Thread: Tea anyone ??!!

Just had a lovely cup of green jasmine tea...smelled wonderful!

Enjoying an early morning pot of 1999 dragon horse puerh. I love the fragrance of this tea so much I bought a whole tong

I've been drinking plenty of tea, just not had much time to devote to photographing or posting anything meaningful.

I've just finished a very good packet of kamairicha and will shortly open my last packet of 2013 shincha.

I've also stocked up with karigane genmaicha (genmaicha made with sencha stems rather than leaves) -- great stuff; some more sencha and a packet of gyokuro, which I'm really looking forward to.

Oh, and I went to buy some more matcha and found a newly added tea, so I bought some of that.

I have never heard of those teas. This makes me sad.

At least tea acquisition disorder is cheaper than RAD.

I'll try to get back into posting some stuff.

My thoughts on genmaicha:

If you don't know, genmaicha (玄米茶) is tea—typically sencha—mixed with genmai—rice (genmai (玄米) is specifically brown rice but the rice used in the tea mix is actually white rice, it's just a bit weird as they both use the same word).

Anyway, I like genmaicha. It's got the refreshing lightness of the sencha but the rice gives it a nutty, popcorn-y toastedness without the tea actually being roasted. I've generally seen it recommended to be brewed at higher temperature (80ºC - 90ºC)—probably because it's generally made with lower grade tea—but I find that it can become quite bitter, especially if the sencha used is of higher quality.

Matcha iri genmaicha is the same but with matcha dusted over it. It gives the tea a 'better' colour (read: deeper green. Looks more like a deep steamed sencha. I don't think it looks better myself, but hey.) And it gives it a more rounded flavour. Personally, I don't like it as much. I find that, due to the astringency of the matcha, it can become rather bitter quite easily, especially if steeped too hot (which I was probably doing).

Karigane genmaicha or kukicha in general is tea made with the stems of the leaf as well as the leaf itself. (Karigane (雁が音) actually is a wild goose but is also the name they give to high grade kukicha (茎茶)—stick tea—specifically made with high quality sencha or gyokuro, in, I think, Kyoto. Not sure about elsewhere.) Obviously, then, karigane genmaicha is high grade sencha/gyokuro leaves, with stems and rice.

This is by far my favourite type of genmaicha, as the stems make the tea very sweet when brewed. Now that I've started steeping this genmaicha at a slightly lower temperature to reflect the higher quality of tea used (probably the same as I would for regular sencha—70ºC - 80ºC), it comes out without a hint of bitterness and is lovely and smooth.

There we go, perhaps some of you will go out and try some. Don't forget that even when made with gyokuro stems, this is still a lower grade of tea and is reflected as such, normally, in its price. I bought my genmaicha at 6.30GBP / 10.10USD for a 200g / 7oz packet (bearing in mind that buying gyokuro will cost you about the same amount for only a quarter of the weight)—well worth it, I say!

Originally Posted by kwlfca

I have never heard of those teas. This makes me sad.

At least tea acquisition disorder is cheaper than RAD.

Yes, but is it really?

Got a new chai, it's a red rooibos chai. Smells nice.

Starting to drink tea again....it's a fall ,Wintah ,thing for me....

well i am kinda like nessmuck, now that the fall is upon us, i will be drinking more hot tea, both at home and at work. last night it was a pot of some "royal tea" a russian brand i pick up at the euromarkets in harrisonburg. ahh tea season is finally upon me. now on to a different subject but it is tea related. did any one else read about how and i say this with some disgust, starbucks is trying to make teavana into the newest fad. your thoughts

Originally Posted by PigHog

Yes, but is it really?

no no not really, i believe i have probably spent as much on tea and all the minutia that goes with it, and hell i still spend money on it, cause tea runs out quicker at the rate i drink it some days, (3 pots a day or more). oh and every time i see a nice, LARGER tea pot i think, hey that will allow me to drink more with less brewings, lolol, i still want a cast iron, maybe soon.