/ck/ - Food & Cooking

International shipping seems to be getting back to normal. Expect some delays, but packages are moving again.

Fuck, also
>unironically bashing comfy pepe

>>14404449
At least this rime I didn't make a new thread when there was a six hour old one up already.

>>14404469
True. Great minds thought at the same time

>>14404437
Yeah my YS was last spotted in May leaving shanghai

>>14404423
>>14404437
>>14404449
so shameful that "american" would take and bastardize chinese like this . do americans really think that they are making "tea" with their GMO and corn syrup plant stuff ? this is not real tea . of course , i only expect as much from a "country" full of obese , diabetic SSRI zombies !!!!!

simply shameful !!!!!

>>14404527
I have a few packages that shipped from china at the end of may, two of them got to the us late last week and are now taking forever to get through customs. But other than the customs delays that's a reasonably normal shipping speed for china post e-packet. I'm sure shipping from some cities is still worse than others.

Does anyone know if you can buy sun dried yerba mate anywhere? I saw one website that claims to be selling it, but they are comically overpriced and I don't really believe them.
All the yerba mate seems to be hot air dried or oven dried and since a lot of brands age their mate for 12-24 months I thought a sun dried version might be interesting.

>>14404423
Damn thought that image was butter and got excited for a cool thread but it’s just gay ass tea, fucking faggot kys

Ordered 3+ kilos of puer.
None of it is ripe.
I've made a terrible mistake.

I did some reading about mate and some of the more popular brands, it's pretty interesting stuff.
So one of the major things that affects the flavor is the grind, some dust is intentionally included to increase bitterness and increase available caffeine. Many brands offer yerba mate with or without stems. Yerba mate without stems has a more concentrated flavor but clogs the straw more easily and lacks a certain smooth vanilla ish note that the stems provide. Some brands smoke the yerba mate and a few offer yerba mate with and without smoke. Finally some yerba mate is aged for up to 24 months to reduce bitterness and smooth out the flavor.
The prices (in the us) seem to run from $7 to $12 per half kilo. It looks like there aren't really small production runs from independent farms like you see with teas, but I don't speak Spanish or Portuguese so maybe there is some limited availability within South America.

If I like oolong what other teas would I like
I do not like earl gray

>>14406867
What kind of oolong? Taiwanese, chinese? Light green or dark roasted?

>>14406875

>>14406867
>>14406880

>>14406880
Some Chinese black teas like dian hong and non smoked zhèngshān xiǎozhǒng.
This says it's smoked but it's really charcoal roasted.
https://dragonteahouse.biz/wuyi-star-smoked-lapsang-souchong-chinese-classic-flavour-fujian-black-tea-50gx2-bags-complete-box/
Also just try some loose leaf oolong from one of the Chinese vendors in the pastebin in the op.

>>14406376
Pic or didn't happened

>>14407230
The tuos are getting stored for 5-10 years. The rest is to drink now.

Where do you guys get your tea? Any website recs?

>>14407586
Check the pastebin link in the op, tons of recommendations.
Personally I like king tea mall, yunnan sourcing is very popular.

>>14407582
ah yeah, I remember your order. how long are you waiting?
and yeah, no shu is a sin, I hope you have some to sip on already.

>>14406846
There's toasted mate too. There's a world of infusions you can brew with it. Currently I'm drinking a infusion of mate and cinnamon, very nice mix.

>>14407586
like another anon said:
kingteamall for factory puerh, young and older
yunnansourcing for the breadth of selection and/or their house puerh
white2tea, crimson lotus, bitterleaf for their house puerh (often "overpriced")
fullchea-tea for cheap chinking, you have to know what you want, also cheap starter pack into china tea
japanese greens and whatnots - ask other anons, I'm incompetent in that field, but certainly not amazons & ebays

Drinking some 1990 9016 tuo Cha from CNNP ripe sample set. I see no interest in 10+ year aged ripes. I should have ordered aged raws sampler set instead.

>>14408270
yeah, my conclusion also. after few years you get diminishing returns with shu. somehow the prices continue to rise.

but on the other hand, you came to that conclusion yourself, not because someone on internet said so. it's kind of success.
puerh is constant learning, one of the allures of the tea.

>>14408283
Did you try some aged raws?

>Go to store
>"Enjoy your coffee machine sir, do you need help moving it?"
>Say yes
>tfw I get free service to move the coffee machine when it's actually going to be used for tea
I scammed those wagies full throttle

>>14408310
Yes

>>14408318
Are they worth a try? Like significantly better/different?

>>14408262
What about Taiwan Sourcing?

>>14408331
oh yes.
the whole thing with raw is to age it. 15 years ago nobody drank fresh raws. if you need reading materials on that start with teadb.org articles.

shu was invented to mimic the taste of good aged raw, what came out was something different so they ran with it.

so yes, try some aged raw puerh, see if you like it.

>>14408336
never bought from them, look at the prices/gram of those teas. good oolongs will ruin you.
wuyiorigin.com comes recommended

good tea sets are expensive

drinking the 8ct/g fullchea tieguanyin >>14397939
tastes more roasted than anticipated, otherwise it's good

>>14408348
thanks for the link
might look into some high mountain Oolongs
the Taiwanese ones are pretty expensive as you already pointed out...

>>14408439
No?

this big 350ml gaiwan might be more suitable for oolong

>>14408578
yes

the ones I want

now shut up

>>14408730
What's your price range, I can help

>>14409059
400 sonic rings

How good is king tea mall?

>>14408559
Can you post a picture of the dry leaf? I'm wondering how visibly roasted it looks.

Does frothing matcha with a french press work well? Are there any difference of a press-frothed matcha to a whisked one in terms of taste?

>>14409175
Ive made a few large orders with them and haven't had any issues. His prices are usually significantly cheaper than yunnan sourcing. The guy has kind of a weird setup where he doesn't own all of his inventory but he goes and buys your order from a longtime distributor he has a close relationship with, he is upfront about that and has an article about it on his website somewhere. The only complaints i have seen online where people saying they didn't like the flavor of some 10+ year old ripes they bought from him, but they were all comparing to Kunming storage when Guangzhou is a more humid environment.
He doesn't have descriptions for a lot of his older teas so you are kind of buying blind sometimes but he he also has a massive selection, probably the largest you will find from a western facing vendor.

how do I into tea
I've only ever tried some loose leaf tea from T2, which was pretty yum, but judging by the marketing of that company I'm guessing it's just some overpriced hipster brand

>>14409296
Try and find a local tea shop that sells loos leaf tea, avoid anything with flavors or flowers or fruit added to it. Try some tea and find out what types you like, then come back and ask about it here. If you can't find any good shops locally let us know what country you are from and someone might have some suggestions. Or you could go crazy and just blindly order some teas that were recommended to others in the last thread.

>>14409092
haha ur funne ;D XD le rofl pepe froge

I bought a new sencha, higher quality than I'm used to, and it's so flavorful that it's almost too much. Maybe I just used too much leaf

It seems like Japanese teas often have a lot of powdered or at least very broken leaf mixed in with them, regardless of quality. When steeped, there seems to be almost a green leaf sludge that comes out in the water. Makes the color intense and seems to give it a lot of flavor. This is a "deep steamed, fukamushi" though, I don't know if lighter steamed teas are different. I'm still getting acquainted with sencha. I like it though

>>14409261
here you go friend

>>14409261

>>14409296
The pastebin in OP has good info. Pick a credited online retailer and then I'd say start with a common chinese green tea like longjing, a japanese green tea, a black tea like keemun, and a lapsang souchong (smoked black tea). After that you can start looking into white tea, oolongs, puerh, aged whites, etc. Green and black is the best starting point though

Brew it gong fu style, which the pastebin also describes. You don't really need fancy equipment for it; I use a glass to steep it and then pour it through a sieve into a measuring cup and then into a drinking glass.

>>14410716
*sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiff*
Ahhhhhhh

>>14410716
Oh yeah that has some roast on it. Thanks anon, I was just curious to see how it would look.

>>14410682

Fukamushi just has much smaller leaf particles than asamushi (light steamed) sencha because the additional steaming time breaks down the leaf, and a lot of material will come through into the liquor unless you have a very fine strainer.

For the Yutaka Midori that I have from o-cha I go with .8g of leaf per 30 ml of water and steep at 165 F for 30s, near instant, and then 45 seconds, and it comes out well balanced and flavorful without turning bitter or being overpowering. YM is a pretty strong tea so you may be able to get away with a little longer steep times for other fukamushicha.

