Well, I seem to have gotten myself into a new "rabbit hole". Tea! Not flavored tea, such as jasmine, cimanimaninamim, frippy frappy, chocolate herby stuff & no tea bags. The real tea, loose & not to be snooty, non-western brewing. WB, as I will refer to, ended up with the tea bag phenomina. The bags then ended up with the Brits puttin cream & sugar into it to mute the bitterness.
I have stumbled on to what is called gong fu brewing. If any body does this kind of brewing they are more experienced at it than I, since I have been at it for a few months. I stumbled on this in trying to treat my cancer. I found a good remedy is green tea. Cool, cuz I had a box of green tea bags in my pantry. I’m goin on down the road drinkin it, with sweetener of course. On a visit to a Chinese/Asian grocery I meander down a tea isle & sea some Green Tea Loose. I pop on it & bring it home thinkin I know what to do with it. The more I thought, the more I thought I did’nt know what to do with it.
So, bein a red blooded human bein, I googled brewin loose tea & I get this guy named Don Mei (pronounced may) out of London. One his businesses is Mei Leaf, a tea shop, a serious tea shop. His passion & knowledge of tea & ability to convey it to you the drinker is unmatched in my limited experience. Regaerdless, I am hooked, big time.
To give you a little background, the brewing process is different than what I ever knew. Tea bags consist of broken pieces, stems & mostly dust, hence the bitter taste amongst other things. Plus the brewing time is 4-5 minutes so it brews the dickens out of the product, which is why often times "stuff" has to be added to tone the taste. With gong fu brewing it is the full leaf & the process is "infusions" of 15 to 25 seconds depending on the type of tea. I have also learned that tea is tea, whether it be white tea, green tea, oolong, pu ehr or black tea, there might be another one or two I have missed. It is all tea from a tea tree & depends on the process, drying, roasting, fermenting etc.
The benefits are remarkable. One "batch" I do is approx. 7grams & I could get 8 to 12 infusions of 150ml. The tastes change ever so slightly with each infusion. And again, before one thinks this is a hoyty toyty way of brewing, it was started or discovered by poor Chinese workers who were cultivating the trees & processing the product but couldn’t afford the way of the time in the 16th/17th century. The experience is terrific, the tastes are to fight for. It does take a little more time, but is so worth it. I will show a few pics of the hardware needed to brew it. The first pic is of a gui won (little pot) & 3 cups. The last two pics would be of a portable brewer that I put at my desk. After the time brewing you hit the red button & it drops into the pot & you pour & last is the ceremonial tea table.
I have stumbled on to what is called gong fu brewing. If any body does this kind of brewing they are more experienced at it than I, since I have been at it for a few months. I stumbled on this in trying to treat my cancer. I found a good remedy is green tea. Cool, cuz I had a box of green tea bags in my pantry. I’m goin on down the road drinkin it, with sweetener of course. On a visit to a Chinese/Asian grocery I meander down a tea isle & sea some Green Tea Loose. I pop on it & bring it home thinkin I know what to do with it. The more I thought, the more I thought I did’nt know what to do with it.
So, bein a red blooded human bein, I googled brewin loose tea & I get this guy named Don Mei (pronounced may) out of London. One his businesses is Mei Leaf, a tea shop, a serious tea shop. His passion & knowledge of tea & ability to convey it to you the drinker is unmatched in my limited experience. Regaerdless, I am hooked, big time.
To give you a little background, the brewing process is different than what I ever knew. Tea bags consist of broken pieces, stems & mostly dust, hence the bitter taste amongst other things. Plus the brewing time is 4-5 minutes so it brews the dickens out of the product, which is why often times "stuff" has to be added to tone the taste. With gong fu brewing it is the full leaf & the process is "infusions" of 15 to 25 seconds depending on the type of tea. I have also learned that tea is tea, whether it be white tea, green tea, oolong, pu ehr or black tea, there might be another one or two I have missed. It is all tea from a tea tree & depends on the process, drying, roasting, fermenting etc.
The benefits are remarkable. One "batch" I do is approx. 7grams & I could get 8 to 12 infusions of 150ml. The tastes change ever so slightly with each infusion. And again, before one thinks this is a hoyty toyty way of brewing, it was started or discovered by poor Chinese workers who were cultivating the trees & processing the product but couldn’t afford the way of the time in the 16th/17th century. The experience is terrific, the tastes are to fight for. It does take a little more time, but is so worth it. I will show a few pics of the hardware needed to brew it. The first pic is of a gui won (little pot) & 3 cups. The last two pics would be of a portable brewer that I put at my desk. After the time brewing you hit the red button & it drops into the pot & you pour & last is the ceremonial tea table.
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