We can't start a day without a cup of coffee, no matter it is with cow milk or soya milk. But what are we going to drink for the rest of the day? It is apparently no good to go to Starbucks too many times for coffee: dehydration, osteoporosis...all the bad consequences. Here maybe something you want to try, apart from your 1 Litre Evian bottle: A cup of green tea in the crisp mornings of English autumn. Any good about green tea? It is one kind of tea which is undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Meaning? It's the most raw and fresh kind of tea. Green tea is well known for reducing the heart deceases and its anti-oxidative and anticarcinogenic functions. If you can bother a few more minutes to enjoy a cup of properly brewed green tea, here is the mini “A to Z” guide: What to try?
It seems all good green teas are from Asia, such as China, Japan and Korea. In China, the most famous green tea is called “Longjing (龙井)”, literally means “dragon well”, from a particular village of Hangzhou, which is my hometown. Without going to too much details, one can find the good Longjing are tender leaves with color of green with a dash of yellow. After being roasted by hand in an iron oval pan, the fresh leaves are dried and pressed to a flat shape, which distinguishes Longjing tea from other types of green tea. Compared to other Chinese green tea, Longjing's taste is relatively strong. For a lighter taste, Bi Luo Chun (碧螺春) is a good choice. There are famous Japanese green tea too, such as Sencha(煎茶) and Gyokuro(玉露). Once I also tried O'sulloc tea from Jeju-do in Korea, very fresh taste and unique.
How to brew?
One thing to remember, tap water is a big NO! If you have the luxury to have a kitchen in the office, boiled mineral water is a good choice to brew Longjing tea. Otherwise, purified or filtered water would work too. The perfect way to enjoy Longjing is to put two tea spoons of tea leaves into a glass and pour water with a temperature of around 80-85C. After a few minutes, boiled tea leaves will drop down to the bottom of the glass. The reason to use a glass rather than a tea cup is to better see the color of the tea and the shape of the infused leaves.
It may sound very complicated, however practically, it could be very easy. Boil your Evian water (or any other brands) and cool it down for 5 minutes or so. Mugs of course would work, however I would recommend the double-wall glasses from Bodum, a perfect teaware for green tea. Use a filter if you don't feel like eating tea leaves by accident is a good idea, however remember usually such green tea could be brewed for 2 to 3 times.
When to buy? Like a lot of other things in the world, for green tea, newer the better. The harvest time for green tea is spring and usually the first batch of Longjing comes out around March and April. That's the time when the tea addicted start to fight for the supreme teas.
Tea with...? A few recipes for green tea drinks
Cold water green tea: Too hot to drink boiled tea? Open your mineral water bottle and drop around 20 green tea leaves the night before. Bring it with you in the morning when the tea leaves fully absorbed the water for you to start a good day.
Green tea with Chrysanthemum: Heavy meals and too much alcohol these days? Brew your green tea with dried Chrysanthemum will help to relieve.
Green tea with Goji berries for dried and tired eyes
Green tea with a drop of honey for those with sweet teeth
The last words, no matter how good the green tea is, don't over dose. And also, don't drink it after supper unless you want to count sheep with eyes open for the whole night.
Useful links:
www.bodum.com/gb/en-us/shop/prodlist/51/
www.trisori.com
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