If you guys/gal haven't tried real loose leaf tea you should. Usually, bag tea is the tea leaf dust, and leftovers that were too small to sell separately. Dump those leftovers in a paper sack, and voila, something to sell. I know a lot of you enjoy your lipton, or luzianne, but give the real thing a shot sometime. Sure, bag tea is easier, but what you're experiencing is not really the way tea was meant to taste.
Well im brewing for Ice Tea.....specifically sweet tea..so i wouldnt want to waste loose tea...or even try to make a pitcher of tea with loose tea.
You are very much right, for Sweet Tea I wouldn't waste loose leaf tea. Hey Bobby, have you ever tried Dragonwell Green? It's a Chinese variety.
I have tried dragon well, but I have found that it varies greatly between sellers (usually good though). Currently I've gotten onto a gyokuro tea kick. I brought back an insane amount of different teas while I was over there. It's so easy to find good tea. Best of all, most vending machines have like 1 soda, and the rest is tea (green, and oolong), with an occasional can of coffee. I keep meaning to try the puerh, (from trees at least 100 years old) but haven't yet. If you haven't already found them, i'd recommend checking out o-cha.com. The sell some of the freshest tea I have ever found. Rishi-tea.com is also good, but nowhere near as fresh.
I was lucky to get to try pu erh served in the traditional Gungfu brewing with Yixing pots. Was a lot of fun to be a part of the whole ritual and when I get to Japan I also plan to take part in a Japanese Tea Ceremony not only for my own enjoyment but also I am curious how the whole experience differs from the Gungfu ceremony.
Oh you havent lived life have you ? Go ahead once you go loose leaf ya never go back to crap in a bag.
I have a Kyusu Teapot with a wire mesh strainer that goes around the inside of the teapot. It allows the leaves to fully bloom. I have 3 or 4 different Japanese green teas including one with brown rice (Genmai). Coffee in the morning and Japanese Green Tea in the afternoon. ::
I am especially fond of green teas but golden tea has it charms as well. I believe the Golden tea is Huang da Cha and just half fermented which gives it a golden glance. It has a really nice somewhat earth- and somewhat herblike taste. Dragonwell I like as well. My absolute top tea would be buddha ama cha. It might be a shock for the tea purists but it isn't actually made from a teaplant but from a hortensia which is dried on sweet rice leaves giving it an incredible mild and subtle sweet flavour. I believe it is traditionally consumed in Japan on Buddha's birthday. Though it is really expensive (if it is dirt cheap something is not right) I really recommend you try it sometime.
Tea Guru's Ok Tea Guru's What is your basic idea for the Russian Samovar , I was about to buy one because one. My Glass tea pot broke which sux as a tea pot and I can upgrade to a real Japanese one but at the same time I need to buy a new Kettle/water boiler since the one im using now has the lid broken off that you need to start the boiling of water. Very interesting how distilled water is not the right water.. or would that be minera bottled water is bad too (I use mineral water in the Senseo to make Coffee but that a whole different thread ). that means im stuck with tap water because I dont have a nice Japanese waterfall in my Garden.. oh well must fix that. Ken makes a good point about the Leafes needing to bloom but then you would need to get the leafes out , to make that step faster there are pots with strainers buildin as it seems that is what Rich is talking about ? but a strainer /leaf holder would seem to me to not fully let the leafes bloom. another point would be Ken ok you have the leafes inside the pot do you strain your tea into something else ? then poor the tea back in your you go fishing for the leafes I didnt quite get that ritual there. The Samovar is what most russians use to make tea ,do we have any russian members or someone that can explain more about this it seems its a kettle and tea pot in one thats mainly why I wanted to get it because it would replace my glass tea pot, and my handicapped water boiler I have each time I need to start boiling water I need to insert a mini screwdriver and fiddle . Im still figuring out what this Samovar can do for me ,even though in my heart I wanna go the Japanese style cuz I love Japanese culture. http://www.samovartea.com/
A little more about the straining/lack of straining comments. To get the most out of your loose leaf Teas you need to give them LOTS of room to bloom properly which is why the typically mesh strainers/tea balls simply do not work too well. So what is the solution? Well.. sort of depends on how much effort you want to put into it. You certainly can use a strainer in the pot. You won't get the bloom to the same effect but if you use a BIG strainer (or one like Rich has where it is basically a complete pot lining) you can minimize or completely remove the negatives. In pot strainers of ANY kind are very easy and user friendly. You can neglect the use of a strainer all together and poor your tea directly into a cup THROUGH a strainer that is sitting on the cup. This works great if you are serving all your tea at once or if you are only making a single cup with a mini pot. (For example, I have a one serving Tetsubin which holds water for only one person.) This allows you to have full bloom AND get your tea strained. Problems arise however if you are having tea for more than one person or you do not want to serve it all at once since your teas will continue to infuse which will only cause the tea to become bitter. There are some others who actually just leave the tea in throughout the whole process and get left with the old 'tea leaves' in the cup to read your fortune. I do not claim responsibility if your tea leaves say you are going to die. Just so we get that out of the way . Really the whole straining process is a personal choice. If you are comfortable with a little less blooming you can use the biggest in pot strainer that will fit, or find a lining like Rich has. If you don't care about a little left over tea in the cup then just pour your tea with no straining if you are serving all at once or pour through a strainer sitting in the cup and discard. The thing you simply have to remember is "Keep the tea hot and prevent over infusion". The rest is really up in the air.
