/ck/ - Food & Cooking

tippy having a sippy!

>>14078593
So i have never done anything expensive like pu er or Dragon Well tea or something like that. Is there anything you could recommend to someone who only does tea bags? Preferably Green or Black Tea.

>>14078674
buy sencha from ippodo/kettl/yunomi/o cha
follow brewing instructions
winrar

>>14078674
I can recommend some puer. This is a basic, affordable but very good puer, a bit smokey, a bit bitter, with a decent bit of lasting sweetness on the tongue. There is a huge variety of puer with some tasting nothing like this but it's a cheap way to try some.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Xia-Guan-Cang-Er-Tuo-Cha-Puer-Tea-2010-100g-Raw/271038114427
And this three cranes liu bao, it's like ripe puer but it's another kind of fermented tea. I've gotten a few posters here to try it and everyone has really liked it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Guangxi-Liu-Bao-0207-Sanhe-Liu-Pao-Dark-Tea-100g-Guangxi-Heicha-WUZHOU-TEA/253070213887
There are better places to buy than ebay when you get into it (check the pastebin) but this is an easy way to start.
If you live in the states the biggest puer factory in china has an official store on Amazon. Pretty much anything they are selling is worth trying. Cheaper elsewhere but this stock in in Amazon's warehouse right now, so no waiting for overseas bat aids shipping fuckups.
I would recommend the 7542 and 7572 cakes. These are considered the benchmarks of raw and ripe puer respectively and should be experienced by everyone who wants to get into puer.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/13C2EA08-0075-49A9-BFCD-163233DD6D39

>>14078593
I buy cheap tea from the supermarket.

>>14079191
Based, have you tried your local asian market? Lots of cheap tea there.

>>14078674
i'll second the three cranes liu bao, very nice hei cha. also the obligatory eternally shilled Yunnan "Black Gold Bi Luo Chun" Black Tea its cheap but very good for the price.

sadly shipping is completely fucked, im still waiting on some green off amazon that should have arrived at the start of april, a lot of ebay is also shipped from china so your best bet is local health/asian stores, it will probably be lower quality for the price but shits fucked

Hey Teaheads! This is Don from Mei Leaf! I'd like you to know that only at Mei Leaf do we have the direct connections to bring you the finest pu-erh tea made from the leaves of truly ancient trees said to be 1000s of years old. This is true tea culture for a true tea connoisseur. Not only that, but it is said in Chinese medicine that these teas will revitalize your health and mind more than any other medicine could. It's great for your skin too! Begin you Mei Leaf tea journey today!

>>14079526
Screw off Don, I'm not buying your overpriced lies.

>>14080011
>>14079526
>watch mei leaf to see tea hype
>buy on amazon
The real gamer way

Sup tea lads. My next plan is ordering 2 - 4 kilos of xiaguan tuos. Probably from 2011 or earlier. The nice thing about the xiaguan tuos is that they are packaged in plastic coated paper bags, so they will age gracefully even if you don't have perfect storage conditions in your part of the world. You can get a sleeve of 5 tuos (500g) for ~$23 or less so it's a cheap buy. I won't even touch them for at least a decade.

Remember if you find a puer that you like, buy more now, it's not getting any cheaper. I have missed out on a few cakes that I loved and didn't stock up on before they disappeared or tripled in price.

>>14080123
Now that taetea has an official Amazon store with product in USA warehouses anyone can buy top quality puer with zero effort. No dealing with shifty chinks or month long waits for international shipping.

>>14076928
>>14076982
>>14076995
LMAO mariage freres is pretty expensive
Check out dammann freres, it's cheaper. Especially if you're a Euro.

I enjoy tea but haven't been able to get super into it.
This brand is available at the nearest H-Mart. I enjoy it. Anyone in this thread ever buy it?

>>14080226
I don't even know what an H-Mart is.

>tfw I met a guy in China who owned a tea shop and he invited me over to try his pu ers for free because I'm British so we could swap tea culture notes and I never visited him and now coronavirus has destroyed everything
FUCK

>>14080226
Haven't tried it. Chinatea is a generic thing from when all the tea factories were owned by the CCP so there are hundreds of factories who's tea is sold under chinatea/cnnp brand. I can always recommend sea dyke brand if you see it in your local gook markets.
But hey if you like it drink it. Lots of people like some of the flavored teas from butterfly brand

>>14080240
That sucks bro, that guy probably has some amazing teas in his stash.
I'm laughing my ass off trying to imagine you making a big tea ceremony out of serving the guy a bag of twinnings and adding milk to it.

>>14078593
Tippy desu

>>14080328
You can laugh, but afternoon tea is unironically considered a tea ceremony by wikipedia. Still, I'd be a bit embarrassed showing him the culinary might of the cucumber sandwich.

>>14080430
>Still, I'd be a bit embarrassed showing him the culinary might of the cucumber sandwich.
Haha it's perfect. I think you could pull it off if you went full autismo. Cucumber sandwich with home made aioli on sourdough bread. A nice CTC Irish breakfast to really show off the malty character of English teas some of that cream on top milk, maybe get some luxury jaffa cakes from a sweets shop on high street.

>>14080317
I'm going to have to start looking for sea dyke and other brands at the bigger H mart and uwajimayas in my area

I really don't want to have to order tea in the mails to get a better sense of the **good stuff**

>>14080524
Sea dyke has good loose-leaf oolong. They have some puer bags like the ones you have, they aren't fantastic but they are acceptable. That butterfly brand makes stuff like jasmine scented tea and some lapsang (pic related). Really you should just buy random loose leaf tins of tea that look cool even if you can't tell what's in it and go to town.

>>14078593
>/tea/
Delicious tea!

>>14080554
Thank you for the suggestions.

You forgot the related pic, though...

>>14080669
It's a shit pic. The can has a old ass Chinese looking sail boat on it.

>>14076532
>over a kg for $10
How the fuck is that not garbage

>>14080694
It used to be tea that the factories were mandated to produce by the ccp as essential food products for the Tibetan minority people. In the last decade or so it's made to a slightly higher standard. It's the literal floor sweepings from the xiaguan factory. But since they don't really make any shit tea, even the floor sweepings are pretty decent these days.

>>14080694
>>14080725
This is what the old tea for the Tibetan peoples looks like from the late 90s. Literally stems and mulch compost looking shit, half stems, ripe and raw tea mixed together, and this is a kang brick kang being that highest grade of bricks made for Tibet.

>>14078593
I've been drinking kratom lately and I'm not sure if there's any point to adding it.

>>14080756
Kratom tastes like dirt. Best way to consume it is to put a gram or two in a few ounces of hot tap water, stir it up and chug it in one gulp. Actually brewing kratom is a huge waste, you maybe get 25% of the alkaloids out of it.

>>14078601
how does the hat drink?

>>14080771
Really? I was told to steep it twice and then discard the remaining powder.

>>14081280
Just drink the dirt. Trust me, give it a try, just make sure you mix it in to HOT tap water, about a shots worth and mix it around until there are no clumps. Try it an you will see, plus the fiber is good for you.

>>14081334
Fuck it, I'll try it.

>>14081355
Based

>>14080694
Its so good.

Coofs

>>14080554
>>14080524
>>14080317
Sea Dyke is the Yorkshire Gold of Chinese tea.

>>14080395
>>14078593
That's not gween tee.

>>14078593
3 Gallons of Totally not Guers Tea.

3 1/2 Gallons of Water (Filtered tastes pretty groovy)
6 1/2 Cups of Sugar
40 Lipton Black Tea bags.
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice.

