As something of a newcomer to tea, one of the more puzzling aspects of
making tea is measuring how much tea to use. Many teas come with no
intructions at all. Those that do rarely mention weight.

From my reading of the tea faq, this ng, and various online sources, I
have come to the conclusion that absent other instructions, the
general recommendations are for one level teaspoon per cup, where a
cup is 6 ounces.

Before I go further, is that a good starting point?

Measuring tea leaves by volume is at best imprecise. One teaspoon of a
fairly dense tea, like a gunpowder, will weigh considerably more that
a teaspoon of a large-leaf tea.

I decided to calculate the g/tsp value for each tea and use that,
rather than tsps, to measure the tea. This is best done with a larger
volume. So, when I get a new tea, I measure whatever amount I have by
volume and weight. I then calculate g/ml, g/tsp, and g/cup values.
These calculations are in a little Excel spreadsheet.

When I want to make a pot, I start with the g/tsp value for each 6 oz
cup (180 ml) of water and adjust from there.

I had a 1/4 lb bag of the Sencha I mentioned in my previous post. I
dumped the whole bag into a measuring cup and then weighed it. The
numbers from my Tea spreadsheet a

230 ml Volume
114 g Weight
0.496 Density (g/ml) [=weight/volume]
2.44 Density (g/tsp) [=(weight/volume}*4.928922]

These values are available to calculate how much leaf to use depending
on how much tea I want to make.

The spreadsheet also has several rows where I can enter the amoumt of
leaf I want to use (in g/cup) and the amount of water (in ml). The
spreadsheet will calculate how much tea I will need and a few other
parameters. If I want to use 2.5 g/cup, such as for that Sencha, here
is some data various pot sizes.

Pot
Size Oz Cups g/cup g/pot tsp/cup
180 ml 6 1.0 2.5 2.5 1.0
300 ml 10 1.7 2.5 4.2 1.0
500 ml 17 2.8 2.5 6.9 1.0
1,200 ml 41 6.7 2.5 16.7 1.0

If I decide to try a strong brew, say 4.0 g/cup, I get:

Pot
Size Oz Cups g/cup g/pot tsp/cup
180 ml 6 1.0 4.0 4.0 1.6
300 ml 10 1.7 4.0 6.7 1.6
500 ml 17 2.8 4.0 11.1 1.6
1,200 ml 41 6.7 4.0 26.7 1.6

I realized that this is a lot more "meticulousness" than some here
like to see. Whether or not you belive that this "engineering"
approach to tea making will ruin the experience, can anyone comment on
whether this approach is accurate?

Cheers

i weigh each time i make tea, 2.5-3g per cup, depending on the type
and cup size.
buy a 10$ pocket digitaltea from deal extreme, shipping included

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1165

when you can estimate the weights per each tea with your eye, you can
forgo the weighing.
i like weighing, it is part of my ritual at work. i get paid by the
hour at work, so i am being paid to weigh and drink tea, all is good.
for your method you have to have sheets on each tea.

are you correcting for humidity?
tea drying over time, adjusting the weight of the tea source ?
tilt of the earth axis ?
solar / moon cycle ?
tides ?
light photons impacting on the tea weight at a molecular level ?
additional neutrons due to sunspots ?
we are at a low sunspot period in time, this will lower the neutrons
arriving, decreasing the weight if you weighed the mass at a high
sunspot activity level.
if you are going to be so accurate, there is no limit to the
intricacies of accuracies you can involve.

i hear some ppl just take two pinches and steep.
now tell me, how can a person enjoy such a simple method. they must be
missing out, without invoking these extensive, faulty spreadsheets of
tea there tea enjoyment is so basic, it must be lacking, no ?

i weigh each time i make tea, 2.5-3g per cup, depending on the type
and cup size.
buy a 10$ pocket digitaltea from deal extreme, shipping included

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1165


when you can estimate the weights per each tea with your eye, you can
forgo the weighing.
i like weighing, it is part of my ritual at work. i get paid by the
hour at work, so i am being paid to weigh and drink tea, all is good.
for your method you have to have sheets on each tea.


are you correcting for humidity?
tea drying over time, adjusting the weight of the tea source ?
tilt of the earth axis ?
solar / moon cycle ?
tides ?
light photons impacting on the tea weight at a molecular level ?
additional neutrons due to sunspots ?
we are at a low sunspot period in time, this will lower the neutrons
arriving, decreasing the weight if you weighed the mass at a high
sunspot activity level.

if you are going to be so accurate, there is no limit to the
intricacies of accuracies you can involve.


i hear some ppl just take two pinches and steep.
now tell me, how can a person enjoy such a simple method. they must
be
missing out, without invoking these extensive, faulty spreadsheets of
tea.

their tea enjoyment is so basic, it must be lacking, no ?

On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 04:30:47 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>i weigh each time i make tea, 2.5-3g per cup, depending on the type
>and cup size.

I am using 6 oz as my standard cup size.

>buy a 10$ pocket digitaltea from deal extreme, shipping included
>
>http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1165

I bought the MyWeigh 400-Z for $24.

http://www.saveonscales.com/product_..._z_series.html

I have one of their kitchen scales and it works great. The Tare
function makes weighing in a container a snap.

