/ck/ - Food & Cooking

I do not like tea

>>17851794
I find tea to be quite enjoyable

>>17851790
Got my shincha shipment today

Tasting notes chart

>>17851798
The teapot came with a note and free tea
Based japs. Wish i got a copy of mint jams with it.

>>17851745
I'll try those parameters tomorrow. But the more dilute way doesn't taste weak at all. The combo of umami, which lingers, with the astringency makes it so much more tolerable. On the second cup the seaweed flavor has become more spinachy. Maybe it's premature to say but it's one of the best senchas I've tasted too.

>>17851798
I love those fucking pots, i don't even drink jap tea and i want to buy one

>>17851805
It sounds pretty good, nothing has that umami kick like Japanese greens

>>17851804
and in cursive too, what a class act

>>17851804
Brewed up the Ippodo Shincha to break in the kyusu

>>17851790
love tea, drink every day! but i cut way way down on caffeine, still indulge a bit too much sometimes.
i think i found out something about white spruce needles.
if you take some white spruce branches (and thank the tree), bake them at like idk, 150f-200f for like 20m, the needles get shriveled and oily, and they come right off the wooden stick easily.
then you want to crush those and brew them as tea for over 10m, until the water gets pinkish...
... it first really really woke me up and made me a bit restless.
then the next day... i felt weird.
then uhhh well... let's say, i think this stuff actually kills parasites. i think some... dead worms exited me.
and i didn't even find some wormwood yet! but that's next on the list.
labrador tea is also good.

>>17851798
Hell yeah. How many places did you order from?

>>17851823
O cha, ippodo, and one sample from the teapot order

Hi teafags, never drank tea before but my grandpa gave me an old 250g metal pin filled with citrus stuffed black tea stuff that been with him since 2016, will i die if i drank it, Does tea get too old to drink?

>>17851817
Disgusting but fascinating, i think pine needle tea is a good source of vit c no idea about spruce

>>17851834
it's an excellent source! but don't consume from black spruce, that's nasty. idk about blue spruce yet. some evergreens are too toxic, but white spruce is def good!
also dandelion root is sweet, smells like yard, and definitely... promotes clearing your guts out haha.

>>17851814
Brewed 10 grams to 140 mL
60 C, 60s, 30s, 80s
Didn't change flavor much between brews
Very full bodied, rich rounded savory spinach like flavor. Absolutely no bitterness. Very very tasty good green tea if you love green tea flavors.
Good year for sencha honestly

>>17851829
No it's fine, that tea is supposed to be aged, unless it has visible fluffy mold on it its totally safe. You can pick out some of the tea and brew it with a few pieces of the citrus skin.

>>17851838
Have you tried roasting dandelion root after you dry it? That seems popular to make a vaguely coffe tasting tea

>>17851841
Is 140ml the capacity of the pot?

>>17851806
Yeah they're cool af

>>17851880
Yeah its a bit on the smaller side
But thats fine for japanese tea because you use so much tea to water

>>17851891
Nice find, mostly when i see those pots and they are 200-300ml

>>17851845
dandelion coffee that makes you poop, hah. haven't roasted it yet, might try in a few months.

>>17851898
That's usually the size I've seen them too. The sencha teapots are bigger than the gyokuro ones.

>>17851898
>>17851919
I got it from tezumi
>>17851804 related
Very very fast delivery, like 3 days shipping to middle of nowhere Colorado. Handwritten note, very secure packaging, free tea sample included.
Someone recommended them to me and I'll recommend them back, good teapot selection and good service, didn't have to pay for awful shipping fees from Japan either

>>17851798
I used to get "Aoi" before corona made their shipping prices terrible. Chiran Sencha is the deep steamed one, right? I remember that was one of their better products. The two bottom right are interesting. What's second from the right?

>>17851940
Nice i needed another US based Japanese tea vendor to recommend tossed em in the pastebin

>>17851947
Aoi is lightly steamed
No idea I completely forgot what the one second from right is. No engrish

>>17851732
Final update on this brew: did 40s, 40s, 60s, 120s, all at around the recommended 80 C. First two cups were top notch. Third cup was paler and weaker, it could use 80-90s instead. Forth cup is watery. Not going to bother with four infusions next time.

>>17852009
Yeah i think 3 is probably the sweet spot

>>17852009
try my parameters
>>17851841

>>17851790
I thought that this was R2D2 from the thumbnail.
I was going to call it "R2, Tea, Too".

Know those orange juice cartons with the plastic spout on the side with a screw-on cap?
I noticed that I never spill anything poured from those. Milk jugs? Sure, from time to time. Water kettles? Occasionally. Teapots? Rarely, but yes. Orange juice cartons with the plastic spouts? Fucking never.
I would love to get a teapot made with a similar design.

>>17852217
An orange juice carton-shaped teapot sounds like something potters in Yixing would love.

>>17852272
How would you open it to add tea and water, though?

>>17851790
So I've actually been looking for teapots with patterns like this. I don't even give a shit about how they pour. The aesthetic is part of the appeal to me. Where can you get stuff like this?

>>17851817
update: i think this is kind of a lot on my liver. on that note, i've decided to just entirely QUIT beer for good. i liked beer, but it's just too much for my liver. my liver needs a break. so no more beer for me, except for very rare occasions, and just tea or plain water.
that said, i think spruce needle tea makes one very, very thirsty. could be something else, but this is doing something with my liver for sure.
however, i felt a few bouts of euphoria and different mindset.
btw, yesterday i felt "piney" inside, tasting pine, smelling it in my sweat. something about the oil. wonder what the effects will be in a few days.
(probably more suspicious looking thready things in the toilet)

>>17852442
Ebay, by the assload
Hunder million used teapots on there

>>17852448
Sounds like you dhould stop consuming weird foods for a bit

>>17852513
oh don't worry, i got THAT sorted out long ago. however i did cheat every now and then. now im just gonna ELIMINATE cheating, because it's just not worth it.
also sauteed dandelion shoots in butter and garlic is real good.

>>17851790
why the fuck would you need something to help you pout tea? are the burger people this weak now that they can't even lift a tea pot? no wonder they can't win anything anymore.

>>17852661
I think it's for elderly people

What's a good herbal tea that isn't mint based?

>>17852756
Just buy a bag of chamomile, ginger tea is good too. Licorice root brews up a nice tea.

>>17852756
chamomile
celestial seasonings bengal spice
cs apple cinnamon
fruity hibiscus teas
rooibos
lady grey
blood orange cranberry black
chai in all its variants
bigelow has some good herbalish ones, and they say "is traditionally thought to promote balance" or some bs for every single ingredient, but irl all the ingredients make you poop hard lol

>>17852810
OOOHHHH i forgot candy cane lane!!! my favorite! well you said not mint, but dammit i love mint. however it's super dense, so i really dilute it a lot. it's great for digestive problems.
also there's some teas with africanish names, they tend to have more african and indian ingredients that typically aren't in most western teas. one's chocolately... but i forgot their names...

Trying the sample that came with the pot

>>17853027
Smells like saltwater weirdly

>>17853032
Little chalky bitterness with a seaweed aftertaste
Not the worst, not the best. Can tell its a bit old

Drank some shincha right before going into a doctor's appointment today without eating, just kinda absentmindedly, and my blood pressure was nuts.
I'm normally at about 95/60-ish but today it was 130/110.
Kinda freaky how I went from my typical borderline low pressure to nearly severe high blood pressure just from some shincha

>>17853397
I had some on an empty stomach too. i'm fuckin JACKED man. I could taste the caffeine. Get well soon.

>>17853397
>>17853431
Makes me want to try it now. How much of a kick is it compared to coffee or an energy drink?

>>17853431
Thanks man, just waiting for my foot to heal from a tumor removal.
>>17853435
It's really not a very strong kick. It's very even and just makes me feel focused and calm. Lasts forever though, when I drink too much tea I can easily stay up 50 hours straight off one session before I get tired.
Don't drink tons of strong tea if you need to sleep. Good reason monks (both Christian and Buddhist) drink this stuff

>>17853452
Hey glad to hear you got that removed. But that description got me even more intrigued. I'll definitely try it in the morning or something

>>17852505
Thanks for introducing me to a literal avalanche of pots I want to buy. I'm going to go broke now

I switced from coffee to black tea to reduce my caffeine intake. I have tried to look for different blends and brands to would be the best for me and so far regular twinings english breakfast seems good as it brews quite strong and has a deep flavour. However it leaves a strange aftertaste. What would be some other brands or blends for me to try? The stronger the better and smoky notes would be a plus.

