Friday TeaDay 10/22/10 More experience = ... ?

[nickE]

My pots are getting smaller, I prefer <100ml these days, except for Sencha. My cups aren't really getting smaller, I like pouring directly from pot into 1 cup.

No tea yet today, currently drinking an Americano at the library. Lots of studying to do.

[Katy1977]

Same size, though I expect they will get smaller further into my tea journey.


Den's Fuka-midori in my cup this morning.

TwoPynts, your teapot can't get any smaller than the one on your finger lol, okay, I couldn't resist!

My pots are getting bigger, I've started drinking a whole pot of rooibos after work sometimes, but in the same sized teacups.

Katy1977

[Leo_Blue]

I would say everything is getting smaller for me, though I have some tasting cups that are ~1 ounce so those aren't getting smaller anytime soon. I have been looking for some small yixing for oolongs, but now I'm to the part where I actually need to buy them... Since I just bought an electric kettle and some new tea samples that might not be for a while.

Had some Jun Shan Yin Zhen with my brother really really late last night, and I think I'll go have my last sheng pu-erh sample now.

[Chip]

Used to be that my cups were getting smaller and the pots were also. I guess I hit bottom and bounced a bit. Now the pots are about the same, but the cups have gotten bigger ... mostly due to Hagi. A few cups have gotten smaller yet, some have remained the same ... but mostly bigger cups.

Great TD that included Sencha Premier from Adagio and another sencha tasting. And lastly broke open the Kame Gyokuro from O-C with the Mrs. brewed up in one of the Hankook Korean Travel sets, cup holds 2 ounce, and the set works great for gyo.

[etolson71]

I am a relative newbie (1-2 years) and I am using a big cup (12oz). Not sure why I would want to go to a smaller cup but maybe I will figure it out as I become more experienced.

Question for the more experienced folks: Why would I want to go to a small cup???

[entropyembrace]

I am a relative newbie (1-2 years) and I am using a big cup (12oz). Not sure why I would want to go to a smaller cup but maybe I will figure it out as I become more experienced.

Question for the more experienced folks: Why would I want to go to a small cup???

When you get to drinking more expensive teas which you can get many infusions from you´ll want smaller pots and cups because you won´t be able to drink say...12 infusions of a nice oolong if they´re 12 oz each. So you make more smaller infusions so that you are getting the most you can out of expensive leaves.

[Chip]

I am a relative newbie (1-2 years) and I am using a big cup (12oz). Not sure why I would want to go to a smaller cup but maybe I will figure it out as I become more experienced.

Question for the more experienced folks: Why would I want to go to a small cup???

For one reason, as you get into more expensive teas, brewing 12 ounce steeps can be brutal cost wise. So, the more expensive the tea, often the smaller the steeps.

Also as you brew the better and more expensive teas, you will often brew higher leaf to water ratio ... 1 gram or more per ounce of water.

As I mentioned above, I brewed 2 ounce steeps of gyokuro, 2 grams leaf per ounce water. So, 4 grams of premo leaf. If I brewed 12 ounces, that would be 24 grams ...

[etolson71]

I am a relative newbie (1-2 years) and I am using a big cup (12oz). Not sure why I would want to go to a smaller cup but maybe I will figure it out as I become more experienced.

Question for the more experienced folks: Why would I want to go to a small cup???

For one reason, as you get into more expensive teas, brewing 12 ounce steeps can be brutal cost wise. So, the more expensive the tea, often the smaller the steeps.

Also as you brew the better and more expensive teas, you will often brew higher leaf to water ratio ... 1 gram or more per ounce of water.

As I mentioned above, I brewed 2 ounce steeps of gyokuro, 2 grams leaf per ounce water. So, 4 grams of premo leaf. If I brewed 12 ounces, that would be 24 grams ...

Let me ask you experienced folks another question...How do you store the leaves between infusions???

[AdamMY]

Let me ask you experienced folks another question...How do you store the leaves between infusions???

It may be less of a practical sense time wise, but most of us when we brew multiple infusions tend to exhaust the tea within a few hours unless of course it is a rather special tea. That being said a really high quality tea can last a about half a day before getting re-awoken and then continued to be brewed.

But for most teas, just as long as the leaves do not dry out, we typically brew infusion after infusion for an hour or more worth of drinking pleasure.

[Chip]

What Adam said ... and really depends on the tea too. Japanese greens I try to keep moving versus letting it sit for a prolonged period.

Oolong and pu-erh I will let sit hours and even overnight.

[debunix]

I mostly drink from cups that are 6 oz or smaller now, and I started out brewing with teabags or tea strainers in coffee mugs, so I've shrunk that part for sure. Sometimes I still use quite large vessels--for herbal tisanes I'm as likely to pull out the pint pot as the 6 oz glass pot--but sometimes I want a wee little pot for a long gongfu session with a very special tea.

In the last 2 years, what has been most challenging is to match sizes of brewing vessel to drinking cup. Small tasting cups generally hold a little less than my small gaiwans or small pots; my first Hagi hold two of my sencha pots' worth of sencha; even the cup that came with my sweet 'travel set' from Hankook holds less than the brewing vessel it comes with; and I've only found one cup, the TC TA SO #2 cup by shyrabbit, that really nicely matches the output of my regular small gaiwans & pots.

Today I've only had a thermos full of Huang Jin Gui 'golden turtle' oolong from norbu, or rather, a small portion of it, because it was so popular during clinic that I didn't get very much before I ran out. That was brewed in a Kamjove infuser cup that is about 5 oz per infusion. Soon I'll start a gongfu cha session with a 75mL gaiwan.

[Skippyandjif]

My teaware is staying about the same size. I tend to stick with the same teaware until its bitter end, and only one teacup has needed to be retired so far.

Chrysanthemum puerh this afternoon, currently drinking jasmine sencha.

[entropyembrace]

Let me ask you experienced folks another question...How do you store the leaves between infusions???

You don´t really...usually you make all the infusions in a row in a single session...one after the other as you drink each one. Another reason to use smaller teaware otherwise it´s just too much to drink in one afternoon!

[Chip]

Let me ask you experienced folks another question...How do you store the leaves between infusions???

You don´t really...usually you make all the infusions in a row in a single session...one after the other as you drink each one. Another reason to use smaller teaware otherwise it´s just too much to drink in one afternoon!

heh, revisiting a TGY from OTTI that is 2 days old, and still flippin' good.

4 pots of SLT (soggy leaf tea) all brewing at the moment.

[entropyembrace]

Let me ask you experienced folks another question...How do you store the leaves between infusions???

You don´t really...usually you make all the infusions in a row in a single session...one after the other as you drink each one. Another reason to use smaller teaware otherwise it´s just too much to drink in one afternoon!

heh, revisiting a TGY from OTTI that is 2 days old, and still flippin' good.

4 pots of SLT (soggy leaf tea) all brewing at the moment.

They always taste sour to me after more than a few hours sitting in the pot.