Floating leaves

Made from leaves that have not been oxidized.


Jan 16th, '06, 16:27
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Joined: Jan 16th, '06, 16:19
Location: USA - Michigan

Floating leaves

by OrangeJulius333 » Jan 16th, '06, 16:27

Hey everyone,
I'm new to loose tea (picked up an ingenuiTEA with christmas money) and have a question about floating leaves, namely hojicha green tea. Well... is it ok for tea leaves to float for the whole steeping time? The tea seems a little weak, but maybe it is how it's supposed to be, I know green is a "delicate" variety. I'm using fresh water filtered through a brita pitcher. Possibly the water is not quite hot enough? Anyways, thank you to anyone who has any insight on this problem or lack thereof.
Evan

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Jan 16th, '06, 18:58
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Location: Portland, OR
Contact: illium

by illium » Jan 16th, '06, 18:58

Sometimes that happens.

In general, a leaf will sink after it's completely soaked with water, so if they aren't sinking, they aren't absorbing the water, and so aren't releasing the good stuff into the water.

But nonetheless, some leaves will just float. A good way to ensure they fall is to agitate them by stirring them around some.

Or just use a strainer.

Heating the water more will help. I generally use boiled water, and let it sit for a little while to cool to the right temp. I'm not very specific about it, so I have no idea about the actual temp. I actually count out a certain amount of breath cycles for each tea. Green tea = 10 breaths of waiting after I remove from the heat source.. which is probably around 30 seconds or so, hehe.

Hope that helps,
Troy
Troy Howard aka Da Tong (大筒), Fine Chinese Tea Sales
Happy Panda Tea Co. 快乐熊猫茶司 (KuaiLe XiongMao ChaSi)
Portland, Oregon
illium37@yahoo.com (email me for more info!)

Jan 17th, '06, 01:12
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Joined: Jan 16th, '06, 16:19
Location: USA - Michigan

by OrangeJulius333 » Jan 17th, '06, 01:12

Yeah, I will have to try hotter water. When I'm making it probably ninety percent of the leaves were floating. They were all wet, I pour the water onto the leaves, but most were floating. Not so sure about the breathing cycle thing ;-) however thank you for your comment, we'll see how hotter water works tomorrow morning.

Jan 17th, '06, 02:15
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Joined: Dec 26th, '05, 23:17

floating

by Snow on Cedar » Jan 17th, '06, 02:15

My teas often float and it never seems to affect the tastes...You can make most teas sink by a quick whisk of a spoon.
Humans are a dangerous breed...just look at what they do to each other.

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Jan 19th, '06, 10:14
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by PeteVu » Jan 19th, '06, 10:14

if you are pouring water onto the leaves then you should have no concern if your tea floats.
There are four advantages to green tea... Its beauty, its taste, its aroma, and its health benefits. Learn to enjoy the first three and you'll forget you drank it for the fourth. ^^

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