/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>12348408
Go to any health food store and buy it in the bulk section.

if you have an asian market around you, that's your best bet. the variety of tea the one near me has is absolutely staggering
it's also cheaper than all fuck and the boxes are huge

>>12348408

Google "Tea store <city name>" and search yelp for "Loose leaf tea shop <city name>". A lot of places let you sample on-site, and some of their tea is usually really, really good

>>12348408
Liptons is decent with sugar.

Den's is decent and has a $3 sampler, which is probably the best thing they have. You get quite a lot in it if I remember but their actual tea is usually priced double compared to other places. For the price you pay for 56g of Den's, you can get 100g from some other place. Plus they package a lot of weird health stuff in with their shipments.
Yuuki-cha specializes in organic tea and is supposedly good but has poor customer service.
O-cha is the old standby and probably my favorite. It's run by an American in Japan and probably has the largest selection of Japanese teas that I've ever seen.
Upton is a decent source for other teas and has nice $1 sampler bags but I haven't ordered from there in almost 10 years because I turned into a huge faggot who only drinks Japanese tea.

>>12348408
Use this
https://pastebin.com/EnUxQGdK

Personally i recommend getting a bodem large brew basket to brew in a mug. Its easy and you can even dabble in gong fu brewing; which is good for rocky wuyi oolongs. Adagio.com is a good cheap but decent start into tea.

My favorite tea is the Turkish tea.

>>12348755
I feel depressed just looking at that cat.

>>12348408
Bumping

Any good herbal infusions worth trying? I have been drinking mint, but I was wondering if there was anything that you all where drinking that is good.

>>12350522
My autism only allows me to drink chamomile lavender.

>>12348408
yunnan sourcing and taiwan sourcing.

>>12350568
I'm a fan of chamomile as well, usually get that and Lemon & Ginger bags from twinning's.

>>12350568
>>12351598
>chamomile
I will look it to it, thanks.

>>12352550
nigger what the fuck are you doing to not know about chamomile

Bump

>>12353648
Living under a rock apparently.

>>12348408
twining's

hong kong milk tea

>>12348561
Chinese green tea is my favorite, I love tea from the Asian and Indian markets.

>>12355533
how is this different from a british cuppa

>>12355595
It is oversteeped and poured from one container to another to aerate it a few times. Then it is mixed with either condensed milk or evaporated milk and sugar.

generally don't like tea due to it's grassy-like flavor and bitter. but one time in japan in a restaurant I had green tea that was not bitter nor did it have the grassy flavor. how is this possible and how do I make tea like this?

>>12356288
if you're a redditor, you'll probably use 4 oz of tea leaf for every oz of water and then brew it at 120 degrees for 20 seconds to obtain a very mild liquor.

>>12356297
not a redditor. but the flavor wasn't just watered down normal tea, it had a decent amount of flavor, just not grassy at all (no mild grassy notes).

>>12356297
actually, found the shop online. they have oolong tea(black oolong tea(黒ウーロン茶), and Fermented black ginger tea(発酵黒しょうが茶)
would any of these possible explain a tea without a grassy taste?

big fan of most green teas and especially jasmine teas
fuck i love jasmine tea

all tea is gross i have add 11 loumps of sugar for it to be true

>>12356424
t. """"""""Southern"""""""""" (US) sweet tea drinker

hey man i guess you just insucure whatever 100 100 peep this gaywad

>mfw i put some greenies to steep and start doing the dishes, 30 minutes pass until i remember i was even preparing tea
The bitterness is an acquired taste.

>>12348408
Never use sugar
Never use milk
Tea has distinct taste. When you get used to it you will drink with nothing else.
British tea is generally too rough. Try chinkshit.
And always remember.
NO SUGAR

>>12358113
Is honey okay?

>>12356288
Different green teas have different flavors. It changes depending on the cultivar, amount of sun it gets, age of the leaf when it's picked, and how it's processed and steamed. A good start would be to try to get the brewing process down and then try a handful of sencha and bancha. Try roughly 1-2tsp per 8oz for 2-3 minutes at 175F. Bitterness can be causes from water being too hot or steeping too long.

