Teaclasses! -02

Hi there, I promised it would be soon right? 

So, it still took me longer to upload then I hoped haha. This entry will be about my second tea class. This time, it did not rain and the bus actually showed up, yay!

Note: When I talk about degrees, I think in Celsius, because that's what we use in the Netherlands.
Note 2: Please do not mind the possible grammar or spelling mistakes I made.

-02
My second class started with an written test about the previous lesson. Thankfully I already knew a lot because I had researched tea for my Thesis, so learning for the test this time was easy. I believe I’ll have a good result, but I will know for sure at the next lesson. Fingers crossed!

After the exam we went ahead with the lesson. This day we learned a lot about the production process of the different kinds of tea. Withering, drying, steaming, rolling, shaking, frying and well, that. For every tea a different process exists and I will have to learn all of them! White tea is the easiest to learn because the production process is very short. Oolong tea on the other hand has a pretty long production process. I will have to start learning soon, or else I might fail the next test.

This lesson we also tasted a lot of tea! Firstly, we tried out the most favorite ways of making the Pai Mu Tan we had to do our homework with. It was quite fun to see how most of us liked the same way of making it. I was the only one who went to the extreme with the steeping time and temperature of the water haha! As said in my previous blog, it really was way to bitter! But I reaaally had to taste it.. Anyway, the most favorite way of making the Pai Mu Tan was with a temperature of 75 degrees and a steeping time of 2 minutes. You could really taste the tea well, without it turning to bitter.

Some of the other teas we tasted were:
Zuxiang Mao Feng
Lost Malawi tea
Sencha
China Zhejiang Curled Dragon Silver Tips
Hōjicha
Huo Shan Yellowtips
Golden Yunnan
Silver Needle (Kenia white)
Oriental Beauty

We tasted some of them together, so we could taste the difference. For example:
Silver Needle (Kenia white) and Oriental Beauty.
Huo Shan Yellowtips and Golden Yunnan.

I personally loved the Sencha, China Zhejiang Curled Dragon Silver Tips and the Hōjicha the most. The Sencha reminded me of grass and cabbage but with a sweet note to it. I really liked it because it had no bitter taste to it at all. The China Zhejiang Curled Dragon Silver Tips was a bit bitter, but still very nice to drink. It felt a bit drier in the mouth but I did not mind. The Hōjicha had a nutty, smokey taste and was a bit sourish. These three definitely are my favorites from this lesson.

-02 homework!

As for the tea we took home to experiment with, it’s the Korea Jade Dragon. I never knew Korea produced tea.. A friend of mine, Maria, who studies about Korea explained they mostly drink coffee. So I thought they wouldn’t produce tea either.. But well, it turns out they do haha! Since both of us were surprised by this discovery, we tasted the tea together. I tried a lot of different ways of preparing the tea and varied with steeping time and temperature. This time I did not vary with the amount of tea to use. Instead of using the two kettle method -You put the tea in one kettle and pour water on it, let it steep and then you pour the tea over into another kettle through a filter- I used a Gong Fu Cha. The Gaiwan is only 120 milliliters so it’s pretty small. Therefore I used 2 grams of tea on 120 milliliter water.

I started with a temperature of 75 degrees and used two different steeping times; 1 minute and 2 minutes. The next step was 70 degrees and a steeping time of 3 minutes and 1 minute. Then I went up in temperature and used 85 degrees water and used a steeping time of 1 minute and 2 minutes. Next up was 80 degrees and 3 minutes steeping time. And then, for the extreme; 95 degrees and a steeping time of 1 minute and 2 minutes. I used osmoses water the first time, and the second time I did this process, I used tap water.

I varied quite a bit and it was fun to see how steeping time could make the tea bitter, even on low temperature. I really loved the tea on 75 degrees, and steeped for 1 minute. It was not bitter at all and tasted like fish and seaweed, but not too much. When I steeped the second time it became somewhat bitterer, but the taste of the tea became stronger too. The third infusion however, was steeped for 3 minutes at 70 degrees. It became way to bitter, despite the lower temperature of the water and the tea being used for the third time.

