, but rather from what's been called
roasting or baking. I think there's a kind of tea sensibility that
likes a heavily roasted oolong, even with a tinge of charcoal taste.

> I don't think either of them was handmade. Also, the Sea Dyke that
> I do like doesn't have this flaw.

Which one is that?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Rebecca Ore > writes:

> [...machine-made teas...]
>
> I'm guessing that most of the Chinese market teas that are under $20 for
> 4 oz./125 grams are machine made -- and these are the ones that have the
> smokey/burnt problem. The Tung Ting was recommended by one of the Hong
> Kong market clerks. It was the same in many respects as the Specialteas
> sample, only the Specialteas sample didn't have the smokey/burnt
> overtones.
>
> Since at least one of the teas was from Taiwan and the current one is
> from China, I wonder if the machinery can be maladjusted.

I suppose so, but presumably a smoky or burnt taste wouldn't come from
mechanical rolling or twisting, but rather from what's been called
roasting or baking. I think there's a kind of tea sensibility that
likes a heavily roasted oolong, even with a tinge of charcoal taste.

> I don't think either of them was handmade. Also, the Sea Dyke that
> I do like doesn't have this flaw.

Which one is that?

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

Agree with Michael that many stated brewing temps are too high for greens.
Especially startling to see printed instructions from Ito En and other Japanese
suppliers, who should know better, to brew their senchas from ca. 175 to 212.
I have seen this often enough that I wonder if some Japanese prefer the bite
that emerges at these temps. Could it be traditional?

I also agree that some senchas can be beguiling at very low temps, even room
temp, but I'm not often willing to spare the long brewing times, myself. Some,
I think, take a long time to develop even at 140-150.

Joe Kubera

Agree with Michael that many stated brewing temps are too high for greens.
Especially startling to see printed instructions from Ito En and other Japanese
suppliers, who should know better, to brew their senchas from ca. 175 to 212.
I have seen this often enough that I wonder if some Japanese prefer the bite
that emerges at these temps. Could it be traditional?

I also agree that some senchas can be beguiling at very low temps, even room
temp, but I'm not often willing to spare the long brewing times, myself. Some,
I think, take a long time to develop even at 140-150.

Joe Kubera

Agree with Michael that many stated brewing temps are too high for greens.
Especially startling to see printed instructions from Ito En and other Japanese
suppliers, who should know better, to brew their senchas from ca. 175 to 212.
I have seen this often enough that I wonder if some Japanese prefer the bite
that emerges at these temps. Could it be traditional?

I also agree that some senchas can be beguiling at very low temps, even room
temp, but I'm not often willing to spare the long brewing times, myself. Some,
I think, take a long time to develop even at 140-150.

Joe Kubera

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 23:00:36 GMT, Rebecca Ore
> wrote:

>In article >,
> Lewis Perin > wrote:
>
>One of the smokey ones is a green tea. <Shrug>. I prefer the
>LG/Dragons Well.

I think it may be mao jian (aka mao feng in the north of china) and
translates to like hair sword or something. I have a cheap pack of it
right here next to me, and it definitely has a pronounced smokey taste
for a green tea.

Keep in mind there are many other varieties of green teas that are
nameless or named after the region they were picked as well. Are
there any Chinese characters on the box we can try to translate for
you?

>
>> > I don't think either of them was handmade. Also, the Sea Dyke that
>> > I do like doesn't have this flaw.
>>
>> Which one is that?
>
>It comes in a tin inside a box -- and if I remember correctly, the
>outside of the box has a picture of a Yixing pot on it. The price
>variously has been just under $7 to just under $8 for about a quarter
>pound. It's possibly the packaging that keeps it very to fairly fresh
>(I had one box that perfumed the kitchen when I opened the outside
>cellophane, but didn't get anything that fresh again this year). The
>tin inside the box is double lidded and with a paper lining. The Ti
>Guan Yins at House of Tea and the tea place in Reading Terminal Market
>at $9 a quarter pound are normally, but not always, a bit better.



Mydnight

--------------------
thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

On Tue, 04 Jan 2005 23:00:36 GMT, Rebecca Ore
> wrote:

>In article >,
> Lewis Perin > wrote:
>
>One of the smokey ones is a green tea. <Shrug>. I prefer the
>LG/Dragons Well.

I think it may be mao jian (aka mao feng in the north of china) and
translates to like hair sword or something. I have a cheap pack of it
right here next to me, and it definitely has a pronounced smokey taste
for a green tea.

Keep in mind there are many other varieties of green teas that are
nameless or named after the region they were picked as well. Are
there any Chinese characters on the box we can try to translate for
you?

>
>> > I don't think either of them was handmade. Also, the Sea Dyke that
>> > I do like doesn't have this flaw.
>>
>> Which one is that?
>
>It comes in a tin inside a box -- and if I remember correctly, the
>outside of the box has a picture of a Yixing pot on it. The price
>variously has been just under $7 to just under $8 for about a quarter
>pound. It's possibly the packaging that keeps it very to fairly fresh
>(I had one box that perfumed the kitchen when I opened the outside
>cellophane, but didn't get anything that fresh again this year). The
>tin inside the box is double lidded and with a paper lining. The Ti
>Guan Yins at House of Tea and the tea place in Reading Terminal Market
>at $9 a quarter pound are normally, but not always, a bit better.



Mydnight

--------------------
thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

>I also agree that some senchas can be beguiling at very low temps, even room
>temp, but I'm not often willing to spare the long brewing times, myself. Some,
>I think, take a long time to develop even at 140-150.

It's ok for sencha because it has such a pronounced fresh blended
taste, but some of the other greens, I've always been told 'just
before boiling' is the way to go.

hm.



Mydnight

--------------------
thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

sorry, i didn't see you say it before. i'm losing it. heh.



it says bilouchun in chinese too.








Mydnight

--------------------
thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

(Joseph Kubera) writes:

> Agree with Michael that many stated brewing temps are too high for
> greens. Especially startling to see printed instructions from Ito
> En and other Japanese suppliers, who should know better, to brew
> their senchas from ca. 175 to 212. I have seen this often enough
> that I wonder if some Japanese prefer the bite that emerges at these
> temps. Could it be traditional?

I think there's more than one tradition, and in one of them,
bitterness isn't considered a problem at all. Think of matcha, after all.

> I also agree that some senchas can be beguiling at very low temps,
> even room temp, but I'm not often willing to spare the long brewing
> times, myself. Some, I think, take a long time to develop even at
> 140-150.

These days, I tend to brew senchas with a very light touch, no more
than a minute for the first steep at 140F. The first steep tends to
be, well, light, but then the second steep, poured off immediately,
can be brilliant, and the third, just as swift, nearly as good as the
second.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

"Lewis Perin" > wrote in message
news
>
> These days, I tend to brew senchas with a very light touch, no more
> than a minute for the first steep at 140F. The first steep tends to
> be, well, light, but then the second steep, poured off immediately,
> can be brilliant, and the third, just as swift, nearly as good as the
> second.
>
> /Lew

Hi Lew--I think you or Michael had alluded to these fast steeps before, but
I have often wondered: do you raise the water temp for those successive
steeps, or keep it low?

Thanks,

Jennifer