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Eeyo posted:I will say though that the oxo kettle made the lights in my apartment visibly flicker when it was boiling, but that may be more of an indictment of my apartment's electrical wiring than anything. I think it used a pulse-width modulation scheme (basically turning on/off the element to full power) to adjust the heating element power when it neared the temperature. I bought it for my work office though and there it's not been an issue, but I just wanted to make that note. It could be that other gooseneck kettles do that and it's only noticeable because the mains in my apartment is not up to the task. Yeah, I use a gooseneck from Bonavita (https://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-BV382510V-Variable-Temperature-Gooseneck/dp/B005YR0F40) and this happens whenever I'm using it in a room with slightly shittier wiring.
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Sep 24, 2020 19:41
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This was mentioned in the thread already, but it was all the way back in 2014, so I'm mentioning it again. Crio Bru brewed cacao. I drink about 16 fl oz. (~475 mL) Here's why:
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Sep 25, 2020 15:00
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Thank you for posting that! My partner has similar conditions to yourself, including the caffeine sensitivity, and she just began a job that starts at 6AM. I will give this a try! Can it be cold brewed? I wonder if I will like it- I don’t like coffee, but I do enjoy chocolate, and matcha/mate etc also.
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Sep 25, 2020 15:04
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Yeah, that could taste good, but keep it away from the dogs. I wouldn’t jump in on any of the unsubstantiated health benefits, but I do the same for any food claiming health benefits without testing. It does seem like you basically are going to get the same product every time unless you get the artificially flavored stuff. So it’s too bad they can’t find a way to give some variation without it. Everyone loves the variation on the theme these days. And if you like it and it’s not actively killing you, then keep on drinking it.
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Sep 25, 2020 16:11
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Anonymous Robot posted:Thank you for posting that! My partner has similar conditions to yourself, including the caffeine sensitivity, and she just began a job that starts at 6AM. I will give this a try! Absolutely it can be cold brewed. Just brew like normal or double strength and pour over ice. It can be made in French press, pour-over, percolator or just a regular coffee maker, though I recommend a bolder/stronger setting if possible. Cacao takes a bit longer to release all of the good stuff than coffee grounds. Since your partner has a caffeine sensitivity, I highly recommend they start with no more than say 8 fl oz. (~240 mL) to see how they react to it and like it first. As with caffeine or any other stimulant, theobromine acts as a diuretic, so make sure your partner stays well hydrated and has easy access to facilities.  Jhet posted:Yeah, that could taste good, but keep it away from the dogs. I wouldn’t jump in on any of the unsubstantiated health benefits, but I do the same for any food claiming health benefits without testing. It does seem like you basically are going to get the same product every time unless you get the artificially flavored stuff. So it’s too bad they can’t find a way to give some variation without it. Everyone loves the variation on the theme these days. Their website lists a fair number of legitimate sources on their benefits claims, though. Check out the references on this page. https://criobru.com/pages/crio-bru-brewed-cacao EDIT: Also, their fulfillment times are slower than usual due to the pandemic and somewhat higher product demand.
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Sep 25, 2020 16:25
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I just had my first yellow tea today. I did no research on what yellow teas taste like, and just ordered one sample along with the rest of a bigger sample order. I expected it to be quite weak and worse than green tea for the bits I don't like, it was the opposite. Looking it up after my surprise at the first mug, whatever steaming method they do it takes out all the parts of green (and some oolongs) I don't like. And it was still quite a strong flavour. I am pleased.
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Sep 26, 2020 17:40
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Another primarily coffee-drinker here. I've started drinking "Taylors of Harrogate English Breakfast" loose leaf tea I found at the local Whole Foods. I really like how bold and DRY it is (if that makes sense?) What should I be looking at if I wanted something similar to that bold, dry profile, but maybe a step up from my supermarket fare? tia 
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Sep 29, 2020 20:46
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betterinsodapop posted:Another primarily coffee-drinker here. English Breakfast tea is usually a mix of Assams and my favorite lately is the Vahdam daily Assam. Bold, dry finish, very reasonably priced: https://www.vahdamteas.com/products/daily-assam-black-tea You might also look into some first flush Darjeeling for that dry finish.
