/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Getting chilly in the Northeast now bois, gonna be a comfy season :3

>>14599391
Yep, time for more ripes and roasted oolongs.

>>14599391
It's still fucking hot out until the mercury's below 20degC in my books.

I recently got this tin of wui star brand big red robe. It's pretty good but not as heavily roasted as i prefer, very floral and sweet.
I read that Wuyi Star is a brand that caters to mainlanders tastes and as a result is much lighter than brands like sea dyke that cater to Hong Kong and malaysia.

I have really been enjoying this 2011 Xiaguan golden legend cake. The insert says it's made with 7 year aged material from old trees, but doesn't specify a region. I'm guessing that describes a portion of the material in it but not all of it.
This reminds me a lot of the flavors of the 2013 Xiaguan love forever cake, it has the same kind of hard to describe bitter or astringent flavor. But it's not as strong as the love forever cake. Still it's a pretty good deal at 1/3 the price. It's definitely a flavor i haven't experienced in other puer that i have tried.

What kind of tea would be good if you like coffee with milk or espressos? Is there something with a similar flavor?

>>14599983
ripe puer has a lot of the same chocolate caramel dark type flavors, usually a decent amount of creaminess as well.

>>14600015
Thanks, Anon! I love chocolate, cream, and caramel flavors. I want to look into buying some tea next month. Do you guys have any suggestions for electric tea kettles that aren't goose neck?

>>14600070
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/the-best-home-kettle/
Actually read the explanations for the reviews, they all have pros and cons.
I don't need temp control so i just use a cheap model from secura.

Actually just opened this board for the first time in ages and first thread I see is this, when I started doing some tea like a week ago. I'm not sure if it's a meme but I enjoy it.

Been trying out barley tea after I first tried it in a korean restaraunt. Really good with spicy food.

Fuck I'm almost ready to take the clay pot pill.
Any anons already using one?
Convince me please not to buy this expensive piece.

>>14599983
milk oolong tastes milky / creamy

>>14599983
Builder's tea, or any variety of British black tea with milk can be brewed really strong and has a similar bitter/sour flavor as coffee. Personal favorite is Yorkshire.

Also if you have any Hong Kong restaurants near you, try the Hong Kong milk tea (served either sweet or nonsweet). I've never been able to get the flavor right when making it myself, but it's also fairly close to coffee.

got this teapot
is it only good for japanese tea?
is it suitable for gaiwan or how do I brew japanese teas in it?

>>14601237
It's a teapot, you can brew anything in it, it's probably kind of large to be using for gongfu but it should be fine to brew any tea western style or brewing Japanese teas. Make sure you preheat it with hot water before brewing in it.

>>14601517
right

>>14599983
https://www.denstea.com/genmaicha-c-1007/houjigenmaicha-roasted-genmaicha-p-2031.html
My dad is a committed coffee drinker and he really likes this. Don't listen to puer-kun. Puer is good, but it takes an experienced palate and tastes like dirt if you brew it wrong.

>>14599983
I have a roast oolong that tastes of chocolate mocha, unflavored

>>14600015
>>14600275
but these lads are right

>>14600275
but it's fookin expnsive unfortunately

I'm getting better and better at preparing matcha
it's so good I could drink this a whole day

Honey, black tea and whole milk... is this the combination of the gods???

>>14602243
nope, honey doesn't belong in tea. maaaybe in black tea with lemon in high concentration, to warm you up and provide vitamin c, when you're fighting common cold.
otherwise, white sugar, strong teabag and milk is what is called a proper cuppa on British isles. ask for honey, get punched in the face by white van colleagues. simple as.

>>14602304
>white sugar

guess how I know you're fucking fat.

>>14602421
nope again, tall and handsome here.
guess how I know you never read about nutrients in honey degrading in high temperature? honey healthy sugar bad, HFCS in my organic honey? no way, I checked.
you fat fuckers always try to sneak in some sweet stuff into the things you are consuming, why is that? I'm guessing childhood diet, but it's never as simple as that.
repent sweets addict, before it's too late and you evolve into american mobility scooter creature.
drink plain tea. or simply fuck off.

nothing like a splash of 100c water on the thigh, fucking burns like hell

>>14600193
I ordered a silver one from YS. but I'll be able to use every tea with it instead of several pots dedicated to one type. but it cost enough that i could've gotten 3 or maybe 4 clay pots for its price.

https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/silver-teapots-and-wares/products/pure-silver-999-pumpkin-teapot-200ml

this is what I got

>>14602987
Yeah, it's metal, whole different ballpark.
I was asking about unglazed clay, but I guess nobody here uses that.
What are you brewing most often? 200ml that's two persons and a midget size, god damn.
I won't respectfully comment on the looks of it and the stupid price, if u can have it, have it.
btw I love silver, have a silver necklace 24h on, most noble of natural metals for me. leave gold to the gypsies, chinks and negroes (maybe invest in it).
I bet the tea from silver really shines.

Instant iced tea is my favorite tea

>>14603186
thank you, what brand?

>>14603178
I've used unglazed tea in my first gaiwan, its pretty nice and I know some of the sites in the pastebin have good prices for their tea pots, even the ones outside of china. from my experiences, it didn't seem to effect anything buuuut I had a baby pallet back then and didn't try to "season it" at all.

And usually I usually 100ml, but I wanted something fancy in case I ever got the chance to hold a session for friends or family. not that any of the few I have would be interested in gong fu cha, but hey, better prepared than not.
but a large session for myself is also nice.

I like the look of it, and that's all that matters.
it was the last thing "tempting me" since I've already purchased anything else that would tempt me from splurging wildly at times when I couldn't afford to. I can now, so I decided to catch the hare by the legs before it bit me in the ass, so to say. its me being a stupid hedonist now, so I won't be later, see?

and yes I quite agree about it being the most noble of metals, it has a history that I'd say demonstrates and verifies that point of view.
And I've heard it does, especially silver of this purity

>>14603241
Unglazed clay, rather

>>14603241
ok, so it was a splurge, I can appreciate that. mr YS too, I wager. $410. 1,5 kilo of very good puerh.
but the question still stands - what are you brewing?
if you tell me dian hong or if you had to google that term then feel free not to answer.

>>14603285
oh mostly pu-erhs. I used to drink black tea more, had an oolong kick to. but now most of my stash is puerh of somekind. I have more sheng than shou, by variety, but by weight I have more shou, cause a facebook friend of mine bought me 6 of the same cake when I asked for 1.

However I'll still drink any type of tea. So, the pot is going to brew anything from Blacks to whites. as I have most of the "basic" types in my stash at the moment.

Except green tea. I had ordered 2 types from yunnan sourcing, but I used to cheapest option for shipping, so its still out there, somewhere. order also included two Hei cha's.

but by sheer weight, mostly I'll brew Sheng Puerh by taste, and shou because it'll last the longest since I have a fuckton of it.

but I've heard puerh does really good in silver, from every one whose reviewed silver pots have said at least. probably won't use my youngest Sheng in it for a bit, as It apparently cuts the bitterness, and I drink that one when I want to taste something bitter and medicinal. still probably going to do it sooner or later for science, though.

why would they do this?