>>12350568
>>12351598
I used to love, and still do love the taste of chamomile, but will immediately get a heartburn. Talking about seconds. Guess it’s allergy now.

>>12350522
Rooibos and honeybush are pretty good. I like nettle, tulsi, and others but they're a little less accessible.

>>12350972
these are fabulous sources and I too recommend them. White2tea has fantastic pu'er, and What-Cha is a good entry-level loose leaf vendor without a strong focus on any particular variety or region.

>>12356383
>would any of these possible explain a tea without a grassy taste?
Could have been basically anything anon, even in the world of Japanese green teas there are tons that aren't remotely grassy.

>>12356424
Nigger.

I made the switch to loose leaf tea, but now I am getting tired of trying to drink through all of this bagged tea. I have been making it into iced tea and made 3 or 4 batches of 2L pitchers so far of iced tea and I am already bored of it. If it can be helped, I don't want to throw them away, but I was wondering if there where other ways that bagged tea could be used?
>>12359261
Never though to use an old hard drive as a coaster, huh.

>>12359286
Thats how i feel about this cheap ass loose leaf I have. It sucks compared to the rest of my tea but it feels too nice throw away. I think coldbrew is a good use for cheap tea because it doesnt pull out as much of the poor qualities.

If youre feeling extra, i have heard of people taking tea baths. Could be a good way to get rid of a lot at once and I imagine the aroma would be nice.

Found a old serving of yellow tea. Really need to work down my tea stash.

>>12356288
Not all tea is grassy or grassy in a bad way. I find really shit tea will taste grassy(in a bad way). Same also applies to bitterness, though that might also cause your brewing too hot.

>>12359261
I know the drive is probably dead, but this hurts.

>>12359346
>i have heard of people taking tea baths. Could be a good way to get rid of a lot at once and I imagine the aroma would be nice.
I'd be worried about staining my bath tub, but that does sound nice.

>>12348408
Where can I get Big Red Coat?

>>12348408
>drinking tea in the year of out lord 2019

>>12359407
You forgot the chubby gut on chad.

>>12348408

>>12348408
bumping

bump

>>12359367
I don't imagine it could be that bad. I've got mugs that get pretty stained after a dozen or so cups, but one easy wash gets them white again.

>>12359407
How autistic do you have to be to even come up with this?

>>12359406
I think you mean Big red robe. The pastebin should have links to sites; it's a Chinese oolong.
https://pastebin.com/EnUxQGdK

>>12358981
That sucks anon, chamomile helps me sleep.

>>12359448
Is that Jocko as in Jocko Willink? Didn't know he sold tea, I'll check it out I like his podcast.

bump

still cant find a kyusu i like so i have to use two cups and a strainer

>>12363250
>That sucks anon, chamomile helps me sleep.
Drink a cup for me, brother.

>>12365303
And I will, too.

bump

I drink lipton

>>12348561
Gunpowder type green tea?
I can’t find tins of Twinnings Gunpowder green tea locally, and the bagged stuff is shit in comparison.
Numi Gunpowder green tea bags are good, but $$$$.

For me, it's 100 bags of Clover Valley tea from Dollar General for $2.00 plus tax.

>>12368443
Adagio.com maybe?

I only drink Lipton's black, fuck all that chink shit. I've been around the block and tried pretty much everything and the only thing that brings me back is Lipton's.

>>12368506
>another retarded larper with the things that are generally agreed for its shit quality

Oh, how original.

I bet you drink your own piss too, just to prove a point.

I only drink mate.

>>12369826
>he doesn't drink piss for the flavor

It doesn’t get better than this.

>Lemon and Ginger
>Add fresh-squeezed lemon juice
>Add shaved ginger
>add raw honey from some local beekeeper
My favorite herbal mixture by far

>>12348408
Tea always taste like dirty water to me, even when I'm not the one making it. For example, I went to japan recently and everytime I had tea at some restaurant or cafe the flavor was always watery but it also had some kind of background flavor that tasted rather uneappealing. I don't like to put sugar or milk just so that I can drink something, so maybe I should just give up tea

>>12356288
You're probably burning your tea.

