/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>14177355
>Yes teabags suck
the only thing that sucks more than teabags is international shipping, ordered some snail green tea of amazon, should have arrived April 5th, still waiting.

Tea news:
Shipping from Japan is currently limited to dhl and fedex only. It's fast but $$.
Shipping from China is very slow but packages are still moving. Expect to wait at least a month with EMS, longer with China Post.

>>14177384
Yeah international shipping is a mess right now. It's probably not getting better anytime soon.

>>14177355
Coffee Time General is making fun of us again...

i just boiled some lipton green tea in the microwave with the teabag in the cup. tastes fuckin great. what have you losers accomplished today

anyone ordered from china late march/early april? marking 2months since ys order for me, been in beijing for a month or so i think

>>14177431
Based. This is what I do except I put the bag in after taking the cup out of the microwave. Worried about the little metal staple

fucking yellow jews couldn't wait on my .com order

>>14177427
No we're not. Were too busy REEEing about espresso machines, copper, and aeropress vs French press.

>>14177401
Man I ordered some rusted kiridashis from Jappost early april. Like 2 weeks before they announced the outright shipping ban. Still stuck in limbo. Hopefully my ddr pad out of poland doesn't get fucked up.

>>14177507
Yeah sorry about that. I know better than to bring up metallurgy. Also, always and forever, fuck aeropress.

>>14177427
must be butthurt from shitting all the time

>>14177440
i never get shipping updates after it leaves YS, still waiting on this
>>14177495
nice

I'm working on rewritting the pastebin, anywhere I can link that has a good brief summary of the types of tea and their flavors?

>>14178209
just take some adderall and get to work boy

>>14177355
Are teafags usually into doing gay shit before they take up the tea hobby or is it the tea itself that drives their lust for cocks?

>>14177744
It's safe to assume anything from Chinkland takes 2 months minimum right now. Regardless of method, both plane and a FUCKING TRAIN CHOO CHOOO took that long to EU.

How long is it to American continent now fellow nerds?

>>14178209
just copypaste the reddit tl:dr, it's pretty good.
plus teapedia.
lose that wiki article, because it causes confusion.

>>14178379
About a week for dhl or fedex, at least a month for EMS, two to three months for china post.
>>14178387
>lose that wiki article, because it causes confusion.
will do

>>14177355
I've been drinking Yorkshire Tea, it's pretty good, but my mum likes it. Usually I like Earl Grey, there's this good Earl Grey Exotic loose leaf tea I got in Poland, it's just Earl Grey with dried fruit, very good stuff.

Also fuck coffee general

Okay here is my attempt at a new pastebin
Please let me know if I need to fix anything or if you have other suggestions.
https://pastebin.com/P6Pcyv3U

>>14177507
It's nice that everyone agrees the best way to brew tea is a simple $10 piece of porcelain.

>>14178846
As a tea and coffee enthusiast, coffee definitely had more autisium to it. All though I'm jealous of the guy who roasts his own beans.

>>14178889
My only knowledge of coffee is a half remembered episode of Good Eats, I thought roasting your own beans was pretty standard.

>>14178889
Lol me? Don't be, I'm a real piece of shit.

>>14178922
I mean I dont know your personality, but that thing is still cool.

Coof

for me it's a jasmine green tea

>>14179759
I've had one the other day, wasn't really a fan

>>14177355
Just made a London fog to have with breakfast

What's everyone's opinion on yerba mate?

>>14179791
did you prepare it correctly

>>14180505
I just did it like any other green
What should I do differently

Decided to go on a hike and get some crystal clear mountain spring water. It doesn't make much difference for the average teas, but the good ones taste so much better it's insane. The city water is hard as fuck here and all the bottled brands aren't much better either.

>drink dark teas
>Get stained teeth
How do I cope brehs? I think i'll switch to white tea

>>14180802
I brush my teeth after and never noticed the permanent staining.

How much tea do you guys drink daily and what is your setup?

