Tea Time
I was having 10 o'clock problems last week, so I decided to steep and drink Lipton's regular green tea because it always made things move. The only thing I knew about tea up to that point was to put a tea bag in really hot water until the water changes color. The tea was horrendous that day but I pushed through and finished it - which didn't help with the 10 o'clocks in the slightest.
Later that day, with a bitter green tea taste left in my mouth, I decided to find out why tea sporadically tasted good. I found out that restaurants basically had the same approach as I did, and that different teas have different steep times and temperatures. Armed with that new-found knowledge I was able to make a couple decent mugs of Lipton green tea. I don't know why, but I notice an odd texture and get a dry tongue when I eat hot foods with wooden utensils and brew tea in paper bags. However, when I was a child we had these stainless steel ball and spoon things that we used to put tea and herbs in for food and drinks, so with that in mind (and a dry mouth) I decided to look into loose leaf tea brewing. I found an excellent site that is perfect for beginners like myself, and they have a $20 starter set that includes 4 tea samples (8-10 cups per sample), a book about tea, and a microwavable teapot. The teapot is called IngenuiTEA, and you put it on top of your mug after it's finished steeping. There's a hole in the bottom of the IngenuiTEA that's controlled by a disk-like mechanism that's receded in the bottom, and, when placed on a mug, opens the hole to dispense the tea. I've read that a lot of tea connoisseurs poo poo using the microwave, but it's good for a beginner like myself.
The site that I purchased my starter pack and a sampler pack from is Adagio. I'm amazed at how organized they make the entire experience; finding tea on the website is easy, and the sample tins I have show the steeping temperatures and times. Aside from the the teas I accidentally steeped too long, each cup I've had was really good, so I don't see myself going back to tea bags, except for emergencies.
I was having 10 o'clock problems last week, so I decided to steep and drink Lipton's regular green tea because it always made things move. The only thing I knew about tea up to that point was to put a tea bag in really hot water until the water changes color. The tea was horrendous that day but I pushed through and finished it - which didn't help with the 10 o'clocks in the slightest.
Later that day, with a bitter green tea taste left in my mouth, I decided to find out why tea sporadically tasted good. I found out that restaurants basically had the same approach as I did, and that different teas have different steep times and temperatures. Armed with that new-found knowledge I was able to make a couple decent mugs of Lipton green tea. I don't know why, but I notice an odd texture and get a dry tongue when I eat hot foods with wooden utensils and brew tea in paper bags. However, when I was a child we had these stainless steel ball and spoon things that we used to put tea and herbs in for food and drinks, so with that in mind (and a dry mouth) I decided to look into loose leaf tea brewing. I found an excellent site that is perfect for beginners like myself, and they have a $20 starter set that includes 4 tea samples (8-10 cups per sample), a book about tea, and a microwavable teapot. The teapot is called IngenuiTEA, and you put it on top of your mug after it's finished steeping. There's a hole in the bottom of the IngenuiTEA that's controlled by a disk-like mechanism that's receded in the bottom, and, when placed on a mug, opens the hole to dispense the tea. I've read that a lot of tea connoisseurs poo poo using the microwave, but it's good for a beginner like myself.
The site that I purchased my starter pack and a sampler pack from is Adagio. I'm amazed at how organized they make the entire experience; finding tea on the website is easy, and the sample tins I have show the steeping temperatures and times. Aside from the the teas I accidentally steeped too long, each cup I've had was really good, so I don't see myself going back to tea bags, except for emergencies.