Wednesday, May 27, 2009

1990 Shu Puerh Cha Xi


Strangely, the weather turned cool today, the eve of Dragon Boat Festival. So, with all my new 'Earth and Fire' accessories, I felt like cooked puerh to warm up and relax. I flaked some of my 1990 wild Tuo Cha and set up this Cha Xi. At first (right), I used 3 similar cups with stand. Then (above), I replaced two with my qingbai 'singing' cup (up) and a 7 days fired cup (right) to compare.

The earthware teapot softened this puerh further, as if it had aged several more years. With the thin glazed qingbai cup, it felt mellow, but also very light in taste. This was very nice, but somehow unexpected given the earthy cooked puerh fragrances. It's a little like a 'Susan Boyle' experience: the looks don't fit the voice or, here, the taste doesn't fit the fragrance. It's a wonderful and refreshing experience to feel fooled by your instincts!

With the original cup (left), again, the double action of the teapot and the porous cup proved too strong for the tea and it tasted too weak. (Best to use with a glazed tea vessel and/or a rougher tea).

The 7 days fired cup added depth to the taste and gave the most harmonious result. 

Tomorrow noon, I hope to fetch some 'noon water' from the mountain of Shan Lin Shi! I'll take off for a few days and will return early next week. 
I wish you all a nice Dragon Boat Festival!
  

3 comments:

geneviève meylan said...

voir les 2 prises de vue d'en haut pour le cha xi "bleu" et celui-ci "brun" est intéressant. Deux mondes ! le premier aérien, avec une pointe d'exubérance florale et le brun , terrien lourd où l'on sent la terre et le feu.Très intéressant comment accessoires et couleurs donnent l'impression d'un thé de manière visuelle.

TeaMasters said...

Merci Ginkgo pour ton observation pertinente. Les accessoires permettent à la vue et au toucher de participer à la fête du thé. Cette harmonie à tous les niveaux renforce le plaisir. J'imagine que c'est aussi pourquoi tu continues ta recherche (remarquable) de textures, de couleurs, de formes... dans tes céramiques. Ce choix permet de trouver exactement le sentiment qu'on cherche à exprimer par le thé!

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience