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I got some puerh mini tuocha samples from Teavivre in the mail today and brewed one of them up. Are the leaves supposed to be this small and broken up? It pretty much disintegrated after a rinse. The tea comes out a very, very dark brown color and is like a kick in the face. Leather and earthy notes.
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Dec 11, 2013 22:40
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 06:51 |
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I've been baggin' it at work, since we don't have a lot of facility for proper tea brewing. Does anyone have experience with something like this: http://www.teavana.com/tea-gift-center/tea-gift-sets/p/tea-voyager-travel-kit ? It seems like a good idea right now, but I feel like the infuser may be a bit porous and it could potentially scotch this idea. Am I better off just suffering through Tips while I'm at work?
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Dec 11, 2013 23:43
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I think that people in the thread have had good experiences with french press travel mugs and tea.
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Dec 11, 2013 23:46
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hope and vaseline posted:I got some puerh mini tuocha samples from Teavivre in the mail today and brewed one of them up. Are the leaves supposed to be this small and broken up? It pretty much disintegrated after a rinse. The tea comes out a very, very dark brown color and is like a kick in the face. Leather and earthy notes. That's the big problem with those mini tuochas; they're often just the really broken bits, and they are so small they just crumble really easily. It definitely shouldn't disintegrate after a rinse, and that's going affect the taste quite a bit.
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Dec 12, 2013 06:48
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Welp, I just broke my double walled glass tea tumbler.
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Dec 13, 2013 00:38
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aldantefax posted:Welp, I just broke my double walled glass tea tumbler. That sucks. What'd it take to break it? I have no doubts that mine will explode one day.
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Dec 13, 2013 01:01
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Th_ posted:That sucks. What'd it take to break it? I have no doubts that mine will explode one day. Spinning tipped it over while empty and uncapped to a 3 foot grave on office carpet. Oh well! At least I was able to clean up the glass because it didn't explode very far.
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Dec 13, 2013 04:19
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aldantefax posted:Spinning tipped it over while empty and uncapped to a 3 foot grave on office carpet. Oh well! At least I was able to clean up the glass because it didn't explode very far. Ever since I read about Teavana having to recall their glass tumblers due to them breaking and burning people, I'm always a little worried about breaking mine and getting hot glass everywhere. I don't even have a teavana tumbler and absolutely love mine and have never had any problems with it, so it's not the most reasonable or logical worry...but it's more having thought about the consequences of it shattering after I've poured boiling liquid into it, and knowing there have been problems with some.
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Dec 14, 2013 00:58
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I shattered one against the bathroom tiles, it was a mess. A tumbler that originally cost me 15 yuan in a Chinese mini-mart, was 27 effing USD to import a replacement for. Plastic ones are cheaper, but they start showing signs of wear pretty quickly. I even have a steel one and a PET one, but glass is just more pleasing.
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Dec 16, 2013 11:04
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I really love mine, but it makes me quite the subject of curiosity. I drink a lot of green/oolong tea and just put the leaves in and refill it when I'm out for the day, and people find this completely bizarre. I suppose part of it is that people here tend to mainly drink tea black, bagged, and strong enough to float a dead mouse in before adding milk, and there is the prevailing idea that the only reason anyone would drink green tea is for some strange cultural health thing rather than actual enjoyment.
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Dec 16, 2013 15:37
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Tumblers are sweet. They are just convenient enough for me to drink loose leaf all day every day, eliminating the need for teabags. Discovering them was like a revelation. Chinese blue collars have it all figured out.
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Dec 17, 2013 07:30
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Can anybody point me to a nice glass tumbler? At least ~16 oz and more or less able to handle blacks, and if there's a sleeve for it that's even better. No need for an infuser. I'm also in the market for a nice 12+ oz glass mug. Something that isn't too likely to split on contact with hot water. I've worked with enough beakers to think that is a reasonable standard. Or, hey, if there's a way to get a beaker with a handle... Edit: Nevermind, I think I found what I'm looking for... I really like to see what I'm drinking :| Culinary Bears fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Dec 17, 2013 |
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Dec 17, 2013 11:46
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Goddamn posted:I'm also in the market for a nice 12+ oz glass mug. Something that isn't too likely to split on contact with hot water. I've worked with enough beakers to think that is a reasonable standard. Or, hey, if there's a way to get a beaker with a handle... Edit: Nevermind, I think I found what I'm looking for... I've been using a pessimist's mug for years, but a beaker mug has been on my wishlist for a while. I bought my pessimist mug around 5 or 6 years ago and found another one at a thrift store a couple years later. I regularly use them for hot tea and coffee, and run them through the dishwasher all the time with no problems. I even knocked one off my desk earlier while it was full of green tea and it's fine. (It didn't fall far and it landed on something soft-ish.) After cleaning tea off everything I just rinsed it out and made a new cup. 
