Sorry but I disagree about the basket strainer. Why did you only submerge the very bottom of the strainer? The leaves have no where to exercise. Its suppose to be poured in through the top on top of the leaves and to the brim. That way the leaves can move around and open up. Maybe a teapot is better but I've never had a problem with a basket infuser and lackluster flavour. Love the channel though guys!
thank you! Yes we can try this again to test that. I was thinking about moving the strainer around, but I didn't want to agitate the leaves. I also wanted to keep both the teapot and strainer steady to keep it fair
" that would be too much water and dilute the flavor" but the teapot has more water in contact with the tea ...? =))i hate youtube when it is full of deliberate misinformation
@@Nioteaswhat do you mean too much water?? U used the same amount of water for both experiments. Just get a bigger strainer and a teacup thats the size of the strainer so the leaves get all the space.
The tea strainer needs to be fully submerged in water on a much smaller cup and also covered ideally. This gets you nearly identical results as the teapot. In your video, you used a tall glass and the water didnt even reach half way up the strainer, so of course the leaves didnt have space. If water was filled to the top on a smaller glass, the leaves would have the complete volume of the tea strainer to expand in.
yes I can do this again but the leaves will be compressed by the walls of the strainer. In the teapot they have a gradual step that allows them to expand completely
I've been curious recently about getting into drinking tea, but have almost zero knowledge of how to prepare it properly (All I know are teabags and letting it sit in a cup of hot water). Teapots and loose leaves are all new to me, and this video has been very informative. Thanks man
You're welcome! I'm really glad you liked the video. If you want to learn more about how to brew tea, you can watch this video here: th-cam.com/video/ExtFskrOHUQ/w-d-xo.html
If you haven't started yet or just haven't realised yet, but don't put the tea in boiling water(or water that was just boiled), it makes the bitterness of the tea come out
the basket type infuser that rests on the lip of the glass has more than enough room, if used correctly, what you wanted to prove but failed, is that the ball type stainless infuser has not enough space for long leaf teas like the Da hong pao. But that doesn't mean the ball type, or the spoon type submerged or in fact any of them that have smaller space don't work. They WORK with smaller tea leaves . It's pretty logical and one would expect and adult not mislead beginners into buying teapots.
the basket strainer works decently well but you'll see you have a compressed "puck" of leaves at the end which means they are all pushing into one another and compacting. The ball strainers are even smaller
What could have been an interesting comparison, was totally ruined by your use of a strainer that was stuck at the top inch of the glass ~ so despite your best efforts to use same amount of water & leaves, it was not a fair comparison!! So you completely underminded your whole point. Should have used one that sits in the cup/mug/glass, that can infuse all round
You gotta use the og Chinese tea pot ,the best way to use it is by boiling water then pouring it into the tea pot after you put the lid on you pour it over the tea pot so it's a hot pot.
@@Nioteas I do the same for all teas. I figured that the longer brew with scalding water gets more of the good stuff out of the leaves like flavanoids and antioxidants etc
@@jessegoodman9462 False, you burn the leaves which kills all the goodness. Pour boiling water first, then add once the heat as dissapated through to the exterior of the mug. Or until you can't hold on to the mug anymore ♨Truuuust mee!
Did not taste a meaningful difference (in the first cup). Had an excuse to make an extra kettle of tea tho :) Using the highest quality green tea I can get my hands on. There is one huge negative to this style though and that is that you can't make more than one cup of tea since the leaves just sit in the kettle while you finish the first one which is a rather large negative for me as I like to make more than one cup of tea at a time, like 8 dls of tea. The tea that had steeped longer tasted more bitter (to no one's surprise) while I finished the first cup. A fun experiment though! To each their own. If you'd like to prove a point though I have a video idea for you (or just a fun experiment for yourself): test both styles using a properly fitting strainer while pouring the water through the strainer instead of setting the strainer into the water. Taste test freshly brewed tea from both styles ten times, be sure to strain out the extra cloudiness from your method though. If you can guess which tea is which correctly I'll believe there's a difference in taste which I'm just not able to pick up on :D
When you brew with the teapot you pour all the water out so it doesn't sit in and overbrew. If you want to prepare a second cup then you can take it for a second infusion. Hope that helps
interesting! A lot of the drier sencha teas will be very clear but the fukamushi sencha will be super cloudy green and for gyokuro I like to look for a nice pale cloudy color. I find these are the sweeter infusions
And the most famous Japanese tea is Matcha, which is a fine powdered tea, whisked with a Chosun, and served frothy, most formally in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Different tea cultures emerge where tea growing spreads. And Japan is unique, as the Japanese Tea Culture emerged from a confluence internal and external influences like Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the Japanese attraction for Ritual as Discipline and Contemplation. The Aristocracy were attracted to it, and were encouraged to study and practice the ceremony. The richest even built private tea houses and gardens for the practice. Even today, one may attend classes in Japan to study how to carry out the ceremony. So Japanese tea culture reflects their tastes, and the cultivars of tea, and the varieties of processing are many. So, the appearance of brewed Gyokuro is distinctly a Japanese one. So, depending on the tea, when it is picked, and how it is processed, the infusion will differ in appearance. The double rolling in the production of Gyokuro produces very fine fines inside the rolled leaves, hence the cloudiness. Likewise, the opaque appearance of Matcha is down to the fact that it is a powdered tea. I hope this helps.
