Monday TeaDay 2/23/09 Tea brewing changes?

[chad]

I'm pretty laid-back on my tea process. As long as I've got water, tea, and some kind of vessel to prepare it - I'm good to go.

Estate pekoe in the mug this morning.

[JustinW]

As I gain more experience, I'm definitely becoming more relaxed. For me, being to serious takes away some of the enjoyment. Relaxing my process allows me to focus more on the tea itself.

[kymidwife]

I answered "leaning toward more precise", but only slightly, and only really because I'm started to brew more greens which require more precision and discipline.

Got my O-Cha order yesterday! Had some Kiri No Mori matcha at around 10pm, stayed up til after 3am. I knew it was a mistake when I did it, but I just couldn't wait to try it with my new whisk and all. I am on my way to try again... maybe some pics are in order.

Edit to add photos:



Grace licked some froth from my finger and then begged to lick the teabowl. The cat was completely unimpressed.




Sarah

[brlarson]

I'm ``leaning towards more precise'' as well. I'm the most painstaking with new teas and I relax with them only after I have _measured_ how relaxed I can be with them.

So far I am having an unusual tea day. Imperial Yunnan from Upton early this morning and a generic Formosa Oolong from Mark T Wendell right now.

Bruce

[ErikaM]

Leaning toward more precise, mostly because I realized I get much better results with a thermometer & scale. Maybe when I have more experience I'll be better at eyeballing stuff.

Grace licked some froth from my finger and then begged to lick the teabowl.

That is so cute. I have one dog who's wild about Adagio Snowbud and will drink a whole cup if you let her. The other is totally not into tea.

This morning I'm drinking a genmai cha sample from Bassaro.

[brad4419]

This teapoll is perfect for me today.

This morning I oversteeped my earl grey cream by about a minute making it just a little more bitter than I like it. A month ago this wouldn't have mattered to me at all I probably wouldn't have even noticed .

I have learned how to brew my tea better by measureing the amount of leaf, water temperature and steep time. The addition of a gaiwan and higher quality tea leaf have increased my tea taste and made me much more precise about brewing methods. As tea taste and knowlege grow the more precise I have become.

[Shelob]

This teapoll is perfect for me today.
I have learned how to brew my tea better by measureing the amount of leaf, water temperature and steep time. The addition of a gaiwan and higher quality tea leaf have increased my tea taste and made me much more precise about brewing methods. As tea taste and knowlege grow the more precise I have become.

+1! Then the more we learnand the more comfortable we become with brewing, the more casual we may become with some of our less forgiving teas!

Congrats Sarah on your matcha and your matcha wares! Love your 'rice wares'
Nice photos too... Gracie is sure a cutie

Matcha from O-Cha to start my day, then I may go to Keemun from Adagio!

Have a FAB TeaDay everyone!
.

[auggy]

Definitely much more casual... I no longer HAVE to get it to the correct 10th of a gram and I am not as strict about the perfect temp. I've learned that .2g and 4 degrees rarely make a true difference.

Milk oolong this am.

[Pentox]

I'm definitely on the more painstaking side. Recently i've been trying some higher end stuff so I don't want to mess it up. So i'm a bit paranoid about the parameters on it.

This morning: the last of my sencha uji 2008 ala Lupicia.

[Chip]

Thanks Sal and Sarah for sharing your photos with us today.

I can be extremely structured and OCD about things at times, like getting things down to the 1/10th of a gram. I can honestly say however that I am a bit more relaxed about brewing tea these days. Part of it is generally being comfortable with the process, technique. So, while I am still rather precise, I am more relaxed about it and not quite as fanatical. A happy medium I suppose.

Started the day with Sencha Premier from Adagio which is a pretty easy going tea, but still got the scale and thermometer and timer out. SweeTea enjoyed the preparation, but Pyrit could not have cared less.

Just finishing up a great session of Chiran Supreme from O-Cha and thinking what is next ...

[Victoria]

Started my day with coffee, but now I'm enjoying the good stuff -
Da Wu Ye oolong from Tea Habitat.

[Geekgirl]

It goes in cycles for me. Sometimes I am very precise - almost OCD - in my teabrewing efforts. Other days I throw some leaves in the general direction of a tetsubin, and hit it with boiling water.

Sal, I love the tea photo today. You really have a way with leaves. I think your tealeaf shots are generally my personal favorites.

The paper crane 30-day project goes on apace. Haven't done much tea photography, but it is raining buckets today, and I'm off work, so maybe today... in the meantime, here's my latest crane shot. You can click the image to see the set.

[Victoria]

Nice, Geek! Love them!

[olivierco]

I answered "leaning toward more precise", but only slightly, and only really because I'm started to brew more greens which require more precision and discipline.

Got my O-Cha order yesterday! Had some Kiri No Mori matcha at around 10pm, stayed up til after 3am. I knew it was a mistake when I did it, but I just couldn't wait to try it with my new whisk and all. I am on my way to try again... maybe some pics are in order.

Edit to add photos:

Congratulations for joining the matcha club!

Yunnan gold this afternoon.

[Drax]

The paper crane 30-day project goes on apace. Haven't done much tea photography, but it is raining buckets today, and I'm off work, so maybe today... in the meantime, here's my latest crane shot. You can click the image to see the set.

Wait a sec, I thought this was originally a 365-day project? Hmmm

It's interesting to see the spread of the votes on today's topic. It's mostly symmetric, but NOT with the most in the middle. Crazy.