/ck/ - Food & Cooking

just got the 9€ matcha in the mail.
will report back when I tried it

>>14361347
>"Suggest tea for me"
>>Your country
>>What tea have you tried before
>>Do you own a teapot, gaiwan etc

>Germany
>Loose leaf from a local store, but I assume it is aromatized.
>I own a stone ceramic teapot?

>>14361359
Was gibts heute für Tee?
Ich trinke gerade einen frischen Grüntee.

>wasn't able to post a new thread while at work and now we have a Loli edition

C'est la vie. Tea updates...

1) Dan Cong Black Tea from Kong Mountain came in today, along with two free samples. I think she realized I bought 70 bucks of the last free sample she sent and figured she'd see if the pattern holds.

2) I cracked into the 2018 W2T Pussy (with my mom, actually). Did 6.5g for 100 ml at 212F. First 5 or 6 infusions were super aggressive - not quite bitter but very astringent and mouth drying, and that was covering up some sort of flavor that was in the background. Steeps 7 or so onward the astringency left and that hiding flavor made itself clear - wet hay. That was my mom's realization, actually. It was really interesting. Grassy but with a dankness and thickness to it. I used to live on a farm and the smell of hay bails that had morning dew gathered on them is all over this tea. It may be the power or suggestion but I don't think the name is inappropriate. Overall it was a really surprising flavor that was very complex and requires more examination. I'm going to go 205F next time to try to forego that initial astringency.

3) Been drinking the 2018 W2T Waffles a bunch and think it's quite good. It is not super long lasting and needs to be brewed for a fair amount of time to coax out its high notes, but when they're there I'm getting honey and chocolate in droves, and in the initial and later infusions those move to the back in favor of wood and buttermilk. Quite enjoyable, but I'm only getting maybe 5 great steeps (plus an initial steep and maybe 3 or so descending steeps at the end) with 6.5g in 100 ml.

tastes like cheap bagged green tea
nothin special
>>14361351

>>14361682

Too bad, but at least it wasn't a huge and expensive gamble.

>>14361471

Only just now looked up what the two sample teas were and the puer is one that sells for more than $100 for a 200g cake. That'll be interesting to try.

Tried some Wuyi Yancha Shui Xian I got as a gift. Very fresh and sweet, hints of apricot and honey.

white2tea ordered od june 27 is at my post office in EU july 7.
11 days, 7 working days.
NICE

I think we're back to normal with shipping times lads.

>>14361386
Rooibos für mich, anon. Hat er gut geschmeckt?

>>14361971
Shipping to Europe seems better for some reason. I still have an order stuck in Chinese limbo from months ago. I'm starting to think I ordered at the absolute worst time and it's gone.

>>14361704
Nah. I kinda expected it to be shit. Never tried matcha before.but pretty sure thats not how its supposed to taste...

>>14362053
Ja. Habe ich bei FullChea direkt aus China >>14362053
gleich 500g gekauft, also Glück gehabt, dass er gut ist.
Ist Huangshan Grüntee. Hat eine sehr blumige, frische Note. Ca. 9ct das Gramm

So i received my luxurious french porcelain mug for grampa style brewing. Unfortunately it's too small, i really hate buying stuff online. So I ordered a larger one and I will probably give this one to my parents. I am pretty impressed with it compared to my cheap china made mugs, the finish feels much smoother and it's about 3 shades whiter.

Is gongfu brewing actually worth the investment give it to me straight bros.

>>14362991
if 20$ is investment to you, then probably not.

>>14362991
Get a $10 gaiwan and maybe one of those little mesh filters and try it out. It's fun if you want to enjoy some ritual with your tea drinking and it dose taste a bit different that western style brewing but if you think it will be a chore then don't bother.

oh boy another thread of
>"if it isn't the chink way why do it at all?"
>gaiwan gaiwan i'm just a gaywand
>"waaaah where's my $200+ order of tea already?"
where's the tiesta poster when you need him to save us from such faggotry

>>14362981
That's a nice looking mug

Yerba mate > all other kinds of tea.

>>14363074

Literally none of those things have been said itt so far, and the opposite of two have. Sit down with a cup of tea maybe and try to relax.

was watching somebody feed phil and now i want to try morrocan tea. anybody have any resources or suggestions?

>>14363852
Get cheap gunpowder green from your local asian market for the authentic experience. You can just search around for recipes and there are some videos on YouTube.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=HB2Uxyyz-Rg

>america
>bagged trash, some good flavor teas, but now I am firmly drinking chinese and taiwanese teas, prefer raw pu-erhs, roasted oolongs and black tea but will drink anything more or less.
>2 gaiwans, one boring one and one my extra special commissioned one. used to have a teapot but I smashed it after I fucked up the inner glaze. Also own a fuck huge iron tea pot I can't gong fu with, so its gathering dust

here's a question out of left field. But if your teaware suddenly turned human, would you fuck it?

Anyone listen to any tea related podcasts? I've been listening to Talking Tea and Floating Leaves, the former coming out every few months it seems and the latter weekly, and Hot Leaf Juice which seems to be defunct.

>>14364580
What content is even covered on a tea podcast?

>>14364586

Talking Tea and Hot Leaf Juice are mostly interviews or discussions with industry folks, covering anything from farming to retailing to varying philosophies and practices, and Floating Leaves is from the Floating Leaves Tea Company, where the woman who runs it and some guests try various tea (mostly Taiwanese Oolong) and relate their experiences and the things they've learned as industry members and tea drinkers overall.

Overall they're just comfy background listens.

live dammit

>>14361347
Don't bait me with lolis

Going to sit down with a friend in his shady backyard on Sunday morning for tea. He just got a dog so I'm going to bring mine over to help teach his dog how to...well...be a good and confident dog. They met last week.

The friend runs a well known local coffee roastery/shop and has a little bit of experience with tea from, apparently, and old Russian woman who ran the tea at a coffee house he used to work at.

My thinking right now is to do two teas, quite different, and take the time to sit down and work through a full session of each. I'm inclined to start with a complex gyokuro and then maybe a shou puer just to demonstrate the range tea has. I'm hoping this will be a regular thing and I can then work him through the 8 or 9 shengs I have plus some other Japanese greens and that Dan Cong Black Tea.

Any thoughts?

>>14366775
I think brewing two teas is probably a better idea than trying to get through lots of it. Those sound like good choices. A shou would be good because it will have lots of flavors that are in the coffee range so he will be used to looking for them.

I got an intact one bud two leaf pluck in a Xaiguan tuo of all things.

Recommendations for cheap (=<10c/g) roasted oolong?

Anyone tried fullchea tea? They have some but seem a bit sketch

>>14367383
If you can find it at your local asian market sea dyke oolong is cheap and roasty toasty.
I would say give fullchea a shot. I haven't had any of their oolong but their puerh has been decent.
The paper packet oolongs that this store has are around that price, I'm guessing they are good teas because they also sell higher end oolongs.
https://www.chawangshop.com/oolong-tea/other-oolong-teas.html
You can also look at wuyi star brand oolongs on
https://dragonteahouse.biz/ i have really enjoyed the wuyi star tea I have tried.

>>14367383
dragon tea house has some sea dyke too.
https://dragonteahouse.biz/sea-dyke-at658-fujian-lao-cong-shui-xian-rock-yan-cha-china-oolong-tea-300g-tin/
https://dragonteahouse.biz/sea-dyke-xt816-fujian-san-yin-shui-xian-rock-yan-cha-china-oolong-tea-200g-bag/
https://dragonteahouse.biz/sea-dyke-xt707-fujian-jing-pin-shui-xian-rock-yan-cha-china-oolong-tea-500g-bag/
https://dragonteahouse.biz/sea-dyke-at117-shui-xian-china-fujian-shui-hsien-oolong-500g-1-1-lb-complete-tin/
You should get this kilo brick of fermented oolong with golden flowers fungus growing in it
https://dragonteahouse.biz/sea-dyke-brand-xtj1902-jin-hua-xiang-yuan-yong-chun-buddhas-hand-chinese-fujian-oolong-tea-980g/

>>14367383
Sorry for all the links, these wuyi star big red robe teas are probably your best bet for quality and a good roast level.
https://dragonteahouse.biz/wuyi-star-classic-old-flavor-big-red-robe-da-hong-pao-fujian-oolong-tea-250g/
https://dragonteahouse.biz/wuyi-star-medium-roasted-big-red-robe-da-hong-pao-dahongpao-oolong-tea-200g/
https://dragonteahouse.biz/wuyi-star-happiness-da-hong-pao-big-red-robe-chinese-oolong-tea-100g/

>>14364318
Probably, as long as my teaware understood I prefer cock and I'd just get nervous if they turned into girls.

>>14361347
for me, its sage tea

I grabbed some wild blackberry leaves from outside, rolled tem to bruise them and now have them drying. I will try brewing them in a day or two when they finish drying.

>>14367938

Let us know how it goes. Also make sure there isn't anything poisonous in wild blackberry leaves.

I ordered a bucket of wuyi star "old time taste" da hong pao oolong. I'm pretty sure that old time taste means heavily roasted but I don't really remember. I will post about in in December when it arrives.

Chinese tea company or mei leaf?

I quite like mei leafs shop in Camden but they are really over priced.

