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Tea: The Geeklist
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I like tea. Not that wussy stuff in bags. Real TEA, the kind that comes as loose leaves. You have to steep it in an infuser (like one of those little mesh balls or something). True Tea has to contain the plant Camellia Sinensis. Based on the time of picking and drying preparation, this can be made into various final products like green teas, black teas, oolong or white tea. Other drinks commonly accepted as "tea" are things like rooibos (pronounced Roybus) or herbal infusions. I have no problem still calling it "tea". Let's talk tea. And please please please add your favorites (or hated varieties).
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Posted Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:24 pm
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The difference between black and white tea is the way the leaf is prepared.
White teas have the leaf steam dried. That's about it. They look more like fresh grass. Often even slightly fuzzy.
Black tea is what you would find commonly called "Tea" in America. Its been dried through various sun or baking processes.
White tea is far more delicate and sweeter. Often there is a bitter edge.
Black tea is much stronger.
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Green tea has oodles of wonderful health benefits. It is steamed, but not oxidized. This preserves a lot of the original plant flavor, but also allows flavors to be added without being overpowering.
Certain strains will taste like... grass clippings.
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Gunpowder is a WONDERFUL tea.
Each leaf is individually rolled into a tiny ball and it is smoke dried.
It ras a great round flavor, something like a lightly smoked black tea, but it is a green tea by definition.
This stuff is excellent, and I must always have it available in my house. The least 'green' tasting of the greens. Get the benefits but not the flavor if you find the flavor of traditional greens too veggie.
This stuff expands crazily as the leaves unfurl from their gunpowder shape, which is kind of fun.
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4.
Board Game: Lapis
[Average Rating:5.67 Unranked]
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Lapsang Souchong.
Tea of the Gods, I tell you!
My son calls it "Burnt Bacon" tea.
This is a very strong flavor (and smell) made by drying the tea leaves over burning pine needles.
It tastes like the acrid smoke of burning rope, and I mean that in a good way.
If you consider yourself a tea drinker and have never delved into the heady masculine flavor of lapsang, you are doing yourself a disservice.
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5.
Board Game: India Rails
[Average Rating:7.06 Overall Rank:694]
[Average Rating:7.06 Overall Rank:694]
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India is a huge producer of Tea, and the place where Chai comes from.
OK, all you Starbuckians, let's get this straight - "Chai" in tea terminology is the cheap crap tea that is too powdery to be made into good loose leaf tea. That's right, chai is the scraps, not the good stuff.
However, to make up for the shoddy quality of the base leaf, all sorts of wonderful things tend to get added.
One important additive here is milk. Chai is meant to be served heavily milked.
Another characteristic of Chai is the spicing added to the base tea. Usually cinammon is among the flavors.
I enjoy Chai Rooibos, which is a wonderfully seasoned "tastes like red hots" blend, which you can add to your favorite black tea (1:1) and end up with a good hearty spiced tea.
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Earl Grey, piping hot.
That's what Picard often asked the replicator for.
Earl Grey is a standard imperial black which has been infused with bergamot.
Bergamot is a flower with a very strong scent.
The result is a somewhat floral bouquet and a tea which has a taste something like licorice.
It isn't unpleasant at all.
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Sometimes, what makes a tea so compelling is not just the flavor, but the presentation and preparation.
Star Of China is a strange tea. It is a very very green tea. It tastes like fresh cutting. This requires a bit of over sweetening for most, although the flavor is very delicate, and it you sweeten too much you get hot sugar water.
Anyway, Star Of China is made by someone actually taking the tea leaves and hand tying them into little tiny 5-pointed stars. Asterisks of tea! Rather than the usual "1-2 tsp per 6 oz" or such, you steep several "stars" worth of tea.
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China Beauty Ring is a bit less elaborate than the Star tea. Each leaf is wrapped around a chopstick during dry time. This makes, you guessed it, little rings.
This is my favorite 'green tasting' green tea. (as opposed to Gunpowder, which does not taste like a green tea).
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Emporer's Red is a great black tea from Fujian and has a wonderful chocolate like taste. Very high quality, great for breakfast with a donut. People say its a dessert tea, but this is really unflavored, and I always felt dessert teas need more festive flavoring. It goes well with desserts and cakes, however.
A great traditional black single estate tea. (As opposed to a blend).
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Several teas are called "Monkey" such and such.
This is due to a legend that monkeys were trained to get the leaves.
I'm not sure how true that ever was, but the annoying thing is it really doesn't define a flavor or denote a blend or anything. Keemun 3 Monkey (a very pleasant black) is NOTHING like Monkey-Picked Ti Kuan Yin (a fairly fruity oolong).
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GyoKuro is the GREENEST of green teas. It is picked before harvest so the leaves are rish in chlorophyll.
Some people find it the finest. The tea is BRIGHT green.
I think it tastes like dishwater.
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Pu Erh is tea that is aged. This stuff supposedly helps you lose weight. Let me tell you something - all tea helps you lose weight. You want a snack? Go make some tea instead. It will fill you, give you the psychological feel of a snack and contains next to nothing bad for you and practically no calories beyond any additives you might put in.
Beyond that, Pu Erh is pretty good, and often comes as pressed pellets, looking something like goat turds. That might be what Pu Erh means, as that would be the reaction after stepping in some.
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Tea is bitter. Sometimes this is good. Sometimes its too much. Sugar and milk can easily cut the bitter in small quantities. Honey can also be very nice.
For the love of all that is tea, don't use white processed sugar. The flavor is overpowering.
A rock sugar like German Cane or even In The Raw is much less refined and much lighter in taste.
And artificial sweeteners are simply unacceptable.
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Add sugar before lemon. Add sugar before lemon. Add sugar before lemon.
Say it with me.
If you are adding lemon (a very common practice) AND sugar (very common again) THE SUGAR HAS TO GO FIRST.
Otherwise, the lemon actually chemically bonds the sugar and prevents it from melting properly into the tea.
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I'm a big fan of tea, but have never gotten into it as much as I have lately.
I still love the canned teas from The Republic of Tea, but have moved from the bags to loose tea. I've also been buying loose tea from Adagio Tea. I even got their great ingenuiTEA tea pot for the office.
I love whites, greens, oolongs, and some reds.
Right now I've got an excellent Monkey Picked Ooolong and some very nice Silver Needle.
I'm more of a stickler for temp and brewing time now. Gotta be exact 
As for milk...no way. Honey? Nope. Sugar? Sometimes. Depends on the tea. I find my tea/fruit blends have a better taste with a little sugar. Raw, of course.
Tea snob? Maybe just a little.
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Melissa officinalis, usually called Lemon Balm in the USA, is an herb that can be steeped as a non-caffeinated tea. While not narcotic in any way, it can take the rough edge off a day. Have a cup after work and it helps you let the stresses of the job slip away.
Very pleasant tasting, it needs no sweetener, though some people like honey with it.
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Posted Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:36 pm
N.