I think if you had poured the tea pot at least through the strainer after it being done it would not have been cloudy and would have been the same color.
but it's such a hassle though? while studying, i will make 6 or 7 cups of green tea (one at a time) and my basket strainer is sooo easy to clean. jst tap it against the side of the waste basket... too easy! i don't evn have to rinse most of the time. on the other hand... i always have to rinse my Kyusu multiple times. simple is better :)
You should really remove this video and re-do it. Basket strainers are really more than enough for a single cup. 1. Basket strainers are supposed to be as much in the water as possible to allow for leaf expansion, which you didn't do 2. Basket strainers NEED to be covered while the tea is infusing just like a teapot Of course you get the most flavour out of a teapot as horizontal expansion is more important in tea leaves than vertical expansion, but those should be reserved for premium quality teas. The everyman will not notice any difference in regular leaves between a good teapot and a good strainer basket.
This video reflects the experience we've had after preparing many different types of tea in teapots and strainers. The flavor is good, but not quite as rich. I can do the comparison again, but as you mentioned the horizontal expansion is where the strainers are lacking and that will make a difference
@@Nioteas Sure, it's exactly as I've said, but the difference is nowhere near as big as you make it seem from your video, especially to the average man. The reality is that the good basket strainers are a great alternative if a good quality teapot is either too messy or too expensive for someone.
Yes you are right, the basket strainer works very well if you are just getting into tea. The one caveat I will add is that some strainers are better than others. Some are so small that they really pack the leaves in densely and make it difficult to infuse
yes this works well if you have one but the teapot is better! You can find one here: nioteas.com/collections/japanese-teaware-and-japanese-tea-accessories
am i missing out by just pouring boiling water on a sachet of tea and covering the cup for 5 minutes ? i then squeeze the sachet to drain out the rest into the cup
Yes. Firstly, the quality of tea sold in tea bags are the lowest quality, as they are the broken leaves that are left as the highest quality whole leaves are preferred. Even in the most expensive tea bags, this is the case, because it is easier to package bags with broken leaves. You get less tea by weight. This makes Teabags the most expensive way to drink tea, as you can only get one infusion out of a teabag. In contrast, even with a bubble strainer filled halfway with loose teas, you can get three or more infusions out of two level teaspoons of loose tea. That's enough to last one day. For example, I use a 900 ml pot, which is about 1 pint. I use either an egg or a bubble infuser, both filled halfway, loosely packed to give the loose tea room to bloom. 3 minutes steeping for my taste, and remove the infuser. I then get two more pots of tea for that day with the same tea leaves left in the infuser. The better the quality of the loose tea, the less you have to use. Loose Green Teas like Gunpowder Tea, are extremely economical, and black teas are better in the loose form too.
@@BigHenFor 2 weeks ago i ordered 4 various earl greys from mariage freres. loose teas - the imperial earl grey from mariage freres is the best i have ever had and i have tried probably 30+ different brands of earl grey over the years
If you're making black or oolong Japanese tea, even kamairicha or kukicha just one cup, when done properly, a strainer or infuser can easily do the job. But you picked the worst tea for the experiment and the worst strainer I have ever seen. It was obviously doomed to fail without even trying. My dad is using like the one at 0:30 for his black tea, all fine. You can get even bigger stainless submersible infuser on a chain for more space. I do kyusu and houhin tho, easier and applicable pretty much to any tea.
