2 tsp / 16 oz
Really enjoying this today. I swear so many things must impact the way one tastes tea, because every time I drink this, it’s different.
Today, I’m enjoying the lightness and very slight astringency of this tea. I note a roasted quality, but only very lightly. It’s really the style of oolong I like… medium oxidation, not too roasted. It has that natural sweetness similar to the taste of Wild Taiwanese Black and Mi Xian Black but in a lighter, crisper version.
Preparation
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Have you tried 1 tsp per 6 oz? In the world of tea, a “cup” is typically a 6 oz teacup. Per Upton Tea Importers: “…industry standard of 2¼ grams per 6-ounce cup.”
And because loose tea varies is size and can be quite long, measuring with a teaspoon may not always provide 2¼ grams:
https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart/information/INFOscaleUse.asp
Do you have a fast reading tea thermometer such as:
http://www.davidstea.com/thermometer-and-timer?&TF=3B9DBE9A142D&DEID
When I measure 6 oz of rapidly boiling water & pour into into a room-temperature mug, this thermometer shows the temperature quickly drops to 181*F. For a higher temp. I have to reheat the mug in a microwave.
looseTman-We use 8oz to equal a cup. I know that the tea industry tends to favor 6 oz though it really does vary from company to company. The reason we chose 8oz is because 8oz does equal 1 cup in measurement so its less confusing and because US customers tend to prefer larger amounts of tea. Our recommendations on our bags do specify the ounces used. I taste each tea with a variety of brewing instructions using standard kitchen measuring spoons and choose what I think would be the most palatable for the average person. We sometimes have gongfu instructions but I feel most people who use eastern style brewing already have their own brewing preference.
Rachel-When we get more of the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black back in stock, I’m also going to be picking up an Oriental Beauty around the same time and will do a “I Love Leafhoppers” sampler set.
looseTman, Yes I know all about Upton’s instructions, haha! I used to order ALL my tea from them. I have a great thermometer I always use to check the temp. For this tea, I followed Butiki’s instructions. With other companies, the tea doesn’t always come out best with their instructions, but Stacy at Butiki has done a fantastic job. With her teas, I completely trust the instructions. :)
Stacy! Yes, that will be awesome. I am drinking Teavivre’s Oriental Beauty right now, and it is great, though speaking of brewing instructions, I’m going to try a shorter steep next time.
Hi Stacy,
I always start by reading the brewing recommendations on the tea package. However, I’ve not yet had the pleasure of tasting your teas. Please note that I prefaced my comments with a question: “Have you tried 1 tsp per 6 oz?” And that I also said typically not always: “In the world of tea, a “cup” is typically a 6 oz teacup.”
My comments were only intended to offer assistance to Rachel’s tasting remark about brewing variability. I have no doubt that you’ll be able to answer all her questions. I’ve read many excellent comments about you and Butiki Teas on Steepster.
Rachel, I read your tea tasting remark about brewing variability in an open forum and thought you were asking for possible solutions. I now see that was not the case.
looseTman-I hope my previous comment didn’t come off poorly. Rereading what I wrote the tone doesn’t come off how I meant it to. Sorry about that.
Rachel-Glad you found an oolong you like.
No problem, looseTman! With some teas, I have had trouble getting the brew just right, but with this one, when I say it tastes different every time, I think it’s just because of me… something unrelated to brewing variability. :)
Thanks for the comments!
Stacy, just wondering, do you think all Bai Hao’s get leaf-hoppers? Are some grown with pesticides? I wonder if that’s the difference between a good Bai Hao and a mediocre “Formosa Oolong”… Hmmm…
Rachel-The special character of Oriental Beauty is the flavor that comes from the leafhoppers biting the leaves and the plants healing. All Oriental Beauty teas should be leafhopper bitten. You would certainly be able to tell taste wise if they were not. I bet some companies choose not to mention the leafhoppers since it might turn away some customers knowing there are insects biting them. Formosa means Taiwan and was what the Portuguese named Taiwan. At one point all teas from Taiwan were called formosas. Certainly an Oriental Beauty could be called a formosa oolong.
Thanks for the info!