>>14603315
from what I heard silver just emphasizes. sheng's bitter in the aftertaste - you'll feel it more, shu's creamy and caramely - welcome to the Korova milky bar.
do share your thoughts and photos here when it arrives, I bet not only I am excited to hear first hand thoughts. godspeed.

>>14603366
Oooh, now that gets me excited, I love bitter aftertastes that linger on the tongue. and creamy shous, I can already tell my 6 cakes of the same shou (Waffles from white2tea) are going to thrive in the silver.

and I'll be sure to. Not sure what I'm going to brew in it first. Maybe one of my sweeter shengs to see how it affects them, or maybe my baby sheng to see what it does to that one.

and I'll be sure to, once it arrives. apparently DHL still delivers within a week, so it shouldn't be too long until then. but then again my state is on fucking fire again, so it may take longer., hate this place.

>>14603341
Seems pretty stupid.

>>14602987
Nice anon, i have been eyeing some of their silver pots for a while so I'm excited to hear what your thoughts are.

>>14603731
I decided to get it, since the other I wanted it got sold out, and I've seen the pumpkin get sold out once before. figured it was my last chance at it, before I'd have to grab the contentment one with the grasshoper and tell myself its what I wanted.
and I'll be sure to share them

>>14603749
Should be awesome anon. It's absolutely perfect for a big pot of ripe in the morning or on a lazy Sunday.

Has anyone tried ordering from taobao using a proxy? I want to give it a shot but I'm waiting for shipping to get more normal. It seems like the prices for shipping have gone up considerably and I don't want the proxy to tell me that 2 or 3 kilos of tea will cost $150 to ship.

Coofs

Can someone recommend a good green tea, preferably night and not too bitter. I drink several cups a day but only bagged and I want to try something new and better. I drink it plain or sometimes with lemon

>>14606022
*preferably light

>>14606025
>>14606022
Try brewing it for a shorter time if you do it English. That's the leading cause of bittnerness in tea, overbrewing. Or you know, try gong fu

>>14606030
I'm aware of that and I usually don't brew it for too long. But teas are different, right? I want a light green tea

>>14606022
try brewing at 80c not boiling and 3mins not 5. also upgrade to loose, bags suck

>>14605182
I'm still new to ordering from Taobao, just ordered teaware for the first time using 42agent as a shopping service. That's my 3rd order with them.
There's lots of information on it in /cgl/'s Taobao general.
>>>/cgl/10452764

If you don't point out that it's not jfashion/cosplay-specific, you can ask general questions about Taobao over there. I wouldn't mind a tea/teaware-specific conversation in the tea general though. Taobao is pretty cool.

>>14606030
>>14606060
Wtf I wanted you to recommend me a good green tea not to school me on how to fucking brew it. I'm about to upgrade to loose tea, that's why I made that post dipshit

>>14606088
when you said 'only bagged' i thought that what you were looking for. Dragon well aka long jin, the stuff from ys is good. im currently drinking some year old Dragon well from meileaf that was on sale, if you live in the uk their shipping will be a lot faster. i really like the detox Himalayan green tea from vahdam, its tea with a spice mix

>>14606086
Awesome, thanks anon.

>>14606088
super affordable green tea sampler
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/5-different-flavors-green-tea-organic-food-include-dragon-well-long-jing-biluochun-mao-jian-mao-feng-jasmine-te-46g-in-total-premium-quality-tea-p0019.html
if you just want to order a big bag this will be good
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/huangshan-maofeng-tea-chinese-yellow-mountain-fresh-mao-feng-green-tea-250g-chinese-beat-green-tea-organic-green-tea-online-p0193-p0193.html
or this
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/5a-fresh-mao-jian-spring-green-tea-chinese-organic-tea-maojian-xinyang-tea-250g-for-weight-loss-gift-box-packaging-chinese-beat-green-tea-organic-tea--p0075.html
and if you order from them grab one of these as well, very tasty puer, very herbal and slightly minty
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/new-2008-year-sheng-pu-erh-yunnan-long-yu-raw-puer-tea-in-briquette-shen-chinese-famous-tea-cha-old-100g-pc29-aged-puerh-best-organic-tea-p0027.html

It looks like shipping from china is finally just about back to normal. This packaged made it from kunming to the US in 10 days, and it was shipped e-packet, not even EMS.
I'm pretty excited, so much liu bao and a bit of tian jian, I should be set for dark tea for the winter now.

>>14606086
Here is all the info I have for tea shopping on taobo.
http://www.babelcarp.org/babelcarp/
is a tea focused chinese dictionary, it allows you to get chinese characters for searching on taobao.
the teadb guys made a few videos on buying tea with taobao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt-Tj0CFm-I
this is a more recent video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqhcIJINg7Y
this website has links to a bunch of the major puer factories websites, you can find links to their official taobao stores from their websites.
http://www.tuochatea.com/links.aspx

>>14599372
I put my tea in a thermos immediately after brewing it in a teapot. Am I a brainlet?

>>14606575
no just dont brew in the thermos, that messes it up

>>14606604
messes the tea, or the thermos?

>>14606752
The tea, brewing in a thermos makes the tea taste bad, it stays too hot and the tea gets over extracted and bitter or off tasting.

bump

>>14599372
>This thread is for discussing tea
Uncle Iroh enters the thread

>>14608348
Speaking of which, how's the real jasmine tea?

>>14608348
reddit pls, let me find all of you personally and punch you straight in the nose.

>>14609343
Iroh is a based war criminal, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InFbBlpDTfQ
coof

>>14609923
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69oou5NwKO4

Interesting tea db episode since i was just talking about these two teas. Too bad the audio quality is shit.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yo1tsMRgTcw

>>14606058
you can try either genmaicha if you dont mind the roasted rice taste or some light sencha or bancha, preferably from ippodo tea

>>14606258
I'm not even that guy but thanks anon

>>14599372
I went to Nannup today to https://tinyteashop.com.au/.. Also because the Flower and Garden festival is on. inb4 Faggot.

Patsi who works and owns is super nice. I came home with a good tea haul.
Berries of the forrest
Sencha and forrest fruits
Dandelion
Puerh (First time trying this, wish me luck)(Pic Related).
Yerba Mate (Also first time trying this)
Caramel Rooibos
Berries of the forest (I recommend this one)

where's my chawang anon?
it's here, 20 fucking days to EU, you can safely say shipping's back to normal.
when I sober up a bit more, I'll try the liu an.
but first, cold cold radler.

LOL FUCKING FAGS HAVING A TEAPARTY IN HERE LMFAO

>>14611075
Im here, my order made it to the US in about 10 days. Domestic shipping is still a mess but I can't really blame that on China.
>>14606277

Anyone here ever try lavender earl grey tea? Really nice especially in the cold winter months.

any tips for cold brewing sencha? ty

I tried some jasmine green tea in a dry herb vaporizer. It was nice.

>>14611079
ordered on the 2nd, on the 19th it was here, today my friendly postwoman delivered.
can you remind me what was your order?
I got gong jian liu an, hong mu dan oolong and some paraphernalia.
>>14611083
I hear lavender I think scented bog roll. probably what it tasted like. step up and drink plain tea.
>>14611096
here's polish jew's guide to cold brewing, hope it helps https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/how-to-make-the-best-cold-brew-iced-tea.html

>>14611097
Chamomile works pretty well and might actually chill you out. The scent really sticks around though.

