1. Using tea bags 2. Using too little of loose leaves (more leaves brewed, the better) 3. Not using any kind of filter for the leaves/stewing the leaves in water for too long 4. Choosing the wrong temperature of water (should be brewed at 82 degrees celsius) 5. Not taking advantage of multiple infusions (should steep leaves multiple times, normally 8 times)
The 4th I think is incorrect as some teas scald at that temperature or don't develop at that temp. The last one is also iffy as some teas can't be resteeped, my white loose leaf tea tastes like water after 3 steeps and barely has flavor the second time
I never realized you can make good tea without adding sweeteners like honey or sugar... now that I think of it, the sweeteners are used to cover up how horrible the tea was that I was making before... This is gonna be a huge game changer for me.! Super excited to try some real tea.!
The truth is that tea bags are more convenient because at the end of the day you only have to wash a mug, but it's not like loose tea is not super time consuming and it tastes much better. This video is very educational.
I’m very new to tea (but deep into wine, cheese, whiskey, coffee, etc.), and this is easily the most helpful single resource I’ve encountered. Thank you! Now I want to buy all the cool cups and brewing apparatuses you used!
Don, thank you. I finally convinced myself to brew gong fu style. I don't have much of fancy equipment but I realised that I don't actually need them to brew a nice cup of tea. I couldn't convince myself to use the right amount of tea leaves to be able to brew gong fu. But once I tried it properly there is no turning back. This is the real taste of tea. Thank you!
One other mistake some beginners make I should add: leaving the lid on the teapot after pouring out the tea liquor, causing the tea leaves inside to get cooked. This causes the tastes of the pours afterward to be affected adversely by the leaves getting cooked.
Oh, now I can fully understand it :) Don mentioned in one video, that you should remove the lid from the teapot after pouring out the liqueur for leaves not to get steamed. Well, I did not get it first time - most probably because of my level of an english language skills. Now I see :) No more cooking tea leaves :D
We see really the differences between the different infusions of Tie Luo Han (Iron Monk). It becomes more and more fruitier and less empyreumatic in the second and third infusions. Thank you again for the work of Mei leaf, it's always so instructif , we would say it in french édifiant.
OMG!!! I have a facebook group for tea, so I was watching this to see what I thought before sharing with them. You completely blew me away with that Connoisseur Tea Brewer! I've been looking for the perfect way to brew tea at work on my breaks and that's it! This is amazing!!!!! (I've been watching your videos for a year or so and I love your passion for tea. I've learned so much. Thank you!)
I wanna learn all I can about tea . I believe there is so much beneficial , overall life and health benefits to sipping tea and brewing it and basically finding a space almost meditative , while brewing the tea and then sipping the tea , either alone or with other lovers of a good cup of tea
The only time when I prefer tea bags over loose tea is when I'm adding milk and sugar. Tea bag tea tends to be stronger and less complex which stands up to additives better while loose tea is better for drinking straight so you can pick up on the more complex and delicate nature of the leaves. Hope that makes sense.
You do realise when the raj took the English in. The Anglish was show how to drink tea the way they made the liquor for their toddlers. And they have been drinking baby tea with milk and sugar ever since.
Also when I drink it like that in the morning I don’t really care bout complex texture. I can then only make 1 cup. But anything else never with a tea bag haha
There is a video from Don about keeping leaves between steepings: they did experiments 3 way. Very good advice: I used the leaf-drying technique for those 15 infusion puerhs: works out every time. :)
I’m amazed how cleverly designed are those (I don’t know the proper name for it) glasses for brewing from mistake number 4. First the lid, then invisible filter which you can place into the lid to stop the water leaking out from the filter and finally those holders for tilting the glass with one finger. Amazing.
I love tour videos ! I am taking tea class in Taïwan with specialists ans people passionate about tea. Your information is very accurate ! You are really a master of tea 😁
I’ve never really understood why tea bags were so bad as I enjoy them on a daily basis. However no one else in my family drinks tea so I was never able to experience true loose leaf tea. So today I bought “103 Kings Oolong Tea” and I have to say I’m pretty excited to try it.
I drink teabag/big packet tea dust tea all my life and they never fully satisfy me. Im kinda ready to change into loose leaf eventho i dont even know where to find those in my area. Your videos really do bring out my raging need to live the best tea life😂🤧 Ps: alot of stuff you mention here like adding more tea and not leaving the tea in the water for long are things i notice too But hearing you actually talk abt them really forces me to stop and take note of those factors Because im very experimental wit my brewing but honestly i dont really know what i did was wrong or right so even when i noticed my tea got too drying to drink (astringent i mean) or holding back from putting a decent amount of tea for economical purposes, i just kept doing them😅 welp this is why im here
I drink teabag/big packet tea dust tea all my life and they never fully satisfy me. Im kinda ready to change into loose leaf eventho i dont even know where to find those in my area. Your videos really do bring out my raging need to live the best tea life😂🤧
Beautiful ! So interesting ! I thought I had been drinking tea all my life, but it seems I have to start again from scratch. It is so rejuvenating! Thanks.
That's what I'm still doing occasionally, I'm afraid to say :-) Sometimes I think that the producers of tea bags go out of their way to make their wares as unpalatable as possible by giving detrimental brewing instructions. Imagine hitting green tea bags with boiling water and then steeping it for up to 4 minutes!
