Silly Pigs, Tea is for People!

Just wanted to share a photo I took at a tea farm in WuYiShan, Fujian in 2009.  Just like in America they put out effigies of people to scare the animals away from their crops.  But instead of crows they are trying to keep away, the wild pigs are the pests.

We actually learned a bit about farming when we asked the farmer about these ‘Scarepigs’.  These young tea bushes were being organically grown without fertilizer, at least not artificial. However, that’s not why they needed to scare away the pigs. Pigs don’t eat the plant, they eat the worms! Yes worms provide nutrients to the tea bushes, and there are especially more worms on newer bushes.  Because the pigs love to eat yummy worms, they are willing to dig up young bushes in order to get at them, and they can do so with ease.

So thanks to these Scarepigs, these baby tea bushes remain pigless and with worms a-plenty!

Tea Moods

Probably the most common question I get, even from non-tea drinkers is, “What’s your favorite tea?”   Every time I get that question I lock up and can’t think.  There are just too many teas!  But the real problem is not that I have too many favorites, it’s that I tend to drink a particular tea, or type of tea, depending on my mood.

There are so many teas, each with their own character; I can apply one or even several teas to a certain mood.  Throughout the day I will drink several types of tea.  Sometimes I can be sad, anxious, frustrated, you name it, so I’ve learned through experience that certain teas can work with each mood.  I can’t say this will apply to everyone, but it works for me.

Here are just a few examples of my pairings:

Mood              Tea

Grumpy          Japanese Greens, e.g. Hon Yama Sencha

Sad                  Light Oolongs, e.g. LiShan

Happy             Heavily Oxidized / Roasted, e.g. heavy roasted Da Yu Ling

Irritated          Aged Puer

Oddly enough these pairings change from time to time.  These are my current teas for some of my moods. 

    

If you’re ever moody, try looking for a tea in your cupboard that you think will help and experiment!

My Little Quirks

There are many ways to brew tea and almost everyone has their own little quirks.  It is said that oolongs should be brewed with water below boiling.  I, however, am a strong advocate of using boiling water.  In the summer, some people add tea after the water is poured.

           

Here are a few of my quirks:

My Most Used Brewing Vessel:  I often prefer a gaiwan to any type of clay teapot especially when tasting a tea for the first time.  I also lean toward the porcelain gaiwans instead of other clay because with a porcelain gaiwan the edges of the wan, normally the hottest part, stay cool.  And, with it being glazed means that the “true” taste of the tea is noticed.  True, all this can be done with a porcelain teapot, but I prefer gaiwans to teapots mainly because it’s easier to empty and clean.

Gaiwan  (gai = lid, wan = bowl)

How Much Tea I Use:  I have an odd way to determine how much tea I use for the brewing vessel I use or the amount of water I use.  I always determine how much tea by weight and not by teaspoons, this is not that odd.  The strange thing is that I measure it in metric grams and my water in US fluid ounces. Yes, silly isn’t it?  Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t weigh my tea every time, that would be too time consuming and meticulous.  I get used to how much a few grams look and am able to measure by eye without a scale.  Now when it comes to my common steeping method, I tend to add 1 gram of tea for every oz.  HOWEVER, that rule only applies for me with puer, black and oolong teas.  When it comes to green and white tea I adjust the amount of leaves per ounce and instead change the time and temperature of the water.

These “quirks” of mine are just 2 of many.

Hope you learned a bit about me and maybe gotten an idea for yourself.

And remember never to judge a person by how they brew their tea,

“to each his own.”

And NOW the Tea Blog

Welcome to Eric Glass' Tea Blog, owner and founder of The Fragrant Cup.

On this new blog we'll be posting discussions all things tea.  I'll post my opinions, fellow tea enthusiasts' opinions AND from an objective point of view

Look for our posts about future and past tea events hosted by The Fragrant Cup as well as news, new teas and sales.

    Feel free to contact me about subjects you'd like me to talk about.

    I also welcome reviews of my teas.

Thanks for joining in!
-Eric Glass