Loosening of toucha

You probably know the situation. You buy a toucha so well pressed, that to get a few leaves from it, in anyhow elegant way, is almost impossible. Even when one knows what is doing with his/her pu-needle, leaves of such toucha are broken at least. With few grams of broken tea leaves you can get few grams of tea dust. Is there a solution?

Few years back, I was going through Houde's eshop and found a few interesting information at his blog as well as in the "f.a.q" section. One of those was this:

   There are two ways to loosen a compressed Pu-erh (cake, brick, mushroom, or toucha):
1. Brutal-force way! Use hammer, knife, chisel or whatever your landscaping tools (kidding, of coz) to chip or knock down enough amount for brewing.
2. Steaming method: This is a much more civilized version. Several advantages from this method:

a. The loosened leaves will retain more complete and original shape than the brutal force way.
b. If you are like me, it is fun to get your hands "tea-y"!
c. It becomes more convenient to have all the loose tea than having to find your hammer everytime you try ot enjoy.

We use the following pictures to illustrate how we do the steaming to loosen two 2004 Jia Ji XiaGuan Toucha.
Step 1: Find a wok and a bamboo steamer (or whatever have similar functions). Put a bowl of water into the wok. Then put the two toucha onto the steamer.


Step 2: Turn on the heat and cover the steamer. Your pu-erh is now enjoying some steamy Sauna! Steam for around 3 mins. The time is only experimental; different cakes or bricks may requires different steaming time.


Step 3: See... after 3 mins Sauna, the toucha are looking very "relaxed"!


Step 4: Now is the most FUN part! Use your mighty hands to gently loosen the toucha and try NOT to cook your fingers! They can be very hot. The toucha now is soft and flexible, as you can see how I "bend" one of them.


Final: Now, you have a pile of good loose Pu-erh for easy enjoyment : ) However, newly steamed pu-erh need to be dried for about 2 hours (more is better) before you put them into containers. Just let them dry in an open and dry place without direct sunlight. Otherwise, those nutritious leaves will invite some fungus to grow on them very quickly.


You can make a brew of the loose Pu-erh tea just like ... yea, a loose tea. Try this! I am sure you will love the extra connection you build between your pu-erhs and you.

Do you know someone who do it this way or who, at least, tried it? I did not heard about it before and I was sure: I have to try it one day. And that time come last February. It was weekend with many tea friends around, we were testing teas and having great time when this "loosening technique" pop up. Lets do it! I was a bit sceptical/afraid about the result. So I pick one not very special toucha from Dayi, found clean stainless pot, stainless sieve for cooking dumplings and turn of a cooker....

 In two minutes we got very furry chunk of tea. Leaves were quite easy to seperate, a bit wet from outside and still a bit hard in the middle of the nest. To dry out, I put that  toucha  loose leave tea on our heating and later on even to oven. Not to cook, just to warm and dry it out.

Next day I could put it in this jar...I was quite curious to see if it will get any worst. And it is not. Now after several months, it is still that mediocre tea as I remember it. :) I would not do it or recommend it to do it with tea which we would like to age. The heat from steam is not going to make any good to living nature of the tea and it may slow or even stop the aging. But if you have a tea you would like to drink soon then you can give it a try. You can get very nice loose tea instead of broken, dusty mixture. For sure, you might want to try it first on something less expensive than 80' Xiaguan products, as I did. Who can find this helpful are those who serve toucha (or other strongly pressed teas) on daily basic. One just open a jar and scoop up few grams of leaves- I can imagine that for a tearoom or a teashop,  it can be pretty convenient.

 For my daily tea live, I still prefer gentle work of puehr needle to this sauna style. On other hand an experiment and experience is always more valuable than reading and thinking about it. I am glad we have tried it.

Thank you for reading!

