Saturday, October 21, 2017

Rebooting with Hongchas

The Northern California weather gets nippier every morning demanding a dark vigorous brew.  I have almost pried myself away from the seductions of coffee having my last hurrah at Yosemite.  It was really the full cream and the airy microfoam on cappucino that sustained my addiction and so I must cut this inflammatory dairy cord and return back to tealand.  Most importantly, sustaining such high dosages of caffeine in the blood stream has knocked down my deep sleep so I've amassed more than a few health reasons to cut the bean.

I need a morning replacement that is dark, robust and NOT shu. (Well I shu on weekend mornings but work weekdays require something more mediated than the raw power of shu. Otherwise I get aggro and forget to be diplomatic during technical reviews.) My morning habit was hongcha for decades before this coffee detour and so I return to this familiar ritual of swishing hot water around dark leaves.

Where to procure decent quality hongcha (Indian, Chinese or otherwise) for daily use that is not too fancy but better than average?  My last 2 orders of darjeelings direct from India was a slight flop as the first flushes were just too light/white and delicate for morning use.  I use a pinch here and there in my afternoon blends but my kitchen cabinet is still overflowing with those sample bags.   The solution to too much tea is of course more tea.

15 years ago, I remember my brother in law had gifted me some pretty good tins from Upton Tea. But since I had moved onto puerh and ordering direct from China, I never ordered from them.  For the price less than my last parking ticket, I happily sent out for dozens of samples.  My husband wryly commented, "There is something so deja vu about mylar bags stuffed in a box."   In reality, I could have held out the year comfortably with my home supply of Yunnan dianhong and Lapsang Souchong but I wanted to give myself some more encouragement to choose tea over coffee in the mornings.


No disrespect to hongcha, but novelty in hongchas for the long time tea drinker does not stray far from a narrow band of familiarity. Nothing explosive or life changing, just pleasant diversions in more of the almost same. But that's exactly what I need in the mornings- one can't overstimulate the brain so early without consequences. Their Earl Greys are very respectable and I can see ordering from them regularly for hongcha.  Truth be told, I thought I would be drinking my own aged shengs by now but I am to wait out a few more decades.  In the meanwhile I quietly imbibe some juicy keemuns and assam blends without any second thoughts of coffee.


7 comments:

  1. Have you considered aged whites? They have a darkness roughly akin to hongcha. They don't have the same "kick", but you can brew them as strong as you like. They have been my shu alternative of choice lately.

    Or maybe some Liubao from EoT? Their Baos are on the shu-like side of the spectrum.

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  2. Hiya, Hster. Mmmmm, coffee. I think the main reason that I lean toward tea is that I’m a glutton. I can drink tea all day long. Do that with coffee and there are problems.

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    1. Israel!

      How are you. It's not an either/or. I was drinking coffee in the morning then drinking tea all day long. Yes there were problems. But something you may or may not know- dark roasted coffee goes excellently with bacon and other pork products. Even better than dianhong. Drats. Why did I say that.

      We have some home cured bacon almost ready so I will give it a proper side by side comparison. I was eyeing your smoked hocks. Did you pair them with puerh?

      H

      H

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    2. H,

      Email me some bacon photos!

      -I

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  3. Hello "a bad pasty". I wasn't sure how I should address you. Mr. Pasty?
    I have some aged whites(beengs and loose) due to lazy hoarding habits and mine brew dark but taste more like dessert teas. Do let us know what kind of white you have aged and how old? Unfortunately I don't have enough of the aged white to make for casual morning duty.

    And of course Liubao from EoT would be too pricy for me for a daily drink. You and I are on different levels.

    H

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  4. Hey hster, Mr. Pasty is fine :)

    I haven't really been doing any aging myself, just drinking. White2Tea has some nice ones, with my favorite being their 2014 shoumei, which is currently inbetween a young/aged taste, which I find enjoyable. Even their younger stuff has pretty good body/presence.

    I'm also a fan of Chawangshop's 2011, https://www.chawangshop.com/2011-fujian-zhenghe-shoumei-white-tea-200g.html. Drank somme yesterday and actually seemed to get a bit teadrunk, although maybe that was more of a dosage effect.

    Wuyi Origin has some decent ones too, with some Jinjunmei that's worth a sample if you decide to stop buy. https://www.wuyiorigin.com/store/c9/White_tea.html

    As far as EoT Liubao goes, I'm not thinking of their $$$ aged stuff, more something like this, which is calming and a regular drinker for me: https://www.essenceoftea.com/tea/other-teas/liuan-liubao/2008-duoteli-big-leaf-liu-bao.html.

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    1. Dear Mr. Pasty,

      Thanks for forwarding me to wuyiorigin, I will have to put in a order as soon as I can somehow stuff my last two tea orders into my cabinets. But for tonight I have to pretend I didn't see it as I have to wake up for a 6am meeting. I also got greedy for the Chawangshop's shoumei white- fell in love with the monkey wrapper. Ah- I've forgotten the charms of Chawangshop. Good night.

      H

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