>>12348408
bump

>>12370061
Bigelow is damb good basic bitch bag tea. Fav is plantation mint.

Picked up a box of this today. It's pretty good, though I prefer Bigelow.

>>12373112
Celestial Seasonings is the goat

Now that ol' Lipton, what a tea, yep.

i drink tea you drink piss

Bump

Ali Shan is best

>mfw chugging yerba mate to get the hell started in the morning
>and valerian root to knock me the fuck out at night

On the tea life, lads.

What's a good rose to add to tea? And what tea to add it to?

When I was little, we used to have a rose bush that it's flowers smelled very strongly of cinnamon, and I loved adding a little to chamomile and honey.

I haven't had a chance to grow roses again for a long time now, but I want to and man I would love to find that particular kind again, but I imagine some of the more fruity smelling flowers would be nice too.

>>12376101
Be careful with yerba. They haven't proved it causes it directly, but it has been linked to a lot of stomach and esophagus cancers when consumed in large quantities.

I drink it on occasion, but I get the same alertness from just a regular cup or two of coffee.

>>12376121
Idk about specific roses, but rose and tulsi is a really good combo if you wanna stick to just herbals. Rose and ginger can be kind of nice too, but you deffinatly want more rose than ginger.

I've played around with mixing rose and some of the lighter oolongs, like tie guan yin, as well as certain white teas, mostly the silver needles type rather than the full leaf type. Ultimatly i prefer the teas just by itself, but it can be good to mix things up.

My friend also makes this really wild chai style tea that has like... rose, dark black tea, honey, and black pepper... theres something else too but i dont remeber what....

>>12376129
There's significant reason to believe that link is from drinking it scalding hot and burning the throat. There's a similar correlation to esophageal cancer in several countries that take tea plain which isn't present in regions that cool it by adding milk and sugar.

bump for cheap ebay tea

>>12377466
I'm not entirely sure that I would trust eBay tea. Know of any good eBay vendors of tea?

>>12376164
Huh that's interesting

>>12377959
pretty sure it's this place's store https://dragonteahouse.biz/

tho ebay every so often comes out with $3 off 3.01 coupons, so i make several accounts and buy a bunch of 50-100g packs for a couple bucks each

>>12358418
This is ballin with a touch of honey.

>>12378296
Sounds nice, but I'm trying get rid of my bagged teas. I do enjoy my mint with honey.

>>12378120
Anything you recommend? I kind of dig this:
https://dragonteahouse.biz/supreme-organic-full-bud-golden-dian-hong-spring-harvest-yunnan-gold-black-tea-100g/

>>12378395
i haven't been able to drink most of what i got so far, but this one is nice. it's kind of got a chocolatey hint to it which was interesting

https://dragonteahouse.biz/jin-jun-mei-golden-eyebrow-wuyi-black-tea-on-sale-100g-3-5-oz/

Don't buy tea from countries with lax regulations on pesticide use and dirtied watersources. The amounts of toxins you get with each serving might be small but cumulate over time.

>>12378514
Aren't the Chinese government and some of their companies SUPER PROTECTIVE about some of their tea farms though, especially ones with special designations and are meant for export or popular with politicians? I mean you have to sort through what tea you're buying but I'm pretty sure it's one of the safe things to buy from China as long as it's not cheap shit.

>>12378539

You are falling for a marketing strategy aimed at getting better prices for tea by increasing demand.

You can never be sure with the indians and chinese. Generally low income countries should be avoided when sourcing tea/any other foodstuff.

>>12378561
Have fun drinking only japanese tea from japan.

>>12348408
Why does earl grey taste so fucking better with milk? I tried it the other day cause I was curious and was pleasantly surprised.

>>12378561
Where do you get your tea from?

>>12378570
I use milk to cool down tea at breakfast time, though I am not always a fan of milk in tea, I think it makes the tea taste too creamy, and I am using 2% milk. I had finished off some rather old Twinings Earl Grey and milk most certainly helps it. I may be using too much, though.

>>12378569
Radiation taste good anyway so who gives a shit.

>>12378678

Bumping

>>12376082
That looks good. Love your cup.

bump

Got some bonus in puerh cake, what it is? It don't look like tea.

