Hello from Springfield, Mo.

Please introduce yourself here to our membership


Oct 1st, '17, 12:30
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct 1st, '17, 12:16
Location: Springfield, Mo

Hello from Springfield, Mo.

by AstroEd » Oct 1st, '17, 12:30

Hi, I am a Disabled Veteran who is trying to get healthy and lived his life on soda and sweet tea, I was recently told I am diabetic so dropped the soda and weaning off of sweet tea, a few days ago I was at a Chinese restaurant and had a pot of unsweetened Oolong? Tea and loved it. Now I want to learn more about teas (especially those good for diabetes and weight loss) and the best/proper way to prepare them other than dipping a Lipton tea bag in hot water. We have a Teavana near me but it seems pricy to me. Please help guide me on my new journey.
Last edited by AstroEd on Oct 6th, '17, 19:48, edited 2 times in total.

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Oct 3rd, '17, 12:02
Posts: 5896
Joined: Jan 10th, '10, 16:04
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Contact: debunix

Re: Hello from Springfield, Mo.

by debunix » Oct 3rd, '17, 12:02

AstroEd wrote: Now I want to learn more about teas (especially those good for diabetes and weight loss) and the best/proper way to prepare them other than dipping a Lipton tea bag in hat water.
Welcome to TeaChat! There is a wealth of information here about teas, tea preparation, and more. You'll find many obsessions about brewing and drinking vessels, but that's not important to get started. What you need are a few decent teas, and some practice with loose-leaf brewing.

Your first setup can be as simple as a pyrex pitcher plus a strainer plus a mug: put some loose-leaf tea into pitcher, add hot water, steep, pour through strainer into your mug, and return leaves to the pitcher for another infusion. How much tea, how much water, how hot the water, how long to steep: all of these variables depend on your preferences. I am bitter-phobic, so avoid most black teas, and prefer to brew my green teas quite cool (160-180 degrees for first infusion) and short (30-60 seconds to start) to avoid bitterness.

If you're interested in green teas, a reasonably quick-reading digital thermometer is a good start; an inexpensive $10 model is fine. If you find yourself adjusting temps a lot, and drinking enough tea to make it worthwhile, a variable temp kettle is great, but you don't need to start out with one. You don't even need a thermometer, if you're willing to invest the time to learn the sounds or appearance of water in your kettle to gauge temperature, or to practice pouring water from the kettle into another pitcher and keeping track of the time it takes to cool down until it's ready to use.

And: if you overbrew and the result is bitter or just too strong otherwise, remember that you can save many infusions by diluting with more hot or even cool water to taste. I never throw an infusion out without trying this first.

I've not spent enough time in Springfield to know your likely access to international markets with decent tea selections--I'm guessing it's very limited--but there are tons of online sources. You might want to start with a more comprehensive online shop offering a wide array of teas rather than a bunch of specialty shops to begin with--many of us here have favorite retailers for specific types of teas, but that's going to be overwhelming to start. I'd just avoid the flavored and scented teas to start with if you're really interested in tea itself.

I put up general tips on brewing on my own web site here: it's simple text and photos, no ads. It is now several years out of date, but the basics aren't too far off what I do these days.

Oct 6th, '17, 11:47
Posts: 18
Joined: Aug 22nd, '17, 14:59

Re: Hello from Springfield, Mo.

by Yatra Tea Co » Oct 6th, '17, 11:47

AstroEd wrote: Hi, I am a Disabled Veteran who is trying to get healthy and lived his life on soda and sweet tea, I was recently told I am diabetic so dropped the soda and weaning off of sweet tea, a few days ago I was at a Chinese restaurant and had a pot of unsweetened Oolong? Tea and loved it. Now I want to learn more about teas (especially those good for diabetes and weight loss) and the best/proper way to prepare them other than dipping a Lipton tea bag in hat water. We have a Teavana near me but it seems pricy to me. Please help guide me on my new journey.
Hi there. You will soon discover that there is a wide variety of flavorful, unsweetened teas out there. My advice would be to seek out vendors who provide samples. A lot of us do, and it is a relatively low cost way to find out what teas and taste profiles appeal to you before you invest your money in a larger purchase.

Here's what I can do to get you started; if you are comfortable sending me a private message with your address, I'll send you some samples. No charge. And no expectations for you to buy anything. Just a little something to get you started on your tea discovery voyage!

Oct 6th, '17, 19:50
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct 1st, '17, 12:16
Location: Springfield, Mo

Re: Hello from Springfield, Mo.

by AstroEd » Oct 6th, '17, 19:50

I went to Queen City Teas near me a few days ago sadly they are out of Oolong teas for at least two weeks, I picked up 3green teas but waiting till I research proper temps and steeping times before I make any.

Oct 31st, '17, 16:53
Posts: 3
Joined: Oct 1st, '17, 12:16
Location: Springfield, Mo

Re: Hello from Springfield, Mo.

by AstroEd » Oct 31st, '17, 16:53

Yatra Tea Co wrote: Here's what I can do to get you started; if you are comfortable sending me a private message with your address, I'll send you some samples. No charge. And no expectations for you to buy anything. Just a little something to get you started on your tea discovery voyage!
I want to thank you for sending me the green tea samples, I received them while I was away on a small vacation/Dog Show. I have not tried them yet as I have been busy with unexpected life issues but will post here what I thought. I am still researching on getting a electric tea pot to be able to insure I brew at the recommended temperature and time. I did buy a tea steeper device that strains the tea from the leaves into a cup whenyou place it on top of the cup. But no control to maintain proper temperature.

Feb 26th, '18, 06:13
Posts: 2
Joined: Feb 26th, '18, 05:58
Location: London. UK

Re: Hello from Springfield, Mo.

by AlexKorv » Feb 26th, '18, 06:13

Hello, let's have a good time talking about tea and finding new sorts here)

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