>when you can estimate the weights per each tea with your eye, you can
>forgo the weighing.

One problem is that I keep changing the size of the pot. Sometimes I
make 1-2 cups, especaily when I am testing. Other times I make a
thermos full. I like my little spreadsheet. I just select the tea,
plug in the pot size and strength (g/cup), and it tells me how much
tea to measure out.

>i like weighing, it is part of my ritual at work. i get paid by the
>hour at work, so i am being paid to weigh and drink tea, all is good.
>for your method you have to have sheets on each tea.

I am having fun with the weighing, too. It appeals to my inner
engineer. Currently, I do have a sheet for every tea. But once I get
the method down, I'll write a little database application to automate
the while thing. But for now, the spreadsheet works great.

>are you correcting for humidity?
>tea drying over time, adjusting the weight of the tea source ?
>tilt of the earth axis ?
>solar / moon cycle ?
>tides ?
>light photons impacting on the tea weight at a molecular level ?
>additional neutrons due to sunspots ?
>we are at a low sunspot period in time, this will lower the neutrons
>arriving, decreasing the weight if you weighed the mass at a high
>sunspot activity level.
>
>if you are going to be so accurate, there is no limit to the
>intricacies of accuracies you can involve.

Most of that is planned for V2.0. Stay tuned for the beta
announcement.

>i hear some ppl just take two pinches and steep.
>now tell me, how can a person enjoy such a simple method. they must
>be
>missing out, without invoking these extensive, faulty spreadsheets of
>tea.
>
>their tea enjoyment is so basic, it must be lacking, no ?

They have no idea what joys they are missing. ;-)

On Sep 14, 6:30*am, wrote:
> i weigh each time i make tea, 2.5-3g per cup, depending on the type
> and cup size.
> buy a 10$ pocket digitaltea from deal extreme, shipping included
>
> http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1165
>
> when you can estimate the weights per each tea with your eye, you can
> forgo the weighing.
> i like weighing, it is part of my ritual at work. i get paid by the
> hour at work, so i am being paid to weigh and drink tea, all is good.
> for your method you have to have sheets on each tea.
>
> are you correcting for humidity?
> tea drying over time, adjusting the weight of the tea source ?
> tilt of the earth axis ?
> solar / moon cycle ?
> tides ?
> light photons impacting on the tea weight at a molecular level ?
> additional neutrons due to sunspots ?
> we are at a low sunspot period in time, this will lower the neutrons
> arriving, decreasing the weight if you weighed the mass at a high
> sunspot activity level.
>
> if you are going to be so accurate, there is no limit to the
> intricacies of accuracies you can involve.
>
> i hear some ppl just take two pinches and steep.
> now tell me, how can a person enjoy such a simple method. they must
> be
> missing out, without invoking these extensive, faulty spreadsheets of
> tea.
>
> their tea enjoyment is so basic, it must be lacking, no ?

SP is an ISTJ personality type. His (her?) world is different from
that of most of the rest of us. Toci

Square Peg > wrote:
>
>From my reading of the tea faq, this ng, and various online sources, I
>have come to the conclusion that absent other instructions, the
>general recommendations are for one level teaspoon per cup, where a
>cup is 6 ounces.
>
>Before I go further, is that a good starting point?

For traditional black tea, this is the case. If you are making a pot,
it's one teaspoon per cup, plus one for the pot.

>Measuring tea leaves by volume is at best imprecise. One teaspoon of a
>fairly dense tea, like a gunpowder, will weigh considerably more that
>a teaspoon of a large-leaf tea.

Yes, this is where the problem comes in. A teaspoon of finings or of
a CTC tea will have a lot more tea in it than a teaspoon of a large-leaf
tea. If you have leaves of "orange pekoe" size, it's about right, but
you will have to adjust to taste for other leaves.

>I decided to calculate the g/tsp value for each tea and use that,
>rather than tsps, to measure the tea. This is best done with a larger
>volume. So, when I get a new tea, I measure whatever amount I have by
>volume and weight. I then calculate g/ml, g/tsp, and g/cup values.
>These calculations are in a little Excel spreadsheet.
>
>When I want to make a pot, I start with the g/tsp value for each 6 oz
>cup (180 ml) of water and adjust from there.

This is a reasonable thing to do, because it allows you to measure by
volume but get the correct mass of tea.

>I had a 1/4 lb bag of the Sencha I mentioned in my previous post. I
>dumped the whole bag into a measuring cup and then weighed it. The
>numbers from my Tea spreadsheet a
>
> 230 ml Volume
> 114 g Weight
> 0.496 Density (g/ml) [=weight/volume]
> 2.44 Density (g/tsp) [=(weight/volume}*4.928922]
>
>These values are available to calculate how much leaf to use depending
>on how much tea I want to make.

See, once you get into a green tea, all bets are off, and it could take
a lot more or a lot less tea to make a proper pot.

>I realized that this is a lot more "meticulousness" than some here
>like to see. Whether or not you belive that this "engineering"
>approach to tea making will ruin the experience, can anyone comment on
>whether this approach is accurate?

