I have some tea questions!
Alright, let's brew this thing.
My wife and I were walking around the mall this weekend and wandered past Teavana. I've been drinking tea from Teavana for like, 5 or 6 years and enjoying it, but I sort of want to try some other options (and up my tea game a bit).
First, I am using
this tea maker that my wife bought me a few years ago. I'm quite happy with it, so I don't want to change that up. However, I've been warming up water in the microwave and that's annoying. Adagio has two electric kettles that I'm looking at:
varietea and
utilitea. Does anyone here have one and have an opinion on either one? The varietea looks nice because I can set my water temp and be done. The utilitea doesn't have as many options, but I'm wondering if the extra options are a necessity.
I cover this a little bit in the OP. I've used the Adagio utilitea for over 7 years now (no, really, I checked: I ordered in on January 23rd 2009) and it has always worked perfectly and given me absolutely no problems.
Having said that, between the two, I would spring for the varieTEA, with precise temperature control. While it's possible to get consistent and accurate temperatures with the utilitea, this will be an appliance you keep
for years, so spring for the one with the most options.
Now here's where I'm a bit confused. We bought
Purify Wellness tea when we were there. The website says 2 minute steep, but my label says 4 minutes. So...What do I do? Blends are sort tough, too. We bought
this Winterberry blend and are loving it. It says 2 minutes steep, so that's what we've been doing. But is that right?
This is also covered in the OP:
Brewing Time and Temperatures.
Note: Unless from Teavana, always try your package's instructions first. Some varieties within the same family of tea may need drastically different temperatures to taste their best. Yerba Mate and Green Rooibos are the only herbals I've encountered that do not take boiling water. Roasted Yerba Mate and regular, Red Rooibos can both be treated like any other herbal tea.
It's funny that the OP was written nearly 4 years ago and Teavana has even been bought by Starbucks since but they still haven't gotten their act together in regards to their literature.
I'd recommend following my guide up there, obviously. For blends that feature more than one type of tea, follow the tea that requires the colder temperature/shorter time first and increase both if necessary.
Now regarding Winterberry...Here's an image on Google.
See how red it is? Ours NEVER comes out that red. What would contribute to the redness?
A lot of factors could contribute, including things as devious as them intentionally adding colorants to make the drink more attractive. Pure speculation on my part, of course.
If it tastes the same as when you brew it yourself, then I wouldn't worry too much about the appearance. If not, consider using more tea than they recommend and brewing for longer.
Also, iced tea. Should I add my rock sugar to the hot water and dissolve it before I pour the water over the tea? And I usually do 2 tsp of tea + 8 oz of water. Should I be doing 2 tsp of tea + 4 oz of water + 1 glass of ice?
Add the sugar while the drink is hot. I feel like it takes forever for the rock sugar to dissolve in hot liquid let alone cold.
I'd also suggest moving over to sweeteners that are easier to dissolve and more consistent anyway, like honey, agave nectar, raw sugar, or even regular cane sugar.
As for preparation, also from the OP:
Basic Iced Tea
- Prepare your equipment as if you're brewing a normal cup of tea.
- Fill a large glass with ice (a 18 to 20oz beer glass works wonderfully).
- Instead of putting a cup of water over your tea leaves, half it. Use 4oz of water.
- At this time add any sweetener you may normally like in your tea. Stir to disolve
- Brew for the standard length of time.
- Pour into glass filled with ice, stir, and enjoy.
Sorry for all these silly questions! Oh and Adagio teas are fine, yes? I'm looking for a good traditional black tea. Oh oh oh...What's the deal with matcha?
Adagio is decent quality and good for people coming off of Teavana, I'd say. There is better quality out there and I have a few suggested retailers in the OP as well, but Adagio offers a fairly wide selection as reasonable prices.
Matcha is a type of Japanese green tea that is literally ground-up tea leaves. It is traditionally prepared using hot water and a special device called a matcha whisk that actually creates a suspension of tea leaves in the water.
Hope that helps! Feel free to ask any more questions.
