I have been trying to get my green tea to taste like the China Green Tips at Starbucks. I know this not the best green tea, but there is something about the taste that I really like. Anyways, I bought a few boxes of it and have trying to make it at home. At first my results were pretty bad. I ended up with something that had almost no flavor. I also notice that the tea I make looks much more oxidized (a lot darker and it leaves a brownish film on the cup) like it had been sitting out for a long time.
I checked the tea kettle and it was full of a film from water deposits. So I threw that out and got a new stainless steel tea kettle and some bottled water. The results were a lot better. There was no more oxidation or tea film on the cup, but it still lacked a lot of flavor. It is like there is just a hint (a strong hint) of the flavor of a cup at Starbucks. I have tried different temperatures and have even used the same cups that they use at Starbucks.
What else should I try? Should I get distilled water? Never let the water reach a boil? What am I doing wrong?
Jan 19th, '08, 01:02
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Space Samurai
Get some tepid water and put a teabag in it for five minutes.
Last edited by Space Samurai on Jan 19th, '08, 21:21, edited 2 times in total.
Jan 19th, '08, 01:17
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Jan 19th, '08, 20:45
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scruffmcgruff
Jan 19th, '08, 21:25
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Darkness, don't take things to such an extreme. It's a very old saying.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... +monkey+do
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... +monkey+do
And thanks to the online aphorism dictionary, peace was restored to tea-land...
As for the Starbucks tea, for Green or White Tea, a good rule of thumb is 180 degrees should be your maximum temperature- Hotter than that, and you destroy the flavor.
Try pouring the boiling water into a first mug to cool, then into a 2nd mug to cool a bit more. Do this once or twice. That should do the trick!
And no more than 2.5 to 3 minutes max steeping time for loose-leaf green tea. Let the tealeaves expand throughout the cup or teapot, then strain when you pour it- Don't stuff the leaves into a small, cramped, constrained infusing device and expect much.
And the 2nd rule of thumb with any tea is experiment... try slightly different amt's of tea, steeping times, etc, until you find what you are looking for! Varying these factors will make a surprising amt. of difference in the taste of the tea-
Lastly, if you want some better Chinese Green Tea, try these vendors:
http://www.sevencups.com/
http://www.teaspring.com/
http://stores.ebay.com/Dragon-Tea-House
And since this is an Adagio Board, I will plug them as well! Prob a good shop if you are new to tea:
http://www.adagio.com
Good luck!
Jan 20th, '08, 20:37
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Jan 20th, '08, 21:08
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Fo shizzle. . .Mary R wrote:Man, you will never find better context examples than at the Urban dictionary. .
Starbucks has one of those handy-dandy Bunn instant hot water thingies, right? And I think they just use tap water plumbed directly into their equipment. My former employer had one and they are less than boiling, which ticks off the health dept. . . however they are inconsistent w/temp because it fills up every time you dispense hot water. You should be able to produce these same results at home!
I also notice they put two tea bags in the venti and grande (Large & Medium). I have ordered the green tips indesparation on a road trip once. It's the only acceptable tea product you can find at Sbux, IMO. And no one there knows anything about tea, other than to stick the bag in a cup and get some hot water.
Jan 20th, '08, 23:16
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I thought they used Tazo -- am I wrong on this?augie wrote: I also notice they put two tea bags in the venti and grande (Large & Medium). I have ordered the green tips indesparation on a road trip once. It's the only acceptable tea product you can find at Sbux, IMO. And no one there knows anything about tea, other than to stick the bag in a cup and get some hot water.
Seems to be the usual routine at 99% of coffee/tea shops in our dearest US of A...augie wrote:And no one there knows anything about tea, other than to stick the bag in a cup and get some hot water.
And while we're on the subject, if only we could get the masses drinking tea instead of coffee and soda, think how much drastically lower our health insurance premiums would be?
Not to mention, it's better for the soul... just the act of stopping for a minute and paying attention long enough to brew some leaf into a beverage properly each day would do wonders for society...