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Any Tea Drinkers Here

Discussion in 'Food and Drink' started by James, Jul 9, 2014.

  1. This is very similar to her current contraption. So that's good. I need to lookup some of the tea styles above. She likes the french earl grey from T2 any suggestions?
     
  2. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    Is it agreed upon that loose leaf tea is better than tea bags?

    Or are they the same and just a personal preference?
     
  3. XooMG

    XooMG Founding Member

    In my opinion, tea from tea bags is a little different in brew characteristics from loose-leaf, and that tends to change the flavor curves a bit, but if the bagged stuff is not rubbish and you know your times/temps, you can get excellent quality from them. No need to disdain the good stuff.

    Loose-leaf gives you more feedback if you're trying to learn brewing techniques, and there's more "control" over the results. Because the leaves are visible and generally not crushed to powder, you're less likely to get junk and can more easily judge a tea by visual inspection.
     
  4. Jay

    Jay No soup for you Founding Member


    I don't think the two are in any way comparable.
     
  5. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    Interesting. I've been a tea drinker for quite some time, but via bags. I bought Pu-erh from world market a long time ago and I did enjoy that, but for the convenience I went back to tea bags.

    So I guess if the two are in no way comparable then one can't be better than the other.

    I like that over the cup brewer - that seems much more easier than an infuser.
     
  6. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    Jason
    The over mug device seems to have it's benefits. I won't deny a certain fascination with watching the tea steep in a transparent vessel, but as to being easier? I don't know about that. It depends on the infuser. I don't see how it can be much easier than dropping the infuser pictured in the cup, putting a measure of tea leaves in it and pouring your water over it. the lid goes on until steeping is finished and then becomes a cup to set it in after you lift it out. They have cup size and pot size. Not purely traditional, but it's how I roll.

    infuser.jpg
     
  7. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    that's nice too!
    I feel an AD kicking in....
     
  8. James

    James smarter then your average duck Founding Member Gold Contributor

    black tea may be her thing I dont really do them
    I wouldnt say that... there are aome quality bagged teas but a lot of them still wouldnt be as nice as a lot of my loose stuff... for me that is... tea is like a lot of things... if you enjoy it, Then its done right, not really about which one is better... as much as which is better for you
     
  9. James

    James smarter then your average duck Founding Member Gold Contributor

    the one single minor advantage the over cup has over these... is you need a plate or something to rest the infuser on when it comes out of the cup.. the over types just get set aside... usually not a big deal but at my desk at work it would makw enough of a difference i would use one and not the other... in my kitchen at home however i wouldnt give it a thought
     
  10. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    the lid becomes the receptacle for the infuser after it is removed from the cup. It's smaller, cheaper easier to clean. what I'd consider the advantage of the Teaze, Ingenuitea, Tvana is that you can see the tea artistically rendered while steeping. To me, not worth the extra cost. As to the in cup infusers, I like the idea of the stainless steel ones, but in practice their conducting of heat makes them hard to handle. the glass and ceramic ones might be an option, but if the lid can not sit flat after steeping to serve as a drip catcher, I'd look for another.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 11, 2014
  11. I was walking through Chinatown last night and passed through a tea shop. Got myself some Tie Gaun Yin and rou gu. Just steep and drink?

    Thanks for the pointers
     
  12. James

    James smarter then your average duck Founding Member Gold Contributor

    for the TGY, about a teaspoon of tea or so, for the ruo gui I tend to use more about a third of whatever im using to brew or so. Ruo gui should be fine at a boil, the TGY I would pull just before the water full boils, but if you just want to boil water and chuck some in lol it should work fine for you while you figure out how you like it
     
  13. Thanks James will give it a shot soon.
     
  14. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    Of the Oolong s I prefer the more heavily oxidized . Of course, I prefer the blacks so that makes sense. I think the Ruo gui can benefit from a few steepings. You are lucky if your tea shop really knows their stuff. I've been to a few in my travels and that is not my experience. At Tevana, I felt like I was at a high pressure car dealership.
     
  15. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    I went there once. Felt the same way. They had about 7 samples of different teas and each one was fantastic. I ended up buying some and the tin it goes in because at the time it was the best I've tasted. After it was used up I never went back. No reason really, just quite a ways from my home.

    The ladies were knowledgeable and friendly but gave the impression that it was their job rather than their passion.
     
  16. Jay

    Jay No soup for you Founding Member

    One of the biggest problems with tea is that there is no real form of standardization in terms of quality- one man's premium is another's supreme, or whatever lofty adjective they wish to use. For example, saying you had some TGY essentially tells you nothing other than the basic type of tea you tried. I've tried TGY's for less than $10/lb and over $200/lb. The difference is so vast, you may as well be talking about tea vs. coffee.
     
  17. XooMG

    XooMG Founding Member

    And that vast difference is not a linear difference in taste necessarily. My favorite teas have generally been blacks and baihao wulongs (not the most fashionable in Taiwan, but I don't care), and the price differences from various sources (sometimes local) does not always imply much. I've mixed up leaves in informal tastings to see what a small group liked most, and it's often a wash, unless one particular one was especially bad (and it's not always a cheap one).
     
  18. When I was teenager we used to live in the tents on the bank of river for a whole summer. Not sure if there's a proper English name for those devices that we used to make tea, but we called them savomars. One of those still lives in my parent summer house.
    Being on vacations I asked my father to ditch electric kettle and use samovar like we did it back then.

    [​IMG]

    Back then we used to collect cones because they fit perfectly for brewing tea in samovar. They provide enough heat and it's a lot of fun throwing them from a short distance into samovar's tube. But there were no cones available this time, so we just used firewood.

    [​IMG]

    About 20 minutes later water is boiled. Some people would put tea leaves right into samovar, but we prefer to use separate kettle.

    [​IMG]

    Not really a tea, more of a cocktail of plant leaves, berries, apples and some casual green tea. And check out this crazy house-kettle. I have no idea where it came from, but my father insists that they have found this kettle in the apartment where I used to live about 10 years ago.

    [​IMG]

    Samovar needs some cleaning and polishing, but for it's age (>>100 years) it holds up pretty well.

    [​IMG]

    And results are delicious.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. MotoMike

    MotoMike Founding Member

    I have an Eydon Storm Kettle that is functionally like your Samovar. I use it camping, or canoe outings etc to make hot water. Primarily for tea or pour over coffee, but some dehydrated camp food is brought back to life with it as well. With the Storm kettle the attraction is that you can fire if with any twigs you find laying about. there seems to always be fuel for it where ever I find myself. I think a full jug is brought to boil in under 10 minutes. I even use it in the backyard because the grand kids like to "cook" their ramen noodles with it.
    Eydon Storm kettle.jpg
     
  20. Toothpick

    Toothpick #2 since day #1 Founding Member

    I've never seen anything like this before. Fascinating stuff.
     

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