The temperature was the most surprising mistake. I had heard the axiom "take your teapot to the kettle, not the kettle to the tea" which is just another way of saying use water as close to the boil as possible. From that I had always assumed that tea required hotter water than coffee, not cooler as is suggested here.
yeah I knew about temperature, but have just been eye balling it. I'd love a video on electric kettles. Which is the best to get? My Bodum only goes full boil with no temperature readings.
I really get educated by your videos. We have just started producing orthodox black, green yellow and purple teas. I would like to send you samples for tasting.
Great video! Definitely what i needed to see. Especially about the amount of leaf, but also guess i need a digital thermometer to get a feel for how much cool water to add to my electric kettle .. or get a kettle like the one you have. Seems you knew that temperature really quick!
Now i know why i hate tea. Because i always use a “tea bag” one. It taste disgusting, so i prefer coffee since i had the moka pot and it gave the style of taste I’ve always wanted. After watching your videos, really want to try loose leaves tea. Thankyou for the thoroughly information.
do try But don't go for the most expensive, nor the cheapest one (as I did), loose tea can be worse than teabags (I tried cheap ripe pu-erh mini tuos... they are in the trash now, while I still drink TaeTea jasmine bags). Around my place local teashops are only of 2 kinds : not helpful, or too expensive. So I study tea by myself ! I'm only 2 months in, Pu Erh mainly, and having a lot of fun with samples from Yunnan Sourcing and Chawang Shop, despite being a coffee only person until 3 months ago.
Thank you for teaching us how to brew right. Now I'm cringing inside over not doing multiple infusions and stewing my leaves. I realized how much tea I've wasted. 🤦♀️. But my one question is what do you do with the tea leaves when your finished brewing? Can you turn them into compost?
Great video for people that are starting the tea journey, I might use it as a tool when spreading the love for good quality tea 😊 In a different matter - could you please do a video about Ya Bao? I've been debating this topic with other tea heads quite a lot lately. I see there is a lot of confusion. Not many sources explain the picking and what those axillary / lateral buds are. So I believe this would be really good topic. Maybe combine it with tea tasting video for new batch of Purple Bud? Or do comparison of Elder White and Purple Bud? Anyway I think this is truly missed and needed knowledge 🤔
And please set the record straight regarding sustainability / viability of the practice, like I wrote on your instagram post for session 6. I’m very confused whether the practice is 1. Legal 2. Even if legal under certain conditions, how does sustainable cropping get controlled (if at all), 3. Enviromental impacts on rare old trees that get industrially harvested for an ever growing and inflated demand. What I read about predatory harvesting practices on gushu and wild buds puts a damper on my enjoyment of both. Verdant recently put out a not too convincing video about the sustainable origin of their sourcing, but they are the only ones actively addressing this at the moment besides kunstdestees in Germany who glat out refused to stock what they see as criminal trafficking of contraband goods. Please give us your take/understanding of the situation as well. verdanttea.com/qianjiazhai-ailaoshan-crassicolumna-wild-tea-2-li-family-zhenyuan-dongsa-cooperative/ www.diekunstdestees.de/epages/63140717.mobile/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63140717/Categories/Blog/W_tend_auf_Wild_Buds_aus_Yunnan&Locale=de_DE
Marianne Fleur that's a good point. It's hard to know if tea is from a source of people that truly respect the environment or just some robbing it "business seekers". I believe this topic interests many of us and in case of Ya Bao I'm sure it's very important that people picking the buds know how to do it in a way to not damage the precious trees.
I use teabag for plants nd garden... My nespolo tree likes brewing teabags😊 and the other plants... It's true, u can try! I use free leaf tea ( after brewing tea) too. It works too
Wow, I have always steeped my Tea 5-10 minutes, and often I leave the leaves in for a bit while drinking, I like it strong particularly with herbal teas.
i am just back from Huangshan and bought some Mao Feng and Hou GUI tea. Can’t wait to try. I was also in Camden last December and visited your shop. Unfortunately you were not in. From Malaysia. Regards
I’ve been to many a restaurant/tea house (generally western, generally expensive) where the tea is served with the leaves still in, with potentially no way to remove them. Crazy bitter and astringent, even though the leaves are often high quality. I’ve noticed it tends to happen when the tea is more of a “palate change” from something else, like tiered sweets or confections, rather than the focus. Always a bummer. About the tea bags: I get the impression Don hasn’t watched how most brew tea bags, aha. I’ve never seen someone brew a black teabag for less than a minute or two. More like 4-6 for a regular sized cup. Tends to be very strong, giving either a coffee-like hit of bitterness, or an ample platform to add loads of cream/sugar/flavors. I don’t think of it in the same way as true tea, but I won’t lie: I do like me a good London Fog or matcha latte from time to time. Totally different, much more decadent experience. Likewise for having a western style tea party with biscuits, cookies, and other delicacies.
ErraticFragrance tea don't really expire but it changes over time and accordingly to the conditions it is stored in. Some tea kinds people like drinking as fresh as possible but honestly all tea kinds can be aged - therefore can be stored for decades. Nevertheless a video about proper storing tea and also aging it would be great :)
Thanks for the video. What about brewing multiple infusions Gong-fu style and combining them in one pot? I know it's not ideal, but I think it's better than western style brewing. I do this at work when I don't have time to go to the tea station 12 times.
Thank you for shedding more light on tea brewing... I have a challenge on a particular Tea which is Mango leaf... I already made them into powder and packed in tea bags 2g per bag but it is taking a longer time for the tea essence to come out of the tea bag...please what can I do....Thank you in anticipation of your response...
