/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Samovar Edition
Has anyone ever used one of these things?

Tea and battered flake are a based combination.

what's the best biscuit for tea

>>16243743
Shortbread or digestive biscuits

My personal favorite food pairing is a nice granola

>>16243773
Those little butter ring cookies are the best. Not sure if they count as shortbread.

>ordered sencha for first time
>realized I don't have a kyusu and my teapot is gonna get all clogged up probably
I will never financially recover from this.

>>16243796
I think so, anyway those are good too

>>16243801
use a fine mesh strainer and pour the teapot through the strainer into your cup,
The pot probably wont clog but you might get a lot of tea bits in the cup

Anybody know any good youtube channels or videos on tea? Ones where the creator isn't a jackass like mei leaf

I just bought ripe pu erh and i only did one rinse am I going to die of pu erh poisoning

>>16243886
Teadb on youtube and their website teadb.org is pretty good, farmer leaf on YouTube has some very good videos, i think there are a few more YouTube channels and blogs recommended in the pastebin

>>16243945
I don't even bother to rinse half the time. One rinse is almost always enough unless you got some really funky old fuzzy tea

>>16243979
ah I see thank you

>>16243886
>Anybody know any good youtube channels or videos on tea?
Farmer Leaf
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOgkLFmMkJLSEP9-n6hZ08A/videos
is by far the best tea channel that i have found but he only talks about certain topics.

>>16243945
>I just bought ripe pu erh and i only did one rinse am I going to die of pu erh poisoning
you will be fine, i never rinse.

my fullchea order has been stuck "on a plane" for over a week now. i am getting kind of impatient at this point.

too the anon that got all the white tea cakes have you tried the CNNP one yet?

>>16244000
Kek the mail was moving reasonably fast for a little while there and now its shit again.

>>16244000
>too the anon that got all the white tea cakes have you tried the CNNP one yet?
Yeah, I got all my cakes and have tried each one. I took pictures and wrote journal notes for all of them, though I think I only posted two since I didn't think the anons who may be interested were seeing them anyway. Those should be in the last thread. I can link to them here and dump my other two review notes or whatever else if you wish.

>>16244000
I just checked, and it seems I did post that cake in the last thread: >>16223725

>>16243725
I really want an old coal fired one so I can drink tea in the fields around my house without having to go inside with muddy boots
I have no idea where to find an inexpensive one

>>16243725
>>16244166
No, but I've thought about getting a nice clay brazier. Kinda worried about it being a fire hazard, though.

>>16244166
Yeah i found a few websites that sell them but it's hard to tell if they are intended for serious use or to be decorative. I think the top tier fuel to use is pinecones to get that nice pine smoke essence in your tea.
>>16244192
For indoors? Yeah seems like a fire hazard.

>>16244166
This is the most promising site ive seen for buying newly manufactured ones for use and not decoration. None of them are what I'd call cheap.
https://www.shopsamovar.com/

>>16244237
There are these really cheap ones on ebay, i guess they probably work, very utilitarian looking
https://www.ebay.com/itm/114208921176

>>16244150
>and dump my other two review notes or whatever else if you wish.
you may as well post them. i would also be curious as to know what you favorite among them is now and again after you have had a bit more time with them.

>>16244165
thanks, my bad for missing that. somehow i completely forgot i had already read it the other day.


I have got a white tea cake on the way myself that i will try and post about at some point.

>>16244354
>somehow i completely forgot i had already read it the other day.
No worries. I've kept my notes in the case I or someone else would care to read them, so it's fine. I've written and shared almost 50 review notes with anons here now in my short time learning about tea, so I figure people would be tired of reading what I write by now. I don't get angry comments much anymore, I suppose.

I will say that, despite the several warnings and mockery of my selections, none of my white tea cakes turned out to be 'bad' to my senses. I believe I made a respectable gamble in that regard. It is difficult for me to say which is my favorite, as they all have fairly different expressions despite some common traits. Smelling the fruity aromas on some of them, I had hoped to find more directly fruity/sweet characteristics, but most of them were background notes. The 2019 Butterfly/COFCO one is neat in that it reminds me of a light hot chocolate. The 2018 Moonlight White is pretty floral and delicate, which is nice as I dislike it when floral notes are overhead or too potent otherwise. The others lead with pleasant bready notes. I think I want to redo the 2015 Gong Mei review, though.

The two I've posted so far are:
>>16223725 ( 2019 "White Beauty" 5929 Zhong Cha cake), and
>>16212953 (2018 Yue Guang Mei Ren, aka Moonlight White).
I will dump the other two reviews after this post.
>I have got a white tea cake on the way myself that i will try and post about at some point.
Nice, didn't you get a COFCO/Zhong Cha cake from Fullchea as well? I think it was the Silk Road one. Or, is it something else? I may be thinking of another anon in this particular case.

>>16244486
I have here a brief review of my 2015 Fuding Gong Mei cake. I may redo this one later on, as I didn't have an ideal testing scenario at the time. I also said "bread/bready" frequently. I'll consider brewing it again tonight and revising this.
______
5.5g/195F/15s

Dry leaf smells of a light fruit bread. The brewed leaf possesses a more toasty, slightly buttery, concentrated fruit bread aroma.

Low thickness, astringency, and bitterness. 'Bready' flavor, with a mild sweetness that suggests some underlying fruity, mineral taste (especially in earlier brews). Longer brew times add a very welcome creamy texture, without any noticeable increase to astringency or bitterness. Greater temperatures and brew times simply exacerbate the aforementioned qualities. Likely some decent potential for this tea to improve and continue to mature with additional rest time in dedicated storage.

>>16244486
Here is my other and last original review of four whites cakes from Fullchea. This is the "2015 Fu Ding Shou Mei Bai Cha", the cheapest cake I selected at less than $10 for the whole thing. Not outstanding, but honestly not terrible. I'd take this over almost any supermarket tea.
______
6g/195F/12s

Dry leaf smells of a sweet malt. Brewed leaf smells of a soft, recently-baked loaf of low-sugar dessert bread.

Low thickness, medium astringency, low bitterness. Possesses a flat, light grain flavor and pleasant mineral sweetness. A touch buttery, but not significantly. Harder infusions improve consistency and saturation of flavors across the board at the cost of later infusion potency. Quite straight-forward overall, decent sipper for the price, but quick to lose potency.

>>16244486
>I will say that, despite the several warnings and mockery of my selections, none of my white tea cakes turned out to be 'bad' to my senses.
glad to hear they all turned out good.

>>16244486
>Nice, didn't you get a COFCO/Zhong Cha cake from Fullchea as well? I think it was the Silk Road one.
yes, that's the one.

kingteamall is running a sale right now. I guess they are having a bat flu lockdown there so he is running a sale while he cant ship.

the best smoke besides my tea? for me it's pueblo

Think I might try to roast my Shui wuyi oolong.

gween tea

Dry pouring is superior to using a tea tray.

>>16246547
What is dry pouring?

odds ripe puer, evens oolong

>>16247307
Fuck it im having more oolong
This is from my yunnan oolong sampler i got from the tea-expert.net guy.
So far these have all been good, super aromatic floral honeysuckle type aroma, sweet honeyed taste.
This is one of the more premium versions from the sampler.
5g in 100ml porcelain teapot
Shooting for around 90°c brew temps as these have been somewhat delicate

>>16247362
So far so good, sweet honey, a bit of that oolong twang. My temps were probably still a bit high as it got a little bitter on me but overall quite enjoyable.

>>16244237
>https://www.shopsamovar.com/
I could get a really nice teapot for this price, idk if I want to go that high

>>16248051
Yeah i agree, it's pretty pricey, i think the cheapest coal one they have is $250

>>16246793
Not spilling any water, pouring excess tea and wash into a large bowl instead of onto the tray

>>16248171
I do this except i still have to keep my brewing vessel in a bowl because i spill and overfill it sometime

>>16248171
I do this but just into the sink. I have to wonder how one would do so with a Yixing without using a teaboat.

>>16243743
Bourbon creams or custard creams

anyone who says otherwise is a complete fucking spastic and needs to fuck off and shut up

>>16248374
a bit heavy for tea id say

>>16243743
I drink my tea with nothing. I just like to taste the tea. What people call "tea time" where they have snacks is mostly just fat people coping with overeating before it's even dinnertime by pretending they're a classy englishman that no longer exists.

