Hidden Peak Teahouse's 2008 Lincang Shu. Goodbye, beloved teacher! Goodbye, old friend now in the form of a tiny 3 gram chunk of tea! Goodbye....Goodbye!!!!

Just finishing up the last of a ten gram sample I bought over a year ago from Hidden Peak, the 2008 Lincang Shu. Every session I liked it more, did it age over this brief year and a half lingering in its little sample bag, stuck in the dark all alone in  tiny ceramic cupboard drawer? I don't know but I know my palate has evolved a TON over this time, and I know further that I LOVE this tea.
It is a great introductory shu I think, and I furthermore think, I am off to buy some more! This shu is deeply earthy, dark from first flash-rinse, almost meaty in color and texture and has all that forest undergrowth mossiness I have come to love. Clean earth, great energy and of this writing, the last three grams of this teacher of a tea are still telling me tales that change with each steep, going on the 9th as soon as I finish this brief missive to you, my readers.
Visit Hidden Peak Teahouse and check it out for yourselves.

(Photo from HPTH website with my thanks. Gonna go buy me a brick o'this right now!)

Smacha's White Peony aka Bai Mu Dan. Gorgeous and sweet.

White Peony is thus named poetically for its leaves shape as it steeps and opens and for its lovely aroma. I also would have to add it is by far the prettiest tea I have seen all year, lovely colors mixed with long thin pieces and gorgeous leaves, before brewing it is as pretty a picture as I could ask for...

This tea just made the start of my day a lovely one, a perfect choice for the first day of sun in a week, outside still dewy on my cactus' and my resin lawn buddhas, Trader Joe's trip for dinner tonight a distant memory and its only nine a.m. Perfect time to open this new years offering from Smacha of this perfect white tea.

185f and three grams only as I don't want to go through it too fast, steeped less than a minute ( but not by much) in a 70 ml gaiwan. Just a total delight. Heading back in for steeps three and four, see how long it lasts! Gently, gently goes the pour! Want to treat this particular Bai Mu Dan like the treasure it is!

A floral, complex and distinctive oolong from White2Tea

Just finishing a first time session with W2T's OBSX, which is a really nice change of pace from my usual Sunday morning Oriental Beauty options, and a very wakeful brewing session. I don't know much about Wuyi Yanchas but this was a good one to start to learn with. Very easy to drink, lightly floral and mineral notes both. Started with an eye-balled amount of most likely 3 grams in a 130ml hohin at 205f. Too light. Added another 'pinch' which I am guessing made it 4 grams and upped my water temp to 209, and the next four steeps were lovely. Rich golden color, wet leaves smell just great. Not a heavily floral tea, more mineral notes and really a rather sophisticated taste in my humble newbie opinion! I will not be eye-balling any more tea any time soon, I was just being lazy in not reaching for my scale this morning, my suggestion to myself and to my newbie readers is to count on your scale and if you don't have a little digital scale, get one. This is mine. Under $20, found mine with free shipping, just get one, it's actually fun to use.
OBSX is an acronym for 'Old Bush Shui Xian' and is super fragrant, floral and has a medium roast and a nice depth.

Tea Haikus by BuddhaMomTea herself.

dearest kyusu

i will be back for you soon
please don't forget me.





yuzamashi mine
sit patiently with your friend
winter will come soon.

there are flowers here
honey and warm afternoons
sunshine in my mouth.

the tea tray is wet
porcelain tasting cups shine
waiting for more tea.

i may never see
yunnan in the summertime
scott will be my eyes.

Loving on Smacha!

https://www.facebook.com/hannish.gerber/videos/10209497364884074/

New Year's Day and Tea-Drunk as all git out!

8:20 pm, and New Year's Day is settling down into evening, it is far too late to   be drinking tea but how to stop the celebration of 2016 being over and done with? My tea table looks like it's been partying all by itself, the Jian Shui dancing with the Lin's, the Petr Novak Yunomi worked the tea-table with the ten whopping grams of 2005 Mengku Zheng Shan Daye Sheng from Yunnan Sourcing in its belly, giving it up to their hostess, yours truly for over 14 hours now!
Ok, enough gangasta talk from this old woman, and it's time to get mellow. It is time to revive from 'the party' and move into more ethereal pleasures and so what do I drink now, as the first day of 2017 ends? What's the best thing to feel on your lips as day becomes night and I need something of the highest quality to make me feel renewed? I will tell you now, you lucky, lucky bastards. Smacha's Mao Feng.
I don't drink a lot of greens these days, but when I do? Yeah, this is the kind I like and Smacha's Mao Feng is their best selling green tea for very good reason.
I follow their directions of four grams but use a smaller vessel, a 70 ml gaiwan, and the water temp I use starts at 190f and cools accordingly from steep to steep.
The smell itself reminds me that life renews itself, that things grow and rivers flow, and time slows, and a bunch of other rhyming idioms, all true.
It is a thinking woman's tea, and one to savor.

I am not afraid of 2017. For I have followed my bliss and am ready to start January with this tea by my bedside. Again, tea becomes my answer to the alcohol question and no champagne is required or desired. Thanks to all my tea vendors and especially Smacha for keeping me sober another year!