>>14368233
It should be interesting, this article I just found says that they ferment the leaves. But at least in tea production that's a couple of hour process, not two weeks. So they might just be doing things wrong.
https://www.windellamaorganics.com/blog/2017/10/10/homegrown-blackberry-leaf-tea

>>14368420
>I quite like mei leafs shop in Camden but they are really over priced.
This pretty much sums them up, they are expensive and they make some riseable claims about the origins of some of their teas (muh 800 year old tea trees) but i don't actually think they sell bad tea, it's just overpriced. For UK vendors depending on what you are looking for essence of tea has some reasonably affordable young puer mixed in with their ultra premium stuff.
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/puerh-tea/products/2020-kunlu-ancient-tree-wild
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/puerh-tea/products/2020-jinggu-forest
There are several other puer cakes too that aren't crazy expensive.
Their black tea is probably a lot closer to mei leafs prices but you will be getting a much nicer tea for your money. Also consider trying some of their more affordable liu bao teas.

>>14368420
>over priced
true but they do sell really good tea, i normally buy from yunnansourcing but with shipping being shit i ordered from meileaf, it is satisfying getting your stuff in less than a week

>>14368461
*they make some risible claims
I'm retarded

Lets talk books anons. Through last few years i hve read quite a few different books about tea. Mostly because i am a retard and thought that more books=more knowledge. BE advised that most books on tea are horendouse shit for mentaly challenged bagfaggots. Information tends to be very shallow with big pictures of some mystical or natural shit (i know that green hills in china can be beautiful but i want information about tea you niggers). But upon my journey through nonsense i must say that i found some books quite nice and comfy.

This is the worst book i have ever read. I should have known that a woman is incapable of writing a seriouse book. Please understand my fellow anons that World atlas of tea is fucking epitome of everything wrong with tea literature. Hard covered with very ornate binding its just pictures and few paragraphs for illiterate faggots.
This book is no atlas. There is almost not time given to different teas. Its just a uic rundown followed by eastern sorcery bullshit. And it includes chapter on india as long as chaptter on china, which i find extremely funny. I use my copy as mousepad. Fuck this book..

>>14369017
>cares about "tea literature"
>doesn't know the only Tea Classic in English is The Book of Tea (Okakura Kakuzō, 1906) and the entire rest of the canon is in Chinese

>>14369027
>The Book of Tea
i ve read the book of tea but
>due to its age has no current information
>japs spend too much time on preparation
>japs do mostly green tea

>>14369027
Isn't the book of tea 90% Eastern philosophy and 10% tea?

Forgive me oh lord

>>14369045
It's an explanation of the origins of Japanese tea culture and how it evolved hand-in-hand with Japanese Zen, yes.
It was intended as a primer for tea slurping gaijin.

>>14369054
>tea slurping gaijin.
what a retard, if you want japs flexing on you, enjoy it. Ill go with "apreciating chinese tea" Verynice and informative series on mutch better chink tea

>>14368998
>>14369017
Thanks for this anon. I needed a chuckle.
Any thoughts on lady Gray's book of tea? A pdf is linked in the pastebin in the OP but I never actually looked at it.

>>14369017

I'm halfway through this one and it's so far extremely well researched and incredibly thorough. Learning lots of things I didn't know beforehand. Keep in mind it's by a woman which is apparently the kiss of death in your mind. I think you'll be better off for having read it, though.

>>14369142
>kiss of death in your mind
it was a joke m8. I ordered that one two days ago

>>14369046
now that's what I call proper gongfu brewing, fill the microwave half full of teabags, splash of water, 4 minutes on high, DING!

>>14369142
>>14369224
don't forget the DVD anons
https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Jinghong+Zhang%2C+University+of+Washington+Press%22

>>14369276
Thanks for that link anon

>>14369455
the videos correspond to some chapters in the book.
if you don't have a book, they're just as much interesting to watch.

the teas from the big wig from the chink tea merchant guild, featured in videos, are also available in the west. if you dig deep enough you might encounter them.
enjoy.

>>14367938
>>14368425
Good find. I'm gonna do this this week with my berrily bushes in my mom's garden.

>>14369526
Should be interesting. If you want to ferment the leaves in the traditional way that they do with white tea instead of keeping them in a jar (i would think they would get moldy) this video might be helpful.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yRxrEWs3QY8

Time for some nighttime shu.

Crimson lotus' daydream is some damn good sheng

>>14371004

What is it?

>>14371339

Care to elaborate?

>>14371347
Well, I'm one my first brew with it (though I do drink washes as I am an animal), and it is by far the sweetest sheng I've had. it has an almost cooling effect when you drink it that spreads through your body. Despite being pretty young, it doesn't have any bitterness, but still has traces of that Sheng taste, just underneath the sweet and floral/flowery it leads with. Its a very relaxing tea. And just sweet as honey or sugar, but in a good natural tasting way.

By far the gentlest Sheng I've ever drank and I've got quite a taste for Raws and their bitterness.

Really I think it'd be a great introduction to Shengs if no ones tried it. it has no potentially offensive points and a great energy. It'd be a good every day brew to, probably pairs well with any sweets because of how sweet itself is.

starting the second brew now, still tasting good. Also should mention it has a lingering taste that I find pleasant, not the kind that coats the tongue but more rests on the back if that makes sense.

>>14371364
actually the after taste itself is kind of honey like the more I think on its. Like wildflower honey

>>14361351
Can anyone explain what matcha is supposed to taste like.
This one tastes very bitter - not one bit sweet or anything- and it has this bagged green tea taste, also the texture is very sand like, not smooth at all.
What else can I do with it?
It is drinkable, but certainly nothing I would describe as pleasant tasting when brewed with milk, matcha latte that would be called then I suppose.

>>14371374
how'd you make it? you have to make matcha a specific way

>>14371364

That sounds really interesting. I want to check out their teas before too long. Maybe if a second round of Trumpbux ends up happening.

>>14371377
I used 60ml 70~ degree water, 2g tea powder and those electric stirrers

>>14371381
yeah, I'd say go for it if you can. with the most expensive shipping option it costs about 80 bucks for the 200g cake. With the cheapest shipping it lowers to just under 62 bucks. Pricey, but I can confidently say it is unique among the Shengs I've tried

they had it in their Seattle inventory, but now you can only get it from their usual china inventory.

>>14371347
>What is it?
It's some ripe puer, 2006 "jinggu ripe dragon egg” i got from puerhshop. It's really good, like a bitter dark chocolate with a sweet finish.

>>14371364
I can't decide if i like the cooling tea sensation or not. I hate minty drinks and menthol, but the tea version is kind of pleasant.

>>14371401
I quite enjoy it, I find it soothing

>>14371385
>those electric stirrers
Nice, so much better than using one of those silly bamboo whisks.
I don't know if it should be that bitter. I guess you could try using less tea and see if that helps. I think it should taste like vegetables and that umami broth kind of flavor.

>>14371405
Thx. Will experiment a bit, I guess. But it's still cheap tea. Maybe it's acceptable with a bit of sugar

>>14363091
Makes you bald tho

>really tired this morning
>go to make myself some green tea
>open box
>huh, though I'd used up more of it
>shovel into tea bag without looking
>make tea
>boy I sure love the taste of... oregano?
>look in box
>it's mixed with oregano
>stoner roommate comes in
>"ya sorry brutha needed to hide ganj in oregano box and put oreg in yo tea
I mean, it wasn't particularly expensive tea, so not all that mad, but... what the fuck?

>>14372150
So fucking stupid, guy must have smoked himself retarded.

Dipping into my bucket of leftover raw puer crumbs for today's brew. I'm up to at least 10-15 different teas mixed in there now. I only put semi aged teas in so the flavor is usually reasonably harmonious.

>>14372607
Fuck forgot the picture

>>14372681
Are you the anon that bought the big bag of matcha? There are shitloads of recipes that use it for baking. It got really popular with the momy bloggers for a while so you should be able to find some stuff like cookies, shortbread etc.

>>14372698
Yes. I asked mommy to bake some cookies with it

>>14372681
you know, this looks kinda weird but it ends up just being matcha with sugar, its probably not bad, huh?

>>14372780
Tastes alright. I should probably heat the milk next time beforehand

>>14372780
it filters out most of the bad qualities of this cheap matcha
just ends up tasting like green tea with müsli

>>14361347
>Canada
>Earl grey, double burgamont, jasmine, chai, english breakfast
>Own a teapot and a Samovar

>>14372991
>Canada
Is this postal service on strike this week?
Probably importing from usa vendors is your best bet. If you like those English breakfast teas check out https://www.uptontea.com/ some recommendations would be a second flush Darjeeling, their earl grey blends, the Robert fortune blend and finest Russian caravan.
Yunnansourcing.us is an option too, i would recommend looking at their black tea and oolong and picking out some that sound good.
For a vendor that's actually in Canada if you are feeling brave and want to check out puer I can recommend a few teas from these guys. Raw puer can range from fruity to bitter and smokey, it usually has a long lasting sweet finish. Ripe puer tastes like chocolate with woody and other similar notes.
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=69_70&product_id=96
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=69_71&product_id=94
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_64&product_id=122
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_60&product_id=62
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=66_68&product_id=78

>>14371374
try adding less powder, matcha is often really bitter if you add too much
it might also just be really shitty matcha - normal "everyday" matcha is supposed to have some "green" vegetable / leafy flavor with a bit of a bitterness balanced out by sweetness

>>14373262
Yes, it's 9ct a gram
>>14343349

>>14373202
Thanks for healpong a leaf out anon

is anyone else here autistically worried they damage their teaware while rinsing, drying them and making tea in them? cause I spent a bit over an hour last night checking photos of my gaiwan's lid to make sure a hole in the glaze and clay had always been there. and it had even before it was delivered, I just hadn't noticed/ forgotten about it. and that's just my latest worry that I had, and none of them have been warranted. Like I feel a blister in the glaze and I go "oh no did I damage it?!", even though I know those have been there the whole time.

