Getting (back) into tea

Published 2025-03-04

tag(s): #random-thoughts #infusions

Of course, as most Argentinians, I drink a lot of mate.[1]
But I also enjoy other types of infusions (hence the new tag. I knew you would notice!). That is a fancy way of saying that I also drink tea and coffee.

Rituals

I think that what I enjoy the most about these drinks, just like with mate, is the little rituals that come with preparing something in a specific way: How I setup the yerba for the mate, or the steps in coffee making. Having a little forced paused while water heats or the beverage brews is also something I've come to appreciate.

Annoyed with coffee brewing

When I lived in Denver, I got a ceramic coffee pour over and mug combo for my birthday. And then a couple months later, a friend[2] got me a grinder, so I could use whole bean coffee!
Still, my brewing process wasn't too extreme. For example, I weighted the beans just once, and made a marking in the grinder for next time, instead of buying a coffee scale. I also didn't get a special gooseneck kettle.
And honestly, the coffee I got was pretty good! Not right away, but with couple weeks of practice and learning. Going to the store, picking a coffee, grinding while heating water etc. became this really enjoyable process.[3]

After I moved, I stopped brewing coffee for a while, and it was like going back to square one: my initial attempts were just bad.
For some reason, this time I felt lazy to get back into the whole process? I tried, but my heart wasn't into it, I just felt annoyed rather than motivated to try again. I only got two bags of beans in over a year. And I found the drive to finish the second one because I made that my finish line as a """barista""".

The forgotten kettle

As mentioned, I also enjoy tea. Quite a few years ago my wife got me a very nice coppery Bodum glass kettle, that I mostly used to brew Earl Grey, but I didn't use it as much after getting more into coffee. I was using tea bags instead. I know, the horror :)

But now that I have more room in the cabinet, without the coffee equipment, the kettle is more prominent, and it got me thinking, "what if brewed more loose leaf tea?".
Preparing it tickles my "little ritual" bone, but it is less involved than coffee (compared to grinding fresh and all that, not to a drip maker).

Last Friday I went to the Asian market by NJ440 and brought a nice little box with some black tea. Didn't want to start with something too exotic.
So far it's been great, the flavor and aroma is of course very different than the one from a tea bag. I found out that you can brew the leaves more than once, although so far I only did two brewings each time. I've read claims you can do up to 4. Time will tell.

Closing

When looking for information about tea, I didn't find a lot of small blogs dedicated to it, mostly promotional sites from stores. Some of them did have good info, being fair.
My hope is that someone finds this post[4] and shares with me their site full of tips (or at least at some point I get an email with advice).

In the meantime I will keep writing about the teas I try and other things related in the new shiny tag. I am hesitant to call it a series as I have no idea if I will have to say more on the topic than whatever you can call what I just typed. Doesn't have a moral, so it's not a fable. It's not a story...it's just...whatever.
Now, I wonder if I can find boldo leaves somewhere near by...

Footnotes
  1. At this point I feel like everyone knows about it, but just in case, here is the Wiki link.
  2. Another "no website to link to" friend. And just like last time this happened, it is a person that works in tech! Maybe I should ask them if they ever thought of having an online presence.
  3. It also helped me drink less coffee, since instead of making a whole pot, I would brew a single cup every few hours.
  4. That reminds me, I have no idea how this site fares in search engines. Of course I don't do SEO or anything like that. I did add my URL to Wiby!

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