cool tea videos

Saw two cool tea videos recently.

One is made by Leafbox Tea, a relatively new organization. I enjoy their editorials very much and their tea forum is rapidly growing. It's great to have a promotional video generally for tea!

Another is made by Chico Grande. I don't know who they are but this is probably the best Gongfu video clip I've seen in a long time. I have to say I can't bear with the pretty girl type of Gongfu session show, which is more commonly seen on TV and YouTube. The girls are always pretty, but in those videos everything about Gongfu ceremony looks just so pretentious. This one, in my eyes, has the true Gongfu spirit in it.

2006 Guan Zi Zai Sheng Puerh Meng Ku Bing Dao

A recent favorite puerh of mine. Tealogged on steepster.

2005 Guan Zi Zai Sheng Yi Wu Jing Xuan

A tea shouldn't be judged by its name, price, or outfit. That being said, I just can't help being a visual tea drinker!

People say Guan Zi Zai puerh is often over-priced for its pretty wrap. Probably that's true. But I just can't help loving the pretty wraps of Guan Zi Zai. This is a relative plain design for Guan Zi Zai. But I love it as always! As for tea quality, I am not experienced enough to judge. But my heart often leans toward successful, small factories like Guan Zi Zai. Puerh market can't be without the good old Xia Guan and Da Yi. But as in all other tea genres, the perpetual vitality is from small factories.

When it comes to tea leaves, again the visual sense kicks in. Many people said it, and I agree, that in puerh, pretty leaves are not that important. But probably because I grew up as a green tea drinker, I just can't stop being judgmental on outlook of tea leaves.

This is not my favorite puerh, but I have to say, I started to admire it the first moment it was unwrapped. Look at those big leaves! It is generously made with nice big leaves from old tea tree, inside and out consistent (although it's a common practice nowadays that better leaves are spread on the surface of a tea cake to make it look better).

The tea cake is quite easy to break. And I did it very carefully so that most leaves are uncrushed. Love the big leaves!

Ok! Puerh is not about pretty leaves. But I just can't help admiring these beautiful, long leaves. 

The taste is almost like some green tea with rich flavor, which may or may not be appreciated by people depending on what they are looking for. I like it very much, but suspect some seasoned puerh drinkers will think it's not strong or aggressive enough. The flavor is very mellow, no astringency or bitterness (with 15-20 sec. for initial infusions). But again, some of my friends would say, "A tea (especially puerh) is not worth it if it's neither bitter nor astringent!" It all depends on what you are looking for. The tea tastes rich, dark, vegetal, with immediate prominent sweet aftertaste.

Overall I think it's a great beginners' tea for people who want to try puerh but don't want to handle the astringency or  bitterness. It may also be appreciated by people who have a heavier taste on green tea. Besides, for a 5-year-old sheng, it's one of the most drinkable. On the other hand, it may not have the "kick" demanded by seasoned puerh drinkers who are after a strong taste that hits you all the way into the throat. After all, puerh, by origin and basic characters, is a tea of nomads and warriors. This one, in my eyes, is more of a tea of literati.

2001 An Xi Tie Guan Yin traditional medium roast style

In my journey of looking for teas, I always feel grateful how lucky sometimes I am. I got this tea entirely out of luck. I was never looking for vintage oolong. Vintage oolong is just not an appealing concept to most mainland China tea professionals. However, this tea found me. It's not like any other Tie Guan Yin I had tasted before, and it definitely changed my view on vintage oolong.

This is a traditional medium roast tea, which is very much different from the modern greener style that dominates the market today.

(A previous blog entry here provides various styles of Tie Guan Yin to compare with this tea.)

What's unique about this vintage tea is, it has never been re-roasted. I don't know how they managed to store the tea so well in humid Fujian, that the tea has never really needed a re-roast. Obviously the tea was well-sealed, and was stored in a very dry condition. 

Initial flavor of the tea is very charming. Although I have had some oolongs that were described of having "honey-peachy" flavor, when I took the first sip of this tea, I immediately knew, this is THE "honey-peachy" flavor that the old tea people talk about. It is something we can barely find nowadays, because the processing of Tie Guan Yin is different in so many aspects compared with 10-20 years ago.

The traditional processing doesn't damage the leaves as modern style processing. Therefore, even in the first infusion, unfiltered liquor, there are not many broken leaf bits.

