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Thanks. I did a Google for 'Seattle Tea Shops' and got a bunch of Starbucks hits.
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Aug 8, 2012 18:32
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Last night I went to my local tea guy and it was the old man owner there instead of the son. He speaks English but hates to do so and doesn't like helping at all. Every time I ask "which tea is this?" or where it's from, he just says "tea." He hates me. The son is always really cool and gives as much info as he knows and always recommends any teas are similar to what I'm looking for. I saw they had a new box of Darjeeling estate teas arrived so I threw some money at him and chose one at random. I got http://www.goodricke.com/brands.php the Castleton Caddy. Finally, something in an actual tin! It was 125 rupees for 100gms (about $2.40) but their site wants me to make an account to see the price for outside India. He also had the Premium blue tin which the company had stamped for 225 rupees, which was the most expensive I've seen for 100gms so far in this area. The tea is extremely light. It hasn't the slightest bitter aftertaste or bitter anything. It has a subtle floral aftertaste and a gentle signature Darjeeling "muscatel" flavor when swishing. Due to it's lightness, I wouldn't want to drink this after a meal because I probably wouldn't be able to taste it. For me, I'd say it's a good late morning/afternoon tea when you want something to taste but not be overwhelmed. The included paper said 3gms per cup but later I tried 6-7gms and it was still light but had some other stronger notes come out.
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Aug 9, 2012 05:02
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Does anyone know of any good loose tea shops in NYC?
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Aug 9, 2012 08:59
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GenericGirlName posted:Does anyone know of any good loose tea shops in NYC? You should check out McNulty's on Christopher if you like classic British loose teas. Subtle Tea is good for creative mixes, and Ito En if you want reaaaaaally fancy tea.
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Aug 9, 2012 20:52
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I desperately wish my town had some teahouses. I used to live in Houston, and there were teahouses all over Montrose. Finding Osmanthus Silver Needle was common.
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Aug 10, 2012 05:50
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 Fresh mint and anise hyssop tea, steeped five and half minutes.
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Aug 10, 2012 08:10
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This is the first time I hear of anise hyssop, I guess because it's an American native herb. What does it taste like? Wiki says it's not actually related to anise or hyssop.
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Aug 10, 2012 14:47
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It's delicious. You know how lots of herbs smell sweet and wonderful and then if you take a bite it's really intense, kind of bitter, and not sweet at all? Anise hyssop is actually sweet tasting. It has a really lovely licoricey-fruity taste. Jerry Traunfeld talks about it in both the Herbfarm Cookbook and The Herbal Kitchen iirc.
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Aug 10, 2012 15:45
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Pope Mobile posted:I'm almost through my tea bags and have decided to go for loose leaf. Anyone in Seattle have experience with Market Spice teas? The lack of any sugar or artificial sweeteners seems to be a plus, and I really like orange & cinnamon. I think I bought some of that from a local foods store (was just labeled "Market Spice"), it smells incredible.
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Aug 11, 2012 16:46
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isomerc posted:I desperately wish my town had some teahouses. I used to live in Houston, and there were teahouses all over Montrose. Finding Osmanthus Silver Needle was common. Wait, where in Houston? I admit that I haven't looked hard for teahouses, and hadn't really thought about driving down Montrose. I've been drinking PG Tips since my loose ran out, so I put in an order at Upton last night. After trying a bunch of different Earl Greys from different vendors, I settled on Earl Grey Supreme as my favorite reasonably-priced blend. Also picked up 100g packets of the Tindharia Estate Second Flush Darjeeling and Lumbini Estate Ceylon to broaden my palate.
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Aug 12, 2012 05:47
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Is there any advice people can give me on how to approach Darjeelings to enjoy them more? I've had a pretty wide range of them quality-wise, but they always taste kind of grassy and off to me (especially the higher quality ones, the cheap ones just taste like crappy black tea). Am I just approaching or brewing them wrong, or is Darjeeling maybe just not my style?
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Aug 12, 2012 18:26
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Zelmel posted:Is there any advice people can give me on how to approach Darjeelings to enjoy them more? I've had a pretty wide range of them quality-wise, but they always taste kind of grassy and off to me (especially the higher quality ones, the cheap ones just taste like crappy black tea). How long are you steeping the teas for? That's pretty crucial in the tea-making process. I used to over-steep my teas like crazy when I was in high school.
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Aug 12, 2012 18:46
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The Tinfoil Price posted:How long are you steeping the teas for? That's pretty crucial in the tea-making process. I used to over-steep my teas like crazy when I was in high school. I've tried a range of times, as short as two minutes and as long as six or seven, so I don't think that's it. (I also used to really over-steep mine and have been trying not to now that I'm buying good tea)
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Aug 13, 2012 10:39
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I happened to be in the market with some folks from out of town and stopped into Market Spice. Had them put together a black/yerba/peppermint mixture (heavy on the peppermint). Holy poo poo. The difference between loose leaf and bagged is incredible. My mouth exploded with minty goodness, and the soothing menthol aftertaste was amazing.
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Aug 13, 2012 17:08
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Bagged tea is basically the dust and crumbs left over from processing the loose leaf stuff, so when you think about that way it makes perfect sense that bagged tea is not so great, except for convenience.
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Aug 13, 2012 17:27
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For what it's worth, I've found some disposable tea bags (though I can usually reuse them at least a couple of times with the same tea) that I can use with loose leaf tea. It's pretty handy for those days I'm zonked or whatever.
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Aug 14, 2012 03:18
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Zelmel posted:Is there any advice people can give me on how to approach Darjeelings to enjoy them more? I've had a pretty wide range of them quality-wise, but they always taste kind of grassy and off to me (especially the higher quality ones, the cheap ones just taste like crappy black tea). It sounds like you might be drinking first flushes but other than that the only thing I can think of besides maybe Darjeelings just not being your thing is that you may not be using enough tea for your water. Especially with the higher quality teas, a larger leaf means you are going to need to use more leaves per cup or oz of water because it is less dense, which is why a lot of people measure tea by weight.
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Aug 14, 2012 04:17
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Yeah I'll second that. Darjeelings are a little outside the standard tea category (along with smoked teas, pu-erhs, super vegetal japanese greens) in terms of being harder to get into and not everyone's cup of tea ( ). I find them to be a lot like wine. You almost always have to deal with some levels of tannins and astringency, it can be hard to find the one with the right kind of "muscatel" you like, some will say it's all crap until you go pricey, and some people just don't like muscatel at all - it might be what you're thinking of as off. I can't say much more because I am one of them, but I still use half Assam and half Darjeeling for making chai: it adds an interesting element and the spices are enough to cover up the rougher notes. First flushes are another matter. If Darjeeling's wine, first flush is white wine. You're going lighter, not really probing for muscatel anymore, but this means that there's really nothing standing in the way of the astringency - plus they're only partially oxidized, so closer to a green tea. I'm really not into those so I just see the flavor profile as "grass and twigs", and the semi-oxidation can make for a fickle brew. The difference between first flush and onwards is actually pretty severe. I used to go on about how I loved Upton's Sikkim, for example, rich and thick and peachy. But then the new harvest, at 20 some bucks a bag (that's huge by Upton standards), had none of the thickness and richness, and only a little bit of the peachiness, underneath a big layer of awful sour grass/hay. I brewed it every which way, and the only brews that didn't have too much of the sour grass were very light and still "slightly unpleasant". Ended up giving up and tossing it. So for a long time I was wondering what the hell happened. I think I even complained on here a few times. I was also bewildered reading other reviewers praising its pineapple/floral notes (which is fair, I hate pineapple notes and don't like astringent florals either). And then I learned that first flush isn't just one of those fancy terms for higher quality, it's a different stage of development entirely and definitely not the one I started with. And yeah, try doing your teas by weight if you're not already, volume just varies way too much - it's the same concept as salt vs kosher salt. You can get a little scale and calibration weight off of DealExtreme for under 10 bucks, free worldwide shipping - whatever looks nice and goes to 0.00g is fine. It'll also come in handy if you ever want to play with food chemicals, highly concentrated ingredients, or very precise recipes. My go-to standard for all blacks is 3 grams per 8 oz (that's 3.15 for 250 ml but don't sweat it) for 2-2.5 minutes (3-3.5-4 for milk depending on how strong I feel like, milk kills tannins). Play with the steeping time before the leaf quantity. It's fine for "western-style" brewing most other types of teas too, if you're willing to sacrifice some nuance for the sake of low-effort-just-get-me-a-mug. You may see "2 and 1/4 grams per cup" in some places. That's actually the same thing, it just comes from the old-fashioned 6oz English teacup.
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Aug 14, 2012 16:42
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I've tried both first flush and others, so it sounds like Darjeeling may just not be "my thing." Oh, well, I still have plenty of other varieties to explore.
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Aug 14, 2012 19:51
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So, like many others in the thread it seems, I've also only recently gotten into tea. I find that I tend to prefer black teas (although I've really only tried two, earl grey and Irish breakfast) but today while shopping around for some new teas to try I decided to branch out a little and picked up a bag of Jade Oolong organic tea. It's full leaf, the place I buy my tea from has giant tins of quite a few teas (I saw pretty much every type mentioned in the OP) and you just scoop out as much as you want and pay for it by the weight. anyways I just made a cup of the Jade oolong and my first concern is; I have no idea what Jade is supposed to taste like, so I have no idea if I don't really like it because I don't like the tea, or because I butchered the process. the bag instructs me to make 1 teaspoon per 8oz of water, the temperature should be 185-200 degrees, and the steep time 2-3 minutes. well I followed everything (except for the temperature of the water, I don't have a thermometer so I just waited until it was boiling slightly) and honestly it's not... terrible, it's just not great. It smells nice and has almost a slightly minty flavor but that's covered up by a somewhat grassy taste. all that said, I'm just hoping it's because I'm so used to black teas and that maybe I'll adjust to it after a few more tries. I'd also like to know if there is anything you can generally add to oolong or other herbal teas (I've heard of adding honey but was reluctant to do so for my first cup) thanks ahead of time
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Aug 15, 2012 20:52
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Consider eating it with something that isn't too sweet like a sour or tart fruit of some kind. There's a chance that the oolong your drinking may be a bit stale - or, you can always try multiple brews using the same leaves, since the flavor changes as the leaves open up. Slightly boiling water is fine, so I don't think you have a problem with temperature. Also, water quality may impact the flavor of the tea!
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Aug 15, 2012 21:01
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Yeah I was actually wondering if you could reused oolong since I do that with black tea when I want multiple cups and don't want to waste more leaves as for water quality, I always use the filtered water from my fridge since I hate how our tap water tastes anyways. but I'm currently making a second cup so here's to hoping I enjoy it more! oh one more question, Oolong is typically naturally decaffeinated correct? I can't have too much caffeine or it starts to mess with my heart in ways that are uncomfortable at best. Are there any places that specialize in decaff black teas? Because I've found it hard to find even decaff earl grey
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Aug 15, 2012 21:13
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It's not really decaffeinated per se but it has less caffeine than green and white tea. However, the more cups of oolong you drink will end up yielding more caffeine - traditionally people will use small amounts of leaf + smaller gaiwan to drink with rather than an 8oz coffee mug. A small cup like the ones I use for tasting from pictures I've taken earlier in the thread are less than 2oz! Discarding the first brewed cup will cut some of the caffeine out, but not 100% of it. Most 'decaf' teas are typically a tea plus some type of additive such as rooibos or other caffeine free tisane (herbal tea). Entirely decaffeinated teas fall under straight tisanes.
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Aug 15, 2012 21:21
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dragoat posted:Oolong is typically naturally decaffeinated correct? No, not at all. There is a wide variation in caffeine concentration from tea to tea, and it generally has nothing to do with the way it was processed.
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Aug 15, 2012 22:42
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Bob_McBob posted:No, not at all. that's unfortunate :\ so are there any black teas that have very little/no caffeine? Or am I pretty much limited to whatever "decaf" teas I can find? (which I stated earlier are apparently hard to come by) Because that really is something I have to consider when buying tea. I do let myself drink caffeinated tea but I can really only afford to once a day.
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Aug 15, 2012 22:58
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There are plenty of herbal teas with no caffeine but you're going to have a hard time replicating the strong tannins of a black tea.
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Aug 15, 2012 23:52
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My rule of thumb is that the caffeine content is proportional to how dark the tea is. It's not entirely accurate, but it serves me decently enough. Thus blacks are the most caffeinated, oolongs are similar but a little less, greens are in the middle, and whites have relatively little caffeine. I may be entirely wrong.
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Aug 16, 2012 00:22
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Yeah, that's not true, especially for white tea, which actually has a ton of caffeine in it compared to other leaves. See http://ratetea.com/topic/caffeine-content-of-tea/21/ I also can't tolerate a lot of caffeine, especially in the evenings. I make do with lots and lots of herbal tea, and one decaffeinated earl grey tea from Adagio that is definitely inferior, but I'll take it. 
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Aug 16, 2012 03:28
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Arcturas posted:My rule of thumb is that the caffeine content is proportional to how dark the tea is. It's not entirely accurate, but it serves me decently enough. Thus blacks are the most caffeinated, oolongs are similar but a little less, greens are in the middle, and whites have relatively little caffeine. Caffeine is a natural pesticide produced by the camellia sinensis plant and so is also in a higher concentration in younger buds, which the plant wants to protect while they are still small and tender and such, so if you have a tea that is "tippy" or includes a lot of tips or young buds then it will be a bit more caffeinated. Because the tips are tender and sweet, they are used in more expensive and higher quality teas, but I think teas like silver needle contain a fair amount of tips, and there is the whole two-leaves-and-a-bud type of harvesting for certain oolongs. I am not sure how much of a difference it makes, but truthfully there is no "caffeine free" tea, at least coming from a camellia sinensis plant. You can drink herbal teas, and they have plenty of blends of flavors to try, but if you are super sensitive to caffeine you may just have to watch your intake, or try the teas that have been decaffeinated chemically. There are also people who say you can brew out the caffeine, but in black teas you are also brewing out most of the flavor - and there are some people who say this doesn't work at all, but you could always try - I think the suggestion is that you brew it for the first 30 seconds, pull out the tea and throw that steep away, then continue steeping.
