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RoboBlaster · 01-13-2005, 08:51 AM

Nope, I don't grow my own tea. I would, but tea is a very particular plant and it takes just the right soil and climate to grow, not to mention produce a drinkable cup of tea. So unless you live in a warm climate in a high elevation with a wet season and dry season like India, China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, etc, you probably won't get too much luck.

And now, the proper preparation of that prime potable...

________________________________________________________________________

There are three major types of tea: oolong, black, and green. All come from the same exact plant, but are prepared differently (but that's a topic for another post). They each have much different tastes, and there is a lot of variation within the types as well. Now, I would bet that most Americans who hate tea have actually not had a well prepared cup of tea. Which is sad, because tea is very simple to make and is relatively cheap. A very high class of wine could cost $10 a glass, whereas the highest quality of tea (which, I would argue, has the same complexity as great glass of wine) will cost around $.50 a cup. Not a bad deal.

Before I get into the method of preparation for the different types of teas, here are my three cardinal rules to ensure a quality cup...

The Three Cardinal Rules For A Good Cuppa

1. Use quality loose leaf. Ditch the bags, they are evil. Especially lipton's. They use the lowest quality of leaf they can get away with, it goes stale quicker, and is blended more for the color of the liquor than the flavor. You can find many good teas at www.specialteas.com or www.uptontea.com or if you really would like to indulge, www.inpursuitoftea.com

2. Use quality water. This rule is simple. Tea is 99.9% water, so if you have bad water, you'll have bad tea. It is best to either use bottled spring water (not distilled, you want the minerals to interact with the tea compunds) or filtered tap water.

3. Follow your own tastes, not mine If you disagree with any points above or below, that's all right. Everyone has their own tastes. Do what you like.

How To Prepare Tea (by type)

Black

Get some water boiling. You want a good healthy boil for this one. A kettle is best, I use an electric one, I got it a Wal-Mart (shudder) for about $10 bucks and love it. It even has a water temperature dial, which is important.

Prepare your vessel. A teapot is best for this. You want the teapot to be good and hot so when the water goes in from the kettle, it doesn't cool down too much to where it is at below tea prep temp. To heat the ole sucker up, either take some really hot water from the kettle and swirl until you feel the outside get hot, or just run hot tap water through the pot till it gets hot.

Measure your tea. For black, you'll want about a spoon per 6 oz. Normal coffee mugs hold about 12 oz., so use that as a gauge.

Put the tea in the pot or infuser. An infuser is usually a wire mesh thingie that fits into the pot. If you don't have an infuser, you could just let it sit in the pot and then strain the tea into your cup as long as you use all of the tea and don't let the leaves sit around in the rest of the tea in the pot. If you are making it in a mug, this can get a little tricky. You could use a tea ball, which is a metal ball made of mesh or perforated steel which you put your tea in. But tea needs room to expand and let water pass all around. Tea balls aren't very good for this. A better alternative would be to find an infuser on the internet that is mug sized. I have one, and it is great.

Pour tea in pot/mug over the leaves. Do not put in the water then the leaves. You want the water to cascade over the leaves so they don't just float on the top.

Wait. How long? Black tea takes from 3-5 minutes. Do not let black tea steep longer than 5 minutes! If you do, the bitter compounds in tea will be released, resulting in a nasty cup. If you want to make tea stronger, use more leaf, never increase time.

Remove tea and enjoy.

Green

Green tea needs a much lower temperature of water, else it will release nasty compunds. When this happens, the tea is considered to be stewed and will taste like grass clipping stew. Not pleasant. The ideal temp if you have a thermometer lying around is about 175-190 F. This is a brisk steam with no bubbles making it to the surface.

Prepare your vessel.

Measure your tea. Still, about a teaspoon per 6 oz.

Put water on tea.

Wait. Green teas need about 1 and a half to 2 minutes tops. Much shorter than black tea.

