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Tea (rec.drink.tea) Discussion relating to tea, the world's second most consumed beverage (after water), made by infusing or boiling the leaves of the tea plant (C. sinensis or close relatives) in water. |
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I ordered the following teas to try from TeaSpring. Would you care to
tell me how you brew them? I would like to try your brewing parameters. Shui Xian 200 grams Bi Luo Chun 200 grams Long Jing 200 grams Thanks PS: Please don't worry that I'll slavishly use only those parameters. If you will disclose your secrets, I promise to try a whole bunch of other parameters and just see what happens. :-) |
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On Nov 16, 1:42*am, Prof Wonmug > wrote:
> I ordered the following teas to try from TeaSpring. Would you care to > tell me how you brew them? I would like to try your brewing > parameters. > > * * * * Shui Xian 200 grams > * * * * Bi Luo Chun 200 grams > * * * * Long Jing 200 grams > > Thanks > > PS: Please don't worry that I'll slavishly use only those parameters. > If you will disclose your secrets, I promise to try a whole bunch of > other parameters and just see what happens. :-) I think you will be pleased, even with your apprehension. Those are three teas I keep stocked all the time from there. Because I drink them so often, I play pretty loose with their brewing because by now I know what works for me. Basically it follows with the guide I had posted a while back. For the Shui Xian, I take my electric kettle to boiling and then let it cool back a touch (maybe a minute or so) to where there are no bubbles. Then I tend to use Bodum yo-yo mugs, so I put about 2g of leaf (but this tea makes a nice cup all the way down to only 1g which is nice to stretch it a bit) in the infuser and pour in about 6-8 oz. of water for about 30-45 seconds. I usually get about 1-2 more cups from this same leaf depending if I went with only 1 or 2g of leaf. You can brew longer for 1-2 min. easily, but this is how I prefer it most times. For the BLC and LJ, I stop my kettle before it even begins to come close to boiling ("shrimp eye" stage would probably be fine) often I will use the water straight from our water cooler/heater which is around 120F normally. I normally use my gaiwan with these and about 4oz. of water to 1g or so of tea, again sometimes 2g depending on my mood. I sip them straight from the gaiwan so brewing time is hard to say, I start drinking as soon as the water is cool enough to drink. Sometimes I will pour off into a cup so it doesn't overbrew, but by using less leaf it is less of an issue. I'll usually drink 2, sometimes 3 infusions total like this before the leaf is spent. I like going lighter on the leaf often, but I have found that point over time where it is just enough leaf to be strong enough but not overly strong or weak to the point that some of the character is lost. I just recently finished a tasting of a lot of Indian teas and 4g of leaf was pretty much the standard, it just seemed like a waste to me for 8oz. of water. After the tasting I went back and re-tasted with 2g and nothing really changed. It could be that I grew up valuing a dollar and making things stretch that shape some of my habits, but I often find that the reduction in leaf alters very little and returns twice as many cups. I truly hope you enjoy the tea and the flavors since you had some bad experiences in the recent past, and feel free to change parameters to your hearts delight. I'd like to see a pivot table and a Venn diagram when you are done ![]() ![]() - Dominic |
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On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:24:14 -0800 (PST), "Dominic T."
> wrote: >On Nov 16, 1:42*am, Prof Wonmug > wrote: >> I ordered the following teas to try from TeaSpring. Would you care to >> tell me how you brew them? I would like to try your brewing >> parameters. >> >> * * * * Shui Xian 200 grams >> * * * * Bi Luo Chun 200 grams >> * * * * Long Jing 200 grams >> >> Thanks >> >> PS: Please don't worry that I'll slavishly use only those parameters. >> If you will disclose your secrets, I promise to try a whole bunch of >> other parameters and just see what happens. :-) > >I think you will be pleased, even with your apprehension. Those are >three teas I keep stocked all the time from there. Because I drink >them so often, I play pretty loose with their brewing because by now I >know what works for me. Basically it follows with the guide I had >posted a while back. > >For the Shui Xian, I take my electric kettle to boiling and then let >it cool back a touch (maybe a minute or so) to where there are no >bubbles. Then I tend to use Bodum yo-yo mugs, so I put about 2g of >leaf (but this tea makes a nice cup all the way down to only 1g which >is nice to stretch it a bit) in the infuser and pour in about 6-8 oz. >of water for about 30-45 seconds. I usually get about 1-2 more cups >from this same leaf depending if I went with only 1 or 2g of leaf. You >can brew longer for 1-2 min. easily, but this is how I prefer it most >times. > >For the BLC and LJ, I stop my kettle before it even begins to come >close to boiling ("shrimp eye" stage would probably be fine) often I >will use the water straight from our water cooler/heater