I also recently found our TDS metre (Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) of a solution). Why do we have that at home and why should it matter? It probably doesn't matter to most of you. But we live near the mountains and the water is pretty hard here. So we have our own reverse osmosis filter system for drinking and boiling water. I will have none of that scaling in my kettle!
As you may or may not know, perfect (or near perfect) H²O is not the best medium for tea making. Tea needs minerals to develop in flavour during the steeping process. Not too much, but enough. For that reason, I have a mineral package which sends back some good minerals in my water at the turn of 2 switches. I seldom record how much of the particles are found in my re-mineralized drinking water. We moved recently so for a time, this little metre was lost. Before I did this tea cupping, I recorded a TDS record of 86. I guess the old filers were due as I'd normally see 34-ish. 86 is preh-tty good! I'm expecting my next experiences will be more interesting from now on. Until I need to change my mineral filter again. Next time, I want to try a gyokuro with my mineralized water vs something like Fiji bottled water.
So here's the round-up of December 2016's tea cupping (we went on surprise vacation! YAY! Shoddy internet access, more connection with me. That was nice). I included the frosty cup's liquor colour shots since it came out differently and we don't all use the same vessels. Gives you variety.
Dry leaf: Twiggy medium brown and dark camo green leaves, some lighter brown (straw) were seen on the twigs. The length of said twiggy leaves was approximately 2 to 2 ½ cm. They were dry and brittle, but they didn't seem "old" to me. I support this because of the nice nutty aroma with light but rich mocha coffee grounds notes, as well as dry wood (good ol' bark), damp soil earthiness and caramelized apple finish.
Recommended steeping method:
Amount: 3g
Water: 120-130 ml
Temperature: 90-100°C
Time: 30 seconds
1st steeping:
(Senchado)
Liquor: Had a peach/dark orange colour reminding me of ochre but peachier. Some dust was found at the bottom of my cup but the liquid looked clear, shiny and I'd even say silky. It had smooth rich mocha notes with toasted chestnuts and a sweetness reminiscent of beeswax (a little honeyed). I caught some light damp soil earthiness we had with the dry leaves and maybe a slight hint of leather.
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| 1st Steeping - In a white cup |
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| 1st Steeping - In a frosted translucent cup |
Taste: A good astringency to it that wasn't overwhelming (it was in good taste, haha), strong-bodied with toasted chestnuts coming back as flavours as well, the beeswax and the leather I thought I caught a whiff of earlier.
Wet leaves: They smelled SO STRONGLY! Gamy and leathery with raisins, wet wood (think driftwood) and damp leaves. Obviously, these are damp leaves, I'm thinking about those found on the forest floor after a light rain. Then the colours were medium to dark green to same spectrum brown. They were shiny like I think good leaves should look like when wet.
Then I did a second steeping!
I lowered the temperature to 90°C, Kept the same tea leaves as I always do for subsequent steepings, went for approximately 120 ml and another 30 seconds. Same senchado method.
The liquor had the same colour as the first steeping, but the notes of toasted chestnuts, leather and beeswax came out as stronger this time.
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| 2nd Steeping - In a white cup |
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| 2nd Steeping - In a frosted translucent cup |
The taste became slightly less astringent, the texture more mellow and rounded, structured bodied and more flowing.
I really enjoyed this second steeping.
Next time I will test the waters and see where the differences lie! I will arm myself with the TDS meter!
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