>>16248508
Yeah I'm with you. I've made tea to wash down a meal, but I've never prepared food to have with tea. If I ate snacks every time I drank tea I would be 300 lbs.

>>16243743
Sometimes I like to have one or two of these little egg yolk cookie/cracker things. But usually nothing.

>>16247362
My n-person. Puer dykes are NOT WELCOME here.

>>16249363
Ill probably have puer tomorrow ;^)

my 2021 spring sencha arrived
unfortunately its almost my bedtime so i can't drink tea until the morning

>>16249397
Send my regards to your gf/wife when you get TEA DRUNK and beat the PISS out of her.

Anybody actually have any success aging pu'er?

So my two new pots and the tea I ordered from yunnan sourcing came yesterday! The pots are absolutely beautiful. A yixing xisha 180ml and a porcelain pot of 200ml in the same style. The porcelain one is for everyday use. The size is actually perfect, any smaller and the pots would look comically tiny in my big hands. Some anons said that 180-200 ml might be too large for one person, but more than half the time I'm sharing my sessions with my father so no worries there. As for the tea, the "Classic rock oolong" from Yunnan Sourcing is pretty good. It tastes a bit of charcoal, dark chocolate, and barley/malt. Very good for my first oolong and the first time I attempted Gong Fu style. I had some of the free 250 gram sample Yunnan Black Gold black tea (Yunnan Sourcing) tonight and I liked it just as much if not more than the oolong. It was strong, but not overpowering, like dark chocolate, malt, and some kind of vegetable I can't put my finger on quite yet. I also got two free mini pu'er cakes that I'm excited to try but worried about storage simply for the fact that I don't have climate controlled storage for it. All and all good purchases, if a bit expensive. Thank you anons for all the help. I'll post pictures of the pots after work tomorrow.

>>16249739
>mini pu'er cakes that I'm excited to try but worried about storage
Just put them in a ziploc bag, they will keep fine all summer at least
Glad you are enjoying you tea anon!

>>16249480
Nice, post some tasting notes when you get the chance
>>16249656
I've had my storage set up and at the proper humidity for the last 6 months or so, so far everything still tastes good, i need to revisit a few cakes but i haven't noticed any massive changes in flavor. I've read that it can be hard to tell if a tea will age well or not sometimes, some teas that taste very good initially might become dull and bland after a few years.

Coof

Rou Gui vs Shui Xian
which one do you think is better?
For me it's shui xian but it's pretty close competition

odds ripe, evens raw

>>16252143
Get to sippin ripESBO

>>16252143
Just did raw anyway, I'm bad at this
Sipping on one of these little 2006 Myanmar mini cakes
a reall hidden gem, easily worth grabbing a few sleeves and stashing them away for the long hall, easy to drink, tasty, flavorfull.
Leaf if broken up pretty heavily and it's super compressed but man is it tasty
https://www.chawangshop.com/pu-erh-tea/raw-sheng-puerh/2006-myanmar-kokang-mei-hua-bing-raw-puerh-tea-100g.html

>>16252268
Good cup, it's sweet and tea tasting, i don't know how else to describe it, but its good

anyone else drink tea when they should be going to bed and then stay up untill 6am?
i really need to switch to herbal teas at night

>>16253715
Every day. I always start getting a craving for tea around 9-10PM and next think I know I've had two sessions in a row and can't sleep. In fact, I'm boiling water to do that right now because I'm retarded.

>>16253743
At least its not just me
I'm going to force myself to have some chamomile today instead

>>16253715
I make it a hard rule not to drink anything caffeinated at least 6 hours before bed, to satisfy the nighttime craving for tea I drink either cocoa powder mixed in hot water, turmeric/blackP mixed in hot water, or decaf coffee. I also have decaf green teabags but they are really bad, probably the worst teabag I've ever had.

>>16253755
>. I also have decaf green teabags
jesus i bet those are awful

>>16244000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5db0XOkkd8
>rolling back and forth
>obsessed about tea
This guy is legitimately autistic.

>>16255214
Yeah hes a bit weird, informative videos though.

Coof

I'm having genmaicha for the first time. It really does taste like toast

>>16243719
Anons, any advice for dealing with the high fluorine levels in tea? Is there a way to lower levels or ensure no harm comes form it? I heard that only buying quality brands or from certain areas. Any recommendations likewise that growing your own might help to water with non fluoridated water, and diet wise ensure to eat plenty of calcium and stuff. Any other advice or takes on what to do? I am a bit worried about fluoride issue so it would help if anyone has any suggestions.

>>16256341
fluoride is good for you

>>16256341
Don't drink shitty tea 30 times a day.

>>16256403
Yeah like I Cleary mentioned in my post you retard. Here let me put it this way, any brands you all like?

>>16256571
Xiaguan. Also get your test levels up if you're scared of tea. Tibetan grandmas encounter these issues in the late 90s, from drinking shitty tea 30x a day for a century. If you've got worse gene than that, look inward.

>>16256341
The only documented cases of issues are from people who where brewing 80-15 dollar store teabags a day for over a decade. You can find some of the news reports if you search tea flourosis.
Anyway loose leaf tea consistently has lower fluoride levels so just buy decent quality tea and it isn't an issue, see the recommend vendors in the paste bin to get started.

Bought this cute cheap lil pu erh kit. Any senpai here had it before?

coof

>>16258241
you can safely throw it in the bin and forget about it.
those little scrap pucks are the main reason people online post shit like this
>wow this puerh stuff is nasty, how you guys can drink this
you get what you paid for and if the bag was over $5 then you overpaid.
good day.

>>16258241
It looks almost identical to the gift sets on Fullchea and eBay. I bought one and tasted every single type with reviews for the thread months ago. It was quite terrible. One was sort of okay, but most of them tasted dirty or outright foul. Budget mini tuos are typically going to be a lesser tea.

Tfw favorite cake almost gone

>>16258774
Looks like a white cake. What kind?

>>16258774
This looks like fake weed that someone would try to sell to teenagers

>>16248508
>classy englishman that no longer exists
the fuck are you talking about lol. i'm sure those still exist.

>>16258785
Gong mei
>>16258791
Weed is flower, not leaf you stoner

How do I into puer if every sample pack is shit tier?

>>16259052
Buy 100g or higher cakes.

>Order from Upton arrived today with a whole assortment of teas I want to try
>teapot doesn't arrive in the mail until tomorrow
I'm gonna do this right, I just have to wait one more day.

where can I get some korean tea

>>16259052
Just buy a single half-decent cake.

Just tried the Mojun Fu Shen. Tasted amazing.
>>16259052
Not all samples are bad, there are some stores that offer samples of completely good cakes. Be sure to taste a bunch before you buy the full cakes.

is 30c ambient room temperature too much for storing tea? inside pouches and metallic boxes

>Furuichi Seicha: #08 Limited Edition 2021 Shincha Kagoshima First Flush Fukamushicha 鹿児島茶新茶

I like this tea. Its sweet and umami. It doesn't resteep well but the first cup is really pleasant

>>16243719
Hey /tea/
I've been doing boiling water over chamomile teabags for a while now, and I want to branch out and sophisticate my practices.
Where should I start? How do you guys drink your tea? What blends/teaware/techniques do you prefer?

>>16262136
One easy thing you can try is switching to loose leaf chamomile. Check out mountain rose herbs, you can get good quality whole flowers for less per oz than teabags (just don't get their actual tea tea it kinda sucks), then you can either use the fill your own teabags they sell on there, or a permanent filter from finum or a stainless steel filter basket from another company, those will let you brew any looseleaf you want in a mug with very little cleanup (just dump the filter out and rinse)
Mountain rose also has a bunch of other nice herbal blends worth checking out. I recommended honeybush tea, with the warning you should brew it for only 60 seconds or it might get bitter.
If you want to get into tea tea, check out yunnan sourcing .us, get a 2021 black and a 2021 green tea, 50-100g of each, maybe throw it a tie guan in oolong for good measure.
If you are in canada check out capital tea from the pastebin, if you are in the uk check out what-cha
Check the pastebin for good vendors in other parts of the world.

