Tea Troubles - Is It Worth It?

[weinoo]

Allright, so I'm engaged in a couple of topics where teas are being tasted...click and click. In a fantastic gesture of both his time and expense, Richard Kilgore, one of our volunteer managers, has been acquiring and sending out samples of various high-end teas to members who respond (like I did) with the promise that they'll taste the teas and report back.

The way these fancy teas are brewed requires a fair amount of work as well as a fair amount of equipment. Take a look at Richard's topic Show Us Your Teaware, and you'll see what I mean. No doubt tea can be brewed on a shoestring, as can coffee, and you'll still have a mighty fine cup. After all, tea got Bogey and Hepburn down the river, after she poured the Gordon's overboard.

As far as my coffee ware goes, trust me, I'm obsessive - as can be seen in this topic started by Mr. Kinsey. Teaware - not so much. I have 2 of those little cute pots and they each hold about a cup of water when full - or, in tea terms, 250ml.

To brew a great cup of coffee, I can put water on to boil, get my whole coffee rig set up, weigh out and grind my beans, and have a great 6 -8 oz. cuppa coffee in under 5 minutes 99.9% of the time. If I've preheated Silvia, I can have a great espresso 90% of the time in a minute. Of course, in both cases, excellent fresh coffee is of the utmost importance.

But tea? What a pain. Constantly reheating the water (or heating fresh water even), taking it's temperature, timing things, swirling stuff - and all for like a 2 oz. sip of tea? That a lot of times doesn't even come out great.

Additionally, it's about 1,000,000 degrees here the last couple of days (so I may be a little cranky) and who wants to spend the afternoon brewing shots of hot tea? I know, I know, people in hot countries drink tea because it cools them off. All over the world, they're drinking hot tea to cool off.

Me, I just want air conditioning and an iced coffee. Shaken, frothy and so refreshing.

Or a great iced tea.

Am I the only one?

[lperry]

Maybe you'll feel different when the weather cools off. I like brewing tea when it's cold or rainy, and especially when I am writing. Heading to the kitchen every now and again gives my brain a little break and rests my eyes from the screen. I also have friends that are serious tea drinkers and have Zojirushi appliances that keep water at the correct tea temperature for hours. If there are enough people using it, it will stay fresh.

After all that, however, I will say that I wouldn't drink something hot right now for all the tea in China. That whole cooling thing never worked for me. I do have tea made, both black and green, but it is in big pitchers in the fridge.

[baroness]

Allright, so I'm engaged in a couple of topics where teas are being tasted...click and click. In a fantastic gesture of both his time and expense, Richard Kilgore, one of our volunteer managers, has been acquiring and sending out samples of various high-end teas to members who respond (like I did) with the promise that they'll taste the teas and report back.

The way these fancy teas are brewed requires a fair amount of work as well as a fair amount of equipment.  Take a look at Richard's topic Show Us Your Teaware, and you'll see what I mean.  No doubt tea can be brewed on a shoestring, as can coffee, and you'll still have a mighty fine cup.  After all, tea got Bogey and Hepburn down the river, after she poured the Gordon's overboard.

But tea?  What a pain. Constantly reheating the water (or heating fresh water even), taking it's temperature, timing things, swirling stuff - and all for like a 2 oz. sip of tea?  That a lot of times doesn't even come out great. 

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It's certainly possible to make excellent tea without making it into a "science experiment" (though that approach can be educational and fun at times).

Brew Western style, in a 22 oz. or larger teapot, and you'll have at least 2 mugfulls of tea with little effort. Fresh water, eyeball the temperature by how the water is behaving, pour into a pre-heated (maybe not necessary in THIS hot weather) pot, steep, and enjoy. For those of us who don't drink coffee, tea is a year-round delight. In the summer, I start off with a small pot of hot tea, then switch to iced as the day heats up.

[cdh]

While we're engaging in tea blasphemy, some personal observations:

1. I never boil the water, or take its temperature when I'm brewing greens and oolongs... I just use the espresso machine to shoot hot water out of its steam wand. I don't flip the steam switch for particularly green teas, and I do flip the steam switch for teas that need water a little hotter.

