Gong Fu-style brewing in a teapot. Twice as much tea as I'd normally use for a single pot. Boiling hot water. Only two minutes steeping, at least for the first infusion.
Have been watching hours and hours of international football (World Cup) lately. And holding down my job. And writing something here daily. And at least an hour everyday walking/running with the dogs. And getting up at dawn to write/play songs (the only time I'm sure I can get the solitude I need).
This tea drinking is one of the only things that explains all the energy I seem to have. That and the pact I've made with the devil. #robertjohnson
Two regular contributors here have recently gone AWOL. Asiatic Fox was a fresh new voice in tea drinking, but it seems he needs a bit of a break from tea drinking. Hope he makes it back. And Sir William of the Leaf is still out there, active at LeafBoxTea, visited the World Tea Expo in Vegas, but I haven't yet seen his report on it. Am curious if he met Kevin 'tea tattoo' Rose.
Oh, I almost forgot...recently got a shipment of tea from Claus Kröger in Hamburg. I really need to try a new supplier. Might order a shipment from the other wholesaler in Hamburg. The folks who introduced me to Flugtee. They're Darjeeling experts, and I'm completely obsessed with Darjeeling.
In case you're wondering about my amigo the teahobo, he's leaving for Calcutta and then Darjeeling this weekend. He's only left the US twice in his life (Vietnam and Cancun, Mesico) and is a bit daunted by the prospect of this journey to one of the most important tea growing areas of India.
The teahobo will send his reports to me by email, and I'll post them to his blog. He's not very technically advanced (he's an old guy people), so I'm happy to help him where I can. You can read his exploits at http://teahobo.blogspot.com.
Otherwise, I'll be doing all the things I listed above. I hope you're all enjoying your summer. For you lot in New Zealand/Australia, I know it's winter there. Hope you're freezing your asses off. It'll be summer soon enough. If you're cold, put on another pair of long underwear. Congrats on the new PM. I watched Paul Rudd's goodbye speech. Sad really. Did you really sack him because he didn't do enough for the environment? Wow.
I like the new chick. She's far easier on the eyes than Rudd was. Good job Aussies. Good job.
Showing posts with label Asiatic Fox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asiatic Fox. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Friday, 11 June 2010
Don't destroy your green tea!
Regularly, I assess how this blog lark is going and have been candid about what is and isn't going well. I've also been rather clear about the weak spots in my knowledge and what I most like to focus on here.
When I imagine who I'm specifically writing to, it's rarely the tea experts whose sites I love to read. I often finish reading one of their posts very aware that they've not only been into tea far longer than I, but have a breadth of knowledge that I can't even aspire to. Not yet anyway. Possibly never.
I want this to be a place where people want to come to find out about tea, but not be made to feel ignorant. Because I've purposely reached out to people new to tea, I get really good questions. Questions that I'm sure others have, but don't want to ask. For whatever reasons.
The one I've heard lately has to do with Oolong, green and white teas. First of all, are these teas an acquired taste? Also, do you prepare these teas similarly to the way you make black tea?
I'll answer the second question first. Black tea needs to be steeped in boiling water. The pot needs to be preheated, so the water temperature doesn't drop dramatically when you pour it into a cold pot. If you do that with green/white tea, you'll destroy it. The taste of the tea will truly suffer. Because these teas are so sensitive, they should be made with water that's not quite boiling.
I use a thermometer and aim for 80° C/175° F when I make any of these non-black teas. Although it's not in any way scientific, a simpler way to do it is to either stop your kettle right before the water boils, or to even pour boiling water into your pot and then half a glass of cold water in on top of it. In my opinion, the most important thing is that the water isn't as drastically hot. The method definitely works in a pinch.
What about steeping times? Everyone figures it out for himself/herself, but you can find good estimates on tea sites. I personally steep most green teas for about 3 1/2 minutes the first time round and then closer to 4-4 1/2 minutes on the second infusion.
And as for the first question: it really depends upon the specific tea whether you have to acquire a taste for it. I think white teas are relatively easy to take to because they're terribly light. As for greens, Asiatic Fox talks about a Chinese word that means 'good bitterness' that's often used in describing a tea's bite. I think if you're not yet used to that 'good bitterness', it might make some of these teas more difficult to stomach.
The wide variety of these teas that are grown in China, Japan and even India (yes even Darjeeling grows lovely greens and Oolongs) makes it possible that were you to hate a specific green tea, you can find limitless other options even from the same region. If your tea-sellers know what you liked or didn't like, I'm sure they'd be happy to find other teas that you will enjoy. As always, I'm happy to make suggestions. It's what I find myself doing more and more.
Schieß los!/Shoot!
When I imagine who I'm specifically writing to, it's rarely the tea experts whose sites I love to read. I often finish reading one of their posts very aware that they've not only been into tea far longer than I, but have a breadth of knowledge that I can't even aspire to. Not yet anyway. Possibly never.
I want this to be a place where people want to come to find out about tea, but not be made to feel ignorant. Because I've purposely reached out to people new to tea, I get really good questions. Questions that I'm sure others have, but don't want to ask. For whatever reasons.
The one I've heard lately has to do with Oolong, green and white teas. First of all, are these teas an acquired taste? Also, do you prepare these teas similarly to the way you make black tea?
I'll answer the second question first. Black tea needs to be steeped in boiling water. The pot needs to be preheated, so the water temperature doesn't drop dramatically when you pour it into a cold pot. If you do that with green/white tea, you'll destroy it. The taste of the tea will truly suffer. Because these teas are so sensitive, they should be made with water that's not quite boiling.
I use a thermometer and aim for 80° C/175° F when I make any of these non-black teas. Although it's not in any way scientific, a simpler way to do it is to either stop your kettle right before the water boils, or to even pour boiling water into your pot and then half a glass of cold water in on top of it. In my opinion, the most important thing is that the water isn't as drastically hot. The method definitely works in a pinch.
What about steeping times? Everyone figures it out for himself/herself, but you can find good estimates on tea sites. I personally steep most green teas for about 3 1/2 minutes the first time round and then closer to 4-4 1/2 minutes on the second infusion.
And as for the first question: it really depends upon the specific tea whether you have to acquire a taste for it. I think white teas are relatively easy to take to because they're terribly light. As for greens, Asiatic Fox talks about a Chinese word that means 'good bitterness' that's often used in describing a tea's bite. I think if you're not yet used to that 'good bitterness', it might make some of these teas more difficult to stomach.
The wide variety of these teas that are grown in China, Japan and even India (yes even Darjeeling grows lovely greens and Oolongs) makes it possible that were you to hate a specific green tea, you can find limitless other options even from the same region. If your tea-sellers know what you liked or didn't like, I'm sure they'd be happy to find other teas that you will enjoy. As always, I'm happy to make suggestions. It's what I find myself doing more and more.
Schieß los!/Shoot!
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