>>17853938
Do you prefer English teas or are you fine with teas from elsewhere?

>Decide to go out with family for some dim sum
>Order some oolong tea
>Pour the tea for my family like a good Confucian son
>Tea drips dripping out or leaking with each cup
>Congratulations, half the tea is now on the table
Why does this keep happening? I'm pretty good at not being too shit at pouring with the stuff I have at home

>>17854333
English breakfast seems to come closest to what I’m after, but can be something else also. I propably have to order it online anyway, because local tea selection is not that great.

>>17854435
Ah okay, I'm honestly not too good with that and one of the other anons could help but I recall Scottish breakfast tea being pretty smokey and strong. Irish breakfast teas also have a strong taste that sort of mirrors coffee. Tea from Assam does the same thing. Keep in mind it's been a while since I drank any of these and I did so because I had quite literally never heard of them before but that's what I recall

>>17854453
Thanks. It seems that I can get Taylor’s scottish breakfast locally. I’ll give it a try.

>>17853938
This one is strong and has smoky notes from lapsang souchong
https://www.uptontea.com/afternoon-tea/russian-caravan-loose-leaf-black-tea/p/V00411/

>>17854523
Russian caravan came up when I was searching for options. Seems interesting. I have also considered making my own blend from assam, lapsang, some lighter black tea and dried citrus peels.

>>17854535
Blending is a fun way to make brewing into a hobby that isn't purely consooming. As long as you like the assam component it's hard to ruin it.

>>17853512
Cheers anon

>>17854417
Making teaware that doesn't drip is hard

>>17854783
Thank dude. Any advice on how to navigate eBay? I'm an Amazon pleb and haven't used eBay in forever because I always thought it was a bit sketchy. Got some shitty sneakers back in the day when I was into that stuff but that was years ago
>>17854523
>lapsang souchong
I've never had this. Is it good and how does it taste?

>>17851790
Hey /ck/, some questions
>What are some teas that you like that no one else seems to like?
>Do you drink tea by yourself or with other people?
Food for thought. No one in my family likes milk oolong except me. I also drink alone usually

>>17854829
>What are some teas that you like that no one else seems to like?
It seems there will be at least one or two anons who like something here that I do, so I don't think this is likely. That said, I've found myself reaching for more liu bao and other related heicha when I'm feeling particularly fatigued. I appreciate the sweet soil-esque mineral qualities and depth of a nice heicha. Whites are my typical go-to favorite, but they don't always have that 'grounding' flavor that I'm looking for. Especially nice for when I am reading, otherwise a roasted tea.
>Do you drink tea by yourself or with other people?
Almost always alone. I don't think most people have the interest or patience to appreciate tea from gong fu style with a gaiwan. Even an associate who asked me about tea and got all the hardware online just does grandpa style most of the time. If you're alone, you can peacefully contemplate on and manage your infusions without distractions, promoting more whole appreciation of the tea. Even with very casual sessions, I use my gaiwan and casually infuse based off of intuition and experience.

>>17854806
Ebay unline amazon actually shows you what you search for. The hardedt part is figuring out what you want to search for, try to find a few listings of something you like, then look for the keywords used in those listings. For those painted teapots a lot of them are made in japan for export 30-40 years ago so search something like japan teapot painted and then refine your search from there. Try searches like Chinese painting teapot blue things like that. Usually with a search like this it's better to exclud new in box stuff to cut down on spam of modern cheap stuff. Some other interesting stuff if you search MCM or .id century modern teapot. Hall was a big US manufacturer of robust restaurant ware. You can still use boolean search terms so if you want a specific phrase you can put it in quotes "hand painted" if you want to exclude something put a - symbol like -jade or -silver

>>17854829
My wife drinks coffee, probably the least popular tea i drink at least as far is this thread is concerned is cheap heavily smoked lapsang, but it does seem to be catching on recently, otherwise i drink all the Chinese swill my fellow puer lesbians are into.

>>17851790
Stole a pu erh cake today. Kinda feel bad about it but I'm short on money

>>17855551
If it's from an asain market it probably wasnt worth lifting. I bought one once that smelled exactly like the inside of a Chinese grocer and gave it to my mom to dye fabric with

>>17855608
I dunno, it's good for me at least. Maybe my tea palate isn't as developed. It kinda tastes like a mix of Bai mudan and keemun

>>17851790
That looks like a tea toilet.

>>17855723
I guess you got lucky then

I'm in east coast US does anyone know of any cites that have a large selection of Japanese senchya

>>17856028
East Coast means a lot of things. General vicinity?

>>17856028
The east coast has 120 million people, I'm sure there's a few japanese people there

>>17856028
Just buy it online, Japanese tea specialty stores are few and far between

>teabros I don't feel so good...

>>17856374

>>17856374
daring is one way you could describe it..

>>17856374
I'm confused, how are you supposed to make this? The methods of preparation and extraction for coffee and tea are quite different after all. Maybe if you just popped in a few beans for superficial flavor or mixed the liquids of both, but infusing them as one doesn't seem efficient.

>>17856404
It looks like they judt cracked a few beans in half and you are supposed to brew it like tea. I guess them both being from Columbia is vaguely interesting but its just a dumb gimmick

>>17856459
I see. I've done that a few times, so I wasn't sure if it was different somehow. It isn't terrible, it's just not that great and doesn't add much subtlety or interesting texture in my experience. Might be alright for really low grade leaf you don't want to throw out but don't want to waste storage space for either. Now, using aromas from coffee beans/grinds for flavor/aroma perversion can be interesting, but directly mixing them...not so much. I haven't checked my coffee aroma tea experiment in a long time either, might be worth looking at later today if anyone is still interested. Otherwise, I'll just leave it to 'bake' longer.

>>17856374
They’ve been mixing 2 parts coffee to 3 parts tea in Hong Kong and Singapore for decades

>>17851790
Dear Tea fags, what electric kettle should I get for my mom? She drinks coffee in the morning but she always microwaves the water to get it hot. This is just how shes always done it and says she doesn't care, but I'd like to upgrade her experience. Also in the USA so UK anons, I'm not sure if your electric kettles will work the same here due to differences in voltage of wall sockets. I don't mind spending in the a bit of money for something of quality but if it's over $150 then I'm not interested.

I used to drink a pot of tea every single night right before going to bed. It was part of my whole ritual.
>11PM
>make a pot of tea
>put on whatever TV show I am watching (only watch 1 hour a day)
>have a piece of dark chocolate
>finish tea and show
>go to bed

Now I am 34 and if I have a pot of tea after 5PM I don't sleep until like 3AM. I only have 1-2 pots per week now. I have so much tea left and its getting old because I don't drink it fast enough. Kill me.

>>17856602
I have this one, its relatively cheap, reasonably fast and the inside is all stainless steel so the water isn't touching any plastic. It's maybe a bit large but you only need to fill it about 1/3 of the way to use it.
https://www.amazon.com/Secura-Electric-Stainless-Protection-K15-F1E/dp/B087BRBX4Q/

>>17856627
Black tea keeps for a surpassingly long amout of time. You can really store it for 10 years or more if you keep it sealed up well.
I can't drink tea past 5 or so either.
I just drink 3 pots during the day instead. You could also get some herbal tea to drink at night. Brew up some chamomile or ginger.

Is there any place I can get bulk hibiscus tea? It's not just hard to find the stuff, it's also expensive as fuck when I do, like "oh you get five teabags and it's only nine dollars!"

>>17856837
https://mountainroseherbs.com/hibiscus-flowers-whole
The cut flowers are maybe better for tea
https://mountainroseherbs.com/hibiscus-flowers-cut

B-bros? Does the size and shape of a gaiwan change things? The flavor seems different from a 80ml gaiwan (usable, not to lip) and my 115ml. Same times, same tea / water ratio.... it's weirding me out bros.

Imagine, tea on tap.

>>17856978
It shouldn't really, i would assume you are using slight different amounts of water or slightly different brew times or the leaves are opening at a slightly different rate

>>17857006
>Favorite manga stops getting translated
>Want to spend time being more productive
>Get convinced into doing Duolingo
>Learn Japanese
>I can now read the words
>I have no fucking clue what they mean. I only know how they sound
My experience but I'm getting there. But this looks comfy too. I'd totally start a tea shop with this stuff on tap

>>17857001
The pattern on the lid of that pot is so cool

>>17857044
Maybe. I tried measuring it with a scale, including added water... I'm going to try measuring post pour weight to see if I'm getting more water absorbed or something. It doesn't make sense.

