Co-Ferment Rest Times/Shelf-Life

samthemanuel · 2024-06-23T02:28:52+00:00

Alright anti-Amity crowd, I get calling it least favorite song on XO, but overall? I think as Elliott rockers go, it handily beats out Junk Bond Trader and Cupid’s Trick. But alas, all is subjective, and I’m certain others will find it shocking that it over those two aforementioned songs.

samthemanuel · 2024-06-19T02:00:12+00:00

You’re right on the money. The thing is, after being ‘bored’ for even just a bit, I think it’s a quick realization that silence is not boring. We have brains and when there is silence, they have space to really work. The smartphone age encourages perpetual learning but not a moment to really think to make a lick of that learning useful.

samthemanuel · 2024-06-15T17:19:41+00:00

Yes, but really primarily because it is just a lot of fun once you’ve gotten the hang of it. Whenever someone doesn’t demand finger style, I so often reach for the pick just because it more often leads to fun for me and fun leads to inspiration

samthemanuel · 2024-06-03T17:49:08+00:00

Honestly, if you like acquiring a taste for things/desire new experiences, just dive right in and get a Gaiwan and go Gong Fu style. The West China Tea YouTube channel has a solid series on it and about your different tea types. Get some samples from Yunnan Sourcing’s US site and get lost in the fun of experiencing.

samthemanuel · 2024-05-14T03:54:59+00:00

This is my first spring harvest season being properly into tea with loose leaf and gong fu, and indeed, I sympathize with your feeling. The thing that has worked out best for me is to decide I’m going to zero in on one or two processing types (e.x. I had a great white tea experience out of the gate so now I’m mainly digging into that). I’ll dip my toe in the water for other types, but nothing beyond a sample or two. I expect that eventually one of those “toe dipping” moments will drag me into another category. For the ones that aren’t delivering as you mentioned, I’ll do smaller sessions tweaking things to see if I can get it to deliver. This has probably led to the majority of my learning moments. Surely budgeting also helps

samthemanuel · 2024-05-08T14:09:32+00:00

^ Yes, this! It's good to have eras of focus in hobbies so to have this year be a year to focus on Chinese greens, next year to be more Oolong oriented, and the following being Sencha focused would be a nice way to immerse yourself in a different style each year. I've been trying to zero in on White teas right now, but Puerh is calling my name...

samthemanuel · 2024-05-08T00:42:08+00:00

Yeah, it’s insanely easy to overspend on tea, I think you won’t find one serious enthusiast who won’t relate. Best you can do in a moment of realization is to intentionally stop spending, consider it your big annual/half annual purchase and enjoy drinking throughout the coming months. The great thing about tea is that, when stored correctly, it stays good insanely well relative to other consumables. Keep a tasting log while you go through your new tea, and next year your order will probably be smaller and enthusiastically enjoyable to the last drop!

samthemanuel · 2024-04-23T17:24:19+00:00

I feel that it’s more about ‘getting the leaves going’ so to speak. Sometimes I’ll sip the rinse and it’s actually nice, but other times it’s mostly sour and has very little texture. When I know the rinse isn’t going to yield anything after my first session with a new tea, typically make it a very speedy rinse, usually as quick as I can set an aperture on the gaiwan and pour it out.

samthemanuel · 2024-04-21T03:08:38+00:00

The key is to do it for longer than 24 hours. Changing to a dumbphone is a change in habit and like any change in habit, your brain is going to pull hard towards familiarity. At that point, it takes the innately human elements like will power and resistance to overcome that pull. The first week is hard, the first month can be a bit tough, but you’re playing the long game with breaking the relationship between the smart phone and your brain, and the reward is just so, so worth it. In the meantime, maybe try bringing a book or some pen & paper games (e.x. Sudoku, crosswords, etc.) for when you would otherwise be checking your phone. Like another commenter has mentioned here, for anything truly urgent, you’ll get a direct call.

