TeaForum.org

Darbotek wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 22, 2020 3:25 pm

I've just been playing around with other ratios, I'm liking 1.5g/30ml right now. That could change though!

No fancy camera here, just natural light and an iPhone!

Yes, there is always a lot of experimentation. What is the size of the kyusu in your photo?

Enjoying a lovely session of O-Cha Organic Sae Midori Kabusecha. I don't take a super scientific approach with my brewing and tasting notes. 8 grams for roughly 160 ml, I bounce around between 156-176f. My tasting notes: mighty tasty with a little lingering astringency at the back of the tongue. I ...

Thanks, nasalfrog . I can certainly try brewing it in my gaiwan as well. I really enjoyed the taste of the tea when I used 5 grams to 160. I can try bumping up the amount of leaf a little to see what I can handle. It could just be my personal preference as well. Perhaps many would enjoy the bitterne...

...Boy was it bitter... That tea is quite bitter, and it may have to do with the cultivar. In addition to the tea you mention, I’ve had O-Cha’s sayamakaori, which is a fukamushi, and the deep steaming seems to help, but it is still quite bitter in comparison to most other cultivars I have tried. I ...

I placed my first order with Thes Du Japan a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday my order arrived and I tried the organic sencha from Shimizu, Sayama Kaori cultivar last night. I'm still getting used to these light-colored teas. I first experienced it with the sae midori asamuchi from O-cha. I've been us...

Always nice to know when someone else also enjoys a tea I appreciate. Doing the calcs I’ve consumed around 1,600 grams of Birouen’s organic kabusecha since last April 2019, so around 160 grams per month, steeping 10 grams each time. It’s soon to run out on their site and I wonder if they will be ab...

I still have not tried gyokuro. I just received three packages of tea from Thes Du Japon this afternoon. On my next order, I will pick up a bag of gyokuro. While I cannot comment on the chemistry of your experience, I know that lower temperatures yield sweeter brews, and higher yield a more bitter f...

I wonder if ignorance really is bliss. That's my take on this. At the end of the day, you are giving your trust to someone--farmer, vendor, organic test, it doesn't matter. We can learn more about the farmers and the vendors to make an educated guess but that's all. Honestly, I don't have the emoti...

Bok wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:05 pm

Vanenbw wrote: ↑

Wed Feb 19, 2020 8:01 pm

Some scary stuff. I wonder if ignorance really is bliss.

All things considered, everyday staples are probably more concerning: Meat, dairy, vegetables, anything sweet and/or processed. I'd worry more about my daily bread and butter than tea...

You may be right. And that I do.

mbanu I second that. What a thorough and informative post. I'm not sure I want to drink tea anymore. I'm kidding, of course, but yout post is eye-opening. I guess the bottom line is that producing and selling tea is a business, and there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that I know nothing a...

Is JAS the same as Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan? It's a department/division thereof: https://www.maff.go.jp/e/policies/standard/jas/specific/organic.html Thanks for the information. I started searching for some tea farms that have the JAS certification. O-cha carries so...

Is organic certification perfect? No, but better than nothing, if you are worried about chemical contaminants. I personally choose to trust JAS, although the number of Japanese teas with JAS organic certification is quite small due to the high cost compared to the small scale of many/most Japanese ...

Slurp Thank you for the last several posts on the links. I will return later to visit the links. I'm very interested in this subject. No doubt there is a lot of controversy over the subject, but I still feel pretty strongly about erring on the side of caution and choosing organics, unless I know fo...

I read an interesting article on Verdant tea's website. If it can be believed, then it makes more sense to do some research on how, and from where your tea is sourced, rather than assuming it's "safe" because it has an organic label on it.

https://verdanttea.com/organic-and-fair-trade/

It's an interesting subject to me, because I've been eating organic fruits and vegetables for years now, and I drink organic teas (in teabags) from companies like Choice, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods 365, and Allegro. I have been phasing them out, however, since I learned about the bleaching techniques...