Today I had a lot of tea. I got into my bag of Bai Mu Dan and tried to figure out how to brew it the best I can. It was very early on in the session when I was captivated by my memory of … this street:
This street but… probably a month before this picture was taken, and on a clear day with a blue sky.
I have a very specific aroma in mind when I think of this street, but that would be in October before the yellow leaves fall from the trees, with cold air, a clear blue sky, damp leaves scattered across the sidewalk, and the sun reflecting off the all the glass to the North (right side of this picture). There was a wine that captured how I feel about this street, a semi sweet gros-manseng blend from Jurancon called ‘Ballet d’Octobre’. I love that wine, and despite being different in virtually every aspect, this tea captures that same sense of place, it’s really remarkable.
I spent the past several hours looking for another picture which would conjure up the same feelings. I know the smell well — because for me Autumn has the best aromas of the year. I felt disappointed that in the I didn’t get a very good match for my feelings. This was the best picture I found:
Anyway, cutting to the chase:
With water at a rolling boil and the ratio of tea:water between 1:50 and 1:60 (1:55 being the best I got) for between 1 and 2 minutes (closer to 1 minute gave better results). I found I could brew a pot of Bai Mu Dan to reflect the aroma of a cold, damp, October day. The fragrance of wet autumn leaves, dying grass, cinnamon, apricot, a woody fungal note — kind of supermarket white mushroomy. The combination gives such a perfect snapshot of autumn that I think this will now outrank young sheng Pu’Erh and Kyobancha for being my October tea of choice. Wow.
Leave a Reply
I would love to hear from you