Tea Adventures

[forestofglory]

So one result of my recent enjoyment of Chinese dramas is that I've been learning about and tasting more tea.

It started when I was working on my Guardian Food and Drink Project. Someone commented on one of my posts about it with a link to this the Tea House Ghost Youtube Chanel and I enjoyed those videos very much! But for a while that was all. Fancy tea is intimidating, its expensive and it seemed like you need a lot of special equipment.

However earlier this year I decided that rather than being sensible and finding some good surveys of Chinese history I was going to dive into the deep end with some very focused academic history books. And the first thing I read was Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History by James A. Benn. Which I really adored.

So that got me to take a few more steps. I order a tea filter and a few samples of different Chinese style teas. The tea filter is just a mess basket that sits in my tea mug, and you put the leaves in there while the tea is brewing. I also started actually timing how long my tea brews for, which isn't as complicated as I thought. I can use the clock on my phone.

So the tea samples where very enjoyable, and I wrote a fic featuring a lot of tea, and read another book about the history of tea in China (The Rise of Tea Culture in China by Bret Hinsch) so I decided to order more tea. After asking around I ordered form TeaVivre I still wasn't sure what I liked so I ordered a bunch of sample packs and also some things that where on sale. It's been great to have lots of try.

So far I've learned that I really like pu-erh, and don't like oolong. (I sent the extra oolong to a good home). Not only is the pu-erh delicious but its relatively low fuss. I got a bunch of mini tuochas or tiny cakes of pressed tea so its all pre-measured. Unlike some of the other teas I have it brews with boiling water so I don't have to fussy with trying to cool the water down. Also it can be brewed many, many times!

With green teas I'm still figuring out what I like. I've enjoyed the dragon well tea I have now and the sample of Bi Luo Chun was very tasty too. The fact that I don't have precise control of the water temperature is making trying the green teas a bit more difficult. I have fancy kettle that does variable temperatures on my wish list, I'm hoping some one will give it to me for my birthday if not I will buy it for myself.

Tea is great! It has been lovely to learn more about the history of tea and also taste a lot of different teas. It is a bit complicated to do loose leaf tea, but its simpler than I thought. Do you have favorite teas? I'd love to hear about them!

Comments

[extrapenguin]

I order from TeaVivre, too! My favorite green teas are Lushan Yunwu, Xinyang Mao Jian, and Anyi Baicha (green, but very pale). WRT brewing tea, I find that the sound the water makes while it's boiling changes twice – the first time is at about 80°C and thus suitable for green tea. The second is at 90°C, maybe? I admit it takes a bit of practice as well as having the time to sit next to the kettle the first few times. (Or you could measure the cold water temperature and figure out the mixing ratio – a quarter 20°C water and three quarters boiling will yield 80°C, but that would require more estimation.) For summer, though, I often do cold brew tea with Japanese teas and then stick it in the fridge for later consumption. Gyokuryo is particularly good for that.

[forestofglory]

More things to add to my list to try!

Some of my historical books mentioned people listening to the sound to figure out when the water was hot enough but I didn't think to try in myself. I do have tendency get distracted and wander off while the water is boiling though, so I'm not sure it would work for me.

[extrapenguin]

I've reached the point where even if I wander off I'll notice the change in sound and can rush over to stop the boil, but that probably depends on the layout of your apartment. It's a pretty decent hack, and I use it even though I have a multi-temperature kettle (albeit one where the temperature selection isn't finegrained at all).