Tweaking parameters to see about getting back to the stronger caramel flavor. Water from the Zojirushi at 208° into an empty pot, then poured in the leaf, left the lid off for most of the brew (honestly I just wandered away and forgot). Decanted, let it cool for a few minutes while I made the husband a big mug of PG Tips.
Now I’m sipping on it and it’s heavy and silky so I’m thinking this is good. I’m barely into the cup at all and getting burnt sugar. The smoky flavor is just a hint without the edge I sometimes get from it when brewed stronger.
Okay, half way through the cup now and this tastes like a silkier, slightly heavier version of the Lupicia’s English Caramel from yesterday. And the more I sip, the stronger the caramel taste becomes and the more in turns into a caramel chew.
The last third of the cup is filled with sweet caramel. So sweet and smooth and just awesome. It’s like a thin caramel sauce – silky, heavy, sweet, rich, sweet, caramel. I pretty much gulp the last third of my cup down because it is so delicious.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.
3.7g/12oz
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Argh!! I feel sad because I’m still not getting caramel chew, just smokey pine :(
Nice! I’ve liked your reviews of this one. I just gave in and bought the set, but haven’t tried Jackee yet cause I usually prefer Assams to Keemuns. This will totally useful for when I do.
Does this tend to work with keemuns in general or is it just this one?
Auggy, which Zojirushi do you have?
Is Shantea purchasing a Zojirushi now? =]
Shanti, the less leaf I use, the less pine I seem to get and the more caramel, but the cup has to cool a decent bit for it to really pop and get gooey.
Harfatum, I adore Thomas! Jackee didn’t overly impress me until I accidentally ended up with the caramel and then it became pretty awesome.
Angrboda, I’ve never had this happen with another keemun but I haven’t tried to get it from any others either. I think it’s just this one. Maybe.
Shanti, I have the 4-L Zojirushi CD-LCC40 (http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/elepots/cd_lcc.html ) but have been eying the CD-WBC40 (http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/elepots/cd_wbc.html ) since it has a 140° setting. Just waiting for an excuse!
I have that one! The one with 140F. I realize it wasn’t that important after I got it and I wish I got the newer ones that allows me to unplug it from the wall and still dispense water. So how do I knock it down to 140F or any temperature quickly? I usually leave it around 3L. If I need to drop the temperature really quickly, I just pour in some room temperature water. That seems to do the trick =]
Part of me wants to make some of this today, but a bigger part of me wants to try some of the tea I got in the mail, so Jackee shall need to wait until tomorrow. I’ll be trying less leaf when I do, though.
What’s the minimum amount of water you have to add to the machine for it to work? Can it do 8 ounces of water at a time, or do you have to do more?
You can do 8 ounces, but it’s kind of a waste. Basically you fill it up and just leave it there and it keeps the water at that temperature. It’s 700watts when it’s boiling and 120watts when it’s keeping warm. I use to boil water throughout the day with a 1500watt kettle so that burned a lot more electricity. 4 liters of water lasts me about 1-2 days.
Ooh, I’m so glad you mentioned wattage since I’m trying to keep my energy bill low. :) So do you set it to boil once (using 700 watts) and then keep it on the “keep warm” setting all day? Does that use up 120 watts every hour?
Oh wait, I think that’s wrong…anyone want to explain to me what watts means, in terms of the amount of electricity used?
Well, we’re billed by kilowatts. Zojirushi has an energy saver thing. Basically you can set it to go to sleep in X time and then wake up and reboil. I’ve never used it.
Before I use to hit the reboil button on my 1500watt machine 5-6 times a day. Let’s say it took 10 minutes to boil water. That’s 1500watts a day. My zojirushi, it’s basically, HEY, I’m not saving electricity =P It’s only if I use the energy saver that I would really be saving electricity. Oh well, it has it’s convenience. I should time how long it takes for my electric kettle to boil water. I know I use to hit the reheat button a lot of times throughout the day. If it’s only ten minutes to heat water, it won’t make much of a difference. If it’s 15 minutes and I boil it 6 times, then zojirushi wins. Too many factors to weigh in.
