Tips for a beginner? (Switching from coffee)

[Baisao]

Also, what is “shu” and do you have recommendations as to one’s to try?

(I googled it but it seems the answer is somewhat complicated with many variations)

It's a fermented tea from Yunnan. There are various styles of it and because it is fermented it has an unusual flavor. The market is flooded with foul tasting shou (aka shu). These can have barnyard or fishy notes. Better ones will not have these flavors and will be a joy to drink, especially after a large meal.

It is a dark tea and is close to coffee in mouthfeel. However, and I don't know why, I haven't found any shou to have much caffeine or other stimulating effect. It's unfermented sibling, sheng, is notoriously stimulating!

Generalizations
Shou: fermented, not-stimulating, soothing to the stomach
Sheng: unfermented, stimulating, hurts the stomach

Any recommendations as to purchase online?

I've had both of these shou and they are nice. The fermentation level is compost-y without getting funky barnyard/fish odors. They are excellent for digestion:

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... 18ac&_ss=r

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... e94f&_ss=r

Full disclosure, I am personal friends with the owner and that's also why I am familiar with them. She is very picky about shou, disliking those low quality odors I mentioned above. She's pickier than I am about it.

[ChihuahuaTea]

I've had both of these shou and they are nice. The fermentation level is compost-y without getting funky barnyard/fish odors. They are excellent for digestion:

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... 18ac&_ss=r

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... e94f&_ss=r

Full disclosure, I am personal friends with the owner and that's also why I am familiar with them. She is very picky about shou, disliking those low quality odors I mentioned above. She's pickier than I am about it.

Thank you

By “excellent for digestion” this doesn’t mean one will be running to the restroom for most of the morning, does it?

Those prices also seem very reasonable.

[ChihuahuaTea]

Looking for some tips.

But some background as to what my situation is:
- heavy coffee drinker, but not thinking that much caffeine is good for me and I want to cut back

How do you drink your coffee? Cream and sugar? Plain? Light or dark roast? If you drink coffee with cream, a good place to start might be teas with milk, as the dairy connection will provide a common theme. If you are a plain dark roast drinker, a dark-roast oolong might be more familiar.

- looking to still drink a caffeinated tea to start the day, and a less caffeinated or caffeine free variation for the afternoon.

This is a good goal. However, different tea styles have different historical brewing methods, so it can be hard to know exactly how much caffeine is in a tea generally. It is sort of like if someone were to try to find an average amount of caffeine in coffee but lumped together coffee and espresso. One can make guesses based on certain things, though.

I work in an office and time is scarce. Can’t sit around watching over the brewing process, and resources in terms of heating water and cleaning up are limited.

Office tea has polarized into the two schools of thought, which I guess you could call the British school and the Chinese school.

With the British school, the tea is processed to shorten the brewing time, prepared to shorten the cooling and cleanup time. So a crush-tear-curl British black tea might take 4 minutes to brew, a few seconds to a minute to either remove and toss the teabag or remove the brewing basket and rinse it out, and the tea is cooled with cold milk, so it is ready to drink very quickly.

With the Chinese school, the tea is processed so that the tea can be left in the cup without causing any problems, mostly by processing it in a way where it does not really get bitter if left in, and rolling in a way where all the tea remains settled at the bottom of the cup. So the tea is added, the water for brewing added, and then the whole thing is taken to your workspace and left there.

Besides personal tastes, an important thing to keep in mind is whether you work somewhere that is nervous about liquids. If you can't keep the tea by your workspace due to the risk of spills, the Chinese style of brewing is not going to work as well. Also whether you have an area for cleaning cups. If you don't, the British style of brewing is not going to work as well.

I do not want to steep each cup individually. I don’t have time to do that. The plan is to put a tea bag in about 20-30 ounces in the pot and let it brew, and keep it warm for a while.

A difference between tea and coffee is that some teas do very badly when kept warm. This has to do with differences in how tea and coffee are manufactured. Brewed green tea, for instance, tends to stew if it is kept warm in a thermos, because the warmth causes it to oxidize. This is one reason why historically green tea cups and pots were so small. However, the cooling time is shortened the smaller everything gets, which also shortens the overall time it takes to have a cup of tea. One thing to consider instead of keeping the tea warm is to keep the water warm. Waiting for the water to heat up and the brewed tea to cool down can take up more time than the actual brewing of the tea, but is easy to overlook.

