Sencha gong fu style

On a walk the other day I saw this tree, abundantly blooming as if it were a question about life and death. If we lived our lives like that – what would be possible…

In the morning, I had my usual japanese sencha “Midori”, (which means ‘green’) from singtehus.dk. It has a thick texture in the first brew, a jade colour, like dew, and such a refreshing taste, and body sensation, that it just is the best in early morning.

Bird postcard by me, 20 years ago. In the evening I harvested some hawthorn, and had some right away. It tasted like honey…

Tea greetings, Ulla

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High Mountain White Peony, Cake 100 gr, ‘Tea For You’

Saturday morning, and the weather is behaving a bit april-like, windy and with showers of rain. But the sun is out now, and through the open balcony door I hear birds like the little munk. There is the wind in the trees, and the mother-of-pearl windchime. And the sight of the glittering sea.

My tea setting today is WHITE. A woolen blanket in off-white as a tea cloth, chabu, a white gaiwan, white cups, both small and big – because it´s only me. And the reason: I will open a 100 gr pressed white tea cake, “High Mountain White Peony Cake, 100 gr”, from http://www.teaforyou.co.uk!

The white wrapping has fibers woven into it, and the label has golden specks of colour. He starts his own review with pictures of white cherry blossoms, and “It´s spring now… and as you can see, the cherry blossom is out now”. I myself have a little flowering hawthorn branch in the vase, from the nearby golf course. It reminds me of, that I soon want to visit the old royal huntings grounds north of Copenhagen, Eremitagen. It is famous for its old and crooky hathorn trees, that are scattered around the open plain. He describes the scent like hay, also in the cup later, followed by a cooling sensation, later brews with more fruitiness (5 gr, water just of the boil).

Beautiful wrapping, and un-wrapping. Structured paper with bits of “hay” fibres in it! The scent is like a meadow, yes, where the hay is lying, cut, on top of the ground, wet… Big, furry leaves and buds, woven together in an organic pattern, with colour hues ranging from dark brown, over dark green, to light off-white and grey. The cake seems light, and tapping with my fingers, it sounds hollow… the sound would make a very good ASMR video, it it so meditative pure… Finding my way in with my fingers (forgot the “knife”), I find the leaves lying in layers, so I break of a part of the upper layer, it comes off in a moon shaped oval. Whole leaves, both green and white, fall off. It is like collecting leaves in the forrest underwood… pure nature.

The big leaves stick out of the gaiwan. I am pouring water. 30 seconds. I fill it in three small cups with black laquer ´saucers´ underneath. Smelling the wet leaves, I get more hay, but I also go back to a norwegian summerhouse and its dark red shed, where we as children sat and waited for the mice to come out – I think they stored hay on the upper floor. But now I also smell underwood, wet earth, and forrest.

The tea colour is golden yellow. A surprising thick mouthfeel hits me, golden thick drops, sweet, round, hay, SUN. It is like drinking sun. After the reading about the tea, then observing, watching, and smelling, right NOW it becomes a body sensation. Now I am drinking, now the tea is my body, it becomes me. And it is starting to warm my whole body. I awake. Every cell in my body awakes. The mind stops, giving way to a feeling from inside, and an awareness, a calmness, that wasn´t there before. Such a mild tea – but what a rich tea, heavy tea, awakening the body like this. And maybe even – the soul.

With a green tea, I drank recently, I remember to have had the same so surprising mouth feel of thickness. Here it is again, but with this pressed white tea, not a green one. What experiences tea can give… an adventure, an lifelong exploring for the senses… and again, the soul.

While brewing again, and waiting, there is a quietness – like listening to the tea brewing. This 2. brew, after 35 seconds, is more orange in colour. The taste deeper, more fruity, HAY – just a little less round. The water getting closer to the cores of the leaves. I earlier had the thought, tastewise, of “books”, in a good way. The taste of golden books… Looking up, at the horison the rapeseed field on the island of Hven is flowering: bright yellow golden, too.

3. brew (1 min). I fill the tea into the bigger cup, by a swedish potter, it is now golden orange. I open a book I choose for this morning, browsing my bookshelves, about Canterbury – and incidentally open on a page, which has a golden watercolour of just the same hues as the tea. The motive is the old Greyfriar building in the center of the town. I have seen it – and memories go back to that, a sunny day, full of flowers and birds.