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Dec 23, 2013 15:41
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David's Tea is having a sale today online and in stores. 40% off a bunch of their winter stuff, including several varieties of tea in 250g bags (bringing them down from ~35 to ~20). There are also several varieties available in the rainbow tins, and those are 3 for 30 (100g each). I went for the tins and got Mother's Little Helper (delicious chamomile, peppermint, and lemongrass blend that contains valerian root), Cream of Earl Grey, which I've never tried before, and Strawberry Rhubarb Parfait for my husband.
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Dec 26, 2013 20:41
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Store-wide 20% off at Taiwan Tea Crafts also. I'm stocking up on their Dong Ding and Lishan.
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Dec 27, 2013 01:28
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I was given an awesome tea infuser for Christmas that will amuse me to no end every time I use it:
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Dec 27, 2013 05:44
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I have two of the ManaTea ones from the same company. Got one for my birthday over the summer and a second for Christmas 
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Dec 27, 2013 05:55
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e: ^^ beaten! Find yourself a red tea. Tannin posted:I was given an awesome tea infuser for Christmas that will amuse me to no end every time I use it: My friend got this:  It's adorable, plus she used it for a new tea that ended up being red, and as it steeped it looked like blood was pouring out of the manatee. I have never laughed so hard at tea. Christmas tea update: I got a blood orange rooibos from my sister. I don't usually like rooibos, but this has a super strong orange smell so the rooibos is probably overpowered. I also got a teapot from my mom that is unfortunately designed.  It has razor-sharp edges on the design, and one hits exactly where I need to put my thumb for leverage when pouring.
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Dec 27, 2013 06:00
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detectivemonkey posted:e: ^^ beaten! Find yourself a red tea. Haha! That's a great idea! detectivemonkey posted:It has razor-sharp edges on the design, and one hits exactly where I need to put my thumb for leverage when pouring. Oh no! Maybe some really fine grit sandpaper would be a good thing to get to take care of that? I've gotten cut on ceramics/ceramic glazes before and it's not a good experience 
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Dec 27, 2013 06:06
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Re: beaker mugs. The ones I linked was sold out on Amazon, so I got these instead, and they're awesome! Reasonable shipping to Canada, good insulation (I can microwave them and the handle is still cool), and they're actually about the size of a regular mug but hold over 16oz. Maybe a bit pricey, but they do feel like real chemistry beakers. I dunno if I'd take their measuring lines too seriously (it says approx., and one of my 4 got printed very slightly tilted), but as a clear drinking mug they're great.
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Dec 30, 2013 22:33
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So, I got this for Xmas, along with a nice selection of leaves. Has anyone experience with this particular unit? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C4OE79K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=G6YBVWMARMOD&coliid=IFE82OEMQ2ZDH
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Jan 2, 2014 00:59
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Veteran Tea Goons, After reading the OP, and a few of the past pages I have some beginner questions for you. Apologies if these are common questions. To start, I enjoy tea but I admit I was very late to the game, and my experience with tea is near nil. I am talking nothing but tea bags from the supermarket (Bigelow) and from my office (Lipton, Tea Republic). The thing is, I actually enjoy the bagged Earl Grey and English Breakfast from Bigelow. I was also given a gift set of tea from Trader Joes from my boss, where I enjoyed their green tea, as well as assam (I forget the actual names of them). I’ve purchased the Chai tea from the goon who sells it, and that is also good, albeit much different than normal tea (sugar, milk, burning the hell out of it, etc). A co-worker has about 10 different tins of tea from Tea Republic that I have tried. They all taste…”fake/processed” to me (which they very well may be). I am ready to move beyond pre-bagged tea when I have the ability to do so, but all the talk of this and that is intimidating! I'd like to start with a safe budget at first, say $50 tops, but I am more than willing to spend more for quality if I find that I enjoy this whole non-bagged tea leaf thing. I’ve got a generic Tea I suppose my questions are: 1.Besides an electronic kettle, is there anything else that is mandatory or highly recommended? I drink tea when I am in the mood for it – I don’t need it first thing in the morning, or precisely at a certain time. 2.When attempting loose leaf teas, is there any special instruction other than steep at x minutes at y temperature? Also, is it true you can reuse tea leaves more than once? If so, how do you go about saving your leaves for the next use? 3.At work we have a nice filtered hot water machine, it puts out 175-190 degree water, can I make loose leaf tea using this machine, or do I stick to bags? 4.Is there a good starter pack from one of the OP’s websites that is often recommended? (I live in the US) If it makes any difference, I would prefer to drink my tea plain, no added liquids/sugar/honey/etc. (I do enjoy the Chai, but I see that as more of a dessert-ish drink) I am more in the market for drink at work/with lunch/with dinner types of tea. For bagged tea, I have enjoyed black and green teas, but I am up to try just about anything you can recommend. Sorry for the long post, I am excited for better tea. Thank you, Goons! The Rev fucked around with this message at 22:06 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 19:02