>>16262136
>What blends/teaware/techniques do you prefer?
Forgot to actually answer this, i like gongfu brewing in small 90-120ml porcelain pots and gaiwans.
However just as often i brew puerh or dark roasted wuyi oolong grampa style in a big mug, which i really enjoy both for it's simplicity and taste. That said i wouldn't really recommended starting out with puer, it's not a very accessible tea and it can be pretty challenging.

>>16248374
Based

>>16262198
>>16262252
Thanks so much anon, will report back on the results.

Stone milk tea. I feel like my gaiwan is a bit small

>>16262564
oolong?
That stuff always fills up vessels pretty aggressively, especially the ball type. That looks pretty normal, how may grams of leaf are you using and what's the usable capacity of your gaiwan.
Also love the use of the plastic tray

>>16262578
Yeah. I think I used about 6 grams here. Capacity is 150 ml. Not crazy so wonder if I messed up my first infusion. Kind of bitter at 20 seconds and then 25 seconds.

I'm pretty new to gongfu brewing so I could also be a bit of a pleb.

>>16262613
Actually good question in wondering can a first steep ruim them all?

>>16262613
How long, and at what temp? Bitterness is usually a sign of brewing for too long and/or too hot.

>>16262669
In my experience, no.

>>16262781
Different anon here, I'm also new to gaiwan and have the same problem where the only flavor I get is bitterness. Usually I brew directly in the mug with a tea strainer, and it comes out tasting fine. But when I use the same tea/quantity/time/temp in gaiwan it was awful. Guess I'll try it cooler next time

>>16262781
Probably about 200, 20 seconds. I boiled the water, put it into a thermos, then poured into the cup. It's getting a bit better now but still not my favorite.

>>16262866
If you're brewing in a gaiwan for the same amount of time as a whole mug you're making a mistake. You want to use far more tea than you'd otherwise use (think, 5-7 grams) and generally you only want to steep the tea for 10-30 seconds at a time. You can go longer after a few infusions, but keep it short initially.

>>16262613
Yeah green oolongs can get bitter if the water is too hot. Probably 80-90°c is a good brewing temp to shoot for.

>>16262136
My dad does gongfu chamomile. Loves it.

Should I try ripe or raw puer first?

Got some duck shit from YS, first time trying it. I'm terrible with tasting notes, but it's definitely got a unique character to it that I haven't found in other tea. The dry leaves smelled almost buttery, and I'm pretty disappointed that didn't end up in the cup, but its still nice.

There's a real smoothness to the liquor that's very pleasant, and its got a lot of minerality to it.

Any advice for brewing it? I'm brewing it at 190F. Started real short at 10 seconds, but I feel like maybe it needs to be steeped a lot harder.

>>16263132
>Any advice for brewing it?
Does it have a decent roast on it? If so
Use a shitload of leaf, like 1g per 10ml, and keep the steeps super short add about 5 seconds per steep. Roasted oolongs really benefit from being pushed to the edge.

>>16263157
I don't drink a lot of oolong so I don't have much of a frame of reference, but just visually it seems like a pretty medium roast. I forgot how big my gaiwan is, but I think it's pretty small, like 100mL, and I used 6g of leaf. I'll try more next time and see how it turns out.

>>16263175
Yeah looking at the picture id say it a medium roast. Definitely give 8-10g a shot.

>Get gong fu set in the mail just a little while ago
>eager to break it in and try tea I've never had before
>brew up an inexpensive sencha, 4.5g/100mL at 70C, 1 minute for first brew, 25 seconds for 2nd brew.
>tastes weak as shit for first 2 brews
>realize I screwed up the leaf/water parameters because I was filling my teapot more than the 100 mL I planned
>Leave brew #3 for twice as long to compensate, use less water and try to salvage what's left of the leaf
>tastes really bitter but no good flavors
>decide shit's fucked, hit it with 90C for #4 for a few min
>Actually somehow tastes much better than #3, no bitterness and I pick up some salty seaweed flavors I detected in the first two brews, but still very weak
I'm just gonna let this cold brew overnight for #5 to extract whatever's left, this was tougher than I thought it would be.

>>16263015
Ripe is easier and cheaper

>>16264177
Yeah sencha is a bit tricky.
The brewing parameters that you posted sould like a decent starting point so you just have to try more at get some more experience. Make sure when you are learning you only change one variable at a time so you know how that one change effects the brew

>>16263015
Ripe is easier but it can be fishy and that scares some people away. Raw has a higher potential but its also harder to buy well and brew well. I have no idea what specific to suggest to people starting out with puer, it's too subjective and there is such a huge variety of flavors out there.

>>16264354
I like ripe but I think all the ones have tried taste kinda samey.
>>16264177
I can't comprehend how that happened, especially how your first brew was weak when it was 1 minute. I got sencha and have just stuck it in this cheap 11oz cast iron teapot using a western-ish leaf to water ration I got for a minute, then +1 minute on the next couple brews. It tasted consistently seaweedy and good. I've yet to gongfu sencha.

>>16264421
>I can't comprehend how that happened
I don't know if I have my expectations set too high, but for one, it had virtually no viscosity. I don't fully understand what "minerality" means but it didn't seem to have much of that, it's like I was drinking water that had some light amounts of seaweed added, not tea. Also I did this on an empty stomach to try and heighten my taste buds, so there was no issue with residual food taste or anything like that. I'll experiment around with it, hopefully it's either the leaf ratio as I mentioned or I just have really shitty leaf. It looked decent and smelled nice though, so I don't think that's it.

>>16264392
>>16264421
If you can deal with ripes, it helps you when you start raws
Raws are really hard to get into without experience

is there a good reason why i should use a gaiwan instead of using my little kyusu for everything?

>>16265086
How little?
It depends on how you want to brew. 100-140 ml is good for gongfu for one. A kyusu is typically larger than that. Beyond the size no there isn't really a reason to use one over the other

looks like xiaguan is opening western storefront. exciting stuff.

>>16265659
Where? That is pretty exciting

>>16265843
xgtea at insta

Does anyone else find the concept of "cha qi" as pushed by western-facing vendors absurdly cringe? At first I didn't know what to think of it, I just heard that sometimes some people get "tea drunk". My initial impression was that it's something people say in jest to describe how they feel after they've drank a bunch of tea. That's still all I think it really is. I've also read that some of the I have has "strong qi" and had no idea what they were talking about. Then I look at vendors like white2tea and how they talk about the cha qi and cake their tea in weird marketing. As of late, I realized, it looks like they're trying to market tea like it's a drug. As if some hipsters are going to get deluded into thinking they can get high on tea and start a trend of buying it for that purpose and making them money. So far, looks like that's unsuccessful.

What is the best tea and why is it jasmine tea?

>>16265898
I mean, there's certainly a feeling you get after drinking a lot of tea. Some tea certainly gets you there faster, probably has to do with what chemical compounds form or decay in processing. In like 30 years when some grad students need something easy to study for their thesis, I'm sure there'll be a big study on the various active compounds in tea.

Favorite odd sips?
Lapacho tree bark and walnut leaf are pretty interesting, have to be brewed though.

What's the difference between tea like left and right? Is it just how dry it is? Also, which is better?

>>16266788
left is rolled and darker, giving a yellower liquid. looks like gunpowder green tea? always found it a bit smokey (not good in a green tea)
right looks greener, unrolled and not too broken up. without tasting i'd probably bet right is better

>>16265898
Tea drunkenness is vaguely real as I see it, but not in the way a lot of sellout nerds like to suggest, and partially related to one's personal pleasure derived from sipping a particular tea. Yes, I do believe that tea can provide a range of effects outside of straight caffeine stimulation and that it changes from tea to tea, but it is nowhere near the drug-like inebriation some liken it to. That is straight fantasy in my opinion. Maybe you really need some dank gushu though, I don't know.