I have a basic set - gaiwan, pitcher and cup, tray is just a basic ceramic tray. Got a 0,75 Lthermos to keep water temp stable so I don't have to reboil all the time. Usually I drink the 0,75L of gongfu tea daily and then some karak or masala chai after lunch. That's just over 1L of tea per day.

>>14180802
Its not as aggressive as other Whiting treatments and helps keep them 2-3 shades lighter.

>>14180859
I do 5 g a day, sometimes twice, which leads to 1 to 3 L of tea. I usually steep 1L gongfu and finish Grandpa.
I also use a thermos to avoid reheating the water for every 100 mL gongfu steep. How common is that?

>>14180568
i find jasmine tea gets bitter way faster than greens even when brewed the same (80c 20sec +5)

>>14180980
>using a thermos to maintain water temp
This is genius, I never thought of this.

>>14180859
i drink 5g/day sometimes 10g, thats about 1.5L-3L. waste jug, tray, English porcelain tea cup and 100ml gaiwan. i also have a glass teapot for Indian. i mostly drink in the evenings say 6pm till 11, it no longer affects my sleep schedule

>>14181114
>i mostly drink in the evenings say 6pm till 11
Do you drink coffee in the morning?

>>14181151
no just water till tea time

I'm drinking tons of very strong black tea harvested and packed straight on Ceylon. Very high amounts of tannins, literally vomited from it when I drank it in the morning on an empty stomach once. Wondering if I'm fucking up my liver.

>>14181111
I think more people need to know this. I use one of these: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Sy2sptDnL._AC_SS350_.jpg
and that's a full gongfu session right here.
You have about 2 hours before you feel the temp. drop.

>>14178829
I'd put the leaf to water ratio in the pastebin the instead of linking an article. As it is now it's a bit unwieldy to switch between two pages, and if that link ever gets taken down, that info is lost.

Is he the only good tea youtube channel?

>>14181520
i like Tea DB

>>14181279
Fair enough, I guess I will just copy all the data from it, that image is just so useful.

>>14181520
Depends on what content you want. Farmer leaf has some great videos on tea processing and explaining the industry.

>>14181200
bro thats hardcore

>>14177355
Is matcha good for you?

>>14182036
For you? Nope. Stick to coca cola company Ice Tea.

>>14177401
Chinese tea is worse than chinese tobacco.

>>14182054
UUUU

>>14182057
Cope harder.

just tried the unsmoked lapsang from teasource. it's probably my favorite black tea i've tried, reminds me a bit of jin jun mei (i think) from verdant tea. mineral texture, no maltiness or tannins/astringency, and strong notes of berry and chocolate as the description claims

>>14181086
Next time I can lower temp or something, although I think I just didn't enjoy the flavor that much rather than it being bitter

>>14180859
Variable temp kettle, 200ml teapot, random mugs
I will have 5g gongfu style once or twice a week

>>14177355
Would a dog like or ever drink tea?

had a few cups of my first white tea - its really nice! :)
its called silver needle. i dont really know how to describe smells but it isnt as strong as some of the green teas ive smelt and id say the strength of the taste is somewhere between green and black tea.
yikes i need to learn how to describe stuff better

>>14183053
In case you are serious it is generally considered a bad idea to give caffeine to animals.

>>14183114
Yeah it can be hard to get the vocabulary to describe flavors, you really just have to try to focus on distinct tastes when you try different foods. For teas I tend to break things down into "dark" flavors (chocolate, leather, loam, nuts, dried fruit etc) and bright flavors (citrus, peach, apple etc) and then I look for things like bitterness and sweetness. This is in no way comprehensive but it's a start.

after trying a bunch of different grades from ippodo, kettl, and o cha, I have decided the sweet spot for matcha is shoin no mukashi, ippodo's 2nd from the top. I recommend it for those who basically only drink usucha but still want to be able to gross out their family with koicha every once in a while.

>>14183269
thanks :)

>>14183269
this is worth saving for pinpointing a flavor

>>14183481
Thanks
I might just be retarded but I don't understand why woody is so far away from nutty/chocolate.

