Green tea temps etc.

Hi Melinda......i've found that different longjings require different treatment, which does stand to reason. fact is, i sometimes adjust temps during the time of possessing a tea, ie, start out at one temp, and maybe have to change it a bit a month or two down the road as the tea 'ages'. greens are very finicky, most of them, as it appears you are discovering......p*

Wow, now that's very interesting. I had not been keeping track closely enough to notice a change over time in the same tea...It makes sense though. I'll have to pay attention. Thanks for sharing pilo!

Melinda

With my longjing, I usually just do the glass cup method of brewing; meaning I seldom remove the leaves from the water. The water temp I usually choose is a little bit lower for my longjing, but I'm sure it can differ by where you got the leaves. If the water is too hot at first, as long as it doesn't scald the leaves totally, when the water cools you can still get good results from that brew, I think.

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Melinda,

Long Jing is an super-famous tea whose flat leaves are unmistakable. They come in a wide range of qualities and even varietals, that is, subspecies of the tea plant. At their best and most delicate -- those hand picked "before the rains" -- they require a very low temperature, something like 125-135F degrees. Their flavors and aromas are truly delicate, and not being familiar with them, you *might* think they should be giving more. These teas will be truly ruined at 170F and higher. Older leaf picked later is less delicate and can stand the higher temperature. Some Long Jing has a gentle lemon note with fresh "grass" (in a good way) and extra-light grass-floral notes. Others take on a chestnut quality. Which you prefer is personal, naturally. But, try the lower temperatures with relatively short steeps, the second steep being far *shorter* than the first because the leaves will be more ready to impart their flavors having already been opened.

This is *not* hair splitting; it's the stuff of tea.

Sorry again for rambly paragraph.

Michael

I still have to go with the Xi Hu variety as being my favorite. I was able to get my hands on some longjing directly from Hangzhou, Xi Hu spring pick last year because I have a good friend there and he can speak the local language. They hide the really good stuff that they don't send off to the vendors. It has a really crisp, light chestnut flavor that is just too good for words...I hope I can snag some this year too, but this past winter and spring have been a little more cold; not sure how that's going to affect the tea quality.

Thanks for the info Michael. The long jing I have at the moment is most probably not the before the rains tea as I and my pocketbook would both know the difference (me from the vendor and my wallet from...well, the vendor too..). I also have to say that for instance Yinzhen silver needle is escaping me at this point so it's entirely possible that I am expecting LongJing to give more, as you say. (This is fine, it'll come in time or it won't but either way I enjoy tea now anyhow)

Having said that, I am going to try it (the LJ) at lower temps today and see what all I can get get out of it. Keep in mind this particular sample has been exposed to the air now since Christmas so it's not at it's own most perfect I think.

How short a steep are you thinking of then? I was doing my green loose leaf puer from Silk Road the other day and was using the 5 breaths idea and it made it much better than it had been. That has been my most common mistake with puer up til now...brewing it for too long....I didn't like the cooked puter at first because of that either....

BTW, when you say lemon do you mean lemon peel/zest?

And Mydnight, ya know yer making me jealous is all ;) ...this whole thing of the people hiding the best tea away and it's such a difficult thing to get ahold of. You know what...tea I suppose in a way at the smaller level is like preserves or pickles here (or even those who brew their own beer etc.) there may be a very good one-time batch that only a person and their friends will ever see. It's just the way it is. I feel like tea is a constant lesson in impermanence. Which is a good thing.

Melinda

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Quite so.

Well, that can be liberating, can't it? Try this tea every which way. Get some good in the future, though -- by which I don't mean an empty-your-wallet one, just a super fresh one. TeaSpring might be a good choice since they seem to sell several varieties and to describe them pretty well on their web site.

For a fresh young LJ, I'd say 20 seconds first, and close to instantaneous for the second. Amount of leaf to water can change that. I use a gaiwan of perhaps 3 ounces or an YiXing teapot a bit smaller.

Actually, lemon is a bad word choice, but I have no other. I mean a citrus

-- there I go again -- "ting" on the tongue, a touch of "bitterness," not to be confused with astringency, which it is not.

Ah, impermanence: The one thing on which we can rely.

Michael