Step 1: Put your 40 tea bags in the water and bring it to a boil.
Step 2: Once hit simmer, squeeze your giant tea ball dry into the tea boil, discard ball. Add Lemon juice.
Step 3: Let hit boil, once boil, start adding in Sugar 1 cup at a time while stirring. You will hear a fuushaw as you add the sugar, stir to get it mixed with the boiling tea. Do this until you have used your 6 1/2 cups of tea.
Step 4: Cover and turn off heat, let it cool down for like an hour and a half, sitr occasionally if you are bored.
Step 5: Using a funnel, pour your tea into a gallon container. (Please put the funnel into the container) [You may need a friend if you are small or not that strong]
Step 7: Let the tea refrigerate and enjoy when fully chilled.
Step 8: Congratulations, you will now get kidney stones and probably diabetes, but at least it saved you a trip outside and about 10~12 bucks.

>>14080694
If you go to a grocery store, especially a Middle Eastern or Chinese one, you can easily find ok teas that are very cheap. They're not fancy or amazing, but they're decent, and hardly garbage. So it shouldn't really shock you that you can find acceptable tea at such a low price. As tea lovers, our perception of tea price is often skewed by the fact that we tend to choose relatively expensive teas, so we forget that most people (who just use tea to get as a daily hot drink, and not for taste appreciation) just buy cheaper stuff.

If you're reading this and haven't gotten into tea yet - you can absolutely drink pretty decent tea for mere pennies a day.

>>14078593
Thats blood, not tea

I find it ironic how so many British people who pride themselves on their taste in tea, all the while only using black tea teabags and drowning it in milk and sugar to kill any flavor nuances it might have had. It's like they're playing a joke on yourself. Feel sorry for them in a way.

At least they're still better than the Americans who only drink sweet tea.

I find it ironic how so many British people pride themselves on their taste in tea, all the while only using black tea teabags and drowning it in milk and sugar to kill any flavor nuances it might have had. It's like playing a joke on yourself. Feel sorry for them in a way.

At least they're still better than the Americans who only drink sweet tea.

So, fluorosis from puerh.

Is it a meme?

>>14084593
Why would puerh have fluoride?

>>14083494
Post examples pleas

>>14084597
>Unlike pu'er, some Bianxiao brick tea has been found to contain very high levels of fluorine. This is because Bianxiao tea is generally made from lesser-quality older tea leaves and stems, which accumulate fluorine.[41] Its consumption has led to fluorosis (a form of fluoride poisoning that affects the bones and teeth) in areas of high brick tea consumption, such as Tibet.[42][43]

>>14078593
which one of you wrote this wiki?
fucking hell, seems like he heard something about the tea through the wall from his third wave transgender flatmates and compiled this article. for shame.
please remove this from OP if you want to be treated seriously.

btw. nice to see /tea/ picking up the steam in its 3/4 iteration. some of you are ok. don't steep anything tomorrow.

>>14084774
nah, ill steep even if you boobytrapped the pot. Got myself some gaba oolong and by good i will drink it

>>14084791
don't forget to take a picture of your left handed kyusu with your phone and post it on the *ddit you gabba gurgling naive manchild.
are you tea drunk yet?

>>14084593
You can get fluorosis from any tea, you just have to consume massive amounts of it for decades like.
>>14084636
Those people consume tea leaves that are boiled in water for long periods of time. Bancha is also made with older tea leaves and stems but I haven't seen any stories of older japs getting fluorosis because they don't consume massive quantities of it.

>>14084587
>I find it ironic how so many British people pride themselves on their taste in tea
Absolutely nobody in Britain prides themselves on their taste in tea. That's an American phenomenon. Tea is seen as beyond mundane here.

Nitro cold brew green tea with soy whipped green tea is the best

>>14084593
It's a meme, except for hardcore Tibetans who drink massive amounts of heavily boiled brick tea every single day.
I assume that even a daily Western puerh drinker is generally gonna drink, like, 5-10g a day, and is gonna steep rather than boil it.

>>14085199
There are two documented cases of fluorosis from drinking tea in the USA. Both were brewing 60-120 teabags daily in some giant carafe and it took about 10-20 years for this to start causing serious damage.

>>14080694
Also you gotta realize they're pricing it that low so dumb americans like me put it in their cart and shipping goes up $30. It came out to be $25 for 1.25kg shipped in 7 weeks. Ebay sellers have much cheaper shipping but much higher priced teas for the same xiaguan tibet shit.

>>14085653
It pretty much evens out. That's why eBay can be better for a single tea (if you find one of the legit sellers), but if you order a bunch of teas from the same ebay store the price of shipping is built in to each item so ends up more expensive.

Ok, expensive tea fags.
What you would choose?
Just cutting chunk out of import tea block, tossing into cup and pouring boiling water.
Or properly preparing casual store bought tea?

>>14085804
>Just cutting chunk out of import tea block, tossing into cup and pouring boiling water.
This every time. It's fantastic and produces no off or overbrewed flavors. I'm so lazy this is the only way I brew my tea. It's even less effort than teabags.

>>14085804
option 1 if you disagree kys

>>14084774
Write your own pastebin than

>>14085804
Is that a new mug?

Drinking the Uji Kamejirushi gyokuro from o-cha for the first time and it's treating me a lot different than the Yame gyokuro. They're both very creamy in texture, which is still surprising to me, but this one is a lot more subtle than the Yame (though keep in mind I've only had one session of each). I'm going to sit with this, the Yame, and the Yutaka Midori shincha over the next few days and report back with some more concrete thoughts.

The only other thing I have to say at this point is that, for both gyokuros, after only about 180ml I'm feeling a slight head rush in a really pleasant way. I would have to pound a young raw puer to get here but just sipping on a little bit of the gyokuro is an experience.

>>14085804
TOO FULL!

>>14086579
That's actually a pretty low water level for mug anon, he is slacking a bit with that pour.

>>14085431
>60-120 teabags daily
How much would that weight?

>>14087573
It would be something like 120-240g of shitty tea dust.

I wonder what a decent 'tea bar' would consist of. By decent I mean decent quality, but also decent style variety. For now I mostly have green oolongs, raw and ripe pu erhs. I dislike Earl Grey, genmaicha, jasmine tea and flavored teas in general. I didn't like the darker oolongs I had and the nutty/chestnutty taste they had, but they might not have been representative. What am I missing out, /tea/?

>>14088272
no turkish pipes, no floor sitting, no hippies, no marijuana, no feet on the table would be a great start.

>>14085076
>>14085199
>>14085431
Ty anons, i drink 3x 400ml (2nd,3rd,4th batches to be exact, first goes down the drain) batches from 13g puerh quite often (not daily but often), but i wouldnt want to fuck up my bones

>>14088289
>no turkish pipes, no floor sitting, no hippies, no marijuana, no feet on the table would be a great start
kek, no way I allow any of these in my living room.

>>14084587
>YALL WANT SOME SWEET TAY

>>14088305
pardon my confusion dear anon, i mistook tea bar for teahouse.
With tea bar there is a problem with most teas loosing potency over time. Puerhs would be a great solution, but i prefer Beeng cha and they are far too big to store more than two.

Taiwanese are quite apt at packing their oolongs and they usualy do 30g, which would be perfect for you.

Iahev at home for visits:
Pi lo chun, loose leaf sheng puerh, some silver needle white shit (dont like white) and red oolong from thailand i believe (really not worth it).

Shizuoka sencha is the best sencha and if you drink anything else you are missing out.
Do you really want scary viruses to attack your throat cells?

>>14088338
All japanese teas are so mild, how can you prefer weak japanase taste to strong and flavorful body of chinese chad teas?

