Poetry in Tea

2011 Kim Jong Yeol's Jungjak Nokcha Butea

2012-01-31T14:17:00.004+01:00

This sample was kindly sent along with my last order from Slovak shop Nomad.sk. It really made me happy – my previous encounters with Kim Jong Yeol's teas (such as this Balhyocha) were really an unusual experiences and of the four of his teas imported to Europe by Teamountain, this Jungjak (third picking) was the only green I haven't had a chance to try yet.

And since this sunny, windless day seemed ideal for such a tea, I have decided to give it a try now.

This tea originates in Yonggang-Ri, Hwagae-myeon, Gyeongnam – Hwagae Valley and was completely hand-picked and hand-made during the second week of May from 20 years old, wild tea trees.

The leaves are very good-looking; just slightly larger than those of Saejak (second picking) grade, curly and range from light, yellow-green to almost blueish in color. Their smell is very sweet, floral and, even quite a long time after the picking, still fresh. The preheated teapot enhances these sweet and pine-like fresh tones and reveals more, especially the roasted smell of bread.

The first infusion is light-green in color and just as light in taste, though, at the same time, very complex. Mainly dominated by gentle, flowery sweetness and tones of various fruit – pears and grapes, these notes are followed by once again very sweet, bread-like roastiness and pine-like freshness, which is, however, less vivid than in smell of the dry leaves. The aftertaste of this brew is mouth-filling, quite long and nutty-sweet.

The second infusion has a lively green color, is very clear and its most pronounced tone seems to be that of the roasted, sweet bread. Most of the former freshness is missing in this infusion, being replaced by complex, full tones of nuts, pears and berries. The following aftertaste is stronger than that of the previous infusion, once again quite roasty and bread-like, pleasantly remaining on tongue for a very long time.

The third and fourth infusions are somehow similar in character, being clear, lively green in color and still dominated by the sweet roasted tones of bread, which are now somehow finer than in the second infusion, where it reached the peak of its strength. These brews are creamy, nutty and complex, light and deep at the same time. Their aftertaste is moderately long, sweet and mouth-filling.

Few more brews are made of these leaves; gradually getting lighter, drier and less complex. Its main tones are nuts and bread, followed by remains of fruity sweetness and creaminess.

This tea, similarly to most of Korean green teas I've encountered so far, has a remarkable, almost meditative effect on my mind, putting it into a concentrated, but very calm state at the same time. This is one of the things I am most fond of in Korean teas and why I am always very glad to have a chance to try one.

So thanks again, for an opportunity to drink yet another of master Kim Jong Yeol's teas, which always seem to leave a memory of extraordinary session in my mind. Even now, when this green isn't in its freshest state anymore.

2011 Horaido Gyokuro Fuuki

2012-01-28T14:18:00.003+01:00

The sun is shining as I finally have enough free time for a proper tea session. Other than that, the air is still quite cold – days like these often make me want to drink Gyokuro.

Some of you may remember me talking about the 2010 version of Horaido's Fuuki – I enjoyed it a lot, just as I enjoyed practically all Horaido teas that I've tried up to this day. This traditional, Uji-based shop offers teas, many of which rank among my favorite Japanese-greens every year.

I purchased the 2011 version of Fuuki on my last visit to Brno's Probuzeny Slon teahouse and enjoyed it a couple of times since then, so I guess it's finally time for some notes.

After the package is opened, these typically beautiful, short and shiny dark-green needles emit that amazingly sweet, rich and complex smell so characteristic for a good Kyoto-style Gyokuro. This smell enhances as quite a big amount of these leaves is placed into the preheated Shiboridashi, revealing the pleasantly heavy, milky character.

Using traditional way of preparation, the first infusion is brewed with lukewarm water for four minutes and is yellowish-green in color, thick in consistence and very complex in taste. Within countless tones, umami is naturally the strongest one, followed by sweet milkiness, creaminess and less pronounced (compared to previously described MK Tsubokiri Gyokuro) but still detectable freshness. Next in line is a very interesting tone, reminding me of sweet melon – both yellow and watermelon.

This brew leaves long, heavy aftertaste in mouth, dominated by, once again, umami, noble sweetness and somehow creamy, hazelnut-like nuances.

The following infusion is prepared with a bit warmer water and shorter steeping time, resulting in a greener, less thick and very clear, transparent brew. Its taste is lighter and slightly vegetal, though the noble sweetness and umami remain the predominant tones. The refreshing tone is also significantly enhanced, compared to the previous infusion; so is the green, fruity-like character, now reminiscent of freshly picked green apples and grapes. The aftertaste is shorter, though still very sweet and complex, made of several tones, now especially those of various kinds of fruit.

One more infusion is prepared – with quite hot water and short brewing time, this is a light, nicely sharp ending of a session, now very refreshing, less deep and more straightforward and vegetal, though still practically without any unpleasant tones.

Eating some (or, in many cases, all) of the the spare leaves has became almost a routine part of my sessions with Gyokuros – these beautiful, still lively green leaves are no exception. Lacking bitterness, their mild sweet taste and lightness is a calming experience, prolonging the noticeably awakening, though, at the same time, mind-calming effect.

Early Sunset, Happy New Year

2012-01-08T16:03:00.001+01:00

2011 Hwagae Uricha (Tongecha) at the Probuzeny Slon Teahouse

2011-12-28T16:35:00.002+01:00

Visiting Brno, Czech republic, I'm once again sitting in one of my favorite tea-rooms here, mentioned several times on this blog – the Probuzeny Slon teahouse. At the moment, I am enjoying last infusions of a wonderful and unusual tea, one of those I wanted to try since the moment I first heard about it.

This tea is Hwagae Uricha (Tongecha), a Korean yellow tea produced by master Cho Yun Suk and imported by Teamountain. Quite an unusual Balhyocha for me, as it isn't loose – instead, this tea is pressed into the shape of a 100 gram ball and its appearance may be reminiscent of Pu-erh.

It's taste and smell is amazing – if someone would give me these dry leaves just to smell without seeing it, I would be tempted to say it's dark chocolate. Its taste is similar – wonderfully chocolate-like and sweet and it doesn't seem to get any bitterness even after long steeping times. As I gradually prepared numerous infusions, its smell and taste evolved, revealing more spicy tones, fruit, nuts, flowers and several other fragrances, making each infusion different.

Another thing worth mentioning – after a day of wandering through the winter city, this tea was exactly what I needed. As soon as I came to the teahouse and took the first sip, my body felt regenerated – and, immediately, warmed.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take a photo of its dry leaves, which were still in a pressed form. After the session, though, the leaves are beautiful – quite small, whole and ranging from dark-green to dark-brown in color.

This post isn't going to be any longer. I just felt the need to share this unusual tea-experience – at least like this.

2011 Tsubokiri Gyokuro by Marukyu Koyamaen

2011-12-26T18:57:00.002+01:00

First of all, I would like to apologize – this blog was on an unexplained hiatus since the end of September. Among things that kept me busy is the fact that I have moved to a beautiful little village near Bratislava – this way, I can still keep close to the city, while the pluses are obvious – a garden, nature, calmness... drinking tea here during the warmer months is definitely going to be a wonderful experience. Then came Christmas and all things related to it – pleasant, but time-consuming.

I bought this Gyokuro back in November and enjoyed it a few times since then. As the package already indicates, it isn't a part of Uji's famous Marukyu Koyamaen's standard offering – Tsubokiri is a seasonal collection of teas released after Kuchikiri no Gi ceremony in October and sold only during October and November. Luckily, I was able to get one package of such Gyuokuro from Bratislava's Teatrade.sk store.

I've already talked about traditional storage and ripening of high-grade Japanese teas as well as the Kuchikiri no Gi ceremony last year with Horaido teas. Personally, I'm looking forward to such teas a lot every year – spring offering of Shincha is definitely amazing amazing, but autumn is my favorite season of Japanese tea; season when some of the best teas are released to the market.

These dark-green leaves are slightly more fragmented, short and reminiscent of short needles (or pins), indicating a medium-deep steaming (chumushi). Quite typically for many Uji-style Gyokuro teas, their appearance is a bit less shiny than that of high-grade Sencha.

Smell of these leaves is a joy; sweet, noble, deep and, at the same time, still notably fresh. As they are placed into the preheated Shiboridashi, more and more tones keep showing up – tones I would expect from a really good traditional Uji Gyokuro and, especially, one from Marukyu Koyamaen, as their Gyokuro teas seem to be characteristic enough to be distinguished from other producers (hard to explain, though).

As with all higher-grade Gyokuro, I've chosen the traditional way of preparation – big amount of leaves, small volume of lukewarm water and long steeping times.

This gives me three interesting infusions, first of which is greenish-yellow in color, just slightly opaque and very aromatic. Its taste is heavy, rich and full of nuances; milky, sweet tones and umami, pine-like forest freshness and ripe fruit. The aftertaste is long and mouthfilling, very deep and sweet without traces of bitterness. This taste really is noble and special – this is one of those teas that you can feel in your mouth hours after you've finished drinking it – maybe even all day long. Similarly most traditional Gyokuros stored until autumn, Tsubokiri has a significant body-warming effect as well as a vivid awakening one, waking up the senses and enhancing mind's ability to focus. And with such a tea, it is definitely important to completely focus on the session itself.

The second infusion, prepared with slightly hotter water and shorter brewing time, is greener in color and more transparent. Now, the taste is a little lighter than before, though still very deep and sweet; the milky tone, umami and sweetness are accompanied by more pronounced, sharper note of fruit (especially grapes and pears) and a very slight spiciness. The aftertaste, though, is still predominantly sweet and milky – and, seemingly, even vivider and longer than that of the first infusion.

One more brew is prepared – while this one may be the lightest and not that deep at all compared to its predecessors, it appears to be a very pleasant refreshment after two very heavy infusions. This one is sharper, lighter and somehow fresher, with shorter aftertaste and tones of nuts, spices and fruit.

Uji has been my favorite tea-producing area for years and this tea once again proved to remind me why I am so fond of it. A traditional, ripened Gyokuro of this kind is a tea worth special opportunities – at least in my eyes.

This Autumn

2011-10-20T17:50:00.003+02:00

As you may have noticed, this blog hasn't been very active since the second half of September - I am very busy at the moment. Please accept this humble apology and stay patient - I will resume posting as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of this month or the beginning of November. Many blog-related things await me in the near future - another trip to Brno and its charming tearooms, possible visit to Vienna (any suggestions for interesting tea places worth paying a visit there?) as well as many new exceptional teas to try.

Until then, I hope you all have the most wonderful and colorful autumn.

2011 Kagoshima Sencha Asanoka Kirishima

2011-09-23T16:07:00.002+02:00

This is the second of two fresh Japanese Teamountain tea I've ordered from Nomad.sk – while I've been familiar with Ureshino Kamairi Tamaryokucha as it is a stable part of TM offering, this one is completely new. It looked very promising from the beginning and I was personally looking forward to tasting it a lot - now, after quite a few of sessions with this unusual tea, I have finally managed to take some photos and transform thoughts into notes.

First thing that caught my attention was the description of this tea itself – hand-picked, Asamushi (light-steamed) Sencha grown in former Makizono town near Kirishima mountain in Kagoshima, Kyushu by quite a well-known producer Mr. Nishi, whose teas are often participating in various competitions. Moreover, this tea is made of Asanoka cultivar – one of the newer, less common varietals cultivated in southern Japan. Asanoka is said to be a crossbreed of Yabukita and some Chinese cultivar from Jiangxi and is characterized by its mildness and umami, therefore being suitable for production of shaded teas – I remember seeing Kabusecha made of this varietal, but this is probably the first Asanoka Sencha I've ever came across.

Packed in a beautiful white bag typical for most high-grade Teamountain Japanese teas, these shiny, dark-green leaves are a little bit more fragmented than usual light-steamed teas, though there is a lot of beautiful, long and narrow needles among them as well. Their smell is very soft, fresh and sweet, reminding me of young peas – that kind of mild, fresh and lively sweetness.

When placed into the preheated Shiboridashi, this smell gets stronger, sweeter and deeper, being slightly reminiscent of shaded teas, such as Kabusecha and Gyokuro.

The first infusion is completely transparent and beautifully jade-green; its smell is light, fruity and noble while its taste is full of umami, creamy sweetness, milkiness and freshness. It seems like this Sencha stands out of all the fresh Japanese teas I've tried out so far this year – it's very mild and full at the same time and has a vivid umami base very similar to that of young peas – both in smell and, even more pronouncedly, on tongue. This Sencha truly has some characteristics typical more for Gyokuro than Sencha; the already mentioned umami and deep sweetness, among others. Its aftertaste is long, light and yet mouthfilling, quite milky and fresh. Also notable, this tea has a non-negligible effect on mind and body, but not too strong – it slightly awakens the senses and makes mind focused, though, at least in my case, it isn't the suitable-for-work kind of focus – rather than that this tea seems to make mind better focused on the tea itself, somehow even enhancing the session.

The second infusion is brewed with slightly hotter water for only five seconds and is still very transparent, more yellowish-green and sharper in taste, fruity and still sweet. The creamy and milky tones are a bit weakened and covered by new tones reminiscent of fresh, wild strawberries and white grapes, together with once again dominant note of young peas and umami. The aftertaste is longer, sharper and more mouth-filling that that of its predecessor, now being more typical Sencha-like rather than having similarities to shaded teas.

The third infusion emits vivid green color with slight jade-like undertones. Its taste is milder than that of the second brew, though it also partially lacks the vivid umami and milky sweetness, now being dominantly fruity and a little bit spicy. Its taste is refreshing and, literally, very green, while the aftertaste is a bit shorter and less pronounced than before, also mainly fruity and sharp.

The last infusion is still beautifully green in color and completely transparent, while its taste is comprised of woody, sharp and slightly astringent tones with only a short aftertaste – still very enjoyable and refreshing, though.

So far, it seems like this unusual Sencha has become my personal favorite among all the 2011 Japanese teas I've tasted so far. While I can't say that the other teas were of any significantly lower quality, this one just stands out, being different and unconventional. There are, though, still a lot of teas to try; considering the fact that this is obviously a strong year for Japanese tea, there still is a high chance I will come across, at least, equally interesting and likable teas – I can't wait for it.

2011 Ureshino Kamairi Tamaryokucha

2011-09-07T13:24:00.002+02:00

I've been traveling quite a lot during the second half of august and, luckily for me, had enough time to drink teas at such amazing places as a meadow inside a pine forest, surrounded only by green hills and a couple of good friends. Originally, I intended to take some photos of these sessions and share them on this blog, but I ended up just enjoying these moments and surroundings, documenting them only with my own eyes and mind. Looking back, I think it was a good decision.

Meanwhile, new teas arrived – thanks to their preciseness, Nomad.sk started offering some fresh Teamountain teas to Slovak tea-lovers almost immediately after they were listed available on TM website.

This year, Teamountain's Japanese teas arrived significantly later than usual – caused mainly by the Earthquake and its consequences and the fact that big part of their offering used to consist of Shizuoka teas from Mr. Katahira's farm, which, unfortunately, they decided not to sell this year. However, first wave of these teas is finally here and, so far, it seems like it really was worth the wait.

This Kamairicha from Ureshino has been a stable part of Teamountain offering for quite a few years and it's the most basic Tamaryokucha they offer – this being said, it still is a high-grade, hand-roasted tea made of Yabukita cultivar.

Its dry leaves are a bit less uniform than those of competition grades of this type of tea; even though, they are good-looking, curly and vivid green in color. They emit a strong smell, which is soft, fresh and a bit nutty.