The aroma of this tea is not as aggressive as most modern Tie Guan Yin. The tea lasts just about 7 infusions, but I am sure it would yield more infusions when this tea was new. After 7 infusions, I kept brewing it for several more infusions. The flavor gets weaker and weaker. But the liquor tastes so "clean" however long the infusion time is. In modern Tie Guan Yin, low oxidation sometimes is a source of bitterness. In tradtional Tie Guan Yin, higher oxidation may take away some fresh fragrance from the tea leaves. A traditional Tie Guan Yin at the best balance will yield clean and prominent fruity aroma. Such balance requires optimal leaf type, leaf quality and a skillful Shi Fu (artisan tea worker). 

The spent tea leaves.

And finally, this is also what makes this tea unique. The tea leaves are significantly bigger than those used in modern days. Tea leaves in the picture were laid on a gaiwan lid, whose diameter is 2.75". 

Although I don't have the knowledge to judge age of tea tree based on its leaf, a tea professional could tell the leaves were not from young tea trees. Traditionally, old-bush concept was not emphasized as much in Tie Guan Yin as in Yan Cha. However, most best tea leaves were not from the youngest trees. Nowadays, fresh aroma is valued the most in modern green style Tie Guan Yin (under the influence of Taiwan High Mountain Oolongs and Chinese green tea), and therefore, new tea bushes are valued the most in southern Fujian. High quality modern style Tie Guan Yin products are all made with leaves from new bushes. A sad result of this is, within the past 10 years, many older Tie Guan Yin tea bushes have been chopped down to make place for growing new bushes.  

I know a small group of southern Fujian tea professionals who are committed to making the best traditional style Tie Guan Yin. They say, it's now or never to reserve the tradition, since the most skillful tea workers are getting in their 70s, and very few tea trees are being cultivated for traditional style tea processing. 

I discussed with some southern Fujian tea professionals about this tea. None of them is a big fan of vintage tea (they do like vintage tea as a healthy beverage, but don't believe it's superior to new tea), but everyone showed interests in this tea. Here are some questions I asked and their answers. These are just these people's opinions, which may or may not represent most Tie Guan Yin professionals. (ligher-colored texts are my comments)

Q: What quality level is this tea?

Some said - very high quality from the beginning; Some said, medium to high quality when it was new (not the highest level because back then there were more tea products with solid, high quality.)

Q: Where else can I get tea of this style?

Most of them said - I have no idea, because I don't see it in market. Where did you get this one? (Interesting answer. Well, it's understandable answer, since I had never seen such tea either.)

Q: Did aging contribute much to its taste?

Most of them said - No. The tea tasted good when it was new, and it was stored well. That's why it tastes good now. One of them said - Dry storage may help to generate some good, fruity flavor in this tea.

Q: If we give a grade 100 to this tea when it was new, will aging make its quality up to 120, 150, or will aging cause its quality to fade to 80?

Some of them said - Traditional style Tie Guan Yin (both greener style and charcoal roasted) may reach a quality peak (probably a grade of 120) in 1-2 years, but may not improve more. 

Overall, I feel they all like this tea very much, but they are not as amazed as I am about this tea. I guess it's because they had a lot of tea of this style when they were younger, but I never had the opportunity. 

Many people would feel a little sentimental about fading of the real traditional style Tie Guan Yin. However, some are working hard on making better and better traditional style Tie Guan Yin. Their products are not exactly the same as tea of 10 years ago (because even the tea trees are not the same). But I have full confidence in their work, and it seems their charcoal roast Tie Guan Yin have gained kind acknowledgment among North American drinkers, as showed in tealogs.

http://www.teaviews.com/category/tea-brands/life-in-teacup/

http://steepster.com/teas/life-in-teacup/9712-an-xi-tie-guan-yin-traditional-charcoal-roast

This is just a start, and more traditional tea is coming. 

At the end, I did stock up some  of  the 2001 Tie Guan Yin, just because it's a "why not!" Why not keep it if it's one of the very few real traditional Tie Guan Yin I can ever see in this decade. But I am optimistic about the future and expect to see more Tie Guan Yin traditional style in the years to come.

