Heaven of Tea

Last month we gained a deeper understanding of 7 Taiwanese teas and explored the regions in which they are grown, aromas, flavors, etc. To continue this foreign lesson in tea, I wanted to share yet another wonderful video that takes a closer look at the proper way to brew Taiwanese tea.

Steep your favorite Taiwanese tea and watch this beautiful video that shares imagery of tea gardens and harvesting methods, tea ware, appearance and flavor profiles of Taiwanese tea (wenshan pouchong, oriental beauty, tongting oolong, high mountain oolong), and most important, the suggested way to steep tea.

And for those who want to try the art of Taiwanese steeping at home, here is a recap:

Pot Of Tea:

Heat water to 194 degrees for Wenshan pouchong and 185 degrees for Oriental Beauty. Although timing depends on quality of the tea, here is the suggested process: For the first brew, steep tea for one minute. Pour tea into another pot and then gently fill cups evenly, filling the cups ¼ of the way with each pour. By distributing the tea in this manner you will ensure that the strength is balanced. When resteeping the tea for a second pour, reduce the brewing time to 20-30 seconds, as the flavor was already released in the 1^st steep.

Taiwanese Steep cheat sheet:

• 1st brewing: 60 seconds
• 2^nd brewing: 20 seconds
• 3^rd brewing: 45 seconds
• 4^th brewing: 1 minute 20 seconds
• 5th brewing: 2 minute 20 seconds

One large cup of tea:

Unlike traditional methods of steeping tea in an infuser, this video instructs one to add the tea leaves directly to the cup that you will be drinking the tea from. The easy way to determine water and tea leaf quantity can be solved with the following equation: Multiply the number of ounces of water that your cup holds by 1.15 percent to determine the amount of tea to add to the cup.

Water OZ that cup holds   x    0.015= tea OZ to add to cup

Once you determine the amount of tea needed, add tealeaves directly to cup and pour the water (heated to the appropriate temperature). Steep the tea for ten minutes. At this point, the tea is now cool enough to drink. For those concerned about oversteeping: According to the video, the water-solulable elements have completely dissolved, which means that the leaves will not need to be removed and the taste will not be overly strong

Give the suggested steep secrets and try and see if they excite your palate! Once you mastered the art of Taiwanese steeping, take out your prized teapot/cups and invite friends over to enjoy your newly learned steeping methods.