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Tea (rec.drink.tea) Discussion relating to tea, the world's second most consumed beverage (after water), made by infusing or boiling the leaves of the tea plant (C. sinensis or close relatives) in water. |
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I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and
time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. My only hypothesis thus far is that zisha, being a better insulator, has a very different cooling curve than porcelain thus the brewing difference. I tried to test this by using hotter water intially in the porcelain and preheating the porcelain while starting the zisha cold. The difference between zisha and porcelain was still noticeable (which may invalidate my hypothesis, but I'm still rather uncertain). Has anyone else noticed this effect or am I alone? Any ideas as to the cause? Regards, Cameron |
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Cameron,
Interesting observation. I have not been brewing my oolongs in porcelain lately; I have been using exclusively yixingware, and the lack of sweetness I've noticed is something I've been ascribing to my current batches of these teas. In fact, I've been changing temp and time parameters to try to bring out different taste elements. You've encouraged me to experiment with porcelain. I'm interested in your interpretation of "yan" as well. Joe Kubera |
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It's nothing new to me that the same tea taste different enough in
teapots of different materials. In my case, blacks in stainless steel, oolongs in porcelain, and greens in clay. There are other factors such as size, glaze, eddie viscosity. I don't like the taste of any new teapot till it develops a patina. That even includes stainless steel. I always boil water and find porcelain pots cooler than clay. If someone wants to make a case that glass is the best material for making tea because the leaves brew better exposed to light who can argue? You'll need a glass pot to understand eddie viscosity. I think what makes the Brown Betty (bowed body) such a great teapot is the 'big splash'. The leaves are thrown up on the sides and tumbled with the infusion like a front loading washer. Jim (Cameron Lewis) wrote in message om>... > I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and > time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed > in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and > green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. > With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas > porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. > > My only hypothesis thus far is that zisha, being a better insulator, > has a very different cooling curve than porcelain thus the brewing > difference. I tried to test this by using hotter water intially in > the porcelain and preheating the porcelain while starting the zisha > cold. The difference between zisha and porcelain was still noticeable > (which may invalidate my hypothesis, but I'm still rather uncertain). > > Has anyone else noticed this effect or am I alone? Any ideas as to > the cause? > > Regards, > > Cameron |
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Mike Petro > writes:
> On 6 Jul 2004 16:45:05 -0700, (Cameron Lewis) cast > caution to the wind and posted: > > >I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and > >time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed > >in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and > >green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. > >With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas > >porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. > > Very interesting. Excuse my ignorance but what is "yan"? Literally, rock or cliff, referring to the crags in the Wuyi mountains of northern Fujian where much-loved oolongs originate. It's a word that connotes the qualities of high-grown Da Hong Pao, Bai Ji Guan, etc., and it's open to interpretation, to say the least. /Lew --- Lew Perin / http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html |
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(Cameron Lewis) writes:
> I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and > time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed > in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and > green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. > With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas > porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. > > My only hypothesis thus far is that zisha, being a better insulator, > has a very different cooling curve than porcelain thus the brewing > difference. I tried to test this by using hotter water intially in > the porcelain and preheating the porcelain while starting the zisha > cold. The difference between zisha and porcelain was still noticeable > (which may invalidate my hypothesis, but I'm still rather uncertain). > > Has anyone else noticed this effect or am I alone? Any ideas as to > the cause? I haven't noticed it, but that's because I use the same little glazed pot for everything that a purist would brew gongfu (no room for lots of kit in our tiny apartment.) But I'm puzzled by one thing: you seem to be ignoring the possibility that the difference you've noticed is because of the fact that zisha interacts chemically with the liquor, while vitreous porcelain is (I *think*) inert. /Lew --- Lew Perin / http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html |