2. I have never accomplished the very short infusion gong-fu style of brewing in a fashion that makes me think it is worth the bother. I brew in a hybrid style. I use yixing pots. I use probably 3g/150ml. It swells up and fills 2/3 of the pot nicely after a few infusions. And I infuse for a minute or two. That keeps good leaves giving for 5 or more infusions...

3. If they're not done giving, I'll leave the leaves in the pot overnight. It seems that they keep oxidizing, as they tend to brew darker the next day. Maybe this will kill me someday when deadly mold/bacteria/boogeymen take hold in my teapot. Hasn't done so yet.

4. Dragon Phoenix Pearl jasmine tea makes some damn fine iced tea.

5. Pouchongs and lightly oxidized oolongs make a great adjunct to brewing Belgian style wheat beers.

May the tea gods forgive me my apostacy and spare me the lakes of Lipton that such blasphemy is punished by.

Edited August 11, 2009 by cdh (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

Wow! You guys are really hard on yourselves. Remember gong fu means "with skill". Would you expect yourself to do kung fu fighting, or say, skillful grilling and smoking, or pastry and baking without doing it a lot and frequently and experimenting with the various parameters involved, including those that are most commonly used by those who have been doing it for many years? But with all those skills you can do something pleasurable at the beginning, too.

It's not for everyone, of course. Nothing is. Fortunately, everyone can choose their own culinary obsession.

**************

The way these fancy teas are brewed requires a fair amount of work as well as a fair amount of equipment.  Take a look at Richard's topic Show Us Your Teaware, and you'll see what I mean.

**************

Errm...that topic was a place for people to simply show their teapots and other tea-things, since for some people who are interested in tea, the various teaware from around the world is just as much an interest...not as a demonstration of what is necessary to drink a cup of tea. (Doesn't andiesenji have some cool stuff?)

Actually, you can partly blame Paula Wolfert for this tea-thing accumulation of mine. A few years ago here in the forums she got me interested in cooking in unglazed clay pots. I have always liked ceramics, so decided that I would only buy functional ceramics. In other words, cookware and tableware. So, here I am.

As far as my coffee ware goes, trust me, I'm obsessive  - as can be seen in  this topic started by Mr. Kinsey.  Teaware - not so much. I have 2 of those little cute pots and they each hold about a cup of water when full - or, in tea terms, 250ml.

Your two clay pots are two more than 99.999% of the US population has. So you too qualify as a tea  fanatic.

To brew a great cup of coffee, I can put water on to boil, get my whole coffee rig set up, weigh out and grind my beans, and have a great 6 -8 oz. cuppa coffee in under 5 minutes 99.9% of the time.  If I've preheated Silvia, I can have a great espresso 90% of the time in a minute.  Of course, in both cases, excellent fresh coffee is of the utmost importance.

But tea?  What a pain. Constantly reheating the water (or heating fresh water even), taking it's temperature, timing things, swirling stuff - and all for like a 2 oz. sip of tea?  That a lot of times doesn't even come out great.

Let's see, my cup of black tea most mornings takes about 5 minutes for the first cup, and another 6 if I have a second infusion, as I usually do. Delicious. But I find a few gong fu sessions getting to know a fine tea to be much more interesting. It's not much good though if you are in a rush. That's what coffee and teabags or tea leaves in an infuser insert in a cup, or Chinese green tea leaves thrown in a glass or large cup "grandpa style", or a jug of iced tea in the fridge is for.

Additionally, it's about 1,000,000 degrees here the last couple of days (so I may be  a little cranky) and who wants to spend the afternoon brewing shots of hot tea?  I know, I know, people in hot countries drink tea because it cools them off.  All over the world, they're drinking hot tea to cool off.

Me, I just want air conditioning and an iced coffee.  Shaken, frothy and so refreshing.

Or a great iced tea.

Am I the only one?

Be grateful. It's always a million degrees here in the summer...until the middle of October. Iced barley tea in the fridge. Decafe Black tea in the fridge.

←

While we're engaging in tea blasphemy, some personal observations:

1. I never boil the water, or take its temperature when I'm brewing greens and oolongs...  I just use the espresso machine to shoot hot water out of its steam wand.  I don't flip the steam switch for particularly green teas, and I do flip the steam switch for teas that need water a little hotter.

