The highly classy [Tea and Cake] thread

QuantumTurk

Ughhh, I have friends who offer "tea" when they really mean "herbal dust in a bag" and I always get excited and say, "Yes! That would be delightful!" Then they give me overboiled floor sweepings and I smile and drink it like a sucker.

But I'm really trying to be less pretentious about it...I do this with so many things. It's a tisane or herbal stew, not tea. It's not a martini if its not made with gin. There is no such thing as vegetarian gravy. Words have meanings and I just want them to be solid.

It is a personal problem.

Anyway, drinking my way through the oolong sampler I got, out of my neat little gaiwan which makes the multiple brews thing really easy.
Also, since no one else seems to have put it up:

chrishallett83

Tef wrote: »

God I really want to go to Turkey. Someone tell me about how awesome Turkey is

Jebus H Crivens, try staying in one spot for more than a couple of months! When you post about all the places you've been/lived, I get the feeling you've got the wanderlust real bad, man.

Vivixenne

Fire Truck wrote:

Vivixenne wrote:

I was taught that with really good green teas, you're looking at no hotter than 70 degrees C (which is 158 F) and 60 seconds of brewing time... and with some of the REALLY fancy green teas, like Longjing, you don't need much more than 30 seconds.

That said, you should be steeping them multiple times. My grandmother would insist on no more than 2 times while my father was taught (by a tea expert, no less) to do it 3 times, no more, no less. But this is with pretty good quality stuff, so really it's about not overheating the leaves to the point where the tanins (I think they are called?) are drawn out and make the tea bitter, so you use short brewing times and multiple steepings to bring the flavour out instead.

Medium quality green teas are typically brewed between 70 and 80 C (so 158 to 176 F) and for no longer than 120 seconds.

Lower quality green teas will need hotter water and longer brewing times... something like up to 90 C for 2 to 3 minutes.

You never want to brew a green tea (even low quality stuff) for longer than 3 minutes, because then it doesn't matter WHAT quality tea you started out with, it will all basically taste the same.

Like, unless it came in a teabag and was made by I dunno Lipton or someone. Then it probably doesn't matter what temperature or for how long you brew it, it will still be bitter as SHIT.

My god, thank you for telling me this. I feel like an idiot for never taking the multiple short brewings approach before, but it has made a noticeable difference even with this kinda crappy green tea I have.

HOORAY! \o/

chrishallett83

Viv to the rescue, once again.

Tef

chrishallett83 wrote:

Tef wrote: »

God I really want to go to Turkey. Someone tell me about how awesome Turkey is

Jebus H Crivens, try staying in one spot for more than a couple of months! When you post about all the places you've been/lived, I get the feeling you've got the wanderlust real bad, man.

I've calmed down in the last year or so, but yes I know what you mean.

chrishallett83

Shit, there's heaps of places I wanna go. They're like a life-long goal, and you've already been to about twice as many countries! Pay down some of your debts, mate. More money for piss, then!

Tef

Wooo!

Druhim

Brewed some really tasty mint tisane and gunpowder tea separately and then blended them for iced deliciousness.