Wednesday, January 20, 2010

New old stuff arrived

Got a big box yesterday! In this cold weather accompanied with pouring rain, what'd be better than having a fire going, collect heavenly rain water and brew myself a cup after cup of nice tea!

I have been rewarding myself with several good trees this year, in side of this box, I once again got a nice little gift for myself, 08 Cha Wang Dan Cong. A set of Batavian gaiwan with 4 cups for myself, and 40 Batavian cups of the gold fish design, will have them posted on www.teahabitat.com soon. They are best for pu-erh tea or for drinking large cup of tea, hand made during Guang Xu Nian (late 1700's).

I am slowly acquiring as much 07 old bush dan congs as possible to commemorate the opening of Tea Habitat. The rest of the 07 Zei Shi - Thief Shit and some others are now in LA. Also accquired the entire stock of 98 Honey Orchid, no special meaning of the year, it's just good tea and it will be 21 years old in just another 10 years. :P Have been collecting 10+ years old teas (both pu-erh and Dan Cong), and 07 old bush Dan Cong. I should have 100 kg of 07 old bush Shui Xian/Dan Cong stored away in China by now. Will store 100 kg or more each year as my retirement fund.

6 small 50 to 80 ml Chao Zhou red clay pots! The 50 ml pots are sooooooo cute! One is mine, the other is available.

Mama pot (80 ml), baby pot (50 ml)... I am keeping these 2... :P
During my trip to China a little over a month ago has opened many doors for me, one of them is pu-erh. Will have some unusual pu-erh teas arriving soon, vintage, wild old arbor teas, etc... :D

A little side note, rain water is great for tea! After collecting the rainwater, let it sit for a few hours, drain the top 3/4 into a clean container, boil then make tea. Enjoy!

I might visit one of the mountains near by and fill up all my 5 gallon water jugs with fresh rain water from local stream or water fall.

3 comments:

Mia said...

I love the mama and baby pots! I just took a wheel-thrown ceramics class for the first time this winter, and I have new appreciation for how much work must go into making something so perfect. Crazy! I hope you and your shop are doing well! :)

Soïwatter said...

Hi Imen,

Interessing retirement fund!
If well stored, it will be more secure and valuable than any pension... and tastier. I hope I'll be able to taste it one day...

You're making a difference between Shui Xian and Dan Cong. Is there any reason why you don't class Feng Huang old bush Shui Xian in dan cong?

Imen said...

Mia,

It does take a lot of time to make something nice. :) Thanks for the well wishes! Have a great year yourself!

Soiwatter,

Shui Xian means they are not unique enough to be made individually as a Dan Cong. Usually they lack the fragrance, but due to the age, Yun is great, for aging, fragrance will be lost completely after 20 years anyways.