Throwing out measured brewing parameters

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Baiyun
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Tue Jan 10, 2023 8:56 pm

For a few years I prepared my tea by buying expensive leaves, weighing them out to the decigram based on the volume I had measured for each of my vessels, and brewing with the water temperature set to the exact degree on my electric kettle, all based on the brewing parameter source I thought had the most authority at any given time. At the very beginning, I would also measure successive infusion times precisely, even accounting for the pour time of the various pots by splitting the difference. All in the hope of getting tea just right, as if there was a single peak tea extraction to strive for.

I still think this approach makes a lot of sense for a new tea drinker, particularly one without personal guidance, that wants to get the most out of the initial tea experience with no reference. It may always make sense when assessing a new tea by holding parameters constant over the first couple of infusions, so as not to misattribute the tea based on a subjective misjudgment of leaf density, or other factors affecting how the quality and character of the tea is perceived. Holding parameters constant and varying just one can also help understand how these objectively influence aspects of the tea, singled out, and in more complex combination.

However, I think I held on to this scientific method of brewing for far too long, making tea somewhat contrived. I would argue that a scientific approach to brewing takes both freedom of exploration and responsibility away from the brewer. I think such freedom is a critical factor for the development of tea experience, bouncing off the weak brew bottom, and hitting the face distorting ceiling, many times, for many tea types, to really build an intuitive map of tea that, over time, helps recognise and navigate. Having to take responsibility for how the tea comes out, especially working with carefully sourced tea, rather than outsourcing it to set grams and degrees and seconds, demands full attention on the tea, and arguably further hones perception and appreciation.

One day I made the decision to throw all the measurements out, grab as much tea as feels right, add water that feels right, and wait as long as feels right, then adjust in a way that feels right, based on how each infusion developed. This way, I learned more in 2 weeks than in 2 years. I am drinking more enjoyable tea than ever before. There is no right or wrong in this anymore, no measurements. No invisible threat that I could be messing up the outcome of some esteemed leaves by being a gram up or down from an imagined ideal.

As someone who does not have a personal network of people interested in tea to sip and exchange ideas with, I always relied on the internet for tea knowledge, yet I have not come across a lot of discussion regarding throwing out objectively measured brewing parameters (which does not mean there is none out there). I appreciate this may be vastly different for some of you, in a different culture, in different circles, which is what I am curious about.

So I would like to understand how you all here approach brewing parameters, whether you are new to tea, or almost as seasoned as your wall of antique pots. Who or what is your tea authority? Has it evolved? The guidelines on the vendor website, the person on youtube, the liquid in the cup, you, your wise tea master, the mysterious energy beneath all?

Tell us :lol:
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Baisao
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Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:35 am

I didn’t weigh or take temperature readings early on. I had a Taiwanese teacher who taught me some of the visual clues to timing but they aren’t really reliable. Eventually I got timing intuitively dialed in. I liked my tea but it was difficult to teach others this intuitive process when they wanted enjoyable results quickly.

I started measuring myself when building course materials and was surprised by how much my weights varied pot to pot. Since then I’ve weighed my tea since I use pots small enough that a gram +/- matters.

I could still make good tea without weighing it but I like the consistency since I am often comparing teas.

I never time my steeps. My hand knows when to pour. It gets an agitated feeling when it’s time to pour. This is similar to removing your hands from the steering wheel while driving. As the car starts to leave its lane your hands will get an agitated feeling until you correct course. For me, making tea is as intuitive as driving or bicycling.

My steeps are consistent and mistakes are very rare, usually occurring when I am using a new teapot that is smaller or larger than I am used to.

I advise against timing steeps so that making tea becomes a pleasant, intimate process.
.m.
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Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:44 am

There are teas which are more finicky in terms of preparation and where it makes sense to try to find "optimal brewing parameters", whether through measurement or through feeling and experience: e.g. lot of sencha or darjeelings might be in this category. Other teas can be more forgiving and it's fun to explore different brewing methods, things that people don't talk about or might even be deemed "wrong" by some purists. Nowadays the internet is all into "gongfucha", whatever that means, but big pots and long steepings can be as much good, showing different aspects of the tea. Things like leaving a pot on stove on a low heat for an hour, brewing in a thermos, overnight and multiday steepings, adding fresh leaves to already used leaves, mixing different teas or non-teas, brewing whatever tea one wants in whatever teapot,... there's plenty of possibilities, some things work, some don't, but one has to try.... :D
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Baiyun
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Thu Jan 12, 2023 2:17 am

Baisao wrote:
Wed Jan 11, 2023 2:35 am
I advise against timing steeps so that making tea becomes a pleasant, intimate process.
Yes I think is where a disconnect most readily occurs. Nice to have a teacher, reliable or not!
.m. wrote:
Wed Jan 11, 2023 9:44 am
... there's plenty of possibilities, some things work, some don't, but one has to try.... :D
I like this approach, not getting constrained into a specific form. I do use small capacity clay pots or a Gaiwan most of the time, but when the mood strikes me I do bowl or grandpa it, bring aged whites around in a thermos, and have often boiled out a few good aged whites on the stove to good effect. When I first started with high leaf to water ratio and short steeps, I used a glass strainer taken from a larger pot inside a double walled glass bowl to submerge the leaves and then pull the strainer out of the bowl. That actually worked remarkably well.
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debunix
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Sat Jan 14, 2023 1:15 pm

I would never have gotten to where I am with tea now without using lots of technology, from thermometers and variable temp electric kettles, to scales and timers. I feel no need to be ashamed of any of that, and find it simply arrogant when those who do not use those things disparage those who do. Training wheels are most valuable when you do not have someone to run alongside and support you until you are ready to ride solo.

