The Art of brewing Pu-erh

Here is a very detailed and very ceremonial video of how to handle and prepare Pu-erh tea, starting with roasting of leaves, to brewing them. It also gives tips on what water to use and some customs surrounding the tea. At the end it feels very rewarding to see the ready tea being poured into cups, with its nice, saturated color – looking just delicious!

Buying tea online

Buying tea from online vendors

It is important to use trustworthy and reputable sources when buying anything on the internet – the same applies to tea. If you’re careful and you know your tea facts you can find many interesting and rare teas online, that you won’t be able to get anywhere else. Here are some of the more popular places among tea drinkers!

• O-cha – site might not look so hi-tech, but O-cha has some great teas to offer. They specialize in Japanese tea, anything from senchas to matchas. Here you can also buy kits, tea utensils and teaware, limited edition teas and organice offerings. Shipping is worldwide (from Japan), so anyone can enjoy their tea.
• Tea Spring – here you can purchase some of the best Chinese teas, especially greens. They offer black, oolong, white, yellow, green, herbal and pu-erh tea. The website has a clean look and there are pictures off all teas, so you can see what you’re buying. The orders are shipped from China to any place in the world.
• Adagio Teas –  Adagio is a very popular source for teas, it has a wide selection of teas from different regions – Japan, China, India, South Africa. On the list are also flavored teas, herbal, decaf and english classics and even more fun – you can create your own signature blends and name them! Your blend is then available for others to review and purchase. This site ships only to the United States but there is another site directed at European customers which you can find here.
• TeaCuppa – this store offers a mix of Chinese and Japanese teas – pretty much all the types and additionally you can buy tea gifts, gadgets and other accessories. Shipping is worldwide!
• Jing Tea – a UK based vendor that ships worldwide. Their website is very clean and easy to navigate, the teas here are well presented and overall it’s an enjoyable shopping experience. Here you can find great quality and rare teas from China, Japan and India. They also offer a selection of organic and fair trade teas.
• Jing Tea Shop – this is a place worth checking out for pu-erhs, greens and oolongs from China with fresh arrivals every harvest year. They ship from China to a lot of international destinations.
• Rishi – this company is not only an online vendor, as they also have stores and sell their products at various locations in the US. They have a truly rich offer including different varieties of Japanese green teas, Chinese tea, but even Chai, Yerba Mate and Iced teas. The majority of their offerings are organic and fair trade. Unfortunately shipping is only to the US and Canada.

Tea on Ebay

It is possible to buy tea on Ebay – two recommended stores are Yunnan Sourcing and Dragon Tea House. Yunnan Sourcing has black and oolong teas, but what they really specialize in are pu-erh cakes and good prices. They ship worldwide from China. Dragon Tea House on the other hand is a huge store offreing all kinds of Chinese teas and tea accessories. It’s worth taking a look at, because their listing is very rich and you certainly can’t say no to the prices.

How to bring your infusers back to their days of glory

I was trying to find some tips about how to clean tea-stained infusers, but to no avail. I decided to test different ways of cleaning infusers myself and coming up with some tips that make it easier.

Not all of us always have the time to properly wash and scrub infusers after every brewing and sometimes we even leave the tea leaves in the infuser for a second and third brewing. That’s when tea stains start creating and a brown crust starts covering the once new and shiny tool. Of course you can scrub it with a sponge and water or detergent, but that usually takes a long time and is kind of tedious. To be honest, it’s not possible to completely avoid the tediousness of it, but you can save time on using other solutions. Here are the things I tested that worked a little better:

• I found that the best way to clean them was to use an old toothbrush and baking soda. You put the brush under water and then dip it in the soda. The crust and stains come off easier and because of the small brush bristles you can even polish the mental net until it’s shiny again. Thanks to the toothbrush you can access and part of the infuser without a problem. Optionally you can try to put the infused into a mixture of water and baking soda overnight, but usually anything that’s soaked even only in water is bound to be easier to clean.
• Alcohol helps as well, although it works much better with the thick crust, then a slight staining. If you pour some vodka or other high-percentage alcohol onto a cotton pad and you can polish the infuser. This pretty much works best for the solid parts, not so much with the straining net.
• Out of curiosity I also tried low-alcohol mouthwash – but no surprises there, it didn’t help at all.

Golden Rules of Tea from the Past

This is a video from 1941, with tea tips and six golden rules of making a good cup. It also shows how tea was prepared in large amounts during wartime. It may be old and a bit comical, but hey! still relevant. And remember kids – stale water means stale tea!

When tea stains your teeth

 

Unfortunately tea does stain your teeth, especially if you drink it on a regular basis, but it is simply too good to give up only because of that. Tea contains tannic acid, which can create small pores in the enamel of your teeth. The pigment from tea then collects in these pores causing deep stains in the enamel. White teeth are healthier, look better and they are a key element of good self-presentation. If you are concerned about discoloration, there is a number of things you can do to slow down and minimalize the process of your teeth becoming yellow and deal with the stains if you already have them. Here we go

1. The most obvious should be brushing your teeth at least twice a day, but it’s ideal if you can brush them immediately after drinking tea. You should also floss two times a day (most important in the evenings, that’s when bacteria attacks the enamel most actively), because it prevents the buildup of plaque.

