2006 Mengku 'Gongting' Ripe Pu erh Cake

This is a 2006 Mengku ripe cake. The beautiful wrapper of the cake indicates that this cake recipe won a gold award from a chinese tea expo. The wrapper describes the cake as a 'gongting' ripe cake.

When a ripe pu erh tea fermentation process is complete, the tea leaves are sorted according to their size. Sorting of the tea leaves is done using a blower and by hand. Leaves that are blown the furthest are usually the smallest and is a custom to accord these leaves the highest grade or gongting. These leaves are usually the smallest leaves. These leaves are further sorted by hand and tea stems and broken leaves are usually removed leaving the whole leaves or buds. Good quality gongting tea are usually very expensive as the taste of a gongting tea have a reputed creamy and sweet taste.

This Mengku cake incorporates gongting tea leaves into the cake composition. When I made a brew( I recommend a stronger brew) of this tea, I am pleased with the Mengku aroma which is a very pleasant, intense wood and 'fresh herb' scent. The taste has a nice sweet finish with a hint of cream and nuts. Can make 8-10 infusions of good tea from one brew.

But I digress - I have a friend who recently started to enjoy drinking chinese tea esp ripe pu erh. He followed me by brewing his pu using a teapot (about 160ml with 7/8 gms of tea). He had some difficulty achieving his preferred brew. We solved the problem together and our findings are that when you pour out your tea into a pitcher or teacups, the initial start pour is diluted compared to the end pour which is a stronger brew (applies to gaiwan as well). A tea drinker's preferred brew strength is also dependent on the teapot size, amount of leaves, speed of pouring out the tea and the time the water stays in the pot. As I have mentioned many times, there is no right or wrong as long you are happy with your tea. My tea friend used the brewed tea color as a guide and his start pour as his gauge (it did not help when he had used dark colored teacups) not knowing the tea would be darker when the pour was complete. He tried to adjust the amount of tea leaves and the timing of the water instead and achieved mixed results. I would like to stress that my tea brewing method may not be right or suitable for you. Do let me know your brewing technique and share with me (video would be nice).

Back to this cake. This is a very delicious 400g ripe cake. I appreciate the larger size (normal size 357g), as it allows me to make a few brews to determine my preferred brew strength of this tea and still have lots of tea left to enjoy this inexpensive pu erh (its about us$18 when I checked last month).

Ying Kee Tea House - Queen Peony White Tea

I bought some tea from Ying Kee tea house in Hong Kong. I had purchased their premium golden crown TGY (hk$240), queen peony white tea (hk$40) and phoenix daffodil danchong (hk$120). The total purchase of hk$400 (us$50) made me happy as the TGY is one of my fav TGY. Even though this TGY is slightly expensive (120g), I enjoy the very traditional robust flavor which I do not find in the other TGYs which is lighter and more floral in taste. I will purchase a bag of Ying Kee's crown TGY whenever I am in Hong Kong. It is convenient for me as Ying Kee has 14 outlets and even has one at the airport.

The Queen Peony white tea is one of the 6 white teas offered for sale at Ying Kee (see the web site for all products - http://www.yingkeetea.com/index.php?cat=pricelist). One characteristic of white tea is that white tea do not undergo any processing (fermentation, rolling, frying, steaming etc). The tea leaves are harvested and simply left to wither naturally before it is packed for sale. The 'white' in the tea refers to the white hairs on the tea leaves (see pix 2).

I find this tea to be very delicate in color, taste and aroma. The brewed tea is light yellow and the aroma faintly floral. When I sip the tea, the taste is very light and I felt the taste concentrated on the back of the tongue. It is really nice and light with a nice tasty sweet sensation.......and I chose queen peony, which was the second most expensive white tea in the shop, as the sales staff told me it had the most robust taste of the white tea range. I was also reminded not to use boiling water for brewing but to allow the boiling water to cool off for 2 minutes before brewing the tea. (she said for optimal taste). This 60g bag of white tea costs me hk$40 (us$5), which I think merits a buy consideration when you happen to be in Hong Kong.

