Some Tea With Me

Category: Method

  • Tea as Patience

    Tea as Patience

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    I make a fair amount of tea during the average day. By the time some evenings roll around I’ve brewed three or four pots of different teas, each one usually three to six times. One thing that this practice has shown me is that not all tea preparation is equal. Many infusions end up being…

  • Kabusecha and the Warm Teapot

    Kabusecha and the Warm Teapot

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    The super rich, spinach-and-seaweed aroma of a Japanese green tea is the result of many different factors. One technique pioneered by Japanese tea farmers is the practice of covering some of their plants for a few weeks just before harvest. The covers are permeable mesh or bamboo, allowing only a little sunlight to reach the tea…

  • Tea as Meditation

    Tea as Meditation

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    payton
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    Just this past week I was privileged to be able to prepare tea for a meditation group I attend weekly. Our practice is Insight Meditation or Vipassana, a very old Buddhist practice that migrated to the West through Thailand. Besides wanting to share some delicious tea, I also had an interest in discussing and experiencing…

  • A Reprisal of Gaiwans

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    I posted a while ago about how to pour a gaiwan, but I wanted to talk a little more about this super-useful device. What is a gaiwan? Why should you have one? Where do you get one? How do you use it? These are all good questions! Let’s break it down. What is a gaiwan? It’s…

  • Preparing Japanese Tea

    Preparing Japanese Tea

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    Green tea from Japan differs quite a lot from its Chinese cousin. The different cultivars, harvesting, and processing provides a distinct experience. It can also be challenging to steep. Many folks I’ve encountered have found their first experience with grassy bitter Japanese green tea to be their last. With this post I hope to provide those…

  • Springtime is Tea Stove Time

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    The seasons have changed, and with green grass and warm sunshine comes a perfect time to make tea outside. To celebrate the occasion I’ve pulled out my ceramic tea stove and some rather delicious sheng Puer that’s this month’s offering from Jalam Teas. Of course, in the two seasons since I’ve used the stove, I’ve…

  • Moving Leaves and Tea Balls

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    payton
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    Let’s talk about all the different shapes of tea pots that are out there. It’s quite an interesting artistic exploration to see how some teapots are designed. Now first of all, as I’ve often said, you don’t need anything fancy to make tea. A saucepan, kitchen strainer, and a mug will do. But what’s a…

  • Grampa Style

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    I’ve been meaning to write a post about infusing tea Grampa Style for several months now. It so happens that Floating Leaves beat me to it. Ah, but it’s too good to pass up! I think that every new full-leaf tea drinker should learn about this technique because it’s so eminently useful. The term was…

  • Gong-fu Cha

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    Gongfu tea (功夫茶) is not a well-known method of tea preparation in the West, but I think it should be. (A long time ago now I wrote something on Dobra Tea’s blog about Gongfu Cha. This is an updated version of that post.) The words gōngfu, which is also sometimes pronounced “kung fu”, mean performing a task…

  • A taste of Caffeine

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    payton
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    Back in the old days I wrote a post on Dobra Tea’s blog about caffeine. This is an updated version of that post. The myth of green tea having less caffeine than black tea is rampant in our Western culture. This is even more surprising when contrasted with the attitude I found in Taiwan that…