BREWING MASTERCLASS - Experimental Styles - Stacked and Arc Brewing

[@jeffreyscanlan839]

I have tried this and in some tea, it does bring that full spectrum of experience. Some tea that I have tried, only satisfied me when I threw it in the trash (aka compost pile). As a herbalist I have done this with other plants , especially with lower temperatures to reduce astringency when not wanted.

[@Ciasiociasio]

I’ve just tried it with my qimen mao feng and the results are very pleasant! It always lacked something, so I’ve brewed it in my tokoname pot. It improved, but it still had a little "hole". And now, by combining the tokoname and stacked temperature it became brilliant!

[@Fakery]

This one has been LONG anticipated!!!

[@florianertl4508]

Never thought of stacking different temperature brews, great concept. I own several teas that might benefit.

[@karmesindryade]

Wow, I would have never thought about these brewing techniques. I will for sure try them out. Thank you, Don, for showing these.

[@michellejackson2995]

Very interesting. I have to try this.

[@Apollo440]

Thirst! ...thirst for Mei Leaf tea!

[@bunymustard2584]

Really glad I NOW know the correct way to say Keemun lol👌🏾😳 I've actually been doing stacked temp brewing: specifically for tea I've already had a cup or two, but not necessarily a full session, so as to bring it back to life 👍🏽🍵

[@ArThePig]

Very good explanation and sound really reasonable. Will try the arc brewing.

[@chadgeernaert3650]

Don, any chance of doing a water experiment? I’d love to see a test of commonly available bottled waters (although I’m not sure which are available in a wide variety of countries). Btw, I stumbled on a video of yours and it got to me venture into tea, so thanks for the great videos.

[@Apollo440]

Get ready to have your mind blown: Try putting your gaiwan, with a lid but without the tea leaves, in a cold water bath. The taste will improve. The same works for water: bring it to a "crab eye" boil (takes a minute on a stove), cover the pot with a lid and put into cold water. The result should be degassed (without any gas) structured water, which is usually produced by freezing and thawing. The process of shock cooling hot liquids under a lid, apparently, improves the taste. Tried it with tea, after watching this video. Works great!

[@KuonysKitchen]

Brilliant concepts! Thank you!

[@666aron]

As a matter of fact, I do have some Qimen, so I will try this method out tomorrow. Now that I'm thinking of it, maybe the Moonlight white tea would also be amazing with the arc brewing. I'm always extracting sweeter notes with cooler water from white teas.

[@kyletmitchell]

Looking forward to the best Mei Leaf tea of 2021. Loved last year’s episode.

[@beth.7]

One thing puzzles me though: can you really go back to brewing at lower temp after those initial 2 brews for stacked temperature? Wouldn't the more fleeting aromatics have been washed off too much? How'd you go on through the full number of infusions that you could expect if brewing in the traditional style? And have you also tried brewing a couple of infusions - let's say 3 to 4 - at lower temp and then the later 4 at higher temp? And to what result?

[@macaqueattack]

I’m curious how this differs (albeit different variable) from chaozhou brewing method with the broken leaves in the middle? I thought it would release some of those “marbles” similarly.

[@acemanhomer1]

For anyone interested to try a style I do. I call it Western Gong Fu. Basically you put the leaf in a strainer basket of some sort, and do the standard Gong Fu brewing times, but just do it multiple times...less time in the hot water equals less bitterness, plus multiple steeps equal richer flavor. : )( :

[@acemanhomer1]

Pulling it out of the water and setting aside inbetween steeps, give it about 30 seconds to a minute to cool the leaf in between each steep

[@beth.7]

@@acemanhomer1 I used to do that, when I experimented with tea bags and CTC breakfast teas, to see whether they couldn't be brewed gong fu style after all. 🧪🙃🌡🔬 It did work to a certain point, although I had to get the teabag/broken leaves out really quickly at the start. Basically just let the water run through them. The resulting cup was certainly richer and sweeter ... still needed some milk though, to counteract the astringency.

[@acemanhomer1]

@@beth.7 ahh. I wonder if it's cause teabags have the ground up tea leaves instead of whole ones, if it heats the leaf material up quicker and it releases more bitter compounds.

[@beth.7]

@@acemanhomer1 Yes. Must be, because it’s just dust in the tea bags. The CTC was much less astringent, even though it was broken.

