Slow introduction, usually when you move from bags to loose-leaf. You can avoid the more expensive equipment required to handle that for a while by instead getting fillable tea bags. Pick something that smells nice at the tea store, get a 50g bag of it and steep.
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The nice thing about getting into the fancy stuff is that loose leaf tea is generally far more cost effective than tea bags. I use fillable teabags for loose tea myself because it’s just really easy and I’m too lazy to use special equipment. Even factoring in the cost of those tea bags, I’m still saving money compared to buying the stuff pre-bagged.
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A very useful bit of information for those who like Yerba Mate: if there’s a Wegmans in your area, check their Latin foods aisle. They usually carry GIANT bags of mate for an absurdly low price. I’m talking like $6 for a kilogram. It’s beautiful.
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I pour boiling tap water from an old teapot into a mug that has a Lipton tea bag in it and then I fuss with the bag for several moments until that tea gets nice and dark.
I have discovered only recently that I do like some honey in my tea. I finally have a use for all this honey I have somehow acquired, why do people keep gifting me honey. I’m more of an otter than a bear.
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as long as the water boils like god intended nothing you’re doing is wrong
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I only sometimes follow the recommended steeping times for my tea. Usually I just let it sit in the water until the teapot is dry. The black teas I have don’t care and I like them strong, no sugar or milk for me.
Finally restocked my earl grey stores with the Royal blend from Grosche. I prefer the stuff from a place in Stratford but that’s an hour drive compared to the 15 min walk downtown. And I got to blow the tea keeper’s mind about wine infusing, ironic because I was told about it at that same store.
following up on @SageGrimm and @OneSecondBefore, chinese supermarkets will probably also have a decent variety of different kinds of tea, the quality of the cheap stuff will not be that great but if you’re not a snob yet the great thing is that doesn’t matter! it’s a good way to find out which specific variety you’re more in to before you start plumbing the depths to find, like, the world’s greatest version of whatever it is you’re after
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when i switch to loose leaf i’d rather go just completely loose-leaf with no special equipment. so like, leaves in a cup, or pot or whatever. what’s the best way to do that?
like what would i need to basically do this
with your mouth almost totally closed and taking the tiniest little sips
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enjoy making one cup at a time and pour from the brewing cup to a drinking cup with a fork or something to hold the leaves back?
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learn 2 love 1 bitter mouth
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The chinese way to do it is this:
You can drink straight from the gaiwan/cup using the lid to keep the leaves away. Of course, this doesn’t work with cheap tea with lots of small particles.
I believe this method is quite popular in hong kong.
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I was gifted a mug with a metal strainer as a Christmas present and it’s worked out beautifully (I’m not a tea snob yet but I’ve been trying all the loose leaf black tea from a little Japanese family import store in Seattle).
I think it’s this:
So I can pour the water, wait 2.5 minutes, rinse the strainer, and I’m good to go. I wash the pieces every week or two and it’s very low-fuss.
my little brother texted me a picture of him buying this very mug like almost exactly at the time of this post
his is green
he also thought I had one exactly like it but that isn’t true
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when we eat lunch at whole foods I ask the people at the coffee bar for a cup of hot water and then I go to the back and get some bits of tea from the bulk section and then I put them in the cup and then take them out with a fork, later
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both the title and pitch for my man on the street consumption docu-series
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so it looks like what i need is a ’ ’ teapot ’ ’
the gaiwan also looks good
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a white glazed porcelain gaiwan in the ~100ml range is the only tea hardware must-have, everything else is just for fun, should run about $10-15 on Amazon
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Yeah, I got this cheap glass one you can use on a range that comes with a removable infuser. Not much ceremony to it, but it does the job