As I continue testing various teas and brewing parameters, I have noticed that some teas get better after a few cups and some get worse. These are all from the same pot and usually consumed within a few hours from a glass-lined thermos.
Can I conclude anything about the tea itself or the way I brewed it from this information?
Uh, maybe. Care to tell us your results?
/Lew
As a general rule the gongfu method is the only claim made by some where subsequent cups are better. Im of the Engllish school where the first cup is the best. Anything else is leftovers but I wouldnt say better. Drinking from the same pot spread out over hours depends more on biorythms than tastebuds. So name the tea and how you brewed it that makes you think it tastes better.
Jim
I was hoping to get comments and opinions that were not influenced by my "findings". A good researcher never contaminates the data collection process by interjecting his own biases.
I would, of course, disclose any "results" for the benefit of those who find such endeavors useful and as target practice for others. ;-)
I asked for results, not biases.
/Lew
Isn't it the general opinion around here that tea is a completely subjective experience? If so, my "results" would be subjective and inherently biased. No?
Completely? No.
This reminds me of dorm room conversations from long ago. I seem to remember that they bored me then, but I could be wrong about that: subjectivity, you know...
/Lew
Ive been ready to throw in the towel many times myself.
Jim
...You can lead a horse to water ...
Ignore the posting style attack of your too many Is, Lews snippets, or my sometimes acrid posts. Its on par with spelling and grammar flaming. It is nothing more than Kill The Messenger. They win if you go away.
Jim
PS I was off this group for six m>
Well, off the record, I tend to brew in a one-cup brewing basket, and I agree that, using this method, some teas improve with repeated steeps and some do not.
It doesn't seem to have any pattern. The Rohini Enigma seems to be better on the second steep than the first, and a lot of the better greens seem to be that way too. No clue why.
--scott
For what it's worth, I think that it really depends on what type of tea you're talking about.
With Black tea, I only steep once because subsequent steepings lose so much of the flavor.
Just the opposite is true with high mountain oolongs, though, which are rolled into tight balls during processing. During the first steeping, the leaves don't unfurl completely, and you have to steep the tea a lot longer to get a full brew... and it ends up tasting a little more earthy, and sometimes a bit more bitter.
On the second steeping, though, the leaves are unfurled and there's more surface area in contact with the water, and the resulting brew is noticeably more fragrant and sweet.
I also find that the first steeping of most green teas is a little bit more vegetal in flavor, or grassy, depending on the tea, and the second steeping is a little better... but it just seems to me to get weeker after that.
Just my two cents :)
- Matthew
So killfile the folks who you find annoying. You will find that group is considerably less annoying that way.
But I agree that there hasn't been much in the way of interesting or useful discussion on this newsgroup for quite a while. Most of the people who know what they're talking about seem to have moved to teachat, the Livejournal puerh_tea community, or elsewhere.
I just took a minute to re-read the original post in this thread, an realized of course that I had completely read it wrong the first tim through. Disregard my previous response.
Hell of a community here :) Looks like I walked in on the middle o something...
- Mat
The LJ Pu'er community's been torpid lately. This happens a lot with Net communities, and not only those concerned with tea, of course. It's a little like slash-and-burn agriculture; one difference is that the namespace of Net communities, unlike land, is a limitless resource, so people feel no need to return after a few years. Another difference, especially with RSS, is that you don't have to choose one plot to till.
If I were a sociology grad student, I might try to study how people migrate in cyberspace.
/Lew
We are part of Usenet with a Charter and have been around since 1995. Basically we are on the honor system since we are not moderated. If you want to learn about tea then this is the place. If you want to contribute what you know that is very much welcomed. I think the real knock about the group is we could use some new blood. I am aware there are new perspectives about tea that seem to go beyond the traditional cuppa. Im almost willing to cave in to the scented teas and over the top brewing methods. If people want to drink tea because it is medicated or spiritual that is fine with me. You brew enough cups simplicity becomes spiritual and it didnt cost you anything extra if you live a day longer. Maybe the basics are passe. Some think it is better somewhere else talking about tea. It isnt. So welcome. Every two cents counts in this economy.
Jim
On Nov 7, 8:11 pm, TeaMatt wrote: ...any response to a tea post is better than nothing...
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.