Green tea -- how to make it right?! (12)

1 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2006-12-26 04:29 ID:CUhnpq9B

So I got some of that green tea that you make ~by the cup~, and I just can't seem to make it right. I went to my Japanese teacher's house one day and had some green tea while I was there. It was pleasant and GREEN unlike my tea. I notice that when I pour the water in and let it steep, the tea does stay green until I disturb it. As soon as I try to remove the tea bag or move it in any way, orange-ish stuff comes running out of it which I'm assuming is the reason for the extremely bitter taste I'm getting, which I'm guessing isn't the "naturally sweet" taste I'm supposed to be getting. And of course it leaves the tea an orange-ish color. What am I doing wrong?

2 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2006-12-26 05:18 ID:1sFj7j3x

If it's bitter, then you've been brewing it too long.

And green tea is actually supposed to be an orange colour.

It's called green tea, because the leaves are green.

Not because the actual finished product is green.

Maybe your Japanese teacher made another variety of tea?

There are many, and I'm sure there is a green one.

I would suggest Oolong tea if you want a naturally sweet taste.

Also, get tea leaves. Not teabags. Trust me.

3 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2006-12-26 16:47 ID:1VHJ5enK

I had green tea (liquid colour) in Japan.

Seems to be called Matcha:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha

4 Name: Pierre / Oily Skin : 2006-12-27 16:50 ID:zupc00E/

tea taste like warm djucie for fuck sake! drink coffee!

5 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2006-12-28 05:14 ID:MdMD+WmM

HAs anyone tried green-tea flavored icecream?

Personally, i think it tastes like Toe jam. (Seriously, it tastes like vanilla icecream with a lot of tea leaves blended into it -yuck!)

6 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2006-12-28 21:06 ID:1sFj7j3x

>>5
Heh. I kinda like it actually...

7 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2006-12-28 22:32 ID:Tx4ll+Qx

green tea ice cream is good...i'd seriously eat it all the time...in fact i'm craving it now...

8 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2007-01-02 01:10 ID:A4CwHPKX

First, get good tea. Supermarket teas are right out, as are tea bags. Tea bags from supermarkets are doubleplus ungood. A basic chun mee or an average sencha should set you back five to eight euros for a hundred grams, and that's on the expensive side.

Second, get a proper teapot. That's simple enough. Get a strainer, too, so you don't get too many leaves in your cup. You'll obviously need a teacup or several too.

Third, you should have ready access to freshly boiled water that doesn't have too extreme Ph values. The plain old tap water around here is very regular and quite good, so I can't give you any advice there. Get a stopwatch too; I picked my cell phone specifically for the stopwatch feature.

Now that the materials and tools are on hand, boil cold water. Then pour about a cup (1,5 decilitres) of cold water per litre of hot water in, to lower the total temperature. Warm the teapot with hot water at this point if you want to; I rarely bother anymore. Measure a couple of grams of loose tea into the slightly moist teapot. Depending on how dense the tea is, a gram might not look like anything. Knowing much should be used of which particular tea comes only with experience, so don't be afraid of messing up (though it might be better to mess up by using too little leaf rather than the other way).

Then pour hot water on the leaves, start the stopwatch and close the teapot. Observe the stopwatch for fifty seconds to a minute, and then pour all of the tea out of the teapot through the strainer, into cups.

Drink. Steep again if you want to. Greens can be steeped anywhere from two to five times, depending.

Other kinds of tea require different parameters to come out well, but the three main ones (besides the quality of the tea itself) are temperature, quantity and time.

9 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2007-01-03 18:20 ID:HZIVMlw0

>>8 Thanks but I don't want good tea that bad lol I just drink a cup every week or two. Anyways I live in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee so getting "good tea" is pretty much out of the question unless I get it online or something.

What I did wrong when I typed >>1 was let the tea steep for like 15 minutes lol I didn't see the "2-3 minutes" on the tea bag. I tried it again and it was acceptable.

10 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2007-01-08 06:01 ID:Heaven

>>9
Don't forget that you need lower temperatures for green tea than black tea: you're not supposed to boil the green tea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_tea#Brewing
"Traditionally, unlike darker teas, green teas are usually brewed using water that is below boiling point (about 80°-90°C), as water that is too hot is believed to turn the tea bitter."

I don't know how true that is, but it seems to be true, based on experience(, or perhaps it was just my imagination).

11 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2007-01-08 06:07 ID:Heaven

12 Name: Anonymous Chef : 2007-01-08 06:11 ID:Heaven

>>9
http://greentealovers.com/greenteapreparationbasics.htm
This might help your weekly cup taste better.

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