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Lewis 7/7/04
> Mike Petro > writes: > >> On 6 Jul 2004 16:45:05 -0700, (Cameron Lewis) cast >> caution to the wind and posted: >> >>> I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and >>> time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed >>> in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and >>> green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. >>> With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas >>> porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. >> >> Very interesting. Excuse my ignorance but what is "yan"? > > Literally, rock or cliff, referring to the crags in the Wuyi mountains > of northern Fujian where much-loved oolongs originate. It's a word > that connotes the qualities of high-grown Da Hong Pao, Bai Ji Guan, > etc., and it's open to interpretation, to say the least. We could be talking that flinty resin beneath the other neat fruit floral tastes moving mysteriously through your mouth. Now about that red robed rooster crossing the road, anybody see my turtle? Michael |
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Lewis 7/7/04
> Mike Petro > writes: > >> On 6 Jul 2004 16:45:05 -0700, (Cameron Lewis) cast >> caution to the wind and posted: >> >>> I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and >>> time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed >>> in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and >>> green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. >>> With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas >>> porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. >> >> Very interesting. Excuse my ignorance but what is "yan"? > > Literally, rock or cliff, referring to the crags in the Wuyi mountains > of northern Fujian where much-loved oolongs originate. It's a word > that connotes the qualities of high-grown Da Hong Pao, Bai Ji Guan, > etc., and it's open to interpretation, to say the least. We could be talking that flinty resin beneath the other neat fruit floral tastes moving mysteriously through your mouth. Now about that red robed rooster crossing the road, anybody see my turtle? Michael |
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Michael Plant > writes:
> Lewis 7/7/04 > > > Mike Petro > writes: > > > >> On 6 Jul 2004 16:45:05 -0700, (Cameron Lewis) cast > >> caution to the wind and posted: > >> > >>> I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and > >>> time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed > >>> in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and > >>> green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. > >>> With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas > >>> porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. > >> > >> Very interesting. Excuse my ignorance but what is "yan"? > > > > Literally, rock or cliff, referring to the crags in the Wuyi mountains > > of northern Fujian where much-loved oolongs originate. It's a word > > that connotes the qualities of high-grown Da Hong Pao, Bai Ji Guan, > > etc., and it's open to interpretation, to say the least. > > > We could be talking that flinty resin beneath the other neat fruit floral > tastes moving mysteriously through your mouth. Now about that red robed > rooster crossing the road, anybody see my turtle? To get to the other side, silly! /Lew --- Lew Perin / http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html |
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Yan is a complex set of tastes the Chinese ascribe to certain teas.
Yan is the unique flavour found in the "rock" teas of WuYi (yancha) and tastes very much like limestone smells, though I tend to include certain sorts of woodiness, steely and mineral tastes as yan also (which may or may not be correct). I've used both a gaiwan and a porcelain teapot of similar size and fairly similar shape to my yixing pots. Since the volumes of the vessels involved differ slightly I simply maintained the tea:water ratio. In all cases the porcelain brewed teas were similar as were the effects of the yixing. So far, the teas I've tested have been various green puers, tiguanyins, dancongs, a wulong, and a yancha from WuYi. When you said I should try compensating the yixing pot did you mean I should try and increase its cooling rate? I suppose that some cool water poured over the pot should do the trick. I think I'm going to have to arrange a double-blind test for this. Cameron Mike Petro > wrote in message >. .. > On 6 Jul 2004 16:45:05 -0700, (Cameron Lewis) cast > caution to the wind and posted: > > >I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and > >time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed > >in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and > >green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. > >With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas > >porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. > > Very interesting. Excuse my ignorance but what is "yan"? > > > >My only hypothesis thus far is that zisha, being a better insulator, > >has a very different cooling curve than porcelain thus the brewing > >difference. I tried