Hello All,

I recently came across, and bought, the tea thermos from this
page: http://www.ymimports.com/Items/FG-TT110-A? I bought it largely based
on remembering that an old office-mate of mine had a similar thermos that
she used throughout the day. I liked the idea.

My question is: how much (green) tea would you advise to put in something
like this for a day's brewings. I normally brew tea
in a teapot or, more recently, a gaiwan for green tea. In those cases I've
always brewed the tea to the "correct" strength and strained away the
leaves. I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of keeping the leaves in
the tea in this way.

It seems obvious that the tea will get stronger as you drink it, so unless
you drink the whole lot very quickly I imagine you have to start with it
slightly "under-brewed" and drink it while it goes through "normal" to "a
bit too strong". I'm just wondering what the optimum amount to put in
would be.

Of course I'll experiment, but any advice to save me the heartbreak
of too much wasted tea would be appreciated!

Joss


--
Joss Wright
Comp. Science Department http://www.pseudonymity.net/~joss
York University http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~joss

Joss Wright wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I recently came across, and bought, the tea thermos from this
> page: http://www.ymimports.com/Items/FG-TT110-A? I bought it largely based
> on remembering that an old office-mate of mine had a similar thermos that
> she used throughout the day. I liked the idea.
>
> My question is: how much (green) tea would you advise to put in something
> like this for a day's brewings. I normally brew tea
> in a teapot or, more recently, a gaiwan for green tea. In those cases I've
> always brewed the tea to the "correct" strength and strained away the
> leaves. I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of keeping the leaves in
> the tea in this way.
>
> It seems obvious that the tea will get stronger as you drink it, so unless
> you drink the whole lot very quickly I imagine you have to start with it
> slightly "under-brewed" and drink it while it goes through "normal" to "a
> bit too strong". I'm just wondering what the optimum amount to put in
> would be.
>
> Of course I'll experiment, but any advice to save me the heartbreak
> of too much wasted tea would be appreciated!
>
> Joss
>
>
> --
> Joss Wright
> Comp. Science Department http://www.pseudonymity.net/~joss
> York University http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~joss

Chinese in general put a generous amount of tea in these things. I'd
imagine something like.... 5-10g? What they do is they put it in, pour
water in, and then drink.... and as the water level gets a little lower
(and the strength a bit too much) they add hot water, diluting the tea,
and repeat. Usually by the second half of the day the tea starts
getting a little thin and tasteless. If you wish, you can add more
leaves to strengthen it again, or just drink tea-water.

MarshalN
http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN

>Chinese in general put a generous amount of tea in these things. I'd
>imagine something like.... 5-10g? What they do is they put it in, pour
>water in, and then drink.... and as the water level gets a little lower
>(and the strength a bit too much) they add hot water, diluting the tea,
>and repeat. Usually by the second half of the day the tea starts
>getting a little thin and tasteless. If you wish, you can add more
>leaves to strengthen it again, or just drink tea-water.
>
>MarshalN
>http://www.xanga.com/MarshalN


I have been using one of these to take tea to work for several years
now. I agree with MarshalN about the 5-10g range. I use 5ish for young
green puerhs and 10ish for black puerhs. While I seldom drink aged
greens this way, while at a tea tasting marathon with a group of
friends, we discovered that large quantities of seemingly spent aged
puerh leaves yielded quite a tasty brew when allowed to steep
overnight in a large thermos.

One trick I use that helps level out the taste curve throughout the
day is too use slightly colder than normal water for the first brew
and then increase the water temp with each successive brew. I know
this is not how they do it in China, they use boiling water for almost
everything, but it works well for my American pallet. This works
particularly good for puerh, since good puerhs tend to allow for more
steeps than most greens.
--
Mike Petro
http://www.pu-erh.net

Thank you for the two suggestions.

I've always been feeling my way with tea, as I'm pretty much the only
person I know that looks beyond PG Tips teabags. 5g of green tea seems
like a huge amount of tea to put in this thing, but I'll take your word
for it and give it a try!

I assume that you have to drink it quite quickly once you add the water?
For this amount of water, I'd generally be looking to add maybe a generous
pinch of tea and letting it brew for a few minutes.

Still, it's something to try out. Thanks for the help.

Joss

--
Joss Wright
Comp. Science Department http://www.pseudonymity.net/~joss
York University http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/~joss

Hiya, Joss.
I work in a teashop part time in Snohomish WA. where we carry these
same tea bottles. I have found from experience that they seem to work
best with a very generous portion of leaf if you are using cold/room
temperature water. If you use boiling/hot water the leaf will tend to
overinfuse pretty quickly, but with priming the leaves for
twenty-thirty minutes the cold/room temperature water will provide a
delicious brew that can be reinfused several times. I personally like
a Bao Zhong (aka Pouchong) type oolong (I know this is kind of
in-between green and oolong, but you have to give it some kind of
label) which I use three teaspoons of leaf at a minimum. I have also
enjoyed larger leaf Darjeelings and Tai Ping Hou Kui greens. Again, I
strongly recommend using cold/room temperature water and letting the
first infusion go for at least twenty minutes before drinking, after
that your leaves are ready to go with fresh water for at least three
more infusions. Also be sure to clean the seals and the bottle well
each day to avoid mildew deposits. Hope this helps you out, happy
quaffing!
Bill