So the most energy efficient way would be to just boil each time you want hot water? Or is there some other way… (Sorry for all the questions…I am awful at engineering and physics, lol)
Yeah, I’m pretty bad at this too =]
I believe so, I mean if you just boil exactly what you need it would obviously be the most efficient. Then you wouldn’t be wasting any electricity =]
I have a tendency to boil a huge pot of water, because I’m too lazy to keep refilling and reboiling, etc. Basically it’s just convenience here. I don’t have to wake up in the morning fill my kettle with water and hit the reboil button. I mean I could fill the kettle with water the previous night and just hit the button in the morning, but whenever I want tea, I can just press dispense on my Zojirushi.
Ah, okay! That makes sense. Thanks Ricky for your patience with my ignorance :)
I love my zojirushi so, so much. Having hot water immediately ready when I stumble into the kitchen in the morning is awesome. The only way in which it could conceivably be more awesome is if you could program it with a clock, so that it automatically popped to 208 in the mornings to give me my black tea caffeine fix after I spent the evening drinking oolong and white at 175 for those times when I forget. Hardly complaint-worthy!
Yeah, the convenience is amazing and the fact I can actually get the water at the correct temperature! =] I’ve done that a few times, but 175F to 208 doesn’t take that long to annoy me. If I’m in a big rush, I just use my good old water kettle.
I’m with sophistre on the Zojirushi love. I’m too impatient to wait for water to boil each time I want a cup. And then if I had to wait for it to cool down to 175? No way! Each night I set the sleep timer so the water is at 208 for morning tea, then set the timer again (this time on 195) when I go off to work. When I come home, I knock it to 175 and do my normal just got home stuff. By the time I’m ready for tea, so is my water! When I don’t have the convenience of my Zojirushi, I drink a lot less tea. ♥ my Zo.
Just to jump in on the power discussion really briefly, we’re actually billed by the kilowatt hour. [Not to nitpick, but I’m taking physics this semester which is bringing up to a rumbling two years.] There’s some extra conversion that needs to happen to really be able to figure out your actual bill [Shanti, if you really want an explanation feel free to DM me], but I’m not going to get into it because I’ve been whipping my nerd around a bit too much here.
Regardless, figuring for proportionate power usage will help you figure out things well enough, though some companies have fixed payments for power usage no matter what you use, and some bump their rates up once you surpass a certain number of kWh.
Ok, seriously, that’s it. Yay Zojirushis, even though I don’t have one. I’d like one. Someday.
Argh!! I feel sad because I’m still not getting caramel chew, just smokey pine :(
Nice! I’ve liked your reviews of this one. I just gave in and bought the set, but haven’t tried Jackee yet cause I usually prefer Assams to Keemuns. This will totally useful for when I do.
Does this tend to work with keemuns in general or is it just this one?
Auggy, which Zojirushi do you have?
Is Shantea purchasing a Zojirushi now? =]
Shanti, the less leaf I use, the less pine I seem to get and the more caramel, but the cup has to cool a decent bit for it to really pop and get gooey.
Harfatum, I adore Thomas! Jackee didn’t overly impress me until I accidentally ended up with the caramel and then it became pretty awesome.
Angrboda, I’ve never had this happen with another keemun but I haven’t tried to get it from any others either. I think it’s just this one. Maybe.
Shanti, I have the 4-L Zojirushi CD-LCC40 (http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/elepots/cd_lcc.html ) but have been eying the CD-WBC40 (http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/elepots/cd_wbc.html ) since it has a 140° setting. Just waiting for an excuse!
I have that one! The one with 140F. I realize it wasn’t that important after I got it and I wish I got the newer ones that allows me to unplug it from the wall and still dispense water. So how do I knock it down to 140F or any temperature quickly? I usually leave it around 3L. If I need to drop the temperature really quickly, I just pour in some room temperature water. That seems to do the trick =]
Part of me wants to make some of this today, but a bigger part of me wants to try some of the tea I got in the mail, so Jackee shall need to wait until tomorrow. I’ll be trying less leaf when I do, though.