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The Rev posted:Veteran Tea Goons, 1. The electric kettle's nice if you want to do non-black teas as well and it's just convenient to boot but I wouldn't call it mandatory. I'd definitely get some brewing setup that gives the leaves more room than those tea balls. You can do a mug with one of those cylindrical looking filters in it, a small teapot with the same, a tea tumbler, or a gaiwan. Whichever you think will be better suited for your style. 2. Not really, other than maybe weighing out the leaves for consistency (some leaf styles are way lighter than others). You can indeed resteep leaves. When people talk about this though they usually mean brewing another cup(s) during the same tea drinking session or some time later the same day. I just leave the tea leaves in my brewing vessel until I'm done with them but if you're really worried that bitterness might occur you can always pull them out with your filter or whatever. 3. You can make loose leaf tea with it the same as you would bagged tea. That temperature will be better suited to greens/oolongs/whites than it will to black tea though. Try it with blacks anyway, if you like the result then there's nothing wrong. 4. I'll go ahead and pimp Upton Tea, as is my habit, saying that the samplers there are nice introductions to various styles. Note that the one called "Introduction to Fine Tea" is really an introduction to nice black teas. You could get that one plus either the green tea or oolong sampler and that'd be a good place to start, imo. Edit: Just a little additional note too: tea's cool and fun and you can get really really into it, but if the whole thing starts to feel a little overwhelming just remember that at the end of the day it's just steeping leaves in hot water to get something tasty and stimulating to drink. Don't stress it too hard. Thoht fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 19:54
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The Rev posted:1.Besides an electronic kettle, is there anything else that is mandatory or highly recommended? I drink tea when I am in the mood for it – I don’t need it first thing in the morning, or precisely at a certain time. ^^Just beat me! I'd forgotten that Upton has samplers, I'll have to try some! Hey there! I'll try to answer your questions in order. 1. It sounds like you already have a kettle (the metal 'teapot') so you don't have to get an electric kettle if you already have a stove-top kettle. Electric kettles are nice, but I don't think they're a must-have if you already have a stove-top one that works. You probably don't want to steep tea in your kettle, just so you know  You might want to look at getting a cheap ceramic teapot though if you don't have any pots. Many of them will come with little mesh steeping baskets so you don't have to worry about those tea balls. I've personally never liked tea balls all that much, they cramp the tea and are not fun to clean out.2. The only other thing besides time and temperature is the amount of leaf you're using. Typically this is one heaping teaspoon of leaf per cup (or 8 oz.) of water. Some teas are more densely rolled than others so you might want to tweak that according to taste. You absolutely can reuse tea leaves! Typically you don't want to keep using them longer than maybe the same day you first steeped them (and I just leave them in the strainer until I'm done with my current cup of tea, then heat the water and make another pot). There isn't really a way to 'save' them longer than that, but I think some people will put them in an airtight container and put them in the fridge for use in the near future (like the next day). They will get moldy if left out too long. 3. You certainly can! Black teas might need a little bit longer to steep since the temperature is lower, and you might want to double check the temperature if you're trying to make more finicky things like greens or whites, but there's no reason you can't use is with loose leaf. 4. Are you in the US, or somewhere else? Honestly, I would say find a site that ships to your area of the world and poke around and get some samples and see what you like. Most sites offer samples, I know that (assuming you're in the US) Adagio has sample packs of various types of tea, usually sorted by green, black, oolong, etc. that are good for a crash course and not too expensive. Does that cover everything? Edit to say: I just added a bit to the OP about the difference between pots and kettles because it's come up before and so now there are reference pictures. DurianGray fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 20:00
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Thanks for the quick, informative responses. I do indeed have a tea kettle, not pot, according to those pictures. I am also in the US (Eastern PA). I'll certainly be picking up a sampler or two, probably Black and Green teas first, although the Oolong sounds good as well. I've already got a really nice digital food scale for cooking purposes, so I can always put that to use in measuring out the tea leaves if need be. For making the tea at work, what item would you recommend I purchase for tea seeping purposes? Obviously I don't want to lug around a tea pot, I'll keep that to home use. I've got a few gift cards to amazon that I'm currently not putting towards anything, so I may as well use them for something tea related.
