/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Has anyone ever tried aged oolong? I had some that sat around for a few years but I'm really tempted to order some that is 10+ years old.

i like putting rose buds in cheap puerhs. this time i'm adding in a bit of black jasmine tea as well, smells great

Going against my nature here and doing a brew session with the '13 YS Autumn Ye Sheng kind of along the guideline of this video.

https://youtu.be/DjekR6dguMc

Not measuring anything except water temp and just feeling it out. I'll report back with any results.

>>13685195
I blended yo momma's tea last night... if you catch my drift

>>13685450

Pretty interesting so far. Initial smell of the wet leaves was like walking into a coffee roaster's as they're doing their thing. First few steeps just did as flashes and I got that meaty jerky taste I've always gotten with some pretty punchy astringency on the back end, but around steep 5 that's giving way to straight up peat like an Islay whisky with some pretty bright lemon taste layered on top of it.

>>13685544

Definitely ended up using a fuckton of leaf. Keeping the steeps on the short side even as things are progressing and it's not becoming hard to drink, color is staying in the medium Amber sort of range and the smokiness is settling towards the back a bit while the really bright lemon flavors are coming to the forefront.

>>13685578
From what I remember of that tea you can push it really hard without getting any bitter or off tastes. I also remember getting a hint of some flavor that made me think of citronella or some other citrus, i guess that's what you are calling lemon flavors. I ascribed that citrus flavor to it being a purple tea since I haven't experienced anything quite like it in other puer.

>>13685623

Yeah I could see the flavor I'm getting being reminiscent of citronella. I'm going to have to try this again tomorrow with less leaf. Maybe I'll actually measure it then. Things are still tasting great but it's getting super punchy. Tongue is starting to numb up.

>>13685641

Getting a bit of a head rush, too. This might also just be too large a gaiwan for rapid fire tasting like this. Probably had 1L of the tea in the last 15 minutes.

>>13685641
I've never really trusted myself to eyeball tea. Everytime I try to I end up using way more than I intended.

>>13685656

Part of what it was I think is I hadn't realized you're supposed to peel the tea off in layers from the cake. I got some whole chunks this time without the leaves breaking up and it expanded more than I expected. I'll probably move away from being as anal about wate as I am with Jap tea but I think I'll stick to measuring the leaves.

Okay, I'm stopping this session before I give myself arrhythmia.

>>13685683
Yeah it took me a while to get the hang of breaking up cakes. I tend to err on the side of big pieces especially with less dense cakes.

>tried sencha after someone recommended it a few days ago
>literally the best tea i've ever had
If you're reading this, thank you anon. If the bags are this good, I can't wait to see how much better loose leaf is.

>>13686085

Not that anon who recommended it but I'm glad you like it. Sencha is where I got my start in all this. Keep an eye on o-cha's website for when they get the 2020 spring harvest in and consider getting a few varieties of the more expensive teas and then their daily sencha. A kyusu is also a must for loose leaf sencha.

Keep in mind that green tea doesn't keep very well. You can store unopened packages in the fridge and then let them come up to room temp before opening, but I'd try to use an opened package within 3 months.

be honest with yourself, you only pretend or force yourself to like tea

guys shut down the thread we've been exposed

>>13685267

I haven't had any oolong. What are its general characteristics?

>>13685274

That sounds pretty interesting. Do you get rose buds specifically for that or do you have them on hand as a staple for something else?

>>13686142
I think this is only true about pu'er. It tastes like shoe leather smells, even the expensive stuff. People like it because it involves vintage and connoisseurship and makes them feel sophisticated. Nothing wrong with that, but he is right about people pretending to like it, I think.

>>13686380
Oolong is the most variable tea type because it can involve any amount of withering between Green and Black.

>>13686397

Huh, interesting. So it's basically a catch all term for everything in the middle in terms of processing or is there something common to it all?

>>13686418
Its pretty catch all, but there are some small groups of oolongs that have relatively similar aspects.

Admittedly, I don't know much about oolongs myself, but if you're looking to try, get a Tie Guan Yin.

>>13686418
That's exactly what it is. If it's not oxidized at all, it's green tea, if it's fully oxidized, it's black tea; anything in between is oolong. There's very lightly oxidized oolong (5-10%) called pouchong, and at the other end, you have Wuyi oolongs that are almost as oxidized as black tea.

>>13686380
Here is a good article explaining chinese oolongs and covering the major varieties.
https://teadb.org/wuyi-oolong-compendium/

>>13686508
To add to that I have much less experience with oolong than puer but it's probably my second favorite tea. I really enjoy the creamy tangy flavor of tie guan yin and the the roasty dark notes of rock oolongs. It's especially good after a big meal.

>>13686142
>>13686387
It's not my cup of tea (hardy har), but how is the fact that people can have different tastes than you do so hard to understand to the point where you would rather think people just pretend to like a drink?

>>13686553
They enjoy the taste of the sophistication, not the tea itself. How's that for a compromise?

>>13685460
yo mama's shou soup was fishy, brown, and opaque... if u catch my drift

>>13686387

That one YS puerh I have tastes essentially like smoke. I also like Islay whisky and Latakia heavy tobacco blends. Some folks just like different things than you.

>>13686142
I draw an analogy to spicy food or death metal. It doesn't have to be widely or immediately appealing to be truly appreciated for its own character. It simply is enjoyable.

>>13686543
>>13686508
>>13686451
>>13686428

Thanks for all that. Probably gonna be a while before I end up trying any but I'll keep all this in mind.

Went to a tea tasting today. It was all green. For me it's Shizuoka, the best prefecture.

>>13686635
> I also like Islay whisky and Latakia heavy tobacco blends

>People like it because it involves vintage and connoisseurship and makes them feel sophisticated.

We've come full circle. One of the secrets of marketing is that perceived social value tends to trump actual enjoyment of a product. Are there people out there who genuinely enjoy the taste of pu'er? Sure. But I really doubt most do. 'Post-fermented' is a very polite way of saying decomposing.

>>13686720

I don't know what to tell you, friend. Seems like you've made up your mind on this, and given that it's largely impossible to conduct a scientific study on whether or not people like the taste of any given thing or convince themselves to like it because of perceived social value, neither of us is going to have anything substantive to say.

>>13686734

And to add to that, I actually think it doesn't matter so much what the source of the enjoyment is. If you can do "x" activity and it brings you joy, I think it's probably worthwhile and trying to play armchair psychologist with yourself or others kind of defeats the purpose of just liking things.

>>13686713
Looks fun. What was the size of the event? Turnout?

>>13686796
It's just a weekly tasting on Thursdays my local tea shop puts on for about two hours. They give some info on where each tea is from and how (and why) the tastes differ. I'm not even big into tea, but it's pretty cool.

>>13686630
with a thick mouthfeel

>>13686808
I am no small amount of envious. I wish my city had a tea shop that wasn't peddling tea as potions.
>>13686810
This guy gets it

>>13686742
The value of psychology here is recognizing that it's not actually bringing a lot of people joy... that was my whole point. Psychology helps us to understand why. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it and have a glass of unpeated single malt Islay with it, you suave fellow you.

>>13686829

Even if we assume the worst and that not a single person likes puerh, but drinks it solely for the, I don't know, social capital (also who the fuck is actually more positively judging others by the fact that they drink puerh?), they're then still getting joy out of that process because it results in an outcome that they want, even if they don't like the taste of the tea itself.

As I said, though, I think we're approaching an impossible epistemology here.

