ccr's recent activity

  1. Comment on In celebration of the Food/Drink group officially opening in ~food

    ccr
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    Awesome, thanks for the recommendation!

    Awesome, thanks for the recommendation!

    1 vote

  2. Comment on In celebration of the Food/Drink group officially opening in ~food

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    Unpeated scotch, eh? I'm a bourbon drinker, and have only barely dipped my toes into scotch, but the peaty character can be a bit much sometimes. Unpeated seems like it would take some of the...

    Unpeated scotch, eh? I'm a bourbon drinker, and have only barely dipped my toes into scotch, but the peaty character can be a bit much sometimes. Unpeated seems like it would take some of the smokier character away, is this true? Would you say that an unpeated scotch is more approachable to someone with my taste?

  3. "In Bloom" Puer Tea of Jingmai, Yunnan, China - by Bitterleaf Teas

    ~food Text 234 words
    Any other puer tea fans? This is a 250g beeng ("cake") of pressed sheng puer tea by Bitterleaf Teas from the Jingmai area of Yunnan, produced last spring, so it has settled into itself quite...

    Any other puer tea fans?

    This is a 250g beeng ("cake") of pressed sheng puer tea by Bitterleaf Teas from the Jingmai area of Yunnan, produced last spring, so it has settled into itself quite nicely.
    Dressed
    Undressed

    Don't know what puer is? Puer tea is a Yunnan, China specific tea that is very unique. It is processed differently than the more common white, green, oolong, and black teas. It is valued for its capacity to be aged for years (to decades) transforming through oxidation and fermentation into something much darker, earthier, smoother, and funkier. It is also consumed young for its fresh, floral, fruity, pungent, bitter, vegetal, and/or pleasantly musky green tea-like qualities. Traditionally, this type of tea was pressed into these cakes for ease of transport, and that tradition has held up (also makes it easier for modern shipping due to the dramatically reduced volume of the tea upon pressing). I use a letter opener to pry away several grams of the tea, and brew using gongfu methods. ( If you're curious, I posted more about this over here on the creative tilde )

    This is a very nice tea packed with floral aroma (hence the name "In Bloom"). Great tea from a great producer. I can't say enough good things about Bitterleaf. They can be a bit pricey, but its because of their dedication to producing teas from high quality material.

    7 votes

  4. Comment on What is your favorite tea? in ~food

    ccr
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    A little bit of both :] Let's just say my parents were big Creedence fans

    A little bit of both :] Let's just say my parents were big Creedence fans

  5. Comment on What is your favorite tea? in ~food

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    I'm a huge fan of both sheng and shou puer tea from Yunnan, China. Sheng is like an intense and pleasantly musky green tea when its fresh (young), but ages into something darker than even black...

    I'm a huge fan of both sheng and shou puer tea from Yunnan, China. Sheng is like an intense and pleasantly musky green tea when its fresh (young), but ages into something darker than even black tea over many years (10+). Shou is a "shortcut" processing method that emulates the effects of aging years over the span of only months. It is super dark, thick and funky in a good way (at least to some people). I also love the old tree black teas from Yunnan because they're very robust with an intense and unique fragrance, and do share some characteristics with puer since they're made from the same type of leaf material (Yunnan Assamica varieties).

    When I'm not drinking Yunnan puer or black teas, I'm usually drinking Dancong oolong tea from Guangdong, China. So floral, fruity and spicy with nice mouthfeel, a bit of pleasant bitterness, and a mild roasted character.

    I've got a fairly sizable collection of both. I'll be posting some pictures of some 2018 and 2017 teas that I've taken over the past few months to ~food

    5 votes

  6. Comment on What is your favorite tea? in ~food

  7. Comment on Afternoon Sun on Tea Tray in ~creative

    ccr
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    Thanks! Getting started can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be. With 40 bucks you can have a gaiwan, a tea cup or two, a scale to measure your tea, and of course a few bags of loose tea....

    Thanks! Getting started can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be. With 40 bucks you can have a gaiwan, a tea cup or two, a scale to measure your tea, and of course a few bags of loose tea. Learning the prep does take a bit, but its not a steep learning curve, just gotta practice. I'm a teacher at a residential school and have tea sessions with a few of my students every other week or so, and they're pros with the gaiwan after probably three sessions (I have a bunch of little 60mL gaiwans so they can all prepare their own tea).

    If you're interested in vendors that sell cheap-but-good tea and cheap-but-high-quality teaware, feel free to hit me up here or on instagram @ccr.tea

  8. Comment on Afternoon Sun on Tea Tray in ~creative

    ccr
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    Sure thing! And yes, the ceramic on the far right is the lid to the gaiwan. From what I understand, while there are formalized ceremonies surrounding gongfu tea, they're really just for special...

    Sure thing! And yes, the ceramic on the far right is the lid to the gaiwan.

    From what I understand, while there are formalized ceremonies surrounding gongfu tea, they're really just for special events. Most people use a gaiwan and this style of brewing very casually, just like morning coffee or tea. However the experience is less passive and more focused, so it inherently demands a bit more attention. I find that this is actually pretty relaxing.