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Jan 7, 2014 22:05
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As a UK goon, out of all of the tiny cultural differences between here and the US, the fact that you guys don't have an electric kettle in every single kitchen is always the most shocking to me.
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Jan 7, 2014 23:25
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For tea at work I would either do a mug with a basket strainer and a little saucer to rest the wet strainer on or a tea tumbler.
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Jan 8, 2014 00:50
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DurianGray posted:I'd forgotten that Upton has samplers, I'll have to try some! Their samplers are quite good but for an advanced tea drinker such as yourself, a much nicer thing about Upton is that you can get a small sample size (usually at least enough to brew a pot) of just about any tea they carry for a pretty small price (usually $1 or $1.50, occasionally more for extremely expensive stuff). This is a fantastic way to try lots of new kinds of tea. Also everyone who likes black tea blends should get Upton's Russian Caravan right now. Just get it.
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Jan 8, 2014 01:16
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Are there any other companies that make tea in sachets like Harney and Sons? I already fuss enough with my coffee as it is, and I really like the simplicity/taste trade off of being able to pour a rolling boil of water into a mug and throw in a black tea sachet for a few minutes vs having to measure everything.
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Jan 8, 2014 01:18
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Boris Galerkin posted:Are there any other companies that make tea in sachets like Harney and Sons? I already fuss enough with my coffee as it is, and I really like the simplicity/taste trade off of being able to pour a rolling boil of water into a mug and throw in a black tea sachet for a few minutes vs having to measure everything. Mighty leaf has some good bags. However, you seriously don't need to measure anything. Just put an amount that looks right in an infuser. It's pretty hard to mess up tea. Today I accidentally steeped some black tea for 5 minutes because I forgot about it. Was it delicious? Not especially. Was it good enough to drink the whole pot? Yes. I like Adagio's samples because they last for about 20 cups. I have the herbal sampler set and have a cold, so I've been mixing half chamomile and half peppermint, then adding a pinch of lemongrass. It's perfect.
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Jan 8, 2014 03:59
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Adagio is more user-friendly, I feel like I have to know what I want when I shop Upton. For brewing at work, I'd recommend an IngenuiTEA if you have a sink, because there is no mess and it's easy to rinse out at the end of the day. At home I throw my leaves in a pot loose and strain it as I pour into mugs with a small mesh strainer.
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Jan 8, 2014 18:41
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Thoht posted:For tea at work I would either do a mug with a basket strainer and a little saucer to rest the wet strainer on or a tea tumbler. Agreed. I use this one. I've linked it in here a few times and have bought two for myself and at least 2 for family members. If they don't give me a free one soon, I'll be pissed.
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Jan 9, 2014 03:32
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DurianGray posted:There isn't really a way to 'save' them longer than that, but I think some people will put them in an airtight container and put them in the fridge for use in the near future (like the next day). Spinefex And Sand posted:Having spread the table--that is, swept the floor clear of ants and other Not recommended unless you are deep in the Australian outback and cannot get more tea. Personally, unless the first pot was very strong, I do not steep black tea a second time, but I will steep green tea twice. I think it's much more pleasant that way- tastes less like lawn (I probably oversteep my green teas). As a newcomer to this thread, wow, tea from online retailers is pretty expensive! I'm used to paying $8 for 400g of OP black tea. These guys are charging double that or more- I don't think I'll be able to put something like Silver Needle on my table regularly. What are the tea drinking habits of the average buyer? I drink either no tea, or like 6 cups of tea a day. Do you guys buy mostly samplers, or do you buy a few month's tea at a time?