Oh, and to add, my point about the Islay malts and the Latakia is that I enjoy the flavor across multiple areas. No one in the world gives a shit whether or not I prefer Latakia tobacco blends or Va/Pers, so it's hard for me to see societal norms affecting my taste in that regard.

>>13686380
i bought a bag of siberian rose buds from a local chinese tea place. they taste really good on their own and the lady said they mix well with puerh so i got some. they're expensive but definitely worth trying at least once and experimenting with different combos, it really goes with any tea but best with something strong and earthy with minimal sweetness of its own. i dont remember what it tastes like but crysanthemum is another flower thats supposed to be good steeped with tea

>>13686387
i was never really into tea until i tried puerh. i'd had other loose leaf tea and enjoyed it but something about puerh clicks with me. do you really think the entire industry is built on a circlejerk of trying to seem cool by drinking some special kind of special leaf water that most people have never heard of?

>>13686879
There are any number of ways to begin dealing with this issue. You could say that it's part of the culture of a society heavily dependent on consumerism, to the point where there are millions of people out there who are willing to buy/drink/smoke things unpleasant to them because they think it makes other people think better of them... maybe you'd agree with me at least that most people seem to do this with the brand of car they drive, so why not tea or tobacco too? The whole engine of marketing is designed to make people think that they can 'buy' the image they want to display of themselves to others.

We can't prove whether people actually like this stuff or not with scientific tests, that is true. But consider this: would you have mentioned the specific type of whisky/pipe tobacco you enjoy if it really didn't matter to you? Would you keep talking about it if you didn't care? No, you're enjoying yourself, don't lie, lying is not suave.

>No one in the world gives a shit whether or not I prefer

You are applying conscious rationale to something happening at the subconscious level. If you were an expert armchair psychologist like me, you would know this also.

This conversation is interesting, but I think sells short the individual or over exaggerates society's influence on subjective senses.

>>13686998

I suppose I don't understand your criticism, then. I tend to agree with the formative part of your argument, that exterior forces, internal biases, conditioning, and a whole host of other factors make it might impossible to separate a sense of "self" from what has been constructed for you. We're all beset by spooks. I don't see the point, then, in trying so hard to parse what is "genuine" and what is put upon. If you experience joy from doing something, and it's not harming anyone else, maybe it's not so important to be able to say "I enjoyed this thing for itself" because at the end of the day, it's impossible to have knowledge about that.

Like what you like and don't overcomplicate it.

>But consider this: would you have mentioned the specific type of whisky/pipe tobacco you enjoy if it really didn't matter to you?

Again, I was simply pointing out that I have similar tastes over various mediums.

>No, you're enjoying yourself, don't lie, lying is not suave.

I would never. Arguing with strangers on the internet is one of my favorite pastimes.

I'm going to disengage though, because this is becoming less about tea and more about the epistemology of preference and sincerity in joy.

>>13686998
i get where you're coming from, there's definitely a lot more to certain foods, beverages, cigars, cars, etc than their intrinsic value. i don't know much about fancy cars or liquor but i do know a good bit about tea. a large part of the value of tea is collectability, that once you get into it as a hobby you start wanting to try more and more tea. the further you go into the rabbit hole the further you stray from your original intentions, to have a nice warm drink to enjoy. and yes, part of that is due to the 'social' appeal of having acquired a wide selection of rare teas; even if most people don't really understand it being known for something like that is generally desireable. it displays knowledge, wealth, a false sense of identity, etc. but i think you're ignoring the fact that human decisions are multi faceted, and this idea of being very into x product for reasons of status doesn't make sense if x product isn't attractive in the first place. another way to look at it is relative to substance abuse. you feel good taking a drug so you keep chasing that high and it ends up being a lifestyle you don't really stop and think about, no matter how present that nagging voice is that tells you this is unhealthy. ofc if you have the money an expensive tea habit isn't really a health issue, but it's the same kind of thing. maybe part of why you started smoking, and still do it, is because it's perceived as edgy/cool in a way. but arguing that the main appeal of cigarettes or marijuana is social appearance is ignoring the real and obvious alternative facets to that cycle of addiction. like tea is a fucking drug i drank like 6 cups over the past couple hours and am now ranting about it online like a tweaker

Only tea drinking niggas will write paragraphs about the psychology of liking certain leaf juices

>>13687135
who else would

>>13687110
>like tea is a fucking drug i drank like 6 cups over the past couple hours and am now ranting about it online like a tweaker

lol. nice.

Sure, there are many reasons why people do things. Collecting is also another matter, you might argue that for tea, it's a meta-hobby... a hobby about a hobby. All I'm saying is that I think most people who drink pu'er like it for 'meta' reasons. People can do whatever they want, it's their money, their taste buds. What this talk has made me think though is that maybe pu'er is a good example of how some people actually love the hobby of tea so much that they'll even drink bad-tasting tea and like it, just because they like everything about the experience of tea so much. Now that's something interesting to think about.

>>13687135

>>13687200

At work so I can only interject occasionally now, but I will say that it seems that puerh is such a broad category of tea that it's irresponsible to paint it with a single brush. It would be like saying, "Islay malts are bad therefore all whisk(e)y is bad, and anyone who drinks any whiskey likes it solely for performative purposes."

>>13687200
>maybe pu'er is a good example of how some people actually love the hobby of tea so much that they'll even drink bad-tasting tea and like it, just because they like everything about the experience of tea so much
well a huge part of the cycle of having a tea hobby is the hunt of finding, acquiring, and tasting different teas. even if you aren't trying to you end up developing a nuanced taste of your own preference. i don't think lying to yourself about what you do and don't like is much of a possibility after a while, because you try to enjoy every tea and the ones you don't you know you don't because you tested it many times/under different circumstances, and the ones you do like you know you like cause u just know, man

>>13687200
tea good
tea snobs bad
acquired tastes are a thing. thinking paying several times more for super premium grass clippings that you're just going to piss out in a couple hours is going to give you some kind of euphoric, transformative experience is just ridiculous. snobs be talking about their tea tasting like the morning dew on a meadow next to a flowing river and shit and i can't help but kek.

>>13687264
>thinking paying several times more for super premium grass clippings that you're just going to piss out in a couple hours is going to give you some kind of euphoric, transformative experience is just ridiculous

You don't need to shell out $100+ to test this out for yourself. The next time you're in a Chinatown, go to the best tea shop you can find and ask to try a tea, if you're well dressed, you'll probably be able to sample any tea you want. Ask to try a very good oolong or black tea. Come back and tell us about your transformative euphoric epiphany.

>snobs be talking about their tea tasting like the morning dew on a meadow next to a flowing river and shit and i can't help but kek.

I do too, it's funny, but it does seem to make some people happy, so it's a good thing in the end.

>>13686142
this is true for me in alot of things. I genuinely dont like tea or coffee. They both taste like shit or something I shouldnt be drinking when its plain. But apparently I fucking LOVE milk and cream and spices. Tea is great with milk, especially when flavored with something else like cinnamon or lemon. Coffee is great with cream to drown out the coffee flavor.

That said, im not going to TELL people that. Im just going to say I like tea and/or coffee if asked.

>>13687576
i respect that anon i like tea and coffee and i like milk but i never think to kombine the two

update on rose tea- just steeped the rose buds w/o tea for the first time in a few months, tastes beautful highly reccomend

KTM just gave me the 10% discount that didn't work at checkout without me even having to email them, so I'm taking that as a good sign that they're paying attention to orders and that things will indeed start moving soon.

>>13687692
That's just hot rosewater.

