Guest tea
Posted on 9 January 2010

Well, it might not sound so romantic but I’ve never seen a bing of tea in Poland before. Even tea aficionados in Poland focus exclusively on black and green tea, and ‘puer’ here denotes a rock-bottom commercial loose-leaf ‘slimming tea’. So it was quite some fun to play an away game of brewing puer in someone else’s equipment.
The tea turned out to be a fermented [shu] tea from CNNP: the ubiquitous Yellow Mark, most likely the latest vintage on sale (2005?). Fairly ordinary tea, though well-made with a reasonable leaf grade, and tolerant in brewing. Being unfamiliar with it (and drinking almost no shu at all) I’ve dosed a bit too high, and several 10-second infusions came out dark and concentrated but not too bitter or earthy; a good sign. Bonuses came in the form of the hosts’ porcelain kettle (first time I’ve used one; it actually yields a nicely sweet water) and some good exercise at pouring six cups from a 140-ml gaiwan (at home, it’s two or three). We learn every day.