how to brew loose tea?
magnulus
months ago and I could never get the steep right. I finally just settled on
filling a small pot a quarter full of tea leaves and brewing for sixty
seconds, then brewing again later with half as much water, and so on.
I've read on several places that a teaspoon is about the amount of tea one
should use, and if you cut open a teabag and pour it out, you can see about
one level teaspoon. Yet when I brew a teabag tea, it seems to get stronger
much faster than a loose tea (both are green teas), when using the same
temperature water (water microwaved for 1 1/2 minutes). Does the loose tea
need more tea- maybe a heaping teaspoon, or a longer steep, to be the same
strength? I usually brew a bag of green tea about 1 1/2 minutes.
Joseph Kubera
questions and statements raise enough questions in themselves that it is hard
to know where to start.
So I'll be the first one into the fray.
May I assume that the loose tea mentioned in the first paragraph is a green
tea? There are so many variables. First, green tea requires significantly
lower temperature than blacks. If the loose tea is too old or of poor quality,
or poorly stored, or the water used is too hot or cool, or not enough leaf is
used, you may be disappointed.
Don't try to equate bagged tea with loose tea. Bagged tea is dust or fannings
and a tsp. of it will tend to brew up much stronger than a tsp. of loose tea;
it weighs more. Bagged tea is almost always of far lower quality than loose,
as well.
Try this: Take a 5-6 oz. teapot, or use a ceramic teacup with a saucer that
you can use for a lid. Fill it with hot tap water. Boil 1 cup, or a little
more, of water on the stove (I can't tell you a thing about microwaves) and
pour it into a pyrex cup to cool for 2 minutes.
While that water is cooling, empty the teacup, add 1 1/2 to 2 tsp of your loose
green tea. Pour the cooled water from the pyrex cup over the leaves. Cover
with the saucer. Steep from 1 1/2 to 3 minutes (you are allowed to taste for
strength during this time). When it is the strengh you desire, pour the tea
into another teacup, using a strainer to hold the leaves back.
This should give you an acceptable cup of green tea. This is just a starting
point. Let us know what happens!
Joe Kubera
magnulus
"Joseph Kubera" <kub...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040927115447...@mb-m17.aol.com...
> May I assume that the loose tea mentioned in the first paragraph is a
green
> tea?
Yes.
>
> Don't try to equate bagged tea with loose tea. Bagged tea is dust or
fannings
> and a tsp. of it will tend to brew up much stronger than a tsp. of loose
tea;
> it weighs more. Bagged tea is almost always of far lower quality than
loose,
> as well.
OK... in my experience, a bagged tea tends to brew a stronger cup for the
same steeping time.
I see listings of caffeine being 35 mg for green and 60 for black tea. I
assume this is for bagged tea? How is loose tea different?
> While that water is cooling, empty the teacup, add 1 1/2 to 2 tsp of your
loose
> green tea. Pour the cooled water from the pyrex cup over the leaves.
Cover
> with the saucer. Steep from 1 1/2 to 3 minutes (you are allowed to taste
for
> strength during this time). When it is the strengh you desire, pour the
tea
> into another teacup, using a strainer to hold the leaves back.
I took some Longjing and used a "heaping teaspoon". I brewed it for 3
minutes at 180 degrees (I microwaved water to that temperature and used a
thermometer).
The water is dark yellow. When I use a Ceylon green tea in a bag, it will
get that color in about a minute
of steeping, and a minute and a half it is light green. 2-3 minutes makes a
bitter cup of tea with the teabag, but with the loose tea it's just starting
to get strong enough to be more than colored water that has a little bit of
aroma.
Joseph Kubera
>minutes at 180 degrees (I microwaved water to that temperature and used a
>thermometer).
>The water is dark yellow. When I use a Ceylon green tea in a bag, it will
>get that color in about a minute
>of steeping, and a minute and a half it is light green. 2-3 minutes makes a
>bitter cup of tea with the teabag, but with the loose tea it's just starting
>to get strong enough to be more than colored water that has a little bit of
>aroma.
>
1. Longjin is a very delicate tea that is best at about 140F. (The 180 was a
figure I threw out there to be sure you didn't use boiling water.) But
depending on where you got the tea and how old it is, etc., it may not deliver
much at any temperature. Three minutes should have been a long enough steep,
unless you used too much water. Try it with 6 oz. of 140F water for 2-3 min..
I also wonder what you are looking for in your cup of tea. Your experience
with bagged tea makes me suspect you are used to a lot of astringency, and you
won't get that with a proper and well-brewed longjin, nor with many fine
greens. If you like some astringency try Chinese gunpowders or Japanese teas
-- at least you'll get some flavor in the bargain.
2. Color of brewed tea doesn't tell you much about quality, or even whether
your tea is ready. Some greens can be the palest green or yellow and be quite
strong.
3. It's nice that you have a thermometer to control temp.
Good luck,
Joe
magnulus
> 1. Longjin is a very delicate tea that is best at about 140F. (The 180
was a
> figure I threw out there to be sure you didn't use boiling water.)