>>14611114
I do drink plain tea but lavender adds a very nice touch sometimes. I also had a lemongrass chamomile the other night which was good.

>>14611114
I got a bunch of liubao samples some tian jian and a couple cakes of that Myanmar border tea.

Is there any ck approved green tea in teabags?

>>14611661
Yeah but you have to get them shipped from japan.
https://www.o-cha.com/green-tea-bags/
or if you want puer and you live in the US
https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Pu-erh-Sachets-Classic-1-06oz/dp/B08933L8LM/
actually ippodo is based in the us and sells japanese tea in bags
https://ippodotea.com/collections/teabags

>>14611753
I forgot to add that the teabags from o-cha are probably better than the ones from ippodo, they are definitely cheaper and have more tea per bag .

>>14599372
>>59683651
Call me what you want. You are intelligent, but you lack self awareness. If you really don’t realize why I don’t speak to you anymore

If i am going to get only one green tea to try, from any country, pretty much any price range as long as it's less than $2 per gram.
What tea should I get? And why.

>>14612485
dragon well, nice bit leaves, little roasted and i've never had it go bitter. ~$0.25/g
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/premium-grade-dragon-well-tea-from-hangzhou-long-jing-tea?_pos=4&_sid=4209bbb00&_ss=r&variant=32105650913383

>>14612622
>nice bit leaves
big

https://youtu.be/wRdLJ6e7j_0

>>14599372
I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you anymore when you needed a friend. Too much damage was done in the past. I know there is a good person in there, I have seen them. I hope you can get them back some day. Not all the memories have turned sour. I still hope the best for you even though you hurt me. Peace

>>14612885
Lol this isn't /adv/GIOYC

>>14613132
Oh it’s not ?

I use a french press for gongfu, and there's nothing you can do about it.

>>14613855
you crushing the leaf down or are you just straining the tea out? its only a problem if its the former

>>14613958
>crushing the leaf down
I'm not a caveman.

I'm taking dragon tea house out of the pastebin, their prices are insane.
As far as I can tell they don't have any inventory and they just buy what you order on taobao and then ship it to you, this would be fine but their markup is 250%
Same tea
Dragon tea house $209.99
https://dragonteahouse.biz/san-he-brand-0818-special-grade-liu-bao-hei-cha-dark-tea-loose-2012-400g/
The three cranes factory store they are buying the tea from to ship to you
610 CNY or $88.16
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a312a.7700824.w4002-16845620600.76.3fe86c03hu016E
On that note I'm working on a guide to buying on taobao, thanks again to the anon that linked the /cgl/ taobao thread, that made things much easier.

>>14613397
No

>>14599372
I'm trying loose leaf for the first time (milk oolong) and wow is it much nicer than teabags
You guys have any recommendations that are fairly easy to brew? I just have a normal kettle

Any good tea stores for the Australia/oceanic region?

>>14616736
Most of the tea stores down there suck, you are mostly better off ordering from China. There ishttps://kuura.co/ in Australia but they mostly have puer with a tiny bit of black tea.
International shipping is pretty much back to normal now so i would recommend going to yunnansourcing.com or Kingteamall or one of the other big Chinese shops.

>>14616519
More oolong, especially the more roasted stuff, roasted tieguanyin, da hong pao, dan cong oolongs. Most Chinese black teas are also pretty forgiving to brew.
If you get into the weirder stuff ripe puer, liu bao, fu cha and other Chinese fermented teas are also very easy and forgiving to brew.

>>14611114
chawangshop order, always something new and exciting for me.
this time:

2014 Anhui Liu-an Bamboo Basket "Gong Jian"
first liu-an tea I ever tried and let me tell you, this is the king of hei chas.
forget about virgin liu-pao, chad liu-an has got that "it" factor.
surprisingly potent, gets my juices going from the first sip.
thicc, sweet, strong. brewed in gaiwan it goes and goes.
wet leaf smells kind of funky, the taste is somewhere between middle aged sheng and fu brick.
opens up the throat and sits there for quite a while.
relaxing but alert type of energy. don't know about lower grade baskets, but this one gets full recommendation from me.

2019 Fujian Hong Mu Dan Oolong
$0,12 for a gram of oolong? it has to be shitty, one note, acrid type of tea, right?
nope, again, very full, thicc and pungent.
heady sweet notes. makes you smack your lips to get that lovely aftertaste.
heavy, roasty, fruity, sticky. proper dark oolong.
have some container for it, because the paper pack is not reusable after opening.

two amazing teas, somehow similar to each other.
both worth getting, in my opinion, but that bargain oolong could be two times more expensive and you would be satisfied.

>>14616999
Damn, i decided against getting that liu an when I ordered, i was looking at the same basket. Now I'm kicking myself. Well i will get some next time. It's got to be good just for the fantastic presentation of being stuffed in those little baskets.

>>14617019
Right? At first I thought it's gonna be a casual brew.
Started drinking it on an empty stomach, but after first steep went and got me some bread with butter.
This tea commands your attention.
Brewed it with a piece of bamboo leaf, but I'm unsure if it altered anything. Next time I'll try without.

>>14617059
Yeah that's interesting, I'm not sure why everyone is so obsessed with pushing the idea that you should brew some of the bamboo with the tea. I see it everytime i read about liu an but I really doubt that's a common practice in places like HK where they drink it regularly.

>mom threw away puer tea leafs in ziploc that I only infused 6 times

coffee is way nicer than tea

Anyone try anything new lately?

I've been cutting (daily) coffee out of my life, do you have any teas without coffein that you enjoy?
I have a turkish apple and strawberry/chilli tea that's quite good. I also love herbal teas so something in that direction would be cool

>>14618503
There are lots of coffee substitute type herbal teas, roasted barley is a popular one. Some others inclue chicory root, roasted dandelion root, chaga mushroom. There is this stuff called dandy blend that is an instant coffee type powder but it's made with a bunch of the stuff i just listed.
Some other good herbal teas that don't taste like coffee
Licorice root
Ginseng root
Rosehips
Camomile
Tulsi or holy basil

>>14618562
Thank you! I'll visit a small teastore this week and try to find some of it

I want a kettle so I can easily make magic mushroom tea, anyone got recs? Was thinking about getting a simple glass one with that central infuser thing but not sure

>>14616999
itt:

>>14619145
>central infuser thing
never use those, you'll get particles staining and burning on the inside of the kettle, just decant the hot water into an actual teapot. kettles are cheap and replaceable, just look for one with as little plastic as you can and having temperature options is always a plus if you want to brew greens(or maybe even mushrooms, i wouldn't know what temp)

My gf bought some expensive Organic hippy dippy fancy pants peach green tea, but didn't like the taste at all and so gave it to me.

I proceeded to slap it in a 1 liter pyrex measuring cup and microwaved it for 6 mins. Then put sugar in it and poured it over a big glass of ice. 0 fucks given, and it tasted ok.