>>17857069
It could just be variations in the tea itself as well. But i who knows, i think the Chinese consider more tall narrow pots to be better for some teas than short wide pots so maybe it makes a difference. Maybe the different gaiwan shape affects heat retention and the water cools at different rates during the infusion

>>17857056
Yeah I'm pretty happy with it
I tend to prefer sleak and simple but this texture is very tasteful and I like it despite being "busy" idk what it is, just think its neat

>>17857216
How much did your teapot cost? Does it have a strainer at the base of the spout?

I've been thinking of getting one like yours, but they seem pretty expensive.

>>17857267
https://www.tezumi.com/products/japanese-kyusu-%e7%8e%89%e5%85%89-gyokko-kiln-flat-matsugawa-tokoname-yaki-ceramic-teapot-140ml
Here's the storepage, was free shipping for me
Pretty reasonable, yixing gets worse

>>17857317
Yixing?

>>17857338
That's Japanese
I think the Japanese clay pots are supposed to be pretty neutral, not color the tea as much as yixing

>>17857338
Yixing clay pots get waaaay more expensive. Easily can double this for a starter.
Tokoname is for green tea, yixing is for oolong and puerh

>>17856374
>>17856404
>>17856459
>>17856502
They could have at least replaced the beans with dried coffee husks. Cascara is a bit too sour for me, but it's not too bad when you cut it with an equal part in green tea.

>>17851790
Hey /tea/, kind of a normie to this stuff. Got into tea to calm myself and do try to get into a healthier hobby and not something shitty like drinking or smoking. Got some tough times ahead for me so this has been a good way to calm down. Anyways, blogpost aside, what are some things you guys do to "enhance" your tea experience? This can be anything from just weird quirks, actual rituals, or just ingrained habits you do before, during, or after drinking tea.

>>17858305
gong fu is the ritual for chinese tea.
Pairing with incense is something people do and I've done.
Good habit is to clean your teaware before and after each session, at least with hot water.
I like to listen to jazz ballads and write while I drink tea myself

>>17858305
You buy a pee boy tea pet and pour some boiling water on him before making your tea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4eLr5SSJh4

>>17856602
if you want something with adjustable temperature try looking for a knockoff of the stagg EKG kettles. The good knockoffs are usually around 70usd i think

>>17851817
>thank the tree

4JDK4

>>17851841
That's a stew, not a tea

>>17858516
How so?
Japanese teas love high leaf to water ratio

>>17858305
I try to sit somewhere that i don't usually in my apartment, so i get in the mindset of being relaxed and having tea when i sit there

I bought a store brand "loose leaf" tea and inside the box is tea dust
What's even the point

>>17858964
I have some Lipton loose leaf i bought years ago, it'd like chopped pieces of leaves, still bigger than the stuff in teabags but weird. I guess its BOP grade slightly too big to be fannings grade.

>>17851790
What tea leaves would be good for this ?

>>17859075
Here is the specific type of tea used.
https://tasteofbhutan.com/product/my-gakidh-village-organic-black-tea-loose-leaves/
I would consider some kind of chinese fu brick or similar
This is used for Mongolian milk tea
https://www.ebay.com/itm/353499363135
Some cheap tian jian might get you pretty close it's a bit closer to a rustic black tea
https://www.ebay.com/itm/363403277363

>>17858377
I might unironically try that then. Actually have some incense sticks sitting around from ceremony stuff. Thanks for the suggestions
>>17858413
Kek I thought you were joking
>>17858715
Also good suggestion too. Thanks /tea/

>Make post
>Go make lunch
>Return
>Wonder why nobody's given me a single (You)
>Realize that, rather than make a reply, I've made a full thread.
I'm just here to apologize for being a retard.

>>17859357
This gave me a nice laugh so thanks for that. Might as well repost it here. We're all retards at some point in our daily lives

>>17859357
lol nice

>>17859361
The intent was to make a post akin to kicking open a door and demanding answers.
>Tell me about tea, /ck/
>I keep hearing how it's better than coffee, but every experience I've had with it has been middling at best. I feel like I'm doing something wrong and I don't feel like wading through a dozen "inspirational" and "self reflective" articles on sites riddled with ads and pop-ups begging for subscriptions for a paragraph of text.
How the fuck do I not suck at tea, and what's the good stuff for beginners and/or retards?

>>17859357
Was it at least on /ck/? I've accidentally made /his/ posts on /a/ before

>>17859373
Yeah it was on /ck/. I think the thread's still floating around.

>>17859379
>>17859076
Lol. I'll post a longer answer when I go on break but I drink both. I think you'll fine most people here either are the same or switched to tea for some reason, be it health (usually caffeine-related) or just lifestyle reasons

>>17859371
The problem with tea is that a lot of it sucks, most places focus on the flavored coffe equivalent of tea instead of the good stuff. All teabags are irredeemable garbage.
Actually making and enjoying good tea however is cheap and easy.
Get a brew basket from finum, use it to brew your loose leaf tea in a mug.
Are you in the USA?

>>17859398
Yeah, basically a yooper.

>>17859371
Anyways you have a few options to start, Japanese green tea, savory seaweed almost vegetable broth flavor, pretty shocking if you have never had it before.
Check the Japanese vendors in the pastebin get an affordable sencha make sure it's from 2022.
You have Chinese black tes, mild malty, chocolaty sweet.
This is more malty
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/black-tea-spring-2022/products/yunnan-black-gold-bi-luo-chun-black-tea
This is more sweet
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/black-tea-spring-2022/products/high-mountain-red-ai-lao-mountain-black-tea
Grab 100-200 grams of each and maybe some Chinese green tea as well
Or you could go with Indian tea for that traditional English breakfast flavor
https://www.vahdamteas.com/products/daily-assam-black-tea
And indian Darjeeling for thar muscatel grape shin flavor and more mild taste
https://www.vahdamteas.com/products/makaibari-premium-darjeeling-second-flush-black-tea

>>17859413
Yoper = europoor?

>>17859434
Actually do you have any extra suggestions for tea that has the seaweed taste you mentioned? I grew up near the ocean eating seafood most of my life and that sort of taste is very nostalgic to me.

>>17859437
Midwesterner. Of the "don'cha know" type.
>>17859434
Thanks! I'll browse the pastebin after I finish running some errands.

>>17859440
Just Japanese greens. Affordable senchas, maybe try a few small 50g bags of different types, don't overspend because the fancy stuff is very nuanced and you won't see much difference without being a jap tea drinker. Genmaicha (without matcha version) is also nice, it's a mix of sencha a toasted rice puffs, it has the sencha flavor plus a sort of warm grainy roasted taste, it's popular as a more causal tea. Again the easiest way to brew is one of theose finum brew baskets, pic related. Then you can brew in a mug no issue without any special teapots. Brew instructions are in the pastebin but all the Japanese vendors have good instructions on their website. Hopefully you have a scale and usually directions tell you the tea weight in grams to ml of water. Also make sure you let the water cool a bit after boiling for green tea, it will be in the brewing instructions. If you don't have a scale you can find directions online for estimating teaspoons to grams that's close enough.

>>17859450
If you go with chinese teas also consider getting a ~100ml gaiwan since they are usually very cheap but improve the tasting experience since it lets you do gongfu style brewing easily.
With japanese teas something with a mesh works better since the leaves are cut into smaller pieces and they will slip under the gaiwan lid.

>>17859450
If you live near a city with a decently sized china town, find a tea house owned and operated by chinese people. If you go in and see funny tables, with a bunch of holes/slats in them you're in the right place. Do a tasting.

>>17859640
Good advice. Same idea works for Persian places. You can also go to a large Asian market but their selection can be limited

>>17851790
Any rec for a tea infuser that really filter out the leaves. I'm a pleb but I hate having dust and leaves in my tea.
Seem like the first few google hits gives me pic related as the best option.

Any opinion/rec from my /ck/ tea connoisseur?

>>17860081
The one in your pic is the one to get, brand is finum

OK now this is epic. Ippodo shincha brewed with their cold brew instructions. It's gelatinous. I could tell while pouring the teapot when the drops at the end were sticking to the spout. The flavor is muted because it's cold, and it's probably half the umami, but the mild caffeine bitterness is gone and it's only like 1/5 astringency. Extremely chuggable. Going to try resteeping it hot.

