Recipe Tea: What are you steeping these days?

The package on your green tea is wrong. The temperature for green tea is much lower than boiling. My tea shop boiling water guide says 180-190 degrees for green--"crab eye water." It says to steep for 3 minutes. Other sources I've seen say green tea should be steeped at 175-185 degrees, as the hotter the water, the more bitter the tea is going to be.

Good tea really requires watching the boil and using a timer.

 

I found my tea basket!

First cup: Hojicha!

 

Indian Estate Tea Avongrove Organic First Flush

My first flush.... a Darjeeling. It was very tasty, vegetal in flavor.

 

I had a beer last night that tasted of Darjeeling. It was kind of weird.

 

The tea service

The liquor

The samosas to accompany the tea.

Indian canapes, an aloo chat on a small pappad

 

Nice.... God, I love mint chutney.

 

me too. Here I've learned about other chutneys like tomato and coconut. There's another that's like the mint/coriander chutney but it has gram flour in it and it's sweeter than the normal mint chutney.

 

Tomato chutney is good--my mother-in-law makes one from yellow tomatoes that is almost like a sweet and sour sauce.

My latest steep: Iron Goddess of Mercy.

 

I had Kashmiri tea...apparently it's known as Green Tea Chai.

wow.

 

That sounds amazing. If you find a place to order it online, let me know.

 

Depending on availability, it might make sense just to make your own. If you can't find the specific tea (Kashmiri) for it, I'm sure various other greens would work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahwah

 

It is amazing. It is unassuming because you look at it and it looks like regular tea. Until you smell it as it comes up to your mouth, and then taste it. It noses spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and then it's sweet. I didn't take any photos of it because it's pretty standard looking tea.

 

I typically make my chai from a local mix. I steep it strong, then mix it with the sweetener and milk (or half and half).

 

In my own experience, chai is always best prepared by simmering the tea in a mixture of water and milk, about a 50/50 ratio. I normally simmer it for 8 or 10 minutes and add sweetener afterwards. The trick is to use low heat after you get it to temperature. You want it to simmer, not boil.

I tend to use a bit more tea leaves than I would normally use with an equal amount of water for other tea. I think the milk does make it more difficult to steep, which is why I do it this way.

I've tried making chai by steeping in water first and then adding milk after, but it never tastes quite the same.

Soy milk works equally well as dairy milk.

 

I've tried it both ways, and since I have an electric kettle, it's far easier to do the stronger steep. I like ease, especially if the difference in taste is negligible.

 

Ah, I always use a small sauce pan and a mesh strainer.