What Do You Want Newbies to Know About Tea?
I will be making a 45 minute video that will be a crash course in all things tea. I don’t want it to be another one of those, “What is tea? We just don’t know” kind of things. I am looking to go more in depth with the history, cultural nuances, and flavor. Something actually interesting.
So my question is, what do you want people with a basic knowledge of tea to learn?
Any brewing techniques people should know about?
Anything you wish you knew when you were starting out with tea?
Any myths that should be debunked?
Anything helps!
There is only one way to steep tea – the way it tastes good to you. Tea is an experiment and it is a personal journey. Don’t be bound by the “rules” – discover what you like and how you like it.
I agree! Thats the best thing to say to them, ignore all rules and do like burger king and have it your way :)
I can’t WAIT for this video!
I am looking for it to be a kind of training video for people who already know the bare basics of tea, but want to get a interesting and engaging crash course that’s not too stuffy or uptight. Gongfu for dummies!
I’ll be sure to share it when it’s ready :P
CAFFEINE MYTHS!
Black tea does not necessarily contain the most, white/green definitely don’t necessarily contain the least.
I agree, even people who have been drinking tea for a few years don’t know about this.
Debunking caffeine is a big one, for sure! I didn’t even know much until a little over a year ago.
General knowledge:
- all the different kinds of tea made from the Camellia sinensis plant (black, green, yellow, white, oolong, puer, etc) and how they differ
- some basics on other tisanes, both caffeinated and not
- some info about major tea-growing regions and what they’re known for (China, Taiwan, Japan, India, Kenya, etc)
- types of preparation: western-style brewing vs gong-fu, as well as some specialized regional/cultural variations (masala chai in India, matcha tea in Japan, yak butter tea in Tibet, afternoon tea in England, Moroccan mint tea, ugh this could go on forever)
- water quality, temperature… usual recommendations plus the fact that it’s ok to “break the rules” sometimes
- resteeping! reuse those leaves
- the wonder of cold steeping
- the benefits of buying tea from farmer-direct type companies
Myths:
- caffeine myths for sure – the myth that you can tell how much caffeine a tea has by how it was processed (black, green, etc), the myth that you can decaffeinate tea by doing a quick rinse/infusion, the myth that tea has more caffeine than coffee
- crazy health claims. pretty much all health claims, really.
- any notion that there is one “correct” way to brew tea
- the idea that paying more will always get you something of higher quality (see also: fake puer)
Cold steeping and yak butter tea would be great to introduce people to. And health claims. I get that all the time, “What tea should I drink for the most health benefits??”
The difference between western and gong fu brewing and the advantages and disadvantages of both.
I will definitely be having demonstrations on all type of brewing methods, describing each.
Tea is processed in many different countries? Before getting into tea, I didn’t know that countries such as Korea, Mozambique, Malawi, Nepal, etc grow and process tea like China, India, and Japan. It was a nice, surprising bit of info.
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