>>17860624
Wow, tons of viscosity there

>>17860624
What were the instructions? Cold brewed sencha and gyokuro are 2 of my favourite things ever.

>>17860751
210ml water 10g leaf 15 minutes

>>17860624
Just a general question but how do you guys get to being able to discern tea this well? I've been drinking tea with my father and grandfather since I was a kid (Asian family and stuff) and would listen to the two talk about the tea along with other life stuff for hours. My grandfather has since passed and I want to get better at this so I can actually talk to my father about this during the few times of the year I am able to visit him. Are there any tips you guys have to getting started on this? Best I can do is telling the difference between really basic stuff like oolong or green tea like an idiot

>>17860758
Ok, that's pretty much the same parameters that I use. Weirdly I get more umami with cold brews that hot brews, it's some of the other flavours that are a bit muted. Anyway, it"s absolutely delicious.

>>17860759
I am far from being a pro but it's really mostly just experience. I also started with just trying to identify the tea type and when comparing teas of the same type (for example 2 greens) I started with focussing on only 1-2 most characteristic flavour notes. For example the most know flavour note for Chinese Longjing green tea is roasted nuts/chestnuts while Japanese sencha is unroasted and instead has a strong umami note, some vegetable notes like spinach and sometimes seaweed.
I also find direct a/b comparisons very useful. If you only drink one tea at a time it might just register as "normal green tea" you will experience the nuttiness of a Longjing much stronger if you have a non-nutty green tea (like a sencha) to directly compare it to.
It's also ok to read the flavour notes on the packaging, just don't lie to yourself, if you don't taste it that's fine, tea tastes a bit different to everyone anyway.

>>17860759
Not a pro too, but try doing gongfu style for most of your sessions since it gives you more control over brewing, and do side by side comparisons using 2 gaiwans and shit. Also consider writing notes about what you taste and eating the foods that teas are often compared to in tasting notes, once you get better try comparing different tea terroirs and cultivars too.

>>17860759
I would also like to add that if you are not that experienced with tasting yet, there are also many other things that you can discuss about tea.
You could for example purchase a tea and read up on the are where it's from, the production technique, or other interesting stuff. For example some teas are bug bitten, some are shade grown etc.
Maybe your dad never tried a cold brewed tea, so you could surprise him with a cold brewed sencha like the other anon has shown. There are many things.

>>17860759
RIP gramps. What helps me become more perceptive of nuances is comparing very similar things. Like I'll only drink English breakfast for a year, or order ten samplers of 2nd flush Darjeeling from different estates. There's also pressure to focus harder because I'm trying to make a larger purchase decision in those cases. Beyond what the other anon said, fixate on a single style of tea until you understand its qualities, and how brewing methods effect it.
Tea is so diverse it overwhelms me to even consider Chinese tea. I don't know shit about most tea. My knowledge is confined to English breakfast, 2nd flush Darjeeling and sencha. But the styles I drink I feel I can quantify pretty well.

I’m having some green tea that expired in 2019, i’ll probably be fine right?

>>17860901
>Weirdly I get more umami with cold brews that hot brews, it's some of the other flavours that are a bit muted.
"half the umami" was probably an overstatement. The cold dulled my senses I guess. After making a second and third hot steep (1 minute, 2 minutes) it was clear the protein had extracted. Those extra cups were still worthwhile though.

>>17861119
I wouldn't do that. Here's the list of diseases that drinking 2 yo green tea may expose you to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs-Le-zH2DI

>>17860759
Try to think about tasting when having tea, focus on the different flavors and try to realte them to other foods you have experienced, it just something you get better at over time. You can try to reference a chart like pic related
>>17851800
and see if it helps you to think about what you are tasting

>>17861119
Yeah, you will very likely be fine. "Expired" is highly unlikely unless it was drenched in liquid and developed mold or something like that, and you'd surely notice if that was the case. Probably just going to be more stale/flat compared to fresh green leaf.

>>17861119
Japanese used to recommend you don't even drink green tea untill its at least 6 months to a year old, drinking green tea as freshly as possible is a modern trend*
*Japanese tea might have been processed differently in the past so it may have been different when aged

>>17861210
T-thanks
>>17861214
>>17861223
Alright thanks, it’s stored dry dark and cool it looked fine

>>17861288
Most tea i drink is at least 10 years old. You will know if it goes bad, it will be covered with fluffy mold as taste absolutely rancid

>>17851804
>mint jams
Absolute top tier album

What's a good pu-erh to replace my morning coffee? I'm a man-child and add a looot of milk and sugar to my coffee, so I'd like something to switch over to that gives me my childish need for something sweet in the morning.

>>17861474
Some kind of ripe puer, start out with something from dayi aka taetea, if you are in the us they actually sell directly on amazon from a us warehouse.

https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Sweet-Fermented-Puerh-10-58oz/dp/B07P2YBGK8/

>>17861500
If you feel like spending a bit more this is their most famous blend, but either should get the job done.
https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Classic-Organic-Black-Grams/dp/B07WQSDPCF/
If you arent in the usa i can throw you some other links

Hi /tea/, today I got very overworked and for some reason thought it was a good idea to hold the tea to my hear to "listen" to it, leading me to accidentally shake the cup and burn my ear. Don't let your love of tea make you retarded

>>17861515
But what did it sound like?

>>17861521
Calm lake noises followed by a hot burning sensation. The burns were not worth it and I have elected to simply drive to the lake next time

>>17861524
Maybe try listening to the gaiwan after you pour the hot tea out, actually that would probably give you a steam burn too

>>17861545
Steam burns are simply but another step on the way to enlightenment. If this is what I must suffer in order to truly emerge within Cha Nirvana, I will do so. But seriously, I should buy a gaiwan. I've been meaning to get a dedicated tea drinking cup that doesn't double as a coffee cup

>>17861500
>>17861511
Thank you. Being a poorfag, I'll settle for the cheaper one. I'm in the U.S, so the delivery time is a lot better than the two month wait from all these Chinese sites/sellers I've been seeing.

>>17861585
Yeah, you do pay a bit more on Amazon but the convince is probably worth it with international shipping these days. If you want to buy more at some point MAKE SURE the seller is Tae Tea and not some Chinese shop that's listing the same teas on amazon. Let me know how it goes i can help with brewing tips and such. Are you planning on using a gaiwan or just brewing it western style?

>>17861556
I brewed all my tea gramapa style for a year straight, now im back to using my cheap gaiwan. Thin, white, cheap 100ml to 120ml, aliexpress unless you want to tack one onto a yunnan sourcing order. It's fun but i don't think it's as necessary as some posters do, but it is a different way to experience tea and its fun, so why not

>>17851790
is guarana the superior caffeine brew?

>>17853397
>>17853431
yall fuckers are larping
>Shincha also has a low catechin and caffeine content, making it less bitter and

>>17861630
Have you ever just bought guarana and brewed it? I think tea > coffee because the caffiene + l-thenaine combo in tea is smoother and less jittery, ive only really had gurana as an extract in energy drinks so i don't know what its like when you just brew some seeds.

>>17861606
Gaiwan. I'm wanting a daily ritual at this point and I love tea in general. I don't have anything but a typical stainless steel pot and teabags from Walmart for now, so I have some investing to do. I'd love some tips and knowledge about anything to do with it all.

>>17861628
My autism prevents me from truly enjoying tea unless I have all the accessories so that I can pretend to be a master as this as I burn the leftover incense from the yearly ancestral ritual ceremonies. Exactly how do gaiwans work anyways?

>>17861736
Put it tea, add hot water, put you palm on the nob on the lid of the gaiwan, adjust it so a slight slit is open on one side, grip the rim of the gaiwan with you fingers so the lid is pressed against the body and won't shift, lift the gaiwan and tip it into you cup or serving pitcher. It doesn't take long to get the hang of it, it pours much faster than most small teapots and it's generally a pretty easy causal way to brew tea. The style of brewing is called gongfu, you put a lot of tea in a little gaiwan 7g / 100ml then you do short infusions, from just a few seconds to 30 depending on things, then eash subsequent infusion lasts a bit longer. You get many small cups of stong tea.

