It's the heavy roasted sibling of the light roasted dong ding that I originally got from their kickstarter. Speaking of which, the documentary has recently been released.
31 July 2015
popped rice
Yesterday was like Christmas, 3 packages came in the mail including this tea from Eco-Cha.
It's the heavy roasted sibling of the light roasted dong ding that I originally got from their kickstarter. Speaking of which, the documentary has recently been released.
It's the heavy roasted sibling of the light roasted dong ding that I originally got from their kickstarter. Speaking of which, the documentary has recently been released.
30 July 2015
bones
It's both a blessing and a curse that my lunches have become more extravagant than my dinners. The blessing is that my office has a well equipped kitchen that allows me to bring nicer lunches. The curse is that work is pretty tiring that I come home with little energy to cook dinner. Though school was pretty draining too, so I should step up my game.
That is not to say that un-extravagant dinners are not good. I'm quite liking this pork bone soup + rice / noodle combo that's covered me this week.
The soup is a hybrid of my dad's pork soup recipe (with dried mushrooms for that lovely umami) and korean soy bean soups (with doenjang for that lovely umami). Aka lots of umami, which is always good. Throw in a lot of kale and a soft boiled egg and it's a completely meal with either rice or noodles. It can even be a one-pot meal, except it's a little hard to drink the soup out of my pot.
Dinner literally takes however long to bring the soup to a boil plus 5 mins (my perfect time for soft boiled eggs).
That is not to say that un-extravagant dinners are not good. I'm quite liking this pork bone soup + rice / noodle combo that's covered me this week.
The soup is a hybrid of my dad's pork soup recipe (with dried mushrooms for that lovely umami) and korean soy bean soups (with doenjang for that lovely umami). Aka lots of umami, which is always good. Throw in a lot of kale and a soft boiled egg and it's a completely meal with either rice or noodles. It can even be a one-pot meal, except it's a little hard to drink the soup out of my pot.
Dinner literally takes however long to bring the soup to a boil plus 5 mins (my perfect time for soft boiled eggs).
28 July 2015
26 July 2015
kyusu #1
Presenting, the newly acquired sibling of my yixing: a tokoname kyusu.
Specifically, a dragon pot!
I've been stalking artistic nippon for the longest time ever since I came upon the kyusu appreciation thread on teachat. Was originally looking for a houin or a shiboridashi since I like the gaiwan's ergonomics, but couldn't find one that had both the aesthetics that I wanted at the right price point. Then this pot came up and it was quite love at first sight...and over budget, but splurging on teapots is one of the privileges of having a paid internship.
First the packaging.
The lid has really good tolerance, very much appreciated. Same with the fancy paper and the neatly tied ribbon. Even the bubble wrap was neatly folded like how you would for gift wrapping. On top of that, the packaging tape was orderly taped, which is a feat in itself. Overall it goes to show the care by both the craftsman and the seller. I (and teachat people) highly recommend ordering from AN.
Bonus points for prompt email replies from AN, one of my biggest pet peeves.
Onto the pot itself.
I didn't expect to like a rather ornamental tea pot, but the dragon got me. In fact I might make it a rule to only purchase pots with some animal tie-in since my yixing has a lion on the lid too.
The lid tolerance on the pot is great too, it indeed passes the test in which water stops flowing out of the spout when you cover the air hole on the lid. This pours oh-so-wonderfully, I'm tempted to say that it drains faster than my smaller yixing. I tried filming the pour, but I have terrible depth recognition from looking at the screen and ended up spilling half of the pot. One downside of this pot is thatt the filter holes don't go right against the edge, so there will always be some water left inside the pot, which can increase the bitterness of subsequent steeps.
Brewed some chinese green tea as a test run since I have no japense greens left. It brought out more of a beany smell to the wet leaves, and helped mellow out the bitterness. I surprisingly tasted some perfume-y floral at the earlier steeps, and some unami in the later ones, will have to confirm these with subsequent sessions.
Specifically, a dragon pot!
I've been stalking artistic nippon for the longest time ever since I came upon the kyusu appreciation thread on teachat. Was originally looking for a houin or a shiboridashi since I like the gaiwan's ergonomics, but couldn't find one that had both the aesthetics that I wanted at the right price point. Then this pot came up and it was quite love at first sight...and over budget, but splurging on teapots is one of the privileges of having a paid internship.
First the packaging.
The lid has really good tolerance, very much appreciated. Same with the fancy paper and the neatly tied ribbon. Even the bubble wrap was neatly folded like how you would for gift wrapping. On top of that, the packaging tape was orderly taped, which is a feat in itself. Overall it goes to show the care by both the craftsman and the seller. I (and teachat people) highly recommend ordering from AN.
Bonus points for prompt email replies from AN, one of my biggest pet peeves.
Onto the pot itself.
I didn't expect to like a rather ornamental tea pot, but the dragon got me. In fact I might make it a rule to only purchase pots with some animal tie-in since my yixing has a lion on the lid too.
The lid tolerance on the pot is great too, it indeed passes the test in which water stops flowing out of the spout when you cover the air hole on the lid. This pours oh-so-wonderfully, I'm tempted to say that it drains faster than my smaller yixing. I tried filming the pour, but I have terrible depth recognition from looking at the screen and ended up spilling half of the pot. One downside of this pot is thatt the filter holes don't go right against the edge, so there will always be some water left inside the pot, which can increase the bitterness of subsequent steeps.
Brewed some chinese green tea as a test run since I have no japense greens left. It brought out more of a beany smell to the wet leaves, and helped mellow out the bitterness. I surprisingly tasted some perfume-y floral at the earlier steeps, and some unami in the later ones, will have to confirm these with subsequent sessions.
25 July 2015
detailing
Table during the weekend (typ.)
From this, I can conclude that the most likely death for my laptop is water damage.
Tried brewing some shou puer in my little yixing pot today. It taste ever so subtly cleaner, the earthiness is ever so slightly elevated, and the later steeps taste a tad sweeter all relative to how I usually brew it in a gaiwan. Honestly I can't tell whether it's real or just a placebo effect of knowing that's how unglazed clay usually interacts with the tea.
PS. I learned how to mimic vsco's fade tool in photoshop :D Just drag the bottom-left node in the curves adjustment up. The color balance adjustment is also better than the gradient map for doing subtle split toning.
24 July 2015
20 July 2015
qi lan
Some yancha on a slow weekend afternoon.
Psst I just bought this little guy a friend. Super excited for it to arrive.
Psst I just bought this little guy a friend. Super excited for it to arrive.
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