Rachel-You’re welcome. I saw your other question about Gui Fei and didn’t want to answer in that thread since you were addressing the question to another company but thought I might answer here since I didn’t want to step on any toes. All Gui Fei should be leafhopper bitten. This is a really new style of tea (1999) and came about after farms were abandoned due to an earthquake. Gui Fei uses the same cultivar that Dong Ding uses (Qing Xin) and is made using Dong Ding processing techniques.
Thanks, Stacy! I don’t remember asking about Gui Fei anywhere else! Appreciate this info, though. There is so much to learn, and I find it all quite fascinating.
No problem. It was in your oolong thread, posted 12 days ago but I just happened upon it today. Absolutely, and with tea the more I learn the more I realize that there is so much more to learn.
Stacy. Thanks, that’s very kind of you. No problem – tone is frequently challenging in written communications for both the sender & receiver since it lacks the important nonverbal cues we all rely upon in our daily interpersonal communications.
I agree the word “cup” is frequently ambiguous when discussing tea. We’ve all been taught there’s 8 oz. in a cup since elementary school. But, the tea industry tradition has been 6 oz for a very long time. Specifying TEAcup / 6 oz. or 8 oz. should help.
I also agree that “US customers tend to prefer larger amounts of tea.” Thus, it would be very helpful if the US tea trade would come to a new consensus increasing the single-serving size of tea to reflect current tea consumption. However, tea is a global commodity. Would the rest of the world agree?
looseTman-I definitely need to pay more attention to that. Recently, I have had a bad habit of not even reviewing what I write due to the volume of emails that I respond to everyday. That is something I need to work on.
In some ways using 8oz as our standard for measurement hurts us because that means we claim less servings per ounce of tea since we do specify how many cups each ounce should provide. I like to use it since I feel its more accurate to our average customer, though 12oz is probably more accurate. I like 8oz also because I feel like it also might be less confusing to someone who is new to tea. We skip the whole “cup” issue and just say by how many ounces of water is needed. Especially, since there are a few teas that we only recommend eastern brewing for.
We do tend to cater more towards US and Canadian customers but that is also the vast majority of our customers, especially after the shipping increases from the USPS. Using liquid ounces at all is really geared more towards Americans since the rest of the world uses milliliters (liquid) and grams (dry).
Have you tried 1 tsp per 6 oz? In the world of tea, a “cup” is typically a 6 oz teacup. Per Upton Tea Importers: “…industry standard of 2¼ grams per 6-ounce cup.”
And because loose tea varies is size and can be quite long, measuring with a teaspoon may not always provide 2¼ grams:
https://secure.uptontea.com/shopcart/information/INFOscaleUse.asp
Do you have a fast reading tea thermometer such as:
http://www.davidstea.com/thermometer-and-timer?&TF=3B9DBE9A142D&DEID
When I measure 6 oz of rapidly boiling water & pour into into a room-temperature mug, this thermometer shows the temperature quickly drops to 181*F. For a higher temp. I have to reheat the mug in a microwave.
looseTman-We use 8oz to equal a cup. I know that the tea industry tends to favor 6 oz though it really does vary from company to company. The reason we chose 8oz is because 8oz does equal 1 cup in measurement so its less confusing and because US customers tend to prefer larger amounts of tea. Our recommendations on our bags do specify the ounces used. I taste each tea with a variety of brewing instructions using standard kitchen measuring spoons and choose what I think would be the most palatable for the average person. We sometimes have gongfu instructions but I feel most people who use eastern style brewing already have their own brewing preference.
Rachel-When we get more of the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black back in stock, I’m also going to be picking up an Oriental Beauty around the same time and will do a “I Love Leafhoppers” sampler set.
looseTman, Yes I know all about Upton’s instructions, haha! I used to order ALL my tea from them. I have a great thermometer I always use to check the temp. For this tea, I followed Butiki’s instructions. With other companies, the tea doesn’t always come out best with their instructions, but Stacy at Butiki has done a fantastic job. With her teas, I completely trust the instructions. :)
Stacy! Yes, that will be awesome. I am drinking Teavivre’s Oriental Beauty right now, and it is great, though speaking of brewing instructions, I’m going to try a shorter steep next time.