>>14373864
I might end up like this cause I'm planning to buy some nice Hagi teaware from a few artisans
I'm not even that into tea autism lol

>>14373909
my usual worry is “did I scratch the glaze as I gently dried it off with a paper towel?” Even though I know that’s impossible. It just pops into my head every time I’m cleaning up a session

>>14372610

I like the concept. How much do you think you have in there?

>>14374025
Just weighed it, it's ~40g. I had more but I drank a bunch last winter while i was trying to decide what new teas to order.

>>14369276
I'm amazed that link isn't in the pastebin, along with the books

>>14361347
>>14374115
NEW PASTEBIN (the gongfu part still needs work)
https://pastebin.com/bBW1c1td

>drank a half gallon of iced tea today

anons, should i be drinking or avoiding milk if i want to avoid kidney stones?

>>14374553
Kidney stones aren't real. Also half a gallon of tea in a day is nothing, step it up.

>>14374214
Nice. Good work, Anon

>>14369142
the women is actually a respected social anthropologist, based in my book

Bumpan with an unnecessary blog post.

Been drinking hojicha when I get home from the bakery in the mornings (aka now). Think it'll be comfy in the winter when it's not hot as shit out. I'm nearly out though and don't think I'm going to be placing an order from Japan anytime soon. I'll have to see if my local Japanese market is still open for business.

Been reading this to wind down for bed (again, recommend it highly) and also experimented for the first time with doing a personal pizza in my toaster oven. Used some leftover ciabatta dough from the bakery. It's good.

>>14374553
milk will only harden kidney stones. drink a full gallon of tea but dilute it with a gallon of water

>>14376471
I've been drinking cold mugicha, after not having any for a while. It really is the best in hot and humid weather.

>>14376506

I'll have to look into that. What do you do for cold preparation?

>Want to have my jasmine white tea as my morning session
>open packet only has 4g and I don't want to open one of the others
Well that was a sad gong fu session

>>14376511
Depends on what you get. They make bags meant to cold brew a liter each. In this case bags are fine because it's just roasted and crushed barley inside. Korean boricha might be easier to find whole, or in general, but it tends to be a lighter roast in my experience. Still good.

>>14361347
what are some dank breakfast teas?

>>14376777
I usually start my day with 5-10 steepings of yerba mate cause I'm a caffeine junkie

>>14376829
Do you use the whole gourd and straw setup? I can't believe the sheer quantity of leaf material they use when I look up guides for brewing like that

>>14377085
yeah, I've been drinking it this way for several years now
if you want to try, I recommend starting by filling the gourd with leaves 1/4th or 1/3rd of the way, 3/4th is only for people who've been drinking this every day for a long time and developed tolerance to the caffeine

also, the gourd is not actually necessary, you can easily brew this in a normal teacup as long as you have the straw - I recommend a small vessel because you're supposed to brew this many times like in gong fu
cold brew yerba mate is also nice, it's known as "terere" - especially nice with a sprig of fresh mint IMO

finally, buy the packaged south-american brands because the loose leaf mate you can find in tea stores is usually 10x more expensive

Let's talk about pu'er storage. How do you guys do it? Right now I'm just using a sealed plastic bin with some humidity packs, which doesn't seem to be ideal.
Also, what are some good resources for getting into making kombucha that aren't shitty momscience?

is hibiki-an a good site for japanese tea? i've been looking at the other sites in the pastebin but hibiki looks like i'll get the most for my money.

>>14376541

I messaged the local Japanese market and they have both hojicha and mugicha, so I'll go get the latter when I reeup on the former.

>>14377637

Cambros with 65% Boveda packs and humidity guages, one setup for ripes and one raws. I think it works great for the stuff you reach for on a daily basis. Once those fill up or I start buying cakes for long term storage I'll look into the mini-fridge method.

>>14377719

I haven't tried it personally. I'll say that I've never gotten something that wasn't really great quality from o-cha.

>>14377637
>Also, what are some good resources for getting into making kombucha that aren't shitty momscience?
I will post the basic recipe and brewing instructions from the book Kombucha Revolution by Stephen Lee. It's a decent book. Sorry for the shit photography.

>>14377902
Part 2

>>14377909
Part 3

>>14377915
Part 4
They rest of the book is mostly recipes for different flavor variations but that should get you where you need to go. I got my scoby + starter culture from https://kefirlady.com she ships out your order without payment and then trusts you to PayPal her the money. You want a fresh starter culture, don't get one from a store that's supposed to be shelf stable. You can also just buy a bottle of plain kombucha and use that as a starter but they changed the bacteria & yeast varieties in the commercial products because they were making too much alcohol so it's not quite the same as home made.

I've been using this metal tea ball strainer infuser thing rather than just dumping everything in a mug. Is this based or cringe?

>>14377950
Cringe, try dumping everything in a mug, just refill with boiling water when you drink about half way down. If your tea comes out too bitter this way or you hate having the leaves floating around get a finum brew basket or a generic stainless brew basket on Amazon, eBay, your internet retailer of choice. The tea balls don't let the leaves expand enough and waste a lot of delicious tea flavor.

>>14377941
For brewing vessels you can get 6 packs of half gallon mason jars at most hardware stores, you can also get wide mouth gallon glass jars at various places online, if you really want to go crazy you can get 2-5 gallon brew safe plastic buckets from brewing supply places. Don't brew in any other types of plastic, don't do continuous brews instead of separate batches, too easy for contamination to happen.

>>14377836
Great. It's worth trying. Really roasty and almost coffee-like, but still light and refreshing.

How many times do you all reuse your leaves when brewing western style?

>>14378089
Depends on the tea. With black tea I usually reuse them once. With things like oolong I might get more brews out of it. Basically you can just keep rebrewing and roughly double the brew time each time each time until you aren't getting much flavor anymore. Note that this doesn't apply to Japanese greens which usually have more specific instructions.

>>14378089
3 times but the 3rd is quite weak

it's hooooooooooooot
how do I cold brew sencha?

>>14378877
1 teaspoon per litre, in cold water, in a sealed container, in the fridge overnight or for ~12 hours. After that you can adjust how much tea you use to taste.

>>14377973
Very cool, thanks anon.

>>14378948
Do you filter the leaves out after the 12 hours or have they infused enough at that point that it doesn't matter? Anyway, I'll set that up tonight and report back.

>>14378971
Sure thing anon, it's pretty fun.
Here are a few links for incredibly cheap, but decent, tea to get if you get into it, the shipping on a few of these costs more than the tea. You can pretty much use any tea you want.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2016-xiaguan/products/2016-xiaguan-lv-se-sheng-tai-green-organic-brick-125g-4pcs-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2017-xiaguan/products/2017-xiaguan-baoyan-bianxiaozhuan-brick-250g-5-1250g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2018-xiaguan/products/2018-xiaguan-8853-brick-250g-4pcs-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
And even some old tea for good measure.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2006-xiaguan/products/2006-xiaguan-bian-xiao-zhuang-brick-250g-5pcs-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea

>>14379014
It's just a rough guideline, i probably would not leave them in much longer than that but I'm not sure if it would actually make any difference.

Trying the W2T Smoove Cocoa for the first time. On steep 5 or so now.

Seems to live up to it's namesake in being nice and chocolatey with a pleasantly sweet aftertaste. It's very similar to the Waffles and I'm honestly not sure I'd be able to tell the difference in a blind tasting. I'd maybe say that the sweetnesses in the two are very similar, and the chocolatey bits in Waffles are a little higher up and lighter, more like milk chocolate, where for Smoove Cocoa the chocolate is more of a bass note, like a high percentage dark chocolate bar. I don't know if that's just the power of suggestion from the name, though, because I also tend to taste buttermilk with the Waffles.

Here on steep 5 the liquor is starting to thin out a little bit, but for shu I tend to push steep times really far. This teapot takes maybe 10 or 12 seconds to empty and for the first infusion after the discard I start at around 10 seconds before pouring, increasing another 10 or so each infusion after.

>>14379319
Sounds good. Did seasoning your teapot help?

>>14379401

Definitely. I basically just ended up soaking it with the spent leaves after any time I had shu for a few times.

>>14377181
take me through the steps to prepare mate.
you have yerba mate (con or sin palos)
you have a bombilla
you have around 200ml vessel
what now?

we should add the preparation method to the pastebin, mate bros are always pushed aside in tea/herbal discussion, which pains me a lot.

mate "high/qi" can be one of colossal proportions, again, without those jitters and sunken feeling of overdose associated with coffee or energy drinks.
mate tried to be trendy some time ago, but it ultimately failed, I wager because of its unapologetic bitterness.
you can sell young raw puerh to hip kids, especially if you process it for fragrance and wrap in appealing paper, but mate, being from the same family as coke shrub, dusty and full of wooden sticks is a much harder sell.

how to brew mate? any south american lurkers here? please explain.

Should I drink raw or ripe pu-erh today? or oolong, or black?

>>14379626
What are your options for each one and how's the weather?

>>14379626

I did black and ripe and don't regret it.

>>14379646
Lets see
lots of white 2 tea waffles ripe puerh
1 cake of some 2016 ripe from YS
the free ripe cake from YS with flowers in it

For raw
crimson lotus' Daydream, Intrigue and both space girls *2 cakes each
YS 2019 purple pig and white pu-erh cake

Blacks
a wild from YS, A purple from YS, and the purple voodoo cake from YS

Oolong
Pretty old Iron goddes and hairy crab from YS, a good roasted one that tastes of pears and buttered waffles from Verdant, a oolong from 2008 which is nice, and a scented one I have not tried

And it is hotter than the devil's cock in an orgyu

>>14379668
and when I say a lot of waffles, I mean 6 cakes of it

>>14379668
Easy, roasted fruity wulong, but put on some music, turn away from the screen and pay attention to the brews.

