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Advice for Harney's Top Ti Quan Yin - somewhat long

I bought a 4-ounce tin of this tea, and could use some advice on preparation - it was expensive enough that I don't want to waste any more than I have already.

Here's what I've tried already:

First, I ran some experiments on how long it took to make 180 F water, the recommended water temperature.

I have a stainless steel mug that holds two cups.

I have a stainless steel mesh tea ball that is too big to fit the opening of my mug. Blah.

I have one of those mostly-solid-with-little-holes tea balls that you find at the grocer's, and that are excruciatingly difficult to unscrew without traction gloves. I ended up trying to use this one, because it fits into my mug.

With the tea ball, I added one wide teaspoon (a soup spoon, really), slightly less than a level spoonful, to the ball, and infused for about five minutes. The tea had not much flavor or aroma, so I chalked it up to using half the amount of tea needed. Did I use too little tea?

Next, I tried two slightly less than level spoons full to the tea ball, and infused for about five minutes. The flavor was a bit stronger, the aroma was up. The tea tasted a bit "vegetably" to me - maybe a light asparagus-like flavor. Is this normal? Or did I use too much tea?

I opened the two-spoons tea ball, and the leaves were packed into the shape of the ball, so I figured this is probably really bad for proper infusion, and that maybe I just needed to infuse the leaves loose in the cup, for the second infusion. I did this, and noticed no change in flavor or aroma, and the leaves really took up a lot of space in the bottom of the mug, after infusing...

So maybe I'm just doing this all wrong.

To recap, I'm using good filtered water at 180 F. I'm warming the mug before adding tea or water. One spoon seems a bit weak, two spoons seems a bit much, and the tea doesn't seem to have the "best tea I've ever tasted" quality as stated by John Harney. At $70 USD for four ounces, I expected a bit more.

To be fair, I am used to black teas like Harney's Darjeeling Highlands blend and their Irish Breakfast Assam blend, so maybe my taste buds aren't quite comfortable with the Top Ti Quan Yin. This is also my first experience with any Oolong tea.

Any advice to help me explore and get the best experience from this Oolong?

Thanks a bunch, Mark Edwards

Reply to
Mark Edwards
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I personally don't like the taste of tea from a stainless steel mug. I get a definite metallic taste freom it. Try bone china or porcelain. That should improve the taste right there.

Yes, the tea leaves plenty of room to infuse. In a pinch, infuse the tea in a pyrex cup or something, and then strain it into your teacup.

I use 1/2 tablespoon for a 9-oz cup for Ti Quan Yin.

I wouldn't pay $70 for 1/4 lb of tea unless I had tried it first. (You have probably already figured that one out.) I *would* invest in a nice teapot.

Reply to
CCCarlisle

Either you used too much tea, the tea is old, or poor quality. You should try to get yourself a gaiwan and brew it using that. At 70 bucks, you are just starting to get into the higher grades of TGY, so it should taste slightly better than "vegetabley".

Reply to
Mydnight

Mark,

Based on my experience:

  1. Get a porcelain or ceramic teapot - 2-3 cup size is fine.
  2. Use one rounded dessertspoonful of tea per 8-10 oz of water.
  3. Measure out 2-3 teapot's worth of water and put into clean containers. I use small glass carafes.
  4. Put a pot's worth of water into a heating vessel and heat to 190-200F.
  5. Put tea in teapot and add heated water.
  6. Steep 60-90 seconds, then pour off all the tea into a serving pot or mugs/cups. TGY is typically made from tightly rolled whole leaves and stems, and it will expand a LOT. Don't waste your tea but trying to brew it in a teaball.
  7. Repeat steps 4-6 one or two more times, adding 60-90 seconds to each subsequent steep.

Good TGY will produce a range of interesting flavors in each steep: if the tea was lightly oxidised and unroasted the profile is floral/fruity; if more heavily oxidised and roasted one gets (at least I get) toasty flavors with notes of leaves and wood.

I've had TGYs that were wonderful for US$15-30/4 oz. Perhaps the best I ever tasted was a "Monkey picked" TGY from Imperial Tea Court I got in February - jade style, intensely aromatic and floral, balanced, and long (3 beautiful infusions). I paid $20/oz. For $17.50/oz one should have at least a fleeting glimpse of nirvana. If your tea doesn't respond, you either don't like TGY or you got ripped.

Regards, Dean

Reply to
DPM

Not much advice here, save to echo the advice of a couple of others in this thread:

Get a real teapot.

Also get a strainer with a handle, to pour your tea through when it's done brewing. Most teapots come with an "infuser basket" that fits inside, but this is hardly any better than the tea ball you're currently using. Let the leaves swim free inside the teapot.

stePH

-- GoogleGroups licks balls.

Reply to
stePH

Thank you to all who responded.

I experimented over the weekend, and came up with a plan that makes a very nice cup.

Early this year, the only microwave save "teapot" I could find was a plastic two-cup measure, with a whistling top ( allegedly to prevent superheating the water). I have been using this to heat my water. Since I have been using teabags, I just infused in my cup (um, let me rephrase that - grin).

This weekend, I picked up a small teapot in which I could infuse the leaves, and from which I could strain the tea. This adds an intermediate step - I still heat the water in the two-cup "teapot" before pouring the water over the leaves in the new pot.

Judging from the taste and aroma, the correct amount of tea (for me, anyway) is half a gram per ounce of water - 8 grams for my two-cup mug.

So all is well, and I am now enjoying my loose leaf tea.

Mark Edwards

Reply to
Mark Edwards

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