On Oct 19, 9:26*am, Lewis Perin > wrote:
> "Dominic T." > writes:
> > [...]
> > The basic steps, of approx. 1tsp of leaf to about 6oz. of water is
> > where to start almost always when unfamiliar.
>
> Sorry, but I really don't think it's this simple. *One teaspoon of CTC
> tea, which is extremely dense, is a *lot*. *One teaspoon of a fluffy
> whole leaf tea that hasn't been twisted or rolled, like some
> leaf-and-a-bud white teas, can be barely enough to scent the water
> it's steeped in. *If you want a default starting place, the weight of
> the leaves, not their volume, is what you need.
>
> It's true that, with experience, a scale may not be necessary, but
> only if you've become practiced at eyeballing the approximate weight
> of the leaves you have in front of you no matter how they've been
> manufactured.
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin /

Believe me I understand what you are saying, but I think the 1
teaspoon number is a good starting point still. I understand it varies
by leaf, but the average teabag contains about 2g of tea in it...
which is about a teaspoon for most unscientific reasonings. I see
people use 6g or more sometimes in brewing a cup of tea, I rarely see
someone brewing with too little such as only 1g or less. So the
concept of 1 teaspoon is valid... maybe not actually getting out a
teaspoon and measuring but the idea itself - even if he did actually
use a teaspoon in this case, I think he'd be OK. There has to be a
base to begin experimenting with. Once he tries 1 teaspoon and boiling
or near boil water and progresses through the 15 seconds up to a
minute or so brewings, I'd imagine one cup will stand out as the
"best". If it happens to be that none do or if it is that first 15
second steep cup, then I would say to halve the amount of leaf and go
through the steeps again.

The point I was trying to get at is that each tea requires a free-form
approach. The concept of a baseline of 1 tsp of leaf to 6 oz. water
and varying time upwards, is sound IMO... it's not the end, it is a
baseline to start. Once you dial in the baseline, then you have
somewhere to experiment from.

- Dominic