The ultimatum of pre-treating a Yixing teapot

No, it's not what I do. I am a simple, lazy person, and I don't have super expensive teapots that deserve such attention. But I always love hearing people discussing on pre-seasoning of Yixing. Sometimes it's just fun to look at complications behind a simple procedure. Besides, however unbelievable it may look like, it is part of Yixing tradition and it was how people pre-treated their teapots in Qing dynasty (I bet most people skip steps though). I've heard many discussions on the full procedure of pre-treating a Yixing, but have never seen anybody acting it out. I wonder how many people are still doing it. Then, I spotted this group of pictures, and believe it's something fun to share. This is a photo demonstration of pre-treating Yixing in traditional way. Not that I would do it. But it's fun to watch!

(The fun part starts from the 5th photo)

http://cy222.cn/Article/Print.asp?ID=1237

or

http://www.82348.cn/?thread-1231-1.html

According to the article, here are the steps (light-colored texts are my comments).

Step 1. Inspect the teapot and certificate. (Picture 1-3)
This step wasn't inherited from Qing dynasty :-p 


Step 2. Boil the teapot in water for 5-10 min. (Picture 4)
This step is what most people would do. But I have to admit I am so lazy that I don't even do this. I usually let a new teapot take hot water "shower" with my tea session. I would fill it with hot water and pour hot water on it from time to time while I drink tea with other vessels. I let it take showers with a few dozens of my tea sessions and then tell myself the teapot is ready to be used :D


For this step, many people would say 1 hour instead of 5-10 min. 


Step 3. Take the teapot out of hot water bath, and let it cool down by itself in room temperature. Stuff the teapot with firm tofu, put it in cold water, bring the water to boiling point, and let it boil for 5-10 min. (Picture 5-6)

For this step, again, many people would say 1 hour instead of 5-10 min.


Why firm tofu? Some say it balances yin and yang of the teapot, and bring down the fire (used as a medical term) which is from the kiln. Besides all this, I believe an important reason for this step is to make the teapot more sturdy. Traditionally Chinese people treated kitchen earthenware with rice soup for the same reason. In the old days, when people expected to use every household item for a life time or even pass it on to the next generation. Therefore, pre-treating to strengthen the item was always important. Traditionally Chinese people believe it's a virtue taking good care of your household items and use them for a long, long time. In modern day society, there are too many disposable items and people are using up the earth. 


In addition, many people believe tofu is very absorbing. It helps remove impurities from the pores of Yixing clay. Therefore in future use, the teapot can be seasoned beautifully. 


Step 4. Take the teapot out of hot tofu water bath, and let it cool down in room temperature. Put teapot back to a pot of cold water with sugarcane stem tip, bring the water to boiling point and let it boil for 5-10 min. (Picture 7)

For this step, again, many people would say 1 hour instead of 5-10 min. 

The sugarcane used in the photo is not "stem tip". I won't blame him. Most people don't know where to get any sugarcane.

Why sugarcane? Many people believe the sugar content in sugarcane can bring a natural moisture and "blush" on the surface of the Yixing. What can be used to replace the sugarcane? Some people recommend bamboo bottom stem (dah! like it's easier to obtain than sugarcane?!) or water with table sugar. I would say, don't bother. I believe this step is ritual fun, but not a must.

Step 5. Take the teapot out of hot sugarcane water bath, and let it cool down in room temperature. Put teapot back to a pot of cold water with some of your favorite best tea, bring the water to boiling point and let it boil for 5-10 min. (Picture 8)

I crossed out part of the sentence because I am really against it. I just hate wasting tea. Traditionally it was not tea, but tea leaf stems or debris that were used. In other words, the ends and bits of tea that can't be brewed. Well, if there are no tea stems to use, then use some least expensive tea leaves. I am against using top notch tea for just treating the teapot. There is nothing wrong about luxury. But luxury doesn't mean wasting stuff. 

Besides, I believe this step is skippable too, because all the purpose is to season the teapot with your tea. Isn't it what you will do all the time with this teapot anyway? :-p

2010 Shincha News (4)

2010 Shincha News (3) is here.

The first flush pre-Qing Ming (Qing Ming is around April 5 on western calendar) high mountain Da Fo Long Jing has just been harvested! We are excited and looking forward to this tea arriving here in a few weeks!

After the disastrous snow in early March, the weather turned warm and normal soon in Zhejiang province. Tea quality is maintained stable, while overall production of Zhejiang green teas is predicted to drop.