>>17861642
Maybe. Placebo effect makes it impossible to know the truth. But general statements, such as for example "black tea has more caffeine than green tea" seem totally unreliable. There's a huge range of caffeine for any tea.
https://camellia-sinensis.com/en/analysis-of-caffeine
Temperature counts too

>>17861763
I unironically hope for the day I can describe the process of tea this way. Seems like a worthwhile investment though. Will definitely give it a try though. I'm trying to ween myself off of coffee since it's starting to give me some really bad fucking headaches nowadays. Thanks!

>Finish purifying kettle of minor limescale with advice from anons (haven't done it once since owning the kettle since I babied it and usually didn't leave water left over).
>Spend next few days enjoying mostly my low grade shou mei, improved results regardless.
>Decide to drink something better earlier, pull out some 2010 liu bao from Chawangshop.
>What I remember having mostly a simple sweet soil flavor now reveals a subtle roasty, perhaps 'barbecue' flavor below that.
Pretty nice, if unexpected. It seems I noted the leaf as having a "somewhat woodsy" flavor, and I think that my taste buds are interpreting this a bit more clearly without the minor amount of limescale I may have had at that time. With even slightly cleaner water, there's notably improved clarity in the liquor, aiding note identification. It's giving me more appreciation for my modest inventory of teas. I also personally find it quite pleasant to go back to teas I drank months prior, and consume them again with a refreshed palate and perspective.

>>17861905
>. I also personally find it quite pleasant to go back to teas I drank months prior, and consume them again with a refreshed palate and perspective.
It's always interesting to revist teas after you have given them some time to hang out and given yourself some time to get new perspectives on tea. Sometimes i cant tell if the tea changed that dramatically in storage or if im just tasting it completely differently.
I like that you got a barbecue kind of flavor, one of the liubao teas i got from chawang had this barbeque almost savory meat flavor that i haven't experienced in any other tea.

>>17861905
Is it a meme to use distilled water? I'm in the country and have a well, so I don't have chlorine, but it's "raw" water or whatever city folk call it.

>>17861992
Don't use distilled water, it is too pure, won't have the right mineral content for optimum flavor. Most people just get one of those water filter pitchers you can buy or install a small filtering system in their sink, you could buy bottled spring wster if you really wanted to but it's not complelty necessary. Filtering you water will make the biggest difference if your tap water is hard, if your tap water is decent tasting its probably not necessary to filter it.

>>17862030
My water is fine to me, but I'm more than used to it. I left town for a week once and just smelt how different it is when I got back. I'll look into filters, but I'll get spring water in the mean time.

>>17861982
>one of the liubao teas i got from chawang had this barbeque almost savory meat flavor that i haven't experienced in any other tea.
Certainly, it has that barbeque character, though when it comes to "savory meat", I associate that more with some weird sheng I've had in the past. There's something about liu bao and other heicha that I find increasingly attractive as I drink more and more tea. Maybe it's the typical 'grounded' element I find in many of them, but they are often quite calming in character for me. I think it may ultimately be a matter of perspective that changes with age and experience.

On another note, regarding Chawangshop, I'm a bit disappointed to see that one of my favorite teas I got from them is out of stock now. This red Bada tea they sold is one of the best I've gotten from anywhere in general, and it was really cheap:
https://www.chawangshop.com/black-tea/2021-bada-manle-red-tea-100g.html
A shame. Though, their Bada white is still in stock:
https://www.chawangshop.com/other-tea/2021-qiaomu-organic-white-tea-100g.html
Complex, yet soft and gentle one. Easily recommended to anyone planning to buy from them. It would be quite neat to see if any anons here have tried any of the other Bada region offerings, too.
>>17861992
I have exclusively used bottled (I think lately mostly reverse osmosis+minerals) or otherwise filtered water with my kettle. Distilled water might be a bit flat due to insufficient mineral balance, unless it has minerals added. Good water is good water though, so if it tastes good and isn't chlorinated or too hard/soft, it's probably fine or even ideal. Balanced water, clean kettle, better results. I only wish I recognized that my kettle needed a cleaning sooner, as the difference is indeed noticeable.

>>17862147
>Maybe it's the typical 'grounded' element I find in many of them, but they are often quite calming in character for me.
Liubao and some other hei cha is really calming, i quite enjoy it, its a very cozy tea.
Im not too surprised that red tea is out of stock. He usually seems to get pretty small amounts and sell through them in a season. It is fun because he doesn't carry a lot and so its seems like he mostly picks out one he really likes

>>17856849
Thanks! This looks great.

I am trying a Nixin pot, I always thought clay pots were a meme but there really is a significant difference. I am having an unsmoked Lapsang and the texture was already great from a gaiwan, it was like chocolate milk but it got even softer. It feels almost airy, like a great mousse au chocolat, it's genuinely the best texture I have ever experienced in tea.

Hello friends, what's a good Chinese tea for the morning? And what's a good one for the night after work?

how can i brew tea at work/school? my thermos flask is only 500ml so i drink it up too fast, what brewing vessel is good if i dont wanna do grandpa style?

>>17863812
If you want malty, sort of a softer takeon English breakfast
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/black-tea-spring-2022/products/yunnan-black-gold-bi-luo-chun-black-tea
If you want sweet and easy
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/black-tea-spring-2022/products/high-mountain-red-ai-lao-mountain-black-tea
Nighttime tea depends on what you are into
Maybe a nice white tea
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/white-tea-spring-2022/products/fuding-white-peony-bai-mu-dan-white-tea?variant=39777355169991

>>17863814
Really the best thing is to brew at home and fill your thermos. I can't really thinkof an easy brew vessel to bring with you. I guess there are some weird brew bottles.
This link is just an example im sure you can find them cheaper elsewhere especially on aliexpress.
https://www.amazon.com/Teabloom-All-Beverage-Tumbler-Insulated-Removable/dp/B07GF5YXFK/
At home you put tea in the infuser basket, add hot water to the bottle and brew it full of tea. Then you take out the basket, dump out the old leaves, then measure a new batch of leaves, put them in the basket, and then stick the basket in a plastic bag in your backpack / bag. Then when you finish your first batch of tea at work you get hot water, refill the bottle, put the basket and tea inside and brew again for fresh tea.

i have insider info that starbucks is going to try to get into the market of more "authentic" tea, thoughts?

>>17864231
Good for them i guess. I'm not sure you can convince the Starbucks crowd to give a shit. It's been a long time since they were a second wave coffee shop in Seattle with better than average beans, i get the impression they make most of their money these days on coffee smoothies and elaborate drinks full of sugar syrup. Tea is pretty tough because it needs to be brewed for a specific time frame, that's too long to make people wait but if you give them the cup with the teabag still in there is no way to get consumers to actually take the bag out at the right time, and many will just leave it in indefinitely. It's sort of an insurmountable challenge for a drive through high volume business.

>>17864231
I don't really care either way. I don't drink my coffee from them either unless it's literally the only place on a roadstop. I have people and places I buy from and that's not going to change. Set routines are nice for me. Also, I don't think I can endure the types of crowds that go to Starbucks on a frequent basis

Another day, another mug of smokey lapsang

>>17864231
I've always wanted to try one of those matcha latte drinks.

>>17865449
A an anon was making matcha lattes at home with frothed milk and some grocery store matcha, he said it was pretty decent

>>17865449
They're good, it's what I get when my lady goes there

always liked tea but am new to the tea world in general
is pic related a decent device? I've mostly ever used bags and want to try something else
my local grocer sells some like this but I'm concerned it'll make the tea taste like metal

>>17865506
Those are sort of acceptable.
Ideally spend $10 on a finum tea basket like pic related.
>>17859488
You should be able to find then on anazon ebay and other sites, they are made in Germany of food and heat safe material.
You want the basket that holds the leaves to be as large as possible because when you brew loose leaf the leave expand a lot and it they can't fully expand your tea won't brew properly.

