New to loose leaf tea - few questions
Posted: Jan 25th, '13, 10:42
Hi, everyone! I'm Cathy, from Vermont (USA). I've loved tea for a long time, now, but today is my first day of loose leaf tea! I'm so excited. I'm not sure if I should ask a couple quick questions here or elsewhere on this site, so I'll just put them here:
1. Instructions say one or one and a half teaspoons of tea per cup. I read that for fine tea, it should be level, heaping for regular tea. One tea I just opened has dried raspberries - whole berries - and rose buds. One berry or bud pretty much fills my teaspoon! So I'll just toss a berry & a bud in the infuser, and then measure without berries... but... any tips on measuring flavored teas with lots of big things like fruit? I want to make sure I get some of the tea and not just the big bits.
2. I have been paying attention to steeping times and temps. I used to just use the hot water from the water cooler when I had tea (bags) at work. But I brought in a cooking thermometer, and it looks like that water is not hot enough. I want to do this right. So I can buy some sort of electric kettle or Hot Shot for work (I'm usually only making one cup at a time, so some of those kettles are too big - any suggestions?), or I can fill my mug with hot water from the water cooler, and then pop it in the microwave, then dip the infuser in it (I have the Remi mug from teavana). Except, dipping the infuser in, the tea seems to all float at the top rather than being down in the water... think that's a problem?
And then, I look at some different sites, and they're saying different temps! For Mate, Teavana says 208 for 5-6 Min., Adagio says 150 for 3-5 minutes, and this site - http://remedyteas.com/?page_id=13 - says 185 for 3-5 min. So much for me being totally precise and getting the temp exactly right! Does time & temp REALLY matter that much? And if so, why do different sites list different times & temps?
3. What's your favorite source for loose-leaf tea online? I ordered from Teavana, then later read here that they can be expensive, and not necessarily the best. They also don't have sample sizes - just 2 ounces. I also ordered two tins of tea forte from Amazon.
EDITED to add: I forgot when I posted #3 that this forum is sponsored by Adagio! I do think my next purchase will be from there.
1. Instructions say one or one and a half teaspoons of tea per cup. I read that for fine tea, it should be level, heaping for regular tea. One tea I just opened has dried raspberries - whole berries - and rose buds. One berry or bud pretty much fills my teaspoon! So I'll just toss a berry & a bud in the infuser, and then measure without berries... but... any tips on measuring flavored teas with lots of big things like fruit? I want to make sure I get some of the tea and not just the big bits.
2. I have been paying attention to steeping times and temps. I used to just use the hot water from the water cooler when I had tea (bags) at work. But I brought in a cooking thermometer, and it looks like that water is not hot enough. I want to do this right. So I can buy some sort of electric kettle or Hot Shot for work (I'm usually only making one cup at a time, so some of those kettles are too big - any suggestions?), or I can fill my mug with hot water from the water cooler, and then pop it in the microwave, then dip the infuser in it (I have the Remi mug from teavana). Except, dipping the infuser in, the tea seems to all float at the top rather than being down in the water... think that's a problem?
And then, I look at some different sites, and they're saying different temps! For Mate, Teavana says 208 for 5-6 Min., Adagio says 150 for 3-5 minutes, and this site - http://remedyteas.com/?page_id=13 - says 185 for 3-5 min. So much for me being totally precise and getting the temp exactly right! Does time & temp REALLY matter that much? And if so, why do different sites list different times & temps?
3. What's your favorite source for loose-leaf tea online? I ordered from Teavana, then later read here that they can be expensive, and not necessarily the best. They also don't have sample sizes - just 2 ounces. I also ordered two tins of tea forte from Amazon.
EDITED to add: I forgot when I posted #3 that this forum is sponsored by Adagio! I do think my next purchase will be from there.