The first infusion is light green in color, transparent and very aromatic. Its taste is similar to the smell in a way that it is vivid and soft at the same time, being milky, fruity, very nutty and sweet with fine umami tone. Almonds and sweetness are the dominant tones in aftertaste, which isn't long, but very pleasant nonetheless. This brew also seems to have nice, gentle awakening effect on mind, making it calm, simple and yet sharp, just as the tea itself.

The second infusion is poured off immediately as the water touches the leaves and is lively green and a bit opaque. Being more mouth-filling and pronounced than the previous brew, it's dominated by notes of fruity sweetness and umami, followed by unusually fresh, cooling feel on tongue and a roasty, nutty touch in aftertaste, which is now longer and sharper.

Similar intensive green color shows up as the third infusion is prepared, now a bit less sweet and more refreshing and sharp, reminding me of freshly picked young green apples. The nutty tones of almonds and hazelnuts as well as the previously vivid umami are still detectable, though they now seem to be quite covered over by the fruity, fresh character.

One more infusion is prepared with freshly boiled water, cooled only for a very short amount of time. It shows the complete departure of former sweetness and milkiness, being sharp, refreshing and a bit astringent. The aftertaste is simple, having the same pronounced character as this infusion's taste.

Judging from this humble, pleasant Kamairicha, this is a promising year for Ureshino. I'm looking forward to encountering other teas from this region soon – hopefully also the competition grades of Tamaryokucha, which I really grew quite keen of during the last season.

Within Today's Leaves

2011-08-15T14:56:00.003+02:00

As I have already mentioned a couple of time on this blog, I am not much of an avid Puerh drinker, consuming it only occasionally. However and considering this fact, I seem to have an unusual luck to find unintentional things while disassembling the cakes - (maybe) surprisingly, especially the "high-end" ones.

This definitely is neither the first nor the last bug for me to find in a good Sheng Puerh. The initial, maybe a second-long reaction of my brain is usually obnoxiousness (I've never really been on the best terms with bugs); just then, however, I realize the exact opposite, the positive side of such find. Can tea get any closer to nature and can it be any purer from any kinds of chemicals and pesticides than this, attracting (and, unfortunately, taking) so much life even during its processing stages?

From this point of view, finding bugs within pressed cakes is a good sign and, at least for me, possibly better than any shiny "Organic" sticker on the packaging.

2011 Kim Jong Yeol's Balhyocha Noeul Hyanggi “Sunset”

2011-08-13T14:34:00.002+02:00

Today's weather isn't exactly green. The sky is cloudy, air quite breezy and it occasionally rains – somehow, it feels like this is the day I've been awaiting to open this special tea.

This season, Teamountain offers two yellow teas made by tea master Kim Jong Yeol (and it seems like one made by Kim Shin Ho is on the way as well), named poetically “Sunrise” and “Sunset”. I purchased Sunset on my visit to Brno's Sklenena Louka teahouse, owner of which also told me her impressions of these teas – while Sunrise is more chocolate-like and dark, Sunset is supposed to be more spicy and somehow reminiscent of Taiwanese Bai Hao oolong. While I haven't bought both of these teas and, therefore, will not be able to compare them in a similar way, I'd very much looked forward to trying Sunset on its own.

The origin of this fermented tea is Yonggang-Ri, Hwagae-myeon, Gyeongnam, it was picked during the second week of May and is made of wild, approximately 20 years old tea bushes.

This simple, yet beautiful packaging is opened and immediately releases intensive, deep smell of meadow flowers, honey and cinnamon. In terms of appearance, Wuyi Yancha is the first thing that comes to my mind; these leaves are dark with shades of black and brown, curly and mostly unbroken. When placed into the preheated teapot, their aroma intensifies even more, now being even sweeter and revealing a slightly roasty, bread-like note.

The first infusion is brewed with freshly boiled water and is orange-golden in color, still retaining the deep smell of dry leaves. Its taste is equally deep and sweet, offering countless tones, both those already revealed in smell as well as many new – dried fruit, particularly apricots, honey, flowers, cinnamon-like spiciness and very subtle, refined roast. Immediately after the first sip, this tea feels strong – not in a way of being over-brewed or too harsh (the exact opposite is true – this tea is very mild and noble), but it seems to have strong, warming and yet calming energy, which is impossible not to notice. This infusion also has expectably long and vivid aftertaste, filling the throat with subtle deep sweetness.

The second infusion is slightly darker orange in color, very transparent and very aromatic. Honey, fruit, meadow flowers and cinnamon remain the main tones, though they now seem to have a bit different mouthfeel – even deeper and smoother. There isn't a single trace of bitterness in this brew, instead, it fills mouth with various tones of ripe and dried fruit, seemingly alternating and complementing each other. The aftertaste of this infusion is more pronounced and even warmer than that of the first brew, evolving over time and becoming sweeter and sweeter.

The third infusion returns to the lighter orange-golden color of the first one, though its taste remains similar to the second brew, being very fruity, sweet and slightly spicy, now revealing a new tone as well – citrus-like juiciness, which overtakes the aftertaste as well – a bit like warm orange or lime with honey.

This citrus-like note gradually becomes dominant in the fourth, fifth and sixth infusions, though most of the other fruity and sweet tones remain present as well – just not as dominant as before, now they seem to be hidden under the main citrusey nuances. All of these brews retain the significantly warm, calming energy, detectable primarily in the long aftertaste.

With its clear, deep character and warm, remarkably soothing energy, this Balhyocha makes a simple session feel like a very special, important occasion. Its lyrical name Sunset seems to be very well chosen – it really has power to create the atmosphere of a calm, silent evening on a meadow inside a wild forest, watching the sun going down slowly; all that in a single cup, even in the heart of a city.

New Companion

2011-08-04T18:18:00.004+02:00

This is the little Black Magda kyusu made by Petr Novak I've talked about in my previous post. It holds about 120ml of water and I intend to use it mostly for Korean tea. And, after the first recently finished session with Gyeun Farm Saejak, I can already tell that this pot seems to fit these teas wonderfully, just as I imagined.

One Afternoon at Brno's Glass Meadow

2011-08-03T20:42:00.007+02:00

Staying in Brno, Czech republic for a while now again, I met with some friends and visited yet another of the city's amazing teahouses - one called Sklenena Louka ("Glass Meadow"), or, in shortened and simplified version, just Sklenenka.

sorry for the blurry photos - taken by phone camera

This teahouse sources its teas from two of my most favorite Czech vendors, LongFeng and Teamountain. This time, I was especially aimed for a group of particular teas, recently imported by Martin Spimr's Teamountain - fresh Korean teas made by two famous teamasters, Kim Jong Yeol and Kim Shin Ho.

I ordered Kim Shin Ho's Saejak Samtae, tea which exceeded the high expectations I had for it. Sweet, smooth, fresh and almost impossible to over-brew, this green tea had an amazing effect on body, harmonizing it in a way that left my mind calm, clear and yet sharp.

Originally, I was planning to buy two different Korean teas made by Kim Jong Yeol for my home consumption as well; this idea was, however, quickly dismissed when I saw brand new pieces of Petr Novak's pottery unladen on a nearby table. Among these pots was a little Black Magda-glazed kyusu, completely fitting the idea of my dream-teapot for Korean teas... and I suddenly knew one of the teas will have to wait.

In the end, I was leaving this magical place with new teapot, a pack of fresh Balhyocha and the aftertaste of Kim Shin Ho's Saejak still present in my throat. All this together with the opportunity to chat with some long-unseen dear friends over a cup of great tea - beautiful day.

2011 Zencha Nakai's Organic Uji Sencha Matsu

2011-07-27T17:44:00.002+02:00

It's already been some time since this tea arrived to my place; more than three weeks, to be accurate. Since then, various things continuously prevented me from writing about it, most commonly those related to weather – for me, the best occasion on which to enjoy a good fresh green tea is a sunny, warm day, but the last week and a few more days before it somehow lacked this kind of weather almost completely. If there was a warm, sunny and free day, I usually haven't stayed at home and went somewhere out (such as the FesTEAval) and, therefore, the days left for me when I had time to stay at home and write about tea were usually those filled with cold air, rain, dark clouds and lack of natural light, during which I mostly weren't in mood for anything green and rather switched to roasted oolongs and puerh.

Today, finally, sun decided to shine a bit and the temperature is noticeably higher as well. There is an advantage of all the time I kept waiting for the right occasion to write about this tea – since it arrived, I've tasted it quite a lot of times (though mostly only as a quick morning session without that much time to concentrate on the tea itself), which helped me to make up my mind about this not-so-usual Sencha.

This light steamed Sencha comes from Mr. Michio Nakai's farm located in my favorite region, Uji, Kyoto and is certified organic. In Zencha's offering, it is the middle grade of Uji Sencha. Its leaves are a bit shorter and more broken than those of usual Asamushi teas, but still quite nice and shiny. Their smell is very fresh, very sweet and unusually nutty and creamy, much more than most Uji Sencha teas. There is also a slight hint of roastiness; overall, aroma of this tea unexpectedly reminds me of fresh Long Jing quite a lot.

The first infusion is yellowish-green in color and has a mild sweet smell and full, balanced taste, again different from what I'm used to find in most Uji teas – this one is much more bread-like, nutty and roasty, while still being very sweet. In this case, however, it isn't the typical Gyokuro-like, umami related sweetness, but instead something very reminiscent of sweet pastry or even freshly baked cookies. Just as smell, this tea's taste reminds me a bit of Chinese Long Jing while still bearing some typical Uji notes – very interesting combination of different characters. Aftertaste of this infusion is long and mouth-filling, mostly nutty, vivid and yet quite refined.

The second infusion is brewed with a bit hotter water for just a few seconds, resulting in much greener brew, which is now a little bit opaque. Its taste is basically very similar to that of the first infusion, though it now has a bit more fresh, “green” note of sharpness, making the taste of this brew more refreshing. The aftertaste is also a bit sharper and greener, but still very sweet and subtle.

Once again a little hotter water is used for the now mostly yellow third infusion, enhancing the already dominant bread-like, sweet taste and smell. The aftertaste is even stronger and longer-lasting than that of the previous infusion, now being quite crispy, sweet and slightly astringent, though not in any unpleasant way.

One more infusion is made of these leaves; this time, the taste is mostly woodsy, roasty and a bit astringent with less profound aftertaste – nicely finishing the session.

This tea is definitely different in an interesting way. While the vast amount of Uji greens tend to be on the deep, umami side of taste, this one, with its bread-like roasty character, is a nice, unconventional change – and still, it has the typical feeling of a good, traditional Ujicha.

Bratislava's FesTEAval 2011

2011-07-16T22:54:00.008+02:00

Warning: picture spam ahead!

Today, Bratislava's (and, as far as I know, Slovakia's) only and still quite young tea festival took place in Medicka zahrada (Medic garden) public park in downtown, organized by a summer tea-house which is settled in this garden. FesTEAval, described as a festival of Slovak tea culture and Slovak tea-houses, took place last year at the same place, though it was said to be the 0-th year; this was therefore the first official year of this promising festival, which I hope will become an annual tradition in our city. I attended last year and it already had a great atmosphere, so I really was looking forward to seeing what will the 2011 event bring.

Compared to last year, the weather was almost ideal for such an outdoor event - sunny and just a bit windy. Last year, it was accompanied by heavy rain, so everything had to take place inside, inside the big tent of the summer teahouse. There weren't many visitors this year, though I would say it was more than the last year - still, the festival is only at the beginning of its path. On the other hand, the atmosphere wouldn't ever be so personal and friendly with much higher visitor rate - this really was somehow a plus for me, as I don't really fancy big crowds very much.

Avra Kehdabra - new literary teahouse from Bratislava, one of my favorites

The unique thing on this event is that it tries to cover up and connect all teahouses across Slovakia, allowing them to present their teas, teaware and tea-serving customs to the visiting people, all of them at the same place - and all for free. Even though only a small fraction of teahouses really arrived, mostly those from Bratislava (I believe it isn't easy to travel to the capital from the other end of country just for one-day-long, small event), the offering was quite diverse - thanks to this, I was able to visit different stands of different teahouses, both those well known which I visit frequently, as well as some which I've never heard about until now - all this under the blue sky, shaded only by the garden's old green trees.

Avra Kehdabra served really nice Sencha Houkouen from Shizuoka - last year's pick, though as the package was opened just now, still very nicely preserved and refreshing.

Another part of FesTEAval was taking place inside the tent - various lectures and discussions about tea accompanied by tastings of teas that were the theme of every lecture - Japanese greens and Sado ceremony, Chinese teas and Gong-fu ceremony, Darjeeling and Puerh.

Japanese teas - we tasted four different teas, "typical representatives" of the main categories - Sencha, Kabuse, Gyokuro and Tamaryokucha - most of which were from Teamountain.

Teaware for sale - outside the tent, mostly used teaware from various sources, countries and producers was offered for quite an interesting prices (including some Petr Novak pieces, which were especially tempting).

Tea-related decoration on the garden's walls - some of you may recognize three of my photos, obviously downloaded from my blog without me knowing - it's impossible to be mad at them, though :-) even though it really was surprising and sort of funny to see these photos here.

Once again, I was able to experience a whole day in company of great tea, great mood and great people - a big thank you to everyone who contributed to this event. FesTEAval is a great idea and I hope and believe it will get even better next summer, hopefully also attracting much more visitors.

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I apologize for the unusually bad level of English in this post (even for me). I'm already very tired - I just wanted to share the experience from this event while the memory is still fresh and bright.

Melting Green

2011-07-11T12:45:00.004+02:00

It's that time of year again - temperatures are reaching their peak every day, air is on the edge of not being breathable and there doesn't seem to be any summer rain on the way to change all this. At such time, this solution once again proves itself to be the best to cool down both the body and the mind (even though fresh green tea is great to do so even when brewed hot).

Fresh Shincha, combined with slowly melting cubes of ice.

2011 Hadong Gyeun Farm Saejak Nokcha

2011-07-06T16:53:00.003+02:00

Another post about Korean tea? Yes. Unexpectedly, it seems like this season is going to be quite Korean for me – there are more interesting fresh teas from this country on Czech and Slovak market than ever before.

This particular Saejak was purchased on my last visit to Teatrade.sk's store. It cannot be found on their website nor in their regular offering, but, along with two other Korean teas mentioned below, can be tasted in their neighboring teahouse “U veseleho slona”.

This exact same tea can, however, be purchased on Darjeeling.cz – this year, they offer three different Hadong teas, one Ujeon, this Saejak and one Yellow tea. All of these teas come in the generous Hadong packaging (see Matt's very informative post here), but, at least for this one, there is a sticker on the back of its box – mostly in Korean, the only exception being web address of Gyeun Farm, which I suppose is the producer. It originates in Ssangye area and is, according to the Darjeeling website, completely hand-picked and hand-processed from wild tea bushes.

Since it was purchased, I've enjoyed this Saejak quite a lot of times, always discovering something new and liking the tea more and more – it really grew on me.

These leaves are quite uniform, small and a bit curly with very pleasant sweet, deep and, again, forest-like smell. As they are placed into the preheated Shiboridashi, this smell intensifies and new nuances come out, reminding me of various things – sweet pastry or bread among them.

Always using just a slightly hotter water than I did for the previous brew, several infusions are made of this tea, as its character gradually evolves, changes and becomes interestingly different in each and every one of them – generally, these brews are quite light, yet very aromatic at the same time. The taste is mainly soft, bread-like, bit roasted, sweet and fresh; it embraces all the deepness found in its smell and even more, fruity tones reminiscent of sweet young pears and something I would call “mountain forest air” and the sensation of breathing it. The aftertaste is mild and sweet, being noticeable for a very long time and seems to carry different main tone after each infusion – nutty sweetness after the first one, fruity freshness after the second, almost vanilla-like creaminess after the third and so on.