I know the electric tea pot is not what a purist would use, and I’m probably sacrificing a bit. Like using a kuerig instead of a French press for coffee. But at the end of the day, I am happy just to have the option to use this method so I can’t complain.

By electric teapot, do you mean that you are boiling the tea in the pot? Normally with tea the water is boiled in a kettle and poured over the tea, either in the cup directly, in a teapot, or in something like a brewing basket that sits in the cup to steep it. However, some tea traditions do boil the tea instead of steeping. It is just good to be clear because the other ways that the tea is treated change based on how it is being brewed.

- how much tea to use per brew (seems that grams is the measurement?)

This depends on the brewing method. One advantage of loose-leaf tea, however, is that you can adjust it easily to your tastes. Having only teabags tends to be a burden here, sort of like if you could only make coffee using coffee pods -- what if you want a cup and a half of coffee?

However, once you find an amount that works for you, you can save some time by pre-measuring the tea out ahead of time.

- tips on storing loose tea leafs

Most tea likes dry, cool, dark places, with dryness being the most important. However, there are a few teas that are exceptions to this. These types of tea are very popular in places that are hot and humid, because keeping tea dry and cool is such a challenge when the weather is against you. If you aren't sure which type of tea you have, it is best to assume that it is the kind that likes dry, cool, dark places, as that is the most commonly encountered.

Also any basics about types of tea.
- I assume I’m drinking versions of black tea for breakfast?

Twinings is black tea usually, yes. "Breakfast tea" has two meanings, one old-fashioned, and one new. The new version usually means that it is a black tea designed to be drunk with milk and sugar, where the tea itself is the meal. The old-fashioned version means it is a black tea that is thought to aid digestion when drunk after a heavy meal. The change happened as British breakfast habits changed and people became more rushed.

- what is oolong or white tea, etc…

They are different ways of processing the tea to change the finished flavor. Coffee mostly does this through changing the roasting style or changing the bean-base (Arabica vs. Robusta, etc.) Tea also does these two things, but also has a third method of change caused by controlling the oxidation of the leaves. This is because tea-leaves can be bruised sort of like bananas. Sometimes in baking, a recipe will specifically call for bruised bananas, because the flavor is different than unbruised bananas. It is sort of the same way with tea.

Oh man I just had a response and it got deleted, time to try again!

First I really appreciate the time you have put into this reply. Lots of great info.

1. In terms of how I plan to drink my tea:
I like to drink coffee blank. I don’t like too much sugar and I don’t do dairy. I’m not adverse to a sweetener like agave or honey, but I wonder if this would impact my ability to appreciate the tea.

2. While the individual cup steeping method seems to be the preference of all, and that might work for me at home, at the office the idea of boiling a pot is exponentially more realistic.

3. Thanks for the breakdown as to Chinese versus British.
I believe the British is better for me. I can clean my cup in a sink, but I can’t really bring a pot to my desk.
The Chinese method does interest me a lot however, and I could see myself using that at home.

4. FWIW:
I actually enjoy the twining breakfast pack. It seems to do the trick, but at the same time I know there must be something better than such a mass produced product. But the only option we’re these twinings offerings I could be content.

5. FWIW (2)
I currently have a Pukka non caffeine variety pack that I am using in the afternoon. It’s interesting in experiencing variety, but I know there must be something better. This is an area where I expect to grow the most rather than just the morning caffeine fix

Thanks again!

[Baisao]

I've had both of these shou and they are nice. The fermentation level is compost-y without getting funky barnyard/fish odors. They are excellent for digestion:

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... 18ac&_ss=r

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... e94f&_ss=r

Full disclosure, I am personal friends with the owner and that's also why I am familiar with them. She is very picky about shou, disliking those low quality odors I mentioned above. She's pickier than I am about it.

Thank you

By “excellent for digestion” this doesn’t mean one will be running to the restroom for most of the morning, does it?

Those prices also seem very reasonable.

Excellent digestion means that it has a soothing feeling after a large meal. Nothing more

[Ethan Kurland]

Chihuahua,
Hunan, yes. Sometimes I have seen yunan. I think I have seen the middle "n" doubled.

I don't have a recommendation for a source. Others do.

It is a region. There are several teas from there. I am thinking of those that are sweet or malty. You need to read descriptions.

If you cannot keep your own electric kettle going & don't steep separately in a teapot, all that I wrote is useless.