>>14618481
sencha fukuyu. 's alright

>>14619567
She screwed up, you should never buy flavored tea, but if you insist on doing so, you have to buy it from the french.

is a temperature control kettle worth it or should i just buy a thermometer?

>>14620686
Just buy a thermometer. You can use it with any kettle.

>>14620686
I just use a thermometer, a temp control kettle is nice if you mostly drink green tea.

Tips:
Do not use for the preparation of this capricious, by the nature of the tea hard water. Soft water is recommended. When using hard water you will get an unpleasant bitter smack, and all the pleasure of tea will go drain.

>>14621447
thanks based chink, but we already know this

August W2T Club is all Lapsang, which I've never tried before. Not yet sure how I feel about it, but there's 7 to work through. So far I don't find it unpleasant but it's also not something I would probably go buy.

>>14621507

>>14621507
>7 different lapsang
That's pretty interesting. I guess i can see some appeal in doing a deep dive into a pretty niche tea like that, i have seen some smoked vs unsmoked samplers but I haven't really seen a vendor selling more than one or two types of unsmoked lapsang. Looking at the website they sound interesting but i wonder how different the 3 or 4 fruit forward varieties will be.
I bought one a while back from wuyi star, it was charcoal roasted instead of smoked and it tasted a lot like a black tea wuyi oolong.
Also looking at the w2t website, he recently listed a $160 200g black tea cake. I can't even be mad because I'm pretty sure he will sell it out quickly but have to wonder about the people buying into it. From what I have read tea farmers typically make black tea with their puer leaves when the weather is bad and they can't dry them, or something happens and the leaves ferment too far before they can process them. I also read that the puer farmers typically aren't very good at making black tea but who knows, the guy sure knows how to sell it
>I don't even know who this tea is for
Lol

>tfw on holidays in some mountains and the water is so soft there that the cheap puer I brought tastes better than at home with filtered water.
Time to change the filter, I guess.

>>14622081
Yeah it can be kind of hard to tell when to change the filter, the taste changes gradually.

>>14622130
Yeah. I'm considering getting a TDS Arduino probe to decide when to change it.

>>14622162
Where you you hook up the probe? Do you have an under sink filter or some whole house setup?

>>14622246
I'm not that sophisticated, it's just a Britta pitcher filter.

>>14620686
worth it, they're cheap, mine cost ~£30
>>14620690
>>14621073
ignore these idiots, the difference between 80 and 100c is only a few seconds good luck getting anywhere close to what you want, not to mention having the top open and potentially having close to boiling water splash out onto you
>>14621507
im currently drinking 2 unsmoked Lapsangs from meileaf, very nice, even though they're both from the same place one has a big chocolate note and the other is quite fruity

>>14622313
Oh, then just buy a standalone tds meter. You can get one for $15, $40 if you want a serious "professional" one. Not worth messing around with Arduino stuff unless you really want to do it for fun.

>>14622572
>the difference between 80 and 100c is only a few seconds
lol wut?

>>14622641
He is probably talking about trying to stop the kettle before it boils, no idea why you would do that but otherwise why would he mention water splattering from the kettle lid being open.

So is pre heating the kettle with warm water just a placebo?

>>14622805
you mean the teapot? i think its pointless, especially with gongfu because you can only ever do it with the first steep and a wash will do the same job anyway

>>14622582
I'll consider it, but I already built a custom pH meter for my fermentation projects and the TDS probe would just fit in place of the pH probe.

>>14622805
>>14622821
basically a wash will do the same thing. Only exception imo is oolong where smelling the dry leaf in a heated vessel is a major point of enjoyment and incredibly worth it

>>14622757
Nah, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
He's already lost in Mystical Forrest of Cuckoldry run by The Don and the rest of the sect.

We have three major tea sects in western scene - global tea hut illuminati, mei "the more thumbs in the air, the older the trees" leaf and guru scott "my wife doesn't want to have kids, so I love a dog" sourcing.
You can maybe mention liquid wank etsy, but I guess he's the only member of his sect, so it doesn't count.
beware, stay freelance, pick and choose good teas.

>>14623280
How many sects are there in the east?

>>14622830
How do you wash your leaves?

>>14624100
Pour water over the leaf at the temperature it brews at, wait like 10 seconds, discard liquid. then brew normally. I drink the wash. its to open the tea, not every leaf needs it, I do it anyway, and its also done to wash out any nastiness that may be in your tea, but so long as you aren't buying actual shit you should be fine to drink it if you're a frugal shit

>>14624106
>I drink the wash.
based fellow wash drinker

>>14624106
That seems pretty reasonable. I usually don't wait 5 seconds. Gonna try it your way next time.

>>14623764
who the fuck knows, ask mr Chink next time you're buying. I would guess they have only big ones, like "tea is panacea" or "only gushu cha you can get is if you buy directly from under the ancient tree".

I also forgot three smaller players,
crimson "basically dungeons&dragons is based on real life" glenn,
white2 "if u only knew how much I scam u aka crowd pleaser" murray,
farmer william "hi there youtube, we're in Jing Mai and you just read it in my voice" leaf

>>14624202
I "flash wash" my teas, meaning pour hot water, discard immediately. I tried drinking wash, but almost every time it left unpleasant film/texture on my tongue, which sat there throughout the whole session so I ceased doing that.

I'm really glad people are starting to try brewing in soft water. >>14622081

Another point of discussion if I may, to use mesh filter or not?
I'm pretty convinced that people who say "my tea tastes completely different from reviews or what is mouthfeel?" drink mesh filtered tea.
Have you seen a tea with some tips against the bright light? How many shimmering trichomes are suspended in the soup? If you use a filter it clogs up with this shit and broken bits.
Does it make a difference in terms of taste/mouthfeel/qi? Or am I bullshitting myself?
Never seen it discussed.

oh, I forgot. are you sure your water is as good as it can be? step up your game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaru_Emoto

and regarding wash, sometimes after the wash I leave the gaiwan covered and let the tea steam in it's own juices for a few minutes. mostly compressed tea. first steep after that has that extra something. bordering on placebo, I know, but worth a try I think.

but then there are water crystals https://globalteahut.org/collections/teaware/products/water-crystals and people who buy into this kind of shit. would you /tea/? only 15 bucks.

>>14625006
>Does it make a difference in terms of taste/mouthfeel/qi?
i've had some oolongs and greens where the next day there's very fine white fluff in my strainer and some teas sell themselves on their white hairs. but i also spilled a load of my tea yesterday trying to use my gaiwan with no filter, so they're great for catching your leaf

Hmmm what could this be

>>14625165
Hmmm what could it possibly be

>>14625171
Perhaps a malformed fruit of somekind

>>14625171
hey, Cinderella! Cindy! Your ride is here!

That was quick, right?

>>14625177
Yes it was!
>>14625175
Meant to post this with this

>>14625195
Anyways it's real pretty to look at, gonna test it soon. I'll have an inner shot here quick

>>14625199
Very nice, very nice

>>14625215
so what's the total damage with (fast) shipping?

in any case, you have a heirloom now. don't drop it or bump it, cause it's prone to bending.

