An invitation and some inf re Space Cowboy

Hi Phyll

Please keep feeding me the information. I will order the teas you
mention. Can you please send, via provate e-mail, the names of
recommended suppliers.

I thought hard and long about going beyond just two oolongs. Maybe I
should make it four.

I don't know the Anji Baicha... It sounds just what I am looking for.

I love Oriental Beauty... Is the group consensus that this may be the
best for newbies?

I need Pu'er sources. I hit the Shanghai shops when I was in China
three weeks ago and know that I did not have a clue about what to buy
but still love the el cheapos I came back with.

Thanks, Phyll. I thought this event would be the education of newbies.
It's turning out to be the education of Peter. Now, why is my wife
hiding my credit card?

On Jun 6, 9:43 pm, Phyll <phyllsh...@m> wrote:
> Dr. Keen,
>
> For new tea drinkers, you may also want to consider these:
>
> Green:
> O Anji Baicha: it's naturally "sweet" and highly aromatic.
> O Emei Shan Zhuyeqing - also "sweet", aromatic, and can be ricey.
> Beautiful looking leaves.
> XX Long Jing and Biluochun...I have my reservations. They can taste
> green or simply characterless and flat if it's the cheap and low
> quality kind.
>
> Black / Red:
> - Qimen Hong (malty and can be chocolatey)
> - Lapsang Souchong (Ssssmokey!)
>
> Oolong:
> Only 2 types of oolong? Why not more? Coffee drinkers will most
> likely appreciate the highly roasted kinds.
> - Oriental Beauty
> - Medium roast Dancong - peachy, fruity, floral aromas, good
> aftertaste
> - Wuyi Dahongpao / Rougui / Shuixian -- highly frragrant and can be
> both masculine and feminine at the same time
> - How about Darjeeling and Nepalese oolong's? I know of good sources
> in the US.
>
> Pu'er:
> Have you found any candidate yet? If not I may have a few that you
> might be interested in.
>
> Good luck with the event.
>
> Phyll

"pgwk" <petergwkeenm> wrote in message
news:1181181191.477174.28500@o5g2000hsb. ps.com...

<SNIP>
> I need Pu'er sources. I hit the Shanghai shops when I was in China
> three weeks ago and know that I did not have a clue about what to buy
> but still love the el cheapos I came back with.
<SNIP>
I have been using Yunnan Sourcing LLC and Awoono Pu-erh Tea shop, both eBay
stores, for a lot of my recent pu'er purchases. They have a wide selection -
although not a lot of particularly long aged. I find myself acquiring a
lot of cooked Tuo Cha recently as I find they all have a distinctive sweet
finish (why, I really haven't been able to determine, but the sweetness is
distinct). Both of these 'stores' prices I find reasonable and their
delivery service all the way down here to Australia has been faultless. Most
recently I have been drinking a 2000 Phoenix cooked Tuo Cha from Awoono and
am about to order their 2003 Phoenix Golden Tips Tuo Cha which I expect to
be sweeter still.

Perhaps you may like to consider some cooked Tuo Cha (because of their
sweetness and reasonable price point) as an introduction to a different type
of pu'er. When I introduce pu'er to my friends I tend to find they accept
the new and 'unusual' taste more readily when I acclimatise their taste
buds with the sweeter Tuo Cha.

Also good luck with the venture.
Cheers
Mal
Oz

"pgwk" <petergwkeenm> wrote in message
news:1181181191.477174.28500@o5g2000hsb. ps.com...
> Hi Phyll
>
> Please keep feeding me the information. I will order the teas you
> mention. Can you please send, via provate e-mail, the names of
> recommended suppliers.
>
> I thought hard and long about going beyond just two oolongs. Maybe I
> should make it four.
>
> I don't know the Anji Baicha... It sounds just what I am looking for.
>
> I love Oriental Beauty... Is the group consensus that this may be the
> best for newbies?
>
> I need Pu'er sources. I hit the Shanghai shops when I was in China
> three weeks ago and know that I did not have a clue about what to buy
> but still love the el cheapos I came back with.

<<<<SNIP>>>

jingteashop.com has a raw 2000 Hai Wan Gu Hua Cha that I think would be an
easy introduction to Puerh. It has some age to it and is smooth with a
sweet finish. The price is pretty reasonable considering it's a 400g bing.
The only problem is, you won't need a hammer to break it up. It comes apart
quite nicely. The advantage is you can get mostly whole leaves.

You also might want to consider a nice Keemun. After my first taste, I
couldn't go back to what I knew previously as black tea.

I'd agree, if you want to include a Japanese tea, Sencha may be a better
choice than Gyokuro. I don't have a lot of Gyokuro experience, but found
Sencha easier to get "right" and easier to take a liking to.