Fragrance and taste of Pi lo chun would make all sencha cry and steal their gf

>>14088344
call it bi luo chun or die

>>14088351
I d rather set up my own china with oolong and gaba

>>14088363
get this kai-shit out of my face
we don't need GA(Y)BA all we need is my little black and gold book

>>14088365
dont know no black and gold book desu. And at least admitt gaba is better than jasmine shitt

bought some expensive song luo that was recommended to me in a local chink tea shop, can pass the recommendation to you aswell

very good tea, not so dry taste as longjing

>>14080930
with its mouth retard lmao

Salutations, fellow connoisseurs! I am back with another tea review. Today I decided to indulge in Sea Dyke Oolong, as fucking nothing else is available. It tastes like burnt toast. Further steepings reveal a slightly mellower burnt toast, as if someone had half-heartedly spread butter on it.
Astute followers of my reviews may notice I no longer have my old tea-pet, Mousey. Alas, he was a horrible mouse so I threw him away. This new tea-pet I have named Neo-Mousey, and he has a friend.

I'm a bit confused by the pastebin,
What tea shops are actually worth my time and money.

>>14088936
What a pointless post

>>14089895
t. filtered sea dykefag
>>14089604
yunnansourcing and what-cha are probably the most popular Chinese style tea vendors, while o-cha seems to have become the most popular Japanese tea vendor (although yunomi used to be popular). white2tea seems popular for pu'er too. bear in mind shipping's fucking everything up

Name of the game today is Yutaka Midori shincha. I'll be drinking this all day and trying to dial it in perfectly.

First go of the day is .8g/30ml (that's water, not vessel size) at 175F, brewing 60s, 30s, 90s. This is basically the all out brewing method, resulting in an opaque, cloudy liquor that lacks any of the top end bright notes you might associate with sencha. It is purely deep and vegetal with suggestions of astringency, though not noticeably bitter. I'm still having a little bit of trouble describing the taste of Japanese greens in a useful way, because I think they generally all draw from the same one or two flavor notes with just slight variation. So I'll go ahead with the classic seaweed, savory, maybe some notes of an astringent green like kale or chard. No grassiness or sweetness here.

How many grams of tea do you drink daily? And which kinds? Have you ever felt sick from too much tea?

What is more important: good leaf, or good technique?

>>14090114

Gongfu I'll use 7.5g for my 150ml vessel (I need to get a smaller gaiwan) and then use those same leaves for grandpa style over the rest of the day after 8-10 steeps.

What I'm doing right now most often is using maybe 4-5g for straight up grandpa style as soon as I wake up and having that go all day, and then do one session with the Japanese greens since they're in season, which amounts to between 2 and 5 g depending.

I haven't made myself sick from tea yet, but I also have a really high tolerance for stimulants.

>>14080682
I actually finished a can of this today. I want more, but corona-chan won't let me buy.

>>14088563
jasmine is so good especially the cheap and bitter kind with barely any flavor from the tea itself

>>14090197
Is it any good?

anyone know of a good tea i can buy on amazon? just got a gift card there but i don't know what i can get reliably other than ceremonial matcha which would be nice but not a very substantial purchase. specifically i'd like a nice (preferably dark) oolong, i'm not picky but i want to find something that actually looks nice

>>14090263
It's alright I guess. I won't pretend to know much about Lapsang. It was very, very cheap, though. Definitely worth it for the price.

>>14090114
5g sometimes 10g, ~15 steeps each. i cycle through my stash, right now i have 3 ripes, 2 raw, 4 blacks, 2 oolongs and a white. only time i've ever felt sick is from drinking greens, they make my stomach hurt, not even Japanese greens which i've heard are even worse
>>14090159
good leaf, theres not much to the technique so long as you dont fuck up steep timings and with a stopwatch tab theres no excuse

>>14090265
If you don't mind that it's coming from third party sellers and shipping from China I see a bunch of Wuyi Star brand oolong tea on there. It's good stuff.
If you want something that ships from Amazon's warehouse i don't know what oolong to suggest but I can recommend pur from this tea factory.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/13C2EA08-0075-49A9-BFCD-163233DD6D39

oh by the way the musashi is also really good, way better than the chiran and definitely more complex at least than the kurasawa. i'll post a detailed review when i get home but i know someone was asking about it and it's probably the 'best' in overall value (although personally i'm still more inclined towards the kabusecha for its simplicity). the guricha was a bit underwhelming but i steamed it for about 30sec and it seems to benefit

>>14090176
>150ml
I find that smaller cups get cold too fast for my taste.

>>14088936
ok, so it seems like the sea dyke oolong isn't all that good, but... what would you rate it taking price into account? it can't be all that bad for the, like, 3 bucks per hundred grams that it is

>>14090564
Memes aside, I'm not sure I'd buy this again. This was the first Chinese tea I ever bought and I don't remember it tasting so astringent, though, so I'm going to give it another go grandpa style or western style to see whether it's more tasty that way. As it is, if my choice was sea dyke or, idk, Bong teabags, I'd go with the teabags.
And this is bearing in mind it cost less than £2 for two packs.

>>14090593
which oolong was this? the one in the red box?

>>14090600
Oh yeah, exactly

>>14090031
>trouble describing the taste of Japanese greens in a useful way
My favorite part might be that weird citrusy funk that I've never been able to compare to anything.

>>14090593
>>14090600
I have some red box sea dyke oolong. I think it's decent, it's definitely very roasty and nutty and it doesn't have a huge depth of flavor but it's smooth, easy to drink, no unpleasant off flavors. It's nothing amazing but it's a decent afternoon tea especially after a greasy meal.

>>14090726
This is the kind I got.

ok so i was browsing the FAQ (https://4chan-ck.fandom.com/wiki/Tea)) and want to suggest an edit

> Green tea is produced when the leaves of undergo only minimal oxidization during processioning. It is considered un-fermented, and has the least amount of caffeine because of this.

The statement about caffeine content is not true. Green tea leaves themselves have no more or less caffeine than any other "type" of tea. The reason green tea is commonly thought to contain less caffeine than other types of tea is because people tend to steep green tea at lower temperatures and for shorter times than other types of tea.

But there is not inherently less caffeine in green tea than another type of tea. Caffeine levels in tea are inherent to the leaves and are based on other factors, most importantly brewing temperature and steeping time, but also which leaves (buds vs larger leaves), leaf size in general, season (spring vs summer vs fall), and elevation, as well as varietal differences.

However this is not really impacted by the processing method. Oxidation and fermentation do not introduce more caffeine to the tea. This is obvious after a simple thought experiment.

Imagine that you had a harvest of tea from a single plantation/plot. Let's separate it without prejudice into two uniform batches. We are going to process one batch as a green tea and one as black/red tea. How would the black tea end up with more caffeine? It simply would not. Thus caffeine has nothing to do with the processing method.

>>14091052
yeah there are a few errors, feel free to change it. i did a load in January

>>14091135
ok may dig in sometime this weekend

>>14090031

Okay, second run was with the same parameters but at 165 F. The first steep is similar in overall profile to the first steep of 175F, but the astringency and the overall flavor are both dialed back a bit. Continuing forward, though, the second and third steeps give up a little bit of sweetness. I'm also pushing this one into a 4th and 5th steep by upping the temp to 175F and increasing brewing time to 2m30s and 4m respectively. It won't brew out as intensely as gyokuro that late on but it's still worth doing, imo.

There are some nice tea and kombucha bars in my city. Also plenty of high tea and desert cafe options.

>>14091655

Another

>>14091655
>kombucha bar
GAY
It's fucking moldy tea. Why would there be a whole bar for kombucha?

>>14091659
KEK a whole bar of aggressive puer drinking dykes. Really need the government to step in and deny puer to lesbians in order to decrease rates of domestic violence.

