Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?

I would have to say Bi Luo Chun green tea. I tasted the same tea in
the store brew with the seller and it tasted really good, with mild
nutty flavor and lingering sweet undertones. Back at home i tried
brewing it various methods here and there I couldn't get the best out
of it. Sometimes it taste really stale, i tried with more leaves,
shorter brewing time, hotter water, etc but I still couldn't get like
how it should taste at the store. This is one particular incident with
BLC green tea. Other version of BLCs i had bought did not have this
issue.

I heard that preparing gong fu cha is really a skill!
Other kind of tough to brew tea is wu yi rock tea especially some Da
Hong Pao.

Jazzy > writes:

> Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?
>
> I would have to say Bi Luo Chun green tea. I tasted the same tea in
> the store brew with the seller and it tasted really good, with mild
> nutty flavor and lingering sweet undertones. Back at home i tried
> brewing it various methods here and there I couldn't get the best
> out of it.

Are you *sure* it's the same tea the shop brewed for you?

> Sometimes it taste really stale, i tried with more leaves, shorter
> brewing time, hotter water, etc but I still couldn't get like how it
> should taste at the store.

Have you tried it with cooler water? With BLC, I often find 140F, or
even cooler, is best.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html
recently updated: Huang Shan

On Aug 23, 11:29 pm, Lewis Perin > wrote:
> Jazzy > writes:
> > Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?
>
> > I would have to say Bi Luo Chun green tea. I tasted the same tea in
> > the store brew with the seller and it tasted really good, with mild
> > nutty flavor and lingering sweet undertones. Back at home i tried
> > brewing it various methods here and there I couldn't get the best
> > out of it.
>
> Are you *sure* it's the same tea the shop brewed for you?
>
> > Sometimes it taste really stale, i tried with more leaves, shorter
> > brewing time, hotter water, etc but I still couldn't get like how it
> > should taste at the store.
>
> Have you tried it with cooler water? With BLC, I often find 140F, or
> even cooler, is best.
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /
> recently updated: Huang Shan

Hey Lew,

Yes it was indeed the same tea from the shop. it's really tough
sometimes i could get a great cup out of it. sometimes it just doesn't
i remembered this tea very well because it was the toughest tea i ever
brewed!

> > Jazzy > writes:
> > > Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?
>
> > > I would have to say Bi Luo Chun green tea. I tasted the same tea in
> > > the store brew with the seller and it tasted really good, with mild
> > > nutty flavor and lingering sweet undertones. Back at home i tried
> > > brewing it various methods here and there I couldn't get the best
> > > out of it.
>

Jazzy!

It is the same experience here! That bloody BLC!

I had one from a Dongting West Mountain tea garden. I can't get it to
brew properly.

I paid seriously top top bucks for it.

It has all the signs of an authentic tea.strong fruity aroma that you
will never find anywhere else, very tiny leaves that is so distinctive
of BLC and durability.

But can't brew it right.

I will try again. At different concentration and temperature. Will let
you know.

Julian
http://www.amazing-green-tea.com

with the BLC i only got to an awesome flavor 1 time,
needed some tea on the go, so i put some leaf in a .5L bottle room
temp water
when i came back (hour/hours?) the fruity/apricot flavor surprised me,
it was so tasty!
but i havent been able to replicate the exact experience.

looks like BLC is really a tough tea to brew!

> Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?

>> I would have to say Bi Luo Chun green tea. I tasted the same tea in the
>> store brew with the seller and it tasted really good, with mild nutty
>> flavor and lingering sweet undertones. Back at home i tried brewing it
>> various methods here and there I couldn't get the best out of it.

> Are you *sure* it's the same tea the shop brewed for you?

[Michael]
Lew, it could be the water. Bi Lo Chun is delicate enough to be quite water sensitive in my experience and might account for the difference. It *is* a tricky tea, again in my opinion.

>> Sometimes it taste really stale, i tried with more leaves, shorter
>> brewing time, hotter water, etc but I still couldn't get like how it
>> should taste at the store.

> Have you tried it with cooler water? With BLC, I often find 140F, or even
> cooler, is best.

[Michael]
Truer words, never spoken. Also, BLC is delicate to the point of losing so much of its loveliness so very quickly, I think. Perhaps it did get stale.