New cup for upcoming autumn

A few weeks ago I brought a cup, about which I am particularly happy. Do not be surpriced, we like to buy pots from our colleagues. There are still some people who, when visiting our studio and showroom, note "It is great, you can make for yourselfe everything you need. From tales on the floor to plates in your kitchen or even sink in your bathroom". Of course, we can. But there is certain pleasure in using pieces from another potters, another studios. And so in our house, you can find wide variety of ceramic from all around the world. Some are in daily use, some are shown just time to time as a memory to those, who we met or visit, to specific moment or place.

This cup comes from my friend Aleš Dančák aka Belin. His studio lies in small village Pržno, North Moravia, and he recently builded new wood kiln (if I am right, it is his third one). After several firings he is very happy about it. And this cup is just one (of many) proof that he can be really proud.

Made of porcelain, it is entirely unglazed. Ash have sit and melted on its face side. It makes, from this otherwise cold material, warm and very live piece. In hands, you can feel fine irregularity of handmade work, throwing and trimming. Some lines there are made wilfully some show not-plaible, tough material.

When I am holding this empty cup, I realize how important for our perception of tea ware is the balance. Thickness of walls and bottom, where centre of gravity lies. Here we have thicker bottom and walls. But top of the cup, the rim is very thin. It evokes lightness. Together with fine tea, it uplifts my daily being. And what else we would like to get from good cup, right?

Aleš is everything but active around the on.line world. His web presentation is hopelessly out-of-date. But if you would like to know more about his recent, pretty interesting, work, then try to get his attention  through belinbelinATseznam.cz. He will be surely pleased to hear from you.

Thank you for reading!

Two teas from Lao Banzang

There were many fresh teas in my cup through the summer. Top grade gyokuro and kabuse from The Teamountain, first flashes, both green and black, from Nepal, generously given by friends from Darjeeling.cz, powerful shengs from chawangshop's and teaurchin's selections and I enjoyed every sip of them. Despite of the season, I boldly combine these with mid-aged and aged shengs. Two samples I am about to talk today were nicely sended by Peter from Pu-Ehr.sk. One fresh, one mid-aged, but both teas came from - sit down please - Lao Banzang.

When we hear Banzang, our credit cards start to shiver. It is (one of the) most expensive puehr village and when you are buying a LaoBanzang then, in most cases, you are buying a fake. According to Lui Ying Yin article in The Art of  Tea magazine no.6, price of spring maocha rise up from 8RMB in 2000 to 1800RMB in 2007/8.  Another article I would recommend to read is this William's post on his (great) BannaCha blog Despite of that or maybe just because of that we are (ok, I am) tempted and curious to try such famous/expensive leaves. Especially when it comes through trustworthy seller. Few years back I had very nice sessions with sample of 05 Gan En Lao Banghzan from EOT, but it is already sold out. Unfortunately it was too much for my wallet at that time. Unfortunatelly...

First I tried tea from 2004, which was pressed in bamboo tube...

Pictures of dry leaves are from Peter's eshop. With my small, cheap camera and my poor photographic skills  I can not compete. And one more reason for using borrowed pictures- somebody (me) have stolen (get lost) all pictures from that banzang session from my computer and let me just one, which you can see on the bottom of this page - and that picture is saying nothing about that tea...

It was 7g sample and I hesitated for a while - should I use the whole sample or just half of it? For my 60ml teapot, I have finally cut the piece in two. How would my life look like if I had use it all?  Let it be mystery for now...

The aroma of wet leaves, as well as first two brews, are here as a proof of Taiwanesse storage. I have heard some complaitns about such thing, but I, in most cases, do not mind. After those two, in third brew the leaves already talk in Banzang-bamboo language. Probably thanks to my light dosage, I did not find there the renowned bitterness of LBZ, but bamboo sweet taste was combine with calming energy, calming Qi performance, if you wish.

When I put my expectation of powerful bitterness aside, I like that tea a lot. My short note says "bit like aged oolong - mouth are full of complex, sweet taste". I just promised myself that if I will have a chance, I will try to make it in "more leaves- shorter times" fashion.

