Late Night Tea Revelations

Hehe, thanks for the morning chuckle. What kind of puerh did you say you liked?

Mike

You're welcome.

The pink kind. ;)

Puerh has become my late night evening tea. I think the microbes gobbled the caffeine and expelled it as gas. Since a little goes a long way I don't use a pot. I put some in a styrofoam cup and add the boiling water. You can drink it after the decimated leaf particulate settles to the bottom which seems like only a minute. The first sip taste like the last sip off the bottom. I think there is a temperature where it stops infusing. You never get the over steeped heavy taste. I'm going to use it as my brown bag restaurant tea. It holds up to multiple infusions and to the waitress and dishwasher the cup seems like another ashtray. I could have used it New Year's Eve when I stopped at a gourmet steakhouse per chance. I learned the coded words 'Do you have a reservation' means it's going to be very expensive. Well worth it in this case but way too much food and needed something to settle my stomach. It acts better than a glass of seltzer after a meal to do the same thing. If I was still traveling I would add it to my road kit and never have to worry about replacing stale tea. Nothing worse than stale tea and a dull razer on the road. It is now in the glove compartments of my cars. I can't think of a better humidor than a car interior. Gas stations usually have a good source of hot water used to make hot chocolate. You didn't mention it but I'd add I always boil the water and if I kill the taste I'll be the last one to know. I'll give an amen to one pot fits all. If you're serving me out of one of those tiny little gongfu pots please be generous. I had a couple of other posts lined up but I like this one better. I'll save them latter for the next round. I've been loosing sleep too. I bet the other guy sleeps like a baby.

Jim

Derek wrote:

because

Here we have a fine example of Jim at his very creative best. There are some descriptions that only Jim could come up with.

(Seriously, that's intended as a compliment, not a jab.)

I have one of those. It works quite excellently, but recently mine's been messing up the leaves after the 2nd infusion. It sorta gives the tea a 'Se' (acidic...spoiled taste) taste to it...how do you clean yours? I think my tap water has messed up the infuser part of it. I would only rinse it out with hot tap water.

It's the only way to do it, I think. Do you guys here actually use measuring devices to quantify your tea when preparing? I use the wooden spoon in my gongfu set.

It's not as much for oneself, I think. I do gongfu cha when I have guests or others over that appreciate finer teas. I mean, I can see someone sitting around with a small pot and doing that alone, but I prefer to use a gaiwan anyway, and that's way to labor intensive for one person to enjoy.

Few can in my opinion. More claim to be able to. heh.

I guess we're all here for the love of tea; pretention level dictates which title they fall under, I suppose.

heh.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

I've never had problems with repeated steeping.

Then again, I filter our water at the tap. I find that it has an unpleasant "processed" flavor otherwise.

I have found, however, that after a while, the "patina" inside the unit spoils the taste a bit. The best cleanser I've found is powdered dishwasher detergent in the dishwasher. Unfortunately, my wife has started buying the "pressed cake" version of the detergent, and it doesn't clean as well. But the powdered stuff (Cascade, I think) did wonders.

I also find that baking soda and a used toothbrush do a lot to clean off the "gunk" on the inside, and that this greatly improves the flavor. I'm still looking for a good way to clean the infuser by hand, though. Its wire mesh is really starting to look nasty.

My original unit was screwed together, so I could remove the mesh and clean the "clapper ball." Our newer Tea-One is all fused together.

More often than not, I use a scale. I drink teas that vary widely in density, as I think most readers of this newsgroup do, so this is the way I find easy to know "how much" leaf gets brewed.

/Lew

I think my contamination was with the tap water I was only rinsing with. I only use spring water to make tea with, especially if it's anything wulong related. Tap water doesn't have the mineral content to give the wulongs justice....pu'er it can work, but still it flattens the taste.

hm. good idea. I'm still wondering what's causing the Se taste anyway...is it the tap water or are the leaves getting overbrewed. you can't get every single drop of water out of it.

my brother tried to do some assam tea using my tea1....he doesn't know alot about tea, and thought it would be a good idea. what color do you think my infuser basket is now? heh.

I have the newer version. Got it from 'tian fu' (tenren in the west).

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

I'm just doing it this way to 'further my training,' as my friend a feng says. he says to be a tea master in china, he's not but is on his way, you must know amounts without any measuring device other than the wooden spoon.

immma gonna be a master one day. heh.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

I'm just doing it this way because it's easy and I like the results.

I'm going to be dead one day. Until then, all other things being equal, I'd like to enjoy life.

/Lew

I've never made my tea with mineral water. I might give it a try just to see what the end product is.

Maybe you've got Se rich mineral water. ;)

Same color as mine, probably. ;)

Piao-I has a travel version I'd love to get ahold of, but I haven't found any US vendors. I'm tempted to buy a case, take two, and sell the rest on eBay.

how can you not like the pu

Oh, I am so not going to go through that again... ;)

puuuuuuuuu, beloved puuuuuuuuuuuu

Chances are you've been missing out on a lot. Water quality can have huge influence on the taste of tea!

I think it's the tap water, all the same. heh.

I think I'm going to toss mine out if it doesn't work out for me after I get back to China. For some reason, it never failed until I got back to the US. They are only 10 bucks, anyway.

Keep up with me. I'm going to go back to China on the 5th of FEB, and I know many shops that have them. I'll toss you one.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Fingers used to a wooden spoon can figure out the weight of the tea, I betcha.

Sweet Mother McCree! Talk about service! ;)

oh ya. totally.

it's rough though.

Mydnight

-------------------- thus then i turn me from my countries light, to dwell in the solemn shades of an endless night.

Then stop consuming decades old puerh. Drink from the cup of life: Japanese greens!

--crymad