>>16265898
I've always just interpreted it as a fantastical way of saying "relaxing"

>>16265898
>>16266823
I think "tea drunk" is somewhat real in the sense that the caffeine effects of tea are not exactly the same as other sources of caffeine like coffee or pills. The latter make me anxious and jittery in high amounts, whereas if I get a large dose of caffeine from drinking a lot of tea quickly, I get a bit disoriented (I don't tolerate caffeine that well), my body feels "weird," and if anything I can focus less on tasks because I'm more focused on how my body is feeling. That doesn't mean I'm inebriated, of course, and the main effect passes after an hour or so, subsequently followed by a period of calm alertness that is more typical of tea. Basically my impression is that tea drunkenness is combined with an excessively unpleasant dose of caffeine but with L-theanine and other compounds to make it feel more pleasant.

ordering some morning tea from upton. Last time i got the Assam and the china keemum. I liked the keemum better.

any reccs?

>>16266880
Thats basically the same as what I experience. Ataraxia is a better word than drunkenness.
Coffee makes me alert but I get anxious when I drink coffee. Meanwhile I can drink tea all day (usually Japanese green) and I feel alert but I'm not anxious. Switching from coffee to tea did as much for me as taking escitalopram. I'm so much less anxious now

>>16266996
for me it is more like being drunk, i get tunnel vision and giddy

>>16265898
>As of late, I realized, it looks like they're trying to market tea like it's a drug.
tea has been viewed as medicine in china forever dude

i dont want to dick around with a gaiwan. So for oolongs should i just steep a normal amount equivelant to black tea, steep for 3 mins, then resteep a few more times?

>>16267023
yep but the shorter the steep times the more steeps you can do, gong fu is typically 5g/100ml starting at 20 seconds and +5 seconds for every steep

>>16266996
>Coffee makes me alert but I get anxious when I drink coffee.
Aside from typically containing less caffeine, tea also naturally offers L-theanine, which surely helps alleviate your symptoms considering its effectiveness as an anxiolytic substance. I suppose that is also why your association of 'ataraxia' may be more effective than "cha qi", as it suggests the associated benefits of the amino acids in tea.
>>16267007
Different anon, but "cha qi" outside of China seems to be referenced more as a body feeling than as a medicinal or spiritual force. Like "woah man, I am so giggly and bubbly, totally tea drunk" rather than some Chinese medicine mysticism which may be more traditionally associated with the East. It is usually not beneficial for western audiences either way.

>>16267037
Cha qi is fine I just think drunkenness isn't the best English language word for what it is

>>16266971
Yeah if you liked the china tea better you might want to dive into getting some chinese black teas from somewhere like yunnan sourcing .us
I tink uptpn is generally better for english style teas and blends than they are for the straight Chinese teas.

>>16267680
cool thanks

how much should a quality gaiwan cost?

>>16268212
Its a bowl and a lid. As long as they're not absolute bottom barrel, they all work the same. You're paying for artistry over function, so the question doesn't make much sense.

>>16268212
glazed? cheap as possible, unless your really like the loom of it
unglazed? you're paying for the material and the effect it will have on the brewed tea so as much as an unglazed teapot of what every meme clay its made from

>>16268212
$10-30 unless you are getting something fancy. I like thin white porcelain in the 100-130ml range. There are actually some pretty decent cheap ones on sliexpress if you don't mind digging and waiting for shipping.

>>16268398
some good looking gaiwans / stores i found last time i was looking on ali
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002276354079.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000484144074.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/Cover-bowl/5584169_517437017.html
https://luwu.aliexpress.com/store/group/Ceramic-gaiwan/1912656_512400968.html
https://sjzmicai.aliexpress.com/store/group/Gaiwan/4787008_514486118.html
and this store with a ton of decent looking cheap reproductions of antique chinese teacups
https://tuoduwuju.aliexpress.com/store/group/All-Handmade-Tea-Cup-1/3665069_512793224.html

>>16268420
Fuck those store links didn't work

how do you all feel about bowl brewing (particularly like grandpa style brewing)
is it better in bowl or cup?

>>16268420
lemme try that again, sorry these links have spm in them, if you know how ali link works these are obviously not personal referral links.
https://luwu.aliexpress.com/store/group/Ceramic-gaiwan/1912656_512400968.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_6050986.1_0_1
https://sjzmicai.aliexpress.com/store/group/Gaiwan/4787008_514486118.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_34729727.1_0_0
and cool teacups,
https://tuoduwuju.aliexpress.com/store/group/All-Handmade-Tea-Cup-1/3665069_512793224.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_home.pcShopHead_6415465.1_2

>>16268520
big mug, for me around 350-400ml
I used a smaller mug for years and it was a hassle. had to refill way to often. Ive never tried a big gaiwan for grampa but im guessing it would be a hassle, with a mug you are refilling before you drink it down far enough to worry about drinking leaf, but with a gaiwan you would have to constantly use to lid while you are sipping to keep the leaf out of your mouth because it is wide and low.

>>16268520
I have a 500ml mug with an orb shape. Its thick ceramic and has black bears on it

>>16268520
I always have trouble with accidentally drinking some of the leaves, never been a big fan of grandpa style

>>16268605
Grampa style separates the wheat from the chaff, if a tea isn't tasty and enjoyable to drink grampa style brewed will fully boiling water its not worth the effort to brew it "correctly"

What temperature do you guys brew Long Jing at? I'm seeing recommendations all over the place online, but centered around ~80C. It seems like it can handle higher temps than a Japanese tea overall?

>>16269061
I think i used 90°c last time i did it somewhere in the 80-90 range should be a good starting point

I've been cold brewing dragonwell in growlers. 10g per qt.

It's pretty based. Not for your top shelf shit, but it's perfectly economical for some tea vivre stuff.

>>16269372
That is pretty based
I gotta try cold brewing with some cheap bricked yancha

>>16269388

The subtleties don't come out. It's objectively grading down the tea. But only minorly. And it doesn't have the astringency problem making it hot and cooling it down does, and its easier.

Kenji Lopez-alt has a good detailed write up on serious eats about it.

>>16269410
>Kenji Lopez-alt

We don't do that here.

wuyi oolong is pretty great

>>16256694
>Also get your test levels up if you're scared of tea.
>grandmas encounter these issues in the late 90s
you are ASSuming that i am not figuring this out for an older relative
>If you've got worse gene than that, look inward
retard take tons of fluoride issues are not genetic but environmental especially in certain areas that have had problems with local water quality
<from drinking shitty tea 30x a day for a century
oh shit nvm probably means something she used to binge cheap shit
not sure if you know but here in Murica there are many things with fluoride and consequently some people get fluoride poisoning and bone issues due to it. my grandmother has this issue needs to avoid a ton of foods not just tea due to it levels being high, shit like shellfish and other things. the sad thing is that drinking coffee and tea was one of her favorite things to do to the point of religiously doing so and that along with health complications. she has been bummed out since having to quit so i wanted to see if there was an exception to this fluoride issue. i did research on it and i kept reading ''fluoride is negligible in higher quality teas" and "highest levels were found in cheap teas" yet not many naming exact brands so i asked here since usually 4chan knows their shit. but apparently even when watered without fluoridated water the tea plant tends to collect it and just has more. we checked again with the doctor and they said to just avoid tea for her so oh well thanks for the suggestion anyways, ill keep Xiaguan in mind for myself. either way a lesson to learn for other anons, eat your calcium, filter your water and dont binge cheap shit tea like a feral jew you will save money but pay with health in the long run. im sure that is common sense for all of you but apparently not for gramma

>>16271173
Yeah that's tough anon, most higher e d teas don't really have brands, they are sold by tea merchants from small independent farmers and sonthey aren't really branded the way say tetly teabags are.

Coof

>>16259830
Upton teas has two different kinds of Korean tea. The most famous Korean tea comes from Osulloc which is based and grown on Jeju island. I don't think you can buy it unless you visit Korea. Although it's quite tasty. I just stocked up on my last trip over there.

Any recommendations for books about tea?

>>16272179
There is a good one listed in the pastebin, most aren't that great

>>16271173
Literally just drop $100 on a site to get free shipping. Purple Cloud will get your stuff to you in 3-4 days. Sit down with gma and read her off some teas, see if anything piques her interest. If she doesn't like a cake, its yours. If she does, write it down and acquire more.

