Too Strong!

I think I've figured out my tea problem: I'm making all the teas too strong. So now I'll have to scale back, and hope for a better flavor when I have them.

That's teapot that I bought? I'm having mixed feelings about it. It holds two cups, and I'm surprised that the infuser that comes with the pot doesn't let all the tea leaves out. A major problem is that you don't know how much water is in the pot because the infuser is in the way, with the tea leaves in it. But then you will overfill the pot, because by the time you can tell how much water you have, it's overfull. And then, if you want to fill it up first, then settle the infuser in the water, some of the leaves are going to float on top. And you're going to have the issue of having the infuser push out some of the water. Can't win with this stuff! I do like the way that the lid fits into the infuser, though, and then that little assembly fits into the tea pot.

And the tea that I had was the Keemun Superior. I made it too strong, but not too too strong, but enough that I lost some of the flavor, and it just tasted like tea, bland and plain.

I was at the airport yesterday, and there was a young woman who was talking to someone on a cell phone, mentioned a tea room that just got started in Georgia somewhere. I asked her about it, and she was clueless, beyond just knowing that it was opening up. I told her about my blog, and she's like, "what is there to talk about with tea?" So I began a small lecture on different teas, why they're different, and so on. And other tea related topics. There's a lot to discuss when it comes to tea, actually. A whole culture. I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface.

What I'd like to get is a tea brick, which is compressed tea leaves, with a design on it, usually as part of a much larger set. Settlers used to take the bricks with them, and scrape off enough to make tea on their trips.

March 10, 2008

More Assam Gold Rain...and my infuser problems. I was reading somewhere recently that you're supposed to brew in one pot, then transfer the tea to another pot. Just seems wasteful somehow. The infuser basket just collected the leaves, and they all floated to the top, so they didn't all actually brew. Then I get tea-dust-grit in my first cup of tea...ick.

Separately, I was contacted about getting some tea samples to review for a tea website. Should be fun. I realize that I've become a tea reviewer without even trying. But for me that's the fun. I'm sure that there's more I like about tea, but I'm just getting started.

Found another website call specialtyteas.com...it's got a lot of stuff, but I like adagio's site better for look and feel. My sister gave me a $20 gift certificate to amazon, but it's intended to get me a blue-tooth headset for my cell phone. ... sigh. I'm too tempted by the tea. I can buy another Adagio sampler from Amazon, and get a teapot thing to go with it. Maybe...

12/21/07 Part III

A letter I wrote to the Adagio people...

Merry Christmas! I love the Golden Monkey. I was on the teavana.com website, and they are charging $18.50 for 2 oz. of Golden Monkey, whereas you charge so much less. Do you know why the difference? I am a customer of yours, and a loyal one, so I'm just curious more than anything.

One other thing, though. I notice that you have musical names to go with your teas. That makes it difficult to compare your varieties with other tea sellers...

I'm not sounding so loyal...I'm just trying to explore the different teas (mainly black teas at this point). Thanks for your help!

Also...do you know of any teapots that have infusers where the infuser has a handle that can be used to pull the infuser out of the pot without having to reach into the pot and burn your fingers (and contaminate the tea), or use some other tool to do that. Because if you don't pull the infuser and tea leaves out of the pot, you have to serve it all at once. Not ideal.

Thanks for everything!

12/21/07 Part II

Golden Monkey...I looked at the Adagio website, and it's $4 for a 2 oz tin, whereas for the same amount at teavana, it's $18.50! Yikes. Not sure why the difference. I'm having the last of the Golden Monkey from Adagio right now, it's a bit weak, and so not as good as I'd like, but still drinkable. It's still soothing to the soul.

Meanwhile, I came across the cast iron teapots...they are soooo nice! And expensive. But I'm back to the infuser problem: they have the infusers that fit into the pot, but how are you supposed to remove them once the tea is done steeping??? They don't have any kind of handle or anything to get them out of the near boiling, cooling liquid. An improvement, no doubt, but still not good enough. There needs to be a handle on these infusers and a slot in the lid to let the infuser handle stick out.

12/19/07

Keemun Concerto! Good stuff. Especially when I make it not too strong. No cloudy tea, no bitterness from over-steeping...just good tea. I know why the infuser doesn't make me happy: it's because there's too much tea in it. If I do it right, then it works out. Still not optimal, but good nonetheless. I still have to figure out how to get the amount of tea right for each type of tea. More for the Ceylon, less for the Keemun...and so on.

Keemun Concerto tastes like there's just a hint of lemon...I do like it.

12/17/07

I have no idea what I had to drink for tea this morning. So I've figured out that too strong of a tea makes for cloudy tea. I wish I could figure that out. Maybe get a scale instead of trying to eyeball the amount that goes into the infuser that I hate so much.