It is accurate to some extent. You can take the volume/mass equivalency
of an orange pekoe cut black and use it to generalize to other cut black
teas.

However, you CANNOT use it to generalize to green teas or CTC teas.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 10:01:10 -0700 (PDT), toci >
wrote:

>On Sep 14, 6:30*am, wrote:
>> i weigh each time i make tea, 2.5-3g per cup, depending on the type
>> and cup size.
>> buy a 10$ pocket digitaltea from deal extreme, shipping included
>>
>> http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1165
>>
>> when you can estimate the weights per each tea with your eye, you can
>> forgo the weighing.
>> i like weighing, it is part of my ritual at work. i get paid by the
>> hour at work, so i am being paid to weigh and drink tea, all is good.
>> for your method you have to have sheets on each tea.
>>
>> are you correcting for humidity?
>> tea drying over time, adjusting the weight of the tea source ?
>> tilt of the earth axis ?
>> solar / moon cycle ?
>> tides ?
>> light photons impacting on the tea weight at a molecular level ?
>> additional neutrons due to sunspots ?
>> we are at a low sunspot period in time, this will lower the neutrons
>> arriving, decreasing the weight if you weighed the mass at a high
>> sunspot activity level.
>>
>> if you are going to be so accurate, there is no limit to the
>> intricacies of accuracies you can involve.
>>
>> i hear some ppl just take two pinches and steep.
>> now tell me, how can a person enjoy such a simple method. they must
>> be
>> missing out, without invoking these extensive, faulty spreadsheets of
>> tea.
>>
>> their tea enjoyment is so basic, it must be lacking, no ?
>
>SP is an ISTJ personality type. His (her?) world is different from
>that of most of the rest of us. Toci

I think you need to work on your diagnostic skills. I am actually an
INTJ. You did get 3/4 right, but you said it as if it were a fact.

You also need to work on your interpretation skills. What you said,
that I am "world is different from that of most of the rest of us", is
generally accurate, but misleading. First of all, none of the 16 types
accounts for more than 14% of the general population. See

http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-p...is-my-type.asp

So the world of even the most common type (ISFJ), is different from
that of most of the rest of the population. Your "us" does not exist
and/or is certainly not a majority unless by "us" you mean everyone
who is not my type, but then that's also true fo your type.

In any case, the M-B is a lightweight instrument even by the rather
loose standards of personality tests in general and of little use
outside of social mixers, team-building workshops, and psychology
graduate classrooms.

See, no topic is too trivial to be analyzed to death. ;-)

well, i am glad that my attempt at humour, was taken as so.

i too used to "anal"yze things to death.
now after learning zen buddhism,
i am.
it is, what it is.
i am at peace.

years ago, i was like SP,
getting inner joy from analyzing, akin to cerebral masturbation

now i enjoy tea for what it is.
i am in a happier place

may you all attain my level of enlightenment in your lifetime. =)

On Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:48:45 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

>well, i am glad that my attempt at humour, was taken as so.
>
>i too used to "anal"yze things to death.
>now after learning zen buddhism,
>i am.
>it is, what it is.
>i am at peace.
>
>years ago, i was like SP,
>getting inner joy from analyzing, akin to cerebral masturbation
>
>now i enjoy tea for what it is.
>i am in a happier place
>
>may you all attain my level of enlightenment in your lifetime. =)

(sigh) Enlightened people are so often like ex-smokers.

If you have found peace where you did not previously have it, good for
you. But your comments sound oddly evangelical for a Zen Buddhist.
Perhaps you are actually just as intense and judgmental as before, but
now with buddhist language.

I'm sorry if your analyzing causes you discomfort. Mine sometimes
brings discomfort to others, but it brings a lot of happiness and
satisfaction. Different stokes and all that.

I don't consider what I do as mental masturbation any more than what
you do as spiritual masturbation.

Maybe go rub the buddha's belly a few more times? ;-)

The biggest variable in tea, taste buds. Consistency or accuracy cant
compensate for your biorythms. I've always called the phenomena the
'idiosyncratic personality quotient'. Tea is basically a biofeedback
mechanism. The monks have known this for centuries. Each cup of tea
reminds you The Now is not the mystical Then. This will come to you
sooner or later.

Jim

PS The other day someone gave me some spinach from their garden. I
rolled some into a bundle and started gnawing from the end. It
immediately struck me what tea is missing the most is chewing. I do
drink my leaf off the top and enjoy a spitwad now and then. Since I
know I cant absolutely control tea taste I dont worry about it anymore
perse (my methods have changed over the decades and still do) except
when it comes to wheres the taste homeopathic gongfu :-).

wrote:
> well, i am glad that my attempt at humour, was taken as so.
>
> i too used to "anal"yze things to death.
> now after learning zen buddhism,
> i am.
> it is, what it is.
> i am at peace.
>
> years ago, i was like SP,
> getting inner joy from analyzing, akin to cerebral masturbation
>
> now i enjoy tea for what it is.
> i am in a happier place
>
> may you all attain my level of enlightenment in your lifetime. =)