Fall 2009 Taipei Story House Cha Xi: Enjoy Puerh

Last Sunday, we held our bimonthly tea party at the Taipei Story House. Teaparker made the presentation speech and 4 of his students brewed various puerhs.

The day was cloudy and cool. It was perfect to enjoy tea, but the room was too dark to make good pictures (and I had my hands busy brewing!) That's why I took these pictures of my setup again at home.

I chose this Cha Bu for its warm earth colors that go well with the autumn season and the wodui (fermented) puerh I brewed.

I display a Chrysanthemum for 2 reasons. First, it should symbolize the full moon, since the day before was the Moon Festival. We couldn't see the moon in the sky, because of the bad weather, but we could see it on the Cha Xi.

Second, chrysenthemum is often added to flavor cheap wodui puerh. But this one is made of high grade tea buds and very well processed. It's only a couple of years old, but it tastes so clean and sweet that it doesn't require any added flavor. We can combine the pleasure of tea and the beauty of the this flower. We don't need to mix them in the teapot.

I further underlined how good this puerh tasted by using a zhuni teapot.

The old and small qinghua cups look out of time, like the tea we had this Sunday at the Taipei Story House.

I have listed all the accessories I'm using on the invitation (left). It was Teaparker's idea to keep a written trace of our Cha Xi. Much of what we know about how tea was brewed in the past comes from similar lists and accounts of tea parties. The Japanese, especially, have left very detailed accounts.

A blog is, in this regard, a very modern way to keep a trace and share our tea with others. And it's also interesting how one's own technique evolved by comparing pictures of the setups over time.