I was tickled pink when I read this article by Mark Raby (http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-cetera/tea-time-in-britain-causes-predictable-massive-surge-in-electricity-demand-2013017/)
"Tea time in Britain causes predictable, massive surge in electricity demand
Oh, the British… If you needed another reason to point at them and say they truly are one-of-a-kind, then look no further than the British National Grid electricity transmission network. Only in the UK is the daily regimen so ingrained in society that you can literally set your watch by surges in electrical activity.
Unlike in the US, where the choice of what to watch on TV is vast and almost intimidating, those across the pond are not quite as free-spirited. Even thought the choice of TV channels and streaming options is growing, their love of soaps means millions of people watch the same shows at the same time on a daily basis. As a result, a phenomenon called “TV pickup” has spawned.
Described as an electricity nuance completely unique to Great Britain, it refers to the fact that massive swaths of the nation’s population will all get up at the same time — at the end of a popular TV show — and cause a surge in electricity usage simply by boiling a kettle full of water to make a cup of tea.
So how big is this surge? Well, when the popular soap Eastenders comes to an end five times a week, the grid has to deal with around 1.75 million kettles requiring power at the same time. That’s an additional 3 gigawatts of power for the roughly 3-5 minutes it takes each kettle to boil. So big is the surge that backup power stations have to go on standby across the country, and there’s even additional power made available in France just in case the UK grid can’t cope.
So yes, believe it or not, the engineers manning the British National Grid have to keep an eye on what’s playing on TV so they can brace themselves for the highly predictable surges and make sure the grid remains stable."
One of my tea purchase during my short family vacation in Guangzhou last Christmas was his 2003 Xing Hai raw pu erh cake. This 357g cake is composed with Bulang region tea. It has a red chop on the wrapper "Gushu tea".
The term 'Gushu' means old tree. There are many interpretations to defining what 'gushu' imply and till today this 'gushu' definition is often discussed among Chinese tea drinkers when they gather for a cup of tea. One thought is that gushu refers to non plantation tea trees that are more than 50-100 years old. Some tea drinkers are more strict by not including abandoned plantation trees in this definition. And 'gushu' pu erh tea are more expensive. I learnt from experienced tea drinker friends that most gushu tea cakes are a good mix of old tree pu erh tea. My good friend from Ipoh Malaysia, Su defined gushu as more than 200 year old. However, it takes lots of drinking experience to be able to distinguish a gushu tea. Sadly, there are now plantation pu erh tea being sold as gushu, with wrappers loudly declaring its vintage and it would only take drinking experience to be able to distinguish a gushu pu erh.
Gushu tea was difficult to find in Guangzhou. My tea master friend there mentioned that such teas were hardly available in the tea markets and when available, would be pricy as well. He had managed to keep 3 of these cakes aside for me and told me that this tea would be a good representation of what a cup of gushu would taste like.
Well, I did not stand up on my chair and sing after a couple sessions of this tea. The differences are subtle, to me at least. It was easier, for me, to brew this tea at home and drink alone (I felt it was difficult to assess this tea when drinking as a group) so that I could appreciate the characteristics of this gushu tea. This amber colored tea tasted good when drank hot or warm. The taste tasted slightly aged, very hard to hold in the mouth as its slided down my throat easily. Unlike most of the raw pu erh tea that I had drank, this tea does not give that dry throat sensation after downing a cup but instead I felt a nice salivating sensation (less than a minute). The light floral and herbal scent did linger pleasantly in the mouth after the tea session. No intoxicating sensations but overall I enjoyed this brew very much.
This Xinghai gushu (which I believe has a good mix of gushu) did contrast significantly against the 2007 Xiaguan tuo (14 Dec 2011 blog) which I also enjoyed. This tuo (I believe is plantation pu) was smoky, slightly bitter and strong tasting. The Xinghai was more subtle, a much lighter floral herbal touch and a nice longer, much smoother salivating finish. The xiaguan, on the other end of the spectrum was a tad dry in its aftertaste. Its a nice contrast and I look forward in opening a few more gushu cakes in the next few months.
