Boil 2-- Pu eggs and other new things!

So i had some eggs, and so pu-erh tea from Adagio that i had gotten as a free sample. I've tried drinking this pu-erh twice and both times the taste has just been drinkable, but the smell was rather bad. so i decided to use if for my tea-eggs this time around... in retrospect it wasn't the best of ideas.

brewed in a small batch the pu-erh is just a bit smelly. add it to an entire pot of boiling water and let it simmer for an hour or so and the entire room will smell like a pachyderm house. no. i am NOT kidding. i actually heard people in the hallway wondering where the funky smell was coming from. a spell in the fridge was actually worse. the entire fridge smelled like pu.

i'm sure in time the smell of pu-erh will not faze me in the slightest. but currently it makes me gag a bit. Pu-erh, i've been told, is rather like dark wine, it's an acquired taste. Apparently very earthy and delicious. Pu-erh is usually tea that has been pressed into Beengs, basically Frisbee like disks of tea. Tea producers sell these beengs and the people that buy it will age it, usually at least 3-5 years before having some. Older beengs of pu are usually sold for more. However if stored properly it can supposedly last much longer than wine, which will eventually re-ferment and become nasty sour tasting wine.

When you decide the pu is ripe for the drinking then you take the beeng and using a pu-pick (i'm sure that this has a proper name... but it's basically like a letter opener) you break apart the disk of pu. slowly working your way around the pu to break it in half and then flexing the half of the disks carefully so you wiggle the individual leaves free instead of riping and tearing them.

Pu collecting is something that many serious pu-drinkers do. Some people have seperate storage areas for their pu, much like a cigar or wine collector would. This is not unlike the tea-fridge's that many white/green/oolong drinkers have started to use to store their teas.

i actually have not tried these yet. i'm worried about how they'll taste, maybe i'll mix them up and make egg salad? i'll keep ya'll posted.

In other news! Meet the newest member of the family, the Shudei kyusu from Den's Tea.

isn't it cute?! it's a 9oz glazed kyusu that they're currently offering to past customers for 9 bucks, or if you're a first time customer you can order it in a 'novice package' which is basically the starter package with this kyusu. If all kyusus are this cute i may have a problem restraining myself from buying them @,@

I christened the new pot with some Houjicha Gold, or roasted bancha. It was cold today and it really hit the spot! In this order i also got some more of the Genmaicha Extra Green that i've previously reviewed. But the main reason that i ordered right before the new greens came out was because i wanted to try their sakura sencha.

ohhh. it was good the first time around. i should be reviewing it later this week since i'm more or less recovered from my strep.

Cup 8-- Houjicha Gold (Roasted Bancha)

There is a certain type of cereal of which i am fond of. It's Puffed Brown Rice. While many people do not like it because it's rather bland, i find it crunchy a good snack food. Houjicha Gold reminds me of Puffed Brown Rice.

The leaves have a slightly sweet, but definite rice smell. The leaves themselves are chopped pieces of leaf with stem. They produce a dark gold or amber liquor that is smooth and has a mild rice and nutty taste. It reminds me of sitting in the woods, with the sun filtering down thru the leaves and a good book in my lap. Very comforting.

Perhaps it's how Houjicha is made. Houjicha is made by roasting Bancha over high heat. Bancha, also known as 'common tea', is made from the thick bottom part of the tea leaf of the second flush, the leaves come from the same tea trees that are used to produce Sencha. Because it is made of wide, second flush leaves, Bancha is considered lower quality and as such, is less expensive.

'Second Flush' simply means that it was in the second season for picking. The first flush, or first picking season, typically happens in March. The second season usually begins in May or June. Usually for higher grade teas only the bud and the two leaves below the bud are picked. However for Bancha the older leaves are picked.

Houjicha is reportedly low in caffeine since it is made of green tea, and then roasted. This is in addidtion to the other reported helath benefits of tea, such as reducing cavities, enhancing memory, preventing sickness of many kinds etc. It has a taste that would go well with any type of food. In Japan it is commonly drunk after dinner and is popular among the elderly and children. I will confess that it's easily becoming one of my favorites.

Kind-Green Tea
Brew Time-Less than a minute
Water Temp-170* or there abouts
Color- Dark gold or amber
Fragrance- roasty toasty rice and nuts
Taste-a bit sweet and toasty
Best during-meals and after dinner (before bed?)
Style- Loose
Price per oz- $2.00
Place bought- Den's Tea
Overall- will buy more as soon as it's in stock :3