To Collect or To Simplify?

I have always had an inclination to collect things. As a young kid it was action figures (especially Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), as a teen it was rock albums, and throughout my life I've been known as "a penguin collector" by my friends and family. So... as many of my readers can totally relate, my growing tea obsession triggered a major teapot and puer tea cake collecting phase of my life. I now share my home with around 40 teapots and approximately 20 kilos of puer tea. Some of you might think that's a lot, while others will think that it's "barely anything."

I'm proud of my teapots and my puer. Even the puer cakes that I know are not very good have a place on my tea shelf. I'm sure every puer collector must, for one reason or another, purchase bad tea. I've even heard the venerable MarshalN refer to this concept as the collector's "tuition." Looking at, and organizing, my teapots and my puer brings me pleasure and I feel they are worth every penny.

That being said, I've really put on the breaks lately when it comes to collecting tea and teaware. Inspired in part by books such as Radical Homemakers, The Urban Homestead, and Simplicity Parenting, my wife and I have been on our own journey towards self reliance, simplification, and community building. Mainly we are doing little things like getting to know our neighbors, producing more of our own food, and limiting (sometimes easier said than done) our own and our children's screen time. We're not interested in living entirely "off the grid," instead we're just trying to be more conscious of where our money is going and focus most of our efforts on building a happy and fulfilling home life. Buying "stuff," especially when we can make it ourselves, barter for it, or simply "do without," no longer seems to fit with our lifestyle.

This doesn't mean I'll ever stop buying new tea and teaware. I'll still occasionally treat myself to small quantities of seasonal tea when money allows. It just means that I won't be impulsive (also easier said than done), and I'll only buy new or used things when I need to replace something else and I can't figure out a free way to acquire them.

My tea friend J. (first mentioned in my 2009 Gratitude post) once told me, "You know you've made it when you don't have to buy your own tea anymore." He alluded to his father in Taiwan whose friends and family give him more than enough great tea. He can drink all he wishes and re-gift any surplus. I want to be more like J's father in that respect. I hope that the more I write about tea, share homegrown produce, and help out my friends and neighbors the more great tea and teaware will come my way.

Infuser Basket vs Tea Bag Experiment

Last week, my coworker Elliot and I conducted an "Infuser Basket vs Tea Bag Experiment" while working at the Teacup (a retail tea shop and cafe here in Seattle).

The three products we tested were: a medium Finum brand brewing basket, a Finum brand paper tea sack and a (sadly not compostable) polyester tea bag from Japan.

The Packaging

The experiment was conducted in three rounds with the exact same weight of leaf, water temperature, steeping time and cups used each time. Round #1 was Dragon Well green tea, #2 was Darjeeling black tea, and #3 was Kukicha green tea. I choose these three teas because I drink them often and thus already know them quite well.

Round #1 - Set Up

Round #1 - Steeping

During the first round (the Dragon Well) I knew before I started sipping which cup had been used for each brewing method. The next two rounds, on the other hand, Elliot poured the liquor into new cups while I wasn't looking, so that I was cupping them "blind."

The results of the Dragon Well round were as follows: The Finum basket yielded the nicest, nuttiest flavor with the most color, depth and complexity. The Finum paper tea bag was pleasant, a bit lighter than the basket and had a slight dusty note. The Japanese tea bag tasted like garbage compared to the other two. It was too weak with a very faint unpleasant "envelope glue-like" aftertaste.

The results of the Darjeeling round were as follows (keep in mind that this time I didn't know which of the three methods was used until after I'd formed my opinions): The Finum basket had the nicest, richest, cleanest flavor. The Finum paper tea bag fell flat with and odd sort of "filmy" texture in my mouth. The Japanese tea bag actually tasted fine. It just tasted a little weak.

The results for round #3, the Kukicha, were pretty much the same as with the Dragon Well. Even though I didn't know which method was used to brew each cup, I right away guessed the basket because it yielded the greenest color (the other two looked more yellow). Elliot and I thought the basket tasted twice as good as the others and I even picked up a tiny hint of that "unpleasant envelope glue flavor" from the Japanese tea bag cup.

These results were in line with my past experiences but it was still a great exercise to test them with all the variables controlled.

Long Yuan Hao - Bing vs. Tuo - Round 2

On August 8, 2007, I first did a comparison style "cupping" of my 2006 Gold Medal Long Yuan Hao Puer Cake (金級龍園號普洱餅茶) and Tuo-cha (沱茶) for my MySpace tea blog (does anybody still remember MySpace?). Almost a year later, when I started this blog, I reposted it (linked here), and at the end of that post I stated my intention of recupping these teas together every 3 years... and now here we are, late July 2010! Boy, how time flies!

During the last three years, these two sheng puer teas (生普洱茶) have been waiting on my puer shelf behind a curtain in my bedroom. I haven't drunk either of them since 8-8-07 and I did not read the original post prior to today's cupping so that it would not influence my taste buds.

I am now aware that these two teas are not exactly the same leaves pressed into two different shapes (as I had assumed back in 2007). The tuo-cha has the name Banna Tai Zi (Banna Prince) (版納太子) and the cake has the name Banna Yin Xiang (Banna Impression) (版納印象). Their vintage (2006), factory (Long Yuan Hao), and origin (Banna, Yunnan, China) may all be the same, but they are definitely two different teas.

The dry leaf on the Tuo seemed to be a bit smaller with a few more silvery leaves than the Bing (cake). This may be partially due to the leaf compression on the Tuo, which was considerably tighter.

