Tiekuanyin Oolong

Posted on November 3, 2019 by vanbraman

This afternoon I tried a tea from Bird Pick Tea & Herb.

Bird Pick tea and herb, oolong teas, tea, loose tea, tea samplerI had bought an Oolong Tea Sampler that had four mini tins of loose leaf tea.

Tiekuanyin tea, tea sampler, oolong teas, bird pick teaHere are the four mini tins of tea. Each of them is filled with oolong tea.

Tiekuanyin tea, oolong tea, Taiwan tea, dark oolong, fermented teaI decided to first try the Tiekuanyin Oolong. For the post title I have used the spelling on the label, but found that it is usually spelled Tieguanyin.

The translation of the Chinese is Iron Goddess.

Iron Goddess, Tea, Oolong tea, tea leavesI found that there are two types of Tieguanyin.

Anxi Tieguanyin is lightly roasted so has less oxidation. The tea is more of a golden yellow and similar to a green tea.

Muzha Tieguanyin is heavily roasted with a stronger nutty taste. This tea has a reddish-brown color. Typically the Tieguanyin teas from Taiwan use this traditional method.

Tieguanyin, red brown tea, oolong tea, Taiwan tea, heavily roasted teaYou can see from this picture that it is the Muzha variety of Tieguanyin.

This tea is a really nice tea. It is very smooth with a wonderful nutty flavor. The tea has a wonderful mouth feel and has no bitter edge. There is also just a little bit of natural sweetness to the tea.

I have enjoyed multiple cups of this tea this afternoon as the tea leaves have staying power through multiple brews. Each brew has subtle changes in taste showing the complexity of the flavor.

I will have to try the other teas from the sampler soon.

Steven

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The Elah Valley

Posted on November 2, 2019 by vanbraman

Tonight I have been working on my presentation for class tomorrow. I guess if my students see this before the class they will get a preview. Or, they can look at the pictures a bit closer after the class.

Elah Valley, Israel, David and Goliath, Sunday Morning ClassWe will be covering I Samuel 16 and 17 so I decided to have some fun with maps to show the geography of the Elah Valley where David fought Goliath.

This map shows the general layout of the valley and where the armies would have been.

Width of valley, Amazon Building, Elah Valley, Demonstration of sizeSome of the questions that I always get in the class are how wide, how big, how far, etc..

I decided to come up with an illustration of how wide the Elah Valley is. Everyone in my class knows how big the local Amazon distribution center is. I found that it will just barely fit between the walls of the valley. It will be a good illustration.

The valley is about 2,000 feet wide in most places.

Gath, Elah Valley, distance, Bible LessonAnother question will be how far is Gath from the Elah Valley. I used Google Maps to illustrate a possible path through the valleys following the Elah Brook. It would be a journey of about eight miles.

David's journey to Elah Valley, David and Goliath, Bethlehem, mapsDavid had a little longer journey from Bethlehem to go take supplies to his brothers.

Khirbet Qeiyafa, Azeka, Elah Fortress, Elah ValleyI also showed the views that the men would have from the two gates of Khirbet Qeiyafa. In my presentation I also have pictures that I took from the gates when I visited there.

Now a little more study and then take advantage of that extra hour of sleep.

Perhaps I will have some extra students in my class tomorrow if they forget to set back their clocks.

Steven

 

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