Breaking the Rules

Preparing your tea with the right amount of leaf, temperature and time is paramount to making a good pot of tea.  Using appropriate teaware can also help shape the tea's flavour to perfection.  But this post isn't about following established traditions and etiquette, it's about breaking them.  Below are four methods of making your tea that your sensei or shifu won't teach you. 


Ice-Brewed Tea
I've only done this with Japanese green teas so far, but the results were favourable enough that I'll try this again with my other teas.  There are variations but this is the method I used: First, place the normal amount of dry leaf into the pot, then fill the pot with as many ice cubes that it will fit (or you have left after margarita night).  Let it sit for as long as it takes for all the ice to melt (it took over a half-hour for me) and then serve.  The result is a really smooth brew devoid of astringency.  This can be a good brewing method for those stubbornly bitter teas you've given up on and are lost in the back of your tea cabinet.  Credit goes to Kohei for giving me the idea.

Worth the wait

Blend-By-Brew
This is different than just drinking a blended tea.  The idea is to steep two or more different teas according to their own specs and then combine them after.  The advantage here is that the leaves retain their characteristics by not having been blended together and by being steeped at their own specifications, it ensures that neither tea is over or under steeped.  For instance, I made one pot of Yunnan Gold Buds with boiling water at four minutes and one pot of Houjicha with 90C water at one minute.  Once finished, I combined them into one pot for a tea that was sweet, roasted, nutty, and chocolatey.  Try this out and let me know of any good combinations you find.  Bonus points if you avoid using flavoured teas. 

Zavarka
Many of you may be familiar with the Samovar, a metal "self-boiler" that is the traditional method of brewing black tea in Russia.  It's a metal, heated water dispenser with a teapot on top.  The black tea is left to sit in the teapot indefinitely, creating a dark, over-saturated brew called the Zavarka.  You wouldn't drink this straight unless, that is, you don't mind when people can hear your heart drumming against your chest from across the room.  Instead, you would add just a little of the concentrated tea in your cup and fill it the rest of the way with water from the Samovar.  Why is this worth trying with other teas?  There are different flavour components in tea that come out slower than others and aren't as pronounced when tea is steeped in the usual way.  The Zavarka method allows for all the flavour to come out fully, making those "subtle notes" as pronounced as the base flavours.  I wouldn't recommend this with a green tea because they will lose their freshness by sitting too long, but black, oolong and puerh teas are fair game. 

Matcha Bomb
Is the Japanese tea ceremony a bit too refined for your taste?  Why not give it a bit more of a pub treatment, a-la "Irish car bomb".  First, prepare a pot of Gyokuro in the usual way and make a ceremonial quality matcha serving with whisk and bowl. 

Pour the Gyokuro in a tall glass (not too full)

and the matcha into a cocktail shaker with ice. 

 

Shake.

Pour iced matcha into a shot glass,

drop the shot glass into the gyokuro and chug. 

 Yes, CHUG! 

Aside from the amazing flavour, you can expect a powerful energy boost and a feel-good buzz after.

The possibilities in tea are endless and many of the most popular methods of making this ancient beverage aren't nearly as ancient themselves.  In reality, we're not rule breaking, we're just rule making.  Try out these methods and let me know what you think.  Do you have your own secret brewing methods?  Please share!