A few weeks ago, right after the snow in southeastern China, I asked a green tea plantation owner if the overall market price would increased a lot this year. He said, "Whether or not there is upswing in prices, it's not up to tea farmers." There is much to think about his words! Good news is, the small tea factory harvests tea leaves right from their own plantation, hence doesn't suffer from increased raw tea leaves costs. Lower tea production will cause a gap between supply and demand. But we expect to experience minimum market impacts on Da Fo Long Jing, because the tea is directly from plantation to factory, and then, to us.

Hangzhou Long Jing (including Xi Hu Long Jing, Shi Feng Long Jing and Mei Jia Wu Long Jing) start to hits the market these a few days. And there is more to come!

Gongfu vs. mug brewing (2) - Yong Chun Fo Shou greener style

Introduction and index of these experiment series of Gongfu vs. mug brewing is here.


Mug Brewing:
I tried mug brewing of the greener style Yong Chun Fo Shou a few weeks ago, and logged it on Steepster.


Brewed in mug, the tea is very enjoyable. But flavor is much lighter than in Gongfu brewing. However, I was conservative in leaf amount for that mug brewing session, as seen in the photo. I counted 15 grains of tea leaves and threw them in the mug. Now I think 25 leaf grains probably is a better amount for mug brewing. In mug brewing, the flavor is light in one dimension but more prominent in another sense. The tongue taste is not strong. However, the tea does give a prominent vegetal and metallic taste. I think, very possibly green tea lovers would enjoy this tea more, mug brewed.











Gongfu Brewing:
Overall, I prefer Gongfu brewing much more for this tea. With more leaves brewed in a smaller vessel, the flavor is more condensed, and the cultivar characteristics of this tea stands out. This tea is called Fo Shou (Buddha Hand). The tea is named after Chinese bergamot. Bergamot in China is not an edible fruit, but was traditionally used as a perfuming fruit. Bergamot is produced in Fujian, but the fruit was extensively used in affluent families throughout China. The fruit would be cut in halves and presented in the sitting room of the family, as a decoration and an aroma source.

The origin of Fo Shou tea cultivar is a mystery. Many people say it was obtained by engrafting tea tree with Fo Shou (bergamot) tree - before I got my Fo Shou oolong for the first time, just this idea of engrafting fascinated me. Bergamot is from the plant family of Rutaceae, genus citrus. Most of my favorite fragrant essential oils are from this family! The engrafting theory of Fo Shou oolong has never been proved. But the characteristics of this tea do remind a drinker of fragrance of Fo Shou fruits.  


When I brew this tea in a small gaiwan, I use a 60ml (2oz.) gaiwan, and lay 2 layers of tea leaf grains at the bottom of the gaiwan. After a warm-up infusion, the first a few infusions are 20 seconds each. After the first infusion, tea leaves expand to half volume of the gaiwan (showed in above picture). And after the 5-7th infusion, the tea leaves expand to loosely fill the entire gaiwan (showed in the picture below). 


A bonus of Gongfu brewing is, at the end, you can always invert the gaiwan and let leaves pile up on the lid, so that a few minutes can be dedicated to leaf appreciation. Greener style southern Fujian oolongs are mostly made from young tea bushes (this is very different from traditional style oolongs from the same region). Their leaves always look so fresh and alive!


Summary:

If I arbitrarily assign a grade A for this tea in gongfu brewing, then I will give mug brewing a B.

Will I mug brew it again? - Not enthusiastically. I prefer this tea gongfu brewed much better.

Will I recommend mug brewing of this tea to other people? - I would recommend it to people who love light-flavor green teas. While I would more strongly recommend gongfu brewing of this tea, it is understandable that not everybody has the proper vessel or is ready to accept the idea of gongfu brewing. I believe mug brewing is the second best idea for this tea, if gongfu brewing can't be used.

Later on, I will also try mug brewing a charcoal roast version of Yong Chun Fo Shou and see how it turns out!

2010 Shincha News (3) - some bad news

In the past a few days:

Mt. Wu Dong - snowy and frosty. Significant disaster for spring high mountain Dan Cong :-(

Northern Zhejiang - a lot of snow (a lot for Zhejiang, not comparable to New England winter snow though). An Ji Bai Cha, Zhejiang Long Jing (including Da Fo Long Jing) and some other green teas' growth is temporarily set back. Production may decrease. As long as it becomes warm and normal spring weather, tea quality will not be largely affected.

