So, I probably brewed this wrong, having JUST looked at the Verdant website and seeing a steep time of 1 minute (I did 2) and a temp a little lower than boiling. Also I think I may have underleafed. By at least a teaspoon. (Having made about 27 fl oz of tea (according to my quick and dirty ml to oz conversion) and put in 3 heaping teaspoons. more like 3 teaspoons. yeaaaah. I’ve gotten out of the habit of using my breville and I forgot that ~750 ml is actually ~3 cups and not 2… Oh well. Next steep I’ll add some new leaves. So yeah, this is weaker than probably it would be at it’s best.
Another reason I’m probably not liking this as much as I probably would be otherwise is that I’m out of practice with tea tasting. With the summer and my inability to make iced tea in a reasonable fashion without it sucking and then my need to be out of my house as much as possible to try to keep from sinking into a deeper depression…there’s not been much time for tea from my own collection. At least, made the way I like it.
Still, this is very enjoyable even with those caveats. Hikaru the kitty knows it has my attention and not her so she’s trying to knock it over with her head. She’s been much more needy since my Groucho kitty died on Monday.
Anyway, it tastes very silky as said in the outline on Verdant, and I can definitely taste some very warm spices, possibly the cinnamon mentioned, though I like it a lot better than actual cinnamon, which I don’t like so much. The morels come through more on the aftertaste. All in all, it’s quite pleasant and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it even more as my ability to taste more nuances comes back.
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About iced tea sucking… if you switch to cold brewing maybe you’ll find that you’ll be more successful. Leaves in the bottle and that’s it. I have one of those filter tops for cold brewing.
If you have a gaiwan (or you can use a teacup and saucer) brew a little tea this way to reeducate your taste buds. Sometimes after a series of migraines, I lose my sense of taste for a week or two. I have to reeducate my brain.
No, I can’t reliably do cold brewing. Mostly because I am a scatterbrain and it would probably steep for days on end before I would remember that I am steeping iced tea. If I have a defined time period I will be at home, maybe. Worth looking into anyway. I do really well with very very specific instructions.
I have a gaiwan…somewhere…packed in a box. I’ve always put a little sugar in though, even at my most sensitive, plain black tea ( my favourite) always tasted BITTER AND NOTHING ELSE without 1/2-1 tsp of sugar per 16 oz or so. Hard to do with a gaiwan. :(
You can pour two steeps into a mug and then sweeten using a gaiwan (I sweeten black tea also). Many times I cold brew using leaves I’ve already hot brewed such as a great oolong or my laoshan black tea because there’s still lots of life left. No worry that the tea will be bitter and overbrewed if I forget about it.
Hmm. I kind of feel a little dumb for not thinking of that gaiwan tactic. Thanks for telling me. I’ll try to remember your cold brew techniques for when it’s not below freezing outside. I keep the inside at below 60F so I’m not really craving iced tea right now at all. Currently buried in blankets.
Second steep with added new tea is going much better. A very rich black tea now. Definitely lovely.
So sorry to hear about your Groucho :(
Aww, sorry about your kitty. :( That’s always so hard.
I don’t know why I didn’t see the part about your kitty when I read this on my Kindle. I’m so stupid! I’m sorry that your Groucho died. There isn’t anything good about the emptiness at all. Only the love of friends, family, people like us odd tea crazies (I’m a crazy) will be of some comfort. We humans have this in common. Loss, Love, Comfort. We need each other.
Thanks everybody. It was really hard, but she’d been sick with cancer for over a year and it was time. Mostly I’ve just been trying to appreciate the (4) cats I have left, especially her brother who has been crying for her sometimes, they were very close.
Groucho! I’m so sorry for your loss.
About iced tea sucking… if you switch to cold brewing maybe you’ll find that you’ll be more successful. Leaves in the bottle and that’s it. I have one of those filter tops for cold brewing.
If you have a gaiwan (or you can use a teacup and saucer) brew a little tea this way to reeducate your taste buds. Sometimes after a series of migraines, I lose my sense of taste for a week or two. I have to reeducate my brain.
No, I can’t reliably do cold brewing. Mostly because I am a scatterbrain and it would probably steep for days on end before I would remember that I am steeping iced tea. If I have a defined time period I will be at home, maybe. Worth looking into anyway. I do really well with very very specific instructions.
I have a gaiwan…somewhere…packed in a box. I’ve always put a little sugar in though, even at my most sensitive, plain black tea ( my favourite) always tasted BITTER AND NOTHING ELSE without 1/2-1 tsp of sugar per 16 oz or so. Hard to do with a gaiwan. :(
You can pour two steeps into a mug and then sweeten using a gaiwan (I sweeten black tea also). Many times I cold brew using leaves I’ve already hot brewed such as a great oolong or my laoshan black tea because there’s still lots of life left. No worry that the tea will be bitter and overbrewed if I forget about it.
Hmm. I kind of feel a little dumb for not thinking of that gaiwan tactic. Thanks for telling me. I’ll try to remember your cold brew techniques for when it’s not below freezing outside. I keep the inside at below 60F so I’m not really craving iced tea right now at all. Currently buried in blankets.
Second steep with added new tea is going much better. A very rich black tea now. Definitely lovely.
So sorry to hear about your Groucho :(
Aww, sorry about your kitty. :( That’s always so hard.
I don’t know why I didn’t see the part about your kitty when I read this on my Kindle. I’m so stupid! I’m sorry that your Groucho died. There isn’t anything good about the emptiness at all. Only the love of friends, family, people like us odd tea crazies (I’m a crazy) will be of some comfort. We humans have this in common. Loss, Love, Comfort. We need each other.
Thanks everybody. It was really hard, but she’d been sick with cancer for over a year and it was time. Mostly I’ve just been trying to appreciate the (4) cats I have left, especially her brother who has been crying for her sometimes, they were very close.
Groucho! I’m so sorry for your loss.