Origins of Chinese Tea and wine

Published by Asiapac Books Pte Ltd, this book "Origins of Chinese Tea and wine" attempts to examine Chinese tea and wine with extensive use of cartoons, pictures and illustrations.  All major aspects of chinese tea are explored and explained.  The stories and folk lore behind different types of tea are explained and illustrated.  Practical aspects like storage of tea, various tea customs, brewing and appreciation of tea are discussed and explained.  The other section of the box deals with Chinese wine, which I found to be equally fascinating as well.

You can see from the 2nd and 3rd pix (click for enlarged views) that the it is not tedious to read the contents and I can appreciate that the concise yet informative information about all things Chinese Tea was clearly explained and the reader can easily understand and be more aware of the intricacies of Chinese Tea.

I had purchased this book from a book Shop in Kuching, Sarawak last December and had cost me slightly less than US$5.

This 150 page book is a very enjoyable read.  The sections on  the origin of tea as well as the different tea customs in China was extremely well written and illustrated.  I recommend you grab a copy if you come across this book.  

2008 Haiwan ripe loose tea in 10g sachet

Haiwan recently introduced a 10g pack of loose ripe pu erh. A nice presentation box comprising of 20 of these sachets can be purchased for under US$10.

The packaging is good and sturdy. The tea is 'doubled bagged' in the sense that there is a plastic inner lining inside the sachet to protect the tea in the event the outer wrapper gets wet. My guess that 10g of tea was packed in each sachet was to cater to the many tea drinkers whose teapots or gaiwans are varied in size. I myself used a 160ml teapot for my ripe pu erh brewing. Some of my tea friends' teapots for ripe pu erh ranges from 150ml to 250 ml. In my opinion, this 10g Haiwan ripe loose tea is very suitable for a 220-250 ml tea brewing vessel. I brewed the entire sachet of tea in my teapot the 1st time which I discovered was way too much (tea was jet black for 1st 6 infusions). I usually take up to 4 brews of an newly purchased tea before I get the amount of tea leaves right and suitable for my personal taste.

The color of the tea leaves was good with a nice pleasant aroma. There was no bitterness and the tea tasted nice. There was no new ripe pu erh scent and the description of 'good quality tea' on the wrapper seems quite accurate.

I am a big fan of Haiwan pu erh teas but I will not be stocking up on this tea as I do not like to leave aside 2 g of pu erh every time I open a sachet, as storing and accumulating these minuscule amounts is unnecessarily tedious. I am also a little bit traditional.....I like my puerh to come in cakes, bricks or even a big box/bag of loose tea leaves.

2004 Menghai 7542 raw cake

I had purchased this cake from my local Singapore tea shop (D'art Station at Temple street). This is a 2004 Menghai 7542 cake. Costing a hefty $120 (about US$80, bought in Oct '09), this cake is considered expensive for its age of 6 years. I was told by the tea shop owner, that this cake was brought here to Singapore in 2006 and was produced by Menghai tea factory and the traditional CNNP wrappers were used for this packaging for the last time before Menghai tea factory started fully using their 'Menghai' wrappers.

The most important factor in my purchase of this pu erh cake was I had a tasting sample of the tea before buying. It tasted very much like aged pu erh. The taste was very mellow and strong. I get a little sweaty after drinking 3 fast infusions with a mild intoxicating feeling which passes in a couple of minutes. I believe that the aged taste in the tea was achieved with 2 factors. One reason could be the quality of the tea leaves which I think could be of a good harvest. The other factor was that the tea was aged in Singapore for a good 5+ years. The proper storage of this tea in this, year-round hot and very humid, climate of Singapore allowed the tea to ferment swiftly, when compared to the temperate areas or countries where you do not get hot and humid weather characteristics all year round. This tea is so much better than a similar 2004 Menghai 7542 (26 Feb'10 blog) which I had purchased earlier this year.

