Measure Your Tea

3 grams per 8 ounces water

For the non-geeky tea drinker, this is about 1 rounded tsp of loose tea. We're talking about a measuring teaspoon, not the teaspoon in your silverware set. That’s why they call it a teaspoon.

If you have an extremely bulky or fluffy tea, we suggest using a heaping tsp or even two teaspoons.

If you have an extremely fine tea, like Classic Iced tea, we would only use 1 level teaspoon.  This is because a fine tea has more weight with less volume; while a bulky tea needs more volume to have the same amount of weight.

 

Also, be sure to visit us on Facebook for a chance to win a year of free tea!

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Use Good Water

If your water tastes good without tea, chances are it will taste good with tea.  And the opposite is true also. Steeped tea is over 95% water, so this matters a lot.

 

A few tips:

• If your water does taste bad out of the tap, most of those filters available at Target work pretty well: Britta, Pur, etc.
  
  
• Avoid distilled water, your tea will taste flat.
  
  
• Bottled water and spring waters are usually ok, although keep in mind that Evian is naïve spelled backwards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, be sure to visit us on Facebook for a chance to win a year of free tea!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Use Good Tea

This almost always means loose leaf tea. There are some reasonably decent tea bag brands- but we don't know of any great (or even very good tea) that comes in a tea bag.

This first step doesn’t necessarily mean expensive tea.  There are some excellent teas that can be had for as little as 15 cents per cup, like our Empire Keemun. But buy your tea from trusted vendors.

Keep following along with us this week as we talk about how easy it is to make the perfect cup of tea!  

 

Also, be sure to visit us on Facebook for a chance to win a year of free tea!

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Summit Brewing Company of St Paul called us to talk about a new beer they wanted to try brewing. Brewer Nick Hempfer, Star Trek nerd, wanted to try brewing an Extra Special Bitter Ale with Earl Grey tea; in honor of Jean Luc Picard (aka Patrick Stewart) always ordering “Earl Grey….. Hot !” from the replicator (ok, we have some Star Trek nerds around here also). It would be #19 in Summit’s Unchained Series and aptly named “Make It So.”

Earl Grey White Tip, used to brew Make It So

We sent them a few options of Earl Grey tea (as you know, we have a few) for their trial brews. In April, we were invited to Summit for a tour of their facilities and to taste the test batch.

Jess & Timothy checking out the brewing process with brewer Nick Hempfer

Jess & Timothy tasting the test batch of Make it So with Nick Hempfer and Head Brewer Damian McConn

Live long and prosper

Next came the day for the final brew to be canned. We were there for that too.

Getting a taste of the freshly canned Make It So

Brewers had to balance themselves and the Earl Grey tea over these tanks while adding them to the beer scoop by scoop through a small opening.

Summit sent some Make It So with us as we left their brewery, which we brought back to our offices to taste and celebrate with our co-workers.

And then, we celebrated with everyone! Summit hosted a Release Party for Make It So at their Beer Hall. We handed out samples of Earl Grey tea while Summit poured Make It So and Star Trek fans geeked out over the costume contest and real-sized Star Trek props (some had real lights & sounds!). Eden Prairie manager, Georgia, and TeaSource owner, Bill Waddington, at the Make It So release party at Summit's Beer Hall

 

Now, Summit and TeaSource have teaming up for some samplings this month at area liquor stores. We are playing carnival games and giving away prizes in celebration of Make It So and Canned Beer Month! We hope you join us.

All of this talk about tea and beer inspired former TeaSource manager, Jess, to share her experience with homebrewing beer with tea. Before her move to Portland, Jess wrote a quick explanation about using tea in her brews for Beyond the Leaf. She also sat down with Chip Walton of Chop & Brew to record an episode for his web series on homebrewing.

We had a lot of fun with Summit Brewing Company and Chop and Brew and look forward to future collaborations!

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Have you made your first batch of homebrewed beer yet? If not, I bet you know someone who has. Homebrews are bubbling in many kitchens these days, and brewers are going way beyond the traditional ingredients. There’s nothing wrong with being a teetotaler, but if you are like me, you sometimes prefer a cold beer over an iced tea on a summer afternoon. Fortunately, you don’t have to choose. Tea and beer - together at last. I started homebrewing five years ago- the same year I started working at the Highland Park TeaSource. It didn’t take long to start applying what I was learning for a living to what I was brewing in the basement. What follows are three basic methods for applying tea to your homebrew. I’ve also added a list of my most successful experiments and a few ideas I haven’t gotten around to trying yet. The specifics may not make much sense if you’re not brewing yet, but get yourself a basic home brew kit (Northern Brewer is a great place to start) and soon you’ll be making delightfully quaffable tea-beers (and tea-ciders and tea-meads). 1) Substitute Tea for Aromatic Hops

The most subtle way to apply tea to your beer is to substitute tea for your aromatic hops. These hops are added in the last 5-10 minutes of the boil. They add a lot to the nose but are pretty subtle in the sip. Tea has an intense aroma so a little can go a long way. I typically use one ounce of tea in the last five minutes of the boil, (5 gal. batch) unless I’m making an IPA and then use 2 ounces. You can put the tea in a large infuser tea ball or in a large #4 size T-sac. I find this method works best with straight black teas. Green and white teas are quickly overwhelmed by the beer and any hops you may be using. If you’re not sure what black tea to add to your beer, these basic flavor profiles will give you a place to start. Darjeeling- Crisp and slightly astringent. Subtle fruit notes. Great for IPAs. Ceylon- Brisk, medium-bodied tea from Sri Lanka, good for pale ales or IPAs. Yunnan- Medium-bodied woodsie Chinese black, awesome in Belgian beers. Keemun- Rich and earthy Chinese black tea. Great for porters & scotch ales. Assam- Very strong and malty Indian black tea. Perfect for stouts.