And there is nothing wrong with finding those tools comfortable to continue using in whatever combination works for you.

Nor is there anything wrong with not using them.

I still use my variable temp kettles because they help me make reliably good tea, and minimize the bitterness that I do not appreciate. I like to enjoy and share tea often, not just when I am able to sit and concentrate for an almost meditative tea-focused hour. I still use my scales when I am learning some new teas, or when I want to report on something new with a more rigorous review. I do not use a timer anymore, but I still usually count seconds for my first couple of infusions of morning sencha or gyokuro. It's what works for me.

I can't say I learned more or better when I used them all the time or since I gradually moved away from dependence on all of them, but I am certain that I would not have been able to enjoy the range of teas that I do today without having used those tools as I did for several years. I recommend them to people who are just starting out, who do not have an expert at hand, literally, to sit with them and guide them, who are baffled by their inability to enjoy a highly touted tea.

I delight in the ease and reliability of my usual method of preparing bread dough in my food processor, but I can also take pleasure in putting the flour and water in a bowl and using my hands for every bit of mixing and kneading. One technique makes multiple batches easier and faster and more consistent on busy baking days; the other is a pleasure on days when I am away from home and have the luxury of time and attention to devote to the slower but more tactile process. It's not about better or worse, but about having the ability to adapt methods to the situation, and get pleasure from the process regardless.
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LeoFox
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Sat Jan 14, 2023 1:34 pm

I agree with @debunix

There is nothing wrong with using a scale, timer and/or thermometer.

And I agree it can come off as very off putting when a "master" responds to someone asking how you brew a tea by saying - " add right amount of leaves - pour water in the right way for right amount of time...so easy, so natural"
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Baiyun
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Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:54 pm

@debunix I have not come across anyone making people feel ashamed for using these tools, nor have I encountered the masters @LeoFox mentioned. Maybe that is a parallel problem in different circles?

If anything, I observed a strong reliance on guidelines and measurements, to the point where people would rather look for alternative guidelines than dare to vary parameters on their own to experiment, if the previously found parameters failed to produce the expected tea. Without ever being sure what the expectation is.

The issue I see is that for any given tea type instructions, the tea (grade, storage, age,..), tea ware (shape, heat retention, pour speed, material,..), water quality, differences in preparation (pre-heating, speed, pour technique,..), and individual taste (olfactory and gustatory sensitivity and preferences) are not constant enough to expect a perfect match, even when following parameters to the zero.

It's like trying to communicate a naturally varied subjective experience by packing it into a formula, that cannot account for all factors, to be replicated in another laboratory, with different reactants, equipment, protocols, and standards for products.

Another related learning tool could be to brew the same tea on a daily basis for an extended period of time. I know I have frequently dismissed really good teas too readily for lack of exploration, mostly very particular shengs and dancongs, only to dig them out months later to by chance brew them differently and realise my mistakes.
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Baisao
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Sat Jan 14, 2023 6:51 pm

Baiyun wrote:
Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:54 pm

Another related learning tool could be to brew the same tea on a daily basis for an extended period of time. I know I have frequently dismissed really good teas too readily for lack of exploration, mostly very particular shengs and dancongs, only to dig them out months later to by chance brew them differently and realise my mistakes.
This. My advice has always been to select one tea that has different aspects and to focus on that tea, and only that tea, until you can become proficient at highlighting/reducing specific aspects at will.

I also agree that I haven’t encountered much/any belittling of those who use measures. It’s useful if for nothing else but to communicate how to make a tea.
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LeoFox
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Sat Jan 14, 2023 9:03 pm

Baiyun wrote:
Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:54 pm
If anything, I observed a strong reliance on guidelines and measurements, to the point where people would rather look for alternative guidelines than dare to vary parameters on their own to experiment, if the previously found parameters failed to produce the expected tea. Without ever being sure what the expectation is.
I think anyone who has spent any time with tea will quickly realize the brewing parameters must be adjusted to taste due to the multifarious variables mentioned. That being said - I personally feel that timers, etc are very good tools to help with such adjustments.

As for these "masters" - there are plenty around.
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Bok
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Sun Jan 15, 2023 6:24 pm

Baiyun wrote:
Sat Jan 14, 2023 4:54 pm
than dare to vary parameters on their own to experiment, if the previously found parameters failed to produce the expected tea. Without ever being sure what the expectation is.
Or failing to see that parameters work for one tea, but might not work for the next tea. Flexibility and some sort of intelligence is key :lol:
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