I just wanted to point out that the strainers most people are using are wayyyy too small. If you're going to use a strainer, it should be a big basket strainer, but then you might as well just use a teapot. I personally use a larger strainer when I travel because its less likely to break and lighter
You're right to be skeptical! Of course my tea knowledge didn't come from other "yanks" but from meeting with tea farmers and tea masters around Japan. I'm not an expert but I have the privilege to work with quite a few
you can use them if you don't have the proper teaware, but it won't work as well as the teapot. By the way, if you are interested in trying some of our teas we have our summer sales going on now: nioteas.com/
Sorry but I disagree about the basket strainer. Why did you only submerge the very bottom of the strainer? The leaves have no where to exercise. Its suppose to be poured in through the top on top of the leaves and to the brim. That way the leaves can move around and open up. Maybe a teapot is better but I've never had a problem with a basket infuser and lackluster flavour. Love the channel though guys!
thank you! Yes we can try this again to test that. I was thinking about moving the strainer around, but I didn't want to agitate the leaves. I also wanted to keep both the teapot and strainer steady to keep it fair
check out hario's "kyusu" tea pot. you get the large strainer that conforms to the size of the teapot. best modern tea pot.
The strainer is the wrong size for the cup - either bigger cup or smaller strainer
You need to repeat it. The strainer wasn’t fully covered, is supposed to reach to the top.
okay
3:15 Are you really trying to tell me, that using a tea strainer THAT DOES NOT FIT IN THE CUP might be less than ideal? Who would have thought.
yes it was submerged but not completely as that would be too much water and dilute the flavor. I can try the experiment again
" that would be too much water and dilute the flavor" but the teapot has more water in contact with the tea ...? =))i hate youtube when it is full of deliberate misinformation
@@Nioteaswhat do you mean too much water?? U used the same amount of water for both experiments. Just get a bigger strainer and a teacup thats the size of the strainer so the leaves get all the space.
The tea strainer needs to be fully submerged in water on a much smaller cup and also covered ideally. This gets you nearly identical results as the teapot. In your video, you used a tall glass and the water didnt even reach half way up the strainer, so of course the leaves didnt have space. If water was filled to the top on a smaller glass, the leaves would have the complete volume of the tea strainer to expand in.
yes I can do this again but the leaves will be compressed by the walls of the strainer. In the teapot they have a gradual step that allows them to expand completely
Not only that but the tea cup had the weather pour over the leaves and the strainer was set on the water, two oposite methods.
okay, definitely worth another test
I've been curious recently about getting into drinking tea, but have almost zero knowledge of how to prepare it properly (All I know are teabags and letting it sit in a cup of hot water). Teapots and loose leaves are all new to me, and this video has been very informative. Thanks man
You're welcome! I'm really glad you liked the video. If you want to learn more about how to brew tea, you can watch this video here: th-cam.com/video/ExtFskrOHUQ/w-d-xo.html
If you haven't started yet or just haven't realised yet, but don't put the tea in boiling water(or water that was just boiled), it makes the bitterness of the tea come out
the basket type infuser that rests on the lip of the glass has more than enough room, if used correctly, what you wanted to prove but failed, is that the ball type stainless infuser has not enough space for long leaf teas like the Da hong pao. But that doesn't mean the ball type, or the spoon type submerged or in fact any of them that have smaller space don't work. They WORK with smaller tea leaves . It's pretty logical and one would expect and adult not mislead beginners into buying teapots.
the basket strainer works decently well but you'll see you have a compressed "puck" of leaves at the end which means they are all pushing into one another and compacting. The ball strainers are even smaller
What could have been an interesting comparison, was totally ruined by your use of a strainer that was stuck at the top inch of the glass ~ so despite your best efforts to use same amount of water & leaves, it was not a fair comparison!! So you completely underminded your whole point. Should have used one that sits in the cup/mug/glass, that can infuse all round
okay I will do another video then
I know when i pour my water into the mug it goes down 15 degrees instantly, i recommend preheating the mugs as well as to not lose temp
yes definitely, we made a few videos about this
You gotta use the og Chinese tea pot ,the best way to use it is by boiling water then pouring it into the tea pot after you put the lid on you pour it over the tea pot so it's a hot pot.
yes preheating the teapot is important
I brew my leaves directly in a teapot with boiling hot water for about 10 minutes and strain it before drinking.
and it's not too bitter? This is probably okay for black tea and white tea but it's probably too hot and too long for green tea and most oolongs
@@Nioteas I do the same for all teas. I figured that the longer brew with scalding water gets more of the good stuff out of the leaves like flavanoids and antioxidants etc
yes but the flavor will become more bitter
@@jessegoodman9462 False, you burn the leaves which kills all the goodness. Pour boiling water first, then add once the heat as dissapated through to the exterior of the mug. Or until you can't hold on to the mug anymore ♨Truuuust mee!
