Friday TeaDay 3/26/10 The Outer Limits of brewing?

[entropyembrace]

today I´m drinking Taiwan Wuyi I love the fragrance from this tea ^.^

[geeber1]

I use the vendors instructions as a guide and usually follow them unless they are totally outlandish, then tweak as needed.

The vacation project of painting my daughter's room has turned from being what I thought would be a 3-day project to taking the entire week! But I guess that's my own fault because I haven't exactly been pushing myself to get it done. It will be nice, though, as we are replacing hideous rose covered wallpaper with "Green Shimmer," a color more suitable for a 10-year old.

Yunnan something or other in my cup this morning. Now I am fortified for more painting!

[Chip]

Sort of wanted two votes.

You actually get 3 votes!

My 3 ...

I often take risks when brewing
I am a trail blazer, have to find my own path
High risk equals high reward

I will read a vendor's directions usually, then look to experience. I will try to optimize the results, get the most from a tea. Once I find the sweet spot however, I usually stay within a narrow parameter, well extremely narrow.

Yet I never feel I am in the outer limits since most teas have been done to much greater extremes.

Began the TD with mystery sencha from Ryu Mei with Mrs. Chip. I had to think out of the box on this one ... now it is great.

[artmom]

Had a cup of Imperial Red by Silk Road Tees. Brewed it perfectly today. Amazing color, clarity, and full-bodied, smooth taste. Color me happy. (Well, except that Barclay is in the proverbial dog house with my DH--he's been digging under the fence. Too young (or dumb) to know he could have scooted under and out!!! )

[leiche2]

I do what I want.

This morning I had a mystery black--remnants of Fujian Baroque, maybe. I forgot to label the tin. Soon, a roasty TGY.

[brian]

generally accepted brewing parameters for me. It has taken a lot of reading through this site, and vendor sites, to even get an idea what those generally accepted parameters are As I'm sure you've all experienced, I've seen parameters that are all over the map. I tend to look for consensus, throw out anything with long steep times as unreliable, and I'm working from there. Eventually I'll get a bit more adventurous, but I'm nowhere near that yet.

It was Den's sencha extra green this morning, one of my favorites as it's like drinking two different teas on the first two infusions, both which I like a lot. We're supposed to have a pretty good spring snowstorm blowing in later this afternoon, so I'm sure I'll be drinking something warm this evening.

[Chip]

Another enigmatic tea, this one from O-Cha. Dug it out in the moving of canisters, etc. This was one experiemntal tea that never really won anyone over too much. It is quite earthy.

[olivierco]

I usually don't follow the brewing recommendations given by the seller. I don't however think I am brewing my tea in a adventurous way, even if I tend to use a good amount of leaves.

Kame Jiru Shi gyokuro this evening.

[Victoria]

Beautiful sunny day here, really lovely in the 70's. DH and I had lunch at a nice outdoor restaurant, I brought some Camellia Sinensis TGY tea with me, then we saw Shutter Island. I thought it was pretty good although a friend at work had already tipped me off to the ending.

Next up some matcha.

[Skippyandjif]

I brew my own way-- I've found my favorite methods through extensive trial and error. Also, I unfortunately don't have a lot of the teaware traditionally used to brew teas, just an electric kettle and some mugs, so that changes things a little as well.

Sencha with rose petals right now, to be followed by some matcha with dinner. (I'm going out for Japanese food, hooray!)

[brad4419]

Im a "play it safer" and use generally accepted methods but I will take some risks when I feel its time.

I almost never brew a new tea according to the vendors suggestions. It seems they are always way too long of infusion times like 4-5minutes which just doesn't make sense to me. Teachat is my #1 source for brewing parameters when I get a new tea.
After learning a tea a bit better from advice on here I will venture out on my own and tweek the amount of leaf,time and temperature a bit and see if it gets better or worse and go from there.

long jing in my cup today. I don't know if I can drink all this long jing before the new harvests ready I think Im up to the challenge though and its better than being out

[Amaikokonut]

Still being a tea nublet, I'm not extremely adventurous in my brewing. Generally I will follow the recommended directions and unless the brew turns out just plain bad, I won't alter it.

However, I'm am planning to take the next step soon and pick up a thermometer and scale so I can be more precise. I think once I feel a bit more in control of my brewing, I'll be more inclined to experiment a little more.

[debunix]

Today I have not been anywhere near the outer limits of brewing, although at other times I have probably approached it, from the milder end of things--I generally start with less tea, shorter brewing, and cooler water than recommended. So I start out on the less is more side of things, and move towards more usual parameters for a particular type of tea.

Today started sencha, moved on to yancha, Shui Jin Gui, Wu Yi Oolong Tea from norbu, and had a surprising interlude this evening with a bit of a sample of the 1999 Aged Liu An Basket of Anhui being discussed in another topic, and now am finishing the remains of the spring 2009 Ali Shan Oolong, still a beautiful tea, also from norbu.

[Chip]

However, I'm am planning to take the next step soon and pick up a thermometer and scale so I can be more precise. I think once I feel a bit more in control of my brewing, I'll be more inclined to experiment a little more.

Kool! Neat thing with these tools, you can more quantify your experiments.

Japanese dribs andf drabs mixed together earlier, and currently Korean Hydrangea tea ... kinda grows on you. Mrs. Chip is sipping sake in Seigan.

[sriracha]

I brew most things 'my way' which mostly turns out okay, occasionally disastrous and sometimes a bit bland, perhaps.
Risk taking is limited to subconsciously(?) overbrewing things by way of being easily distracted and forgetting the tea stewing along in the kitchen while sitting in front of my computer in another room.
I am not a great risk taker in any area of my life...

A few years ago, when I bought considerably cheaper tea I got in the habit of leaving it brewing for 15+ minutes and got to like the taste.