03.12.09
Down with brew waste!
posted by Heidi Kyser | 7 comments
I’ve been in the specialty tea industry nearly a year now (I joined World Tea News in March of last year), and I just had my first experience of the kind that more seasoned industry professionals must confront on a regular basis with all sorts of mixed emotions.
For lack of a better term, I’ll call it “brew waste”. This is when a server ruins a perfectly good tea by brewing it at the wrong temperature, for the wrong amount of time, and/or using the wrong kind of equipment.
I met a business colleague in a recently opened tea and coffee shop here in Las Vegas. Seeing mainly Japanese greens on the tea menu – and being a curious journalist – I asked who the shop’s supplier was. The woman behind the counter gave me the name of a reputable brand, known in the industry for sourcing, blending, and distributing high-quality tea.
I couldn’t wait to try my Kukicha!
Sadly, the server evidently brewed my tea in boiling water. What was placed before me several minutes later was a still extremely hot, forest-green sludge. As I brought the large, bowl-shaped cup of wasted tea away from my lips, my heart sank. It was undrinkable. My colleague and I had to leave soon, or I would have demanded a better-brewed cup.
World Tea executives take great care to teach all staff as much as they can about tea, and we are lucky to be exposed to some of the most delicious specialty teas on the market. It’s enough to make one a tea snob.
But my experience at the tea and coffee shop was about much more than that. It was about the fear so many of my sources have shared with me over the past year: the fear that potential customers are lost every day because of a bad experience with tea.
I’m not going to stop drinking Kukicha because a server didn’t know what he was doing – but that’s because I know what Kukicha is supposed to taste like. What if I were trying it for the first time? I might think, “This is horrible. I’m going back to coffee lattes and will never venture into this exotic green tea land again.” Or, at least that’s what many in the specialty tea industry worry will happen.
It’s easy to blame this on tea room owners who are directly responsible for knowing good brewing techniques and passing them on to staff, but I believe the responsibility is actually shared by all of us in the industry. The media has to spread the word to consumers so that they know what to expect in a good cup of tea. Suppliers have to train their customers, who can then better train their staff. 
Everyone has to continue their own education so they’re on top of brewing and serving trends.
The fact that we still have a long way to go is both good news and bad. The bad news is, in the case of my recent experience, for instance, that somewhere along the chain of responsibility, someone failed to educate or be educated properly, and this could be happening somewhere else as I write.
The good news is interest in tea has never been higher. There’s a vast public out there thirsting for knowledge. Let’s all do our part to teach them what good tea really is and how it’s made, and put a stop to brew waste forever!
March 12th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
AMEN, AMEN!!! I would agree with all you said and add that it happens with coffee as well, which is our ’sub-specialty’ and follows tea in our name, “tea and coffee”. Tea has been done
so poorly in this country for so many years, that it has a sort of ‘disrespect’ from many people, especially confirmed ‘coffee drinkers’, because of exactly the kind of experience you had or, more often, because all they have ever had is a bag full of fannings/dust. Most people, I feel fairly safe in saying, have never experienced a fine specialty loose leaf tea brewed to its’ peak
taste capabilities.
Tea, in our company’s opinion, should be brewed only when consumed/ordered, never batched, and so should coffee. I’m told a shot of espresso loses its’ peak flavor within 30 seconds of being pulled. I would guesstimate that tea’s peak flavor begins to degrade the moment it has time to cool to a warm state. And then there are those fading antioxidants as time ticks.
Yes, Heidi..I stand with you in being passionate about making sure anyone who is truly a part
of specialty tea, in any way and at any stage in the chain, should be part of a ‘family’ of enthusiasts who don’t want to turn anyone off to this great beverage.
I am also hoping those guiding the industry in positions of leadership will take the time to try
and then promote new methods of brewing tea..if they truly do justice to the leaf. Let’s not
get locked in to the way it’s always been done if there’s as good or better a way online today.
Let’s just be part of moving specialty tea into the limelight in all its’ incredible possibilities.
Then tea will sell itself and so many others will join us on the journey.
March 12th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
You are so right. I had a similar experience in Portland Oregon when I went to a restaurant that had an amazing tea menu. I made a decision to try the most expensive pot I had ever ordered…….$8.00 - a white tea - I’ve blocked out all the other details. The tea arrived undrinkable. It was obviously boiled and oversteeped before it even got to the table. I was left feeling that many people wouldn’t know that it wasn’t supposed to taste like this and would be turned off to whole leaf tea - as was mentioned above. We must educate consumers who believe themselves to be “tea people” when they’ve only drank blended tea bag teas. When they’ve boiled or over steeped it, the strong fruit flavors disguise the damage. I’ve written a formula that is easy to remember W+3T=The perfect cup of tea. Good water + good Tea, correct Temperature and correct Time = perfection.
March 12th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Thank you for reiterating this very important issue Heidi. Unfortunately this is still the norm than the exception. I can’t tell you how many countless experiences I have had with this in restaurants, hotels, cafes etc. Part of the problem is that most of these places have originally been setup with a coffee mentality so there is only one temperature of water - very hot. The other is inconvenience. It takes a bit more time and thought to prepare a good cup of tea and busy places don’t want to do that. It’s starting to change a little with the increase popularity of tea, but a lot more needs to be done. One of the things that I do, and that we all can do is, whenever you run into this type of situation, as for the manager and educate them. Even offer to advise them if they would like. The more that we can educate the better it will be for all.
March 14th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
The flipside to the boiled green syndrome would be the black tea that’s been steeped at a temperature that’s actually more suited for green.
March 17th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
THANK YOU! I’ve been fortunate to have a wonderful tea shop who does know the proper timing and temperature (as well as having several choices for brewing methods) of the teas that they offer for drinking either in the store (my favorite for a relaxing afternoon of people watching) and for the on the go cup (where they still insist upon making the tea in the correct manner). Recently, I gave my sister a full 500g package of a Japanese Green tea that I had imported originally for myself but wanted to share (and she even asked for some) so I made her and her husband a couple of properly prepared pots before she left with her new acquisition and much to my surprise she actually LIKED IT! I told her the key, brewing time and quality water temperature and hopefully my short lesson will take effect so she can enjoy that pound of tea for quite some time. By the way, I do have a replacement for myself coming shortly from Japan so I’ll still be enjoying that particular varietal for quite some time.
As always, cheers and blessings and keep drinking the good stuff (which is whatever variety you care for properly prepared of our favorite beverage of choice!)
Fr. Patrick