I just tried gong fu style Tie Guan Yin and the result was mindblowing compared to the standard brewing method. When should I choose one instead of the other?
I purchased two tea cakes like flowers shaped...ripe puerh...its pretty...I hope it is yummy as well. I haven't opened the little purple tea pot yet..still...im waiting for the puerh
Thank you for your very interesting and informative videos! I'm learning a lot about this fascinating topic from you. I have one question for you. When I lived in Uzbekistan, there is a big tea drinking culture. And they practice mixing green and black teas, making what they call "Bucket". What do you know about it? Can you please comment or make a video about it? Thank you!
Great video content. Just one constructive criticism: Your sound is not nice. I guess you use the cameras built in mic. You should consider using a small mic you attach to your shirt.
Don, I agree with the sound comment. I’ve binged and rebinged your videos. Since a while now, I’ve been noticing that the newer videos were not as conversational/smooth/friendly/casual as the older ones from 6-12 months ago. You speak louder, more metalic/dynamic/faster. With more energetic/aggressive gesticulations. In the kettle video, your banging of teaware was almost extreme. I usually drink tea with my husband while watching. The older videos where you had longer hair, slightly more sweet baby fat, and talked slower, quieter, and more evenly, with some native shyness felt more natural - as if you were there in our living room, having tea and an eye to eye conversation, with None or at most casual commercial interest. We love those videos. Since Celine and you have cut your hairs, started wearing professional make up, and become more dynamic and assertive in the more recent videos, the native charm has been sacrificed for a more “trained” and run of the mill approach. I think the key is to find a middle road. Enjoy your tea, take the youtube pressure off, stay a friend, don’t become a showman jumping ridiculous loops - there are enough of those on boring old TV. You have enough knowledge, personality, and charisma to carry you through even your 60 min documentaries, and that week after week. Don’t get trapped in believing you need to add the professional dosis from communication trainings that kill the authenticity that makes you unique. Getting more professional, assertive, “perfect” is ok, but on youtube, authenticity and real personality counts more. That’s why we watch youtube and not some TV production that besides all trick of the trade, fall flat because they don’t have what you have: knowledge, personality, and a mission to spread the enjoyment and experience of many years. Please stay real, we teaheads love you anyway. Take the pressure off, it’s superfluous. :)
The intensity portrays serious passion and it becomes somewhat enthralling. Keeps me interested well past my usual attention span. 24mins... on youtube, that is a lifetime. Different teas for different folks.
Hey Don, today I had a Gong Fu session with a Tie Guan Yin Oolong. About an hour after, my mood was so good man. I was laughing and giggling at pretty much everything. Is this what being tea drunk feels like or..?
Yup. Don mentioned that in one vid, but I can't recall in which one (watched too many lately :-) ). They were ment as samples but have been brewed leaving the tea inside the silkbag and prob started the whole teabag thing.
I think tea was transported in silk bags, and somehow went underwater and probably somebody tried to drink the liquor, that came dripping out of the bag. And that is the dreaded day of the t-bag rising. A day Mister Don from Mei Leaf sees in his worst nightmares.
searched and found what Don said about that toppic (Silkbag, Teabag, how and why): ua-cam.com/video/puldqGnW9P0/v-deo.html [edit: not saying Don knows the whole truth, the only truth, ... but for my part I wont do any more research on that one ;-) ]
I'd like to add to tip #1: the untensils you need don't *have* to be special. If you're at your friends house or are a broke student, take two glasses of the exact same shape, and after you put the leaf and pour the water in the first one, wait 15-30 seconds and then put the second cup inside of it, bottom down. That way the leaf won't follow the tea when you pour it. But if you're at home, you like your tea and respect yourself and your guests, then a connoisseur tea brewer is definitely a must have!
Apollo 440 Agreed! I've been enjoying the good stuff for well over a decade and I only got my first dedicated gaiwan a few months ago. The journey hasn't been worse for having unofficial brewing wares. 👍
Great advice. Don't get intimidated, just start. I tend to bring good tea to friends and often use whatever coffee-ware is available. A sugar pot makes for a good improv-gaiwan and a milk can is a great fairness cup :D Cup and saucer on top also works as a gaiwan.
What you do is great, I see experience in your choices! Thanks to you more people know that Eastern Style Brewing is a choice anybody who has more than 1 cup and saucer can make, and not only the chosen ones with elaborate teaware collections.
Thank you for the information. I still have to learn a lot. Can you please tell me what kettle do you use? It has an very accurate temperature sensor on it?
Could you make a video explaining which teas should be renewed every year and which have their flavor enhanced as they age please, I am really interested in learning about this.
I think the convenience of a tea bag is less the time and more the price point, how easy you can find it, and that you don't need anything extra to use them. I like that I can try teas that I either can't find online or in a shop as well as not having to clean my tea balls as often, but it's mostly the selection. There's teas I wouldn't have been able to try otherwise
I do a hybrid between western and gong fu, using a larger tea pot (4 cups) and infusing for a long time, but with 4 tablespoons of loose leaf. XD I know a lot of people don't like tannins but I love them for some odd reason. I like my tea to have a wine thickness, if that makes sense. @.@
kinda the same way i do it, i drink tea at work (1-2 l) and leave them in a vacuum insulated bottle and sometimes i dont have much time brewing in the morning.
Dahlia, try cold or ice brewing your tea overnight. I've done that with cold herbal infusions and tried coffee - the result is a less acidic and sweeter liquid.