(also you got pretty memed by Paul Murray, Scott Wilson and co., but everyone goes through tuition phase) nevermind, keep that in mind.

Onwards!

>>14379710

Aight oolong it is then
The waffles were a gift, I asked for 1 cake as i had samples of it before and liked it and got 100 bucks worth of them.

Also still waiting for my order from the main YS site. But it did make progress and was last spotted leaving shanghai

>>14379752
YS was never the fastest and they refuse to put bogus value ($15, every chink merchant does it) on the packages, which means customs fee, covered by me, here in EU. Basically second shipping cost, if you order more than $100 worth.
Mr. Wilson got scared off of reddit after some tax evasion questions and shilling from alt account, which makes the whole racket that more fishy. That said the teas are mostly good and you pay for what you get, and good luck finding more variety from one shop, which cannot exactly be said about w2t and their mystery blends $1/gram and up for that soapy blend of gush, because trust me, and black lives matter.

I'm posting this bitter wank of a post a bit later, hope you had time to enjoy your brew. No need to disrupt the good energy flowing. Peace.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgrO5za0lSY

>>14379404
Nice, I will be interested to hear your thoughts on it in a month or two.

>>14379567
I have a tremendous respect for mate, I don't drink it personally but I would be happy to add brewing instructions to the pastebin. The biggest issue is that as this poster said
>>14377181
The traditional way to brew mate will really kick your ass unless you have a really high caffeine tolerance, so it might be better to add toned down brewing instructions for people that want to try it out.
You can definitely just brew it western style or gongfu and get decent results.

>>14379837
I really want to hear your rant about people blind buying tongs of fresh sheng from the hip boutique dealers. I don't really pay attention to the tea culture social media stuff outside of reading some of the older bloggers so I don't really hear much about that side of the market. I get that some sheng is good young, but even then I would probably want to give it a year or two before I started drinking it. I'm pretty skeptical about stuff that's made to drink young, i would guess a lot of it is dead after 5 years or so.

>>14377957
I did kind of notice that on the second and third steep it didn't retain strength like doing it in a mug. But I like to use milk and it seems pretty cringe pouring more water over tea soaked in leftover milky tea.

>>14361347
hey guys I'm looking to cut back on my consumption of black tea, both for the caffeine and because it stains my teeth too much. I've tried white tea before and I really liked it, though it was bagged. Used to be crazy for green tea, still have a jar of loose dried leaves but I don't drink it as often now. I'm open to non caffeinated options as well. What do you recommend? Own a teapot. Am from Argentina

>>14380306

The amount of caffeine in a tea is pretty much locked in before processing even begins, apart from the most heavily roasted teas like hojicha, so the difference in caffeine between something like black tea and green tea is both very difficult to determine and due essentially only to different steeping temperatures. If you're looking for low caffeine options, I'd look into hojicha.

>>14361347
To the anons that helped me craft a blend for a fake chewing tobacco to help me quit: thank you. I've cut my chew down by about a can a week so far. It's definitely not the same, but it helps.

>>14380306
White tea is a pretty good choice, shipping is getting going again so check out some of the Chinese vendors in the pastebin. I would suggest getting these fairly cheap teas since this site has cheap shipping, if you like them and decide you want to get fancier versions you can check out sites like king tea mall and yunnan sourcing.
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/fuding-2013-high-mountain-white-tea-gong-mei-tribute-eyebrow-350g-p0588.html
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/silver-needle-white-tea-bai-hao-yin-zhen-anti-old-and-health-care-tea-premium-quality-tea-p0213.html

My fat tea order finally made it into the USA. Well 2 of the 3 boxes did anyway. Cant wait to pay fat tarrifs.

>>14379567
1. add leaves to taste / effect (you can start with 1/4th of the bowl)
2. stick the bombilla in there so it's more or less reaching the bottom
3. heat up some water to around 70 degrees celsius (idk how many freedom units that is)
4. add water to leaves, wait a minute until they expand and check if it's not too hot to drink
5. enjoy
6. refill until it loses flavor or until you're satisfied (I like to keep the hot water in a thermal flask)

it's really not that hard since you don't have to worry about brewing times as much as with tea - it's gonna be bitter anyway lol
some other points:
1. this is the easy way to brew mate, there is also another way which is good for especially fine-ground mate and involves molding the leaves into a pile though I forget the exact procedure at the moment
2. remember not to stir the infusion with the bombilla o it might clog up
3. I'd actually personally recommend a 100 ml vessel, since you can often get as many as 10 infusions out of one cup
4. I have a triple filtration bombilla which is good for not getting mate dust in your mouth but does clog up easily - the spoon shaped varieties are usually a good compromise between filtration and not clogging up
5. coldbrew mate is made the same way except with cold water - you may also want to wait longer for it to brew better

>>14372598
Guess so. Ah well, I've replaced it by now.

i'm looking for something malty and powerful that's good with milk, any recs?

>>14382345
Irish breakfast, CTC (it's a processing method) it you want it to be even more punchy. Or just strong indian Assam teas. Upton Tea has a lot of that kind of thing.

>>14382345
assam. vahdam has a load, the smoked is really nice

You can make your own hojicha. Just take some cheap whole leaf green and cook it in a dry pan until it becomes brown, but before it smells burnt in any way.

Do the japs do any charcoal roasted teas?

>>14381721
Thanks anon,
>>14361347
NEW NEW PASTEBIN (now with mate)
https://pastebin.com/V8vR1Je3

>>14361347
Are real life loli's allowed on /ck/?

Has anyone that has gotten a tea order from China to US recently had to pay import duties?

>>14383065
>3. heat up some water to around 70 degrees celsius (idk how many freedom units that is)
come on anon

>>14383688

Nope.

>>14383805
Good, i know they have been cracking down to some extent.

>>14361351
if you brought it from some EU store it’s certainly shit

>>14361347
tea is NOT good for children

So I posted a few threads ago about ordering from puerhshop.com and then lost my shit about some of the samples I got tasting the same. I definitely got some herbal tea or some other contamination from my apartment in the tea when I brewed it and having tried both teas multiple times afterwards they are normal and both pretty good. So I think they are a decent shop, it's nice to have another domestic option that's not Yunnan sourcing and I think they have a few cakes that looks like they are probably decent bargains. Sorry for the previous autism, definitely check them out. Some really good prices on some three cranes liu bao and the liu an is really good, tastes like rock candy.

Smoove Cocoa again tonight. If anyone is discarding a rinse pour it out for the anon who shot himself in front of my apartment last night. Not sure who he was or what his story was, but it happened right before I was leaving for work so I got to step practically over his corpse as I was leaving. Tell the folks you love you love em, friends.

>>14385450
America, fuck yeah!
If we've heard a gunshot in our neighborhood there would be people in the streets/windows, mass panic, press, and conversation piece for a week in workplaces.
Was he white or ethnic?

The tea looks like fairly tippy blend. How long does it steep out? My experience with gong ting shu is that it cuts off very quickly after few steeps.

>>14385450
jesus anon, hope you're doing ok, even if you didn't know the guy that could still be traumatizing I imagine

>>14385503

He was a white guy it looked like, but it was dark out so was a little difficult to tell. Part of the trouble is between 4th of July and the protests, fireworks have been an all night thing for the past two weeks, and I don't live in a part of town where you typically hear gunshots anymore.

It steeps out pretty quick, maybe 5 or 6 really good infusions, but I also push shu really hard in steep times.

>>14385544

I'm alright, thanks anon. Called my mom and cried a bit when I got into work but I brought some whiskey with me so it wasn't so bad.

Is it normal for DHL to route packages from Japan through Hong Kong these days?

>>14385573
Well, here people mostly hang themselves.
But given the opportunity I would also like to go out with a bang.
Fortunately I'm not cowardly and/or mentally ill, thank Orthodox bearded God on a cloud for that.

Tippy ripelets, when will they learn?
Have you got 16 bucks on you, anon?
If yes, then do purchase this beeng https://www.fullchea-tea.com/haiwan-2019-yr-pu-er-cha-9978-batch-191-shu-puer-te-357g-p0473.html

at $0.04/g it's more than THREE fucking times cheaper then w2t smoove $0.12/g marketing ploy. When you add $10 shipping fee the number goes up and the hand rubbing intensifies.
Buy it, try it, thank me in the future thread. Or stay cucked. Your choice.

>>14385450
Reminds me of when a kid got stabbed outside of my house when I was in highschool.Gang shit I think. Why can't people drink tea and be cool to eachother?

>>14385802
Lack of education and fast food diet, I'm not even joking.

>>14385724

I think .12/g is a very reasonable price but I'm willing to throw 16 bucks at something to see if it's garbage or not. I've had plenty of stuff from XiaGuan around the .10/g mark that I thought was pretty bad.

>>14385854
$0,1325 ($0,18245 with shipping) seems reasonable until you try $0,0443417366946779 chad.

> I've had plenty of stuff from XiaGuan around the .10/g mark that I thought was pretty bad.

well I sure hope you didn't throw away any of that stuff, because tastes change. oh how they change!

Respect the Crane.

>>14385887

I wouldn't throw it away by any means. The especially nice thing about puerh is that if you're not super hot on something you can just wait a few years and see if it's gotten better.