Ok.. I gathered it was a pale tea. Not sure how pale, though. I'm used
to drinking Ceylon green in the teabags (usually Celestial Seasonings or
Hokan- Hokan is more astringent, Celestial Seasonings is not but also weak
on flavor). Is Ceylon green a dark tea, or also pale? I have heard that
Sri Lanka is getting into green tea, though it's not traditional for the
area, becaues of increased demand for green tea.
I find most of these mass-market green teas have no character. I drank
some OK bagged teas, so I know it cannot be the reason.
>
> If you like some astringency try Chinese gunpowders or Japanese teas
> -- at least you'll get some flavor in the bargain.
I drank Gunpodwer before. I wasn't aware at the time it was a green tea-
i probably overbrewed it. Still, it tasted OK (but then, I have a high
tolerance for bitter flavors).
I made an order with Ten Tea online to try some new teas:
Longjing Grade 2
Ti Kuan Yin (Oolong, from what I gather, also toasted) 2nd grade
Gunpowder Green
Pu-erh 3rd grade
Prices were very good. I ordered from Generation Tea in the past, but
judging by the prices and the size of the leaf and color, most of their teas
are probably high end. The Longjing I have from them smells somewhat like
spinach or grass.
I have not tried many Japanese teas. I tried a Kukicha (twig tea, I
believe?) once and I liked the toasted flavor. I presume they use some kind
of fire to dry the tea, possibly ironware, and this is what you can taste in
alot of green tea (correct me if I'm wrong here). But with the Ceylon teas,
are they using some kind of electric oven?
Helga Warzecha
If you put "tea dryers" or "tea processing" into google you will find
many sites that will give you the various ways tea is dried and
processed. The main dryers that I have seen in use in Sri Lanka are
fluid Bed driers, and they can use all sorts of fuels to powere them.
The fuel never comes in contact with the tea!
Tea is a fascinating subject and it will take me the ret of my life to
learn as much as my life partner now knows.
Hope your research is fruitful.
Regards
Helga
"magnulus" <magn...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message news:<k666d.205209$%n4.1...@bignews6.bellsouth.net>...
Michael Plant
14:17mag...@bellsouth.net
snip snip snippity snip snip
>
> I took some Longjing and used a "heaping teaspoon". I brewed it for 3
> minutes at 180 degrees (I microwaved water to that temperature and used a
> thermometer).
I think that 180F degrees is at the far high end of possibility for
Longjing. Try brewing at 170 or lower for 2 minutes or less and see what
happens. I take it you microwaved the water before you put the tea in? That
would be the better way to go.
For a fine Longjing, I like 150 or less, one gram of dry tea for each ounce
of wet water, about two minutes more or less, less on the second steep.
> The water is dark yellow. When I use a Ceylon green tea in a bag, it will
> get that color in about a minute of steeping, and a minute and a half it is
light green.
Not to be pedantic, but color tells us next to nothing about the tea's
strength, taste, aroma, complexity, and so on. Color is your very last
consideration for adjudging and adjusting a tea.
>2-3 minutes makes a bitter cup of tea with the teabag, but with the loose tea
it's just starting to get strong enough to be more than colored water that
has a little bit of aroma.
For Longjing, there are a couple possibilities embedded in your comment I
can see: First, your Longjing is either older or of a rougher breed. A
fresh, fine leaf will produce a wonderous Longjing at 140 degrees and lower
at two minutes and less. Second, you're taste runs toward the heavier style
and the stronger Longjing taste, but be aware that the delicate beauty of
this tea at its best is as missable as a whispy cloud on a windy day.
Keep messing and mucking around with your tea.
Best,
Michael
Lewis Perin
> [...]
>
> I have not tried many Japanese teas. I tried a Kukicha (twig tea, I
> believe?) once and I liked the toasted flavor.
Some of what gets sold as kukicha is all twigs, but some brands are
mostly leaf with very thin twigs. The latter is what I like.
/Lew
---
Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
Dog Ma 1
> Some of what gets sold as kukicha is all twigs, but some brands are
> mostly leaf with very thin twigs. The latter is what I like.
Amazing. I've been drinking kukicha for a couple of decades, usually buying
it at Japanese grocery stores. Always liked it, but didn't think there was
enough "there" there. Even in Japan, I've only seen kukicha that looked
pretty much like one of my brushpiles. Is the mostly-leaf style you mention
readily available? If by mail, does it carry a different designation?
Thanks-
DM
Lewis Perin
> Lewis Perin wrote:
> > Some of what gets sold as kukicha is all twigs, but some brands are
> > mostly leaf with very thin twigs. The latter is what I like.
>
> Amazing. I've been drinking kukicha for a couple of decades, usually buying
> it at Japanese grocery stores. Always liked it, but didn't think there was
> enough "there" there. Even in Japan, I've only seen kukicha that looked
> pretty much like one of my brushpiles. Is the mostly-leaf style you mention
> readily available?
Ito En makes it. I've only bought it loose at their New York shop,
but I wouldn't be surprised if you could find it foil-wrapped in the
sencha aisle of your nearest Korean/Japanese supermarket.