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Fine Tea

Tim,

Don't get too hung up on prep methods, containers, etc. Just enjoy it. I use a standard coffee mug to drink all my tea out of 99% of the time. As for brewing, the most important thing is to give the tea leaves room to unfurl. That is why tea balls and other small containers are a waste. the Chatsford tea pots do a great job. At work, I use a Republic of Tea strainer, which fits inside a mug and which is very large. Their teas are very overpriced, but this thing works nicely. You can often find them at Barnes & Noble bookstores.

For brewing, it depends a bit on the tea, and some experimentation is needed. Here is a rough guide to get you started:

Black/blended teas: boiling water, 4-5 minutes
Oolong: just short of boiling, 2-3 minutes
Green: hot water, 1.5-2 minutes
White: warm water, 1.5-2 minutes

Follow the directions on the tea for amounts. I'll use a heaping teaspoon or so per cup as a starting point. Real aficionado's measure by gram, but that is a bit persnickety for me.
 
here's a good rule of thumb to follow for preparing tea: measurement.
Coffee, for example, requires 2 level tablespoons (i.e, one "official" coffee measure) for each 6 ounces of water, regardless of brewing method. Tea requires 2.25 grams per 6 ounces of water, regardless of the type of tea being used. (n.b., this doesn't apply to herbal teas, which have a different density.) measuring spoons don't work as well because different teas have different densities depending upon size, etc. I purchased a very good English breakfast that turned out to be horribly astringent. I had made one cup and used a slightly rounded teaspoon. I then weighed the tea, and it turned out that this teaspoon, while it worked well for other teas, yielded slightly over 3 grams of tea. I then weighed out 2.25 grams, made the tea again and it was perfect. Similarly, I have an excellent Darjeeling and discovered that if I bend the rule and brew for longer than 2 minutes, I get a vile tasting tannic brew. 1.5 minutes is perfect, 2 minutes is the absolute max. And so it goes.

You can purchase a tea scale with a digital readout that will give you the weight in grams, cupweight, etc. Using a six cup Chatsford teapot, for example, I measure 6 cupwts of tea, place in the brewing basket. scald the pot, then add hot water --temperature depending upon the type of tea being brewed, and brew for the requisite time, again depending upon the type of tea being brewed. It's really not as complicated as it may sound. It comes down to this:
use the correct amount of tea
add water at the correct temperature
brew for the correct length of time.

follow these three simple rules and you'll always have a perfect cup of tea. And yes, I use a thermometer to ascertain the temperature of the water. Hot, warm, etc., are relative terms.
btw, teavana sells a fascinating brewing device. It holds 18 oz of water. Add the tea, hot water, and brew for the requisite length of time. stir, then place the device over the cup and it drains right into the cup. Great for 2 people.
properly made, tea can indeed be one of the great pleasures of life.
 
ravkesef said:
here's a good rule of thumb to follow for preparing tea: measurement.
Coffee, for example, requires 2 level tablespoons (i.e, one "official" coffee measure) for each 6 ounces of water, regardless of brewing method. Tea requires 2.25 grams per 6 ounces of water, regardless of the type of tea being used.

The rule of thumb is not quite right for the coffee:

espresso: 6.5-8 g / 1oz
stovetop espresso: 10-12g/2 oz
vaccum brewer (also probably drip and french press) : 6-7g/4oz
 

ouch

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Just as lathering requires a delicate balance of water and cream, so does the teamaking process.

It's not all that hard if you let your tastebuds be your guide. Soon you'll figure out (or stumble across) the proper balance of water temperature, amount of tea, and brewing time, all of which will vary slightly for different teas.

One thing I love about tea is that, unlike coffee, multiple infusions are possible. Often, the second infusion is the best.
 
Thank you for the info Ken. I'll keep this in mind.

Jordan

Jordan,

There are grades of tea in different kinds of categories. First of all is size. Many teas have some symbol or name for gradation according to size. For example, an OP (Orange Pekoe) has a larger leaf than a BOP(broken Orange pekoe). This tells you something about how the tea will brew. In general, the smaller the leaf, the quicker the brew. I generally prefer large leaf teas, because I find the brew less likely to be overly extracted. In addition, some tea estates, especially in the Darjeeling region, will produce a series of teas with a bunch of letters accompanying , e.g. GFOP, or FGFOP, etc. I don't want to go into what they mean, but in general the more letters, the higher quality the tea compared to others produced by the same estate. Sort of like the difference between a vineyard's cabernet sauvignon and its reserve cabernet sauvignon. It doesn't mean that the reserve is actually better, but the vineyard is presenting it as such. So, while it is true that you can never actually tell what the quality of the tea is from the words or letters that accompany it, it is still worth paying some attention to those descriptions because it at least gives you a clue as to what you may be buying.

