Seven rules in.at.chowder
1. Before brewing an empty kettle should be well warmed. This is done in order to strengthen the extraction of tea. The usual way of warming is to rinse the kettle 3-4 times with boiling water. If we consider that it is the porcelain teapot that is able to heat up faster than the earthenware as a result of rinsing to a temperature of 60 ° C or higher, it becomes clear why it is preferable to brew tea in a porcelain teapot. You can also warm the kettle in another way - drop it into boiling water( it is not so convenient, but it gives a good result) or put under a stream of hot air.
By the way, a special round grille, inserted above the chimney of the samovar, was designed just to be warmed on an empty kettle before brewing. The kettle before brewing not only warmed, but also dried( also one of the functions of the samovar), it is better if the kettle will be dry before brewing
But put the kettle directly on the fire before brewing for pre-warming is not recommended, since in this casethe heating level of the bottom of the kettle will be much larger than its walls, than if it is indirectly contacted with a heat source( through water, air), and the kettle can crack, although with proper heating this method is good
2. When a porcelain kettle withgrit, and in metal water boiled with a "white key", a porcelain is filled with a portion of dry tea and immediately poured with boiling water, and it is very important to observe the accuracy that we have already mentioned. If there is any odor product nearbyraw meat, fish, butter or lard, then no matter how it is brewed, this tea does not work out, its aroma, taste will be lost
3. First, only half the teapot is filled with water or depending on the type and grade of tea to one third( mixture of green andblack tea) or up to one fourth and mene( green tea).
Fill the dry tea with the first filling, the kettle should be quickly closed with a lid, and then with a linen napkin so that it covers the holes in the lid and in the tip of the kettle. This is done not so much for warming as for the tissue of the napkin to absorb the water vapor emerging from the teapot and at the same time not to allow( trap) the volatile aromatic essential oils. To this end, it is even better to cover the kettle with a linen sack filled with dry tea leaves. But in any case, you can not cover the kettle with different heaters: pads, dolls, matryoshkas on cotton wool, etc. In this case, tea preet and becomes tasteless, as they say, it smells like a broom.
4. This order of brewing was and remains classical provided that the dry tea that you use is of high quality, well extracted and does not need to be artificially helped to be brewed.
However, modern "average" tea, whether it be Indian or Georgian, is the result of so frequent technological mistakes that goes on sale either under-fed, overdried, or half-worn out. In such cases, it seems necessary to "squeeze" the from the of tea to the maximum of what is left in it, and to squeeze it out in the literal sense of the word, mechanically. To this end, it is possible to apply a method that every tea lover would regard as "barbarous", but which is now dictated by the contemporary low quality of teas. It consists in the following: a bay for dry tea in a teapot with a little boiling water so that it( the boiled water) only slightly covered the tea leaves, moistened them, but would not give them the opportunity to float and float on the surface of a large mass of water( which happens quite often,for tea of poor quality is too light, i.e., has a low specific gravity compared to the required norm), one must take a clean well-cleaned spoonful of soda( from silver or stainless steel) and carefully, with pressure, but gently rub the moistened tea mass owall of the kettle, after whichimmediately top up with boiling water to a third or half of the teapot. After this, it is necessary to close the kettle with a lid and then proceed as described in point 3.
5. After closing the tea, let it stand. The time of the infusion, depending on the hardness of the water and the type of tea, lasts from 3 to 15 minutes, the best time for good grades of black teas with soft water is 3.5-4 minutes. During this time, the delicate aroma of tea does not have time to escape, and at the same time tea is mostly able to be extracted. In the past, the Chinese, who brewed tea without a teapot, directly in the cups-gaiwanas, kept brewing especially delicate varieties only 1,5-2 minutes, believing that after this period the most delicate aromas of tea evaporate. But we are dealing not with Chinese, but with Indian or Georgian teas, which give the greatest concentration of aroma with very soft water by the end of the 4th minute, and with a hard one - to the 7th-8th minute. As for extractivity, then with hard or medium water sometimes you have to withstand tea for an infusion of up to 10 minutes. Green teas, where flavor and flavor are more important, you can insist 5 to 7-8 minutes depending on the variety, and coarse grades of green and tile teas even longer - 10 to 15 minutes.
6. When the tea is infused, the kettle is topped up with boiling water, but not completely up to the top, leaving 0.5-1 cm free to the lid( when brewing green tea it is poured a second time 3-4 minutes before s / 4 or 2/3 of the kettle andonly the third time, after another 2-3 minutes, flood almost to the top).
The meaning of several consecutive fillings of water for brewing is to maintain an equally high water temperature all the time. The permanence of a sufficiently high temperature during the entire brewing time is even more important than the initial high temperature at the beginning of brewing. Hence it is clear why the air temperature of the room in which tea is made is important. The high air temperature of the room in which tea is brewed prevents a sharp drop in temperature in the kettle by the end of brewing. The best temperature of the ambient air for brewing tea should be considered 22-25 ° C. At this temperature, there is almost no need to make a few fillings.
After the brewing, it is necessary to pay attention to the appearance of foam. If the foam is, then the tea is brewed correctly: the time of boiling water and brewing infusion is maintained accurately, the tea did not stand up and from it the aroma did not evaporate. If there is no foam, then, apparently, some violation of the brewing rules was made.
This foam should not be removed, unless it has foreign odors. It is undesirable to also allow it to be smeared and settled on the lid of the kettle - that is why the distance from the lid to the surface of the filled tea should be less than 1 cm.
To prevent the foam from settling on the walls of the kettle, it enters the infusion, stir the tea with a spoon( preferably,silver).You can also pour a part of the tea from the kettle into a clean cup first and pour it back into the kettle, so that all the tea mixes well. In the East, in Central Asia, the first pial is always immediately poured back into the kettle. The local population is called "to marry tea."
7. After all this, the tea can be poured into cups. Usually in the instructions for the preparation of tea, add: "pour to taste."This somewhat vague indication in practice led to the fact that already brewed tea was systematically diluted with boiling water. The reason for this at first was that tea saved, and then began to do so because of a misunderstanding of the purpose of tea and even the belief that tea in other doses than microscopic, is harmful. It was then that the notion of "pair of tea" appeared in Russia, that is, the division of tea into tea leaves and boiling water contained in two different teapots. Meanwhile, in the East and in a number of European countries, especially in England, where there are long traditions of tea drinking, brewed tea is not bred.
You must immediately prepare the tea of the desired concentration and pour from the teapot into cups without further dilution with boiling water. Only in this case it can be ensured that a really real, high-quality drink, pleasant to taste and not lost flavor, will turn out. And since, depending on the situation, different amounts of tea are required, it is better to have kettles of different volumes on the farm. If the teapot is not large enough for tea, tea can be poured into the tea during tea drinking, but so that the tea leaves do not merge more than half and the tea leaves are not denuded. Tea should be consumed within a quarter of an hour after brewing.
Leave tea for a few hours, and even more on the next day you can not."Fresh tea is like balm. Tea left for the night is like a snake, "the Eastern proverb says figuratively. This primarily applies to black teas, which can only be consumed fresh.
Correctly brewed tea has a beneficial effect on the human body and is an excellent preventive and health-enhancing remedy. Caffeine, contained in the tea leaf, relieves fatigue and has a beneficial effect on the metabolic processes of cells throughout the body;fluoride kills germs in the mouth and strengthens the teeth;vitamins promote digestion and digestion of fats, and also improve digestion after a plentiful lunch. Tea is a natural, pure and healthy drink!