Whatever works for you.

2. I have never accomplished the very short infusion gong-fu style of brewing in a fashion that makes me think it is worth the bother.  I brew in a hybrid style.  I use yixing pots.  I use probably 3g/150ml. It swells up and fills 2/3 of the pot nicely after a few infusions.  And I infuse for a minute or two.  That keeps good leaves giving for 5 or more infusions...

That's a good way to do it. Did that for several years, too. Started learning to do gong fu style brewing a year ago and just no longer find it interesting when I can do a gong fu session. Though I have one larger (380 ml), older Yixing pot that makes great tea using about a 1 gr leaf to 1 ounce water ratio.

3. If they're not done giving, I'll leave the leaves in the pot overnight.  It seems that they keep oxidizing, as they tend to brew darker the next day.  Maybe this will kill me someday when deadly mold/bacteria/boogeymen take hold in my teapot.  Hasn't done so yet.

Brave soul. I have done it but can't recommend it. Food safety issue, not a blasphemy issue. I think the two-hour rule for food is a reasonable one to use. A hot rinse will put the leaves back in action. I have been keeping them for a few days in the fridge, however, with good results.

4. Dragon Phoenix Pearl jasmine tea makes some damn fine iced tea.

You have a very low threshold for tea blasphemy.

5. Pouchongs and lightly oxidized oolongs make a great adjunct to brewing Belgian style wheat beers.

May the tea gods forgive me my apostacy and spare me the lakes of Lipton that such blasphemy is punished by.

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[cdh]

4. Dragon Phoenix Pearl jasmine tea makes some damn fine iced tea.

You have a very low threshold for tea blasphemy.

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Indeed... Or I'm just a happy blasphemer.

[cdh]

3. If they're not done giving, I'll leave the leaves in the pot overnight.  It seems that they keep oxidizing, as they tend to brew darker the next day.  Maybe this will kill me someday when deadly mold/bacteria/boogeymen take hold in my teapot.  Hasn't done so yet.

Brave soul. I have done it but can't recommend it. Food safety issue, not a blasphemy issue. I think the two-hour rule for food is a reasonable one to use. A hot rinse will put the leaves back in action. I have been keeping them for a few days in the fridge, however, with good results.

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Your keeping rehydrated leaves in the fridge just made me think of Burmese tea leaf salad... Anybody have a good recipe for that? I've enjoyed it at Rangoon in PHL several times, and now that I think about it, all of these fantastic oolong leaves I'm generating might be a reasonable base for such a thing.

[Yajna Patni]

One thing to remember..... probably almost all of China and India start their day with a cup of tea, and they are never measuring water temperatures or milligrams of tea.

I have a teapot that is extremely functional and brews excellent tea. It cost $5.99 in Chinatown. I do not at all like tea made with water under a rolling boil, I throw the leaves in teh pot, which i first rinse with water from the hot tap, then when the kettle whistles for enough minutes to irritate me, i throw the water on the leaves. Leave it to brew and drink it. it takes maybe two minutes.

THis makes to my taste, as long as the leaves i started out with were good, an amazing cup of tea for me to drink before i leave the house for the day.

Takes me all of a minute.

I think its like the diffrence between enjoying a glass of wine, and owning a wine cellar and decanting and knowing the exact temperature..... an having a the correct glass for each specific wine. Like tea, i drink my white wine from the fridge and me red at room temp. I adore it, but do not spend much time on it.

[Yajna Patni]

And like wine.... in tea there is a lot of deliciousness at price points that will not leave you homeless or hungry.

[Wholemeal Crank]

When I need to make tea fast, when I've only got five minutes before I have to go to clinic, I get heated water from the water cooler, steep some tea in it for 2 minutes, and dilute it with enough hot water to fill my quart thermos. Most days I take a little more care with water temperature and time than that, but not a whole lot more. Just an electric kettle to heat the water, a teapot, my tea, and the thermos.

I'm having fun playing with the idea of gongfu, the flavor changes with multiple infusions and different steeping times, but don't ever see that being my daily thermos o'tea. It will be for times when I have time, and want to play with a new tea. It's an opportunity to add enjoyment, not an obligation to do it every day.

