by gregtpayne | Oct 29, 2016 | Uncategorized
For this batch we used a new black tea called Golden Monkey. We brought 6 cups of water to boil in a pot, removed it from heat, added 28 grams of tea and steeped for 4 minutes covered, stirring midway through. We then added 1 1/4 cup of sugar to a gallon jar and strained the tea into it, dissolving the sugar. We added 5 cups of water and let cool to room temperature. Next we added 1 1/2 cups of starter tea and transferred the SCOBY. We’ll let it ferment for seven days before bottling.
We harvested this on 11/5 and it tasted good so I guess we’re going with Golden Monkey as a replacement for our Darjeeling. It was sweet because we added an extra 1/4 cup of sugar to the first fermentation so we bottled it with 1/4 cup of concord grape juice and 1 tsp of sugar. We also bottled one plain, (#75) also with 1 tsp of sugar.
by gregtpayne | Oct 22, 2016 | Uncategorized
Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea produced through a unique process including withering the plant under the strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting. For this batch we used Ruby Oolong from DavidsTea. It is much darker than the other Oolongs we’ve tried and does indeed have a red color. We will go back to the Tie Kwan Yin Oolong at DavidsTea as it tastes a little more “oolongy” but we wanted to try the Ruby. For this batch we brought 6 cups of water to 185 degrees, added 35 grams of tea and steeped for 5 minutes covered, stirring midway through. We then added 1 1/4 cups of sugar to a gallon jar and strained the tea into it, dissolving the sugar. We added 5 cups of water and let cool to room temperature. Next we added 1 1/2 cups of starter tea and transferred the SCOBY.
We harvested this on 10/29 and it was very sweet. We put it straight into bottles and will try a bottle after nine days. If it’s too sweet we’ll play with a longer second fermentation.
by gregtpayne | Oct 22, 2016 | Uncategorized
We’re trying a black tea called Golden Monkey from DavidsTea in place of our usual Darjeeling. e brought 6 cups of water to boil in a pot, removed it from heat, added 28 grams of tea and steeped for 4 minutes covered (oops, actually I lost track of time so it steeped a good bit longer), stirring midway through. We then added 1 1/4 cup of sugar to a gallon jar and strained the tea into it, dissolving the sugar. We added 5 cups of water and let cool to room temperature. Next we added 1 1/2 cups of starter tea and transferred the SCOBY. We’ll let it ferment for seven days before bottling.
We harvested this on 10/29. It was very dark but tasted good. It was “vinegary” (Babs word for strong) but still sweet. We bottled #51-54 with 1/4 cup of WF concord grape juice and 1 tsp of sugar and we made one plain bottle of plain, #55.
Well shit! I accidentally moved #55 to the fridge on 11/1. I am realizing it now after about 6 hours. It is cold. So I’m moving it back to the shelf. This will be a good experiment to see what happens when a second fermentation is interrupted by a short refrigeration.
by gregtpayne | Oct 15, 2016 | Uncategorized
Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea produced through a unique process including withering the plant under the strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting. We used Tung Ting from Teavana. We may go back to the Oolong at DavidsTea as it tastes a little more “oolongy”. For this batch we brought 6 cups of water to 185 degrees, added 35 grams of tea and steeped for 5 minutes covered, stirring midway through. We then added 1 1/4 cups of sugar to a gallon jar and strained the tea into it, dissolving the sugar. We added 5 cups of water and let cool to room temperature. Next we added 1 1/2 cups of starter tea and transferred the SCOBY.
I moved this a little late so this had a 10 day second fermentation.
by gregtpayne | Oct 15, 2016 | Uncategorized
Darjeeling is from the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India. This is a new Darjeeling from Teavana called Darjeeling de Triomphe. We brought 6 cups of water to boil in a pot, removed it from heat, added 28 grams of tea and steeped for 4 minutes covered, stirring midway through. We then added 1 1/4 cup of sugar to a gallon jar and strained the tea into it, dissolving the sugar. We added 5 cups of water and let cool to room temperature. Next we added 1 1/2 cups of starter tea and transferred the SCOBY. We’ll let it ferment for seven days before bottling.
We harvested this on 10/22 and put it straight into bottles. It didn’t taste very sweet so we’re hoping it turns out sweet enough after the second fermentation.
Oops, I moved this a little late on 11/1 for a 10 day 2nd fermentation. Well, if this tastes good it’ll be great news for our newest method.
by gregtpayne | Oct 8, 2016 | Uncategorized
Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea produced through a unique process including withering the plant under the strong sun and oxidation before curling and twisting. We used Tung Ting from Teavana. We may go back to the Oolong at DavidsTea as it tastes a little more “oolongy”. For this batch we brought 6 cups of water to 185 degrees, added 35 grams of tea and steeped for 5 minutes covered, stirring midway through. We then added 1 1/4 cups of sugar (our second batch of Oolong with extra sugar) to a gallon jar and strained the tea into it, dissolving the sugar. We added 5 cups of water and let cool to room temperature. Next we added 1 1/2 cups of starter tea and transferred the SCOBY.
We harvested this on 10/15. It tasted sweet as expected due to the extra sugar in the brew so we poured it straight into bottles with nothing added. We’ll let it ferment for another nine days before refrigerating.
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