But then again, so much of this is personal taste, so I'm not even sure if
anything I've said is even worth two cents. Lucky for you, it's free!

Blues

On Jun 7, 12:25 pm, pgwk <petergwk...m> wrote:
> Hi Dominic....
>
> No, no flaming and no reply, just withdrawal.

One last thing, well maybe two, don't withdrawal from me or anyone.
You stuck yourself out there, withdrawal is defeat... you put yourself
out there now stand by it and engage those around you. This isn't a
run-by-posting.

The second is to expound on one area I wasn't clear on in my post
above, you may even want to focus on just one type of tea. Say Oolong,
and speak and brew just that in some different incarnations. From
green/flowery to heavy roasted. You've still taken your customers on a
journey, a focused and coherent journey, and that will cause them to
want to learn more or branch out from there on their own terms with
your book and the new found Internet resources at their fingertips.
Just plant the seed, don't try to plant it, water it, grow it,
harvest, package, and deliver it all in a too short period.

- Dominic

On Jun 7, 3:41 pm, Phyll <phyllsh...@m> wrote:
> Urgh, I hate to get in the middle of someone else's
> quarrel...especially when it seems to be among intellectual
> juggernauts.
>
> Although Dominic's words have a grain of wisdom in it, I suspect a lot
> of presumptions were made about who pgwk is or is not. The following
> is taken from Chadao, written by our dear Prof. Corax, on the summary
> background of the poster we know as pgwk. I do not know Dr. Keen
> personally, and so the following is only second-hand information, but
> I highly doubt that it is dangerous or damaging.
>
> To quote:
>
> [[EDITOR'S NOTE: We are fortunate to be able to present here the full
> text of a plenary address delivered last week at the 2007
> International Tea Exposition in Liyang, China, by Peter Keen, Chairman
> of Keen Innovations. Dr Keen works globally, as a professor, adviser
> to senior management in business and government organizations, author,
> executive educator, and public speaker. He has held faculty positions
> at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Duke, Fordham and Wharton in the United
> States and Delft, Oxford, The London Business School, and Stockholm in
> Europe. He is the author of almost 30 books, mostly in the field of
> business innovation. His next book, however, Great Teas for Everyday
> Pleasure, is on a subject of central interest to readers of this blog;
> it is due out later this year. For more information on Dr Keen, see
> peterkeen.com.]]
>
> End quote.

Thank you, Phyll.

What follows is probably redundant; might take me a while to read all
the posted responses.

> Black teas:
> 1. A Darjeeling
> 2. A Taiwan Lapsong

To me, lapsang souchong is mostly about the smoke, and goes along with
lychee and osmanthus-flavored types: good, but not tea. It's really
moving in another dimension (added flavoring) to do this. If I had
three, I'd do a Keemun mao feng, a new/old style high-ferment, aromatic
Darjeeling (I've recommended one purveyor here recently) and a Yunnan
gold. (Two, I'd drop the Keemun.) Black tea that isn't black - a nice
touch, and introduces the tippiness proposition for "Far Too Good For
Ordinary People" and that whole system, as well as the 2L+B for "fine"
tea vs. stems & seeds for wild-arbor Puerh.

In that vein, since good green Puerh is relatively inaccessible as to
price, technique and taste, what about merging the Black and Puerh into
Black/Red? The three above would go well with a decent cooked looseleaf
Puerh.

> Oolongs:
> 3. Iron Goddess

Personally, I would (and often do in tastings) drop the old TGY.
Instead, as others have said, a really peachy dan cong with long,
perfect leaves, and a fisted Anxi oolong of high roast and strong fragrance.

> Greens:

I agree with those who say that a less-fragile sencha might be safer.

> Whites:
> 7. White Peony: again, easy to enjoy and savor. I kept away from
> Silver Needles ...... and it's a good
> way to end the tasting - where we began, in Darjeeling.

I try to move from lighter to heavier, and from fragrance-intensive to
taste/mouthfeel-intensive teas. For me, that usually means
white-green-oolong-black/red. So you could preserve the bookends. But
I'd go with the silver needles, followed by the white peony. A tea with
no color, delicate but very focused aroma and mild taste is a great way,
in my experience, to bring the mind into resonance with tasting. If you
want to fill the white slot with a Puerh silver needles, tea Gallery's
2004 special cake (still available a couple of months back when I bought
another) is the best I've ever tasted, and would go well before a White
Peony.

> Anyway, back to the NYC event. ... hope that at least a few of you will be my guest at it.

Will you be posting dates? Some of us live away from NYC, but get there
occasionally.

How will you handle snacks? Aside from the palate-clearing and
something-to-play-with aspects, keeping blood sugar stable can be
important in a serious tasting.

Hope it goes well-

DM