I picked up my first tea yesterday Temple of Heaven Gunpowder at a
local shop. I followed the instructions that came with the tea to use
one tablespoon of tea for 10oz of water and steeped for 4 min. While I
was drinking it I read the FAQ's and a few posts here and have a few
comments and questions.

First off I think I used too much tea and steeped for too long on the
first cup. I read here that you can use the same tea a second time so I
made a second cup with slightly lower temp water and steeped for 3 min.
The second cup was better and makes me wonder a few things.

If I had used more like 1-2 teaspoons of tea for the first cup and
steeped for 3 min. I wonder if it would have been as good as my second
cup? I don't' see anything here recommending using a tablespoon per
10oz it looks more like 1.5 teaspoons or so.

I made tow cups "back to back" with the tea and the second cup was
really good but can you make a second cup 24 hours later, or is it an
immediate use thing?

This tea is better than any I've had from teabags but looks to get a
fairly bad rap here as lower quality. Can anybody recommend me a couple
of good green and a couple of good black teas I can order from Upton or
Special teas?

Any other general "newbie" advice you can give me?

Thanks

John F

Temple of heaven is great. It does get kind of astringent if you steep
it too long, and It is very dense, so you should use less by volume
than you would of a more typical blend

John F wrote:
I picked up my first tea yesterday Temple of Heaven Gunpowder at a
local shop. I followed the instructions that came with the tea

Just like on a can of ground coffee the manufacturer is interested in
not having the tea last you very long so you buy more. 1 teaspoon is
generally adequate, 1.5 for a larger mug.

First off I think I used too much tea and steeped for too long on the
first cup.

There are many water temp. and steep time guides online, they will be
fairly accurate and get you in the ballpark.

but can you make a second cup 24 hours later, or is it an
immediate use thing?

No. Tea oxidizes in air. 24 hours is too long. Also some teas will grow
mold very quickly. Generally the 1st brew is discarded and a 2nd made
immediately. You can drink the 1st brewing and then immediately make a
second though.

This tea is better than any I've had from teabags but looks to get a
fairly bad rap here as lower quality.

It will take years for you to distinguish between fine teas and low-mid
grade ones. Teas that you think are high quality now will be like the
lowest grade you consider in time. Although there are a few low grade
teas that I regularly enjoy, my tastes have grown to upper end teas...
but that took years.

Just enjoy your tea, gunpowder tea is a good green tea. Although I
personally prefer Sencha. I like Jasmine Green Tea, and strawbery
sencha as well. Jasmine green "pearls" are one of my favorite daily
teas. A great book is called "the Book of Tea" and a wonderful intro to
tea.

wrote:
No. Tea oxidizes in air. 24 hours is too long. Also some teas will grow
mold very quickly. Generally the 1st brew is discarded and a 2nd made
immediately.

How popular is it to discard the first brew ?
Should it be a full steeping or can it be a quick 1-2 min "wash"?

John F

John,
When I first "got back" into teas I began looking for a China Black since
that had been my first love as a college student in the 70's...What I found
was Specialteas Emperors Red (593), and Golden Monkey (510) and Yunnan
golden royal (509) AND more recently Keemun Hao-Ya A (503) ...those are just
the Blacks (red).

Doug

"John F" wrote in message
ups.com...
I picked up my first tea yesterday Temple of Heaven Gunpowder at a
local shop. I followed the instructions that came with the tea to use
one tablespoon of tea for 10oz of water and steeped for 4 min. While I
was drinking it I read the FAQ's and a few posts here and have a few
comments and questions.

First off I think I used too much tea and steeped for too long on the
first cup. I read here that you can use the same tea a second time so I
made a second cup with slightly lower temp water and steeped for 3 min.
The second cup was better and makes me wonder a few things.

If I had used more like 1-2 teaspoons of tea for the first cup and
steeped for 3 min. I wonder if it would have been as good as my second
cup? I don't' see anything here recommending using a tablespoon per
10oz it looks more like 1.5 teaspoons or so.

I made tow cups "back to back" with the tea and the second cup was
really good but can you make a second cup 24 hours later, or is it an
immediate use thing?

This tea is better than any I've had from teabags but looks to get a
fairly bad rap here as lower quality. Can anybody recommend me a couple
of good green and a couple of good black teas I can order from Upton or
Special teas?

Any other general "newbie" advice you can give me?

Thanks

John F

see my post on gunpowder. It is very easy to oversteep gunpowder-- more so
than other greens. It's the most "advanced" green IMHO and frequently it
will go wrong. If done right though it can be very good. I have a feeling
that most of the people who don't like it made a mistake in its preparation.
When I started with gunpowder it took me several attempts to get anything
remotely drinkable and you can't carry over the lessons you learn from it to
other greens (or vice versa). This is kind of sad since gunpowder is
frequently one's introduction to loose-leaf greens and often it puts people
off of them forever.

Some people always discard the first brew. Keep in mind you're discarding
most of the caffeine when you do so. I would suggest a 'wash' of 30 seconds
or so.


"John F" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
No. Tea oxidizes in air. 24 hours is too long. Also some teas will grow
mold very quickly. Generally the 1st brew is discarded and a 2nd made
immediately.

How popular is it to discard the first brew ?
Should it be a full steeping or can it be a quick 1-2 min "wash"?

John F

Barky Bark wrote:
Some people always discard the first brew. Keep in mind you're discarding
most of the caffeine when you do so. I would suggest a 'wash' of 30 seconds
or so.