Second sample was fresh one and labeled as Lao Banzang 2013.

Pictures are from today morning and I can still evoke a clear memory of its aftertaste in my mouth.

What you can see on the picture above are half broken leaves from bottom of the sample bag. But originally leaves were very long, nice looking spaghetti style (as I call leaves, which have to be soak first to fit into my small pot). Hairy, greeny-grey and clean - It is fancy tea indeed.

Wet leaves are full of citrus aroma. The first brew is bright, yellow-green and I know what is going to happen...

Young, strong, bitter...why I am drinking such thing? To paraphrase The Verve's song "Couse it's Bitter Sweet symphony, this life tea..." When assocations like wormwood or dardelion are crossing my mind, I am enjoying thick liquor. Especially from fourth brew, when the first power steps back a bit, I found the mouthfeel to be very pleasant. And my empty cup is full of flowers....How is that happened?

Long-lasting aftertaste is what I remember from this morning most. Maybe you know that feeling: Your mouth and mind are so coated in tea that you don't want to drink even water. You don't want to lose that moment...then you know: The aftertaste is good!

Notes and wonderful picutres from session with this tea you can find also here

When I am wondering now, which of those two LBZ teas I would like to have more in my collection, I would say The 04 bamboo version. I know, the fresh 2013 cake is probably better tea - stronger, cleaner and more noble. But the age and most importantly its medicinal impact on my body and mind talk for small leaves stored in bamboo tube.

When I talk about teas from Lao Banzang I can not miss prices...As you can expect, those teas are expensive. I also just find out that they are already sold out. Peter told me that he is trying to get more of the 04 one. He has offered this tea for around 60USD for 100g. The fresh cake was much more expensive, if I am counting right then 160USD for 100g. Most of us are not going to buy a tong of such tea, are we? But good thing is, that Peter (and others) gives us opportunity to buy small samples. A chance to try expensive and rahter rare teas in middle of Europe, a chance get a bit more experienced. Few grams of tea leaves can make a difference in our day, in our live, in our world. Thanks for that.

New waste water bowl during trial...

Thank you for reading!

Gems number seventeen and eighteen

Yes, I know. It is already few weeks since I have promised to share here some new teas here and yet, those posts are still not finished. With hope that most of my readers spend their summer time ouside, enjoing holiday in peace, I think that September is going to be a good start for another round of tea writings and readings. My teapots are regurarly caressing by live tea leaves and there are many things I would like to share.

For now, another two gems for my "Ten Gems of Ten kilns" Collection. Summer firings are usually not those best ones. On one hand everything goes more easy- glazing (glazes dry quickly), loading (everything is warm and days are long), firing (dry and warm wood means easier, more efficent heating), all work is easier. Despite of all that, there are usually more wasters or even kilns so called disaster. So yes, also this summer we had such unhappy kiln. Fortunatelly, no matter how many defective works is in the kiln, there are always few pieces which can make us happy. So here they are...

Gem number seventeen is taller yunnomi. For my gem collection, I usually try to pick what is not only exceptional pieces but also pieces which are somehow new and different. In this case it is new glaze, known as "Snow Flake" glaze. Simple recepie but hard to work with and always with uncertain results. I hope that from those picutres you can feel why I choose this cup for my collection. As gem number eighteen I vote for big(ger) storage jar. Uglazed both outside and inside I find it very atractive by its white clay decoration as well as marks of fire. Atractive but not standing out, that how I want my jars to look like. I think that with some maocha or heicha in it, it can make a good job.

And as usually, one more thing...before looking at new pots, please say goodbye to the Gem number seven and the Gem number eight...

Two teapots The Quarry under Jade Water (already living in ones tealovers house in Beijing) and The Rusty Morning, ready to be packed.

For more pictures of those new pieces please visit this page. If The Ten Gems of Ten Kilns project is new for you, then please read this post first.

Gem number seventeen- The Dream about a frost

Gem number eighteen- The Last Cotton on the Field

Thank you for reading