>>14411094
>a lot of material will come through into the liquor unless you have a very fine strainer.
Is this considered bad? I didn't feel it made the drink bitter or anything, just changed the texture a bit

>>14411116

Not really unless you're letting your steeped tea sit for a while, as the particulate that's in the liquor will keep extracting and can throw the flavor off over the course of two or three minutes. But yeah, if you feel it's just a little strong overall you can definitely experiment with slightly less leaf, slightly cooler water, or slightly shorter steep times.

Tried out the 8g free sample of Kong Mountain Tea's "2016 Cang Jiang Yi Zhu". A 200g cake will run you a whopping 132 USD.

Brewed in a 150ml gaiwan with boiling water, but unfortunately wasnt truly sitting down to fully experience it because I was in an online meeting. I will say, though, that this is completely unique to anything else I've experienced. Kept the steep times short because there was, of course, some young raw astringency in there, but in my best steeps I was getting the taste of animal crackers and shortbread cookies. It was sweet and pastry-y and really nice.

I think the issue that I'm having with these super pricey young raws is that while they are really good, they're so goddamn finicky that you'll probably end up most of the way through your cake before you can even dial the brewing in consistently. They'd be much more worth it, imo, if you could get the best flavors out of them consistently within only a few sessions, or if the price point they're at now was for a 7 or 8 year old version that was going to be a lot more manageable.

Overall, this sample was quite delicious, but I don't see myself buying a cake.

>>14411197

>>14411197
>They'd be much more worth it, imo, if you could get the best flavors out of them consistently within only a few sessions, or if the price point they're at now was for a 7 or 8 year old version that was going to be a lot more manageable.
I think this really nails it, there are raws that are good young but they tend to die with age, the ones that will age well usually need nearly a decade to take the edge off and settle, maybe two decades with super dry kunming style storage. I have a really high tolerance for bitterness but what's the point if that's all you are going to taste? I could just buy fresh young factory cakes for $12 a piece if i wanted bitterness bombs.
Maybe you could try brewing that w2t raw at 90°c and see if that helps any.

>>14411315

My second go around with the 2018 Pussy I did at 96 C, and while the astringency reduced I feel like the overall flavor did, too. I was doing 6.5 g for 100ml so I think next time I'll back it off to 5.5g.

But yeah, some of these super pricey young raws have some extremely nice and interesting flavors, it's just really difficult for them to not be overpowered by the astringency. Maybe it's partially because I'm still quite new to gongfu brewing, but I feel like I just don't have the skill to get it right every time without throwing away 50 bucks on what are essentially trial runs. If I could get all of my 12 steeps with these teas to be as good as my best 1 or 2 within that session, I might consider dropping the dough on them because they really are that good, but I'm not there yet. I do feel like I'm going to have to run a long term experiment where I get one of these .50+/g cakes and just do one session with it every year and see how it evolves over time.

>>14411354
Yeah i struggle with caring about teas that require that much work. I'm pretty lazy even with gongfu and if I have to carefully coax every infusion it just seems tedious. I'd rather just dump semi aged sheng in a mug and let do.

Drinking some of this 2012 dayi chun jian (spring buds) tuo. I got this ages ago and never finished it. I saw it described somewhere as having a strong fermented flavor and I think that's a good description. It just seems overfermenteted, it brews up a very dark almost brown color even though it's a fairly young raw. It goes for a decent # of brews and has a decent, if short lived, sweet finish but it's weird, no top notes at all. Lots of metallic dark notes, not much bitterness or astringency to speak of. It's almost like a half ripe tea. It was made in 2012 which was the peak of that last puer bubble and it was one of the cheaper teas they made that year. But they only made one batch, so it's not like it sold well. I have heard similar criticism of some of their 2006 (06**) number recipes but haven't tried any of them for myself. Would not recommend unless you think trying a tea like that would be somehow educational.

I have a gaiwan. What should I do with these bad boys?
>water/rose ratio in g
>temperature
>steeping time
>how many infusions

>>14412501
Hurf durf forgot img

>>14412501
>>14412510
What the fuck is that?

>>14412514
Dried rosebuds or something idk lol got em at the korean grocery

Is adding alcohol to tea socially acceptable?

>>14412501
Start with 5g per 100ml.
Boiling water.
20 second rinse then 20 second brew.
And see what happens.
Keep brewing until it doesn't taste good anymore.
I really like the rosebuds I have had mixed in with herbal teas. They added a nice spicy note.

>>14409324
>>14410757
Sounds good ill give it a shot

>>14412582
Throw that shit out, what the fuck

>>14410116
I am funny yes

>>14412704
No way, that's good stuff.

>>14412709
What kind of tea set are you looking for? Lots of dope stuff available for four hundred United States dollars.

>>14407582
How much did that set you back?

>>14412625
I've always wondered this too.

>>14412625
>>14412880
What would you possibly gain from the combination? How do you figure they would mix well, given each of their properties?

>>14412625
>>14412880
>>14412889

I haven't listened to this episode yet but Ken Cohen's "Talking Tea" podcast has an episode on alcohol pairing and cocktails.

https://talkingteapodcasts.com/2018/10/11/tea-cocktail-experiments/

I did hojicha and Laphroaig on a lark a few weeks back and it was alright.

>>14412776
It was $300 something with shipping. I wasn't exactly bargain hunting but I didn't really splash out for anything expensive either, two of the cakes were $40 each and the silver pine and crane cake was $70. The sleeves of tous were $20 and change a piece.
I had an autistic focus on getting 2009 xiaguan for some reason, just a hunch that there are some really good 2009 teas that are still relatively cheap because of the 2008 market crash. The 2009 dayi stuff got really expensive when people noticed the quality of everything was super high (2009 7542 batch 901 is going for $300 a cake now) but other brands don't get as much autistic focus from Chinese collectors.

>>14412657
Thanks bud

>>14412510
it's teasane if it's just rose buds, propably tastes shit, also no need to brew gonfu
if it's rose buds with tea, it't low quality tea or whatever

>>14413502
It is just rosebuds, but idt it's teasane. Didn't taste bad. Kind of subtle, I think I used too much water.

>>14412923
You were able to taste the tea through 80 proof liquor? I imagine you either have to add a miniscule amount of alcohol or add a significant amount of sweetener, and either way brew the tea extremely strong. A mixer either needs to be sweet, carbonated, or have some other quirk like high acidity, or else it's just watering down the liquor

>>14413502
>>14413543
It's tisane, you guys. If you're gonna be autistic, you gotta go 100%.

I planted some spearmint in my garden a few years ago because i enjoy mint tea.
Should have put it in a pot. FUCK.
I can't drink all this mint.

>>14411116
for fukamushicha use kyusu with fine mesh
0,6g/30ml
stepping times 60, 30, 90
water temp 70 - 80 degC

>>14414773
It's so green

>>14415147

Fukamushi will do that. Japanese greens are wild.

>>14414773

What tea in particular do you have there?

>>14404423
anyone concerned about fluoride in tea from asia? where can i buy american tea?

i generally only drink white teas

>>14405084
>yerba
where to buy yerba mate set with straw like that in argentia in the america?

>>14415412
Fluoride is in all tea in varying levels. The only tea that's grown in the USA that is affordable is American classic brand from the Charleston tea plantation. Apparently they sell first flush but only through email.
If you look at articles the only known cases of flourosis from tea in the US where two different women who where brewing and drinking 80-150 teabags per day for over a decade. The documented cases from China are all from Tibetan and inner Mongolian minority people why drank huge amounts of the lowest quality brick tea with lots of stems in it for their entire lives.

>>14405084
I haven't heard of that, but I do know Meta Mate sells some freeze-dried yerba mate
>>14415416
probably on amazon or in some online tea stores, search for "bombilla" or "tea straw" and "yerba mate gourd"
make sure to care for the gourd correctly tho or just get a wooden / ceramic one

>>14406846
I find Paraguayan mate is usually more finely ground, strongly smoked and aged a long time so it has more of an herbal tobbacco flavor compared to the younger, more grassy varieties you usually find elsewhere

>>14415532
thanks, wondering if checking out ethnic grocery store might get a better deal than amazon

>>14415558
just make sure the bombilla is made of stainless steel / alpaca and not nickel-plated

>>14415416
I found this website that has a pretty massive selection of mate and accessories.
They have loads of different gourds and shit but I think one of these type cups is the most practical.
https://www.mymateworld.com/product/hq-stainless-steel-set-yerba-mate-gourd-bombilla-l-blue/

>>14415550
Interesting, i really need to try some of the south American brands, im guessing the Americanized stuff they sell in us grocery stores is the blandest safest flavor possible.

