What is in your cup?

[RarneyBubble]

Green tea.

[Latinandgreek]

Water, and now I'm off to bed!

[bjones6416]

Rooibos Vanilla Almond.

And I want to say to all my tea club friends here that this new tea hobby could not have come at a better time, so thanks to all of you! I'm still trying to find the right balance in my new retired state, and I was afraid that I would fall into unfortunate snacking habits. Instead, I turn on the electric kettle (by far the BEST investment I've made in tea supplies) pretty much every time I walk into the house, or even move from one task to another. Drinking tea keeps my hands occupied while I'm reading, writing, or knitting, and since I don't care for sweet drinks (or milky ones), it's a calorie-free habit.

[Pookeysgirl]

It's empty I think I'll make chai

[tennoel]

the carrot juice with extra vitamins from trader joes

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by astra

Do you believe in coincidence?
I bought a very similar one for my wife. I bought it yesterday.

Enjoying the first black tea of the day! I overslept this morning and am quite happy about it!

Amazing! There must have been something in the air yesterday. I was looking at a French Press at Starbucks yesterday afternoon. (While their tea is nothing to write home about, I've become addicted to their Chocolate Chunk Cookie!)

I guess I just like gadgets so the press grabbed my attention. But looking at it closely I noticed two problems (that were mentioned in Betty's video.) The lid is plastic, and tea really REALLY picks up a foul plastic taste easily, and second, cleaning it would be difficult. The tea oils and tannin coat my mug with a thick brown layer if it doesn't get washed regularly with a powdered cleanser. And as my mug is usually filled all the time, it suffers from not getting washed regularly. By the third day the flavor of my tea is really off, prompting me to give it a good scrubbing.

While it will be easy to clean the glass surface of the press, how can one get into the wire mesh of the plunger to clean between the wires? I've tried several different 'soakers' over the years, and nothing seems to do the job well enough. Bleach removes the color but not the problem, as do denture soaks. Baking soda removes objectionable smells, but not the oils. Only scrubbing with a cleanser gets the job done for me.

Betty, Astra, let us know how you folks make out with it.


Stitchawl

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Enjoying the first black tea of the day! I overslept this morning and am quite happy about it!

Amazing! There must have been something in the air yesterday. I was looking at a French Press at Starbucks yesterday afternoon. (While their tea is nothing to write home about, I've become addicted to their Chocolate Chunk Cookie!)

I guess I just like gadgets so the press grabbed my attention. But looking at it closely I noticed two problems (that were mentioned in Betty's video.) The lid is plastic, and tea really REALLY picks up a foul plastic taste easily, and second, cleaning it would be difficult. The tea oils and tannin coat my mug with a thick brown layer if it doesn't get washed regularly with a powdered cleanser. And as my mug is usually filled all the time, it suffers from not getting washed regularly. By the third day the flavor of my tea is really off, prompting me to give it a good scrubbing.

While it will be easy to clean the glass surface of the press, how can one get into the wire mesh of the plunger to clean between the wires? I've tried several different 'soakers' over the years, and nothing seems to do the job well enough. Bleach removes the color but not the problem, as do denture soaks. Baking soda removes objectionable smells, but not the oils. Only scrubbing with a cleanser gets the job done for me.

Betty, Astra, let us know how you folks make out with it.


Stitchawl

I can answer the cleaning part of it! I saw a review of this cheap Ikea one compared to the Bodum one which commented how much easier this one is to clean. I don't know about any other kind, but on this one the plunger part just unscrews from the stem and separates into three parts: The top metal plate with the holes, the filter screen, and the bottom metal ring. It just takes a couple of seconds, and you are able to thoroughly clean all parts. I don't know that it's any particular advantage to use it, but I did make a good cup of Earl Grey in it. I don't intend to use it for coffee -- it's cheap enough that I'll just get another one for coffee if I think I need it.

[bjones6416]

Here's a pic of the plunger part disassembled:

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

Here's a pic of the plunger part disassembled:

I'm curious about how the tea will taste after about 3-4 weeks of use. I'm sure you clean a lot better than I do (anyone can clean a lot better than I do .) So I'll be waiting to hear your results. I have several tea 'ball' strainers that I no longer use because I can never get the mesh clean enough not to flavor my tea. While I don't care about the looks, I do care about the flavor, and so have stopped using the screen type infusers. If you guys can come up with a way to remove the oils and tannin from screens, I'll be a happy camper. They are an easy way to use loose leaf tea. Here are some of the ones I have moved to the back of the drawer because of the problem.