>>13685195
THIS NIGGA DRINKIN’ TEA!

>>13687576

this is the definition of pretentious, right here.

same like the cunt >>13686142 who makes this kind of statement

>>13686142
I'm not a huge tea fan, but I just moved from an area famous for tea. Drinking that tea now is a bit nostalgic, so I like it more for sentimental reasons than for taste.
Except mint tea, that I really like.

>>13688203
>black
>pu-erh
Pu-erh is literally black tea. What did they mean by this? Why are people calling red tea black?

>>13688204
How can you know enough about puerh to know its black tea, but not know the very obvious reasons that it has a name distinguishing itself from other kinds of black teas?
Or are you trying to be pedantic but making yourself look foolish?

>>13688204
Because in English nobody uses that distinction and red tea will likely mean rooibos.

>>13688204
>Why are people calling red tea black
I said this like 3 years ago.
Glad to see edgy kids finally start memeing on this.

>>13688215
They are all pretentious tea-drinkers just like this dummy>>13688211.

>>13688211
I am not trying anything.

>>13688215
Never heard rooibos being called red tea but it kinda makes sense. I also had rooibos which was green/yellow and here we just call it rooibos tea.

>>13688222
Puerh is processed in a specific way. It's just like sencha and matcha are both green, but they're made differently and end up very different because of that. It isn't complicated.

>>13686142
Why would I pretend to like tea? It's not like anyone cares what I drink at home.

>>13687723
Good, thanks for the update

Good morning, chaps! How do you do?
I have fucking nothing left to drink so I mixed the dust at the bottom of my 13 years da hong pao packet with the dust of my honey orchid dan cong. It tastes like bark dust.
Next I'm gonna review my parents' Marks and Sparks own-brand assam tea, wish me luck!
D'you guys like my teapet? I call him Mousey. He's my computer mouse.

>>13685267
I heard it's a meme. There were three ways Hong Kongers kept their tea drinkable during tea-droughts (when China fell to pieces and couldn't deliver tea); one of them was puer, and the other two were aged whites and re-roasted oolongs. Puer turned out to be tasty in its own right and became a market meme, so manufacturers tried to see if they could do the same thing with aged whites and re-roasted oolongs. Turns out they could, even though re-roasting oolongs only worsens the flavour.
Or so I heard.
>>13686720
There's certain fruits you're not supposed to eat until they start "bletting" -- decomposing.
People like different things to you, anon. They're not all in on a conspiracy to make you think they like it. I absolutely agree that a proportion of people probably only get into puer and whiskey and wine and hardcore videogames because of the perceived social statement, but I think you're vastly overestimating how many people just because you don't understand why people would like it otherwise.
>>13686822
At least my local teashop has a few autist-teas, even if it's stuff like a generic """lung ching""" green (£4.50 for 40g). They translate it as "dragon fountain", too.

>>13688401
Welcome to the club, bro.

Love the pet, don't forget to feed him.

I'm running a bit late, so I've only got my teapets to share.

I've been wanting to get a bigger boi, like yours, but I don't currently have the room to support him.

My 2c on puer being a status tea. In China this is 100% true. I have read that the most high end rare productions never even make it on to the open market and are almost exclusively the domain of gifts between rich bankers and party officials. The growing middle class in china has created an appetite for luxury good like French wines, swiss watches and other high end collectables and puer has become intertwined in all that. Beyond that which Chinese desperate to get as much of their assets out of the yuan as possible and the surprising liquidity and stability of puer means that it is being used as a way to park money. All that being said, i really lover puer as a tea and personally would never consider it an investment or collectable. No other tea has really scratched the same itch as puer.
For those who enjoy ripe puer I would absolutely recommend exploring other Chinese postfermented teas like fu cha and liu bao and other hei cha. Both of these teas have experienced a dramatic shift in production in the last decade or so where there is a much more deliberate selection of high end materials and more careful processing. Scott at yunnan sourcing has done an excellent job making these high end fu cha productions available to the western market and these teas are an incredible value with one kilo bricks priced at around $100. There are some similarly good deals on liu bao.

Daily reminder Scott was found promoting his own site on reddit with sockpuppet accounts
He's probably in these threads, too
Hello Scott!

For people interested in exploring hei cha further i also want to recommend chawangshop.com . They have an extensive collection of liu bao, and a decent sampling of tian jian. They also have liu-an teas, which i haven't really seen on other western facing vendors and also a small selection of aged oolong.

>>13688990
>chawangshop.com
i'll check them out next time i order(3 months-ish) i've really liked the hei cha/ripes i've had so far

>>13685195
Blacks are soo much uglier than white people

>>13688953
who scott

>>13689018
For sure, I really like chawangshop because they offer most of their teas in 50g portions without the usual high markup for samples so it makes it easy to try a good variety of teas for 5-10 $ a pop.

Is this a normal color for sencha green tea? It looks a little more yellow than in the pic. It tastes great to me, but I don't have a baseline for good green tea to judge it. Finally found my white tea cups instead of my black coffee cups so that I could actually see the color.

>>13689533

Not really. Even an asamushi will brew up only very lightly yellow and with a backdrop of green to it. Any idea what the sencha is/when it's from?

>>13689533
Are you this guy?
>>13686085
It's probably what I would expect from that tea. If you end up ordering from Japan it will be much more green colored.

>>13689578
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0009K77OI/ is what I have, steeped at 175f for 1 minute with a saucer over the teacup. It says it's deep steamed.

>>13689591
Yep, even if the color isn't great I'm still enjoying it more than any other tea I've had.

Morning, lads. I'm trying this after yesterday's disappointment. I just threw the rest of that Kameroku Matsumoto Fukamushicha into the worm bin.

>>13689600

That makes sense for what tea you have. As other anon said, if you're enjoying this, give some good sencha a shot in the spring and you'll probably lose your shit.

>>13689621
Yakushima is pretty goddamn based, so the tea should be good

>>13689642

The thing I'm running into with all of these is they're past their peak. I still think I can tell the good from the bad but it seems to me like these may not have been refrigerated since harvest, and that one yesterday was from a spring 18 harvest.

>>13689621

This first steep was actually super nice. Very buttery and sweet. I'm almost getting reminded of cream corn. No bitterness and really almost no classic grassiness either.

>>13689691

2nd and 3rd were nice too. Sweetness gave way to a more vegetal taste but the butteriness stayed there. Overall not super complex, but pleasant. It would probably be quite good right after harvest.

Brewed up some pretty rustic fu cha grampa style this afternoon. Pic related is all the tea stems that floated to the top of the mug. Tasty stuff very viscous smooth and creamy with flavor reminiscent of aged raw puer.

that feel when you mix tea and sunny d together

>>13689766

Floaties are a hassle. Hojicha is basically all stems and I'm doing it in a gaiwan since my kyusu is porous and it's a nightmare.

>>13689777
gave my sister sunny d tea and my parents grounded me and sent me to a therapist

>>13688953
Probably. Scott is secretly seedy.

>>13689827
I don't really trust anyone who chooses to move from the west to China but YS has its place as an accessable store with a well curated selection of teas. Usually people who get really into puer will move away from ys and start buying from either cheaper less curated vendors like king tea mall or direct from tea factory's official stores on taobao. Group buys are also becoming more popular but I haven't actually participated in any.

>>13689766
that sounds nice where did you get it from

>>13689894
It's this tea.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-hei-cha-zhuan/products/2009-gao-jia-shan-wild-fu-zhuan-hunan-brick-tea
It's a very rustic tea (rough chopped leaves and lots of stems) but it's also a fantastic value for a 10 year old ostensibly wild harvested tea.

