/ck/ - Food & Cooking

What iced tea methods do you guys use? I’ve been brewing double strength and pouring over ice and then chilling but it still seems weak, mainly been using oolongs and one white variety.

>>19780455
Brew normally, cool it off at room temp, and then cool in a fridge.
Cooling it off before putting it in the fridge is to prevent spoiling other stuff inside.

This requires some prep time, but it turns out great.

>>19780455
I'm hesitant to try making ice tea again as well since last time I tried the first batch I'd left going for like 12 hours was pretty weak and when I tried a second batch for 24 hours using the same leaves it was even weaker. I don't want to keep using that amount of leaves if it's going to keep being shit.

Also, does puerh work at all as iced tea?

>>19780476
That actually works? I'd heard that doing it that way doesn't result in anything good and you really need to do the cold brewing.

>>19780477
It does. Though I'm hesitant to try it out with ripe puerh.

Try doing an Arnold palmer with sheng, that shit is awesome.

>>19780482
I've done it to drink tea at work and it's been fine. I bought pic related to store my tea in.

>>19780483
i had a pot of iced ripe a while ago, it was not bad actually, though maybe it's telling i haven't been compelled to make it since. brought out the woodier side. i made sure to use one without any weird notes.

>>19780444
Did you guys slim the OP a few months back or something?

>>19780349
you should try some taiwanese oolongs if you like tie guan yin. wuyi oolongs are very different

this colorful teaware farmerleaf uses for some photos look really nice, but they don't seem to actually sell them
do you know where I could buy these or something similar?

>>19781002
i found this old listing page for out of stock piece
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/products/lu-xi-liang-2021-green-collection-20
from the artist's name i found this taobao listing, presumably a fake
https://www.taobao.com/list/item/717007012024.htm
might be more fruitful if there's a name for the style but i couldn't find it.

Drinking maple-smoked yellow tea. At first the smell of wet leaves in the pot is so strong I feel like my smell receptors in the nose are being scorched. After the smokiness it is a mellow, sweet tea. Pick related. Link related.
https://www.slurp.coffee/en/shop/teas/grandpa-special-maple-smoked-yellow-tea/

>>19781031
apparently they still have some in stock, a gaiwan and some gong dao bei... I have no idea why they're not displayed on the teaware section at the site though, it only came up with google. is that section just broken?
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/products/lu-xi-liang-2021-collection-gaiwan-6

>>19781043
you could always email them and ask, but i'd assume it's probably just a mistake. or maybe they're holding back stock to sell in the future for some reason.

>>19781052
115$ for a gaiwan is a bit too rich for my blood anyway. but yeah, might email them to say that the teaware section might be broken

>>19780455
There is a pretty strong coldbrew recipie linked in the pastebin

>>19780718
>Did you guys slim the OP a few months back or something?
I think its basically been the same for years
The line about info in the pastebin might have been rejigged at somepoint

>>19781198
Yeah, I just had a minor stroke.

>>19781032
Cool find, that's definitely something you dont see everyday. Some people find that flavor of strong pine smoked tea acrid and prefer other woods. I got a puer cake once that was smoked with some kind of hardwood, kind of reminded me of mesquite or applewood BBQ.

>>19781204
I have the same thought sometimes where it suddenly looks weird and i don't know why

i cant pick a chawan theres so many cool ones...

>>19781378
clearly you haven't watched the official chawan anime, or you'd know black raku is the superior choice...

>>19781407
>>19781378
for real though, chawan prices can get pretty stupid, so a classically-styled raku piece can actually be a good value option because there's so many of them on ebay and elsewhere

>>19781407
but i dont want lead poisoning...
>>19781457
ive been considering this
https://www.sazentea.com/en/products/p698-chawan-shiroraku.html
but
https://www.sazentea.com/en/products/p707-hakeme-mishima-chawan.html
is quite nice too though it dosent stand out as much to me.
Also does anyone have any opinions on mini/travel chawans? they have a diameter of ~9.5cm so i think it would be too small but im not sure. The current bowl i use (picrel, not a chawan though) is 14cm and feels huge, i think 11cm would be perfect for me

>>19781474
Both of those are good choices
Lead is unironically something to consider because japan has exceptions in lead rules for traditional crafts. Or at least that is my understanding. There are a whole lot of amazing chaiwans out there and they get pretty goddam expensive, enjoy your search.

>>19781497
We had a whole discussion about lead a while ago. Lead is still probably used pretty frequently in glaze, as long as the glaze is formulated properly and you aren't damaging it it probably doesn't leach an amout worth worrying about. The biggest risks are things like old low fired redware from sothern us and mexico, and very amateur potters that don't know what they are doing, along with older pieces where the glaze is damaged or degraded.

>>19780451
don't you fucking DARE insult genmaicha

>>19781497
>Lead is unironically something to consider because japan has exceptions in lead rules for traditional crafts.
Man, are they for real

>>19781552
I really wouldn't worry about it unless you are spending hundreds on something that exactly recreates some glaze that's based on a hundreds of years old recipie and then drinking lemon juice out out it after scrubbing it with steel wool.

Can I gongfu brew sencha?

>>19781613
Sure, go for it, its a bit fiddly because of the small broken leaves, you want to keep a very small gap in the lid while pouring or use a strainer or something to catch tea dust, you also want to make sure you don't leave water in the bottom of your gaiwan between brews.
I would probably still stick with secha brewing temps as well.

>>19781613
Senchado isn't that different from gong fu anyway. I'd use colder water if you want to really push the leaf ratio to gong fu proportions

>>19781510
>tea dust and toasted grains >:(
>tea dust and toasted grains j a p a n :D

>btfos all your shitty chink leaves in flavor, energy boost, price, convenience and coolness

>>19781652
forgot the fucking picture. mate cocido. drink it.

>>19781656
>>19781652
I like yerba mate. can't really compare to the whole range of tea flavor though, but it's nice

>>19781656
>mate cocido
Its annoying to buy in the USA. You can usually only find the kind with the cocaine removed which doesn't taste great because of the extraction process. You basically have to buy it from south america and hope customs lets it through since it's kind of sort of technically illegal.
It's funny because years ago you used to be able to buy kilos of it on amazon but times have changed.

>>19781715
What on earth are you talking about? They have taragui, rosamonte and cruz de Malta all on amazon with like 2 pound bags

>>19781758
Lol i was talking about mate de coca because i cant read.

>>19781763
kek. I'll have to look into that

>>19781769
If you dig around some you can find some small websites that import the teabags and then sell them with domestic shipping, availability is pretty inconsistent. I don't know if the cocane or whatever it's form is in the plant actually does anything if you make tea with it. I think you have to buy some lime paste (the mineral not the fruit) and put a dab in the teabag and then stick it in your cheek. But i haven't read about it in years.

I picked up a couple kilos of 2015 Dayi V93. Relative to the strangely ubiquitous 2018 tuos, with a few more years of age there is a notable improvement thanks to hint of aged taste. Maybe it was stored somewhere a little more humid. Hard to tell. It still has the doughy notes, still an easy cheap ripe tuo.