Over the weekend I had lots of cafe con leche. My kitchen is a disaster...but I won't go into that right now. It's just easier to microwave the water and scoop dried coffee-milk into a cup, and add sugar. It makes me feel full, though. Sometimes too full. Not a pleasant feeling.

12/12/07

I made Yunnan Jig this morning, but very strong! I knew it when I was putting the leaves in the infuser, but still, it's strong! Again with the infuser. Maybe after Christmas. It also doesn't taste as good...not as happy today with my tea. I don't want to start over, either...it would be a waste.

I'm going to buy a larger tin of the Golden Monkey...that's the one that's going the fastes, and one of the top items that I like...

12/11/07

Keemun Concerto + Oatmeal for breakfast = lots of trips to the bathroom. Good stuff. I still hate my infuser, at least as it relates to my teapot. It's just not big enough. I saw a teapot on the internet that does what I want it to do, except it was all stoneware...maybe that isn't so bad.

11/29/07

When I do it right, I love it! The Assam Melody I did with the just the right strength, and it turned out wonderfully! I don't think I was as much a fan of this before, but it had the right color, and taste, where I could taste it without it being too powerful. This tea turned out great. It's moved up in my list of 'teas that I like'.

Meanwhile, I have found that with the infuser, the tea dust that settles in the bottom of the pot doesn't usually come out until I hit the dregs. So I get good tea out of two cups, and then the dregs I can just pour out. No cloudy tea, no tea dust, no leaves.

11/28/07

Today, we're drinking the Ceylon Sonata. Still figuring out the strength, and how to handle the infuser problem. Maybe it doesn't have a solution, except to refashion an infuser that's deep, and wider, and has a better handle, and refashion the lid, too. I wonder why no one has done anything like that.

As for the strength, any time I see a picture of a cup of tea, it's far lighter than I would prefer it, in terms of color, which presumably means it would also be less strong.

I wonder what secret there is that people have with tea leaves remaining in the water for too long. How do they do it? No one seems to say. They just enjoy their tea, have great pics of tea plantations, and that's it. Maybe asking for mechanical details of this process is too much. Too much minutiae...

11/27/07

Today's tea was Yunnan Jig. Not sure what happened today, but the tea tasted good, yet there was a metallic flavor in there. I'm not a fan of my teapot, nor the infuser, since it doesn't go deep enough in the teapot, which doesn't allow for the tea leaves to expand right, and the lid doesn't go on with the infuser in there...When I do drink the tea, it is faster, because it cools in the cup quicker since I brew in the teapot, and I drink it faster since I can just pour another cup, rather than have to go through the brew in the cup process all over again.

And let's talk about stimulation! With me drinking the tea faster, I've gotten quite a boost! Sometimes I'm just jittery, though yesterday I felt extremely alert and aware of what was going on around me, almost like someone had lifted some kind of veil. Today I'm not so "extra aware"...maybe because I didn't sleep that much last night.

I'm not sure why it's so hard to get a decent teapot/infuser combo, either. I've done some looking, and can't seem to find anything. I wonder if there's any philosophy on this that I'm missing. Maybe someone can get me a book on tea for Christmas.

11/25/07

Darjeeling again. I'm beginning to think that this tea has had its day, as its flavor and 'coolness' has gone. It's just kinda plain and ordinary. I played with the amount again, using less this time, and it just turned out to be lighter without any real benefit in taste change. I should just use it up quickly so I can get some more.

Separately, I find the process of making tea to be crude somehow. Tea leaves, dried, placed in hot water. Then they get into your cup. The teapot drips a bit out of the spout. The time to steep, the cloud that sometimes gets into the cup, other details. It doesn't seem very elegant. You have to get the tea leaves out of the cup, or the pot, and it's messy, and wet, and you have these brown, unfurled leaves to deal with. They don't come out of the pot well, or the tea basket infuser, or they sit in the bottom of your cup. Then your cup gets tea stained, and you have to scrub it, or bleach it (no, I don't bleach my cups).

I don't drink tea for the health benefits, but because it's interesting that something simple like a plant in water could have so many flavors. Or something. Maybe I just think it's exciting to drink tea. It really is quite an experience.

11/21/07

Today we're having Assam Melody. I'd tried it at home, in my teapot, but at first I'd made it too strong, and then tried it again and it was too weak. The process I use for making tea is different at home, since I have a teapot, than at work, where all I have is a coffee cup (with different words for coffee on it, like espresso, or roast amaretto -- I love the irony of it), and a stainless steel infuser, about the size of the cup. It works out well. I have a better idea of how much tea to put in the infuser than in the teapot.

The teapot didn't come with an infuser, which is a pain, since you have to pour all of the tea out of the pot when it's done steeping, since you can't take the tea out. What's worse is that there's no hole in the lid for the chain of a basket infuser, and no space for one that sits in the pot.

Back to the tea itself: it's not a very distinctive tasting tea. It's kind of plain, and ordinary. Doesn't really stand out.