which is >around 120F normally. I normally use my gaiwan with these and about >4oz. of water to 1g or so of tea, again sometimes 2g depending on my >mood. I sip them straight from the gaiwan so brewing time is hard to >say, I start drinking as soon as the water is cool enough to drink. >Sometimes I will pour off into a cup so it doesn't overbrew, but by >using less leaf it is less of an issue. I'll usually drink 2, >sometimes 3 infusions total like this before the leaf is spent. > >I like going lighter on the leaf often, but I have found that point >over time where it is just enough leaf to be strong enough but not >overly strong or weak to the point that some of the character is lost. >I just recently finished a tasting of a lot of Indian teas and 4g of >leaf was pretty much the standard, it just seemed like a waste to me >for 8oz. of water. After the tasting I went back and re-tasted with 2g >and nothing really changed. It could be that I grew up valuing a >dollar and making things stretch that shape some of my habits, but I >often find that the reduction in leaf alters very little and returns >twice as many cups. > >I truly hope you enjoy the tea and the flavors since you had some bad >experiences in the recent past, and feel free to change parameters to >your hearts delight. I'd like to see a pivot table and a Venn diagram >when you are done ![]() ![]() > >- Dominic The tea arrived a few days ago and I have started testing. I also ordered several teas from Upton that I thought might be similar so I could do some side-by-side testing. The Upton teas a ZO15: "Wu Yi" Water Fairy Oolong https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=ZO15 ZG45: Pi Lo Chun Superior Organic https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=ZG45 TT11: Oolong Standard Grade https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=TT11 TT29: Oolong Choicest Select https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=TT29 TT41: Tie-Guan-Yin Vintage Style https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart...sp?itemID=TT41 |
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On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:24:14 -0800 (PST), "Dominic T."
> wrote: How do you store your tea? Do you leave them in the foil bags they are shipped in or do you transfer them to some other container? |
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Prof Wonmug > writes:
> On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:24:14 -0800 (PST), "Dominic T." > > wrote: > > >On Nov 16, 1:42Â*am, Prof Wonmug > wrote: > >> I ordered the following teas to try from TeaSpring. Would you care to > >> tell me how you brew them? I would like to try your brewing > >> parameters. > >> > >> Â* Â* Â* Â* Shui Xian 200 grams > >> Â* Â* Â* Â* Bi Luo Chun 200 grams > >> Â* Â* Â* Â* Long Jing 200 grams > [...] > The tea arrived a few days ago and I have started testing. I also > ordered several teas from Upton that I thought might be similar so I > could do some side-by-side testing. > > The Upton teas a > > ZO15: "Wu Yi" Water Fairy Oolong Maybe you already know this, but "Water Fairy" is one way of translating "Shui Xian". /Lew --- Lew Perin / http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html |
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On Dec 2, 10:04*pm, Prof Wonmug > wrote:
> On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:24:14 -0800 (PST), "Dominic T." > > > wrote: > > How do you store your tea? Do you leave them in the foil bags they are > shipped in or do you transfer them to some other container? It depends, for individual orders that aren't constant staples in my cupboard I just use the foil bags they ship in and a good strong wide closing clip. I used to use tin or metal tea canisters, but I've since given that up in favor of inexpensive smaller 8oz. jelly/caning jars with seals and rings. These are clear but since I keep my tea in a cupboard they are safe. It's cheap and effective. If a tea is too voluminous I use two or more jars and only open the second after the first is used up, which keeps the entire lot of tea from being exposed to light/air over and over. I used to use ~4oz. jars like this but found it too troublesome for the benefit (if any). Hope you enjoy the teas, and I'd love to read your findings. Lew is correct too in that Shui Xian can be called "Water Sprite" "Water Fairy" "Narcissus" "Water Immortal" or any number of other similar names. Basically it should be roasty, brown not green, and have anything from a mild Chinese restaurant tea flavor up to chocolatey/ raisiny/tobacco-ish notes. I love when it has wonderful bamboo/ charcoal characteristics from a very aggressive roasting or re- roasting. - Dominic |
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Prof Wonmug wrote:
> How do you store your tea? Do you leave them in the foil bags they > are shipped in or do you transfer them to some other container? When I buy loose leave in the local teashop, it comes in paper bags and I move it over to a tea tin when I get home. Any container that keeps the fragrance in, moisture out (fairly gas-tight) and does not add its own smell/taste will do. I know people that use (cleaned) marmalade jars. Tea keeps well at room temperature out of direct sunlight. Peter. |
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