Adagio teapots and boiling water? Single cup infuser ?'s

[T1Pimp]

I'm new to tea. I decided to ditch coffee and dive into tea. I started wtih green teabags, then switched to green loose leaf (wow HUGE differnce). I've now sampled oolong and black teas (mambo is sooo incredibly good). Anyway... for greens I was just using my coffee maker to warm the water, letting it cool a bit, then pouring it into my glass mug/infuser. I decided to try black tea, so I went and got a teapot. After reading up on this, it seems I need yet ANOTHER teapot with an infuser. That seems like a lot of equipment. I can't wait for the trinitea to come out in November. Until then, I was wondering if water can be boiled in the luna or glass teapot sold by Adagio? By using my single cup infuser, I'm basically taking the time to boil water, and then 3-5 minutes per cup. For black tea I'm spending 15 minutes a morning... whereas if I had a large teapot, I'd just spend 5 and then just pour when I am ready for more.

Secondly, to this point I've been making enough for 3 cups of tea. I put the full amount of leafs into my single cup infuser, heat my water, and pure water into the single cup infuser. Let stand for x # of minutes, enjoy. For the second cup, I just reuse the tea from the previous cup. Is this how I'm supposed to do it? I've read that most caffine is releasse in the first steaping... so am I basically getting 3 cups worth of caffine in the first cup? By using 3 cups worth of tea in my infuser and reusing it, am I changing the flavor?

Any help for the tea newbie would be appreaciated.
Paul

[tenuki]

hot water pot like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-CD-EPC2 ... ome-garden


For green tea I usually use my iron tetsubin over a tea light to keep hot water at my desk all day, however I've recently been drinking a lot of oolong, and have switched over to the intelitea variable temp cordless kettle so I can get boiling water as well as any temp down to white tea, nice!

I use my gaiwan to brew most everything, even the green tea. heh. except the roasted mountain oolongs, I use my Yixing Cha Hai for that.

I have a sand timer for the green, white and black tea, just count in my head for the oolongs.

I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm having fun and loving the result!

I often use the same oolong leaves for 10-15 infusions, I just increase the time of each infusion until the tea is tapped out. But yes, most of the caffeen and healthy stuff is in the first pouring. If you want tasty tea late at night just ditching the first pouring is roughly the same as drinking decafinated tea.

[Carnelian]

If you want to do teapot brewing you will need both a teapot for the steeping and a tea kettle or other boiling contraption. I have a copco stovetop kettle, basic but impossible to screw up.
I find that boiling over flame gives better results (probably due to oxygen content in the water) but in a pinch a large pyrex measuring cup in a microwave can work just fine for boiling water.
I've never had much luck with electric models, so I just stick with good old fire and kettle.

[tenuki]

some people claim teapot over a fire is best - something about oxegen content. But I've never been able to tell the difference.

[karia]

hot water pot like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Zojirushi-CD-EPC2 ... ome-garden

read my mine!! though that model is gone i have this model:
Zojirushi CD-LCC30 Micom 3.0-Liter Electric Dispensing Pot

amazon has it for $134, they usually have a sale where you get $25 off if you buy $125 in the home and garden store, plus free shipping and it being tax free its a VERY good deal.

THIS is a god send. always you can have 3 liters of hot water EXACTLY at the best temps for blacks (208) or if like it a bit cooler 195 and 175 are also selectable.

i LOVE it, i ordered mine EXACTLY one year ago today and i would have paid 3x as much for the year of great tea it has given me.

a world to the wise however, many american and chinese makers make "electric tea kettles" though i have not tried what is on sale here at adagio every other non japanese electric kettle is *bleep*. there are many reasons why but suffice to say that these like rice cookers are a staple of every japanese kitchen and high quality machines like this one are a must. cheaper machines like those from sunbeam are not even worth the time of day. i chose this brand because this brand is what i used when i lived in japan, i loved it there and its very highly rated here.

sorry to ramble but basically all i am trying to say is this, if you want the best of the best of the best always ready hot water that makes great tea this is the ticket. read the reviews of this on amazon.com 13 reviews all giving this product a 5 star rating. i mean i simply cant say enough good things about this. its expense but its worth easily 3-4 times as much if you are serious tea drinker. it is amazing for getting your greens and whites at just the right temp. there is even a 7 hour timer if you like your water freshly boiled in the morning. the construction is amazing. sorry i will stop now.

ok one last thing:
how to get exactly 3, 5 or 7 minutes? i use the timer on my microwave or oven (mostly the oven timer). if its relatively new (less than 4 years old) there most likely is a timer function that will count down to however long you need. and when it beeps just take the loose tea out.

one last thing, i use the Paper Filters adaigo sells. since i never do a second infusion it works great. i have many infusers but after i found the paper filters i dont even bother with any messy clean up or infusers.

ok now i am really done.

i think i want some genmai cha with some english muffins. good luck hope i was helpful.

[diffuse]

just a side comment: using a metal infuser/tea ball/strainer/etc. really isn't that messy, imho. i'm kind of surprised to see people suggesting that it is a big deal--just dump the tea leaves out (into compost or garbage), rinse strainer, etc. it takes about a minute, & is much greener than buying paper filters/tea bags all the time & chucking them out!

[klemptor]

I don't use tea balls personally because, in my opinion, they don't give the tea enough room to expand. I prefer to use the RoT mesh baskets.

[Chip]

I don't use tea balls personally because, in my opinion, they don't give the tea enough room to expand. I prefer to use the RoT mesh baskets.

I have the same mesh infuser baskets from RoT for 7 years...they are the best and the used leaf just falls out even if dried up. They are the best infuser I have ever seen or used. They are also the roomiest. Plus, they never get clogged up.

I now have 4 of them for various uses...but still use the original. Best $5 investment you can make.

I have paper bags that I can fill, but they have sat in the tea cabinet unused for years.

Chip

[diffuse]

heh. infusers, tea balls, tea stick--whatever works for you. my point was solely that anything in that nature would be smarter & greener than constantly buying paper tea bags/sleeves/etc. & throwing them out. i'm still mystified that rinsing out an infuser apparently counts as messy.