Hot Tea

[Trunk]

A friend of mine has a medium sized hot beverage urn in his living room, provides hot tea all day. Sat around and drank hot tea all afternoon ... not sure what kind. oh!, some variety of jasmine tea.

 

 

The convenience and health benefits struck me immediately. Hydrate, all that good stuff you read about tea but when I heat it on the pot on the stove I only have 1 or 2 cups. Water is just too boring. So I went out to Target and got myself a 2 quart carafe (not plug-in, I can easily carry it to any room or just leave it in the living room all day & evening).

 

 

So yesterday afternoon + evening I drank about 6-7 mugs of hot tea. Just because it was so easy. Ti Kuan Yin, an oolong, with a few slices of licorice root thrown in.

 

 

The left-over from last night was still warm this morning, yumm, and a good morning starter (contrast coffee or something cold from the 'fridg).

 

Shootin' for an "all things tea" thread.

.. sprinkled with tea wisdom.

 

- Trunk

[konchog uma]

nice thread.

 

I started the day off with some darjeeling whole leaf (organic FTGFOP!), but i'm drinking an americano at present

 

i used to drink a lot of coffee but the more i cultivate my qi, the less i like it. I keep it to one cup a day now (or one drink in the case of the americano).

 

I have been planning to eliminate coffee entirely for some time, but hmmmmmm i never get around to it! proof that its addictive hahahah

 

well i like to get bulk teas at the local food co-op, but i drink some bagged teas too. Filtered water makes all the difference. If you make your tea with tapwater you are missing out (and fluoride is really bad for you btw). So next time you're at your local food co-op buying some whole leaf tea, get some clean water too!

[Protector]

teaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[RobB]

Suffering from rotten cold ATM so brewed up a few cupfuls of water with chopped ginger root. Used some and stuck the rest in the fridge. Easy to put a cupful into a pan and brew it up with some powdered reishi. Very nice!

 

Cheers

 

Rob

 

Edit: realised post doesn't actually mention tea - sorry!

Edited November 16, 2011 by RobB

[Harmonious Emptiness]

My favourite place in Montreal is this tea restaurant where it's abuot $8 for a pot and you can choose from about 25 different kinds of high mountain green tea, really rare green teas from different mountains with various natural overtones. The server does the first pot for you that cleans the tea and warms the pots, to show you how to steep them properly since the really good stuff only steeps for a few seconds in the small pot. You get about 5 small pots for the $8 though. If anyone's coming to Montreal send me a PM and I can give you directions. They also sell expensive carvings and tea sets, beautiful place.

 

Myself, I make a lot of herbal teas for various things like organ cleansing, immunity, and mood support.

 

Recently I've been enjoying Sage and lemongrass a lot. Probably the only flavour that works together with sage, ime.

 

Mostly I'll have:

 

peppermint

sage

lemongrass

calendula

licorice root

oat straw

 

and maybe also

dandelion leaves

plantain

echinaecia

red clover

 

 

and I have a bag of schizandra (5 flavour, wu wei zi) berries on my table which I usually eat at some point during the day -- the sourness really brings you into the present!

[RyanO]

I usually drink yerba mate with honey I make using this guy:

 

 

http://www.brevilleusa.com/the-tea-maker.html

 

It's awesome! You set the temperature and time and it'll do all the work for you. Also has a programmable setting so you can set it to be ready when you wake up. A little pricey but highly recommended. Of course it kind of takes the ceremony out of tea making but it's very convenient and is great for making sure the temp and steep time are accurate.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I usually drink yerba mate with honey I make using this guy:

 

 

That looks like it would be good for roots that need to boil/simmer for 20 minutes. True?

[RyanO]

That looks like it would be good for roots that need to boil/simmer for 20 minutes. True?

 

I'm pretty sure the longest something can steep is 10 mins so that probably wouldn't work at least for that length of time.

[Elliot]

All these fancy kettles makes me want to get a cuppa' tea!

Organic tea is my preference, but I'm open minded to any sort of tea.