to test this by using hotter water intially in > >the porcelain and preheating the porcelain while starting the zisha > >cold. The difference between zisha and porcelain was still noticeable > >(which may invalidate my hypothesis, but I'm still rather uncertain). > > Temperature could be a dominant variable here. If all things are > equal, particularly steep times, have you measured the temperature > after the steep time was up? It would be interesting to see if there > was a detectable difference. > > You tried compensating the porcelain to make up for your perceived > difference, have you tried mimicking the porcelain results by > compensating the Yixing pot? > > Is the porcelain vessel a gaiwan or a similarly sized teapot? I am > finding myself wanting to go out and get gaiwan now! It might be > interesting to see 2 different faces of the same tea! > > > > Mike Petro > http://www.pu-erh.net > remove the "filter" in my email address to reply |
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My pots are all dedicated to fairly specific categories (green puer,
green tiguanyin/dong-ting, dancong) and with the exception of a new pot for wulong/darker tiguanyin have been in use for months to years. I'm quite careful to avoid unfortunate crossovers. In fact, I first noticed the porcelain-zisha difference because I test new teas in porcelain for compatibility before risking their use in a zisha pot; a habit I picked up from pipe-smoking (corn cob before briar). Cameron Michael Plant > wrote in message >... > Cameron 7/6/04 > > > > I've noticed that tea brewed in porcelain vessels (with temp, tea, and > > time equal) will generally taste sweeter and lighter than tea brewed > > in Yixing wares. I've tested this phenomenon with various oolongs and > > green puerhs and the results have been constant, for me at least. > > With the Yixing ware the lower notes and "yan" are emphasized whereas > > porcelain tends to bring out sweetness and floral qualities. > > > > My only hypothesis thus far is that zisha, being a better insulator, > > has a very different cooling curve than porcelain thus the brewing > > difference. I tried to test this by using hotter water intially in > > the porcelain and preheating the porcelain while starting the zisha > > cold. The difference between zisha and porcelain was still noticeable > > (which may invalidate my hypothesis, but I'm still rather uncertain). > > > > Has anyone else noticed this effect or am I alone? Any ideas as to > > the cause? > > > It's a very worthwhile experiment, to be sure. YiXing clay pots of different > qualities are recommended for different teas -- wall thickness, porosity, > size. Wuyi wants a very thin wall, while Pu-erh wants a thicker more porous > walled larger pot. Based on your comments, Cameron, I'm going to try > preparing some Wuyi teas in a porcelain lidded cup to compare. > > Meanwhile, have you used your clay pots a lot? Have you dedicated each one > to one type of tea, or are they generalists? I'm just wondering if this > might be a line of enquiry, realizing that a well used clay pot used for one > tea only ought to refine the taste. Who knows. Thanks for opening up the > question. > > Michael |
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Cameron wrote:
> When you said I should try compensating the yixing pot did you mean I > should try and increase its cooling rate? I suppose that some cool > water poured over the pot should do the trick. > > I think I'm going to have to arrange a double-blind test for this. Lew wrote: > the possibility > that the difference you've noticed is because of the fact that zisha > interacts chemically with the liquor, while vitreous porcelain is (I > *think*) inert. Interesting discussion - thanks for starting it! IMO, temperature and carryover effects are very likely the only major factors. Simple pronouncements about thermal properties of various materials are mostly wrong, as they fail to deconvolute heat capacity, thermal conductivity, internal convection (is that what "eddie" means?) and evaporation, direct or via transpiration. Without getting into all that, the easiest way to control this is to preheat carefully, time carefull, control swirl (a lot in a big pot, or none at all in tightly packed gong-fu) and, mainly, do everything in a big water bath almost as deep as the pots. This will nicely normalize all the temperatures. I flatly don't believe in oxygen effects, not having seen even a speck of credible data (which would be easy enough to generate) in several decades. But there's no doubt that unglazed pottery is more porpous than glazed porcelain. Neither is "inert" in the usual sense of the word, but both probably passivate very quickly - note how few brews are needed to remove the taste from even the rawest clay pot. (Steel is different. I can't imagine making tea at home in stainless, but chacun a son whatever. I use stainless screens, but keep them carefully crusted up with no metal showing.) Anyway, even glazed porcelain has some porosity, but thousands of times less occluded volume than Yixing ware. Not only can stuff carry over between brews, but residues in those little holes can react slowly with air and other things, absorb odors from the air, and otherwise store a lot of unintended flavor. Adsorption (note the d vs. b) onto clean clay surfaces is a dramatic, so a room with a little garlic, onions, fresh paint, soap, or anything else smelly is likely to load tens of micrograms (i.e., a lot) of smelly stuff into the pot to be released at varying rates into the tea. -DM |
