Gooey tea leaves. Ick.
October 21, 2010 1:06 PM Subscribe
What could cause a gooey gummy residue left in my tea leaves after making oolong tea?
Yesterday I made some oolong tea (ti kwan yin from Peet's) in a teapot with a mesh basket for the tea leaves. I removed the basket of tea leaves and left it in a spare teacup (one of those cast-iron Japanese teacups which seems to have a layer of ceramic on the inside). I forgot to throw out the tea leaves, and today when I was cleaning up I lifted the mesh basket to find the bottom of the basket and the inside of the cup absolutely coated in a gelatinous substance, somewhere between hot glue and tapioca. I freaked out and scraped it into the trash, so I have no photo, but what the heck was my ti kwan yin adulterated with?! Odo from Deep Space 9?!!
Yesterday I made some oolong tea (ti kwan yin from Peet's) in a teapot with a mesh basket for the tea leaves. I removed the basket of tea leaves and left it in a spare teacup (one of those cast-iron Japanese teacups which seems to have a layer of ceramic on the inside). I forgot to throw out the tea leaves, and today when I was cleaning up I lifted the mesh basket to find the bottom of the basket and the inside of the cup absolutely coated in a gelatinous substance, somewhere between hot glue and tapioca. I freaked out and scraped it into the trash, so I have no photo, but what the heck was my ti kwan yin adulterated with?! Odo from Deep Space 9?!!
Best answer: Yep biofilm. It's an aggregate of bacteria and other microorganisms busy making a living from the wet leaves at the bottom of your cup. Give them a few weeks and you would have the early stages of soil.
posted by bonehead at 2:11 PM on October 21, 2010
posted by bonehead at 2:11 PM on October 21, 2010
I don't know, I've made a bazillion cups of tea in my life and frequently don't empty the tea leaves until the next day. I've never seen this happen (though I haven't had much oolong). Was your strainer new? How about the tea cup? There could have been some unwashed residue on one of those.
Do the same thing again twice with new batches of tea in the same vessels and in a different one to see if it's something weird about the tea or about the container.
And eww, tea snot.
posted by phunniemee at 2:13 PM on October 21, 2010
Do the same thing again twice with new batches of tea in the same vessels and in a different one to see if it's something weird about the tea or about the container.
And eww, tea snot.
posted by phunniemee at 2:13 PM on October 21, 2010
Best answer: I often leave tea leaves for much longer than that, they can get moldy after a few days if there's enough of them, never seen anything even remotely like that. I mostly leave sencha leaves like that, though, and they're quite different in texture and feel than an oolong. Still, that doesn't sound right to me. If that happened here, I would examine leaves very carefully and next time I'd make tea, I would be very attentive to the smell and flavour and if I suspected it might be a little bit off, I'd get rid of the tea. What sounds surprising is that it should happen so quickly. Overnight!? If it was two days, high humidity, warm, a lot of leaves, that's another thing.
posted by rainy at 3:22 PM on October 21, 2010
posted by rainy at 3:22 PM on October 21, 2010
Yeah, this seems extra weird. I've left all kinds of tea leaves overnight (or longer!) and never seen goo like you describe.
posted by oneirodynia at 3:33 PM on October 21, 2010
posted by oneirodynia at 3:33 PM on October 21, 2010
Gross. I wouldn't suspect biofilm, not given the short length of time - only overnight - and the fact that the tea leaves had just finished being sterilized with boiling water. I mean, it's possible? But not likely.
Try leaving some damp leaves in a dish, and see if it happens again. I would be concerned about adulteration with some kind of glue or plastic or starch or heaven knows what. Something inorganic, at any rate.
posted by ErikaB at 5:08 PM on October 21, 2010
Try leaving some damp leaves in a dish, and see if it happens again. I would be concerned about adulteration with some kind of glue or plastic or starch or heaven knows what. Something inorganic, at any rate.
posted by ErikaB at 5:08 PM on October 21, 2010
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posted by .kobayashi. at 1:49 PM on October 21, 2010