>>16272179
https://pathofcha.com/pages/tea-literature-documentaries

>>16272546
anon's grandma probably drinks more mainstream tea types then what Purple Cloud sells. Upton Tea Imports is probably a better recommendation without any other context as to what they like. i like my heicha but i don't think it makes a good blind recommendation unless you know they are looking to try something new.

>>16272546
>>16272761
I just want to add that Upton has free shipping over $40 for the next few days so you can pay a relatively low amount of money on samples of different teas.

>>16243814
And get one of them cotton filters ASAP.

>>16272964
I'm the teapot anon, I brewed the sencha without issue a few days ago, no filter needed.

>>16256341
Sodium flouride is good for you.

>>16268520
Big mug, something like >>16268539 said or even 500ml. Half as much tea you would put in a gaiwan and only one brew. Comes out great for me each time.

>>16273003
Not really, it's good for teeth when directly contacting them but it doesn't really benefit you when taken oraly. Also it calcifies your pineal gland.

How much do you anons find your teas to change after resting some time in your personal storage post delivery? One of my teas lost some intensity (maybe just temporary), another had a sudden honey note pop up, and one is changing aroma note focus. Only around a week's difference in time, so I am quite surprised and confused.

>>16273772
They tend to be a bit dull right out of the mail and open up some after a week or two. Beyond that i don't really notice any major changes to teas in my storage.

>>16273809
Yes, I believe that is reasonable to suggest based on my current experience. However, I am experiencing something very confusing that I am now only just realizing after trying another tea. The aromas, while still notable in their whole cake form, do not properly exhibit the qualities they initially offered on delivery. The flavors have lost some complexity. I am curious if my somewhat anaerobic storage methods may be causing this. These are white tea cakes, kept in sealed plastic bags within a closed metal tin. Initially, I found that such storage was fine or even ideal, as wet storage conditions ruined some of my other white tea. I am starting to question what else may be causing this. Unsure of how I should proceed, or what I should test. White tea storage is an unexplored territory in some ways.

>>16273870
What is your ambient humidity where you live?
Anyway i think you are maybe overanalyzing things a bit, there is going to be some variation from session to session. It's beast sometimes to just relax and enjoy drinking instead of being heavily analytical about every session.

>>16273978
>What is your ambient humidity where you live?
It is difficult to answer this accurately as my present living conditions don't have a consistent, stable temperature value at all times. So, ambient humidity will vary too much for me to confidently claim anything. It is more dry than humid, though.
>i think you are maybe overanalyzing things a bit, there is going to be some variation from session to session.
It is certainly possible, as I am still human. Though, I usually take such drastic changes to be a sign of ineffective storage. The session was not horrible today, but despite my methodical care and preparation, it did not possess the pleasant subtleties I anticipated, and was even a touch more bitter. I do not believe this is just one bad brewing session, as my other teas are reacting similarly. I want to act as soon as possible, but am unsure what to change. Wet storage will negatively affect it based on my previous experience. Not sure if it would be better off with continuous direct exposure to air or not.

How do I make matcha?
I'm not invested enough to get the bamboo whisk and all that stuff just yet, trying to work out if i even like it.
First time I tried it i just spooned it in hot water and mixed, I know its not the right way, there was no froth and a sludge at the bottom, but it tasted good to me, no bitterness.
2nd time I put it in a mason jar and shaked it so it properly mixed, it seemed to work and it got a foam, but it tasted horrible and like soap.

>>16274180
you buy a bamboo whisk
they're really cheap

>>16274180
You have to whisk it with something.
Also most matcha tastes like shit. I try really hard not to be a tea snob but there is just a ton of matcha on the market that blows. The only really safe place to buy it is from good tea sellers in japan, or a serious place that's local to you if you are really lucky, it needs to be relatively fleshly ground, properly stored and made with very high quality base leaf material. If you just buy matcha from some random website or store it's probably just cheap ground up green tea from china.

>>16262136
I planted some chamomile plants last year and have been harvesting the flowers for tea
The tea made from fresh flowers completely changed the way I see chamomile its very sweet and fruity, if you havent tried tried making it with fresh flowers It's something you have to try

>>16275464
Nice, is it easy to grow?

Are these actually good for any better, unflavoured teas?
I'm also getting a gaiwan at least, but not sure I want to get a proper clay pot just yet

>>16275657
I use one like this with slightly bigger holes which feels like it lets the water move around better. I think it's easier to get at least a decent brew with this compared to a gaiwan, I've used relatively high quality oolong and green. It might miss subtle flavors compared to an expert brew, unsure

I've prolly got covid. Does TCM say ripe or raw to cure me?

>>16243719
Be careful about drinking too much tea. i used to drink 4-7 cups a day and my heart begin to beat hard and i started sweating randomly. i had to go to the hospital for a blood transfusion because the tea had sucked all of the iron out of my body. granted my meal plans probably weren't that great, but the tea made it worse.

>>16276038
the tea was called sri lankin green tea, brand was sebastian. dry leaf stronger stuff. i read online that you're not spose to drink more than 1 cup per day. but it was a schizo site so thats my only source.

>>16276056
>>16276038

eat some red meat anon, wtf is your problem

>>16276038
I'm a vegan (yes I know cringe) and drink tea and heard of tea lessening iron absorption but read that it just affects plant iron, not what's in meat. That's probably how Tibetans who drink many tea every day get by. But anyways the advice I've been following to lessen the effect is to not drink tea with meals (as in wait like 30 minutes), and to actually get enough iron in the first place.

>>16276038
>tea had sucked all of the iron out of my body.
What the fuck?

Shit, I should eat more meat.

>Guangzhou City, has been handed over to carriers transport, affected by the outbreak traffic control, mail time limit is longer than usual

oh come the fuck on, you lazy chinks. chop chop.

>>16275657
I have a similar strainer and really like it

>>16275657
I use one for black tea. I think most black tea is better western style with milk. Other than that I use my kyusus because I don't like using a gaiwan and I'm a weeb

>>16277688
>I'm a weeb
based

A long time ago I had a black tea with a nutty aftertaste. I have no idea what it was. Anyone got tea suggestions for something along those lines?

>>16277688
>most black tea is better western style
I see you are a man of cult-
>with milk
Neck yourself, weeb.

man i love old puer
i really wish i was aware of this stuff a decade ago, the current prices make me weep

I had some darjeeling at an Indian restaurant the other day, and it was the most delicious tea I've ever had. Would it be weird if I asked them what brand of tea they use? What are some good darjeeling brands?

>>16278153
the only proper cuppa is black tea with sugar and milk, like the queen

fuck off with your swamp grass water

>>16243719
I really like gin, but I'll also infuse black pepper or chilies into vodka. It's delicious and has all kinds of uses.

>>16278500
>What are some good darjeeling brands?
If you live in the us check out upton tea online, there are also some sellers in india in the pastebin. You should probably try and sample second flush Darjeeling first then first flush if you want something lighter and greener.
A good starting point is Margaret's hope estate second flush

I'm too poor to drink tea

What tea do I drink to stave off this heatwave
Longjing?

>>16279217
I'd definitely go with a delicate green, something that brews well at a 70C or lower, like a Sencha. My thought is that boiling liquids are excessively hot and just make things worse, while moderately hot liquids will push you past the threshold of sweating but not heat you unnecessarily.

>>16279396
you DRINK all of your teas in a similar temperature you fucking dweeb
>boiling liquids
jesus man

>>16279422
Bullshit. Brew a tea with 70C water and again at 100C, pour it into the same container after the same amount of time. The 70C one will be way cooler, obviously. Even if you let the hotter one cool down for a bit, blow on it, etc, you are still most likely going to be drinking it at a hotter temperature than whatever the 70C gets down to by the time it reaches your lips.

>>16279422
the difference between 70 and 100 is pretty noticeable
>>16279396
Yeah that was my thought with longjing, I only have that and some old jasmine when it comes to greens, most my supply is puerh and white.

I miss winter bros

>>16279430
In China it's hot all the time innit? Yet they drink tea all the time. We think of hot tea as a cold weather beverage which I definitely think so too, but that's interesting. I also heard that hot drinks might actually help cool you down.

