Storage and Preparation

[Lurid]

Hello all, i'm new here and would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself Recently I acquired a gift certificate to Adagio and thought this would be a good opportunity to dive into the world of gourmet teas. As I don't own an infuser or any other equipment I went on a bit of a sampling spree. Picking up a the Black Tea sampler, some samples of White Tea, and a random Peppermint Tea for kicks.

The kit comes with a booklet about teas, but I just ordered it and would like to read up a bit before it arrives. Any links to how tea should be properly stored and prepared would be very useful. As well as recommendations for various teas, as I intend to keep sampling different ones and amassing a small collection of tea. I'm especially interested in trying Pu Erh, but all the others sound interesting aswell Thanks in advance for any recommendations, advice, and resources pertaining to the topic of gourmet teas.

[deadfingers]

It depends on the type of tea really, but most will do fine in air tight containers that don't let light in. Pu-Erh is a little weird but from what I hear you can usually just leave it in the wrapper it comes in and lay it out on a shelf or something. Pretty much with Pu-Erh, if you're comfortable (as in the temperature and such) in the location where the tea is at then it should be good to store Pu-Erh.

[lenny7]

That booklet is pretty good and has a great layout. It's especially helpful for newbies like you and me. If you want to read up on tea you can get much of the same info here:
http://www.teaclass.com/

Welcome to great tea!

[deadfingers]

That booklet is pretty good and has a great layout. It's especially helpful for newbies like you and me. If you want to read up on tea you can get much of the same info here:
http://www.teaclass.com/

Welcome to great tea!

I'm still fairly relatively new to tea myself, but I'm learning some good stuff as you go along. Like don't leave Keenum Encore in a thermos for 8 hours, it may still be hot but bitter like crazy. Anyways, I never knew they even had that on this site, good find. I will read through it myself.

[tomvyn]

The preparations methods - quite a topic for itself ;o). Basically and really really briefly - the temperature and time of brewing goes down with the percentage of fermentation (and actually color ;o), so
black tea (100% fermented) - 100C water for about 3-5mins,
oolongs (they are inbetween green & black ->10-90% fermented) - 60-80C water for about 2-4mins,
green & white tea (not fermented) - 50-70C for about 2-3mins..
This is basically for tea prepared on one brew, 3,5-4 teaspoons and about 0,55lit of water.. If trying 2nd brew, than only with quality tea, and longer time, higher temperature..

But really depends on the way how you prepare it, how much tea leaves and water you put..

About PuEhr.. I really love PuEhr, but I just don't think it's good for beginners. Sure you can try it, but most beginners just don't like it for its strong and maybe strange taste. The same it is with Mate - amazing taste, but lot's of people just have to find the way to enjoy it, so few like their first sip (neither did I )

Storage - make sure, that there is no moisture around tea, so place just above water kettle is not good ;o))), should be dark, cool and dry place. Another thing is, that tea ages. When you don't allow air to come to the tea, the aging is slower and tea would be fresher. And the last thing - tea absorbes smell. So if you put open PuEhr and open Assam in one box, you'll end up with 2 teas which smell like PuEhr, but just one will have the taste. The same if you put any scented tea with the others. So basic rule is just no air income, close it tight, and it should prevent it from smells as well..

So good luck and bottoms up!