>>17861642
I mean I'm not larping, I literally went to the doctor's appointment and I had way higher blood pressure than normal

>>17865477
I'm unsure if I'm the one you're referring to, but it is indeed very convenient to make with pleasant results. Typical grocery store green tea/"matcha" powder is usually somewhat bitter, so a little bit of stevia or alternative sweetener of your choice helps balance against that. Process is as simple as follows:
>Locate glass or metal container with lid, fill perhaps 2/3 full of almond milk.
>Add servings of green tea powder according to desired concentration, balance with some stevia and a pinch of salt.
Any other spices are optional. Small amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, or clove may be pleasant if used sparingly. I've considered trying sage, but have yet to ever do so.
>Dry shake to incorporate and produce foam volume, drink as-is.
I like this method because you get plenty of froth and a smooth texture.
>>17865506
Very tiny ball filters may not enable you to infuse leaves too effectively, as not only is their potential capacity fairly small, but the closed nature doesn't allow even infusion and opening of the leaf material. I have not used them, but some anons recommend Finum brew baskets as alternatives. You can also forego all of that and just infuse your tea in a mug to drink outright ("grandpa style"), though it works better with some teas than others.

>>17865506
You will probably enjoy the tea made with this if you start with quality full leaf loose tea.

HOWEVER, you will not get the full flavor of the tea. Full leaf tea needs space to expand. 7 grams of packed pu erh is maybe 2 sacagawea dollar coins stacked on top of each other when dry. When fully expanded, it's 1.5 to 2 golf balls of volume. If they can't expand, they wont fully hydrate and you wont get the rich flavour you could be getting if you used a gaiwan or a small tea pot.

You can get a gaiwan for like $15. Just get one.

>>17865538
>>17865610
>>17865787
so a Finum basket or a Gaiwan would be better choices? duly noted

>>17865787
Jesus christ yall gotta shill a gaiwan to anyone who posts, did he say he wanted to sit around and drink tea like a chinamen?

>>17866046
>Post in tea thread
>Complains about people talking about tea
Seethe more Britbong

>>17866146
When someone asks about a tea ball and says then want to start drink loose leaf, ask yourself if telling them to get a gaiwan and brew everything gongfu is the most helpful advixe for someone just starting out.

Kooridashi time
Will post results in 15 hours
10 g of aoi shincha
Enough ice to fill
Putting in fridge overnight

>>17866181
Gaiwan is as cheap as ball and better

>>17866185
Wild stuff. It's definitively and interesting approach.
Is there some logic to using ice over cold water? Is it supposed to achieve a different outcome?

>>17866198
What if they want to make a cup of tea and drink it instead of sitting around for half an hour brewing 12 tiny cups of tea?

>>17866206
Brew once and pour into cup?
I do that

>>17866200
Brews strong with the small amount of water but brews mellow, and slowly adds more water

>>17866206
>>17866181
I don't really see gong fu infusion as an especially tasking or time-draining task. Ignoring the optional pre-heating or rinsing, it boils down to a simple five step process that is over in a few minutes including water prep:
>Fill electric kettle with water, turn on.
>While water is boiling, place desired portion of tea into gaiwan.
>Water quickly done after you set the leaf, pour into gaiwan, close lid over.
>Wait a few seconds, pour off into gong dao bei.
>Pour into cup, drink leisurely
You can just refill the gaiwan with the already-heated water while you're drinking too, so there's not even any real down-time. These days, I just sit with the teaware at my desk in between my keyboard and mouse, and refill periodically when the fancy strikes me. This means my tea is never going tepid or oversteeped, and I only drink when I actually want to rather than forcing it down to avoid it going cold.

I don't think one anon's advice about using a Finum basket is bad, but it's not that unreasonable to consider a gaiwan or shiboridashi considering they are so convenient. I can see it being a pain if you're using a stove kettle and running back and forth, though an electric kettle pays for itself in convenience, and you don't need some grand coffee lad one to benefit either. I know someone who just grandpa styles despite having a gaiwan, too. I think that makes more sense than a typical ball setup because it costs basically nothing besides the leaf itself.

>>17852448
You do realize you can poison yourself with Pine, right?

Obubu order just arrived :3
Sencha chads stand up

>>17866517
Nice, everyone getting their greens this week i guess.
For me it's the forest glow, but the wind also looks interesting

>>17866517
Year of the jap

>>17866517
Im exited to see what you have to say about them, ir would be nice for me to add anything at all to the Japanese vedors list this year

>>17863814
https://crimsonlotustea.com/products/gongfu2go
+ a bigger thermos

Britain are a nation of tea drinkers and they use teabags and add milk in their tea, same as the Irish
This thread is full of american ken-sama posers

>>17867744
yeah they still eat like it's war rationing that's not anything new

>>17867744
>Meet Ken-sama and Rawhide Kobayashi
What type of tea would you offer them, /tea/? You only have one chance to save their souls

>>17857055
>duolingo
Anon..................

>>17867797
>save
these men are based and need no saving

>>17868695
I think the funniest part is that Ken-sama was actually just some random American guy who was wearing the kimono for his wife who was a clothing entusiast. Guy couldn't have cared less for weeb stuff. Same for Rawhide Kobayashi who was just some random Asian guy wearing a cowboy hat

>>17866185
Its melting but still a lot of ice
Will report even later

>>17869155
The brewing continues

>>17869224
Indeed

>>17869300
Nice, it's been about 20 hours now, right? I do coldbrews all the time, but never with a setup like this, and not green leaf in a long time either. I wonder how this might affect the clay if unglazed.

>>17869300
The upton catalog is a nice touch
I figured it would melt in just a few hours in the fridge, im surprised

>>17869330
Rough about 20 yeah.
Clay should be fine, japs do all this all the time. Cold shouldn't open the pores much so it shouldn't take much flavor. I wouldn't do it with my yixing though.
>>17869333
I'm surprised too, I pulled it out to finish.

>>17869333
When I put fish on ice inside the fridge it stays mostly frozen 24 hours later. I'm surprised it melted as much as it did. Maybe because, unlike a fish, a teapot isn't cold to begin with.

>>17866185
Turned out a very brilliant green, very thicc
Tastes like spinach turned up to 11 with a very sweet aftertaste
Glad I experimented, probably won't do it again. Not worth the time for it

>>17869791
>Tastes like spinach turned up to 11 with a very sweet aftertaste
I don't know whether to be intrigued or disgusted but hey, it's the process that matters. Thanks for documenting this

>>17869801
Its a sipper to be sure.
Probably only taking 2 ml into my mouth at a time.
Its not bad but it's extremely rich.

>>17869842
Sounds like how I am when I drink ginseng

>>17869791
Looks really thick and potent. Maybe just over-infused? Bet the texture is interesting, though. Thanks for sharing, makes me wish I participated in the greens season this year. At least I get to see posts like this from fellow /tea/nons.

>>17869791
Looks like tea syrup

>see tea general
>"oh great tea enjoyers like the brits"
>it's actually a bunch of niplovers
filtered and hidden

>>17869869
>Unironically thinking the British have culture
I know this is bait but Leicester and Scouse are not English

>>17869869
Brits have an awful tea culture postwar

>>17869869
>Be Brittish
>Think I'm the master of tea
>No tea grows in my country
>I only drink the lowest quality leaf shredded into dust
>So bitter that milk and sugar are required
>Get stabbed by a member of the religion of peace
>Go to jail because I don't have a knife liscence for the blade sticking out in my kidney.
>While bleeding out, I hear the bong and extend my pinky.

The nips aren't that great at tea. It's the Chinese that are the real tea authority.

>>17869869
>>17869966

>>17869869
anime website

>>17869982
So you brew your tea with shredded manga?
Ah, I see now

>>17869869
Most people here prefer Chinese tea, it's just the time where Japanese teas come in.

>>17870165
However, I think everyone here would agree Japanese greens > Chinese greens since that's an objective empirical verified true fact, say experts.

My order of ripe pu erh came from yunnan sourcing today and I'm super excited. This is teh first time I've had anything fancier than the store bought tea my ex used to hoard. I tried the 2017 yi wu rooster, it tasted kind of woody to me.

>>17870245
It's exciting when tea comes in, i hope you enjoy it

>>17870240
FACT CHECK: Far right white supremacist claims that "Japanese greens are superior" debunked by independent fact checkers. More from Wei Long Jing, tea scientist.

>>17870267
Based scientists deboonking GABA green tea and matcha health claims

>>17870267
>More from Wei Long Jing, tea scientist

>>17870240
I think Chinese greens and Japanese greens are processed so differently they are not really the same tea anymore. But i dont really drink green tea so maybe i just haven't tasted the right ones to see the similarities.

>>17851790
what's the best jasmine tea? i had it at a restaurant once and really liked it but forgot what the brand was.

>>17870651
The kind they sell in the metal can at the asian market
The harney and sons brand stuff is probably decent

Should i order green tea or oolong next?

