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 16th, '08, 19:17
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by Chip » Feb 16th, '08, 19:17

I dubbed this a marathon TeaDay, not a Walkathon TeaDay.

Well, I am walking to my 3rd tea. It is a sample from Victoria. Not sure which yet...let you know shortly.

Anyone else drinking tea today?
blah blah blah SENCHA blah blah blah!!!

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Feb 16th, '08, 20:08
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by Victoria » Feb 16th, '08, 20:08

tenuki wrote:Second tea today was this one ^. I tried brewing it using lower temp water and longer steeps. It was decent but I think my 185 was too low, will try 200 or so next time. The leave did not fully open during the 5 minute steep, nor even after the second 5 minute seep, and after close examination I determined that was not due to too much leaf. So my verdict on this tea is that you need to hit it hard with rolling boil water, maybe a 5-10 second rinse followed by a minute rest or so with the lid on, then a 45 second or so first infusion. I did this yesterday and was able to get the leaves to fully open by the second brew (30,40,50, etc). The tea quality of this tea is evident but it needs to be pushed to flower I think, I'm shelving it again after today and seeing how it does in a few months.

Third tea today is the TKY sample from adagio I got on recommendation from Victoria. Pretty good TKY, this is probably the best represented tea I've gotten from adagio. I generally don't like TKYs due to the overtones of bitterness that many of them have, but this one has just the right balance of sweetness vs. 'tkyness' for me. gong fu: 5sec wash, 40,50,60,etc, just off a boil.
I'm on my 3 steep of the 2008 A-Li-Shan, very sweet now and yes more floral. The grassiness is all but gone as is the astringency. The leaves opened fully for me on a 5 min initial steep, but using the IngenuiTea with lots of room. The following two steeps I did at 6 minutes each just under boiling in a makeshift gaiwan which was my glass jumbo cup with a lid. These leaves are the nicest I've ever seen. But then I'm a newbie. Thanks for the recommend.

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Feb 16th, '08, 20:10
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by Wesli » Feb 16th, '08, 20:10

Ate some crab, washed it down with some sencha. Very very yummy.

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Feb 16th, '08, 21:17
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by TaiPing Hou Kui » Feb 16th, '08, 21:17

9:17 pm, back to silver needle!

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Feb 16th, '08, 21:46
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by henley » Feb 16th, '08, 21:46

After getting the kids to bed, made a pot of chai tea & tried the sweetened condensed milk in it *ducks head*. It was a little rich for my taste but could see it as a dessert tea.

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Feb 16th, '08, 21:54
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by TimeforTea » Feb 16th, '08, 21:54

I am too sleepy to count my teas, but I'm estimating between 11-15. I have more coming though, since my adagio tea order should be arriving on Tuesday.

Today was a good tea day. I started the day with green mint tea, 2 cups. Then I met a friend at an English Tea Room where I had those adorable little English finger sandwiches, a scone, and 2 cups of mango green tea. My friend chose violet green tea. Later at home, I made us 1 cup each of green apricot tea.

The tea room had a small store, and I bought a cute metal tea strainer that fits over a mug. I'm thinking that might be easy to travel with. Do any of you use one?

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Feb 16th, '08, 22:11
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Newbie questions about steeping >1 time

by TimeforTea » Feb 16th, '08, 22:11

daughteroftheKing wrote: {snips}

Today I'm loving some milk oolong from Teacuppa. The liquid is light and golden and beautiful in a glass, while the taste is smooth and orchid-like. Second steep brings up the peach notes.

As evidence of tea-aholism, I easily own way over 50 teas. But, I can stop any time I want to....
I'm still a newbie at heart. Please teach me or direct me to where I can learn more about this business of multiple steeps. I have yet to do this. What is the point of multiple steeping? Can all teas be steeped multiple times, or does it differ between black teas, green teas, etc.? How come different notes come out from different steeps? How long do you wait between steeps? TIA. :?:

Tea-aholism. Cute! :lol:

Chip, you're not gonna make me change my nickname back, are you? :cry:

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Feb 16th, '08, 22:21
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by TimeforTea » Feb 16th, '08, 22:21

Victoria's Own wrote:
What am I having right now?????????????????

MATCHA
Yay!!!! Victoria received her matcha!!!!! :D

Now it's my turn to pout, because the adagio samples I ordered on Thursday afternoon will not arrive till Tuesday. :cry:

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Feb 16th, '08, 23:06
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Re: Newbie questions about steeping >1 time

by Victoria » Feb 16th, '08, 23:06

Time4Tea wrote: I'm still a newbie at heart. Please teach me or direct me to where I can learn more about this business of multiple steeps. I have yet to do this. What is the point of multiple steeping? Can all teas be steeped multiple times, or does it differ between black teas, green teas, etc.? How come different notes come out from different steeps? How long do you wait between steeps? TIA.
I'll PM you with some info.

