how to brew yunnan sourcing's

[plant partaker]

1999 aged liu an. Also, the 2009 mang fei and the 2007 golden needle white lotus. None cam with instructions. I tried only the golden needle white lotus and thought the brew was a little weak. I will definitely increase the leaf but I was wondering if there was a certain temperature and certain brew times? Any help would be great!

[bearsbearsbears]

1999 aged liu an. Also, the 2009 mang fei and the 2007 golden needle white lotus. None cam with instructions. I tried only the golden needle white lotus and thought the brew was a little weak. I will definitely increase the leaf but I was wondering if there was a certain temperature and certain brew times? Any help would be great!

boiling for all of it IMO.

use more leaf for the liu an. it tends to weaken with age.

my mangfei notes: smell of leather, smokey, bitter, metallic, strong. bile-y as it cools; typical lincang. citrus peel. lots of middle notes with no bright or bass notes. like xiaguan tea minus the florals. more a wind quartet than a full orchestra.

[plant partaker]

my meng fei is raw. Do you boil at 212 degrees? Also, whats the leaf to water ratio?

[debunix]

The golden needle white lotus can take high concentrations of leaf to water and boiling with longer infusions than you might expect, because it is so mellow you can manipulate it for rich, caramel-touched liquor without any perceptible bitterness or astringency.

Don't have any more detailed notes to share for exact grams/ounces/infusion times, but would start with 1 gram per ounce of water and move up from there, first infusion 20" and see how you like it. Good chance you'll want more tea & more time.

[plant partaker]

Thanks Debunix. How do you brew it as far as your steep time and amount of leaves to water?

[bearsbearsbears]

my meng fei is raw. Do you boil at 212 degrees? Also, whats the leaf to water ratio?

I'm not sure what temperature I would boil at. But water at my elevation does boil at 212F/100C.

I use 1g to every 20ml or so, about 33% more than debunix. I also brew pretty fast.

[plant partaker]

How many teaspoons is 1 gram of tea? I do not have a scale and the conversion chart online says 20 teaspoons is 9 grams! that can't be right.

[debunix]

How many teaspoons is 1 gram of tea? I do not have a scale and the conversion chart online says 20 teaspoons is 9 grams! that can't be right.

Of course it can't be right--at least, can't be right for a compressed tea like the Golden Needles White Lotus. Take a good look at this photo:



Each of those piles of tea is 1 gram.

The volume ranges from probably less than 1/2 teaspoon of the dense Lao Cha Tuo (the closest in density of these to the GNWL) to a tablespoon or so for the wild camellia buds or the silver needle.

But fortunately this is a forgiving tea, so you can break off whatever you can, and brew it up until YOU like it.

And get a scale. You can find them at less than half the cost of the GNWL.

[plant partaker]

I will be purchasein one as soon as I can. My hours atwork got cut. I only got 11 hours this week. Thank you so much Debunix for the information.