Do the English only use teabags?
Do they sell looseleaf in most stores there?

>>17871621
like 99% teabag

>>17853938
>twinings
The Irish Breakfast is better than the English, imo. Their Lapsang Souchong is maybe the only drinkable bagged smoke tea, too, imo.

>>17857006
>they never had to gargle tea from the tap before class

Kay, ordered me some pooerh. I presume I just scrub some leaves off of the cake into whatever tea pot I have? This stuff seems to be very undescriptive compared to the regular tea types.

>>17870706
Oh, I've had this! It tastes like how a flower smells. It's nuts.

Hey anons
My personal blend ATM is half and half English breakfast and pu erh teas, inspired by hong Kong milk tea
My question is, is there any way to make the pu erh flavor come out more? I buy very high quality stuff but i want more tanginess. My initial guess was lapsing suchong, since theyre both "funky teas" i figured they'd go together but in fact the lapsang made it milder and softer! (As i found out smoked tea is surprisingly gentle).

>>17872655
If the cake is soft you can kind of break a hunk off with your fingers or pry some hunks off with a butter knife. Don't worry about separating individual leaves you will break to many if you try.
If its rock hard stab it with a screwdriver or an awl, and just make sure you aren't pushing towards your other hand, people tend to stab themselves trying to break up hard cakes.

>>17873150
Yes ive noticed the same thing with smoked tea, it really changes the character of the tea leaves. It doesn't just add a smoke flavor it also smooths the taste of the tea out and makes it softer.
Can you elaborate on what kind of puerh you use? Ripe or raw, young or aged?
When you say tangyness do you mean astringency like a mouth drying sensation, or bitterness, or just a fruity flavor and sweetness.
When i think of tanginess i tend to think more of some green oolongs like tie guan yin.

>>17860901
>>17860938
Hey thanks for the tip here. I've actually decided to start writing the tastes down (in addition to other things unrelated to tea) in a notebook so that's really helping a lot. In a strange way, I actually like to see how wrong/different I feel about a tea when I drink it a second time versus the written account of how I felt it tasted the first time. I should probably add a bit more on how I prepared it or what I was eating with it.
>>17860999
>>17861063
Also yeah, I miss the old guy a lot even though it's already been a few years and we're missing his generational experiences with tea growing up but I'm still able to mostly talk about history and sports with my father. I actually only got back into frequently drinking tea recently and haven't been drinking it all that often ever since I moved away from home. When I do visit, our discussions on tea and where they're from usually segue into some history or politics of the places we're discussing (e.g. Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea). I'll take the advice given here and start going beyond what we usually drink and discuss the tastes there. Might be a good way to catch up.

The older I get, the more I can understand why tea time and drinking tea was such a nice way to kill time and talk back in the day. I don't know if I'm just being an overly sentimental idiot but I feel like the taste of the tea can also set the mood for the discussion too. Might start getting into the ritual stuff or gaiwan stuff. I know my father has a bunch of stuff that I have no clue how to use so I might ask him about that too. I'll also take a look at the cold brewed senchas too. I've very very rarely had cold tea.

Anyone know good places to buy 450-500ml mugs with good craftmanship?

Got around to buying that Upton Tea Russian caravan blend some anon recommend to me like months ago. Good shit. Needs more smoke though.

>>17866291
As long as you aren't drinking tea made from ponderosa or australian pine needles you're good. But personally I only drink eastern white pine because it's very easy to identify (no chance of fucking up) and it tastes really good.

Also the trick to not ending up with turpentine tea is to chop the ends off where the needles attach to the twig. The ends contain sap, which is where the turpentine taste comes from. Another pro-tip is to chop the needles up before you steep them to release more of the oils and flavour. I usually have 2/3 of my tea infuser filled with chopped needles and steep for 20-25 minutes.

>>17873992
Ya it's kind of quirky. Not sure how to describe it yet. First sips.

>>17873880
Can you import one of these?
https://au.keepcup.com/
I've got the Thermal, in the size Large (454ML). Really good quality. Went with all black version (you can also do a choose your own colour scheme as well). As long as you don't go full retard they are pretty spillproof, they're easy to clean since the only moving part (the top bit that you move to expose the sipping hole) can be taken out, cleaned and put back in.

>>17874019
Kind of reminds me of ultra strong lipton. Not very smokey or maybe I'm spoiled by lapsang souchong.

>Tfw middle of Saturday, and get to relax with some quality "ye yun gu shu" liu bao with your new gong dao bei you won from AliExpress' freebies section.
The pour on the gong dao bei is extremely nice, though the handle leaves a bit for want. My tea setup is well-matched now, with an unintended "mossy woods" aesthetic. I'm usually hesitant to drink through my more expensive leaf quickly, but liu bao has been hitting just 'right' lately. Kind of thinking about using some of my cheaper brick liu bao for scent experiments. How are everyone's infusions going today?

>>17874053
To me the smoke wasn't outright smoke itself but more of a vanilla-like spiciness, the perfect level

>>17874277
You can win free stuff?? Congrats. It resembles a Chemex.
My most expensive tea at the moment is shincha. I'm churning through it daily until it's used up. In my reasoning it's more of an 'event' this way.

>>17874277
Looks good anon.
Purple cloud tea house website is kind of a mess right now but you might find some affordable liu bao on there if you use the search. Ive just been sipping smokey lapsang this afternoon. It's good

>>17874483
>You can win free stuff?? Congrats. It resembles a Chemex.
Yes and no. They have a cool (app-exclusive) 'Freebies' section where you can submit two daily entries on raffles for a wide variety of items. If you 'win', you pay $0.01 at checkout and they ship it out to you. There's a small obligation to do a review with some pics, but it's nothing major. They occasionally have teaware up for grabs, and I was one of the winners this time. Shame it's supposedly closing down by the end of the month. I think you can still snag $0.01+coins offers if you're quick enough, though I haven't tried redeeming them myself.
>My most expensive tea at the moment is shincha.
The really viscous one posted a few times now, right? Just looking at the thickness and verdant colors of the shincha infusions for the past few days has had me wishing I didn't skip prime greens season this year. I imagine some international prices are favorable since the yen dipped as well. Though, I'm still having a very pleasant time with my Chawangshop selections. Especially glad I chose to buy from them before some of their loose Bada teas sold out. Those are excellent sleeper hits in my opinion.
>>17874617
> you might find some affordable liu bao on there if you use the search.
Any particular examples? I used the search function, but most of the options were a bit too much. I'm not trying to buy a great deal of tea right now, but I'm always open to exploring new vendors down the line. I forget his actual name, but I'd particularly like to try the "HK Vampire's" teas someday, if I can find some good deals.
>smokey lapsang
Is it the tin lapsang stuff someone in here hoarded a bunch of? If so, you've been sipping that stuff for quite a while now. Have you considered messing with infusion style (like cold infusion), or just standard gaiwan/etc?

Can I get some recommendations for health and wellness purposes?

I currently have: heicha fu brick, ripe puerh, black tea, and yunnan purple green tea in my diet.

All of these contain different compounds and benefits from what I've read. I'm curious if there's any other teas I could add to combat lethargy.

>>17875010
>All of these contain different compounds and benefits from what I've read.
They really don't, the medicinal stuff is pretty much nonsense. Tea just tastes good. If you want more energy, you should start lifting weights.

>>17875025
What about the golden flowers? I read some interesting studies on their effects.

>>17875010
>I'm curious if there's any other teas I could add to combat lethargy
Tea nor any drink short of unhealthy energy drinks will do this alone. I supplemented switching to tea by also cutting off most of my drinking, exercising more often, and just trying to be active more in general. That's the best and most sustainable way of doing things. Now if you're talking about caffeine just to stay awake, that's a different story

I buy from Ippodo because of their consistency. Their special editions and shincha are usually boring as fuck. Waste of money.

>>17875032
I've had ~15g of a fu brick with golden flowers today, nothing noticeable. Beyond caffeine, theanine, and a few other things, tea really isn't going to do much from a medicinal point of view.

>>17875010
>>17875032
>health and wellness purposes
I'd largely disregard most claims surrounding matters of health. There are some alleged potential benefits, but they aren't as significant as many make them out to be. That said, there are some components within tea that can be quite useful. L-theanine in particular is sourced naturally from camellia sinensis and a few specific varieties of mushroom, and that can be quite useful for stress management and focus due to its anxiolytic properties. If it's just minor occasional lethargy, drink whatever tea you feel an inclination to drink. Habitual stimulant usage (caffeine in this instance) can lead to increased lethargy during withdrawal. So, looking at tea as a chronic remedy is, in my opinion, not advisable, but perhaps better than coffee since it has L-theanine and typically lower concentrations of caffeine per average serving.