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Dog Ma /7/04
reply w/o spam snip > ...but residues in those little holes can react slowly with air > and other things, absorb odors from the air, and otherwise store a lot of > unintended flavor. Adsorption (note the d vs. b) onto clean clay surfaces is > a dramatic, so a room with a little garlic, onions, fresh paint, soap, or > anything else smelly is likely to load tens of micrograms (i.e., a lot) of > smelly stuff into the pot to be released at varying rates into the tea. > > -DM > That's it! I give up. So maybe *that* was Luk Yu's secret recipe? M |
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Dog Ma /7/04
reply w/o spam snip > ...but residues in those little holes can react slowly with air > and other things, absorb odors from the air, and otherwise store a lot of > unintended flavor. Adsorption (note the d vs. b) onto clean clay surfaces is > a dramatic, so a room with a little garlic, onions, fresh paint, soap, or > anything else smelly is likely to load tens of micrograms (i.e., a lot) of > smelly stuff into the pot to be released at varying rates into the tea. > > -DM > That's it! I give up. So maybe *that* was Luk Yu's secret recipe? M |
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Oops my misspelling. It s/b eddy. It's the scientific name I give to
the 'agony of the leaves'. There is an eddy from heat convection of the water causing a viscosity at the surface of the leaves for leaching. Different tea pot materials cause different eddies which changes the viscosity at the surface of the leaves. If you had xray vision the agony of particular leaves in a clay teapot would be different than porcelain. I used a glass pot for so many years I could tell ideal brewing time just from the visual clues of the leaves in the infusion for any given favorite tea. The other thing I like about glass it adds nothing to the taste which makes it an excellent reference standard for comparing tea taste to other pots. My love affair with glass pots came to an end when one shattered in my hand. I broke other tea pot materials but you're not going to cut yourself. The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. Jim Michael Plant > wrote in message >... > Space 7/7/04 > > > > It's nothing new to me that the same tea taste different enough in > > teapots of different materials. In my case, blacks in stainless > > steel, oolongs in porcelain, and greens in clay. There are other > > factors such as size, glaze, eddie viscosity. > > Jim, > > Who's eddie? > Or perhaps I should ask, What's eddie? > Eddie viscosity? > > Michael |
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Oops my misspelling. It s/b eddy. It's the scientific name I give to
the 'agony of the leaves'. There is an eddy from heat convection of the water causing a viscosity at the surface of the leaves for leaching. Different tea pot materials cause different eddies which changes the viscosity at the surface of the leaves. If you had xray vision the agony of particular leaves in a clay teapot would be different than porcelain. I used a glass pot for so many years I could tell ideal brewing time just from the visual clues of the leaves in the infusion for any given favorite tea. The other thing I like about glass it adds nothing to the taste which makes it an excellent reference standard for comparing tea taste to other pots. My love affair with glass pots came to an end when one shattered in my hand. I broke other tea pot materials but you're not going to cut yourself. The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. Jim Michael Plant > wrote in message >... > Space 7/7/04 > > > > It's nothing new to me that the same tea taste different enough in > > teapots of different materials. In my case, blacks in stainless > > steel, oolongs in porcelain, and greens in clay. There are other > > factors such as size, glaze, eddie viscosity. > > Jim, > > Who's eddie? > Or perhaps I should ask, What's eddie? > Eddie viscosity? > > Michael |
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> The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a
> double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and > continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. It's supposed to do that. Tempered glass breaks into little pieces instead of dangerous big ones. Too expensive for teapots, alas, and there are some engineering diffculties. It's easy enough to make chemically tempered glassware, though. Lightbulbs treated this way don't break when dropped on a hard floor - quite amazing. Wonder if there's enough market to make the product? -DM |
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> The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a
> double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and > continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. It's supposed to do that. Tempered glass breaks into little pieces instead of dangerous big ones. Too expensive for teapots, alas, and there are some engineering diffculties. It's easy enough to make chemically tempered glassware, though. Lightbulbs treated this way don't break when dropped on a hard floor - quite amazing. Wonder if there's enough market to make the product? -DM |
