How (not) to make tea the British way

[Nanohedron]

I let the water cool a bit for green tea. If it's a darker green, I rinse it with a bit of sub-boiling water, too. I got that trick from a Taiwanese friend whose uncle had a tea plantation. It makes a huge difference; I'd never liked green tea before I met him. It's not necessary for Japanese teas, but does wonders for green Chinese teas.

There are plenty of Japanese who'd disagree with you on that, but best practice will depend on the tea; some, notably the expensive ones, require more care with water temperature and timing, otherwise the tea's considered abused and therefore wasted. But I do think that sencha (the household go-to) stands up to more casual treatment. Still, with tea, my palate's not that sensitive, so what I brew might be unpleasant to someone else. Haven't had anyone complain yet, though.

[chas]

I let the water cool a bit for green tea. If it's a darker green, I rinse it with a bit of sub-boiling water, too. I got that trick from a Taiwanese friend whose uncle had a tea plantation. It makes a huge difference; I'd never liked green tea before I met him. It's not necessary for Japanese teas, but does wonders for green Chinese teas.

There are plenty of Japanese who'd disagree with you on that, but best practice will depend on the tea; some, notably the expensive ones, require more care with water temperature and timing, otherwise the tea's considered abused and therefore wasted. But I do think that sencha (the household go-to) stands up to more casual treatment. Still, with tea, my palate's not that sensitive, so what I brew might be unpleasant to someone else. Haven't had anyone complain yet, though.

I've never heard of rinsing Japanese green teas. For example, if you rinse tea with matcha, you'll rinse the matcha away. Of course that won't happen with sencha, but I've still never heard of rinsing sencha.

If it wasn't clear that the bold was referring to rinsing, my humble apologies.

[Nanohedron]

I let the water cool a bit for green tea. If it's a darker green, I rinse it with a bit of sub-boiling water, too. I got that trick from a Taiwanese friend whose uncle had a tea plantation. It makes a huge difference; I'd never liked green tea before I met him. It's not necessary for Japanese teas, but does wonders for green Chinese teas.

There are plenty of Japanese who'd disagree with you on that, but best practice will depend on the tea; some, notably the expensive ones, require more care with water temperature and timing, otherwise the tea's considered abused and therefore wasted. But I do think that sencha (the household go-to) stands up to more casual treatment. Still, with tea, my palate's not that sensitive, so what I brew might be unpleasant to someone else. Haven't had anyone complain yet, though.

I've never heard of rinsing Japanese green teas. For example, if you rinse tea with matcha, you'll rinse the matcha away. Of course that won't happen with sencha, but I've still never heard of rinsing sencha.

If it wasn't clear that the bold was referring to rinsing, my humble apologies.

Oh, I see! I got a lot of wires crossed, there; I can see now that I didn't read as closely as I should have. I'd never heard of rinsing tea leaves prior to brewing before, so it went right over my head, and I automatically assumed you meant the practice of priming the teapot with hot water. Consequently my mistaken reading was compounded, for the part I bolded struck me as meaning that water temperature wasn't an issue with Japanese teas.

It would appear that I should be the one offering apologies, not you.

[an seanduine]

Hmm. Did I miss something? It seems to me it would be impossible to ´rinse´ matcha, as it is no longer in leaf form, but is a ground powder waiting for its role in chanoyu to be whisked. . .
In China, the name ´Iron Goddess´ (Tieguanyin) is much abused, but if you are paying something approaching thirty dollars a pound, you are either getting royally ripped off, or getting the real deal. With the myriad forms of Iron Goddess teas, and the thousands of opinions about how to prepare and drink it, you have endless rabbit holes to go down. According to Red Pine, You2Song1, (Bill Porter), poet and translator, travelling across China today with a tin of good Iron Goddess will at least get you an overnight accommodation at any monastery you might come upon.

[Nanohedron]

Hmm. Did I miss something? It seems to me it would be impossible to ´rinse´ matcha, as it is no longer in leaf form, but is a ground powder waiting for its role in chanoyu to be whisked. . .

That's exactly what chas was saying, in reference to how I had misunderstood his meaning.

[david_h]

If you believe that, you'll believe anything!

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/j ... nline-brew

[chas]

If you believe that, you'll believe anything!

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2020/j ... nline-brew

Okay, the American ambassador upped the gag ante when he made the perfect cup of coffee with instant. I presume it was tongue-in-cheek, but you never know.

The perfect cup of coffee involves fresh-ground Costa Rican coffee. Unfortunately, that isn't available in the US (I know, I asked the Costa Rican husband of a colleague). A good Hawaiian brew (I have Kauai and Lion in the pantry, honestly Kona coffee doesn't do it for me) is a distant second.