>>12381793
This is what happens when your diet consists of only a few grains of contaminated rice a day. Tiny green turds.

>>12381821
so some chink shit in bag, not nice.

>>12381931
Idk dude, post that shit on 420ch@n and see if they can identify it as a drug or a food item. They're knowledgeable about both.

>>12381793
Any labeling?

>>12381793
Looks like tea compressed into little turd balls to me. What does it smell like?

Any asian store.

Any store.

>>12382812
Nope
>>12382877
It barely got scent, it smell like a tea that was stored in open shelf for year
I decided to boil and taste this little turds

>>12384811
Whew it's a tea, it taste like low quality oolong.

>>12381793
Looks like ginseng oolong. They roll the leaves in herbs and such. It's a health tea.

>>12350522
I've been infusing dried rosebuds recently; it's pretty good.

Russian Caravan is some good shit if you can find it otherwise, you can blend your own

>>12385848
Well fuck you too, spoiler tags

>>12356383
Try an oolong and find out.

Just had a cup of pic related, and it’s fucking delicious.
The smell is just divine.

In addition to the last of my bagged teas, I am trying to finish off some of the older Teavana loose leaf back from before I started buying from other places (thanks, /ck/). I bought a mint sampler that has blends of mint and green tea. One of the blends is called "Blackberry Mojito", containing green tea, bits of apple, bits of blackberries, spearmint, and some other stuff, but the mixture is more fruit than leaf. It tastes like watered down fruit juice and smells sickly sweet upon opening the bag and more so upon initiating the brewing.
>>12385804
Where did you get them, or did you grow them yourself?

>>12385854
>trying to use spoiler tags outside of /tv/, /co/, /v/, et al
lol
>>12384886
Was it good? Never have tried oolong.

bump

>>12378120
Dragon house has sold fake dayi puerth before. I'm not saying all their shit it counterfeit but avoid their puer or high end looseleaf teas.

>>12387330
Oolong has a huge range of flavors from roasty charcoal to something like a creamy green tea. There is probably some you would enjoy.

>>12358113
>Never use sugar
based
>Never use milk
cringe

>>12385848
i like the flavor but the twinings stuff tastes like twigs

Lads i got one of these tea brewers with a plunger to drain. Its from tgis company called kamjove and I think a few other companies make them. It makes gongfu brewing super fucking easy. After breaking two small teapots and 2 or 3 gaiwans I think I will stick with this for awhile. Highly recommend if you want lazy easy gongfu brewing, they also make larger ones for brewing loose-leaf tea western style.

>>12388186
What exactly is fake pu er

>>12388315
>>Never use milk
>cringe
That's what a tastlet would say

>>12348408
PG Tips

T. American Anglophile. Call me a fag idc.

>>12389762
bumping for an answer to this

>>12389762
>>12390682
Puerh is a kind of tea from china. It is processed in a way that is halfway between green and black tea and typically improves with age. Dayi menghai is one of the biggest tea factorys that produce puerh. Their teas are frequently counterfeit because some of their tea cakes sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Dragon tea house was selling counterfeit versions of some of their cakes. Fakes are typically made with very low quality tea, frequently not even puerh.

>>12387330
bad oolong is bad, overall if you are interested in tea you should try oolong, they anyway are dirt cheap.

>>12391389
To add to this there're two types of puer: Sheng which is the original type, tends to be dryer abs takes the longest to age. Shu is a newer process that can taste more earthy and is meant to give the taste of old aged sheng in a smaller amount of time.

>>12388800
>breaking two small teapots and 2 or 3 gaiwans
how the fuck did you do that, I've never broken a single piece of teaware and while I know some people have I've never heard of someone that clumsy, the problem isn't gongfu being hard it's you being bad

Does the /tea/ pastebin need an update? Mandala Tea already has a new website.
https://pastebin.com/EnUxQGdK

>>12384886
clean your fucking teaware. christ thats disgusting.

>>12392701
Yeah I am retarded.
>>12393197
Pastebin looks pretty good. I would take the part about storing puerh in clay jars out. Clay is not breathable enough and tea can go moldy in higher humidity environments. You could add chawangshop and kingteamall for puerh vendors.