>>14415673
Whoops those are out of stock. I guess one of these glass lined ones would be good as well.
https://www.mymateworld.com/product/guarda-pampa-glass-yerba-mate-cup-bombilla/

>>14415681
the grocery store stuff is usually coarsely ground, air dried and unaged for a mild, grassy flavor

Okay it took 2 months but I got my order. They also included a sample size 2019 DaYi 7542, which they have priced at 20$ for 9g. Is that a marketing meme or is it actually considered good?

And how do you go about actually enjoying something so expensive without feeling guilty?

>>14415723
7542 is supposed to be a general production cake that sells for $20 each or less in China, i guess it hasn't been for a while but that's what it is supposed to be. For 2019 and 2020 they went a little crazy and turned them into special limited edition high priced productions, probably because there is another puer price bubble and they wanted to take advantage.
If it's actually similar to the standard recipe it will be a bit rough and bitter while it's so young, but it could be completely different because of the special batch.
Brew it gongfu, short infusions ~10 seconds until you get an idea of the bitterness and then go from there.
Actually looking at it it's probably a sample of the second batch from that year, which is a regular priced cake, only the first batch was made with super fancy materials.

>>14415723
Really interested to hear what you think of that dragonswell tea. Also the dayi "wind coming bro" lol.

>>14415696
>the grocery store stuff is usually coarsely ground, air dried and unaged for a mild, grassy flavor
What other drying methods are common? Oven drying?

>>14415723
>>14415761
Actually i really can't tell, the sample should say something like "2019 dayi 7542 901" or 902. 901 is the fancy batch.

>>14415792
it's also often briefly smoked over an open fire

>>14415810
A bit more about 7542 it's a very old and classic recipe for puer. It was made by many of the state run factories before privatization in the early 2000s but dayi was considered the best of the large factories. It's very well processed and consistent tea that is known to always age well, something that you can't depend on with any random puer cake. It is considered the benchmark raw puer. However it's price for the general standard cakes is somewhat disconnected from reality. The Chinese buy dayi 7542 specifically as an investment and as a hedge against inflation, so the price is subject to speculation and bubbles more than any other brand or recipe cake. It is made with standard tea plantains materials, no 100 year old wild trees or anything like that. But it's good tea, and it will be better in ten years and even better in another ten etc.

>>14415723
share photos

>>14415357
Chiran premium fukamushicha
from Sazen tea

>>14415579
This so much

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Matcha-Powder-PureChimp-Ceremonial-Pesticide-Free/dp/B00HNDSOCI/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=green+tea&qid=1595016789&sr=8-5

i bought this, i tried making it and it was shit, tips? the only other thing i drink is yorkshire but want to try green tea

>>14415933
Good matcha is very expensive and strong and not a flavor everyone will like. You should really only buy it from one of rhe Japanese vendors listed in the pastebin in the OP. 99.9% of the "matcha" on the market is undrinkable garbage.
Really you should start with some other green teas. I would suggest Chinese greens, good Japanese greens taste like vegetables and seaweed soup.
See this advice for starting out.
>>14409324
>>14410757
Let us know if you have any questions or want some advice on something you are thinking about buying.

Drinking the 2020 Gelanghe Sundried White from the July W2T club, and damn this stuff is good. I've never had a white tea before so this is a very new experience.

Brewing 6.5g/100ml with boiling water, and this tea is giving me a really unique sweet and savory like sundried tomatoes. Also getting some high notes of grass in there and I think a little bit of petrichor mineraliness.

I will say that after the first 5 or so steeps I noticed that the waffle pressed cake hadn't actually opened up all the way yet so I dug into with a fork to pry it apart and there was still some dry leaves in there, so I was technically brewing with less leaf for the first while. Now that it's fully opened the sweetness is a little bit less pronounced and the savory aspect of the sundried tomatoes along with the grass come through more. I've been pushing it really hard through steeps 6-9 or so and it still won't go bitter on me no matter what I do.

Overall, super pleasant, good depth to it while also being pretty easy for me to identify what I'm tasting. Also drank the first 5 steeps after not eating for 14 hours and started feeling really nice really quickly. No upset stomach.

I'll say that with it being so smooth and pleasant, especially through the infusions where it hadn't opened up all the way, I'm definitely going to give the Pussy another shot with maybe 5 or 5.5 g of leaf and see how it goes.

>>14415961
huh ok i usually just buy the highest rated shit on amazon, im looking for something i can buy in the EU, i live in the countryside so i doubt i can find a shop, i live in belgium

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oriarm-8-82oz-Longjing-Green-Loose/dp/B07QYJB5NT/ref=sr_1_10?dchild=1&keywords=longjing&qid=1595017536&sr=8-10

do you think this is cool? im mainly interested in the "health" benefits but im not sure if its one giant meme and i hsould just stick to my yorkshire

>>14415978
process your photos before uploading please

I didn't appreciate what I had until it was gone. Tea picked, processed, and packaged by students at the school I taught at for years.
I might ask former coworkers to mail me some.

>>14415987

I always compress them down to 2 MB before uploading but this one was already at 1.8. That's always seemed like a reasonable file size to me.

>>14416001
not for 4chan servers, go 1080p and under mega

>>14416008

Never had an issue with it on my end but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the heads up.

>>14415985
That tea is shipping from China. So if you don't mind the wait get this.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/green-tea/products/2020-early-spring-long-jing-dragon-well-high-grade-green-tea-zhejiang?variant=32208796713063
Get a sample of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/green-tea/products/2020-early-spring-an-ji-bai-cha-anji-baicha-high-grade-green-tea-zhejiang?variant=32131656745063
And a sample of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/white-tea/products/2014-spring-bai-mu-dan-white-poeny-white-tea-fuding-fujian-province
Or if you want black tea get this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/black-tea/products/2020-xiaguan-hong-cha-black-tea-300g-yunnan-fengqing-dianhong
Good luck anon! Let us know what you think of it!

>>14415999
Damn that's pretty cool.

>>14415961
how is the one costco carries, it's expensive af?

>>14416117
No idea
This is a value matcha from a Japanese vendor, about $.50 per gram.
https://www.o-cha.com/matcha-powdered-green-tea/uji-matcha-kiri.html
And this is one of their higher end matchas.
About $1.50 per gram
https://www.o-cha.com/matcha-powdered-green-tea/koicha-matcha-manten.html

I was going to make a small order from the yunnansourcing.com last night. They wanted $20 shipping for e-packet for about 350g of loose tea. Now I remember why I have only ordered from their .us site.

>cast iron teapot says not for stovetop use
Can I use it on there anyways?

>>14417113
Is it bare cast iron or enameled?
Bare cast iron, yes. Enameled, maybe.

>>14417125
It says it’s enameled so I’ll probably find another but just wondering.

>>14417143
It might be okay, but there is a risk that the enamel is not high temperature tolerant and would crack on the stove even if it's fine with boiling water.

>>14417113
what for? electric kettle is always the answer.

>>14417077
>imagine paying shipping for package from other side of the world
>I'll just pay more for the product, and less for the shipping
>in the end I'll pay the same amount of money, that'll show those chinks

you have ways to go friend

>>14417296
Yeah i understand that "free" shipping isn't free. YS is adding about $7 to their actual shipping and handling costs, that's what I'm bitching about.

>>14415978
Sounds interesting, i wasn't expecting anything like sun-dried tomatoes out of a white. White tea is high on my list of things I need to hurry up and get around to ordering.

Drinking some more of this 2004 xiaguan tuo tonight. I realized what it reminds me of. It tastes a lot like a tieguanyin oolong. Weird.

Ordered a tin of liu bao for the hell of it. Will do a write-up on it in a few months when it arrives.

Just opened Kiku mukashi can
it's very delicious! no bitterness at all. it's smooth like a milk

>>14419107
Describe the flavor. Is it like sucking on green beans or is it more of a brassica flavor?