I feels like I am grounded by a golden lake now, I feel warm, round, calm, happy. I breath in, and my whole body breathes.

Turning a page: “This is the birthplace of Christopher Marlowe, one of the nests of Elizabethan singing birds -“. No better way to conclude this morning, than with his words: “With mouth of gold, and morning in his eyes.”

Tea greetings, Ulla

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Jade Sword, Mei Leaf

Yesterday I again visited the house that belonged to Karen Blixen – but this time to write about the walk through the garden and park, because it has connection to another danish poet, Johannes Ewald (1743-81). Benches have names, often from birds, because K.B. made it into bird sanctuary. Just outside I collected, and draw, some “ramsløg”, wild garlic.

One of the last mornings of the lockdown, a cloudy saturday early morning. I am preparing the room by lighting a new incense, bought in Elsinore recently: White sage cones by “elements”, “traditionally used in Native American rituals and ceremonies it cleanses and purifies while provides a naturally soothing environment”. It somehow calms and refreshes at the same time. Also, still in the room, the scent of drying nettles, plantain and especially woodruff.

Then it is Mei Leaf once more. In short, it is a high class Anji Bai Cha from Zhejiang, march 2019, with notes of “freshly mowed grass, asparagus umami, starfruit and green pumpkin seeds”. While brewing, I listen Don’s video about the tea and his recommandations for brewing.

The wet leaves, after brewing 3gr 25 sec., have an amazing scent of s.th. savory, that is even more complex and deep than what he describes – I imagine a whole plate with butterfried MEAT, and vegetables, maybe green beans and asparagus, on the side. THAT’S interesting…

The tea itself round, medium thick, fresh meadowlike, as Don said. The whole ‘meal’ is not in the liquor, though (I later smell the wet leaves after the 2. brewing, and there it is again!).

Next to me sit a big round fluorite crystal, I also picked up in Elsinore. It does s.th. to me in my hand, and when we checked its meaning in a book, it said cleansing, clearing ones mind, learning and making decisions. Great.

The tea matches so well this white green scent of sage – the light turquoise fluorite stone – the view out of the window at the calm silvergrey sea – and the park trees all clad in fresh lime green leaves, still small and delicate… The taste of the tea is so sweet and round and back in the mouth somehow. No astringency at all. A good morning it was – and a good morning and day to you.

Ulla

 

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Green Coil, Mei Leaf

Yesterday was a strange day. A monday, which is fetting closer to a time, where Denmark and the world be soon opening again, after the Corona virus… and expext to be called to work soon, after the lockdown. But not this week then.

Two important things happened yesterday. On a oersonal level, it happened, that my first book at a ‘proper’ publishing company went into print. It is about a 84 km hiking path along the danish-german border, published in this year of the 100 year anniversary of the border being drawn where it is now, in 1920. It was drawn after a democratic voting of the people. I am looking foreward to hold the result of walking, photographing and writing in my hands, and am quite excited.

The other important thing that happened, on a much bigger scale, was, that Denmark yesterday celebrated 75y after the end of WWII in Denmark. The exaxt date and time is May 4th, 1945, 20.34. Celebrated every year by setting candles in the windows, because the dark times, where you had to keep your curtains down at night, to not attract the enemy, were over. Not being able to meet in big crouds, people sang from balconies and waved flags, and there was an hours celebration on national tv. A reminder of peace, in strange times.

Tea. I needed cheering up for some reason, so I open a new tea from Mei Leaf, with small ‘green snail’ like leaves, very tiny, thin and coiled. Bi Luo Chun, “Green Coil” from Mei Leaf, 2019. The wet leaves smell really interesting, they expanded a bit, but still keep coiled. When I smell them again now, cold and wet, the ‘buttered spinach’, which the people behind call it, actually makes sense… these Mei Leaf tasting notes amaze me always.

1. brew 15 seconds, in gaiwan, 80 degrees C. Light yellow green colour. I leave the tea a bit after taking pictures, read the ‘gong fu cha’ facebook group updates. Suddenly I realise, the tea is waiting for me. (Someone actually recently put a comic strip out on the group, joking about drinkibg cold tea.. ) But it is still warm, and amazingly round, and thick, and sweet, and a bit elderflowery. This is a very special green tea. Peopke who buy bad gunpowder tea and think that is green tea, should try this! MUMS, as we say in danish for something delicate, delicious, gourmet.