All the best, Ethan

[ChihuahuaTea]

I've had both of these shou and they are nice. The fermentation level is compost-y without getting funky barnyard/fish odors. They are excellent for digestion:

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... 18ac&_ss=r

https://www.thesteepingroom.com/product ... e94f&_ss=r

Full disclosure, I am personal friends with the owner and that's also why I am familiar with them. She is very picky about shou, disliking those low quality odors I mentioned above. She's pickier than I am about it.

Thank you

By “excellent for digestion” this doesn’t mean one will be running to the restroom for most of the morning, does it?

Those prices also seem very reasonable.

Excellent digestion means that it has a soothing feeling after a large meal. Nothing more

Ordered!

[ChihuahuaTea]

Chihuahua,
Hunan, yes. Sometimes I have seen yunan. I think I have seen the middle "n" doubled.

I don't have a recommendation for a source. Others do.

It is a region. There are several teas from there. I am thinking of those that are sweet or malty. You need to read descriptions.

If you cannot keep your own electric kettle going & don't steep separately in a teapot, all that I wrote is useless.

All the best, Ethan

So I’m not trying to be rude or come off dense, but some of these terms are new to me.
“Keep electric kettle going…”?
I think I can do that. Why wouldn’t I be able to do that? That just requires not turning it off?

I’m sorry if I am missing something

[Baisao]

Chihuahua,
Hunan, yes. Sometimes I have seen yunan. I think I have seen the middle "n" doubled.

I don't have a recommendation for a source. Others do.

It is a region. There are several teas from there. I am thinking of those that are sweet or malty. You need to read descriptions.

If you cannot keep your own electric kettle going & don't steep separately in a teapot, all that I wrote is useless.

All the best, Ethan

So I’m not trying to be rude or come off dense, but some of these terms are new to me.
“Keep electric kettle going…”?
I think I can do that. Why wouldn’t I be able to do that? That just requires not turning it off?

I’m sorry if I am missing something

Some kettles have auto turn-off/on features, some don't. You don't want to keep your kettle on full boil unattended because it could run out of water and risk starting a fire. So this feature turns off at boiling and turns it back on when it has dipped to 200° or so. Therefore, I understood "keep the electric kettle going" to assume it has an auto-off/on feature that will keep your water safely hot all day.

[Andrew S]

@ChihuahuaTea: in terms of method, when I am at work I put some leaves into a big mug, fill it with boiling water, and then refill it with more boiling water when it's around half-empty. If the tea runs out of strength, I can add a few more leaves.

I find that that method works well for me, because it's quick to start, doesn't require thought, can make me tea for hours, with little mess, little in the way of paraphernalia, and cleaning up simply involves drinking the cup empty and dumping the remaining leaves into a bin. If you want people to ask you what you're doing with those strange floating leaves, try using a large glass. If not, perhaps use porcelain.

A disadvantage is that you need to go refill it with boiling every now and then, but I am not sure how annoying that would be for you.

Another disadvantage, as mentioned here already, is that the method is suitable for some kinds of teas more than for others, and it can give bad results if the tea is bad.

I am not sure if that method would work for you; if not, then you should of course just stick with your electric device as you have said.

It works well for me with white tea, medium-roasted Taiwanese Dong Ding styles of wulong tea, some simple and easy high mountain styles of Taiwanese wulong tea, cheap wet-stored puer (after rinsing the dirty leaves...) and sometimes red tea (aka black tea in the English-speaking world).

I would not recommend it with Chinese green tea unless you adjust the temperature. If so, I'd suggest putting the water into the cup first, touching the cup until it is cool enough to touch quickly but hot enough not to be able to hold comfortably, and then sprinkling green tea leaves on top of the water to wait for them to sink in. I wouldn't really recommend it with Japanese green tea at all, unless others know how to make it work okay with that style.

In terms of teas, though, as others have already mentioned, perhaps pick a few different styles to see what you like in a very general sense, before delving further into the complexities. Making tea at home in your spare time will probably give you more freedom to find what you like and how you like it. Making tea at work is mostly about survival.

In terms of replacing coffee, I'm not really sure that there are any proper substitutes in tea. I think that it's better to find what you like in tea with relatively few preconceptions at this stage. I drank espresso, French press coffee and Italian styles of milk coffee a lot over the last few years (I still do, if I literally do not have to time to make my tea-in-a-cup at work), but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy a delicate floral or fruity high mountain style of tea. They're two very different styles of beverage with not much in common apart from the use of hot water.

