|
A lot of bulk food stores also tend to carry it, if they have a tea section. I also recommend buying empty teabags for chamomile, cause it gums up tea strainers like nothing else
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2023 15:35
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 11:34 |
|
|
Eeyo posted:Anybody have a preferred place to get loose leaf chamomile? I've been drinking some before bed but I'd like to get some high quality loose tea to drink. I was introduced to Harney & Sons' chamomile recently. I had only bagged chamomile before but this stuff has entire flowers:  It's the most fragrant chamomile I've ever had. The taste is nowhere near as strong, but I don't think it's supposed to be.
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2023 16:30
|
|
|
Stuporstar posted:A lot of bulk food stores also tend to carry it, if they have a tea section. Seconding the empty teabag recommendation. Nothing has been harder for me to get out of my mesh strainers than chamomile and rooibos (which are also great blended together).
|
|
#
?
Mar 30, 2023 17:06
|
|
|
Stuporstar posted:A lot of bulk food stores also tend to carry it, if they have a tea section. Holy crap, this. I have a french press, and I have a bedtime tisane that has chamomile in it, and the next morning the mesh looks like velcro from all the little bits and crap from the chamomile. One way you could potentially strain the tea is to just take a coffee filter as a strainer, pour-over style. As for buying the stuff, check out any local Asian grocers you might have. I have one across town that has a literal whole entire aisle of tea and tea components. I can buy an entire jar of around 2 cups of chamomile flowers for like $5.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2023 00:33
|
|
|
Speaking of flowers: Chrysanthemum flowers also make a great tea and will likely be at the Asian market with the chamomile.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2023 01:47
|
|
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGLdE91CKhA&t=17s
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2023 03:44
|
|
|
I love the taste of guava. Can anyone recommend a guava fruit tea? I've found guava leaf teas, but that's not what I want. I want a fruit tea, with maximum fruity flavor. I know I could just get guava juice (and I do!), but I want guava taste without all the sugar inherent to juice. I also drink tons of tea anyway, so this would fit my lifestyle.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2023 09:19
|
|
|
DurianGray posted:Seconding the empty teabag recommendation. Nothing has been harder for me to get out of my mesh strainers than chamomile and rooibos (which are also great blended together). IDK if you have different mesh or different rooibos than I do, but it’s no problem to remove as long as I don’t let it dry.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2023 10:01
|
|
|
Platystemon posted:IDK if you have different mesh or different rooibos than I do, but it’s no problem to remove as long as I don’t let it dry. Must be a lot different since it's actually easier for me to get it out when it's dry (I can kind of rub/gently grind the bits so they'll fall through). When it's wet the little bits get stuck through the holes and are too swollen to just rinse out.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2023 12:41
|
|
|
The Finum baskets always work better for me than anything else when it comes to not clogging up from rooibos. Sometimes I have a few needles stuck but generally it comes out well. Generic filters with larger grid sizes will get tons stuck in them and then it's easier to wait until it's all dried out, yeah. Flowers are pretty awful and those get my paper filters always now.
|
|
#
?
Apr 4, 2023 14:18
|
|
|
Earlier today I was trying to perfect my mate leaf slope technique and without really thinking I had drank about four cups in one hour  Who has the worst tea addiction here? I average about three cups a day, I assume some of you drink way more than that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2023 23:06
|
|
|
MIDWIFE CRISIS posted:I assume some of you drink way more than that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2023 23:14
|
|
|
I started doing iced tea again because it's spring, so I'm drinking about 1-2qt a day. That's 18g of tea in my batches, so 3-6 in a day right now. Reusing leaves counts definitely, but if you're using a gaiwan your serving size is probably about half per brew.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2023 00:35
|
|
|
I took a hiatus from tea drinking, but I'd have 2.5g in my gaiwan daily and that did it for me. I think I'm pretty sensitive, if I drink a full cup of coffee I'm jittery and super anxious. When I first started grad school I didn't realize this so I had horrible anxiety when I was drinking tea and getting cups of good coffee from the cafe.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2023 01:44
|
|
|
6g of tea in 300mL of water to start the day. I used to drink coffee, but now I can't, so it's a strong cup of tea in the morning. I don't have other caffeine, now, just my "3 cups of tea as one cup of tea" that I do because I'm so time crunched on weekday mornings. (Weekends let me sip that 6g over a more reasonable amount of time/water.) I'm pretty caffeine adapted now and probably need to work on cutting again.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2023 02:47
|
|
|
I'm on my second pot of hojicha tonight
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2023 02:51
|
|
|
I usually get through 2-4 pots of black tea a day, but I stop at 4 PM so that I can get to sleep at night.