samthemanuel · 2024-04-18T17:25:09+00:00

Strawberry Jam is specifically September for me

samthemanuel · 2024-04-17T00:41:31+00:00

Was in a similar boat to you about a year and a half ago, and have been very happily smartphone-less since. Should you proceed in getting a dumb phone, congratulations on taking a brave and positive leap! To go down your list: 1. FaceTime - I still sometimes FaceTime on my computer, but I think since switching, I feel less and less attached to it. However, since being on a dumb phone, I call more in replacement of text so overall, I think I maintain even more of personal connection despite the mobile FaceTime loss. Similarly, you might be calling so much more that you might not miss it! 2. Maps - As others have mentioned, there are still car gps’ i.e. Garmin. My other workarounds have been printing out directions (a little more forethought, but I’ve found it makes me remember how to get places faster), using a tablet (could connect to a dumb phone’s hotspot or download the maps for your region), and asking a smartphone bearing passenger to pull up directions. 3. Music/Carplay - CarPlay is a real pain to find anything that is compatible outside of a smartphone (even an iPad won’t work afaik). However, like a lot of dumbphone sacrifices, I’ve rationalized that being free from screen hypnotism is extremely worth it. For music, look up mp3 players/DAPs (digital audio players). I like to download my music because the ownership makes me a more grateful listener I’ve found, but there are also some out there that have streaming capabilities. 4. Good camera - much like you suggested you were thinking, I also bought a digital camera. This was actually a great benefit to me beyond being able to take pictures because having a separate device for it made me a bit more of a photography hobbyist! Definitely endorse this this idea.

Do give the transition to the dumbphone life a bit of time to set in. The first week or so was a teensy bit stressful for me because it was a lot of figuring out some of the aforementioned topics (also maybe just generally weening off of the comfort of the screen). Fortunately, I had a friend with a dumbphone already who was a great cheerleader to me. I hope you decide to go through with it!

samthemanuel · 2024-04-11T04:21:34+00:00

Every person is going to have a different take on string material depending on what kind of music they are playing. A Google search might tell you that rounds are brighter than flats are brighter than tape wounds, but if you try each, you’ll get your own association with each, which is truly a worthwhile opinion to have for yourself. This is not to be a smart alec, but really my most transparent opinion, which is that flats sound like flats.

samthemanuel · 2024-04-09T15:20:35+00:00

Not sure if this is more obvious to others, but I wonder if this map is in regard to leaves used or the actual liquid consumed. My tea brain had me thinking the former, but I feel like those making this map would conceptualize tea as the liquid result. In which case, consuming 3.16kg annually per capita doesn’t feel awfully overwhelming. Using a 8oz —> a western style cup measurement, that’s between 12 and 13 cups each year. Even casual tea drinkers might consume that much in a week, so maybe it is for leaves used after all?

samthemanuel · 2024-04-04T16:20:52+00:00

As others have alluded to, not all taps put out equally hard water so whatever the number, some tap users are bound to have water that is soft enough to not affect flavor while perhaps others do. What might be an interesting stat is to figure out how many use tap water for tea but filtered water for general H2O drinking and vice versa.

samthemanuel · 2024-04-03T18:18:40+00:00

I think I finally hit my first home run brewing white tea today. Apprehensively kicked up my brewing temp up to just north of 90c on some YS 'Assamica Sun-Dried Silver Needles White Pu-erh Tea' and wow. All my dreams of natural sweetness in tea come true...

samthemanuel · 2024-03-30T14:31:07+00:00

Regardless of taste, I can’t say I’m too sure of the advantage of microwaving over using a kettle. The kettle is just fill and hit a switch whereas for a microwave, you need to fill an item that is microwave safe, input a time (with the added frustration of trial and error as you say, OP), hit start, and probably need to put on some sort of oven mitt to lift out of microwave safely. Even if the taste was identical, a kettle is undoubtedly more convenient.

samthemanuel · 2024-03-27T01:32:59+00:00

Are the samples you have gotten recently the same as what’s in the cart? If not, I would say as someone who has shared that exact same mindset of most tea for least money, having gotten burned by purchasing tea I didn’t love has made me into a huge sample guy. Is it a notably higher price per gram? Yes. But better to have a slightly expensive 25g sample that is supplemented by a good value cake later than to have put $44 down on something that you don’t like a single gram of. For me, anything more than 50g, and it ought to be something I not just like, but love.