This tea reaches its peak around third or fourth brew, when it is strongest and most intensive in taste, smell and aftertaste. After that, it still produces more than enjoyable infusions – gradually, these are just less deep, a bit more sharp and spicy and have smaller scale of tones, most persistent of which is probably the roasted bread-like taste and nuttiness.

One of the most amazing things about this tea is the almost spiritual-like, peaceful state of mind it leaves me in after the session – the need to just quietly sit and breathe, still sensing this tea, not only on the tongue.

I feel like taking this tea on a trip with me and enjoying it in the nature – hopefully, I really will, before I completely run out of it.

Tea and Time: Two Different 2010 Saejak Nokcha Teas

2011-06-28T14:31:00.004+02:00

This lovely sunny day called for something special. And since I started it by watching Kim Ki-duk's highly praised film "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring", I've decided to continue in a similar Korean spirit – by drinking two teas I've had at home for more than a week already.

Samples of these two Korean greens, along with two other yellow teas were kindly sent to me from French CoreaColor. Both of them are of Saejak grade and were picked before the end of April 2010. I'm not sure about the exact area of origin of these teas, but, considering information found on CoreaColor website, my guess would be Jiri Mountain (correct me if I'm wrong).

Originally, these samples were labeled by stickers with numbers 1 and 4, but, unfortunately, these glued off on their way here – therefore, I will use letters “A” and “B” to distinguish them, preparing both teas at the same time.

left: A, right: B

The first obvious difference can be spotted on the dry leaf – these two Saejaks come from two different family companies and thus, the leaves are quite different from each other with A being smaller and more curled than B (though not that much smaller as it may seem in the picture – I wasn't able to take both photos from the exact same distance and angle). Smell of both teas is already clearly affected by their age - more than one year after harvest, most of the freshness these teas definitely used to possess is already gone. Even so, I can still sense remains of the typical scent I personally tend to associate with Korean greens, something “forest-like” and nutty. Naturally, there is a difference between these two teas – A is a bit more intensive and slightly acidic while B seems to smell more humble, deeper and nuttier. After being placed into the preheated Shiboridashi pots, smell of both teas significantly changes – as if the heat retrieved more of its original fresh character.

top: A, bottom: B

Being infused many times, more differences between these teas gradually reveal – both teas have very transparent, clear brew, though A is more yellowish in color than B, which is more of a light green. Taste is very similar to dry leaf's smell in many aspects – A is less nutty, more intensive and somehow “sour” - though it isn't exactly the most annoying kind of sourness, I believe it wasn't present when this tea was fresh. B, on the other hand, is lighter and nuttier in taste with still noticeable creamy sweetness. Very similar results can be found in all infusions as well as their aftertastes, which are generally stronger and more acidic for A and sweeter and more humble for B. I stopped brewing A after the third infusion, as I no longer found it interesting – B, on the other hand, was still able to produce a few more enjoyable brews.

left: A, right: B

Personally, I've enjoyed B more than A. The result might have been different if these teas were in their fresh state – but like this, I think B did better job in withstanding the effects of time, preserving more of its former beauty.

This can also be seen on the spare leaves – B seems greener and somehow more lively than the light-yellowish A. Drinking these teas indeed was an interesting experience – both as a study of time's effects on different green teas as well as the general broadening of my Korean tea experience. Thanks, once again.

By the creek and by the forest

2011-06-19T21:32:00.004+02:00

Just a nice weekend, spent away from civilization, surrounded by deep forest.

Accompanied only by the sound of the creek's pure water's flow, tea means so much more.

Spoiling my taste buds: 2011 Imperial Bi Lo Chun in the Probuzeny Slon teahouse

2011-06-09T10:06:00.006+02:00

It's been a while since I last visited Brno, the second largest city of Czech republic - honestly, I was beginning to miss the city. Finally, thanks to June being a free month for me, I'm spending few days here since this Monday (and am going back to Bratislava tomorrow). And such visit wouldn't be complete for me if I haven't visited one of the city's amazing teahouses - specifically and most frequently, the Probuzeny Slon, which I've already mentioned a few times. This teahouse sources its teas from LongFeng and Teamountain, known to the readers of this blog as two of my most favorite vendors.

It is a place where I head every time I feel the need to spoil myself, tasting teas which I probably wouldn't buy in larger quantities on my own. This time, my immediate choice after checking the offering of fresh teas was the 2011 Jiang Su Dong Ting Shan Bi Lo Chun Imperial, the highest grade produced. Whole production of this tea was just a few kilograms and this year's pick was said to be of exceptionally high quality. A true statement, I think, even though my memories of last year's version are already quite blunt. I'm not going to talk much more about this tea as it pretty much speaks for itself, being one of a kind and having all I would expect from such tea and even more.

Thanks to the fact that I met the teahouse's headman there and to his generosity, this Bi Lo Chun definitely wasn't the last tea to drink that day, and I left after hours with stomach full of exceptional tea and also a purchase of three simple, inexpensive 2011 greens for daily drinking.

On a different note, I've found this statue while wandering around the downtown - I don't have any clue as to what is it supposed to mean or why is this life-sized statue of Japanese warrior located on this building's roof just a few meters from the city's main Gothic-revival cathedral, but it definitely caught my attention.

New Teaware Again: The "Question-mark" Shiboridashi & Teacups by Petr Novak

2011-06-01T12:32:00.008+02:00

Visiting Teatrade.sk's shop in downtown Bratislava the day before yesterday, I couldn't resist to buy something when I'd seen the newly unladen pieces of teaware - among these were also some works by Petr Novák and other Czech potters. Specifically, two different Shiboridashis caught my attention and I immediately knew that one of these has to be mine (even though I don't necessarily need it - but well, buying things we do not need is what makes us strangely happy, after all). After hours of thinking, comparing two equally beautiful pieces and drinking some great fresh teas brewed by Teatrade's owners, I've finally decided for this one, as it seemed much more well-suited for Japanese green tea than its competitor.

The reason why I nicknamed this 80ml beauty the "Question-mark" shiboridashi becomes obvious when the lid is closely observed - there are two noticeable unglazed parts on it, forming a shape of "?" together, at least in my eyes. Other than that, the glaze is quite shiny both on the outside and inside walls, giving the pot somehow more sophisticated and different impression compared to my older Petr Novak shiboridashi, which is significantly more rustic both on touch and look. Even so, this new piece still has the very natural charm, encouraging one to go outside and enjoy some fresh tea under the green trees, which I've experienced with this pot's older sibling.

The tea it brews also appears to be more subtle and, especially, clear - I credit this to its thinner walls and fitting lid and spout, which leaves just a very narrow cleft to pour the tea. Even so, the flow is very fluent and fast - a proof of skilled craftsmanship.

It comes with two small cups, which are, in many ways, in contrast with the shiboridashi - unglazed on the outside, quite rough and both different from each other at a glance, they seem very rustic, natural and traditional. Yet, they fit the shiboridashi very well and enhance the drinking experience even more, seemingly like a single, harmonic set. Personally, I'm especially looking forward to using them for Gyokuro, Kabusecha and, generally, "sweeter" green teas, as they posses the feeling of having the ability to make such teas even better.

Their inside is just as interesting and diversified as the outside; while the top, slightly smaller cup has quite a simple, modest whitish glaze with only a small spot of different color on its bottom, the second cup seems much more patterned and brindle, reminding me of inside walls of some empty sea shells.

As the newest members of my teaware family, the Question-mark shiboridashi and its two teacups have already proven themselves as a perfect brewing and drinking devices and a joy to look at. The opportunity to choose from two different shibos every time I drink suitable tea is also a big advantage - similarly to tea, certain teaware just fits certain weather, season and mood better than others.

2011 Zencha Fuji Superior Shincha

2011-05-30T14:08:00.002+02:00

Since I've already fulfilled all of the numerous duties I had this month, I can finally enjoy free time with all of its pleasant advantages – in my case, this means I have much more time for proper enjoyment of tea and for this blog.

This Shincha arrived from Zencha almost two weeks ago, as I've ordered it few days after enjoying their highest grade of Shizuoka Fukamushicha, Fuji the Ultimate. Ordering again, I kept in mind that this time, I want to try something much simpler from their offering, something fresh to drink often and in large quantities as the spring is quickly changing to summer outside. Therefore, I've chosen the lowest grade of their Shizuoka Shincha offering, called Fuji Superior and was looking forward to seeing what does Zencha offer for the modest price.

Compared to this year's Fuji the Ultimate, this Shincha expectably has much more straightforward, sharp and simple smell, less sweet and more vegetal – just as I would expect from nice fresh example of this grade of daily Fukamushicha. The leaves are also a bit less shiny and uniform, yet still seem quite nice and, most importantly, lively and fresh.

Brewed with quite hot water, the first infusion is bright green in color, transparent and has a gentle, more subtle smell than the dry leaves. In terms of taste, this tea corresponds with its scent very well, being round, quite simple and refreshing, or, in one word, once again literally green. This is exactly what I fancy the most about Shincha and am looking forward to every spring – the chance to really taste liquid, concentrated natural greenness, which can be found exclusively in form of Shincha. The aftertaste of this brew is somehow dry and sharp, yet still cooling and refreshing, lacking most of the typically sweet, noble notes – in case of this tea, after all, these aren't the tones to search for.

The second infusion is poured right as the water touches the leaves, resulting in much more opaque, vivid-green brew with slight astringency in taste, similar to that of young, just picked fruit. The taste is still very straightforward and simple, though not inevitably flat, preventing the tea from being boring. The following aftertaste is longest of all infusions, filling the mouth with pleasant, mild astringency and simple freshness.

The third and fourth infusions are very much alike – yellowish green in color, opaque and humbly simple in taste, now with predominantly dry notes and, especially in the fourth infusion, also a typical sharp woodsiness.

Fuji Superior is a nice, fairly inexpensive daily Fukamushi Shincha and I've been enjoying it in that manner for the past week and something. Finally, I'm glad I found some time to play with it a little bit today, confirming the opinion that even though there isn't much specialness to discover in this tea, it's exactly the humble, unpretentious simplicity which makes it worth drinking.

2011 Zencha Fuji The Ultimate Shincha

2011-05-06T17:15:00.002+02:00

Shincha – what a great thing to find in mailbox. The first picking of fresh green tea in Japan started just a while ago and is still in progress, yet we are already able to try some of the earliest birds.

So far this year, I've ordered my Shincha from Zencha – “Fuji The Ultimate” originates in Shizuoka, was hand-picked at the end of April and processed as Fukamushi-cha (deep-steamed tea). Though I've previously mentioned favoring Asamushi over Fukamushi teas, I can't deny their sharp, fruity green taste is possibly one of the best ways to really enjoy the taste of liquid spring.

The package is opened and ultimately fills the room with vividly sweet, fresh smell, typically much stronger than that of Asamushi teas and almost aggressive – however, this aroma keeps its nobleness, being very fine and, literally, green. It belongs to small leaves comprised mainly of short needles and a bit of tea-dust; their color is almost jade-green and seems slightly lighter than in normal Sencha – a frequent sight for Shincha. In terms of Fukamushi teas, they seem very attractive and well-made.

These leaves are placed into the preheated kyusu teapot and their smell immediately intensifies, underlining the fresh, sharp sweetness.

The first infusion is prepared with a bit hotter water than I usually use for Sencha (though still not really high in temperature) and shorter brewing time – this should get more of the typical refreshing taste I enjoy so much in these fresh teas. As a result, its color is vivid-green and just a bit opaque. The taste is very similar to smell – fresh and strong, lively green and sharp, yet very refined – it starts as a sweet, green sensation on tongue, full of milky and fruity tones, especially of young green apples and grapes and ends in pleasant, sweet and smooth aftertaste, long and cool.

The second infusion is brewed only for a few seconds and already results in almost non-transparent, opaque green brew, quite different from its predecessor in terms of taste, which is now significantly sharper, spicier and heavier. Still, the fruity, refreshing tones are preserved and so is the soft sweetness in aftertaste, now even longer and more intensive.

The third infusion is still very opaque and vividly green in color, though already a bit milder and rounder in taste. In this brew, the fruity, sweet freshness returns as a dominant tone, making the overall feeling of this infusion much smoother. The aftertaste is shorter and lighter, showing some new woodsy tones.

In terms of color, the last infusion is similar to the first, being just a bit opaque and even lighter in color. The taste is now drier, more woodsy and lacks the fruity notes as well as any milkiness, though it still possess the cool, refreshing body.

One more thing to say – a personal wish of mine. Please, do buy this year's Shincha, do buy this year's Japanese tea. I am aware of what happened and of the fact that many people decided not to buy them this year – not considering the fact that while the power-plant is located in the northern part of Japan, most of the tea-producing prefectures are located in the south, hundreds of kilometers away. The country's economy has already been damaged a lot by the disaster – if we moreover stop purchasing Japanese products, we won't be of any help in its recovery.

I am not a nuclear physicist and may not understand the whole accident properly – instead, I want to say that I believe I understand Japanese mentality at least a bit. And it's exactly their perfectionism and seriousness that makes me say this and get rid of any fear that they would let any harmful product on the market. So please, keep shopping for Japanese teas – judging from this Shincha, it seems like there really is a lot to look forward to about this harvest.

The River

2011-04-29T15:36:00.003+02:00

The river, so calm -
today I will show it all
my birthmarks

Tea in the Park, Year Two

2011-04-23T16:57:00.005+02:00

Accompanied by gentle breeze and mild sunshine, I met with old friends today and headed towards the oldest public park in Bratislava, Sad Janka Krala. We decided to repeat the event from last year, when we met at the exact same place with one purpose in minds - to enjoy a bit of silence in nature and drink fresh spring green teas right under the sky.

This Saturday seemed to be an ideal day for such a meeting, being delightfully warm and sunny – similarly to last year, we enjoyed two 2011 teas today, both green and Chinese. The first was Hai Nan Bai Sha Lu about which I wrote last month; the second, picked about a month later, was Wu Yuan Ming Mei, originating in Jiangxi province.

Drinking tea outside is a completely different experience from drinking it at home – there is something very pleasant in the sight of fresh leaves, slowly unfolding in water, just as if they were dancing for the singing birds.

This impression is even strengthened by the trees above our heads, reflected in cups filled with mild tea.

Escaping the city rush at least for a moment often seems priceless - and so does the opportunity to spend at least a bit of our rare time with long unseen friends and welcome spring by drinking its first harvest.

2010 Shupping Mushisei Tamaryokucha Competition Grade

2011-04-20T16:26:00.003+02:00

With long sunny days and temperatures higher than 20ºC almost everyday, I can finally enjoy Japanese green teas as much as I generally do in summer and autumn. Yesterday, I've already placed an order for my first 2011 Shincha (yes, I am going to drink this year's Japanese teas, despite of recent events) and can't wait for it – but until then, there is still quite a lot of interesting 2010 teas I haven't talked about yet.

This Tamaryokucha is one of them. Purchased quite a while ago in Slovak shop Nomad (though, being originally imported by Czech Teamountain, it carries the original TM label), it originates in Kumamoto province of southern Japan and is made of Sayamakaori cultivar. This specification – as well as the package – may seem very similar to the priced Kamairi Tamaryokucha I talked about in December – both of these teas attended the same National Tea Competition of Japan and are of similar grade (this one scoring 149 points there), yet there is a significant difference between them.