Rhygar666 It's so worth it when what you get out is a tea bag and hot water. -_- It should be a crime for a place to charge you over 50 cents for that!
Apollo 440 I have done an iced liquor kind of tea before, where I used gunpowder and black making it excessively strong, because I wanted to see if I can make tea like a scotch. Turns out, you sort of can. It used a lot of tea and after I put it in the fridge to chill it, then added those round ice balls. It's not a tea could drink quickly XD so it gave the effect of drinking a scotch. (I bought really cute scotch glasses only... I'm not really a fan of it. It's a bit too strong for me so I thought self, can you make them practical with tea? Yes you can. ^_^)
first mistake made was calling even mediocre tea "not good". The only bad tea I've had was like iced tea where they used a coffee maker or something to make the tea or tea water. Tasted like running boring tea through a coffee machine which made it barely drinkable. Most tea, even bag tea is better than not having tea!
Don, I just want to say that sometimes I think your tea speaks against you. For example, your Osmanthus Oolong works so well for western brewing because it is so flavorful and smooth even after a 3-4 minute steep. I bought TGY from a local shop here and it was undrinkable after a 40 second steep haha. I don’t know why, but some teas I like better western style.
Amount of leaf in a 500ml tee pot: Western style adds 1g tea leaf longer brewd. (Eastern Kung-Fu) Gong-Fu style adds 6g. Gong Fu style is way better and richer so my tee pot Gaiwan is a japanese Shiboridashi about 350ml and I'm happy with mostly 4g up to 7g Gong-Fu style brewd green tea, fused for 10-20sec. or up to 30 seconds. (70°-80°C)
Hey Don! I was wondering when the Gong Fu Guru would be out? I have this birthday, at the end of April, for someone coming up and I would like to buy one for the person. It’s an amazing set! Please get back to me soon. Keep on keepin on great show btw
We are doing a warehouse count this week to confirm if there are any others available. It would be a handful if they are available so I have to say that you would have to pretty quick at ordering as I know that many others are waiting but click on the out of stock reminder button on the product page and you will get an email if we put any online.
I have a feeling the Boats are on way. Question: Say I'm in 3rd infusion (Gong Fu) meant to brew 30 secs and accidentally end up with a minute brew. ( Say doorbell rings, phone rings, some distraction). What do I do on the 4th infusion?
I just use more hot water to dilute the "over brew, " and the following brews on will obviously be weakened and thus require slightly longer brews (As if on 5th brew, the in your example.)
Where can I buy what I need to brew tea and where do I buy tea from? I want to buy it from a local store but don't know where to go. I'm in Texas in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Busted out laughing after i saw the water kettle. had this video saved before going to work without watching. during my lunch time I went over and bought a new water kettle. when i came home i watch this video as i did the first few boilings to clean it out. and he uses the same exact water kettle at 6:18.
There are so many being sold online. It is difficult to know which companies are repetable and are being honest about there teas. It is difficult to find out if the teas will be truly high quality and fresh, and not to mention truly free of chemicals or even organic.
After watching this I feel like I’ve never had tea before
Same! I feel like I knew nothing about tea before these videos
Haha so true!! So the quick cup of Early Grey with some old ducks at the church fair…does not seem like the same thing AT ALL
Same! XD
1. Using tea bags
2. Using too little of loose leaves (more leaves brewed, the better)
3. Not using any kind of filter for the leaves/stewing the leaves in water for too long
4. Choosing the wrong temperature of water (should be brewed at 82 degrees celsius)
5. Not taking advantage of multiple infusions (should steep leaves multiple times, normally 8 times)
Thank you : )
Thanks... both of you.
He saved my tea, and you saved my time.
The 4th I think is incorrect as some teas scald at that temperature or don't develop at that temp. The last one is also iffy as some teas can't be resteeped, my white loose leaf tea tastes like water after 3 steeps and barely has flavor the second time
@@meowscutie what kind of White tea do you drink? I never get such Little steep with a White tea
I never realized you can make good tea without adding sweeteners like honey or sugar... now that I think of it, the sweeteners are used to cover up how horrible the tea was that I was making before... This is gonna be a huge game changer for me.! Super excited to try some real tea.!
I love how passionate you are about tea. I've learned a lot from your channel!
Me too!
You should listen to your grandmother
The truth is that tea bags are more convenient because at the end of the day you only have to wash a mug, but it's not like loose tea is not super time consuming and it tastes much better. This video is very educational.
I’m very new to tea (but deep into wine, cheese, whiskey, coffee, etc.), and this is easily the most helpful single resource I’ve encountered. Thank you! Now I want to buy all the cool cups and brewing apparatuses you used!
Don, thank you. I finally convinced myself to brew gong fu style. I don't have much of fancy equipment but I realised that I don't actually need them to brew a nice cup of tea.
I couldn't convince myself to use the right amount of tea leaves to be able to brew gong fu. But once I tried it properly there is no turning back. This is the real taste of tea. Thank you!
One other mistake some beginners make I should add: leaving the lid on the teapot after pouring out the tea liquor, causing the tea leaves inside to get cooked. This causes the tastes of the pours afterward to be affected adversely by the leaves getting cooked.
Oh, now I can fully understand it :) Don mentioned in one video, that you should remove the lid from the teapot after pouring out the liqueur for leaves not to get steamed. Well, I did not get it first time - most probably because of my level of an english language skills. Now I see :) No more cooking tea leaves :D
We see really the differences between the different infusions of Tie Luo Han (Iron Monk). It becomes more and more fruitier and less empyreumatic in the second and third infusions. Thank you again for the work of Mei leaf, it's always so instructif , we would say it in french édifiant.
