This section is some tips for folks who drink coffee or drink primarily black teas (with or without milk and sugar) and are curious about other types of tea.
Most of the chinese teas will taste like water to you at first!
The flavours are much subtler and without sugar, many of the friends tried my teas and remark that there is not much taste. However like wines, and many foods and drinks, your palate will become accustomed to differences in flavour with repeated exposure. To this end I believe being able to try a lot of different teas in the first sitting will be helpful to you. It was for me.
Normally chinese teas having several “brewings” and the higher quality teas will reveal subtle differences on different brewing. The tea leaves should not be left to stew indefinitely as it will ruin the flavour. Its very important for white and green teas that the water is not to hot, each brew is from 2-5 mins depending on the tea. When in doubt about timing the brews, experiment!
Brew Zero: Take your leaves and “wash” your leaves briefly with hot or warm water and throwout the water
Brew One: Leave the leaves in the water for some minutes and then pour out all tea in the pot. This brew will often have a stronger smell of the tea but a subtler flavour.
Brew Two: Using the same leaves, add water and brew again. Often this is my favorite brew of the tea as any floral notes will be more evident.
Brew Three: Again use the same leaves and brew again, often different from either for the first two brews
Further brews: Most decent teas will give 4 brews (ie about 4-8 very small cups), the very high quality teas will give up to 8, you will be able to taste when there is no longer flavour in the leaves.
Note that one brew gives roughly 150 ml of tea, depending on the size of your teapot you will need to regulate the amount of leaves used. I've noticed my chinese friends tend to use a lot of leaves and brew for a short time rather than vice versa, and consequently reuse the leaves many times.
I have a cute teaset which I use when I have several people visiting but for everyday use really like my tea-maker. Its simple push button design allows me to easily control the length of brewing. Except for those days when I forgot I've made tea, and forget to push the button :-o
Ideas on Gateway Teas
After a few years, I'm still learning and very much an enthusiastic amateur but readers very welcome to get in touch if you think I can help. Meanwhile here are a few teas that might be of interest to those starting their exploration:
Many folks will start their chinese tea journey with the humble jasmine tea. This is usually a basic green tea with jasmine flavouring. Also along this line is Rose Oolong, being a taiwanese tea flavored with rosebuds.
Milk Oolong, also known as Silk Oolong has a milky flavour which makes it accessible to milky tea drinkers.
Blue-green teas aka semi oxidised teas can be a good jumping off point for those who drink subtler black teas like darjeeling or early grey (without milk). Try DaHongPao for a start or any of the basic chinese black varieties.
Fruit blends or other proprietary blends (by teashops) can also serve as useful “gateway teas”. Although these are not my favorite types and you wont find too many reviews here, I do like Tekoe's The Des Moines black tea blend and their Little Buddha green.
Pai Mu Tan might also be a good starting tea, its light, very floral and a good quality tea. Smells great too.
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