Hangzhou, Zhejiang - some snow. Production may decrease a bit, but over all quality shouldn't be affected (finger crossed, as long as weather becomes spring-like from now on).

Tie Guan Yin - safe! Although there was some snow in southern Fujian, the tea buds have not come out yet so the tea trees were not affected by the snow.

Ben Shan, Huang Jin Gui and some other early season Se Zhong oolong - suffered a lot.

Overall, the climate fluctuation is not disastrous to most teas but may cause significant loss for Dan Cong farmers.

2010 Shincha News (2) - Long Jing Village (photos from a Long Jing blogger)

2010 Shincha News (1) is here.

Long Jing Village in early March - Lots of photos from this Long Jing Village resident!

A cup of Xihu Long Jing from long time ago -

Earliest green tea of 2010 - Frosty Spring Yunnan Roast Green

I’ve been to Yunnan only once, but I am very sure it’s one of my favorite Chinese provinces, top 3, at least. It’s the most diverse province of China, ethnically, culturally, geographically, geologically, and tea-wise. Yunnan is where human beings first ever discovered, harvested and made tea.

The subtropical region of Yunnan has a winter warm enough for tea trees to grow, but cold enough to slow down the growing process with frequent frost. After a whole winter of bright sunshine and frosty nights, the spring tea leaves are extremely fresh and flavorful. Among thousands of Chinese green tea varietals, Yunnan green has never been very famous. This is not surprising, if consider in the old days how difficult it was to transport green tea out of mountainous Yunnan. Even the Mandarin emperors didn’t have the luck we have today, to sip the freshness of early spring Yunnan green in February! Actually, you could have it in January if you wish, thanks to modern transportation. 

This tea, Frosty Spring Yunnan Roast Green, is from a renowned small tea factory in Yunnan, Guan Zi Zai. The factory is famous as a small producer of high quality puerh. The tea is made with leaves from large-leaf tea cultivar, the same tea tree type for puerh.

This tea is the earliest green tea of 2010. Earliest, no exaggeration! The tea was harvested on the morning of January 1, 2010 in Xi Shuang Ban Na, Yunnan, China. It was processed on the same day till late night. Fine leaves were selected and packaged on January 2, 2010. Ha ha, I don’t think any other tea can beat it on time. Oh well, I am sure the tea trees were ready to be harvested on Dec. 31, 2009. But then it wouldn’t have been a 2010 tea. Chinese people love to see meanings in numbers. It sounds so cool to harvest on a new tea on the first day of a new year!

I’ve been drinking this tea all day today. I’ve started sending out samples for people to taste, and won’t describe too much of the tastes here (besides “it rocks” haha) so as not to affect people’s mind before they taste it themselves. I’ve set aside some samples for fellow bloggers. Please see recent events for blogger free sample information (you will need to scroll down to the bottom of the linked page).

Gongfu vs. mug brewing (1) – Mt. Wu Dong Zhi Lan Dan Cong

Last year I did some recording of gongfu brewing of this tea here.

First mug brewing

In mug brewing that I did yesterday, I used about 20 long strip leaves of my High Mountain Zhi Lan (orchid) Dan Cong to cover 2/3 of the bottom of my glass mug, and brew the tea with boiling water.

The outcome was a nice surprise. Tea leaves “danced” for a couple of minutes and then all sank to the bottom of the mug. Initially the liquor was a very light honey brown color.

The first a few sips were rather light flavor. I guess I could have waited for longer to allow more infusion, and I could have used more leaves. By the time when I nearly finished the first infusion, the liquor started to yield very rich and interesting flavor. The flavor immediately made me think of lychee and sweet, juicy peach. The aroma rose all the way to nasal cavity and the sweet aftertaste lingered in the mouth.

The second and the third infusions were the best, fruity and sweet. After that, the fruity aroma became weaker, but still long lasting. I re-infused the same leaves in the mug again and again, for 10+ infusions. By the end, the flavor was much weaker, but never seemed to be exhausted. Some tea leaves were still half curled, not completely spent yet. That’s what’s great about high mountain dan cong – after a dozen infusions, some of their leaves still look very new. Another prominent feature of dan cong is the lingering sweet aftertaste. By the end, I couldn’t tell if the flavor was from the tea liquor, or from the sweet aftertaste in my mouth which resulted from previous infusion.

