Tea!

[KevinK]

Angel-san's thread about cheese has got me thinking about tea (yeah, that is unfortunately how my mind works). Any big tea drinkers here? I drink like 2-3 pots of green tea every day I specially order from a farm near Kyoto, Japan. Called Gyokuro karigane, it is much higher quality than anything I can buy here, even on the top shelf of a Japanese grocery store.

Gyokuro is a "shaded" tea in that it is grown in the shade just before harvest. This increases sweetness and aroma. However, I don't buy the actual tea leaves (too expensive), I buy the chopped up stems (karigane) which have most of the taste and quality of the actual leaves, but at a fraction of the price. The stems also have much less caffeine, good so as to not aggravate my insomnia.

I start my day with a big Starbucks, but I'm all about the tea the rest of the day. How about you?

 

[GodsGrace]

What does Angel-sans mean?
I hope it doesn't mean that she is "without" something!

Tea. I know how to make a cup of tea.
Then I got here to where I live now and my friends would just put up a pot full of water and stick two teabags in there and that's how they'd make the tea.

So I adjusted - I can do that!

Well, one day Rosa came over. She's a tea lover.
Did I hear it from her!!

I went back to my old ways --

Does green tea really take the appetite away?

Wondering

 

[KevinK]

"San" is an honorific suffix in Japanese. You can add it to any name.

Making tea correctly is a whole ritual, but easy once you've done it a few times. The correct way does not involve teabags.

Green tea does seem to kill appetite. I recently lost 5 pounds when I started drinking it again. Even my doctor noticed.

 

[GodsGrace]

"San" is an honorific suffix in Japanese. You can add it to any name.

Making tea correctly is a whole ritual, but easy once you've done it a few times. The correct way does not involve teabags.

Green tea does seem to kill appetite. I recently lost 5 pounds when I started drinking it again. Even my doctor noticed.

Kevin-san

Do you use that metal thing that requires measuring the tea leaves??

I used to use that many years ago but have gotten lazy.

Or are you speaking of something different?

W

 

[KevinK]

I'm not sure what you're referring to, but I have a special teapot with a center basket and a plunger. Loose leaves of course!

You can do it low tech, also, the main things are loose leaves, not bags, and water temperature (boiling hot!). Pre-warm the pot with some of the boiling water, then throw out the waste water, add tea leaves and fresh hot water. Steep 3 minutes, depending on type of tea.

And don't be like my sister, who forgets to throw out the pre-rinse water and defeats the purpose of pre-warming!

 

[KevinK]

Is this similar to how Rosa told you?

 

[GodsGrace]

No. Rosa uses tea bags! LOL!

The method you describe is the method I used to use years ago. Except I used the round metal tea leaf holder. No special pots that I can remember.
But I didn't know about pre-heating.

How come you know so much about everything!!

But must go now till later...

Wondering

 

[KevinK]

How come you know so much about everything!!

I don't. My brother knows the other half.

 

[GodsGrace]

Oh. My favorite tea is
Earl Grey
Twinings

What say you?

W

I don't. My brother knows the other half.

Make sure you two stay friendly.
I think you have it made!!
(and I don't mean the tea).

W

 

[AbbeyJoy]

I love Iced tea. My dad is from TX were his family drinks iced tea all the time and Dr pepper. I love drinking tea when I have a cold and sick with honey in it

 

[KevinK]

No. Rosa uses tea bags! LOL!

The method you describe is the method I used to use years ago. Except I used the round metal tea leaf holder. No special pots that I can remember.
But I didn't know about pre-heating.

How come you know so much about everything!!

But must go now till later...

Wondering

It sounds like you're using a tea-ball. They're not bad. The best is just dumping the leaves into the pot, so they can expand and the water flows freely around them. Messy to clean up, though, and no easy way to stop the steep. I find the pots with integrated wire baskets a good compromise, almost as good as a loose steep. (My current teapot has a center basket with a plunger that can seal off the water and stop the steeping process. This prevents over-steeping and gives you multiple steeps with the same leaves. Important when you're stretching your tea dollars.)

Pre-heating is important. If you don't, the pot absorbs most of the heat and you get a cold steep.

I could tell you fancy stuff, but would bore you to death. Like how to adjust the amount of caffeine in your tea with a simple technique, or decaffeinate it completely by yourself.

 

[Angel]

I like lemon flavored tea with honey.

 

[GodsGrace]

I love Iced tea. My dad is from TX were his family drinks iced tea all the time and Dr pepper. I love drinking tea when I have a cold and sick with honey in it

I've heard this.
But they say to add a shot of whiskey.
It may not do anything for the cold, but it makes you forget you have one!


W

 

[GodsGrace]

It sounds like you're using a tea-ball. They're not bad. The best is just dumping the leaves into the pot, so they can expand and the water flows freely around them. Messy to clean up, though, and no easy way to stop the steep. I find the pots with integrated wire baskets a good compromise, almost as good as a loose steep. (My current teapot has a center basket with a plunger that can seal off the water and stop the steeping process. This prevents over-steeping and gives you multiple steeps with the same leaves. Important when you're stretching your tea dollars.)

Pre-heating is important. If you don't, the pot absorbs most of the heat and you get a cold steep.

I could tell you fancy stuff, but would bore you to death. Like how to adjust the amount of caffeine in your tea with a simple technique, or decaffeinate it completely by yourself.

Hi Kevin,

Yes. A tea ball would be what I used to use.
Now, you didn't respond to what my favorite tea is.
Earl Grey, Twinings
Your silence is telling!
It does have a flavor that is different from all others. And, anyway, you know what they say. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. I put forth that the same goes for taste!

I can also tell that all of the paraphernalia for making tea correctly is available to you. Which brings up the question of where you might live. England?? This is not true for many other countries that do not love tea to this degree. The country I live in loves coffee, especially espresso, and wine. Yeah, take a guess where I am.

I would be VERY interested in learning how to remove caffeine from tea. Is it possible to remove it from my favorite tea? I don't drink it a lot because it makes my heart beat - too much!

So, yeah. If you feel like it, please pray tell.

Also, to stop the steeping: Can't you just pour the tea into another pitcher (a hot one!) when it's done so that the leaves remain at the bottom?? No paraphernalia here... must make do.

Wondering

 

[KevinK]

The gyokuro I mentioned in the opening post is in fact my favorite. It is a Japanese green tea. Black teas are OK, but I really dig green tea.

England? Close. San Francisco Bay Area. I drink coffee, too. I know about tea because of my heritage (half Japanese, half Chinese).

Decaffeinating tea: this takes advantage of the fact that the first compounds that extract from tea leaves is the caffeine. Almost all the caffeine leaches out in under a minute (depending on type of tea). The flavonoids don't start to come off till about 45 seconds into the steep. So, you can play with a 15 second or so window where you can remove most of the caffeine, but leave most of the flavor. In practice you steep for 45-60 seconds (play around with the time), then throw out this initial infusion and refill the pot with fresh, hot water. It's your call how much flavor you want to retain, vs, how much caffeine you can live with. Once you figure out a process you like, you don't have to worry about finding commercially-decaffeinated tea, and wondering if they're using chemicals to do it. You can decaf any tea you like.

Yes, you can simply decant the steeped brew into another pot to control brew times. I don't do it that way, but it would work just fine.