With the XiaGuans I have, it's not that I actively dislike them, it's just that I have other blends that do the same things better. The one I'm thinking of in particular is the 2013 Autumn Ye Sheng from YS which is around .15/g.

As I said, I'll give the cheap 'un a go because why not, but I have so far found that there is a noticeable marginal increase in taste relative to price in general.

https://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=47&product_id=1009
Hmmmm

>>14384458
no. It came directly from japan

>>14386296
He definitely has some rough looking bricks up there. If you like purple teas something like that might be worth a shot.
The stuff I had in mind as possible deals was mostly some of the 2008-2009 cakes from random factories I've never heard of.
https://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=50_7&product_id=560
https://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=50_7&product_id=405
There are a few others too that could be good, It's hard to tell how long ago he brought stuff over from his warehouse in Kunming sometimes and I have no Idea how teas would age in Michigan.
I should also repeat that I tried a free sample of one of his house American Hao cakes and wasn't very impressed, zenpuer is also his house brand. That's not to say it's all bad, some of his zenpuer ripes are relabeled unwrapped bricks. But I would probably stay away from his house teas personally.

Morning y'all.

Tea: 2018 W2T Pussy
Ratio: 1g/15ml (6.5g/100ml actual)
Temperature: 205F/96C
Price: $0.48/g

This is my second time sitting down with this tea, the first time a few weeks ago with my mom when I was a little bit hungover and completely underslept. Dry leaves smell quite typical for a young sheng, with grass, citronella, maybe some cinnamon in there. Dry in the warm gaiwan is more of the same, and the wet leaves open up with a punchy, dank aroma of hay rolls that have had morning dew collecting on them and are now steaming in the sun.

That first time I had this tea I brewed it at boiling and was just doing flash steeps through the first 7 or 8 steeps to keep the astringency manageable. A few of them crossed into bitter territory which I don't quite mind, but that was getting in the way of the more complex flavors. This time, at 205F, that mouth drying astringency is a little bit more manageable, but I don't feel like it's developing the same dank wet hay flavors that are in the smell of the wet leaves and that I tasted after the astringency died down in the later steeps from the session with boiling water. Early steeps on this go around had a little bit of honeysuckle sweetness to them, but that largely died down in steeps 4-7 where a little more of that astringency was coming through with those higher grass notes. 8 and on I started getting that wet hay taste that I had been searching for again, but it's not coming through as clear this time. This tea will easily last 12+ steeps.

Overall, this is a tea that I think is pretty complicated. It's got some really appealing flavors in it but they're often hidden behind a wall of astringency. I get the impression that if you're better at brewing tea than I am, you could tease those out and really make the most of it, or alternatively, that aging this cake could take the edge off and let it be pushed a little bit more to get the full effect.

>>14387696

Had to stop and take a break partway through to eat some food. I was doing this on an empty stomach which usually isn't a problem for me but this tea is strong.

>>14387698

This tea is quite similar in profile to YS's 2018 Autumn Bang Dong Zi Cha, and the leaf material itself looks much the same, so while I'm no expert on these issues, I wouldn't be surprised if this was a zi cha from some Eastern area of Lincang.

>>14387711
What does zi cha mean in this context? I know cha is tea but what's the zi? Is it a region or a type of tea or a processing method?

>>14388234

Copied over from the YS description for the 2018 Autumn Bang Dong Zi Cha.

"This is entirely Bang Dong Zi Cha (Purple Tea). The tea is not from cloned purple plants but rather is collected from the purple tinged leave and stem trees that grow alongside the non-purple tea trees in the same garden. This area of Bang Dong (4km north of Bang Dong town just west of Na Han village) is very sunny and high altitude with southern facing slopes and as such has a high incidence of naturally occurring purple mutations (around 15-20% of the trees in this area).

The purple tea of Bang Dong is not quite the same as Yi Wu and Jinggu area purple teas that are more purple when fresh and darker black in color after processing into mao cha. The Bang Dong area "zi cha" (lit. purple tea) has purple stems and some purple tinging on the leaves. The taste is distinctive from the non-purple mutated trees growing in the same area (often side by side), with less bitterness, more sweetness, and a fruity character. There is still bitterness like our much like teas from "Bang Dong" and "Na Han", but overall it's less pronounced and sweeter."

Best tea coming through
https://youtu.be/LYTq9eb9At4

go some Kiku Mukashi matcha from O-Cha
haven't tried yet. I hope it's good

>>14388697

Cute. Let us know.

got some Kiku Mukashi matcha from O-Cha
haven't tried yet. I hope it's good

>>14388707
before that I tried Ogurayama matcha from Sazen tea and it was very good. very nice taste!

I hope you guys are not waiting longer than 5 months on your parcel from Yunnan Sourcing.
https://yunnansourcing.com/pages/welcome-to-the-yunnan-sourcing-shipping-page

>>14388707
What kind of clock is that? I haven't found a travel clock I've liked since the 90's.

>>14388802
braun bc02b

>>14388820
Thanks.

>>14388275
Oh yeah, those purple teas do tend to be pretty distinctive in my experience.

>>14385940
Not that anon, i actually recommend both those xiaguans and the autumn ye sheng to you. I think when you get around to it you should explore some of the more recent xiaguan offerings. Especially in the last few years they have started pressing way more single origin teas that should be pretty interesting.
Things like these guys
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2019-xiaguan/products/2019-xiaguan-meng-ku-xi-ban-shan-west-half-mountain-of-mengku-200g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=30693650530407
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2019-xiaguan/products/2019-xiaguan-ma-hei-gong-she-mahei-commune-old-tree-357g-cake-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha-1
I know scott listed a few recent ones on YS and for at least one of them he said he could never off that kind of material at the price xiaguan does.
I know you already have plenty of tea to keep you busy for a while but something to keep in mind.

Only another two weeks in customs and I will have 2 of the 3 packages in my shipment. I thought I ordered this shit in April but apparently I'm retarded and its moving at a pretty normal speed.

So whats the deal with these charcoal fired clay kettles? Do the chinese actually use these indoors? Do they use these things at all or is it a meme for tourists? I only think I've actually seen one used on some China Cable news segment about tea harvested by some minority group living in straw huts somewhere.

Bump

What's the deal with silver needles white tea? Is it any good?

can oolong age or does it get worse with time?

>>14392649
Yes, you can age oolong, and it's pretty popular in some parts of asia.
The tea db guy just made a video about it recently.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=V6Z61b8NkFM

My big herbal order came in so I brewed up a blend of lemongrass, lemon verbena, and green rooibos. Turned out pretty tasty; verbena is the only ingredient of these that's new to me and it seems to contribute a much more obviously lemony character than something like lemon balm. Think I'll try a mint/dandelion root blend tomorrow and see how that goes.

>>14391671
Silver needle is a good tea, especially if you want to maximize the fresh and delicate aspects of whites, but it doesn't have the most interesting character and it falls into the common tea trap of being a very image-focused tea- sometimes a great-looking SN just won't have the flavor to back that up.
It's absolutely worth a try it if you haven't had one before, but for a similar price you could probably get a higher quality version of a lower-grade white like bai mu dan or shou mei.
Silver needle also tends to be very high in caffeine compared to other teas, being all about those potent young buds, so just be aware.

>>14392649
Some sorts of oolongs are suitable for aging. Something like a Taiwanese jade oolong or a tie guan yin? Probably best to drink it young. But a da hong pao, dong ding, or baozhong could be really good with age (often dank and unapproachable if you're not used to them though). Sometimes aged oolongs are reroasted one or more times; you may or may not like the result. I would point you to Everlasting Teas since they're best known for their aged baozhongs, but they seem to be sold out of everything or in hibernation right now.

>>14393708
Thanks for the info about silver Needle. I really like the term image focused.
Interested to hear what you think of dandelion root. I harvested and roasted some myself once but then I forgot about it and never tried it.

>>14387696
Thanks for the write-up anon, sounds interesting. I have only had one young bitter tea. It was some bulang and I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
The Pussy sounds like it could use a decade or so to calm down some and lots of that bitterness would start to get sweet. But sometimes the punch can be nice. I wish I had a stronger constitution and could get away with drinking young raws more often.

>>14388867

>i actually recommend both those xiaguans and the autumn ye sheng to you

That makes sense, then, why they're all in the same category. I think I remember asking about smokey teas. I'll bet that's playing a decent role in my perception of those XiaGuans, then, that I just really love that Ye Sheng so the other two smokey teas I have feel a little lackluster in comparison.

>>14389633

I've been curious about those because I'd like to be able to have some socially distant outdoor tea dates with friends and not have to worry about running an extension cord for my electric kettle. I could always grab a regular kettle and a butane burner but these fit the aesthetic better.

>>14393942

>The Pussy sounds like it could use a decade or so to calm down some and lots of that bitterness would start to get sweet.

That's basically how I'm feeling about it. I do really enjoy its punchiness, but that flavor that it has going for it that I talked about is super intriguing to me and I just can't seem to consistently get that flavor to come to the forefront without having it immediately cancelled out by the astringency. I think some age on it will really help with that, or just getting better at brewing it, but at almost .50/g it's an expensive proposition to just sort of play around with it until I figure it out.

>>14392823
>>14393708
Ok. Thanks. It's just that I've got 500g of tie guan yen.
Guess I'll shouldn't drink anything else for the next month or so then.

Huh, kind of forgot I signed up for the W2T monthly club. Signed up on the last day of last month so I made it in time for July's club, but I fully expected to have to wait months for it. I guess not. Ummm...I guess I'll give these all a few days to rest and then report back.