The main reasons I had rarely thought of mug brewing dan cong are, first I thought long infusion might cause bitterness; and secondly I thought diluted liquor would fail to bring out the unique fragrance of dan cong. But it turned out the diluted liquor just eliminated the possibility of bitterness. I wonder if it’s because some contents in the tea are fragrant and even sweet when diluted, but are bitter when highly concentrated. Besides, dan cong’s aggressive aroma can hardly be overshadowed by anything, not even when the tea is brewed in a diluted way. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience! For people who have heavy flavor on dan cong, probably mug brewing will be a little bland to them. But I guess if one likes green tea, s/he will find mug-brewed dan cong very flavorful.

Second mug brewing:

I brewed it again today. This time I put in more leaves, didn’t count, but let leaves almost cover the bottom of the mug. Still the leaf amount is not larger than my regular green tea brewing. This time, the first infusion yielded prominent flavor, very fruity. Near the end of the first infusion and near the end of the second infusion, the liquor got stronger and I could taste a hint of bitterness. But it was just a small bite of bitterness, dissolved very fast and left sweet aftertaste. I totally enjoyed it.

I guess what’s tricky in mug brewing of this tea is control of leaf amount. When there are fewer leaves, people with lighter taste may enjoy it more than people with heavier taste. When there are more leaves, the stronger tongue feeling may be favored by some people who likes sheng puerh, but may be too much for some people who naturally like green tea and very green oolong. For mug brewing, I believe today’s leaf amount is near the upper limit, although they don’t look like many leaves at all. 

Also I have to say, even when brewed in a relatively diluted level, dan cong is still very strong and lasts many infusions. The 20 something dan cong leaves kept me up long after the midnight yesterday. Today it’s keeping me up too.

Summary

If I arbitrarily assign gongfu brewing of this tea a grade A, then I would give mug brewing a B+

Will I mug brew it again? – I already did it twice in two days, enjoyed it very much and will do it again.

Will I recommend mug brewing of this tea to other people? – Definitely. And with a reminder against using too much leaves when mug brewing it.

Gongfu vs. mug brewing (0)

Index:
Introduction - this piece
Gongfu vs. mug brewing (1) -- Mt. Wudong Zhi Lan Dan Cong;
Gongfu vs. mug brewing (2) -- Yong Chun Fo Shou;
Gongfu vs mug brewing (3) -  Oriental Beauty;

I love glass mug, and use it for green tea all the time. But for oolong, I had almost always used a small teapot (or gaiwan). Recently I tried more glass mug brewing of oolong, curious in finding out how well can mug brewing illicit flavors of oolong.

Overall I prefer gongfu brewing for most oolong teas. But there are a few reasons why I would like to find out about mug brewing. First of all, I guess when I send teas to other people, I can’t assume everyone uses the same brewing method as I do, and it’s important for me to find out how the tea turns out when not gongfu-brewed.

Secondly, when I introduce tea to non-frequent drinkers, I prefer to introduce an easy way of brewing which doesn’t require immediate shopping of equipment. A mug is what I first think of. I always like glass mug, know it usually doesn’t ruin a tea, but am very interested in finding out how well a tea can taste in mug brewing.

Thirdly, although I assume it can hardly be comparable to gongfu brewing, I somewhat believe it will work better for oolong than brewing with a big teapot (larger than several ounces). Consider its convenience to most people, I think it’s worth trying if the outcome of mug brewing is 70% as good as gongfu brewing.

In addition, I have to admit sometimes I feel a bit guilty spending so much time on tea drinking. I would be happy if I can do more casual drinking without sacrificing much taste.

Before I start recording some gongfu vs. mug brewing comparisons, let me define the terms first.

By Gongfu brewing, I mean small vessel, boiling water, and short infusions. In my typical gongfu session, I use 110ml (4oz.) vessel (teapot or gaiwan), 5 grams leaves, hottest possible water, and short initial infusions (5-30 seconds).

The typical glass mug I use holds 150ml (5oz.) to 200ml (6.8oz.) water when 70% full. I plan to always use hottest possible water. Like in green tea brewing, infusion time will be a few minutes; drinking starts when leaves naturally sink to the bottom or expands to certain extent. Mug will be refilled when liquor is down to the 1/3 mug volume.

Subject teas: I plan to try out various oolongs.

So far I’ve tried comparing Gongfu vs. mug brewing of a few teas. My first report is on a Dan Cong, which I had never thought of mug brewing in the past.