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I’m considering purchasing a clay side handled pot for preparing boiled tea. Has anyone presently making tea this way? If so, could you give me some hints about it? We can chat on forum if that’s ok.

Webley wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:10 am

I’m considering purchasing a clay side handled pot for preparing boiled tea. Has anyone presently making tea this way? If so, could you give me some hints about it? We can chat on forum if that’s ok.

me!... what tea are you planing to boil?... and I have tea buddies doing the same too.

I’ve been communicating with Global Tea Hut and they told me it’s advisable to use loose leaf instead on ground for fear of too astringent with ground.

Webley wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:52 am

I’ve been communicating with Global Tea Hut and they told me it’s advisable to use loose leaf instead on ground for fear of too astringent with ground.

Ground?? Yeah.... I would advise against it too.... I always go for loose leave. Prefer aged. Often slow boiled over a tea candle. Sometimes when I use my ceramic stove from Lin's, I find it too astringent for my liking if the tea is brought to a hard boil. I use a Porcelain teapot instead of a clay one. Tried using a Zisha pot before... pretty nice too but didn't like risking my pot or damaging my pot over fire.

Cheers!

I've been doing this for the last few months in a Yama glass kettle, mostly with aged sheng puerh or various heicha.

I brew the teas my usual way (repeated infusions of varying lengths) throughout the day, then fill the kettle a fourth of the way up with cold water and dump the spent leaves in. If it's late in the day, I'll refrigerate overnight.

I usually wind up heating the tea up over medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes on my gas stove. This means it's actively boiling for 5-ish minutes. The smoother the tea was to begin with, the smoother it is boiled (HK-stored sheng and fuzhuan have been my favorites), but I have been surprised how consistently good the results are. It's a great way to get as much as possible out of a tea but good enough it stands on its own as a method of preparation (IMHO).

I've heard the big thing now in China is steaming tea rather than boiling it. (google: 蒸茶器电)

So you think spent leaves is the best way to go when boiling, puerhs in particular. I guess greens would be too delicate.

I always boil the spent leaves of any kind ( 10-15 boiled + 1-2 hours rest ) .

For sheng i either use 12-14g or - as of late - 25-35g on my sessions so i already have two stainless steel pots of different sizes for each ( 14/35 ), this way i can get as much as 5L of perfectly enjoyable tea... and it's an extra step i use to evaluate the quality of sheng i'm trying for the first time... because have noticed i get consistent better results with teas that feel just "better" while hard to describe on my initial sessions, that kind ( usually "gushu" grades, whatever that means these days ) usually "resurrect" once boiled.

Funny enough bitter or very astringent teas taste better once boiled, in fact i look forward to that relatively usual fresh apple juice profile ( slightly acidic, but the pleasant version this time ) .

For oolongs, heicha, black/hongcha , white ... i'm using gaiwans with around 4-5.5g so i just combine 'em later not thinking much about it... if anything i just try to mix white teas with unroasted oolongs or the rare maocha and/or 4-5g sheng i used in a hurry . The end result tend to be good, although i've had a boiled mix of liu-an, shu, hongcha & roasted oolong once that was hard to drink ( rough, strong & bitter ) .

All in all... it's working quite well, since i started doing it everybody home drinks from 'em and doesn't last long around ( although sometimes it can last 2-3 days resting there... and tastes even better, probably most people would say "sweeter" but i still have an ongoing fight with the abuse of this note i never have been able to find on any tea ) .

No idea about greens, i no longer drink 'em but i can only speculate it'd be different.

Webley wrote: ↑

Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:10 am

I’m considering purchasing a clay side handled pot for preparing boiled tea. Has anyone presently making tea this way? If so, could you give me some hints about it? We can chat on forum if that’s ok.

A side handle is a nice companion for boiled tea. I would opt for a glazed, flameproof one. That way you can boil a variety of tea types while withstanding the heat. Using a heat diffuser is advisable, as well. A larger size around 700ml. could be beneficial so the tea doesn't boil over too easily. I no longer boil spent leaves to mitigate fluoride consumption. However, a nice boil tea session of fresh leaves can be a real treat.

TeaTotaling wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 09, 2021 5:52 pm

A larger size around 700ml. could be beneficial so the tea doesn't boil over too easily........ However, a nice boil tea session of fresh leaves can be a real treat.

++1

I find that shous and aged whites (bai mu dan, gong mei, shou mei) generally tolerate boiling well. You can get some gaiwan brews out of them first, if you like, and probably should if they're pricy teas, but it isn't necessary. Other teas can be finicky about the boil in my experience, but worth playing around.

Any suggestions as to the technique in boiling the leaves or is it mostly trial and error?

Boiled tea usually needs to be aerated to taste its best. If you are looking for a framework, Indian chai, West African green tea, Hong Kong milk tea, Tibetan-style pu'er, and Malaysian teh tarik are all boiled teas.

Technique:
1) Boil the water, add a bunch of leaves, boil a bit more, drink.
2) Add water, boil longer, drink.
3) repeat step 2

Heicha works really well, as does white tea. Surprisingly many teas boil well: Oriental Beauty oolong boils wonderfully.

I'd recommend some caution when trying new teas: boiled tea can get quite strong.
Either use smallish amount of leaves, or start with short boils.

You can experiment with whatever kitchen pot you have!

Webley wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:42 pm

Any suggestions as to the technique in boiling the leaves or is it mostly trial and error?

you are usually looking a lot of no or reduced caffeine, right? roast kukicha and sannenbancha I really like boiled. Kyobancha I found didn't favor boiling as well for whatever reason though, brought out some of the less favorable flavors to me. hojicha I think could maybe work if it is a light/delicate one on the more buttery side, but not too strong of a boil, more a gentle simmer. I've seen some people also make hojicha lattes, quite different and I've not done it yet but seems nice for winter maybe.

I usually will "boil" hei cha after its given out in the pot, but I find that then everything kinda comes out the same. almost all my liu bao taste the same boiled, I suppose mostly because I've kinda gotten the goods out of them already and it might be difference if it I did it from the start. I find rather than literal boiling going for long heating either just below a simmer or something like heating a pot over a tea candle or probably a small alcohol flame would be better gets much better results. it comes out less cooked and actually has some subtle flavor outside of just 'boiled tea' that way. also maybe the glass is more favorable than stainless steel for the tea too.