How do you guys feel about this style of teapot compared to normal ones?

I spend lods of emone and NOW you're having a sale fullchea? fuck you. I want my $10 savings now. if I ever make it to 东莞市 I will speak with the manager.

>>14394517
is it "press button" type dispenser? then two things:
- get a kamjove https://kingteamall.com/collections/gaiwan/products/kamjove-tea-infusers-teapot-piao-yi-bei-200ml
is a trusted seller but feel free to aliexpress it or other western vendor at 2-3 times markup.
- they are pain in the ass to clean out, compared to gaiwan, but I guess most of pots are. depends how lazy are you and how often do you steep.

question from me, where do I find those big ass thermoses, that every chink/tibetan/mongol seem to use. anyone have an idea? Pic rel.

>>14394867
might have some luck in chinese/vietnamese/etc supermarkets

>>14394867
oh, sorry, YS has it at regular price too https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/kamjove-press-art-tea-cups-and-pots/products/kamjove-tp-160-portable-gong-fu-tea-brewing-mug-500ml
but I wouldn't order from them until the "stuck in shanghai orders" situation clears up. I'm curious how will they handle it.

>>14394897
yeah, I may have to do a round of shops here, but I'm pessimistic.
can't seem find them online, even with quite high google fu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-5S7LGtlXE

Trying out the 8g sample of 2019 If You're Reading This from my W2T order. It's a raw that the website says is a blend from several areas. The smell of the wet leaves is almost identical to that of the 2018 Pussy as far as I can tell, but the taste is quite a bit different.

The liquor brews up nice and cloudy and reminds me strongly of beer, actually. It's quite malty to my taste, and while there's definitely an astringency to it, it's not as intense as the Pussy, and the bitterness exists within a hoppy flavor profile instead of just being standalone, if that makes any sense. Brewed it with boiling water and used the entire 8g coin in my 150ml gaiwan. I initially tried it in my 100ml and it was undrinkably bitter.

>>14395127
>Trying out the 8g sample of 2019 If You're Reading This
I think I have a coin of that too, tucked away somewhere, but it's 2019 tea and who the fuck drinks young sheng in the year of our lord 2020 anyways? ;)
>It's a raw that the website says is a blend from several areas
find me a white2tea labelled tea that's single village
>The smell of the wet leaves is almost identical to that of the 2018 Pussy as far as I can tell
ah yes, the famous w2t "house taste", some people grew to hate it. I think it's just the conditions at the factory that carries processing of their teas or, OR there is some base mao cha that they use for all the teas in different proportions that imparts it. I'm leaning towards the former proposition though. it's not the first time I hear that w2t teas taste kinda samey at first. worth noting, if nothing else.
>The liquor brews up nice and cloudy
hold on, nice OR cloudy, cloudiness in young raw is mostly sign that it's not yet ready to drink. that means the vapor from steaming and pressing has not yet dissipated.
you want a nice shimmering of trichomes in clear liquid, not cloudy soup.
same with shou, because I hear this question a lot - "when is shu aged enough?", the answer is: when the liquid is clean and clear. maybe 5, maybe 7, or maybe 3 years after pressing, but you will know when you see it. brilliantly clear, even if quite dark. that doesn't mean you can't drink and enjoy murky shu, but when it's reached the plateu, break up the cake and drink it and don't forget to share it, nobody will say it tasted bad or funky.
>and the bitterness exists within a hoppy flavor profile instead of just being standalone, if that makes any sense
sure and I personally like this hoppy (cascade, hallertauer, sadly not much of marynka or lubelski - if that makes any sense) quality in young sheng.

source: trust me bro xDDDDD

>>14394517
I have a kamjove one I used for a while, it's really easy but a pain in the ass to clean, i actually recommend them and think they are very convenient for most people but i recommend the IngenuiTEA 2 from Adagio. It's a few dollars more than the kamjove and it's designed to drain into a mug instead of coming with it's own pitcher but it's robust and designed to be fully disassembled so it's easy to clean.

>>14395475

>find me a white2tea labelled tea that's single village

I don't know of any. I think I didn't complete the thought fully in my post. I was reading back through the description and it said that it was a modified version of their 2015 blend that added in some tea from a few additional areas.

>I'm leaning towards the former proposition though.

Yeah, I'm not sure. The only truly young shengs I've had are that 2018 YS Bang Dong Zi Cha, the 2018 Pussy, and this one, and the leaves all have very, very similar scents to my nose, with the Pussy and the If You're Reading This being slightly more similar to each other. I suppose I don't have enough breadth of experience to figure out if it's a W2T thing or if it's just a young sheng thing.

>hold on, nice OR cloudy, cloudiness in young raw is mostly sign that it's not yet ready to drink

Interesting, I didn't realize that. I'm used to viewing a nice cloudy broth of fukamushi sencha with delight so "nice and cloudy" was my natural reaction.

>sure and I personally like this hoppy (cascade, hallertauer, sadly not much of marynka or lubelski - if that makes any sense) quality in young sheng.

It was definitely really satisfying. I'll say that with the Pussy it felt like the bitterness in it was something that was getting in the way of me tasting its true flavor, while the bitterness in this one had more character to it and fit in well with the flavor of the tea as a whole.

>>14394340

Also, hey, how should I store that white tea? I just through it into my sheng pumidor that's around 63% RH give or take. I have no experience with white tea cakes.

>>14395544
Thank you Mr Shill, $24 is indeed just a few bucks more than $9, not anywhere near two times more expensive.
And the basket from kamjove can be removed and emptied everywhere you like.
And both are "pain in the ass to clean", nice expression btw, where did you hear it?
And both use sort of pyramid shaped mesh filter.
And both are easy to disasemble, if you need to (you don't).
The only difference is in kamjove you press the button to release the liquid, in adagio one you press the whole assembly against the mug, god forbid you want to share the tea with your gf (male) or your dakimakura.
Ingenuity doesn't have removable cover, on which you can leave the basket. etc etc

Nice job buying out STEEPSTER, adagio, let's see how that goes now.

>>14395706
Jfc anon, please explain to me how to remove the mesh from a kamjove. I would love to know. I'm pretty sure the filter is permanently stuck there. This is what the inside of my kamjove looks like after about 6 months of daily use and my best efforts to clean it with boiling water soap and vinegar soaks. But sure call me a shill for telling anon to get a brewer that isn't essentially disposable like the kamjove is.

>>14395668
> I suppose I don't have enough breadth of experience to figure out if it's a W2T thing or if it's just a young sheng thing.
OK, fair enough, I misread you as a young sheng fan.
How come you don't have any of YS impressions? They are epitome of good cheap young sheng blend with good enough taste to drink now, VERY nice energy and potential "potential" to age due to Pussy like bitterness and depth.
Unfortunately you cannot get the best, 2017 one, it sold out as quickly as people noticed how good it was for a under $30 full bing, and I don't know about 2019 versions, but supposedly they are the same blends.
I got some flak from Scott in one of his videos, where he mocked my email. Basically I said that 2017 was better and stronger than 2018 and he got so defensive it was funny to watch. Thank god for his cute wife who calmed him down. I was not the only one to notice the difference, btw. But those opinions came out after the video. I still stand by my (pretty noob and innocent) assessment from 2 years ago.

Teas We Like just restocked their $30 brick, which is a steal, better than 8582 that they carry in my opinion. If you have a hankering for some proper aging tea.

YQH (by Emmet) also runs a promotion right now, but you'll need more than $100 blind.
There are some options as of now for a clean semi aged tea. Who knows for how long.
Cheers.

>>14395782
Holy fuck, do you dissolve some rocks in your water before boiling it?
I bet the tea tastes terrific.
Jeezus.

Use citric acid, either in granulate or lemon juice concentrate.
Boil some water (maybe not your fucking calcium infused bog water) add good squirt of lemon, let it soak. Throw away the liquid when the calcium stops buzzing, repeat.
If you can't get something like picrel and your water is that hard, just consider ending it all.
Have some dignity.

>>14395683
Oh, you have a "pumidor", how fancy, how many tongs in there?
Just kidding. I hope your cakes will age. Pffff.

Zip it and zip it good.
Best in those kind of metallic hard ziploc bags that YS uses.
Learn from my mistakes, zip it, bop it, leave it.
On the other hand it's a 100g of tea, if it's tasty you'll drink it fast enough. If not, it's not worth a pumidor. Google teadb speed test.
I'll link you to oolong owl's chat with teadb, but they sound confusing in this video. Zip it hard.

>>14395888

>OK, fair enough, I misread you as a young sheng fan.

I'm quickly becoming that way, but with the way everything is right now I've really only been able to put in a few really big orders, so it's not super easy to then dial everything in super tight.

>How come you don't have any of YS impressions?

See above. Next time I order from YS I'll look into those.

>>14396089


>how fancy, how many tongs in there?

Haha exactly 0. I'm not sure if I've had anything I would get a tong of yet. Very simple setup, though. Cambros with Boveda packs.

>On the other hand it's a 100g of tea, if it's tasty you'll drink it fast enough. If not, it's not worth a pumidor.

Yea I wasn't planning on aging it or anything, was just curious if the tea would be best served sitting in the 60% some odd RH of the pumidor or if higher humidity would be bad or a white. I'll look for that video.

>>14396148
I'm very happy for you, anon, I really am.
On one hand I want to recommend things (to you and the lurkers on the same boat), on the other I don't want to impose.
But I know you will want some aged sheng in the long run, so my twl brick rec still stands.
And I think you're wise in not throwing yourself at big quantities at the beginning of the road or buying just samples samples samples.

