[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/ck/ - Food & Cooking

View post   
File: 196 KB, 815x1200, 1380852367779.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4946734 No.4946734[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Wouldn't it be better to powder tea leaves to increase the surface area that's exposed to the hot water?

>> No.4946737

isn't that what japs do. matcha or whatever.

>> No.4946758

No
Take container
Add herb
Put in boiling water
Drunk that shit like the posh motherfucker you are

>> No.4946806

>>4946734
Hey OP, there's another process optimization you might have missed: countercurrent vs batch maceration. Try to brew some tea in a filter coffee machine and post results.

>> No.4946856

>>4946737
Yes.

>> No.4946858

>>4946737
OP just described this

>> No.4947115
File: 244 KB, 833x1200, 1380852471493.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
4947115

>>4946737
Then why are bags so frowned upon?

>> No.4947131

>>4946734

Yes and no, because of exposure to air, and the fact that the particles would become suspended.

>> No.4947132

>>4947115

Bags conceal the appearance of the tea, which means that teabags are usually filled with lower quality tea. In other words, there's more dust and stems as opposed to proper leaves.

>> No.4947135

>>4947115
The tea dust/fannings in teabags is usually the byproduct of handling tea leaves.
http://youtu.be/DjiDn3830_s?t=4m48s
Matcha is made with whole, high quality leaves with an intensive growing process specifically to make it matcha. That's why it's expensive as shit.

>> No.4947137

>>4946734
>Wouldn't it be better to powder tea leaves to increase the surface area that's exposed to the hot water?

For most teas, no. The reason is that you only want part of the flavors from the tea leaves, not all of it. Powdering the tea does indeed enable more surface area to be exposed to the water, but that gives you more of the "bad" as well as the good.

The reason why different types of tea are best brewed with specific times and water temperatures is to optimize the good flavors while getting as little of the bad ones as possible. Steep too short and the flavor is weak, steep it too long and it gets bitter. Same thing with how the tea is cut up or powdered. About the only type of tea that works well as a powder is Macha (Japanese green tea); most other teas taste worse as a powder.

>> No.4947144

>>4946806
I do this. I have separate autodrip pots for tea and coffee. I do not powder the tea leaves, though. Just plop'em right in, 2g per 100ml of water plus an extra 2g per every 500ml IE 400ml of water will use 8g of tea but 500ml will use 12g.
One 150g tin of tea yields me 6l of brewed tea and costs me only $2.99.