Brewing Reprocessed tea without a kitchen
Reprocessed tea splits in two again, and the office question depends entirely on which half you have. Scented tea wants 85 degrees. Compressed tea wants a full boil.
Scented tea, above all jasmine, is awkward in an office for the same reason green tea is: the dispenser is too hot and the aroma is the whole point.
Compressed tea is excellent at work. It wants boiling water, it gives ten or more steeps from one dose, and it tolerates a thermos. It behaves like dark tea, because that is effectively what it is.
If you want one reprocessed tea at a desk, take a small cake or a few chunks. It is the better half for a working day by a wide margin.
If you prefer jasmine, bring a thermos of water at the right temperature or cool the boiling water in a cold mug for two minutes before brewing.
Dose is the other difference. Scented tea wants 3 grams per 150 millilitres, compressed wants 5 grams per 200. Getting those two backwards is the usual cause of a disappointing cup.
The form tells you which you have: petals in the leaf means scented, a solid shape means compressed. Sort before you brew, because the two want opposite water.
The office setup
The office setup for compressed tea is a mug or small pot with a roomy basket, a thermos, and a tin. For scented tea, swap the thermos of boiling water for a cooler one.
Rinse compressed tea first. Five to ten seconds of boiling water, discarded. It wakes up the leaf and washes off the dust, and it makes a visible difference.
Use a basket with room. Both halves expand as they open, and jasmine pearls in particular swell a great deal.
Pre-portion into 3 gram packets for scented tea or 5 gram packets for compressed. The two doses are different and it is easy to mix them up.
Keep both sealed and separate. A cake stored next to a tin of jasmine will smell of jasmine within weeks, which is a confusing cup at best.
And keep them away from the coffee machine. Both halves pick up smells, and the compressed half will hold onto them for the life of the brick.
On the road
Travelling with compressed tea is easy and efficient. A few chunks and a flask with a strainer will see you through several days.
The thermos method suits it perfectly. Five grams in 500 millilitres, boiling water, sip over hours, top up as needed. It is the same approach as dark tea, for the same reasons.
Scented tea travels well too, but it needs cooler water than a hotel kettle provides on its own. Boil, wait three minutes in the mug, then add the leaf.
Cold brewing works nicely for jasmine. Four grams in 500 millilitres of cold water for six hours gives a sweet, floral drink with none of the risk of over-extraction.
Pack compressed tea in its wrapper and a tin, and scented tea in a sealed tin. Neither survives a soft bag well, and both pick up smells.
One advantage when travelling: compressed tea is the most space-efficient tea there is. A week’s worth fits in a jacket pocket.
Altitude helps the scented half and hurts the compressed half. At 2000 metres water boils near 93 degrees, which suits jasmine and leaves a brick under-extracted.
What to skip
Skip brewing jasmine at a full boil. It drives off the aroma that is the entire reason for the tea, and what is left is a plain green base.
Skip the rinse for scented tea. It is a step for compressed tea, and rinsing jasmine throws away the best part of it.
Skip too little leaf on the compressed half. It needs a heavy ratio, and a light dose gives you coloured water.
Skip storing the two halves together. They want different humidity long-term and different water short-term, and they contaminate each other either way.
And skip the small ball infusers. Jasmine pearls and compressed chunks both need space to open.
If you take one thing: identify which half you have first. Every other decision follows from that, and getting it wrong wastes the tea.