Why should you avoid the basket strainers? These ones seem to allow for a lot of space?
yes they are better than this one but still not as good as the teapot as the leaves are still cramped
Did not taste a meaningful difference (in the first cup). Had an excuse to make an extra kettle of tea tho :) Using the highest quality green tea I can get my hands on. There is one huge negative to this style though and that is that you can't make more than one cup of tea since the leaves just sit in the kettle while you finish the first one which is a rather large negative for me as I like to make more than one cup of tea at a time, like 8 dls of tea. The tea that had steeped longer tasted more bitter (to no one's surprise) while I finished the first cup. A fun experiment though! To each their own.
If you'd like to prove a point though I have a video idea for you (or just a fun experiment for yourself): test both styles using a properly fitting strainer while pouring the water through the strainer instead of setting the strainer into the water. Taste test freshly brewed tea from both styles ten times, be sure to strain out the extra cloudiness from your method though. If you can guess which tea is which correctly I'll believe there's a difference in taste which I'm just not able to pick up on :D
When you brew with the teapot you pour all the water out so it doesn't sit in and overbrew. If you want to prepare a second cup then you can take it for a second infusion. Hope that helps
Just squeeze out the rest of the goodness out of the strainer or tea bag
yes but then you get all the bitterness!
I would avoid squeezing. Tannins in the tea extract will accumulate into the brew
Where can I get a teapot like that
you can find some great kyusu teapots here: nioteas.com/collections/japanese-kyusu-teapot
i don't know about japanese but in chinese teas, cloudy and hazy is the last thing they want it to be
interesting! A lot of the drier sencha teas will be very clear but the fukamushi sencha will be super cloudy green and for gyokuro I like to look for a nice pale cloudy color. I find these are the sweeter infusions
And the most famous Japanese tea is Matcha, which is a fine powdered tea, whisked with a Chosun, and served frothy, most formally in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Different tea cultures emerge where tea growing spreads. And Japan is unique, as the Japanese Tea Culture emerged from a confluence internal and external influences like Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and the Japanese attraction for Ritual as Discipline and Contemplation. The Aristocracy were attracted to it, and were encouraged to study and practice the ceremony. The richest even built private tea houses and gardens for the practice. Even today, one may attend classes in Japan to study how to carry out the ceremony.
So Japanese tea culture reflects their tastes, and the cultivars of tea, and the varieties of processing are many. So, the appearance of brewed Gyokuro is distinctly a Japanese one. So, depending on the tea, when it is picked, and how it is processed, the infusion will differ in appearance. The double rolling in the production of Gyokuro produces very fine fines inside the rolled leaves, hence the cloudiness. Likewise, the opaque appearance of Matcha is down to the fact that it is a powdered tea. I hope this helps.
This is true. That the and the fact that the Japanese have been brewing tea for centuries and I'm not going to argue with that.
I think if you had poured the tea pot at least through the strainer after it being done it would not have been cloudy and would have been the same color.
I disagree but I am open to trying this experiment again!
you can strain as your pour into a sharing cup, before distributing it
yes you can definitely brew in a larger contain and strain it out later, this works better than a strainer because it allows more space
but it's such a hassle though? while studying, i will make 6 or 7 cups of green tea (one at a time) and my basket strainer is sooo easy to clean. jst tap it against the side of the waste basket... too easy! i don't evn have to rinse most of the time. on the other hand... i always have to rinse my Kyusu multiple times. simple is better :)
You should really remove this video and re-do it. Basket strainers are really more than enough for a single cup.
1. Basket strainers are supposed to be as much in the water as possible to allow for leaf expansion, which you didn't do
2. Basket strainers NEED to be covered while the tea is infusing just like a teapot
Of course you get the most flavour out of a teapot as horizontal expansion is more important in tea leaves than vertical expansion, but those should be reserved for premium quality teas. The everyman will not notice any difference in regular leaves between a good teapot and a good strainer basket.
