Another Loose Tea Newbie

[Kathryn]

Hi, everybody!

My name's Kat, and I've been a tea drinker since I was a little girl. My nonnie always kept it in the house, and she got me started young. Herbal teas, mostly. Then I started drinking more black teas within the last couple of years. All bagged, of course.

I finally decided to take the plunge, and try out loose leaf tea. I just placed my first order at Adagio last night, and I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival.

I have a couple of questions, though. I've not yet found an answer on this board, so I'll just ask.

First, is loose tea generally more strongly flavored than bagged teas? I tend to need my teas to be really strongly flavored; not sure if it's something wrong with my tastebuds or what, but I've had problems in the past with teas being way too weak. So I'm just wondering if I can expect to go by the standard guidelines for leaf amount per cup, or if I'll need to generally use more. I know a lot of tea brewing is personal taste, but any ideas of where to start would be much appreciated!

Also, what do I need to know about tea storage? All I know is that it needs to be kept out of light; are there any other rules? What sort of containers are good? (Or does Adagio ship their samples in suitable containers?)

I'm really looking forward to meeting everybody, and learning more about tea. Thanks, guys!

[AdamMY]

As for suitable containers you often want it to be as close to Air tight as possible. I also believe Adagio is still sending out samples in sample tins which are suitable for the amount of tea in the tin... as in you are likely to consume it before any rather detrimental effects set in.

In terms of strength... you may always want to brew on the heavier side with a bit more leaf, but the thing is depending on what your looking for for the "strength" aspect, some teas might readily have it while others may not, so you may just learn to like certain varieties.

And of course, Welcome to the forum, and have a wonderful time participating here.

[Chip]

Hi Kathryn, welcome to TeaChat. I am looking forward to seeing you around the forum. Some questions take time to figure out the answer that best suits you.

Looseleaf can taste lighter sometimes, but it is a much better flavor than bagged tea.

There are lots of storage topics under Teaware. You will not get all the answers right here. So, take some time to read and learn. Then you can ask even more specific questions.

[Kathryn]

Thanks for the info, AdamMY. I thought I'd read somewhere that the samples came in plastic wrap of some kind, so that's why I wasn't sure if I'd need new storage containers.

As to the strength, I think I'll do just that. Start out with a little extra, and go from there. What I meant by 'strength' is basically how...powerful? the flavor is. Sometimes I have trouble picking up milder or more subtle flavors. I tend to do better with more strongly flavored things. I've had strength issues with a lot of bagged teas, so I'm hoping that I can get the strength I want from the loose tea more easily.

And thank you, Chip! I totally overlooked the Teaware part of the forum. I'll go check it out!

[msurads06]

You might try one of the breakfast blends, I know with irish breakfast i have to brew it about 1/2 strength to keep it from being too strong for me.

[iannon]

welcome Kat! like the others have said I think with a bit of experimentation with your favored styles of teas you will soon find your "sweet spots" so may teas to try out there! so did you order one of the black tea samplers then? I dont drink black teas too often but i did enjoy the darjeelings i tried from adagio. and to me they had plenty of oomph. you may also like the darker more roasted oolongs as well vs the "greener" or high mountain low fire Oolongs

[Kathryn]

msurads06, Irish Breakfast is one of the bagged teas I've been drinking, actually. And it's one of the teas in the black tea sampler that came with my IngenuiTEA. I'm really looking forward to trying it!

iannon, you're right, there are so many to try! I had to restrain myself from picking out too many on this first order. I did get the black tea sampler that comes with the IngenuiTEA. It has four teas, I think; some I've had as bagged tea, and some I haven't. And I actually looked at the oolongs, but was a bit intimidated by them. I don't know a lot about them yet; I'll need to read up on them a bit before I start trying them. But I'm sure that I will!

[Victoria]

Hi and welcome to our forum!

[LauraW]

Looseleaf can taste lighter sometimes, but it is a much better flavor than bagged tea.

+1 much better flavor than bagged tea; and it really does depend on the type of tea for it to be a stronger flavor or not.

Best of luck in your TeaJourney, let us know what you think about the samplers and we can maybe help pick you out something else you might like!!

[bsteele]

Hello!

[olivierco]

Welcome!

[Dreamer]

Oh no...another Tea Newbie has gotten loose!!!

Oh wait...that's not what you meant? Never mind.

Welcome to the 'chat!

You asked about "strength" of loose vs. bagged...I do know that before I got into loose leaf, we drank a lot of Lipton and we would NEVER have left a teabag in a cup for 3 minutes...It would have been so "mean" that it would melt the bottom of the cup. I regularly brew loose leaf blacks at 3 minutes. I think is has to do with the tiny little leaf bits that fill those teabags...lots of surface to release the tea-ness into the water.

Have fun here,
Dreamer

[iannon]

I confess! I love my Hagi-Ware!
oh..uhh..HI! Welcome! again..

[Chip]

I confess! I love my Hagi-Ware!
oh..uhh..HI! Welcome! again..

+1 ...

Ummm, welcome again ...

[AdamMY]

I confess! I love my Hagi-Ware!
oh..uhh..HI! Welcome! again..

+1 ...

Ummm, welcome again ...

+1 is there a registration form that we need to sign? because I think I'm on the list of hagi addicts.