Those fond of Tamaryokucha can probably already tell the difference from names of these teas – Kamairi means that the tea was roasted and shaped instead of steaming to stop oxidation similarly to Chinese greens, while Mushisei teas, just like the one I'm going to talk about today, are steamed, shaped and may or may not then be roasted additionally.

Incredibly fresh smell comes out of the package right as it's opened – properly stored Japanese green teas can stay fresh for quite a long time, even almost a year after production. This scent is very fruity, buttery, sweet and, compared to its Kamairi counterpart, less nutty and more juicy.

In terms of appearance, these leaves fulfill the expectations for high grade Tamaryokucha, being curly, dark-green and shiny.

As the water gets quite cool, the first infusion is prepared – pale, jade-green and transparent in appearance, smooth and refined in taste with a lot of various tones, most of which are reminiscent of different kinds of fruit. The overall feeling on tongue is buttery, strong yet harmonic and finishing in a long, sweet aftertaste, quite milky and, once again, fruity.

The second infusion is already a bit more vivid in color, which is now yellowish-green yet still very clear; predictably, the taste and smell also gained on intensity, now being less buttery and milky and even more fruity with predominant tones of peaches and canary melon. The aftertaste is a quite mouth-filling and strong, though a bit shorter than after the first brew.

The third infusion is green in color and has quite similar taste to the second one – however, it also reveals some new tones, especially slight spiciness and a hint of woodiness in aftertaste, marking that the next infusion is going to be the last one.

Prepared with quite hot water and extended time, the last brew is a spicy, decent finish to this mild, refined green tea, still showing some of its original pleasant fruity notes and lively freshness.

One of the ways to distinguish Mushisei from Kamairi Tamaryokucha is examining the spent leaves – steamed leaves tend to be softer, lighter green in color and a bit more fragmented than roasted – this tea is no exception.

The Spirit of Spring: 2011 Yunnan Mao Feng and Hai Nan Bai Sha Lu

2011-03-31T17:16:00.006+02:00

As the temperature outside keeps getting more and more enjoyable, air fills with smell of blossoming flowers and ever-present singing birds, we naturally start to crave for something greener, lighter and cooler, something to harmonize the body with tempo of changing weather. Luckily enough, some early-spring first picks of fresh teas are already available – naturally the most suitable and enjoyable option to satisfy the craving.

I've been able to try two 2011 teas so far – Yunnan Mao Feng from Teatrade.sk's offering and Hai Nan Bai Sha Lu from Nomad.sk. Both of these teas were picked in February and both are Chinese, though they originate in different provinces and vary quite a lot in processing.

This post isn't really supposed to compare; its main purpose is just to share the joy.

At the series of tea tastings organized by Teatrade last summer, I've got accustomed to preparing fresh Chinese green teas in tall glass cup instead of a gaiwan (though I casually still use it for these teas as well, it just depends on the mood). Their Mao Feng is therefore prepared in this style; its big, curly greenish leaves with quite a lot of young buds are poured into the preheated double-wall glass thermos, immediately intensifying the fresh, flowery and herbaceous smell, so typical for early pan-roasted Yunnan greens.

I use longer brewing times and quite hot water for this Mao Feng; even so, it remains very light, mild and clear, just as the early spring itself. The color of its brew is very transparent greenish-yellow, corresponding with the taste, which is light, smooth, nutty and flowery, cooling in mouth and has slightly buttery aftertaste.

Its freshness is nicely represented by vivid herbaceous note, especially reminding me of green nettle and brew made of its fresh young buds (often consumed in Slovak countryside, especially as a traditional medicament – I don't know about other countries, though).

The second tea is Bai Sha Lu from Wu Zhi Mountain of Hainan, the smallest and southernmost province of China. It's leaves show some characteristics of the way it was processed – in contrast to Mao Feng, these leaves were steamed and chopped, resulting in quite short, uniform appearance and mat, light green color. Their smell is thicker, deeper and fruitier with slight reminiscence of Japanese green teas (which are, after all, processed in a very similar way).

Also prepared in glass, this tea gives yellow infusions, also somehow “thicker” in character, very sweet and complex, pleasantly heavy and with tones of ripe fruit, especially plums and apples. Further infusions also show slight spiciness, especially vivid in aftertaste.

Though this tea is much heavier and less flowery-light than the pan-roasted Yunnan Mao Feng, it also posses the typical spring character, which, however, shows up in a completely different - and likewise interesting - way.

Only few things can bring such peace to mind as drinking fresh tea in the afternoon sun. Judging from these two early birds, it seems like there is definitely a lot to look forward to about this year's harvest in China.

Tranquil Afternoon

2011-03-20T16:14:00.003+01:00

2010 Gokuchanin Hanhakoucha Choucho

2011-03-04T13:47:00.003+01:00

This tea interested me from the first moment when I saw it in Teamountain's offering – another of Gokuchanin's oolongs, once again inspired by famous non-Japanese tea. While the main inspiration of previously mentioned Hanhakoucha Tefutefu was Taiwanese Oriental Beauty, in case of Choucho, it's a whole category if teas - Yancha from Wu Yi. This tea is made of Sayamakaori cultivar, which is quite typical for its native Saitama prefecture. When I saw it in offering of Slovak shop Nomad some time later, I had no doubts and purchased it immediately.

The dry leaves really are reminiscent of Wu Yi oolongs – they are mostly brown, quite dark and curly, though generally a bit shorter than regular rock teas. However, the first big difference can be observed in their smell – very fruity, fresh, light and somehow typically for Gokuchanin's Hanhakoucha in general. They share some notes with Tefutefu as well and, more surprisingly, also with Korean Yellow tea – very interesting indeed. There are no vivid roasty or nutty chocolate tones typical for Yancha.

The first infusion is golden yellow in color, very clear, refined and fruity in taste with dominant tones of sweet, ripe apples and apple juice, plums and a slight umami undertone. The taste is very complex, harmonic and mouthfilling, yet light and refreshing with long, spicy aftertaste lingering on tongue with mild, yet vivid ripe fruity tones.

The second infusion, though brewed for a shorter amount of time, has darker, pure orange color (very whiskey like). It's also a bit more intensive in taste, even more fruity than the first infusion, less refreshing and more warming; still, the tea keeps its noble complexity with dominant fruitiness and, in this infusion, also a hint of pleasant creaminess and citrus fruit. The aftertaste gets even longer after this infusion, being very apple-like and gradually becoming sweeter and sweeter.

The third infusion gets even more orange, though still preserving the clear transparency in color; the taste is very similar to that of the previous brew, just a bit more spicy, intensive and mouthfilling. The creaminess is significantly stronger in this infusion, contributing to the noble smoothness and repressing any possible astringency.

In terms of color, the fourth and fifth infusions are very similar to the second one, while in taste, they are still just as intensive as the third brew – smooth, fruity and a bit citrus-like, still very sweet, warm and creamy with long, spicy aftertaste. This character continues through the sixth and seventh infusion, before the tea starts losing its complexity.

In my eyes, Hanhakoucha Choucho proves that Gokuchanin is not trying to copy the famous original teas and instead just takes some inspiration from them to certain extent, which varies from tea to tea. After all, this tea reminded me of much more than just Wu Yi rock teas – Korean yellow tea, Bai Hao and even Japanese black tea, Koucha. Moreover, it still keeps the typical Japanese character under all these “exotic” tones. Personally, I hope that Yoshiaki Hiruma will never get bored nor run out of inspiration and will keep experimenting like this – I'm already a big fan of his work, which seems to be one of the most extraordinary amongst Japanese producers.

2010 LongFeng Purple Label Xiao Beeng Cha (Lin Cang Xi Gui Gu Shu Gu Hua)

2011-02-24T13:17:00.003+01:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been drinking quite a large amount of Chinese teas in the last few days, mainly because of the cloudy cold weather during which my consumption of Japanese green tea naturally shrinks. The weather is already much better around here, being beautifully sunny (though still very cold) and is expected to stay like this in the next few days – but before I return to Japanese teas, there is one more tea which I think deserves attention.

This puerh was purchased on my last visit to the Probuzeny slon teahouse in Brno, Czech republic and comes from Zdenek Prachar's LongFeng.

I'd already talked about LongFeng's private Puerh production at the beginning of summer 2010 – back then, two labels of 2010 collection were available, both made of different spring material.

The collection evolved quite a lot since then, being enriched by two special wedding edition cakes and, most recently, two cakes made of autumnal Maocha – namely the Red and Purple labels.

Both of these are made of wild tree, 300 years old material, which was hand-picked and hand-processed into 200 grams cakes.

The Purple label was processed in November from October-picked Maocha of Lin Cang area; the beeng is quite lightly compressed and is very easy to divide, with single leaves dissolving right as they are separated from the cake.

When poured into the preheated gaiwan, smell of these good-looking leaves fully unfolds – very fruity, sweet, deep and somehow heavy with dominant tones of forest fruits and berries. Compared to most fresh spring puerh teas, this one seems to be more dense and less “wild” and gusty in overall aroma.

The leaves are rinsed before the first infusion is prepared; then after just a short time, this brew is golden yellow in color and maintains the vivid, dense smell of dry leaf. The taste is vividly fruity, reminiscent of forest fruit such as blackberries, raspberries, and bilberries. Though generally quite strong, this taste maintains its smoothness and nobility; it is then followed by long, mouthfilling aftertaste with tones of meadow flowers, young apples and, again, forest fruit.

In terms of color, the second infusion is very similar to its predecessor, being golden yellow and very pure. Its taste is now a bit wilder, yet still very much alike to the previous brews, being strong, fruity and heavy with slight pleasant youthful astringency on tongue. Despite this, the infusion maintains its sweet undertone and produces even longer and vivider aftertaste than the first one.

The third infusion seems a bit lighter yellow in color and smoother in taste, though just as full and complex as all previous brews – the forest fruit tones are a bit less vivid, though still markedly present, as this brew is dominated by somehow fresher tones of flowers and younger, green garden fruit such as apples and pears. Unlike taste itself, the aftertaste is probably the most vivid of all infusions, slightly harsh, astringent and wild, yet still very pleasant and complex.

The fourth, fifth and sixth infusions are very similar to each other, both in terms of color, which is light-yellow and in character, maintaining both the flowery and fresh fruity notes of garden fruit and deeper, denser and sweeter nuances of forest berries. The aftertaste remains quite vivid, though it now is less harsh and somehow smoother, especially in the fifth brew.

Four (or five? I stopped counting) more enjoyable infusions are prepared before the end of this session, gradually lighter in body, less complex and more refreshing and flowery.

This tea will surely be a jewel to drink after some time of aging – I am probably going to consider buying another cake(s) in the near future (before they are all sold out), as I won't help myself in drinking this one while its still fresh – it's that good, already.

2010 Winter Crop Single Bush Yu Lan Dan Cong

2011-02-21T14:19:00.003+01:00

Once again, I took a little pause from Japanese teas – mainly because of weather, which (after a week of high temperatures and sun when we all thought spring is finally here) changed back to being cloudy, windy and chilly – well, no spring yet, obviously.

Another reason is an annoying case of cold I'd been suffering from for the last week or so – being ill, I'm not able to enjoy teas as much as usually, especially Japanese greens.

I've got this sample few weeks ago when I visited the Probuzeny Slon teahouse in Brno. It comes from Czech shop LongFeng, which has already been mentioned on my blog a couple of times as the best option in Czech republic when shopping for authentic Chinese and Taiwanese teas.

This tea was completely hand-picked, hand-processed and hand-roasted at the beginning of this winter in Wu Dong Shan from one single tree of Yu Lan (Jade Orchid) variety Feng Huang Shui Xien cultivar in altitude of about 600 meters. Whole production of this tea is just three kilograms a year.

As seen on the leaves, the roasting is very light and was, according to vendor's website, accomplished on wood coal. If I would have to describe these leaves by one word, it would be probably – beautiful. Very long, even and diverse in color, ranging from light yellow and green to purple and brown. Their smell is also a very complex one, with predominant tones of flowers and sweet fruitiness; this smell is fresh and deep at the same time, strong, noble and harmonic. As these leaves are placed into the preheated gaiwan, their aroma gets even stronger, sweeter and literally fills the whole room.

Jade Orchid and an Orchid

The first infusion is brewed only for a few seconds, resulting in a very light, yellow infusion, smell of which is just as vivid as that of the dry leaves. Its taste is unusually pure, noble and rich with complex tones of fruit, especially bananas and mango, flowers and honey sweetness, which is also the main tone of very long, intensive and cool aftertaste.

The second infusion is prepared with the same short brewing time and is just as light in color, though this time, the brew seems to have a bit of green color in it. The taste is slightly vivider, though still just as pure and harmonic as that of the previous infusion. Flowers seem to be the main tone in this brew, followed by sweet fruit, freshness and leaving very similar aftertaste, now less cooling and more mouthfilling, complex and sweet.

Finally, change in color can be seen on the third infusion, being deeper yellow while maintaining the purity of previous brews. Its taste is very similar to the second infusion; sweet, fruity, flowery and smooth, with long, noble aftertaste, resembling tropical fruit and flowers.

The fourth and fifth infusions are very much alike, or, better said, equally good – tones of previous brews are now enriched by slightly spiciness, present in infusion as well as the aftertaste and even contributing to the highly aromatic impression of this tea.

The sixth, seventh and eight infusions are almost buttery smooth, still very pure and aromatic, gradually lighter and less sweet. Apart from now quite vivid spicy note, another new nuance shows up – mild tone of citrus fruit, namely limes. The aftertaste also seems to be a bit lighter and shorter with slight dryness and warmth.

Two more infusions are prepared before this session's end, quite uniform and humble, though still surprisingly enjoyable.

After the last brew, the used leaves still carry their former sweet, vivid aroma, which seems to be almost never ending.

Thanks again for an opportunity to try this tea.

2010 Gokuchanin Hanhakoucha Tefutefu

2011-02-03T15:59:00.005+01:00

I apologize for the recent lack of posts – though I had been drinking even more tea than I usually do in January, those teas were used just to keep me going. Time somehow became my enemy and prohibited me from doing anything apart from work-related things. Everything is getting back to the way it was before, so I hope February will be better – I have quite a lot of teas and things to write about, after all.

Being an another experiment of Saitama-based tea master Yoshiaki Hiruma also known as Gokuchanin, this unusual tea bears the name Tefutefu, meaning „Butterfly“ in old Japanese. As the name Hanhakoucha indicates, this once again is an oolong, though this time, the oxidation went farther than in case of Gokuchanin's Hanhakoucha Toyoka, about which I wrote some time ago – Tefutefu is supposed to be inspired by Taiwanese Bai Hao or, in English, Oriental Beauty oolong. However, it's hard to say as to how far the inspiration goes – whether it's only the level of oxidation and following processing method, or also the influence of tea jassids (or some similar pest?). This tea was purchased from Slovak shop Nomad.sk, which claims it to be hand-processed.

The package, which also seems to be in accordance to the Taiwanese inspiration, reveals leaves ranging in color from reddish brown and black to hairy white, being smaller, more fragmented and generally quite different from leaves of most original Oriental Beauty teas. Their smell is intensive, sweet and dominated by tones of honey, ripe fruit and flowers, accompanied by slightly acidic hint of orange and lime. Though it bears some similarities to Bai Hao oolong, it resembles other teas as well – Chinese white teas like Bai Mu Dan or even Shou Mei, for example. That seems to be quite a typical thing for Gokuchanin – his teas truly fulfill the meaning of word “experiment”. Even though he usually inspires himself by some famous Chinese or Taiwanese tea, the result is something completely different, new and original, making its comparison to any of its inspiration sources literally impossible.

