I fully planned on taking pictures, really I did, but there just wasn’t time with everything going on. Perhaps I should hire a “party photographer” next time…a guest who can wander around with my camera and record the event properly?
The party went off without a hitch…I had all the drinks on the kitchen counter, as usual, and the Jasmine Blooms and White Summer Rain were the “hits” of the party (we drank two pots of the white). All the goodies turned out beautifully, and the table was springy and light. I’m pretty sure everyone had a great time…lots of compliments, and a few referrals to the respective web sites for where to buy the teas served. I certainly won’t hesitate to do it again. Pictures next time…I promise!!
Last week, I ordered more Puerh for storing. I’m the first to admit that I have no idea what I’m doing in regards to tea storage, but bloggers like Marshal (see “A Tea Addict’s Journal” to the left) provide much needed information on the subject, and eventually, I might stumble onto something worth “something”. I’ve been ordering young, cheap teas to store…and while I realize that it will be awhile before they amount to anything (if they ever do), I’ll feel better if I don’t spend a lot without knowing if they’ll age well (and without knowing if my storage method will even work). I have a shelf set up in my bedroom specifically for tea…and it’s very dry here year round (arid – almost desert-like), so after Marshal’s last post on humidity, I’m considering adding a little humidity bowl or fountain to the shelf as well.
In any case, cheap is good when you don’t know what you’re doing, and I’ve kept myself to $20.00 or so for each puerh cake ordered. I haven’t yet sampled the teas I’ve gotten, but I plan to do a “puerh week” in May, and taste bits of every puerh I’ve bought for storage (they should all be here by then). I’ll make some notes (and post them here, of course), and then put them away to see how each one ages. Sometimes the only way to learn is just to “do”, so that’s my plan with regards to puerh. That and keep reading, anyways.
Next review to be posted: Golden Puerh from Art of Tea
Indeed -- you just have to try them to figure out what you like, what you don't like, etc, and having them go against each other, head to head, infusion by infusion, will reveal a lot that you won't notice otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, by the way. I'm just trying to figure things out like everybody else.