>>19781503
Lol, I got into an argument on the site which shall not be named back when I still occasionally used it when I said a certain amount of lead is considered normal in all ceramics pretty much everywhere. The norms are to ensure it's below harmful amounts, and while lead-free is possible to achieve from a technological standpoint, it's rarely the case. It's not that important either; California literally put Prop 65 labels on puerh due to lead so you're probably getting more from the tea itself anyway.

>>19781848
I've only tried the 2018 one, but didn't like it that much. I do think it could be nicer with more age on it

>>19781848
Where did you buy it? People share their impressions on various sellers' storage all the time here.

>>19781863
Its funny the focus all goes on lead when tea is a notorius aluminium accumulator

>>19781876
Eh. Might not be worth it to try another unless it has much more age or interesting storage conditions on it.
>>19781897
Nothing fancy, King Tea Mall. Guangzhou natural storage, which probably describes at least half of their inventory.
https://kingteamall.com/products/2015-dayi-v93-tuo-100g-puerh-shou-cha-ripe-tea

Cold brew sencha overnight for a nice morning wake up?

>>19781985
Yeah, that works just fine. Toss it in during the afternoon on the day prior and you'll be set. You can do a rolling coldbrew from accumulating mostly-spent leaves during hot sessions this way too.

>>19781993
I tossed in the evening :( Maybe if I'll keep it out of the fridge.

>put sencha in my 500 ml pitcher for cold brew
>half of the tea leaves are at the bottom and half at the top
why tea why

Factory deang sour tea imprestions
https://www.chawangshop.com/deang-sour-tea-tasting-set-20g.html

Parameters 5g tea/100ml water, long multi-minute steeps in a gawan, golden orange liquor, the compression makes it take a while to brew, maybe more porous and faster brewing than the farmer tea, the tea chunks still do not open up on their own, again likely a good candidate for simmering on the stove.

Less “urinal pad” or “barn yard” smell than the farmer made version though both of those scents are still present, also has a sort of sweet “artificial” fragrance present, overall the scent seems more mild.

Sour fruit skins, tart herbaceous taste, pleasantly tannic and astringent, moderately biter, lingering drying tartness, still has some drying straw and alfalfa, some lightly smoky notes that remind me a bit of semiaged factory sheng, the “strange” elements from farmer tea seem more subdued here.

The factory tea is quite different than the farmer tea, perhaps more “normal” but still a unique tea, I am not entirely sure which I prefer more more, the farmer tea is more memorable but the factory tea more rounded, if I had to pick I would go with the farmer tea due to the greater novelty of it, both are still probably in “acquired taste” territory but the factory tea is far less so.

My conclusion from the farmer tea review remains unchanged:
>>19768528
>I will probably try to hunt down more of it but I collect weird heicha so that is not exactly a seal of approval, also chawangshop’s sample pack feel a bit pricey for what you get (though I don’t know the normal going rate for deang sour tea), however if you have adventitious tea tastes like me it is worth a shot.

>>19781863
Lead is obviously harmful in certain amounts and people have been banged over the head with that information for ages at this point so they immediately associate the word "lead" with poison.

Aluminum doesn't have that association and from what I've read, it's mostly bound up when ingested instead of being absorbed. You'd be hard pressed to find a restaurant that doesn't use uncoated aluminum cookware. And if it's coated, then it's teflon, which they almost certainly use anyway.

There's also flouride, but I'm not in the mood to type that one out.

>>19781998
Evening will likely be fine unless you plan to drink in the very early morning without time to infuse. It's as simple as dropping tea in water overnight in a fridge.

>>19782027
To be clear, what muddies the waters here is that most of this stuff at worst drops xou a few IQ points in childhood or shortens your overall lifespan a few weeks. It takes a fuckton of exposure from various sources combined with other risk factors to get sick from it. It's incredibly difficult to research and questionable whether it even matters.

>>19782009
It's normal. Shake it around a little, and leave it there. Some will float down over time, and if you return some time later, you can shake again to make the rest go down, but it's not necessary. To goffee frens here, you can do the same thing.
>>19782021
The tart fruit skin and herbaceous qualities sound pretty nice. I can see how the farmer one would win in novelty, but I'd personally prefer the factory one based on your notes. You mentioned something about heicha on Taobao before, right? With how much the samples at the cost they are, I wonder what it'd run you to source a full batch elsewhere. Probably a pretty penny better spent elsewhere, but I'm sure you enjoy the experience of sampling unusual heicha.

>>19782064
>You mentioned something about heicha on Taobao before, right?
Yeah, taobao looks like it is a good option for obscure heicha that is not easily available. I know the some of the prominent factories for qing zhuan and Qu Jiang Bao Pian have stores taobao. Buying from official factory stores probably costs more than the Chinese market value (ofical stores tend to sell at full MSRP) but the official stores are safe and still sometimes cheaper then western vendors (high shipping costs and proxy service fees can eat up savings), plus the benefit of being able to access otherwise unavailable teas. I plan to figure out how to make an account and put in a order of heicha sometime. I also intend to look for deals on puerh and canned oolongs when I do. A shame taobao intentionally makes it hard for foreigners to use.

>>19781863
>California literally put Prop 65 labels on puerh
They put those labels on EVERYTHING. You can see them on computer parts, couches, motorcycle jackets, you name it. The threshold is super low and it's cheaper to print one label for everything, which is why you often see those labels outside of California.

Best tea for powerlifting?

>>19782143
For taobao /cgl/ has a taobao thread with extensive guides on setting up accounts and shopping, and up to date information on various proxy services, taobao also offers their own international shipping service as well, but i don't know what their shipping costs are like offhand and they won't touch anything that is prohibited by chinese export customs.
There are links to some known official storefronts on taobao/tmall on the extended vendor pastebin that is linked under the list of vendors in the OP pastebin.

>>19782185
Ephedra sinica, search mo huang on ebay and buy from whatever Chinese vendor. In the US it's fine to import for personal use but illegal to import and sell commercially.

>>19782174
Yeah, I know, I looked it up after posting. In hindsight, I remember buying a bicycle lock from the US and finding that sticker.

I still think we should be more worried about the tea itself, though, to the extent that worrying makes sense in the first place.

>>19782210
Yo that shit doesn't sound very good. I was hoping more in the say of matcha or white tea. To hell with your death causing shit

>>19782227
Its pretty good. I've got a big bag sitting around here off ebay. Cured my covid with it. Just sweat and piss it all out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU0AhOFsKQU
New Farmer Leaf video on Jingami Yishai, gonna watch it and then drink some but I'd highly recommend trying some if you get the chance.

>>19782227
It's relatively safe as long as you don't extract the ephededra and use large amounts of it in combination with caffeine and other stimulants. The problem was that they were putting shitloads of it in those ridiculous preworkout powders and pills and guys were taking handfulls of them before football practice.
Anyway i would probably drink puer or sencha

>>19782278
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU0AhOFsKQU Pic rel is top comment.
>>19782052
>>19782174
Azores it is!

If I praise China enough. Could Xi send me some of his special 1000yo gushu puerh that he has stashed?

