Questions tagged [tea]

Questions about the selection and preparation of tea leaves and beverages.

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Are there green tea variants that can be made with 100 °C?

Green tea is usually prepared with 80 °C water. However, I found some variants in a supermarket (they are pretty cheap), where there is 100 °C written on the box. Is it some kind of fraud made by the ...
Marek Židek's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Bugs in loose leaf tea [duplicate]

I had my first loose leaf tea today. Black tea, with pieces of dried fruit in it. As I was throwing the used leaves away, I noticed what seemed to be a dead worm. Is this at all common and safe, or ...
forest's user avatar
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27 votes
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How much caffeine would there be if I reuse tea leaves in a second brewing?

If you look for information about the amount of caffeine present in a cup of tea, the amounts vary depending on the kind of tea, if the tea is bagged or loose leaves, the brand, and other factors. ...
Charlie's user avatar
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Preventing matcha deposits

I've recently started preparing matcha latte at home, I bought matcha powder and I proceed as follows: Put 2 tsp of matcha powder in a cup through a sieve Add 2 tsp of brown sugar Add 2 tbsp of hot (...
Simone Bronzini's user avatar
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2 answers
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Can you make coffee by boiling it?

Google results have confused me so much. I learned to make a Nescafe Classic coffee a year ago. All I would do is: Add some coffee and sugar in a mug/cup, add a few drops of water or milk and start ...
Vikas's user avatar
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2 answers
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What is the typical composition of English Breakfast tea?

"English Breakfast" tea usually combines blends from Assam, Ceylon, and Kenya. Typically what proportions of these three teas are used? Edit: I have been asked to edit to explain why the answers to ...
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1 answer
898 views

Are there any variable temperature electric kettle which boil water before letting temperature drop to the desired temperature?

I am a green tea enthusiast so I'm looking for a variable temperature electric kettle but since the water in my home is not very clean I don't want to buy one which just heats the water to a given ...
teathusiast's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
993 views

Is it okay to keep opened loose leaf tea packages in the freezer?

I've bought approximately 10 kilograms worth of tea and it's taking up a lot of space in the fridge. Family isn't happy about the sudden lack of fridge space, and so I'm thinking of stashing 80% of ...
user1306322's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
448 views

How long can home dried herbs be stored?

I am growing the "heal-all herb", Prunella Vulgaris, and am planning to dry the leaves and flowers in order to make a medicinal tea. How long is it safe to keep the herb once dried? I would prefer to ...
Helena Johnson's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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What is the stringy slimy stuff in Peace Tea?

I bought a Sno-berry Peace Tea today that had a slimy stringy substance in it. I pulled it out of my mouth after unknowingly drinking it, and I put it into a napkin. Once the moisture was out of it, ...
Jennifer's user avatar
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Discoloration in tea kettle

I have a two piece tea kettle used for brewing black Turkish Tea. The bottom part is used strictly for water (specifically faucet water), whereas the top is for steeping the concentrate of the tea. ...
GKE's user avatar
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My tea had expired(?) for about 9 years already, can I sill use it? [duplicate]

is doesn’t say if it’s best before or expiring date It smelled okay.I saw a blog saying that it’s okay to use it,but I’m a bit skeptical about it.
Victoria Luz Arquines's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
316 views

What type of oolong is Twining's oolong? Or what would this be closest too?

Edit: From the UK site, there is good reason to believe that Twining's is ALSO Iron Goddess of Mercy, but it tastes nothing like the IGoM I got from Numi. From what I've read about oolong, "nutty and ...
Nero gris's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
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Storing matcha tea in a thermos?

lately i started to drink matcha tea, as an experiment instead of coffee, and i have read many descriptions about it. I want to drink matcha tea to work, but i dont want to make it every time here,...
LePanz's user avatar
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2 answers
259 views

Should I "sponge" tea?

I went to a tea shop for Chinese New Year and the owner was incredible adamant about rinsing, sponging and reusing the tea. Is this a normal thing? Should I be doing it? What teas should I be doing ...
Jade So's user avatar
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What type of lavender is normally used in tea blends?

I was looking through a plant catalog, and am confused as to what type of lavender to grow this year to make tea with. Does each species taste different? Which ones are easier to pick?
a coder's user avatar
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Samovar Tea: Let it brew the whole day?