Mr. Tuo


Mr. Bing

I used 5 grams of leaf in a bowl with about 8 ounces of boiling water (this being roughly the same cupping method that I used three years ago). I then reinfused the leaves five times, while constantly stirring and smelling the broth with identical ceramic spoons. My wife joined me halfway through (just as she did three years ago) to offer her opinion. As I type this post, I am drinking the cold liquor of both teas which have now been steeping for several hours.

The stage is set.

The aroma of the Bing was consistently maltier, smokier and rounder than the Tuo's which came through as brighter, pine-needle-y, and kind of "fruity and hoppy" like a light fizzy beer. Of interest to me was the evolution of the Bing's aroma over time into a more savory, soupy and sometimes unpleasantly tobacco-like smell. The Tuo, on the other hand, always seemed to have a sweet, crisp and playful smell regardless of steeping time.

The Bing was sweeter on the tongue with a hint of cacao flavor and a finish like charcoal baked oolong. The Tuo was more susceptible to bitterness and even reminded me of over-steeped Dragonwell green tea at one point. That being said, I slightly preferred the Tuo this time around, because now that both teas are cold, the Tuo is still clean and refreshing while the Bing is swampy and tobacco-y.

These teas have both changed quite a bit since my 8-8-07 cupping and I would no longer say that these puer cakes are "both superb." They are very good and I'm happy to have them around... but other sheng puer teas have impressed me more in the last couple years.

Good night Mr. Tuo and Mr. Bing. I'll see you both again in 2013!

Pretty Tuo vs Ugly Tuo

Ladies and Gentlemen... tonight's main event is a steel cage match-up between longtime Xiao Tuocha (小沱茶) puer rivals!

In the steel cage!

In this corner, weighing in at 4.12 grams, our returning champion, "Pretty Boy Tuo"...

Pretty Boy:

Pretty Boy showing off his nice physique:

...and in this corner, weighing in at a mere 4.02 grams, tonight's challenger, "Ugly Joe Tuo"!

Ugly Joe:

Joe minus that tattered rag:

Ding! and there's the bell. Pretty Boy started round one with a full bodied brew, though his tea soup was a bit "thinner" than Ugly Joe's more luscious broth. Ugly Joe wins round one with complex, and almost "keemun-like" punch (pardon the pun).

Round 1 goes to Ugly Joe!

Ding! Round two is off to a great start with both combatants putting forth a thick black infusion. This time Pretty Boy pulls ahead with a divine "milky smooth" brew. Joe falls short with a distinct "dirt" taste that distracts from the infusion's redeeming qualities.

Round 2 goes to Pretty Boy!

This steel cage match-up went on for 3 more exciting rounds with each tuocha presenting great cups of dark puer tea. The referees (me and Shu Shu) decided to relax, stop taking notes, zone out and enjoy these luscious teas. In the fifth and last round Ugly Joe came through with a slightly darker color and a more pleasant flavor.

And the winner is... UGLY JOE! WE HAVE A NEW CHAMPION! (...and the crowd goes wild!)

Long Yuan Hao - "Bing vs Tuo"

In July 2007 I received a small shipment of puer tea cakes (普洱餅茶) imported directly from Yunnan, China. These cakes were all young sheng cha (生茶). Among the 8 different varieties I imported, one was the "2006 Long Yuan Hao Gold Medal Bingcha" (龍園號金級餅茶). All the tea cakes look, smell and taste great but this cake is a standout for me. After I posted some photos of these new tea cakes my online tea buddy (thanks John!) mentioned that he had the tuocha (沱茶) version of the same 2006 Long Yuan Hao Gold Medal tea in his personal puer collection! We decided to do a little puer trade, and age the teas together. This experiment should help us to further understand the ways different compressed tea shapes will age. Also, this tea experiment may provide insights on American puer aging regionalities, because I am in Seattle and he is in Virginia. I plan to cup these teas together every 3 years and post the tasting notes to my blog.

On August 8, 2007 I did the first cupping to get a baseline on these young green puers. Both the Bing (cake shaped) and the Tuo (bowl shaped) had long twisted leaves and a really sweet aroma. The bing had a little more smoke in the aroma while the tuo was subtle. The dry leaves looked similar with a gorgeous mix of color including green, white, orange, yellow and brown.

I used the bowl and spoon cupping method with 5 grams of each tea plus 1.5 cups of 200 degree water. I mixed each tea gently while smelling the spoons. They both smelled amazing. These teas have very lively and complex aromas. The tuo's aroma was softer and a bit fruitier, like a green apple. The bing has more warming smoke and a camphorish spice, but these notes were also present in the tuo.

After 2 minutes, I ladled the tea soup into two small tea bowls. The color was brilliant yellow on each cup and both had crystal clear broth. I tasted the Bing first. It was sublime. The taste was very sweet and smooth. The smoky aroma was gone as I sipped the tea. In its place was a fruity, herbaceous aroma with a hint of licorice. Then I tasted the tuo. It had a great, although slightly weaker, taste than the bing. Also, it finished with a tiny hint of astringency that the bing, steeped to the exact same degree, did not. After a few more sips of the tuo its flavors seemed to adjust and instead of astringency I felt a sparkling sweetness that I associate with high mountain oolong teas.

I added more water several times and enjoyed each infusion, then I took a closer look at the infused leaves. I found that those of the tuo were slightly less even, having more small, medium and large bits than the bing which was almost completely large twisted leaves.

I savored each puer for a short time as did my wife, who slightly favored the bing, for its superior complexity and smoothness. We both agree that each tea was superb and look forward to revisiting them every 3 years.

Tuocha (left) Bingcha (right):

Tuo and Bing (naked):

Puer tea soup:


Tea soup (wide shot):

A happy puer cupping guy: