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hope and vaseline posted:For some reason senchas benefit from a shorter second infusion. I usually do 1:30, 30s, 1m, 1:30. You could also experiment with using hotter water as you go on. That worked perfectly, thanks! Loved the Sencha and finished my sampler pack... Now I want to try the genmaicha (I love toasted rice, so this should be awesome), but I'm not sure about the directions. Adagio says to steep for 2 minutes, but every site I've read seems to suggest ~1minute or even 30 seconds. The sencha worked better when I deviated from the bag instructions, so do any of you have steeping times you go with (can genmaicha be reused)? This is so much easier than coffee in the mornings (that is, if I take the time to brew a proper cup) that I might switch my morning routine over  Oh, and one thing I noticed: my cup had some bitterness in it from time to time, and I found that there were fine dust (from the leaves, I assume) particles floating in the water. Is that because the ingenuiTEA doesn't have fine enough holes? The tea I got was too crushed? Maybe I shouldn't have agitated the tea while steeping?
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May 21, 2013 03:50
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You're always going to get some little particles with sencha, it's just the nature of the tea. It's as pulverized as whole leaf tea gets, well, to the point of only sort of being whole leaf any more, as you've noticed. If the particles bother you a finer mesh can help of course. Another thing you can do is to basically decant the tea using an intermediate cup, just let the particles settle a bit then pour into your drinking cup. Since sencha is brewed at a relatively modest temperature, you will probably want to pre-heat the cups if you are doing that. Not sure about the genmaicha, I very rarely drink it.
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May 21, 2013 05:05
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I've never found genmaicha to be very touchy. Two minutes sounds reasonable to me but a minute and a half is probably fine too. You should be able to reuse it.
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May 21, 2013 05:08
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I want to try a second steep on my teas, but is it cool if I just let the leaves sit in my ingenuitea while I finish my first cup? If not is there a certain way I should be storing them while I drink the first cup? Also what teas are good for multiple steeps? Are there any that trend to be bad with multiple steeps?
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May 21, 2013 18:59
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Koaxke posted:I want to try a second steep on my teas, but is it cool if I just let the leaves sit in my ingenuitea while I finish my first cup? If not is there a certain way I should be storing them while I drink the first cup? I'd think just about every tea can go through multiple steeps, its just going to be a matter of timing to figure what length of resteet produces the best results. I think oolongs are generally considered to resteep the best, sometimes the second cup will taste better than the first. As for leaving your leaves in the IngenuiTea, I do it all day every day at work. Sometimes the leaves are sitting in there 6-7 hours before I have my last cup for the day, with no ill effects.
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May 22, 2013 00:22
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Just mentioning Steepster again as I just joined and I think it'd be pretty cool to look at what teas everyone else is trying. I'm no tea aficionado yet but I've left a few reviews and I'm going to load up my shopping list. Here's my profile http://steepster.com/Shnooks
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May 27, 2013 02:50
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Koaxke posted:I want to try a second steep on my teas, but is it cool if I just let the leaves sit in my ingenuitea while I finish my first cup? If not is there a certain way I should be storing them while I drink the first cup? Should be fine. Leave the lid open and they'll dry nicely.
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May 27, 2013 03:13
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neongrey posted:Should be fine. Leave the lid open and they'll dry nicely. Are you supposed to dry the leaves between infusions? I always resteep within an hour tops, and I leave my IngenuiTEA's lid closed to prevent my cat from eating the tea leaves.
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May 27, 2013 03:41
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Nah, you don't have to. But it's nice if it's going to be a bit before you resteep. If it stays wet it'll get gross.
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May 27, 2013 03:48
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Shnooks posted:Just mentioning Steepster again as I just joined and I think it'd be pretty cool to look at what teas everyone else is trying. I'm no tea aficionado yet but I've left a few reviews and I'm going to load up my shopping list. I've been using Steepster for a while but haven't tried a lot of new stuff lately so it's a bit stagnant on my end. Still, I'm following you now.
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May 27, 2013 04:36
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Aaah, nothing like a fresh cup of lapsang and some erhu music to release your inner chinaboo. I eagerly await the hostile takeover of our new overlords.
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May 29, 2013 21:49
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Archer2338 posted:Loved the Sencha and finished my sampler pack... Now I want to try the genmaicha (I love toasted rice, so this should be awesome), but I'm not sure about the directions. I'm a daily drinker of Sencha. Sencha can be picky sometimes. For all of my standard lightly steamed sencha, I do a 1 ounce to .8 gram ratio to start, and raise if necessary. Depending on the mix, the temperature for brewing various between 65C to 80C. Typically, with an 80C brew, the first steep will be about 40 seconds, and with a 65C brew, the first steep will be 1:30. If you want, you can also try Shincha (new harvest tea) which is still on sale. The difference is that the leaves are much more fresh and flavorful over the normal year, as they do not send the leaf into storage. Check o-cha.com as a brief starter. Genmaicha: pretty much a standard 1 minute brew for loose leaf tea, and I often literally brew this one hot, at 85C. Genmaicha is very much not picky, and never uses the best part of the green tea leaf.
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May 29, 2013 22:40
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I don't know how or when but moisture got into a can of tea. It's a xmas present of some Teavana tea and so it's stored in a crummy, overpriced Teavana tin. Yeah I know I should've put into something better, but the holidays put it out of my mind. It's not soaking wet, just clumpy and vaguely moist. Maybe a little sticky? There's freeze dried strawberries in there that are no longer dry to touch and squishes instead of crunches. Is it ruined or can I somehow dry it out without wrecking it further? I'd hate to throw it away  It's about eight ounces of tea.
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May 31, 2013 19:30
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Oh, wow. Is it very humid where you live? I would make absolutely sure that it's not moldy or anything first. Check all of it carefully; half a pound is a lot of tea. You could try drying it out somehow if it looks OK, and then put it in a better container. I would err on the side of caution, of course. Any chance that it looks or smells like it shouldn't other than being a bit damp and I wouldn't want to drink it, personally.
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May 31, 2013 21:31
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DurianGray posted:Oh, wow. Is it very humid where you live? Yeah I'd be cautious... If it wasn't so much tea I'd just throw it away without even thinking, but it's a lot of tea so may be you could try to place it on a baking sheet or something to make sure there's no mold and may be try to re-dry it I don't know. I'd probably still end up throwing it away because I somehow doubt it's still going to be good but may be my intuition is wrong.
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May 31, 2013 21:41
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I'm in the Bay Area, CA so maybe it is the humidity. I checked the other tea, also in a crappy teavana tin, and that one seemed ok. Not clumpy, though I can't tell if the apple slices are supposed to be crunchy freeze dried or just dehydrated. The tea leaves were dry and snapped instead of bending so I think that one's alright. Either way they're both going in a better container. The damp clumpy tea didn't seem moldy or smell wrong, so I put it on a cookie sheet in the oven. When it dries I'll make a test cup and
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Jun 1, 2013 01:28
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Wedemeyer posted:I'm in the Bay Area, CA so maybe it is the humidity. I checked the other tea, also in a crappy teavana tin, and that one seemed ok. Not clumpy, though I can't tell if the apple slices are supposed to be crunchy freeze dried or just dehydrated. The tea leaves were dry and snapped instead of bending so I think that one's alright. Either way they're both going in a better container. I live in the bay area and there is no humidity here. It likely has to do with where you stored the tea (was it in a closet right above a stove, for example). Other things to think of: is the tea old? There are some types of tea which very much do not last long.
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Jun 1, 2013 01:51
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Wedemeyer posted:I'm in the Bay Area, CA so maybe it is the humidity. I checked the other tea, also in a crappy teavana tin, and that one seemed ok. Not clumpy, though I can't tell if the apple slices are supposed to be crunchy freeze dried or just dehydrated. The tea leaves were dry and snapped instead of bending so I think that one's alright. Either way they're both going in a better container. Good luck, dude! In my experience with the Teavana fruit blendy stuff whatever the fruit constituents are never really last so long anyway. Since you're re-dehydrating(?) your tea you may want to make sure it is evenly spread out and give them an extra roll while they're drying. ntan1 posted:I live in the bay area and there is no humidity here. It likely has to do with where you stored the tea (was it in a closet right above a stove, for example). Other things to think of: is the tea old? There are some types of tea which very much do not last long. What? Are you inland near Antioch or something and not near the coast? I don't want to sound like an rear end but most times you're less than 20 miles from some kind of body of water.   You do have a valid point though - wherever the tea was stored that has a high capacity for condensation like above a stove, near a rice cooker or other temperature source that fluctuates a bunch can cause the kinds of things that Wedemeyer was experiencing. Not to say you should store in a fridge, though - that's only useful in very specific circumstances and for a very short amount of time. In my experience most tea will tend to have white fuzzy mold if there's been a lot of moisture in a sealed environment, but higher sugar content may cause the acceleration of mold that you might not yet see, so it depends on how careful you want to be, I think.
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Jun 1, 2013 04:38
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I just got a new job with a nice big desk that allows me the space to make proper tea. I already have a stock of Adagio teas in my office as well as the Inginuitea. Unfortunately I can only obtain hot water at about 155F. I would like to properly enjoy the teas I've gotten (a range from White Cucumber to Earl Grey Moonlight). My office building does not have a stove so the only option is a self-heating kettle. Any recommendations or things I should look for in a kettle? My desk is a large table and there is a wall outlet and a safe place to keep the kettle from being knocked over.
mistressminako fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Jun 2, 2013 |
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Jun 2, 2013 04:12
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Adagio's got the Utilitea. Variable temp control, though it doesn't have exact numbers there's ranges from green and below to boiling. Only caveat is it's pretty small, you can only heat a little less than 4 cups of water.
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Jun 2, 2013 04:18
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I have a utilitea and its really nice. There's other electric kettles where you can set the temperature exactly as well.
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Jun 2, 2013 04:47
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The tea was bought in late december/early january and stored in a closet about four feet away from the stove. It's never been near the stove except for scooping out into a tea sieve thing when the water's done heating. It's like 88% humidity right now. Trip report: Tea tasted off somehow, like faintly rotten or like dirt. I'll try it again without the berries and see if it's just the berries that spoiled. I noticed leveling it out on the cookie sheet that the tea leaves seemed dry and only clumped because of berry particles. Well, that's alright if I have to pick out all the tiny tea leaves. I like putting slices of fruit for additional flavor sometimes. Mmm strawberries!
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Jun 2, 2013 05:50
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Yeah, dirt is about what a rotten/mold flavor tastes like* Probably a safe bet that the berries are spoiled at the very least. Be aware that there's a decent chance that the tea leaves absorbed that dirt flavor even if you take all the fruit out. *Butter also absorbs flavors far, far too well. Had to throw away that whole batch of cookies.
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Jun 2, 2013 06:11
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I had my first cup of lapsang souchong last night. Thank you, thread, for introducing me to the deliciousness. To contribute to the kettle discussion, I got a "cordless" kettle from Target. You set the temperature on the base via digital display, and it will continue to tell you water temp as it cools. So it doesn't have to be an order-online-specialty-item if you don't want it to be.
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Jun 2, 2013 15:56
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I've had my eye on this kettle as well. http://www.amazon.com/Bonavita-Vari...ywords=bonavita There's a few concerns about the build quality though from the reviews, in particular the welding of the spout to the base. What are y'all enjoying lately? I just picked up some Dragonwell from Adagio, first time I've had it, and I love the buttery taste and slightly toasty aroma. I've kinda moved away from senchas as I've really enjoyed using my gaiwan. Recently finished my batch of Dancong oolong, so I ordered Four Seasons and Wu Ling oolong from teafromtaiwan.com I'm excited to get!
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Jun 2, 2013 16:57
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hope and vaseline posted:What are y'all enjoying lately? I just picked up some Dragonwell from Adagio, first time I've had it, and I love the buttery taste and slightly toasty aroma. I've kinda moved away from senchas as I've really enjoyed using my gaiwan. Recently finished my batch of Dancong oolong, so I ordered Four Seasons and Wu Ling oolong from teafromtaiwan.com I'm excited to get! I'm still nursing the crazy amount of Santa's Secret (From Davids Tea) that I got in december. I'm boring and just drink black teas. Fancy black teas.
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Jun 2, 2013 17:31
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I'm still using a Rival Hot Pot and just gauge the temperature by the bubbles. My mom had gotten an electric kettle from Aldi where you can set the temp but because of the amount of water you have to put in, it took longer than the Hot Pot. And the temperature was way off for anything that wasn't boiling. To be expected from a kettle that was around $30 at Aldi. A few months ago I was at a craft show and there was a woman selling tea. She doesn't have a storefront or website. I got a black strawberry flavored tea from her and it makes the best iced tea. Tastes and smells more like chocolate. Kind of weird since none of the chocolate teas I've tried ever taste like chocolate. She said that she flavors her teas more strongly than most and I want to try more of them. I don't know if this is new or just new to me but I saw a white Earl Grey cream at my local tea shop and picked it up on scent alone. It's pretty great. I've been drinking that or a black Earl Grey cream as my hot teas.
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Jun 2, 2013 18:13
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I use a Zojirushi water boiler. It's really nice and I can set the temperature or set it to boil later. It also works for ramen noodles and anything I need that needs boiling water. The settings are 208F, 195F, 175F and 140F. You can also dispense at 212F if you pay attention to it. Though, Zojirushi stuff tends to be a little pricey. But it's held up for about 3 years and works great. I've been trying to find a decent thermos/travel mug, myself. I sort of like how the Timolinos look and having a secret stash for leaves/a tea bag looks awesome. What do folks use to lug tea around to work with them?
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Jun 2, 2013 22:25
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Aerofallosov posted:I use a Zojirushi water boiler. It's really nice and I can set the temperature or set it to boil later. It also works for ramen noodles and anything I need that needs boiling water. The settings are 208F, 195F, 175F and 140F. You can also dispense at 212F if you pay attention to it. Though, Zojirushi stuff tends to be a little pricey. But it's held up for about 3 years and works great. Is it this one: http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-CD-...d=IHHNS71GMZC0I ? My office is moving to a new, bigger building and I decided to buy myself a boiler to keep at work since I drink so much tea. Wanted to buy one of these for home a couple years back but didn't really want/need something that stayed on 24/7. Gonna buy this one once we move because it looks fab and also Zojirushi is the best.
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Jun 3, 2013 00:58
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Sirotan posted:Is it this one: http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-CD-...d=IHHNS71GMZC0I ? My office is moving to a new, bigger building and I decided to buy myself a boiler to keep at work since I drink so much tea. Wanted to buy one of these for home a couple years back but didn't really want/need something that stayed on 24/7. Gonna buy this one once we move because it looks fab and also Zojirushi is the best. Yup! That's the one. Works like a champ and doesn't seem to mind me leaving it on a few hours or setting it to boil and have hot water by the time I'm home for work. I just clean it out with citric acid or vinegar once in awhile (Our water is so hard, ugh). I got mine a bit cheaper for being a display model, but it's been great. I like using it for tea, noodles and fast hot water. A little pricey, but I like it lots.
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Jun 3, 2013 07:48
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Aerofallosov posted:Yup! That's the one. Works like a champ and doesn't seem to mind me leaving it on a few hours or setting it to boil and have hot water by the time I'm home for work. I just clean it out with citric acid or vinegar once in awhile (Our water is so hard, ugh). I got mine a bit cheaper for being a display model, but it's been great. I like using it for tea, noodles and fast hot water. A little pricey, but I like it lots. I have a Zojirushi rice cooker I bought while living in Japan and dragged home in my luggage. Its going on 5 years old now but still looks and works like new and I use it at least 2-3 times a week. Zojirushi means quality. I compare it to the electric kettle I did end up buying: $30 cheaper but it really shows. I know in your previous post you said you were looking into some thermos, Zojirushi has a whole line of vacuum sealed thermos you should look into. They don't have the tea baskets, though.
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Jun 3, 2013 12:34
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If you're in the market for a travel mug, I can't recommend enough this mug by Timolino. I bought mine at Davidstea as the sales girl pretty much sold me on it. She said it keeps your drink warm up to 7 hours - she wasn't kidding. It keeps its temperature, hot or cold, all day at work for me. It's also completely leak-proof. I throw it in the bottom of my backpack and it never leaks. Ever. It's even got a little rubber cap in the lid that can come off and you can store extra tea in there. I find it's pretty easy to clean and the plastic doesn't absorb too many smells. Also, I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a good genmaicha, milk oolong, and a jasmine tea? I picked up some genmaicha, milk oolong, and dragon pearl jasmine tea from Davidstea and I'm running low. I'd like to buy more than 1oz this time. I got the catalog from Upton Tea but I'm overwhelmed with choices.
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Jun 7, 2013 14:14
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I have a sister who is on a quest for a no nonsense black tea. She's decided that Tetley's just doesn't cut it anymore. Using that as a starting point, can anyone recommend a good black tea? I know her only request was "Not Darjeeling. It doesn't have enough oomph."
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Jun 7, 2013 22:31
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If you want a lot of oomph, try a Lapsang souchong. It's really smoky, like scotch. But if smoke's not her thing (personally, while I like a good strong black tea, I just don't like smoke), then try an Assam. Unlike other black teas, Assams are a separate variety of the plant - stronger, maltier, and with more caffeine. Doomni Estate Assam with milk is one of my favorite teas of all, although getting it in the highest grade can be pricey. Upton Tea has a pretty nice selection of them (sort by customer reviews, 4 stars is a good bet) at various price points, and you can get samples of almost anything. They also have a blend called Baker Street Afternoon for those that like a little bit of smoke but not a full-blown Lapsang or find Assams too heavy. Edit: While I'm going on about Upton Teas, I'll briefly plug the Earl Grey Creme Vanilla. I drink it with milk like I do most blacks, and while I don't typically enjoy most Earl Greys or other flavored teas (it's hard for me to find ones that neither have too much flavoring nor not enough), I find this one quite pleasant as a... well, creamy citrus-vanilla tea. Worth sampling. Culinary Bears fucked around with this message at 01:19 on Jun 8, 2013 |
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Jun 8, 2013 01:02
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I really like Upton's Tippy Orthodox GFOP Assam, despite having a complicated name it's cheap and very tasty.
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Jun 8, 2013 01:04
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Thanks, Goddamn and chunkles. I'll show her the Upton site and hopefully she'll find something to her liking. Though, I don't suppose there's any good tea sellers in Canada?
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Jun 8, 2013 01:32
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Black tea blends might be what she is looking for. Frisian blends are quite strong. Upton has one as well. The Boston Tea Party blend is good too. It has a little smoky flavor but no lapsang is in it. She might like Russian Caravan, that has some lapsang mixed into it.
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Jun 8, 2013 01:34
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Canadian Bakin posted:Thanks, Goddamn and chunkles. I'll show her the Upton site and hopefully she'll find something to her liking. Though, I don't suppose there's any good tea sellers in Canada? Camellia Sinensis and Tao Tea Leaf are good for 'standard' teas, or Herbal Infusions or David's Tea for flavoured/spiced teas/blends. Camellia's retail store is in Montréal, and Tao and Herbal Infusions have stores in Toronto. David's is a chain with stores all over the country.
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Jun 8, 2013 02:33
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I'm in Canada and Upton Tea seems to currently charge a flat $11.20 to ship - got pricier than I remember, but still pretty reasonable compared to other US retailers. I like David's physical locations since you can buy per gram and get small samples; on the other hand, Camellia Sinensis isn't worth the trek - every time I've had to deal with snobby and exasperated staff. Also, I'm not sure how common or regional it is, but if you ever happen upon an "Arctic Fire" blend, it's usually very good. My favorite take on it thus far is from some tall tin by an "Ariel" company (ship with big sails logo) called Merveille d’Hiver/Winter Wonderland, although it has really absurd brewing instructions (3 tsp/5g in 240 ml water for 3-4 minutes?? Must be Russians or something...) that I don't follow. Well, I tried to follow them once, and the standard way's much better. Culinary Bears fucked around with this message at 08:34 on Jun 8, 2013 |
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Jun 8, 2013 08:29
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I wish I had a non-Teavana store to go taste and buy tea in  . Oh well, next time I visit my family I'll go visit Seven Cups and spend too much money.Question: I've been wanting to explore oolongs, since I have a cheap oolong I got from the Chinese grocery and I'm enjoying it a bit. But it's clearly a cheap tea (the cost? $2.99/8oz...it's sole virtue is that it's cheap. I mean, it's tasty, but there's not much nuance or depth to it), and the world of oolongs looks pretty big and intimidating. Upton has an oolong sampler; is theirs a good place to start or is there a better sampler to get my feet wet?
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Jun 8, 2013 17:28
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