>>13689951
looks like compost

>>13689962
Yes it looks like mulch or just leaves and twigs shoveled from the forest floor.

>>13689951
hey i order that too! its hei cha and im guessing the wet piling breaks down all the leaves leaving only stems intact, i've had 3 crane liubao and some ripes that were pretty much the same

>>13690074
I actually think they intentionally chopped the leaves, it seems to be the traditional way that tea is processed. Some of the newer fu cha productions on YS have much more intact leaves. Pic related is a fu cha from the same factory pressed in 2018, the leaves look much more intact.

>>13689962
It is compost, technically.

do you guys like my delicious finely aged tea?

>>13685195
whats the difference between tea and soup and broth?

>>13690205
what's the difference between soup and cereal?

>>13690207
a soup is cooked

>>13690216
people often use hot milk for cereal. cereal is soup.

>>13690226
nobody ever used cooked milk for ceral

>>13690229
cereal is cooked and the milk takes on the taste of whatever cereal you put in it, just like water takes on the taste of whatever you put in it(soup)

>>13690200

It seems like you're trying to pull a gotcha here but it's almost like you don't actually have a point. I think you misunderstand how revelatory your "some processed plant matter looks like other processed plant matter" actually is.

>>13690200
Exquisite nose of aged boot, with delicate notes of menthol cigarette butts, mucked barn and characteristic earthiness.

>>13690265
i'm making fun of that one guy's nasty looking mulch tea, famalam. nothing more. :^)

>>13690205
some tea artists call tea soup because gong fu tea is thicker than western brewed, doesn't broth typically include meat or bones? so tea would be vegan broth. but its an infusion
>>13690200
makes me wonder what soil tea would taste like

>>13690280

Carry on, then.

>>13690246
fine so whats the difference between tea and soup and cereal and broth?

>that feel when you planned on making a pinecone tea joke but it's an actual thing
>and pine needles
>and grass
>and dandelion
>and stinkweed
>and stinging nettle
I'm afraid to look up human hair or poison ivy tea.

>>13690318
>human hair tea
thats pu'er

making more of this purple bud black tea from verdantteas. it's definitely my favorite black tea, unfortunately they're out of everything but the 5g sample packs (which i ordered 5 more of)

>>13689885
>I don't really trust anyone who chooses to move from the west to China
Pretty much every good puerh dealer has done this, though.

>>13690808
I buy from Chang mostly.

>>13690815
White2Tea is run by an American dude who lives in Yunnan.

>>13690840
I don't trust that guy either. This trend of making 200g cakes so that your product does not seem as expensive needs to die.

>>13690936
>This trend of making 200g cakes so that your product does not seem as expensive needs to die.
I'm fine with it, I'd rather buy 200g of tea than 375g considering I often barely want to drink the whole 200 if it's not particularly amazing stuff. Also way more convenient to store.

>>13691029
Nah man 375g is some Chinese superstition numerology bullshit, you don't just fuck around with that stuff. It's perfectly proportioned so that a tong of 7 375g cakes is a one year supply of tea. Seriously though it doesn't really matter but I usually prefer 500g cakes or even kilo bricks because they are usually a better value.

>>13691109
>Seriously though it doesn't really matter but I usually prefer 500g cakes or even kilo bricks because they are usually a better value.
This is great if you love the tea. It's very shit if you're trying the tea for the first time.

>>13690216
My gazpacho begs to differ.

>>13691109
*357g
I'm also pretty sure it isn't numerologically founded. It just adds up nicely to 2.5kg in a tong.

>>13691256
I might be a crazy retard, but I have had pretty good luck blind buying large quantities of puer so far. The only thing I've gotten that I don't really feel like finishing is a 200g tuo.

>>13691394
Where do you usually purchase when blind buying?

>>13691458
I used to order from yunnan sourcing, which I think is a little safer for blind buys since he does a decent job curating his stock. Now I usually order from king tea mall now that I'm a little more comfortable with my knowledge of factory teas. I really need to start ordering from taobao but I haven't figured out proxy services yet.

>>13691515
Isn't factory tea meant to be garbage compared to more independent stuff?

Do you sweeten your iced tea or drink it plain?

Does anyone like any Taiwanese teas?
When I was in Taiwan my favorite black tea I ever had was the one from Jing Sheng Yu. Other than that I only had the cheap stuff from Ten Ren which may not be grown there.

>>13691552
Factory tea has advantages and disadvantages. It's usually made with tea from plantation bushes so you aren't generally getting muh 100 year old trees stuff. But it's also incredibly consistent and blended by experienced master blenders with years of experience who have access to dozens of batches of tea every year to make their blends. The processing is also overseen by professionals so you can usually rely on it to be properly processed for long term aging. Smaller boutique productions are usually single origin which can be good or bad depending on the tea. Boutique teas also tend to be very lightly processed and fermented which is very trendy right now. It can be good for young teas but is unproven in the long term (10+) years and I don't really prefer green tasting teas. Personally i like, rougher smokey and bitter teas with a good decade of age on them and i cant afford to buy 3 kilos a year of decade old boutique teas.
There are also high end factory teas with Dayi making several cakes a year that range from $500 to $3000 or more, Mengku Rongshi making at least a dozen high end teas yearly and ChenShengHao making about three dozen single origin teas and high end blends every year.

>>13691691
I haven't really tried Taiwanese teas. Did you try any oolongs while you where there? I think that is what they are mostly known for.

>>13691674
unsweetened iced tea is disgusting.

>>13691696
I tried some oolongs from those aforementioned brands, but I'm not really an oolong fan unfortunately.
I also ate the best fruit of my life in Taiwan. Locally grown agricultural products seemed to be of generally high quality, so I'd like to try more of their tea if I can find some more non-oolong stuff.

>>13691747
I have seen at least a few Taiwanese black teas. I would guess lots of them are made with oolong tea plant varietals which probably makes for an interesting and unique black tea.

Update on Chinese shipping with the whole coronavirus-situation: the tea I ordered from Yunnan Sourcing on february 10 arrived in the Netherlands today, so just under 2 weeks.

>>13692125
what shipping? i chose China Post SAL, i ordered 13th, left YS on the 15th and thats the last update. ordering to the uk btw

>>13691674
I normally only drink iced tea at restaurants and I usually do a blend of sweetened and unsweetened tea because I like it sweet, but not the "rot your teeth out" utter shit ton of sugar level that is the average sweet tea around here.

>>13689827
Definitely. Some autists on the subreddit tracked him down because he accidentally replied to someone with the wrong account and all the sockpuppets had used :-) emojis and when he was found out he deleted 'em all.
>>13689885
>I don't really trust anyone who chooses to move from the west to China
Well fuck you too anon
I still use YS tho lol

>>13691674
I drink it out the bottle, like God intended.

My tea collection is a fraction the size of my tobacco cellar so far but I'm thinking it's going to be catching up this year.

>>13692504
i wouldn't store bottom left with your tea just for paranoia's sake

>>13692564

Hmm, I wasn't specifically worried about it but that shelf *is* getting cleared out this weekend to make more room and to keep the whole thing more organized as specifically a tea/tobacco cabinet.

What do you think of my local teashop's Pu Erh tea, /tea/?
>>13692504
>tobacco
dumb motherfucker

>>13692581
>rich with antioxidants
>black tea
no name or source or age. could be fucking anything. its cheap at least, try a sample just to see what its like

>>13692581

>What do you think of my local teashop's Pu Erh tea, /tea/?