>>14091849
You mean like how we have whole bars for moldy hops

>>14091865
yeast son, yeast isn't mold

>>14092004

Mold and yeast are pretty similar, actually, both being fungi. Mold is just multicellular while yeast is single cellular. That being the case, the fungi present in kombucha are yeasts, same as in beer and bread.

>>14091563

Round three. 165F, .8g/30ml (water, not vessel size), 30s - 15s - 60s.

I think I've found the sweet spot. These are the parameters currently recommended by o-cha but with the amount of leaf increase by 33%, and I think this is right. Increasing the leaf allows the full flavor to come out even with only a 30s initial infusion, and dialing the temperature back to 165 F makes sure that the deep savory flavors don't make their way towards astringency. On top of that, there is a honey sweetness present through all three infusions that counter balances the umami really well. These parameters, at this point, are what I'd recommend, though I'll of course keep experimenting as time goes on.

>>14092114
>Mold and yeast are pretty similar, actually
"NO!"

>>14092190
Thanks for the write up anon. Please try to add some pictures if you can.

>>14092197

>two fungal organism both with chitinous cell structures
>NO THEY ARENT EVEN A LITTLE SIMILAR

But again, the point is moot given that the fungi in kombucha are yeasts unless you've done something terribly wrong.

>>14092209

No problem. Original picture is here (>>14090031). I opted not to take more because they all look incredibly similar, and any actual differences would have been drowned out by the fact that the lighting has changed throughout the day.

>>14078593
>MFW I bought some water enhancer in "sweet tea" flavor because it said it uses "real tea leave extract"
If it weren't for the quality Earl Gray and English Breakfast teas I have I would have raged through my neighborhood....

>>14092223
Okay, thanks anon.

anyone got experience with harney and sons? on the tins they say long amounts of time for the teas, even the more lighter teas. Should i follow their instructions or should i use more common sense like, 2 min for green 3 for black tea yadda yadda

>>14092308
Are they flavored teas? I think the flavored ones would do better with longer brews. Regular unflavored teas, you should go with Normal brewing instructions.

>>14092325
theyre loose leaf stuff. i have darjeeling, earl grey with lavander n vanilla and genmaicha from them, but the brew times are exceptionally long for what ive heard from brewing videos on yt

>>14092329
At the end of the day you have to find the perfect brew times for each tea. You should absolutely experiment untill you you find your favorite brew for each tea.

I use a milk frother to make my matcha
idgaf

>>14092218

Kombucha = S.C.O.B.Y (suspended colony of bacteria and yeast).

Also, I just made babby's first proper lose leaf tea (TsuEn sencha). Blows any bagged green tea that I've had out of the water.

how long is a pitcher of sweet iced tea supposed to last before it goes bad?

been using 4chan for years but never been to this board. i drink bigelow constant comment tea all day every day, probably ten bags/mugs per day. am i a pleb? it's not loose leaf but it tastes alright to me.

>>14078593
grandpa got the pool temperature at the community center raised and the old chinese guys who go there thanked him by giving him a big unmarked brick of pu erh, of which i now have a hunk

>>14092610
>Kombucha = S.C.O.B.Y (suspended colony of bacteria and yeast).
I thought it was symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast.

>>14092677
Based pls post a picture of your hunk.

>>14092712
It is. My 6 year old culture died a few weeks ago :( Ordered another starter from kombumcakamp and its 3rd brew is about to come out. I'll take some pics tomorrow. Been using some real cheap shit I bought from the chinkmarket two years ago.

>>14092777
>Been using some real cheap shit I bought from the chinkmarket two years ago.
Based

>>14092613

I doubt it'll "go bad" especially with the fuckton of sugar that's in it if you're from the South. What can happen, though, is that particulate suspended in the tea will continue to steep and could make it bitter over a long period of time. If it's not too bitter to drink I would hazard to guess that it's fine.

>>14092616

Constant Comment is cozy/10. Reminds me of cold weather holidays with my family.

>>14092777
Sorry to hear that, dude. Nice trips though.

just pulled the trigger on a 100 bucks order from YS including some dragons balls, hairy crab and some other black teas
now the wait begins

>>14092991
Nice, hopefully th shipping will go okay.

>>14092991
good luck, im waiting on an order from the 25th of april, normally takes ~7weeks to get here in the uk

>>14092616
You're the pleb's pleb. Bigelow is American, which makes it abominable. It's below even Lipton, which at least pretends to be British (lol).
Feel ashamed, anon.

>>14093474
Bigelow's cheap Ceylon actually tastes better than that weird flavor Lipton (and PG Tips) have though.

>>14092677
post pic of brick

Coof

Has anyone here ever tried tea from the Charleston Plantation? I just found out that they sell loose leaf pure black and green tea on amazon and I'm thinking of getting some just to try tea grown in America.

>>14095936
They must have just started selling loose leaf somewhat recently.

>>14096020
I just read that they sell their first flush teas separately. Might be worth looking into if you want to try their tea.
https://www.charlestonteaplantation.com/first-flush

>>14095936
>>14096059
there's also https://mintoislandtea.com/ from oregon, look like the two most oregon fucks i've ever seen but there tea is probably good, in a year or two might try buying it to see how tea grown around here tastes (t. superior WAfag). i bet if i got serious enough about it i could find somewhere with high elevation that doesn't freeze in the winters and try to grow tea there

>>14096631
Damn, almost every USA grown tea is $1 per gram, I just can't bring myself to spend that much.
If you do some research there are frost tolerant tea trees that are popular in russia. No idea how hard it would actually be to get that variety here.

>>14092991
YS shipping is totally fucked right now (as is pretty much all shipping from China). Depending on your option, I wouldn't expect the order for at least 2 months, and probably longer. I put an order on the boat at the beginning of march and that usually takes 10 weeks, so it should be here soon, but I am not hopeful.

>>14096747
Shipping is fast as hell if you shell out for DHL or FEDEX. Everything else is a massive shitshow.

>>14080395
Sippy desu

>>14096747
Damn, I also put an order on the boat at the beginning of March. Doesn't seem to be arriving any time soon, though. I'm honestly expecting it sometime in June, if not July, at this point.
But then, if I wanted it faster, I'd have chosen anything other than surface mail lmao

What's a good tea for ice tea? I stick with roasted green/oolong since the flavors are good cold.

>>14097248
Darjeeling

>>14078593
Sweet tea in a Togo cup

>>14096889
I shelled out for EMS, still not here

won a free hair! what prizes have you guys have gotten before

>>14097988
Nice, it's very thick, a fine quality hair.

>>14098097
long too so it has to be a woman's, shame it didn't come with her socks

>>14097988
make some tea from it and report back

my dads birthday is coming up and he likes tea alot, he liked a london fog tea i bought recently and i was thinking about buying that for him, but idk. any suggestions?

>>14078593
sauce on the OP image?

>>14098278

Gochūmon wa Usagi Desu ka

>>14098261
If you live in USA check out Upton Tea Imports. Their breakfast blends are pretty good. So is their Russian Caravan blend.

>>14098261
https://www.teasource.com/collections/shop-all-tea/products/2018-mr-zhengs-lapsang-souchong-black-tea?variant=10011872034852

>>14097988
What kind of tea is that? It looks like a fu cha or maybe a white tea.

>>14098941
white tea, leaves turn black after a few infusions, think i was on my 3rd when i found the hair

>>14099033
Nice, I need to hurry up and try some.

>>14099068
this was £10 of ebay, not bad. different to the bud white tea which goes bitter very easily

>>14085118
Is tea to Brits what soda is to Americans?

>>14099125
I'm not sure what fizzy drinks are like to Americans, but probably. I'd maybe compare it to the cheapest filter coffee you guys have in your offices. Like you wouldn't even get tea in a cafe, it'd be a waste of money. Tea is something you drink to have something to drink, you know?

