Wednesday TeaDay 5/26/10 Far far away ... ?

[debunix]

Occasionally I am far from my tea and don't notice, but more often if I am far away from my next cuppa, I notice, and get antsy for the next one.

This morning is starting with a cup of Anji 'precious rare' white tea from Wing Hop Fung. That's always a delicious, mellow start to the day.

[artmom]

Yes, when tea seems far away (either time or space) I think about that next cup longingly!

Black Pearl again this morning.

I should be trying more of my samples, but, I just can't seem to get it together! Some problems w/my oxygen sats; makes it difficult for me to mess around in the kitchen. But I'll get back in the swing again soon.

[Seeker]

Yes - definitely - but really only when I haven't had any tea or when I am away from it over the course of days.
When in Hawaii for two weeks recently, heh heh, I didn't have matcha, and I was definitely missing it, pining for it.

No tea yet today - just got up. However...
I am,

about to have,

some,

MATCHA!

[Chip]

First time making my own green tea (Karigane) = Failed.

I used my glass teaware, and the problem is, the green tea got stuck in the inner filter. Water won't flow out. Ended up with over brewed bitter green tea.



The glassware is so hot. Burnt my hand holding it while panicking why water wont come out. Nearly broke the glass.

Another problem now is with the inner filter, there are a lot of small pieces of the greens in the hole and it wont come out.

What a disaster... have to practice more and find the right tools to do the right tea.

Now I am trying to brew 1 liter of cold green tea. Put 2 tablesppon of it in 1 liter of water. Hope this will be better for such a hot day these days.

If you place JAPANESE tea in a strainer/infuser basket and then pour the hot water over the tea, the tiny dryish (and not yet expanded) particles "run for the exits" and thus clog them up instantly! This is what occured for you.

The best way to get around this is to put the tea in the basket, pour the water into the pot WITHOUT the infuser, bring it to the right temp + a few degrees, and then set the infuser into the pot. This has the opposite effect and will be much less likely to clog up any infuser.

Still, IMHO, those glass infusers really suck.

Obviously, you will have best of luck brewing greens in a kyusu!

[Chip]

I'm officially new to TC--yay.

Been sipping my recently-acquired Superfine Long Jing from DTH this morning with my recently-acquired gaiwan... from DTH. It is oh-so sweet and long-jingy. yum

Welcome Matt (?) to TC!

Thanks for sharing your Long Jing with us!

Definitely directly proportional ... and then some. I do not like missed opps to have tea. And as the TD slips away w/o tea, I think about it and want it even more ... this almost sounds like an addiction. Hopefully just a healthy obsession.

Began the TD with a very good session of Yutaka Midori Kaoru Supreme LE from O-Cha. Necessity is sometimes the mother of invention. I was a bit low on leaf for normal 5 ounce steep, did 5 ounces anyway, and it came out better than ever!

SweeTea would concur while Fuji and Shincha were visitors to the TeaTable.

[Rithmomachy]

The only time I miss it is when I go to a coffee shop. It's made for sitting and relaxing with a nice hot brewed beverage, and I know that if I get tea it won't be nearly as good as what I make at home.

Nice strong Keemun this morning. Probably switch to gunpowder or some more of my "Fu" brick this afternoon. I wish I'd brought my packet of Den's sencha from home though. . . .

[leiche2]

I certainly miss tea when I can't have any for whatever reason. I try to minimize those occasions.

Cold brewing some Phoenix White Leaf oolong from BirdPick this afternoon. It's unseasonably hot here. I am not meant for 90F+ weather.

[brad4419]

Yes, I think about tea more when It seems far away. Last night I spent the night in Columbus(about 1hr drive from home) with some freinds as I do every tuesday. So I went about 24hrs without tea and on the drive home I thought about which tea to have when I got home.

It turned out to be long jing

[Crafty_Mom]

Hi, Tmatt02!

As for the tea, I find that I do miss it if I haven't had it at what would be my normal times (1-2 mugs in the morning, 1-2 in the afternoon, 1-2 in the evening, plus a few if the mood strikes me). It's not a consuming thought, but more like a "I wish I had my afternoon tea." However, if I missed my morning tea, that may be different.

[Cael]

@auhckw
Um, were they small leaves or large leaves? I am curious because the only time I've done something like that to my inside strainer was when I decided to take the bagged tea leaves out of the bag and watch them brew that way. Besides getting a strainer, if they were small little leaves you might want to use that particular tea set to brew only larger leaves.

@tmatt
Welcome to Tea Chat glad to see you around.

[horsencl]

I absolutely do. Whenever I have a rough day at work I spend the train ride home planning my tea session. I'll even go a few blocks out of the way to pick some flowers for company

[LauraW]

So yea... was definitely a Yunnan day - all day - at work. No second tea, but had some great homemade shrimp curry this evening that would definitely have overpowered any tea I tried to drink... so I stuck with water.

[Skippyandjif]

It was the warmest day since I came back to Maine, but that didn't stop me from drinking a lot of tea! Some rose congou saw me through cutting out fabric for a skirt, and I just finished off some lovely genmaicha.

[LauraW]

It was the warmest day since I came back to Maine, but that didn't stop me from drinking a lot of tea! Some rose congou saw me through cutting out fabric for a skirt, and I just finished off some lovely genmaicha.

I wish I had the time/energy for sewing... I have all the stuff for probably 3-4 projects, just can't seem to get anything started. Also, that would require finding space for the sewing machine again, which is always a perilous task.

[debunix]

At the airport, not enough time at 0-dark-30 this morning for tea, much sadness contemplating the 2000 miles and many hours between me and my first cup of the day.....quite tea focused at the moment!