Alex Krupp > wrote in message news:<2004030521465216807%alex3917@hotmailcom>...
> Firstly, when brewing loose tea in a mesh infuser, when I pull the
> infuser basket out of the pot should I let it drip into the pot for a
> couple seconds or should I immediately slide a saucer or mug under it
> to prevent this? I know that the water that drains out of the infuser
> basket when you pull it out is most likely full of tannic acid and
> sediments, but I'm not sure what the accepted practice is.

Well, try for yourself with every tea you like and decide what suits
you best ... personally, I doubt, that there will be a (great)
difference though.

> Secondly, is there any guide or FAQ on how to develop ones palate for
> fine teas? I have heard that keemun is a good tea to start with, but I
> haven't been able to really appreciate the keemun hao-ya (#503) that I
> bought off specialteas. Any suggestions?

Hm, in my opinion a Keemun is a good start to tea drinking, if it is a
very mild, smooth and sweet one, without much of a smokey taste. In my
case, this changed after some years to a Keemun, which I like to be a
littel bit rough, with some edges and a distinct smokey flavour. To
begin with, ask for a smooth, mild Keemun with a light sweet note.
In contrast I've made the experience, that with coffee-addicts a nice
but strong and malty Assam (with milk or even cream) is a really good
start. It seems, they have to develop a taste for the more fragile
flavours of tea first, after they reduced their coffee consume. Green
teas are mostly a bad idea to start with, because first you have to
learn to taste ...
At the beginning of the tea journey, a Ceylon or even Darjeeling FF
teas are often not the best start, esp. if they are a liitle
"tea-bitter", but try it ...

The best thing is to go to a local tea shop and ask for small amounts
of teas (25 gr.or so or even for an amount which will be enough for
half a litre) -- normally this is a little bit more expensive but
worth it to have a good start into the tea journey. Ask for "typical"
Chinese Black, Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling First Flush and Darjeeling
Second Flush teas. Brew it, try it. And remember, if you don't like a
tea, you don't like it now, that can/will change over the time, so
trying will be one of your hobbies ;-) ...
Afterall, it will be a quick experience, that you have a tea which you
like or dislike not at all, but that you can differentiate what "part"
of the taste you like or you like not ... this is the start ... this
will be difficult to describe, but a good tea shop can help you to go
further into it. A new variety of small amounts of different teas will
be the answer. Try again. After a short while, you will be able to
name the tastes (soft, smooth, fruity, smokey, wooden, nutty, malty,
perfumed and so on) ... then you can ask and discuss further e.g. in
this NG, to find some teas, which come near to your ideal of taste
(let's say, "your" Chinese Black and "your" Darjeeling FF etc.). So
after a while, you will know what teas you do like in general and also
which "characters" of this teas you will prefer. From this time on,
you will taste lots of teas (and buy lots of teas everywehre you can)
of that "character". Don't forget to taste other, different typical
teas again ... at that stage, you also can try an Oolong or even some
green teas.
More and more your taste will change ... so, "your" teas will change
also ... nevertheless, remember that you will drink lots of garden
teas (estate teas) after some time. Every year a new taste ... well,
it's quite interesting to be in the tea thing.

> I too want to be one of the
> elite who can tell whether a cuppa is more reminiscent of wooden
> steamships or English countryside weather

That will be a normal development ... it is not a question to be
elitish, it will be a natural part of your personal taste and
intuition ...

Dieter