OMG!!! I have a facebook group for tea, so I was watching this to see what I thought before sharing with them. You completely blew me away with that Connoisseur Tea Brewer! I've been looking for the perfect way to brew tea at work on my breaks and that's it! This is amazing!!!!! (I've been watching your videos for a year or so and I love your passion for tea. I've learned so much. Thank you!)
I wanna learn all I can about tea . I believe there is so much beneficial , overall life and health benefits to sipping tea and brewing it and basically finding a space almost meditative , while brewing the tea and then sipping the tea , either alone or with other lovers of a good cup of tea
The only time when I prefer tea bags over loose tea is when I'm adding milk and sugar. Tea bag tea tends to be stronger and less complex which stands up to additives better while loose tea is better for drinking straight so you can pick up on the more complex and delicate nature of the leaves. Hope that makes sense.
Dear sir, can you express brewing of shouson(BPS) one day , thank you.
You do realise when the raj took the English in. The Anglish was show how to drink tea the way they made the liquor for their toddlers. And they have been drinking baby tea with milk and sugar ever since.
Also when I drink it like that in the morning I don’t really care bout complex texture. I can then only make 1 cup.
But anything else never with a tea bag haha
Exactly
.
.
I’d love a video on tea storage; dry leaf and wet leaf with more infusion left to be had.
somedudesmom tea storage for aging, as well as tea storage for keeping the daily drink tasteful. Yes please!
There is a video from Don about keeping leaves between steepings: they did experiments 3 way. Very good advice: I used the leaf-drying technique for those 15 infusion puerhs: works out every time. :)
So helpful! I found that I really like green tea when properly brewed.
I never dared to reuse my tea leaves for more than three infusions. Perhaps I should try to reuse them more.
As usual an interesting video.
I’m amazed how cleverly designed are those (I don’t know the proper name for it) glasses for brewing from mistake number 4. First the lid, then invisible filter which you can place into the lid to stop the water leaking out from the filter and finally those holders for tilting the glass with one finger. Amazing.
Absolutely educational
I love tour videos ! I am taking tea class in Taïwan with specialists ans people passionate about tea. Your information is very accurate ! You are really a master of tea
😁
Your disdain for tea bags is awesome. lol
Yes ...a real Tea Prince....ahahah 🤴
"you might want to have a quick word with them if they serve you tea like this" lol the karen of tea
When you become an addict, you want the best of the best.
I’ve never really understood why tea bags were so bad as I enjoy them on a daily basis. However no one else in my family drinks tea so I was never able to experience true loose leaf tea. So today I bought “103 Kings Oolong Tea” and I have to say I’m pretty excited to try it.
This channel is such a goldmine of wisdom❤
Ty for this knowledge and wisdom.Great video.
I drink teabag/big packet tea dust tea all my life and they never fully satisfy me. Im kinda ready to change into loose leaf eventho i dont even know where to find those in my area.
Your videos really do bring out my raging need to live the best tea life😂🤧
Ps: alot of stuff you mention here like adding more tea and not leaving the tea in the water for long are things i notice too
But hearing you actually talk abt them really forces me to stop and take note of those factors
Because im very experimental wit my brewing but honestly i dont really know what i did was wrong or right so even when i noticed my tea got too drying to drink (astringent i mean) or holding back from putting a decent amount of tea for economical purposes, i just kept doing them😅 welp this is why im here
I drink teabag/big packet tea dust tea all my life and they never fully satisfy me. Im kinda ready to change into loose leaf eventho i dont even know where to find those in my area.
Your videos really do bring out my raging need to live the best tea life😂🤧
Ditched coffee wanted to go to tea, watched this video as I was brewing my first few cups and my mind was blown
Beautiful ! So interesting ! I thought I had been drinking tea all my life, but it seems I have to start again from scratch. It is so rejuvenating! Thanks.
Just bought some 18th century style tea, useful video.
In the bad old days when I knew no better and used tea bags, I used to take out the bag after a few seconds, and reuse a bag several times. 😀
That's what I'm still doing occasionally, I'm afraid to say :-) Sometimes I think that the producers of tea bags go out of their way to make their wares as unpalatable as possible by giving detrimental brewing instructions. Imagine hitting green tea bags with boiling water and then steeping it for up to 4 minutes!
My grandparents do this, think it's quite common with the older generation at least
The temperature was the most surprising mistake. I had heard the axiom "take your teapot to the kettle, not the kettle to the tea" which is just another way of saying use water as close to the boil as possible. From that I had always assumed that tea required hotter water than coffee, not cooler as is suggested here.
It depends on the type of tea, most black teas can handle boiling water.
yeah I knew about temperature, but have just been eye balling it. I'd love a video on electric kettles. Which is the best to get? My Bodum only goes full boil with no temperature readings.
so informative!! thank you 🫖
I really get educated by your videos. We have just started producing orthodox black, green yellow and purple teas. I would like to send you samples for tasting.
Great video! Definitely what i needed to see. Especially about the amount of leaf, but also guess i need a digital thermometer to get a feel for how much cool water to add to my electric kettle .. or get a kettle like the one you have. Seems you knew that temperature really quick!
I have a saying. If you no gong fu, i no talk to you. Thank you Don for showing me the true tea way!
