Discussion
Just started getting into drinking the stuff, takes a little while to 'adjust' to the taste...
Can anyone recommend any brands that offer the tea in tea bags (for convenience at work), prefably availible from all good supermarkets, but if the tea is really worth it I'll happily shop on-line.
I've tried:-
Clipper (including the lemon one
tastes of a mix between Lemsip and mud)
Twinnigs - quite nice, but leads me to think there are better bags out there....
Can anyone recommend any brands that offer the tea in tea bags (for convenience at work), prefably availible from all good supermarkets, but if the tea is really worth it I'll happily shop on-line.
I've tried:-
Clipper (including the lemon one
tastes of a mix between Lemsip and mud)Twinnigs - quite nice, but leads me to think there are better bags out there....
Edited by Dr Murdoch on Wednesday 24th September 15:53
If you can get to either Wing Yip in Croydon or Staples Corner on the N Circ, they sell a lot of Chinese teas. I buy a jasmine tea from them, mainly because my Good Lady doesn't really like the straight green Japanese or Chinese type, and I quite like the jasmine option so it suits us both. Boxes of 200 bags I seem to recall. Try Chinese gunpowder tea as well; loose leaf though.
I've tried all sorts of green tea teabags. Gave up in the end.
Ended up going to my local spice shop and buying five jars of proper loose-leaf green tea for well under a tenner.
Along with one of these. . .
http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/related/tea_equipmen...
Easily bests any teabag I've tried.
Ended up going to my local spice shop and buying five jars of proper loose-leaf green tea for well under a tenner.
Along with one of these. . .
http://www.whittard.co.uk/tea/related/tea_equipmen...
Easily bests any teabag I've tried.
Edited by Digger on Wednesday 24th September 19:35
Green tea (of any quality) doesn't want boiling water. It will taste 'fishy'.
Heat water in a kettle and watch it like a hawk until the air bubbles are the size of 'shrimp eyes', as opposed to 'crab eyes', or 'fish eyes'.
'Shrimp eyes' will give a temperature of about 80C, the optimum temperature for green tea.
Or you could get the Bosch variable temperature kettle, which is what I have.
Heat water in a kettle and watch it like a hawk until the air bubbles are the size of 'shrimp eyes', as opposed to 'crab eyes', or 'fish eyes'.
'Shrimp eyes' will give a temperature of about 80C, the optimum temperature for green tea.
Or you could get the Bosch variable temperature kettle, which is what I have.
Republic of Tea (you can order from them direct in the US if you can't find it - they do ship internationally)
Açaí Green is one of my favorites
Plus, let it steep for at least a couple of minutes.
Açaí Green is one of my favorites
Mobile Chicane said:
Green tea (of any quality) doesn't want boiling water. It will taste 'fishy'.
Heat water in a kettle and watch it like a hawk until the air bubbles are the size of 'shrimp eyes', as opposed to 'crab eyes', or 'fish eyes'.
'Shrimp eyes' will give a temperature of about 80C, the optimum temperature for green tea.
This.Heat water in a kettle and watch it like a hawk until the air bubbles are the size of 'shrimp eyes', as opposed to 'crab eyes', or 'fish eyes'.
'Shrimp eyes' will give a temperature of about 80C, the optimum temperature for green tea.
Plus, let it steep for at least a couple of minutes.
Edited by GCH on Wednesday 24th September 21:05
Dr Murdoch said:
Cheers chaps
Would boiling the kettle, pouring into the cup and leaving for a few minutes before putting the tea in, have a similar effect?
It's best freshly boiled. Would boiling the kettle, pouring into the cup and leaving for a few minutes before putting the tea in, have a similar effect?
Keeping an eye on the air bubbles (for those who are fussy about their tea) is not such a hardship, no?
Mobile Chicane said:
It's best freshly boiled.
Keeping an eye on the air bubbles (for those who are fussy about their tea) is not such a hardship, no?
Well yes and no....Keeping an eye on the air bubbles (for those who are fussy about their tea) is not such a hardship, no?
At work I use communal kettle so this could lead to some interesting feedback when i'm looking into the kettle checking for bubbles, then turn it off before it boils. Not sure my colleagues would understand!
At home I agree, this fussyness won't impact on anyone else.
I could buy my own kettle, but this seems slightly overkill at the moment!
Cheers for the tips, I shall let the water cool after boiling, then dip my bag in (so to speak)
I keep one of these at work
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adagio-Teas-IngenuiTEA-Tea...
Along with a collection of green and black loose leaf teas. Tend to buy the teas from this lot https://twitter.com/TeaTotalUK but I can't remember the online shop address (annoyingly it's different to the shop name and not on the packs I've got in the drawer)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adagio-Teas-IngenuiTEA-Tea...
Along with a collection of green and black loose leaf teas. Tend to buy the teas from this lot https://twitter.com/TeaTotalUK but I can't remember the online shop address (annoyingly it's different to the shop name and not on the packs I've got in the drawer)
I have canton jasmine pearls tea. Great value and flavour. For on the go use these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vktech-Disposable-Empty-St...
For bags try Mao Feng , as supplied by Teapigs . Usually available in Sainsbury, Tesco etc. The Jasmine Pearls by the same company are also pretty good. Both of these teas are of sufficient quality to enable a double infusion, just don't get seen re-using them at work! 
As for loose teas , the Longjin from Hebdentea is unsurpassed , but at that cost it needs to be. They also do a couple of Gunpowder greens, which are pretty good.
I've done quite a bit of delving into green tea over the past coupe of years, and found there is huge variance. I've yet to find cheap brands which are much cop , the Twinings I chucked away, almost as rank as their Lapsang. Basically, it seems to me that decent stuff does cost, far more expensive overall than black tea of comparable quality. Worth it though.
Incidentally, if anyone is feeling adventurous , Teapigs Rooibos and Chai are also worth a go, very much a Marmite type experience, but like Marmite, there is nothing quite like them when mood dictates if you do like them.
As for loose teas , the Longjin from Hebdentea is unsurpassed , but at that cost it needs to be. They also do a couple of Gunpowder greens, which are pretty good.
I've done quite a bit of delving into green tea over the past coupe of years, and found there is huge variance. I've yet to find cheap brands which are much cop , the Twinings I chucked away, almost as rank as their Lapsang. Basically, it seems to me that decent stuff does cost, far more expensive overall than black tea of comparable quality. Worth it though.
Incidentally, if anyone is feeling adventurous , Teapigs Rooibos and Chai are also worth a go, very much a Marmite type experience, but like Marmite, there is nothing quite like them when mood dictates if you do like them.
I remember seeing a Japanese program years ago about green tea and temperature, the way the Tea Lady did it was boil water pour into a cup then pour into another cup with the leafs in it. The first cup cooled the water sufficiently for pouring into second cup and thus was at the right temperature.
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