Sipdown (349)
Broke in my new gaiwan, teacup and tea tray this evening with a gong fu steeping session. It was not nearly as good as the one I had in Montreal where Roswell Strange was in control and knew what she was doing.
I decided to use a teabento tea because they have timing instructions and unlike Roswell, I can’t just sense when things are good to go. I am past the hand burn-y stage of my learning but not quite at the timing stage. I think the new gaiwan also gives a bit more to grab on to protect from the burning as well.
The recommended amount of tea was 4 grams for 200 ml. I wasn’t sure but thought my gaiwan was 100 ml. I used the last of the leaf of this anyways which was about 4.69 grams so I used double the recommended amount but Roswell suggests 7 grams for 100 ml so a little more than half what she recommends. So basically followed no direction there and just hoped for the best.
Timing wise, I followed the directions on the package…until I ran out of directions and then I just sorta poured the water and let it sit. I started with a 30 second steep and then proudly poured everything everywhere like Roswell did and was carefree because I had the tea tray and didnt need to worry about pouring water all over my butcher’s block. Also the gaiwan and cup are perfectly sized for each other which is nice.
1st steep: 1 minute – this steep was a little tannic and floral (drying) but not offensive. Mostly it has a lot of plum-like flavor but is not at all sweet. It also smells much fruitier than it tastes.
2nd steep: 30 seconds – this steep mellowed out a bit but still had some plum flavor with an added touch of malt. The tannins calmed a bit and it was a bit more floral.
3rd steep: 90 seconds – this steep is more malty which is combining with tannins. I want more plum and berries.
4th steep: 3 minutes – this steep had a lot more plum and some malt. No more floral. No more tannins.
Subsequent steeps (4 additional): there was no longer any specific guidance from teabento so I sorta just poured and let it steep for a while, several minutes at a time. The plum came out more and was sweeter. A little splash of honey came out more with the more steeps/longer steeps with the exception of the last steep where everything but the tannins brewed out.
In other news, I still managed to pour some tea on myself. I picked up the teacup thinking it was empty but it had a little bit in the bottom and that ended up on my pajama pants. Oops.