I've tried brewing this tea in various vessels, most suitable and satisfying of which turned out to be Chinese style of brewing in small porcelain gaiwan. Its pure white color seems to be in a great contrast with darker character of this tea, which I found very pleasant for eyes, enhancing the overall feeling of this session. After being placed into the preheated gaiwan, smell of this tea even intensifies, now being much more reminiscent of Bai Hao oolong.

Prepared with water right under the boiling point, the first infusion is golden yellow in color and very warm and mild, yet aromatic in taste with predominant nuances of citrus fruit, pears and honey sweetness, which lingers in mouth for a long time after drinking and creates a pleasant aftertaste, just as mild and rich at the same time as the tea itself ending with a slight sour note, reminding me of orange and lime.

The second infusion is already a bit darker in color, now being more of an orange-yellow and also significantly vivider in taste with tones of honey and soft, warm sweetness similar to that of ripe autumnal fruit, especially apples and pears. Nuances of citrus fruit are present as well, though they aren't dominant in this brew, being subdued by honey sweetness.

This seems to be the kind of tea which doesn't get any astringent even when brewed for quite a long time – it just intensifies instead, as seen on the third infusion, which I forgot to pour down on time. Even so, its color is very similar to that of the second infusion and so is the taste – smooth, sweet and fruity, full and very reminiscent of honey and very light, mild flower nectar aroma, accompanied by hint of sour citrous notes.

Dominance of slightly sour citrus fruit notes returns in the fifth and continues to get more vivid in the sixth and seventh infusions; though these brews are now significantly less sweet, they are pleasantly light and refreshing with overall feeling similar to that of drinking good, cold fruit juice in summer.

One more infusion is made with enhanced brewing time, still very smooth, refreshing and fruity; this is probably the first time I ever made eight enjoyable brews of any Japanese tea.

After the last brew, the leaves seem surprisingly much less fragmented than in their dry form – even whole little leaves can be found, reminiscent more of a buds than full leaves, which are generally used in Japanese tea production.

New teacup & 2010 Teamasters Gao Shan Luanze Fall Oolong from Bi Lu Shi

2011-01-22T14:27:00.004+01:00

Some of you may have noticed the little competition going on at the end of last year on Mattcha's – Petr Novák offered this lovely teacup as a prize:

And yes, I was lucky enough to win :-)

When the package arrived to my place, there was another nice surprise that Petr sent along with the teacup – this Gaoshan Luanze oolong from Teamasters, picked on 5 September in Bi Lu Shi (Check also Petr's post on it. Edit: And Matt's).

The obvious high quality of this tea can be seen right as the leaves are being examined; this autumnal oolong has incredibly creamy, yet gentle sweet smell with nuances of flowers, which, however, lack the aggressiveness of so many light-oxidized oolongs (because of which I usually don't drink them very often) and is, in this case, much more natural and pleasant.

Being brewed, this tea gives out light and clean yellow infusions, which are just as clean, light and full on tongue with predominant notes of sweet cream, fruit and harmonic, complex smoothness.

The amount of satisfying infusions this tea can produce seems almost infinite (especially for a person who is used to drink mostly Japanese green teas with their four-brews maximum). Moreover, it seems like it doesn't get too bitter even when brewed for a long time – I forgot to pour off the third infusion and still, the resulting liquor was very enjoyable, sweet and only enriched by noble, not at all unpleasant bitterness.

I spent a long time with this tea, infusing it again and again, with every brew a bit different than the previous one, contributing to the very nice Saturday afternoon.

Thanks again for your kindness, Petr.

2010 Gyokuro Gokoh Competition Grade

2011-01-20T11:59:00.004+01:00

The sun magically returned the day after my last post and has been shining ever since, reviving my demand of Japanese green tea. To celebrate the fact, I decided to drink something really special today – out of all competition grade greens in 2010 Teamountain offering, this one seemed to be the most promising.

Picked in Yame, Fukuoka, one of the most famous Gyokuro-producing regions of Japan in May, this tea was made of Gokoh cultivar, which is considered the most suitable for Gyokuro. Just like the previously mentioned Gyokuro Saemidori, it competed in last year's National Tea Competition of Japan. This is the last sample kindly sent by Martin Spimr of Teamountain with my order; a sample which I'd been sparing for quite a long time, waiting for the right moment to open it.

These leaves are unusually beautiful even for a good Gyokuro – very uniform and even, quite long needles, plastic on touch and with typically blueish-green shine. Their smell is rich, sweet, deep and milky, sophisticated and wide, with notes ranging from sweet cream and milk to ripe fruit and pines.

Traditional way of preparation is a must for such tea – water is therefore cooled down to 50°C and carefully poured on the whole sample.

After four minutes of brewing, the first infusion is ready; it has unusually transparent, clear yellow color and slightly oily consistency, accompanied by humble, sweet smell of fruit and vanilla. The first sip is almost a shock for tongue - this taste is unbelievable, extremely rich and heavy with dominant tones of milk, sweetness and umami, the richest and vividest umami I've experienced in tea for a long time. This Gyokuro is quite warm in character, yet still possess a fresh, almost “mountainous” nuance of conifers and pines, accompanied by pure, relaxing feeling of a walk in the woods. As if it still weren't enough, the liquor further contains hints of various sweet, ripe fruit, most notably plums and pears.

The second infusion is prepared with a bit warmer water and shorter brewing time, resulting in a light-greenish yellow brew, which is now predominantly fruity in taste, a bit lighter and still very clear and refined. Out of many kinds of fruit this tea resembles, plums are still the most outstanding, followed by pears, apples and even pineapple. This infusion is atypically smooth for a second brew of Gyokuro, which usually brings a bit of spiciness and sharpness to the tea – not in this case, however, this tea seems to keep its noble sweetness much longer than anything else.

This brew is followed by long, mouthfilling aftertaste with vivid sweetness, umami and creamy milkiness.

Thank you, Martin, for sending this sample and for an opportunity to try such an amazing tea.

January days

2011-01-15T15:14:00.004+01:00

I've been terribly busy since the New Year's Eve and will probably stay busy at least until the end of January. As if it weren't enough, the weather here in Bratislava decided to contribute to my bad mood and tense even more, staying rainy, cloudy and cold all the time – it even went so far as to breaking the rainfall record with the biggest amount of downpours in history of many years. That basically means the sky is dark all the time, whether it's day or night and, in it's worst stage, we were continuously unable to see the sun at all for more than a week.

As weather generally tends to affect my mood a lot and I am a big fan of spring, you can imagine the impact it has on me.

What saves my sanity at such times is, without a big surprise, tea. Lately, I've been enjoying almost exclusively darker oolongs, namely various kinds of Yancha, Taiwanese Bai Hao and even one interesting Japanese oolong from Saitama (about which I'm going to write, hopefully in the near future). My consumption of Japanese greens decreased rapidly, as I need at least a bit of natural light to truly enjoy them.

Right now, I'm drinking a simple, solid basic grade of 2010 Shui Xian, that kind of tea which by all means doesn't surprise, yet definitely doesn't disappoint at the same time. Right now, it seems better than anything, warming up my body as well as mind.

Today's weather is weird. Even so, it brightens my mood more than anything – in one minute, the sky is dark and strong wind is blowing, in another, the sun begins shining and it seems like if there have never been any clouds... And it goes on, changing all the time like this, as if these two opposites were fighting in war of conquering the day.

These sunny moments are precious to me; they may be short, but even the simple fact that they showed up is really joyful.

It has just started to rain again as I'm writing this.

And yes, as most of you probably figured out, the point of this post is that I am neither dead nor did I gave up blogging. May your days be sunnier than mine, friends!

Christmas & 2010 Sencha Fukamushi Yabukita 3rd Prize Winner

2010-12-28T15:19:00.003+01:00

There is something about spending Christmas in the countryside; something one can hardly achieve in the city. This year, we decided to move for the holidays to our house located in a lovely little village to the north of Bratislava, near the town of Myjava. This house is located close to the forest in a quiet mountainous area (the upper picture is taken right in front of its door); together with a bit of snow, this resulted in really magical Christmas.

I've returned to Bratislava three days ago and decided to write one more post this year today.

Just like the competition grade Gyokuro Saemidori I wrote about in previous post, a sample of this tea was kindly sent to me by Martin Spimr of Teamountain. Originating in Shizuoka and picked in May from Yabukita cultivar, it competed in National Tea Competition of Japan, where, with an amount of f 186 points out of 200, it received the third prize in Fukamushicha category.

The package is opened and reveals leaves, which are typically short as a result of deeper steaming; what is unusual on these, however, is their color – light green, almost yellow, yet still shiny and overally very attractive. Their smell is very humble, fresh, predominantly fruity and has tones of apricots, peaches and blackberries.

Because of the higher fragmentation of its leaves, this Sencha is prepared in a small kyusu with mesh filter instead of my favorite shiboriashi. The first infusion is very opaque and has color similar to that of dry leaf – yellowish green. Its taste is very fruity, complex, with vivid hint of umami and freshness, which somehow reminded me of Nunosawa Shincha I'd been enjoying at the beginning of this summer.

The second infusion is brewed only for a short while, resulting in even more opaque, almost non-transparent yellow color and very smooth, harmonic and complex taste with tones of young fruit, milk and umami. The overall feeling of this infusion is a bit warmer, less fresh and lacks the similarities to Shincha. The aftertaste is very humble and mild, quite sweet and once again predominantly fruity.

The third infusion is similar to the second in color and its vivid opaqueness. While still maintaining the fruity sweetness and umami of previous infusions, this brew is now a bit sharper, mouthfilling and somehow heavy.

One more infusion is made of these leaves, resulting in a bit woodsy, warm brew and fruity, full aftertaste, already a bit flat.

I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of Fukamushi teas – I tend to avoid them because of their almost aggressive sharpness and something I would call “fake deepness”. Purity and complexity of Asamushi somehow seems to fit me better. This tea, however, is an exception to some extent, being unusually humble and harmonic, even in further infusions.

May the new year be really successful and filled with good tea and happiness for all of you.

2010 Gyokuro Saemidori Competition Grade

2010-12-20T15:50:00.004+01:00

The sun is shining once again in Bratislava (melting all the snow so there likely won't be any on Christmas, but oh well, what can we do) – after such a long time, it really is a nice alternative to the cold, cloudy days, during which I usually tend to lack natural light a lot.

Not to mention, that such sunny day seems to be ideal for good Gyokuro.

A sample of this tea was kindly sent by Martin Spimr of Teamountain. This Gyokuro originates in Yame, Fukuoka (quite a famous Gyokuro-producing region) is made of Saemidori breed and competed in National Tea Competition of Japan, about which I've already talked in a post about prized Tamaryokucha and about which Hibiki-an recently published an article as well.

Right as the silver package is opened, amazingly rich, heavy smell pops out and fills my nose with fresh tones of fruit, creamy milkiness, pines and intense sweetness. This aroma belongs to beautifully uniform, short needle-like leaves which are very dark-green in color, almost blue-green and possess the typical plastic shine.

Such competition Gyokuro truly deserves special treatment – just as with all teas of this kind of such high grade, I decided to use the traditional way of preparation. Whole sample is therefore poured into the small preheated shiboridashi, even boosting the already intensive, vivid smell of these leaves.

Water is then let cooling down for the first infusion until it reaches the point of 50 degrees Celsius.

The first infusion is then brewed for four minutes; the result is yellow in color and deep, creamy and fruity in smell. It's very thick and has oily consistency, hitting the tongue with rich taste full of various nuances - intensive milkiness, noble sweetness, vivid umami, pears, plums, and hazelnuts. As most Gyokuros, this tea seems to be warm in character, lacking the floral freshness and something I would call “the feeling of spring”. It's just as mouth-filling and sated as a good, thick chicken-soup and seems to have a significant impact on stomach. The aftertaste is mainly milky and nutty, very long and, in some way, dry.

A bit warmer water is used for the second infusion, which is also brewed for shorter time. Its color is now yellowish green with typical opaqueness and heavy, deep taste, now dominated by tones of ripe fruit, followed by rich umami note, sweet creaminess and milk. The aftertaste lingers on tongue for even longer time than in the previous infusion, though it seems to be lighter, less concentrated and not so mouth-filling.

The third infusion is once again prepared with small amount of a bit hotter water, is light-green in color and much lighter, yet sharper on tongue. This brew is mainly fruity, with nuances resembling pears and plums just like those in the first infusion, with milky and creamy tones slowly receding. The aftertaste is quite short in this case; light, warm and calm, lacking the vivid sharpness found in the infusion itself.

These leaves still seem so lively and full of energy after the last brew – as always, some of them are eaten just as the sun goes down. They lack any bitterness, being gently sweet and mild.

haven't found any Christmas-related candleholder at the moment, but...

Four days left until Christmas; as I'm not sure whether I will post anything in the next few days or not, I would like to wish all the tea-lovers out there Merry Christmas, filled with a lot of good mood and, of course, good tea.

2010 Gokuchanin Bihakkou Sencha Sayamakaori 1

2010-12-16T16:09:00.004+01:00

For Yoshiaki Hiruma, famous Temomi master from Saitama prefecture and a great experimentalist, creating various kinds of oolongs called Hanhakoucha obviously wasn't enough – he even went so far as to invent and start producing tea, which undergoes the process of slight withering before it's steamed and processed, resulting in an almost green tea, which however already has some of the characteristic notes of lighter oolongs – quite similarly to Taiwanese Bao Zhong.

He named the unique kind of tea “Bihakkou Sencha”; this particular Bihakkou is made of Sayamakaori breed and, for an (at least for me) unknown reason, is labeled “1”.

Just like the Hanhakoucha I've written about some time ago, this tea was brought to central Europe by Teamountain.

In terms of appearance, these needles are just like a typical, high-quality Asamushi Sencha leaves – long, narrow, dark-green and shiny. Main difference from typical Japanese green tea can however be clearly noticed in smell, which is much more flowery rather than being milky, though it also has the tones of butter, fruit (bananas in this case) and nuts. This scent, even though it also has the typical tones of Sencha, really reminds me of Bao Zhong quite a lot.

Slightly hotter water than what I would use for regular Sencha of similar quality is used to prepare the first infusion of this tea, resulting in vivid yellowish brew, quite aromatic in smell. It tastes like no other tea I've ever encountered, beautifully binding the milky, deep and buttery taste of good Sencha with fresh, flowery and fruity notes so typical for Bao Zhong and other lighter Taiwanese oolongs. The aftertaste is long, intensive and very fruity, with nuances resembling bananas and wild berries, among others.

The second infusion has even more yellowish, warm color and full, deep taste with numerous tones of butter, bananas, berries and a slight hint of caramel. It now is even more flowery and aromatic, resembling Bao Zhong as much as possible – even so, this tea still maintains some of the typical Sencha tones and a hint of umami, which I find really interesting.

The third infusion is prepared just as the sun is setting down behind the window and now seems more greenish-yellow and opaque with floral smell, quite intensively ascending from the cups. Its taste is sharper, more spicy and with a bit shorter, yet completely different aftertaste, slight astringent and sweet at the same time. Most of the previously found tones of flowers, fruit and milk are still here, though they seem to be more or less covered by the dominating spicy sharpness.

Astringency is already quite vivid in the fourth infusion, though it still isn't really unpleasant – other than that, this brew is also dominated by spicy, fruity sharpness, has quite warm character and longer aftertaste than the third infusion, which now is simple and fruity.

As it seems to be able to produce more infusions than typical Sencha, this tea is also taken into the fifth and sixth infusions; these seem to be very simple in character and similar to the fourth brew, differing by gradually increasing astringency, woodsiness and sharpness.