2. You can drink some water after to clear your mouth from any tea remains. Optionally you can chew gum.

3. Try a different type of tea, like white or green. Even herbal teas can stain, but less then for example black tea. Good quality green tea is less likely to stain your teeth then lower grades.

4. If and how milk affects the benefits of antioxidants has not been proven yet, but by adding milk you will dilute the tea and slow down the staining. You should avoid lemon however, because the it’s acidity will weaken your teeth.

5. Heat is an important factor in how fast your teeth become yellow. Drinking cold tea can also slow down the process. Drinking through a straw will further minimalize the contact of tea with teeth. 

6. You can avoid swishing the tea around in your mouth. This is a little extreme, especially when you want to enjoy the flavor and considering that research has shown that tea strengthens the teeth and gums, but it’s also an option.

If your teeth are yellow already

1. There are some home methods for bleaching teeth. The most popular is baking soda – you can dip your toothbrush in water and then in baking soda and you brush like usual, making sure the baking soda reaches all the small spaces between the teeth as well. Other sugesstions are strawberries or orange peel, which can be rubbed directly on the teeth or you can make a paste and brush them on. 

2. You can buy chemical home bleaching kits, which work well when you use them every now and then. Usually you keep the chemicals on your teeth overnight, but the will make your teeth and gums more sensitive during the treatment.

3. You should get your teeth cleaned at the dentist about once every half a year. There are also a number of methods the dentist offers to whiten your teeth professionally – some are using laser or sanding.

Unfortunately tea does stain your teeth, especially if you drink it on a regular basis, but it is simply too good to give up only because of that. Tea contains tannic acid, which can create small pores in the enamel of your teeth. The pigment from tea then collects in these pores causing deep stains in the enamel. White teeth are healthier, look better and they are a key element of good self-presentation. If you are concerned about discoloration, there is a number of things you can do to slow down and minimalize the process of your teeth becoming yellow and deal with the stains if you already have them. Here we go

• The most obvious should be brushing your teeth at least twice a day, but it’s ideal if you can brush them immediately after drinking tea. You should also floss two times a day (most important in the evenings, that’s when bacteria attacks the enamel most actively), because it prevents the buildup of plaque.
• You can drink some water after to clear your mouth from any tea remains. Optionally you can chew gum.
• Try a different type of tea, like white or green. Even herbal teas can stain, but less then for example black tea. Good quality green tea is less likely to stain your teeth then lower grades.
• If and how milk affects the benefits of antioxidants has not been proven yet, but by adding milk you will dilute the tea and slow down the staining. You should avoid lemon however, because the it’s acidity will weaken your teeth.
• Heat is an important factor in how fast your teeth become yellow. Drinking cold tea can also slow down the process. Drinking through a straw will further minimalize the contact of tea with teeth. 
• You can avoid swishing the tea around in your mouth. This is a little extreme, especially when you want to enjoy the flavor and considering that research has shown that tea strengthens the teeth and gums, but it’s also an option.

 

If your teeth are yellow already

• There are some home methods for bleaching teeth. The most popular is baking soda – you can dip your toothbrush in water and then in baking soda and you brush like usual, making sure the baking soda reaches all the small spaces between the teeth as well. Other sugesstions are strawberries or orange peel, which can be rubbed directly on the teeth or you can make a paste and brush them on. 
• You can buy chemical home bleaching kits, which work well when you use them every now and then. Usually you keep the chemicals on your teeth overnight, but the will make your teeth and gums more sensitive during the treatment.
• You should get your teeth cleaned at the dentist about once every half a year. There are also a number of methods the dentist offers to whiten your teeth professionally – some are using laser or sanding.

Breaking up a Pu-erh cake tutorial

Tips and instructions on how to break up a Pu-erh tea cake

How to make tea in a french press

Most of us have small infusers or other ways of making loose leaf tea for one person. If you need to make a larger amount of tea, but you don’t have any proper tea-brewing device you can make tea in a french press. It can get messy, as the french press is not an ideal solution for brewing loose leaf tea. Why? Because if you’re making green or black tea and you press down the plunger, causing the leaves to go to the bottom the tea continues steeping though the fine sieve. The tea simply gets bitter and undrinkable. So if you’ve bought some expensive tea it will just get spoiled.

This does work for some teas however, like herbal teas, rooibos and white tea, as they don’t get bitter or too over-brewed. For other teas like green/yellow which does get bitter and black that can turn out really strong you can, instead of putting the leaves into the glass directly, put the plunger in first and then the leaves on top of the sieve. When the tea is done after the desired amount of time you just pull out the plunger completely, together with the leaves, which rest on top of the sieve. You could also just pull the leaves out above the water level for re-steeping but there is a big risk that the leaves will come into your tea while pouring. The best way it taking out the plunger and putting it aside and if you want to re-steep you can just put it back in.

It is a fairly good way of making tea and the plus is that you can watch the tea steep through the glass.

Did you know

80% of caffeine in tea is released during the first 30 seconds of steeping. If you want to get rid of the caffeine in tea you can steep the tea for 30 seconds, pour out the infused water, pour in new water and continue steeping the same tea for the recommended amount of time.

Did you know

It’s better to keep tea in tin containers then paper boxes or glass jars, because sun rays and light destroy the quality of tea as well as air and moisture.