I could get 10 delicious infusions to drink from a single brew. The color of the brewed tea is of a dark orange shade, something like the color of orange autumn leaves. The taste, unlike new raw pu erh, is not sharp or tingly but rather a mellow pleasant herb-like taste. Though I consider the price of this tea to be on the high side, this tea sells well and the shop have a few pieces left.   I have bought an additional cake to add to my tea stash.

I would like to reiterate that you must sample older pu erh before you purchase the tea. Older teas are pricey and not every tea will appeal to your taste buds.

Portable Tea Set

I am caught up this few weeks watching World Cup Football (soccer). The standard of USA was in my opinion much improved this time round. The team did very well to qualify into the last 16 before bowing out to Ghana. It was unfortunate, that in all their games, the american team conceded early goals and had to play catch up. To me, the best match of the tournament so far was the encounter between England and Germany. You have it all, goals allowed and disallowed and the entertainment value of the game was really good.

Back to tea. I will normally make my pu erh session for my world cup tv viewing this way; make 4 infusions into 4 mugs and during half time make another 4 infusions. As the live televised matches are in the evenings in this part of the world, watching the world cup did not disrupt my daily routine too much.

The above pictures shows a portable Chinese Tea brewing set. Made from porcelain, you can find such sets in many teashops, in Chinatown, and at night markets or shopping centres in China. It costs less than US$10 and such tea sets may be colored or decorated with Chinese motifs like dragons or flowers. This set comes with a tweezer, a pitcher, a gaiwan and 6 cups.

This is a small set. Brewing your tea in the gaiwan can only pour out 2/2.5 teacups of tea. You may have to make 3 infusions before you get to fill your 6 teacups.

This tea set is also suitable for those travellers that would want to brew tea in their hotels. It is also useful as a gift to a newbie Chinese tea drinker. He/She can try out brewing with a gaiwan before committing to teapots or bigger gaiwans. The disadvantage of this tea set are the porcelain used is very thin and would break easily in accidents. The smallness of the gaiwan may make brewing of the tea a little tedious. I myself use a large inexpensive thickly potted easy gaiwan when I travel. However, I find that this portable tea set would make a good gift and would seem as a good value for money gift.  If you are set on drinking Chinese Tea, purchasing a regular size gaiwan (also less than $10) is a better choice.

Disappearing Customs Of China

Written by Qi Dongye and published by Marshall Cavendish, this 2007 book examines many Chinese customs that is getting less practiced with time in modern China.

The Chinese customs listed in this book, according to the author was passed down from many generations and are not practiced and used frequently. The author thinks that they may, in time, "form memories and evoke a sense of nostalgia".

In this book, the author described these customs and a sketch was used to illustrate the practice of these customs. Some listed customs include new year sweeping, lantern festival, staying up all night on lunar new year's eve and new year cards. There were some customs which I myself am unaware of; like cold food festival and paper cutting for window decoration.

One of the customs listed is Chinese teahouses which the author thinks will disappear with time. He describes:

"Enjoying tea has long been a tradition in Chinese society and where there is tea, there will bve tea houses. .......Tea houses in the south were more interesting and could be found along every street. Each teahouse came with its own gardens, pavilions and yards. In terms of furnishing used, the chairs and tables were made from bamboo and the chairs came with backrests. Another notable point was that the teahouses were very particular in the choice of water and tealeaves used in brewing tea. In those days, water was purified by a simple filter of palm leaves and sand placed at the bottom of the water storage urn. After filtering, the water would be poured into a pot and boiled. The tealeaves were fresh and came in a wide variety to suit the different taste buds of customers. Teahouses were not just a place for enjoying tea. They were like great melting pots where people from all walks of life gathered and socialised. Peddlars also came to the teahouses to sell their wares as did minstrels, fortune tellers and other entertainers. As the teahouses were public venues patronised by all manner of questionable characters, it was definitely the centre of social life then."

My opinion is that we are living in a fast paced society characterized by a fast food and quick solution mentality. Do make time to invite a friend or two next time you brew a pot of tea......the tea will taste better.