The Brewing of Hoji-Cha

[jducoeur]

Just in case anyone was curious about the resolution of the iced tea question: the answer appears to be "follow the bloody directions". After doing several experiments in both hot and cold brewing, the best solution seems to be the one that had the most support among the commenters -- *lots* of tea, the right temperature, and a quick brew.

The details of the current recipe: bring the water to a boil, then let it cool for 5-6 minutes. Put 10 tsp of hoji into a ball (in practice, this mostly fills our large tea ball), and put the ball into the carafe. Slowly pour the water in to fill, and steep for 2 minutes, agitating gently (basically just raising and lowering the ball slowly, to get some circulation). Take out the ball, cool to room temp, and chill.

The result is a lovely iced tea: dark as a "green" tea can imaginably get, strongly-flavored without major off-notes. It took a while to get past the idea of using that much tea, but it's still pretty cheap: 3.5 oz of basic Hoji (enough for about 5 32-ounce carafes) costs about three bucks at China Merch, compared with $1.50 per 12-oz plastic bottle of the commercial stuff. I'm not *quite* as good as the Ito-en variety yet, but I'm getting close enough to be more than worth the almost-tenfold price difference (and reduced garbage).

Now I just need the right travel cup to drink iced tea out of when I want to grab some for the road...

Comments

Yay!

[the-resa.livejournal.com]

I'll have to hunt that down and try it.
Oh, and look for a ceramic lined mug. Better taste than plastic or metal.

Re: Yay!

[jducoeur]

Hmm. I can see that that would be a significant improvement, but damned if I know where I'd get a ceramic-lined travel-style mug...

Re: Yay!

[the-resa.livejournal.com]

Really? They're starting to crop up all over the place here. Do you have a Tully's Coffee? They have a ton of different styles of them. Tesoro Gas stations with convenient stores attached have them too.

I'd never seen them before prior to late last year, so they are probably a new thing.

Re: Yay!

[jducoeur]

Do you have a Tully's Coffee? They have a ton of different styles of them. Tesoro Gas stations with convenient stores attached have them too.

Both west-coast chains, I suspect -- I don't recall seeing either around here.

That said, if they're getting around, they should be getting around: odds are I can find them if I look. Thanks for the pointer!

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I have some teas that after I put them in the ball, expand in the water to become rather a dense mass. It seems to me that this would impair flavor-migration, but I haven't tested this. Have you found one way or the other?

[jducoeur]

That's true in this case: the Hoji-cha fills the ball pretty tightly once it hydrates. (When I say that I "fill" the ball, I really mean filling the bottom half -- there's still some headroom in the cap.) But I suspect the gentle agitation helps with getting the flavor out...

[laurion]

I wonder what the result would be of putting the tea in a coffee-style paper filter, and then slowly pouring the water through the tea.