Tea Presses

[kasey]

I've been using a PIAOI tea infuser/teapot for over a year and am not enjoying tea like I used to, I guess because the polycarbonate reservoir
is retaining different flavors.

I like guywans but I recently read a recommendation that one should
brew 10 grams of leaf for a short time. OKAY!!! WHEEOOOO!!!

But I think that a guywan might be just a little bit too small for that...

Well, take it to the logical extreme and the solution is obviously to
get the absolute most out of the leaf, right? That means a press.

Most of what I'm seeing are of fragile glass except for one design by Planetary Designs, which is made entirely of stainless steel, but how
will this affect the flavor of tea?

Any ideas, anyone?

[Chip]

You need to adjust amount of leaf brewed to the size of the brewing vessel, whatever it is. 10 grams is generally extreme for a gaiwan, IMHO.

Tea presses are just OK in my books, but don't plunge the plunger, generally speaking. You can do a lot better than a tea press.

Welcome to TeaChat by the way!

[tingjunkie]

Though it may sound logical on some level, squeezing the leaves to get the most out of them is not the way to go. It would release too much acidic/bitter flavor.

If you want the most out of a leaf, all it takes is finding a nice brewing vessel (gaiwan, glazed teapot, glass teapot, etc.) and experimenting with water temperature, brewing time, and amount of leaf. It's definitely a learning process, but if you do a little research here first, the learning curve shouldn't bee too hard. Good luck.

[Maitre_Tea]

Though it may sound logical on some level, squeezing the leaves to get the most out of them is not the way to go. It would release too much acidic/bitter flavor.

+1

I understand that you want to get the most out of your leaf (trust me, as a person who overnight steeps just to get that last bit of flavor out), but pressing is a bad idea. Rags and sponges needed to be squeezed to get water out, but at least in my understanding, tea leaves are not like sponges in their cellular structure or whatnot

[TomVerlain]

tea presses, or coffee presses pressed into use as tea presses, are good for large volumes of tea made at once. The press bit is really best used as a filter, you do not even need to press it down all the way. I have a "Bodum Assam 17-Ounce Tea Press" which I use for loose leaf - like earl grey or lapsang souchong. If you push the plunger down, it seals the bottom compartment to keep tea in the pot from continuing to brew. That tea can get bitter, depending on type. I like to use it as basicly a big filter. Not my favorite pot, but useful for casual drinking.

The 10 grams and 10 seconds kind of brewing has its own pluses and minuses. For puerh, 7 grams in 120-150 ml with very short infusions is fine by me. You might find some teas are great like this, or utterly fail. Best way to find out is to try various ratios for each type of favorite tea in different pots. You can probably pretty quickly hone in on what works best for your tea - skill and equiptment.

[kasey]

I appreciate all the quick responses from all you avid theists out there!
Great info, thanks for saving me the trouble and expense.

Most obliged to you, Tom, for your specific advice on puerh.

This is a great site; so happy that I stumbled upon it!

[JP]

The idea behind the tea presses is that the leaf gets sealed into a compartment away from the brew to stop the brewing, not squeezed to extract more from the leaf. This is instead of pouring tea out into another container to serve from, or removing tea bags from the pot. A simpler and tidier way to go.

I also have a Bodum Assam 17-Ounce Tea Press which works well for me. I sometimes use it when I want lots of tea with little fuss, such as tea to go. I don't use it with my better whole leaf teas.

[Intuit]

I too have the Bodum Assam teapress. It sat unused for a couple of years because I didn't like the way it brewed black and dark oolong teas until I decided to give iced tea a whirl again during hot summer weather, thanks to TC encouragement. This teapot serves very well for cold-brewing teas, especially whole leaf teas that may have a astringent or smokey bite when brewed hot.

[entropyembrace]

Something no one mentioned is that when you're brewing loose leaf tea in a small vessel like a gaiwan you can generally get several infusions out of the leaves...so don't throw them out after one use! IF you want more out of your tea then pour on some hot water and make another cup.

Of course you might already be doing that...but it's something that's not really obvious when you start drinking loose tea.