>>19782363
No, if you want to get the good puer you have to become a rich chinese businessman and then big companies and banks will give you the good stuff as "gifts"

>>19782332
A true connoisseur... I'm in awe..

hehe. Fagyo edition.

Drinking some Meng Ding Gan Lu green tea from YS. Progression of cup colors from left to right.
Brewing at 72°C for 15s.
Absolutely no astringency at all. The 2 cups had the best flavor over all, with a sharp decline on the third and almost none on the fourth.
Tastes of buttery corn husks. Euphoric feeling shortly after drinking my fourth cup. Empty cup smell is that of honey, while the empty gaiwan smell is that of cottoncandy.
A fifth cup brewed at 25s for 78°C confirms that the taste has mostly gone away with solely the bitterness remaining.

>>19781652
>>19781656
Mate is great, the starving university student everyday drink of choice, while keeping the various brews for a special day.
although cocido is not my favorite brew and I rather prefer to drink mate with a bombilla (although I'm a philistine and I don't use a gourd and just keep the mate in a kettle like some sort of weird frankenstein, then pour it in a large cup that slowly fills up with yerba)

>Its not a meme this is just how you drink mate >:(

>>19782529
That's the Brazilian stuff right?

>>19782590
Yeah. Its only r e a l chimarrão if you can scratch out Christ the Redeemer in the mound though.

what chinese tea is the most alike hojicha

>>19782815
Deep roasted Tieguanyin and Wuyi oolongs.

Is tea drunk real?
Which tea should I use to achieve it?
I wanna feel the Chi.

>>19782917
I have felt it with Green Teas, Tieguanyin, and Sheng puerhs.

I don't care if it's technically an herbal infusion, I love chamomile tea so much
>>19782917
Chamomile tea mellows you out, and some puar will knock you off your ass

>>19781407
started this show because of this post and holy shit this is golden sasuke is literally me man

>>19782917
for me its when I drink a nice raw puer, and go into the tea session being very mindful. spending time noticing how the tea changes as you brew it, as well as how you are affected by the tea. set aside enough time for a tea session, maybe put some ambient music on, but besides that dont have too many distractions.

>>19782917
There are definitely some teas that make you sweat and have some noticeable qi. I can't name one to recommend offhand. Usually raw puer

>>19783077
to add on: this cake usually gets me feeling it pretty good, and lasts for 10+ brews. pretty cheap too. I think kingteamall has it for a little cheaper as well

https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/raw-pu-erh-tea/products/2007-nan-qiao-early-spring-tribute-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

>>19783131
Thank god at least some bubble era factory tea isn't ludicrously overpriced

Rate my latest purchase

>>19783077
This is probably correct.
As someone who has studied Qigong and internal martial arts/Chinese alchemy for over a decade, "change" is a much more accurate translation of Qi than "breathe" or "energy"

Noob here looking to balance my coffee intake since I've been more sensitive to caffeine lately. Can I get a recommendation for affordable gyokuro? I checked Ippodo but not sure if ~$30 is worth it for someone who doesn't know good tea

>>19782185
puer for obvious reasons

What the hell this cold brew sencha came out strong af. Its like I'm drinking lightning.

>>19783505
Try Den's Tea. $15
https://denstea.com/collections/gyokuro/products/gyokuro-kin

>>19782917
Drink a lot of a tea that has notes and textures you really like. I think part of the whole "tea drunk" thing is in the psychological enjoyment aspect. That said, I'd say aged pu'er as a whole works well.

>>19782529
chimarrão is basically matcha, quit being a little bitch about it and work a little harder to make it.

>>19783572
Told ya you'd be fine. That said, it's normal to dilute coldbrew a little to reach the concentration you want, so try that if you wish.
>>19783233
Company is fine, but it mentions "natural flavor", so I don't know what they added. Probably fine if the material isn't shredded, 3/5. If shredded, 2/5.

I got interested in tea, I will read the pastebin when I have more time and see what I am missing

>>19783048
yes, he's really relatable for anyone who collects teaware

>>19783169
wasn't 2007 the year that prices plummeted though?

>>19783924
>wasn't 2007 the year that prices plummeted though?
Yeah. I just was complaining about the fact that these days i see more and affordable factory chakes from 2007 and that period going for way too much money just because they are old. And its nice to see one priced more appropriately.

Drink more liubao

what's everyone sipping today?
some Fen Shui Ling Oolong Black from FL, very nice but be careful not to overbrew or that florality becomes soapy. it's qingxin oolong cultivar apparently which i gotta try a regular oolong of.

>>19784461
Cool, i thought that tea sounded pretty interesting, im glad someone decided to try it.
Its cold today so i had some cnnp black box liubao earlier, good tea. Now im brewing some cheap 09 xiaguan te ji tuo, smokey, sweet, i kinda want to say herbaceous but that's not quite what it is, nice for cheap tea and the smoke is good in cold weather.

>>19784461
I also had Fen Shui Ling earlier, doing flash brew i never have issue with it pretty tasty black tea better than the other oolong black on FL too. I don't know when william will add the new teas on shop my last order is not even a month old...

>>19783048
don't forget to read the manga, the translation is almost at the end

>>19784461
Baishaxi Tian Jian
Bit of smoke and a lot of fruit
Delicious every time

>>19784461
Sipping on some 2022 snoozefest grandpa style. fits the vibe on this foggy fall morning

>>19784461
my sense of smell has only started to regenerate after covid, so I'm just having some cheapo Haiwan 9978 ripe. I would say my nose is at 20% its normal capacity
yesterday I drank some of that Farmerleaf Fa Zhan He and found it tasted a bit odd without the aroma, it didn't really have any of the citrus flavor, but the savory umami was still there. I think I'll just be drinking coffee, ripe and maybe liu bao until this passes

>>19784461
A red from Bada region I bought from Chawangshop a long while back. It was tastier when fresh, and yet I reserved it because I didn't want to not have any on hand at some point, but it's still pleasant. I don't have reds often, but the baked fruit aroma with this one is n i c e.
>Oolong
Interesting, I don't think I ever hear people discussing oolongs from FL. What kind of notes are you getting? Haven't ordered from them yet. Tempted to pick up that fa zhan he cake from FL that anons keep recommending during the upcoming BF sale myself.
>>19784111
Based and checked. I will drink this tonight now: https://www.chawangshop.com/hei-cha/2014-2018-three-cranes-brand-ye-yun-gu-shu-liubao-brick-tea-50g.html

>>19783984
>2007 and that period going for way too much money just because they are old.
Any particular vendor you are talking about? Most of the cheap 2007 cakes I remember from vendors with fair prices are around $25-45. Some of the higher end 2007 productions are sold for more but they were always more expensive. In any case prices still will go up with time, your cheapo 2007 cake will not be $30 forever.

>>19784715
The one listed is a "oolong black" oollong cultivar made into a black tea, FL is also sellin ailao oolong and are pretty good too.

>>19784715
>What kind of notes are you getting?
not the best at notes but it's a lot like a smooth black tea, with a big kick of oolong florality. i guess it's what you'd expect from the phrase "oolong black". one time i left the room and could smell the tea in the air when i came back.