>>14625244
Shipping cost 39.77
Taxes 29.73
The pot itself was 410

So in total 479.59 bucks. And I'll be sure to

>>14625267
did a quick research, looks like craftsmanship is at premium in China.
and I'm on the fence about $100 clay pot. but then again I'm poor.

>>14625318
exactly. But the way I see it, a silver pot I can put anything in, is as good as four or more yixing that I need to season and specialize for one tea. might cost less than the 4 to.

going to brew YS purple pig sheng Puerh first, see what it does

>>14625336
wait wait wait, get your gaiwan or other teapot too, brew the same tea. or better yet, blind taste it if you have someone else in the house right now.
your only chance before placebo sets in.

>>14625336
yeah, but clay is like equalizer set to rock, classical, bass - mutes some, accents other notes.
while silver is your studio headphones - what it sounds straight from the console.
different purposes.

>>14625355
great idea, but too late, unfortunately, I was already pouring in the water when i saw it.

first observations while washing and pouring (gonna drink the wash cause I can). The pot absorbs and retains heat far more than clay, china, glass or stonewear. But it isn't unbearable to hold, if only because of the handles wrapping, and I can feel the heat through that.

Pours relatively fast, smoothly, not sputters or stops. didn't time it, but eh. The lid fits marvelously, doesn't shift at all, clay teapots I've had always had their lids slip off if I tipped them too far, not this. Even though the store page warned it wouldn't fit perfectly and may leak, it hasn't done either and if anything fits much more snugly than other pots I've had.

And again, thing heats up beautifully, retains heat better than clay. My usual sniffing of the wet leaf ended up burning my nose. The leaf smells like it does normally, sourish, acidic tomatoey scent. like stewed tomatoes.

first impressions with the wash, it does have a different character instead of the snappy bitterness it usually has, where its up and front bitter and medicinal and remains as such to the after taste. Instead its starts mellower, with noticeable hay tastes, then the bitterness washes over it, and then lingers. Getting faint hints of other tastes with the hay, but its the wash so it isn't worth pondering on that.


but washes aren't a real showing of what a tea tastes like, so I'll put more detail into the first real steep, and see if there's a real effect there. since washes don't at all represent a tea.

>>14625430
Yeah I get what you're saying already, but won't be able to say and agree with it until the first real steep

>>14625444
also forgot to mention how tightly the cord on the handle is wrapped. this shit isn't ever going to unravel or slip, which is big plus. keeps me from burning my fingers.

Anyways
brewing at 95c, around 11g, 10 seconds adding 3 for every steep.
and I washed my mouth out with water a few times to cleanse my palate

The bitterness is really subdued compared to brewing it in my glazed stoneware gaiwan. it comes in slightly at the end, and the sour medicinal notes only creep in after a few seconds after the bitter has settled in. which is amazing as Purple pig is incredibly bitter, almost pungent with it. might have something to do with the metal retaining the heat longer than clay or stoneware? I wouldn't know

And its weird, still has that hay/ dried grass taste but It also almost tastes like dark chocolate, the tamed bitterness is probably the reason I think this. but it has something under it that took me a bit to place, before I recognized it as the usual sheng taste, just separated and muddled under other taste, which makes it a bit floral, maybe even a little citrus tasting at times (probably again because the usual bitterness has been so subdued). certainly helps reveal aspects of the tea you might miss or not even taste in a "normal" vessel, but what's shocking to me is how much it nipped the bitterness off.

I'm not complaining, its still there, it takes longer to "arrive" and still leaves an after taste, but the flavors that were buried under it are more prominent. And Purple Pig is a very bitter Young Sheng, the strongest of all the ones I've had, even of the same age. and its been practically neutered in that regard.

if I had drank this blind, I wouldn't be able to tell it was Purple pig, or a young Sheng, it almost mimics the effects of aging, but not quite. Its more like it helps express the flavors that are there already, but you don't notice because the young bitterness. Kind of pushing them to the forefront/ separating them.

>>14625600
also, the more I'm sipping at it, the more the initial dried grass/ hay taste tastes fresher, might be because of bitter after taste building on my tongue. but it still retains that somewhat dark chocolate character and floral/ citrus freshness I mentioned earlier.

May be placebo since I am not trying it hand and hand with my gaiwan, but, I know Purple pigs taste, and it takes a few steeps for the bitterness and sourness of it to mellow and slowly sweeten, and it stays rather medicinal throughout. It is what I'd recommended if you really want a bitter bomb tea.
wasn't expecting the silver to tame the bitterness of it so noticeably, but who knows maybe it'll come out swinging on the 2nd.

Will post updates if any of the other steeps surprise me with anything or more depth.

>>14625629
I'd love for you to do a blind comparison some other day to see how much of a difference you can taste side by side.

>>14625674
I'll try it sometime, probably get some family member to do it, so there isn't any chance of any potential bias on my part from effecting the outcome. they probably won't taste any minute details and tastes, but its the presence of a difference that matters in this test, not the exact difference, I feel.

Or you know I can pour them into two pitchers and have someone pour them into cups out of sight, that could work

>have a tea shop at a local mall
>go in one time just to check it out
>95% of the store is herbal tea with names like "Organic Grapefruit Cloud Stroll" or something similar
>no pure black teas, everything is some kind of blend at best, most of them have fruit in them.
>even the rooibos only comes in blends with other stuff in it
>one tieguanyin over in the corner
>well at least I'll look at the teaware to see if there's anything that looks nice. I need a new gaiwan anyways
>don't see any
>ask if they have any gaiwans
>employee behind the counter asks me what that is
I don't understand, how exactly did American tea culture get like this? Was it Starbucks? Who's buying this stuff? This is like if you were to walk into a wine specialty store and everything was artificially flavored.

>>14625756
American tea culture is the child of British tea culture, it never had a chance.

>>14625756
>Was it Starbucks?
Yes, actually. Any tea shop in a mall will be modeled after Teavana, Starbucks' tea brand.

>>14625756
>how exactly did American tea culture get like this? Was it Starbucks? Who's buying this stuff?
Middle class white women is my best guess.

>>14625094
We covered the max level water autism a while ago, at least before you get into healing crystals, vibrational alignments and living water type stuff.
The Specialty Coffee Association has published a pdf guide on the exact mineral content your water should have for brewing coffee. (Available for $45 from their website)
https://store.sca.coffee/collections/books-library/products/the-sca-water-quality-handbook?variant=8149334327398
Several companies have used these guidelines to produce a mineral additive mix that you can add to distilled or reverse osmosis water to create water with the exact mineral profile recommended by the SCA.
https://thirdwavewater.com/
To be fair to the SCA they at least acknowledge that their guidelines are as much for repeatability as optimum flavor.

>>14627078
I should have said to be fair to the SCA they publish these guidelines for someone who is opening their fancy third wave coffee shop and needs help figuring out what kind of filtration systems they need to buy for their location. It was never really intended for making mineral mixes and adding them to distilled water.

>>14625756
Gaiwans are kinda niche desu. Sucks there's no plain tea options though.

>>14599983
Try a Ceylon to start with, and if you like smoky stuff try lapsang suchong or a Russian caravan as a beginner's venture into tea?

