tea scales - info and recommendations?

Digital scales are reviewed at

"Doug Hazen, Jr." wrote in news:clef5a$5nl$ snipped-for-privacy@pcls4.std.com:

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I am not a newbie to loose leaf tea but have not had any of what I would call premium tea. So I purchased a scale,thermometer and some good glass tea pots for green tea. The scale is a Salter model

I've also been told that a) all you really need for tea

I think that scales are a nice gadget but they are not necessary. A bit of experimentation with quantities seems to be better. Thermometers, on the other hand, can be most useful.

JB

Agreed.

Maybe so, if you intend to be dividing up large batches with your friends.

Yes, it works great. I normally have it set up to balance at 4g, which is the amount of leaf I usually brew when, uh, drinking alone, and measuring out the right amount could hardly be quicker. I also like the fact that the receptacle is fairly big, so (with the auxiliary weights) it's possible to measure out big quantities when I need to.

I don't like the idea of adding more batteries to the world, so my other scale is a pocket balance (Deering, but I think there are others available as well.) It works fine, with the exception that with fluffy teas it can be hard to measure even 4g in one go.

/Lew

I bought a Salter 3001 at "Bed Bath and Beyond" for about $20 or so. I'm sure there are lots of good options, but I would suggest buying a scale that is sufficiently large to be used for other kitchen duties.

Tea isn't the only thing that needs to be weighed, but it is one of the smallest items you'll ever need to weigh.

Warren

Scales are important if you're paying $16/g. You'll never see a scale on a cook show. However if by-the-book makes sense also consider barometer,altimeter,stopwatch,hydrometer,litmus strips,physical-dental-psychological exam. Experimenting and discovery will add more to the taste than scales. I've been playing with swooshing tea in a cylindrical pot to cut down on infusion time (experimenting). My uncooked caked Puer bubbles no matter what kind of pieces I use so it can't be trapped air (discovery). If I was using scales I'd use the old fashion brass fulcrum with weight sets. Making tea is as much show as taste. I'll agree weight,temperature,time are necessary evils for making tea but don't let them get in the way of making a good cuppa. You don't need a chemistry set to make tea.

Jim

compost for the slag pile

You should go to a store and try. Nowadays, you get for cheap excellent digital kitchen scales 1g to 2 or 5 kg, with a precision of 1g for the first 500g. The little battery lasts 2 years at least (it's still the original one for me). You have a button to reset at zero after you place the saucer or piece of paper on which you put the tea and imediatly read the weight. For cooking, you can place a bowl and add successively each ingredient, just resetting zero each time. My scale weights food, mail, tea, etc. Take the 5 kg model if you have a big family (may have to weight whole chicken, etc). .

You are not in the tea business, are you ? They spend the day weighting tons of tea. They need scales much more resistant, but not really more precise than the home kitchen equipment.

Kuri

You have forgotten water! I agree fully with you, experimenting is much more successful and rewarding than fulfilling miniscule details. By trying, the Greeks got into Troy! JB

J snipped-for-privacy@cwcom.delete.net10/25/04

And if they had stayed the hell out of Troy a lot of misery could have been averted. Maybe if they had stayed home making proper tea, they wouldn't have felt the need to engage in hostile acts. Had they used scales, they could have compensated nicely for the fluffiness factor instead of overcompensating for their failure by attacking their neighbors.

And now you know the true story.

Michael

They scaled the ladders ;-)