[@abisal_gergiev]

I also do a cold brew with what’s left after I’m done. Usually 4-5hrs for proper extraction but that depends on the tea and how many hot brews it got

[@xiaodingjones1554]

I wonder if clay pot brewing achieves some of this naturally. There would be some thermal mass from the clay walls, so hot water goes in, the clay reduces the temperature rather quickly, allowing the high notes to brew at the lower temperatures. Sp put your clay pot in a bowl of cold water (I would hesitate to use ice!). Perhaps a clay pot with thicker walls would be good as well.

[@ajminxy]

I was thinking this as well.

[@JohnnyLightningYoutube]

I will let you know what I think on these two brewing methods! Thank you for a another interesting video! 🙌💪❤️⚡️

[@JohnnyLightningYoutube]

I tried Arc brewing last night with a Tong mu small leaf black tea in Souchong Liquor! About 4 big ice cubes in a bowl of water. The first 30 second brew had some coco bitters with tons of bright notes as well like raspberry jam, and the finish was juicy! I love this brewing method! Still have yet to try stacked!

[@Bigislandchef]

Geeky deep dive indeed, but I love the knowledge growing/idea promoting approach. You have me thinking now… as a Chef I have to wonder what happens if I Sous Vide an aged white tea?

[@namedrop721]

Do it and report back please

[@sweetestdew]

You nailed the complexity of buying qimen and the flavors. I'm having similar trouble securing a good qimen. Also I feel qimen is very influenced by small changes in flavor.

[@agatawrze]

Question: how about leaving the gaiwan uncovered, like for green teas? Supposedly it lets the water cool down faster, although I don't know how efficiently in comparison with ice water bath.

[@RD-sp3hp]

Thanks for the video Don! One wuix question, are you planning to release a yixing tea pot?

[@forteandblues]

Yes! I need to be a gong fu masta!

[@Apollo440]

You still have a long way to go, young pada-gaiwan.

[@daniel.lopresti]

Could this possibly be something that might apply to black teas in general? In my (admitedly very limited) experience, this sounds familiar with the disappointment I encountered with subsequent brewings of a Yunnan black, after being wowed on first taste - all these chocolatey, nutty aromas that I couldn't seem to get aftwards; I seem to have figured out that I was brewing too hot/concentrated. I should also add that that was the first good quality Chinese black tea I had, so the first taste might have just been that "revelation of True Tea" (tm) ;)

[@daniel.lopresti]

I should've watched till the end before commenting :)

[@leigh4402]

Hey Mei Leaf you mentioned Qimen was the original ingredient for english breakfast teas, are there still such breakfast teas using keemum leaves and how different does keemun tea become as an earl grey? Does it lose its complexity or is there not quite much difference?

[@YukonTschai]

And whats about putting a little of colder water in the Gaiwan and brew it further for a little time? Wouldn’t that work too 🤔

[@beth.7]

Intriguing. Would brewing in the snow - as I've seen people do - lead to the same effect as arc brewing?

[@Viniter]

what about just brewing with the lid off? make use of the natural heat loss characteristics of the gaiwan?

[@donchako3990]

I would look at it in relation to a flashlight v. A ball of light. The ball of light will end equally where there’s no compromise, the flashlight while concentrated, the beginning could be intense as well as the exit could have an more abrupt fall off. A poetic goal when trying to master a tea is to guide it to release equally from beginning to end. Like trying to walk a horse, a donkey, an stallion, an stallion with an blind eye, and an pony around the track with the least amount of marks from the judges and with the same performance as the well groomed pony. Some animals will bulldoze and be forgiving to distracting onlookers, others will be timid and go buck wild at the touch of a fly on the face… you can tell I get deep with the minutiae of life’s liberties,lol.

[@donchako3990]

Basically when brewing in therma-vision: brewing with the lid off could be akin to an flashlight while brewing with it on and giving a flash dowse of hot water pulls from the leaves in an celestial fashion. Different processing can put up varying energy walls, for instance I keep brewing an ball rolled oolong until the leave flattens itself to an smooth surface, then I won’t pursue any further. Try what I’m saying with a charcoal roasted oolong v. Non. You’ll see the charcoal roasted takes much more coaxing/ energy to get to that flatter leaf than with the greener ones.

[@wolkensaft]

Have you tried *simplified* arc brewing? Fill the brewing vessel with volume V1 of hot water at temperature T1, let it steep for x seconds, then add volume V2 of cooler water at temperature T2 and let it steep for y seconds. This should give much more control, not only over temperature, but also steeping time at each temperature value, than cooling the vessel with cold water, which is basically just guesswork. Also, in terms of handling, it is simpler than standard arc brewing. No ice, no extra vessel for ice water etc.

