all this tea and I'm still thirsty

Die deutsche Version findest du unten.

Drank this whole pot of tea and I'm still thirsty. It was a smoky Grand Yunnan, and as much as I enjoy the taste, it somehow didn't affect how thirsty I am. As if I hadn't actually drunk any tea.

Yesterday I noticed that I was rarely satisfied after drinking a Bancha, and Verity Fisher responded with 'I never find green or roasted teas to be thirst quenching, but Indian/African/Ceylon blacks are. Odd, isn't it?'

It was such an interesting comment, and I've been pondering it ever since. Why do some teas simply not quench my thirst? What an intriguing question.

There's probably a scientific answer for this, but I can't begin to assess it. It's beyond my understanding.

But my personal experience? My objective opinion? I have plenty of that.

As much as I love the taste of a smoky Lapsang Souchong, it doesn't make me any less thirsty. And I seem to respond similarly to other smoky teas. I can't make a blanket statement about all green tea, but there are certainly some I can think of that fit in this weird category.

Many strong, dark teas do quench my thirst, so it has no direct connection to that. I know I was a little rigid about milk in my Darjeeling in my last post, but I still put milk in some tea. When I drink those (an Assam Harmutti or Ceylon BOP Uva) with a bit of milk, I know I won't be thirsty afterward.

Maybe you know of a chemical or physical reason why some teas are like this. If you do, I'd love to hear it.

But otherwise, have you noticed that certain tea quenches your thirst more than others? Which tea?



Eine ganze Kanne Tee habe ich getrunken und ich bin immer noch durstig. Es ist ein Rauchtee und obwohl ich den Geschmack mag, hat er irgendwie mein Durst nicht gelöscht. Als ob ich gar keinen Tee getrunken habe.

Gestern habe ich bemerkt, dass ich selten zufrieden bin, nachdem ich ein Bancha getrunken habe. Verity Fisher hat geantwortet: ‚Ich finde grünen oder gerösteten Tee nie durstlöschend, obwohl wiederum Tee aus Indien, Afrika und Ceylon (Sri Lanka) den Durst stillen. Komisch, oder?’

Die Idee war so interessant, daß ich seitdem immer noch darüber nachdenke. Warum löschen manche Tees überhaupt nicht den Durst? Was für eine Frage.

Wahrscheinlich gibt’s eine wissenschaftliche Antwort, aber ich kann damit überhaupt nichts anfangen. Das ist wirklich mehr als ich wissen kann.

Aber meine persönliche Erfahrung? Eine Meinung? Das habe ich natürlich.

So sehr ich ein rauchender Lapsang Souchong gern trinke, er mach mich nicht weniger durstig. Es ist ganz ähnlich wenn ich andere Rauchtees trinke. Ich möchte nichts über alle Grüntee-Sorten sagen. Trotzdem kenne ich viele grüne Tees die auch in dieser merkwürdigen Kategorie passen.

Viel starker, dunkler Tee löscht meinen Durst, so es hat nicht direkt damit zu tun. In meinem letzten Blogpost war ich ein bisschen rigide über Darjeeling mit Milch, aber manchmal trinke ich Milch in meinem Tee. Wenn ich Assam Harmutti oder Ceylon BOP Uva mit einem Schluck Milch trinke, weiß ich, daß ich nicht mehr durstig sein werde.

Vielleicht weißt du einen physicalischen Grund warum das so ist. Wenn ja, dann würde ich das gerne hören.

Andererseits, hast du bemerkt, daß spezifische Tees deinen Durst löschen als andere? Welche speziellen Tees?

turtle pee

It's a rainy Saturday evening after weeks of unbearably hot weather. I'm drinking a simple Bancha tea, and listening to the rain pitter patter on the window.

The little bit of research I've done about this tea is that it's a simpler/coarser form of Sencha, but even if this is a lower grade tea, I really like the way it tastes. It's grassy and rather bitter. But the second and third infusions lose the bitterness while keeping the flavour.

Years ago, someone told me that the taste of green tea was what they assumed turtle pee would taste like. It was on a trip to Japan, and she had one sip of green tea, decided she didn't like it, and from then on referred to it as turtle pee.

Only on reflection did I realise I should've asked her how she knew how terrapin urine tasted, but I think it was just the worst thing she could think of to compare it to. At least that's how I remember it.

But somehow over time because I love the taste of green tea more and more, I've started to imagine that maybe turtle urine isn't that bad. I know that it's madness, but that's where my thoughts take me this evening.

Read a book years ago by Rudolfo Anaya called Tortugas in which the waters from Turtle Mountain healed the wounded protagonist. The characters in the book saw the waters that came from the mountain as healing and I think they also referred to the waters as turtle pee.

Regenerative green tea. Low quality Bancha or not, this is delicious.

(un)gratitude

What tea goes with losing the World Cup final? Winning would be an easy answer. I'd think of a regal Darjeeling or an exquisite green tea.

Instead, I'd like to consider what the losers get. And they really are losers. The Dutch knew that they couldn't win with pure football, so they chose to play dirty. To foul and bruise and elbow their way to penalties after one hundred and twenty minutes. Thankfully, the Spanish won in a fair way despite the tactics of their opponent.

For the Vice Champions, I'd serve a Japanese Bancha, which is described at Wikipedia in this way:


Bancha (番茶?, coarse tea)
Lower grade of Sencha harvested as a third or fourth flush tea between summer and autumn. Aki-Bancha (autumn Bancha) is not made from entire leaves, but from the trimmed unnecessary twigs of the tea plant.


Rather fitting for a team that played rough and went down complaining. Sort of like Bill Lambeer on the old Detroit Pistons teams. You despise him unless he's on your side, and then you likely think the ends justify the means. And for that sort of thinking you get a steaming mug of unnecessary twigs. It's not bad tea, actually. You were probably hoping for something top-shelf.

And like the Netherlands national football team you'd pout as they did being anointed with their runners-up necklaces. You ungrateful bastard, you.