What should I use to brew tea? (A question from a beginner)
Hello, before I ask this question I feel I should provide some background information since this is my first post.
I first started drinking tea around May of this year. Over the summer it was only through store bought tea bags, but that all changed two weeks ago once I received a ‘Perfect Tea Maker’ from teavana. Since then I have really gotten into it, the difference between store bought tea bags and real quality loose leaf has blown my mind.
Currently the device is working great for me but I know I will need to buy a formal tea maker eventually. With that in mind what should I buy? Should it be a standard set? Possibly a Gaiwan (just learned of them on the night of this posting so still unsure of how they work)? Or something else entirely?
As I said my “Teavana Perfect teaMaker” (here is a shortened link to it bit.ly/1ALyDJF) is working perfectly at the moment but I would still love to hear about other possibilities. One thing to keep in mind is that I am currently a student so I am pretty short on cash (part of the reason Gaiwans have peaked my interest).
Well thanks for your time reading this and any possible input. I truly appreciate it all.
Hey RyanJ, welcome to Steepster!
I do the majority of my tea brewing with a mug & a finnum basket.
Teapots are also nice, especially if I’m having a guest, or I don’t want to have to get up to brew another cup so soon. I have a cast iron green dragonfly teapot I got at Teavana forever ago. I like it because the tea stays hot for awhile.
I also use Gaiwans for some teas, mostly oolongs, but I’ve used them for puerh & black teas as well. And I have a few yixings, which I love.
It’s easy to spend a lot of money on teaware, but you don’t really have to. You can do short gongfu style steepings with the equipment you already have :)
On the other hand, a Gaiwan is handy…
I do all my steeping at home in something very similar to the Perfect Tea Maker. If I have a good Yunnan that I want to take time with, I use a little teapot (4 oz) with a strainer built in the spout – leave the tea in the pot and pour out little cups over 5-10 minutes. At work, I use a mug and an in-mug infuser.
I suggest you hold off and see what seems to be missing in your experience before buying anything more. There is no reason you can’t make tea forever in your perfect tea maker, I know people that do. I only suggest this because with tea (as with all hobbies) it is easy to get carried away and spend too much too fast on things you won’t really use. If you’re interested in gongfu brewing and it is something you will likely commit to, at least on occasion, then get yourself aninexpensive gaiwan and learn how to use it. If you find you always want to just make the tea and be ready to drink, that would be a bit much. If you find you want to share tea with people, you might want to look at a medium sized teapot with an infuser, but you could always use a regular pot and pour through a strainer or get some T-sac style bags and make individual cups. If you’re comfortable with it, you could also just brew grandpa style in a mug.
There are tonnes of options and I think it all depends on what you’re interested in and how you’re interested in doing it. Then there’s the issue of what you prefer to drink. If you like whites, oolongs, greens you will want a way to use cooler water. That could involve an inexpensive variable temp kettle or something as simple as a pot on the stove with or without a thermometer. For years, I boiled water and let it sit a few minutes before pouring for my more sensitive teas. In the end all you need is something to heat water and something to drink out of. All the rest can be wonderful, but maybe overwhelming. Kind of like this post.
:)
Also, buy in the smallest size possible at first. Then decide after a few cups if you want more. I was a college student when I got into loose leaf and spent way too much on 100g tins because I didn’t realize I could buy less at a time (at David’s).
Pay attention to what you like and don’t force yourself to like something if you don’t. There’s always more out there!
This is all excellent advice!
I have a large, glass IKEA teapot with an infuser basket ($10), a medium ceramic Bee House teapot with infuser basket (not sure on price, it was a gift), a cotton tea sock on a plastic ring ($5), and a small gaiwan ($10) with a pitcher ($6) and some tiny cups ($0.70 each), but most often, I just use the infuser from my IKEA teapot directly in a mug to make a single cup of tea.
I’ll probably invest in a variable temp kettle soon, but for now I have a regular electric kettle and a candy thermometer ($5) which works just fine.
I’m always very tempted to run out and buy a lot of stuff when I start getting really into a new interest, but when I’m able to restrain myself and really figure out what I need first that has always paid off.
Like for now, tempting as it is, I’ve decided I do not need to invest in any yixing teapots.
But when I started making a lot of tea I realized that I did need a dedicated measuring spoon for tea, because using my regular measuring spoons always meant digging through the drawer or being unable to find my teaspoon when I wanted to bake. And having a small plate that’s always out by the tea making supplies, for putting my infusers on was a must as well, to keep my space feeling clean and organized. Also a cordless kettle with a separate base made my life a lot easier than having to unplug it each time I wanted to fill or pour.
I’m planning to pick up a second gaiwan, pitcher and set of cups for my partner’s place, since we drink a lot of tea together. I’m probably going to order a travel tea set off Aliexpress. They have some nice looking ones for <$15. Thrift stores can also be a great source for tea ware.