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Sep 29, 2020 23:32
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Sirotan posted:English Breakfast tea is usually a mix of Assams and my favorite lately is the Vahdam daily Assam. Bold, dry finish, very reasonably priced: https://www.vahdamteas.com/products/daily-assam-black-tea You might also look into some first flush Darjeeling for that dry finish.
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Sep 30, 2020 03:01
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betterinsodapop posted:What should I be looking at if I wanted something similar to that bold, dry profile, but maybe a step up from my supermarket fare? That "dryness" might be the brightness that a ceylon tea can bring to a blend. Many "english breakfast" tea blends are assam and ceylon teas. My go-to morning tea is Upton's Organic English Breakfast tea, an assam /ceylon blend. Harney & Sons also sells a number of breakfast blends. Their "Organic Breakfast" sounds similar to that Taylor of Harrogate tea, at least as far as tea origins go.
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Sep 30, 2020 18:39
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A "drying sensation" in tea is generally astringency from tannins. It's very culturally dependent whether or not this is desirable. You'll get more of it in "lower grade" (small leaf and crushed teas) so in the west and in south-east Asia we generally equate it with cheaper teas. Meanwhile, in Sri Lanka, parts of India and much of the Arab world the opposite may be true. Seek out some Ceylon tea of the "dust" grading to taste the extreme end of this scale.
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Oct 1, 2020 00:42
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Higher temp brews will bring out more astringency as well, but will also affect the flavor. Your [nationality] Breakfast brews tend to be best just below boiling.
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Oct 1, 2020 01:02
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I fell down this dryness/astringency rabbit hole with that Taylor's of Harrogate loose leaf. I ran out of it once, and tried a number of different bagged English Breakfast teas, and found them totally lacking that dry finish I really enjoyed. I've since decided that the Taylor's is the only tea I really like that is available easily/cheaply and at my local supermarket. Today, they were out of the loose leaf Taylor's, but had the bagged version and... it was bland and lacking the finish I was craving. Going nuts, haha. Thank you all for the various suggestions and threads to pull. I'll start out trying some Assams, Ceylons, Darjeelings, and blends containing the 3. Great community in this thread.
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Oct 1, 2020 02:47
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Tried my first cup of proper tea today. I bought some loose leaf tea from this place, and a this tea infuser per someones recommendation. It was really pleasant. No bitterness or astringency to speak of. I know quite a bit about brewing speciality coffee, but high-quality tea is a new experience for me. The tea I chose is a Nilgiri Frost Tea. It tastes like a really nice black tea. I brewed about 3.3 grams of it in 330ml of 95c water, and steeped for 5 minutes. I am a little confused about the concept of reinfusing? Does this just refer to people wanting a second cup in the same session, and sticking the same leaves back in some fresh water to get another cup? Or are people drying out tea and rebrewing the same leaves days later?
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Oct 2, 2020 19:48
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You just steep the leaves again the same day when you’re doing multiple infusions. With most green and oolong you can easily get 3-5 infusions. With some black/red tea you can get a few too. A lot of Indian tea I find doesn’t take well to multiple, and any other similarly dark and strong black teas. I find it gets tannic and doesn’t taste good, but ymmv.
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Oct 2, 2020 19:55
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Gunder posted:Tried my first cup of proper tea today. I bought some loose leaf tea from this place, and a this tea infuser per someones recommendation. It was really pleasant. No bitterness or astringency to speak of. When you reinfuse, you just pour fresh water in and brew the same leaves. Usually you up the steeping time a bit. For that much water, I would use a lot more leaf. I use 7-8 g. of leaf most sessions, and for a black tea I'd lower the steep time to 30 seconds to a minute. That will allow you to get several good re-steepings and allow the tea's flavor profile to evolve over those steepings. You'll use more leaf, but you'll get better brews and the tea will go a lot further. I brew gongfu style in a 125 mL gaiwan with 8 grams of tea for 10 seconds at a time and I get rich, excellent brews out of it.
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Oct 2, 2020 20:08
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ThatNateGuy posted:This was mentioned in the thread already, but it was all the way back in 2014, so I'm mentioning it again. How are you brewing it? I tried it a few years back and liked the finished beverage, but it was a gigantic pain in the rear end to clean out of my french press.