White tea cakes - ziploc, can be in pumidor, maybe not between two shengs or shus but no/minimal air. Taking it out for control session is air enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW4lcyTs53U ys trying to obscure how good 2017 is compared to 2018 impression, plus mocking the customers ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kO9v0RIRvM bodybuilder explains(?) white tea aging (she's allright)

>>14396148
Seconding the recommendation for checking out a YS impressions cake. I had I think the 2016 one a few years ago and it was very good for they money.

>>14361347
>Your country
Canada
>What tea have you tried before
Black, White, Green, and Red
>Do you own a teapot, gaiwan etc.
Ceramic teapot, metal baskets/ball for infusion

>>14396464
what's black and what's red?

>>14396473
Black
>Orange Pekoe, Earl Grey, English/Irish?Canadian Breakfast
Red
>Rooibos

>>14396464
For a vendor in Canada here is some good puer.
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=69_70&product_id=101
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=69_71&product_id=94
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_64&product_id=122
If you are willing to wait for shipping from China try some oolongs.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/2018-2019-da-hong-pao-medium-heavy-roasted-superior-grade-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/tieguanyin/products/2019-autumn-xiao-qing-special-grade-tieguanyin-oolong-tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/taiwan-oolong/products/2019-taiwan-ai-jiao-medium-roasted-high-grade-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/fenghuang-dancong/products/2019-winter-xue-pian-ya-shi-xiang-snowflake-duck-shit-fragrance-fenghuang-dancong-chaozhou
And some puer for good measure
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2009-dayi/products/2009-dayi-gong-tuo-tribute-tuo-100g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2012-dayi/products/2012-dayi-hong-yun-yuan-cha-red-flavor-round-tea-cake-100g-puerh-shou-cha-ripe-tea
Or for shipping from the US check out yunnansourcing.us and pick out some spring 2020 black and green teas that sound good to you, maybe throw in some oolong for good measure.

>>14396541
Ah rooibos, that's not really a tea, it's another plant. Green = Peppermint/Mate. White = Black tea with milk. Names get only more confusing down the road.
Next step is puerh. Comes in two types, green or dark.
Or oolong, comes in two types, green or dark.

Puerh
Green: https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-impression-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
Dark: https://www.fullchea-tea.com/haiwan-2019-yr-pu-er-cha-9978-batch-191-shu-puer-te-357g-p0473.html

Oolong
Green: https://www.fullchea-tea.com/250g-top-chinese-anxi-tieguanyin-green-tea-oolong-tie-guan-yin-1725-gold-gui-weight-loss-china-green-food-slimming-teas-gift-best-oolong-tea-p0034.html
Dark: https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/oolong-tea/products/wu-yi-shan-classic-rou-gui-rock-oolong-tea

mix and match

>>14396574
>>14396607
Thank you.

A caress of steam
Warm tea brings peace to your soul
on earth bliss is found

>>14394517
you probably cant find one that isnt plastic, i have one but i've switched to a gaiwan and just use the jug for washes/waste.
get an easy gaiwan, its basically the same level of effort but easier to clean and zero plastic
>>14395961
mine looks the same, guess its the tannins in black tea
>>14396148
dude if you green text you dont need all the extra space

>>14397354
gaiwan good for sencha?
It's always a swampy mess in the pot after brewing, but I like the taste

do you always throw away your first steep?
for raw puerh cake I always wait 10 secs or so, so that the leafs fully seperate
I think green tea doesn't need that thorough a cleaning
but how do you do it?
Is this wasteful?

>>14397409
you should for cakes as you'll never know what got pressed into the cakes with the tea.
But you should still do it with Loose, as it does help the tea express its flavor sooner.

I don't toss my washes, though, it tastes weaker than the actual brews but that's fine, It helps me guess what I'll be tasting in the actual steeps

Except if you've opened up dragon balls. I took a sip of the wash you leave a dragon ball to sit in for a few minutes and nearly threw up
Never again

>>14396473
>>14396541
In Asia black stands for post fermented tea-puerh- and red for fully fermentated -black tea- as far as I'm concerned

>>14397417
>dragon ball
is that this pressed black tea from Yunnan?

>>14397418
In west that would be other way around

>>14397427
nah, its a style of pressing tea. I had it from a crimson lotus order as a little bonus freebie.
Raw pu-erh. It was bitter beyond anything else I had.
the actual steeps were nice thou

>>14396220

This is what I've got so far, minus my Japanese greens, so I've got a fairly decent spread. I'll definitely be dialing in on the types of puer I've enjoyed so far in my next orders, and will probably start looking into oolongs, too. That's going to have to be a while, though. I suppose I will still have the W2T tea club to keep a steady stream of varied stuff coming through.

>>14397373
wouldn't know but wouldn't a bigger bowl be better than a smaller one?
>>14397409
used to but now i drink it, rolled leaf i.e some oolongs can also benefit from washing
>>14397418
we should stick to calling it hei cha or dark tea vs black/red fully oxidized tea and rooibos aren't 'tea' so leave them as Rooibos

>>14397354

>dude if you green text you dont need all the extra space

I do it specifically to spite you in particular. But nah, I just think it's more pleasant to look at.

>>14397373

There are two big drawbacks to using a gaiwan for sencha. First, Japanese greens are made only of the smaller leaf varietal of camellia sinensis, but are also typically much more broken down then, say, a puerh, so there's many smaller leaf particles that would slip through. Second, the nature of how sencha leaves expand make them more suited for shallow, wide dishes than gaiwans, which are typically a little more even in their proportions.

>>14397409

For anything pressed or aged, yeah, pretty much. For other loose teas I don't tend to rinse.

>>14397373
No,
Shirobadashi is for sencha
and only light steamed

just got my tea from fullchea

>>14397939
whatchu got? how long was the shipping?

>>14397951
It's a 375g white cake, 4x 125g tie guan yin oolong, 75g dragon well green and 2x 500g huangshan green, which arrived earlier from the same order, that's why one bag is almost finished
The rest is 2x shou and 1 sheng puerh cake I've stored for some time now

>>14397951
first parcel got in quicker and took less than a month. The other somehow got returned to the chinks at first, so they had to resend. It took around one and a half month in the end to get here.

>>14397962
I meant 2x 250g huangshan

>>14397471
I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the 7572 vs the W2T ripes. Price, value, flavor etc.
>>14397962
Sounds good but you didn't get any liu bao, make sure you grab some next time.

>>14397982
>liu bao
never tried that
does it taste like puerh which can only come from Yunnan or is it really that much different
I also thought about rather ordering some Japanese green or Taiwanese oolong next time
Anybody tried Taiwan Sourcing?

The white tea is from 2013
really interested to see what it tastes like like
But I still have a lot of other stuff already opened...

>>14398015
It was only ~10€

>>14397441
would these black tea balls also be considered 'dragon ball' then?
The sellers description says to steep one ball per 100ml for 3mins, but I take 3 or so and wait for them to open until I throw the first steep away.
I mean you never know with this heavy of a processed tea

>>14397999
It's like ripe puer but different. Similar wet pile fermentation technique but the overall flavor is different, much of it has a distinctive "betel nut flavor" which would be familiar if you ever tried a betel quid. I think it's frequently better than ripe puer it tends to be smoother and have less of that fishy fermentation odor. This cake specifically is really good, and the 2 or 3 anons I have convinced to try it all really liked it.
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/three-cranes-sanhe-2014-quot0207quot-liu-bao-tea-cake-dark-tea-heicha-100g-p0518.html

>>14398141
Thanks for the link!
I'll put it on my ""wishlist""

>>14398141
Also those cheap 'mini cakes' are mostly undrinkable due to this fish odor
So if this isn't the case here, I might look into buying one

>>14398141
Just what is a betel quid/nut?

>>14395782
>>14397354
Use some of pic related. I'm serious. I use it to clean a mug and infuser after heavy use and it absolutely dissolves tea stains like nothing.
Let it soak for a bit then rinse it well. You could use some vinegar or something afterwards if you want. It's basically just sodium percarbonate, which is the ingredient in coffee equipment cleaning tablets. In water it becomes hydrogen peroxide + washing soda, which you could probably also mix for the same effect. In general though it seems like alkaline cleaners work better on tea (and coffee) stuff than acids do.

>>14398179
Yes, this is not like a cheap ripe puer mini cake. For liu bao they usually use higher quality materials for the cakes and bricks as most of it is sold as loose-leaf that is aged in giant baskets. They also typically give the tea several years to air out before they press it into cakes so it looses the fishy aroma.
>>14398188
It's a chew that is popular in Southern Asia. It consists of slices of the nut from the areca palm mixed with lime and wrapped in a leaf from the betel vine. It's a mild stimulant that's popular with working men, similar to how cocca leaves are chewed in south America or Khat in the middle east. Areca palm nuts are also frequently used in pan masala "mouth freshener" chews sold in India, you can find pic related online if you really want to try it, it's interesting, but it does a number on your teeth and gums.

>>14398215
OK. Thanks for reply
Have a (you)

>>14398188
its taste is nutty and creamy, hard to describe but very nice

>>14398174
prepare to be disappointed.
it's geosmin galore and this particular cake is harder than hockey puck.
what's geosmin? you know how raw beets smell, or freshly tilled soil? that's the smell.
nobody know what's betel nut, unless you're some dirty pajeet type of character.
there is good liubao to be had, but it's not that.
3-4 good infusions and it's gone.
I wouldn't call liubao material better than ripe puer. sticks, huangpian, everything goes there.

if you really want to research, try loose leaf version.

