Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Conference Tea Grandpa Style

My third and last conference for this month is at the historic Palace Hotel in San Francisco.  They appear to keep the water hotter than other venues with a canned flame underneath so I was encouraged to bring leaf tea on my second day for a bit of grandpa style. I chose Hoffman's 1995 Large Leaf Maocha from Emmett as large leaf tea tends to be more tolerant of overbrewing. I also wanted a little bit of novelty. I rinsed the leaves at home and tested the initial brew which was surprisingly smoky and astringent.  Even taking into account extra-dry storage, 1995 is a stretch for me.

I took the wet leaves in a stainless canister to the hotel and brewed three cups or until the leaves gave out. The Sterno flame under the hot water dispenser apparently only gave the illusion of water being kept hotter as I didn't get a piping hot brew in all cases.

Was it worth the effort? The initial two speakers were so stimulating that I was really too distracted to notice anything but a vague youngish sheng taste. In a slower afternoon session, I thoughtfully savored two cups of a delicious roasted oolong that Wilson sent me. Roasted oolong definitely performs better in conference conditions than pu-erh. I'm a serious introvert so all the people milling about plain wore me out. My taste buds tend to be desensitized in such settings.

I brought the spent leaves home to do a full inspection - it's hard to do this sort of leaf shot at the conference site. The teas look darker than they did early this morning as they have oxidized a bit.  Maocha tends to age much faster than compressed sheng so I'm still dubious these here green leaves were sprouted in 1995 but there's just no point calling shenanigans on Hoffman. Life is short my friends. Life is short. The Palace Hotel incidentally has a famous afternoon tea service which is more for tourists and ladies who lunch than for serious tea lovers; puerh is definitely not on the menu nor will it ever be.  I've only tried their service once during Christmas season long ago.  I'd rather enjoy the simpler pleasures of having a scrumptious Tropezienne at the neighboring La Boulange. A Tropezienne is sliced brioche with cream inside and is my latest dessert fad.  Scones can be pretty good but can never compete with a well done french pastry involving cream filling.  I enjoyed a delicious Tropezienne two days in a row and now don't know how I'll cope tomorrow! (Those are just some random rich people who happened to be caught in my photo.)
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