>>16279457
I've given this a lot of thought, obviously drinking hot tea is not going to directly cool you off, but all that matters assuming you have a functioning hypothalamus is the *perception* of being hot/cold. The most uncomfortable time for me is when I am just on the verge of breaking a sweat, my body feels like it's on fire because the negative feedback mechanism hasn't kicked in yet. Once you break a sweat though you reach an equilibrium and no longer feel like you are "heating up," you are just hot and sweaty. Drinking hot tea skips any pretense of possibly staving off sweating, instead it encourages it and also increases circulation to your extremities so you are undergoing maximum heat loss.

If you drank hot tea nonstop faster than your body was able to cool itself off, then you might have a problem, but a cup every so often throughout the day makes you feel more consistently "hot," instead of fighting a losing battle of trying to cool off. I also notice I subconsciously move around less if I am hot but not sweating, whereas once I have broken a sweat I move more normally because at that point the discomfort from anticipating sweat is no longer present.

>>16279457
As far as I know, green tea is a summer drink for the chinese
Also, Northern China gets cold, Southern China is hot tropical swampy wet and humid.
I'm fine with hot drinks when it's hot and understand how they can cool you, but I'm pretty sure boiling 7 grams of puerh in my yixing isn't going to help with 40C heat

>>16279429
I let my tea cool down to at least 140 degrees so I don't get throat cancer. Have to wait longer for teas that steep at higher temps like puer but who cares

>>16279609
You put a thermometer in the pitcher?

>>16279658
Nah, I just do it by feel. I like gyokuro and I brew that at 140 degrees so I can gauge it pretty decently just by taking a sip. I use a thermometer when I am letting water cool

for me it's very hot tea in the middle of the summer

>>16279708
>140
>60 Celsius
My kettle only goes down to 70, and I have to admit I never use that option

>>16279868
I heat water in a kettle then put it in a pyrex measuring cup with a electric thermometer clipped on the inside. Then just let it cool to the desired temperature

chad southerner sweet tea > any other kind of gay hipster european teas

>>16280279
sweet tea may be the gayest form of tea next to milk tea

>>16280289
>he doesnt sit on his porch in a rocking chair with a pitcher of iced sweet tea garnished with a lemon while smoking out of a corncob pipe
I don't dig yo shig, foo

>>16280302
Sun tea is the superior cold tea
>he doesn't brew his tea under the desert sun and have a nice sip of strong, flavorful tea while chilling with horny toad bros under the date palms

>>16280315
>more hipster shit
sorry, pilgrim. ain't a thing but a chicken wing and a pitcher of peach tay

>>16280373
>hipster
m8 suntea been a part of southwestern culture for a hundred years.
It's a poverty drink, but it's really good because it's very robust without turning bitter

What, you guys don't have whiskey rocks to cool your tea down quickly?

>>16280315
last year i sun brewed some oolong and it was bubbling as fast as my homebrew beer did. didn't kill me, tasted fine

>>16281316
I just brew it slightly strong and then drop an ice cube in there to cool it down.

>>16282179
I find adding non-boiled water, even just a little, tends to ruin the flavor.

>>16281316
if I brew a tea western style I like to make it in a thermos and then pour into a smaller cup that lets it cool down quickly. Also pouring from high up helps it reach a drinkable temp much faster

Lads, I spent a fortune and many years drinking lots of tea. Every kind of tea from all over. I have now settled on drinking a simple brew of white tea every morning. White tea is simply the way tea is meant to be

>>16282676
What kind of white tea friend? Indian? Chinese? Silver needle? Bai mu dan?
Where do you buy it from?

>>16282073
I never had it bubble, been doing it for years in tons if different weather conditions
White tea suntea is the GOAT

>Tfw all the white tea posts as of late after months of same old same old.
Feels comfy, my fellow white tea enthusiast brethren.

>>16283643
Try coldbrew, it's like suntea but not a meme

Do any of you anons find warm weathers kill your tea's quality due to increased oxidation? Furthermore, do you think time spent in cooler storage may reverse or halt this? My teas are tasting worse each day, and the only variable that has changed is an increasingly unbearably hot weather average.

>>16284090
Isn't fullchea in southern costal china? Guangdong or something?
I'm pretty sure their storage is 75% humidity and 80°f all summer.

>>16284090
Have you noticed which tea types are affected? Is it green in particular?

>>16284125
I am not sure. That said, my environment is surely drier, and been hot for the past few weeks (today is around 95F). Yet, when I put a boveda with my white teas before, subtle notes and flavor saturation overall were made worse compared to when dry. Aroma degraded. My cakes are quickly becoming noticeably flat and flavorless, which is confusing and very concerning. I am not sure how I can fix this. I am starting to wonder if they need more air circulation than my metal tin will provide.
>>16284138
Whites especially, no greens or blacks. My single oolong was fine last I had it, but it has been too long to say surely. My pu'er has been okay (though they are in separate pumidors), but I haven't had it in a few weeks now. All I can think of is environmental temperature or airflow. While dry, I don't think it is just humidity.

Compounding on the post I just made. I tried some of the pu'er, and it is also flat. Aroma was nowhere near as potent as it should be either. I am becoming convinced that the hot environment is killing all of my tea. My space hotboxes easily, and I believe this is impacting all of my tea during the increasingly aggressive heat. Weak flavor, aroma, and texture. The pu'er I kept out of my pumidor was equally weak in aroma, which suggests to me that this is not an issue of humidity.

This is highly disturbing, as it happened in a short time. If I cannot restore the health of my tea, it is all worthless and destined for the bin. I just got my new tea as well, what an unfortunate waste. I hate Summer so much, I sincerely wish it was Winter forever.

>>16284068
Suntea is trad though, and a family tradition

>>16284290
i dont think i would worry all that much buddy, most traditional storage places are pretty hot and humid which increases the fermentation and development for aging. I think I sorta know what you mean though, especially when i am getting a delivery of tea it does not really live up to my expectation but letting the tea air out or breathe sometimes just like jumpstarts or brings back the tea

also, this could be just a perception problem with you. flavor comes and goes and some days you are just not as good at tasting, go out on a long hike and tire yourself out, bring yourself to deaths door and drink the tea. it will make you remember what you like about it and it will be some of the best tea youve had.

Pick my poison /tea/

>>16285227
Last digit of my post is the number you pick, 2nd to last digit determines color. Odd = red, even = green. If you roll something that isn't in the pic you don't get to drink tea tonight.

>>16285274
Neat, white tea

>>16285274
this level of effort is why i keep coming here

>>16285227
>>16285274
Dubs for the lipton in the corner

>>16284752
>most traditional storage places are pretty hot and humid which increases the fermentation and development for aging.
When increasing humidity, my pu'er performed reasonably, but my whites became worse. I think the extreme heat my space sometimes manifests is playing with my typical humidity values to offset consistency, or cause unwanted rapid oxidation. Both my whites and pu'er are impaired very noticeably either way.
>this could be just a perception problem with you. flavor comes and goes and some days you are just not as good at tasting
I am open to this possibility. However, I have been experiencing this over time mostly very recently, and this has only occurred since temps increased. This is a recent trend, which I only noticed periodically before (just like how my room only periodically hotboxed). I moved my tea to a cooler space away from my main domicile, with hope to see it improved in some days. Not sure how long it will need to show its qualities again. I am also considering airing them out, but I can't say if that is ideal or not.

>>16285274
Damn that's a big ys order

Early morning (late night) bricked yancha.
This stuff is maybe a tiny bit larger than fannings grade but the quality of the base material is pretty nice. Apparently a lot of these bricked oolongs are pretty crappy.

Anyone know where i can get a good quality Buddha's hand / Buddha's finger oolong?

>>16286265
Probably cause oolong is more specialty in the process to make it. Either that or they do more loose aging and roasting over the years.

>>16286265
Tea bricks are for eating not drinking.

just got the Yunnan Sourcing Brand Ripe Pu-erh Tea Sampler for 2020, and I've tried 3 teas at this point and have liked them all for different reasons. This is my first venture into puer and I am wondering if the first few infusions (brewing gongfu) after rinsing the tea are always so dirty tasting? I have only been doing one very quick rinse and usually by the third infusion the tea will start to actually open up. Should I be doing another rinse or is this pretty typical?