This was incredibly valuable information. Thank you.
Tea bags are great for the garden
Now i know why i hate tea. Because i always use a “tea bag” one. It taste disgusting, so i prefer coffee since i had the moka pot and it gave the style of taste I’ve always wanted. After watching your videos, really want to try loose leaves tea. Thankyou for the thoroughly information.
do try
But don't go for the most expensive, nor the cheapest one (as I did), loose tea can be worse than teabags (I tried cheap ripe pu-erh mini tuos... they are in the trash now, while I still drink TaeTea jasmine bags).
Around my place local teashops are only of 2 kinds : not helpful, or too expensive. So I study tea by myself !
I'm only 2 months in, Pu Erh mainly, and having a lot of fun with samples from Yunnan Sourcing and Chawang Shop, despite being a coffee only person until 3 months ago.
Thank you for teaching us how to brew right. Now I'm cringing inside over not doing multiple infusions and stewing my leaves. I realized how much tea I've wasted. 🤦♀️. But my one question is what do you do with the tea leaves when your finished brewing? Can you turn them into compost?
You filmed this with flu? Good job! Rest and get well, Don!
Thanks, yes this was pushing things slightly!
Great video for people that are starting the tea journey, I might use it as a tool when spreading the love for good quality tea 😊
In a different matter - could you please do a video about Ya Bao? I've been debating this topic with other tea heads quite a lot lately. I see there is a lot of confusion. Not many sources explain the picking and what those axillary / lateral buds are. So I believe this would be really good topic. Maybe combine it with tea tasting video for new batch of Purple Bud? Or do comparison of Elder White and Purple Bud? Anyway I think this is truly missed and needed knowledge 🤔
And please set the record straight regarding sustainability / viability of the practice, like I wrote on your instagram post for session 6. I’m very confused whether the practice is 1. Legal 2. Even if legal under certain conditions, how does sustainable cropping get controlled (if at all), 3. Enviromental impacts on rare old trees that get industrially harvested for an ever growing and inflated demand. What I read about predatory harvesting practices on gushu and wild buds puts a damper on my enjoyment of both. Verdant recently put out a not too convincing video about the sustainable origin of their sourcing, but they are the only ones actively addressing this at the moment besides kunstdestees in Germany who glat out refused to stock what they see as criminal trafficking of contraband goods. Please give us your take/understanding of the situation as well.
verdanttea.com/qianjiazhai-ailaoshan-crassicolumna-wild-tea-2-li-family-zhenyuan-dongsa-cooperative/
www.diekunstdestees.de/epages/63140717.mobile/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63140717/Categories/Blog/W_tend_auf_Wild_Buds_aus_Yunnan&Locale=de_DE
Marianne Fleur that's a good point. It's hard to know if tea is from a source of people that truly respect the environment or just some robbing it "business seekers". I believe this topic interests many of us and in case of Ya Bao I'm sure it's very important that people picking the buds know how to do it in a way to not damage the precious trees.
So all this is pretty much standard. Neat
I use teabag for plants nd garden... My nespolo tree likes brewing teabags😊 and the other plants... It's true, u can try! I use free leaf tea ( after brewing tea) too. It works too
Wow, I have always steeped my Tea 5-10 minutes, and often I leave the leaves in for a bit while drinking, I like it strong particularly with herbal teas.
i am just back from Huangshan and bought some Mao Feng and Hou GUI tea. Can’t wait to try. I was also in Camden last December and visited your shop. Unfortunately you were not in. From Malaysia. Regards
I'm a new fan of this channel. Very informative.
This is just what I needed. Super informative and useful video!
I’ve been to many a restaurant/tea house (generally western, generally expensive) where the tea is served with the leaves still in, with potentially no way to remove them. Crazy bitter and astringent, even though the leaves are often high quality. I’ve noticed it tends to happen when the tea is more of a “palate change” from something else, like tiered sweets or confections, rather than the focus. Always a bummer.
About the tea bags: I get the impression Don hasn’t watched how most brew tea bags, aha. I’ve never seen someone brew a black teabag for less than a minute or two. More like 4-6 for a regular sized cup. Tends to be very strong, giving either a coffee-like hit of bitterness, or an ample platform to add loads of cream/sugar/flavors. I don’t think of it in the same way as true tea, but I won’t lie: I do like me a good London Fog or matcha latte from time to time. Totally different, much more decadent experience. Likewise for having a western style tea party with biscuits, cookies, and other delicacies.
Hi Don, could you talk about the shelf life and storage conditions of tea? I alway wonder when my tea is going to expire
ErraticFragrance tea don't really expire but it changes over time and accordingly to the conditions it is stored in. Some tea kinds people like drinking as fresh as possible but honestly all tea kinds can be aged - therefore can be stored for decades. Nevertheless a video about proper storing tea and also aging it would be great :)
just4fit yes, storage for keeping and storage for aging is mentioned a lot!
Thanks for the video. What about brewing multiple infusions Gong-fu style and combining them in one pot? I know it's not ideal, but I think it's better than western style brewing. I do this at work when I don't have time to go to the tea station 12 times.
Thank you for shedding more light on tea brewing...
I have a challenge on a particular Tea which is Mango leaf...
I already made them into powder and packed in tea bags 2g per bag but it is taking a longer time for the tea essence to come out of the tea bag...please what can I do....Thank you in anticipation of your response...
Superb video! A thousand thanks for sharing your knowledge.