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Oct 4, 2020 03:58
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Heath posted:When you reinfuse, you just pour fresh water in and brew the same leaves. Usually you up the steeping time a bit. Thanks for this. Got myself a little Gaiwan and a tulip cup and will try out some gongfu this week! Looks fun!
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Oct 5, 2020 02:27
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Gunder posted:Thanks for this. Got myself a little Gaiwan and a tulip cup and will try out some gongfu this week! Looks fun! Gongfu is pretty good but it's a weird technique which I can never understand, Heath has some videos that you can see in this thread of them doing gonfu, worth a watch!
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Oct 5, 2020 02:39
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Yeah, I've been watching a whole load of videos on it. It seems like a good way to get the most out of your leaves!
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Oct 5, 2020 02:46
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Misty Fog posted:Gongfu is pretty good but it's a weird technique which I can never understand, Heath has some videos that you can see in this thread of them doing gonfu, worth a watch! Gongfu, at its core, is brew more leaf in less water for shorter times. Quick, powerful extractions.
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Oct 5, 2020 06:41
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Heath posted:Gongfu, at its core, is brew more leaf in less water for shorter times. Quick, powerful extractions. Yep, and temperature management, what with the rinsing of the cups. The one thing I am in two minds about is the rinsing of the actual tea. For some blacks with a lot of orange and/or oily dust, or very tightly compacted pu-erh I get it, but for delicate and hairy greens, whites and light oolongs it seems like a waste.
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Oct 5, 2020 08:14
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Skip the rinse for unrolled lightly oxcidized/fragrant teas imho. You end up throwing away lots of nice tea. I began skipping the rinses for everything but compressed puerhs for a while, and I tended to get more out of my tea. For rolled teas I ended up going back to rinsing even though the teas were lightly oxcidized. It's hard to control parameters with unopened/compressed leaves... I've also seen recommendations for two rinses or long rinses (10 secs), and that also seems like a complete waste.
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Oct 5, 2020 08:29
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I do 10 second rinses. I haven't felt like I've been losing much. I generally rinse things that are rolled or packed tightly - I'm not sure how much actual "dirt" and stuff comes off in a rinse of anything, but the real key for me is to get the leaves to open up so that you're exposing more surface area. I will do a 10 second rinse on rolled oolongs, Pu'erhs and gyokuro. Most of the actual opening of the leaves comes from them being steamed within the gaiwan or pot once you've poured off the rinse, especially higher temperature brews where you can just leave the lid on.
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Oct 5, 2020 08:39
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Heath posted:Most of the actual opening of the leaves comes from them being steamed within the gaiwan or pot once you've poured off the rinse, especially higher temperature brews where you can just leave the lid on. this is a bit what i do for compressed stuff, a 5 second rinse, close the lid, let the leaves hang out for a bit. lets the water and steam soak in and loosen things up
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Oct 5, 2020 09:15
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For my second "proper" tea I tried brewing this raw PuErh Gong Fu style. I bought a little Gaiwan and cup set. About 60ml capacity. I brewed as per that site's recommendation, and it was lovely and sweet. Got around 12 infusions out of it. A very nice experience, definitely better than western brewing in terms of flavour and extraction.
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Oct 8, 2020 13:17
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Gunder posted:For my second "proper" tea I tried brewing this raw PuErh Gong Fu style. I bought a little Gaiwan and cup set. About 60ml capacity. I brewed as per that site's recommendation, and it was lovely and sweet. Got around 12 infusions out of it. A very nice experience, definitely better than western brewing in terms of flavour and extraction. I love this brewing method. I definitely have to be much more deliberate about sitting down for a session but I end up looking forward to doing it every time.
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Oct 8, 2020 20:19
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Mei Leaf has a lot of videos about gongfu brewing and how to get the most out of your tea. Great resource, especially the way he talks about the flavors and aromas of tea.
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Oct 8, 2020 22:48
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Yeah, I watched a lot of their videos over the week. Seems like a great resource, and they have a large selection of teas to choose from.
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Oct 8, 2020 23:58
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It was on his advice that I started brewing my gyokuro cooler and longer, and it really did make it better.
