dominic t.

I think you will be pleased, even with your apprehension. Those are
three teas I keep stocked all the time from there. Because I drink
them so often, I play pretty loose with their brewing because by now I
know what works for me. Basically it follows with the guide I had
posted a while back.

For the Shui Xian, I take my electric kettle to boiling and then let
it cool back a touch (maybe a minute or so) to where there are no
bubbles. Then I tend to use Bodum yo-yo mugs, so I put about 2g of
leaf (but this tea makes a nice cup all the way down to only 1g which
is nice to stretch it a bit) in the infuser and pour in about 6-8 oz.
of water for about 30-45 seconds. I usually get about 1-2 more cups
from this same leaf depending if I went with only 1 or 2g of leaf. You
can brew longer for 1-2 min. easily, but this is how I prefer it most
times.

For the BLC and LJ, I stop my kettle before it even begins to come
close to boiling ("shrimp eye" stage would probably be fine) often I
will use the water straight from our water cooler/heater which is
around 120F normally. I normally use my gaiwan with these and about
4oz. of water to 1g or so of tea, again sometimes 2g depending on my
mood. I sip them straight from the gaiwan so brewing time is hard to
say, I start drinking as soon as the water is cool enough to drink.
Sometimes I will pour off into a cup so it doesn't overbrew, but by
using less leaf it is less of an issue. I'll usually drink 2,
sometimes 3 infusions total like this before the leaf is spent.

I like going lighter on the leaf often, but I have found that point
over time where it is just enough leaf to be strong enough but not
overly strong or weak to the point that some of the character is lost.
I just recently finished a tasting of a lot of Indian teas and 4g of
leaf was pretty much the standard, it just seemed like a waste to me
for 8oz. of water. After the tasting I went back and re-tasted with 2g
and nothing really changed. It could be that I grew up valuing a
dollar and making things stretch that shape some of my habits, but I
often find that the reduction in leaf alters very little and returns
twice as many cups.

I truly hope you enjoy the tea and the flavors since you had some bad
experiences in the recent past, and feel free to change parameters to
your hearts delight. I'd like to see a pivot table and a Venn diagram
when you are done Then I'll know you really enjoyed yourself

- Dominic

prof wonmug

The tea arrived a few days ago and I have started testing. I also
ordered several teas from Upton that I thought might be similar so I
could do some side-by-side testing.

The Upton teas are:

ZO15: "Wu Yi" Water Fairy Oolong

https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=ZO15

ZG45: Pi Lo Chun Superior Organic

https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=ZG45

TT11: Oolong Standard Grade

https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=TT11

TT29: Oolong Choicest Select

https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=TT29

TT41: Tie-Guan-Yin Vintage Style

https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=TT41

prof wonmug

How do you store your tea? Do you leave them in the foil bags they are
shipped in or do you transfer them to some other container?

lewis perin

Prof Wonmug <wonmug@e.mcc> writes:

Maybe you already know this, but "Water Fairy" is one way of
translating "Shui Xian".

/Lew
---
Lew Perin / perin@acm.org
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

dominic t.

It depends, for individual orders that aren't constant staples in my
cupboard I just use the foil bags they ship in and a good strong wide
closing clip. I used to use tin or metal tea canisters, but I've since
given that up in favor of inexpensive smaller 8oz. jelly/caning jars
with seals and rings. These are clear but since I keep my tea in a
cupboard they are safe. It's cheap and effective. If a tea is too
voluminous I use two or more jars and only open the second after the
first is used up, which keeps the entire lot of tea from being exposed
to light/air over and over. I used to use ~4oz. jars like this but
found it too troublesome for the benefit (if any).

Hope you enjoy the teas, and I'd love to read your findings. Lew is
correct too in that Shui Xian can be called "Water Sprite" "Water
Fairy" "Narcissus" "Water Immortal" or any number of other similar
names. Basically it should be roasty, brown not green, and have
anything from a mild Chinese restaurant tea flavor up to chocolatey/
raisiny/tobacco-ish notes. I love when it has wonderful bamboo/
charcoal characteristics from a very aggressive roasting or re-
roasting.

- Dominic

peter roozemaal

When I buy loose leave in the local teashop, it comes in paper bags and
I move it over to a tea tin when I get home. Any container that keeps
the fragrance in, moisture out (fairly gas-tight) and does not add its
own smell/taste will do. I know people that use (cleaned) marmalade
jars. Tea keeps well at room temperature out of direct sunlight.

Peter.