Happy belated Valentines dear reader. I hope that you enjoyed a few sparks mandated by such a holiday. If not, take solace that joyous moments of love tend to happen at un-appointed hours and such love need not be limited between mere romantic partners. I have a great many secret and not so secret loves and to love I've found to be altogether a fine human endeavor.
Of the more healthier and wholesome loves in the light side of my heart lives pears right next to hongchas and blue cheese. Today while fruit shopping, I happily came upon a luscious pile of late late harvest Comice. Out of the dozen pear varieties one often gets in California, my heart literally races when I see Taylor's Gold- a variety so finicky to grow that you scarcely find this russeted brown beauty in the markets. Taylor's Gold's floral aromatics are utterly intoxicating and anyone whose had the pleasure of a ripe and juicy specimen are prone to senseless gushing. However there are some stoics like my husband who are strangely immune or even against such sensuous fruit and will go running back to their Bartletts and Boscs. When you can't get a hold of this most magical variety, your next best option is Doyenne du Comice which unsurprisingly gave mutation to Taylor's Gold.
In deconstructing my love of pears, I tried to brew up sheng today which matches closest to a Comice. The best Comice can exude a heady wine-like fragrance of complex fermentation. Peter Blackburne-Maze writes that the Doyenne du Comice is "most deliciously flavored and juicy to the point of indecency". Such sensuality belongs more in the realm of oolongs than old man puerh but I try.
The 2006 Changtai 65th anniversary is all sugar and juice but no underlying complexity - more like a simple Anjou. The 2004 Changtai Ancient teapot is more complex but tad too aged to conjure up ripe white flesh. It was a vain exercise then to connect two disparate loves.
I had meant to brew up the 1930's liu bao all week but was thwarted by a series of unfortunate events. First two of my tastebuds became simultaneously enflamed, then my husband and I got stomach flu, and now it's allergies kicking up in high gear in the unseasonably warm weather. I've been awaiting ideal conditions but I may just have to go for it.
In deconstructing my love of pears, I tried to brew up sheng today which matches closest to a Comice. The best Comice can exude a heady wine-like fragrance of complex fermentation. Peter Blackburne-Maze writes that the Doyenne du Comice is "most deliciously flavored and juicy to the point of indecency". Such sensuality belongs more in the realm of oolongs than old man puerh but I try.
The 2006 Changtai 65th anniversary is all sugar and juice but no underlying complexity - more like a simple Anjou. The 2004 Changtai Ancient teapot is more complex but tad too aged to conjure up ripe white flesh. It was a vain exercise then to connect two disparate loves.
I had meant to brew up the 1930's liu bao all week but was thwarted by a series of unfortunate events. First two of my tastebuds became simultaneously enflamed, then my husband and I got stomach flu, and now it's allergies kicking up in high gear in the unseasonably warm weather. I've been awaiting ideal conditions but I may just have to go for it.
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