My latest mystery box from Adagio came with iced tea packets for cold brewing tea. I didn't even know tea could be cold brewed so out of curiosity I decided to cold brew some of my lemon meringue green tea leaves and it came out amazing.

#tea #coldbrew @tea

I ordered a mystery box from Adagio which finally came in and was surprised at what came in. I was expecting a collection of single cup samples but instead I got several of the larger bags that can make multiple cups each.

This box contained:

• April in Paris - .8oz
• Blueberry Peach Gobbler Green - .5oz
• Double Ginger Herbal - .8oz
• Lemon Meringue Green - .5oz
• Zodiac - aries tea - Single
• Black Jasmine Song - Single
• Tie Kuan Yin Black - .4oz

Since they change what they put in the mystery box each month, I might just see how to setup a monthly auto-purchase.

It's bunny day, so it seemed fitting to take out my tea pet.

Tea is Jinggu "Wild Tree Purple Moonlight White" from Yunnan Sourcing. I've only had white tea a handful of times, really enjoyed it. A little bitter, and felt like a lot of different flavors I couldn't really identify. I just know I liked it! Made it to about 10 steeps before it started losing flavor, so even the smaller 25g sample I got should last me a good while.

I have a hot water dispenser, which heats the water to the temp you specify, on-the-fly. Sometimes this technology is called “insti-heat”. Instead of filling a kettle and waiting, it pumps water from a tank and heats it inline as fast as it draws it. Likely similar to how Nespresso machines work.

This means the limescale is hidden in the internal tubes. When descaling solution is put in the tank and the descaling program runs, there are no white chips of limescale like you would get in a water kettle. Yet it seems to be working because after descaling the water flows smoothly (as opposed to coughing and sputtering which is what happens when limescale is built up).

So it’s a mystery- where did the limescale go? Does it actually dissolve into the descaling solution? I ask because I’d rather not be wasteful.. I’d like to reuse the descaling solution, if that’s sensible.

I enjoyed the Jasmine tea and the white tea, which tasted like incense smells. The green tea tasted like spinach and the oolong didnt taste like much. The fermented tea tasted like cut grass. The Cardamom Ceylon black tea didnt have a strong flavor at first but with sweetener, the cardamom really pops. I had hoped that I would like tea unsweetened so that I would have a healthy beverage but it is either no strong enough, bitter, or tastes like plant. To be fair, only the cheap store brand tea has been bitter. Any suggestions for teas to try that are more on the fruity, nutty, floral, or spice teas?

It's kumbucha, home made. Fermented with blueberries, which were then strained out.

I picked up some new teas from a shop while on vacation and this one was pretty good. I like teas with lavender in them but I find that it's sometimes overpowering. This one had the lavender taste without it overwhelming the other flavors.

Edit: I tried to upload a picture but it wouldn't let me so I used a link to the one of the pictures on the site.

I was suprised that none of the thrift stories had any teapots. Coffee machine pots sure, but no teapots. The third antique store had one that was the size I was looking for given I make tea for one.

I just used what I already had available.

Inherited a set of these amber glass cups from my dude's great-grandma. I like them, they make me feel a little fancy, but I absolutely cannot gauge a steep color in these. I've got water as hardass as a Humphrey Bogart character, and it helps to glance at the color to see if I've got a decent steep, especially for herbal tisanes.

Welp.

Had BTTC's Misty mountain oolong for the first time today.

Nose - dry leaves: floral

Nose - wet leaves: buttered vegetables, hot milk, floral

Liquor: smooth, floral, milky, slight vegetal and honey notes

The flavour was decently strong and there was absolutely no adstringency or bitterness. There were some stems in the tea, but that's to be expected considering it's machine picked. Otherwise the leaves were pristine and almost completely intact. Would make a fantastic daily drinker if you like gaoshancha.

Not had this stuff in many years.

A friend brought it back from Japan and told me it was either sencha or hojicha but I think I got lucky.

My beloved clay kyusu died some time ago, this is my charity shop backup kyusu. Not a looker but makes a fine cup of Japanese tea.

5.5g, 200F, gong fu method

I'd describe it as honey sweet, warm baked, chocolate, and a tanginess for intrigue. This is the heaviest roast I've tried from Taiwan, but with their hot air roasting method, I think it works well. I do enjoy lighter roasts too, but this brings more depth and makes the tea last for more steeps. I think of this as the ultimate dessert tea. For me, it fully replaces the need for actual dessert.

This is my most favored tea from Taiwan. I like to have this tea once every week or two. It is in a class of its own for me. I'd be interested to try other teas that I would consider comparable, to compare quality. So if you know one, please share!

My experience

Having a temperate controlled kettle has greatly improved my tea enjoyment. Not just for more sensitive tea types, such as greens, but for all tea types.

When I started my journey with tea, I primarily drank black tea. I believed that I just didn't enjoy green tea and even many of the black teas that I was trying. It turns out that I was not only over-steeping them, but also negatively affecting the balance of the profile by only using boiling water. I have since learned that some teas need a lower temperature to be in balance. Temperature control has enabled me to experience all tea types at varying temps, tweaking the balance and profile to get that perfect cup. I have found more complex and enjoyable profiles in teas that I thought were simple and harsh.

