Thursday TeaDay 5/27/10 He who hesitates ... ?

[Chip]

Good news! It is TeaDay. Please join us and share what is in your cup throughout the Teaday. Be sure to check out what others are sipping as well.

Yesterday we discussed whether time away from tea caused us to think more about ... what else, tea. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

He who hesitates, overbrews ... how often do you overbrew your tea? And what is the cause? Share your brewing blunders today on TeaDay.

I am looking forward to sharing overbrews today with everyone! Bottoms up.

[debunix]

Simple distraction: I can fit a lot of different tea into my day, but only at the cost of doing many other things while making tea--office work, cooking, paperwork, playing with the cat, talking on the phone--and sometimes the tea gets lost amidst the distractions.

I do it much less than half the time, but my tea prefs are rather strongly biased towards teas that are friendly towards such distraction (oolongs, puerhs, mellows whites and greens), with lower temps to further relax the need for precision.

When the tea gets overdone, though, I have no hesitation in tossing it overboard, and starting a fresh infusion.

Wednesday started with some Anji white tea, moved on to some Rou Gui oolong from HouDe, and now finishing with Diamond TGY from Norbu. No overbrewing with these forgiving teas.

[karmaplace]

I'm better at timing for brewing than I am at remembering the proper amount of tea leaves for whatever teaware I'm using or whatever strength I want the tea. I'm not entirely sure why this is the case.

Having some iced masala chai as I type this. Mmmm.

[Ebtoulson]

vary rarely do i over brew tea...under brewing on the other hand happens about 40 percent of the time. I'd rather stop brewing early than to end up with an overly bitter drink, I like to look at it as taking the lesser of the two evils.

[auhckw]

All the time previously.

Have to learn how to get it right. Planning to buy a thermometer to measure the heat of water.

Question: How do you measure the grams before putting into the pot?

*On Karigane and Puerh today. Lucky one can mix tea drinks, not advisable to mix liquor drinks (can get drunk easily)

[debunix]

Question: How do you measure the grams before putting into the pot?

A cheap scale works fine. Search digital pocket scale on Amazon to get some ideas. Mine were under $10.

[Trey Winston]

About half the time, I think. So easily distracted...

Enjoying some non-oversteeped Silver Needle today.

[omegapd]

Never. I normally save my tea drinking for times when I'm totally unoccupied with other things- and set the timer immediately after I add the water to the leaves.

[debunix]

I do use a timer sometimes, especially when I'm doing a more formal or comparative tasting, but even then I sometimes forget to turn it on!

[Victoria]

Very infrequently but it does happen some mornings when I am not quite awake and get distracted.

[laura99]

Not often, but usually at work when it happens. I almost always use a timer - but once in a while I think I can keep my attention span for 30 seconds, and next thing you know its 5 minutes later!

Started this morning off with yunnan golden curls.

[chittychat]

It happens with my lesser black teas for breakfast. Lesser meaning I steep all in one sitting in a big tea pot. Since I am the breakfast making General of the house I sometimes forget my tea.

I never measure in grams. My experience tells me. Teaspoon/tablespoon for measurable teas like anxi or some blacks, the cup formed by my hand for all the others. Drink enough tea and you can dispense of a scale and other useless gadgets.

[LauraW]

Much less than half the time - once every couple weeks or so, usually just from simple distraction. Typically my afternoon/evening tea, as that's usually while I'm making dinner. If I know I'm cooking something even mildly thought/time/hand intensive, I'll try to brew a white, so I know I have a couple minutes' grace and it won't be undrinkable.

How many times do I forget and turn to the tea just in time to find it's just right? Fairly often.

I never measure in grams. My experience tells me. Teaspoon/tablespoon for measurable teas like anxi or some blacks, the cup formed by my hand for all the others. Drink enough tea and you can dispense of a scale and other useless gadgets.

I'm with you on this one, unless it's a tea that's new to me, I typically just measure in my palm - or green, with which I still have trouble, in which case I do still use a spoon. Comes from years of cooking and learning to estimate what is a palm-sized teaspoon, etc.

[geeber1]

Virtually never. I set the timer on my microwave as soon as I add the water. At work I have a timer on my computer. Sometimes I'll be out of the room when the timer goes off, and I won't hear it, but that's rare.

No tea yet this morning, but the first cup of the day will be Osmanthus Oolong from Tao of Tea.

[Victoria]

This morning's tea is Gao Shan Luanze from Tea Masters - this may be my favorite pick of the 2010 Spring Oolongs, so far. Fabulous.

Have a nice day everyone!