After the session, the remaining leaves also demonstrate the unique way this tea was processed – though green in the middle, most of them has brown margin as another result of the slight withering this tea undergoes.

2010 Temomi Iruma

2010-12-10T14:35:00.006+01:00

In present day Japan, most of even the highest, competition grades of Sencha are, though often picked by hand (Tezumi), processed by machines. This is related to the difficulty with which Japanese teas (or at last Asamushi teas) gain their uniform, needle-like shape – when done by hand, this process can often take hours. With Japan and its high average salary, it's no wonder that hand-kneaded teas became almost impossible to find, being only a negligible part of the country's tea production.

These completely hand-made teas are called Temomi, meaning “hand-kneaded”.

This particular Temomi comes from Martin Spimr's Teamountain, is packed in a traditional Washi canister and was made by one of famous tea-master Yoshiaki Hiruma (Gokuchanin)'s direct students.

For more informations on how complex and difficult the production of Temomicha is, I recommend you visiting Kohei's great blog, specifically these posts:

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/10/tea-kneading-workshop-1.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/10/tea-kneading-workshop-2.html

http://everyonestea.blogspot.com/2010/10/tea-kneading-workshop-3-you-steam.html

I also hereby apologize for the following picture spam of which this post is mainly comprised, but there's no helping it.

Just as I expected, these are among the longest, narrowest and most beautiful leaves I've ever seen. They are unbelievably uniform, just like a shiny, plastic dark-green needless, as close to perfection as possible.

Their smell is reminiscent to that of top-grade Senchas, especially to that of this year's Tenryu Tezumi Baraki, yet being even more buttery and heavily fruity.

This smell even intensifies after the leaves are placed into the preheated pot, revealing even more of their noble, fruity aroma.

For such special tea, I decided to use water of quite low temperature, almost similar to that which I would normally use for Gyokuro and enhance the brewing times. This results in the first infusion, which is one of the lightest and clearest brews I've ever experienced, with its light-green tone being almost indistinguishable from white glazing of the teacup. This, however, is in contrast to the infusion's smell, which is much more intense than the smell of regular Sencha brew.

The taste is a story of its own, being light as a feather on one hand, yet deep and mouth-filling on the other; noble and fruity just like the smell, buttery, milky and finishing with long, cool aftertaste, once again predominantly fruity and creamy.

The second infusion is prepared with just a bit warmer water and shorter brewing time, stil having the unbelievably clear, light jade-green color, intensive smell and a bit sharper, warmer taste, which however maintains its light nobility. The tones of milk and butter are now covered by countless notes of various fruit, among which are young light grapes, apples and plums.

A bit warmer water is once again used for the third infusion, before which the leaves are already completely opened, demonstrating their whole beauty. There isn't any significant color change even in this brew – it still is the beautiful, jade-green lightness and clearness. The taste seems to be an interstage between the first infusion's noble mildness and the second's fruity sharpness, showing notes of both. The character is still quite warm, accompanied by tones of fresh, young fruit, creamy milkiness and deep, buttery aftertaste.

The fourth and fifth infusions still have the same jade-green color and are now a bit rough in taste, yet still not unpleasant with tone of woodiness and much drier, though comparably long aftertaste.

After the session, all of these leaves are eaten. Honestly, who would throw away such leaves?

2010 Kamairi Tamaryokucha 2nd Prize Winner

2010-12-08T14:54:00.005+01:00

Apart from Kuchikiri no Gi, autumn also seems to be the time of tea competitions in Japan, biggest and most prestigious of which is the National Tea Competition. This nationwide contest is organized into categories such as Sencha, Fukamushicha, Gyokuro and Tamaryokucha.

This year, we were lucky to see that Martin Špimr of Teamountain once again managed to bring some extraordinary teas from this competition to our region, one of which is this Tamaryokucha.

Made of Yabukita breed, it comes from Kumamoto prefecture of southern Japan and is of Kamairi type, which means that it was roasted instead of being steamed (Mushisei). With a score of 192 points (out of 200.?), this tea was awarded the second prize.

After opening the package which is typically beautiful in its elegant simplicity, wonderfully uniform, plastic dark-green leaves are added into the preheated Shiboridashi.

They gently, yet intensely smell of almonds, hazelnuts and fruit with slightly roasted nuance, reminding me of this year's Ureshino Tokunaga Seicha Tamaryokucha a bit. Though this tea maintains its original character, it shares the basic notes typical for high-grade Tamaryokucha.

The first infusion is then prepared with water cooled down for a while and sipped from the newest members of my tea-ware family – two little cups made by Petr Novák purchased from Slovak shop Nomad.sk, which arrived to my place today. This brew is pure, light yellow in color and expectably has the slight typical opaqueness. While not losing the roasted nuance, its taste is buttery, milky, sweet and deep with vivid umami note and numerous tones of fruit, nuts and almonds. The aftertaste is mild, yet rich and mouth-filling.

Slightly higher temperature water and shorter brewing time is used to prepare the second infusion, resulting in a yellowish, more aromatic infusion, taste of which is sharper than that of the first infusion, rich, milky and nutty with warm character. This brew is less fruity and more buttery than the first infusion, followed by long aftertaste, still lingering on tongue as the third infusion is prepared.

The third infusion maintains the sweet, buttery character of previous, being significantly less sharp; instead, it's milder; just like a harmonic, complex fruity nectar, enriched by still vivid tones of almonds, hazelnuts and milk. Its overall character as well as the aftertaste is very similar to that of the first infusion, which also seems to be quite a typical characteristic of good Kamairi Tamaryokucha.

Two more infusions are prepared with quite hot water, showing a loss of buttery, milky sweetness and umami, which are now replaced by woodsiness, last leftovers of fruitiness and vivid, though still not intruding sharpness and aftertaste which is humble and pleasant even after many brews, just as this beautiful tea itself.

2010 “unspecified” Hadong Yellow Tea

2010-12-07T14:02:00.011+01:00

As the days continue to get colder and colder and it already had been some time since I last saw something green outside, my demand of “darker” teas increases as well. This seems like a great opportunity to try the sample kindly given to me by Daniel Klasek of Darjeeling.cz – Korean yellow tea from Hadong. Daniel recently started importing more Hadong teas – apart from this one, he currently also offers two picks of Nokcha - Saejak and Daejak. He also sells some Korean ware and “The Korean Way of Tea” book – overall, this makes him the biggest Korean-tea-related merchant on Czech and Slovak market nowadays.

I've never drank this type of tea so far – I probably wouldn't even know there I something like Balhyocha, if not for Mattcha's Blog. This handmade tea comes in a generic Hadong packaging, which doesn't provide us with any info on producer, just marking that it possibly comes from smaller production.

The leaves are dark, curly, quite uniform and generally seem to be very nicely processed. Their unusual smell immediately hits my nose – vivid tones of honey, fruit, citrus, spices and countless others fragrances. In a way it reminds me of autumnal Darjeelings, though it definitely doesn't smell like one – in this case, it seems like the “Darjeeling-like smell” is just one of the numerous nuances found in this tea.

The first infusion, golden-yellow in color, offers as many – if not more - notes as the smell, being smooth, citrous, juicy, spicy and a bit like ripe apples and peaches without any trace of bitterness. It also completely lacks roasted notes which I initially expected, leaving long, yet gentle aftertaste which is a bit sour, bit sweet and very juicy and fruity.

The color seems to be a bit more brownish-yellow and deeper in the second infusion, which follows the first one in its smoothness, being sweeter, even more fruity and less citrous and refreshing. The aftertaste is drier, warmer and seems to be dominated by apples and pears.

even the sky was curious what's on the tray today

The third brew proves that this tea doesn't get any bitter even after longer brewing with water just under the boiling point, once again being brownish-yellow in color and delivering up tones of ripe fruit, honey and sweet juiciness, being generally more intense than the second infusion though also lacking the citrus tones found in the first brew. Strangely, this strong, pleasant citrus odor can still be found in the smell of leaves after the third and latter infusions, though it can not be felt on tongue.

This tea is also taken into fourth, fifth and sixth infusions, quite uniform in character with warm, fruity character with leftovers of sweetness, juiciness and dry aftertaste.

My first experience with Korean Balhyocha and I already want to try more. This tea is like no other I've drank so far; it reminds me of so much and yet is a complete original in its own way.

2010 Kanbayashi Sencha High Grade

2010-12-01T16:24:00.003+01:00

Snow! The weather suddenly changed few days ago and sunny, windy autumnal days were completely replaced by typical winter atmosphere with temperatures dropping under zero and whole country being covered in snow and mist – it's snowing heavily even now, as I'm writing this. Don't get me wrong, this definitely isn't complaining - after spring, winter would probably be the season I enjoy the most.

This tea is the second sample kindly sent by Calogero of Ochaya.de. Just like the first one, it was produced by Kanbayashi and originates in Uji, Kyoto.

Labeled “High Grade”, this Sencha is lower grade than Premium, being the less expensive one of two Kanbayashi teas in Ochaya offering.

Its dry leaves are shorter than those of Premium grade, less uniform and lighter in color. Compared to the Premium grade, their smell is less sweet and nutty with more vegetal tones, though still is as deep as I would expect of good Ujicha.

Brewing temperature is just a few degrees higher than that used for this tea's Premium counterpart, resulting in a light-yellow, clean first infusion, just as clear and light in color as in taste, which is buttery, deep, milky and fruity, leaving a cool, balanced aftertaste with tones of plums and vanilla. There also is a significant sweetness in this infusion, which wasn't that vivid in smell of dry leaves.

The second infusion, prepared with water of the same temperature as the first one and brewed for shorter time, has light-green color and is more opaque than the previous brew. Its taste is fuller, more intensive and with vivid note of ripened fruit, especially apples and pears. The aftertaste is milky and creamy, though surprisingly shorter than that of the first infusion.

The third infusion is then prepared with warmer water and enhanced brewing time and once again has light yellow color similar to the first infusion. The taste is light, similar to the previous brew in its fruity character and milky aftertaste, though it is generally much lighter and humblier, resembling the first infusion a lot in its clear simplicity.

This tea is then brought to one more infusion – very mild, woodsy and dry; still enjoyable, though the flavor is already quite flat.

Though this tea offers smaller range of tones and is much more simple and mild than Kanbayashi Premium, these two still have something in common – both are deep, fruity and good representatives of Uji Sencha. In my eyes, Premium is more of a “special-occasion” kind of tea, while High Grade is an ideal daily-drinker Sencha; that kind of tea which is simple, yet still won't get boring after some time.

As a bonus - have a blurry picture of today's snow in Bratislava, taken from my apartment's window few minutes ago:

2010 Kanbayashi Sencha Premium

2010-11-24T12:38:00.004+01:00

After a week of cold rain and weather that seemed almost like Winter was already on the way, this is one of those days reminding me that there still is a lot to love about Fall. It's sunny and windy, with this constant breeze being chilly in a positive way, molding the idyllic autumnal atmosphere.

This tea is the first of two samples kindly sent by Calogero of Ochaya.de which arrived to my place at the beginning of this month. Both of these are Sencha produced by Kanbayashi and originating in Uji, Kyoto.

Among two Kanbayashi Senchas in Ochaya's current offering, this is the higher grade, labeled “Premium”.

The package reveals very nicely processed, medium-long uniform needles, dark-green in color with typical plastic-like shine and soft, deep smell full of sweetness, nuts and ripe fruit.

The first infusion is light green in color, its taste is complex, buttery and creamy with quite warm character and tones of almonds, pears and milk, among others. Typically for high-grade Sencha, this taste is humble in its complexity and deepness; with countless notes, yet creating a perfect harmony with no tone being vivider than the others.

The second infusion, brewed in a bit warmer water for just few seconds, has more yellowish color and once again reveals buttery, warm character, now sharper and more fruity, mouth-filling and juicy with strong umami and long-lasting, intense aftertaste.

The third infusion is yellowish-green and opaque in color, more woodsy than previous infusions, piquant and strong, still warm in body with dominant tones now being slight dryness, pears and hint of pleasant spiciness. Its aftertaste is longest and most intensive of all brews.

The fourth infusion brings out mainly harsh, sour notes with dry woodsiness dominating the taste, which now lacks the remarkable sweetness found in previous infusions and indicates that this is the last brew.

After the session, this tea left my mind clear, aligned and concentrated – just as good teas tend to do.

Thanks for an opportunity to try it, Calogero.

Wood-fired Ceramic Tea Tray by Mirka Randová

2010-11-21T14:14:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I've returned from Brno, Czech republic, where I had visited Daniel Klasek's Darjeeling.cz. My goal had been set days before this trip – as soon as I saw this tea tray in the e-shop, I knew it has to be mine.

A work by Czech potter Mirka Randova, this tray is quite big and heavy, with rough surface and overall rustic feeling. Even so, it demonstrates mastership of its creator – with no fancy garishness, it is beautiful in its balanced simplicity, in its unique spirit and energy, so typical for wood-fired pottery.

Mirka is Petr Novak's partner and co-worker and this fact can somehow be clearly seen when you put some of his works on her tea tray – they are in complete harmony, just as two parts of one set.

This Shiboridashi now even seems strangely incomplete, whenever it isn't lying on the tray – same goes with the cup belonging to it.

The tray's surface is black on the top – that kind of black which cools down in summer and warms up in winter. In contrast, the bottom maintains color of bare clay, even conducing to the overall rustic, natural look of this work, which is a key element of this piece's unique beauty.

Quietly prepared on this tray, even tea tastes better than ever.

Apart from the tray, I also received two generous samples of quite unusual teas from Daniel Klasek – some 2010 Balhyocha from Hadong and 2010 Nepal Jun Chiyabari „Himalayan Jade Oolong“. Will talk about these later.

2010 Horaido Sencha Tokiwagi

2010-11-15T16:45:00.005+01:00

Finally, another sunny autumn day. This is the last Sencha in sample set from Peter Stanik of Pu-erh.sk, being the third highest grade of Sencha sold by Horaido. As all previously mentioned teas from this shop, Tokiwagi also originates in Uji, Kyoto and was traditionally stored until the beginning of this October.

Its dry leaves are typically narrow, straight and shiny-dark green needles. They seem a bit shorter than those of Shuppincha HG, though still can serve as a beautiful example of Asamushi (short-steamed) processing. They have a soft, clean smell of pears, pines and conifer forest, accompanied by typical creamy deepness.

The water is left cooling for quite a while in chilling November air before it's poured on these leaves. The first infusion is of very clear, light green color, being a bit opaque and with taste that is rich, milky, smooth, creamy, cooling and intensive, being deep and light at once. It noticeably possess the characteristic so typical for all higher grade Horaido teas, having vivid atmosphere and spirit of forest and mountains – this makes the consumption of these teas literally a spiritual experience.

The second infusion is then prepared with warmer water and left brewing for just a short while, delivering more yellowish color, intensive aroma and heavy, fruity taste with notes of plums, pears, nuts and menthol. Typically for the second infusion, its aftertaste keeps lingering on tongue for many minutes after drinking and is still present when the third infusion is prepared.

The third infusion is yellowish-green in color and is as rich in taste as both previous, now dominated by nutty, milky tones, rich softness and a bit warmer character. The aftertaste is a bit milder than that of previous infusion, yet still being very intense and long-lasting.

Last two infusions maintain the color and warm character of its predecessor and remain nutty and intensive, now being more woody, flat and generally much less complicated.

High quality of this tea can also be seen on the infused leaves, which are refined, lively green and quite entire (for a machine-processed Japanese green tea). Typically, I ate some of these after the session – it would be a pity not to do so with such leaves.