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Aug 16, 2012 04:07
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Devoyniche posted:There are also people who say you can brew out the caffeine Brewing the caffeine out of tea also involves brewing the flavour out. Doing a five minute Western-style steep will remove a significant portion of the overall caffeine content, but it also necessarily removes the same amount of the tea flavour in general. A subsequent five minute steep will have a much lower caffeine concentration, but it's also going to be a hell of a lot weaker. I guess you can get a much lower amount of caffeine if you are happy with brewing your tea for five minutes and tossing the first infusion, but why even bother with tea at that point? The much-perpetuated myth of being able to rinse away all the caffeine in 30 seconds is nonsense, and I have to wonder about people who claim to be sensitive to caffeine and repeat this sort of thing. http://chadao.blogspot.ca/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html This blog post takes some liberties with interpolating data from the paper, but I think you get the point.
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Aug 16, 2012 09:31
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I'm pretty sure this hasn't been posted yet, so here's something for your tea-drinking Monday: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eob7V_WtAVg
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Aug 21, 2012 00:30
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What sort of tea thermoses do people here use? I've been mostly drinking tea at home or at work, but it'd be nice being able to bring a bottle along for when classes start in a month.
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Aug 21, 2012 05:01
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I use a cheap insulated coffee cup for taking tea to class but this is a great all-purpose bottle that I usually use for ice water, but it keeps tea hot for hours. As an aside, $20 might seem excessive for a simple thermos like that but it's lasted me 3 years, so.
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Aug 21, 2012 05:32
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I've used fancy thermoses and non-fancy ones, they have all broken down time after time, but this thing has taken its fair share of dings and keeps liquids hot for a long period of time (6+ hours in my experiences). One of my former coworkers mentioned that he had one of these that flew off his motorcycle at 70mph on the highway - he wheeled around, picked it up on the shoulder, and rode to work. Still had all the coffee inside of it and held up until someone borrowed it and never gave it back! http://www.thermos.com/products/the-rock-beverage-bottle.aspx I tend to use a thermos in conjunction with a tea tumbler for brewing, but you can also pre-brew your tea, pour it into the thermos, and away you go.
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Aug 21, 2012 06:27
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Question about recommended tea temps: when they say that green tea is ideally brewed at 175° for 3 minutes, does that mean that the water should ideally be at 175° the whole three minutes or do they account for the temperature of the water dropping?
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Aug 21, 2012 06:32
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Yeah, they assume it'll drop. Preheating whatever you're brewing in is a good idea though.
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Aug 21, 2012 06:37
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I use a Nissan thermos: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009V4FM...sl_96ig0s2tuh_e It's a bit pricey, but if you want your drink to be just as hot as when you poured it in 6+ hours after the fact, it pays for itself. Steve Yun posted:Question about recommended tea temps: when they say that green tea is ideally brewed at 175 for 3 minutes, does that mean that the water should ideally be at 175 the whole three minutes or do they account for the temperature of the water dropping? I think it accounts for the temperature dropping slightly. Really, if it's at 175 and you're only waiting 3 minutes, it's not going to be a huge drop anyway. I wouldn't really worry about it. Preheating your brewing vessel is a good idea if you're worried about it cooling the water more than you intend when you pour it in. (Personally, I don't find it makes much of a difference at least with the stuff I brew with, but to each their own.)
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Aug 21, 2012 06:55
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DurianGray posted:I use a Nissan thermos: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009V4FM...sl_96ig0s2tuh_e Yeah I've got one of the Nissan one's right now. My first world problem with it is that it keeps tea too hot, so I have to open the cap or wait 4 hours to actually get it drinkable from when I steep it. Maybe I should just man up and let my taste buds scorch =D
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Aug 21, 2012 20:53
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The Tinfoil Price posted:Yeah I've got one of the Nissan one's right now. My first world problem with it is that it keeps tea too hot, so I have to open the cap or wait 4 hours to actually get it drinkable from when I steep it. Maybe I should just man up and let my taste buds scorch =D I use one of these guys precisely because it keeps things hot for a while, but not to the extreme burn my face off after 6 hours that some do. It is also completely bulletproof and does not leak at all ever. I've apparently converted all my coworkers on accident since everyone here seems to have one.
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Aug 21, 2012 22:09
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I stopped by the Imperial Tea Court in San Francisco (near the ferry building) and on a whim bought an ounce of their medium-quality white tea--about $35 a pound, as I recall. Maybe I'm just a philistine but that tea was delicious and, unusually for a white, incredibly forgiving. It does as fine with the lovely water heater at work as my electric kettle, and I've made it with significant variance in the length of infusion without noticeably affecting quality. I can turn fancy green tea into bitter grasswater given half an excuse but I literally cannot gently caress up this white; it's amazing.
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Aug 21, 2012 22:35
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