A Tea Addict's Journal

People keep asking me if I’m getting anything done besides tea shopping. I guess this blog provides a rather skewed view of my life in Beijing.

Or maybe not.

Anyway, today was a mellow day… and I opted for some of the Wuyi tea, which I got almost a month ago now. There’s some sourness in the first infusion that I noticed last time, but never before. I wonder if it’s because it got slightly damp in there somehow, and the moisture caused the sourness. It goes away quickly and gives me that nice, mellow infusion that I was looking for. Quite relaxing, not nearly as much work as making a puerh, and this particular tea has the nice trait that it doesn’t taste bad even if you mess up the brewing. Can’t say that for everything else. I am also hoping that the seasoning for my pot is coming along nicely 🙂

On an unrelated note, I found a new home for my puerh. Whereas before they were sitting in a corner of my living room, exposed to all sorts of nasty elements (well… not much) and covered only with a piece of calligraphy paper, last night I suddenly remembered that there is a cupboard that is entirely unused. I suspect it was used by the last tenant as shoe storage, although I’m not sure. When I first moved in, I aired the whole thing out for a week because it smelled a bit like new furniture there. This time when I opened it again, it smells a bit of wood…. that furniture smell, but not overwhelming, and it disappeared after an hour or so. I figured it’s safe enough, and its supposed to be better to keep your puerh in a non-air tight, but at the same time more or less enclosed space. So that’s what I did. I think it has something to do with trapping the aromas in the cupboard rather than letting it loose. It also protects it from the smell of daily living.

Tomorrow is Maliandao :). This time, I am going to go look out for another Yiwu cake that is supposed to be good (according to folks on Sanzui) and also to maybe taste some Changtai stuff. We’ll see!