I recently got a samovar tea kettle and am not sure about how to use it. For those of you confused about what I am talking about, this is my samovar (electric): The metal part is a kettle for boiling ...
user1721135's user avatar
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0 votes
3 answers
7k views

How to slow down evaporation when cooking?

Does water evaporate faster when rolling boil with a lid or simmer without a lid? If I use a certain stove plate with a certain sauce pan set to its lowest setting it will cause the water to roll boil ...
d-b's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
843 views

Tea leaf grades and plucking standards

How do the plucking standards of tea (imperial pluck, fine pluck, …) actually relate to the leaf grades? PG Tips claims “we pick the top two leaves and a bud known as the tips”, so that would be ...
viuser's user avatar
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-2 votes
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How can I manage sugar in tea?

I don't know how much sugar I use in tea for a gathering. Because some are like more sugar and some less. So how can I manage sugar in tea?
Marosh Fatima's user avatar
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1 answer
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Safe to put honeycomb in tea?

I put a big chunk of honeycomb in my tea. And it looks like my boiling tea completely melted the comb. But now the water has a weird texture to it. And now I'm worried about drinking the wax. Is it ...
foreyez's user avatar
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4 answers
333 views

How can I add flavor to green tea at home?

I often buy green tea with different flavors like lemon, strawberry, and jasmine from the market. I want to add these flavors at home. Can you recommend how I might do this?
Samia Afzal's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
280 views

What is this strange tea?

What sort of tea is this and how is it drunk? It doesn't look like any tea I am familiar with.
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3 answers
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How do I strain ginger powder to make ginger tea?

I was thinking maybe a coffee filter would work, but then it might not have enough time to fully brew the ginger. I don't know what other ways to filter are good. The powder is very fine-grained, and ...
Bobby Shen's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
6k views

When to add Milk powder while preparing a cup of Tea (Chai)?

Tea is prepared by adding water+sugar+tea powder in a bowl, and boiled it properly. After pouring into the cup, I added 2 spoon of milk powder (Nestle product) and stirred up well. But I found big ...
Shree's user avatar
  • 253
3 votes
1 answer
507 views

Why do turkey tail mushroom experts say to tear up the turkey tail, and not powder it?

I've seen a few videos on making turkey tail mushroom tea, and they suggest ripping it up. Why rip it up, and not blend it into a powder so you can have the whole mushroom effect?
a coder's user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
506 views

How to identify CTC tea?

The Harney and Sons Guide to Tea has the following to say about CTC tea: Today, both Flowery and Broken teas are also called “Orthodox” teas, to distinguish them from “CTC” teas. “CTC” teas (so ...
viuser's user avatar
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2 votes
4 answers
279 views

What is the difference between fruit teas and pure fruit teas?

In this Livestrong article they make a distinction between "fruit teas" and "pure fruit teas". The only difference i picked up on is that pure fruit teas have more sugar. But dont fruit teas also have ...
Bar Akiva's user avatar
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3 votes
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Can you oversteep herbal teas?

Herbal teas don't contain tea leaves (Camellia sinensis), which means they do not release tannins into the water. Does that mean you can steep herbal teas for as much as you like without worry of them ...
Bar Akiva's user avatar
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3 votes
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313 views

What is a reliable source for the caffeine content in tea?

If you do a quick google search for "Tea caffeine content" you may get varied results anywhere from 20mg up to 45 for black tea. I wonder: Where do all these numbers come from? Are they estimations? ...
Bar Akiva's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
392 views

Is it normal to find something in tea?

I often buy Chinese tea by weight in some local stores and at times I find some inclusions that should not be there. Up to this date I have found: A human hair Some sand Some white dots (presumably ...
noncom's user avatar
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0 votes
3 answers
872 views

Two different gynostemma teas taste completely different, why?

So i've ordered 2 different brands of gynostemma (or jiaogulan in chinese) and they each taste very differently. The first one I've ordered tastes extremely bitter, the second one I've ordered tastes ...
thinksinbinary's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
4k views

Will swishing or moving a teabag around affect the steeping time in any way?

Often times I find myself swishing, dunking, or moving a teabag around to affect the steeping time. Does it have any effect at all on the tea infusion, or am i actually hurting the flavor?
Bar Akiva's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
179 views

Are electric kettles a good choice for tea?