>>14097074
>>14080395
fuck me I can't read desu as anything but t b h now

Bought this on a whim at a convenience store here in South Korea. I still have no idea what i'm drinking. I don't think there's any calories or caffeine in it, but I thought that thing on the front was ginger. Whoops.

It's not bad, kinda bland and weak. Corn Silk and Barley are my favorites.

>>14099720
Is that ginger on the label?

>>14078593
Is tea good for you?

>>14100629
depends, do you drink 1 cup organic ceremony grade matcha a day, or 20 cups chinese tea full of pesticides

>>14100629
How could it be good for you you moron, it's leaf juice

>>14100641
Japanese green tea is unhealthy as fuck. Wise old Japanese man warned of folly of drinking fresh tea. Said you should let it age for at least 6 months. The minimal processing makes it even worse. No coincidence so many get extreme nausea from drinking it!

>>14101075
Post a better source or don't post at all.

>>14101134
>The idea that shincha shouldn’t be drunk, though, isn’t coming from me. It’s from a man called Kaibara Ekken, an authority on Japanese herbs who lived during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In his work Yojokun (Instructions on Nourishing Life) he said a few things about tea drinking (translation mine).

>"There are many people now who drink a lot of tea from dawn to dusk…drinking a little tea after a meal helps digestion and quenches thirst. Salt must not be added as it’s bad for the kidney. One must not drink tea with an empty stomach as it damages the spleen and the stomach. One must not drink too much of koicha, as it damages the qi generation of a person… People with weak constitution must not drink that year’s shincha at all. It will cause eye problems, anemia, and diarrhea. You should only drink shincha after the first month. For people with good constitution, drinking it after the ninth or tenth month should not be harmful.”
http://www.marshaln.com/2014/09/dont-drink-shincha/

>>14101295
we seventeenth century science now

>>14101312
Like you need a seventeenth century scientist to tell you that Japanese green tea brutally fucks with people's stomachs.

My yearly order is here. Looks like O-cha has switched over to FedEx International Priority because of EMS service reductions. Paid 30USD shipping for this order, which iirc is cheaper than the EMS estimate I was looking at earlier.

I typically drink Yamamotoyama commodity grade so nice to get a variety of specialty Japanese source.

What's in pic:
Sae Midori Sencha
Yutaka Midori Sencha
Kirishima Organic Sencha
Organic Kurasawa Sencha
Organic Powdered Sencha
Sakura Sencha
Chiran Sencha
Kawane Wa-Kōcha

Looking forward to trying these over time.

>>14101364
Nice variety anon! Im especially interested in hearing your thoughts on the powdered sencha and the Kawane Wa-Kocha.

>>14101420
Thanks. Kawane Wa-Kocha and Sakura will be a new experience. Will report back as I get into them.

>>14101075
ok chang

>>14101450
I had to get my jabs in as everyone's new green tea orders were arriving.

It might take me another two years, but some day I will get some of this Japanese barrel fermented tea, and it's Korean cousin.
This tea, called goishi-cha is apparently anaerobically fermented in sealed barrels in contrast to ripe puer which is aerobically fermented in loose piles. The goshi-cha is according to some of what I have read, lactic acid fermented like natural pickles or sour kraut, so the tea has that pickled acidity. Now if only I wasn't spending all my money on puer so I could try some new teas.

>>14079526
Don't forget your restraining order, Scott.

>>14101840
stfu please tell me Scott posts on 4chan that would be hilarious. i love YS tea ngl, but after his reddit meltdown, I would have thought that dude would swear off public forums for life. i know the mei leaf joke isn't actually him, but has he been caught on here before?

>>14101840
does he actually have a restraining order on him

>>14100629
healthier than soda, which is what i switched from, more hydrating than coffee with a more mellow caffeine hit. all the other health benefits are just marketing, just like 'superfoods'

bump

>>14101596
>so the tea has that pickled acidity
Would be perfect for ice tea
(provided the fermented funk remains bearable)

Might be a brainlet question but how do you drink autism darjeeling? With milk or without or both?

>>14104259
i drink without but im sure most other bongs drink with. also i like my blacks done at 90c not full boiling as Indian tea tends to get bitter.
>autism darjeeling
? darjeeling is way less autistic than all the chinese we in this general drink

>>14104278
>done at 90c
Oh yeah good point, I read that ~most blacks should be done around 90-95 rather than full boiling
>? darjeeling is way less autistic than all the chinese we in this general drink
That's what I meant sorry, like darjeelings you get from specialist tea shops rather than from tesco. I'm sure tesco darjeelings are cheap enough for me to play around with milk n without lol.

>>14104291
i drink the stuff from vahdam, they have a nice selection of teas. thier smoked assam is really good

>>14102562
>his reddit meltdown
You mean when he was found sockpuppeting accounts recommending his own shop or?

>>14104336
Hey Scott, hope you're doing well.

>>14103039
>which is what i just switched from
Hell yeah anon, that's awesome.

i got a little freaky and ordered one of those tea filled tangerines and a bitter melon as well
was that a good idea?

>>14106827
The tangerines are okay, they don't use the greatest quality tea in them but the citrus flavor is very pleasant. No idea about the bitter melons, it's probably decent.

>>14102562
>>14101840
>>14102615
>>14105305
What's going on here

>>14106827
>>14107006
If you really want to get freaky their are some puer filled pomellos on eBay that are at least a decade and a half old.

>>14088779
Longjing and dry? Wtf, never had a dry longjing ...

Sipping on lapsang souchong right now. Just lovely.

>>14107114

Pumpernickel you can get at the store is generally just regular bread with some light rye flour and food coloring thrown in, so this stuff is completely different.

>>14107122

I somehow managed to reply to the entirely wrong thread.

desu i like tea senpai senpaitachi cuck soy

>>14078593
where it is from

>>14078593
just popped in to say that the OP pic is insanely cute

>>14078593
i like earl grey and chai tea and camomile tea and lemon and ginger tea and apple tea apple tea is the best i like it very much with sour dumplings

infre decaf tea is very comfy before sleep

has anyone tried Jin Xuan oolong tea before? I picked this up from a taiwanese import shop and it's probably my favorite i've ever tasted. Are there other teas even remotely similar to this? it's kind of fruity and smells like milk (?), but oolongs are so varied it's hard to tell what's good

>>14107487


>>14107487
Jin Xuan is the varietal and mostly famous for its milky taste. However the processing also adds a lot to that, I suppose. So basically you should have a lookout for milk oolongs.

Is everyone hoarding tea right now? YS keeps emailing me coupons every few days so I'm guessing they aren't doing a lot of sales right now.

>>14108847
brought 1.5kg back in feb, at 5g a day and im still drinking the 1kg stuff i brought at xmas so i should be good

can i just say buying noise canceling headphones was probably the best decision i've ever made, my kettle is right next to my desk and those fuckers are loud

>>14108923
>my kettle is right next to my desk and those fuckers are loud
Yeah they are fucking loud. It does get annoying when I'm trying to entertain guests.

>tfw going back to work
>won't have time for a proper gongfu session in the morning
>too late for caffeine when I get home

>>14109040
>not waking up at 2am

>>14109040
Time to switch to drinking grampa style at work.

am i the only one who thinks genmaicha tastes like sardines

>>14109473
It could just be that you bought some funky tea. But there are some weird flavors floating around in teas that some people notice more than others. My wife insists that half of my puers taste like licking a nine volt battery.

>>14109835
>My wife insists that half of my puers taste like licking a nine volt battery.
I can relate to that. I'd describe it like the freshness of ginger or mint but without the taste.