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Dog Ma /8/04
reply w/o spam >> The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a >> double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and >> continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. I can empathize with that pane of patio door. Sounds like my life sometimes: Slow, but inexorable and irreversable shattering. > > It's supposed to do that. Tempered glass breaks into little pieces instead > of dangerous big ones. Too expensive for teapots, alas, and there are some > engineering diffculties. > > It's easy enough to make chemically tempered glassware, though. Lightbulbs > treated this way don't break when dropped on a hard floor - quite amazing. > Wonder if there's enough market to make the product? Thought they imploded like TV picture tubes. Do they still have TV picture tubes? Drinking Rou Gui Wuyi Oolong, a yummy and joyful tea, but ya gotta use lots of leaf and really hot water, and a minute or so of steep. Got this one from TeaSpring. I understand that of all their Wuyi Oolongs, this is the only one from young trees, but still excellent balance with just hints of fruit and flower showing through the warm rich round and friendly light wood and custard of it, true and balanced from aroma to aftertaste. Listening to Bob Marley Jamming. Joyful as the tea. A perfect mating. Michael |
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The window replacement shops have thicker thumb and forefinger
calluses than my local tea shoppe owner. The total glass pot is almost a dinosaur. If I use glass it is a French press with plastic cradle. Jim "Dog Ma 1" (reply w/o spam)> wrote in message >... > > The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a > > double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and > > continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. > > > It's supposed to do that. Tempered glass breaks into little pieces instead > of dangerous big ones. Too expensive for teapots, alas, and there are some > engineering diffculties. > > It's easy enough to make chemically tempered glassware, though. Lightbulbs > treated this way don't break when dropped on a hard floor - quite amazing. > Wonder if there's enough market to make the product? > > -DM |
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The window replacement shops have thicker thumb and forefinger
calluses than my local tea shoppe owner. The total glass pot is almost a dinosaur. If I use glass it is a French press with plastic cradle. Jim "Dog Ma 1" (reply w/o spam)> wrote in message >... > > The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a > > double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and > > continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. > > > It's supposed to do that. Tempered glass breaks into little pieces instead > of dangerous big ones. Too expensive for teapots, alas, and there are some > engineering diffculties. > > It's easy enough to make chemically tempered glassware, though. Lightbulbs > treated this way don't break when dropped on a hard floor - quite amazing. > Wonder if there's enough market to make the product? > > -DM |
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You need to listen to classic country music. One time a Jamaican
offered me some ganja and I thought he was talking about gong cha. I wasn't disappointed. Jim Michael Plant > wrote in message >... > >> The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a > >> double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and > >> continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. > > I can empathize with that pane of patio door. Sounds like my life sometimes: > Slow, but inexorable and irreversable shattering. > > Listening to Bob Marley Jamming. Joyful as the tea. A perfect mating. > > Michael |
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You need to listen to classic country music. One time a Jamaican
offered me some ganja and I thought he was talking about gong cha. I wasn't disappointed. Jim Michael Plant > wrote in message >... > >> The other day I put a lawn mower pebble through the exterior pane of a > >> double glass patio door slider. It started from the chip break and > >> continuously fractured for a couple of hours till the pane fell out. > > I can empathize with that pane of patio door. Sounds like my life sometimes: > Slow, but inexorable and irreversable shattering. > > Listening to Bob Marley Jamming. Joyful as the tea. A perfect mating. > > Michael |
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If you want to start in country first listen to the women such as
Patsy Cline followed by Tammy Wynette both who could sing the paint off the wall. Ganja made me comatose. Jim Michael Plant > wrote in message >... > Space 7/9/04 > > > > You need to listen to classic country music. One time a Jamaican > > offered me some ganja and I thought he was talking about gong cha. I > > wasn't disappointed. > > > > Jim > > > Ganja? What's ganja? Don't answer, just joking. Ever hear of Bang? > Obviously not, you're still walkin' and talkin'. So, what classic country do > you recommend? > > Once upon a time in Quetta...but that's a story for another day. > > Michael > Drinking Bai Mudan and listening to Lonnie Johnson this fine morning. |
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