Happy New Year 2013. I had not posted in my tea blog for the past 3 weeks. I had a good reason - really - I was moving house in Dec, packing all 120+ cartons of stuff and completed the move on Christmas Day morning. And.....our family went to the airport in the afternoon for a short holiday in Guangzhou.
I have unpacked most of my stuff and I will show you my tea cupboard and tea brewing space in my later blogs. At least, it's a relief that I now have my tea sessions back on a regular basis.
I managed to get some tea stuff in Guangzhou during this trip. While I dropped off my family at the famous 'Wan Ling' mall where my family can buy their goodies, I sneaked away for 2 hours to my fav Guangzhou tea shops to buy my own stuff. I had called ahead a month earlier to enquire on teas I was interested and had reserved them for pickup when I was in China. Yes, you can see I had bought another tea tray as well. (.....also the teapot, an induction kettle set, a few gaiwans and over 20kg of tea). The wood grain pattern of the tea tray caught my eye. Resistance was futile at this point.
The 1st pu I opened in my new place was this 2008 Haiwan 9988 ripe brick. This Haiwan 9988 ripe pu brick was first introduced in 2008 and have become a mainstay of the Haiwan ripe tea factory, and is produced every year since. For my new readers, '9988' here refers to a recipe code. So if you liked this tea and want more of it, just asked for Haiwan 9988. You will usually get the latest version and might have to pay a bit more for the older versions.
This tea makes a nice cup of ripe pu erh tea. Nothing fancy. This tea exudes a nice characteristic Haiwan ripe tea scent and a very mild sweet finish. An inexpensive - cheap and good - tea.
"Waiter! There is a.......nut/fruit in my tea?". Yes, that's what I found nestled in my tea cake while I was breaking up the pu erh into my tea caddy. This additional fruit, looked like a dried berry, was not suppose to be in my tea cake. Yes, my tea drinker friends have found the odd 'gift' in their tea ranging from a strand of hair, a hair clip, rice husk shells and even a fruit seed. I would like to point out such finds are not restricted to Chinese made products. It can be occasionally found in many products made around the world. I personally found a plastic spade in my American made dog food and a button in a European canned food.
Back to the 2005 CNNP ripe cake. I was told that this cake was based on the Menghai Tea factory 7572 ripe recipe. You don't see the '7572' printed on the tea wrapper but I was told it was found printed on the larger cartons.
I found this tea unique in that this tea was difficult to over-brew. Most of the ripe pu erh usually make a strong brew, especially in the 1st few infusions, when you let the tea sit in your teapot or gaiwan for more than 10 seconds. It would taste real strong and the color of the tea would be almost black in color. This 2005 CNNP pu erh is very forgiving. I like this tea strong - more leaves and longer infusion times and it did brew up a very pleasing cup of tea. I would not consider this tea to be of a 7572 recipe, maybe a wee bit. A happy tea. Maybe it's due to the dried berry in the tea cake.
I managed to lugged home 3 tea trays from my last Guangzhou trip. Chinese tea drinkers should get a tea tray when they visit Guangzhou - its cheap, you save the costs of freight if you had ordered online and you have a wider choice of trays to choose from. You will ask....why did I buy 3 tea trays? Well, to show off I have 3 tea trays, I had extra luggage space and I am deep into Chinese tea. But seriously, they are very nice to look and would make nice gifts (I can't bear to part with them).
There are many types of tea trays for sale that are used for Chinese tea brewing. They can be made from wood, bamboo, stone and even metal. Larger versions have the luxury of a hose attached to the tray where discarded tea and water is drained away by the hose to a container that is usually tied to a foot of a table.
You will observed from the above pictures that that all 3 tea trays are pretty portable, in that, you can set it on any table or flat surface and start a tea brewing session. They are usually about a foot wide (36cm) and are quite light to handle.
The 1st tray is made up of wood, where the top lid can be removed for easy cleaning. It comes with a plastic sliding tray that holds tea and discarded water easily.
The 2nd tray is a simple aluminum tea tray with a removable lid. This will outlast, in terms of life span, the rest of the other 2 tea trays shown, and is a very popular tea tray used by the older Chinese tea drinkers. You can consider making this tea tray a family heirloom as well.
The 3rd tea tray is also made from wood. It is unique in that no nails are used to assemble this tea tray. It is very well constructed with very precise and tight joints. I found this last tea tray most appealing to the eye.
