I don’t feel like I can give this a fair rating for tonight’s tasting. I think I overstepped for the first steeping which kind of threw everything out of whack.
After the rinse I did 4 steeping: 30s, 40s, 20s and 120s. The first steeping came out fairly bitter but not astringent. It tasted like a somewhat milder version of English Breakfast Tea. Drinkable but not anything interesting. Kind of like a song with one note.
The second steeping wasn’t as bitter but also didn’t do much for me but I think my palate may have been a bit overwhelmed by the first cup.
I heated the water back up and decided to do a shorter third steeping to see if perhaps I was just doing steeping that were too long. This one was much thinner. No bitterness but not a lot of flavor either. Figuring the tea was going to need a bit more time I did the fourth steeping much longer and in many ways this was the best of the lot. It at least finally washed the bitter taste out of my mouth.
I’m guessing that I probably should have started with shorter steeping or a smaller amount of tea. If anyone has a suggestion I’d love to hear it!
Flavors: Bitter, Tea
Preparation
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Did you re-boil the same water by any chance? That can often make a cup of tea quite flat
I tend to like this one Western style more
For the 3rd steep I did heat the same water back up. By that point it had cooled probably 50 degrees. I’ll keep that in mind for the future and try with fresh water.
How much tea/steep time do you use when you brew western style?
Did you re-boil the same water by any chance? That can often make a cup of tea quite flat
I tend to like this one Western style more
For the 3rd steep I did heat the same water back up. By that point it had cooled probably 50 degrees. I’ll keep that in mind for the future and try with fresh water.
How much tea/steep time do you use when you brew western style?