2) Put Tea in the Carboy- First or Secondary Fermentation

My favorite way to add tea to beer is to add it to the carboy after the initial fermentation has slowed down or when the beer is moved to the secondary fermenter. This method works great for both straight and flavored teas, both black and green teas, and everything in-between. Just put an ounce or so of tea per 3-5 gallons beer. I find the #4 T-sac works really well here because the t-sac weave is finer than the cloth steeping bags you buy at homebrew stores. Only fill the T-sac a third full to allow the leaves to expand and release their flavor. You can use multiple t-sacs, just staple the top closed. They will typically float on the top of the beer slowly oozing flavor. I like to keep them in for at least a week or two, then taste the beer and take the t-sacs out if the flavor is strong enough. This method will typically give your beer a smooth and strong tea flavor.

3) Add Tea as a Concentrate at Bottling The final method I have tried when adding tea to beer is to make a concentrate of tea and add it to the bottling bucket with the priming sugar before you bottle your creation. This works especially well for flavored teas, but it can be used for straight teas too. Use an ounce of tea for 3-5 gallons of beer. Steep this ounce of tea in about 2 cups of water. Use the water temperature and steep time that is recommended on the tea package.

That’s it! If you have questions or comments- or just want to chat about home brewing with tea- I can be reached at our Eden Prairie store. edenprairie@teasource.com Make It So! And here's a bit of fun - Summit Brewing's brewer Nick Hempfer developed a new beer in their Unchained Series that will feature TeaSource's Earl Grey White Tip!  Some of us had an opportunity to try their pilot batches - you can read more about the inspiration behind this beer (Star Trek!), tasting notes, and our visit to Summit on Summit's blog.

 

Finally, below is my personal list - beers I've brewed and beers I would like to try.

 

Enjoy!

Jess Hanley
Eden Prairie manager  

 

Tea Beers (things I made and liked)
Sour Wheat beer with Rhubarb Oolong tea- made 2011
Sour Wheat with Black Beauty Tea- made 2011
Ginger/Hibiscus Petite Saison- made 2012/2013/2014/ and 2015- Favorite!
Petite Saison with Chamomile- made 2012
First Flush Darjeeling India Pale Ale- made 2012
Dark Rose Porter- made 2012
Sweet Ginger Green Tea Shandy- made 2013
London Ale with coriander, bitter orange peel, and Earl Grey tea- made 2013
Montana Gold cinna-mead- made 2014
Cider with Blueberry Fields Black tea and chilis- Made 2013/ 2014
Cider with Rhubarb Oolong tea and Ginger- made 2013/ 2014
Chai Spice Pumpkin Porter- 2014
Irish Honey Ale with Brandy Oolong/ Roasted chestnut/ China Black Special/ and Lapsang Souchong- (four small batches) 2015
Orange blossom honey Mead with orange peel, spices, and Earl Grey tea- 2015

Recipe ideas
Scottish Ale with Ti Kwan Yin Oolong
Smoked Malt Lapsang Souchong
Smoked Stout Roasted Chestnut Tea -Nut Brown Ale
Golden Tip Yunnan Belgian
Triple Milk Oolong Cream Ale
Blue Beauty Oolong (ginseng and licorice) Pale Ale
Mango Tango/ Raspberry Beret Black Tea Barley Wine
Candy Apple White Tea Lager
Silver Bud White Tea Kolsh/ Darjeeling Kolsh

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We are pretty comfortable being called tea geeks. I’ve been serious about tea for around 35 years and TeaSource is nearing its twentieth birthday. We recently spent a week at the World Tea Expo (the WTE is the world’s largest international specialty tea exposition-for the industry, not open to the public). At this year’s WTE I was teaching (or co-teaching) five classes/workshops. Sharing knowledge is a fundamental value of TeaSource. It is what many older (and wiser) tea men did with me over the last 35 years, and that is a major reason TeaSource has had some success. So I try to share knowledge with others: customers and new folks coming into the industry. At the WTE, I started by teaching a class to 70 folks wanting to get into the specialty tea business.

I had the good fortune to teach a tea tasting workshop with Rajiv Gupta on Darjeeling teas (see previous post). This workshop was especially rewarding because the class was composed of other tea professionals. I also did two demonstrations and tastings of Indian Milk Tea: what it is and how to make it. This was great fun. Since Indian milk tea is pretty much an everyman tea in India, most of the hundreds of people attending the WTE (except the Indians) had never heard of it (we tea geeks tend to focus on the fancier teas). We had a great time doing it and it was wonderful hearing so many people go “Yum!” Then we did a 2 day class on tea processing; where we fly in next-day-air, fresh tea leaves from Hawaii, and proceed to make black tea, 2 types of oolong tea, 2 types of green tea, and white tea. And every one of them turned out nice.

And at our booth, we had the opportunity to re-connect with lots of long-time (and some new) suppliers and customers. A lot of hugging going on. Up to this point it was a typical WTE for TeaSource. And then TeaSource was awarded the first ever “BEST TEA BUSINESS” award by vote of the attendees and the exhibitors of the World Tea Expo, ie. our industry peers. To say I was unprepared for this would be an understatement. I’m very humbled by this recognition. And I’m convinced that the main reason we received this award is because of our wonderful customers (both wholesale and retail), our incredible employees, our amazing suppliers (the men and women who grow and make our tea), and ultimately the men and women who have taught and inspired me over the last 35 years. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Bill Waddington
TeaSource, owner

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