>>16287884
it's typical of small brand fresh ripes.
let's hope you won't get sick to your stomach.
next time be sure to ask for some advice before you spend your hard earned money on swamp leaves.

>>16287987
Not sick, at least not yet. I read the the pastebin and didn't come across this warning but I'll be more careful in the future. Thanks anon. Any other advice or warnings you could give?

>>16288018
besides reading and actively asking questions (we're pretty friendly here, just won't suffer fools gladly) here's my advice https://www.fullchea-tea.com/haiwan-2019-yr-pu-er-cha-9978-batch-191-shu-puer-te-357g-p0473.html
if you're willing to gamble $16 for a full cake.

>>16287884
>>16288018
This anon >>16287987
is fucking with you, and is probably the "puer lesbian" shitposter.
Ripe puers are more likely to settle your stomach than to upset it.
Raw however, can cause light nausea if drank on an empty stomach.

Tightly pressed ripes can for sure take a longer initial rinse to open them up, just play around with it and see what you enjoy.

>>16287884
most ripe puerh will taste somewhat earthy its just the nature of the tea. it is after all literally composted tea leaves. I consider it to be something of an acquired taste. ripe puerh is more likely to have off putting funky notes for the first year or so after production after which it tends to settle down a bit (the tea you have may still be a bit young). badly made ripe like sketchy no name brand productions can sometimes simply be bad and will have a off taste indefinitely.

>Should I be doing another rinse or is this pretty typical?
i would suggest to try and see what works for you. there is no one correct way to brew tea. i for example skip the rinse most of the time.

>>16288018
>>16287987 is very opinionated. he hates YS and will take any opportunity to bash them. YS is in no way the end all be all of puerh but the have some good stuff as well.

>>16288081
>Ripe puers are more likely to settle your stomach than to upset it.
eh, ripes can cause some upset stomach as well. its not the same type of irritation as raw but it definitely can happen especially if you are drinking large volumes. the funk does not always agree with my gi.

>>16288081
>is fucking with you, and is probably the "puer lesbian" shitposter.
>>16287884
is very opinionated. he hates YS and will take any opportunity to bash them.

I'm none of the above but these are the trappings of every 4chin general.
Maybe my advice was wrong and you're better off exploring on your own instead of asking here. Watch teadb on basics, farmer leaf on autism or meileaf on aggressive shilling to facebook tier crowd.

Why is everyone obsessed with Chinese fermented tea? Is it that regular black/green/white tea is a "solved" game with consistent flavors so the only thing worth discussing is gambling on fermented cakes?

I was making cold brew oolong last night and I left it out on the counter and I forgot to put it in the fridge is it safe to drink

I'm trying to find a cheap but good jasmine green tea that has a strong jasmine flavor. Is this a trustworthy one? It has good reviews but I don't want to get lead poisoning
https://www.amazon.com/TIAN-HU-SHAN-Premium-Organic/dp/B086X3NY2K/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1

>>16288305
It taste good

>>16288305
It's definitely not "solved"
It's like asking why people drink spirits when beer and wine exist

Hey anons I'm new to /tea/ was previously a coffee drinker but my doctor suggested I switch to tea for the antioxidants due to liver disease. I know green tea is the best in that aspect but I don't really care for it. I've been drinking loose leaf English breakfast but I wanna switch it up, could someone suggest a good oolong for me please? Preferably something sweet and fruity. Thanks in advance! :)

>>16288391
They actually have their own storefront on amazon eh? Give it a shot anon, i can't make any promises but I'm guessing it will be acceptable, a sort of slightly higher grade of asian market Jasmine tea. Just stay the fuck away from their "Japanese" tea and "matcha"

>>16244529
>>16244507
Review friend do you have a pastebin or something with all your reviews? They really really help me when buying from places like fullchea that are light on user reviews or descriptions. I also really like reading them.

>>16289119
Don't wprry so much about green tea vs black tea fpr antioxidants, there isn't that big of a difference, for me the biggest advantage over coffee is that tea is smoother and doesn't make me jittery even when i drink a lot of it and get loaded on caffeine.
If you want to start drinking oolongs i can recommended checking out this shop, i think their prices are okay and i really like all the teas i got from them.
They have a very nicely priced beginners sampler so you can try a bunch of teas and find out what you like the most.
https://www.tea-masters.com/en/samplers/1437-teamasters-sampler-for-beginners-april-2021.html
You could also try some tie guan yin specifically, medium roast, i think that's a decent bet for fruity.

>>16275561
It's a weed. Unironically ruins gardens.

>>16288369
Yes, you aren't going to get mold in under 24h at room temp.

>>16289213
I'm a different anon, but I've been looking into trying Tie Guan Yin after having my first oolong (se chung). I liked the buttery taste of it, but I'm also open to other flavors, do you have any advice in the matter? It seems like TGY can vary greatly depending on roast level.

>>16289313
>It seems like TGY can vary greatly depending on roast level
Yeah that and fermentation level
Try it out, it's very good,
I'm struggling a bit to suggest a good place to buy some, i was going to say tea-masters but they are low on stock.
My next suggestion would be https://kingteamall.com/collections/tieguanyin/products/2019-autumn-xiao-qing-special-grade-tieguanyin-oolong-tea
But they are under lockdown right now and it might take weeks for them to ship.
Chawang shop only has 20+ year old ones and that's a bad starting point
So i guess i would recommend yunnan sourcing
Some of this
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/anxi-oolong-tea-tie-guan-yin/products/charcoal-roasted-gan-de-village-tie-guan-yin-oolong-tea-of-anxi
And some of this
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/anxi-oolong-tea-tie-guan-yin/products/light-roast-premium-tie-guan-yin-anxi-oolong-tea
So you can decide how you like it
Maybe some off this as well
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/anxi-oolong-tea-tie-guan-yin/products/fancy-tie-guan-yin-of-anxi-iron-goddess-oolong-tea-of-fujian
He does have some greener ones as well, and you could try one of those but i don't really think they are very good usually. Anyway it might be worth looking through his whole selection of anxi oolongs and deciding what you want to try based on descriptions and customer reviews.
I don't know if i would call anxi oolongs buttery, i guess you could, kind of a creamyness and that oolong tang but im probably just mincing words, i think you will enjoy them

>>16289259
Haha thanks

Reminder that the vast majority of lesbian domestic violence is caused by puer drunkenness. Please don’t support such a vile product. Drink Oolong instead.

>>16289869
Excellent, thanks for the advice.

>>16289176
I don't have a pastebin or direct link archive, but I have kept each entry dated, including a picture with each on my phone. So, I can refer to any of the nearly 50 or so teas I have tried and journaled on if there are any in particular you want feedback on. A few may not have been posted, but most were. They are usually a touch more verbose than the ones you linked to. Here are some of my other recent white tea reviews:
>>16223725
>>16212953
I haven't been sure if the thread was losing frequent posters, or if people were sick of seeing my journal notes. So, it's nice to have someone still expressing interest and opening a dialogue.

>>16290268
>I haven't been sure if the thread was losing frequent posters
I think it has, we used to have 3 or 4 reviewers

>>16290455
They were all beaten by their butch SOs for brewing raw too hot.

>>16290455
Surely, it is bound to happen after people run out of new teas and tisanes. I have personally tried seemingly everything I own with exception of a barley sampler and freebie mini tuos. It is always really fun to spend time documenting my experiences with new teas. Sharing my notes helped me acquire helpful feedback to improve my skills. It is unfortunate almost nobody is doing this anymore, but I still appreciate the time we have shared.

>>16290268
>I haven't been sure if the thread was losing frequent posters, or if people were sick of seeing my journal notes.
i am still here at least i have just been a bit busy and have not felt like posting as much. i suspect the same goes for the other regulars. activity tends to eb and flow. it is not like there are very many of us here in the first place. i doubt you have caused anyone here to leave.

also i think your tea will likely be fine and you come off as being a bit anxious. its fine trying to optimize things and experiment but at some point things are out of your control and there is nothing more you can do but wait and hope. no amount of worrying will make your tea taste better so try and just sit back and enjoy your tea perhaps it is not the best tea in the world but it is yours. attempt to not to get lost in the fear of missing out lest you lose your chance to appreciate what you already have. easier said than done i know.

hope you don't mind me going off on a bit of a tangent there. good luck tea friend

>>16290455
I haven't bought anything in months so no reviews. I probably can post a few at somepoint but it feels silly to review all these oolongs i have 20 grams each of that you can probably only buy on tmall

>>16290594
I got into tea a week ago and I've been documenting my results pretty thoroughly, but my notes aren't really worth sharing, at least not yet. I think it's natural to get to a point where you know what you like and the experimenting phase ends, at that point there isn't much to discuss. I am thankful to the people that stick around in here to help a newfag like me though.

