teakkurim

13 av 5781 i just had a big tea tasting with a friend for my first time. in the past i have poured tea for friends many times, but this time, we drank four teas. damnnnnnnn. they’ve had fancy tea before but not often and it was a while ago. they usually drink green tea. they like to needle me for being one of those tea snobs who doesn’t drink green tea, which i am (i just never happen to crave it. im also currently in a puer wormhole). i had a whole thing planned out. first, try this fancy green tea i traded for from a friend the other day. then, we would try a young sheng puer blend so we could compare green to puer. next was some 2019 autumn gushu. here we were really able to notice the difference in qi between all the teas. i intended to have our last to be a young spring gushu, but i asked if they wanted another young puer or something different like an aged puer. she wanted something different so i brewed us some 2011 yiwu stored in Taiwan. very different, very nice, l...

9 adar 5781   recently, ive been ‘curating’ some puer samples for my coworker/friend. it is the closest thing i have to drinking tea with people during these pandemic times. plus, it’s something i really enjoy doing. im being methodical in the order i am giving them to her and im even including some fun notes. the first note is basic stuff about how to steep it or how much caffeine it has so she can get a decent cup out of it and know what to expect. then on the inside is a more detailed note talking about the year, origin, harvest, qi, etc. things i want someone to experience without me giving anything away. then they can use my notes to compare and contrast how they felt.   on thursdays, i have another coworker/friend i share tea with. i’ll bring in a tea from home and steep it fake-gong-fu-at-work style (i use a strainer, a smallish coffee mug, and use a high leaf to water ratio and do quick steeps. its somewhere between gong fu and western brewing). i give myself the first...