Michael Plant > writes:

> > Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?
>
> >> I would have to say Bi Luo Chun green tea. I tasted the same tea in the
> >> store brew with the seller and it tasted really good, with mild nutty
> >> flavor and lingering sweet undertones. Back at home i tried brewing it
> >> various methods here and there I couldn't get the best out of it.
>
> > Are you *sure* it's the same tea the shop brewed for you?
>
> [Michael]
> Lew, it could be the water. Bi Lo Chun is delicate enough to be
> quite water sensitive in my experience and might account for the
> difference. It *is* a tricky tea, again in my opinion.

Ah, the water. I find myself daunted by thinking about The influence
of different waters on brewing various teas. There are too many
variables already in trying to get a good cup out of the leaves! And
with my very limited experience comparing waters, I'm not at all sure
that this is an issue only for delicate teas.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

On Aug 26, 4:41 pm, Lewis Perin > wrote:
> And with my very limited experience comparing waters, I'm not at all sure
> that this is an issue only for delicate teas.
>
> /Lew

Actually that´s the main historic reason for Eastfriesian blends to
contain such high amounts of Assam, usually > 90%. No other tea that
made it over here back in the old days benefitted so much from the
extremely soft, slightly acidic water they have here. From my
experience an average Assam can handle quite a broad span of water
hardness resulting in some interesting changes of flavour and colour
of the brew. However, most Frieseans seem to like their tea water
soft, so some folks took to collecting rain water while other folks I
know over here don´t travel without some canisters of local water in
their cars.
On the other hand I have to use bottled water [Volvic] or add some
minerals for my Darjeelings, using water straight from the tap results
in a flat and downright boring brew.

BTW: having been born and raised in a city with miserably hard water
that is totally unsuitable for any sort of tea [but somehow great for
coffee] this leaves me speculating on what effects a worldwide
improvement in the quality of tap water would have on the popularity
of tea.

Karsten [some Highgrown Sri Lanka leaves in tazza]

writes:

> On Aug 26, 4:41 pm, Lewis Perin > wrote:
> > And with my very limited experience comparing waters, I'm not at all sure
> > that this is an issue only for delicate teas.
>
> Actually that´s the main historic reason for Eastfriesian blends to
> contain such high amounts of Assam, usually > 90%. No other tea that
> made it over here back in the old days benefitted so much from the
> extremely soft, slightly acidic water they have here. From my
> experience an average Assam can handle quite a broad span of water
> hardness resulting in some interesting changes of flavour and colour
> of the brew. However, most Frieseans seem to like their tea water
> soft, so some folks took to collecting rain water while other folks I
> know over here don´t travel without some canisters of local water in
> their cars.

But rainwater would have essentially no minerals at all. So there is
a tea, after all, suited to demineralized or distilled water? Amazing.

> On the other hand I have to use bottled water [Volvic] or add some
> minerals for my Darjeelings, using water straight from the tap results
> in a flat and downright boring brew.

Could you please expand on this fascinating hint? I've often thought
it should be cheap and environmentally responsible to try to emulate
good mineral waters by adding the right salts to tap water.

> BTW: having been born and raised in a city with miserably hard water
> that is totally unsuitable for any sort of tea [but somehow great for
> coffee] this leaves me speculating on what effects a worldwide
> improvement in the quality of tap water would have on the popularity
> of tea.

Maybe it isn't that simple. What would be an improvement in water for
one tea might harm another tea.

> Karsten [some Highgrown Sri Lanka leaves in tazza]

It's a Biluochun morning here.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html

On Aug 23, 4:54 pm, Jazzy > wrote:
> Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?

Maxing out Darjeelings ist the greatest challenge life has ever thrown
at me though perceptional factors might play a bigger role than I´m
willing to admit.

Karsten

On Aug 23, 10:54 pm, Jazzy > wrote:
> Any one had any toughest experience in brewing tea?
>
> I would have to say Bi Luo Chun green tea. I tasted the same tea in
> the store brew with the seller and it tasted really good, with mild
> nutty flavor and lingering sweet undertones. Back at home i tried
> brewing it various methods here and there I couldn't get the best out
> of it. Sometimes it taste really stale, i tried with more leaves,
> shorter brewing time, hotter water, etc but I still couldn't get like
> how it should taste at the store. This is one particular incident with
> BLC green tea. Other version of BLCs i had bought did not have this
> issue.
>
> I heard that preparing gong fu cha is really a skill!
> Other kind of tough to brew tea is wu yi rock tea especially some Da
> Hong Pao.

I'm with Lew on this one. If you use water that's too hot, it will
sear the leaves and any flavor out of the tea resulting in some oddly
flavored water. Also be careful about what kind of water you use.
Try to use some kind of mineral water.