Gong Ting Again

This will be very brief. I brewed more Gong Ting today. I intended to get some very good pictures of the leaves and color of the tea. The vendor's site describes this puerh as "the smallest (and most expensive) grade of fermented Pu-erh," and it makes me wonder if the 'smallest' refers to the leaves used. Indeed, the leaves are very small and fragile. In fact, after brewing they look like stems, still curled tightly. When I attempted opening a leaf or two, they simply fell apart in my fingers. So taking a picture for the sake of comprehension, I feel, is out of the question. Unless over-brewing will make the leaves turn too soft?

I broke off a nice 5+ gram piece this time, and put that into my pot. The first infusion (after the rinses, of course) was much lighter than subsequent steeps, but it was full of flavor. The second infusion was quite dark, though.



I was watching a movie at the time, tentatively, so I just kept going until the tea was well past finished and I was well past full of tea! As you can see with the final four infusions, side by side, there is a noticeable difference even with very long steeps. I had stopped timing them long before.





So that's my 2005 Gong Ting story.

Gong Ting

I'm finally breaking a cake. Since I already have a pot for Shu puerh, I decided to get into the 2005 Gong Ting Tribute Ripe Pu-erh. Of course when I opened the first of my two current pu storage boxes, it was the one with the Nan Jian. Its aroma is phenominal, and I'll probably just go for it with a gaiwan before too long. It's just too tempting, to wait for one of my new Yixing pots!






I can't really judge anything about the cake, since it was my first time even looking at one as a whole. Comparing to the sample of Pu Qing Hao (PQH now, to save time) I've previously posted about is my only option.

Since this is a new cake, of course I broke pieces from the edge. It was surprisingly less dense than the sample of PQH on the edge, but the center is more dense, it seems. And before anyone accuses me of trying to break it apart with that monstrosuty of a knife, I did not. I can explain, but later. So I broke off a sizable bit of the cake -- bits and all came out as 7.8 grams.

I didn't really follow a pattern when I brewed. After two rinses, I started brewing for 30 seconds, but the whole time I was also remembering reviews of other puerh teas with steeps of just a few seconds. So I played around with shorter and longer steeps. Surprisingly, the yield was still surprisingly dark and flavorful. I did not intend to break down the flavor this time, though, since I can revisit this tea many times and better appreciate the nuances. The liquor was more red than the PQH. And I will say I have no complaints about this tea.

OK, the knife. In several videos on breaking a cake, it is said to pry between the layers. But I saw no layers, and the knife is huge (I remembered too late to wash my letter opener) so I didn't want to damage anything. So I just used the "gentle bending method," which worked fine, especially considering it is a smaller cake (~100g).

Zheng He Bai Hao Yin Zhen

I haven't said anythign here in a bit. But I have some news! A lot of tea has arrived from Jing Tea Shop, Tao of Tea, and Imperial Tea Court. I'm looking forward to adding my thoughts on all of these, here. But for now, here's at least a picture.



From right to left: Jing's aged Bei Dou, the sample of Zheng He Bai Hao Yin Zhen they sent, he ITC Monkey Picked TGY on top of Tao of Tea's Wen Mountain Baozhong, then ITC's 'Fancy' TGY.

That's a lot of tea to drink, and I'm looking forward to all of it! I'm also expecting a tuocha sampler from YSllc, but I'll show that when it comes.

Tonight, I opened the Bai Hao Yin Zhen (a.k.a. Silver Needle) sample sent with my order of the aged Bei Dou. Jing Tea Shop has some interesting information about this tea, which is currently out of stock (which makes me more than grateful that I had the chance to try this last bit before next year's harvest).

On the white tea listing:

The production of white tea is different from other Chinese teas. The leaves come from the special varietal tea tree races such as Fu Ding Da Bai Hao tea tree. White tea from Fu Jian province is produced in two counties: Fu Ding and Zheng He. While Fu Ding white tea represent easily 80% or more of the white tea production, Zheng He white tea is very rare. It is impossible to find on the market and the only way to get it is by knowing one of the few producers in Zheng He County. Fuding white tea tends to look better than the Zheng He white tea while the latest is reputed to be a lot more tasty. An interesting point to know is that the Zheng He Bai Hao Yin Zhen is the ONLY white tea that has ever been a tribute tea to the emperor!

About the tea itself:

This particular Chinese white tea holds a very graceful form. The leaves are even, strong, straight, and full with fine white hairs. The Bai Hao Yin Zhen is only made with buds, which are harvested from the Fuding Da Bai Hao and the Zheng He Da Bai Hao trees. The liquor holds a light apricot color and the taste is fresh and delicate with a pleasent high fragrance. This tea is a very good daily tea. It is also recommended as an efficacious remedy for the hives.

I don't know about hives, but the color description is quite accurate, and the flavor is at a completely different level from the Silver Needle from Adagio. I'm not saying Adagio's isn't good. It is. but this is better. Then again, I also have more experience now than I had when I had Adagio's

I can't really say a whole world in description, really. I'm just not that verbose. The brew is sweeter, the flavor more full, but not overpowering. Several infusions later, there is just a hint of bitterness. Just a hint. And the liquor is beginning to take on the browner hues of having been brewed so many times. But I'll take this tea past its limits, just to see where it goes, and where it takes me.

Golden Monkey

Before I begin, I will apologize to the lovers of black teas. I do not hate them, and I am not saying they are bad teas in the least. They're just not my favorites. However, I do enjoy a pot or three of my favorite black teas when, for example, I want to curl up with a good book.

I'm having Adagio's Golden Monkey, which before (though not here) I have said is my favorite of the black tea samples that I had ordered. I'm using my glass tea pot, and my Swiss Gold infuser. Using the common 3g per 8oz, that's 6g for the pot. I'll do two infusions.

I think some teas are simply intended to be made certain ways. I won't say that a tea that does well gong fu should only be steeped that way, but black teas seem to have more of a history as a little-tea-and-lots-of-water category. So that's what I'll do.

It seems a lot of people recommend having black teas (more breakfast blends though, or the main teas of breakfast belnds) with a bit of milk and sugar. Not me, though. I just don't have any (unexpired) milk at this point. but I did try it with a bit of sugar at one point, just to see.

So, take one: Three minutes of steeping rendered a golden-orange liquid. I am reminded of my complaint about the infuser, only that it doesn't drain as thoroughly as I'd like. But that's fine.

The tea? It's a lot like most black teas, but it has a nice boldness. Someone describes it as having a citrus background. It's not sour, but I'd find myself agreeing more with the descriptions of subtle floral or fruity hints. With sugar, the tea simply became sweeter. Some people claim that sugar can bring out subtleties from a tea, and some say milk is better at that. I can't vouch for the milk. But I can say sugar didn't help with that. So I ditched teh sweetness after that cup.

The second infusion was a much darker, richer brown. In part, I'd almost blame this on the fact that the infuser doesn't completely drain, so the warm water in the leaves continued the brewing. But that's fine. This tea seems reluctant to become bitter -- at least astringent. The favor is a little bitter, though, in the sense of the deeper flavors being pulled from the leaves. And the boldness is still possessed.

So that's about it. Here's the second half of the second pot! I might go ahead on a third, but I'm not yet sure.

A lot of people have recommended Adagio's Yunnan Gold over golden Monkey. I'll perhaps order a sample, and see how I like it (especialy while I still have some GM for a side-by-side comparison).