Hi Stacy,
I always start by reading the brewing recommendations on the tea package. However, I’ve not yet had the pleasure of tasting your teas. Please note that I prefaced my comments with a question: “Have you tried 1 tsp per 6 oz?” And that I also said typically not always: “In the world of tea, a “cup” is typically a 6 oz teacup.”
My comments were only intended to offer assistance to Rachel’s tasting remark about brewing variability. I have no doubt that you’ll be able to answer all her questions. I’ve read many excellent comments about you and Butiki Teas on Steepster.
Rachel, I read your tea tasting remark about brewing variability in an open forum and thought you were asking for possible solutions. I now see that was not the case.
looseTman-I hope my previous comment didn’t come off poorly. Rereading what I wrote the tone doesn’t come off how I meant it to. Sorry about that.
Rachel-Glad you found an oolong you like.
No problem, looseTman! With some teas, I have had trouble getting the brew just right, but with this one, when I say it tastes different every time, I think it’s just because of me… something unrelated to brewing variability. :)
Thanks for the comments!
Stacy, just wondering, do you think all Bai Hao’s get leaf-hoppers? Are some grown with pesticides? I wonder if that’s the difference between a good Bai Hao and a mediocre “Formosa Oolong”… Hmmm…
Rachel-The special character of Oriental Beauty is the flavor that comes from the leafhoppers biting the leaves and the plants healing. All Oriental Beauty teas should be leafhopper bitten. You would certainly be able to tell taste wise if they were not. I bet some companies choose not to mention the leafhoppers since it might turn away some customers knowing there are insects biting them. Formosa means Taiwan and was what the Portuguese named Taiwan. At one point all teas from Taiwan were called formosas. Certainly an Oriental Beauty could be called a formosa oolong.
Thanks for the info!
Rachel-You’re welcome. I saw your other question about Gui Fei and didn’t want to answer in that thread since you were addressing the question to another company but thought I might answer here since I didn’t want to step on any toes. All Gui Fei should be leafhopper bitten. This is a really new style of tea (1999) and came about after farms were abandoned due to an earthquake. Gui Fei uses the same cultivar that Dong Ding uses (Qing Xin) and is made using Dong Ding processing techniques.
Thanks, Stacy! I don’t remember asking about Gui Fei anywhere else! Appreciate this info, though. There is so much to learn, and I find it all quite fascinating.
No problem. It was in your oolong thread, posted 12 days ago but I just happened upon it today. Absolutely, and with tea the more I learn the more I realize that there is so much more to learn.
Stacy. Thanks, that’s very kind of you. No problem – tone is frequently challenging in written communications for both the sender & receiver since it lacks the important nonverbal cues we all rely upon in our daily interpersonal communications.
I agree the word “cup” is frequently ambiguous when discussing tea. We’ve all been taught there’s 8 oz. in a cup since elementary school. But, the tea industry tradition has been 6 oz for a very long time. Specifying TEAcup / 6 oz. or 8 oz. should help.
I also agree that “US customers tend to prefer larger amounts of tea.” Thus, it would be very helpful if the US tea trade would come to a new consensus increasing the single-serving size of tea to reflect current tea consumption. However, tea is a global commodity. Would the rest of the world agree?
looseTman-I definitely need to pay more attention to that. Recently, I have had a bad habit of not even reviewing what I write due to the volume of emails that I respond to everyday. That is something I need to work on.
In some ways using 8oz as our standard for measurement hurts us because that means we claim less servings per ounce of tea since we do specify how many cups each ounce should provide. I like to use it since I feel its more accurate to our average customer, though 12oz is probably more accurate. I like 8oz also because I feel like it also might be less confusing to someone who is new to tea. We skip the whole “cup” issue and just say by how many ounces of water is needed. Especially, since there are a few teas that we only recommend eastern brewing for.
We do tend to cater more towards US and Canadian customers but that is also the vast majority of our customers, especially after the shipping increases from the USPS. Using liquid ounces at all is really geared more towards Americans since the rest of the world uses milliliters (liquid) and grams (dry).