Found some genmaicha in the back of my cabinet. It's like over 4 years old. It looks and smells fine though. Should I just brew it?

>>16290766
Don't be a pussy, brew it up.

>>16290455
I guess I'll do a review next thread then

>>16290606
>i think your tea will likely be fine
We will see in due time. I was concerned the other day, as I am quick to notice great fluctuations with my tea associated with environmental disturbances or storage otherwise. It happened to some of my whites and heicha in the past, though much more slowly and less severely. Thankfully, I believe I am starting to understand more why this may have been. I've already taken measures to 'heal' my tea, so I hope to see improvements soon. Not sure when I should give them another test tasting, though.
>try and just sit back and enjoy your tea
That is my intention. I remembered I had a spare bag of Tao of Tea "500 Mile" chai and made coldbrew of it the other night, which I am having now. It seems I'll have something sweet and pleasant to sip on while I allow my main stash to rest. I didn't want the harshness of the hot brewed leaf, and it comes in shreds, so this seems about right. I am grateful something I have is turning out okay. Pic related, the coldbrew.
>hope you don't mind me going off on a bit of a tangent there. good luck tea friend
Not at all; I appreciate your continued support. Thank you for your confidence.
>>16290662
Feel free to post your notes if you ever want feedback on a troublesome infusion. It has been helpful for me to get such advice when I first started out. Getting community input can reveal possibilities you may not have considered otherwise, and the anons here have been very accomodating in that regard. Happy brewing.
>>16290766
Will probably taste/feel a touch flat compared to before, but it's most likely still okay to use. If you are concerned, just give it a quick examination for any obvious disturbances.

So it was mentioned upthread but the address didn't get posted. Xiaguan is opening up a western storefront (usa i think) at https://xgtea.shop/
Xiaguan is my favorite big puer factory and they make some nice black and green teas as well. I'm pretty hyped, i will try and remember to add it to the pastebin tomorrow.
In the meantime when kingteamall gets out of lockdown again they are a good place to get younger single origin xiaguan cakes, which can give you a much better price to quality ratio then buying stuff from small vendor producers.
Right now stuff from 2011 to 2017 or so is undervalued compared to the rest of the market so it's a good rime to be getting those teas, 2011-2013 finally started creeping up in price recently so that window is closing.

>>16291021
Thanks for the reminder about Xiaguan. Wonder what their non-pu'er is like. I only have one experience with them, with a 2009 Xiaguan 8653 sheng. Was a weirdly varied one according to my notes, though I'd be willing to give them another try if I can get a decent deal on something more gentle.
>KTM
Isn't their 10%-off sale over? They still have the advertisement up on the site, but also say the sale was to last until the 15th (and it is almost the 17th).

>>16291086
Ive had one of their black tea cakes, the one on ktm, and it was good, it's getting a little old now for a black tea so im not sure if id get it now, but they have some newer loose leaf blacks. It
t was complex, flavorful and just generally nice to drink

>>16291296
How good are black tea cakes generally?

Why does this pu'er cake look like this
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/2020-yunnan-raw-pu-erh-old-tree-camellia-pu-erh-tea-honey-fragrance-sheng-pu-erh-cake-357g-p0742.html

>>16292017
It appears to be comprised of camellia flowers. Seems interesting, haven't had such a product before myself.

>>16291886
Id would guess they generally aren't that great, none of the ones on fullchea look very encouraging, i guess the Yunnan sourcing house ones are okay.

can anyone decipher these instructions?
Its a mountain grown sencha

>>16292255
>can anyone decipher these instructions?
yes

>>16292255
1. Dispense fragrant water into cups from juden nose-looking water dispensing machine
2. Put stuff in the teapot
3. Pour water from the cups into the teapot
4. Pour it back into the cups
5. Done

>>16292334
i don't have a jewish nose machine
can i still make this tea?

reviews are the gayest fucking thing in this thread
gayer than puer lesbians

>>16292255
My Japanese is pretty rusty, but if you ask the /djt/ on /int/ they might help you since they're usually pretty helpful.
>>>/int/146868846

>>16292255
You can get the google translate app on your phone and then just point your camera at the text, not shure why you need to tho, it's pretty clear.
3 to 5 grams, steep at 70°c (60°c for a more mild taste)
Steep for 1:30 for the first brew, increase to 2:30 for the second brew.
The only thing that's not totally clear is the water to leaf ratio but it's probably 250-300ml for 3-5 grams.

>>16291021
>https://xgtea.shop/
i hope that their prices are good so that they are actually worth ordering from. wonder when they will open up.

>>16291021
>2011 to 2017 or so is undervalued compared to the rest of the market
i would be inclined to say the last several years have simply been overpriced. hopefully the prices settle down a bit. I hate it when collectors come in and ruin the prices of a hobby i am am part off.

>>16291886
pressed Dian Hong can be quite nice. its rare to find any other type of full leaf black tea pressed into cakes though i don't see why it would not work. however, i would avoid the tea dust bricks though as i doubt they taste very good.

Yerba mate or matcha?

Is Kombucha allowed here?

I'm on the way of my first brewing and was wondering which flavor should I make on my second fermentation. Used Green tea as base, it's pretty fun desu.

>>16293641
Mate with the metal straw, drunk in the shade of a nice tree.

>>16284290
I agree with what the other anon said. Even if it is temp or humidity, that's recoverable, even teadb says so and he's prone to panic.

I'm >>16290662, here are my uninteresting notes for "Season’s Pick Japanese Sencha Organic" from Upton, which I have tried a total of two times so far. This was my first sencha and the first time I brewed it was my first gong fu.

>6-11-21 - 4.5g. 9.4c/g.
Brew #1: 72C, 60 sec. Pretty weak, slight salty umami flavor reminiscent of seaweed. Moderate astringency.
Brew #2: 72C, 25 sec. Similar to first brew. I think I am adding too much water to the amount of leaf since the teapot is much more than 100 mL.
Brew #3: 72C, 120 sec. Bitter and lacking in flavor.
Brew #4: 90C, 120 sec. Surprisingly less bitter, slightly more flavor than #3, moderate-high astringency, slight saltiness has returned.
Brew #5 onwards: Cold brew overnight.
Notes: Try 80C for earlier infusions, try more leaves, ~6g for this teapot.

>6-17-21 - 5g. 9.4c/g.
Brew #1: 85C, 60 sec. Better than last time. Pale green color, seaweed aroma with some nuttiness. Leaves a salty taste on the tongue, very slight astringency. No bitterness. Good!
Brew #2: 85C, 40 sec. Same as previous brew, very enjoyable.
Brew #3: 85C, 70 sec. Weaker than previous two. Time to increase temp.
Brew #4: 95C, 2 min. Slightly more bitter, but not bad. Still some flavor present.
Brew #5: 99C, 7 min. Weak, some flavor.
Brew #6: 99C, hours. Tastes good.

I'm obviously not very descriptive, but an important conclusion I drew from these sessions is that brew temp is a crock of shit. Muh 70C for green tea, fuck that. I barely upped the leaf amount and there was a large improvement in flavor by steeping for hotter and longer, and I didn't get any more bitterness or astringency from the tea like all the experts say will happen. Unfortunately this tea doesn't seem to have much longevity, but now that I've gotten two good brews out of it I think 3 is pretty much guaranteed, and potentially 4 is on the table if I tweak the variables just right. As a side note, my tongue tasted salty all day even though I brushed afterwards, strange.

>>16243719
H

>>16243719
NEW THREAD
>>16295364
>>16295364
>>16295364

>>16293951
I brew kombucha, usually using an Oolong and Turinbago sugar
Blueberry and Basil is my favorite for 2F