Funny, in my nose I have a very strong scent of some woodruff, that I harvested in a forest nearby, on may 1st, and which gives off this scent in the room. Sweet elderflower like, too. It will be part of a next batch of loose incense mixture, a shaman like recipe with lical herbs, including wormwood, cedar, lavender, and rose petals.

2nd brew. Wet leaves smell less sweet, as if some sweet skin has been rubbed off them, and the water has begone to enter the harder core of the leaf. The liquid is still thick, amazing, how a liquor at all can be felt as thick. A luttle less sweet, but round and friendly.

Peace & good health to you 💕

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Elder White, Mei Leaf

Finally I ordered tea from to Mei Leaf again, who I have visited in London, and whose videos on tea brewing the chinese gong fu way are the top ones on Youtube. They are the most educating, and fun, and the guys who have the best taste buds in the world, both Don and Celine… They are doing amazing work.

And Mei Leafs order has arrived. I start enjoying the small samples one by one. Starting out with Elder White, the earliest thick, furry and multi-layered buds from the tea trees, which, if not plucked, would evolve into stems – not leaves, as the later buds are. It has a wonderful, deep floral elderberry scent, especially the wet leaves… I can smell it again, just by looking at the pictures.

Look at the words they use to describe THIS tea: pure poetry. For eksempel:
“Eyes – Dry leaves: Pastel green, cream, gold and pink hued furry, thick layered buds.
“Nose – dry leaves: Nutmeg, gooseberry and clay pottery workshops.

The leaves are beautiful, coming out of the little red package. Full and compact, thick buds.

Here the sun has gone after nearly six weeks of spring sunshine – grey today, stormy with white tops on the waves of the sea outside the window. On the balcony the bamboo lamps remind me of the feeling yesterday evening, where I had placed candles in them, and they were celebrating the last warm evening – for now.

Brewing the leafes with 95 degr C water, 4,5 gram in a pocelain gaiwan, for 20 seconds (and 5 sec more each following brew), as they recommend, looks like this:

The light colour of this sheng pu erh matches the light yellow grey feeling of the day – and the taste warms me from the inside, and promises elderflower early summer and sunlight again. (I have seen the first buds on an elderflower tree two days ago!) The smell of the wet leaves after the 1. brew is amazing. SO much elderflower! A little bit “cut wood” sweetness also. If it is abricots and marcipan, I don´t know, but definitively ELDERFLOWER.

“Mouth – texture: soft medium.”
“Mouth – taste: Elderflower, pine, avocado and fresh apricots.”
“Nose – empty cup: Talcum and vanilla icing sugar.”

Later the same day, I visited Karen Blixens danish home and park. Her grave is right under this big beech tree in the back of the garden, which also is a bird sanctuary. Another danish poet has stayed in the same house 200 years earlier, Johannes Ewald…

Take care, and enjoy your day.

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Special Yunnan Tuocha II

Same tea, but today with japanese equipment, and 1. time on my low table, which I finally set up for tea drinking. I also use it for drawing though, so that’s why it is not overfilled. I enjoy using the testubin, a cast iron teapot, the gaiwan, a wooden plate from the old Jugoslavia, a letter opener I have from my mother, and a wonderful red teacup…

And the teacup: drinking from a quite big sencha cup, dark red-brown pottery by Gregory Miller, who spent many years in Japan learning saltglazing a.o. I visited him and his two homemade kilns in Horne, northern Judland, quite a few years back now, after he gad had an exhibition at the japanese ambassys cukture center. The whole thing on a dark blue cloth from Japan.

Incense…

And taking the 5th and 6th brew outside : )

Enjoy yours…

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Special Yunnan Tuocha

The whole Corona lockdown has been 100% sun – as if the universe reliefed thanks us, humanity, for giving it a break. Less transport, less planes, less of everything unneccessary…

So I had tea out on the balcony again today: a 100 gr cake of Shou Pu erh, from Winhonco, France. The reason is, that I yesterday watched Tea Masters class / live videa about Shou (cooked) Pu erh tea. He is so generous in this time to make a tea class every morning! In this case, he was brewing both 1. and 2. brew for two minutes each, quite long. And regarding the amount of tea, after brewing, he had the gaiwan filled one third. No washing “when the tea is clean”, I don’t know about mine : )  Anyway, trying the same procedure today.

