The young, tender leaf-and-bud sets just before harvest.
The total 19 gram harvest.
First the leaves were withered indoors (at around 68° F) in the green stoneware bowl pictured above for 5.5 hours. Then a plate was put over the bowl, to act as a lid, as I shook the leaves very vigorously for 3 minutes. At this point the leaves were uncovered and allowed to oxidize in the bowl for about 16 hours. During this oxidation time, I occasionally mixed the leaves gently and sniffed their developing sweet aroma.
At 5:15 AM on April 27, 2010, I preheated my electric oven to 250° F and baked the bowl of leaves for 22 minutes (mixing once during the bake). After the bake, I transferred the leaves to a cool bowl, then, once the leaves had cooled down, I weighed them. The total yield of finished tea was 6.5 grams. Finally I put my newborn oolong tea into a little glass jar to wait until its debut later this week.
I am looking for a few tea friends to join me at Teacup on Saturday May 1st at 9:30 AM for a free tasting of my home-grown tea. All are welcome. Please contact me if you'll be able to come.
After 5.5 hours of withering and 6 hours of oxidation:
At 5:15 AM on April 27, 2010, I preheated my electric oven to 250° F and baked the bowl of leaves for 22 minutes (mixing once during the bake). After the bake, I transferred the leaves to a cool bowl, then, once the leaves had cooled down, I weighed them. The total yield of finished tea was 6.5 grams. Finally I put my newborn oolong tea into a little glass jar to wait until its debut later this week.
6.5 grams of finished tea:
I am looking for a few tea friends to join me at Teacup on Saturday May 1st at 9:30 AM for a free tasting of my home-grown tea. All are welcome. Please contact me if you'll be able to come.
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7 comments:
This looks delightful! I would be very curious to hear how this turns out!
Makes me want to plant some tea bushes! Could I make tea in a college dorm room...? hmmm...
This is great! Show us some tea brewing pictures later! Please!
How often will you be able to harvest your tea plants?
Thanks for the comments everybody. I'll definitely do a post in early May about how the tea actually tasted with some pictures too!
Cindy- If this year is anything like last year I'll be able to make another harvest in the late summer. (One harvest usually makes only enough tea for one small teapot!)
Very cool, Brett! I love that you have your own tea estate. How did it smell while it whilted? Was it anything like what we smelled in Alishan?
Hi Mei Mei, It was very much like that heavenly aroma that we smelled during Alishan High Mt. oolong production!
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