If you're deluged with rain, overwhelmed by snow or just plain astonished at the world's weather, take time for tea and ten -- our idea of therapy for the weather "blues."
While we sometimes use teabags for convenience, when it comes to pure tea pleasure, loose-leaf teas are the only way to go. Give yourself the full pleasure and exotic experience of fresh, fragrant loose-leaf tea. Choose the finest teas you can afford, use the best spring water and the best china cups or teapots and be aware of water temperature and brewing time. After you experiment a few times, you'll understand why pure tea is the world's most popular beverage (after water)!
Brewing tea is simple, especially if you have the right equipment. For tea alone or with two or three friends, the easiest way to brew tea is with a porcelain teapot that comes with its own infuser. A porcelain infuser works well, and a wire mesh infuser is even better. The convenience and simplicity of using an infuser with an open top is that the tea leaves can be lifted out gracefully, set aside to rest in a waiting dish. What is left in the pot is clear, clean-tasting pure tea liquor that's hot and ready to serve.
Using loose leaves with a tea ball prevents the teas from being fully extracted of their flavor and using teas without an infuser requires the tea to be decanted. Otherwise, if allowed to stay in the teapot, the tea leaves will stew to an undrinkable level, that no amount of fresh water can ever rectify.
To start your tea service, heat the vessels to await the magic of the leaves. Pour hot water in an empty porcelain teapot and cover with its lid. Pour hot water into each teacup, and put its saucer on top of the cup to act as a "lid" which is how the cup will retain heat. Good quality porcelain teacups are important, as they hold the heat well, and, they are quite beautiful on your tea table.
If it's black tea you're having, boil spring water; a good stainless teakettle atop the stove works wonderfully, but we love the speed and convenience of our electric teakettle. At almost the boiling point, empty the cups and pot of the hot water you added previously, and place a heaping teaspoon of tea leaves for each teacup into the infuser basket and place the infuser into the heated, empty pot. Add six ounces of boiling water for each teacup and brew for about three minutes. Pour off a teaspoon and taste. If it's right, then serve immediately. If you feel it could benefit from another minute or two, keep on brewing.
Black teas like Keemun (from China) and Assam (from India) and Ceylon (from Sri Lanka) tastes wonderful by themselves, but also hold up well to milk, and, if desired, to sugar. You should be able to get a second flavorful infusion when using high-quality leaves. Simply replace the infuser basket into the pot, add freshly boiled water and brew again. Serve with your favorite snacks, sweet and/or savory, and you have a wonderful way to help you relax and gain enough energy to complete your day.
If you'd like to have your tea break with one of the many fabulous green teas now available, please note that the directions for brewing are quite different. We still suggest warming the pot and the cup, but for green tea, boiling water is too harsh, and leeches out the flavor from these delicate leaves much too quickly, making the liquor bitter. The water temperature should be about 75-85ƒF and the brewing should be done in very small batches for very brief periods of time.
To begin, use two ounces of green tea in a large cup, wine glass or, if you have access to Chinese accessories, use a guywan, (a cup with matching saucer and lid.) Add about four ounces of water. Use the lid to paddle the leaves back and forth and brew for 45 seconds (yes, that's right!) Then, taste. If you feel it should be stronger, only brew it 15 to 30 seconds longer. High-quality green tea lends itself to more frequent infusions with water and each infusion will taste slightly different, from grassy sweet to mildly astringent. We have frequently had six to eight infusions from our good green teas.
Ask your tea shop for Sencha (both Japanese and Chinese are now available) or Chinese Dragon Well, both good green teas to experiment with, although there are many, many different types of green teas. Green tea is a clean-tasting beverage and quite refreshing. It does not take well to anything added, but stands alone in all its glorious nectar. Because the flavor of green tea is so delicate, some people do not like to eat foods with it, but we have found it enjoyable with Asian foods at dinnertime or with our favorite savory snacks. Experiment!
Oolong teas are the "in-between" teas; they are dried longer than green teas but certainly not as long as black teas. They have a distinctive sweet fragrance and taste that is like silky perfume that you drink. Here, boiling water is too hot, but just under boiling water is more appropriate. Depending on the freshness and quality of the oolong tea, steeping time should range from one to three minutes; taste as you brew to decide what tastes best to you. You can use either the infuser method or the "guywan" method, however, the most important elements are time of brewing and temperature of the water. You should be able to get two or three good infusions from a quality oolong.
As fine teas become more popular, retailers in every city are sprouting up carrying exceptional teas: Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Freed Teller & Freed's in San Francisco, Dean & DeLuca in Washington, D.C.'s Georgetown and New York City, Chado in Los Angeles, and many more. Investigate and discover how pleasurable "real" tea can be. If your favorite gourmet charcuterie does not carry good tea, ask for it!
The following are several mail order sources for high-quality black, oolong and green teas. Ask for sample packs or make your initial purchases in small quantities e.g. two ounces, for freshness and to determine which teas are most pleasing to you. Taste as you brew at first, and note what tastes best to you. Your palate is the only one you need to please.
Imperial Tea Court
(415) 788-6080, 1411 Powell St., San Francisco CA 94133
Silk Road Teas
(
415) 458 8624, 2980 Kerner Boulevard, Suite A, San Rafael, CA 94901
e-mail: silkroadteas@yahoo.com
Simpson & Vail
(800) 282-TEAS, PO Box 309, Pleasantville NY 10570
Upton Tea Imports
(508) 435-9988, 231 South Street, Hopkinton MA 01748
Diana Rosen is a freelance writer for eZines, web site copy, and print magazine articles on food, beverage, and other lifestyle topics. The veteran journalist is also the author of 10 nonfiction books and the co-author of three others. For more information, visit www.dianarosen.com
