Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Oriental Beauty 2008 in silver


So far, to select and taste it, I had used a white porcelain competition set. Then, last Saturday, I used my silver teapot to see how this high grade Bai Hao Oolong would take the heat. What defects would the high temperature of the silver highlight?

None! On the contrary, this OB tasted clear, bright and smooth. It almost seemed I had put the top grade inside the pot! The explanation of this magic came around brew number 4: the leaves were already exhausted and quality diminished, whereas with porcelain I can make 6-7 of similar quality with this very concentrated Oolong. This means that the higher temperature of the silver had concentrated the best flavors during the first brews. This, somehow, reminded me of Napoléon! As a high school student, he had won a national essay competition with the following sentence: "Men of genius are meteorites that are destined to burn to shine on their century." (Les hommes de génie sont des météores destinés à brûler pour éclairer leur siècle.)

We could also find examples of this in sports at the Olympic Games. Each competition is about bringing out the best performance from the athletes. Each will try to give his best and the performance from the winner will be remembered for a very long time.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always asked myself if the effect I taste by using silver tea ware is more or less like placebo, but now after several months using
them I am convinced that it does
improve the taste.
Interestingly I also found out that it makes if difference how you heat your water i.e. direct / indirect heat, electric etc.
It is indeed a "dao" where you always remain a student...

Michel said...

Hi Kim

Many people think silver is a guimmick, it being shiny, expensive and all...
I own the same teapot as you and yes it does work wonders.. (no matter what others may think.)

This Ob is stunning, better than last years.
Stange year though. some teas have lost out, others bloom.

TeaMasters said...

Thanks Kim and Michel for sharing your experiences.

Unknown said...
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Anonymous said...

I would love to get a silver teapot like this. Now I will have to search for one.

Sorry, a pedantic note: I'd quote Napoleon in English as saying the men of genius are meteors that burn to "brighten their century"