>>14404423
>Your country:
Aus

>What tea have you tried before:
lipton, iced tea, standard tea bags

>Do you own a teapot, gaiwan etc: No, but i can get one

>>14419142
it's more like green beans than brassica

>>14419155
or peas

>>14419149
Australia is tough. Id suggest ordering from China. Get a brew basket for brewing in mugs. Finum makes good ones or you can find generic stainless steel ones on lots of sites, don't get a tea ball or one of those quirky silicone tea holders.
Get some samples of these teas,
An oolong
https://kingteamall.com/collections/fenghuang-dancong/products/2020-spring-fenghuang-dancong-mi-lan-xiang-honey-orchid-fragrance-oolong-tea-chaozhou?variant=32259520036967
A couple greens
https://kingteamall.com/collections/green-tea/products/2019-early-spring-zhu-ye-qing-high-grade-green-tea-sichuang-province
https://kingteamall.com/collections/green-tea/products/2020-early-spring-long-jing-dragon-well-high-grade-green-tea-zhejiang
Some black tea, maybe get 100g of this instead of just a sample
https://kingteamall.com/collections/black-tea/products/2020-early-spring-xiao-zhong-souchong-black-tea-hongcha-fujian-2?variant=32464227958887
https://kingteamall.com/collections/black-tea/products/2019-xi-hu-hong-mei-west-lake-red-plum-black-tea-hongcha-zhejiang-province
Some white tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/white-tea/products/2014-spring-bai-mu-dan-white-poeny-white-tea-fuding-fujian-province
And finally some puer
Raw
https://kingteamall.com/collections/available/products/2018-kingteamall-spring-yi-wu-huang-tian-loose-leaf-gushu-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha
Ripe
https://kingteamall.com/collections/available/products/2017-kingteamall-bulang-loose-leaf-puerh-ripe-tea-shou-cha
Feel free to pick and choose but I would suggest getting at least one tea from each category.
There are decent brewing instructions in the pastebin, all these teas can be brewed western style.

>>14419155
>>14419169
Haha, it's cool that it's not overly bitter. The color looks really dramatic.

>>14419142
others say its like chrysanthemum but I was never eating chrysanthemum so I don't know. maybe I should try just for comparison

>>14419190
no bitterness at all. previously I was tried Ogurayama from Sazen tea and that was more on bitter side but not in a bad way, just a different taste

>>14419183
That reminds me, i have some Astral Tea in the cupboard. It has mugglewart, catnip, ginkai bilboa, catnip etc going to try some now, its been in the cupboard for years from a hippy festival i went to.

>>14419244
Weird, man hippies makes some crazy stuff

>>14419252
Its supposed to bring on lucid dreaming, normally too stoned to remember but now im not. Cheers big ears

>>14419244
it also apparently contains "Dreams", as a first ingredient at that

gotta drink all these teabags today

>>14420009
w-why?

>>14420136
Autism

>>14420009
Nice

This afternoon I found out that the cheap organic fair trade ripe pu er carried by a store nearby has notes of and is on par with certain Menghai ripes I have samples of. It's funny because it's the only tea I had at the beginning of the lock down and its mediocrity motivated my first order from Yunnan Sourcing. Then I bought a Brita filter I just never used for that tea before today. Lol, I just needed a better water.

fuck china

>>14420742
Haha, I'm going to hate myself when I finally get a water filter.

>>14420748
I have a few packages on the way that were shipped at a similar time from a different city. Two has made it to the US and the third hasn't. You shipment should make it eventually.

does anyone know where to get tangy tasting tieguanyin outside of china?

>>14420755
If your water is as hard as mine, then yes, most certainly. But you'll drink better tea. Those that benefited the less from filtered water are expensive ones. It brought some otherwise mediocre tea to the level of expensive ones.

>>14420796
There are a few vendors listed in the article that ship from the US.
https://teadb.org/wuyi-oolong-tea-vendors/

>>14412625
i have a book with a ton of cocktails with tea, i'll post some if you want

>>14412923
hojicha+white russian

I tried hot toddies a few times. Used some Chinese black tea, some pumpkin pie spice mix, burbon and a raw egg. Don't think I could really taste anything but the burbon.

I can't help but like green tea more with a bit of lemon in it

Been making a large cup of iced tea most days, using longjing, yun wu, or black snail tea. I refill it a couple times usually

>>14421352
I really like a little crack of black pepper with my greens, it's a nice way to perk up a weak later steep. Piperine enhances the antioxidant effects of green tea catechins too.

>>14421374
i'll give that a try, do you steep it with full peppercorns or just mix some ground into the liquid?

>>14421391
Just a little ground in, after brewing.

>>14412625
>>14412880
>>14412889
>>14421167
>>14412923
In Shizuoka, ochawari is popular. It's sencha and shochu.
It works very well. The tea taste comes through, the alcohol is less harsh. It's a very easy drink to enjoy. It's actually so popular in Shizuoka it's sometimes called Shizuokawari.
I tried to order ochawari in Kyoto, they had no idea what I was talking about.

>>14421575
Damn bro, that's some Strong looking sencha. Does it get very bitter like that or does the alcohol round out the flavor?

>>14421575
Roasted oolong and kuro koji imo shochu is also a good combination. Mixing it with rooibos is even better, in my opinion. I could also see rice shochu pairing well with green oolongs.

>>14421603
No, it's isn't particularly bitter. It seems like the flavors work well together, I guess. I'm not much for alcohol but it is very easy for me to drink.

>>14421623
Looks delicious, enjoy! Do you have any photos of food and tea pairings?

>>14421636
Not specific pairings, but in the Osawa neighborhood in the mountains of Shizuoka City is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some small plates and local green tea.
These are more traditional dishes. I still don't have much of an appetite for konnyaku.

>>14421666
This one is bit different.

Really good for when you're sick of tea or know people who dont like tea. It's relatively tart, and it's a pretty red pink color.

Where can I order good matcha from? i'm either blind or don't see anything in the pastebin

>>14421896
The Japanese vendors.
https://www.o-cha.com/
And
https://yuuki-cha.com
are pretty popular here but the other ones are also good.

>>14404423
NEW PASTEBIN
some edits for clarity and added a section for yerba mate vendors
https://pastebin.com/cgHfzUNH
Please recommend some other yerba mate vendors or offer other suggestions for the mate section.

>>14415696
>mild, grassy flavor
Everything I've tried, tastes like straight up, lawn mower clippings. I've given up on mate.

>>14421575
Looks dry as fuck.

fuck this chink flu shit. I just want my damn tea already. Over a week in the US and it hasn't hit customs yet

Friends I need some help.
I wanna buy a pretty gaiwan, something that looks nice and not plain white cheap china. Something with a nice glazed finish, since I get paranoid about porous ones.
I saw some pretty ones at yunnan sourcing that I liked but they don't ship to my country. The ones at kingteamall look very cheap.
Would you know anywhere that has some nice stuff?

>>14423401
Dragon tea house has a pretty large selection, I don't really know enough about ceramics to know if the more expensive pieces are priced appropriately but it's worth checking out.
https://dragonteahouse.biz/gaiwan/

About to marathon some roobois tea, what am I in for?

>>14423401

I've so far gotten a gaiwan and yixing pot from Kong Mountain Tea. I think they suffer from the sort of price bloat that lots of these boutique Western facing vendors do, but I actually think what I got was pretty reasonably priced, and they're shipping from in the US.

>>14421976
try some paraguayan brands, they're usually smokey and aged for a long time so they have a deeper flavor, more woody and herbal / tobbacco than fresh grass
try Indega if you want something earthy, or Colon if you want a lot of smoke or Pajarito if you want something aged but a bit milder (not quite as smokey or bitter as some of the other brands)

>>14425020
Thanks for sharing some mate advise

I'm getting real tempted to order a few baskets of various hei cha.
Liu bao, liu an, and tian jian.
It looks like liu bao is starting to really see some price jumps. Three cranes is going hard on the elaborate gift packaging and raising prices to match.

I'd like to get a more diverse knowledge on tea, tea drinking, and the history and source of many past and present teas. What books would you consider quint essential to being a tea nerd? Any good tea sites that cover knowledge? And where would recommend ordering high quality tea? I've grown out of my local loose leaf store after drinking some good stuff I got online for Christmas :(

>>14426213
Teadb.org has some good articles about the market and different Chinese teas.
Farmer leaf on YouTube has some great videos about puer production. This video about fake and mislabeled tea is a must watch.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kwvx3yrsyLU
There are a few videos linked in the pastebin.
As far as places to buy tea there is a pretty good selection of tea sellers in the pastebin. If you tell me what specific types of tea you are interested in I might be able to suggest some specific online stores or teas.

>>14426259
Awesome. Looking through pastebin now.

