80

It has been a long time since I had Gyokuro, and I made this wrong. I didn’t remember that the Breville only heats water to 160 degrees. I’ve set the Zojirushi for 140 degrees now, so I’ll be able to have the right temperature water.

I was also messing around quite a bit because I had put the tea in the Breville basket before I realized the temperature problem, and it was damp from having rinsed out yesterday’s leaves. So a lot of the tea stuck to the basket. I transferred as much as I could from the basket to a Finum basket, and then poured the water through both to loosen up the leaves in the Breville so I could move them to the Finum. As a result, I really don’t know how long I steeped. In any case, I am going to try doing it Samovar’s way next time because however I did it was apparently quite inauthentic even though it approximated the directions on the back of the sample packet.

But I will say that despite all the error, this is a nice cup of tea. I’d forgotten how dark and beautiful Gyokuro is in the dry leaf and how green and murky it makes the liquor. I’d forgotten the richness of how the dry leaves smell and the dusky, brothy flavor of the steeped tea. One day I’ll learn to make it correctly.

Flavors: Seaweed, Soybean, Umami

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C 1 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 17 OZ / 500 ML

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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