Without any taxonomy at all I'd be wary. Try it and let us know, though.

>dumb motherfucker

Pipe tobacco smoked occasionally is a risk I'm willing to accept into my life.

>>13692601
>>13692607
>try it
I guess I'll ask for a free sample or even buy a pouch when I inevitably step inside there to see what it's all about.
>Pipe tobacco smoked occasionally is a risk I'm willing to accept into my life.
This has not changed my opinion on your dumb motherfuckerdom

>>13692612

>This has not changed my opinion on your dumb motherfuckerdom

That's alright.

Does anyone here have any actual tea houses around them, though? I was googling around a bit and found mostly pastry shops that will serve tea or retailers that are carrying mostly herbal blends and some English standards. It would be nice to be able to walk into a place and have some nice sencha or a gaiwan of some hard to get puerh.

>>13692629
This is about as good as my local place gets. It's better than most places I've looked at.

>>13692640

There's a place around an hour away from me that's worth its salt from everything I've heard but that's obviously not convenient.

>>13692629
I'm across the street from Mem Tea. It's a small shop but they have a lot of variety, and sell to a lot of cafes and restaurants in the city here. It seems I'm incredibly spoiled and I didn't realize it.

>>13692125
I'll be damned.
To all anons for the next few weeks, please do the thread a favor and post here if your shipment from China arrives or otherwise is CONFIRMED to exit the country, and from which vendor.

>>13692660
>>13692761
There's a Matcha place in Manchester with the most autistic owners, it's great watching them BTFO the normies

>>13692938
They always leave essay-length "reviews" of reviewers btw, I just had to cut them out.

Why does oolong tea make my tongue and gums swell?

>>13692945
That means you have the autism. I'm sorry.

>>13692949

>>13692938
i fucking hate weebs
t. weeb who hides his power level

>>13692172
I used China Post Express - Small Parcel. Tracking doesn't seem to work though, it still shows the order in China even though it's already been delivered.

>>13692629
seattlefag here, apparently there are quite a few specialty tea stores around. crimson lotus, vital t leaf, phoenix tea, floating leaves, etc

bump

Having some dust from the end of my puer cakes brewed grandpa style. Really good shit. I'm surprised a mix of 10 or so different cakes harmonizes so well.

>>13694609

Were they all raw/ripe or did you mix the two?

>>13694609
This is what I always do because I'm pretty shit at actually breaking down my cakes without breaking leaves.

Never thought of mixing all my lil bits of dust together.

>>13695780
Just raw. I could do a ripe raw blend but i don't know if it would taste as good.

Been casually scrolling through some Meileaf videos because I can't decide how I feel about the dude. Seems like maybe just an enthusiastic salesman who smarms it up for the camera, but he also reminds me of people I know with massive egos and fair amounts of charisma that always give me cult leader vibes. He's always negging his girlfriend (?) and it makes me think it's the latter. At first I thought maybe she was just a space cadet but I think he's shattered her self esteem.

>>13696962
yeah i get this feeling too, definitely the used car salesman of the tea-tube bubble

How much Houjicha do I put in a 300ml Kyusu and how long do I brew it for?

>>13697000

The hojicha from o-cha is recommended at .7g/30ml at 180F for 90 seconds, and I can't imagine those parameters would change much across different hojicha. Second steep drop the time a bit and third steep extend it.

What’s your current favorite tea? Mine lately is a green tea, aloë vera mix, it’s pretty tasty

>>13697010

How's the aloe vera introduced? Is it just cut and dried?

I'm liking the '13 YS Autumn Sheng an anon recommended to me. It's my first puerh so it's partly its novelty but it has some great peat and citrus flavors in it, and it's been fun experimenting with parameters and seeing how it responds in a way I feel like you can't do with Jap tea where I started.

Stoked for my next order of puerh to ship out from KTM and also stoked for April and May so I can have fresh sencha again.

>>13697010
I have a love hate relationship with this xiaguan 8603. It's very astringent and a bit smokey with a smooth sweet finish. It almost tastes like a lightly fermented ripe puer. I wish it was a little less leathery and earthy and had a bit more dried fruit flavors. Also it's absolute rocket fuel to the point where I get uncomfortably stimulated if I drink it as fast as I drink my other teas.

>>13697015
>Is it just cut and dried?
It’s in dried bits yeah, gets pretty tasty after soaking

>>13691674
I put a little sugar or honey in mine but not ungodly amounts. I can't stand how saccharine Southern sweet tea is.

>YS order (.com to the US; .us site didn't have what I wanted) placed in December still in China according to trackers
>running really low on everything but pu'er
At least I found a few packets of DHP and rou gui I didn't know I had. Considering just ordering from the .us site at this point, it would probably reach me sooner.

I got a cute pitcher to replace my Ball jar.

>>13697893

Sending my thoughts and prayers your way in these troubled times, anon.

>>13697893
I really wish the .us site had a larger selection. I get why they don't bother but it's annoying when i don't want to wait for shipping from China.

>>13697912
Nice pitcher anon.

>>13697912
Ohhhhh, love the handle on it.

I went on a hardcore diet a while back, and the first time I bought new clothes I spent enough that the shop gave me a gift.
Every sip I take from it tastes like victory.
Plus I often forget that I have not tea waiting, and it keeps it warm for an impressively long time.

>>13697912
I have that same style of pitcher. I use it as a yuzamashi though.

>>13697993
Whats the material?

>>13697921
>>13697941

Thanks.

>>13698037

I have variable control on my kettle by the degree so don't need to cool the water, but both my gaiwan and kyusu have much higher volumes than my final cup, so having that intermediary vessel is really nice.

>>13698044
Double wall stainless steel I'd assume.

I want to buy some higher quality sencha. Is there a Japanese or American store front with reasonable prices/shipping? Any go to producers recommended?

>>13698314

I'd recommend o-cha. They carry really quality stuff and shipping from them has always gotten to the States within a week for me. I'd wait until the spring though to get fresh 2020 tea.

>>13698314
O-cha gets recommend a lot, and they have some affordable teas. You might want to wait until after the spring harvest so you can get fresh tea.

>>13698345

>>13698342
>>13698345
thanks, looks like a reasonable site.

Only problem is they don't seem to offer anything but express shipping. I was hoping for some cheaper option as 18USD shipping for 200 grams of tea isn't my idea of affordable. That's a good chunk of the order value.

Trying cold brew for the first time, is 5g to 500ml of water ok? Any teas you'd recommend for this? I'm using some bi luo chun I have around for now.

>>13698395

Ordering anything from overseas is most often an endeavor where you're going to want to get a lot at once. I'd bump up the amount of tea you get and be set until the next spring harvest.

>>13698395
There is something weird with shipping from Japan. It's either express and expensive or cheap and takes a whole month. I think it's because Japan is a rich county so shipping is not subsidized like it is from china. For someone based in the US check out upton tea imports. It's not the same as buying directly from the japs but they have a decent selection.

>>13698418
I would just recommend against getting matcha from upton tea. But their loose-leaf Japanese greens should be good.

>>13698416
>bump up the amount
You're right, thank you. Just tried this with a 150USD order and shipping stayed around 25USD which is reasonable. I wouldn't have thought this would work since I interpreted their FAQ as charging shipping for actual weight so I assumed the shipping cost would have stayed proportional.

>>13698418
ok thanks. Yeah, I've never completely worked out Japanese shipping. With years of buying it seems to be either EMS, AIR, SAL, or surface (in order of expense).