2010 Horaido Sencha Shuppincha HG

2010-11-04T14:49:00.005+01:00

Another Horaido tea so far? Yes, indeed.

This time, I have chosen the highest grade of Sencha in collection of samples from Peter Stanik, as well as in Horaido's offering - Shuppincha HG.

This tea comes from high-mountain plantation in Uji, Kyoto and, as well as all other Horaido teas mentioned on this blog, was traditionally stored until Kuchikiri no Gi ceremony, held on the first Sunday of October.

Expectably, these dry leaves are perfectly sorted, alike and in form of flat, shiny dark-green needles. They have noble, intensive scent of fruit, pines, almonds and hazelnuts, notes typical for Sencha of this high quality. It somehow even reminded me of another great tea from the same region – Marukyu Koyamaen Sencha Unjyo. Both of these teas share smell which is deep, complex and perfect in every way, while still maintaining beautiful, mild humbleness.

I decided to brew this tea in a bit colder water than I usually use for Sencha and extend brewing time instead to get out taste which is more intense and, for me, has much more to offer.

The first infusion is very light green in color and immediately hits the tongue with its sharp, yet completely harmonic taste with countless nuances and tones, most outstanding of which are pines, nuts, fruit and gentle touch of fresh mint, leaving aftertaste reminiscent of menthol. Overall, this taste is incredibly full and complex with deepness almost similar to that of Gyokuro or Kabusecha. Drinking this tea feels just like taking a walk alone in mountains full of conifers on cold and windy, yet sunny autumn day.

The second infusion is also light green in color and is, despite of much shorter brewing time, even sharper in taste, which is similar in character to the first infusion, dominated by deep, full nuttiness, peppermint coolness and long, intense aftertaste that lingers on tongue and doesn't seem to ever end.

The third infusion differs a bit from both previous in its color, which is now more yellowish-green, yet still very clear and beautiful. Its taste is fruity, full and still quite sharp, though the cool, mint tone as well as Gyokuro-like deepness seem to be absent. The aftertaste also seems shorter and less intense with new, flower-like undertone; however, the tea itself still isn't on wane, as this infusion tastes just like first infusion of some other type of high grade Sencha – in other words, it now tastes even more like Shizuoka tea than one from Uji. The sudden change makes this tea even more interesting; it's just like experiencing two different teas in one session.

As the third infusion caught my attention in such unexpected way, I decided to take this tea into two more brews – the fourth infusion is even more flowery, piquant and, in contrast to the first and second infusion, literally warm in character.

The fifth infusion doesn't show much difference from fourth, just being weaker overall, indicating end of this session.

Shuppincha HG exceeded my high expectations, being absolutely well-balanced and beautiful in its complicity, offering hundreds of nuances in every sip, differing from one infusion to other; leaving my mind and body relaxed, calm and concentrated, just like the tea itself.

2010 Horaido Sencha Jin

2010-10-27T15:47:00.005+02:00

This is another traditionally stored Horaido tea from Peter Stanik of Pu-erh.sk. This time, I decided to take a closer look on one of those less commonly seen, side-products of standard Sencha and Gyokuro production – Jin.

Sencha Jin, as well as all other Horaido teas mentioned on my blog, comes from Uji and was traditionally stored until the beginning of October, when the Kuchikiri no Gi ceremony took place in Kyoto.

To Sencha (as well as Gyokuro, though this is not the case), Jin is what Tamacha is to Tamaryokucha - comprising mainly of the smallest, top leaves and tips, rolled and rounded during procession and therefore resembling grain in shape, while still maintaining the dark-green, plastic shine, typical for most Japanese green teas.

As for the smell, this tea has tones of flowers, pines and herbs, though this scent is somehow lighter and softer than smell of regular Sencha.

The first infusion demonstrates difference of this tea's character from more common Sencha and Gyokuro, not being that sweet, harmonic and deep and instead being generally lighter, more flowery and herbaceous in taste. Yet, this tea is surprisingly vivid, strong and intensive, creating aftertaste which is long, seaweed-like and literally fresh, just like modern Japanese Sencha after harvest - tone which I haven't found in any Horaido tea I've tried so far.

The second infusion is golden-yellow in color and maintains strong, vivid taste, which is now a little bit astringent, full yet still light, flowery and with aftertaste that remarkably lingers on the tongue for a long time.

The third infusion once again reminds me of seaweed, with moderate astringency and simple, somehow flat character, still being light and herbaceous.

One more infusion is made of this tea, though it isn't much different from the third one – herbaceous, astringent, flat and not at all deep, nutty nor sweet. Quite a simple tea.

I have to say that this isn't really the type of tea I prefer to drink – that would probably be the deep, nutty character, which can be found in Gyokuro, Kabuse and high-grade Sencha. Instead, this is a simple, basic grade of Japanese green tea, which may be good as a daily, though I have bigger favorites even in this category.

I'm not saying it's bad; it just isn't that much of my type of tea.

2010 Horaido Gyokuro Fuuki

2010-10-22T14:38:00.004+02:00

This is the second of 2010 Horaido teas, which were traditionally processed and stored until October in Kyoto, mentioned on my blog. After beginning with Sencha, I've chosen to try Gyokuro Fuuki – of three Horaido Gyokuros I got from Peter Stanik, this is the middle grade. According to Horaido description, citing, “High grade Gyokuro. With fine rich taste and aroma. We recommend this tea for the first try to Gyokuro. It is very popular Gyokuro in our shop.” though this by any means is not my first Gyokuro, it, for a reason which remains unknown to me, was the first one to subconsciously catch my attention among these samples.

The package reveals leaves which are very dark, almost blueish-green in appearance, shiny and shorter than Asamushi Sencha leaves; typical appearance for high grade Gyokuro. Their smell is rich, heavily deep and just like sweet milk cream with decent tones of blackberries, ribes and even caramel.

I decided to prepare this tea in a traditional way, as, in my opinion, it really deserves this kind of treatment. This means that quite a big amount of leaves is brewed in minimal amount of 45-50 Celsius degrees lukewarm water (Horaido even recommends 40 degrees) for two to five minutes. I choose the middle way, brewing it for four minutes, preparing two infusions.

The first infusion, being yellow in color is, up to the expectations, very thick, having a consistency comparable to that of oil. The taste is heavily intense, hitting tongue in the first second with all of its numerous tones and nuances, most vivid of which are deep sweetness, milkiness, nuttiness similar to that of almonds and a note of ripe fruit; all kinds of fruit. It has all the qualities typical for traditionally stored Gyokuro, with freshness replaced by deep, noble fullness and absolutely no bitterness. It however still is somehow lighter in character than most regular types of Gyokuro, or at least seems so to me – possibly the reason why Horaido recommends it as a “starter” Gyokuro for those who don't have much experience with this type of tea yet (though I believe it would be a “cultural shock” to such person even so – Gyokuro always seems to be). Still, this lighter character definitely isn't a minus, but instead just makes this tea more distinct and impressive.

The second infusion is brewed in water which is a bit warmer than the first one (55 degrees) and even smaller in cubage – just enough to cover the leaves. It seems greener in color, is less thick in consistency as well as taste, which is lighter, more flowery yet still creamy, sweet and deep with long aftertaste, which can be characterized as the umami itself – it's often said that Gyokuro is the embodiment of this taste and I cannot disagree.

After the session, I suddenly felt very hungry – another thing typical for Gyokuro and one of the reasons Japanese almost always serve something sweet with tea. These teas have a big impact on tummy and should never be consumed on empty stomach – this pertains all Japanese teas, but can be especially noticeable on Gyokuro and Matcha.

My mind hasn't been so calm – calm and vigilant at once - for a long time; another impact of this, without any doubts, beautiful tea, which brightened this beautiful, sunny autumnal day even more.

2010 Horaido Sencha Miyako no Midori

2010-10-20T16:47:00.004+02:00

Kuchikiri no Gi is a traditional ceremony hold every year on the first Sunday of October in Uji, Kyoto. After this day, teas which were left for ripening since the spring harvest are taken out of the storage, as autumn is considered to be the season when Japanese tea is in its best.

Nowadays, it isn’t easy to find teas which are processed like this, being stored until October. One of the most famous tea shops in Kyoto, specializing in such traditional exquisite teas, is Horaido, established in 1803.

I’ve got seven samples of 2010 Horaido teas from Peter Stanik, owner of the newly established local shop Pu-erh.sk. He normally specializes in puerh and yixing ware - these teas therefore aren’t in his regular offering, but seemed to be more of a one-time import.

Among the samples I got, this is the lowest grade of Sencha; in Horaido offering, it’s labeled as medium. For a Sencha of this price, the dry leaves are unbelievable – dark green, shiny, plastic-like and wonderfully processed long needles – in one word, beautiful. They have a vivid, deep smell which is nutty, creamy and reminiscent of high mountain pines – very intense, yet not at all obtrusive aroma.

The first infusion is yellow in appearance, pine-like in smell and very fine, distingue in taste with nutty milkiness and refined umami. It’s heavy in character and can literally be felt in stomach after drinking, just like after eating a warm, sated soup.

The second infusion, brewed in water of the same temperature for just ten seconds is a bit more greenish in color and even more vivid in taste, with pine tones present not only in smell, but, this time, also on the tongue. This tea not only looks like fir-needles, but also tastes and smells like it – just like a whole forest in my room, filled with pines and spruces.

A little bit warmer water is used on the third infusion, which is a bit sweeter than the second one, though the deep, pine tones still dominate the taste along with nutty, heavy creaminess and milkiness.

The fourth infusion still demonstrates the complexity of this tea, not being bitter nor astringent at all while still maintaining tones of coniferous trees mixed with nuttiness, which, however, is already less intense, being followed by somehow dry woodiness.

One more infusion is made of this tea, still surprisingly more enjoyable than expected.

After finishing the session, I honestly feel like having a walk in some woodsy mountains.

This tea has all the characteristics of traditional Ujicha which I enjoy so much – for the price of 1200 yen for 100g, it’s no wonder that this is the most popular Sencha in Horaido shop, as stated on their website. This kind of deep, creamy pine-like character is quite typical mostly for higher grades of Uji Sencha – this, however, is a middle grade according to Horaido’s classification, which indicates that there really is a lot to look forward to in the rest of teas I’ve got.

2010 Spring Fujian Anxi Huang Jin Gui

2010-10-06T17:21:00.002+02:00

To diversify this blog a bit, here is a tea which is neither Japanese nor green – instead, this is a lightly oxidized and lightly roasted oolong from Anxi, Fujian, southeastern China.

Sample of this tea was gladly received from Teatrade.sk.

Leaves of this Huang Jin Gui look quite typical for lightly oxidized oolong, comprising mainly of small ball-shaped and curled leaves, which are mostly light green in color and generally quite similar to lighter, modern versions of Tie Guan Yin. Smell is very sweet and creamy with scent of various flowers, including the expectable Osmanthus.

Being brewed in water cooled down just a bit, the first infusion is golden-yellow in color and quite simple in taste, matching the smell of dry leaves well – flowery, creamy sweet yet fresh and juicily.

The second infusion is more milky and silken with tones of honey and berries. This brew also shows the slight roasted note of this tea, which are in harmony with its fresh, flowery character.

This note also echoes in the third infusion, where the slightly roasted character blends with lighter tones of Osmanthus, meadow flowers and long, fine piquant aftertaste.

The fourth infusion is once again dominated by honey in taste, though the color is less golden and a bit greener than in all previous infusions. It’s creamy and smooth with touch of decent astringency in aftertaste.

Several further infusions of this tea are then enjoyed, being gradually weaker in taste and more unvaried in overall character, though still drinkable to that extent that I don’t want to stop pouring hot water on these leaves.

Even after the last infusion is gone, sweet honey character of this tea lingers in my mouth for a very long time and doesn’t seem to disappear.

I always enjoy looking at leaves of good oolong after the session – unbroken, even and well-sorted. This tea, of course, is no exception.

2010 Ureshino Tamacha

2010-10-03T14:26:00.006+02:00

Autumn is already in its full-strength in Slovakia, expressing itself by rainy, windy days and cold nights. Even though this definitely isn’t the best possible weather for green tea with all of its freshness, I’m going to continue posting about these teas, though I also drink significantly higher amount of oolongs and teas with warmer character in general these days.

Still, I won’t give up Japanese green tea just because of autumn and winter (Moreover, Kuchikiri no Gi took place today, so it's somehow even seasonable).

Tamacha comes from Ichibancha harvest, picked around the town of Ureshino in Saga prefecture of southern Japan. It’s quite a novelty and one of those lesser-known, untraditional teas, brought to Czech Republic by Teamountain. Last year, I had a chance to try it as well and I really enjoyed its pleasant simplicity – something I’m also expecting of this year’s version.

Most obvious difference from all other Japanese teas can be noticed on the shape of dry leaves, majority of which have a form of small, hard dark-green balls, slightly reminiscent of lighter Taiwanese oolongs. Apart from these, there is also a significant amount of “non-ball” leaves, which are quite curly and similar to typical Tamaryokucha, proving that Tamacha is pan-processed.

This tea gently smells of sweet almonds, combined with fresh fruit, particularly white grapes. Adding these leaves into the preheated Shiboridashi, this smell slightly intensifies, though it still isn’t that deep, massive aroma which can be found in some (mostly Fukamushi) teas, but instead a subtle, delicate and enjoyable scent.

First infusion is very light and transparent in color as well as the taste, which is soft, light and humble yet very harmonic. It lacks the deeper tones often found in higher grade teas, though in this case, it definitely isn’t a minus.

Second infusion is already a bit more intense in taste and color, result of the way Tamacha is processed – being curled into small balls, which gradually, yet slowly unroll during the infusions. It tastes of almonds, hazelnuts and, most surprisingly, raspberries.

In contrast to other Japanese green teas, third infusion is the most flavorful of all, as all the balls are now unrolled, ready to get out everything they have. It maintains its nutty and fruity character, being followed by mild, yet noticeable milky aftertaste.

Fourth infusion is a bit harsher than the third one, but it still maintains all of its pleasant, light tones.

This tea is also taken into fifth infusion, which reveals more roasted, bread-like character of its taste, somehow typical for latter brews of Tamaryokucha.

Similarly to last year’s version, this is a simple, yet complex untraditional tea, being much lighter and literally less heavy than most Japanese green tea. It’s refreshing, enjoyable and, being really inexpensive, has much more to offer than the price can imply.

2010 Yamamotoyama Tokuou

2010-09-28T16:42:00.004+02:00

This tea, along with a lot of other nice little things, recently arrived to my mailbox as a gift from friend and a fellow tea-lover who is in Japan right now and will stay there for the next few months.

Edit: This tea was later revealed to be the Tokuou from Yamamotoyama company, being a blend of teas from various regions, namely Uji, Kyoto (70%), Kagoshima (25%) and Shizuoka (5%).

After opening the purple-white package and examining its content, leaves of this tea are mostly short needles with quite a lot of dusty-particles, indicating that this is a Fukamushicha (deep steamed tea). They are mostly dark-green and shiny, though there are also some lighter leaves as well as small amount of stems.

These leaves smell fresh, nutty and light, though noticeably more intense than less steamed versions of Sencha. After being placed in a preheated kyusu, this strong smell even intensifies and pleasantly fills the whole room.

First infusion is light-green, yet opaque in color and very full and intense in taste; fruity and vivid with long-lasting spicy aftertaste.

Second infusion is already almost non-transparent and vividly green in color. The taste is significantly sharper, nuttier, yet sweeter. This tea maintains unbelievable green freshness, even reminding me of Shincha as a nice, nostalgic memory of spring, which I definitely haven’t expected to experience in this rainy, late September.

