Fine Tea

[Ben]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pu-erh_tea presents an interesting treatment of the subject. Note the following, copied from the article:

"Poor control in fermentation/oxidation process can result in bad ripened pu-erh, characterized by badly decomposed leaves and a flavour and texture reminiscent of compost."

[Scotto]

Getting back to John's question, knowing most of those teas, I would say the "fine tea" sampler to be the best, followed by the oolong. The other samplers contain some poorer specimens they are trying to pawn off on you.

[Ben]

Wet basement doesn't have to be a bad thing.

When followed up by "Nasty stuff" it sort of takes on a negative tone, don'tcha think? Anyway, glad to hear your mean, nasty, foul, wet-basement take on the tea.

I love Belgian beer. So at least we can enjoy that and then smash the bottles over our heads.

[letterk]

Getting back to John's question, knowing most of those teas, I would say the "fine tea" sampler to be the best, followed by the oolong. The other samplers contain some poorer specimens they are trying to pawn off on you.

Aha! Thanks Scotto. That's what I was looking for.

[ouch]

Rude? I don't think so. I think the description is pretty apt, and gives people an impression of what it is like. Wet basement doesn't have to be a bad thing. If you like wines from the Rhone or Belgian beer (both of which I do), you'll regularly hear descriptive terms like "horse blanket", "musty", etc. which are quite telling. I have tried a dozen or so "fine" pu-erh specimens with some people who were really into this type , but it still isn't my cup of tea.

The general term for this, "sauvage" is considered quite a compliment.

[Ben]

The general term for this, "sauvage" is considered quite a compliment.

If you like wines from the Rhone or Belgian beer (both of which I do), you'll regularly hear descriptive terms like "horse blanket", "musty", etc. which are quite telling.

Those terms, on their own, can probably be taken as-is. But if you say feces-stuffed horse blanket or musty rectal odors, the descriptors become a little more negative.

[ouch]

I should point out that I made no reference to the odor of my basement. It wouldn't be fair, because that's where I store my collection of human skulls.

[SSLStudio]

Great to see we have some Tea experts on this board because Tea is a big mystery to me ?

regardles of the grades and versions out there how do you proper prepare tea ? what is needed Tools wise?
You all probably think the same about people who use a M3 and edge gel are the same people who use a waterkettle/boiler (hotpot) to brew water and then throw the water on a bag of pickwick/Lipton tea or a bag of any prepared brand from a supermarket ?

I never was so much interested in those because whenever I went out for a good chinese restaurant I would be treated with a nice Jasmine pot of tea so I knew there is something better out there.

Still dont know how to proper prepare it though how much do you need for a cup ? for a pot ? special tea pots ? kettles ?

I always drink Greece Mint tea a day just a few leafes in a cup and some hot water on top 2-3m waiting and its good to go , my friend from Sweden visits his dad in Greece and brings me 3 big bags of mint tea (home grown) and Greece Mountain tea which are very good for the stomach and general health.

So I went looking in my old cabinet where I rememberd I bought some tea from a store in Austria last year.

-Redbush /rooibos after eight
-Poison Ivy -Herbal Tea
-Custom blend aroma blacktea
-Redbush Truffel Herbal Tea
-Sizilian Nights fruit tea
-Honey Bush
-China Lychee black tea
-China Pu erh
-original Yunnan Herbal Tea
-Nepal TGFOPI (kanchanjangha "kba " black tea)
-Assam GBOP 'Teen Ali " black tea

I Always buy jasmin tea when im at the Deli-shop and the green tea but there are so many out there which one is the nice one ? I clearly taste the green tea at the dojo is far superior (lighter more delicate blend. )

I stopped drinking tea for a while when this extreme work-out sect wrote a bible called the Spartan way of training and which food is bad and which food is good I belief Coffee and Tea was a no no. well I quitted coffee a long time ago but Tea seems to me a healthy kind of a thing even though you gotta be carefull some contain as much caffeine as coffee and will cause sleepless nights.

Turkish /Greece/Japanese/Chinese /Indian Tea I guess almost every country makes its own tea .

[moses]

-Poison Ivy -Herbal Tea

[javyn]

Redbush/Rooibos and Honeybush are great! I'm drinking a super strong cup of honeybush right now, and it is starting to zonk me out.

You'll need a finer mesh to filter it, since they are much smaller than tea leaves, and since it's not really 'tea', no need to worry about oversteeping. The longer the better.

