Measurements (1 tsp, *really*?)

[jumpin jester]

So...A while after I got into tea I came upon some Dragonwell and realized it doesn't fit very well into a teaspoon, so I thought I would measure out close to what a teaspoon was, measure it on a scale, brew it and if it turned out ok, then measure that much from then on for all greens and call it good. This measurement came out to 1.5 grams per 10 oz. or so (standard coffee cup).

I hadn't really thought about it much until recently when I ordered a variety of teas, but I realized I can't really keep this going much longer...it's gotta bite me in the hind end sooner or later, right?

What really boggles my mind is how the standard measurement continues to be 1 tsp, when clearly many teas don't fit into a teaspoon, so...what gives?

I much prefer measuring my tea out so I have consistently good tea, but I've never seen weight measurements accompanying measuring cup measurements for tea.

Hmm...what am I to do?

edit: I forgot to add that I'm curious about how to treat all teas in this area, but I thought the green forum is probably the best suited for this type of discussion (could be wrong!).

[Proinsias]

You've come to the right place, digital scales and thermometers abound.

Many places do give measurements by weight.

I tend to go by eye. If you use the same brewing vessel then after a while you should be able to tell what looks about the right amount in it for different teas.

Teaspoons can become quite useless when dealing with long leaf wiry teas too, or compressed tea.

To anwer the question what to do:

If 1.5g per 10oz works ok then use that as a starting point for other teas and adjust things up or down to taste.

[edkrueger]

I would do about 5 g or more to 10oz.

[Chip]

Yeah, 1.5 grams per 10 ounces is a very low ratio of leaf to water, as Ed points out by his example. But if you like it that way, great, but I would consider experimenting higher.

I tend to use .5 - 1 gram leaf per ounce water, depending upon the type and grade of tea. Some teas even higher.

[Tea and coffee]

I'm still trying to figure that out also.
do not have a thermometer at the moment...will add that to the shopping list.

I just pretty much use a tea filter and fill the botom part with leaves and what seems to look like what would go in a tea bag.
Seems to work ok so far.
I'd guess I'm using 3-4 grams per 120ml water...

But I bought this one green tea that was rolled into rings "girl ring tea", jade earing tea, fire ring tea ect...kinda similar to dragon pearlsand one website I'm reading says to put just 1 ring or 2 for a cup of tea.
To me that sounds very weak and I was using 8 rings at first and found that a bit weak.
I asked the person that sold it to me, who actually knows about that specific tea and he told me most people use 10-12 rings in their tea.

[jumpin jester]

Hmm... 0.5-1.0 g / oz. That seems like some pretty strong tea! Maybe this is why I only usually get 1 infusion out of my teas. Does this apply to the recommended steep times, such as 2.5-3.0 minutes for greens? Or are you folks using this ratio with lower steep times? From what I understand, this is how gung fu style works - lots of leaf and short steep times.

Well, I guess it's time to start experimenting! woo!

[Proinsias]

I would imagine most folks around here are getting more than 1 infusion.

[Chip]

DEFINITELY shorter steep times, and yeah, definitely multiple steeps!