El Cheapo tea challenge

[Birch]

I went to the tea store today and had tea with the owner before buying some green tea.

 

Things he told me that I recall:

 

- with all tea; make sure pot and cups are warm before brewing tea. To do this, pour hot water into pot and cups. Then get rid of the water.

 

- Do not use boiling water - it burns the leaves and as a result makes tea taste bitter. WAIT a few minutes. Then add the water to the tea.

 

- no need to wait a long time to brew many teas, some can be done as fast as a couple of minutes (like white tea). More brewing-time is harmful to the leaves and unpleasant/unhealthy for the tea-drinker

 

- tea-making-drinking takes time. I only had 15 minutes to spend with my new tea-friend and it felt very rushed both sides. We drank tea and talked about tea, business and travelling. It was very pleasant. There was something in the process and the person that made it that way.

[Gerard]

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Edited May 11, 2011 by Gerard

[UTI]

I was down to the closest tea-specialist shop I knew of, but it turned out they were sri-lankan and had redressed themselves to mainly deal in spices, so whilst I got a hold of a pu erh and two different green jasmine teas, I wasn't pleased with them. The jasmine teas were good, but had a bitterness come through, the subtle sweetness and long shy flavour wasn't there. I really enjoyed the pu erh though, even though it was a 5-dollar cheap version, wrapped in paper and shaped like a mushroom-head, not in a neat little box-y thing like some of you put up photos of.

 

However, later that evening a friend came over with a real nice white jasmine tea that was pretty close to what i'm searching for, although what I want to find has more flavour. This jasmine had a real great taste though. No blended flavours, nothing taking over, just a prolonged very silent and calm flavour. Like it slowed everything down. It had some "spirit of jasmine", which I think is a marker of a real good tea. My friend told me that it was bought at a newly opened chinese tea specialist, and that it was real pricey, so my search can continue again!

 

...and I think I'm going to brew myself some of that 5-dollar pu erh now, to put a linger on my tastebuds!

 

edit;

 

I got the address of the tea-house my friend got the jasmine from, and it seems real good! I'm definitely going there tomorrow to pick up some pu er, white jasmine, long jing, and maybe even a 70-dollar oolong if I can stomach it! I'm a bit intent on getting a glass tea-pot too, it looks like the shizzle...

 

I'll write here how they were after I've had a tea-tasting frenzy. There was also online ordering, if any bum is interested in ordering some seemingly awesome organic, and hopefully rightly expensive, teas. The tea-master there seems to make a point of only selling the best stuff from the right provinces.

Edited August 28, 2010 by UTI

[Mal]

Btw, does your dragon well batch taste like a full flavour green beans, which I was told is the indication of quality LJ.

 

Unfortunately when I think of green beans I think of those microwave bags you nuke for a few min to steam veges. Which always seem to come out of my microwave a touch cold with not a real nice flavour

 

Fortunately my tea does not remind me of that flavour

[Gerard]

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Edited May 11, 2011 by Gerard

[Mal]

I just hope you like it as much as I do

 

(was going to post it during work today, but Iforgot to put in in my bag Will send a PM once posted so you know when to start looking at the letterbox)

 

BTW I'm drinking some now

[Gerard]

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Edited May 11, 2011 by Gerard

[Mal]

The Bronco's game was ..... depressing. So I didn't get up in time to get to the post office on Saturday

[thelerner]

..bump..

 

Running low on the stuff so I went to this thread to get my Tea Sense tingling.

[Gerard]

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Edited May 11, 2011 by Gerard

[joeblast]

I'm due for some more pu erh, what's people's fav?

[zerostao]

I'm due for some more pu erh, what's people's fav?

hmm some 2008 youle arbor pu erh , i like the scrapings/resin from the tea pot

[ZenStatic]

Since there seems to be some tea officianados here, does anyone know much about Gunpowder green? I am able to get this 1k box here for $5 locally, and I don't mind it much. Just wondering if the health benefits are there at all.

http://www.asiachi.com/teofhespgugr.html

[joeblast]

hmm some 2008 youle arbor pu erh , i like the scrapings/resin from the tea pot

cool, my yixing pot for pu erh shipped out yesterday

[zerostao]

cool, my yixing pot for pu erh shipped out yesterday

well, if you ever need a bum to clean your pot out for ya

i will work for pu erh tea.

