Tribute Xi Hu Long Jing ("Dragon Well")

Tribute (or Gong in Chinese) is one of the four major Xi Hu Long Jing production companies.

Xi Hu Long Jing has more than a thousand years of recorded history and was mentioned in the first ever tea book The Classic of Tea (Cha Ching) by Lu Yu during the Tang Dynasty. The name Long Jing means "Dragon Well".

Xi Hu ("West Lake") is now a protected area. Only the leaves picked within the designated 168 sq km of Xi Hu area can be considered as Xi Hu Long Jing.

Harvest Period: Spring 2009. I bought 50 grams of A-grade for USD 16,50. This is not the best quality. AAA Grade and Jing Pin Grade are even more expensive.

Brewing guide
Rinse tea cup and teapot with hot water. Use about 2 grams of tea leaves (1-2 teaspoons) for every 150ml of water. Steep tea leaves in hot water at 70°c to 80°c for 1 minute for the first and second brewing. Gradually increase steeping time and temperature for subsequent brewing.

A Grade Infusion:


AAA Grade Infusion:


Jing Pin Grade Infusion:

Iced Matcha made easy

Put three ice cubes in a chawan and wait until the cubes have almost melted. Add two chasaku matcha and whisk until the matcha is completely dissolved. By then the ice cubes are almost gone. Drink immediately.

Iced Matcha

Repost from www.hibiki-an.com.

Sen no Rikyu (1522 - 1591) who created the Japanese Tea Ceremony, unfortunately did not include a recipe for Iced Matcha in his teachings. It was invented later by an instructor of the traditional Tea Ceremony. But this instructor had to enjoy it by himself in secret because only hot Matcha was allowed in the formal Tea Ceremony. Fortunately today we do not need to be secretive about enjoying delicious Iced Matcha!

* Cool the Matcha bowl in the refrigerator in advance.
* Sift the matcha in order to prevent lumps, so the flavor and texture will be smooth and mellow.
* Pour 2 Chashaku of sifted Matcha into the Matcha bowl that has been cooled in advance.
* Pour 70ml of 0 Celsius temperature water into the Matcha bowl and whisk with the Chasen until the tea gets frothy. Matcha gets frothy when it is mixed with either cold 0 Celsius temperature or hot boiling water.

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Chai Recipe

For my own reference:

Boil 5 min. then steep for 10 min.:

1 tbsp fennel or anise seed
6 green cardamom pods
12 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
ginger root, sliced thin
1/4 tsp black pepper corns
2 bay leaves
7 cups of water

Add, bring to a boil, and simmer 5 minutes:

2 tbsp Darjeeling tea

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Add:

6 tbsp honey or brown sugar
1 cup milk

Methods of reusing used up tea leaves

It is "mottainai" to throw away used up leaves after infusions, full of beneficial nutrients! Here are some methods to recycle leaves after infusions (re-posted from Maiko Tea Shop).

Ingredients
Used up tea leaves, a dash of salt, sakura ebi (dried up shrimp), jako (tiny dried fish), tarako (fish eggs), sesame seeds

Instructions
1. Microwave the used up tea leaves to evaporate the water
2. Crush the dried up leaves (e.g. in a food processor)
3. Dry-roast the crushed leaves in a frying pan to bring out a pleasant aroma. Add salt and other ingredients depending on your taste.

Enjoy by sprinkling over rice.

Hoji-cha & iced tea

Probably not very well known outside Japan: Hoji-cha, a green tea roasted over charcoal at high temperatures. Because of the roasting the color of the leaf changes from green to reddish-brown.

Hoji-cha is made from the lower parts of the bush, the stem (karigane). Because of this and the roasting, this tea contains little catechin (causes the astringency/bitterness of green tea) and caffeine. I love the sweet smokey flavor of this tea.

Hoji-cha (or spelled as: houjicha) can be used to make iced tea. The traditional way is to boil water in a kettle, add the leaves (according to taste) and boil for another 2 minutes. After cooling, chill the tea in the fridge. Without the leaves, of course.

Green tea like sencha or gyokuro is also perfect for iced tea. For the best 'green & vegetal' taste I steep mizu-dashi-cha for a long time in cold water: I add one tea bag of mizudashicha from Maiko Tea Shop to 500 ml - 1000 ml of water, and keep it in the fridge for about 8 hours, or overnight. You can use any green tea, but mizudashicha is stir-steamed extra deeply before drying, thus making it more suitable for extraction in cold water.

I can't imagine a summer without iced tea. It's cheap, easy to make and healthy since it doesn't contain any sugar. But you have to use really fresh tea – buy it in Japan from an online shop! – for the best taste and fragrance.