Andrew

[ChihuahuaTea]

ChihuahuaTea: in terms of method, when I am at work I put some leaves into a big mug, fill it with boiling water, and then refill it with more boiling water when it's around half-empty. If the tea runs out of strength, I can add a few more leaves.

I find that that method works well for me, because it's quick to start, doesn't require thought, can make me tea for hours, with little mess, little in the way of paraphernalia, and cleaning up simply involves drinking the cup empty and dumping the remaining leaves into a bin. If you want people to ask you what you're doing with those strange floating leaves, try using a large glass. If not, perhaps use porcelain.

A disadvantage is that you need to go refill it with boiling every now and then, but I am not sure how annoying that would be for you.

Another disadvantage, as mentioned here already, is that the method is suitable for some kinds of teas more than for others, and it can give bad results if the tea is bad.

I am not sure if that method would work for you; if not, then you should of course just stick with your electric device as you have said.

It works well for me with white tea, medium-roasted Taiwanese Dong Ding styles of wulong tea, some simple and easy high mountain styles of Taiwanese wulong tea, cheap wet-stored puer (after rinsing the dirty leaves...) and sometimes red tea (aka black tea in the English-speaking world).

I would not recommend it with Chinese green tea unless you adjust the temperature. If so, I'd suggest putting the water into the cup first, touching the cup until it is cool enough to touch quickly but hot enough not to be able to hold comfortably, and then sprinkling green tea leaves on top of the water to wait for them to sink in. I wouldn't really recommend it with Japanese green tea at all, unless others know how to make it work okay with that style.

In terms of teas, though, as others have already mentioned, perhaps pick a few different styles to see what you like in a very general sense, before delving further into the complexities. Making tea at home in your spare time will probably give you more freedom to find what you like and how you like it. Making tea at work is mostly about survival.

In terms of replacing coffee, I'm not really sure that there are any proper substitutes in tea. I think that it's better to find what you like in tea with relatively few preconceptions at this stage. I drank espresso, French press coffee and Italian styles of milk coffee a lot over the last few years (I still do, if I literally do not have to time to make my tea-in-a-cup at work), but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy a delicate floral or fruity high mountain style of tea. They're two very different styles of beverage with not much in common apart from the use of hot water.

Andrew

Great advice, and you get it (have to sacrifice some quality for survival, at the end of the day something is better than nothing)

When you use the mug, how do you keep the tea? Do you have a tea bag you just keep in the mug? Is the mug specially designed to have a spot for leaves? What type of tea bag? Or do you just have the loose leaves floating in the tea.

This actually seems practical to me, as I could just keep the electric kettle with hot water and pour the water into a large mug.

[Andrew S]

Nothing except leaves and the mug itself, which is either a plain communal coffee mug, or a nicer tall Hagi-yaki cup if I've got time to clean it and hide it so no-one damages it.

Most leaves will sink towards the bottom and not attack you as you drink it. Rolled Taiwanese wulong will generally be fine, since the leaves are huge after they unfold, and they're easy to avoid.

Something like green tea or very small red tea leaves (especially cut-up English styles of red tea) may well float around and assault you, though. Some people develop a method of sipping through their teeth, sort of, like a baleen whale for want of a better description.

It's often called the 'grandpa' style, thanks to the pioneering blog of MarshalN: http://www.marshaln.com/tag/grandpa/

Andrew

[mbanu]

1. In terms of how I plan to drink my tea:
I like to drink coffee blank. I don’t like too much sugar and I don’t do dairy. I’m not adverse to a sweetener like agave or honey, but I wonder if this would impact my ability to appreciate the tea.

2. While the individual cup steeping method seems to be the preference of all, and that might work for me at home, at the office the idea of boiling a pot is exponentially more realistic.

3. Thanks for the breakdown as to Chinese versus British.
I believe the British is better for me. I can clean my cup in a sink, but I can’t really bring a pot to my desk.
The Chinese method does interest me a lot however, and I could see myself using that at home.

4. FWIW:
I actually enjoy the twining breakfast pack. It seems to do the trick, but at the same time I know there must be something better than such a mass produced product. But the only option we’re these twinings offerings I could be content.

