it might be that I can’t taste anything because of rona.
burying the lede a little here
Don't put sugar in tea, that's gross. Its real easy to make tea wrong, there's a specific temp and time to steep that varies based on the color. Fuck that up and it'll either taste like nothing or like shit.
Black tea should be steeped in near boiling water for 5 minutes. The duration is debatable and can vary on varies, but do not go over 6 minutes or under 200 degrees F. Green tea should be steed in 175 degree water for three minutes. You can steep the same leaves a second time. The second steeping tastes better. Oolong tea should be 185 degrees for 4 minutes.
Herbal tea isn't real tea. Log out if anyone offers you herbal tea.
I'm a tea expert ama.
Herbal tea isn’t real tea. Log out if anyone offers you herbal tea.
Do you know why communists only drink herbal tea? Because proper tea is theft
Your only hot take is that herbal tea isn't real tea, & that they should get out.
I could agree that it's not real tea, but it already has the qualifier "herbal" so I think it's fine. Additionally there's some decent herbal teas out there, it really just depends on what you're looking for. I generally only have them at night as non-caffinated warm drinks.
I specified that herbal tea isn't tea because there's a common misconception that plants like Peppermint have any relation to Tea. "Tea" specifically refers to a plant. While colloquially we refer to any leaf steeped in water as tea, most people don't know Tea is its own plant.
Because it's marketed more than anything else, practically foisted upon us from the time we are toddlers.
Allegedly you can steep a third time, but usually the taste is took weak imo. Try playing around with timings. A gunpowder green tea steeped for 1 minute, then 2 minutes, then 3 minutes, is quite good.
TIL I've been drinking tea WRONG this entire time.
So what goes on in the infusion when you steep for 295 seconds instead of 245?
It gets bitter and you lose a lot of the other flavors.
Sorry, I misread this. Steep time is just intensity of flavor, temperature is what makes it go bitter. Steep time can still have lighter flavors get overwhelm,ed, but doesn't really do much as far as bitterness.
I want to add (tagging @infuziSporg ) that oversteeping tea can make it astringent. Astringency is the quality to make your mouth feel dry or fuzzy. My advice is to experiment using a food/confectioner thermometer and the exact temps you prefer for a particular variety. At some point you learn to tell the temp of water just by looking at the water itself.
Astringency, huh?
This is the part where I ask you if you've ever had sumac tea, an herbal infusion that I take quite a liking to.
I've not had sumac, but I am familiar because I am native american. Typically I stick to traditional tea, as my interest in tisane (the proper term for herbal tea) is purely medicinal.
Sumac tea is extremely astringent and I kinda like that quality. I actually like my black tea well-steeped; the prospect of tea-brewing being yet another thing to achieve narrow precision on makes me a bit anxious. I've always just gone by "let it really diffuse, just don't burn it outright".
For me it was less about the precision and more learning how to make something I like, which I believe is the ultimate goal. There are agreed-upon ideal ways to make tea, but with any comestible the goal is to make something you enjoy. Don't be afraid to experiment with how you make things, you may find a way to get more enjoyment in your life.
You might be eating too much sugar in the first place if your sense of taste is that dulled. Tea has flavor, but the more sugar you're used to, the more you'll need to use to feel it.
Not eating things with added sugar for a while would help to reset your tolerance for it, then sweet foods will taste very strong while normal things like unsweetened tea will have flavor you can distinguish.
It's an acquired taste, and better quality tea definitely helps. It's like beer or coffee. Just have to know what you are buying. I'm drinking peppermint tea right now and it tastes like...peppermint. I also recommend brewing loose leaf tea and following each of the leaves' individual brewing instructions as they can differ somewhat.
What kind of tea is this bougie tea you speak of? Is it an herbal tea, because to me herbal tea barely tastes like anything. Try like two black tea bags and steep for five minutes or just get some loose leaf puer if you want to really Taste Something.
What kind of herbal tea are you drinking that doesn't taste like anything? Just straight, 100% hibiscus?