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Jan 9, 2014 05:14
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Keldoclock posted:As a newcomer to this thread, wow, tea from online retailers is pretty expensive! I'm used to paying $8 for 400g of OP black tea. These guys are charging double that or more- I don't think I'll be able to put something like Silver Needle on my table regularly. It can be, but something like Silver Needle is going to be expensive no matter where you get it from - white tea as a whole is going to more expensive than black tea. If you just want generic black tea, Upton goes down to $12-$15 for 400g - I got some of their Java Blend, the cheapest they offer, last time I ordered and it's pretty good as a standard black tea. I have a couple cups per day, sometimes more, sometimes less. I usually get somewhere around 125g/4oz of my most common ones in an order, with a bunch of samples.
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Jan 9, 2014 05:26
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I probably average out to having 3-4 cups of tea a day. I have a ton of samples hanging around because I'm really bad about only drinking half of the sample and then forgetting I have it. I mostly end up buying a few favorites every 4ish months in 3-4oz increments or so. Right now my regulars are genmai cha, Irish breakfast, a yunnan or yunnan-like, assorted chais, and this very specific Russian Earl Gray blend that a local tea shop makes. Those I will go out of my way to replace when they run out. I have a ton of other stuff I like a lot but just don't drink with as much regularity as those five.
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Jan 10, 2014 00:42
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I used tea as a crutch to quit smoking starting about 3 months ago. I bought a cast iron pot from Cost Plus World Market. Also got a bunch of samples from Upton and a pound of temple of heaven gun powder green. I drink about 3 pots a day on average (also a few cups of coffee), what can I say it is an addiction. Or a replacement for one at least.
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Jan 11, 2014 04:23
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Can somebody give me an opinion on the Morphy Richards Tea Maker? I've always wanted to get into the arcane subject of brewing tea so it was a nice surprise when I got this for Christmas but now I'm not so sure if I shouldn't return it and get a see-through water cooker and a teapot instead. My main concern is that it only works at three different temperatures - 85°, 95° and 100°. I have next to no idea about tea but from what I know that's already too high for some (white, yellow, green). However, I've heard people claim that the steeping process somehow makes it work? No idea. I ordered Sencha from a local teashop to test it at 85° and 3 minutes of steeping and while it wasn't bad it didn't taste much like anything. Maybe I have to get used to the subtle taste first, or maybe my settings were wrong or maybe the machine just isn't good. I don't know! Anybody here use this thing?
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Jan 11, 2014 13:48
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Someone more knowledgeable please correct me if I'm wrong (I drink almost exclusively blacks and herbals), but I can't see changing the steeping time having any effect on the fact that the leaves were brewed too hot to begin with. If you plan on brewing teas that are temperature-sensitive, I think you'd really be better off with an electric kettle with a temperature control and an egg timer. Brewing tea is really not that difficult, and certainly doesn't require a dedicated machine like espresso or something. If you've got your heart set on a gadget I've had luck with stuff like this, though I can't speak as to this particular model. http://www.amazon.com/Adagio-Teas-utiliTEA-Variable-Temperature/dp/B001A5NFQA
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Jan 11, 2014 16:24
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Entenzahn posted:Can somebody give me an opinion on the Morphy Richards Tea Maker? I've always wanted to get into the arcane subject of brewing tea so it was a nice surprise when I got this for Christmas but now I'm not so sure if I shouldn't return it and get a see-through water cooker and a teapot instead. My main concern is that it only works at three different temperatures - 85°, 95° and 100°. I have next to no idea about tea but from what I know that's already too high for some (white, yellow, green). However, I've heard people claim that the steeping process somehow makes it work? No idea. Japanese greens like Sencha really should be lower, 160-170 F and initial steep should be under 2 minutes. A lot of the grassy sweetness comes out with lower temps.
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Jan 11, 2014 16:54
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Thanks for the advice. I'll probably return it, not just because I don't like the temperature limit but also because it's kind of awkward to handle and clean. That said I tried to make tea through more traditional methods (heat water in cooker, pour into cup, brew leaves) and I have yet to be amazed. I think I may be doing this wrong but it's kinda confusing when everyone gives you different directions. For example I've ordered some Darjeeling Broken Singtom. Steep.it tells me to brew Darjeeling for 3 minutes at 85°, the store I bought it from says its a normal black tea that should brew 4-5 minutes in boiled water and a different webstore only says to brew the same leaves for two minutes. I also got some Chinese sencha even though sencha is supposed to be Japanese. I don't even know anymore.
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Jan 13, 2014 20:28
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