Something that might work for you then is Russian-style brewing. In Russian-style brewing, a strong tea-concentrate is brewed and then diluted with hot water. This was originally done with a samovar, but can be prepared with a regular tea kettle. Since you can control the temperature of the diluting water (and the tea-concentrate will cool over time), you can adjust the temperatures to end up with a cup of tea that is cool enough to drink immediately after dilution.

This style of brewing is designed for teas that are drunk without milk, but sometimes can be sweetened. You could try this style of brewing with your Earl Grey, for instance. (The difference between a British-style Earl Grey and a Russian-style is that the Russian-style usually has more oil of bergamot to counter the dilution from the hot water.) Another type of tea that is popular for this is Lapsang Souchong, a type of smoked tea. (People tend to have strong opinions on this tea, due to the smokiness.) Ceylon tea is also popular, but is usually sweetened due to being more bitter even with dilution. Sweetening also helps if you are drinking the tea without any added food, as drinking too much plain tea on an empty stomach can cause a kind of nausea that sometimes surprises coffee-drinkers.

[Andrew S]

By the way, a gaiwan can also be used for this purpose; not to brew leaves and then pour the tea into another vessel, but rather as a vessel in which to brew the tea and from which to drink it, holding the cup or the cup and saucer, and using the lid with that same hand to keep leaves out of your mouth. Perhaps someone has a photo of the method in action...

It's going to be a smaller vessel than a big mug, so would need more constant refilling, but I've used that method with success on the rare occasions that I drink green tea.

Another possibility, depending on how hot your climate is, is pre-making cold 'iced' tea by filling a French press with something (white tea worked well for me), putting in room temperature water (tap water is fine for me, but I appreciate that not everyone in the world has decent tap water), leaving it in the fridge overnight, and decanting it into a thermos or such to take to work (hence the French press).

There was a discussion here about different methods of making that style of tea. Just a thought for the future.

Andrew

[ChihuahuaTea]

I have always cold brewed various no caffeine teas like chamomile or habiscus style teas for the evening and like that. Just put the tea bag in a cold brew device and put it on the fridge.

[debunix]

I have been drinking teas in office settings for a long time, and while I don't wear a suit and tie, I do need to keep neat and professional for my patients. And I no longer have good access to breakrooms with kitchenettes at either of my current worksites.

In one place, I have an office room of my own and I keep full tea brewing equipment set up with a variable temperature electric kettle, artisan teawares, and plenty of loose leaf tea, and I make do with a bathroom sink, water bottles to shuttle water from tap to my kettle (and my office orchids), and a bucket of water for waste water and some leaves--most of the leaves I tap out into a container leftover from lunch to bring home to my composting worms. I rinse the teawares with water from the kettle into the bucket, wipe them with clean towels, and from time to time I take some down the hall in a box padded with a towel to scrub out with baking soda at the sink. I dump the bucket of wastewater in the toilet.

I prepare teas both for some more contemplative breaks from paperwork (infusing the same leaves several times, as I would at home, and not limiting which tea styles I infuse); in larger vessels for sharing up and down the hallway; and directly in thermoses of various sizes for carrying to meetings and clinics, where I sometimes empty the 2L thermos sharing with 8 or 9 people (word has gotten out that I share good stuff!).

For my other office/worksite, I have a shared desk now and no place to keep or infuse anything between days when I am there, so I prepare tea in a thermos at home for drinking through the day at work....or more often, 2 thermoses because those are LONG days at that clinic.

It sounds like you're looking for something more like my thermos sessions. I've learned that I need to be selective about brew-ahead teas, because I'm very sensitive to bitterness, and many teas that are fine when infused for a few minutes and drunk immediately will be disappointing or outright vile when infused all day in the thermos.

A good oolong, whether traditional dark roast or a lighter 'green' style, is often terrific. 'Green' oolongs often are great when I put in just a little boiling water and then fill the thermos up with cool or cold water for a hot day. Shou puerh is generally mellower in the thermos than sheng. White teas tend to lose their most delicate and delicious notes. Greens are often problematic, and sometimes I find a sweet-spot where a green does well if cool-brewed (started in a few mL of hot water and topped up cold as above), but mostly I reserve these for situations where they can be drunk as soon as brewed. Black teas are also tricky. It takes a fine mellow black tea to shine in the thermos. I'd never use a British-style black tea but then most of them are too bitter for me no matter how brewed. But with the right tea, like the Alishan Black from Floating Leaves I'm drinking now, it can be lovely all day long.