I'm finding that the really nice teas stand up to the abuse of the quick and dirty, but that's not all that they can do.

[Beebs]

Quick and dirty for me is brewing tea in one of those basket infusers (mine's from Teeli). Looks like a coffee filter basket, but fits in your mug. Toss a couple tsps tealeaves in it, hot water, pull out the basket, you're good to go. It doesn't take much more time than a teabag.

[v. gautam]

I agree wholeheartedly with Beebs. And now for some more tea blasphemy on hot or cold days, involving Lipton, or at least CTC [Cut Torn Curled] of the Red Label Brooke Bond or other type. Just like Beebs mentioned, get a simple stand-in-the cup infuser [starbucks sells a nifty gold-plated one if money is burning a hole in your pockets, or Bodum etc. do a fine job for less].

Use a mix a CTC and orthodox [whole leaf] for quick release of liquor & flavor. You now may add a bit of dry mint or a sprig of fresh, and winter or summer, this is a refreshing drink. You may brew the tea weak in summer, with more mint. What circle of hell does this condemn me to?

If you want to go a tiny bit further, as some have mentioned upthread, there are the little teapots with a removable infuser [e.g. http://www.forlifedesign.com/new.html, buy at a clearance if possible!!] c.180 ml, quite nice indeed. Very neat and hassle free, and good for guests too.

Electric kettles or kettles on the hob allow you to guess intuitively when the water is about to come to a boil. Wisps of steam begin to drift out the spout more and more insistently in a certain rhythm: well, that is 195F-200F, great for many leaf teas!! Why thermometers? Just as you gauge frying oil temperature by observing the shimmer and patterning appear within it, so too here, via implicit clues that become instinct.

[Richard Kilgore]

I think one of the things I like about tea is one of the things I like about other interests of mine. Like cooking and fly fishing, you can approach tea in a basic, simple manner and get a great deal of satisfaction out of it. All three also have enough depth, richness and complexity that you can spend a lifetime expanding your knowledge and skill and not know everything there is to know and not do everything there is to do.

[maggiethecat]

Not only am I a blasphemer, I suspect I may get burnt at the stake on this topic. Bring it.

I get my tea genes from my working class English granny, a tea imbiber if there ever was one. Orange Pekoe in teabags was just fine for her -- though she always heated the teapot and took the pot to the water, not the water to the pot. Weather meant nothing to her: "A lovely cuppa" was served in August jungle heat and February deep freeze. She was open to oolongs, Lapsong Souchongs, whatever, and had her tea strainer, but in fact she preferred OP in teabags.

The weather made no difference: tea two or three times a day. Iced tea didn't cut it.But I love UNSWEETENED ice tea, and (please respect me in the morning)I think Constant Comment and handfuls of mint and lemon verbena makes extraordinary iced tea. It's good as real tea too.

ETA: Troubles? No troubles. Tea is infinitely easy, fluid and forgiving.

Edited August 13, 2009 by maggiethecat (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

Today I had my best gongfu session yet, and I think I'm finally starting to get it. I worked with a terrific white bud pu-erh from Norbu, and brewed about 20 one ounce infusions and drank each separately intead of combining a half dozen pots (about 6 oz each) to fill my quart thermos.

Yes, it was worth it. The multiple tiny infusions allowed me to enjoy the different layers of flavor that were obscured when I brewed this marvelous tea in bulk--the smoky start, the fruity middle, the floral end. It's not something I can do every day, but fabulous when there is a luxury of time and a fine tea to explore this way.

[fooey]

Brewing variables put me off tea for a long time too, until I bought Jane Pettigrew's The Tea Companion.

I'd buy lots of tea, but would get frustrated with not knowing how to brew it. Or, I would brew it according to "generic black tea" or "generic green tea" instructions and either get a mouth full of bitter or, else, flavorless hot water. And I paid a small fortune for some of these teas! It just wasn't like coffee, where, if you had fresh beans and some modicum of control over time and temperature, it's easy to get good results.

Pettigrew's book was my lifesaver, especially the 1 sentence brewing instructions. It's a tiny book with big information. I keep it at the ready next to the tea pot(s).

