Sunday, September 02, 2007

Glass Brewing: Lao Cong Shui Xian

LCSX Grandpa StyleAfter having pleasant results with brewing green tea grandpa style, I thought I'd try something else. I think MarshalN once mentioned brewing shui xian grandpa style on a train or plane or something, so I figured I'd give it a try with some Lao Cong Shui Xian (not having any cheaper Wuyi laying around at the moment).

Using similar parameters as with the green tea, about 4g in 135°F water, I found this to be quite pleasant. It's not as rich as if I had brewed it "gong fu" (I use quotes because I doubt my technique could truly be called gong fu) style, but it still exhibits good fruity and chocolatey character. It is more enjoyable than plain water, to say the least.

Gaiwan Lid in GlassThe one problem I had was that unlike the Chinese green I used earlier, these leaves don't like to settle on the bottom of the glass (see above). Ingesting the occasional tea leaf doesn't bother me, but I'd rather this be a beverage and not a snack. After spending a couple of minutes looking for a solution, I found that one of my gaiwan lids fits almost perfectly in the mouth of the glass. At first I thought I was clever, until I realized this is nothing more than an extra-tall (Venti? Grande? I don't speak Starbucks) gaiwan. Carrying this contraption around campus would probably attract some strange looks from passers-by, but it works fine at my desk. :)

4 comments:

Steven Dodd said...

I've seen some tea bottles that are like a water bottle but have a filter at the top to keep the leaves out of your mouth. I'm sure this could be quite handy for walking about.

Space Samurai said...

hmmm, I think I have to give this a try. Maybe I can start a new trend here in Texas. I'll just have to tell everyone that this is an ancient Chinese method to maximizing weight loss.

~ Phyll said...

Hi Brent,

Funny how you call it "grandpa style", too, like MarshalN. I think MarshalN called it so because that's how his grandpa drinks tea. :)

Anonymous said...

There's a photo in the book "First Steps to Puerh Tea" (I think...) of a tea factory worker with a tall clear glass on her work table with green tea leaves in the bottom and what looks like a piece of cloth covering the top held on with a rubber band.

Similar to some of the commercial travel mugs out there with built-in filters. :)

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