>>12393335
>Pastebin looks pretty good. I would take the part about storing puerh in clay jars out. Clay is not breathable enough and tea can go moldy in higher humidity environments.
I wouldn't know anything about that or anything about puerh, but I will cut it out. I may not be the most qualified to do this, but I mostly wanted to update the links. For example, http://chinalifeweb.com/ is now https://meileaf.com/
>You could add chawangshop and kingteamall for puerh vendors.
Are these the correct addresses?
https://www.chawangshop.com/
https://www.kingteamall.com/

>>12393335
To supplement reply:
>>12393407
https://pastebin.com/XtQ8ub7R
Is what I have so far.

>>12393222
>he doesn't build a good tea stain to enhance the flavour

>>12388800
i have the exact same one, i use it all the time for my indian teas & gaiwan for chinese

>>12393407
Yeah those addresses are correct. Overall the write up looks good way better than the old pastebin.

>>12393525
https://pastebin.com/6CnaNzqm
Just a little clean up. Don't know of any oolong tea clubs, though so I removed it. Eco-Cha doesn't appear to be exclusively oolong though.

>>12348408
royal phoenix from tao of tea is one that i like a lot.

What do fresh tea leaves taste mike?

I have been big on pu'er and oolong for the past few years, and have had plenty of black and white teas as well, but have never really gotten into loose leaf green tea. Now is as good a time as any; what are some vendors to check out? Preferably for Chinese greens. The good pu'er vendors don't seem to have much overlap with those guys.

>>12378296
I drank like fifteen bags of that stuff a day in college. Wouldn't reach for it now that I'm open to higher-end loose teas but I have fond memories of Zen.

>>12393222

>>12395628
Does this make the tea taste better as some sort of seasoning, or is this a sign of depression.

>>12395860
seasoning is only a thing with unglazed clay, that anon is either a retard and thinks it's a thing for his gaiwan or doesn't give a fuck

I can't remember the name of it but its a White Rose tea

>>12384886
>>12395628
this is now a cursed thread

>>12395873
True i don't give a fuck, but i'm nice guy so im going to clean my teaware just for you.

>>12395880
its name must be gay as fuck like yours faggot

>>12395558
Yunan sourcing has a decent amount of green tea. You could also check out upton tea imports if you are from the states.

>>12348408
1. Don't buy bagged teas waste of money.
2. Some internet shops? Generally I have in Poland 2 nice shops, average quality and cheap: example 1kg of good oolong for 124.74 $

I think on e-bay or websites with chines shit you can get some nice tea too.

Pro tip: 20s for oolongs(need little more dried), 5 brews you can get from it. Each time little different taste and better teast general for me.

bump

>>12397165
Do the Polish really build houses upside-down?

what are your current favorite green teas? recently been drinking a lot of stuff from ocha & co

>ask for a cup of tea within earshot of a normie
>they adopt a mock british accent and ask me if I would like a spot of tea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfdAGkjHGac

>>12399796
I got some green Darjeeling recently by accident. Its super fruity and floral. But not really my thing.

>>12399816
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfdAGkjHGac
I wanted to like that song, but I just can't.

>>12399796
Great Value

Bump

For me, it's Lapsang

>>12401751
that looks good, my man.

>>12401751
One of these days I going to make smore schnapps with that.

bump

is coffee a tea?

>>12348561
i kno it is beauty

>>12402619
I guess from a tea perspective it would be an infusion or tisane, not a tea. Coffee has it's own thead, though.

>>12376082
I have that teacup set, can confirm it's dank as shit. One of mine broke when I moved though.

>>12376082
>>12403717
redpill me on teacups

>>12403738
They look nice and they're functional. Worth having around if you drink a lot of tea and plan to impress people or if you just want to have them, like a collector's item.

Anyone tried making peach tea?

I tried blending peaches and just soaking the blend in tea. Strain it and put it in a pitcher in the fridge.

>>12395558
Mei Mei Fine Teas has some good ones, as well as Serendipitea, Camellia Sinensis, and Zhen Tea. Camellia and Zhen can be a little more expensive though (and you might get tempted to spend all your tea money on their pu erhs and oolongs because they have some really good ones).