Check out this FAQ from the Rec.food.drink.tea newsgroup I just found, its pretty fantastic and his versioning is even more autistic than mine.
http://pages.ripco.net/~c4ha2na9/tea/faq.html

>>14606022
Try a Chinese tea called Tie-guan-yin. It's a light oolong but it's very close to a green tea. Light, not bitter at all, sweetness in the throat after every sip

>>14627821
Actually its not that fantastic, but its pretty good. You can tell its pretty old.

Found another cool tea site.
US based, they sell bagged loose leaf British blends and teabags. Its nice because they list the best by dates on all their stock. It's not the fashionable single origin teas preferred by many anons but its cool if you want to see what the brits are up to.
https://www.teadog.com/loose-tea/

>>14625894
British tea culture is just as bad

>>14628121
As an American I'd say it's just slightly better than ours, but I actually like strong black tea with milk as its own thing. You'd think we'd have that here, but on average we have shitty bagged Lipton or those trail mix blends mentioned above.

>>14628139
Yeah American tea shops are mostly pretty disappointing. The average one I find online has nothing but that teavana flavored crap (I think they all get it from the same wholesaler) and they only thing they have invested in is cute packaging.

>>14628349
Look at TWG, in my opinion this is the best tea you can buy. There is a store in my city but I usually just buy it online.

https://twgtea.com/

What is anon's opinion on flavored teas with cream?

>>14628816
Tbh, I find most teas with added milk to them except for stovetop chai and tea brewed with CTC assam to be so over diluted and lack flavor.

>>14628825
So try adding 20% or 30% cream instead of milk, it won't taste so watery.

>>14628930
Still not that good. At least in my shit opinion. I think its more a euro island thing to add milk to teas.

>>14628816
I add some half&half to blacks occasionally, generally my cheaper stuff, and especially if I over brew something.

Is butterfly pea tea as good as it is pretty? It looks like a final fantasy potion.

Are tetsubins traditionally enameled or is that an Amazon meme?

>>14630292
Its not that flavorful desu. It slightly earthy with VERY mild florals. Its honestly great to add color to stuff because of this.

>>14630292
I haven’t had it myself but I’ve heard there isn’t. People use it more for aesthetics.

Fun fact, the flower the petals come from is called Clitoria ternatea because it looks like a vulva and clitoris.

>>14630652
>I haven’t had it myself but I’ve heard there isn’t

Huh, not sure where the rest of that sentence went. Meant to say there isn’t much of a taste to it.

>>14630292
I wonder if this is what the Star Wars land blue milk at WDW is flavored with to give that blue color.

>>14630677
Literally just a colored dye my dude

All of the electric kettles I see on amazon have rust problems or have plastic touch the water

>>14599372
any recs for an electric kettle? I'd like to be able to boil a liter of water in about 2 minutes

i'm a bit of a tea snob myself haha, drinking one of these right now

>>14631187
AmazonBasics works just fine.

>>14631187
> I'd like to be able to boil a liter of water in about 2 minutes
This is only possible if you live somewhere that uses 220v

>>14631811
the pure leaf sugar teas are absolute trash, just like every other sugar tea. However, their black unsweetened tea with LEMON is pure leaf sex.

Sipping on this zhong cha 8001 liu bao sample purplecloud sent out. Incredibly good.

>>14633052
> amazog

>>14633319
Nice, my liubao shilling is continuing to succeed. I really think it's a nice tea.

First time buying anything that is not supermarket bags. Will see if I catch the tea autism.

>>14633993
Should be good anon. I haven't had a purple green tea before but purple teas are pretty interesting. Make sure to keep the infusions short so it doesn't get too bitter. I don't usually suggest adding lemon juice to tea but it might make the purple tea change color slightly if you put a few drops in after you brew which is at least a cool party trick.

What's up teafags? Finally drinking some real tea (2016 hot brandy) after weeks of working in the field and not having anything except shitty instant coffee. Been into tea since 2017 but still can't bring myself to go into the puer rabbit hole. Too much info/too big of a commitment with aging/not impressed by the general flavor. Am happy with experimenting with all the other tea types but still feel inferior in the company of puer autists. Fuck man they know so much obscure shit about an obscure hobby (at least in the west)

>>14631811
Take a lemon pure leaf and add more lemon juice. Absolutely divine

>>14633388
>Muslimgauze
Spectacularly based

>>14628355
>TWG
>Fake company slogan "1835" when they were set up in the last decade
>Singaporean owner who once worked at and ripped off Mariage Freres brand identity
>Name tries to ride on the Twinings fame
>Terrible customer service when my family was asked to pay for a whole afternoon tea again just so that we could have more hot water in the pot
>Cheap tea sweepings blended in British style tea sold at 50x their worth
Avoid. Avoid like the devil.

>>14634186
autism trumps good taste. never trust an autists opinion on anything non academic

Am I doing it right /ck/?

>>14634477
I fucking hate mobile with my soul

>>14634477
Do you like that brewer? Any issues with it? Is it easy to clean?

>>14599372
Does anybody have good brands for lemon ginger tea?
I like to mix a teabag in with my loose leaf green tea to add some flavor and additional health benefits

>>14634615
It's very good and decently easy to clean. At least, that is compared to this piece of shit

>>14634477
>>14634478
The irony is that this happens because the rotation setting is stored in the exif data that 4chan scrubs because idiot phoneposters used to accidentally doxx themselves all the time.

>>14634624
Cop those teabags from celestial seasonings. It's not really worth getting "fancy" flavored tea. Or if you have money to burn order some from Mariage Frères.

>>14624106
>Pour water over the leaf
Do you just cover the leaves, or do you fill the whole container?

>>14635241
Not him but if it's a gaiwan i usually fill it completely, if it's a mug or teapot i usually just add enough to float the leaves.

>>14635271
Thanks.

>>14635271
are we talking gongfu, or western?

>>14635790
for a gaiwan it shouldn't matter, vol doesn't change only time and g of leaf

>>14634706
Thank you im going to try some !

https://www.amazon.com/Hervidor-calentador-Zojirushi-CD-WCC30-plateado/dp/B01LWMWU59

is something like this a viable alternative to an eletric kettle or is it a big waste?

hey guys, what size gaiwan should i get for 1-2 people? I'll usually be brewing by myself but i want to get a fairness cup for when im serving someone else.

>>14637162
It's nice if you drink several cups/pots of the same tea all day.
If you drink more moderately then it's a bit of a waste, and if you prepare different teas at different temperatures then you're going to be sitting around waiting for it to change temperature all day.

Does anyone here know how to cool tea in the summer?

>>14599372
Coof

>>14638217
The 140-150 ml range should be good, any bigger and it's too much for solo use, much smaller and it's a stretch for two people.

>>14638453
Cool tea? Just wait to drink it.

>>14638217
>>14638217
i have 2, 100ml and 200ml. remember you'll be drinking multiple steeps so for me thats ~12 x 100ml. 100ml is perfect for just me

>>14640019
I want to start drinking good herbal teas, the pastebin seems to be focused on normal tea, any good resources for herbal?

>>14640240
didn't mean to quote, sorry

>>14640246
Finding good info about herbs that isn't full of hippy woo is kind of difficult. If anyone has some good resources please share em.
If you live in the US mountain rose herbs is a good place to buy from. Just skip their actual tea plant tea.