I'm having a nice cup of white peony for my last brew this evening.
Last edited by Victoria on Feb 16th, '08, 23:37, edited 1 time in total.

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Feb 16th, '08, 23:07
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Re: Newbie questions about steeping >1 time

by Salsero » Feb 16th, '08, 23:07

Time4Tea wrote:Please teach me or direct me to where I can learn more about this business of multiple steeps .... What is the point of multiple steeping? Can all teas be steeped multiple times, or does it differ between black teas, green teas, etc.? How come different notes come out from different steeps? How long do you wait between steeps?
First, this question would be enormously easier to answer if you were asking about a specific tea. But I will try a general answer because I have no common sense.

When I started I thought multiple steeps were just what my mother did to save money, but now I multi-steep pretty much everything. For me,
  • 1) Often, I just enjoy a cup so much I am eager to repeat the same thing and the easiest way to do that is by putting the same leaves into water again.

    2) It seems a shame to waste anything.

    3) I like that the caffeine tends to be less and less in each subsequent steep (caffeine does not all come out in the first minute or half minute, by the way: that is an oft repeated, but gross, error.)

    4) With some tea (oolongs and greens), you are missing the best part if you don't go for at least a second or third steep.

    5) I love the way the taste and texture change from first steep to sweet tea-water.

    6) Finally, I get a sense of accomplishment from squeezing every drop of goodness from my tea.
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.

I usually go three to five steeps with Japanese and Chinese greens and most oolongs. For exceptionally fine oolongs, Dan Cong oolongs, and raw puerh I will go more ... a lot more, sometimes as many as 20 steeps and I've heard of people going beyond that with supreme teas. This kind of endurance requires gong fu style brewing with a gaiwan or yixing pot, top quality tea, lots of leaf, little water, and short initial steep times, sometimes as little as 5 seconds initially.

With some of these teas (esp puerh and aged oolong) there may be mercurial revelations in the taste and aroma of the tea as you put it through its paces. At the other extreme, a tea can be monotone, exhibiting a single, unchanging profile -- what may of course be very nice, just not changeable.

With my blacks (Assam, Darjeeling, Chinese, Ceylon, etc.) I generally expect at least two rounds, sometimes three and if the stuff is really good I squeeze out a fourth. Most of the time the first steep is the best, but sometimes the second is the better, esp if the first is a little rough.

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.

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Feb 17th, '08, 01:10
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by tenuki » Feb 17th, '08, 01:10

henley wrote:After getting the kids to bed, made a pot of chai tea & tried the sweetened condensed milk in it *ducks head*. It was a little rich for my taste but could see it as a dessert tea.
Oooh! I love masala cha! What brand are you drinking? My favorite is Tao of Tea's 500 mile cha, not as pepper heavy as most of the chai you get in the US. If you brew it the traditional way (boil tea directly in water for 5-10 minutes, add half and half to taste then strain into cups) your tounge gets numb. hahaha, love it!
Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )

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Feb 17th, '08, 01:55
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by Sam. » Feb 17th, '08, 01:55

I only have 7 right now, all from Adagio. My sample from Den's should arrive soon so then I may order some Japanese green.

I had citron green this afternoon and some chamomile tonight.

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Feb 17th, '08, 02:02
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by osadczuk » Feb 17th, '08, 02:02

Late edition today, I spent most of the day house hunting with my mother (for about the 12-13th week in a row. We're at "beyond tiresome" now.)

As per usual - first tea was coffee. :lol:

I brewed some golden monkey to take along with me during our romp. Had some iced orange/assam blend at lunch and during the griddlers G-Match (where I'm happy to report I moved up a few spaces - any one else a fan?) and am working on some Darjeeling 22 right now.

Yeah for Victoria receiving her matcha!

As for number of teas? Let's just say the number was "embarrassingly high" and the quality for most of them "embarrassingly low."

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Feb 17th, '08, 02:13
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by tenuki » Feb 17th, '08, 02:13

and still brewing this li shan dayuling, mmmmmmm.
Do something different, something different will happen. ( Gong Fu Garden )

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Feb 17th, '08, 02:26
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by Space Samurai » Feb 17th, '08, 02:26

I had a cup of dian hong this morning.

I just finished tow bowls of matcha (chiyo mukashi) and have moved on once again to the fukamushicha maki. I really like this maki. I am almost out though.

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