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

notbob > wrote:

>I may be a coffee guru, but know spit about tea. What brewing
>temps? How long the steep?

As close to boiling temp as possible; 6 to 8 minutes for a black
tea, 2 to 3 minutes for a green tea.

>Who sells a GOOD green tea, which I
>really love it it's good authentic green tea. I can mail order.

Dunno. I just know the best green teas have a flavor that will
knock your socks off. The best I've had were hand-carried back
from China or Korea.


Steve

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


I like "Temple of Heaven" brand Special Gunpowder tea. Available at
any oriental grocery store, and not expensive. It's a little darker
than most green tea; more like an oolong.

-Bob

-Bob

On Thu, 8 Dec 2011 22:07:08 +0000 (UTC), (Steve Pope)
wrote:

>notbob > wrote:
>
>>I may be a coffee guru, but know spit about tea. What brewing
>>temps? How long the steep?
>
>As close to boiling temp as possible; 6 to 8 minutes for a black
>tea, 2 to 3 minutes for a green tea.

Some tea purveyors advise to bring the water to a full rolling boil, then remove
from the heat for 30 seconds before adding tea or pouring into a heated teapot.

-- Larry

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.

On Dec 8, 4:58*pm, wrote:
> On Thu, 8 Dec 2011 22:07:08 +0000 (UTC), (Steve Pope)
> wrote:
>
> >notbob > wrote:
>
> >>I may be a coffee guru, but know spit about tea. *What brewing
> >>temps? *How long the steep?
>
> >As close to boiling temp as possible; 6 to 8 minutes for a black
> >tea, 2 to 3 minutes for a green tea.
>
> Some tea purveyors advise to bring the water to a full rolling boil, then remove
> from the heat for 30 seconds before adding tea or pouring into a heated teapot.
>
> -- Larry

I'm no doctor just yet, but my method:

1) let the water run at the faucet until it gets super cold (colder
water has more dissolved oxygen)
2) heat the water (preferably in a non-reacting pot) until it is just
under boiling- about 190-195F. To hot will release tannins.
3) White teas steep for about 2 minutes, green teas for 3, oolong and
black teas can go for 5 maximum. Anything else will release more
tannins.

I drink regular green tea (yama-moto-yama brand sen-cha) and straight-
ahead black Lipton tea most often. I have some Jasmine and Earl Grey
on hand but I only break those out once in awhile. I also buy all my
teas in loose-leaf format from an Asian market.

HTH. Coffee gives me heartburn, so I can't drink it anymore. But
I've come to love tea.

-J

On 12/8/2011 4:04 PM, 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


I prefer orange pekoe to black tea. Green tea makes me nausiated. Can't
deal with it. I also like some herbal teas and jasmine tea.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

On 12/8/2011 5:51 PM, Janet Wilder wrote:

> I prefer orange pekoe to black tea. Green tea makes me nausiated. Can't
> deal with it. I also like some herbal teas and jasmine tea.

Back when I DVR'd Dr. Oz, he said we could benefit from drinking green
tea. Come to find out, we should drink 6-8 cups of green tea per day. I
can barely squeeze in one cup of tea per weeks, so nevermind.

Becca

heyjoe wrote:

> Not sure if it's the tannins or something else, but I much prefer green
> tea made with less than boiling water (approx. 190F), as opposed to
> boiling (212F) water. The hotter water makes a green tea that tastes
> bitter to me.
>
> OTOH, water at a full boil is what I prefer for black tea.

I'll second that unless I'm making Thai iced tea, which is supposed to
actually be boiled for half an hour. But that's because it contains
vegetation other than tea, and those other flavors (e.g., vanilla bean)
require that longer hotter cooking to extract their flavor. Chai is much the
same, but the spices vary from brand to brand, so the optimum cooking also
varies.

Bob

On Dec 8, 6:35*pm, heyjoe > wrote:
> On Thu, 8 Dec 2011 15:21:16 -0800 (PST), phaeton wrote:
> > 2) heat the water (preferably in a non-reacting pot) until it is just
> > under boiling- about 190-195F.
>
> Not sure if it's the tannins or something else, but I much prefer green
> tea made with less than boiling water (approx. 190F), as opposed to
> boiling (212F) water. *The hotter water makes a green tea that tastes
> bitter to me.
>
> OTOH, water at a full boil is what I prefer for black tea.
>

Yup, it's the tannins that make it bitter. I don't measure the water
temp anymore, I can tell by the sound that it's at the temp I like.
It very well may be 190 or lower for green. I'll stick my instant
read into it next time.

I actually brew black tea a little hotter when I make iced tea. I
like iced tea to be a little bit bitter, and it's the only time i add
sugar to tea (not a lot). I've pretty much replaced all sodas in my
diet with cold black tea.





Anyone ever notice that "Bob Terwilliger" sounds like a brand of
tea? :P

-J

Feranija wrote:
>
> 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.

Linden? There are Linden aka American basewood trees all over the place
here.

> And what about camellia sinensis ?

It's supposed to be a nice bush to grow in the yard if you want your own.

..

On Fri, 9 Dec 2011 19:28:24 +0000 (UTC), Doug Freyburger
> wrote:

>Feranija wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>
>Linden? There are Linden aka American basewood trees all over the place
>here.
>
>> And what about camellia sinensis ?
>
>It's supposed to be a nice bush to grow in the yard if you want your own.

Thre are hundreds of sources here with different teas... just ladle
some out of the ponds and heat... tea is just an infusion of leaves,
exactly the same as pond water.

>
> Yup, it's the tannins that make it bitter. *I don't measure the water
> temp anymore, I can tell by the sound that it's at the temp I like.
> It very well may be 190 or lower for green. *I'll stick my instant
> read into it next time.

For kicks, I measured the water temp that I brew tea at, and it was
actually MUCH lower than I thought: 155F

Thought I'd share.

-J

On 2011-12-10, phaeton > wrote:

> For kicks, I measured the water temp that I brew tea at, and it was
> actually MUCH lower than I thought: 155F

Here, at 8000 ft elev, water boils at about 187F, so it's not like I
can overheat it. Actually, I can superheat it in my microwave, but I
try to avoid that.

nb


--
eschew obfuscation