"Ice-fire" brewing technique
Has anyone tried something like this for green teas? Does it actually work?
http://teaguardian.com/tea_preparation/ice-fire-technique.html
Here is the description of the rationale from the article:
“In preparing green tea, very often we have to lower the water temperature for a smoother infusion and/or reduced bitterness. The down side of that is lowering of the brisk, or liveliness, in the liquor. While it is fine for some tea, it is not so desirable for others. To achieve the best of using both higher and lower temperature, there is the so called ‘ice-fire’, or polarized temperature, technique.”
Very interesting concept.
Wow great article. I would love to try this one day and compare the results. Thanks for the post!
I like to do something I refer to as “flash-steeping” with green teas: I put the tea in my Finum infuser basket and pour boiling water through the basket and tea into a receptacle, then take the result and pour it back through again into another receptacle. I’ll repeat this a few times until it seems to be about the right color. Because the boiling water is not in continuous contact with the leaf, it does not seem to extract the tannins, nor become bitter. I started doing this because when we had the tea bar, we used a machine like an espresso machine that forced VERY hot water from a boiler through a portafilter full of tea, and it didn’t seem to matter what type of tea it was, it always came out delicious. The key was not allowing the delicate leaves to stew in that hot water for an extended period of time. I can’t claim that this always works, but I’ve personally not known it to fail.
I’m totally trying this. I tend to stick with higher temps and lower steeps times any ways. They work better for me than the opposite. Thanks for the tip.
I will have to give this one a try as well. Although this one I might try first since it sounds easier and a bit more fool-proof.
Thanks for the advice – I will have to try both methods. I could see this getting a bit messy, though if I’m not careful.
This is actually how I basically steep my gong-fu teas for the first 6 or 7 steepings! Pour in water, pour it out as fast as I can (which is usually 3 to 5 seconds practically, what with the fumbling and the time it takes the water to leave the vessel). Since the leaves touch the water for such a short time, the water temp is a lot less potentially damning. I too find it quite forgiving, plus you can feel free to use more leaf and just steep it many more times.
For your version, I think the only thing people would have to watch out for is making sure all of your pour-between vessels have high walls and easy pour lips to minimize the chance of fumble-burns.
Interesting article, thank you for sharing. I will have to give this a try since I drink mostly green teas. I think I will have to try it on a tea that I wouldn’t mind if I ruined a few times since this method seems like it would take a few trial-and-error takes to get it right.
yeah, best not to use up your favorites!
I still have to figure out what sort of vessel I will use to brew it in. Also, the ice in the photo looks smaller than my ice cubes – more like little chunks.
I think I have a decent enough vessel, I have a 10 oz mug that is taller than it is fat. But like you my ice cubes are big. My husband likes to make his own iced drinks and to make the ice cubes smaller he will hold an ice cube in his hand and use a spoon to crack it. Granted it’s a little messy and you will pieces of ice on the table and floor but you will have smaller pieces of ice. It works well enough for us!
Sounds interesting! Now to find a vessel that wouldn’t split in half immediately. I think I’d have to try it over the sink first and stand way back.
I do the following with all my greens, especially japanese green tea which just seems to fair better. The more high quality the leaf you have to begin with, the better the outcome will be.
Method 1: Steep 4g per 5 oz cup of 100ºC Water. Steep for 15-20 seconds. Pour out. I find this yields a more aromatic cup, lighter, less body, but the wet leaf especially opens up and you can explore wayy more aromas once you bury your nose in the leaf ;).
Method 2: Steep 3g per 5 oz cup at 80ºC water for 1.5mins. More body (of course), deeper richer flavour, more of that intoxicating butteriness, less aromatics but more satisfying.
Login or sign up to leave a comment.