>>19784595
yeah flash brews are the way to go. i think the time i ended up with soapy i put too much leaf in the gaiwan.

>>19784759
I don't weight my leaves and i don't use same size gaiwan so i change all the time not sure what's a good ratio for it, only had 4 sessions with it too.

>>19784715
It doesn't taste like any classic black tea, and has 2 phases the first when you get is the flowary black first taste then the more charateristic to oolong and lasting smell and taste in the mouth.

>>19784715
>I will drink this tonight now:
Im the guy that was recommending that back when you picked it up. Good shit. Pretty strong as i remember

>tfw bottled ice tea is practically all sugar and costs a lot by volume compared to brewing your own
>artificial sweeteners are bad for your liver or so I've heard
>and that's not even taking boatloads of caffeine into account assuming I only drink the tea I brewed overnight
I don't wanna get addicted to either sugar or caffeine but plain water really sux

>>19785203
Tea just isn't as rough on you as drinking coffee. I brewed 22 grams of strong tea over the course of the day and didn't break a sweat. If i drank two proper stong cups of pour over coffee i would be jittery and overstimulated. Yet tomorrow i can brew 2.5g of tea in total and no issues there either. Just avoid liquid calories, cut sugar out of your diet, or at least out of your drinks and you will find there is plenty of tea out there that tastes extremely sweet, to the point wher eyou are convinced there must be sugar in it. It's so good.

>>19785203
seltzer

>>19785220
This too, polar or whatever is available in your region if polar isint.

Got me one of these last year as my first pu'er, and drank the last of it just now. Sad!

>>19785261
What did you think of it? Did you pick up on any plum notes?

Ordered this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Got the loose leaf version myself since I like to put a little extra in the cup.

>>19785286
>african tea

>>19785273
Very nice. Instantly became my favourite tea, and remains so over other tea I've bought since. I'm terrible with tasting notes, but no, not really any plum. Lots of delicious mushroom flavour though.

>>19785165
Nice, thanks again anon. Bit expensive for me to get the whole 1kg brick, but it was worth getting the sample to try it. Personally, I remember it being rather smooth and thick, with a pleasant earthy-fruity aroma, or something along those lines. I'll post a pic and quick impressions again after I have it later tonight.

>>19785315
Back then i think it was $89 for the full brick + whatever he would have charged for shipping, probably another $30. Now its probably $140 + shipping. I remember it being rich, chocolaty and having a bit of bitterness still in it, but its been a while so it's probably mellowed out some.

>>19785261
Finishing your first cake is no small deal. I think my first was a 7542 as well. Cheers! Here's to a hundred more.

>>19785314
Well its considered the benchmark for a reason, it's good stuff, glad you enjoyed it.

>>19784461
MoJun “Xi Ma La Ya” Fu Brick Tea from Purple Cloud, gongfu style. Think I might try grandpa style or simmering it next since it felt better with longer hotter infusions.

>>19785536
Nice, everyone is breaking out the cozy teas today.

>>19780444
I hate hot tea, it's repulsive. Cold brewed is the only way.
>bought box of 96 gallon-bag green tea bags
>throw one in pitcher and fill with tap water
>put in refrigerator for a day
>remove tea bag day later
>when having a mason jar serving of it
>first add a few teaspoons of cinnamon powder to empty mason jar
>a dash of vanilla extract
>few tablespoons of honey
>mix in jar thoroughly with fork
>pour in tea
>mix in jar with fork thoroughly to dissolve the honey, shake as drinking to redistribute cinnamon powder
it's delicious

>>19785591
Have you considered trying other forms of tea? Your selected material and method(s) of choice may be associated with the unpleasant result of your hot tea? It's understandable that coldbrewing your green tea bags would be preferable since it'd handle the highly-shredded leaf more delicately, and result in an infusion that is less bitter. Though, if you were to buy whole leaf tea and infuse it at an appropriate temperature for less time, you'd probably get a great result you'd enjoy much the same if not more. I'd encourage you to give that a try before concluding all hot tea is bad.

>>19784461
Having some of my 2009 AnHua "Qian Liang Cha" cake today. A fitting tea for the season.

>>19785608
Every tea I have ever had is just a different variation of bitter. I've had both black tea and green tea cold brewed without ever heating and both have tasted delicious and smooth.

>>19785620
Black tea being bitter? I think you only had shit black tea i'm sorry.

>>19785591
>>19785620
Oh i didn't read your greentext... it's..worse than i thought sorry anon.

>>19785620
Yes, but again, have you only had bagged teas? The common preparation of bagged teas inevitably leads to a much harsher, bitter result compared to using whole leaf more gently. The problem with bagged teas is that the surface area is completely different due to it being shreds or particulates inside an enclosed bag. This, alongside often being done with excessively hot water for a very long time, means it infuses too rapidly and for far too long. So, the resulting strength of the infusion is too high, and it ends up being bitter and gross. This unpleasant result leads people to cover it up with sugar, honey, milk, creamer, and so on, but none of that will aid in the potential stomach upset such a potent liquid can cause.

Try loose leaf tea; black, green, white, oolong, whatever, and try infusing it as advised in the pastebin in the OP. I'm confident you'll see dramatic differences.

>>19782529
say what you want, those gaúchos got their presentation game on point

>>19780444
I drank my milk oolong that I cold brewed in Faygo Cotton Candy Soda the other day. I feel like I am committing blasphemy by saying this but it was shockingly not terrible. The strong fruity notes of the oolong blended well with the sweet creamy notes of the pop. The nature of the pop's flavor allowed the tea to still be noticeable, the fact I used 14g of tea also helped. However, it was still way too sweet for my palate. I also have some teas cold brewing in plain sparkling water that I will post about soon but I am giving them an extra long time to brew.

>>19785794
Yeah that much sugar is going to blast just about anything. Sparking water is pretty silly too, is it mineral or seltzer?

Regular people just can't comprehend the difference in taste between good tea and teabags. Yes, it's that much different. This stuff will be insanely flavorful and not bitter at all. Try getting some good tea.

I've drank tea bags after drinking good teas and they just have no flavor and are very bitter. No wonder people can't understand the difference between bitterness and astringency at first.

>>19785794
Add a splash of milk and drink it. Let us know how it tastes.

>>19785834
cope, your bitter dirt water is trash as a drink

>>19785834
I had never had much luck with tea bags. They always tasted bad to me. I knew I could like tea because I'd had tea brewed for me at a few different places but bags never came close. I still do think most of the loose leaf black tea I've had isn't that great, but it's certainly better than anything I'd had using tea bags.

>>19785825
Mineral water. I got one bottle loaded with yunnan golden snail and another with tieguanyin.

>>19785834
It must come down to open-mindedness. I suppose a lot of people are conditioned to prioritize blasts of sugar and so on to overcome their Stockholm syndrome-tier preference of "strong" drinks. There's no consideration to subtlety because they haven't experienced it, and they're so accustomed to this that they don't even consider anything else. I don't say this to come across as an elitist or anything, but to convey how I see things unfold. I personally would often taste teabag infusions before, think they were lacking and/or harsh on the stomach, and yet think of all the people lauding tea's various qualities. I'd frequently think "there's surely something more to this", and sure enough, there was.
>>19785794
Why not dilute the Faygo in unflavored mineral water next time to balance the sweetness? Certainly some sort of heretical alchemy you have going on here, but at least it's fun to see someone experimenting here.

