Tea imponderables

Others have noted like myself the sponge effect of tea ie larger grade
leaves in a pot dropping the water level as they expand. They expand
so much it is like a magician pulling tea leaves out of a hat. A
sponge is mostly air. This effect seems to disappear in finer grade
oxidized sizes. I conclude oxidation removes air space. Ive never
seen an estimated of how much tea leaf membrane is air. I assume this
has something to do with converting CO2 to oxygen. The cell structure
instead of flat and dense must be porous like boxes. However if so why
doesnt tea give up its taste in the first pot for less oxidized greens
like the blacks. If I conjecture that tea is mostly air why doesnt it
disintegrate instead of remaining intact. Im just rambling about some
tea imponderables I notice everyday.

Jim

PS What tea leaves were the Gypsies using for fortune telling? Did
this predate the introduction of tea in Europe. If so why wasnt Italy
or the Arabic area the source of tea trade?

The Standard Model still cant tell us when tea taste good or why black
tea absorbs less water than green. Im leaning towards dried sap on
ruptured cells.

Jim

PS I still wouldnt stand in front of a speeding freight train of
probabilistic quantum particles.

On Nov 24, 7:14 pm, sjone...@cogeco.ca wrote:
> wow, deep thinker...
>
> first off
> let us clarify some basic items.
>
> Every particle, item, planet, element in the universe is
> 99.9999999999% empty space.
....the atomic empty space model is a bit outdated...
> does that help clear things up?
> alanj

On Nov 25, 6:50 am, Space Cowboy <netst...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> The Standard Model still cant tell us when tea taste good or why black
> tea absorbs less water than green.  Im leaning towards dried sap on
> ruptured cells.

I win! 8-D

Keep in mind that "empty space" and "air" are not the same thing. From
the point of view of the water molecules interacting with the cells
and chemical components of the tea leaves, the empty space can be
ignored. That is, the processes we're talking about here can be
explained on a macro level without invoking subatomic particles and
quarks and the multiverse.

Here the tea pulls the magician out of the cup. Each little rolled
tea wad can contain many leaves. I dont understand how you can
dehydrate and maintain taste. It seems to me there has to be special
chemistry in the leaf to permit this. I guess the taste molecules
dont bind with the water. I eat my share of greens. I can start with
a full pot of fresh spinach and end with almost nothing after boiling.
If I want to save it all I can do is blanche

Jim

PS For Dominic and Lew, if I cut back my palm measure 50% which looks
like 1/2 tsp the Sencha and DW is drinkable. I cant image the other
half causing the problem. I find tea to be very forgiving except
these two. Both leaves are razor thin which I guess causes them to
leak catechins like a sieve.

On Dec 1, 5:39 am, Nigel <ni...@teacraft.com> wrote:
....im a sap for a cup of tea...
> However, to return to the original observation "Others have noted like
> myself the sponge effect of tea ie larger grade leaves in a pot
> dropping the water level as they expand. They expand so much it is
> like a magician pulling tea leaves out of a hat" . Leaf teas are
> twisted and folded so that rehydration fast tracks them back to being
> fresh leaf size area. A collection of CTC leaf particles cannot
> achieve this, though volume for volume they probably expand more,
> certainly more quickly.
>
> Nigel at Teacraft

On Dec 1, 9:20 am, Space Cowboy <netst...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> Here the tea pulls the magician out of the cup.  Each little rolled
> tea wad can contain many leaves.  I dont understand how you can
> dehydrate and maintain taste.  It seems to me there has to be special
> chemistry in the leaf to permit this.  I guess the taste molecules
> dont bind with the water.  I eat my share of greens.  I can start with
> a full pot of fresh spinach and end with almost nothing after boiling.
> If I want to save it all I can do is blanche
>
> Jim
>
> PS  For Dominic and Lew, if I cut back my palm measure 50% which looks
> like 1/2 tsp the Sencha and DW is drinkable.  I cant image the other
> half causing the problem.  I find tea to be very forgiving except
> these two.  Both leaves are razor thin which I guess causes them to
> leak catechins like a sieve.

It's always that pesky other half, I think it hangs out on the other
side of the tracks at night. I really believe those two greens (well
there are others) are just stronger flavors and really release them
quickly. The only other solution is lower temp water, if I use very
low temp water I can leave the leaves in my gaiwan while I drink
them.

And Nigel, a big thanks for yet another amazingly insightful post,
your knowledge is legend.

- Dominic

Nigel, thanks for backing up my qualitative statement with
quantitative data. Information like that is really helpful to those of
us who have not had the pleasure of being up-close and personal with
tea processing.