A cup of tea...

Make a jug of tea to taste - Yorkshire for some, Darjeeling for me - let it cool then stick in the fridge. Make a milk jug of sugar syrup (for use with Yorkshire)- lots of sugar dissolved in hot water - let it cool and stick it in the fridge.

Fill glass with broken ice, add syrup if you are drinking Yorkshire, fill with chilled tea. Add umbrellas, lemon slices to taste or lack thereof. Consume in shaded area looking out over a body of fresh water or at kitchen table or pretty much anywhere.
 
Thanks, now to convince my wife that her "cold brewed" method isnt the way to go. I have talked her into "Yorkshire" for hot brewed but shes still into the Lipton for the cold.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Resurrecting an old thread I know, but I thought I'd recommend a few green teas I've been enjoying recently. Having first tried green tea a few years ago, I've progressed from bags (woody and bitter), through well-known brand loose leaf (fannings rather than whole leaves, which produced a brew that was still woody but less bitter) and cheap whole leaf "Formosa Sencha" from a shop in Norwich's 'Chav Central' AKA Castle Mall (green leafy vegetable flavour with a bizarre hint of spring rolls) to proper quality stuff. I ought to point-out here that I have no affiliation with the two companies I'm about to mention other than as a satisfied customer.

My 'everyday' (affordable) green tea is "Temple of Heaven" gunpowder from here: http://www.highteas.co.uk/gunpowder-temple-of-heaven/p3 It's warming and nutty in flavour with a hint of smoke, like good smoked haddock should have. £2.95/100 grammes (£25.08/kilo).

In terms of occasional (expensive) options, I'm just finishing the last of a couple of samples from another retailer. Firstly, I tried "Misty Peak" - Huangshan Maofeng from here: http://chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/tea-mspc/85/ It has an aroma and flavour of petrichor - rain falling on warm ground - and pineapple. I'm not going to buy a full bag until next May, as it's so light that it would be great in summer but not as comforting during a British autumn and winter. £3.50/15 grammes.

Finally, the one I've just finished is "Imperial Green" - Long Jing or Dragonwell, picked before the Qing Ming celebrations, again from Chinalife: http://chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/tea-impc/85/ It captures better than anything else the aroma and flavour of newly-cut grass, along with spinach (retailer says asparagus, but I disagree) and hazlenut. £8.95/40 grammes.
 
Last edited:
Over this last few years, I've disovered loose-leaf green tea and spice chai (sadly, my preferred spice chai is in bags, though they are natural colour, not unnaturally white).

I used to have Clipper loose-leaf green as my everyday tea, but our local Holland & Barratt has ceased having it. I'd agree with others who state that loose-leaf tastes much better than bags in general, as the same Clipper green tea in bags is vastly inferior, IMO. Though I buy gunpowder from High Teas (http://www.highteas.co.uk/gunpowder-temple-of-heaven/p3) as an alternative, I was after something I could buy in Norwich so that I wasn't having to order online when I ran low on supplies. Though I hate the Castle Mall (any locals may know what I'm referring to when I say it has a high concentration of chavs), I recently discovered a tea and coffee shop there (http://www.thetjunction.co.uk/content/shop), and have found a suitable replacement for Clipper green tea in their Formosa Sencha Green tea.


Blast - I knew I'd posted in this thread before, but much of what I've just written is an almost verbatim re-run of this post. As you'll have gathered, my appreciation for the Formosa Sencha they sell has cooled(!) as I don't rate the flavour as compared to the Gunpowder I buy, which is barely any more expensive.
 
Hi, Decided to try Matcha. Received the shipment today from Amazon. Watched YouTube, read the info that the vendor sent. But... two questions: 1, what's the best proportions (without doing all the experimentation); 2, how hot should the drink be when I get finished with all the mixing and screwing around is through???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Hi, Decided to try Matcha. Received the shipment today from Amazon. Watched YouTube, read the info that the vendor sent. But... two questions: 1, what's the best proportions (without doing all the experimentation); 2, how hot should the drink be when I get finished with all the mixing and screwing around is through???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to Matcha, John, but my understanding is that each 'shot' is around 30 ml/0.1 US cups, and, for that, you'd want around half a teaspoon of powder. Water temp. should be 70-80 Celcius/160-175 Fahrenheit. Obviously, that will produce the thinner form of Matcha tea - usucha - rather than the much more viscous ceremonial koicha preparation, which, as I understand it, can be overpowering unless top-quality ceremomonial-grade powder is used. I don't think whisking takes too long (20-30 seconds), so I'd imagine it'll be just about cool enough to drink.
 
Last edited:
Best of luck! I find Matcha best in cold apple juice and frothed with an aerolatte then downed with a grimace pre-workout. Steenberg's do a rather lovely green Earl Grey and Ocha & Co.'s Organic Sencha is fabulous - truly a green brew with strong yet very pleasant grassy notes.

Nice recommendation @chrisbell - I may have to investigate further. ;)
 
I think I'm missing something[emoji33] tied it straight with almost boiling water. Even bought one of those Battery Matcha whisks things, which works very well. Followed all the direction, except for sitting cross legged on a bamboo mat, and... I can say I'm truly underwhelmed.
It just lacks that Je ne sais quoi.... flavor, taste ...
It was kind of on the "dry" side, as in dusty!
I'm going to give it another try tonight. Maybe hotter water.
(I'd say it must be an acquired taste, but there didn't seem to be a taste.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yorkshire tea for me. Pretty strong with a smidgen of milk and 28 grains of sugar.....stirred 6 times in the mug...in an anti clockwise direction. That's my preference but the great thing about tea is having a cup made by someone else and accepting the way that they make and prefer it.
 
Tried the Matcha with black tea in place of water. Tastes like gritty black tea.
Think I'll go to Starbucks tonite to see how they do it.[emoji33]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I think I'm missing something[emoji33] tied it straight with almost boiling water. Even bought one of those Battery Matcha whisks things, which works very well. Followed all the direction, except for sitting cross legged on a bamboo mat, and... I can say I'm truly underwhelmed.
It just lacks that Je ne sais quoi.... flavor, taste ...
It was kind of on the "dry" side, as in dusty!
I'm going to give it another try tonight. Maybe hotter water.
(I'd say it must be an acquired taste, but there didn't seem to be a taste.)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

More than likely you've bought low-grade powder. The good stuff is, by all accounts a) eye-wateringly expensive and b) vivid green in colour. If yours was reasonably-priced and/or olive drab, it'll be OK for adding to baking but not much cop for the intended purpose.
 
Best of luck! I find Matcha best in cold apple juice and frothed with an aerolatte then downed with a grimace pre-workout. Steenberg's do a rather lovely green Earl Grey and Ocha & Co.'s Organic Sencha is fabulous - truly a green brew with strong yet very pleasant grassy notes.

Nice recommendation @chrisbell - I may have to investigate further. ;)
Thanks Graeme. I must investigate your sencha recommendation.
 
Back
Top Bottom