Category: Tasting Lab

3/7/17

Type Of Tea:	Aroma:	Appearance:	Flavor:
Genmaicha	Very grassy, hay, farm, comforting summer smell	Grassy leaves, puffed rice, varying textures	Grassy, roasted, pleasantly burnt, earthy, nutty, creamy
Kabusecha	Rolling down a grassy hill, alfalfa	Lime/yellowish-green, transparent	Mingling with aroma of incense, woody flavor, grassy

Teaism, a concept introduced to me yesterday by Kotomi during a green tea tasting lab, is a mentality I would like to work to incorporate into my life. In this world, it is easy to become wrapped up in work, school, speed and efficiency. Because of our need for speed, we often forget to stop and find pleasure and beauty in the moon, the light on a tree, and the other seemingly mundane moments in life that in reality can bring us such joy. I vow to connect more to my environment, feel close to what is around me, and bring a sense of consciousness to my actions.

Type of Tea: Oolong	Appearance	Flavor Notes	Aroma
Four Seasons Of Spring	Butter Yellow	Centralized tongue feel, vegetal, marine	Honeysuckle, sweet, floral
High Mountain	Pale yellow	Not bitter, subtle, savory, bright	Creamy, roasted, candied nuts, bark

Since beginning this quarters tea tasting labs, I have begun to take pleasure in bringing a sense of consciousness to the act of eating in and out of class. From taking time in the morning to sit with my tea and close my eyes before the rush of the day begins, to taking time to eat dinner and chew all the way through each bite that enters my mouth before swallowing.

Bread has always held a special place in my heart. Being that my mother immigrated from France, the loaf has maintained its place in our kitchen since I can remember. Milk, on the other hand, has always caused me distress. As much as I would love to indulge in creamy bries and aged goudas, my stomach has never allowed it.

When I was young I remember my lack of milk consumption causing great worry to some, how would I get the calcium I desperately needed to grow?? Luckily, despite my digestive failures I have formed full healthy bones and stand at around 5’10. The “got milk” ads never did much in convincing me of what I was missing.

During Annie’s corn tasting lab, and our viewing of Michael Twitty’s Black Corn, I left class thinking about corn in a way I never had before. In contemporary American culture, corn is a staple to the agricultural industry, but long before the crops commodification, corn was a staple food to indigenous people’s across the America’s.

America has a history of exploitation, alongside the exploitation of people often comes the exploitation of natural resources, corn being a prime example. For native people, corn has been a symbol of more than just nutritious value, but one of deep cultural and spiritual significance.

The American disconnect from emotionality and connection with the natural world leads to extraction and unwarranted commodification, and to diminished biodeversity.

With so many commodities like tea, coffee, and chocolate, it is tempting to indulge, without being conscious of the origins and histories of the items you are consuming. Though it can be difficult and overwhelming to attach a story to everything you consume, it can bring a sense of appreciation to the food otherwise lacking.

Last year, on a trip to San Francisco I visited a Chinatown tea shop and left with a tin of Pu-Erh, the tin sat forgotten about for months, but since the beginning of Kotomi’s tea tasting labs I have made it a ritual to sit in silence with the tea and myself, and make note of my own feelings, the impact of the tea on my state of mind, and the transformation of the tea through various steepings.

Type Of Tea Pu-Erh Fully Oxidized	Appearance Dried or Steeped	Flavor Notes	Aroma Dried or Steeped	Mood
“Raw”	Steeped: Buttery yellow, hints of amber, leaves very green	Weedy, woody, deep, barnyard, mildly astringent, burnt	Roasted rice, woody, mossy, tobacco, animal, clean horse	Warm, relaxed energy, joy
“Cooked” Fermented	Deep mahogany, opaque, balanced flavor and tongue coating	Earthy sweetness	Barnyard, soy sauce, rubber, boat	Energizing but grounding

As I sit in this coffee shop, surrounded by homework, sipping a matcha latte, I am reminded of the consciousness in the act of tasting that has been brought to us in Kotomi’s tea tasting labs. Sitting around Kotomi, we all go quiet, ready for the experience coming to us that week. In our tastings, we are reminded of the pleasures we so often take for granted that we are able to find when we take the time to sit quietly and experience whatever it may be that we are consuming.

Since beginning the tasting labs, I have found my daily morning tea a pleasure worth noting, instead of just a caffeine boost to help make it through the day. Bringing awareness to consumption has helped to make me feel more in synch and part of my own body.

Type of Tea	Appereance, Dried or Steeped	Flavor Notes	Aroma, Dried or Steeped
Japanese Matcha 175 f	Dried: Jade like green powder Steeped: Earthy brownish green, opaque	Hay, relatively bitter, taste immediate and central on tongue, earthy and somewhat spicy flavor, remains in mouth	Mossy aroma, notes of dried fruit, subtle, earthy, vegetal
Pu-Erh 212 f	Brown, like pine needle, beautiful brownish red when steeped, amber	Very woody, notes of sawdust, but pleasant regardless, not astringent	Very woody and foresty, hints of undergrowth and dirt
Oolong 185 f	Dark forest green, some lighter hints of color, buttery yellow when steeped	Subtle full flavor, balanced distribution of flavor, like the stem of a flower	Very floral, Lily like, mossy and woody notes

1.Do you think the hearth still has a central role? What will the hearth look like in 2020? Kitchen-talk?

As we move further and further into an efficiency/ productivity-based model we move away from the hearth’s central role. Discussions and family dinners around tables are often pushed aside for more “efficient” or “productive” uses of time. A hearth in 2020 might be a restaurant table or a living room tv area.

2. Which spices did you blend? Why?

Cardamom, Cumin, Hungarian Paprike, Clove, Vanilla, Salt.

The acidity  (oranges) worked well with the warmth of my spice blend, as did the kale.

I chose my blend primarily by smell, looking for warmth and contrasting flavors to create a unique blend.

 

 

 

Golden Egg	Pink Egg	Marbled Egg	White egg	Salmon Roe
Appearance: Buttery, somewhat gray	Appearance: Festive, bright, cartoony	Appearance: Unappealing, not particularly marbled	Appearance: Typical	Appearance: Beautiful, salmon pink, look like pearls
Taste: Lacking in depth of flavor My least favorite “local sustainable egg”	Taste: Pickled beets, colors and associations with easter, family and celebration	Taste: History with Sakuma, seemingly positive, local but “problematic history” Chinese tradition	Taste: Familiar, classic, American egg, lacking in history compared to others	Taste: “Harvested from ovaries” Trigger, “The Other” in selection of eggs Politics of caviar in Russia/ Japan After knowing history becomes more “Exotic” “Special”