Saturday, 2/16/08 is a marathon TeaDay

BYOT! Enter TeaChat here, you never know what you may find!


Take a count!!! How many Teas do you currently own?

1-5
0
No votes
6-10
10
23%
11-15
5
11%
16-20
3
7%
21-25
5
11%
26-30
3
7%
31-35
2
5%
36-40
2
5%
41-50
3
7%
51-70
6
14%
71-100
4
9%
More than 100
1
2%
 
Total votes: 44

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Feb 17th, '08, 03:20
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by Chip » Feb 17th, '08, 03:20

Well...reporting back on the 3rd tea of the day for me. Victoria sent me this sample from Chado's Tea room in LA I think.

Devan Shah's Signature Magical Green Tea

At first glance of the name, sounds a little gimmicky, right...wrong. If you read the description, it is that and more. Truly amazing, the most complez Chinese Green I ever tried without question. I will talk more about this next time I have it. But it is late. This is a crazy good tea, thanx Victoria!!!

If you try it, be warned, it is not a casual drinker and requires alot of attention and focus in order to fully capture the Magic.

One last thing, I lost count how many steeps I had...5, 6, 7. I just smelled the leaves and they still have flavor to be released.

Oh...number of teas, I am proud to say it is around 30. This is a very low number for me. I used to have over 100, but have tried to keep it lower and lower.

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Feb 17th, '08, 09:39
Posts: 485
Joined: Feb 2nd, '08, 19:32

Re: Newbie questions about steeping >1 time

by TimeforTea » Feb 17th, '08, 09:39

Salsero wrote:
{snip}
Hope this helps a little, but like I say, the real answer to your question is to keep asking about specific teas and you will find lots of specific suggestions from our fellow TeaChatters.
Darn, I changed my newbie nickname too quickly!

I am very new to loose teas. Obviously, I never resteeped my supermarket tea bags because it would taste too bitter. (I was one of those who grew up thinking one drinks tea only when one is sick.)

Common sense aside, I was more curious as to the different flavors one gets from resteeping...

Interesting that you noted it is a myth that you can rid tea of its caffeine by discarding the first steep. "Dr. Tea" repeats this myth in his book, "The Ultimate Diet."

Why is it, exactly, that the taste in oolongs and greens change from 1st-2nd-3rd steep?

"As you do subsequent steeps, you will want to modestly increase the time and temperature (unless you started out with boiling as in black tea). You might want to increase time by say 30% to 60% depending on how it tastes to you. For oolong, puerh, or green tea, the second or third steep is often the best. But the number of steeps will depend also on how much tea you use and how good the quality is." -Thanks, this is good to know.

Currently I drink primarily greens, and some herbals or roobios.

Thanks for your reply!

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Feb 17th, '08, 13:59
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by Chip » Feb 17th, '08, 13:59

Time4tea, Think of it as layers of flavors, as one layer is steeped off others come to the front. The layers are not always black and white, but consist of a lot of gray in between.
blah blah blah SENCHA blah blah blah!!!

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Feb 17th, '08, 14:25
Posts: 485
Joined: Feb 2nd, '08, 19:32

by TimeforTea » Feb 17th, '08, 14:25

Chip wrote:Time4tea, Think of it as layers of flavors, as one layer is steeped off others come to the front. The layers are not always black and white, but consist of a lot of gray in between.
Ok, I think I got it: Layers of the leaves, then, have different flavors. And each time you multi-steep the same type of tea, the leaves may be steeped differently, giving different flavors... I am eager to experiment with this.

And was the rule of thumb to not resteep past 30 minutes due to wet leaves growing bacteria?

Thanks, Chip! I may not go back to simple coffee after all! :wink:

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Feb 17th, '08, 14:40
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by Salsero » Feb 17th, '08, 14:40

Time4Tea wrote:And was the rule of thumb to not resteep past 30 minutes due to wet leaves growing bacteria?
Often I don't get back to my leaves for an hour or two. I figure the hot water will kill anything that has started growing. On rare occasions, I have stuck the infuser or gaiwan in the fridge overnight and continued up to 24 hours later.

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