Ken
 
One thing I love about tea is that, unlike coffee, multiple infusions are possible. Often, the second infusion is the best.

What do you do with the tea in between infusions? Seal it up? Let it dry? How is it best preserved between the first and second infusion?
 

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What do you do with the tea in between infusions? Seal it up? Let it dry? How is it best preserved between the first and second infusion?

I never even thought of saving it. I just resteep successive infusions for a second, third, or, occasionally, fourth cup, or until all of the taste is gone.

When I'm done, even after a single cup, into the trash it goes.
 
I never even thought of saving it. I just resteep successive infusions for a second, third, or, occasionally, fourth cup, or until all of the taste is gone.

When I'm done, even after a single cup, into the trash it goes.

Okay, I guess when I thought of multiple infusions, it was like you'd brew a cup on Monday, and then brew another cup on Tuesday with the same tea.
 
Okay, I guess when I thought of multiple infusions, it was like you'd brew a cup on Monday, and then brew another cup on Tuesday with the same tea.

Gross. If the leaves stand around, into the trash they go. Sometimes I'll wait 30 minutes or so, but more than that I wouldn't.
 
Have you tried Upton Tea Imports, available on the net as uptontea.com. Hundreds of teas from everywhere.

If it's green tea you want, try Ten Ren tea. They're on the Net, too, and have stores in Chinese neighborhoods of some major cities.
 
The Chatsford London Teapot, available from Upton Tea, porcelain version, is very nice. Surprisingly good is the Sunbeam Hot Tea Maker available from Wal-Mart.
 
http://www.marktwendell.com/Hukwa.htm

It uses words like "delicate". Perhaps this is an alternate definition of that word, because this stuff is STRONG! It is, by far, my favorite Lapsang Souchong tea. Very smoky aroma and flavor. Some have found it too much so, but I think it's perfect.

(I've never ordered it from the website, as it's available at Zabar's in Manhattan - close to home for me.)

I've found a weird thing recently, though: there are certain kinds of tea I can't drink anymore: Lapsang Souchong & Earl Grey being the main two. My throat starts to feel strange - like it's "closing up". I can still breathe easily, but my voice becomes higher and strained. Weird. And sad, since I really love these two varieties of tea.

But I still keep a tin of Hu-Kwa around, and open it up just to have the aroma permeate the room. Very pleasant indeed.
 
Concerning the merits of Pu-Erh, about which there seem to be differing opinions.

I believe the orgin of many of the brick teas from Yunnan was the trade through Tibet. They were pressed into bricks for convenience of transport on the caravan routes. Kunming, LiJiang, Zhongdian, etc. are on these old trade routes. Once you get into the northwest of Yunnan province on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau you start to get into the region where there are a lot of Tibetans. They drink their brick teas differently than the rest of the world does. After brewing the tea is generally mixed in a churn with yak butter and salt. You can drink it straight that way or mix it into a paste with parched barley (which tastes vaugely like popcorn). I like it, but it is quite different from the ways the rest of the world drinks tea.

Here's a picture of me and my family in 2004 enjoying some libations at 11,000 feet in Zhongdian. (Now renamed Shangri-La)

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I've run into the same type of tea-drinking in the remote hills of Nepal. This picture is from the late 70's.

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Brave souls among you may want to try brewing up some tea in the traditional Tibetan manner. Yak butter is a little hard to find here but regular butter will do.

Before I get kicked out of here I'll have to mention that I'm clean-shaven now.
 

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Nice shave.:biggrin1:

Apparently, yak butter isn't the only thing that's hard to find.
 
Buttered, salted, Tibetan style tea is actually quite good. When I have had it, it has also been lightly milked. Surprisingly yummy.

-Mo
 
Out of all the elaborate tea stuff I own to prepare tea, this is probably the most useful.

At work, I use a Republic of Tea strainer, which fits inside a mug and which is very large. Their teas are very overpriced, but this thing works nicely. You can often find them at Barnes & Noble bookstores.
 
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