What’s the minimum amount of water you have to add to the machine for it to work? Can it do 8 ounces of water at a time, or do you have to do more?
You can do 8 ounces, but it’s kind of a waste. Basically you fill it up and just leave it there and it keeps the water at that temperature. It’s 700watts when it’s boiling and 120watts when it’s keeping warm. I use to boil water throughout the day with a 1500watt kettle so that burned a lot more electricity. 4 liters of water lasts me about 1-2 days.
Ooh, I’m so glad you mentioned wattage since I’m trying to keep my energy bill low. :) So do you set it to boil once (using 700 watts) and then keep it on the “keep warm” setting all day? Does that use up 120 watts every hour?
Oh wait, I think that’s wrong…anyone want to explain to me what watts means, in terms of the amount of electricity used?
Well, we’re billed by kilowatts. Zojirushi has an energy saver thing. Basically you can set it to go to sleep in X time and then wake up and reboil. I’ve never used it.
Before I use to hit the reboil button on my 1500watt machine 5-6 times a day. Let’s say it took 10 minutes to boil water. That’s 1500watts a day. My zojirushi, it’s basically, HEY, I’m not saving electricity =P It’s only if I use the energy saver that I would really be saving electricity. Oh well, it has it’s convenience. I should time how long it takes for my electric kettle to boil water. I know I use to hit the reheat button a lot of times throughout the day. If it’s only ten minutes to heat water, it won’t make much of a difference. If it’s 15 minutes and I boil it 6 times, then zojirushi wins. Too many factors to weigh in.
So the most energy efficient way would be to just boil each time you want hot water? Or is there some other way… (Sorry for all the questions…I am awful at engineering and physics, lol)
Yeah, I’m pretty bad at this too =]
I believe so, I mean if you just boil exactly what you need it would obviously be the most efficient. Then you wouldn’t be wasting any electricity =]
I have a tendency to boil a huge pot of water, because I’m too lazy to keep refilling and reboiling, etc. Basically it’s just convenience here. I don’t have to wake up in the morning fill my kettle with water and hit the reboil button. I mean I could fill the kettle with water the previous night and just hit the button in the morning, but whenever I want tea, I can just press dispense on my Zojirushi.
Ah, okay! That makes sense. Thanks Ricky for your patience with my ignorance :)
I love my zojirushi so, so much. Having hot water immediately ready when I stumble into the kitchen in the morning is awesome. The only way in which it could conceivably be more awesome is if you could program it with a clock, so that it automatically popped to 208 in the mornings to give me my black tea caffeine fix after I spent the evening drinking oolong and white at 175 for those times when I forget. Hardly complaint-worthy!
Yeah, the convenience is amazing and the fact I can actually get the water at the correct temperature! =] I’ve done that a few times, but 175F to 208 doesn’t take that long to annoy me. If I’m in a big rush, I just use my good old water kettle.
I’m with sophistre on the Zojirushi love. I’m too impatient to wait for water to boil each time I want a cup. And then if I had to wait for it to cool down to 175? No way! Each night I set the sleep timer so the water is at 208 for morning tea, then set the timer again (this time on 195) when I go off to work. When I come home, I knock it to 175 and do my normal just got home stuff. By the time I’m ready for tea, so is my water! When I don’t have the convenience of my Zojirushi, I drink a lot less tea. ♥ my Zo.
Just to jump in on the power discussion really briefly, we’re actually billed by the kilowatt hour. [Not to nitpick, but I’m taking physics this semester which is bringing up to a rumbling two years.] There’s some extra conversion that needs to happen to really be able to figure out your actual bill [Shanti, if you really want an explanation feel free to DM me], but I’m not going to get into it because I’ve been whipping my nerd around a bit too much here.
Regardless, figuring for proportionate power usage will help you figure out things well enough, though some companies have fixed payments for power usage no matter what you use, and some bump their rates up once you surpass a certain number of kWh.
Ok, seriously, that’s it. Yay Zojirushis, even though I don’t have one. I’d like one. Someday.