Hrm. So maybe this whole work tea experience isn’t working out quite as well as I hoped!
So I figured I’d finish off the sample that takgoti sent me, and try some Ancient Emerald Lily at work (I have a tin of this as well).
I think the problem is actually my Flavia machine’s water. I’m not sure having the water run through the same spout that produces coffee and hot chocolate and various types of tea is such a good thing. Or maybe it’s just the water that tastes bad…
Anyway, this tea, which is one that I found in the past to be very enjoyable, pretty much fell flat today. None of the flavors really stood out. There was a weird, almost mineral-like taste, and the formally nutty notes were really harsh and unpleasant. The lower water temperature I used really caused the tea to lose a lot of its astringency, which was definitely pleasant. And as the cup cooled, there was definite green-sweet peeping through.
But overall, the cup just wasn’t as good as I’ve had in the past. Tea is probably 99% water, so I have a feeling the water might be the key to my problem. The next step is going to be boiling some water in the microwave and then letting it cool to an appropriate temperature. Or I might test another tea, like Adagio’s Gunpowder, and see how it stands up to these icky water conditions. I don’t want to be ruining tea with bad water.
Looks like the hot water kettle + bottled water might just end up being the more viable option…
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Aww, poor teaplz and your bad tea experiences. There’s always the option of bringing a cup of tea in a thermos, that’ll get you a morning cup of tea =]
Even though I have a kitchen, I think I might bring an electric water kettle as well and leave it by my desk. I was just wondering how I would separate the tea leaves. I mean I’d technically have to head to the kitchen to clean it… so that eliminates the whole purpose. Then again I could have oolong and green which would work for multiple steeps. Decisions decisions.
Coffee flavour does rub off something awful! We’ve had that problem at work too, where the thermos pots used for my tea and the coffee are the same colour, so the lids have sometimes been switched around in spite of them being labeled. I have to make a whole new round of tea then, because if it isn’t noticed before I start pouring, the whole lot just tastes of coffee. It is not pleasant.
My water at work is nasty, especially heated, so I feel your pain. I used to bring bottled water to make tea but found that it made it taste a bit flat. (Apparently distilled water doesn’t make the best flavored tea – there was a site that did a great post comparing teas made with distilled, tap and filtered water – they also did another one with brewing vessel materials – glass, iron, clay. Really interesting but I have no idea where it was so boo). Anyway, now I bring a refillable water bottle to work every day with filtered water from home. I feel a bit like a dork doing it but it makes for happy tea so I’m happy. (I also have an electric kettle here for my tea so I’m pretty sure I am a dork). Anyway, it all boils down to what ends up working for you which can take some trial and error to figure out. Good luck and may you get it all perfected soon!
(Wow – long comment. So sorry!)
Oh dear. I’ll second Auggy – I’ve made tea from bottled water before in a pinch and it does not work well. Not that I want to encourage you to set up camp in your office, but a little Brita pitcher might be a good way to go unless the sink is…you know, all the way over there. Either that or Auggy’s water bottle idea is made of win as well.
I think it may not be your water, because I’m using deer park bottled water, and I got the same result with this tea. I had a very similar reaction. Perhaps we need to brew it longer, like someone here suggested. 3 minutes was definitely not enough.
Aww, poor teaplz and your bad tea experiences. There’s always the option of bringing a cup of tea in a thermos, that’ll get you a morning cup of tea =]
Even though I have a kitchen, I think I might bring an electric water kettle as well and leave it by my desk. I was just wondering how I would separate the tea leaves. I mean I’d technically have to head to the kitchen to clean it… so that eliminates the whole purpose. Then again I could have oolong and green which would work for multiple steeps. Decisions decisions.
Coffee flavour does rub off something awful! We’ve had that problem at work too, where the thermos pots used for my tea and the coffee are the same colour, so the lids have sometimes been switched around in spite of them being labeled. I have to make a whole new round of tea then, because if it isn’t noticed before I start pouring, the whole lot just tastes of coffee. It is not pleasant.
My water at work is nasty, especially heated, so I feel your pain. I used to bring bottled water to make tea but found that it made it taste a bit flat. (Apparently distilled water doesn’t make the best flavored tea – there was a site that did a great post comparing teas made with distilled, tap and filtered water – they also did another one with brewing vessel materials – glass, iron, clay. Really interesting but I have no idea where it was so boo). Anyway, now I bring a refillable water bottle to work every day with filtered water from home. I feel a bit like a dork doing it but it makes for happy tea so I’m happy. (I also have an electric kettle here for my tea so I’m pretty sure I am a dork). Anyway, it all boils down to what ends up working for you which can take some trial and error to figure out. Good luck and may you get it all perfected soon!
(Wow – long comment. So sorry!)
Oh dear. I’ll second Auggy – I’ve made tea from bottled water before in a pinch and it does not work well. Not that I want to encourage you to set up camp in your office, but a little Brita pitcher might be a good way to go unless the sink is…you know, all the way over there. Either that or Auggy’s water bottle idea is made of win as well.
I think it may not be your water, because I’m using deer park bottled water, and I got the same result with this tea. I had a very similar reaction. Perhaps we need to brew it longer, like someone here suggested. 3 minutes was definitely not enough.