Serve and enjoy. The really cool thing about green teas is that they can undergo multiple steeps. That's right, the used leaves can be used again. Just repeat the process, adding about 30 seconds to each subsequent steep. The higher quality the leaf, the more infusions you will get. Keep steeping until the flavor recedes. The last steep where just a hint of tea flavor remains is called "magic water."

Oolong

Possibly my favorite tea, oolongs take water temps between green and black. Hotter than green, less than black. The water should be at about 200 F. Not quite boiling.

Prepare your vessel.

Meaure tea. Same as the others. Many vendors will give recommendations on teap prep on the package itself. It's okay to follow them. I suppose I should note that the shape and size of leaf could affect how much you use. A teaspoon of tightly rolled compact leaves is going to be different than big bulky flat leaves. Try to do your best: experimentation is half the fun.

Pour water on tea.

Wait. For this method, steep for about as long as green, maybe a bit longer, but not more than 3 minutes or so. Oolongs can be tempermental, so I would recommend following the vendor's recommendations.

Pour and enjoy. You can also squeeze out a few infsions out of this type of tea, usually more than you could from green. In fact, it is said that the first infusion of oolongs is the most fragrant, but the second has the best flavor - try and see. For oolongs, there is an ancient Chinese tea preparation called gungfu, which uses a special teapot. If there is any interest, I could talk about it as well.

Make Your Own Decaf

Most grocery store tea is bad. Most grocery store decaf tea is Satan's natural assault on the sophisticated human palate. Even higer quality teas lose a lot of flavor during the process of decaffeination. Fortunately, there is an easy and tastier way to do it. Right when you get your water ready, pour just enough into your pot/mug/whatever to cover the leaves. Wait about thirty seconds. Discard the water and make tea as you normally would. Since caffeine is so water soluable, most of it will release in that first 30 seconds and be thrown out with the water. Presto, good decaf.

________________________________________________________________________

And there you have it. RoboBlaster's guide to tea preparation. I hope it's useful. Have fun and, above all else, enjoy!

