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.
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.
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""".
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.
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...