I know that temperate control is not for everyone, either due to differing preparation methods making it not necessary or maybe you are better than me at getting the temperature right on your own. For me, my kettle is my most important teaware. I'd gladly give up all other teaware to keep it.

My kettle

I have the kettle shown as the image of this post. You can find it by searching "temperate controlled goose-neck kettle" on Amazon. It must be a generic, as it has gone by multiple manufacturer names. I have 2 of these, one at home and one at work. After a few years with them, I am still happy. It is a cheaper kettle, but it still has all of the features that I want. My only complaint is that I wish it held more water, so I didn't have to refill as often.

• Single degree temperate control
• Easy and fast to change temperature
• Mute mode
• Hold function (holds for 2 hours)
• No plastic in contact with water

Share your water preparation method and teaware!

I've been greatly enjoying this tisane lately. I enjoy the clean simplicity of it. It's just 2 ingredients. It's been refreshing in the summer heat.

In the morning, I'll drink it hot, to wake up my breathing and perk up from the brightness. In the afternoon, I'll drink it over ice as a relaxing and cooling summer beverage, indoors or outdoors.

My first experience with this tisane was unintentional. I needed just a little more in my cart to get free shipping, so I tried this one out on a whim. I'm so glad that I did.

What's your favorite tisane lately?

I don’t love flavoured teas so I buy plain tea bags and spruce them up with flavoured simple syrup instead. There are a lot of syrup recipes out there, but a lot of them aren’t great with black tea. I combined recipes, made modifications and these two are my faves. Hope you try and enjoy!

Here's my favorite tea...

I've been exploring the world of tea for about 5 years and have tried just over 200 teas of nearly all tea types. There is one tea that I've consistently gone back to since I have discovered it. It is a sheng puer from Yunnan Sourcing. I have an interesting relationship with this tea. I have never thought of this tea as wildly complex or as an experience. Instead, it has balance with just the right amount of intrigue to work as a daily drinker. I'm always happy to drink this tea.

2020 Wu Liang Mountain (the pic of this post)

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2020-yunnan-sourcing-wu-liang-mountain-wild-arbor-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake-1

Tasting notes: Thick texture; mineral, wood, and sweet body; citrus and herb high notes; a bitter-to-sweet aftertaste transformation.

I've gone from getting tea bags at the grocery store to tea bags ordered online and just started getting loose leaf tea. I've been buying the bags and the loose tea from Stash but I was wondering where all of you get your tea.

Today, I don't want to focus on the exact tea I'm drinking. Instead, I'd like to think about the water temperature I'm using.

For black tea, I typically use 200-205F (93-96C). I find that this brings out the strength and body, but still leaves some subtle notes for intrigue.

But today, I wanted to brew this tea at 195F (90.5C). There are so many sweet, floral, and fruity notes that come out at this lower temp that aren't as present at the higher temp. There is still sufficient strength and body, so I'm not missing the higher temp.

This is just a reminder to myself, and to anyone out there, to try out your teas on different water temperatures. You may find a new profile from an old tea that you enjoy even more!

Hello fellow enthusiasts!

What are your favourite ways to brew large quantities of tea + make it taste good?

I use the Russian method sometimes, but it works best for strong black tea

I'd consider myself proficient with using a gaiwan now, but I wasn't for the first few years of my tea journey. I was scared of them.

That's not going to filter the tea properly. That looks uncomfortable to use. I'm gonna burn myself!

At first, I used tea infusers that sit in your cup. These bothered me for a few reasons: some tea types don't expand and steep well in a confined space; they clogged constantly; and they can be annoying to clean.

I then took my first baby step towards gaiwans - with an "easy" gaiwan. It was a nicer experience, but still had some of the same issues: it tended to clog and was annoying to clean. It has a lip that is difficult to clean under. And it actually lets quite a bit of tea bits through.

Similar to this one:

After a few years, I got my first gaiwan for cheap, and I'm so glad I did! It was just easier. You can keep the lid mostly closed and it somehow filters tea bits better than my "easy" gaiwan. It's soooo easy to clean. Now, I do actually use a filter sometimes to catch fine tea dust, but I don't actually need to.

I'm sure gaiwans are synonymous with loose leaf tea for many people, but they aren't common where I am in the US. So for anyone who hasn't tried one, I say give it a try!

-- PS - One cool looking kind of teaware I have yet to try is a shiboridashi. This looks like a better version of my "easy" gaiwan:

Hi all, I'm looking for genmaicha suggestions. I love green teas and recently(ish) discovered genmaicha. I first tried it at a Japanese restaurant and set out to find something near me that I could pick up at a store so I have been drinking Yamamotoyama genmaicha from my local Japanese grocery store.

That said, I'd like to step up my tea game and was wondering if anyone had any genmaicha that they loved? Online stores are good with me. Thanks!