>>17875052
Oh, the golden flower is supposed to help your gut eventually affecting you mentally.

>>17874822
>I forget his actual name, but I'd particularly like to try the "HK Vampire's" teas someday, if I can find some good deals.
Yee on tea
>Is it the tin lapsang stuff someone in here hoarded a bunch of?
Yeah something like that, I'm on my second 200g tin. I actually haven't experimented at all since when i first got it. Maybe I'm crazy but i just don't feel the need. 5 grams in a 14oz mug, brewed western style for 3 minutes.
I guess i should throw some in a gaiwan for the hell of it, but for the moment i reach for it when i want something easy i don't have to think about

>>17875158
>YOT
Thanks, that's the one. His site is kind of difficult to sift through, but he has some of the nicest-looking selections I've seen. Wonder how shipping compares to other vendors like Chawangshop.
>Maybe I'm crazy but i just don't feel the need. 5 grams in a 14oz mug, brewed western style for 3 minutes.
Honestly, I don't blame you. Lately, I've mostly been burning through some of my lower grade stuff just to make efficient, grateful use of it. I feel like if I have really nice tea, I ought to spend more time to quietly appreciate its multiple qualities. So, if I'm occupied with something like reading a novel or a small project, it can be nice to have something simple and easy-going to work with that doesn't demand much attention or command a high price/g.

By the way, have you tried cold-infusing your lapsang? I imagine it wouldn't have as strong of a flavor/smoke as many enthusiasts like, but I'm curious how that would turn out.

>>17875312
>Wonder how shipping compares to other vendors like Chawangshop.
I just ordered nearly a kilo from him, it was $50 for air or $20 for sea freight to east coast USA. I went with sea even though i know it's going to take a month or 3. Shipping might get better in the next few months HK air freight was shut down for a few weeks and that probably drove up prices

>>17851790
I'm looking for a good oolong tea. got any recommendations?

>>17875685
Get some tie guyan yin from yunnan sourcing

>>17875685
If you are into the premium roasted wuyi oolongs check out essence of tea, its expensive stuff but some really fucking good tea

DO YOU MOTHERFUCKERS NOT KNOW WHAT DAY IT IS TODAY? BREAK OUT THAT GOOD SHIT THAT YOU SAVE FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS.

>>17875914
I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to tea but have really wanted to get more into it because it is relaxing and takes me away from the stress of the day sitting in a comfy lawn chair and listen to music.

>>17858305
Boil up a giant insulated carafe of tea in the morning and sip on it all day.

>>17859075
I've been experimenting with different butter teas. Tbh they all taste good. Smokey teas work well with as a robust taste with the butter, Earl Grey and orange peel teas work well against the butter (bit like a flavoured cake), Chai blends are nice (again, like a spiced cake), normal English Breakfast teas felt a bit underwhelming compared to the others but were still nice. I've only tried black teas, and every black tea has worked so far.

As your webm shows you need to use a stick blender to get the butter to mix, otherwise you'll end up with a butter blob layer on top.

>>17876040
>wuyi oolongs
carafes are great, I have a giant 1.7L thermos that I use for my coffee and tea

how do I start liking tea? It always just tastes like grass water to me. help me bros.

>>17875931
Actively didn't drink tea today to not be a consoomer

>>17876126
You dont like greens
Try some blacks from vahdam or upton. If you still think that's too grassy cant really think of anything further.
Puerh is probably the opposite of grassy tra but I'm not sending you down that rabbit hole

>>17875931
I didn't know it was Tea Day, and I did not see this post until after starting my session, but I spontaneously brought out one of my top 3 favorites by coincidence. Only bought a single full 100g/$8 serving of it in an order months back, but Chawangshop's 2021 Bada red is a complete show-stopper, especially for the price. It's a gruesome shame that it is seemingly OOS forever, and even if it wasn't, I'd have to bear the rough shipping to even get it here. It completely reshaped my view on reds though, enough that any future orders I make will probably have to include a red of some variety. Just look at these leaves and drool alongside me:
https://www.chawangshop.com/black-tea/2021-bada-manle-red-tea-100g.html
It's an aroma champion. I can't determine if I'm frustrated by how good this finite good is, or if I'm experiencing a mild enlightenment by consuming it. I need to dive into reds eventually, but I do not like to be hasty and wasteful of my leaves, so I'll refrain for now.

>>17854486
Taylor's Scottish is hideously harsh and astringent. I bought some in hope it would be an even more full-bodied Irish (as it was marketed) and was massively disappointed. Had to understeep and add a ton of milk to even get it down.

>>17851838
Retard, black spruce is considered to be the best tasting

>>17875010
herbal teas are only the ones that might have actual effects, all the teas you mentioned are the same plant but processed different. go to a doctor and get your thyroid gland checked or something though

every raw/Sheng PuErh i've had has been extremely underwhelming. weak taste, thin bodied, astringent and generally unpleasant. every other processing type ive had has had great teas for a third of the price. im tired of pretending the 'champagne of teas' is anything more than a meme pushed by vendors because they can bump up the price every year on any unsold stock

nepal himalayan snow white tea

a bit sweet. very nice

>>17875010
Probably the biggest health benefit from tea/coffee comes from caffeine

>>17877297
I've only had one but it was exactly as you described. I'm disappointed that's apparently all there is to it.

>>17877329
Cow patty tea cakes, sun dries...
very nice

>>17877372
what

accidentally brewed some sencha at 99c and it wasnt that bad

>>17877297
Honestly same
I like ripes, but raws never live up to hype

>>17877297
>every other processing type ive had has had great teas for a third of the price
its wierd because i can find good prices for aged shengs on fullchea or other chinese websites but i cant seem to find any decent young shengs for non crazy prices.

>>17877425
Good sencha then that's how highly graded green tea are tested :)

Does anyone have any good suggestions for Central Asian teas?

>>17876062
Can you expand on what butter teas are? And are they hard to make?

>>17878139
i think i read somewhere in Mongolia they import fu cha from china
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-hei-cha-zhuan/products/2009-gao-jia-shan-wild-fu-zhuan-hunan-brick-tea
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2014-gao-jia-shan-guan-gong-fu-brick-tea-from-hunan

>>17877297
Do you typically buy puer made by one of the western vendors? Im not saying you are buying the wtong tea im just interested in which ones you have tried recently.

>>17877843
>but i cant seem to find any decent young shengs for non crazy prices.
Seems to be another bubble + inflation hitting at the same time + covid.
The market is losing its shit right now. Puer was overpriced a decade ago and now a lot of it is comically expensive

>>17878139
If you look around some you can find tea grown in Georgia, the site i used to suggest is in Russia which isn't very easy to order from right now so you will have to look elsewhere.

quick make a new one!!!

I finally got a tea cup set. I got it at goodwill for a little over $5 and I think it looks nice. still waiting on my gaiwan to come in.

Ordered 3kg of "Shogyokuen: Ichibancha Genmaicha Made with Premium Spring Green Tea". Pricing was pretty reasonable bout $80 each kilo with a $15 total shipping fee. Found a 20% off coupon too (iirc 20OFF). Way more than enough even if I just do double instead of triple infusions. Preorder though so hope it ships soon. Will be nice to upgrade from bagged yamamotoyama

Im making a new thread, one second

>>17878715
Was going to ask a question about >>17878615
but I'll ask in the next thread
>>17878609
Nice set and nice mat! I've always liked floral patterns

>>17878609
Nice grabs anon, especially getting a set. I wonder how many ml of liquid each cup accomodates. Is this for starting out with gong fu infusion? If so, welcome to the club.

>>17851790
new
>>17878724
>>17878724
>>17878724

>>17878546
these are what i currently have, i've had others and samples, all have tasted roughly the same
2012 Xiaguan "Zi Yun Hao" Premium
2019 Yunnan Sourcing "Golden Pig"
2019 Yunnan Sourcing "Spring Morning" Raw
2021 mom and pop from meileaf

>>17878725
idk maybe 10oz

also anyone have any recommendations for a decent white tea. also looking for a good price/oz floral tea that is inexpensive enough to have regularly <$5/ounce