I'd love to be able to use these again.


Stitchawl

[ProfCrash]

ACKKK

those are evil. Evilevilevilevilevilevil

They don't give the tea enough room to expand so the tea does not taste as yummy as it should. Get a cup infuser.

I use Polident to clean my basket infusers. The denture cleaners are built to remove stains from dentures and work really well on tea and coffee gear.

http://shop.tgtea.com/store/product/...ent-Teafilter/

http://shop.tgtea.com/store/product/...iner-w-Handle/

[happy_terd]

Water.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I'm curious about how the tea will taste after about 3-4 weeks of use. I'm sure you clean a lot better than I do (anyone can clean a lot better than I do .) So I'll be waiting to hear your results. I have several tea 'ball' strainers that I no longer use because I can never get the mesh clean enough not to flavor my tea. While I don't care about the looks, I do care about the flavor, and so have stopped using the screen type infusers. If you guys can come up with a way to remove the oils and tannin from screens, I'll be a happy camper. They are an easy way to use loose leaf tea. Here are some of the ones I have moved to the back of the drawer because of the problem.

I'd love to be able to use these again.


Stitchawl

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

ACKKK

those are evil. Evilevilevilevilevilevil

They don't give the tea enough room to expand so the tea does not taste as yummy as it should. Get a cup infuser.

I use Polident to clean my basket infusers. The denture cleaners are built to remove stains from dentures and work really well on tea and coffee gear.

http://shop.tgtea.com/store/product/...ent-Teafilter/

http://shop.tgtea.com/store/product/...iner-w-Handle/

Very useful (to me). I am using a large sphere infuser with a handle. Not anymore after this. Although as the infuser is almost as large as the large cup that I use as a makeshift teapot, I tend to believe that the leafs could expand as freely as without the infuser, almost.

I will change my technique of brewing. At least for the black teas, (at the moment I am drinking those only). I will put the naked leafs in the cup and strain the brew in a second brewing cup. I do these things in the proximity of the sink and I have plenty of room. Rinsing under water will be enough I think. I use transparent glass drinking cups.

Thank you.

An other thing that I discovered yesterday. I brewed my freshly acquired Keemun, and let it steep for exactly 4 minutes, which is a little more than what I do usually. Tasted different. I brought it back to the original flavor by diluting it with a bit of hot water (about 20%). I think that I will do the experiment of sipping little cups of it while it is brewing, with progressive steeping time, like from 2 minutes on, and decide what is the best for me. I am not sure that I like it more when it is stronger.

It is a never ending story.

[phenomshel]

pineapple orange juice.

[astra]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

ACKKK
those are evil. Evilevilevilevilevilevil

http://shop.tgtea.com/store/product/...iner-w-Handle/

They served tea in Bath with this one
Other are evil indeed.
I use London Teapot tea infuser with lid/base at home and at work. Very convenient because it has a lid that you can put the infuser into when you hear the timer no need to run to the kitchen again.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Betty, Astra, let us know how you folks make out with it.

An answer to your question: I got another extra kiss in the morning after she filled in the thermos

I don't think my wife is as picky as you She would not notice slight difference in taste, let alone she drinks, at least at the moment, Pu-Erh and green tea with additional ingredients that confuse/overshadow the original tea.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

ACKKK

those are evil. Evilevilevilevilevilevil

They don't give the tea enough room to expand so the tea does not taste as yummy as it should. Get a cup infuser.

Prof, the ball infuser is the size of the cup. It's not like the little spring-loaded spoon-sized thing. But the problem remains, there is no way to clean between the wires of the mesh. It's just too fine.

I use Polident to clean my basket infusers. The denture cleaners are built to remove stains from dentures and work really well on tea and coffee gear.

Polident was the very first denture cleaner I tried. While it did make the infuser 'look' cleaner, it didn't make it 'taste' cleaner.' I tried several other brands with the same result. I had the same problem with bleach. Looked great; tasted like resin. Now if I use an infuser, I use a stainless steel 'ball' type. Something like this;



It's easier for me to keep clean. It's large enough for my mug too, and that holds a liter of tea. But since I found good quality empty tea bags, I don't use any infuser any more. The tea bags don't impart any taste to the tea, and I can just throw them away. I still like the 'idea' of the French Press. It just wouldn't work for me.

Stitchawl