My parents got me some green tea from Russia. It was sealed, but when I made it, it turned out cloudy. It didn't taste that good either. Does cloudy tea mean that there's something wrong with the tea? I drink from a glass which is how I can notice these things ..
I just hope they didn't spend a lot on it. It was just a little box thank goodness.
Some teas can be slightly cloudy. Do you know how to brew green tea? What is the name of tea, what did it say on the package? Is it loose leaf? Did you use lower temp than boiling? Did you use good, spring water? <dr.evil> Need the info!
Yes, I know how to brew green tea. It's called Ahmad Tea - London, Original Green tea. On the side it says "a selection of the finest quality green china leaves, including Chun Me."...the rest of it is in Russian.
I usually start using one tablespoon for 3 minutes at 180-185F in 8 oz water. Depending on how it tastes, I'll increase or decrease the steep time. Sometimes I'll vary the amount of loose leaf tea, but very rarely. I use filtered cold water, and use an Ingenuitea to brew my tea.
Any way I brew it, it's cloudy and odd tasting. It came in a 100g sealed package.
I thought you might be sharing some russian tea ... I am very curious about it ,...
I don't think there is anything wrong with cloudy per se, but low transparency does mean low quality. Has it become mouldy? If it tastes odd after some experimentation, I will leave it alone. After all, we need to take care of our body.
Anyone knows about Chun Me? It sounds to me it is an eyebrow tea. Chinese green tea can be classified into 3 broad categories: eyebrow tea, gunpowder tea and then the specialties such as longjing, biluochun etc.
Julian
I'm afraid you're forgetting that it can also be a sign of *high* quality when the opacity comes from the little "hairs" on buds and young leaves. (Though that isn't too likely in a generic tea, I suppose.)
I would guess it's the eyebrow tea whose usual romanization is Zhen Mei.
/Lew
the cheap brand that you can buy in many groceries. Have you tried green teas with a very strong vegetal taste like chun me before? If not, it could be that it's just a cheap green tea, too astringent to be tasty. If you only used finer green teas like long jing, a cheap strong-tasting one will be very different. But it could also be that the tea is indeed bad. Either way I wouldn't drink a cheap green tea. Cheap black tea is not so bad sometimes, but for my taste green tea should be at least medium grade.
Did you try cheap green gunpowder tea? I think it will also normally be cloudy.
That sounds right. It's either just a cheap low quality tea or it turned bad. Either way if you have better teas available, I'd throw it away. The tea being in russian packaging doesn't mean anything. They probably pack it in china using the same leaves for all countries using appropriate carton boxes.
That's a different type of cloudy that is usually associated with teas that most people can't get their hands on. Longjing, some HuangShan teas, Biluochun, Zhuyeqing and Qieshe high grades have these small "hairs"; all greens. The OP describes what sounds to me to be some bargin bin stuff that can be picked up at any Chinatown.
My experience has been that Ahmed tea is generally of secondary if not tertiary quality. Not a huge experience, but I only see it in the US in bargain outlets and discount stores.
Their Ceylon is quite drinkable; nice looking leaves, strong yet flavorful liquor. Drank a pot of it the day before yesterday. (Today I'm having Harney & Sons' keemun mao feng; a step up, to be sure. But I like the Ahmad, too.)
N.
Well, it's mostly blended for the middle eastern market... and I see it in the US in places that sell to middle easterners. I agree that it's not particularly good tea although their ceylon blacks are drinkable and cheap.
--scott
Assuming that Bernard meant one TEASPOON, right?
Depends on the tea. A teaspoon might be too much with CTC tea, and a level tablespoon might be too little with Yunnan big-leaf maocha. I know this has been said before, but rules of thumb for brewing proportions really make sense only when the leaves are measured by
*weight*./Lew
Yes, of course, and I use a scale for those that can't fit neatly in my measure, but for the Ahmad tea under question?
Uh, I don't know, as I haven't seen it, much less weighed it. I hope I'm not being a pest, but there's probably a wide variation in density even among teas the fit neatly in your measure. Typically CTC tea is much denser than, say, BOP, let alone whole leaf.
/Lew
Yes, of course. I agree with you 100%.
However, back to the Ahmad - somehow I got the impression that it is a tea that doesn't have to be weighed for making the best brew, but now that I think about it, how much does quantity contribute to cloudiness? I have no idea because I can't recall ever having to use such a large amount as 1 tablespoon per 8 oz. I'm thinking that such a ratio indicates a lot of air in the measuring spoon in which case, I'd be using a scale as my measuring instrument if only to keep the tea from falling out of a spoon onto the counter and maybe even the floor.
Okay, this is very cheap green tea, and you can probably make a good cup of tea with it, but it's going to be difficult.
You may want to consider using a lower temperature to start out with. Temperature control seems to be the key to getting a good cup from cheap greens.
Cloudiness can be all kinds of different things, including dissolved proteins. It's probably unrelated to the taste issue, though you never know.
--scott
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