There are many ways to brew tea and almost everyone has their own little quirks. It is said that oolongs should be brewed with water below boiling. I, however, am a strong advocate of using boiling water. In the summer, some people add tea after the water is poured.
Here are a few of my quirks:
My Most Used Brewing Vessel: I often prefer a gaiwan to any type of clay teapot especially when tasting a tea for the first time. I also lean toward the porcelain gaiwans instead of other clay because with a porcelain gaiwan the edges of the wan, normally the hottest part, stay cool. And, with it being glazed means that the “true” taste of the tea is noticed. True, all this can be done with a porcelain teapot, but I prefer gaiwans to teapots mainly because it’s easier to empty and clean.
 |
| Gaiwan (gai = lid, wan = bowl) |
How Much Tea I Use: I have an odd way to determine how much tea I use for the brewing vessel I use or the amount of water I use. I always determine how much tea by weight and not by teaspoons, this is not that odd. The strange thing is that I measure it in metric grams and my water in US fluid ounces. Yes, silly isn’t it? Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t weigh my tea every time, that would be too time consuming and meticulous. I get used to how much a few grams look and am able to measure by eye without a scale. Now when it comes to my common steeping method, I tend to add 1 gram of tea for every oz. HOWEVER, that rule only applies for me with puer, black and oolong teas. When it comes to green and white tea I adjust the amount of leaves per ounce and instead change the time and temperature of the water.
These “quirks” of mine are just 2 of many.
Hope you learned a bit about me and maybe gotten an idea for yourself.
And remember never to judge a person by how they brew their tea,
“to each his own.”
what if you brew tea to the color you prefer, like coffee? dark = strong, light = weak?
ReplyDeleteIn fact you hit a great technique right on the head. The tea is not poured until the color has reached it's ideal hue. This is a hard to learn but good way to brew tea because when a tea is brewed many times in a row, each pot will need to be brewed for a longer amount of time, or sometimes shorter. And, in most cases, the color of your ideal cup of tea will remain constant.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes steep my Chinese and Korean green teas according to color AND smell. The water temperature should always be well below boiling point, and since I boil my water and then let it cool, I never know exactly what temperature it is and therefore I don't know how long to brew the tea. Smell can be deceiving though, a pleasant scent does not mean it's the right taste your looking for.