[Cameron]

I like it

 

I am going to try to check out tea classes here in Beijing when I have time.

[Andrei]

[joeblast]

I like it

 

I am going to try to check out tea classes here in Beijing when I have time.

Tea ceremony with Max got me interested in pouring a good cup - I dont think I've used my mugs since

[zerostao]

i drink a bit of white tea. usually i just throw in whatever herbs and or teas i have on hand and mix them up together. water is so boring? no no no!! i think one of the main keys to having really great tea or coffee is having really great water.

 

edit> but it is really about transformation, hmmm

Edited November 17, 2011 by zerostao

[zerostao]

And great company!

 

true dat! hi R_V, happy holidays!

[Junbao]

Yerba Mate BIG TIME :-)

I might have half cup of coffee some days, but I'm loving the Mate. Bulk at local food co-op with tea pot and tea ball

Actually I am just getting over a cold and going to pick up some local honey this morning for a treat!

[Andrei]

Put some ginger root slices in your tea when you have a cold.

[Cameron]

Tea ceremony with Max got me interested in pouring a good cup - I dont think I've used my mugs since

 

 

Haha. One of my good memories with Max was when I was able to take tea ceremony with him in his house in Hawaii. He filled my cup with tea until it was overflowing.

 

He also reccomended getting more into tea in general when I spoke with him recently. So on the lookout for a good tea class.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Haha. One of my good memories with Max was when I was able to take tea ceremony with him in his house in Hawaii. He filled my cup with tea until it was overflowing.

 

He also reccomended getting more into tea in general when I spoke with him recently. So on the lookout for a good tea class.

 

you'd think such a master would be able to pour a cup of tea without it overflowing!

 

ha ha. just kidding..

[Cameron]

Hehe yeah, I couldn't tell if it was an accident or intentional. But I think intentional. In any case, it was a fun moment.

 

Btw I don't even know if "tea ceremony" is the right term. Max basically invited a few of us after class to drink tea together and served it very carefully. From what I remember it was very, very good tea too.

[al.]

This is one of the best sites for understanding what fine tea is all about:

tea guardian

 

Also, Daniel Reid has just released a new book on tea and internal alchemy, it looks great!

 

Sometimes it's best to forget everything and just drink some tea! mmm

[Trunk]

Also, Daniel Reid has just released a new book on tea and internal alchemy, it looks great!

 

Sometimes it's best to forget everything and just drink some tea! mmm

 

I'm going the pig-route and enjoying volume, like 7-10 mugs a day (especially enjoying warm left-over in the morning). I feel better when I'm chuggin' water for at least several days in a row. .. isn't there some health literature about that?

 

 

~ edit ~

Oh, man, we need a similar cooking thread!

 

p.s.

Pls provide links when mentioning your favorite stuff, makes it easy for the rest of us to explore.

[Cameron]

Had my first tea ceremony experience today at the Forbidden City.

 

My friend and I had 5 different types of fine teas all carefully served to us. I even got taught the proper way to hold the tea cup which is different for a man(dragon) and woman(phoenix).

 

It was awesome

[hagar]

[joeblast]

Hehe yeah, I couldn't tell if it was an accident or intentional. But I think intentional. In any case, it was a fun moment.

 

Btw I don't even know if "tea ceremony" is the right term. Max basically invited a few of us after class to drink tea together and served it very carefully. From what I remember it was very, very good tea too.

he made sure my cup was not spilling only via water tension "here's how my old master would pour for us"

 

Good point on temperature!

 

And water quality, always a good point. If only I could have easier access and just boil myself glacial melt for my tea

 

I picked up some more raw pu-erh. I like it so much more than regular pu erh, the heating tastes...unnecessary after drinking raw for a while, hehehe.

[doc benway]

 

As for the technicalities and practice of tea, I took a tea class with my teacher. He emphasized the importance of the temperature of the tea, ...

I learned from my teacher also, his favorite is Taiwanese High Mountain Wulong, especially the early Spring tea.

We get some every year from Taiwan.