>>14107487
I'd say most Taiwanese green oolongs taste fairly similar to jin xuan. They all share the same sorta smooth, creamy body but have other flavours on top of that which differ depending on the type. Definitely worth exploring if you're into jin xuan.

>>14109962
>the freshness of ginger or mint but without the taste.
Interesting, i can kind of see that. All kinds of weird things going on with puer.

Coof

Anyone waiting on orders right now? I'm going to make one soon and then just forget about it while it takes two months to arrive.

Are there decent sites that sell 5-25g of individual teas at a price that isn't WAY higher per unit than 50-100g? I know bulk is cheaper generally, which is fine, but often I can't even find smaller units or the price/g is almost an order of magnitude greater

>>14113675
I can't think of any. Vendors charge way more for sample size quantities because it's a hassle to package and if they didn't charge way more half their orders would be 5 grams of 25 different teas.

>>14109040
>being my mom
>haha thanks honey for the offer but no i would drink it if it was caffeine free i do not like drinking caffeine later than three pm because it keeps me up, like that time i ate a dark chocolate bar and stayed up all night
haha nerd

>>14109167
This. Just go full MarshalN mode and drink grampa style all day. A ton of teas can handle the gramp.

>>14108847
A lot of people are pussying out on buying tea because they don't want to wait a quarter of a year to receive it lmao

>>14109167
If I had access to hot water at work that would be an option. Although I would just get one of those portable gongfu mugs in that situation.

>>14114116
>If I had access to hot water at work
Bring your own kettle. You can even get sketchy Chinese ones that plug in to a cars cigarette lighter port if you have that kind of job.
I guess the best solution would be to brew lots of tea and then put it in a thermos. Just make sure you DO NOT BREW TEA IN A THERMOS it always makes it taste like shit. You could just pour a big pitcher of grampa style tea in the AM and pour it in a thermos leaves and all right before you leave for work.

>>14114070
>A lot of people are pussying out on buying tea because they don't want to wait a quarter of a year to receive it lmao
Yeah, that's what it seems like. I don't really care if it takes 3 months I'm just afraid things will suddenly stop entirely. But I guess if that happens I will have bigger things to worry about than tea.

>>14113675
Have you considered the sample sets from Yunnan/Taiwan sourcing?

>>14115065
They are a little better priced but they are still way more expensive than the cake price for each tea.

>>14115336
well yeah you need to pay someone to break up the cakes, weight them out and package them. i honestly just buy blind based on what people here have recommended, only ones i haven't liked have been raws and i think i just dont like raw puer

Does pu'er always taste like wood and dirt? Do I have to keep forcing myself to drink it until I can appreciate all the different types of wood and dirt flavors?

What's should I expect to pay for mid grade Lapsang Souchong?

>>14117546

Sounds like you're only drinking ripe, and not very good ones. Give a young raw a try.

After the thai teabags I got came out weak and I learned that restaurants concentrate their tea by boiling, I did so and got better results, but boiling half or more takes fucking forever. Is such concentrating strictly necessary or the result of cheap tea? Could I prepare my own by adding spices to loose leaf tea and get rich flavor without having to boil for a goddamn hour?

>>14119377
If you want to drink "thai tea" you are supposed to buy those big bags od tea dust at asian markets, or even better the bags of Tea extract powder with food coloring and shit in them.

>>14119477
The teabags I got are the same shit as the big bags, just packaged so i don't need a sock. I probably will try the instant shit if it isn't practical to make proper tea, though I would like something of a quality that doesn't need to be fucking blasted with 300 calories of sweetened condensed milk.

>>14119503
>though I would like something of a quality that doesn't need to be fucking blasted with 300 calories of sweetened condensed milk.
Then you don't want thai tea, because all it is is overbrewed shit assam crumbs loaded with sweetened condensed milk.

>>14119532
You are both being a god damn pedant and not fucking reading. A good quality ceylon black tea with some appropriate spices is thai tea and I'm trying to figure out if I should try doing that. If you can't answer the question, then fuck off.

>>14119550
If you want to, do it. You will be creating an idealized version of thi tea that isn't actually consumed by anyone that lives in Thailand, but it will probably be good.

>>14119581
If I can try to actually add something constructive, if you use a high quality whole leaf ceylon the flavor will be much more subtle and less intense that what is typically used for spiced teas. That doesn't mean you can't do it but you would probably have to very carefully dial in the spices used and the quantity of each spice to make sure you aren't completely drowning out the teas flavor.

Are these "crab legs" tea tree parasite plants any good?

>>14078593
i like this nihogo shit

Fuck my ass.
I was about to put in a $300 ~4 kilos of tea order at King Tea Mall. I was planning on paying up for DHL so that I could be sure my order would actually arrive and show up within a month or so. But DHL shipping will cost me $150, I'm way too much of a poorfag to pay half the price of the tea for shipping with such a large order. Even the standard shipping is $66 which is about what I expected DHL to be. Ehat the fuck should I do? I don't really care if my order takes two months to arrive but I will be pretty pissed if it never shows up at all.
Should I just grit my teeth, get China Post shipping and hope for the best or should I just order from Yunnan Sourcing US instead and pay 50% more per g for tea I don't really want just to have some?

>>14121277
Well I got drunk enough that I thought this was a good Idea. Wish me luck lads.

redpill me on the grandpa brewing
what types of teas i can use? oolongs and big greens i guess?

>>14121483
I do it with puer daily and oolong occasionally. I haven't tried it with blacks, it seems to be pretty common with Chinese greens but I don't know how it would go with more delicate Japanese greens, I'm sure it would be fine for bancha. I'm also sure it would be fine for Chinese white teas since most of them will hold up to simmering.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2020-Longjing-Green-Tea-Chinese-Organic-Food-Dragon-Well-Te-Long-Jing-Tea-250g/142300536098?epid=2171360162&hash=item2121c5dd22:g:qZ4AAOSw849dwajw

should i do it?

>>14121483
>>14121500
I should add my thoughts on grandpa brewing vs gongfu. Gongfu tends to give you different flavors over time, i would describe it as different slices of the tea's flavor. With grampa style you get a more even full spectrum of the flavor of the tea, you get a bit of evolution between the first pour and the second but beyond that each cup gives you all the flavors that that tea offers up.

>>14121525
I can't remember why off the top of my head but I thought that chink seller was sketchy for some reason.
If you want to go eBay grandness tea has a bunch of dragonswell.
I would suggest going for this from King Tea Mall but it's more expensive and you have to pay shipping. But at least you will know it's fresh.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/green-tea/products/2020-early-spring-long-jing-dragon-well-high-grade-green-tea-zhejiang?variant=32208796713063

>>14121548
https://www.ebay.com/itm/YU-QIAN-Premium-Xi-Hu-Long-Jing-Tea-Dragon-Well-Green-Tea-West-Lake-GREEN-TEA/252991644191?hash=item3ae77a221f:m:miBtJSB0V-1PwSQ7X80WeUw

this looks better?
i already have a bunch of teas at hand, i just want to see one of these ebay stuffs for myself, and King Tea Mall shipping is like 50 bucks here

>>14121563
Yeah, i have bought tea from them before and have good luck with that eBay seller.
>and King Tea Mall shipping is like 50 bucks here
Fuck that, yeah go with eBay

>>14121572
thanks a bunch lad

>>14121576
Sure thing, please post about how it tastes. I have barely tried dragon well teas.

Any of you anons have experience with white tea pressed cakes? Drinking one right now and despite retailer selling it as "white puerh", its taste profile reminds me much more of black tea, almost going to mao feng, but more nutty and less chocolate..