Got my chawangshop order in.
Shipping from mainland China seems totally back to normal now.
Brewing up some liubao.
Thanks to the anon that recommended this bing, haven't tasted in yet but I can already tell it's a gem. Smells like chocolate and lots of fruit.

anybody know of a tea infuser made in a country with labor laws?

>>14641055
Yeah, finum brew baskets are made in Germany.

>>14641062
thanks

>>14640624
i will say you're welcome when you try it.

my second fullchea order is here, so that makes only one KTM order remaining and I'm done for the year. natural storage changtai, should be interesting.

>>14599372
how about shroom tea that was the last time I had it aside from a few sinus settlers that were on sale from a place closing out.. I really like that experience..

I once had "Pakistani tea" in a cafe in barcelona. was pretty good. what kind of tea is this

>>14641506
I have thought about tossing in a dried gram into my nightly gongfu.

>>14641514
it's famous "you're a tourist" blend. I hope you tipped generously for that experience.
joking aside, quick google yields this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhXqsb0TCQY
somoe kind of masala tea, prevalent in pajeet countries, where they learned processing the tea from the british (the blind leading the blind), resulting with dark broken up leaves and bracing astringent brew. the brits just wanted the tasty bohea tea (dark oolong).
rajesh masks the bitter brew with shitload of milk and pungent spices. masala chai, or in usa-world chai tea.

>>14641481
Oh yeah i was wondering when you would get that chempi. Are you going to try to brew some on it's own?

>>14641600
I think you need some acidity to extract the goodness.

>>14641663
sure, but I can kind of imagine what it will taste like.
I'm more interested to try it with rice porridge (congee).
as you can see, I've got two kinds, fresh green, and aged. I can already tell, the aged is more complex.
I've got some shu blends in mind, now I can play with ideas.
flowery high notes gong ting, malty sweet cha tou and some fucking chenpi zest, oh yeah.

have you tried chenpi yet?

>>14641745
I had one of those really cheap puer stuffed chempi, that horse brand that's everywhere. It was okay, i thought the chempi flavor was good but the puer that was on there was pretty meh. I was surprised at how strong the citrus flavor was since it was pretty old and definitely stored dry.

>>14641664
Ain't my first rodeo homie. Good looking out though. May have to taint some 2002 wild liu bao tonight.

Anybody grow their own leaves? How difficult is it?

I got a free sample of the dried tangerine and puerh and desu it was not as great as i hoped it would be

>>14642103
Depends on where you live, if you have the right climate or can actually get your hands on cuttings from a hardy species it's not that hard to grow tea. The big problems are that you would need to grow several bushes at minimum for it to be worth the effort, they take up a lot of space, you might have to deal with pest management and it takes several years to start getting a meaningful harvest. Once you have that stuff straightened out you have to deal with processing, which is pretty labor intensive and not that easy. There is a reason why many of the small scale tea farms in the west mostly produce white tea, because it's a lot harder to fuck up than green or black tea, or puer.
So you could totally grow tea if you wanted too, you would just have to make a decent commitment if you wanted to do more then keep a small bush as a houseplant.

>>14642402
* A hardy varietal, not species, i always fuck that up

>>14641481
Okay so i pried some off the border bing and tossed it in a mug. I'm pretty impressed, it's got a good balance of flavor and the aftertaste lasts and lasts. Good shit.
Now i want to grab some of the other teas he mentioned and make my own fake Banzang blend.

>>14642564

>>14642571
Why did you make a new thread? Bump limit is 310 on /ck/ this thread will be up for another day or two.

What’s a good place where you can purchase barley tea in the US? I keep reading about how good it tastes but I’ve never tried it before. Are there any types of tea it tastes like or is it bready like kvass and beer?

>>14643411
You can buy roasted barley from brewing supply websites, it's not made specifically for tea but it should work.
It's only $2 for a lb so if it's not good it's no loss.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/briess-roasted-barley.html

>>14643411
You can buy roasted barley from brewing supply websites, it's not made specifically for tea but it should work.
It's only $2 for a lb so if it's not good it's no loss.
https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/briess-light-roasted-barley

>>14641055
Good lookin' out

>>14628816
I add fresh fruit sometimes.
Passionfruits, Rock Melon etc.

has anyone bought from Reverie Farm before? they have their own grown shiso leaves that i want to get along with a few other things that i'm interested in cold brewing

Coofs

>>14644202
I haven't used them but their site looks good.
Prices aren't insane they have photos of their operation. It's probably not super easy to find shiso on western herbal sites. Might as well give it a shot.

Anyone else have their tea consumption increase dramatically lately? I went form 7-8 grams a day to 16-20.

>>14645498
When I used to go to the office I would drink 1 cup of tea in the morning and get back home too late to want more caffeine. Now that I'm working from home I have at least 3 cups before noon.

What do you guys think about doing gongfu with a general time rule?
i.e. I make each steep around 50% longer than the previous one, so if I start at 10, then the next is 15 (10 + 5), the next is 23 (15 + 7 or 8), then 35, 50, 1:15, 1:50, etc.

>>14645973
I think some kind of baseline is nice to have but you really have to figure out what's best for each individual tea. For example i might have a heavily compressed tea where i have to make the first few steeps really long to open up the tea, but then cut them down real short once the leaves separate. Also some leaves will infuse faster or slower depending on how heavily they are rolled during processing or how chopped the material is. Your steep times are pretty close to what i would typically do.

>>14646095
That makes sense. I should really start writing down what works and what doesn't when I brew.

>>14646158
Yeah it can be pretty helpful to take notes, i really wish i was keeping track of where i got some of my tea and what it's called in English. It's hard to work backwards from some puer wrapper with all Chinese characters on it.

I'm trying to make tea with a caramel color like pic related, but I still can't get it right. What can I do to improve my method.
>Add boiling water to Black tea bag in infuser
>Let it sit for 10 minutes
>Add to cup
>Add skim milk
Anything else I should do? Like boil milk and tea at the same time and whatnot. It turns out too grayish brown

>>14601517
> Make sure you preheat it with hot water

why preheat it?

>>14646443
A lot of that is going to be impacted by the type of tea you use. Assam CTC tea is best for milk tea.

>>14646443
It's probably just not very good tea, but it could be your water. Try two bags at 5 minutes. It's also going to taste better and maybe look better with any kind of milk that isn't skim.

/tea/ or /ctg/... who do I side with

>>14646443
>>14641602

Whats a good tea that doesn't stain teeth and is low on the caffeine? White Peony?

