I like this much better these days. I have probably just improved in terms of brewing through the years. I leaf this harder than others and give it a very good rinse to avoid feeling too much of the bamboo. I know the name has “bamboo” in it, but I wasn’t expecting so much, uh, bamboo-yness.
It’s strange that I seem to prefer younger raw pu’s, but older ripe pu’s. Guess it works out better financially in most cases so yay?
My brewing method has also changed considerably in terms of ritual and artifacts.
0. The bottom double-walled cup of the 150ml brewer shattered months ago (the company wanted to be paid like 80-85% of the cost of a brand new brewer to replace the cup so I said F that) and I switched to a 75ml budget gaiwan that also worked beautifully.
1. But recently, the lid of my daily workhorse 75ml gaiwan shattered, so until I replace that or figure out some other solution, I am using an even smaller porcelain houhin (<55-60ml total capacity).
2. This gets super hot, so I use a large clean bandana as a tea towel, mostly for hand protection as I pour.
3. Every shou or other funky tea gets sieved through this before drinking: https://ebay.to/35mb01h
4. To help me measure water when needed there is a 100mL Pyrex (also serves as a handy little tiny pitcher)
5. This then gets poured into a thick walled Korean ceramic teacup that weighs ~91g (I love this weight) and holds ~60ml.
6. There is a separate discard bowl that holds quite a bit, more than enough for at least two different tea sessions.
7. I used to filter tap water (which didn’t work for a number of reasons," then got water delivered for about 2 years but encountered many problems with the service); now I boil bottled water in a 30oz adagio electric kettle, store the water in a 44oz Zojirushi, and this works great. I know fancy places will have Bonavitas, but I’ve used them before and don’t enjoy the user experience nearly as much as the Adagio+Zojirushi combination.
8. For sessions that benefit from more capacity, I use some 120-150ml capacity items, mainly from Lin’s Ceramics.
I actually have a number of small cast iron teapots from the now defunct Teavana that could be used to store the off-boil water, and they’re more aesthetically pleasing, so we break them out for guests, but those things are surprisingly high maintenance, even the ones coated with enamel on the inside (they’ll rust if you aren’t meticulous), so 95% of the time I am pouring straight from my Zoji. Them’s just facts.