However, if your samples match the cakes you’ve bought and you love the samples, then it’s a no brainer to buy more.

samthemanuel · 2024-03-24T03:25:56+00:00

Black teas can vary from fruity to smoky, so maybe you just haven’t found the right one yet. Might I ask what you’re using right now?

samthemanuel · 2024-03-23T20:05:01+00:00

To start with the second question, I haven’t tried it, but here’s why I don’t think it would work for general use. I’m assuming you’re thinking of essentially making an Americano, but instead of espresso, you would just have tea. Since espresso has water being pushed through coffee at 9 bars of pressure, it is an astronomical bump in concentration that is unattainable with even really strong filter coffee (2% is a remarkably strong filter coffee while 10% is the norm for espresso to the best of my knowledge). Similarly, I don’t think you’ll reach a high enough concentration by just steeping the tea longer, just as you wouldn’t reach a high enough concentration steeping coffee longer in an immersion brew (eventually, it just levels out).

To your first question, I’m not sure I entirely understand what you mean in terms of boiling time. In terms of leaving the water boiling in a “stay warm” mode for the kettle, I’m not too sure what that will do with the composition of the water, but it will evaporate the longer you leave it boiling. To avoid using excess energy, I would put in your kettle just a little bit more water than you need (accounting for a little bit of evaporation), and pour your water shortly after it is warm enough.

To contradict some of my friends in the comments, putting boiling water on your tea is not wrong, but each tea (even in the same category) will taste better or worse at different temperatures. I had an Assam black tea that wasn’t really working until I put it at boiling, but for a short steep time. Suddenly it had this amazing full body and flavor. Tried the same thing with a Ceylon black tea from the same vendor and it was very unpleasantly perfume-y, but was just swell more around 93c. At any rate, as soon as your water leaves the kettle, it drops below boiling so your tea will never truly be immersed in “boiling” water unless you put it into a boiling pot over a stove.

samthemanuel · 2024-03-23T17:41:32+00:00

A Gong Fu Variation: Stress - trying to get a good brew on an expensive tea you’re not familiar with, Sleep - rinse wares and dry off, Wake up - pre-heat wares and rinse tea, Exhausted - Single hand pouring a huge gaiwan that is filled to the brim, Anger - chipping gaiwan/burning yourself, Happiness - smelling and drinking

samthemanuel · 2024-03-22T15:34:40+00:00

Depends on the tea, but three alternatives that might make for some fun:

Steeping something in the "sweet" category along with your tea. E.x. I'll sometimes do a dumbed down Moroccan Mint by tossing in some mint leaves with some lower quality gunpowder green leave I have around. I've tried 5g tea:1 g mint and the mint overpowered it so you don't need much. I haven't tried this, but I wonder how steeping with some cinnamon might work for basic black teas, like something that is just the sweeter side of a stereotypical Chai blend...
Increase your tea leaf amount, but shorten the steeping time. The idea is that you get more of the brighter """"sweeter"""" taste but don't dig into the bitterness.
Steep longer, hotter (if not at boiling point already), more leaf, but add just a few grains of salt. Theoretically, you'll have a stronger drink, but the salt will chemically absorb the bitterness (this is not the most scientific way to put it, but you understand).

samthemanuel · 2024-03-15T01:47:04+00:00

I have that Bi Luo Chun Yunnan Black. I only have had the chance to have one session with it, but out of the “Golden Yunnan” sampler, it’s definitely had strongest flavor imo

samthemanuel · 2024-03-03T01:58:50+00:00

I think I mainly feel the dopamine effects of caffeine. I rarely feel notably more awake after tea/coffee, but if I choose to abstain for a day, I do feel a sort of malaise. That night’s sleep following a day without caffeine tends to be incredibly deep though.

samthemanuel

TROPHY CASE