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What is “gourmet” tea?

October 30, 2006 at 10:48 pm · Filed under Tea

As I came home from Chinatown, today, I began contemplating “gourmet” tea and what it truly entails. What got me started down this road were the long aisles of boxed teas available in the Chinese stores. There were literally hundreds of them, and they were just labeled “green tea” or something basic like jasmine, woo long, or black tea. The majority of them were in tea bags, but I was able to find a good many loose leaf teas in tins.

Adagio says that “gourmet” teas are made exclusively from the plant’s most tender young leaves. Tea pickers, usually working by hand, select the plant’s two youngest leaves and a yet-to-open bud. These tender new leaves produce a tea that is more gentle and flavorful than the older varieties. The more common older leaves typically end up on your supermarket shelf.

Today, I picked up 3 different teas, and I thought about the 3 teas I got from ‘My Place for Tea.’ There, I basically paid $15 for 150gms of tea. At the Chinese place, I paid half the price and got double the amount of tea. It got me wondering if I was being screwed on these “gourmet” teas. Does the tender younger leaves actually make a greater difference in the taste of the flavor or is it nice way to make an extra buck? If they sit on the shelf for awhile, does that change the taste to an older leaf?

The one good thing that the “gourmet” shops have going for them is a noticeable variety. They carefully distinguish the green teas by name and flavor and taste. With the Chinese store I really wasn’t sure what kind I was going to get. They all said “green tea” though there are many different kinds. (Unless there is one Chinese variety that specifically falls under “green tea”) I haven’t found any store as remotely good as the tea shop in Portland. It had a wall of jars and different varieties. The owners were also knowledgeable on our questions.

Well, it’s getting late and I dont know where I’m going with this. Basically, I picked up 3 teas: 1 gunpowder, 1 “green tea”, and 1 “woo loong”. Though, that is very vague description. I suppose the Chinese store might have its own place in my home just like the Lipton bags or the yuppie Gourmet shops. Good loose tea at more affordable and larger quantity.

clear :) said,

October 31, 2006 @ 3:23 pm

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I STILL have ginger peppermint left. It’s like the tea that wouldn’t die. For a while there, quite a while actually, I stopped drinking tea so that didn’t help. I’ve started drinking it again and am slowly but surely using it up. I have almost an entire bag of lavender mist though, so I don’t need tea anytime soon.

Doug on the other hand has been needing to go to the tea store for a while. In an act of desperation, he got some Lipton the other day. I don’t know how he can do it…I think it tastes really gross and plus there’s so much paper waste. I guess I’ve become a tea yuppie too.

I noticed while Doug was getting his tea that Bigelow had a lot of new varieties out, or even if they werent brand new, I had never seen them before. One that had pomegranate in it really caught me eye, and there were some orange and spice kinds that sounded good.

~Mers said,

October 31, 2006 @ 4:40 pm

I thought the peppermint tea was tasty, but it’s not something I could drink everyday. I really think you should remove the tea ball after 3 minutes of steeping too. I remember you mentioning that Doug leaves it in longer to get all the caffeine out. But I dont think that’s how it works. Here’s an article I read about removing the caffeine.

Just brew a cup as normal, leaving the leaves in the hot water for about 30 seconds. Then, drain the tea leaves and rebrew. The second infusion will contain the flavor, but significantly less caffeine.

If the 30 seconds reduces the majority of the caffeine, than leaving the leaves in longer than the steep time wouldn’t make an impact in squeezing out every last inch of caffeine.

clear :) said,

November 1, 2006 @ 10:33 am

You’ll be proud to know that I have started doing just 3 minutes. I’m brewing tea in the more “normal” way and though I don’t time myself, and often probably leave it longer, my goal is 3 minutes; I know I could just look at the clock, but I often get caught up with doing other things…putzing around the kitchen and whatnot.

I can’t completely speak for Doug, but since he hardly hever hcomments, I will say with Doug that it’s also sort of a frugality/getting his money’s worth by getting every last drop of his dollar’s worth, even if that means yucky old tea.

I’ve known about the 30 second thing for a while. In one of the magazines I used to get, Real Simple (which over the years turned into a “buy this”), mentioned that same thing about how to take a caffeinated tea you like and get most of the caffeine out. I’m glad you mentioned it again because that would be a great thing to do with the pu-erh tea I liked so much. I really did feel like the caffeine in that affected me, but I really liked how it tasted! If I ever get finished with all my other tea… :)

Doug said,

November 1, 2006 @ 2:19 pm

If the tea isn’t so bitter that it removes tooth enamel, you’re wasting your money!!!

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Actually, I have found that being frugal is usually a bad idea, except perhaps for the Scottish. By being frugal, they have been able to produce distinctive ales that are loved around the world. Since Scotland is relatively far north, hops don’t grow well there and it is cold. So instead of buying a lot of hops from England and heating their beer to get it to ferment faster, they use little hops and just accept that the beer will take a while to finish. The result: a very clean taste with huge malt character.

As for frugality and my beer, I once reused hops from a late-addition in one batch as bittering hops in a second batch. Be careful when you drink that stuff, Mers (red capped beers). Talk about harsh bitterness! Well, I saved $2.50 on a batch of beer that took around 12 manhours and $15.00 to make. Now I can get that operation I’ve been needing!

~Mers said,

November 1, 2006 @ 7:17 pm

Well, if you enjoy the bitterness of the tea than that really closes the issue. The “perfect” cup of tea rests on the tastes of the individual.

In all my experiences though, I’m more comfortable with removing the leaves if too early than leaving them in for too long. I usually look at the clock, but I dont use a timer or shoot for exactly 3 min.

~Mers said,

November 2, 2006 @ 9:28 am

I should also add that with these Chinese brands, I’ve been getting a lot of sediment at the bottom of my cups. Tiny particles and dust are getting past the filter. I’ve rarely observed this with the gourmet teas. This is more typical of the tea bags, because they use a lot of dust and ground up leaves.

Doug said,

November 2, 2006 @ 11:55 am

I tried the three-minute steep with my Lipton today, and then soaked the bags in hot water for about 10 minutes to see what the second steeping would yield. The first steeping was OK. The second steeping was really quite nasty. I think I’ll start doing only three minutes. Makes a much smoother tea.

ceej said,

November 2, 2006 @ 1:21 pm

My 1 cent comment…..

I personally agree with Doug. I enjoy tea more when the bag or tea leaves have had maximum steepage in the water. I don’t like weak tea and personally think 3 minutes is far too little for me to get any flavor from the tea. I also enjoy coffee the same way. QT coffee is best later in the day when it’s sat around for a few 6 or 7 hours. Harbucks usually has a good coffee at anytime of the day, but they specialize in the coffee biz so I guess they would.

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