Hot road, no ice.

Dangit!

A Hot and sweltering drive to mom's house in Lancaster led me to ponder only one thought: where is my mason jar full of Ice cold brewed green tea!?

What is this change that has come over me, this passion for this cool liquid love I've found? Won't someone help? This is not the Connie I know. She is forever fond of the heat...but I do realize that it may be due to too much internal heat, looking at Chinese medicine. I am positive I am intuitively quenching a flame...

The Results are in.

So here it is, my beloved green P'uerh cold steep after about 7 hours. It was plenty strong after about the first hour, so I had to keep adding water. Not sure what I was thinking, but up until this point I was only placing about a teaspoonful of tea into a quart sized mason jar. So I was  thinking I had put a lot of leaves, but that it wouldn't quite be so strong. I think I put a tablespoon of broken leaves, the fannings from prying the leaves from the cake. Instead of creating more fannings, I thought I would indulge.

I noticed a slightly perfumey, herbal green taste from the tea. I could taste the aged edge that makes it so distinctive. I am rather impressed that a certain freshness could be tasted when cold brewed. However it still gave a mild bitterness or a bite that occurs in the hot steep. 

I'm going to try a cold brew with my newer cake to see how the flavors will unfold. 

Cold brewing P'uerh.

Now I'm getting crazy.

I've decided, after a hot cup of brew, that I will now attempt cold brewing a 2010 Prevernal "green," or raw P'uerh. I learned so much about these tea cakes during the Tea Expo that I have to continue the exploration. I cannot tell you of all the particulars that P'uerh offers, but it is a way of life, and I am slowing stepping into it....or shall I say, steeping into it??

Like an aged cheese or fine wine, there is an art and a process to cultivating the flavors in P'uerh. Especially during the summer, I am really feeling the greens over blacks. It's incredible. The color is already forming. I will probably steep this one for two hours before tasting the initial flavors. without the bitterness and all of the oils intact, I am excited to taste a more distinctly floral or herbal flavor. I can say for sure, that I already love the color coming through. Hot and cold are two very different experiences. Makes me want to take a chemistry class.  I'll let you know how it tastes.