Edited March 24, 2011 by zerostao

[joeblast]

why on earth would you want the pot cleaned? once to get the dust etc off with water, boil & season with a heap o tea, and...the only thing that ever gets back in there is water and tea

[zerostao]

why on earth would you want the pot cleaned? once to get the dust etc off with water, boil & season with a heap o tea, and...the only thing that ever gets back in there is water and tea

yup, but please don't tell everyone that i got a good little tea hustle thing going on.

another favorite is i walk into a tea house that sells bulk teas, act like i dont know anything(easy for me to pull off actually) go very slowly, looking slowly at all the different teas. just to the point of loitering even.

then someone will come ask me , if they can help me. i am standing in front of green teas, or whites, and i say "do you have any pu erh tea?"

they take me over to where the pu erh teas are, they open up a can for me to examine.

i look at it, sniff it, take a small pinch and put into my gums. i have my best poker face on i just look at them like i don't get it. then i ask "you dont happen to have any pu erh tea already made do you?" if i am lucky, they will look at me and say "wait here just a moment, i think we do have some" while they have gone to get the tea, i have this big ol' southern grin on my face but i try to have it gone by the time they return with a nice cup of the tea they are personally sipping.

i prefer the cakes actually.

are you sure you don't need me to clean that pot out? it looks like it needs a good scraping to me

[joeblast]

sneaky!

[thelerner]

I don't know if the Amazing Green Tea is the best deal. There newsletter is impressive and they seem to know there tea. This is my 3rd order from them. I've been ordering there cheaper teas and have been very happy with them. Mostly I've ordered green tea, but I purchased there Keemun last time and was very impressed.

 

 

Here is my latest order. Should keep me in tea for 4 or 5 months.

 

Quantity Name Each Total

1 Keemun 2010 (A Grade) 50g $6.00 $6.00

1 Moli Jinzhen 2010 (AAA Grade) 50g $9.00 $9.00

1 Huangshan Maofeng 2010 (A) 50g $6.00 $6.00

1 Tieguanyin Wang 2010 (Amber AA) 48g $10.00 $10.00

[henro]

Tea strainer as in metal? Please don't because of heat (fire) vs metal which is a controlling cycle and it will affect negatively the heart.

 

 

 

Anyone care to comment on this? Fire(heart) controls metal (lungs), how is using a metal strainer affecting the heart ??

Edited March 24, 2011 by robmix

[thelerner]

Anyone care to comment on this? Fire(heart) controls metal (lungs), how is using a metal strainer affecting the heart ??

 

Like most health advice I've been given, its considered, weighed and tossed into the garbage.

 

maybe to my future regret, but if my heart is so sensitive that its hurt by tea thats touched metal, then I've got a lot more to worry about then tea.

 

 

I write that, but I don't drink from plastic..I instinctively realize its not good, not in taste, not for my insides. So is metal so different?

[Gerard]

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Edited May 11, 2011 by Gerard

[Gerard]

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Edited May 11, 2011 by Gerard

[joeblast]

yixing.com sutra hexagon

 

 

I get my silver needle from amazing green tea - its better than I've found anywhere else, got a pot as a gift that I use for that. AAA grade.

 

I tried some A grade wuyi oolong from there and it was...meh, ok, I still have a few small bags of it, it tasted like something you'd get served at a really cheap chinese restaurant. I guess that's what I get for not going with the good stuff

[henro]

Fire controls metal but if the restricted element (metal) becomes too strong (strainer) it will rebel against the element which should normally control it (fire). Hence metal energy negatively affects the fire energy (heart).

 

In addition metal controls wood (green tea)...so in the end you'll mess up with the quality of the brew. Besides, I have never seen a traditional Chinese brewing green tea (or any other teas) using a metallic implement. They always used either a gaiwan or a porcelain pot (and Yixing or Chao Zhou for other teas). No metal filters of any kind.

 

 

Do you have any references for taking 5 Element theory to that level ? I understand how it's used in Chinese Medicine, but have never seen anyone take it that deep. .

 

Also, how would you determine if the metal was overacting on fire in this case ?

 

My wife is Chinese and she regularly uses a teapot with metal strainer. We also have used, both here and in China, cast iron teapots with no ill effects. Though most of the time the tea leaves are loose in the cup or pot.