[@gewreid5946]

Would the leaf to water ratio for the first and the second part be different? Would that make a difference? Or would you increase the amount of leaves along with the added volume of water?

[@wolkensaft]

@@gewreid5946 I wouldn't increase the amount of leaves when topping up with cooler water, but of course one could. I don't think it makes much of a difference, though. Strictly speaking, the concentration gradient between the totality of leaves and the surrounding water would increase again when adding more leaves together with the second volume of water, but when adding all of the leaves at once, it is steeper at the beginning, and definitely steep enough over the whole brewing process anyway. In any case, these are just theoretical musings so far. One would need to experiment.

[@beth.7]

Nice idea! One probably would have to do a side by side to see the difference. Have I understood you right, and you'd brew first for x seconds with just a bit of the hot water, then add more cold water to the steeping leaves over the rest of the steeping time for that infusion?

[@wolkensaft]

@@beth.7 Yes, that's the idea. By intentionally choosing the water amount, temperature and time for the two steps, one would have much more control over the infusion than by simply putting the brewing vessel in cold water.

[@beth.7]

@@wolkensaft 👌 Thanks. I just hope, I'll have enough time over the next couple of weeks, to try out all the ideas and variations on this brewing concept. So interesting!

[@pm6828]

As a person who is overly paranoid about dish usage: could we achieve a similar effect by brewing it all in one pot, but adding some of the leaves after the water has slightly cooled?

[@steve7931]

Enjoyed this discussion on Keeman brewing , I also have tried all sort of brewing criteria to bring out its best . Please provide information on your latest kettle , looking for one similar , thanks.

[@lepetitchat123]

Is there any chance you can talk about herbal teas? I can't drink much caffeine lol

[@donchako3990]

Funny enough, I inherently do stack brewing for my seasoning cup and brush that on my puerh pots while I’m having a session.

[@pistolatime2515]

Wow. I'm thinking about trying this method with B.A.D., has anyone tried?

[@shutupack5389]

Do you think this is worth experimenting with ripe pu'erh?

[@Laura-je2uw]

I would have a totally unrelated question, but maybe someone could answer this for me - i have a kabusecha green tea which i enjoy from time to time, but the tea is always milky/ cloudy after the infusion - this is not the case for any other tea that i brew - does anyone know what the reason might be? Regarding the Arc brewing - that looks really interesting - i would love to know the process you use at mei leaf to determine which brewing temperatures/ times are best to be used for each batch of tea - i imagine that you follow a certain protocol to test different parameters in parallel?

[@darkdraconis]

Is the second and third brew also cloudy?

[@Laura-je2uw]

@@darkdraconis i do 2 more infusions after the firstband they are still cloudy although a bit less. First short wash is clear. I think that i also had this phenomenon quite some time ago with a gyokuro.

[@darkdraconis]

@@Laura-je2uw Stupid question but is the water too hot? 65 degrees should suffice

[@Laura-je2uw]

@@darkdraconis not stupid at all - on the packaging it says 55 degress so i approximately stop the water midway to boiling - i dont measure the temperature but i can touch the water without it being too hot.

[@darkdraconis]

@@Laura-je2uw I highly recommend either the use of a meat thermometer. It's not expensive and will guarantee the perfect temperature every time. Normally, if you only need 55 degrees hot water you tab water on max temp should do the trick, I don't have any special sink and the water coming out is 63°C hot. Something that just came to my mind is, maybe your water is very hard/calcareous. Do you have a water purifier by any chance? Depending on where you live that could ruin your tea and even make it cloudy, but than again why only the kabusecha and gyokuro?

[@Currywurst-zo8oo]

13:14 For everyone that just wants an explanation of the brewing styles.

[@MsGaheris]

How about just chilling the gaiwan and then brewing as normal

[@9691ocram]

Shock temperature, bye bye gaiwan.

[@Laura-je2uw]

Isn't that what he does when he puts it in the ice bath?

[@9691ocram]

@@Laura-je2uw No, is slight different.. The gaiwan is at ambient temperature. Then after he puts the gaiwan in the ice bath he immediately puts hot water in it. The gaiwan didn't have time to be chilled.. But the normal heat transfer from inside to outside is accelerated. In this way he obtains the desired result of a variable temperature flash infusion. Without risking, it would seem, breakages from thermal shock.

[@leeennise.a3338]

as soon as he said, "tea purist, look away". The last time he mixed teas. SMH. LOL. Thanks. I'll skip