You made me fell in love with my tea... I hope i visit your teashop someday
Lol thats why I have to add a ton of honey or sugar to my tea, because its always so dry and dusty like you said. I use tea bags btw
I'm gonna try my oolongh with a bit more of a gongfu ratio. Thanks for the tip 🙂
I just tried gong fu style Tie Guan Yin and the result was mindblowing compared to the standard brewing method. When should I choose one instead of the other?
Very informative, just starting to get into loose tea. Thanks!
Thank you for the education. I've learned so much! Can't wait to start drinking my tea correctly.
I purchased two tea cakes like flowers shaped...ripe puerh...its pretty...I hope it is yummy as well. I haven't opened the little purple tea pot yet..still...im waiting for the puerh
Nice to feel when I find that I don't do any of these mistakes.
Thanks again for another interesting video. Perfect score. No mistake.
What’s minerality? Explain your psychobabble?
I'm just dipping my toes into this new way of life with tea
Thank you for your very interesting and informative videos! I'm learning a lot about this fascinating topic from you. I have one question for you. When I lived in Uzbekistan, there is a big tea drinking culture. And they practice mixing green and black teas, making what they call "Bucket". What do you know about it? Can you please comment or make a video about it? Thank you!
Thank you for making this video!
Great video content. Just one constructive criticism: Your sound is not nice. I guess you use the cameras built in mic. You should consider using a small mic you attach to your shirt.
Don, I agree with the sound comment. I’ve binged and rebinged your videos. Since a while now, I’ve been noticing that the newer videos were not as conversational/smooth/friendly/casual as the older ones from 6-12 months ago. You speak louder, more metalic/dynamic/faster. With more energetic/aggressive gesticulations. In the kettle video, your banging of teaware was almost extreme. I usually drink tea with my husband while watching. The older videos where you had longer hair, slightly more sweet baby fat, and talked slower, quieter, and more evenly, with some native shyness felt more natural - as if you were there in our living room, having tea and an eye to eye conversation, with None or at most casual commercial interest. We love those videos. Since Celine and you have cut your hairs, started wearing professional make up, and become more dynamic and assertive in the more recent videos, the native charm has been sacrificed for a more “trained” and run of the mill approach. I think the key is to find a middle road. Enjoy your tea, take the youtube pressure off, stay a friend, don’t become a showman jumping ridiculous loops - there are enough of those on boring old TV. You have enough knowledge, personality, and charisma to carry you through even your 60 min documentaries, and that week after week. Don’t get trapped in believing you need to add the professional dosis from communication trainings that kill the authenticity that makes you unique. Getting more professional, assertive, “perfect” is ok, but on youtube, authenticity and real personality counts more. That’s why we watch youtube and not some TV production that besides all trick of the trade, fall flat because they don’t have what you have: knowledge, personality, and a mission to spread the enjoyment and experience of many years. Please stay real, we teaheads love you anyway. Take the pressure off, it’s superfluous. :)
i feel out of breath after his videos in general
The intensity portrays serious passion and it becomes somewhat enthralling. Keeps me interested well past my usual attention span. 24mins... on youtube, that is a lifetime. Different teas for different folks.
They call that a lapel/lavalier mic, and he uses it sometimes.
Hey Don,
today I had a Gong Fu session with a Tie Guan Yin Oolong. About an hour after, my mood was so good man. I was laughing and giggling at pretty much everything. Is this what being tea drunk feels like or..?
What’s known as being a ‘tea Jenny’
Don't be a d-bag,
stay away from the t-bag!
Me (c) (R) (patent pending)
I like tea bags for teas that don't involve the tea plant.
Then what you like is not a t-bag, just a t-bag sized bag. Btw did you know, that they were once made of silk? Or so I've heard...
Yup. Don mentioned that in one vid, but I can't recall in which one (watched too many lately :-) ). They were ment as samples but have been brewed leaving the tea inside the silkbag and prob started the whole teabag thing.
I think tea was transported in silk bags, and somehow went underwater and probably somebody tried to drink the liquor, that came dripping out of the bag. And that is the dreaded day of the t-bag rising. A day Mister Don from Mei Leaf sees in his worst nightmares.
searched and found what Don said about that toppic (Silkbag, Teabag, how and why): ua-cam.com/video/puldqGnW9P0/v-deo.html
[edit: not saying Don knows the whole truth, the only truth, ... but for my part I wont do any more research on that one ;-) ]
I'd like to add to tip #1: the untensils you need don't *have* to be special. If you're at your friends house or are a broke student, take two glasses of the exact same shape, and after you put the leaf and pour the water in the first one, wait 15-30 seconds and then put the second cup inside of it, bottom down. That way the leaf won't follow the tea when you pour it. But if you're at home, you like your tea and respect yourself and your guests, then a connoisseur tea brewer is definitely a must have!
Apollo 440 Agreed! I've been enjoying the good stuff for well over a decade and I only got my first dedicated gaiwan a few months ago. The journey hasn't been worse for having unofficial brewing wares. 👍
Great advice. Don't get intimidated, just start. I tend to bring good tea to friends and often use whatever coffee-ware is available. A sugar pot makes for a good improv-gaiwan and a milk can is a great fairness cup :D
Cup and saucer on top also works as a gaiwan.
What you do is great, I see experience in your choices! Thanks to you more people know that Eastern Style Brewing is a choice anybody who has more than 1 cup and saucer can make, and not only the chosen ones with elaborate teaware collections.
I'm new to your channel and I just love your videos! I'm learning so much!