From my experience, electric kettles stop only when the water is at a rolling boil, which is bad because: The water loses oxygen when at a rolling boil If you make teas other than black or herbals (...
Bar Akiva's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
2k views

What makes small tea leaves better than big tea leaves?

According to wikipedia, the smaller the leaf (especially the buds) the more valuable it is. Tea leaves of different sizes just after plucking. Small leaves are more valuable than big ones. From ...
Bar Akiva's user avatar
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1 vote
5 answers
2k views

Better way to make Iced Tea

Should I brew at full strength, allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating, or should I brew at a higher strength and “shock cool” over ice?
Laura Ricci King's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
189 views

Are these dregs or what?

Made some tea using a drip style coffee maker by placing tea bag where coffee would normally go, namely on the standard fibrous (paper) coffee filter. After the tea has been on the warmer for a while, ...
Vince's user avatar
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39 votes
4 answers
55k views

Tea water: heat to 80 °C or boil to 100 °C and let it cool down to 80 °C?

Boiling water is too hot for some teas. Today I heard that it's better to boil water to 100 °C and let it cool down to 80 °C rather than heat water to 80 °C. Is this true? Does it really affect ...
bkoodaa's user avatar
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8 votes
1 answer
996 views

Why does tea with hard water (lime) taste different?

It seems that tea with lime water (hard water) tastes different. Different enough that tea manufacturers have a different product to cope with the difference in taste. My question is: Why does tea ...
hawkeye's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
614 views

How to preserve tea taste for 6-7 hours?

I am new to this site and I hope my question is clear to everyone. I prepare 4 cups of black tea in the morning by bringing water and tea powder to boiling. Then I pour this into flask by filtering ...
javanoob's user avatar
  • 101
7 votes
2 answers
504 views

What can you add to water to make it hard enough for tea?

I was living in southern California where the water is one of the hardest in the country, but once passed through a Brita filter it was perfect for tea. Now I am living in a country where the water ...
user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
113 views

Why does this homemade herbal tea always boil over?

I make my own herbal tea with: ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cloves, cinnamon sticks, goji berry, cilantro/parsley, and lemon. I boil the whole in water but for whatever reason I need to be around ...
Kas Appiah's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
365 views

Is my 3 years old loose leaf tea safe for me to drink? [duplicate]

I have some cinnamon orange tea in my kitchen that has been sitting there for 3 years. Would it still be safe to drink? It is in a container with a lid.
ash's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
13k views

black residue in tea kettle

I have a stainless steel tea kettle, with sprayed on porcelain enamel. The interior is sprayed black, with little white dots. A very common design in the old ovens, and in many tea kettles. When I ...
lauren's user avatar
  • 31
4 votes
2 answers
847 views

What is the difference between small vs large loose leaf tea?

I have two oolong teas of the same type (dong fang mei ren). One has long leaves that barely fit in a teaspoon. The other has much smaller leaves that are easily scooped up, and it has a weaker taste. ...
user83358's user avatar
  • 141
1 vote
4 answers
665 views

Grassy Tea and brands

Some time ago while traveling, I had some brand of a local bottled green tea with peach. It was not overly sweet, was mild but good - seemed a good mix of tea and summer peaches and was very ...
Pam's user avatar
  • 11
5 votes
4 answers
15k views

"Sludge" at the bottom of matcha/green tea latte

When I get a green tea latte from Starbucks, the drink is uniformly mixed from top to bottom, no matter how long it takes me to drink it. I prefer to make my matcha lattes at home, though, because its ...
senschen's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
941 views

Sperical lumps in milk

Got to work this morning and made the first round of drinks and everything was fine with them. We then made the second round about an hour later with the same milk, same kettle, same instant coffee ...
TheLethalChef's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
156 views

Is this white flaky powder in this tea "vanilla flavor"?

I got some tea from Thailand as a gift, and it has some vanilla flavor to it: Obviously, it smells a lot like vanilla. This is how the tea looks like: Is the white powdery stuff (looks a bit flaky ...
Gimelist's user avatar
  • 121
4 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why is my green tea yellow?

I make Japanese green tea. I use Gyokuro Imperial, a high quality shaded green tea, so it should be green not yellow. Sometimes when I make it, it is indeed green, but other times yellow. Is it ...
Drisheen Colcannon's user avatar