I get enough caffeine from other teas (usually start the day with 2
cups of strong black,) that I don't need to worry about washing out the
caffeine from gunpowder.

I find the first steeping's tea worthless. It doesn't taste very good,
and the leaves are still tightly rolled up. I can get three drinkable
infusions after the first, so I don't mind pouring out the first one at
all.


stePH
in cup: "Guo Jiang Xiang" sample received from Michael Plant. I don't
even know what this is, but it seems to be an oolong that's almost
fully green.

John F wrote:
How popular is it to discard the first brew ?
Should it be a full steeping or can it be a quick 1-2 min "wash"?

It depends. I personally will drink the first brew for the most part,
except when using my Yixing teapots. Some teas simply need a "wash" or
a quick steam even to soften them and begin to let them unfurl before
brewing. I personally do not believe in "right" or "wrong" with tea, it
is all a matter of personal taste. I'm not a big "rules" guy, I don't
have a thermometer for my water temps... I just go by experience and my
personal taste. BUT. I also have studied tea and at least know what is
considered "right" so I'm not just blindly guessing either.

You will learn over time what produces the best results, that's half
the fun. Just enjoy it and don't worry about what is right and wrong.
Get some pointers online or in books and go from there.

I really enjoyed "The Book of Tea" by Okakura. It is like $4 and will
give you a great background and appreciation for tea and the ceremony
surrounding it. Also if you search the net you will find many sites
covering brewing for each particular type of tea.

"The Book of Tea" by Kakuzo Okakura is available at Project Gutenberg
for free.

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/769

Enjoy!

-Troy Howard

Barky Bark wrote:
Some people always discard the first brew. Keep in mind you're discarding
most of the caffeine when you do so. I would suggest a 'wash' of 30 seconds
or so.

I would second the suggestion of 30 seconds - I find that for the black
teas I prefer this is enough time to release most of the caffeine (and
astringency) and yet still allow for a second flavorful re-steeping for
drinking.

Good luck and enjoy your teas.

I generally don't, especially because I think that tosses most of the
caffine :-) With temple of heaven, I can get about 3 brews, usually in
the span of about an hour and a half or so. I'm not sure how long it
takes to mold, but I don't aim to find out. BEsides, the stuff is
cheap. I have 500 grams from my local asian mart that I paid maybe 8
bucks for. And that for one of my favorite teas (admittedly, I'm fairly
new at this)

wrote:
Barky Bark wrote:
Some people always discard the first brew. Keep in mind you're discarding
most of the caffeine when you do so. I would suggest a 'wash' of 30 seconds
or so.

I would second the suggestion of 30 seconds - I find that for the black
teas I prefer this is enough time to release most of the caffeine (and
astringency) and yet still allow for a second flavorful re-steeping for
drinking.

Caffeine, yes -- but I find astringency is a characteristic of the
tannins that osmose (is that a word?) into the water when the tea
steeps too long. They don't seem to come out so much at the beginning.

Though instructions I've seen say to steep black tea 3 to 5 minutes, I
usually go for 3 or less. More than that and the tea is unpleasantly
astringent. The 5-minute brewers must be taking it with milk.


stePH
in cup: dragonwell and sencha (bulk) from Limbo (last of the dragonwell
wasn't quite enough for a cup)
--
NP: 5uu's, "The Futility of Oneness"

"stePH" wrote in message
oups.com...

wrote:
Barky Bark wrote:
Some people always discard the first brew. Keep in mind you're
discarding
most of the caffeine when you do so. I would suggest a 'wash' of 30
seconds
or so.

I would second the suggestion of 30 seconds - I find that for the black
teas I prefer this is enough time to release most of the caffeine (and
astringency) and yet still allow for a second flavorful re-steeping for
drinking.

Caffeine, yes -- but I find astringency is a characteristic of the
tannins that osmose (is that a word?) into the water when the tea
steeps too long. They don't seem to come out so much at the beginning.

Though instructions I've seen say to steep black tea 3 to 5 minutes, I
usually go for 3 or less. More than that and the tea is unpleasantly
astringent. The 5-minute brewers must be taking it with milk.

Yes, thi is exactly what I find. I can barely drink most teas that are
steeped for more than 3 minutes. I find that for persian tea(cardamon or
bergamot tea)....or Earl Grey, 2-2.5 minutes is enough. I had previously
thought that the water temp was the problem but in actuality it is the
steeping time. I don't use milk in my tea so perhaps I'm more sensitive to
the bitterness from the tannins. I don't even like the smell of
oversteeped tea. I like my tea to have a fresh aromatic quality that can be
easily overpowered be the bitter smell of oversteeping. It seems that there
is a really fine line for me between it being perfect and it being terrible.
I've thrown away many pots of tea by being careless about the time. But I'm
sure there are many people in this forum that probably like a more bitter
brew. That is what I find fascinating about all this.

Pete

ostaz wrote:

Yes, thi is exactly what I find. I can barely drink most teas that are
steeped for more than 3 minutes.

I have gone to the 30 second "wash" then my first cup steeped for 2.5
min and the second for 3 min. and cutting back the tea to a teaspoon.

Results are much improved!

John F

John F wrote:
ostaz wrote:

Yes, thi is exactly what I find. I can barely drink most teas that are
steeped for more than 3 minutes.

I have gone to the 30 second "wash" then my first cup steeped for 2.5
min and the second for 3 min. and cutting back the tea to a teaspoon.

Results are much improved!

You double-steep black tea? I thought black teas were worthless for a
second drinking infusion.

stePH
in cup: nothing; just finished 3rd infusion of jasmine pearl from Costco