    3 votes

  9. Comment on Afternoon Sun on Tea Tray in ~creative

    ccr
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    Ya the aging is very interesting. I got into puer in 2015, and have collected several (ok, I just counted, 32) cakes of sheng puer, about 10 of 2015 vintage, 8 of 2016, and another 8 of 2017. It...

    Ya the aging is very interesting. I got into puer in 2015, and have collected several (ok, I just counted, 32) cakes of sheng puer, about 10 of 2015 vintage, 8 of 2016, and another 8 of 2017. It has been very interesting watching the 2015 tea change over the years, and I look forward to seeing how the newer cakes change as well. Particularly because I also have several aged teas ranging from 2004 to 2009, as well as some mao cha (unpressed puer leaves) from 2008, and they have all aged and fermented very differently. Starting material is of course a huge factor, and the (bio)chemistry of the coupled aging and fermentation process is so complex. So I'm really curious about my fresh puer... I have a distinct taste/preference in what I purchase (in terms of flavors and aromas I look for and prefer) so will they all age/ferment similarly? Its a fun mystery that will take 10-20 years to really know.

    With black tea, the aging is shorter term, but still cool to witness. From companies like Yunnan Sourcing and Farmer Leaf, I've come to understand that many Yunnan tea farmers say their black teas (assamica material grown in Yunnan) are best after aging 2 to 3 years. I'd say I notice the biggest change from the time they are produced to about 6-12 months. The ultra-fresh black tea character, that I've observed in many different types of fresh spring black teas, dissipates and the full character of the tea is revealed. I've never been able to hold onto a black tea for three years, but I've definitely had that last bits of a few bags of black tea make it to the two year mark, and they were fantastic with full aroma, no staleness at all.

    Just to make this a true wall of text, have you tried aged oolong or aged white teas?
    Aged white teas seem to be catching on in popularity, as they really morph into something dark and fruity, if not a little dank, after about 5-8 years. I got some from White2Tea a year or two back and it was extremely intriguing.
    I've had some old Taiwanese oolongs as well. They can develop really interesting plum-like notes after 5-10 years.

    Man, tea is weird but awesome. I love it.

    2 votes

  10. Comment on Afternoon Sun on Tea Tray in ~creative

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    I'm a big fan of tea (Camellia sinensis, the plant where green, white, black, and oolong all come from). I also enjoy photography. So naturally, over the past few years I've taken some photos of...

    I'm a big fan of tea (Camellia sinensis, the plant where green, white, black, and oolong all come from). I also enjoy photography. So naturally, over the past few years I've taken some photos of the teas and teaware that I use.

    This type of setup is referred to as gongfu tea(yes, just like kung fu). It typically involves the tea brewing device, referred to as a gaiwan, which is basically a small (~60-150mL) flaired cup with a lid. This method of brewing uses large amounts of leaf with a small amount of water relative to "western style" brewing. Rather than brewing up a big cup of tea by steeping the leaves for several minutes, you instead brew the leaves many times, steeping only for seconds at a time. For example, a "session" of gongfu brewing might have successive steepings that gradually increase the time (e.g. 10s, 10s, 15s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 40s, 45s, 60s, 90s) until the tea has given all it can.

    The particular tea pictured here is a white tea called a "moonlight white." While I like white tea, I drink puer tea (both the sheng and shou varieties from Yunnan, China by definition) and black tea (mostly from Yunnan as well) on a daily basis.

    If anyone is curious about tea, this brewing style, or anything else related, I'd be happy to discuss!

    7 votes

  12. Comment on Ability to create new ~'s on the site in ~tildes

    ccr
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    Certainly couldn't hurt :] I'll post a few things to ~creative this weekend

    Certainly couldn't hurt :] I'll post a few things to ~creative this weekend

    2 votes

  13. Comment on Ability to create new ~'s on the site in ~tildes

    ccr
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    All very interesting ideas. I'm quite appreciative of the open discussion of the infrastructure here. Thanks!

    All very interesting ideas. I'm quite appreciative of the open discussion of the infrastructure here.
    Thanks!

    3 votes

  14. Comment on Ability to create new ~'s on the site in ~tildes

    ccr
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    I agree. I think the current major topics cover a lot of bases and I like the idea of leaning more heavily on subtopics. But this raises some questions that I don't have a good answer to. As an...

    I agree. I think the current major topics cover a lot of bases and I like the idea of leaning more heavily on subtopics. But this raises some questions that I don't have a good answer to.

    As an example, I'm someone who frequents subreddits related to food (cooking, recipes, baking, bread making) and beverages (coffee, coffee roasting, tea), and currently I feel like I don't know where to post content like that here.

    I like the idea of major topics but would a general ~food catch all of those topics I'm interested in posting content about and talking about? Or would having distinct ~food and ~beverages be better? How many major categorizations would be best? I like how limited the current list is, so would users find it appropriate to have ~food.coffee, ~food.coffee.roasting, ~food.tea even though they're beverages? Or would ~food.beverages.coffee be better (It certainly would make manually navigating there cumbersome)?

    I'm curious on everyone's thoughts on this.

    12 votes