As for tea, I enjoy a good white, green, and black tea, but I think oolong is among my favorite. I've been making matcha lemonade with a twist of orange or strawberry for myself and the kids and we love it.

I don't like perfumed stuff, though. Natural flavors only.

>>14426282
>I don't like perfumed stuff, though. Natural flavors only
Based
For affordable daily drinking oolong check out kingteamall and yunnan sourcing. The tea db guy has some articles for good oolong vendors but they are a bit out of date, some of the sites don't exist anymore.
https://teadb.org/wuyi-oolong-tea-vendors/
https://teadb.org/taiwanese-tea-vendors/

Is anyone in /tea general/ asian or is it all gaijin here?

>>14426303
Will do, thanks.

>>14426282
>>14426316
The king tea mall guy actually has a big oolong sampler that might be pretty fun to drink through and learn about the different varieties and how different levels of charcoal roasting effect flavor.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/2018-2019-wuyi-yancha-sample-set-including-15-kinds-of-tea-15-20g-300g-oolong-tea

>>14426323
That just made my mouth water. Currently finishing up some Black Rock Oolong. I'll order this next for sure.

>>14426342
>15% long leaves
What did they mean by this?

>>14426962
that it's 85% shit.

>>14426342
What country was this stuff purchased in?

Looking at some dragon well at kingteamall. What's the difference between drinking grade and high grade? The price difference isn't that big but I honestly can't tell how much better it is, the leaves look bigger but not a lot of actual purchase pics to compare. I'm asking both in general, because the website uses that classification a lot and for the dragon well specifically, since I see it so recommended here.

>>14427694
>>14427139
>>14426962

CTC Assam tea is supposed to be rolled. That's the way it is.

I bought in America.

>>14428125
He says about the high grade
> It is a kind of tea higher than daily drink level but still has advantage on price
The daily drinking is about $.10 per gram, the high grade is about $.14 per gram.
In general daily drinking is a kind of everyday value tea where you could buy a kilo and drink it all summer and the price would not hurt much. The higher grades are usually more complex or have specific characteristics that are sought after in that type of tea.

Reminder that the cake is the sample.

Black tea and peaches are a tasty combination, would recommend. Bit acidity though

>>14429482
This is why mi lan dancong is one of my favorite teas. It's a dark oolong, close to a black tea, roasted, with a naturally peachy flavor and aroma. Like smoked peaches

I only fuck with hibiscus and genmaicha tbqh

>>14429611
>genmaicha
Good stuff. You might like some of the more heavily roasted oolongs.
keep an eye out for sea dyke brand tea next time you are at your local asian market.

>>14420009
Only 10 or so left
drinking 5 every day tastes like shit
only this way one can appreciate proper tea

>>14429874
Do you brew 5 bags at the same time?

>>14429884
No

>>14404423
>Your country
Canada
>What tea have you tried before
Earl Gray, Sencha, Tie Guan Yin and I got some Lapsang Souchong, Vietnamese Silver Snake and 2009 Menghai Ripe Pu'Erh unopened
>Do you own a teapot, gaiwan etc
I only have a western teapot but I try from time to time to do multiple infusions in quick succession after reading some info from the pastebin
I'm really new to loose tea leaves but I won't go back to tea bags because god damn the quality and taste are world aparts, thanks for your threads.

>>14421896
I was always buying at O-Cha but lately I like to buy at Sazen Tea.
it’s more professional store with better offer

>>14429874
>only this way one can appreciate proper tea
reminds me of that one time I was at a hospital for two months and the tea there was basically slightly brown-tinged water (I think they used like 1 cheapo teabag per 2 litre jug) with sugar
then finally a relative brought me some teabags
I never thought I'd get so much pleasure out of a cup of fucking lipton yellow label lol

>>14429501
I agree with you. Heads up, don't order Dan Cong from YS. Theirs is too green for me and make me feel ill.

Imen from Teahabitat has the best reputed Dan Cong but it's wildly expensive and a crappy, confusing website. I've had a couple and the zhi lan xiang cattleya orchid is the best I've ever had. Fruity, apricot and honey notes like a proper Dan Cong should have and a long, sweet smooth aftertaste that lingers on forever.

>>14430708
>Crappy website
Scratch that, I just visited for the first time in a long while and it's finally a decent website. Well done Imen.

Now if I could find a way to finance my Dan Cong drinking...

Drinking that Gelanghe Sun-dried White this morning because it's fucking delicious, but here is the 2020 Demon Slayer Huangpian, also from the July club. Tried it yesterday.

>>14404423
what teas have the least amount of pesticides in them? I know Tetley, Lipton and Twinings are all fucking poison.

>>14430753

I wasn't impressed with it. It has all of the characteristics that let me know it's a young raw, but nothing going on for it apart from that. The Pussy and the If You're Reading This were both very similar but had their own unique flavors that could be teased out if brewed well and that I think would open up if aged. This didn't really have anything apart from those most basic young Sheng notes, kind of similar to how that YS Yi Dian Hong ripe I have basically just tastes like "a ripe" but without any unique attributes.

I spill tea on myself at least once a day, am I an idiot?

>>14430764
how big is that gaiwan? It looks like 120-150ml, do you think it's a good size for most brews?

>>14430758
>what teas have the least amount of pesticides in them?
Are you familiar with organic farming practices? You you consider organic pesticides as bad as conventional pesticides? Anyway some sites like yunnan sourcing test a lot of their teas for pesticides and make a note in the listing if the tea tested free of pesticides. You can also buy organic teas, lots of sites like YS offer at least some organic teas. You can also buy wild teas that come from the middle of nowhere in the woods and aren't sprayed like a tea garden is.
This is a pretty popular wild tea, the company makes a cake of it most years. It has a very distinct flavor that you may or may not like.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2010-xiaguan/products/2010-xiaguan-sheng-tai-lao-shu-organic-old-tree-357g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha
Another wild tea, a few people in this thread have tried it and liked it. It's a bit pricey and it looks like mulch, but it's good.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-hei-cha-zhuan/products/2009-gao-jia-shan-wild-fu-zhuan-hunan-brick-tea
Here is a pretty popular tea cake that Yunnan sourcing sells that was specifically tested for pesticides and passed.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/2015-yunnan-sourcing-pu-erh-teas/products/2015-yunnan-sourcing-impression-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
YS also has a decent amount of wild black teas.
If you live in the United States you can order from yunnansourcing.us for domestic shipping, puerhshop is also based in the US and they test some of their teas for pesticides, the ones that pass have a note in the description like this one does.
https://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=9_22&product_id=336

>>14430612
>I'm really new to loose tea leaves but I won't go back to tea bags because god damn the quality and taste are world aparts, thanks for your threads.
Awesome, glad you are enjoying some tea anon.
I have a few suggestions I can make, I have tried both of these teas and really liked them, and they ship from Canada!
This is a really tasty ripe, bittersweet chocolate and a sweet finsh, I'm far from an expert on ripes but this is probably my favorite.
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=69_71&product_id=94
This green puer is not really an example of the xiaguan factory flavor. It's fairly light, fruity and a touch sour, it reminds me a lot of a tieguanyin oolong but the 16 years of age has made it less green tasting.
Also check out grampa style brewing as explained in the pastebin. It's very good for older puer and oolongs.

Got part of my big tea shipment, mostly a shitload of touchas from xiaguan, also got a few of these fangchas. These things are serious classic xiaguan, pine, smoke, burly and rough. Rock hard compression, hard to pick apart without stabbing yourself. They could probably use another decade of fairly humid storage to take the edge off but they work now as a real punchy plantation tea. Nice early pressing for the year, end of April. Unfortunately the toucha are all December pressings but they should be fine.

>>14432393
Forgot to mention these are 2009 teas.

And here is 2 1/2 kilos of xiaguan touchas. Mostly 2009 te je grade pressed in December. Also a 2007 ja ji grade pressed in February which is probably a even worse date than December since there is no spring tea harvested at that point. These come in plastic bags so they should be easy to store and I'm planning on putting then away for a decade or so but they are probably more ready to drink now then the fang cha.

>>14431162

150 ml. I tend to use my other gaiwan which is 100ml (I'll use around 5.5 - 6.5g leaf depending) but these were 8g individual samples so I went up to my larger one.

>>14432393
Some more notes about this fang cha. I'm getting pencil shavings, creamy woody vanilla notes. It's brewing up the typical darker orange color that xiaguan is kind of famous for. They tend to process their teas where they brew up orange even when young, it's very divisive, with some liking bit and some hating it. It certainly makes it a bit harder to tell how humid it's storage has been.