What surprised me was that one of the third infusions, at 85 degrees and a steeping time of 1 minute, was less bitter than the third infusion at 70 degrees and a steeping time of 3 minutes. And, surprisingly the first infusion at 95 degrees and a steeping time of 1 minute wasn’t as bitter as I thought it would be. It did leave a dry feeling in my mouth, but it wasn’t as bad as the second infusion, which I steeped for 2 minutes. Man, that was bitter! My favorites are both first infusions, with a steeping time of 1 minute. The only difference is that I used 70 degrees water and 75 degrees water. They both are my favorite because there was hardly any difference between them haha!

As for the tap water, I didn’t really like any of the infusions I used tap water for. Somehow the tea became bitterer even on low temperatures and it left a sourish taste in my mouth. But it was not the nice kind of sourish.

Welp, this actually became quite a long post.. I hope it’s understandable what I write hehe. It is kinda hard to explain a certain taste when the one who reads it can’t taste it. So, if you wanna come over and drink some tea with me, feel free to contact me! If you have any questions or comments, please use the comment section below. I won’t bite, so be my guest!

Cheers! ~ Liset.

Tea classes! -01

Hello there and welcome back! 

As promised, today I shall blog about my tea classes. Although I have to admit, it has been a while since my first lesson.. I did write, but forgot to upload (Just like my first entry). Haha!

In November 2015 I started with my study to become a Tea sommelier. I have one class a month and have to do a lot of self-study. The first two lessons consisted of an introduction to tea. Because my graduation project was about tea as well, a lot of information was familiar. There were still a few things that were new to me. And of course, repeating information is always handy! 
Note: When I talk about degrees, I think in Celsius, because that's what we use in the Netherlands.
Note 2: Please do not mind the possible grammar or spelling mistakes I made.

-01
The first lesson started, with me being late. I have to take the bus from Lelystad to Zeewolde and that isn’t really a problem. Unless of course, the second bus from Harderwijk to Zeewolde, does not show up. And, you guessed it! It did not show up. So, I was soaked because it was raining, the wind was cold and I waited 40 minutes before I finally gave up. Luckily someone from the ITC Acedemy could pick me up. It only (ahem) took me half a day to get warm again. Thank god we were going to taste a lot of warm tea haha!

That day we mostly received general information about tea. Like steeping times and temperatures, general information about the production process, things like that. We also tasted teas, obviously. The teas we tasted were:

- Pai Mu Tan
- Darjeeling
- Tie Kwa Yin
- Assam, with golden tips

-01 homework!
The Pai Mu Tan was also the tea we took home to do our homework. We had to try out how we liked the tea best. I varied with temperature, grams, and steeping time. Since Pai Mu Tan is a white tea it’s advised to use 70-80 degrees and 90 seconds-2 minutes steeping time. At school we used 80 degrees and 2 minutes steeping time. For my homework I used a lot of differentiations.

First of all, I used osmose water and tap water. At home we have a saltwater aquarium, so we have a filter to produce osmose water. On the first few try I used 3 grams/250 milliliter, 70 degrees and a steeping time of 3 minutes. It had a pretty bitter taste. But it wasn’t bad. I tried to step up 5 degrees with every try. Beyond 80 degrees it became very bitter, and below 70 degrees it became quite mild. One of my favorites was with 65 degrees and 2 grams/250 milliliter. It was mild, and you could really taste the tea well. But it became a bit too cold for my taste.

The worst one was with 90 degrees, steeping time 3 minutes and 3 grams/250 milliliter. It was baaaaad, beyond bad even! It was really bitter. And I know I said in my previous blog that bitter green tea can be nice sometimes.. But this white tea was not nice at all. So, please don’t try this at home. Unless of course, you are very curious to know how bad it was. In that case, be my guest, but please share your experience with me!

The next lesson started with a test, so we needed to review this lesson. Luckily I knew a lot already, so this time it was quite easy.

