How many grams per 14-16 oz mug?

[geeber1]

My favorite mug is right around 16 oz. and I use 5.3 grams of tea to 16 oz. of water. When I'm at work I just use two rounded measuring teaspoons for 16 oz. I start out with a 3:00 steep time and can usually get a 2nd or even 3rd infusion out of the leaves.

Are you using water at a rolling boil? If I'm using a kettle, I pour the water into a glass measuring cup and then into my pot so it cools just a little bit. I also keep my zoji at 208 and try not to have the water hit directly on my dry leaves when I fill my pot or ingenuitea. It might be my imagination but I think it keeps bitterness down a bit.

As for the dry mouth feel, that's astringency. Some teas like Darjeeling have more astringency than a Nilgiri or an Assam. Some of the Nilgiris that I have are also totally smooth on the first steep and a little bit astringent on the second.

The beauty (and sometimes frustration!) of tea is that there are so many kinds, you can find what you like best, but there's always room for exploration!

[tjausti]

Very good to know because I hate that feeling

so why would using more tea make that feeling go away as opposed to less tea?

seems like it would be the other way around

[geeber1]

I don't think it's the amount of tea as much as the variety of tea that causes astringency. Some varieties might be astringent from the start but become more so because the leaves' character changes with each steep. I'm far from being an expert, but that is what I have found with some teas. I've had really astringent Darjeelings, but then had Yunnan and Assam teas that stay mellow no matter what.

[entropyembrace]

I have a couple of teas...2007 Ying De Gold and a 2001 Xiaguan shu tuo which start out very astringent and become soft and smooth with longer infusion times, I have no idea how to explain that but maybe something similar is happening when you use more leaf? Which tea specifically are you noticing this with?

[tjausti]

adagio earl grey bravo.

It was noticeably worse 3 weeks ago. maybe it just wears off as the tea is exposed to air and such (I kept the tea in the sample container up until this week.... far from air tight. )

[tjausti]

4.6 grams adagio earl grey bravo to 13oz of water just off boil. 2:30 steep time for steep #1 6:00 for steep # 2.

Just thought I would share in case anyone else is having this problem



Thanks for the Help.

sorry for so many posts. I am in the Linux Forum frame of mind which is more about good documentation and resolution and such

Thanks
Thomas