Wierd thing is i ve never before encountered anything about white tea cakes or white puerh

I've been told that the best tea is made from water that's first boiled and THEN brought down to brewing temp. Not heated from room temp to brewing temp.

Is there anything actually too this? When I tried it before I couldn't notice any difference but then again I'm still getting into tea.

I get nauseous drinking green tea on an empty stomach. Are there any teas that are fine to drink on their own?

>>14121970
How strong do you make your tea? You may try drinking some water with your tea, because most teas will dehydrate you and unless you get enough water, can cause migrane and nausea

>>14121966
desu i ve always thought its meant to clean the water, but if you dont live in some thirdworld shithole or Flint, your water should be clean enough already.

>>14121955
drinking this >>14099033 does not remind me of black tea, its sweet, hay and nectar. not nutter or chocolate
>>14121966
maybe thats to get rid of chlorine from tap water, but boiled water has less to close to no oxygen dissolves in it
>>14121970
i get the same, but only from greens. every other type is fine for me on an empty stomach

>>14122071
might be age difference or amount, i a mgoing with 12g per 400ml, first batch goes down the drain, 30s steep time.

I give you that the blackish color of the tea might come from the teapot

Coof

What's the deal with decaf teas? Inferior to non decaf? The same?

>>14123046
the're are no decaf teas.

>>14121449
have you pulled the trigger? because I have some corrections for you before you do.

>>14123077
decaf teas is the same as decaf coffee, its probably soaked in super critical CO2 to extract the caffeine. cant imagine it being very high quality, also pretty pointless, tea has less caffeine than coffee and even drinking a load of tea right before bed it doesn't affect me anymore

>>14123083
Yeah i ordered but im interested to hear your suggestions anyway.

>>14123046
I've never had it but tbqh there's a lot of really nice herbal tea anyway

How do I pick a puerh to try? There's so many kinds and the prices vary so wildly

>>14123267
It's a bit overwhelming, i would suggest starting with some teas from a large factory. The best thing to do would be to get a raw from 2009 or older, a raw from 2019 and a ripe from 2017 or 2018.
For an older raw I would suggest getting a toucha from xiaguan, the 2009 te ji or ja ji tuo would be a good start. For young raw get anything from dayi A.K.A. tae tea A.K.A. Menghai tea factory. For a ripe get something from dayi as well, the 7572 is the absolute classic quintessential ripe tea, but any of their ripes are good.
Id suggest king tea mall for the best prices, unfortunately there are lots of fakes on eBay, AliExpress etc. You can also order from Yunnan sourcing but they are more expensive for factory teas.
Here is a pretty decent article if you want to read more. https://teadb.org/puerh-for-beginners/

>>14123267
As far as pricing goes puer is getting expensive. The Chinese middle class is growing and they like to consume homegrown luxury products. Puer is also used as an investment vehicle and a store of value because it reliability goes up in price as it ages, at least dayi teas, at or above the rate of inflation so rich Chinese buy lots as a hedge against inflation. High end material is also extremely expensive with the most sought after tea villages selling material for upwards of $5,000 per kilo (bing dao village, ancient trees from Lao Ban Zhang). There is tea even beyond that that is so rare it's essentially priceless but that is never actually available on the open market (Tea from real 800 year old trees etc).

>>14123205
cool, I'll need to hear how deep into the crane are you.
dayi ripes? have you tried few different ones?
xiaofa tuo. tried few different years?

my reccs:
you bought wrong fang cha
https://kingteamall.com/products/2012-xiaguan-fu-lu-shou-xi-4-fortunes-brick-250g-4pcs-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
this one
next, 2009 te ji, you don't need half kilo for 100$, I bet it's a good tea but it wont change too much in western storage.
same for another sleeve.
another two cakes, should be pretty fucking xiaguan good, reisiny "melody", don't forget to break 1/3 and let them rest.
I hope to see some feedback here. see you in 3 months :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcSuJi1b0OU post theme

>>14123615
I'm a big fan of xiaguan, they are a better value than semi-aged dayi and i love smokey old man teas.
Yeah i generally prefer dayi ripes. The only xiaofa tuo I have tried was the 2010 which is an ft production but not labeled as such anywhere but the ticket, i had some in my cart but I was buying enough already.
I know I don't need all those tuos, i bought them because they come in those plastic bags so i can sit on them for a decade without having to worry too much about the humidity being all wrong where I live. I know they won't turn into anything special but they are consistent, reliable and will cost 2 or 3 times as much in 2030.
I've also memed myself into thinking that 2009 was a good year for puer since its a few years after the crash and the factories weren't stretching their productions as thin with cheap filler as they were during 2005-7.
Thanks for the fangcha tip, i missed that when I was shopping.

>>14123267
state your experience, gaiwan or teapot, usa or europe?
there's bunch of good people here willing to help you with your first purchase. we're not reddit. vent brother.
have you done your due google research?

>>14123557
>>14123612
Ty for thoughts

I think I will try these ones out, although I do feel a bit silly spending $70 on tea

>>14123748
I just got into teas during my quarantine, looking for an alternative to coffee. I use western style at home by myself but I have a gaiwan that I plan to use with company. I have tried a few green/black/oolong teas from my local shop but it's definitely geared towards old ladies knitting and I doubt the teas are high quality. The only puerh is listed as 'puerh' without dates or factories or any other information so I am not going to bother with that. I think I am just trying to find something that is decent without spending 100$/oz

>>14123717
yeah, so you know what are you getting into.
by now I think more people tried 2010 ft xiaofa than regular one (pssst... secret tip) and 2010 is "squid sauce" levels of cod wo duei. I spy false hype here.

by the way, where is this anon who bought fresh baoyan bricks, I need to talk to you.
we need some pictures brother.

>>14123751
Looks good anon, godspeed.

>>14123798
>and 2010 is "squid sauce" levels of cod wo duei. I spy false hype here.
Yeah, that's why I wasn't in a rush to order more, i will have to try some other years of xiaofa, but generally I'm fine with sticking with dayi for ripe, i don't really care as much about age for ripes and young dayi ripes are generally pretty affordable still.

>>14123793
so USA?
here:
fresh green puerh (with kick and aging potential, try every few weeks) you'll have full cake to play with: https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/new-products/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-impression-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
ripe/shou: https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/ripe-pu-erh-tea/products/2018-menghai-dayi-v93-premium-ripe-pu-erh-tea-tuo
as this one is only available from the website right now. or: https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/ripe-pu-erh-tea/products/2018-menghai-7572-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
don't follow the hype and try small boutique productions ripes as your first - these are not representative. wo duwei process was perfected by two old chink tea companies, I urge you to try some of that first before diving head on into "western producer asked chink master" types of products.
this kind of base will reward you in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b51scACML8M

Anyone here tried Japanese black tea before? I have a hankering for black tea but don't want to buy Chinese products for a while. I know Japan has started producing some black teas but don't know how they taste compared to Chinese styles

>>14123793
also - gaiwan into cup for yourself>teapot for gatherings.
no ceremony, gaiwan half full of leaves, quick wash, 10s steep into the cup, drink, should be weak but telling, another 5-10s steep into the cup - now the leaves are open, you can start adjusting the time.

was strong and bitter, but with promising aftertaste? try the same time.
was too light? try longer steep, but don't go crazy, good stuff tends to present itself slowly in increments.
was too strong? maybe stick to herbals lol

any corrections /tea/?

>>14124017
>any corrections /tea/?
~5g/100ml some leaf expands like crazy. a half full gaiwan is going to be a massive amount for most teas

Kamejirushi gyokuro to start the day.

>>14124037

>>14124051

What a treat.

>>14123973
I've only had one but it was really nice. Lots of stone fruit flavors to it and something almost like banana on the finish. I'd expect most Japanese black teas would at least be pretty good.

