31 March 2010

Tea at Work: Imperfect Pieces

Brewing green dongding oolong at work, in a cup & pot I created. The green glaze is my own recipe.

This glazed pot brews "wrongfu" green oolong particularly well. Problem is, the lid's foot (which serves as its knob) is too short to remove the lid easily, a task made more dangerous when the pot is full of boiling hot water. Nonetheless, it pours well, with no dribble.

I made the cup to test a green glaze I formulated. Tiny bubbles suspended in the glaze are responsible for the depth of color, and they float above the throwing lines. I hadn't intended this but like the effect.

Two imperfect pieces finding use--very satisfying.

At work, my teas of late have been:

  • Cheap roasted dong ding blended with medium roasted da hong pao: the DHP was boring, the dong ding a tad sour. They balance each other well.

  • This $99/lb green dong ding: a very forgiving green oolong purchased in Chinatown.

  • 2005 or 2006 CNNP fulushouxi shu puerh square: classic heavy fermented shu pu, leaf grades 1 through 4.

  • "Long jing" given to my late father by Chinese friends at the senior center

  • Random sheng puerh samples: latest was a purple pu'er no longer carried by Puerhshop.com that looked and tasted like Da Xue Shan / Xiaguan "wild tree" teas.
What's in your cup at work?

5 comments:

Sir William of the Leaf said...

The teapot is very nice!
The design is wonderful!
I would think being at work while making and preparing tea would change the feeling of it though!

sasi said...

very nice cup and tea pot.

I am currently drinking yunnan bonay pu'er and dragon well green tea at work.

How do you achieve the perfect water temperature to brew tea bot at work as well as home?

thank you

Bearsbearsbears said...

Sir William: Thanks! I don't drink the best stuff at work, but even at work tea brings moments of peace and satisfaction.

Sasi: at work I have an electric kettle. it's easy to brew pu'er and oolong because i use boiling water for both. For green tea, I use water from our coffee machine's tea water tap, which is 190 degrees or so. I brew green tea from the "root" so the temperature stays low.

sasi said...

Hi Jason,

can you please explain what you meant by brewing green tea from the "root"


thank you

regards
sasi

Bearsbearsbears said...

Sasi:

I put the green tea leaf into the pot or gaiwan, add a little room temperature water, then add 190F degree water to fill the pot.

When I pour, I keep 20% of the tea in the pot for the next brew. I then add 190F water to fill the pot, pour out 80%, etc. etc.

Jason