>>14431941
The 2006 Jinggu looks amazing and the price is really good.
For the other one I think you forgot link but I appreciate the help anyway.

>>14431941
Also I will try grandpa style with my Tie Guan Yin right away. For the Pu'Erh cakes, do you just break it off? (I heard tea in general taste a little worst when the leaves are broken)

>>14432562
I don't worry about the broken leaf thing so much, especially with ripe lots of it is broken anyways. If you get a really fancy lightly compressed cake they are easy to pull apart without breaking. With the really tight cakes they are usually pretty broken up anyway.
Here is that link I forgot.
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=69_70&product_id=101
And this might be worth getting too but I haven't tried it. It's cheap enough that it's probably worth grabbing
https://www.puerhshop.com/canada/index.php?route=product/product&path=59_64&product_id=122

Just remembered the secret to breaking up iron cakes.
Pruning shears

Friends I'd like to buy a brick of Sheng puer, preferably from kingteamall since I'm getting other stuff from there. I'm a little lost since they have a ton of offers but a lot of it is fucking pricy, like holy shit. I was hoping for a brick at 50 USD tops, but every other one was at 150 plus. Can you rec anything that you've tried or read good things about?

>>14433907
Anything you are looking for in particular? Does it have to be a brick is a cake okay? Give me a few minutes.

>>14433924
I meant a regular 357g cake, like a bing. Sorry, ESL. I'd like raw puer, hopefully not too too astringent or very very bitter. I'd prefer something mellow or sweet.

>>14433907
>>14433951
gotcha
here is some stuff from my wishlist, haven't tried it so going off descriptions
This sounds good
https://kingteamall.com/products/2006-lancang-jing-mai-gu-cha-jingmai-old-tree-tuo-250g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=32118371745895
this would probably be good, yiwu tea is more sweet and it has some nice age on it.
https://kingteamall.com/products/2004-changtai-chen-hong-chang-yi-wu-yiwu-cake-400g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=31991323590759
this would be another good option from a less bitter region
https://kingteamall.com/products/2005-changtai-jing-gu-chang-tai-hao-jinggu-wild-cake-400g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-chacha?variant=32038132547687
this one also says its not very bitter
https://kingteamall.com/products/2010-changtai-wei-rong-hao-qing-chun-he-harmony-spring-cake-400g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=32557634814055
I cant really recommend the stuff I buy from them personally since I like aggressive bitter teas.

>>14433975
Thank you, I really like the look of that yiwu one.

Brehs, talk to me about the claypill. Saw lots of neat teaware on King Tea Mall and thinking of taking the plunge and getting some, but how trustworthy are these ceramics? I mean this in so far as material quality. Are they likely safe to drink from day in and day out? As far as I knew, even with lead and cadmium contamination, you still have to either ingest chips/flakes, or heat the piece up well over 500 degrees to be at risk for problems (or drink acidic compounds from it). Is this true?

Come to think of it, I just got a clay pot from Ukraine and wonder if that is even safe to cook in.

>>14433994
Happy hunting anon. Please post your thoughts once you have a chance to drink it a few times. I was eyeing grabbing one of those for myself.

>>14404423
seriously question: has anyone here gotten kidney stones from all the tea drinking? I started getting into drinking tea to replace coffee and I recently heard that tea can give you kidney stones, so now I'm a little paranoid

>>14434623
I would not worry too much about lead from a clay tea pot, unless you are storing acidic liquids like vinegar in there long term and then drinking them. If you are really worried about it you can get these let test sticks cheap on lots of places online. You just gently scratch the clay somewhere on the bottom and then rub the stick on it, they turn a bright color if there is lead.
I think king tea mall has okay but affordable clay, it's not the fancy stuff but I don't think it will poison you.
Here are a few articles from a prominent tea blogger about clay teapots.
http://www.marshaln.com/2014/01/things-that-matter-things-that-dont/
http://www.marshaln.com/2013/11/raising-a-yixing-pot/
http://www.marshaln.com/2013/10/buying-yixing-pots/
He's into expensive stuff and antiques mostly but there should be loads of good info in there.

>>14434634
Most teah related health problems involve drinking lots of very low quality tea. Like the bricks of dust and tea sticks that the Tibetan people in china drink shitloads of. Or people in the US who drank 80-150 teabags per day for decades.
Try to drink a varied selection of tea from different places and different brands and you should be fine.
I don't know about kidney stones specifically but filtering or softening your drinking water will probably make more off a difference than what tea you drink.

Coofs

To the anons that drink hojicha. Have you ever tried simmering it? I saw that that simmering for 20 has been a suggested preparation method, seems like a good way to get a deeper flavor out of it. I have had decent like with preparing ripe puer that way.

>>14404423
Been put off from work for a week. I guess I bagged for someone who was covid positive for a while and they gave me a week off with pay to be safe. Decided I'd work though some tea. I still have too much. Having sone Traditional Tieguanyin from verdant from years ago. Still good. Although I'm finding tieguanyin is my lease favorite type of tea. Its not bad by any means, but I prefer more roasted oolong. I'm liking my quick dyi on my cubbys. Hides all the mess and looks clean.
>>14405084
I know adagio sells plain, roasted, and flavored for a good price.

>>14436512
So far I have really enjoyed heavily roasted oolong. I definitely agree that tieguanyin is generally too green for my taste. Id like to find a super heavily roasted example of it to try out.

I drank a bunch of tea on an empty stomach this morning. Bad idea.

>>14437471
I used to do this all the time but now I eat a little meal before I start tea drinking because it gets me too anxious and sometimes rolls my stomach

>>14437522
Yeah eating at least some food before tea is the way to go. Especially with something like green tea or the raw puerh I was drinking this morning.

>>14408348
correction: nobody outside of yunnan drank fresh raws
yunnanese farmers absolutely did drink fresh raws

>>14438226
not really, no.
they drank what was left unsold from previous years, "aged" in bags, exposed to wood fired kitchen smoke, yunnanese water pipes, farts of three generations of people who are olivious to bathtubs and showers and stench of animals they were sharing the house with.
or just huangpian left after sorting the tea for sale, in big enameled mugs used to warm up the milk.
cope as hard as you like, you're purchasing oolong style of sheng, for a price of oolong, chinks know it, they found out as soon as hong kong/taiwan nerds came looking for that authentic gushu puerh in the early '90 and they're more than happy to sell it to you fresh from under the stone (because storage costs). even young sheng apologetic, mr yunnan sourcing recalls how farmers spat out the young bitter unpalatable tea. it's not meant to be drunk YOUNG. puerh is crudely made (fixed) green tea, which turns into black tea as the time goes by. simple as.

if mr chink farmer drank his young tea, it was because he was too poor to drink anything else and if it was too bitter, he drank hot water instead (which is YIN - although hot, it dissipates the heat from the body that went too YANG, you need balance, etc.)

>>14439182
Why the fuck are the text bounding boxes visible?

Any suggestions for places online to get decent quality American ginseng root without buying it from the meth head wild harvesters on eBay? My local Asian market has a bucket behind the counter and sell it for something like 5.99 or 8.99 per gram. It seems decent but I don't really have anything else to compare it too, should I just stick with that?

>>14439814
Actually finding American ginseng root is easy. But I would like some suggestions on where to get Korean grown ginseng that hasn't been sitting in some online Chinese shop warehouse for god knows how long.

>>14434683
Thanks man I appreciate the advice. It's never something I worry about in the moment, but later the thought about poisoning or chemical exposure creeps into my mind. Good to know too that I don't need to be a total autty about the clay teapots either. Sometimes the hype just gets too out of hand when all you wanna do is drink.

>>14440080
So I found some Korean Ginseng from some ebay vendor, Its pretty expensive compared to the China grown stuff, about on par with american farm grown ginseng or at least It would be if you were buying it in Korea.
I'm a huge fan of this quirky packaging. They roots come sealed inside these metal tins that look like spam cans.

>>14440334
And then inside the tin is a little wooden gift box.

Is there some actual reason why I shouldn't microwave water for tea?

>>14440875
Inhomogeneous, inconsistent heating if not to boiling point. Stir it.

I hope you gongfu guys do use an insulated flask instead of reheating you water for Evey steep. It also allows you to gongfu anywhere.

>>14440956
I have a giant 64oz insulated flask but I don't do this because I'm retarded.