>>14078593
I bought some oolong for the first time, but I don't have the proper tools to brew it at the right temperature. Where can I buy a cup thermometer or what else are you guys using for that purpose?

>>14124436
Lots of people use a temp control kettles where you set the temp that they heat the water to. If you want a probe thermometer i can recommend the thermopop by thermoworks. It's a bit pricey at $30 but it's fast, accurate and you can also use it for cooking meat and shit.
If you are just worried about getting the temp right for oolong and not delicate Japanese greens you can just let your water sit for 2-3 minutes after it boils, or transfer it to a second container like a mug before pouring it on your tea (rough rule of thumb that each container you transfer the boiling water to will drop the temp by 10°c) and it will be close enough for oolong.

>>14123798
The 2017 xiaguan? That was me.

>>14126628
Not him but could you post a pic of the dry and the wet leaf when you get the chance?

any recommendations for temp control kettles, preferably with a goose neck, they pour easier for me(i have parkinsons disease)

>>14126676

OXO Variable Control Gooseneck. Had it for years, works brilliantly, has the lowest temp settings I could find which makes it good for gyokuro too, and is within 1 F of shown temp.

>>14124436
Don't worry too much; oolongs are pretty tolerant to high temperatures (I usually do the first steep at >95°C and then drop down to around 90). It's only really greens that need lower temperatures, and even then you can estimate it by letting the water sit for a couple minutes before pouring it or stopping the kettle around the point where the water goes quiet.

>>14126676
Stagg ekg.

>>14126642
I'll do a little session later tonight.

>>14126989

I've been curious about people who have this. It's significantly more than the OXO, is notorious for pouring painfully slowly, and doesn't have any additional features to my knowledge. I was considering it but went with the OXO instead and haven't had any complaints 3 years later.

>>14126989
>nearly £200 for a fucking kettle
is this a joke?

>>14126676
oxo is good and cheaper than the stagg.

>>14126884
>>14126988
>>14127076
>>14127226
How do these stack up to the Belvita temp control gooseneck kettle? This one and the OXO look like they are nicest in the price range.

>>14127287
Bonavitas were sick 10 years ago. Shitty amazon reviews about them rusting out immediately now make me think they cheaped out on their steel.

>>14127023
Oxo looks like shit. All it took to sway me away. That and the clunky controls.

> any additional features

Uh, 60 minute refreshing hold is to die for, and you can play snake on the display. What more do you want?

>>14127076
304 stainless and a red dot design award will do that to the price. But also, we're not drinking twinnings around here. Get your money up.

Anyone have one of these giant meme Japanese water boilers? I have almost bought one a few times but I don't like that they all skeet the water though a plastic hose.

>>14127322
That was the impression I initially got as well. However, lots of reviewers (I mean a general trend I've noticed from Amazon reviews) people buy an item and then beat the shit out of it or use it in a way that fucks it up, giving them a chance to go on Amazon and bitch. So I wonder how much of this is people abusing the pot and how much is legitimately the company's fault.

>>14127322

I think it looks perfectly fine, and the controls are simple and minimalist - turn dial adjusts temp, press button to heat (automatically holds at temp), push again to shut off, hold for 2 seconds to initiate timer.

It's also bulletproof - mine survived the base with all the electronics being completely submerged.

I don't have any problems with the Stagg in particular, I just haven't found a convincing reason why it's meaningfully better than the OXO.

>>14127322

Also, what's the lowest temp the Stagg can be set to? OXO is 104 F which scored it extra points for me. Don't have to go that low for gyokuro but it's nice to have the range.

>>14127396
I don't see how you could abuse a piece of steel enough to where the spout rusts off in 6 months. Fuck up the heater controller somehow, sure, but rust THROUGH STEEL with TAP WATER? Either they cheaped out on steel or theres a fuckload of counterfeits out.

>>14127469
Theres absolutely no reason for the knob to extend that far off the base. It bumps up the footprint by 33% easily. Why?


>>14127476
104-212

>>14127594

The display lights up behind the knob. Seems like the Stagg and OXO have identical functionality, while the former has a more modern design and a 2x price tag, so in the end it ultimately comes down to design preference weighted by any budgetary restraints.

>>14127614
It comes down to an ugly kettle pissing me off for years to come, when throwing a meaningless incremental amount of money at it would fix the problem entirely. OXO also does not disclose what type of steel they're using, which really bothers me.

>>14127686
After digging through their site, oxo uses 18/8. There's alot of 18/8 stainless steels. 304 is one of them. Not all 18/8s are 304 stainless. Buyer beware of corrosion over time if they're only telling you a generic class of steel they use.

>>14127686

>It comes down to an ugly kettle pissing me off for years to come, when throwing a meaningless incremental amount of money at it would fix the problem entirely.

That is literally what I just said. That is a word for word repetition of my previous post with a more confrontational tone.

But anyway, it's stainless steel and as long as that criteria is met, in my opinion, the specific type of stainless isn't overly important to me as it would be with, say, a knife.

In summary, we have two kettles with similar if not identical functionality. One has a sleeker, more modern design, but is 3x (erroneously thought it was 2x before) the price. If the Stagg's design is more pleasing to your eye to the tune of a 300% markup, that seems like a totally reasonable purchase to me. If that's too much money or if its design isn't significantly more pleasing to you than the OXO, maybe swing for the OXO.

>>14127735
>the specific type of stainless isn't overly important to me

It should be. 6 month old bonavitas shouldn't rust out quicker than 10 year old ones. Its hard for me to recommend a product when the composition of it can change at any point, based on what steel they can get at the price point. Its hard to recommend house blend cigars when they change from shipment to shipment.

>>14127803

Fair enough, but if their website says it's 18/8 and they're not lying, that shouldn't make for any measurable corrosion resistance deficit in comparison to the only slightly more specific designation of 304.

>>14127853
Amazon reviews showing rust spots after 6 months. Not sure how they'd force their kettle to rust so quickly, but the reviewers are "verified" purchasers. Ymmv. If you're dropping hundreds on imported tea, you can probably budget out a decent kettle.

4th steep. Starting to open up as the green funkiness becomes less present. Very cooling on the inhale. Loving the smokiness.

>>14127893

Hmm, interesting, hadn't seen those. That's curious to me as there are also plenty of reviews from that same time period that aren't complaining of rust. I wonder would could cause such inconsistency.

>>14127686
>>14127893
Thanks for posting some pics of the 2007 baoyan brick anon. I'm the anon that recommend it so i'm really glad you are enjoying it. A nice smokey puer really hits the spot. If i could be greedy could I ask for one more picture of the leaf in the gaiwan without water in it?

>>14127988
Not a problem. That what you're looking for?

>>14127906
The mysteries of 18/8 and having various factories produce your product. Chinese export manufacturing is lulz. They'll cut any corner possible, and going with lower quality steel is a simple way to boost margins. I hate to keep going back to cigars, but the same cuban coming out of a different factory will vary in quality significantly. Thats why you'll see certain box codes skyrocket in price 3-4 years later when someone samples various boxes. Hard to regulate quality across multiple producers, and when you do, it incurs a premium. I actually ordered direct from Fellow just in case there's counterfeits floating around on amazon.

>>14128045
Thanks anon, the material is interesting, some bits look pretty heavily fermented and other bits are very light. I wonder if they still make batches of tea specifically for those bricks or if it is just the leftovers of whatever else they are making. I Know they specifically shred the leaves for some of the tuos they make but the stuff in the bricks seems much more haphazard. they might process it roughly because it's cheaper that way, or maybe they specifically buy broken grade leaf for it from their suppliers. I'm not surprised that it still tastes green with how bright some of the leaves are.

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