As long time readers of my blog know, I’m pretty allergic to marketing-speak, especially when the vendor is spewing disinformation. Well, I got an email a couple days ago from an outfit called Misty Peak, which I’ve never heard of but who had somehow harvested my blog email to put on their mailing list. The title […]
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The drinkability test
October 22, 2015 · 13 Comments
As I mentioned last time, I’ve mostly been reduced to drinking tea grandpa style, and have no real prospects of doing a lot of gongfu in the near future. This, however, has proven to be a pretty interesting experiment, because drinking tea grandpa style not only significantly alters your preferences, it also alters your perceptions […]
Tags: Teas
Lacking practice
September 12, 2015 · 4 Comments
One of the most direct consequences of MiniN becoming bipedal mobile is that I have basically stopped drinking tea gongfu style at home. What with an open heat source hot plate, a tetsubin that is hot all over, easily broken teaware all over the table, and a curious, grabby kid, it’s simply too risky to […]
Tags: Teas
Tea fair in Kyoto
June 14, 2015 · 3 Comments
While I was doing research and waiting for my books at the Urasenke School‘s library, I discovered that there was, that day, a tea fair across town at the Yoshida shrine near Kyoto University. Since the library closed at 3 anyway, I decided to hop over and take a look. The tea fair was a […]
Tags: Teas
Instant tea
June 13, 2015 · 4 Comments
So last time I tried K-cups for you, and the results are pretty bad. Well, I’m just wrapping up a work trip in Japan, and while here, I had the pleasure of staying at a place that offered this in the room For a country with a lot of tea, and where teabag is really […]
Tags: Teas
Grandpa style in action
June 3, 2015 · 5 Comments
A grandpa with sencha in a bottle, note the high leaf to water ratio.
Tags: Teas
K-cups
May 21, 2015 · 11 Comments
Many of you have probably seen these machines, some of you probably use it on a regular basis at work or at home, and others have most likely at least heard about it. Keurig is one of these companies that make single-use pods for caffeinated (mostly) drinks. You stick the cup in the machine, you […]
Tags: Teas
Tea in the park
April 24, 2015 · 8 Comments
At most parks of a decent size in China you’ll find teahouses. These are places where you can sit down and have a cup of tea, and they are, more likely than not, going to have a menu that looks like this The choices are basically six different grades of green tea, one oolong, one […]
Tags: Teas
Early, early spring tea
March 11, 2015 · 35 Comments
We have all heard of Mingqian longjing, longjing tea that is harvested prior to the Qingming festival. This is supposed to be the pinnacle of green teas, because they consist of the most tender shoots of the tea plant. Of course, in warmer places plants develop shoots earlier. A couple friends of mine who own a […]
Tags: Teas
Breakfast tea
February 14, 2015 · 8 Comments
On my recent trip to Shanghai I made a stop in my hometown. I stayed the night, and the next morning my hosts brought me to a teahouse to have something very local – breakfast tea, with noodles The noodles are in the bowl in an aged mushroom broth. The other stuff you see, from […]
Tags: Teas
Yeah whisky prices have been leaking too, as well as luxury watches. I wrote a post maybe a decade ago…