2024-10-22 Preparing Chinese tea for beginners

This is a continuation of 2021-07-12 Preparing Japanese green tea for beginners. This page is about the Chinese and Taiwanese tea I often drink: loose leaf oolong tea and pu'er tea (fermented tea) in a brick (round disks about as big as two hands next to each other). That would be tea costing around CHF 30/50g or CHF 220/375g.

=> 2021-07-12 Preparing Japanese green tea for beginners | pu'er tea

The rule I use is simple:

1. boil water

2. wet the tea leaves for a few seconds and throw the water away ("washing" the leaves)

3. pour more hot water onto the leaves and let it steep for 1 minute

4. drink it

Repeat the 1 min steep as often as you want.

I usually try to do this at least three times. I often find that the fourth time around the flavour is much reduced and I will stop. In addition to that, by the time I have drunk three cups of tea I’m usually in a different mood and no longer into tea.

If the tea is good, it doesn't matter if you forget it while it is steeping. It doesn't turn into the kind of bitterness that zombifies your tongue. It's just bitter but still tasty.

Sometimes I forget the empty pot or cup and resume the steeping hours later. In this time, bacteria haven't eaten away the leaves. There is no mould growing on the leaves. Just pour that hot water, let it steep for a minute and keep drinking tea!

Sometimes I know that the tea is very mild and I'll let it steep for 2 minutes the second time around and 3 minutes the third time around. No problem at all. Tea is flexible. Good tea remains good tea. It tastes a little different but it always tastes good.

​#Tea