I wouldn't mind SAL if that site offered it but it's their choice as a business not to (understandably so). I've either been very lucky with SAL or it gets a bad rep as a service.

>>13698345
>>13698342
One more quick question. What month does the 2020 season start around? Looking forward to pitting in a fat order

>>13698489
IIRC first harvest in in march so first pick stuff should be up by the end of march. Maybe even sooner.

>>13698489

First harvests are in April.

I'd highly recommend the San no Ma, Sae Midori, Uji Miyabi, and Yutaka Midori. Their Daily Sencha is an extremely affordable second harvest tea that punches far above its weight class as well.

>>13698516
>>13698517
Great, that's soon
Thank you for all the help. I'm looking forward to getting a variety of teas, keeping your recommendations in mind

>>13698517

Oh, and the Kabusecha is really nice from what I remember.

>>13698489
>I've either been very lucky with SAL or it gets a bad rep as a service.
You've been VERY lucky. It's extremely low priority mail, but if your package somehow gets sent at the right time, it gets shipped right away. Otherwise it might sit for weeks on end waiting for a plane.

>>13698529
That's interesting. I suppose it's what you value. I don't mind it taking forever (and it has on multiple occasions). The bad part is loss or damage. The seller usually wipes their hands clean of anything shipped SAL so it's at your risk.

>>13698544
I can understand why they don't want to ship tea sal. Don't want a delicate Japanese green sitting in a hot warehouse for a month.

>>13698573
that's another good point I didn't think of. I was thinking lack of insurance/tracking

>>13698573
>order green tea leaves shipped via SAL
>shows up three years later, having fermented into puerh

>>13698660
Some day I will order some of the crazy Japanese and Korean fermented teas. At least one of the Japanese ones is lactic acid fermented like the natural pickling process.

Please let me have my tea, Corona-chan!

Any of you have silver tea cups or pots or gaiwans?

>>13699112
I want a silver teapot really badly but haven't picked one up yet. It would be nice to have something metal that I can't break easily. It's too bad so many of the silver teapots have shitty bamboo or dragon motifs.

>>13699112
Got any links to solid silver teacups? I have seen the silver lined ceramic ones but no solid silver.

>>13699130
Yunnan has a cute pumpkin one (and other ones that arent bamboo/ dragon, there's a neat crane one). if shipping is back up by my Birthday I am thinking about asking my family just to get me that and some tea

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

its 50ml smaller than my current Ruyao pot, but I can use both of course

>>13699151
I haven't seen any

>>13699202
That's pretty cute. Personally I would get a 120-140 ml one but I guess it depends on what you are using it for. They do look pretty nice and I feel like it's probably safe to get one from ys without getting chinked. I just really like the durability of metal with something that's supposedly flavor neutral.

>>13699324
I like my tea pots big, I have gaiwans for 100 and a bit bigger. I like a teapot to double my gaiwan so it has a use.

What's up bros?

Teaware cleaning day.

How y'all doin?

I've had 45 minutes of sleep in the last 30 hours and am coming up on 3 liters of tea in the last 12. Everything is starting to buzz. Is this what cha qi feels like?

>>13699514

What do you use in solution? I'm also assuming this is just for non-porous ware?

recommendations for sleepy time tea?

>>13699543

Hojicha if you want tea tea, or some sort of Kava tisane if you want to be knocked out.

>>13699541
Just citric acid. Mei Leaf recommends it. I also use it to descale my kettles because my water is hard af.

>>13699556
>I also use it to descale my kettles because my water is hard af.
You should invest in a filter jug at least, hard water really fucks with the taste of tea.

does /tea/ have any good memes?

>>13699514
>y'all
cringe

>>13699514
where can I get nice tea ware in the US?

i have a whole box of this stuff that's expired by about ~6 months, how can i salvage it? never made anything more than a single cup of tea at a time

>>13700194
My teaware isn't nice, but I got it at YS. I'm looking for a place where I can get a better tea table, personally.

>>13700792
Just toss it and buy some new. It's cheap as shit.

>>13700792
I'd just drink it. It's not like it's really expired. If you're really worried, just make iced tea.

>>13700813
but how do i make a lot of tea like that? can i just boil a liter of water in my electric kettle then pour it into a pot and throw X amount of bags in?

how many bags and for how long with >>13700792 this type

>>13700808
looks nice enough

>>13686142
i grew up in japan and 50% of all the fluid i've drunk was tea.
>Gym
>Beach
>Sport
>Studying
>Mall
all with a bottle of pokka sanpincha, itoen oiocha, mugicha, iemon ocha, namacha, ayataka, nouiaji (farmer's taste), juurokucha (16 grain tea), suntory oolong and ruibois. Per Japanese culture they are supposed to be palatable to almost everyone, but these teas made me appreciate how diverse it can be. Moved onto buying expensive dry stuff from tea shops, but with me being a school kid I could only rely on allowances and my albeit. Moved to Cali and the tea drinking culture is lukewarm. I've gotten good stuff from the Chinese medicine shops but of course it's not Japanese sencha. I enjoy Chinese oolongs (it's not a meme you fucks) and how they package them with oil seeping out the leaves. Helps I've got money too. I've been distributing some dry tea i've brought with me from Japan in my new college and hopefully I can create some demand, convert em to the tea cult...
So yeah, I fucking love tea (cue le epic soyboy face) and you are all fucking plebs suck my penis (4 inch japanese, slightly roasted, aged 20 years) fuck 4chan and fuck the jannies

>>13700834
I'm sure the box has instructions. Just scale up.
Or google it.

>>13700887
Besides the kettle, all my gear all together was less than like $50

>>13696962
He gives me huge cunt vibes. He's just a tremendous ponce. I know we're all sniffing gaiwan lids here, but he manages to make me feel like I'm doing something poncy even when I make tea in my own bedroom.
He's also got that used car salesman fakeness about him, like >>13696995 says. I'd never buy from him.
>>13700894
will you be my japanese bf

Tried to brew dragonwell for the first time just now, did it grandpa style. I ended up with chestnut-smelling water. What did I do wrong? How am I supposed to make this stuff? I heard you're not meant to gongfu green teas.

>>13702304
How much tea in how much water? I usually use 3-4 g of tea in an 8oz mug more for larger mugs.

Cold brewing some of the less great sencha samples from Yunomi as an experiment. Will report back.

>>13702304
I found some instructions specifically for dragonswell tea. No haven't tried em myself but you might find it helpful.
https://www.teavivre.com/info/brew-dragon-well-green-tea.html

>>13702304
Of course you can gong fu greens, just be mindful of the water temperature as with all greens. What you've probably read is that japanese greens aren't suitable for gaiwans, but that's only because they're cut so small all the leaf would pass through the gaiwan lid anyway and it's a mess, so doing it in a kyusu pot, made specifically for teas cut that way, is better. The flat dragonwell leaf tends to go through the lid too, but not too much, I don't see it as an issue.

>>13702493
That's what I did
>>13703281
I'll try it gongfu next time

The King Tea Mall website claims he is shipping again. I'll be putting my order in tomorrow. Hopefully I get it before the quarantines start in the USA.

>>13704060

Might take a moment yet. I ordered on the 20th and it isn't fulfilled yet. I imagine he has a decent backlog to get through.

>>13704205
Yeah nothing has shipped since the beginning of Chinese New year the last week of January.

What is the most expensive, exclusive cultivar or type of tea to purchase?