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Oct 9, 2020 00:23
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Sirotan posted:English Breakfast tea is usually a mix of Assams and my favorite lately is the Vahdam daily Assam. Bold, dry finish, very reasonably priced: https://www.vahdamteas.com/products/daily-assam-black-tea You might also look into some first flush Darjeeling for that dry finish.
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Oct 16, 2020 21:37
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betterinsodapop posted:As per your suggestion, I ordered some black teas from Vahdam. I've started drinking the daily Assam, and it is GREAT. I got a few other varieties of black tea (Darjeeling, English Breakfast) that I haven't opened yet, but can't wait to try. Thanks for the recommendation! Hell yeah. I actually need to order some too as I'm totally out and was trying to drink down a bunch of the other tea I've already got instead of just drinking their daily Assam uh....daily, but I'm starting to have withdrawals.
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Oct 17, 2020 22:56
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Are most teas generally fine to brew "Western style" without losing a ton of the mileage you can get out of the leaves? I love gongfu but it's definitely not practical for preparing tea during work.
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Oct 18, 2020 21:30
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The Postman posted:Are most teas generally fine to brew "Western style" without losing a ton of the mileage you can get out of the leaves? I love gongfu but it's definitely not practical for preparing tea during work. I’ve been lazily brewing my Keemuns and Dian Hongs western style lately, and they do fine. It’s not the same rich experience as gong fu by far, but I can get three potent steepings out of the good ones which is enough for all day when I’m drinking out of a 16 oz mug. The steeping times are generally 3 min, 5 min, and 8 min, though the last can be much longer.
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Oct 18, 2020 21:54
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That's been my experience too. A simple mug infuser has been my office go-to for years. I rarely go for a third steep though. That said, I haven't been in the office since mid-March and recently became full-time remote so... I don't know, maybe I can get all fancy now?
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Oct 18, 2020 22:27
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The Postman posted:Are most teas generally fine to brew "Western style" without losing a ton of the mileage you can get out of the leaves? I love gongfu but it's definitely not practical for preparing tea during work. If you pitch the leaves on a tea you spent twenty bucks on and you have like a quarter pound of em then it's not as cost effective but there's nothing that stops you from doing so, and until you start getting to teas that are fifty bucks for a quarter pound you're not really losing too much vs. gongfu. However, you don't need to prepare tea during work in the same way, you can just keep adding hot water to leaves and drink through them during the day and it's fine too. When I used to work in a call center I would take a full thermos of hot water and brew tea at my desk the whole day. When I worked in another call center I just brought a hot water dispenser in and just dispensed water throughout the day. Anecdotally, when I was in south Brazil a few years ago people would just walk around with air pump thermoses and they'd dispense water for yerba mate wherever they went - they even make special holders that you can hang in your car to make a chimarrao while you're stuck in traffic, which is kind of a silly concept until you're actually in traffic. Anyway, I digress, it just depends on how you view consumption and waste. I would say that if you have a tea you drink all the time it is likely not on that "fifty bucks a quarter pound" category, so you're probably fine.
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Oct 19, 2020 02:43
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Cool, thanks for the advice everyone! Is the time between steeps pretty flexible if I'm trying to stretch some leaves throughout the work day? Or should I try to keep it within x minutes/hours/whatever of the last steep?
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Oct 19, 2020 14:39
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I dunno if people poo on tea blends the way whiskey snobs poo on blended whiskeys BUT... the Vahdam English Breakfast blend is pretty great.
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Oct 19, 2020 17:41
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betterinsodapop posted:I dunno if people poo on tea blends the way whiskey snobs poo on blended whiskeys BUT... Depends on the tea snob, but itt people just leave you to drink whatever you like. I like pricey tea, but I still have a box of Yorkshire Gold in the cupboard because sometimes I’m lazy and that’s just fine. What about that blend makes it pretty great for you? I enjoy a good malty breakfast blend myself.
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Oct 19, 2020 18:46
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^^Same on the box of Yorkshire Gold in the cupboard. I’ve been drinking Irish Breakfast every morning forever and my love of more expensive teas hasn’t changed that. I used to buy Twinings blend, but they raised the price in Canada to almost $10/100g when I can get a pound of it from Murchies for less than $30 CDN during fairly regular sales and it’s better quality.
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Oct 19, 2020 19:01
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