Started 2025-03-25
Published 2025-03-27
tag(s): #infusions
I posted a couple days ago that I was trying to use my kettle more. And I am!
I make a conscious effort to leave my phone behind while the water heats. I put some hot tap
water in the kettle, to warm it. Then add leaves in the strainer, and briefly rinse them with
cold water.
This last step is something I read a long time ago, and I haven't seen it recommended again,
but it does help remove the smaller leaves and dust. So I keep doing it.
Then I pour the water, boiling for black tea, and 80ish degrees for green tea.
On the latter, using less hot (what I did once a few months ago) made a world of difference in the taste. Also being more mindful of brewing times for each tea (5 mins vs 3 mins).
That's some green tea we got from a store in Grand Central a few months ago.
Yes, now I prepare it better, flavor is less bitter, more delicate. And...I don't
quite like it. So I guess green teas aren't my thing. Or at least this one isn't.
The taste is a strange combination of being too subtle, and the same time invasive. Really
hard to explain. At least I am happy that I managed to get a more delicate brew out of it.
The black box is the second one I opened from the two I got in the Asian market. It is a pretty vanilla black tea. I like it, but nothing special. I had high expectations for this box, because...
The first one I opened was the red box, which is also black tea. And boy does is taste
great.
I used the phone's translate app to try to understand the difference between the two,
apparently the black box is "black tea" and this one is "wild black tea". I don't even know if
that's real (web search didn't help much).
The aroma in this tea is..."fuller" than in the other one, in a way that I am obviously at a
loss of words on how to explain.[1][2]
And the flavor is more rich than in regular black tea, too, it has more body. Or
something.
OK, I don't want to sound like people who do wine tastings. But the tea does have more body 🤣
it is what it is.
Open to recommendations. I would like to try oolong, a different green tea, and order boldo
leaves (I have the highest expectations for that).
Also, in Argentina we make "mate cocido": tea made out of yerba mate
leaves.[3] It is quite common to use tea bags, but many people (including
my mother in law) make it using loose leaves. And of course it tastes better. So I
should try to do that using the tea pot, too. I can't believe I haven't tried that yet.