My next blog, which will be uploaded soon (Really, I promise), shall be about my second class and homework! I decided to upload in pieces because it might become a long read..

Cheers! ~Liset

Introduction!~

Let’s start with the introductions, shall we?

My name is Lisette and I have a big passion for tea. In this blog I will be talking about tea and what I love so much about it. My passion for tea led me to the ITC Academy, where I started my journey to become a Tea sommelier. So, I have a lot to talk about! This entry will mostly serve as an introduction to my world of tea and some general information.

I’ve been drinking tea for as long as I can remember. Of course, like most people I grew up with drinking tea. Although the tea I mostly drank came from using teabags. At home we often used brands like Pickwick or Lipton. They are good brands, the tea is of good quality but they are often mixed with aromas. I can’t exactly remember, but one day my mom brought home some leave tea. And well, once you drink leave tea, you’ll never want to use teabags again. At least for me it worked that way. Since then I’ve been drinking tea, using tealeaves.

People often think that the tea in teabags is of less quality then tealeaves. But that is not necessarily true. For teabags, tea dust is used. Dust is a leftover product from producing tea. The quality of the dust depends on the quality of the processed tea leaves. To make sure the product is affordable good quality leave dust is often mixed with the lesser quality. This doesn’t make the tea from teabags a ‘bad’ tea to drink of course. But for me personally, I often find the tea to bitter to drink. So I prefer my tealeaves. Even tea from tealeaves can be bitter. When Green tea is steeped with boiling hot water for a longer time, it too, will become bitter. Everyone has different tastes. That’s a good thing. The world would be pretty boring if everyone liked the same stuff.

Regarding Green tea, sometimes I do like it to be bitter. It’s kind of refreshing to drink bitter tea once in a while. Although, to enjoy the tea to its fullest, drinking it bitter is not preferred. Since everyone has their own tastes and own preferences, there are a lot of different ways to prepare tea. When tealeaves are bought, costumers are often provided with an advice about the ideal temperature and steeping time.

In general the following is advised:
The amount of tea used per liter water is 10-12 grams. Of course, more or less tea can be used.

Steeping time and temperature:
Green tea: 50-80 degrees and 2 minutes steeping time.
Oolong tea: 80-95 degrees and 90 seconds-2 minutes steeping time.
Black tea: 80-95 degrees and 2-5 minutes steeping time.
White tea: 70-80 degrees and 90 seconds-2 minutes steeping time.
Pu erh: 90-100 degrees and 2-5 minutes steeping time.

But, the most important thing is to drink tea according to your own tastes. I do love to tell others about my way of drinking tea, and the teas that I serve to my guests. My guests are often surprised by the teas I serve them. Even though most of them can be bought easily, it is also a matter of preparing the tea.

For now, let’s leave it at this. I hope to write an entry on a regular base, talking about my study to become a Tea sommelier and the teas I drink. I will conclude this entry with a list of the teas I have (or by now, had) at home. The next entry will be about my first two schooldays!

Cheers! ~Liset

Teas:

Green tea:

- Japanese Cherry

- Japan Kukicha bio

- Chun Mee

- Lentedauw Mao Feng (Spring thaw)

- Pi Lo Chun Green

- Snow Bud Lu Xue Ya

- Genmaicha

- Kabuse Sencha

- White Jasmine Pearls

- Japanese Bancha

- White Buddha

- Gunpowder

- Korean Jade Dragon

Oolong tea:

- Oolong Green

- Oolong Formosa

Black tea:

- Lapsang Souchong

- Witte puntjes (White dots)

- English Melange

- China Melange (It's a milder Lapsang I guess)

- China Golden Downy

Fermented tea:

- Pu Erh

White tea:

- China Pai Mu Tan

Non tea:

Rooibos:

- Rooibos natural

- Rooibos winter

- Rooibos Chai

- Rooibos Green

- Rooibos with Chocolate and caramel

- Rooibos with Cocos and chocolate

Melanges:

- Rest melange