>>14440956
>>14440966

Actually just picked up a 40 oz thermos so I could have tea outside with the neighbors without having to run an extension chord, and I recently realized your point that I can also use it to have tea anywhere in my house without having to return to the kettle very often. Highly recommended.

https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/teawares/products/sama-portable-gong-fu-insulated-glass-flask

My next teaware purchase will be link related (and maybe a bigger insulated flask) so I can carry my tea setup around.

Thoughts on rooibos?

>>14441239
Feels like de-sugarized factory made sticks with red coloring and sweet sickly smells.

>>14441239
It's good stuff, I prefer the unfermented version though

>>14441239
Green or red? Also there's the "western" brewing which is just steep it in a teapot for a bit and than the traditional method. Also quality varies. I've had low quality that's kind eh and tastes like bad licorice, and higher quality, which was longer strands, that tasted much better. Also look into honeybush.

>>14436566
I do have some heavy roasted tieguanyin from the same producer. I'll post it here when I do.

>>14430654
lol

Coof

answering the anon from /g/, theres really not much to be said, just a few really cheap teas from ktm that turned out really good bang for buck aged sheng the 2006 tian xia tong an(horse cake) and the 2006 si pu yuan tong an hang (the one with the big red 65 on the wrapper)

>>14443672
keep in mind ktm ships from guangzhou and shipping is slow as fuck rn, my last order came by train after a long time of security return ping pong

I have digestive issues and can't really tolerate most plant foods that aren't fermented. I can have sauerkraut, but not fresh cabbage, so I think it has to do with the type of sugar which gets removed during fermentation. Had to stop drinking tea because it caused problems, but recently read about shu puerh and got interested. Would it be worth trying, or is the fermentation not that extensive and it probably hasn't done much to eliminate the natural sugars?

>>14443731

So the thing about shu is that it's not actually fermented in the same sense as alcohol or bread is, for instance, so the same biological process of sugars being eaten and converted to alcohols and lactic acids and what have you isn't happening, but I don't know that this doesn't happen through a different mechanism in shu production, so I'd recommend giving it a shot.

>>14441166
Friend I bought a better set exactly like it on aliexpress. Lemme try an find the link.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_dXkxbSv
It's 16 bucks and has much better leaf storage. It also has a video o usage. I honestly am starting to prefer it to my gaiwan

>>14443751
Thanks.

>The microbes are also responsible for metabolising the carbohydrates and amino acids present in the tea leaves.
Guess I didn't read the wiki article thoroughly though because this is mentioned. Seems like it's not inoculated like typical in bread making but still ferments in a similar way like sourdough with wild yeast and bacteria. Can't wait to try it now.

Shu is super easy on the stomach compared to most other teas. You should absolutely give it a shot. The important thing is to get it from someone who sells decent tea as there is a lot of cheap shu that doesn't taste very good. I should also note that all of it smells a bit fishy like the docks or low tide, but that flavor does not carry though to the taste and least with the well made stuff.
If you don't mind shipping from China this is a good option for starting out, a very classic popular brand. Tastes like caramel.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2018-dayi/products/2018-dayi-7572-cake-357g-puerh-shou-cha-ripe-tea?variant=30379453907047
If you want to order from the us this is a pretty good option. Tastes like half bitter dark chocolate. Getting none of these is probably the cheapest option with shipping.
https://www.puerhshop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=9_24&product_id=382
Another US based vendor, he sells a lot of his own tea that is usually good but make sure it is at least 1-2 years old for some of the fishy smell and taste to disapate.
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/menghai-tea-factory-ripe-pu-erh-teas/products/2016-menghai-tea-factory-hou-de-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/menghai-tea-factory-ripe-pu-erh-teas/products/2017-menghai-v93-premium-ripe-pu-erh-tea
And one of his own teas.
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/yunnan-sourcing-brand-ripe-pu-erh-tea/products/2018-yunnan-sourcing-warm-fuzzies-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake

East Frisian overcooked black tea drowned in rock sugar and heavy cream here to remind you I'm still the best and you ching chong prissy fucks don't know what you're doing.

>>14432605
I got 2006 Jinggu Ripe Dragon Egg Pu-erh, 2004 Xiaguan Teji (Superior Grade) Green Tuocha, 2012 MGH 1203 Imperial Ripe Pu-erh Tea Brick and 1999 Aged Bamboo Bark Wrapped Pu-erh Brick (this one is just to feel what age can do to tea and also try a novelty tea, the leaves are medium grade). I'm splitting this with my cousin who I introduced to tea this week with my 2009 Menghai Ripe Pu-erh that I have finally opened. Thanks for the great recommendations.

>>14443853
Thanks! I've been eating a lot more fermented foods lately so I know how they can smell. After a while it starts to smell good in a way. Was hoping to find a US vendor because I don't want to spend too much just in case it doesn't work out. The first one sounds nice if it has chocolate notes, I'd been drinking more unsweetened hot chocolate since I had to give up tea. Didn't realize why chocolate was okay but not tea until I learned chocolate is also fermented.

Looking for a good herbal blend to help me go to sleep. Ive read that chamomile was good for it but havent ever tried it. any suggestions?

>>14444096
you're already nailed it with chamomile, go out there and try it. Lavender is another option with similar properties and a unique taste.

>>14444205
Word. Thanks King

>>14440875
just get a kettle man why do you Americans always microwave everything?

>>14444051
Godspeed anon, don't be afraid to give that old bamboo wrapped brick a good solid rinse, it looks like it could have some funk. If you are brewing it grampa style you can cover it with boiling water and then just dump it out after 30 seconds to a minute, refill will new boiling water.

>>14444068
Yeah, one other option is this store on Amazon is an official storefront for Dayi taetea, ships from Amazons warehouse in the US. Prices are a bit higher than buying from China but at least you know it's real. Lots of fakes made of this company, stick with vendors in the pastebin in the op. I think they call the fermented teas black due to a difference in translation and terms used but that's the ripe stuff.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/13C2EA08-0075-49A9-BFCD-163233DD6D39
They have a few good options on there,
https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Classic-Organic-Black-TEA/dp/B07FTFPNQB
And these little pouches of loose tea leaves
https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Full-Bodied-TEA-Samplers-Organic/dp/B07FTKHWLV
I should also mention that raw puer is also fermented but doesn't undergo the same post fermentation process, if you get into this tea you could probably also drink raw puer that has been stored in a humid warehouse for a good 15-20 years.
There are also a few other kinds of Chinese tea that undergo wet pile fermentation like puer, especially liu bao, and fu zuan, but you should start out with ripe puer for now.

>>14444051
>>14444360
I should also add that I don't necessarily endorse everything that guy is selling especially his house brand raw puer (mgh zenpuer). It has gotten pretty mixed reviews online, so if you decide in the future that you want to try more raws I would probably suggest going to yunnansourcing.us .

>>14444402
>Lots of fakes made of this company, stick with vendors in the pastebin in the op.
I was already wondering how legitimate some of the stuff I looked at was, so I'll keep the links bookmarked. Appreciate the help.

>>14444670
Yeah there are two major issues with Chinese tea, especially puer. Fake tea, where someone makes a copy of a product from an existing brand but with low quality material and sells it as the real thing. Or mislabeled tea, where someone has their own brand and claim they use really fancy expensive tea in their product (bingdao, lao banzang are the most common) when they actually just use random cheap crap.
Ebay, Amazon, and AliExpress are really bad with both of these issues.

>>14444804
I've had issues with counterfeit computer hardware and clothing from Amazon so I'm already cautious about that, especially if it's food related. I usually prefer to order directly from the sellers instead if I can.

"Suggest tea for me"
>Your country
I live in a really obscure place so worldwide shipping is a must
>What tea have you tried before
I've only tried stuff off amazon since any sites in the pastebin don't ship to me. My favorites were a gingseng oolong from fullchea and earl grey creme from tealyra, I also enjoyed sencha and keemun but I've got plenty of that left. Tried jasmine pearls and did not enjoy them, also tried some darjeeling black and wasn't a fan.
>Do you own a teapot, gaiwan etc
I just use a mug with a basket infuser

>>14445177
>any sites in the pastebin don't ship to me
JFC do you live in the middle east or Africa or something?
These guys claim they ship worldwide from japan. I would recommend sencha, genmaicha (the kind with sencha) hojicha.
These guys also claim they ship worldwide from India
https://www.vahdamteas.com/collections/black-teas
I would suggest second flush Darjeeling (pick an affordable one, don't go crazy) , i think some anon said they had a good smoked assam that's this tea
https://www.vahdamteas.com/products/smoky-assam-souchong-black-tea and maybe a Darjeeling assam blend, maybe a white tea as well, no idea if India made oolong is any good.

