@babelcarp After each steep I empty the pitcher of tea and remove the plunger (so it doesn't continue to cook/steam). Really it would be better if the plunger pulled the tea up and out of the liquid instead of pushing it down. @tea
@anndroid I'm looking forward to trying this year's Book Cover Green. The last year I tried, it was only "good" and I kind of got tired of it before I got through the bag. I think it is a different blend of teas every year, depending on what they can get. @tea
The Shou/Ripened/Cooked Puerh process was originally created as an attempt to imitate the effect of long aging on Raw Puerh tea cakes. While, instead, they mostly created the new class of Puerh, Ripe.
With Riparian White2Tea has returned to those roots of attempting to imitate the character of long aged Puerh with an experimental blend of semi-aged raw puerh and lighter ferment ripe puerh. Still very freshly pressed, it's already almost convincing in the color and early steeps. Later steeps are a bit thin, but It will be interesting to see what shape Riparian settles into in a year or two.
@ellestad I believe the classic 7572 recipe was blended with some sheng. That's what I was told, and it certainly looked that way from separating the leaves. The last 7571 I had still had that flavor (7572 these days doesn't taste the same). There also used to be some "purple mark" variants of shu bricks (8592 is one I used to enjoy IIRC).
Yee On has a 7342H bing that captures the taste of that style of blend.
I think it's largely gone out of fashion, probably because of the price of moderately aged sheng
Alas, this really is the last dose of Astro Red Yunnan black tea from White2Tea. Gonna be some hard choices next "Red Saturday". Until then, I will savor this today.
@ellestad@tea I haven't opened this packet yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Out of interest, what sort of leaf to water ratio do you use with this one?
Other green teas I've tried so far that came with brewing suggestions have ranged from 3.5g - 6g per 100ml, so I'm still learning how to judge the right ratio for new green teas.
One More Red Saturday, cue the King Crimson, Astro Red black tea from White2Tea. (Gotta spend some time in the stash today and locate the Astro Kittens cake for comparison.)
Warm enough yesterday that I got out some green tea. I meant to drink up this ganlu from White2Tea last year, but nice to have it around for a warm spring day. (Yeah, I'm lazy brewing Chinese tea in a Japanese Kyusu.)
2003 Yiwu. About this Raw Puerh, White2Tea says, "...I hope it will be helpful as a way to orient your compass for what good, cleanly aged (Raw Puerh) tea is...If you tried this tea blind and were unimpressed, that is perhaps the best possible scenario for your financial future..."