>>14399032
That particular cake is all buds and small grade leaves it's like a gong ting ripe cake. Sure it probably doesn't have the milage of something with more larger leaves but I thought it was pretty good. Mostly nutty flavors, not a lot of soil.

"Suggest tea for me"
>Your country
>What tea have you tried before

>Philippines
>I have tried dried citrus tea one time and would probably do it again. I commonly drink those Lipton teabags, Green and yellow. Sometimes I make ginger tea

Basically newfag here sorry

>>14399152
>Basically newfag here sorry
that's the idea, no sorry

do you want to try loose leaf tea?
or stick to the bags?
do you want real tea, or herbals?

>>14399166
>do you want to try loose leaf tea?
Yes
>or stick to the bags?
Might want to try different types
>do you want real tea, or herbals?
Herbal sounds fine to me, but preferably real tea

>>14399183
go to your local tea shop. might be hard if you're rural anon.
ask for chinese black, green, jasmine, oolong from taiwan or china.

brew in a teapot with infuser basket or simply in a mug.

for herbals anons here recommend here rooibos - red bush tea.

sounds good or you want to go online shopping?

>>14399183
Can you order stuff from china right now?

>>14397982

>I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on the 7572 vs the W2T ripes. Price, value, flavor etc.

7572 is 7.3 c/g, and I do really like it. It's got a honey and maple syrup sweetness to it when you're able to get the high notes out, and it's base is a satisfying buttermilk creaminess. The Waffles is 9.3 c/g and is extremely similar, actually. Very comparable sweetness with maybe a little bit more of a milk chocolate character to it, and the same sort of buttermilk base. I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to taste the differences between the two in a blind testing, so the 7572 is probably the better value overall.

The Smoove Cocoa is where things step up a bit. It's a little pricier than the other two (although still extremely reasonable, imo) at 13.3 c/g, and some of those more simple honey sweet notes mellow a little bit and fold in nicely to an overall body that reminds me a lot of a good dark chocolate.

Overall, I like each of these blends. The 7572 is solid and super cheap, and I'd throw the Waffles into the same bracket that it's in. The Smoove Cocoa is a small price bump up but I also feel like it's got more depth and complexity to go along with that.

>>14399213
Sounds good to me, thanks anon

>>14399220
Probably not

>>14399183
you could just get a bag of cheap tie guan yin as a start:
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/chinese-tea-anxi-tieguanyin-premium-quality-spring-oolong-tie-guan-yin-green-tea-vacuum-packing-125g-best-oolong-tea-p0036.html
They also have a great selection of different teas that could get you started:
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/35-different-flavors-chinese-tea-including-oolong-puer-black-green-herbal-flower-tea-health-care-food-gift-215g-chinese-cha-premium-quality-tea-p0013.html

>>14399225
Cool, thanks anon, it's been fun following your adventures in shou.

>>14399236
yep, local is a way to go for starters.
don't be fooled by how dry leaf smells, sometimes it smells of nothing.
say you want to try their chinese teas, but beware, some of the shops will try to bamboozle you into blends and mixes of real tea with some petals, weeds, zests and god knows what flavoring sprayed all over it.
don't buy it, say you want pure tea. if you're still in the game after this, report here back, and we're go from here.
good luck.

>>14399244
Will try, thank you

>>14399225
sound assesment, to me.

I also have a coin of smoove laying around, should be accustomed to my climate already.
I have to give it a spin and see how it compares for example to my 2018 hui run at 0.12/g
but not today, because I'm drinking already

>>14399272
no probs
it's just what I did
they (healthteahouse) are cheap enough on aliexpress, so that I bought several different sorts of tea in bulk
just make sure not to buy green or some sorts of oolong, black tea in such large quantities, as it does not age very well

they also sell on ebay

>>14399272
see
>>14397939

>>14399306
Where did you bought it?

>>14399331
healthteahouse/fullchea
>>14399244

>>14399349
Nice thank you

with fullchea I suggest registering on their site, after some purchases you'll get a small (minimal) discount.
it's easier to track your orders.

I have a two orders on the way, bought before summer sale, because of my luck.
haiwan ripes lineup, chenpi and other assorted bits.

after trying dripdobitters a concept had formulated, now we wait.

>>14399378
aliexpress also gives out good goy points, so I don't know if it makes that much of a difference ordering directly on the website or on ali

>>14399411
ah, you're right, it evens out probably

>>14399378
Ive seen you suggest haiwan ripes a few times. Any specific types or years that you would recommend. Also please report back on their dried Mandarin, they are the only place I have seen selling it that I would actually consider buying.

Thoughts on Vahdam tea? About to order a few samplers from Amazon.

>>14399503
I bought 2019 9978 as soon as it came out (february) and it was FRESH, alarmingly so. those factories use already aged shu maocha, but the steaming and pressing wakes up latent wodui tastes. after a month it settled in my climate.
now after a 1,5 year is one of the tasties shus I tried. on the sweet side and very moreish.

I have other types on the way, skipped 7578, because it's supposed to be a clone of dayi 7572 and I know the taste (a bit too weak for me)

I'll report on the others when they get here.
chenpi seems legit also, got green and orange, we will see.

>>14399546
i like them their sample set is how i got into tea, a bit cheaper through their website than through amazon. the smokey assam is great and i really like their spiced green tea 'detox' mix

>>14399569
Thanks. I've only ever tried Harney & Sons loose leaf sencha before, and it tasted pretty flavorless to me. I'm hoping these have a bit more depth to them.

>>14399557
Thanks anon, i have avoided haiwan so far because they take aping dayi to a comical level. They make xiaguan releasing teas that are clones of every popular dayi a year or two later look tame in comparison but that doesn't mean haiwan isn't good. They have definitely been around for a long time and they make a lot of tea every year so I really should give them a shot. I'm eyeing one of their higher end ripe productions from a few years ago. I know my money will go way further that way then getting a fancy ripe from dayi.

Got some puerh from the local shop and it's literally just labelled puerh, I quite like it but idk really where to go or what to buy to really get into puerh tea, are there any recommended sites? Should I aim to buy cakes/bricks only or is loose puerh tea also good?

Super noob, just getting into this

Ok, if I am going to get the Vahdam samplers, should I start with Green, Oolong, Black or White? I'm almost totally new to loose-leaf tea.

tea 4 ppl that don't like tea?

>>14399905
What DO you like?

>>14399905
Nice cup of arsenic trioxide tea

>>14399790
It's good to buy online loose-leaf can be okay but cakes are usually preferable. There are lots of sellers listed in the pastebin in the op under Chinese tea sellers.
If you are located in the usa yunnansourcing.us has some good teas.
Here is a decent article telling you what you should start out with.
https://teadb.org/puerh-for-beginners/
If you just want to grab a few affordable teas to try I can recommend grabbing these small 100g cakes from puershop, a ripe and a raw that I picked up recently and really enjoyed.
This is raw, floral, hints of smoke, smooth and approachable.
https://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=9_21&product_id=537
This is ripe, that's likely the kind you have tried before, it's pile fermented and its smooth and has notes of chocolate caramel and other dark flavors.
https://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=9_24&product_id=382
If you are willing to take the plunge and grab some cakes shipping from china.
This is the classic ripe cake from the factory that invented ripe puer.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2018-dayi/products/2018-dayi-7572-cake-357g-puerh-shou-cha-ripe-tea?variant=30379453907047
This is the classic raw cake from the same factory.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2012-dayi/products/2012-dayi-7542-cake-150g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
Another good raw tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2009-dayi/products/2009-dayi-gong-tuo-tribute-tuo-100g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
And another raw tea from one of the other big puer factories xiaguan. This one should be very smooth and accessable.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2008-xiaguan/products/2008-xiaguan-nan-zhao-tuo-cha-nanzhao-tuo-tea-100g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
And some young loose-leaf raw that is very easy to drink, sweet and fruity.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/available/products/2018-kingteamall-spring-yi-wu-huang-tian-loose-leaf-gushu-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=31890326257767

You guys own a mate gourd?

>>14400422
I have a ceramic one from David's teas

>>14399970
Milk and sugar

>>14361347
>england
>yorkshire gold, brick red, no sugar
>kettle
better than pg tips or tetley

>>14400652
If you live in a city, see if you can find a local shop, avoid places that sell lots of flavored tea. Live in the country, find a shop in London that sells online. This post has some more good advice.
>>14399256
Look for some traditional brittish blends but made with nice loose leaf tea, ceylon, assam etc. If you don't mind something less malty check out some chinese black teas. Get a brew basket you can use to brew in a cup or mug. Brewing instructions are in the pastebin, most retailers will also recommend how to brew their teas.
I don't really know many UK online shops, essence of tea has a couple of red (black) teas but they are more fruity and not the kind of tea that will hold up to milk.
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/red-tea/products/2018-spring-beyond-the-clouds?variant=8651542265908

It's really going to take a week for my tea to even get to customs after arriving in the US, what a mess.

>>14400157
Thanks friend

>>14400422
I don't like mate

>>14402530
It's weird, i would have to try it more to say definitively that I don't like mate, but it kind of tastes like dirt, I will have to do some research and where i can get good and fresh mate.

I want a yixing pot.

>>14402778
I like the canned mate with mint flavor and sugars added
Otherwise I tried bagged 'Argentinian mate' and didn't like it

>>14403176
I noticed after looking around some that the south American brands are sold as smoked or unsmoked. The brands I see in us grocery stores seems to be sold as roasted or unroasted.

>>14403426
it wasn't smoked as far as I'm concerned