>mfw whites put sugar and/or cream in their tea

>>12403797
I'm white and I drink mine plain, but I guess my anecdote doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

>>12403838
I'm not white.

Tea is truely the most patrician of beverages. Thrist quenching and cooling when cold. Nice and relaxing when hot.

Also for me its dragon pearls mixed with chrysanthemum

ignore the Indian mysticism bullshit...this is delicious

>>12378561
I’ll be sure to buy my tea from first world countries like Sweden and Canada then.

><massive eye roll>

Christ what a waste of oxygen you are.

>>12403874
Is dragon pearls really good? what's the price?

>>12403949
I like them a lot. I started drinking them because I have a 32oz. thermos I take to work every day and has no strainer/filter. So the big leaves don't get in the way when I drink. Not sure about price on where you are.

>>12403973
Oh I don't know anything about tea, so let me ask this in a different way: is the dragon pearl commonly considered an average priced tea? or an expensive tea?

I was only 19 years old. I loved Don so much, I had all the various teas from Mei Leaf and a gong fu guru. I'd pray to Don every night before I go to bed, thanking for the gushu I've been given. "Don is love", I would say, "Don is life". My dad hears me and calls me a herbal pleb. I knew he was just jealous for my devotion of Don. I called him a stupid Lipton drinker. He slaps me and sends me to go to sleep. I'm crying now and my face hurts. I lay in bed and it's really cold. A warmth is moving towards me. I feel something touch me. It's Don. I'm so happy. He whispers in my ear, "What’s up teahead". He grabs me with his powerful tea picking hands, and puts me on the ground. I present my gong fu guru for Don. He penetrates my oldest shu with his pick. It smells so good, but I do it for Don. I can see my gaiwan filling as my eyes start to water. I set my stopwatch to the correct steeping time. I want to please Don. He pours a mighty pour, as he fills my cup with liqour. My dad walks in. Don looks him straight in the eye, and says, "warm roasted almond notes with light honey". Don leaves through my window. Don is love. Don is life.

Reminder that gong fu brewing is a ploy popularized by tea salesmen to get you to use more tea leaves faster and thus buy more tea than you would through western brewing methods.

It doesn't even taste better, don't fall for the lies

>>12403991
Depends. It's not the priciest tea I have seen, but its not the cheapest.

>>12404178
Most Chinese throw some tea in a cup and refill it with hot water over and over. However if you are drinking good tea gongfu brewing is a good way to enjoy it.

bump

Bigelow's Green Tea legit has me on lock with lemon and honey. I haven't been able to find any chamomile flower in a while, god-tier with any tea.

>>12405780
Bigelow is definitely top tier bagged green tea.

>>12403948
Sarcasm aside, I always wondered if there was a market of fine or gourmet tea from the American market, though. As in, cultivated and processed here in the United States, but I can't really find anything, though. There are tea tree plantations here in the US, but I guess most of it is being made into tea for Lipton and other bagged tea vendors.

bump

bump

i have so much tea but i'm too overwhelmed and also lazy to make any

>>12406242
I have seen tea from Hawaii oolong and more marketed, another one I are based in the north west, and a plantation in south Carolina has a tea farm.

>>12408336
I got bored of my tea for a few months, and went back to drinking soda. However, I wanted to clean up my pantry so I made renewed effort to finish off my old tea, so I started drinking my tea plain to appreciate the flavors and the smells, but that's not saying much as most of it is a year old or more and/or bagged. Some of them taste better served as iced tea. I have been consuming less soda and other sugary drinks as a result. I'm still keeping an eye out for new stuff to drink to break the monotony of drinking stale but otherwise okay to drink tea.
>>12408356
Hawaiian Tea & Company and Charleston Tea Plantation?

Bump

So, gentlemen, what are your best teas this year so far?

>>12411757
So far, I would say "Earl Grey Supreme" black tea from Upton brewed for 3 minutes. It has a small amount of bergamot, but it isn't so harsh that it lingers in my teaware. The year is still young and there's more I want to try.

bump