On 08/12/11 14:04, notbob wrote:
> I don't dislike tea, but it acts as a diuretic, big time, with me.
> Much more so than coffee, which almost nada. This has been the
> primary reason for my eschewing tea all these years. Now, since the cold
> (and mom) has me pretty much grounded within a kidney stone's throw of
> of the loo, I think I'll give tea another try. I jes bought 3 boxes
> of Bigalow tea. Constant Comment, or course, green tea, and Earl
> Grey, which I've always liked for a morning HELLO! tea.
>
> I may be a coffee guru, but know spit about tea. What brewing
> temps? How long the steep? Who sells a GOOD green tea, which I
> really love it it's good authentic green tea. I can mail order.
>
> TIA
> nb --found dead in his teepee


For several years I was into a tea culture (but not anymore, no
thanks), tasting various teas of different properties and qualities
from China and Taiwan; truly greens, oolongs, pouchongs, keemun.

Long before that, I didn't like a real tea, just because I didn't
know how to properly prepare it.
General instructions printed on a bag or a box imported from
China/Taiwan usually say use one heaping teaspoon of tea for a cup of
water (I assumed it refers to our regular coffee mugs 230-250ml, what
else is the cup for god's sake ?), and I followed that only to get
disappointed. It always tasted like a bad spinach soup, or a bit of
backyard grass infused in hot water.

Until I moved to a city with a large Chinese population, and Chinese
have explained to me; Chinese teas cups are very small compared to
western cups, perhaps just slightly larger than your cups for
espresso. Use amount of water for our cups with one teaspoon of tea.
And I did.

Oh boy, what a beautiful flavor, it was totally different,
incomparable to what I was brewing before Chinese suggestions about
ratio tea:water.
Since then, I have spent a small fortune ordering teas from various
distributors, some in China, some in US, some in Germany, Britain...

While the flavor can be truly magnificent, and it differs from tea to
tea, from region to region where the tea was grown, and from year to
year just like wine, I think tea today is waaaay overprized for what
it is.
In the last decade tea and especially puer'h, has become all the
rage, whose prizes are skyrocketing. Tastes good when you purchase
high quality from a reputable distributor and prepare it properly,
all right, I agree with that, but it tastes not THAT good to justify
for example $48 for 8oz of pouchong 1st grade at TenRen (and it's
still not the finest quality which costs $70 for 8oz).

Tea is not the only source of splendid drink flavor, there are
different but equally good or better herbal infusions for the
fraction of the prize. My favorite are linden, rosehip and hibiscus,
individually brewed or any combination of the three.

And what about camellia sinensis ? When the tea-mania loses its steam
and prices get slashed in half at least, only than I may purchase my
next stash of tea. Till then, it's not worth the money they are
asking for.