Green Tea Forum

greenisgood · Black Belt Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 112

As it seems that Japanese tea and anything gong fu requires undivided, sometimes inconvenient levels of attention (albeit for a reward), I have become equally attracted by the other extreme of simply throwing some chinese green tea leaves in a cup/glass/jar and drinking, no fancy tea wear, no steeping times, nothing between the tea and the leaves. For this wildly careless method that I enjoy as frivolously reactionary to setting my stopwatch and hovering diligently with eyes pressed and hands at the ready over my kyusu, I like to think of myself as similar to the everyday farmer in China, away from all the ceremony and just enjoying tea, leaves-in-teeth. I was wondering however, if there is any particular method which makes the leaves sink faster. Even though its kind of fun trying to blow away stray leaves before drinking, its kind of obnoxious to get a mouth full of leaves. I was especially wondering how people do this with lung ching as I have only been sucessful with sinking kind of leaves that don't get any "se". Any strategies?

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198

Greenisgood, a friend of mine wrote a guide to glass brewing over on wikiCHA, here: http://wikicha.com/index.php/Glass_Brewing

I haven't tried the top/middle/bottom adding thing (I am skeptical, too), but who knows, it might work. Let us know if it does.

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198

Karen, I'm glad you like it! A bunch of us online tea-heads started it up not too long ago. It was off to a roaring start at first, but progress seems to have slowed (not because we ran out of topics to write about, as you can clearly see, but rather I think we just got tired of writing so much). If you're interested, you are more than welcome to create an account and edit/write articles of your own! Our Japanese tea section in particular seems pretty thin. Neutral

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

syntheticpanda · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 198

I'm sure you know more than you say/think; plus, I have found that our core team over there is much more likely to edit than write (no offense to them, it's just a lot easier), so if you get the ball rolling, people will probably jump in and assist.

Also, thanks for the publicity! Very Happy

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

[quote="Karen"]

FataliTEA · Posted: Mar 20, 2008 3:18 am Post subject:

I tried it for the first time just a week ago. It ended up being a pain in the neck trying to keep those leaves out of my mouth. Even when I was using my teeth to filter, the leaves kept sticking to my pearly-whites. But the gaiwan lid was made for a reason! To filter those leaves! This experience has left me with the desire to obtain a glass gaiwan...

greenisgood · Black Belt Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 112

Yeah I've found there's really no way to avoid floating leaves, especially on the first infusion. But really despite my aprehension over leaves that were just floating there for 10+ minutes, the tea isn't bad at all. I just don't use a lot of leaf and choose teas that don't get bitter and then just wait til they sink...its kind of fun but definitly not as convenient as it sounds with all the blowing of leaves. I agree that a glass gaiwan would probably be the ticket for the anti-stop-watch, maximum viewing pleasure chinese green tea experience.

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

greenisgood · Black Belt Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 112

Yeah, I've thought of getting a glass tea pot but the drinking right out of the brewing vessel thing is kind of fun, its just not as convenient with having to blow the leaves away if not using a gaiwan. I think the best power-tea-drinking method is just making a really large plain old pot with an infuser basket. I was trying to do homework with a glass of lung ching and it was just distracting, if i wasnt trying desperatly to blow a clear drinking path i was gazing into the yellow-green swirling depths of the unfurling leaves instead of my word document.

I also heard something sometime about old school Chinese tea drinkers who would carry around their yixing pots throughout the day and drink straight from the spout, but maybe I just dreamt it.

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

Chip · Posted: Mar 22, 2008 4:00 am Post subject:

Some Chinese greens sink faster, like Bi lou Chun sinks immediately. For this reason it is frequently brewed in glass method I have read.

Generally, the only Chinese greens (and whites) I brew in a glass are needle or bud only types. Zhu Ye Qing is a spectacular leaf to brew this way...like watching Dancing with the Stars, but no commercials. For me, needle types just have to be brewed in glass even if I decant.

greenisgood · Black Belt Joined: 20 Jan 2008 Posts: 112

Hm, I'll have to try some bi lo chun with a glass. I got a really good chinese green called "green arrow" from a local vendor. I have no idea where it's from or what the chinese name is but its all buds that are straight and kind of rounded (not flat like lung ching). does anyone know what this tea might be? I haven't found anything searching for just "green arrow".