Third infusion is a bit milder, yet still very intense and sweet in taste. The sharp character of this tea is, however, replaced by softer, hazelnut-like tones, which dominate the aftertaste as well.

This tea is taken into one more infusion, which is similar to first infusion in color, yet already quite grassy and woody in taste with a hint of bitterness, which, however, still isn’t anyhow unpleasant.

Though I usually prefer Asamushi to Fukamushi Sencha, this tea brought back some nostalgic memories of spring – such as impatient waiting for Shincha and all the other things associated with it.

I like such teas with memories.

Thanks again for this enjoyable gift.

Prague and its tea

2010-09-27T20:37:00.010+02:00

Even though this weekend was mostly a rainy one for central Europe and not at all pleasant for any kind of outdoor activities, I decided to use the opportunity to, after very long time, once again visit probably one of most famous cities in the world - Prague.

Apart from being one of the most densely visited places in Europe...

...and, therefore a growing tourist paradise overfull of hotels, souvenir shops and restaurants of all kinds, Prague is also known for its large variety of teahouses, teashops and, together with smaller and less famous Brno, a center of Czech tea culture.

At this point, it's a pity that I don't know the city itself that much - the main difference from Brno, where I always know what teahouse I'm heading to, is that I've personally experienced only one teahouse in Prague so far.

Still, this place definitely is worth mentioning.

Cha Dao is located right next to the main railway station (and I was able to locate it only thanks to this) and is ran by the same people as online shop Teanet. As they are of Chinese origin, the whole teahouse is decorated in quite a traditional style, giving it unique atmosphere and the advantage of being quite different from all teahouses in my hometown Bratislava, which are generally a mixture of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Arabic inspirations with European influence and can often seem quite disparate.

Menu of Cha Dao also comprises mostly traditional Chinese and Taiwanese teas, available in wide range of grades, from average to the top. There are, however, some Japanese teas in their offering as well, though I decided to order this 2010 Huang Jin Gui oolong from Anxi. Expect a post on this tea in the near future.

In the end, here is a question for those of you who know Prague better than I do or have visited in in the past and had some interesting tea-related experience - where to go and what to visit? I want to focus more on Prague's teahouses the next time I visit it, which, I hope, will be soon.

2010 Gokuchanin Hanhakoucha Toyoka

2010-09-20T18:30:00.008+02:00

Yoshiaki Hiruma, working under his trade name Gokuchanin, is a true artist.

Being a well-reputable producer from Saitama prefecture of Japan, he is especially known for his Temomicha (hand-rolled teas) as well as other completely hand-made teas and is recently gaining attention all over the world. Among his many achievements is the first prize in the prestigious Temomi Tea Competition last year.

Hiruma is unique in a way that he obviously loves to experiment, not sticking only to Temomi and other traditional Japanese teas, but also, among other things, producing highest-quality oolongs, which he calls Hanhakoucha (he even created something like Japanese version of Bao Zhong, just a very lightly oxidized tea, called Bihakkou Sencha).

This is the first of two unconventional Japanese teas I had bought in Brno and then mentioned them in this post. Teamountain offers three kinds of Hanhakoucha, all of them made from different, rare cultivars – this one is made from Toyoka, while the other two from Seirei and Sayamakaori.

Originally packed in a simple, yet elegant sac, these dry leaves remind me of autumn; they range from dark-green to yellow and brown, containing some stems as well. They vividly smell of flowers, honey, spice and pears.

First infusion is yellow in color and similar to dry leaf in smell. Brewed in water just below the boiling point for quite a long time and with high dosage, it tastes softly, yet vividly and not bitter at all. It’s light and complex at the same time, spicy and sweet and overall perfectly harmonic and balanced.

Next infusion is very reminiscent of honey in smell and sweet butter dominates the taste, being less fruity and light and more noble and creamy with wonderful mouth-filling aftertaste.

Third infusion is a bit lighter in character, though it doesn’t mean this tea is already drained out – it just shows its great extent, as this once again is being more similar to first infusion with its fruity, light sweetness and flowery smell.

Following infusion is also very fruity and less creamy in taste, though there is a new, interesting hazelnut-like tone present in taste and smell. This similarly delightful character persists in three more infusions, giving seven satisfying infusions in the end – reminder that this tea isn’t steamed like most Japanese green teas.

This tea is somehow similar to lighter oxided, high-quality oolongs from Taiwan, though it isn’t denying its origin and maintains something distinctly Japanese. Though these typical Japanese tones may be mild, they simply are present and that – among other things – is what makes this beautiful tea so unique and outstanding.

Real art.

Karigane Usugasumi by Marukyu Koymaen

2010-09-14T19:33:00.006+02:00

This is the second of two Matcha flavored teas by Marukyu Koyamaen which I recently purchased via Teatrade.sk. Though both of these are Matcha flavored and therefore share some similarities, this tea is completely different from the previous one.

This yet isn’t 2010 tea, but, as the previous one, 2009 Aracha processed in first spring days of 2010.

Compared to Matcha flavored Sencha Asagiri, this tea is significantly deeper and sweeter in smell. As far as I know, all Marukyu Koyamaen Karigane teas are made of Kabuse or Gyokuro and are therefore naturally sweeter and heavier in taste than any Sencha – combined with additional Matcha, it’s even nuttier and sweeter than I imagined.

Same characteristics go with taste of first infusion, as this is a sated, heavy tea - though I would say it’s significantly different kind of heaviness than the one you can find in Gyokuro or Kabuse, being more similar to heavy character found in good Matcha. Surprisingly, these tones are accompanied by quite vivid roasted-like taste, mostly resembling edible chestnuts.

This roasted tone even intensifies in second infusion, which is, in contrast to vividly green color of the first one, more yellow, though still quite opaque. It still is very nutty, heavy and markedly sweet.

Third infusion is lighter in taste and smell, more woody and still maintains significant roasted, somehow warm character. It already lacks the creamy sweetness of previous infusion yet still is pleasantly drinkable.

This is a humble, inexpensive Japanese green tea, quite simple in character and yet very pleasant and interesting. It’s heavier and much more sated than its Sencha counterpart, lacking all of its fresh, light tones and overall being much sweeter and deeper. For those preferring sweeter Japanese teas over freshness of Sencha, this can be good daily tea.

Other than that, I once again visited the city of Brno and also the Probuzeny Slon teahouse, about which I talked some time ago. This time, I drank another wonderful tea there and also purchased two special teas from Teamountain – more in two on-coming posts, first of which is hopefully going to appear here during this week.

Sencha Asagiri by Marukyu Koyamaen

2010-09-07T17:11:00.006+02:00

Once again, I purchased two teas by Marukyu Koyamaen. This time, they aren’t that ordinary – both of them are Matcha blended, which means that small amount of Matcha has been sprinkled over the leaves to create a completely different character of tea.

Marukyu Koyamaen offers three kinds of Matcha-blended teas – as I am not a big fan of Genmaicha, I bought only two of them, Sencha and Karigane. These yet aren’t 2010 teas, but 2009 Aracha processed in first spring days of 2010, before the actual harvest in Uji.

This post is going to pertain to the first one.

Sencha Asagiri comes in simple, yet aesthetic can, so typical for most Koyamaen teas.

After opening the can and the inserted bag, strong, sweet and very Matcha-like smell comes out, markedly reminding me of powdered tea’s presence. It has both fresh, light notes of Sencha and sweet, deep and nutty aroma of good Matcha.

This Sencha has quite nice needle-like leaves, though these are, as a result of additional powdered tea, naturally lighter and less shiny in color than most Japanese green teas.

First infusion is beautifully dark green in color and opaque, once again clearly affected by Matcha. Its taste is strong and thick, with no unpleasant bitterness, being enriched by powdered tea’s natural sweetness.

Second infusion is expectably even more vivid in taste, though a bit lighter in color, as most of Matcha has already been rinsed into the first infusion. It’s very replete with grassy, literally “green” tones.

Next infusion is weaker in taste and overall character, being dominated by grassy tones and much less sweetness than previous two. This tea is taken into one more infusion, though it already gave out most of what it had.

An interesting, inexpensive tea very suitable for daily drinking. As both Sencha and Matcha are quite high in theine, it’s obvious that this can also be a good pick-up drink.

Expect post on Matcha blended Karigane Usugasumi possibly in few days time.

2010 Sencha Tenryu Tezumi Baraki (“wild bush”)

2010-08-28T16:16:00.011+02:00

It seems like autumn has already started; temperatures dropped down to just about 21 degrees, accompanied by stronger wind and frequent downpours. Even though, I still am in a mood for cool, spring teas from Japan.

This is the second of two extraordinary Japanese teas I purchased via Slovak shop Tealand. This time, it isn’t a Kuradashi (aged) tea, but fresh Sencha, labeled by its distributor as the “absolute top of this year’s season of Japanese tea”.

This tea comes from garden of well-recognized producer Oota Masataka, being hand-picked only from wild bushes (Baraki) of Yabukita cultivar on 26 April 2010 in Tenryu, Shizuoka. Only few kilograms of this tea were produced, though I’m not sure about the exact number.

Dark-green needles, once again beautifully processed, just a bit shorter than leaves of another competition grade Sencha I’ve talked about before, Marukyu Koyamaen Sencha Unjyo.

They smell heavily of fruit, vividly fresh, though less deep than Sencha Unjyo from Uji – quite typically for top-grade Shizuoka Sencha.

First infusion is pale-green in color, soft and gentle in smell as well as the taste. From the first sip to aftertaste, it maintains light, fruity tones, creamy sweetness and noble, though only subtle umami note; this tea is humble in its flawlessness.

Although the second infusion is darker-green in color, it still maintains all soft, humble tones of its predecessor, being enriched by somehow spicy, yet favorable aftertaste.

Third infusion smells vividly fruity and a bit sour, almost like white grapes juice. Taste of this brew is surprisingly most intense and strong of all infusions, yet still not at all bitter. This strong, full-bodied impression even intensifies in aftertaste, pleasantly lingering on tongue.

This tea also produces still enjoyable fourth infusion, though it already is dominated by woody, astringent tones and vivid sourness.

After the session, some leaves are eaten as well – they are soft, sweet and humble yet juicily, somehow similarly to the infusions it produced before. Once again, tea leaves my mind clear and calm.

Tea in Liptov

2010-08-28T13:06:00.007+02:00

As I have already said in my previous post, I spent five days out of the city, in a beautiful region of Liptov in northern Slovakia, just close to High Tatras mountains - surrounded only by nature and good friends.

This is going to be a picture post rather than informative, as I have this strong need to share at least a bit of atmosphere of this wonderful place.

photo by Martin Hatala, a friend of mine

First day, I found my favorite spot for tea drinking - quite a big grass-field, located on small hill. This is the look-out from this grass-field, draped in morning mist.

There is nothing better than good Japanese tea, consumed in a place like this.

Lying in the grass, just with tea, sun, breeze and silence.

...I drank this Tokunaga Seicha Tamaryokucha from Ureshino.

Just a few minutes of walk from the place when we resided, you would find Kvačianska valley. There were few traditional Slovak wooden houses in this place, including historical water-mill.

Kuradashi Kabusé Tezumi Yabukita 2005

2010-08-20T13:40:00.008+02:00

I’m leaving Bratislava again tomorrow.

This time, the destination I’m heading to is a lovely little village in the midst of woods, located close to Slovakia’s highest mountains, High Tatras. I already can’t wait, as the place is known for its breathtakingly beautiful and untouched nature and, therefore, also is an ideal place for tea drinker. I will spend one week there, with only limited (or, more likely, none) connection to internet.

Other than that, this small package arrived to my place today – containing two bags, both filled with quite uncommon Japanese teas. These two teas come from offering of local shop Tealand, both of them come from Shizuoka and are hand-picked (Tezumi), though they come from two different famous producers – one from Yutaka Katahira and the other one from Oota Masataka. This post is going to be a closer peek on the first one.

As some of you may remember, this Kuradashi (aged) Kabusecha comes from the same producer (and same cultivar as well - Yabukita) as the one I drank on my last trip to Brno, Czech Republic. This one, however, has been aged “only” for five years; in contrast to Kuradashi Kirara Kabuse Yabukita, which has been aged for 12 years.

Whole production of this tea is just 600 grams (about 21ounces).

After opening the package, what I can see and smell is no surprise – in a good way, of course. Beautiful, shiny dark-green needles show highest quality of processing, perfectly handled aging process and great care this tea was made with. They smell of sweet fruit and milk – intensely and refined.

Being steeped in lukewarm water for quite a long time, first infusion is pale yellow in color and has, similarly to smell, taste which is mild and vivid at the same time, with distinct umami tone, deep sweetness and a little bit spicy aftertaste.

The second infusion, prepared shortly after the first one, is golden-yellow in color, though the infusion is still quite pale. The taste is even more intense, being very complex, deep and milky with most fruity tones receding. This is, in my opinion, the best infusion, as it represents all that I expect from top-quality Kuradashi tea.

Third infusion is already prepared with water which is a bit higher in temperature, though still far below the boiling point. It has a rich, noble astringency and very intense aftertaste, being most vivid of all brews.

This tea is also enjoyed in fourth infusion, which is mild and astringent, though still surprisingly pleasant and specific.

After the session, my mind is as calm as it rarely is; this tea truly is a gem.

2010 Sencha Unjyo by Marukyu Koyamaen

2010-08-17T13:02:00.011+02:00

Another cloudy day.

Though many people would say this isn't exactly an ideal weather for Japanese green tea, I drink it all the time - days like this are no exception. Perhaps this green, cool freshness can bright up the overall unpleasant mood, caused by weather outside.

This tea was kindly given to me as a sample to try by Teatrade.sk’s owner. They are the only company in Slovakia (as well as in Czech republic) that sell Marukyu Koyamaen teas and though this one isn’t in their offering, it was packed in last shipment from Marukyu Koyamaen as a gift.

I have already talked about Marukyu Koyamaen in many of posts on this blog, so here’s just a short introduction – famous company located in Uji, Kyoto, “the birthplace of Japanese tea”, as it’s often called, being established sometimes in Genroku period (1688－1704). Since then, the company has won numerous prestigious tea competitions all over Japan, including first prizes at The All-Japan Competitive Tea Exhibition nineteen times.

Unjyo is the second highest grade they offer and has also competed at the All-Japan Tea Competitive Exhibition.

First obvious sign of very high quality of this tea are dry leaves. Beautiful, straight dark-green Asamushi needles in absolutely perfect condition; condition which clearly implies that this is a competition grade Sencha.

They smell just like I would expect from this grade of Sencha – noble, fruity and sweet, yet unobtrusive, mild and with no unpleasant tones at all.

First infusion is vividly deep, nutty and milky in taste and, for a Sencha, has quite a distinct umami tone. As with smell, there are no unpleasant or unwanted tones in taste of this tea.

Second infusion is prepared with warmer water and left brewing for just a short while. Resultant beverage is just as vivid as the first one, being a bit sharper and fresher in taste, while maintaining all milky deep tones and wonderfully strong and long-lasting aftertaste on tongue.

Third infusion is steeped for the same time as the first one, just with a bit warmer water. It still is deep and milky to some extent, though these tones are already being suppressed by the fresh grassiness typical for further infusions of good Japanese teas. The aftertaste is also a little weaker than before and already shows slightly bitter tones, which however still are pleasant and noble.

One more infusion is made with water just below the boiling point and long brewing time, though this tea has already delivered up all it had. This infusion is therefore just a nice memory of all previous.

This tea was enjoyed from the very beginning to the very end, from dry leaf to its wet counterpart. Thanks once again for an opportunity to try it.