>>19785835
Too late I already drank it all.

>>19785849
You're definitely going on the rape list

Any opinions on this company?

>>19786057
Just looking at the branding, i'd assume it's the cheapest tea they could find sprayed with caffeine and flavourings

>>19786057
looks cursed. these flavored teas are disappointing 90% of the time and artificially added caffeine sounds like it'd taste even worse. if you want some black tea that tastes like caramel and sweets, get a high quality loose leaf chinese black tea, they tend to taste like that on their own

I missed my liu bao I set aside for last night. I will have it later during the day instead. I want to sleep to this aroma.

Anyone have a tea that puts them to sleep? This ripe from Yee on Tea always made me want to take a nap.

>>19787028
any review? sounds like one of the better cheap ripes on that site

>>19785289
>Indian tea

>>19786057
It has been a while since I last had them but I remember The Republic of Tea being pretty good as far as flavored tea bags go. They used to have a herbal tea that was made with dried grape skins from wine making that was pretty good but I think it was a limited edition tea (I bought a bunch when it went on clearance). I think I liked their orange ginger mint herbal tea as well. High caffeine tea sounds like an interesting gimmick if you want a lot of caffeine in one cup as a coffee substitute but I typically would prefer to just drink more tea to get the caffeine instead.

>>19787048
>any review? sounds like one of the better cheap ripes on that site
Mellow smooth, not too much storage funk, made with lots of broad leaf but endurance is still reasonable. Easily best price to performance of the yot ripes i tried. I do have to mention the surface of mine had some white mold on it, but it was during a HK shipping shutdown so it sat in a dockside warehouse for a month before getting shipped over by boat, and im assuming it happened then sinch it was fresh and not the old frosting you typically see in hk storage. Would recommend

>>19787132
did you like it more than the best taste and the purple menghai?

>>19787136
Yeah, the best taste is fine for cheap ripe but the material isint as nice as the brick, less endurance, its also a camphor bomb, smells/tastes straight up minty sometimes. The purple menghai does absolutely nothing for me, almost finished off that cake and i still don't get it. In general i enjoy lightly fermented ripes but that tea is just weird, none of the punch of raw, none of the thickness and rich notes of ripe, it just kind of sits in the middle with a bunch of akward storage flavor and doesn't do justice to either.

>at work
>think about drinking tea all the time
>get home
>forget about it
>rinse and repeat

>>19787302
Drink tea at work. Problem solved.

>>19787302
For real? The first thing I do when I get home is put a pot on. There's nothing like a cup of tea when you're still warming up from being out in the cold.

>>19786057
I’m not a fan of Hamilton Beach.

Just ordered pick related from Teasenz. How fucked am I?

>>19787427
Its an extremely popular factory made raw puer. If you like puer you will probably enjoy it.

>>19787427
it's a good tea, but since it's the 2021 version, it might be a bit rough. some do like that roughness

>>19787028
nice ripe, i just received the similar raw today and quite looking forward to trying it

>>19787600
That was really good too, great example of proper hk storage

What's in your cup today?
I am drinking a dianhong teabag I got with my Chen Sheng Hao sampler.

>>19788166
For me it's more xiaguan tuo. Same as yesterday.

>>19788180
>xiaguan tuo
Nice, I too respect the crane.

>>19788166
>Chen Sheng Hao dianhong
It is actually a nice tea. The flavor is good and it does not overbrew easily. One of the few black teabags I have had that needs no milk. It would make a good emergency/work tea.

Today I learned that if you spot an unusually colored leaf in your cake that you should take notice. I don't know if it was from a different plant or something else. It took only a small chunk with half of that little bastard to ruin the entire session. Had to go hunting for the other half to separate out every last and banish them to them to the abyss

>>19788395
Weird, what did it taste like? Was it obviously different from tea leaves?

>>19788422
It was quite a small leaf, yellow green in color. Everything else in the cake is tan, brown, & black. It had a strong aroma and unpleasant taste of green peppers that overpowered all of the tea leaves

>>19788446
Weird, I have never found anything in my tea that messed up the taste, not even the time I accidentally brewed up a cigarette butt!

>>19788166
Sounds nice and above my pallet. I'm drinking Lady Grey because I didn't realize I'm out of Early Grey. It's okay.

>>19788510
Earl* lol

>>19788510
> I'm drinking Lady Grey because I didn't realize I'm out of Earl Grey. It's okay.
Are they actually different teas? I thought the were the same but someone wanted to use lady for reasons

>>19788528
They're similar but a little different. Lady Grey is basically just Earl grey but with more lemon and orange and usually less Bergamot. I like Bergamot a lot so I prefer Earl.

Trying some oolongs n' shit

>>19788301
>Chen Sheng Hao dianhong
I just looked and apparently they sell it for over $1 per a 2 gram bag. Rather pricey but still a nice tea.
https://cspuerh.com/collections/black-tea/products/2022-black-tea-xiang-le-tea-bag-dianhong?variant=40629942583344

>>19789036
I see the oolongs but I don't see any Chong Shi Cha.

>>19788166
Having the Three Cranes liu bao from Chawangshop I meant to drink yesterday (but accidentally fell asleep and didn't). Pic related. Subtle blueberry note that's a bit hard to pick up right now as I'm a touch congested. A bit quicker to infuse bitter-like (if left around) than I remember, but still has a nice thickness with a cooling briskness quality. Prominent soil-sweetness note, but not 'muddy'. Doing flash infusions right now, but I think it has rather good endurance regardless of how it's made. A refreshing liu bao for me to be listening to music and reading with right now. Summoning all liu bao/heicha frens itt right now, join me.
>>19789036
Nice haul. What are you drinking first? Though I'm unlikely to order from YS, I'm curious about those "red oolong" ones.

Finally busting out the ku ding pearls.

>>19789036
Please post what you think of the lightly baked four seasons when you get the chance.

>>19789189
So how bitter are they? Is it extremely bitter or is that a bit of an exaggeration?

Man I need to stop making promises I can't keep.
Been real busy but I'll post more W2T mini reviews sometime after finals (early November).
I believe I was doing the reds first?
Hope everyones been doing well.

Have any of you anons ever had a tea or tisane that tasted like a breakfast cereal or other such items? I think I posted about it once, but I'm drinking some tisane I had stashed called "My Complexion Tea" from MyTTime (I think they renamed themselves), and it's...weird. Lists white sage, evening primrose, rosemary, calendula, lemongrass, burdock root, and liquorice, but it tastes like...Fruity Pebbles. I think it must mostly have something to do with the lemongrass, if I had to make a guess.

>>19789605
Sorry, we don't drink that kind of shit here girl, try maybe reditto.

>>19789605
Strange, someone described that tea as tasting like Fruity Pebbles years ago - was that you as well? Anyway, perhaps corporate alchemy transformed the herbs into Natural Flavour.

any of you using cast iron pot? how do you prevent it from rusting and leeching into the water?

