Green Tea General Questions

[VelociTea]

I started my tea drinking life with an analog thermometer but found that by the time the thermometer registered the temperature it had changed somehow and I just couldn't get consistent results. When Adagio introduced an electric kettle with presets I purchased it and i couldn't voluntarily return to using a thermometer, certainly not for green tea. What I discovered was that I could select the nearest suitable preset and adjust time and procedure based on that. The lowest preset is 150° which is too high for gyokuro so I pour the water into a small pitcher, a yuzamashi (forgive my spelling) and then back and forth into cups a few times to lower the temperature. I get consistent results w/o using a thermometer and going back and forth to the stove. Many people here are happy with the Bonavita gooseneck kettle but I didn't learn about that before buying my Adagio kettle.

As for Hibiki-an, I found that the teas I ordered from them were disappointing. The similar teas I purchased from O-Cha were much better.

I'm looking on O-cha right now. I have no idea what to get.. There are so many different types it makes my head spin, even just looking at organic tea. They all sound good and very similar from the descriptions.

The Hojicha sounds interesting. I also really enjoyed the nutty flavour of Genmaicha the last time I had it.. For my third choice, I'm having difficulties making a decision on a 'normal' green tea.. There are so many!

[jayinhk]

O-Cha also provides brewing directions for their teas, which helps greatly. I cool water by pouring into a gongfu cha pitcher, then a yunomi, then my kyusu. Each successive container drops the temperature by 10 degrees Celsius. I preheat my kyusu, so no temperature drop there.

David's Tea isn't very good from what I hear. Hibiki-An has good teaware, but I'd buy from O-Cha myself.

Good luck and I think you'll find the tea you buy directly from Japan will be much better than what you've been drinking! Amazon has some nice Hario pots for green tea if you don't want a Tokoname kyusu. I got a left handed kyusu from Hibiki-An and I love it! I pretty much never drink Japanese greens anymore though!

[JRS22]

I'm looking on O-cha right now. I have no idea what to get.. There are so many different types it makes my head spin, even just looking at organic tea. They all sound good and very similar from the descriptions.

The Hojicha sounds interesting. I also really enjoyed the nutty flavour of Genmaicha the last time I had it.. For my third choice, I'm having difficulties making a decision on a 'normal' green tea.. There are so many!

Hojicha and genmaicha are excellent teas to have on hand and will provide nice contrasts to sencha. You could also take a look at this page for ideas:

https://www.o-cha.com/greentea-for-beginners.html

What helped me in the beginning was to think about the adjectives that described my favorite qualities of teas I really liked and look for other teas with the same descriptions. Actually I still do that.

[VelociTea]

Thanks for the link! That helped aid my decision. I was having troubles navigating o-cha's mobile site for some reason. I actually really like hibiki-an's wares.. that is where I got my chawan and I'm going to be getting my kyusu from them too.

I went with Kabusecha. Seemed like a good middle ground between Gyokuro and Sencha. Plus I still have some Sencha so it will be nice to compare the two.. Though the quality probably isn't up to par with o-cha. Thanks for the replies everyone

[JRS22]

Another vendor with beautiful pots is Artistic Nippon. Toru, the owner, has beautiful pots in a range of prices and sizes. I prefer a sasame filter, which is part of the pot, to mesh. It's easier to keep clean.

http://www.artisticnippon.com/product/t ... eindex.htm

[VelociTea]

For my Thermometer, I ended up getting the Lavatools Javelin for $30 from Amazon and I love it

It was top rated and had rave reviews. Many said its actually comparable to Thermoworks for 1/4 the price! I think with Thermoworks, you mainly pay for the fact it's made in England. Looks very similar too and I think it looks better! Lifetime warranty.. 4 second readings.. Water resistant.. Etc.. And unlike the mk4, it has a hook and is magnetic. It's actually really convenient just sticking this on the fridge when I'm done or need to use it again.

Really extensive and quality selection on Artistic Nippon btw. I had to resist the urge to impulse buy everything. I'll have to buy some wares from there sometime.

[victoria3]

The Javelin thermometer probe looks to be only 2.75" and the body looks substantial. It seems like it would best be used for sticking into foods and or you have to hold it to get a reading in water. The advantage of thermometers like Taylor Elite are that they are linear, very light, and the probes are 5+" so can be left in most vessels holding water (you don't have to hold while waiting). For Japanese teas I measure the temperature in the first vessel and depending on how much cooler the water needs to be I then transfer to Yuzamashi, then Yunomi and remeasure temp. leaving probe in last vessel until exact temperature is reached. I'm sure if I drank exclusively certain Japanese greens I'd be able to estimate temps based on visual inspection of heating water on stove such as shrimp eyes (155f), crab eyes (175f), fish eyes (185f) and string of pearls (195-205f) but I wander between Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Russian Argentine teas....