Do remember to wipe down the tea tray after use. These would, especially for the wooden and bamboo tea trays, extend the life span and keep the trays in good condition.
Is the tea tray necessary in a Chinese tea brewing set up? No, you can just use a gaiwan and a couple of tea cups to enjoy a tea session. A couple of my friends use 2 large bowls. He rest a teapot in the bowl and use the other bowl to collect discarded tea and water. You can brew Chinese tea anyway you like or do it where it is practical and convenient to you.
But, I would suggest you get a tea tray. It makes tea brewing a better experience. I cannot qualify or quantify this experience........You are just deep into Chinese tea.
Happy brewing.
I was at the Amoy tea shop (one of my fav local chinese tea shop) when the owner Mr Tan, told me that they found a couple of tongs of this 2005 Haiwan raw pu erh in their warehouse and had thought they had previously sold out this tea. Since I am a fan of Haiwan pu erh especially their ripe/shu range of tea, I decided to buy 2 of the raw cakes.
The chinese characters on this cake were in traditional Chinese while later versions of these cakes were simplified Chinese. I also noticed that the inner labels did mentioned the year of manufacture as well. This pu erh cake seem to smell like a little woody with a hint of dried herbs scent. I was intrigued as I had opened a 2003 Haiwan raw a couple of months ago (see 22 Sept 2012 blog) and that cake was a nice fruity scent when brewed. The differences between these two Haiwan raw cakes are quite pronounced. This 2005 cake has a musky and woody edge to the tea and does have hints of aging. The 2003 haiwan cake I had, was more fruity with a 'fresh floral bouquet' aroma. Haiwan tea factory is very famous for their ripe or shu pu erh. Its distinct Haiwan ripe aroma had gained many followers, including myself. The raw pu erh produced by Haiwan, in my opinion do offer, value more money as their new raw tea are usually of a lower price when you compare to newer Dayi brands of pu erh tea.
This 2005 cake does brew to a nice amber color with a slight aged taste when infused. I tend to add a little more leaves in my brew as I enjoy a stronger tea. I did noticed a mild bitterness and my mouth/throat did felt a little dry after a tea session of this tea; which should dissipate with a couple more years of storage.
This tea is quite inexpensive and should be easily available at your regular Chinese tea supplier. Yunnan Sourcing sells the 2006 version for $24, a price that is comparable to some new 2012 pu erh tea that are being sold in the tea markets today. ......if you are shelling out $24 to buy a new pu erh cake, you should consider getting a 6 yr old very drinkable tea at this price.
Yes, I did noticed that the prices of tea are inching up quite quickly. The cost of living in China and the affluence of the Chinese citizens do contribute to the much higher prices of tea being sold today. It is my opinion the higher prices are here to stay and may even face upward economic pressures in prices over next few years.
Sow Mee (aka Shou Mei) is a white tea that is produced in Fujian, China. This very inexpensive tea is made of withered tea leaves. From the attached pix, you would have observed the tea leaves looked brownish and very dry. I found that the tea leaves are extremely brittle and breaks easily when I handled the tea.
I did some reading on this tea and found out that this tea belong to the lower grade end of the white tea range. The silver needle (aka yin hao) and the bai mu tan are considered better white teas than the shou mei. I think the term 'sow mee' is another 'lost in translation' description when a chinese word is being translated to English many years back.
I filled my porcelain teapot with about 1/3 of the sow mee and used 90 degree celsius of hot water (about 194 F), rinsing once. The tea is surprisingly good. It had nice hints of sweetness, slightly minty with nice fresh floral notes. I could make 4-5 good drinking infusions. This tea is somewhat similar to the bai mu tan, with the silver needles taken out. A refreshing drink and I believe would taste just as nice if chilled.
I enjoy my white tea, drinking them about twice a week. I do drink the yin hao and bai mu tan, whose fragrance and taste are more pronounced than the shou mei but nevertheless, I regard shou mee as a good white tea as well.
This new sow mee was inexpensive but older ones can be extraordinary pricey. It came in a 100g aluminum white foil pack and then packed in a bright yellow box under 'Sunflower' brand. If you drink white tea, do try out the sow mee.