>>19789795
isn't leeching into the water what it's supposed to do? the japanese claim the iron makes the water sweeter

>>19789776
It probably was me. I don't know how long ago it has been since I posted about it, but the thought didn't even come to mind until I spontaneously decided to infuse some. I haven't bought any new teas/tisanes in a long while, so it's fun to dig around for misc stuff to mess with.

>>19787494
What does roughness mean in this context?

>>19789371
Only had one cup before going to sleep. 2grams in a 125ml gaiwan for 2 minutes at boiling, liquor was entirely clear and colorless. Very bitter. The leaves are oddly thick like kombu. I'll keep working at them today to see how it opens up. I'm not really sure how to correctly brew it.

>>19789962
2nd cup is incredibly bitter. My mouth is nearly stinging. Like licking a 9 volt. I understand why they tell you to start with one needle of it. These pearls have like 5-6 leaves each. Wild. Not a chance I can describe the taste.

>>19790082
>>19789962
Have you tried flash infusions, or shorter infusions otherwise? If it's that bitter, that's all I can imagine doing to rectify it besides coldbrewing.

>>19789605
Some fu tea bricks tasted like granola.

>>19789189
>Finally busting out the ku ding pearls.
Where did you buy them from?

>>19789795
>any of you using cast iron pot?
No, but I own one
>how do you prevent it from rusting and leeching into the water?
To prevent rust boil water until you get a nice thick protective layer of lime scale or dry out your kettle thoroughly after every use (you can use heat to help dry it). Getting some iron leaching is normal and intended however.

>>19789958
>What does roughness mean in this context?
Bitterness and astringency. Some young sheng has quite a strong bite to it when young, over time with age sheng will mellow out somewhat. Both young and aged puerh can be good.

Has anyone here tried 2013 Xiaguan Love Forever cake? Picrel I recently bought a cake from LP. He had some of the much cheaper "bamboo tong" version ins stock. The "paper tong" batch is considered more desirable but cost more than twice as much. Supposedly both cakes include some 2003 lao ban zhang in the blend. The name "love forever" is a pun based of the Chinese pronunciation of 2013 and the fact the cake is made with old tea.

Also as heads up Etsy is doing $10 off any order over $40 today with code YES10.

>>19790126
>Also as heads up Etsy is doing $10 off any order over $40 today with code YES10.
I saw that in my inbox too. There are some really nice pieces of teaware on there if you dig around, so that's quite the deal. I think I only saw a $5 off code before. Kind of tempted to get a non-glass gong dao bei or whatever the JP equivalent is.

>>19790110
I've tried nothing. Random site told me 1-2 needle infusion for 2m at boiling so I figured 2g would be a good starting point. Grandpa'd ma huang goes down much easier.
>>19790126
Local China market. $10 for 170g. I don't go down there too often so I usually grab a random glass jar in the tea aisle and these looked odd.

>>19790156
>Local China market.
Nice, I need to check out my local store.

>>19790126
>Has anyone here tried 2013 Xiaguan Love Forever cake?
I got a sample of the paper tong version a few years ago. It was interesting, it had some flavor profiles in the finish i haven't run into in other teas. In many ways its somewhat typical of a xiaguan cake made with aged material but it had something that set it apart. No idea about paper tong vs bamboo tong sorry.

>>19789958
bitterness, astringency and possibly smoke

>>19790156
>>19789189
isn't kuding supposed to make you shit yourself? be careful

is it wise to put some dank HK storage cake in the same pumidor as other cakes? might the smell cross-contaminate?

Any britbongs have experience with sencha from
ES Food Trading/Minamoto Kitchoan? How is it?

Essence of Tea signature grade liubao.

>>19790534
I gotta say this is pretty good liubao. I still think it's too expensive but my only real complaint is the longevity could be better, which honestly applies to most postfermeted teas i drink.

>>19790534
What kind of notes are you getting? Don't hear of many people buying from them, so I'm curious.

>>19790662
You can tell its mellowed with some Malaysian storage but it has very little if any wet storage notes, some aged tea taste, more in the chocolate spectrum then woody, decent amount of intensity. Flavor lasts on the tongue but isn't super sweet, some hints on astringency/tingling along the edges of the tongue. My recommendation is sample before buying a box. Looks a little greener in pictures then it does to my eyes

>>19790630
>>19790534
This time i brewed up a big chunk of tea that was still compressed from the basket, while other times ive had this ive brewed up the loose tea that wasn't as clumped in the basket, i suspect that might be why i had a better experience with this tea today then some of the previous times ive brewed it.

Pu-erh storage video just got out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z39pRxa8-ns

>>19790316
thanks. I will tell you how the bamboo tong cake is when I get it, though I have never had the paper tong version to compare. I only ended up paying $50 for the bamboo tong cake and I figure at that price it can't be bad. Worst case its a fair price for a mid range aged XG cake. For comparison most western vendors sell the paper tong cakes for $140+ these days.

>>19790828
Yeah that price seems wuite reasonable for a 2012 cake made with a bunch of old tea. I definitely belive it had some old bulang tea in it, couldn't say if its lbz or laoman e or any of the other villages in that area. Does LP have a mailing list or something? I always miss when he adds these cakes

>>19790828
I think the paper tong love forever got really overhyped at some point, which is where the prices come in. for example, it's 199$ per cake on Kingteamall, pretty damn pricey for a 2010s Xiaguan cake, even a fancy special production

>>19790848
>Does LP have a mailing list or something?
linktr (period) ee/LiquidProust
He sometimes posts flash sales on his Instagram as well. He also often mentions some of the new tea that is coming in, in advance of the newsletter on his Instagram. No clue what he shares on Discord because I don't use it.
>I always miss when he adds these cakes
He does monthly restocks, almost always the last Sunday of the month. I check every month to see what he brings in.

>>19790935
Thanks

anyone else's KTM order has yet to ship out? I'm guessing they have a backlog after the holiday sale

>>19790880
King tea mall is just overpriced these days. It used to be $100 on there, its still $140 on TWL i think some other vendor has it for close to $100 but i can't remember who. It definitely was hyped pretty heavily and i haven seen anyone actually quantify why the paer tong is better then bamboo, they just say it is. Maybe they have actually tasted both but it would be nice if they elaborated some.

>>19790955
>King tea mall is just overpriced these days.
In KTM's defence they still have some good deals. Though overall I think they prioritize having a large selection over having only well priced teas. They do have the best selection of factory puerh out of all the western vendors. I suspect the overpriced items are more the fault of KTM's wholesalers then KTM itself.

>>19790955
>i think some other vendor has it for close to $100
Paolo did
https://puerh.uk/product/2013-xiaguan-love-forever-paper-tong/
I think this is Paolo's new shop but I have no proof
https://www.puerhguy.com/shop/xiaguan/2013-xiaguan-love-forever-paper-tong-lfpt/

As a heads up Paolo "panda" is a person of drama in the tea community. Supposedly he is into woo woo and conspiracy stuff and may or may not have made made inappropriate advances on a women once. This has led to numerous internet slapfights. I think he is considered to mostly ship legit tea but I have seen it said that some of his stock is overpriced and some of his cheaper teas are lost leaders to make his pricey obscure stuff look live good value. This undercutting also pissed of some TWL fans. The drama is probably why he changed his shop name multiple times. Make of this what you will. I am not saying you should not buy from him only caveat emptor.

