wuss

let's discuss that over a bottle of scotch

I'll tell you this.

The sense of relaxed alertness and focus that you get from the L-theanine on good green tea is unique and amazing.

You can't get it from coffee.

damn straight!

;) ha!

green tea tastes and smells like boiled lawn clippings.

ha ha ha. yeah, kryptonite, i know.


it's true that green tea leaves have a chlorophyll odor reminiscent of a freshly mowed lawn (which i really like), but if it tastes bad/ grassy you're brewing it wrong. first rule is--- don't boil the water!

I never boil the water for tea or coffee! I am no uncivilized cretin!!!!!

ha haha, good to know. now, i may be a cretin, but i do boil water for black tea.

exact measurements and precise temperatures are an overcomplication. unless the tea is very delicate use boiling water. that's not how you control flavour, you control it with the brew, with the time of the infusion.

green tea has what the japanese call an umami quality, a sweet and sour taste. like sweet potato.

if you don't like the taste you simply brew it again. you can brew it and re-brew it multiple times.

really, all you need is good water and good tea.

you can boil it and let it cool off 5-7 minutes afterward but i prefer to stop the water pre-boiling because of the dissolved air (which helps w/ taste).

temperature matters. water at the boiling point will make it bitter as it extracts more tannins.

the other thing is that caffeine dissolves even in cold water and your first brew will decaffeinate your tea. i love re-brewed sencha (i do no more than 2 additional rebrews), but it's more mellow and not stimulating. so i'll drink it in the evening.

btw, i was looking at matcha prices around here. the ceremonial kind sells for $30 an ounce! (28g). a lesser one is $16/oz. i know the matcha spoon is tiny, but at the rates i drink, i'd probably be spending hundreds a month just to keep up.

maybe i'll pick up just a little for the occasional kick.

If you use an enclosed pot and you don't let it boil forever, the mineral qualities that you'd hypothetically lose are insignificant to nothing.

but whatever floats your boat. sure, you can get into that sort of minutia.

I assure you that they don't use thermometers in Asia.

again, you control it with the brew.


dude, no, you do it in very short steeps.


Re Matcha: Yeah, you don't drink it all day, it's not buckwheat.
That's what Russians do, they drink buckwheat all day (in tea or in the vodka variety).

Sure, you can use Sencha for that, you can drink it all day, add some matcha to it if you like the caffeine punch.

boiling water creates a "flat" flavor. Water should be heated to just before boiling point for coffee and tea.

i remember years ago reading some old zen text that said to let the water cool off before adding the green tea-- back in the day, that's how they did it

but nowadays, there's zojirushi

if you say so, rob.
ah, really? i don't think you need an old zen book.

did they boil the water or not? haha
nice. ah jesus christ that's pretty pathetic.

they did, but they let it cool before brewing. also with oolong tea.

me, i stop it right before because my boiler heats fast.

the zojirushi is water boiler, not a teapot. i.e., you pour water out of that contraption and into the teapot of your choice-- like that one you posted-- beautiful.

"We have taken the everyday task of boiling water and made it into a science.

SCIENCE!"


You guys have a good evening, I'm out of here.

ha ha haha

eh, who can understand the japanese?


anyway, here a link to their "encyclopedia"

http://www.zojirushi.com/product/product_wb_02.html#w7

It does, that's why you drink spiced Black tea ;)

And coffee black and thick as sludge out a french press (but mine broke recently so instead of drinking drip brewed I'm just taking a coffee sabbatical.