Puerh has become my late night evening tea. I think the microbes
gobbled the caffeine and expelled it as gas. Since a little goes a
long way I don't use a pot. I put some in a styrofoam cup and add the
boiling water. You can drink it after the decimated leaf particulate
settles to the bottom which seems like only a minute. The first sip
taste like the last sip off the bottom. I think there is a temperature
where it stops infusing. You never get the over steeped heavy taste.
I'm going to use it as my brown bag restaurant tea. It holds up to
multiple infusions and to the waitress and dishwasher the cup seems
like another ashtray. I could have used it New Year's Eve when I
stopped at a gourmet steakhouse per chance. I learned the coded words
'Do you have a reservation' means it's going to be very expensive.
Well worth it in this case but way too much food and needed something
to settle my stomach. It acts better than a glass of seltzer after a
meal to do the same thing. If I was still traveling I would add it to
my road kit and never have to worry about replacing stale tea. Nothing
worse than stale tea and a dull razer on the road. It is now in the
glove compartments of my cars. I can't think of a better humidor than
a car interior. Gas stations usually have a good source of hot water
used to make hot chocolate. You didn't mention it but I'd add I always
boil the water and if I kill the taste I'll be the last one to know.
I'll give an amen to one pot fits all. If you're serving me out of one
of those tiny little gongfu pots please be generous. I had a couple of
other posts lined up but I like this one better. I'll save them latter
for the next round. I've been loosing sleep too. I bet the other guy
sleeps like a baby.

Jim

Derek wrote:
> Last night, as I was laying in bed trying to get to sleep, I realized
> something. My friends and colleagues thing me somewhat of a tea
> gourmet - or even a tea snob. But I don't think that's accurate.
>
> I make almost all of my tea in either a single pot with an infuser or
> in my Tea-one (A tall pitcher and top's got a filter basket. Push a
> button and the tea drains out after steeping.) I never use two pots,
> and I don't use different pots for different types of tea (although I
> have thought about it).
>
> I don't like puerh.
>
> I don't measure out my tea by weight. I merely eyeball what I think
is
> the right amount on a teaspoon. And then I drink it out of a mug.
>
> I don't like puerh.
>
> I keep my teas stored in a drawer, in airtight plastic bottles
because
> its convenient. I know there are better methods, but I don't have the
> gumption to switch. (At least I keep them "air tight" and "dark".)
>
> I don't like puerh.
>
> While I appreciate the intricacies of gungfu, I have no desire to
> actually do it myself. Sure, it's a good cup of tea, but I don't
think
> its worth the effort. And for me to do it for the sake of doing it
> would be pretentious. (I'm not saying that doing gungfu is
> pretentious. I'm saying that it would be "for me" - it's a personal
> thing.)
>
> I don't like puerh.
>
> I do appreciate good teas, however. And I know what "bad tea" is. I
> was at a conference last week that had bagged tea at the snack table.
> It wasn't too bad, but I missed my stash of teas at home. At the same
> time, I often can't tell the difference between two grades of the
same
> tea - while I know others who can.
>
> Did I mention that I don't like puerh?
>
> And I have hardly any "tea memorabilia" around, except a few teacups
I
> bought when I was in Russia. Save for the absence of a coffee pot in
> our house, no one would really know from visiting that I drink tea.
>
> All of that has brought me to one rather startling conclusion. I am
> not a tea gourmet (a connoisseur of tea). I am, in fact, simply a
> gourmand (one who is heartily interested in good tea).
>
> Maybe, one day, I'll move myself up the tea drinkers hierarchy. But
in
> the mean time, I'm just going to enjoy my tea.
>
> The "gourmet" is dead. Long live the "gourmand"!
>
> --
> Derek
>
> Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are
> men who want crops without plowing the ground. -- Frederick Douglass,
> abolitionist, editor and orator (1817-1895)