Starting on p. 100, she gives instructions on how to brew various teas, organized by country.

She covers a lot of territory too, easily a hundred teas.

Three examples from the text: Kenya (Marinyn), India (Darjeeling Green Ayra), and China (Pai Mu Tan Imperial [balmudan, White Peony]):

Kenya (Marinyn)

Characteristics. Beautiful orthodox leaf with plenty of tip from Kenya's most famous garden.

Brewing. Use 1 teaspoon in a 1 cup water at 203 F. Infuse for 2-3 minutes.

Drinking. Drink with milk as an afternoon tea.

India (Darjeeling Green Ayra)

Characteristics. A rare tea from a well-known garden. Gives an infusion a little like Japanese Sencha. An exquisite aroma, delicate taste, and gentle on the palate.

Brewing. Brew 2 teaspoons in 1 cup of water at 158 F. Infuse for 3 minutes.

Drinking. Drink without milk as a digestif or as a refreshing drink any time of the day.

China (Pai Mu Tan Imperial [balmudan, White Peony])

Characteristics. This rare white tea is made from very small buds and leaves that are plucked in the early spring, just before they open. When they have been steamed and dried, they have the appearance of of lots of miniature bunches of small white blossoms with tiny leaves. This white tea comes from Fuijan province and gives a clear, pale infusion with a fresh aroma and a smooth velvety flavor.

Brewing. Brew 2 teaspoons in a scant 1 cup water at 185 F. Infuse for 7 minutes.

Drinking. Drink without milk or sugar, after meals as a healthy digestif, or as a light afternoon tea.

I imagine there's an even more comprehensive online resource these days. Is there?

Edited September 13, 2009 by fooey (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

I am surprised not to have seen a more comprehensive resource online myself.

I find an abundance of very generic rules--lower temperatures for green teas, just off the boil water and multiple infusions for puerhs--but in the two tea books I've purchased and online articles and discussions the more detailed suggestions focus on a very specific tea--a spring harvest from a particular plantation in a particular year--and there is quite a bit of variability among brewing instructions for several versions of white teas in any one source.

And now that I've got a scale that can weigh small amounts of tea accurately, I'd prefer instructions in grams of leaf per quantity of virus: there is a huge variation in the density of teas by how open the leaves are. Both of my tea books describe volume of tea per cup of water. Sigh.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Another frustration is that when you go to your local tea supplier or online source, they have several white teas, but none of them have a name that matches what you were just reading about. Is their best white tea more like a yin zhen silver needle or bai mu dan or several grades below either of those?

Edited September 13, 2009 by Wholemeal Crank (log)

[Richard Kilgore]

Here's a link to The New Tea Companion. This came out in late 2008, co-authored with Bruce Richardson this time, with a lot of positive reaction in the tea community. I have glanced through it and will get a copy soon. Anything that promises to give me a closer starting place for over 120 teas is worth adding to my tea library. And I don't think you're going to find anything this focused, well organized and handy on-line. This is a world in which books still count.

On-line merchants typically have somewhat generic instructions for the various categories of tea; wish it were not so, but it is. One reason, of course, is that there are so many variables involved in brewing tea that you are going to have to tweak whatever instructions you follow as a starting point. Most list quantity of tea by the teaspoon because few people have scales appropriate for tea (down to 1/10th g). This is similar to the problem with pastry and baking books listing measures by the scoop and sweep method rather than more accurately by weight - a constant irritation, but it's not going to change in a big way any time soon for the same reason.

There are something over 2,000 teas in China alone, so having specific brewing guidelines for every tea we may run across is not going to happen - on-line or in a book. I deal with some of the ambiguity by asking questions, especially if brewing a tea turns out to be more challenging than I think it should, or if the instruction that came with the tea seem a little off. That's what tea shop people are for, b&m or on-line. Dan at Yuuki-cha.com has been enormously helpful in answering my questions by email as I have gotten more serious about brewing Japanese green teas. Greg Glancy at Norbutea.com is also very accessible and Kyle and Adam at The Cultured Cup shop have always been available to discuss brewing. Just ask.