>>14646779
>they dont do both

>>14646784
>doesn't stain teeth
white or green, basically anything where the tea itself isn't dark
>low on the caffeine
people will claim that different types of tea will have more or less than others, white can have as much or more than black and vice versa ect ect. but apparently caffeine is produced to fend off insects so maybe higher elevation spring pickings(green/white/oolongs) would have less than lower elevation summer pickings(blacks/hei cha/pu-erh) but even then the difference isn't going to be as large as the difference between tea and coffee

>>14646811
Dirty cha is quite nice

I'd like to go deeper in teas, but I'm so frustrated. I can find only low quality teabags in local stores, my online options are overpriced teas from local e-shops, stores recommended here that don't ship to Brazil or getting poisoned by aliexpress questionable quality teas. I guess I will just move to coffee, it's way easier to find. ;-;

>>14647111
Id keep Ali and taobao open as options if you don't find good coffee, I know you guys grow a lot of it but I thought almost all the good stuff got exported

>>14647111
Check if this site ships to Brazil
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/

>>14647783
Nah, it is still easy to find premium quality coffee for a reasonable price, even more because you can contact some of the farmers who grow it and order directly from them(or maybe plant your own coffee, it's not that hard to keep it). I have even ordered a mill some days ago. But it could be that I'm being too judgemental about Ali, maybe I just need to find stores in which I can trust. Apparently the anon below you helped a bit on it.
>>14647832
Through their site, there's no way to send it to here, but I think you may have solved the question for me, because in the upper part of their website there's a link for their store in Aliexpress (which does offer me the possibility for ordering it). I will order something today and may post in the board when I receive it. Thanks, anon.

>>14647832
Why can I only see gaiwan lids in their aliexpress?

how can i impress someone who is super fucking into tea? they have this rare gaiwan (it looks moldy but le wabi sabi), about a million different teas, a whole ass tea table that takes up 25% of the kitchen, etc.

>>14648515
Get them even just a 25 g sample of puer tea from the 90s. They'll flip, doesn't matter how much they have.

>>14647111
I'm from brazil and the only site that DOESN'T ship here at all from the pastebin, which you could've read and checked, is yunnan sourcing. Most of the chinese shops ship here, all american ones do and what-cha does if you send an email to customer support, which you could've also done. Yunnan Sourcing staff will tell you get a forwarding service and you'd be on your own from there. I suggest you go to some of BR boutique shops like talcha or moncloa. They're terrible in the standards of this thread, being very close to the american teavanna, but you seem to be in the baggie stage still. Go see if you like looseleaf at all and what kinds before sinking money into import fees. Yes, your tea will be taxed. 40-60%. Some of it will not pass customs if it's not very well labeled individually which happens a lot with some chinese shops and has happened to me. I suggest trying looseleaf first.

>>14649155
Inspirational post. If you really want to get good tea you will get it. Whiny bitches >>14647111
get nothing.

>>14640592
These two sites have lots of well-cited health info on different supplements and such, including plenty of herbal teas:
https://selfhacked.com/
https://examine.com/
Finding sites that cover that sort of thing and also address which herbs actually taste good in tisane form is a tall order, sadly.

>>14649749
Thanks anon!

I'm about to buy this 35 teas package: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001238704092.html
Is there any reason I shouldn't?

whats your favorite ito en /tea/

>>14640240
https://verdanttea.com/shop/by-farmer/he-family-tea/
These farmers do some interesting things with herbal tea. Basically they use the same processes they apply to actual tea, giving depth you usually don't see in herbals. Verdant is slightly overpriced, but I don't think there's anywhere else you can get most of these. YS has Gan Zao Ye for a bit cheaper, but I've never seen any of the others anywhere else.

>>14650078
Only one, you can fall deep into the rabbit hole, like I did when I bought one of those and start spending loads of money on your new hobby.

>>14650531
Hey, at least it's something to look forward to each day.

>>14649155
I have read a previous version of the pastebin some time ago, that could be the reason why I didn't see the other stores. Anyway, you're right about the e-mail, so I'm sorry for being lazy. About trying loose leaf, it caught my interest because I drank a few types of tea when working for a chinese family, but I don't have contact with them anymore, so I decided to ask you guys about it. But thanks, I've ordered some oolong and black from Fullchea, which the other anon recommended me, lets see how it will end up.

>>14651439
Again, being brazilian I can tell you that unless you worked directly with a diplomatic body chinese family you probably didn't get in touch with really good tea. Chinese workers, low level or middle level management, drink the cheap everyday tea that has very wide distribution in asian shops. This is usually called chinatown tea or chinatown pu-erh (when it's pu-erh). The only chinese people that drink premium grade tea are diplomats and their families because they need to host constantly. I've recently had a meeting with a supposedly bigshot upper management guy buying oodles of metal ore in a national level and he drank the cheap yellow tin jasmine tea you can get anywhere. Brazil's climate is actually very suitable for tea considering elevations, but we currently only have 1 farm/label that qualifies internationally as premium loose leaf. Chá da vovó, obaa-cha, is the name. A japanese immigrant old lady decided to make a tea farm after the ones in her hometown and now grows assamica in São Paulo. They sell in specific stores in the japanese neighborhood of São Paulo and through their website. I also believe they're listed in Mercado Livre. It's very good, deep, mellow assamica.

>>14640592
>>14649749
>>14649813
Not the one that replied to you, but this is considered one if not the most solid resource in medicinal herbs in the english language https://libgen.lc/ads.php?md5=12dc7a59ffb2726edde00ea13dc92503
Surprised they had it.

>>14652662
Thanks!

>>14652692
I dunno how helpful it'll be for you because it's quite invested. That said, libgen has many other books on medicinal herbs, from soccermom robot made titles like 35 remedies you can grow yourself! and middle of the road books. I'd suggest using the handbook as just that, a quick ctrl+f resource and get a book on foraging instead, since identifying herbs is the initial barrier of entry.

when you finally GET sheng puer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cQlVww0zKo

>>14652740
when you realize you love the shou https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwCu8Zhvurs

>>14652761
it's when you transcend. Lazarus, Maguire, Koshiro, coveted Crying Monkey award https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBnHqIV_t1I

>>14652797
and when you eyeball your first gaiwan and decide to ditch the scale and thermometer and advice from internet jaggoffs and ascend to 1liter pot brewing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvrZJ5C_Nwg

>>14652820
and when you cum it's always this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MC0G-Lbuuk

>>14652868
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULTtWUZhD9c

>>14652724
It was super helpful because I found a txt copy on archive.org so now I can link it in the pastebin.

>>14652724
>get a book on foraging instead
I actually found a few good books about foraging. Those are harder to suggest because the best ones cover pretty small regions.

Would you guys say that those "special" tea pots that are porous (I think they're called Yixing pot) are actually worth buying? My understanding is that you're never supposed to wash them out when making tea. You make the tea, drink it all, then leave whatever tea water is left in the pot to just dry out or be absorbed by the pot.

It seems cool but idk if it even works or if it's just bullshit? I ask because I want to buy one as a gift for a tea person I know.

>>14645498
I went from 3-6 to 6-12, mainly because I don't have access anymore to the quality I had then, I just can't steep as much.

>>14654959
You wash it out with hot water but don't scrub or use soap. Your understanding is incomplete and that's why I suggest you don't buy "a tea person" unknown clay pot, which may be shit and/or toxic.
Does the tea person drink teas that would benefit from a clay pot? Which teas that would be? If you don't know, don't buy a random pot, unless this person showed you exactly which one they want.

>>14655261
Good advice.

i have gerd now and can't drink green/black/oolong whatever tea. what are some good non-caffeine herbals?

>>14655780
water

new thread
>>14655972
>>14655972
>>14655972