>>13704540
>Da Hong Pao can sell for up to US$1,025,000 per kilogram or US $35,436 per ounce (20g of Da Hong Pao tea from one of the mother plants was sold for ¥156,800 in 1998)
This is for tea from a few specific trees in ome place, it's also used as a generic name for tea of that style.

>>13704540
Yeah, I'd go with da hong pao. It's so exclusive it's pretty much entirely used by the Chinese state to entertain foreign dignitaries.

>>13704704
Is there any lore as to why it's so great?

>>13704718
The emperor had a big fucky-wucky so this sage was like "oh noes! you must drink some tea" and he grabbed some random tea bushes and made him some tea and the emperor went OwO wots this and yeeted back to health. Then he wrapped his red robes around the bushes which saved him so they could dab on all other tea bushes forevermore.
There's a few different versions but they're all pretty much like this. It just changes who's ill and why they wrap the robe around it.
da hong pao 大红袍 means big red robe btw

>>13702492
What kind of tea is traditionally associated with deep south iced tea? Is that a black tea? Any specific kind of black tea? What would be best AND traditional? Bi Luo Chun maybe?

>>13705118
I imagine it’s the first or cheapest tea bags they can find

>>13705118
Luzianne.

>>13705605
And like Lipton it's orange pekoe and pekoe cut black tea.

>>13705118
What kinda ching chong dong speak is "bi luo chun"? Sweet tea should be lipton or luzianne or some AMERICAN brand.

>>13702492
Cold brew brings out a lot of the umami and makes the bitterness a little different in my experience. Pretty smooth. I shake mine up a few times while cold brewing too.

>>13705981

I've been going back to it to do that. Issue is I meant to bring it with me to work but forgot so instead of an 8 hour steep it's going to be more like 15. We'll see how it turns out.

>>13705118

Southern sweet tea in my experience is a big pot of water brought to a boil, throw about a box of Lipton black tea in there, let it go for however long you want, take it off the heat, pour in however much sugar you have in the house, toss in a bunch of ice cubes and then refrigerate.

>>13706168
It should be fine. I've left some as long as a day before and it wasn't a huge difference.

Cold brew sencha turned out great. Now I know what I'll be doing all summer.

Not tea related but additionally, I had some extra ciabatta dough at the end of the baking day and realized I could just come home and make pizza. I don't know why I haven't been doing this for years.

>>13706602
Nice little pizza there. I gave up on making pizza at home because I got a new oven and I can't trick this one to getting up to 650-700°f. It was really fun messing around with poolash and high hydration doughs.

>>13706820
>poolash
That sounds like a really nasty old-school maritime punishment that would leave you with a nasty infection.

Just to stay on topic, though, I think I'll go look for a nice teapot in some 2nd hand stores today.

Is there a best bagged tea you can buy? Yaknow something cheap but good to keep around the office at work? Sure I could bring a small french press or something and some cheap leaves but I think a baggy just works better for the office. I prefer to keep the good stuff at home.

>>13706848
I get Twinings desu. It ain't great but it's teabags.

>>13706848
Depends on what kind of tea you drink. Here are some tea bags with a pretty high end ripe puer in them. I think they come 6 teabags per box but it's not totally clear.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2019-mengku-rongshi/products/2019-mengku-rongshi-bo-jun-wish-cake-12g-puerh-ripe-tea-shou-cha?variant=31514530021479

>>13706884
$5 for 6 bags isn't particularly cheap, though.

>>13706889
Yeah, the best cheap bagged tea is probably some English stuff, need a brit to weigh in.. I know O-cha sells some bagged greens but they probably aren't cheap.

>>13706903
>>13706851

>>13706903
Yamamotoyama is pretty good for cheap Japanese ones.
Black teas, I dunno. Even generic CTC loose stuff tends to be higher quality than most bags.

>>13706848
I cannot imagine an office situation where a small ball infuser and some loose leaf tea would be any less practical than teabags.

>>13706977
Dealing with the ball infuser and the spent leaves is a hassle. He could just fill up a bunch of those fill your own teabags you can buy.

>>13706984
It's really not that much of a hassle at all though? Dumping the leaves into the bin takes marginally more effort than putting a tea bag in a bin.

>>13706977
A small ball infuser is pretty shit though. I'm a massive autist so I'd just put some leaves in a thermos and fill it up.

>>13706984
>>13706997
Mug infusers are even easier and usually have a lid to set it on. Literally just knock the leaves into the trash then rinse it under the tap.

>>13707003
this is the autist's path
teabags are for the weak

>>13706997
A ball infuser is much better than a teabag. Personally in that setting I'd use a mug infuser to have a little more room for the leaves to breathe, but if you want the teabag experience, a ball infuser on a chain is basically that with much less waster and much better quality tea.

any recommendations for tea to mix with weed? I like to make tea that makes one high but i need a nice taste to. Preferably something with a strong taste

>>13707137
don't need that shit...just get tea drunk bro...

>>13706848
I drink
G R A N D P A S T Y L E
at work

>>13707137
Making tea with weed is a retarded waste of weed. If you insist on doing it simmer it in whole milk or cream for 10 minues and then infuse spiced chai.

>>13707137
osmanthus tea, i know it's more of herbal tea, but trust me. add honey btw.

>>13707274
>>13707260
thanks will keep it in mind. Weed is cheap and plenty here, as low as 4€ for 1g

Trying a blend of liu bao and ripe puer today. It's okay, but the liu bao on its own is better.

>>13706848
kirkland signature green tea/matcha tea bags are good

>>13707137
like weed tea? it tastes nasty if you make it to get high because you need to decarb it and ideally use a lot of fat. i bet raw weed tea would taste good but it would take 100x the amount to get you high. if you want to mix the weed high with tea i think oolongs work best because they usually have the best mouth feel and qi in my experience

>>13689023
keep telling yourself that whitey

Placed a big Old Ways Tea order because they're US-based, and my order from China might not be here for another two months at this rate. Picked up a bunch of "Wild Style Black" from OWT; had it last year and it's one of my favorite blacks, highly recommend it.

my order has just been dispatched to uk, ordered 14th, pic very much related, i fucking hate international shipping.

this was like $8, kind of pricy but way better than any other black tea i've gotten from a bag. very good for southern style iced tea, last time i used a few of these and some darjeeling and it was very tasty while still having the classic iced tea taste

>>13707137
Too impractical. Just get ripped then hella gongfu. Little bit of jazz, cat on lap, quiet Saturday morning, man that's the good stuff. Weed and tea is a sublime combo, but trying to make a tea from it is impractical or gross.

Does anyone else here smoke pipes? I'm currently having a really nice experience with the '13 YS Autumn Ye Sheng after a bowl of C&D Blue Ridge while walking my dog. Once I get some more tea in I could report back with pairings I find interesting, but I'll just skip it if there's no one interested.

>>13708944
>bags
Get the fuck out

>>13708944
Why would you use bags for iced tea?

>>13710155
Add some photos in the mix and I will read it anon.

Just tried Sencha for the first time recently and it was great. It made me feel like I was high though, not complaining. Is this normal?

>>13710807
Don't know if it's normal but good sencha can get me tea drunk sometimes, so it's at least possible.

Anybody drink Scottish Breakfast? Tried it bagged, liked it, now looking for a good loose leaf.

Ordering some teaware from YS, anyone got any tea they'd recommend?

>>13710861
Sounds like a bullshit name for some random blend from some random company. Not even English Breakfast is standardised.

>>13711242
Of course there's not like a standard formula or anything, but Scottish breakfast is a thing and tends to be bolder than English breakfast with more Assam in the mix to cover up Scotland's shitty soft water.