No 2013 love forever but also Paolo.
https://enlightenmenttea.org/
Not Paolo's shop but he helps run it.
https://chenyuanhao.shop/

>>19791179
>In KTM's defence they still have some good deals
Yeah, im just salty because they have raised prices on a lot of stuff from below market to significantly over market with what seems like no ryme or reason at times. I don't begrude john trying to make money and especially with his no stock distribution situation its possible his deal with the tea dealr he works with changed. Looking at something like his 2010-2015 xiaguans most of those were under $30 a cake a few years ago, i know i grabed a couple 2011 number recipies for $12 each with one order. I know puer is getting more expensive but i doubt the market price for random 10 year old xiagauns hasnt 3x in the last 4 years.
Any way im sure i will still order from him plenty. Im just turning into one of those grumpy tea boomers complaining that 7542s don't cost $60 a tong anymore.

>>19791203
>Im just turning into one of those grumpy tea boomers
I feel you man. The sad thing is I almost got into puerh a decade ago but I though the prices on specialty tea were too much at the time. Little did I know....

Drinking some darjeeling. It's milder than some other black teas I've had and I'm pretty sure I can taste the muscatel taste it's supposed to have. Pretty good. I also got my puerh cakes today and will probably start drinking some stuff from them this weekend. Hope they're good.

>>19791602
>I also got my puerh cakes today
whatcha get?

>>19791602
>and I'm pretty sure I can taste the muscatel taste it's supposed to have.
It only really has this if it's been bitten by Jassids by the way, if you look at the leaves you should be able to tell. Sometimes people blend bitten and non bitten tea, and some second flush non-bitten Darjeeling does have faint muscat notes, but it should be quite strong if it's bug bitten.

>>19791613
Oh yeah, mine was second flush. I think that's supposed to be "sweeter" perhaps, or it at least sounded more appealing when I was looking up the differences. Not sure if what I have is bug bitten. I'll see if I can tell by the leaves next time I make some, but I think they're like little strands and not full leaves so I don't know if I'll be able to tell.

>>19791611
Pic related. Got some raw and ripe. This is my first time getting puerh outside of samples and the cakes were smaller than I was expecting. Though that's good because I was worried I'd have to work to find room to put them somewhere.

>>19791631
Nice! looks like a fun haul. Congrats on your first cakes. Tell us how they are when you try them.

>This is my first time getting puerh outside of samples
For basic heicha storage just keep the teas well sealed up and away from excessive humidity, light, and foreign odors. Starting out you don't need to mess with Boveda packs, Mylar bags, or pumidors unless you really want to. If you collection grows you can always look into fancier tea storage later.

> I'd have to work to find room to put them somewhere.
You mean you don't want to be like me with multiple 100 quart coolers of tea sitting laying around? It's a disease I tell ya!

>>19791696
I bought mylar bags since they were suggested and are cheap compared to apparently the setups some people make to keep theirs. I don't plan on aging them past the time it'll take to drink them, which will surely be less than a year so I'll see how things fair with these bags.

>You mean you don't want to be like me with multiple 100 quart coolers of tea sitting laying around? It's a disease I tell ya!
Dropping nearly $200 on tea is already more than I expected to do when I started drinking tea regularly so we'll see if I get to that stage.

>>19791784
>I bought mylar bags since they were suggested and are cheap compared to apparently the setups some people make to keep theirs.
Mylar bags are good, I use them as part of my storage system. Nothing wrong with getting them from the start. I just did not want you to think you were obligated to buy a bunch of stuff for storage right off the bat.
>Dropping nearly $200 on tea is already more than I expected to do
I know the feeling, I used to drink dirt cheap $35/lb tea back in the day. The prospect of spending more for tea seemed grossly exorbitant at first.

>>19791631
Looking forward to your thoughts on the Mengban Mountain.
>>19791696
Do you have a 100 qt cooler recommendation?
>>19791784
>we'll see if I get to that stage
That's wise. It's hard to fuck up tea in the short term. Mylar is fine.

>>19792173
Looks like I slightly misspoke the coolers are 70 quarts 100 "cans". I liked the Coleman Xtreme line but they are discontinued now. With shipping costs in mind you may just want to make do with what is available locally. It may also be worth checking what used coolers are available in your area. You don't need a super fancy rotomolded cooler it just needs to be clean, not smell, and preferably have a tightly sealing lid. I bought 2 out of my 3 coolers used.

Got new equipment and 2017 jing gu bang hai, ma li zhai

>>19792952
nice pot. where'd you get it?

>>19792964
They are made in Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of China. I bought them from Teepolku teashop in Helsinki.

Then some Wu Feng Mao Jian 2023 green tea.

>>19792952
Great pot

>>19792952
Nice porcelain
>>19793240
Nice tea, hows it taste?

>>19793372
Intense grassy flavour. Some flower. Full mouthfeel. Pretty much what you'd want in a Chinese green tea.

>load up gaiwan for my morning tea
>add water
>get distracted
>remember i already poured water 5 minutes later
>empty gaiwan into my cup, suck down extremely bitter tea.
>do second brew in gaiwan, tea has already lost 75% of it's flavor
I really need to stop doing that, im way too stupid right when i wake up in the morning

Anyone started planning holiday tea orders? I think I am going to grab YeeOnTea's purple tea cakes if they do a Black Friday sale. From W2T besides the obvious snoozefest cakes I am looking to grab some liu an and raw liu bao.

How many grams of tea you niggas are using daily?

>>19794021
For me its ripe puer from awazon, i doubt they even do a sale but that's fine.

>>19794052
Average 15g, minimum 7.5g, maximum 23g

>>19794021
Waiting for autumn release on farmer leaf for my next order.

>>19794060
So you have a session twice a day on average?

>>19794134
Yup

>>19794060
Same here. Maybe an average a little more like 16, 17g.
>>19794134
Once in a while I get three sessions in on a rare lazy Sunday where I have nothing going on all day.

>>19787494
>>19790126
>>19790351
And would it be correct to say that this same astringency and bitterness that are due to polyphenols is analogous to wines having acidity and tannins which are key to having wine with ageing capability, so that a puer tea that is rough is likely to be a gem if aged enough and properly?

>>19794190
Depends on what you mean by rough. Mouth puckering bitter? Will probably age well. Super astringent? Might age well. Rough as in that harshness you get from factory cakes made with bush tea? Might age well. Processing matters a lot too, overly green processing that puts emphasis on floral notes might not age very well, tea could end up pretty dead and bland over time. Overly fermented processing? Tea might always end up tasting a lot like black tea.

>>19794190
Yes, it's usually thought that bitter and astringent pu-erh ages well and the really mild stuff not necessarily

What we drinking bros?
I'm drinking mystery shou (30 year cave aged with no other details given by vendor).