Mine was thick and very not-transparent as a soup, strong but actually round and mellow in taste despite the long brewing time, as Stepane Erlér also described. Haiku of some kind:

Balcony is all mine – / nobody sees me nearly naked / this strange spring.

I am drinking from three different cups: a small blue-white, about 10 ml, as I would sharing the tea with others…

…then the swedish one that holds the content of the whole gaiwan…

…and a chinese “temokku”, hare-glazed chawan. Usyally it is for very ceremonial jap. teaceremony, where it is served on a black laquer stand:

The sea is calm and reflects the sun like a mirror.

Still in lockdown – / my two neighbours exchange news / each on their terrasse

Best, Ulla : )

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Master Xu’s Rou Gui, Postcard Teas

Outside on the balcony, this spring is having a certain ‘continuency’ – all this time the Corona lockdown has been on, there has been sunshine all over, each day. I am drinking another tea I bought in London 2018. The label says:

“A roasted yancha (rock tea) from the Zhengyan area of the Wuyi Mountains in Fujian, made my Master Xu, the make (?).and of the guardians of the Da Hong Pao mother trees. Compared to ( … other Rou Guis) this tea is more subtle and not as rich with more of a pronounced floral fragrance and fruit juice sweetness. Brew it with water just off the boil and 6 gr per cup.”

Smelling the dry leaves: chocolate. Short washing. Smelling the wet leaves: coffee! 1. brew: 15 seconds. Wet leaves changed smell, less strong, softer, mellow, not so ‘agressively’ chocolate.

My teapet, the oxen, is with me out here, and apart from the white gaiwan a teacup that is brown outside, white inside. I started collecting teacups as a teenager, and this one was the first without a handle. It comes from an excursion to Germany’s smallest village, Arnis, and was found at a local potter there.

The colour in the cup is orange, medium, and the taste warm, round, not too strong, but full already, hints of coffee, fruity sweetness as they say.

2. brew: 20 sec. I brew again, and take photoes of the ‘soup’, then of the now darker golden orange tea in the cup. The oxen gets a little bit of it, and the sun, and the dark shaddows it casts, on both teacup and oxen, are beautiful. Hard to get the colour if the tea, I need to take it from above, directly down into the cup, to see the light, the transparency, the sun and shadow versions of the orange colour. On the oxen, the wetness dries quickly in the sun. A haiku about him could be nice… but doesn’t come.

While writing e-mails, I brew the 3. and 4. brew, adding 10 seconds to each if them.

Enjoy YOUR tea… : )

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Phoenix Dan Cong ‘Duck Poo’

This tea makes me remember one of my best tea experiences with tea, on a snowy day in London, at the ‘Chinese Tea Company’ at Portobello Road… another customer and I had a tea session in that dark little shop full of atmosphere, pu erh cakes and tea equipment, tasting, talking.

Now I am bringing one of the teas out in the sun, this april morning on the balcony.

Legend tells, that this tea from the famous Phoenix tea family on a mountain in Guangdong was so good, that the farmer gave it the name ‘duck shit’ to prevent others from taking it.

It is a medium oxidised oolong, very special looking with its long and twisted strings of tea, dark brown with golden highlights. In the cup it is golden in colour, fragrant, floral and fruity with notes of orchids and peaches. Stone fruit sweetness, that lasts many steeps. When brewing, the leaves reveal their dark green colour with the 10-15% of darker brown, oxidised pieces. Pure joy…  and a blueberry muffin.

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April morning – Fragrant Jade Oolong

This beautiful april morning I decided to drink tea on the balcony, even the temperature only is at 7-8 degrees C at this time. I chose a green oolong, Fragrant Jade from A.C. Perch in Copenhagen. Flowery and round, had seven brews or so. And I watched a video made by “Tea Masters” on facebook, about drinking high mountain oolong, for company. After that I was lucky to join his tea session live. He is the absolute expert!

Corona times –

tea is shared with people

across the globe

This last picture was actually from the beginning, throwing the washing water away – into a rosmary bush… just liked the shadow in the teacup : )

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