Keep Those Keemun Coming

How's that for a bit of Gothic tracery, complete with a saint on a pillar?

Blimey, but the birds are all a-twitter this morning, as are the peepers. I guess they are desperate for mates. The "bully boys" - grackles, blue jays, starlings - have been at the feeder, but the little birds just keep plugging away.

The deer are just too tame. Yesterday morning I chased them away from the bird feeders 6 times in the space of about 30 minutes. The feeders are only about 15 feet from the house, so you can see what I mean.

I am regularly hearing a pileated woodpecker and I am hoping that I will see one this year. A few trees are beginning to get reddish twigs and some have a few buds. It is supposed to be quite warm this week, so maybe we'll actually see some flowers and leaf buds. My church's daffodils will bloom this week for sure.

I am doing two more Keemuns today. I did do a scond wash on Tea Trekkers Keemun Mao Feng, but I don't know how long it brewed yesterday, as I got distracted. Maybe as long as 10 minutes. It didn't hurt it, as it was just so soft and smooth, really delicious. So, even though TT are a bit expensive, if you can get a good second brewing, the cost is really halved.

Today I am brewing up Tea Trekker's Keemun HaoYa 'A'. The leaves are tiny, black, mixed with some borwn. They have a faint wine smell. It brews up to a dark amber after 3.5 minutes and gives of an aroma that is somewhat earthy, somewhat fruity and floral. The taste is a earthy and with a bit of briskness, maybe something bisquity. It is a robust tea, suitable for mornings, but ones when you are awake enough to appreciate it.

The second offering is Upton's ZK15, China Keemun Hen Ru. Dry, it is floral and woody smelling at the same time. As it brews it gives off a floral and wet wood aroma, along with that of corn. The taste is also somewhat woody and while, okay, that's about as far as I could go with it.


On our walk today, we saw several neighbors' crocus blloming. It is so good to see flowers again.