Cheap Tea Suspicions

I'm red-green color deficient, so I asked someone else and it seems the darkness of the tea is more an "orangy yellow". I think the problem yesterday was I used too much tea for the amount of water. Today I used half a teaspoon per 4oz cup of water and the brew initially came out a yellowish green. It gets dark fairly quick while it's on the warmer though, but all my teas turns darker as it sits. The dry smell of the tea is like a cross between seaweed and grass. It kind of bothers me because it's very sharp. It's not just the smell of seaweed like some other green teas I tried. (Two others smell very strongly like Kombu right when they're brewed.)

I'll bring my digital camera to work tomorrow and take some pictures.

It doesn't taste how I "expect" green tea to taste. But it tastes pretty much like all the other green tea I have :) It's fairly smooth the way I brewed it today, no astringency and also a good taste, but not very strong.

I'm very surprised about the variety in taste between green teas I've tried. I am wondering if it has something to do with whether or not the tea leaf was withered before it was steamed. I was just reading that some are and some aren't.

-S.

I, and my coworkers, probably use at least half an ounce of dry tea a day at work. It'll be gone in about 2 months :) I brought in a communal Mr. Coffee that we use to brew tea in. I figured should buy some cheap loose tea to put in it. I started messing with loose tea when I discovered that bagged tea gets spendy quick. Cruddy stash bagged tea is upwards of 30 bucks a pound. I realized I could get good tea and use that for cheaper :)

-S.

Yes, that has something to do with it. But mainly it's the simple fact that green tea has been cultivated and manufactured for (conservatively) two thousand years over a wide geographic range. Would you be surprised at wide variation in the taste of wines?

/Lew

Aren't you Steve

No, I am not. Why would you think that I am?

stePH in cup: 2003 sheng brick puer, 1st infusion

Where from? I love a good ginger peach black, but have only found a couple worth drinking.

stePH in cup: 2003 sheng brick puer

I buy most of my tea from one of four places, Wegmans, Fortune's, Presto George, and local asian markets. Wegmans is a chain of supermarkets that has the largest selection of high end loose teas for sale of almost anywhere and you get your own and pay by weight. Fortune's, Presto George, and the local asian shops (like Lotus Foods) are in the Strip District in Pittsburgh, PA. Fortunes has a website:

but Presto George just has their info: Prestogeorge Fine Foods, Inc.

1728 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh PA 15222 412-471-0133 contact: Stan Prestogeorge

The Ginger Black is from Presto George in the Strip District in Pittsburgh, PA. They have some of the most amazing teas and they do a ton of cool custom blends and flavors. Republic of Tea has a decent, not great, ginger peach black tea in bag form too that should be available most places. Fortunes has a loose Mango black tea that is very nice too and kinda similar.

Stan Prestogeorge is a good guy and they may be happy to ship you some if you call, if not I can get prices and ship it to you with paypal or something.

Your Wegmans must stock more teas than ours does.

I thought I saw people calling you steve.

Hmm... I thought they all had the same stuff, but I guess not. The Wegmans I go to is in State College, PA. They litterally have a 6' deep x 20' wide alcove with all three walls made up of shelving like a library from floor to cieling, and filled with 2lb. tins of loose tea organized by type. It's called "The Tea Spot." It is litterally a library of tea, and they are all mid-high quality... and some very pricey. Most are in the $29.99-39.99/lb. price range. They have scales and nice bags and you serve yourself. The stock changes with the seasons properly, and at times they will have one or two world class teas at enormous prices. But I can grab an ounce or two for a small amount of money and drink some of the best teas in the world. They had small tins of the highest grade Matcha made last time I went but they were hundreds of dollars. It is quite possibly the most amazing thing for a tea lover. Too bad I live 2 hours away from it, but I have family there and they bring me or send me what I want.

Like right now at my desk I have: a full leaf Organic Tangerine White Tea, Numi Spring White, Numi Earl Grey, Organic Strawbery Green (real strawberries and sencha green... mmmm.), and a Keemun Black... all from my last trip to Wegmans.

I would say Pittsburgh of all the places I've been has the most and best selection of tea anywhere, which is insane, but true.

As I posted in another thread that nobody responded to*, Republic of Tea's offering is more ginger than peach. Best I've had is from the Perennial Tea Room in Seattle near Pike Place Market. I've since found a loose-leaf version of the Zhena's Gypsy Tea, though it's called "Ginger Peach" rather than "Passionate Peach" as the bagged version is, the descriptions on the tins are identical. And the offering from the Tao of Tea is just awful.

stePH

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You might have. They were wrong too.

stePH

The stuff from Presto George is great, it is hand blended and all natural so no artificial flavors and the peach is balanced well IMO. I like ginger, so I guess I may be more tolerant of the ones with stronger ginger flavors (I make tea from straight ginger root when I'm sick) However, my fiance is the one who bought this tea and she does not like ginger much.. so I'm pretty safe in saying that you'd like it. The Mango tea from Fortune's is great too, and very similar to ginger peach in flavor but no ginger so it is a very nice fruity taste.

I wasn't around in Oct. so I can't be held responsible for the previous post going unnoticed ;) I will surely agree that the Republic of tea is not that great, passable-decent is about all I'd say for it. But to make amends and since I can respect a good quest for perfection, I'd be happy to ship you a small amount of the Presto George Ginger Peach to try it on my behalf if you'd like.

- Dominic Drinking: Hi-C Lavaburst Orange Drink from McDonalds :)

What is the name then? Is it a play on the word "Steep", is it short for stephanie, I kinda assumed it had to do with "Steve" as well.

- me

Sure thing! And I can send you some of the Perennial Tea Room's stuff in return. I'll contact you off-group shortly.

stePH

The name is "Stephen", pronounced as it's spelled (hint: not "Steven".) The capital PH in my sig is meant to emphasize this.

stePH

Gotcha. So pronounced like "st-eff." Mine's Dominic.. pronounced, pretty much like Dominic :)

Yes, we have a similar alcove called "The Tea Spot," but with the exception of a 12 foot section at the back, it's not tins. Most of it is bagged tea. There are only 30 or so tins of loose tea. They did have some Adagio teas last weekend when we were there, but only a few.

I really do miss the tea shop in Minneapolis. I'll add it to the list of reasons why moving to the DC area was a bad idea.

I thought the 'PH' stood for the whole acidity/alkalinity chemical symbol thing.