Yep… in the world of pu’erh, I am still so much a newbie. Perhaps with enough consumption, I’ll be able to distinguish beyond sheng/shu (like I can now distinguish a bit between different straight black teas), but until then, my palate remains terribly unrefined.
I still find that sheng is much more to my liking; it doesn’t brew up nearly as dark and inky as many shus I’ve tried, and the flavour tends to be more sharp and spicy than a mellow shu (and also, I don’t tend to notice things like earthiness and fishiness, which I still have trouble with).
Anyhow, I attempted to use about 2 tsp of this cake for my ~8-10oz. cup, and gave the pu’erh a 15 second rinse prior to a 30 second infusion. I’m quite pleased with the results – pleasant, light flavour (but lots of it), and that characteristic “sheng” flavour. It’s also quite smooth, which is very enjoyable. Unfortunately… that’s about all I can tell you. I’m enjoying it while reading/writing about antioxidant activity assays, and it’s a welcome distraction, heh. Hopefully I’ll have the chance for another few infusions later this morning, or tomorrow.
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Is that what your thesis is about? Antioxidants? Sounds interesting… I have a chemistry background.
Her thesis is on asparagus grin
Sil & Tealizzy – yep, asparagus, but more specifically, the genetic variation in phytochemical content and retention of phytochemicals during cooking. Of course, the phytochemicals in question are mostly of note due to their antioxidant capabilities, so I did a few antioxidant activity assays for my cooking trial. It was a part of my project that had been tacked on mid-way, so I hadn’t written a lit review about it yet, which is what I was/am doing. :D
Blahblahblah….asparagus….blah blah blah :)
I kid of course ;)
Nope, that’s ok… My boyfriend and his mom do the same thing, but I kind of wish that they would at least try to understand instead of assuming it’s too complicated!
lol i actually wouldn’t mind reading your thesis sometime :)
It’s currently at about 47 pages :D Which includes my intro, much of my lit review, and my materials and methods. No results, discussion, figures, tables, references, extraneous front matter…. hahahahahaha it’s going to be long .
Your thesis sounds interesting, and you get to do cooking too! Fun! I totally understand about people not even trying to understand what you do. Good luck with the write-up!
That sounds like a good essay. I always wondered if vegetables lose some of their minerals and beneficial properties when they are cooked. I know the broccoli pretty much gets destroyed when you boil it (in flavor as well).
When I cook, (if boiling that is) I try to use the water in something else like a sauce or soup etc. Dunno if that saves any antioxidants or anything but I figure it can’t hurt!
OMG that is so cool!
Well, it was interesting before I spent two years on it! :P And yes – nutrients are definitely lost when veggies are boiled, so it’s actually in general not the best way to cook them! Steaming is better. So yes, Indigobloom – using the cooking water from boiling is actually a good idea based on some prelim results I have – the one phytochemical I was looking at was definitely lost from the spears… and ended up in the cooking water! Didn’t get destroyed, just leached out. Sadly I didn’t get to test all the cooking liquid as I wanted; it was cut from my project due to lack of time.
Hey, at least you are doing one. I about choked on my tea when I read that you typed up 47 pages. I already have a hard time doing 2000 word research papers for school.
LOL a sign of how tired I am – I actually meant 57! 16.5 of Materials & Methods + 40-ish of Lit Review. I should go home and sleep…
I think pretty much anything is really neat until you spend 2+ years full time on it. :)
aw that’s sad your project had to cut the water study out! interesting to know, I’ll have to tell Mum.. she always boils veggies
Is that what your thesis is about? Antioxidants? Sounds interesting… I have a chemistry background.
Her thesis is on asparagus grin
Sil & Tealizzy – yep, asparagus, but more specifically, the genetic variation in phytochemical content and retention of phytochemicals during cooking. Of course, the phytochemicals in question are mostly of note due to their antioxidant capabilities, so I did a few antioxidant activity assays for my cooking trial. It was a part of my project that had been tacked on mid-way, so I hadn’t written a lit review about it yet, which is what I was/am doing. :D
Blahblahblah….asparagus….blah blah blah :)
I kid of course ;)
Nope, that’s ok… My boyfriend and his mom do the same thing, but I kind of wish that they would at least try to understand instead of assuming it’s too complicated!
lol i actually wouldn’t mind reading your thesis sometime :)
It’s currently at about 47 pages :D Which includes my intro, much of my lit review, and my materials and methods. No results, discussion, figures, tables, references, extraneous front matter…. hahahahahaha it’s going to be long .
Your thesis sounds interesting, and you get to do cooking too! Fun! I totally understand about people not even trying to understand what you do. Good luck with the write-up!
That sounds like a good essay. I always wondered if vegetables lose some of their minerals and beneficial properties when they are cooked. I know the broccoli pretty much gets destroyed when you boil it (in flavor as well).
When I cook, (if boiling that is) I try to use the water in something else like a sauce or soup etc. Dunno if that saves any antioxidants or anything but I figure it can’t hurt!
OMG that is so cool!
Well, it was interesting before I spent two years on it! :P And yes – nutrients are definitely lost when veggies are boiled, so it’s actually in general not the best way to cook them! Steaming is better. So yes, Indigobloom – using the cooking water from boiling is actually a good idea based on some prelim results I have – the one phytochemical I was looking at was definitely lost from the spears… and ended up in the cooking water! Didn’t get destroyed, just leached out. Sadly I didn’t get to test all the cooking liquid as I wanted; it was cut from my project due to lack of time.
Hey, at least you are doing one. I about choked on my tea when I read that you typed up 47 pages. I already have a hard time doing 2000 word research papers for school.
LOL a sign of how tired I am – I actually meant 57! 16.5 of Materials & Methods + 40-ish of Lit Review. I should go home and sleep…
I think pretty much anything is really neat until you spend 2+ years full time on it. :)
aw that’s sad your project had to cut the water study out! interesting to know, I’ll have to tell Mum.. she always boils veggies