>>13711114
.com or .us?
If .us
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/yunnan-sourcing-pu-erh-tea/products/2014-yunnan-sourcing-impression-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/xiaguan-tea-factory/products/2018-xiaguan-tai-an-aged-mao-cha-raw-pu-erh-tea-iron-cake
If .com
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/three-cranes-2409-old-bush-liu-bao-hei-cha-in-basket
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-tian-jian-tea/products/2012-gao-jia-shan-wild-tian-jian-in-a-bamboo-basket?variant=35456672326
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2018-menghai-lao-cha-zhuan-raw-pu-erh-tea-brick
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/feng-qing-tea-factory/products/2006-feng-qing-7813-recipe-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

>>13711114
the eternally shilled Black Gold Bi Luo Chun, id also recommend getting a ripe and raw pu-erh

>>13711498
it really is one of the best super cheap teas

>>13711475
Cheers anon. The .com website, for the record, I'm an ausfag.

>>13711498
I'll have to give that black a try, I've never really had a *good* black tea. Already knee deep in puerh, looking for more specific recommendations, I should've made that more clear.

>>13711522
honey orchid dan cong oolong's great if you've managed to avoid it for this long

>>13711522
>The .com website
Oley one more then, this tea is fantastic for the price, especially if you want to try a wet storage puer that doesn't have any weird funk that you can sometimes get from wet storage.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/other-factories/products/2007-bo-nan-mountain-yun-wu-yuan-cha-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

I happened upon this general to see if I could snag some recommendations for an electric kettle, but after perusal, I think I might wanna try out this finer tea thing. A tea house just opened this month near my old place of work, so I'm gonna hit that up to see if my curiosity is warranted.

>>13711696
Ask 'em for free samples. If they're good they'll happily oblige. Try out random shit, then buy small packets of the stuff you liked.

>>13711696
Go for it! Local tea shops are a great way to try lots of kinds of tea and find out what you like.
If you want a variable temp kettle look at the Cuisinart cpk-17 the bonavita 1.0l variable temperature is also popular but might have durability issues. For non variable temp models I really like my Secura SWK-1701DB because it is 100% stainless steel on the inside, no plastic touching the water.

>>13711830
>£55 kettle
do americans really...?

God I really want to order green tea but I want to wait til spring but I also am worried about corona affecting shipping, and I am fairly new to tea anyways so I doubt I would appreciate a fresh harvest.

>>13711830
>the bonavita 1.0l variable temperature is also popular but might have durability issues.
I have two of these and use them heavily, and have had very good experiences. The older one is leaking slightly, but that's the only durability issue I have run into.

>>13711866
Is it leaking around the gooseneck? That's what I heard can have problems. I wouldn't expect any kettle to last forever.

>>13711696

>kettle

This thing is great. Adjustable by degree from like 120 something F up to boiling, all stainless construction on the kettle part, really nice pour from the gooseneck.

OXO BREW Adjustable Temperature Electric Pour-Over Kettle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074KHPS7F/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ldRvEbSCH4WXZ

>>13711904
Actually it seems to be around the lever (the leaking one is actually not variable-temp- variable ones don't have the lever). The neck itself is just fine.

>>13711864
Do what I'm prepared to do and make this the year you finally get into Jap greens

>>13712256
jesus christ it's a hundred dollars
wtf, you guys use these things?

>>13712750
mine was ~£25, all metal/glass with temp control.

>>13712750

I may have opted for something cheaper if I wasn't drinking mostly Japanese greens at the time, and this is the only kettle I could find with single degree temperature control down to the 120 F range. Some of those gyokuros need extremely cool water.

There are also other small things that are nice, like the gooseneck and that the whole top of the lid is rubberized so you don't scorch your knuckles against bare metal when taking it off. It will also bring a full kettle to a boil in a little over a minute, and it has a built in timer.

The last thing I've realized since getting it is that it's bullet proof. Going on 3 years with no degradation at all. In fact, I had previously lived in an apartment complex that ended up getting a nasty cockroach infestation, and those fuckers made a nice little home in the base with all the electronics. I ran water through the whole inside of it to flush them out and it didn't damage it at all.

Spring for something cheaper if you're not interested in the bells and whistles, but keep in mind you'll also probably have to replace it sooner.

Welp, I'm pretty much out of tea. Going to have to survive on cheap oolong for a while while I wait for my wu-flu infused shipment.

>>13713024

KTM says they started shipping again 4 days ago but it seems like they still have a big backlog of orders to get through before mine is going out. Considering doing an intermediary order from YS US.

>>13713111
>Considering doing an intermediary order from YS US.
Yeah I'm in the same boat, i put together a decent YS.us order but it's not as exciting as what I want to get from ktm.

>>13713130

My KTM order is basically a sampling of some ripes and raws from the big factories since I'm just getting my feet wet in all this, so maybe I'll follow the TeaDB advice and get in an order at YS us of some of their house stuff from all the different production regions.

I'm kind of regretting not putting a bigger KTM order in (did about 90 USD with almost half again shipping). I feel like trying to e-mail them to amend it to a larger order would just fuck up the whole thing though with how much they've already got on their plates over there.

>>13713143
Well here are the two cakes I was eyeing from ys.us
Bought this one twice before, very good tea for they money. Has a strong banana peel odor/flavor
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/raw-pu-erh-tea/products/2007-bo-nan-mountain-yun-wu-yuan-cha-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
This one which I have not tried but sounds good.
Single estate yi wu, so it might be a decent sample of the flavors of the region. Also when Scott says a tea is a bargain he usually is telling the truth.
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/raw-pu-erh-tea/products/2007-yi-pin-tang-yi-wu-zhi-chun-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

>>13713243

I was eyeing up that Yi Wu Zhi Chun, too. Here's what I've got in my cart right now. Trying to figure out if I can justify the amount when I know I've already got 5 other teas that are at much less of a markup coming in at some point. I only have one cake right now so I'm itching to try some other things.

https://yunnansourcing.us/products/2014-yunnan-sourcing-cha-tou-sheng-yun-ripe-pu-erh-tea-brick?variant=38849728264

https://yunnansourcing.us/products/2018-yunnan-sourcing-autumn-bang-dong-zi-cha-purple-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake?variant=15029392015405

https://yunnansourcing.us/products/2007-yi-pin-tang-yi-wu-zhi-chun-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake?variant=15281454972973

https://yunnansourcing.us/products/2016-menghai-da-yi-jia-ji-tuo-raw-pu-erh-tea?variant=6468177854503

https://yunnansourcing.us/products/2013-yunnan-sourcing-yi-dian-hong-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake?variant=38850297160

>>13713261
Looks good
I've never tried a cha tou (tea nugget) ripe but i have read they go really long 20+ infusions which sounds fun but could be a hassle. But you could always toss it in a pot and simmer it when you get tired of gongfu.
Other than that that consider this little xiaguan brick. A bit pricey but one of my favorite xiaguan teas, good smoke flavor and I haven't found it for sale anywhere else.
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/xiaguan-tea-factory/products/2013-xiaguan-chen-yun-fang-cha-raw-pu-erh-tea-brick

>>13713382

I'll be keeping that in my list. I went ahead and ordered what I posted. I may have to start looking into making a small pumidor. I was thinking just a rubbermade bin with a RH gauge and humidifier packs as needed.

>>13710470
>>13710490
i'm answering >>13705118
southern style iced tea isn't made with chink leaves

>>13713610
What do you think is in the bags, anon?