>>19794316
what carafe is that
does it keep heat well?

>>19794320
Idk bro. I'm at some tea place. It seems to keep water heat well.

>>19794316
That pot... I was going to ask if it was factory 1 because of the characters but i dunno if they made ones with that spout. Does it say something based like enjoy chinese tea?

>>19794316
shit if you're still there can u ask them for me

>>19794347
Which? The carafe is some 68oz "choice carafe."
The pot? No clue. This place has a lot of weird shit and the owner is rarely here when I am.

>>19794361
> "choice carafe."
daaaaaym expensive

My cup Japan arrived in the mail today.

>>19794052
I use 8-10g of tea most days.

>>19794054
>For me its ripe puer from awazon, i doubt they even do a sale but that's fine.
Yeah, I doubt they do a Black Friday sale but they have great prices. I still want to try them out myself but I am not a big ripe drinker so they are lower on my list priorities.

>>19794062
>Waiting for autumn release on farmer leaf for my next order.
Any Idea what they plan to bring in? I know their autumn Naka cakes were popular in the past.

Bulk tea order arrived today, this is a few rows deep, thank you forwarding service for marking the package value down

>>19794546
Nice. Is that all oolong?

>>19794546
Nice haul, where did you buy it from?

>>19794546
Zamn!
Do you retail?

>>19794572
Large number of varieties of various regions that we like not just oolong

>>19794628
Not retail we just drink a lot of tea

>>19794729
You buy from some taobao store?

>>19794611
Bought direct from tea farms, the total cost for everything was around $100 USD

>>19794743
Based

>>19794510
Some jingmai cakes, lao man e, maybe a new yingpan shan black from this year autumn harvest. Gushu black if we are lucky or some experiment black teas in general.

>>19794510
>>19794762
Also if farmer leaf gets another value priced lao man e cake in you should jump on it. That ~$50 fall 2022 or maybe 2021 fall lao man e was a banger.

>Implying you need more

>>19794766
Lao man e special characteristic is the biterness it has i like to light brew mine so i don't really get the full experience of it. I would rather push a sweet one instead.

>>19794743
>Bought direct from tea farms,
Is this like a private family/friend hook up sort of deal or would they sell to others? do they have an official social media or store or something? for $100 for that haul it looks like something I would be interested in getting.

>>19794445
Looks nicely ergonomic. Anything special on the inside?

>>19794858
The same pattern is present on the inside, I can take a picture of it when I get home.

>>19794798

social media on xiahongshu and weibo, you can buy during their livestream sessions. the white packaged tea is their 2023

>>19794546
God damn, how many kilos is that?

>>19792952
Had this again this morning. Yum yum

trying out a sample of the lao man e small trees from FL. never had a lao man e before so this'll be interesting
dry leaf smells of dried apricots. wet leaf more of a savoury vibe.
it's only sweet at first and the bitter creeps out after the first couple infusions. it's been quite a long time since i had a proper coffee, it doesn't taste like coffee but the bitter profile gives me some nostalgia i guess.
very pleasant way to start the day.

>>19794766
>That ~$50 fall 2022 or maybe 2021 fall lao man e was a banger.
It was probably the fall Lao Man E cake I was thinking of as well, not Naka.

>>19795945
Nice, lao man e rules

i am drinking a black tea with molasses, black pepper and cinnamon in it

Starbucks' Emperor's Clouds & Mist is honestly not that bad.

>>19796929
But why?

>>19794773
Ya, I probably do. Does this one really do well iced? Most generic black shit I noticed gets cloudy once you chill it.

>>19796929
That actually sounds pretty good

>>19794743
Only a hundo? WTF. I need to go to China.

Starbs.

>>19797077
Yes, Luzianne is THE brand for sweet tea in the South.

>gamer tea
it's over

Gonna drink some Farmer Leaf Autumn 2022 Lao Man E sheng today because everyone is talking about it.

>>19797396
Their logo looking sus. Also how do you know about this anon?

>>19797476
I follow gamersupps on twitter since it looks like a fun company
I tried one of their things and it kinda sucked, I prefer GFUEL

Should I make a tea with this?

>>19797396
>Gamer Tea
>Not actually tea
What did they mean by this?

>>19797504
it's just labeled funny

>>19797486
The psychoactive kappa-opioid antagonist will not be bio-available in that form. You could drink it, but it would have a similar effect to rolling up the fresh leaves and putting it in your gums, far milder experience, or no effect at all.

>>19797507
>2.5g per serving
I feel like this implies that you’re supposed to eat the bag.

>>19797396
Their logo is cleavage

>>19780455
Usually I just brew my tea normally and then chill it. I've never had success cold brewing. Speaking of, I've also had little success making thai tea. Maybe it's because the mix I have is extremely old, but it never comes out with the flavor I want and never as strong.

>>19797558
that's clearly a tea leaf anon.

>>19797573
I'm pretty sure tea leaves grow from stems asymmetrically, alternating sides.

>>19797581
>>19797573
>>19797558
it's a coomer company, it's cleavage

>>19797591
Oh. That's less funny, if it's intentional.

>>19797522
Ah, so smoked it shall be. Thanks anon.
>turns into seventh dimensional furniture that gets sat on by things that look like antique rug patterns from Persia, all of which happens on a conveyor belt
Heh. Nothing personnel, sanity...

Thank God it's Friday... Cheers

Can you smoke tea leaves?

>>19798096
Yeah, you can find tea cigarettes on aliexpress

>>19797975
>check calendar
>friday the 13th!

>>19798118
What's the spookiest tea?

>>19798118
So what is the last tea you will drink?

Trying some 2013 Wu Liang Ye Sheng from YS.
First time trying a purple leaf varietal Sheng. Tastes citrussy, like a grapefruit and also notes of sugarcane sweetness.
No astringency at all.

>>19797041
Does starbucks actually have any decent loose leaf? Anything unflavored? I have a gift card I never used, so might be neat.

>>19781032
where can i find that US side?

>>19798235
Yeah purple teas have some interesting cittus notes going on. Kinda reminds me of the smell of citronella candles.

man I love when my yearly bulk orders arrive

I got a electric kettle with some sort of tea infuser in it, is it a good idea to use this kettle for brewing?
Also, while I'm at it, how important is it to have a teapot? (I'm new to the world of quality tea, so far I've only ever brewed bagged tea in mugs)

>>19799525
Just use the kettle for boiling water. Any tea brewed inside will just make it a mess to clean up.
Teapots are for when you want to be autistic about it. Otherwise, just buy a metal infuser and wing it.

>>19799089
What did you get, anon? Tried any yet? I haven't ordered any tea in over a year myself, so I'm looking forward to making some soon. I especially want to participate in the Spring greens season next year.
>>19799525
You can use it as advertised, but personally, I think it is vastly more convenient to use a kettle exclusively for heating up water as you don't have to worry about cleaning so much or off-tastes in your drinks. You can pour it into a gaiwan, teapot, infuser basket, or even directly a mug ala-"grandpa style".

New thread: >>19799656
New thread: >>19799656
New thread: >>19799656