This video reflects the experience we've had after preparing many different types of tea in teapots and strainers. The flavor is good, but not quite as rich. I can do the comparison again, but as you mentioned the horizontal expansion is where the strainers are lacking and that will make a difference
@@Nioteas Sure, it's exactly as I've said, but the difference is nowhere near as big as you make it seem from your video, especially to the average man.
The reality is that the good basket strainers are a great alternative if a good quality teapot is either too messy or too expensive for someone.
Yes you are right, the basket strainer works very well if you are just getting into tea. The one caveat I will add is that some strainers are better than others. Some are so small that they really pack the leaves in densely and make it difficult to infuse
Was there a strainer of some sort in that tea pot?
yes there is a built in strainer so it gives you more space
Would you get good results when using a French Press?
yes this works well if you have one but the teapot is better! You can find one here: nioteas.com/collections/japanese-teaware-and-japanese-tea-accessories
am i missing out by just pouring boiling water on a sachet of tea and covering the cup for 5 minutes ?
i then squeeze the sachet to drain out the rest into the cup
Yes. Firstly, the quality of tea sold in tea bags are the lowest quality, as they are the broken leaves that are left as the highest quality whole leaves are preferred. Even in the most expensive tea bags, this is the case, because it is easier to package bags with broken leaves. You get less tea by weight. This makes Teabags the most expensive way to drink tea, as you can only get one infusion out of a teabag. In contrast, even with a bubble strainer filled halfway with loose teas, you can get three or more infusions out of two level teaspoons of loose tea. That's enough to last one day. For example, I use a 900 ml pot, which is about 1 pint. I use either an egg or a bubble infuser, both filled halfway, loosely packed to give the loose tea room to bloom. 3 minutes steeping for my taste, and remove the infuser. I then get two more pots of tea for that day with the same tea leaves left in the infuser. The better the quality of the loose tea, the less you have to use. Loose Green Teas like Gunpowder Tea, are extremely economical, and black teas are better in the loose form too.
@@BigHenFor 2 weeks ago i ordered 4 various earl greys from mariage freres.
loose teas - the imperial earl grey from mariage freres is the best i have ever had and i have tried probably 30+ different brands of earl grey over the years
the plastic tube is supposed to be removed from the funnel of te teapot
Tea bags....are the leaves fannings or maybe slightly larger. These in the video are whole leaf....pekoe? Unfurling is the thing for leaves....check😊
the leaves in the video are loose leaf Japanese green teas. It makes such a difference in taste!
So why do they make stainless steel tea kettles?
I guess for those of us who don't know any better?
you mean the teapots? Yes these are not ideal. The metal tea kettles are less of a problem
the tea strainer looks too big for the jug?
Very helpful. I shared on Facebook!
thank you so much! You can also join our facebook page and group for more tea videos!
Maybe using a glass wider than the strainer may help...
yes Ive tried this a few times with the same results but I can make another video about it where I take the feedback into consideration
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If you're making black or oolong Japanese tea, even kamairicha or kukicha just one cup, when done properly, a strainer or infuser can easily do the job. But you picked the worst tea for the experiment and the worst strainer I have ever seen. It was obviously doomed to fail without even trying. My dad is using like the one at 0:30 for his black tea, all fine. You can get even bigger stainless submersible infuser on a chain for more space.
I do kyusu and houhin tho, easier and applicable pretty much to any tea.
i disagree
That's okay!
Ok im just gonna use my french press then ;)
yes you can use this because it gives the leaves enough space
Just take bigger strainer, man, common)
I just wanted to point out that the strainers most people are using are wayyyy too small. If you're going to use a strainer, it should be a big basket strainer, but then you might as well just use a teapot. I personally use a larger strainer when I travel because its less likely to break and lighter
Looks the same but alright
the flavor is very different
Yea bags are bad! Anything besides tea bags
yes definitely! Tea strainers are way better than teabags but still not quite as good as teapots
dont take advice about tea from a yank you may as well drink ditch water
You're right to be skeptical! Of course my tea knowledge didn't come from other "yanks" but from meeting with tea farmers and tea masters around Japan. I'm not an expert but I have the privilege to work with quite a few
@@Nioteas ngl always like the idea of going to mt fuiji and getting tea. just would be a bit of an expensive ordeal
nonsense
you can use them if you don't have the proper teaware, but it won't work as well as the teapot. By the way, if you are interested in trying some of our teas we have our summer sales going on now: nioteas.com/