Red Lantern Tea

It has been quite a while since I looked at a piece of tea gear, which is a bit tragic! Also kinda hard since most my tea gear I pick up at thrift stores or super cheap off ebay, so that makes it hard to review…but that does mean I can just do more ‘meet my tea gear’ showcases. Promises, promises!

Today I am taking a looksie at Matcha Bowl 2, one of three offered by Red Leaf Tea, purchased this lovely using the reward for that Matcha showdown I did a few weeks (or is it months now, ah time you are so fluid) ago, because using random bowls bought with the intention of being a Chawan just wasn’t working for me. The picture on the website makes it look pretty white, but the description says it has a turquoise colored glaze, in reality it is a grassy green, almost the color of Matcha foam.

So first off, how does it work as a Matcha bowl…well…not so well. Some people like their Chawan to be small, the smallest I have seen are travel Chawan that measure 6oz, and this one is 7-8oz, so this one is on the small size. I can barely fit my Chasen in it, and whisking into a froth is almost impossible, but perhaps this Chawan would be good for making Koicha since it requires less water and a different motion of the Chasen. After a few attempts I retired this one as a Matcha bowl, which is sad since the image of the foam fading into the color of the bowl was quite lovely.

However, it does make an excellent teacup. The weight on this bowl is quite excellent, it is heavy, with most the weight being at the bottom, it feels well balanced and the texture is enjoyable in my hand. It has a blend of an earthy texture while also being smooth, one of my favorite things about pottery is the different textures. It holds heat really well, and the color is gorgeous with darker teas, especially black teas and oolongs, where you can just barely see the swirling green of the glaze at the bottom of the bowl. So overall, this is an excellent tea bowl, not really for Matcha, but maybe someone else would have better luck with whisking and I just need more space to work my whisk!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/06/red-leaf-tea-matcha-bowl-2-tea-gear.html

Inexpensive ($4.49)100g toucha that is available also in a 5pack option at 19.99.

Fist size, hard as a rock.

4g to 60z Gaiwan. 2 Rinses.

1st woodsy, musty smelling and kind of old tasting.

Leaves grey green brown (khaki) color, small and shredded….everywhere (messy-like) when wet. Smell mucky.

2. Bitter, Bitter, Bitter

3. Tongue on fire like a chili pepper—still bitter.

4. Bitter/hot with a slight creaminess.

5. Same—creaminess is developing some tempering the heat.

6. More creaminess all else the same. Done here. I am not enjoying this much. The leaves look like they are not enjoying it much either.

Taste buds peaked. Some creaminess did show up. Hot pepper type Sheng/rough on the mouth.

- light body
- extremely gentle aftertaste

Reviewed at: http://walkerteareview.com/http:/walkerteareview.com/tea-review-177-red-lantern%e2%80%99s-dong-ding-a-grade