Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Very late reply on my part, but I just want to say that your reasoning is clear. After all, websites have to reach people. 🙂
To be honest, I preferred the old forum system. It seemed more robust and readable. When the current forum system was put in, the colors and fonts seemed less clear (gray on gray, and things like that). Just something simple would be fine, as long as we can do the normal things and it is easy on the eyes. 🙂
Ah, I’ve never really tried ginseng before this. I just got some pills and some ginseng slices. From what I can feel so far, the basic thing is that it causes qi and blood to become more active. Interesting… I like it… 🙂
I’ll have to remember to go for more walks, and do more stretching as well.
Right, I haven’t seen the movie, but it probably reflects early Hollywood tendencies quite a bit (e.g. casting white people in the roles of minorities).
The original book came out in 1931, and the author grew up in China and lived in Anhui province for around several decades, starting in the 1890s. Eventually she had to leave because of the war.
Some teas just hold up better to multiple infusions and retain their characters better. These tend to be the “sturdier” teas like puer. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lu’an Guapian could also be used this way, and I suspect Tianshan April Mist would also hold up well.
I haven’t noticed black tea as being particularly bad with multiple infusions, although usually they’re not great for that. I have noticed that Wuyi oolongs don’t stand up to multiple infusions very well, which is probably why people sometimes use the gongfu method instead.
Tea leaves only have a certain amount of “stuff” inside them, and no matter how much cleverness you have, you can only get so much out of them. I never believe people who say that such-and-such high quality tea is good for 10 infusions or something like that.
My preferred method is to just use a small amount of leaves and only do 2 infusions at the most — often just 1 infusion. It’s very simple and flexible, and requires little time or commitment. The tea never gets too strong, it tastes good, and lighter tea doesn’t take on undesirable qualities as easily.
It’s also good for the “grandpa” method. You can just sprinkle a few leaves in your cup, pour the water on top, and enjoy. With fewer leaves, it’s easier to drink because they aren’t constantly floating into your mouth. 😉
I will second Leo’s advice about trying tea at teashops. Often I will get a variety of tiny amounts of tea just to try. If I don’t do that, and I just blindly buy 50g or more of something, I may be disappointed, and then stuck with tea that I don’t want.
One of the difficulties of buying in China is that there are so many variations of one type of tea. For example, Huangshan Maofeng has a million different varieties, some of which may look and taste totally different.
That’s good, people should be experimenting with new ways of using tea like this. Just because Japan picked up a method from China a thousand years ago, doesn’t mean that everyone has to keep repeating that forever. To see more steamed green teas from China, and more ground green tea like matcha, would be great.
Also, Lu’an Guapian is not necessarily expensive. Like all famous Chinese teas, there is a huge range of quality, and an even huger range of price. I have seen packs of Lu’an Guapian being sold for 10 yuan and for over 1000 yuan. Once you get into the 30-50 yuan range, you should be able to expect that the tea won’t be junk. (As long as you are getting tea that has been properly stored.)
The funniest buy I have had was an 8 yuan pack of what is simply labelled “fresh green tea.” I wasn’t expecting much of anything (just curious), but actually I found that the tea was very pleasant and nice without any bad qualities.
However, I’ve seen loose leaf teas in the USA that are of such abysmal quality that they should be reclassified as “fish food” rather than tea. The markets are totally different, and unfortunately Chinese are still generally much savvier than westerners about tea.
So basically, my point is that you have to know the market that you are shopping in, and what quality you can expect wherever you are. 🙂
Thank you, Leo, it’s nice to be back. I am now in China again, and I enjoy that.
Tea Soul, I agree with your comments about Chinese culture. By comparing the current mainland culture with those cultures of Chinese overseas, the situation becomes clearer. However, since the 1980s, the mainland has been more and more willing to embrace traditional culture, so maybe there is some hope yet. 🙂
I use this method mostly for a balanced or lighter type of tea. If someone is more interested in the gongfu style of making tea, or richer infusions, then I think there are better methods like what you suggest. A gaiwan can also be helpful for this.
I also drank this type of tea-bag tea when I was in the West, but never the loose leaf tea. If you look at their website, it is basically a “maofeng” tea from Zhejiang, but (of course) not a great quality one. So basically, a Chinese green tea that is roasted or baked should be fine. The flavor of it is more green and vegetal than some Chinese teas like Longjing, and probably with a stronger flavor than a baked green tea like Huangshan Maofeng.
From Tea Hong, I would recommend Tianshan April Mist (greener), or Silver Curls Spring (more balanced). If you have difficulties making it taste as good as Tazo’s China Green Tips, I think it is probably related to how the tea is being prepared. Try different temperatures, different amounts of leaves, different steeping time… Eventually you will get a grasp of the basic principle and you can make the tea however you like. Personally, I make my green tea so it tastes quite light, green, and fresh. This requires water at a little lower temperature, fewer tea leaves, and the right type of drinkware to prepare it.
In general, though, any good quality Chinese roasted green tea may be a fine substitute. Many quite ordinary roasted green teas of good quality are sold off as Biluochun or Huangshan Maofeng, despite the fact that they are not really anything special or distinct. Nevertheless, they can be quite good general green tea. They are twisted into small curls, and often have some silvery hairs.
I like to drink white tea sometimes, but I can’t drink a lot of it, or drink it on a daily basis. For some reason, it tastes too light to me, even though the white teas I drink are darker than the green teas. Anyways, I always end up coming back to green tea as the style that seems to do best for me. In general, green tea, pu’er tea, and the dancong wulongs seem to always make me feel refreshed and healthy after drinking them.
Despite the green tea general preference, I always keep oolong and pu’er tea handy in case I am feeling cold in any way. I am quite strict about not drinking green tea when I am feeling cold or sick in any way, unless the conditions are just right. For example, if the tea is very hot, then I may still drink green tea, but not if it is just at a normal temperature.