01-13-2005, 08:51 AM	#10 (permalink)
RoboBlaster Psycho Location: Ouuuterrrr Spaaaaacccceeee	Nope, I don't grow my own tea. I would, but tea is a very particular plant and it takes just the right soil and climate to grow, not to mention produce a drinkable cup of tea. So unless you live in a warm climate in a high elevation with a wet season and dry season like India, China, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, etc, you probably won't get too much luck. And now, the proper preparation of that prime potable... ________________________________________________________________________ There are three major types of tea: oolong, black, and green. All come from the same exact plant, but are prepared differently (but that's a topic for another post). They each have much different tastes, and there is a lot of variation within the types as well. Now, I would bet that most Americans who hate tea have actually not had a well prepared cup of tea. Which is sad, because tea is very simple to make and is relatively cheap. A very high class of wine could cost $10 a glass, whereas the highest quality of tea (which, I would argue, has the same complexity as great glass of wine) will cost around $.50 a cup. Not a bad deal. Before I get into the method of preparation for the different types of teas, here are my three cardinal rules to ensure a quality cup... The Three Cardinal Rules For A Good Cuppa 1. Use quality loose leaf. Ditch the bags, they are evil. Especially lipton's. They use the lowest quality of leaf they can get away with, it goes stale quicker, and is blended more for the color of the liquor than the flavor. You can find many good teas at www.specialteas.com or www.uptontea.com or if you really would like to indulge, www.inpursuitoftea.com 2. Use quality water. This rule is simple. Tea is 99.9% water, so if you have bad water, you'll have bad tea. It is best to either use bottled spring water (not distilled, you want the minerals to interact with the tea compunds) or filtered tap water. 3. Follow your own tastes, not mine If you disagree with any points above or below, that's all right. Everyone has their own tastes. Do what you like. How To Prepare Tea (by type) Black Get some water boiling. You want a good healthy boil for this one. A kettle is best, I use an electric one, I got it a Wal-Mart (shudder) for about $10 bucks and love it. It even has a water temperature dial, which is important. Prepare your vessel. A teapot is best for this. You want the teapot to be good and hot so when the water goes in from the kettle, it doesn't cool down too much to where it is at below tea prep temp. To heat the ole sucker up, either take some really hot water from the kettle and swirl until you feel the outside get hot, or just run hot tap water through the pot till it gets hot. Measure your tea. For black, you'll want about a spoon per 6 oz. Normal coffee mugs hold about 12 oz., so use that as a gauge. Put the tea in the pot or infuser. An infuser is usually a wire mesh thingie that fits into the pot. If you don't have an infuser, you could just let it sit in the pot and then strain the tea into your cup as long as you use all of the tea and don't let the leaves sit around in the rest of the tea in the pot. If you are making it in a mug, this can get a little tricky. You could use a tea ball, which is a metal ball made of mesh or perforated steel which you put your tea in. But tea needs room to expand and let water pass all around. Tea balls aren't very good for this. A better alternative would be to find an infuser on the internet that is mug sized. I have one, and it is great. Pour tea in pot/mug over the leaves. Do not put in the water then the leaves. You want the water to cascade over the leaves so they don't just float on the top. Wait. How long? Black tea takes from 3-5 minutes. Do not let black tea steep longer than 5 minutes! If you do, the bitter compounds in tea will be released, resulting in a nasty cup. If you want to make tea stronger, use more leaf, never increase time. Remove tea and enjoy. Green Green tea needs a much lower temperature of water, else it will release nasty compunds. When this happens, the tea is considered to be stewed and will taste like grass clipping stew. Not pleasant. The ideal temp if you have a thermometer lying around is about 175-190 F. This is a brisk steam with no bubbles making it to the surface. Prepare your vessel. Measure your tea. Still, about a teaspoon per 6 oz. Put water on tea. Wait. Green teas need about 1 and a half to 2 minutes tops. Much shorter than black tea. Serve and enjoy. The really cool thing about green teas is that they can undergo multiple steeps. That's right, the used leaves can be used again. Just repeat the process, adding about 30 seconds to each subsequent steep. The higher quality the leaf, the more infusions you will get. Keep steeping until the flavor recedes. The last steep where just a hint of tea flavor remains is called "magic water." Oolong Possibly my favorite tea, oolongs take water temps between green and black. Hotter than green, less than black. The water should be at about 200 F. Not quite boiling. Prepare your vessel. Meaure tea. Same as the others. Many vendors will give recommendations on teap prep on the package itself. It's okay to follow them. I suppose I should note that the shape and size of leaf could affect how much you use. A teaspoon of tightly rolled compact leaves is going to be different than big bulky flat leaves. Try to do your best: experimentation is half the fun. Pour water on tea. Wait. For this method, steep for about as long as green, maybe a bit longer, but not more than 3 minutes or so. Oolongs can be tempermental, so I would recommend following the vendor's recommendations. Pour and enjoy. You can also squeeze out a few infsions out of this type of tea, usually more than you could from green. In fact, it is said that the first infusion of oolongs is the most fragrant, but the second has the best flavor - try and see. For oolongs, there is an ancient Chinese tea preparation called gungfu, which uses a special teapot. If there is any interest, I could talk about it as well. Make Your Own Decaf Most grocery store tea is bad. Most grocery store decaf tea is Satan's natural assault on the sophisticated human palate. Even higer quality teas lose a lot of flavor during the process of decaffeination. Fortunately, there is an easy and tastier way to do it. Right when you get your water ready, pour just enough into your pot/mug/whatever to cover the leaves. Wait about thirty seconds. Discard the water and make tea as you normally would. Since caffeine is so water soluable, most of it will release in that first 30 seconds and be thrown out with the water. Presto, good decaf. ________________________________________________________________________ And there you have it. RoboBlaster's guide to tea preparation. I hope it's useful. Have fun and, above all else, enjoy! Last edited by RoboBlaster; 01-13-2005 at 06:21 PM..