And oh yes, places that do sampler sizes of tea are awesome. Discovering I could get 12g of anything at DAVIDs was great.
Steepster makes me think I need yixing. I don’t. I know that. That’s why I still don’t have any. I have small pots for gongfu, and I rarely will drink the same tea often enough to get any value out of the clay. They’re also quite expensive (compared to ceramic or not buying a pot). But man, Steepster makes me think I need one.
Yup. I’ve been on an online shopping kick and I very nearly ended up ordering a bunch of yixing pots, but I really, really don’t need them, and it would take me forever to get them seasoned to the point where they would be giving back. But soooo tempting.
“I only suggest this because with tea (as with all hobbies) it is easy to get carried away and spend too much too fast on things you won’t really use”
Totally support this last statement, easy does it. I make a lot of my tea in an Ingenuitea but i’ve different pots and drinking vessels to choose from. There’s no rush
It’s your journey, see where it takes you. You can make perfectly great tea in your gravity steeper. I use mine several times a day. If I am feeling the need for more aesthetics in my tea drinking, I switch over to a gaiwan set, but honestly most of the time the gravity steeper is my go to since I’m getting a mug of tea and working.
You can brew most teas anywhere, having a teapot is just an accessory.
But using the right teapot for the right tea (for example, a kyusu for Japanese tea) adds more to the tea brewing experience, so it’s useful, even if only for the aesthetic part of it.
Welcome! I can’t add anything to the already great advice other than to say when I first discovered loose leaf I used a tea ball and a mug. I was happy with this method until I got a friend into loose tea. He bought a French Press at Starbucks for less than $15. I loved it so much I bought my own. It pretty much is the equivalent of your tea maker. I own a gaiwan, a yixing, some assorted pots, and a Finum. The press is still my daily go to. Point, like others have said, don’t be in a big hurry. My best next purchase was a variable kettle. Walmart has a reasonably inexpensive one that works well for me. You can get sucked into spending hundreds but you don’t need to do that. Just take time and enjoy what you have.
The best advice I would give you is go to a local tea store and look at what they have in the way of teapots. It is easy to buy the wrong size teapot online when you don’t know what to look for. Don’t however put too much into a commission driven sales advice. Buy the size teapot for how much tea you use in one cup. Unless you are doing gongfu tea a basic teapot will do and many styles will work.
Welcome! I would use what seems to be the easiest and most familiar way you have started with. You can always develop over time to different variations when you want to branch out into other teas. Some teas use different techniques to get the most from them. Small steps and you will always find people on here willing to help you out.
They helped me a bunch.
Welcome! I think you started off pretty well with the gravity steeper (Perfect Teamaker). All one really needs for tea is a vessel, tea, and hot water. For years I did with just cups and loose tea. Sometimes I would just dump the tea leaves in the saucepan I used to heat the water.
I would assume you already have a mug or cup of some sort to use with your tea maker. Disposable tea bags you can fill yourself are useful when you’re on the go or don’t want to deal with cleaning your tea maker, or a tea strainer of some sort if you aren’t into disposable things. You could also just let the leaves stay in the cup while you enjoy it, there’s nothing wrong with that- it only makes it a bit harder to control brewing times.
The thing with tea (and any hobby) is there’s a wide array of accessories available, that you don’t necessarily need, but it’s really easy to spend alot of money in excitement. I don’t currently have any yixing, gaiwans, etc. I do have a LOT of tea, and probably need to invest in a thermometer. Once you get more comfortable with your new hobby you can step back and see what accessories would really benefit you and your style of tea making. My favorite accessory to date is a timer.
I myself go through phases where I’m using my gravity steeper alot, or my in-mug strainer alot, or thermos brewing. =) There’s lots of ways to brew tea. There are only a few ways you can completely mess up a cup. And then usually you can just try again. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
First off I would like to say wow, I really appreciate so many responses so quickly.
Thanks for all the advice as well, after reading all of your posts it has become apparent that I should just wait and hold off buying anything like a kettle or gaiwan for the time being. For now I am sure that my current tea maker will work just fine along with my current thermometer.
Once again thanks for such fast amazing responses, they make me sure that I have found the right place to stay and learn!
Yeah. Best to buy on an as-needed basis. Because some of these things? you’ll never need. Gaiwans are nice but I don’t need or use the one I have. My pots are on display, not used. I had great hopes for my yixing but I really don’t use it that often. I love my Breville, but that’s on the pricier side. If you start having bitterness or temperature issues, a variable temp kettle or just a thermometer. Too many pieces of junk leaking through your current steeper maybe needs a finer (Finium) steeper or some t-sacs. For every high tech solution, there’s usually a really low-tech and cheap one as well. It all works.
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