TeaChat

Totally new to bulk tea...have always used grocerystore teabags, so I don't know what I'm doing AT ALL!
First question:
When you brew and don't want to brew again immediately...how do you save the used leaves to use again?
I would think they would get moldy if left wet...so do you spread them out to dry?
Take pity on this poor newbie...lol...
Sharon

Welcome to TeaChat, Sharon.

This is a much discussed and debated question. Some people advocate leaving the leaves for up to several hours in the closed brewing vessel. Some say no more than a few minutes. Some go as far as saying not to let the leaves cool off between steeps.

Honestly, I am a heavy drinker, so I rarely have leaves to leave for steeping later.

Thanks...maybe I'll put them in the fridge...
I have let teabags sit till the next day...no problems, so I won't worry about it.
Just enjoying my first cup of organic oolong...tastes pretty good!
Have some pu-erh and white peony on order, so I'd better figure this out fast!
Also make my own kombucha tea, and hope to use the pu-erh for that...which is pretty scary after reading about all the fake
pu-erhs and mold etc.
I have ordered the adagio dante, so should be okay for my first time
However, my immune system is fantastic...I neve get sick!
At present I am brewing in a...hmmmnn...what would you call it?
It's a tall narrow cup with a cover, and has a section that fits down into it that tea leaves go in, then that section lifts out and the steeped tea stays in the cup.
Seems to work pretty well..
Can you tell I'm a basically a 'tea virgin'???
Don't know the lingo...lol...
S

Zenchick, welcome! We teagirls must stick together. And I'm in the same boat as you, have NO idea what I'm doing when it comes to loose tea. But you are way ahead of me. As I am still drinking tea bags. *laughs*

Greetings Zenchick to Teachat!

Adagio's Pu Erh is wonderfully earthy. I don't have as much knowledge about Pu erh as others here on the board, but I find it wonderful. I'd read up a bit on gongfu type brewing if you are getting into oolongs and pu erh. It will definitely save you some cash as you can get multiple brews.

Your cup sounds like one of those korean type cups that rishi tea has. I could be wrong however.

I've let my leaves get cold and used them later in the day and not really noticed much of a difference, but with gong fu brewing you want the leaves to stay as warm as possible. My solution would be to brew a lot of tea at one time and use somethign like a coffee butler to keep it warm (luke warm tea is ewww).

Anyways, I'll let more experienced steepers get at this. Welcome to the board!


The Tea Sipping Swordsman,
Fencerdenoctum

Go for a tea smoothie!

AHA!!!
I checked Rishi tea, and that IS the kind of cup I have...mine is like the clear one, but mine is yellow ceramic with green bands, flowers and (Chinese? Korean?) script on it.
Now I know the word for the thingy that fits down inside...infuser!
See...I'm learning already!
Sharon, sipping green tea with peach
(Bigelow from a teabag...I know, I know, but I have it and have to use it up...besides, to my uneducated palate, it tastes pretty durned good!)

I was just reading in the Pu-erh area that Adagio pu-erh is not so hot...
Darn I wish I'd found this forum before I ordered...and yet, I found you guys through the Adagio site..
Now I don't know what to do, as the tea is on it's way, and I will probably hate it...and my budget won't allow me to buy more for awhile.
At least maybe the White Peony will be okay...

Sad, sad, Sharon.

Guess I'll go wash my teapots for consolation...
I used to collect teapots...didn't use them for teamaking tho...just for fun...
Now I'm eyeing them for usefulness...

Not so hot in pu-erh is really relative...you've got to understand that there are some people out there who actually treat the stuff as a Wall Street investment. The good, naturally aged stuff fetches huge prizes and is supposed to be quite an experience. It's built up waaaay more than any other type of tea.

Adagio's offerings are sort of an every day sip. They're perfectly drinkable, and will give you a nice idea of what 'cooked' pu-erh tastes like...which is a completely different experience than any other tea. There are some better every-dayers out there, of course, but Adagio's hold their own.

I agree with Mary. While adagio's puerh is not particularly sophisticated or nuanced, it is still a solid example. I have had worse, in some cases, a lot worse.

Okay, I'll quit holding my breath and wait till I get it and form my own (newbie) opinion...
I originally was just getting pu-erh to make Kombucha and hopefully lower my cholesterol...
Now I want it to enjoy plain, too.

Sharon,
eyeing her old-but-unused tetsubin teapot w/infuser and wondering if brewing in it would work for just a couple of cups..
...or brewing in something else and keeping the tea hot in the tetsubin???

Golly gee-whiz this tea stuff can get complicated if you let it!!!

You can use the tetsubin and basket. Thats what I did for the first few months, and if you get really into tea, you can move on to a better vessel that leaves more room for leaf expansion.
Adagio's puerh is towards the bottom of the chain IMHO. It gives you an idea of how different puerh can be from other teas, but it isn't very quality. So if you don't like it, there's still a great chance that you'll like a better sample.
Also, adagio's puerh is "cooked," meaning they quick-ferment it with a sort of "composting" technique. There is also a type of puerh that is called "raw" and considered better. But when this raw puerh is young, it is very much like a green tea, only more astringent.
So try the samples, but don't give up on puerh if you don't like them.

Posted this in the pu-erh area, but must apologise to Adagio.
I like the one cup I've had of the Dante Pu-erh very much.
Bet I'll like it even more as I experiment with it.
That'll teach me to assume the worst based on someone else's experience. From now on I'll make my own judgements...
AFTER tasting!
Mea culpa!
Sharon

Pardon my rudeness, Zenchick, welcome to our forum. I hope you spend many hours here TEAfellowshipping.