TeaChat

Hey all-
Haven't posted here in a while, but I'm hosting a medium sized event in my college dorm as a sort of "intro to tea" thing, and I'm trying to make tea for afterwards so people can taste what a quality, not bagged/not black tea tastes like. I have access to a big water heater, but all I have for brewing is a little kyusu I use personally.

So- how would you recommend tackling this? Is making tea ahead of time and reheating it going to hurt the flavor? Should I just make it in small quantities and have people line up, or try to make it inside the waterheater itself? Any ideas would be appreciated.

I wouldn't make the tea and reheat. It would be nice if you have something a little larger... maybe in the 16 oz range? Then you could give out 2 oz samples or so.

How many people do you expect? How soon are you going to be doing this?

But if you do use your little kyusu, you can always just brew with a high leaf to water ratio that way people are only waiting 15-30 seconds for tea? Maybe?

Or just use a ceramic bowl and strain through a cheap dollar store metal strainer

Hmmmm do you have friends at your college that are also into tea who could help with brewing?

How many people is medium sized?

how formal is the event?

I don't think I know of anyone else who has something to brew in, but I'll send out an email- someone could probably scare somethin up. I honestly don't know what to expect for the number of people, but probably around 20? The event isn't formal at all, and it's tomorrow.

Thanks for your help so far.

With some teas, you can use the Russian (or Turkish) method. Make a small amount of really strong tea beforehand and blend with hot water when serving.
Note that this is not possible with all teas without hurting the tea. I use this frequently with some medium quality Da Hong Pao with good results.

tsverrir wrote:With some teas, you can use the Russian (or Turkish) method. Make a small amount of really strong tea beforehand and blend with hot water when serving.
Note that this is not possible with all teas without hurting the tea. I use this frequently with some medium quality Da Hong Pao with good results.

+1, yeah I do this a lot. Works especially well for iced tea, but should work well for hot as well, but not likely greens or whites.

I've never tried this for that many people, but I do regularly make up a quart or so of tea for drinking when I'm away from my tea stuff. I use a 6 oz or so teapot or my kamjove infuser, with enough leaf to pretty much stuff it full when the leaf is opened fully, and brew several infusions that I mix together in my thermos. This works very well for some teas, not as well for others, because tea continues to oxidize while being held as liquid in the thermos.

So if you're drinking it quickly enough, and the thermos is clean, a delicate white or green tea will still taste pretty good, but if held too long, they start to taste like a black tea. For longer holding, the ones that work best for me are puerh, and darker roast oolongs.

Depending on your goals here, you might start infusing one of these sturdier teas just before your guests start to arrive, to hold in a thermos and have ready when they walk in, and then work with more delicate teas that you brew continuously during the party, and share in smaller sipping cups with a few people at a time.

And remember that all you really need to brew up some tea is a vessel, and leaves. I have brewed up a larger quantity of tea in a heatproof bowl or measuring cup or pitcher, poured all through a simple strainer to catch the leaves, and poured that into my thermos--find a pint or quart pitcher and a strainer, they don't have to be fancy to work for this, and you can brew in bulk. You'll need to really look and smell the tea as it brews to be sure you get a nice batch when you're not used to brewing in this quantity, but it can work great.

Uh oh, today is the big day! How'd it go?

It hasn't happened yet- it's tonight. I think between various tea balls and bowls and other things people have offered up, I'll be covered. I thought about Turkish style (actually just read about it in preparing for this thing!) but I'm doing a sencha and a jasmine oolong, and I don't wanna oversteep either. Should be fun!

Thanks for your help everybody, I'll let you know how it goes.