While I understand why anyone would find all this a bit frustrating, I have come to see it as part of the process that I enjoy. Learning to brew a new tea and trying to find its sweet spot. I am working on a post or series of posts about learning to brew Gyokuro that is a good example of the confusion and contradictory ideas on brewing that may face us. Over in the Japanese Tea topic in the next two or three days.

[jsmeeker]

I only brew western style, so I find making tea much simpler than making coffee. The quality tea leaves are ready to brew as is, the way you buy them at the store. Coffee isn't like that. To get the best quality, you need to start with whole beans, which means you need to grind them first. And the beans need to be freshly roasted. You either need a good supplier or you do it your self. Grinding and roasting isn't a step I need to worry about to make tea.

[baroness]

I only brew western style, so I find making tea much simpler than making coffee. The quality tea leaves are ready to brew as is, the way you buy them at the store. Coffee isn't like that. To get the best quality, you need to start with whole beans, which means you need to grind them first. And the beans need to be freshly roasted. You either need a good supplier or you do it your self. Grinding and roasting isn't a step I need to worry about to make tea.

How true!

And, properly stored, tea is not as perishable as coffee!

[nakji]

It's not something I can do every day, but fabulous when there is a luxury of time and a fine tea to explore this way.

Hear hear! A lot of times I view tea as a means to fuel me through work, where volume is more important than quality. It's worth remembering that a fine cup of tea (or coffee, for that matter) provides an opportunity for a mental refreshment as well. Stepping away from my desk and taking a minute to brew and enjoy a decent cup allows me to not only appreciate the quality of the tea, but the ritual of making the tea itself provides a respite from other tasks. If I can do it reasonably well, to turn out a reliably good cup of tea and to find five minutes to myself, then I think the effort is well-spent.

[helenjp]

Somehow, our household has developed the habit of starting the day with Indian tea, drinking our preferred brew during the day, and usually drinking green tea or some other Japanese tea in the evenings.

I'm always interested to read about Richard scaling new heights of teamanship, but my daily cuppas are much more pedestrian. I think I'm a natural "grandpa", I like my tea and coffee quite straightforward. I'm not telling how I make coffee, but with good tea, I much prefer a few leaves in the bottom of a cup, wet a little bit, topped up, and sipped while I admire the unfurled leaves (with the lid of the cup to hold the leaves back if absolutely necessary).

When I worked in a Chinese grocery, the tea was made once or twice a day and kept in a big straw basket, and I still occasionally use my father's old tea basket. In Japan, roasted teas are used for bulk brews intended for "refill" drinking.

As for the morning brew, that goes into a big double-walled Dutch teapot. I love that thing.

[Richard Kilgore]

Somehow, our household has developed the habit of starting the day with Indian tea, drinking our preferred brew during the day, and usually drinking green tea or some other Japanese tea in the evenings.

I'm always interested to read about Richard scaling new heights of teamanship, but my daily cuppas are much more pedestrian. I think I'm a natural "grandpa", I like my tea and coffee quite straightforward. I'm not telling how I make coffee, but with good tea, I much prefer a few leaves in the bottom of a cup, wet a little bit, topped up, and sipped while I admire the unfurled leaves (with the lid of the cup to hold the leaves back if absolutely necessary).

When I worked in a Chinese grocery, the tea was made once or twice a day and kept in a big straw basket, and I still occasionally use my father's old tea basket. In Japan, roasted teas are used for bulk brews intended for "refill" drinking.

As for the morning brew, that goes into a big double-walled Dutch teapot. I love that thing.

I am really curious about the tea baskets, Helen. Can you post a pic of your father's old tea basket in the Let's See Your Teaware topic and tell us more about it and how it is used?

[gingko]

Trouble or not, it's all relative. I mostly drink oolong, and usually gongfu style. It doesn't cost me any work to boil the water. All work I do is, throw the tea in teapot or gaiwan, 20-30 seconds each infusion. It's really much less trouble than just grinding the coffee, let alone making coffee, or let alone putting on my shoes and driving to the cafe.

When I drink green tea, I throw the tea in a glass mug and pour in water, 2 seconds' work

When it comes to tea, I believe most time-consuming part for most people is shopping and online shopping and window shopping. I've never heard anybody complaining about the "trouble" of it