Anyway, I like uptontea.com's lower grade rooibos the best. It seems more potent than the higher grade and flavored ones. I made my mother a strong mug of it one night, and she fell down the stairs after drinking half of it. Not falling forward either...but backward lol

Their TGFOP Orothodox Darjeeling is good too. I think it's really good for the price actually. I'm not sure if it's a blend or an actual First Flush...but it is so much lighter and easier to drink than all of the Second Flush Darjs I've tried. And not as hit or miss as picking a single estate tea.

[Ken]

Jordan,

There are grades of tea in different kinds of categories. First of all is size. Many teas have some symbol or name for gradation according to size. For example, an OP (Orange Pekoe) has a larger leaf than a BOP(broken Orange pekoe). This tells you something about how the tea will brew. In general, the smaller the leaf, the quicker the brew. I generally prefer large leaf teas, because I find the brew less likely to be overly extracted. In addition, some tea estates, especially in the Darjeeling region, will produce a series of teas with a bunch of letters accompanying , e.g. GFOP, or FGFOP, etc. I don't want to go into what they mean, but in general the more letters, the higher quality the tea compared to others produced by the same estate. Sort of like the difference between a vineyard's cabernet sauvignon and its reserve cabernet sauvignon. It doesn't mean that the reserve is actually better, but the vineyard is presenting it as such. So, while it is true that you can never actually tell what the quality of the tea is from the words or letters that accompany it, it is still worth paying some attention to those descriptions because it at least gives you a clue as to what you may be buying.

Ken

[TimmyBoston]

Great to see this thread resurrected after 13 months!

Thank you very much, sir.

[TimmyBoston]

Does anyone know a good site to check out to learn proper ways of preparing tea. I was actually looking at the sampler that Scotto recommended to John, but I don't want to ruin the tea by preparing it improperly.

Also I keep reading about quality tea can be resteeped. How does one do this? And how do you care for the tea in between the initial and resteeping?

[rikrdo]

I dont know much about tea except
I like tea.
Erh......
Pu ?
======================
I enjoy the taste of Perique.....
perhaps I might like some Pu?

[TimmyBoston]

I just placed an order with Special teas for the blended sampler, green sampler, oolong sampler, green sampler, darjeeling sampler and a 2 cup Chatsford pot.

Can't wait for it to get here.

[dangert]

Does anyone know a good site to check out to learn proper ways of preparing tea. I was actually looking at the sampler that Scotto recommended to John, but I don't want to ruin the tea by preparing it improperly.

Also I keep reading about quality tea can be resteeped. How does one do this? And how do you care for the tea in between the initial and resteeping?

Chinese oolong and green teas may be brewed several times during the session. It is believed that the second brew is the best. Here is a site on chinese tea preparation http://chineseteas101.com (run by Kam from http://funalliance.com).

[TimmyBoston]

What are the best cups by which to drink tea? Does it vary with type? Or does it really matter?

[dangert]

What are the best cups by which to drink tea? Does it vary with type? Or does it really matter?

This pretty much depends on type of tea. I use mugs for black teas ,Yixing tiny cups for oolong teas brewed in a Yixing teapot and gai wan for green teas. Gai wan (from what I remember) means cup, saucer and lid and it is a traditional way to drink green teas. The lid is used to keep the tea leaves in a cup while sipping.

By the way, different teas require different water temperatures, another parameter besides brewing method...

[dangert]

Jordan,

There are grades of tea in different kinds of ... GFOP, or FGFOP, etc.
Ken

An easy way to remember higher grades (a joke from The Tea FAQ) TGFOP : Too Good For Ordinary People, FTGFOP - Far Too Good....

[fuerein]

This pretty much depends on type of tea. I use mugs for black teas ,Yixing tiny cups for oolong teas brewed in a Yixing teapot and gai wan for green teas. Gai wan (from what I remember) means cup, saucer and lid and it is a traditional way to drink green teas. The lid is used to keep the tea leaves in a cup while sipping.

By the way, different teas require different water temperatures, another parameter besides brewing method...

Man, I really like tea, but I must be far from an afficiando. Buy my teas from Stash Tea, not super high quality but still good stuff all the same. Brew my teas but I don't pay ultra cloase attention to water temp, I'll let the kettle sit off the burner for a little longer with teas that require a lower temp, but I don't break out the thermometer just to make the the temp is the ideal... and cups, well I use mugs for all my teas. Guess I'm just a little simple when it comes to my teas.