>>14445253
Also don't buy "matcha" from anywhere but japan.

>>14445253
>JFC do you live in the middle east or Africa or something?
guam with an fpo address. Thanks for the suggestions anon

>>14445620
Fuck sorry i forgot the link to the Japanese store.
http://tea-of-japan.com

I heard that thes-du-japon.com have very good shipping rates for eu buyers. never tried them though

>>14443781
Interesting. Half the price and leaf storage, I didn't think of that. However, would all these moving parts resist to shocks when packed? Isn't it tedious to unpack?

>>14446469
They're quite resistant and they are he case is great. It takes me like 30 seconds to give them a rinse and stack them.

I've tried white, yellow, and green tea from what-cha. I like them all. I've tried shitty Earl Grey, it was disgusting and I'd sooner drink coffee than that garbage. What type of tea should I try next?

Does anyone have any pu recommendations for me?

Backstory: I live in the UK and have always been a big fan of tea. I gulp 2 kinds of tea daily continuously through the day. I drink mainly black (red) tea, and like dancong a lot, but also keemun, Taiwan cultivars (18 ruby red, hongyin 22, wild), da jin ya, dongfang meiren etc. I enjoy oolongs heavily roasted but also green Taiwan mountain oolongs (da yu ling etc) but have grown out of them slightly. Also like a green once in a while.

My question is about pu erh. I'm relatively very new to it and know next to nothing about pu. I have a foot half in the water and I ordered a bunch of random ones from YS:
>2012 Yunnan Sourcing "Qiu Yun" Wild Arbor Raw Pu-erh
>2015 Hai Lang Hao "Gao Shan Chen Yun" Yi Wu Mountain Raw
>15 Years Aged Golden Melon Ripe Pu-erh Tea Tuo
>1999 Basket Aged Loose Leaf Ripe Pu-erh Tea from Menghai

What I can tell from my very limited knowledge of it is: I like shou (ripe?) ie. the darker brew and really dislike shengs. What are aged shengs like? How do I go about finding things to buy off of kingteamall etc? What's all this about "famous" recipes from Dayi and Menghai and the numbers and all that? Will I eventually growinto sheng, and did I not like them because they are young and not aged? Is there aged shou? Which is seen as the "better" pu, and what do you like?

Thanks so much guys. Will be looking forward to responses.

>>14447476
>Is there aged shou
The ones you have are fairly aged to me. I bought the 'aged ripe pu-erh tea storage comparison sampler' and came to the conclusion I see no interest in 15+ year old ripes and should have bought the aged raw sampler set instead. But maybe did I miss something?

I also bought a Brita filter in the process and can tell it brought some cheap-ass ripes to the level of expensive ones.

I also prefer ripes. What didn't you like about your raws? in my experience they are a lot trickier to brew correctly.

>>14447746
>Brita
Damn I gave that away last year as I thought it was just cluttering up the kitchen.

Raws to me have much more of that infamous "fishy" taste. They also taste underbrewed no matter how long I leave it in for. As if it's always watery and weak, sitting halfway in between greens and reds. I feel like there's a lack of "body" to it and like I'm drinking the 12th steep of some hongcha. Maybe it's just not for me. I can't ever see myself getting to enjoy what I've tasted.

Ripes are a completely different story and I immediately took a liking to the dark, malty, toasty flavours a lot. I hope to get some affordable recommendations for them and a primer on the numbers and famous makes.

>>14447777
I'm >>14420742 btw

Maybe raws are not for you but how do follow the brewing instructions? I can't believe yours taste underbrewed and thin when I often overbrew mines.

>>14447777
WITNESSED

>>14406846
Posting cause I think we are adding recs for matte to pastebin. Had this before. It's pretty roasted and has a molasses bit to it.

>>14436566
Got around to my aged high roasted tieguanyin. It smells and tastes like sandal wood and spices at the Asian store, with a bit or mineral roasted flavor. Kinda vaguely black tea flavor, but heavy oolong florals. Shits good. I've had cheap stuff that basically tastes like vague floral charcoal I a bad way, so make sure to look for the good shit; not alixpress.

>>14448652
Thanks anon

why is barley tea so good

>>14443890
How to Ostfriesentee, anon?
Do you have some tips and tricks on how to prepare it?

It's very interesting sect of tea drinking world.
I understand that Thiele is the best producer.
Is it alright to prepare it for yourself, or is it mostly for guests/family?
I want to dip my toe in this type of tea drinking.

>>14447476
>>14447777
You should try some samples of aged raws from essence of tea they are based in the UK, don't get any of the obscenely expensive stuff but the 90s loose-leaf and some of the early 2000s cakes are pretty affordable to at least get samples. This will give you a chance to try a curated selection of aged raw puerh, most of it with fairly humid storage unlike the dry storage that yunnan sourcing prefers. Throw some liu bao (not the expensive stuff) in your order as well. Teas we like also has a curated selection of aged puerh stored in taiwan but I don't think they do samples.

>>14447476
I will write up some answers for you in a bit.
>>14448679
Sounds awesome, I will definitely pick some up soon.

>>14447476
>What are aged shengs like?
Depends a lot on storage, dried stored are more mellow and rounded, humid storage transforms the tea into something mellow and sweet over time, woody flavors, herbal flavors usually bitterness turns into a lasting sweetness. The two raws you tried are in kind of an awkward stage they have lost their young fruity floral and green tea flavors that 2 years or less raw has. But they haven't had time to develop more complex aged flavors, especially with dry storage in Kunming.
https://teadb.org/awkwardness-in-puerh/
>How do I go about finding things to buy off of kingteamall etc?
Learn about the factories and storage.
https://teadb.org/big-puerh-factories-menghai-xiaguan/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f2QTMvc9rOs
https://teadb.org/puerh-compendium/
Also learn about the various major regions, this way you will know what to expect from say a yiwu or bulang cake.
https://teadb.org/puerh/ has a whole collection of articles on the different regions.
Some king tea mall pro tips
Traditional storage = wet, they intentionally stored it very wet for at least a few years.
Natural storage = wetish, stored in a humid area but without adding any extra artificial humidity
Dry storage = still more humid than kunming but less humid than other storage, maybe a third floor warehouse or somewhere with a bit more airflow.

Do you guys have hard or soft water?

Check on your council/water company website.
I knew I had soft water, turns out I've been BLESSED with 5,3° dH (German scale).
Couple that with shiny new pipes from 20 years ago and 1Gigabit fiberglass internet and in this moment I'm euphoric.

Check your harndess bros.

>>14447476
>What's all this about "famous" recipes from Dayi and Menghai and the numbers and all that?
Famous recipes have been made for decades. It's important to stress that a 1980s 7542 is not the same as a 2017 7542 mostly they have been watered down over time due to increased demand.
First two digits is the year the recipes was invented 7542= first made in 1975. Third digit is average leaf grade 7542 = average of grade 4 leaves (leaves are graded on a scale of 0 to 9, 0 is small buds 9 is large rough leaves and sticks)
>Will I eventually growinto sheng, and did I not like them because they are young and not aged?
It really depends on your taste, ripe puer was invented because they were trying to mimic the flavor of raw puer that had been stored in very humid conditions (hong kong traditional storage, Malaysia storage) arguably this was a failure but ripe became popular on it's own, initially with the same people who liked these very humid stored cakes.
>Is there aged shou?
Yes but it's kind of unnecessary most of the time. There are a few smaller factories that make a sort of half fermented ripe, Scott from YS mentions one in the video I linked earlier that benefit from some aging but generally once a ripe has had a few years to age out and loose the fishy smell it doesn't change all that much. That being said places like hong kong will still store these cakes very wet for a few years (they like a very medicinal moldy kind of flavor)
>Which is seen as the "better" pu, and what do you like?
Raw is the king of the hype and the high end market, there are high end ripes like the ones hi lang hao makes but they are few and far between. Ripe is calming comforting old reliable popular in the mornings with breakfast or when you just want some nice tea without a challenge. Lots of the bloggers that like raw puer in their youth age into liking older wetter raws, ripes and aged oolongs.

>>14449516
https://www.ndr.de/fernsehen/sendungen/wie_geht_das/Ostfriesen-Tee,sendung703254.html
in German, with german subtitles, but you should grasp the meaning

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