I'm happy that you both had a good time together. Both of your posts
were interesting reading. :-)
Jaime



On Mon, 03 May 2004 14:43:55 GMT, Michael Plant >
wrote:

>on 5/3/04 00:55, Ripon Zaman at wrote:
>
>> I was trying to go down to NY to meet Michael, Lew and some other tea mailer
>> friends but somehow it was not working for me. At last Michael came to visit
>> me and we had a whole day long tea tasting session. It was an honor and great
>> pleasure for me to meet an experience, gentle, knowledgeable tea person, such
>> as- Michael. We exchanged a lot of tea information and had great time
>> together. I was so impressed to see Michael's mobile tea accessory box(Sort of
>> a small biological weapon career- just kidding. We had tasted:
>
>Believe me, the honor was all mine. We did have a delightful time. BTW, it
>*was* a small biological weapon carrier before I converted it. Just kidding.
>It's actually one of those Pelican camera cases with a You-Cut-It-Out-to-
>Fit-The-Camera foam block insert.
>>
>> 1)Pi Lo chun- Michael collected from a vendor from NY, very pricy 50g $50.
>> Excellent green tea. We used Gai Bei pot and had five infusion.
>
>Yes, a most remarkable BLC. The best one I've ever seen or tasted. We used
>one of Ripon's Chinese wide handleless bowls with a spout pulled out of the
>clay at one spot -- does that make sense to you? -- as a cooling pot, after
>the nature of the Korean cooling pots. This allowed us to bring the water
>temperature down quickly without much need for a thermometer. You just feel
>the side of said bowl. This tea, BTW, is almost buttery in a Gyokuro sort of
>a way.
>>
>> 2)Wu Xi Hao cha-Very rare kind of green tea-a gift from China. I was happy to
>> see, Michael enjoyed it. We had three infusion with Gai Bei pot.
>
>This tea is exquisite. The leaves are small, whole, very hairy and fluffy .
>The taste is delicate and fresh. The aroma is unagressive floral. It's not a
>BLC, but a perfect complement to it.
>>
>> 3)Darjeeling first flush- This black tea was from a German
>> vendor(Teekampagne), we just had a cup of infusion with bone China English tea
>> set. I need to try couple more times to talk about this tea's quality. It was
>> black Darjeeling from Ambootia tea estate 2003.
>
>This tea probably needs experimentation to get it just right. It's
>identifiable as Darjeeling, but without distinguished characteristics. It
>really takes well to white bone China, though. And it's been years since
>I've had tea in an English tea cup, so that was nice too.
>>
>> 4)Phoenix Oolong-Michael brought this Oolong plucked from 700 years old tea
>> tree. A great tea, we used a Taiwanese made Yixing looking pot. We had six
>> infusion. Michael told me, with this great kind of Oolong- we could have gone
>> for 15 multiple infusion. I liked this Oolong a lot.
>
>This tea is balance. You get the berry, spice, flower, resin, bitter bite,
>sweet finish, and so on and on, but you get them all muted and in balance.
>Further, different qualities come to the fore in different steeps, and you
>can actually control for these somewhat by varying steep time and
>temperature. A most remarkable tea. And, in the pot, as green as I've ever
>seen a Phoenix leaf. (This is a Silk Road tea.)
>>
>> 5)Green processed Pu-Erh(1996):I had a long break with good Pu-erh for last
>> couple of years. I really appreciate Michael again brought me back with this
>> excellent aged green processed Pu-erh. It was from silk road. We really
>> enjoyed this tea with our 6-7 multiple infusion. Michael was very kind to
>> share some of this with me. I am so excited to try this tomorrow with his
>> gift-a Yixing pot.
>
>It was Silk Road's Green Bamboo Pu-erh 1996. Lew had originally introduced
>me to it. It's my favorite so far. Light musky green florals. Extraordinary.
>And, like the Phoenix, it just goes and goes. It's very forgiving too. A
>semi-gungfu seems best, using a not overly high temperature. I've more or
>less settled on one gram of leaf per one ounce of water. Breaking the leaf
>up, but leaving small chunks too seems to allow multiple steeps to flurish,
>since it takes a couple steeps to draw from the middle of the little chunks.
>Or, so it seems to me.
>>
>> Practically the whole day, except launch-we just drank teas and talk a lot
>> about tea. I always miss my tea friends from Bangladesh but meeting Michael
>> was an different excitement. Michael made my week so meaningful by sharing his
>> great teas and valuable time with me. Thank you Michael for coming down here
>> from far away and sharing the whole wonderful Sunday with me.
>
>Well, I couldn't think of a more pleasant way to spend my time. How valuable
>my time is is arguable. Please thank Jessica again for the delicious lunch.
>BTW, they have the world's most adorable little kids.
>
>Ripon, thanks again for all the tea, especially the "white,"and the "Assam
>Golden Tips." We'll try them in New York City water and see how they work.
>
>Michael

Jaime
******
On Neanderthin and loving it!!