Thank you for the information. I still have to learn a lot.
Can you please tell me what kettle do you use? It has an very accurate temperature sensor on it?
♥ Ty!
Seems many mistakes could be explained just by wanting to spend less money on tea...
Is that possible?
Shh
Could you make a video explaining which teas should be renewed every year and which have their flavor enhanced as they age please, I am really interested in learning about this.
Roasted Oolong and Sheng Puerh as far as i know. Green and black don't stand the test of time well.
great video very informative thanks for the tips !
Very informative indeed...
Super interesting Don :) Thank you for sharing with us
I live in merica so I always use tea bags but I have wanted to get some loose leaf tea and that glass brewer from your website
don, like always, enjoying you're facts on tea!!
While watching this the tea just arrived in the mailbox :) Agree that tea bags doesn't taste good.
I think the convenience of a tea bag is less the time and more the price point, how easy you can find it, and that you don't need anything extra to use them. I like that I can try teas that I either can't find online or in a shop as well as not having to clean my tea balls as often, but it's mostly the selection. There's teas I wouldn't have been able to try otherwise
Thank you soo much 😊
I do a hybrid between western and gong fu, using a larger tea pot (4 cups) and infusing for a long time, but with 4 tablespoons of loose leaf. XD I know a lot of people don't like tannins but I love them for some odd reason. I like my tea to have a wine thickness, if that makes sense. @.@
kinda the same way i do it, i drink tea at work (1-2 l) and leave them in a vacuum insulated bottle and sometimes i dont have much time brewing in the morning.
Dahlia, try cold or ice brewing your tea overnight. I've done that with cold herbal infusions and tried coffee - the result is a less acidic and sweeter liquid.
Sometimes I enjoy the in-between style for jade oolongs. Really brings out the sweetness with longer steeps.
Rhygar666 It's so worth it when what you get out is a tea bag and hot water. -_- It should be a crime for a place to charge you over 50 cents for that!
Apollo 440 I have done an iced liquor kind of tea before, where I used gunpowder and black making it excessively strong, because I wanted to see if I can make tea like a scotch. Turns out, you sort of can. It used a lot of tea and after I put it in the fridge to chill it, then added those round ice balls. It's not a tea could drink quickly XD so it gave the effect of drinking a scotch. (I bought really cute scotch glasses only... I'm not really a fan of it. It's a bit too strong for me so I thought self, can you make them practical with tea? Yes you can. ^_^)
Don't underestimate the power of the 17th infusion
first mistake made was calling even mediocre tea "not good". The only bad tea I've had was like iced tea where they used a coffee maker or something to make the tea or tea water. Tasted like running boring tea through a coffee machine which made it barely drinkable. Most tea, even bag tea is better than not having tea!
4:40 That's the second mistake: Put tea aside for something less important ^^
👍 Good Stuff 👍
Don, I just want to say that sometimes I think your tea speaks against you. For example, your Osmanthus Oolong works so well for western brewing because it is so flavorful and smooth even after a 3-4 minute steep. I bought TGY from a local shop here and it was undrinkable after a 40 second steep haha. I don’t know why, but some teas I like better western style.
This might be what convinces me to switch to gong fu brewing
Amount of leaf in a 500ml tee pot:
Western style adds 1g tea leaf longer brewd.
(Eastern Kung-Fu) Gong-Fu style adds 6g.
Gong Fu style is way better and richer so my tee pot Gaiwan is a japanese Shiboridashi about 350ml and I'm happy with mostly 4g up to 7g Gong-Fu style brewd green tea, fused for 10-20sec. or up to 30 seconds. (70°-80°C)
Cheers taking shots
Hey Don! I was wondering when the Gong Fu Guru would be out? I have this birthday, at the end of April, for someone coming up and I would like to buy one for the person. It’s an amazing set! Please get back to me soon. Keep on keepin on great show btw
We are doing a warehouse count this week to confirm if there are any others available. It would be a handful if they are available so I have to say that you would have to pretty quick at ordering as I know that many others are waiting but click on the out of stock reminder button on the product page and you will get an email if we put any online.
Mei Leaf very well lol I have already done this and if I can’t it’s alright but thank you for your time and reply have a great morning and day!
I have a feeling the Boats are on way.
Question: Say I'm in 3rd infusion (Gong Fu) meant to brew 30 secs and accidentally end up with a minute brew. ( Say doorbell rings, phone rings, some distraction). What do I do on the 4th infusion?
I just use more hot water to dilute the "over brew, " and the following brews on will obviously be weakened and thus require slightly longer brews (As if on 5th brew, the in your example.)
I like your approach. Thanks!
This video is for people like me
Where can I buy what I need to brew tea and where do I buy tea from? I want to buy it from a local store but don't know where to go. I'm in Texas in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Do a better quality green tea will give you better quality infusions after the first brewing, and how long should a green tea be steeped?
12:50 i like leaving my tea leaves in the water, it make a stronger taste .
have you done a video on herbal teas?
This is 5 good video in 1!
Great !!!
Busted out laughing after i saw the water kettle. had this video saved before going to work without watching. during my lunch time I went over and bought a new water kettle. when i came home i watch this video as i did the first few boilings to clean it out. and he uses the same exact water kettle at 6:18.
There are so many being sold online. It is difficult to know which companies are repetable and are being honest about there teas. It is difficult to find out if the teas will be truly high quality and fresh, and not to mention truly free of chemicals or even organic.