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2023 14:15
|
|
|
Did a batch of cold brew tea with the giant thing of ceylon black tea that I've had around forever but find too tannin-y, and now I actively want to drink this tea I've been trying to find a way to get through
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2023 14:26
|
|
|
I have a few pots of sencha a day, but if I have a single espresso instead I'm super jittery
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2023 14:55
|
|
|
What do people do with those single serving balls/wafers/cubes of tea? I have some "white tea dragon balls" i'm waiting to cool down after the first steep at 190 and I think ideally I would steam or rinse it a bit beforehand. Do people break them apart though? Will it tolerate a super long steep? Hotter water? Cheers.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2023 20:21
|
|
|
hifi posted:What do people do with those single serving balls/wafers/cubes of tea? I have some "white tea dragon balls" i'm waiting to cool down after the first steep at 190 and I think ideally I would steam or rinse it a bit beforehand. Do people break them apart though? Will it tolerate a super long steep? Hotter water? Cheers. Those ball/pearl teas, I've always just used the same as any loose leaf of whatever type of tea it is. The balls will open up with the hot water, and I can usually get multiple steeps out of a lot of them since they don't always tottally unfurl on the first steep, so there's still a good amount of flavor left for a second or third steep.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2023 20:46
|
|
|
hifi posted:What do people do with those single serving balls/wafers/cubes of tea? I have some "white tea dragon balls" i'm waiting to cool down after the first steep at 190 and I think ideally I would steam or rinse it a bit beforehand. Do people break them apart though? Will it tolerate a super long steep? Hotter water? Cheers. You can rinse them with hot water then proceed to steeping as normal. You can either do fast steeps and continue to resteep until it's opened fully, or do a long steep. Theoretically it will not get particularly bitter. I just use close to boiling hot water for any whole leaf teas (99C or 210F). Any whole leaf teas should be able to tolerate this as long as the leaf is intact. For broken leaves or powders adjusting temperature downwards will significantly improve the experience. Thus, inspecting your 'single serving' will require some care, but if you brew and pour off and wait for the thing to cool down before drinking, also consider pouring less into a smaller cup for tasting (also cools down faster). Ultimately, "long steeps" will require experimentation because making a blanket statement on all teas of that category will lead to incorrect assumptions, despite what I mentioned.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2023 22:55
|
|
|
Anyone have any experience with Japanese cast iron kettles? I bought one because they're supposedly good for making green tea. However, despite following all the recommendations for seasoning it (boiling concentrated black tea inside), any tea I make has a very pronounced metallic taste. It's uncomfortably similar to blood  And the water becomes gray/dark after boiling, even with no tea in it. Am I doing something wrong? None of the articles I read describe such a strong metal flavor.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 11:23
|
|
|
have you checked to see if it’s glazed or not?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 12:11
|
|
|
ulvir posted:have you checked to see if it’s glazed or not? It is not. Glazed ones are teapots, for brewing tea. What I have is an unglazed kettle, which is supposed to be for boiling the water.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 12:43
|
|
|
what does it do to the taste of green tea that’s better than filtered water in a standard kettle? I’m intrigued
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 15:31
|
|
|
Subjunctive posted:what does it do to the taste of green tea that’s better than filtered water in a standard kettle? I’m intrigued No idea! Supposedly it softens the water? I impulse-purchased it 
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 15:38
|
|
|
I've seen cast iron kettles, but only to put on top of woodstoves to add some humidity back to the room.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 15:44
|
|
|
Nettle Soup posted:I've seen cast iron kettles, but only to put on top of woodstoves to add some humidity back to the room. Apparently they are called Tetsubin.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 15:53
|
|
|
Hmm, you're getting sent round the houses, but we do also have a cast iron thread, but the only mention I can see of one before, the goon decided not to buy it. https://www.teaforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=2273 This seems to say you should be doing evaporation cycles in it to build up a mineral crust, are you using filtered water?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 16:10
|
|
|
Got a refill on sweet dreams sleepy time tea, chamomile flowers, and Yunnan silver needles. I’m just in the mega comfy zone this upcoming week.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 16:14
|
|
|
Tetsubin often do have a breaking in period where the water comes out tasting metallic, but that seems a little extreme. Church the inside for rust? Are you trying to use it on an induction stove?
