Tealosophy › Tea School

Now moving on to the super tea geek 🤓 moments in our Water for Tea workshop. The tea tasting. Whilst our 2 hour workshop was not enough time to get too far into the experiments Dr. Monika Fekete (Coffee Sciences Lab) and I set up a blind tea tasting of 2 different teas using 6 different waters. We selected a Japanese green tea (Kuritawase sencha) and a Chinese red or black tea (Golden Steed Eyebrow honey). We had chosen these 2 teas as our experience with tea and water experiments to date has shown that these 2 have the most dramatic and...

After starting what was going to be an amazing collection of Water for Tea blog posts this year it came to a bit of an abrupt stop when my many projects collided. I am pleased to report that my interest and passion for this subject didn't end and I have been doing plenty of learning and experiments behind the scenes that culminated in bringing an educational event together to benefit my local tea community. It became clear to me through your comments and engagement about water for tea that I wanted to first focus on looking at solutions for the...

Selecting a quality water for tea is not a new or modern idea. I recently had an email conversation with one of the most knowledgeable tea specialists in Australia on Chinese tea, Cathy Zhang of Ms. Cattea, who reminded me of the history attached with this element, water, in the tea making process. I feel this is important to recognise and remember when moving forward in my own journey of designing and building water for tea so as not to loose sight of the 'why'.   The historical reference Cathy reminded me of when chatting about this topic was the Classic of...

On Tuesday this week my Tea School offered its first 'seriously' nerdy tea masterclass, a tea brewing bootcamp. It was such an enjoyable evening as we worked our way through a number of tea experiments, taking the opportunity to brew tea under the same conditions, adjusting one variable; and comparing the infusions side by side. Our experiments covered brewing vessel material, leaf quality, leaf weight, water, water temperature and steeping length. It was always my intention to cover water for tea. And I was lucky to have special guest Danny Andrade, Product Development Manager of Di Bella Coffee and Australian...

Before we get started I don't want you to believe that you can not make a respectable cup of tea in Brisbane. In the arena of taste there is a level of subjectivity that is unique to each individual. I personally have had some of the most satisfying brews as well as some of the most disappointing in this city. It has taken me a little while to stop the denial about the impact of the local tap water in the tea making process. After adjustments to brewing parameters and a really interesting experience bringing samples back from Japan and experiencing...