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[VelociTea]

The Javelin thermometer probe looks to be only 2.75" and the body looks substantial. It seems like it would best be used for sticking into foods and or you have to hold it to get a reading in water. The advantage of thermometers like Taylor Elite are that they are linear, very light, and the probes are 5+" so can be left in most vessels holding water (you don't have to hold while waiting). For Japanese teas I measure the temperature in the first vessel and depending on how much cooler the water needs to be I then transfer to Yuzamashi, then Yunomi and remeasure temp. leaving probe in last vessel until exact temperature is reached. I'm sure if I drank exclusively certain Japanese greens I'd be able to estimate temps based on visual inspection of heating water on stove such as shrimp eyes (155f), crab eyes (175f), fish eyes (185f) and string of pearls (195-205f) but I wander between Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Russian Argentine teas....


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You make some good points. Perhaps I was overzealous with my purchase.. Maybe a more linear style one would have been better. I didn't want to purchase the Taylor brand because it only had 10 reviews.. and they were all mixed. Many of their products have gotten bad reviews in the past.

The Javelin was top rated and had close to 3,000 reviews and they were almost all 5 stars. It had more specs than the Elite too and Lavatools stands behind their product. Taylor didn't offer a lifetime warranty and mentioned nothing about an antimicrobial coating, water resistance, accuracy, time, etc.. even on their website there was very little info.

It's been working well for me. At least it was only $30 so maybe I'll purchase a different one at somepoint and just use this one for cooking. Overall, I'm very pleased with my purchase I hope one day I won't need this at all and just be able to do it visually.

[Bok]

I'm sure if I drank exclusively certain Japanese greens I'd be able to estimate temps based on visual inspection of heating water on stove such as shrimp eyes (155f), crab eyes (175f), fish eyes (185f) and string of pearls (195-205f) but I wander between Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Russian Argentine teas....

Temperature would be important for all of those wouldnt it? Visual observation is just one method. I personally do not like to have a thermometer visually ruin my tea drinking pleasure. Do not even get me started on those kettle monsters with included display

Especially when the water observation method is easy enough, i really think thermometers belong into a lab or someones... sorry couldnt help it
With a little experience anyone who pays attention will know when their day to day kettle has the appropriate temperature...

[jayinhk]

Yes, I agree, and you can cool by pouring into kyusu/pitcher/yunomi if you want to cool your water rapidly!

[JRS22]

Perhaps other people can distinguish between 130°, 140° and 150° water by looking at their kettle. I certainly can't, but I can tell the difference between gyokuro or sencha brewed with the water at these different temperatures. So my experience is that it's more relaxing to use tools, a variable temp kettle and a scale, to achieve the desired water temperature for a given tea and correct amount of tea for a given pot.

[victoria3]

Perhaps other people can distinguish between 130°, 140° and 150° water by looking at their kettle. I certainly can't, but I can tell the difference between gyokuro or sencha brewed with the water at these different temperatures. So my experience is that it's more relaxing to use tools, a variable temp kettle and a scale, to achieve the desired water temperature for a given tea and correct amount of tea for a given pot.

Yes exactly, 4-5 degrees off and a gyokuro or sencha steep can be ruined. On the other hand, many red teas, oolongs and mate are generally more forgiving (because they require almost boiling to boiling water) and so can more often be gauged visually with greater ease. I keep a log of every tea in Evernote so I have steeping parameters available on all my devices, especially handy when traveling.

[VelociTea]

I agree. I wish I could do it that way.. I just don't see how I can get consistent, accurate results just by doing it visually. Especially when transferring the water the temperature drops quite a bit. Maybe one day that will change.

How much play is there with temperature? Give or take up to 5 degrees maybe?

[chingwa]

I've had some luck in the past testing the water temperature with a finger, instead of using a thermometer. With experience this can give fairly accurate results for sencha and gyokuro, but in order to get the experience you need to use a thermometer to begin with. Personally I would much rather get the temperature right than worry about the thermometer messing with the visuals of making tea... but I didn't always feel this way. I had too many missed tea sessions with slightly off temperatures and then finally came back around to the "beauty" of thermometers.

[Tead Off]

I've had some luck in the past testing the water temperature with a finger, instead of using a thermometer. With experience this can give fairly accurate results for sencha and gyokuro, but in order to get the experience you need to use a thermometer to begin with. Personally I would much rather get the temperature right than worry about the thermometer messing with the visuals of making tea... but I didn't always feel this way. I had too many missed tea sessions with slightly off temperatures and then finally came back around to the "beauty" of thermometers.

Folks, I think that this whole business of trying to 'look good', has to do more with self image than making a good cup of tea. What difference could there possibly be in using a thermometer or a finger except accuracy? Personally, I use a thermometer for Japanese green teas. No need to fret about such trivial things.