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 16:30
|
|
|
Nettle Soup posted:Hmm, you're getting sent round the houses, but we do also have a cast iron thread, but the only mention I can see of one before, the goon decided not to buy it. I have municipal/city water (live in an apartment). Reiterpallasch posted:Tetsubin often do have a breaking in period where the water comes out tasting metallic, but that seems a little extreme. Church the inside for rust? Are you trying to use it on an induction stove? I have a gas stove. No rust that I can see, but I'll take a closer look/post a pick when I get home this afternoon.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 16:47
|
|
|
Annath posted:Anyone have any experience with Japanese cast iron kettles? Raw tetsubin are for boiling water only - no additives should go into the kettle. You’d prepare your tea in a separate container instead. If you’re getting pronounced metallic taste, you may wish to do a water test since the municipal water you have could be reacting with the iron and causing the flavors to come forward more strongly. Similarly, the water plus tea interaction in the kettle could be causing a stronger https://hojotea.com/categ_e/tetsubin.htm can give you some more information. I recommend to try using bottled water in the kettle to see if you experience the same flavor profile with just the water, and to prepare your tea separately. Similarly, you may also want to ask whoever you purchased your tetsubin from for additional care details. Raw cast iron kettles tend to fetch higher prices than mass produced.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 19:08
|
|
|
aldantefax posted:Raw tetsubin are for boiling water only - no additives should go into the kettle. You’d prepare your tea in a separate container instead. If you’re getting pronounced metallic taste, you may wish to do a water test since the municipal water you have could be reacting with the iron and causing the flavors to come forward more strongly. Similarly, the water plus tea interaction in the kettle could be causing a stronger Thanks for the info! Just to clarify, other than steeping concentrated black tea in the kettle to season it (based on "internet"), I've only used it to boil water. I'll try the bottled water though - my building was built in the 60s, so shouldn't be any lead pipes, but who knows what all IS in there.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 19:14
|
|
|
I use a Brita tank with one of their "longlast" filters in it, and it's been going strong for over a year now. I'm not sure what the actual lifespan of them is but supposedly it's going to warn me when I have to replace it. (Our municipal water is also quite good, so I think it's not had a lot of pressure put on it.)
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 19:51
|
|
|
Having gone from tap water to Brita water to ZeroWater to bottled water to a full on reverse osmosis system with a re-mineralizer in an area that has slightly more alkaline water (Austin, Texas has a lot of limestone in its aquifers) the best results that I’ve had for brewing tea is, unsurprisingly, some of the most expensive, but since I serve tea professionally on occasion and I’m picky about the tasting experience I use the RO system at home. Probably the easiest thing to do for accessibility’s sake is to get a gallon of spring water and try that out. If you wanted to be a stickler about it and also not purchase a full on system (overkill for most) I’d say for your high end teas to try out distilled water + Third Wave Water, which is fairly easy to order, but your local supply may vary. I would also inspect for any signs of rust or calcium buildup - a thing you could try is just putting whatever water you’re going to use into the kettle and then immediately pouring it out and tasting it to see if that flavor is still overpowering.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 21:41
|
|
|
Annath posted:Anyone have any experience with Japanese cast iron kettles? I don’t use that kind of kettle, but from my experience with cast iron in general, it seems to me that what you have going on is that after the casting of the iron and the boiling of the tea, the surface is porous and has a lot of iron oxide/carbon hanging on loosely and coming off in the water. What I would do is scour it with steel wool. This should break off a lot of the crud, and the wash water will turn dark. Use a little soap. The scrubbing also exposes some fresh iron. Repeat the tea boiling to oxidize it. You may need to do both these steps once more, but I think this should get get it into a condition where it has a stable patina that won’t come off in boiling water.
|
|
#
?
Apr 29, 2023 23:52
|
|
|
Think I got a first bad batch of Twinings  I finished the box but the new box I bought today tastes much better
|
|
#
?
May 12, 2023 23:00
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 10, 2024 11:34 |
|
|
Can I dry the flowers from my Hibiscus plant (Fiesta Hibiscus) and make tea, or does it need to be a specific variety? If so, should I cut new flowers, or use the ones that fall off naturally?
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2023 04:18
|
|