>>14183597
Nutty to me is rich smooth fat. Close enough to chocolate I guess. Woody doesn’t have any fat. It’s not a flavor I find in food really, except whiskey. Easiest to find in tobacco and japanese incense.

2013 Huang Ying Menghai Raw tonight. Not too shabby, but I've got little reference.

>>14183700
Sounds good from the description. Is it smokey at all? Bitter? Does it have a lasting sweet finish?

>>14180802
Rinsing with water helps somewhat. I have the same problem and I'm pretty sure my dentist thinks I'm a smoker in denial.

>>14177427
Cute tea drinking debiru

Coof

Are there any traditional smokey Japanese teas?

>>14178921
> I thought roasting your own beans was pretty standard.
Yeah, I just get my green beans from the supermarket like wtf

>>14180460
Awful
>>14180802
My dentist is Asian and we talk about tea on visits, he said just to have some water after. Implying it's not gonna keep your teeth like pearls but he says it's good for health and mental health. I guess we can't have it all

My Yunomi order has arrived! 100g of spring 2020 shincha and a 20g sample of Japanese black tea (wakoucha)! My kyusu from Ebay is on its way too, and the seller even threw in cups!

>>14184654
Not that I know of. 98% of Japanese tea is green tea of some sort. I am looking forward to my wakoucha though. :-)

>>14185250
I'm definitely interested in hearing what Japanese black tea is like. I'm expecting delicate and fruity.

I've got a Japanese green kukicha...love this stuff. It's a bit heartier than sencha. It gives a good tea high.

>>14181111
Not sure if you're sarcastic but I was a casual for a long time and saw it in an actual teahouse first

>>14181114
Is the glass teapot worth it? Looks good, but how hard it is to clean properly?

I've been buying 3oz bags of Houji-Cha from the asian market downtown for $3.50 and its been really tasty.

I've been thinking about getting a huge bag of Assam for Iced Tea. Is it better to brew it hot and then chill it or cold brew it overnight in the fridge?

>>14186244
I wasn't trying to sound sarcastic, I was happy to see that idea! That's cool that you adapted from the teahouse.

>>14181233
I've invested in two Hydro Flask's when I still had a job and I was shocked at how well they keep heat/cold when they're lidded. I'll definitely be utilizing my own thermoses differently when I'm able.

First for xiaguan toucha.

>>14186302
Cold brew is better, unless you want to make authentic sweet tea.

>>14186408
My yeti cups work fantastic.

>>14186624
>the secret to the yummy taste is in the massive amounts lead and arsenic

>>14186660
You got it baby. I'm not sure I would recommend xiagaun tea for after 2015 or so, apparently the entire area is now massively contaminated with industrial waste.

>>14185451
It's like a mellower version of Indian or Sri Lankan tea. Amber-gold color and a little maltiness, but no bitter taste like you get with strong Indian teas. I really really enjoyed it. :-)

>>14177355
I'm looking to get into tea more but I'm not sure how to to about it, since I'm not too used to actual tea leaves and I have no clue if I should get a pot or a gaiwan or whatever else there might be to make it.
Sorry for the run on post, I'm just trying to get some answers

>>14187072
Interesting, i rethought my prediction after thinking about how bold Japanese green teas are but i didn't expect malt. Any fruit or chocolate notes?

>>14187096
The easiest thing to start out with is to get a brew basket you can use in a mug like the ones finum makes or the countless stainless steel ones on eBay / Amazon. If you live in the us get a bunch of small samples of different types of tea from somewhere like uptown tea imports or yunnan sourcing .us and once you figure out what kinds of tea you like you can get deeper into those kinds of teas. Some good things to start with would be a second flush darjeeling, a tieguanyin oolong, some Japanese sencha, maybe some Chinese black tea or a English breakfast blend and maybe some raw puer (but not from uptown, that's not their thing).
The updated pastebin is a bit better than the old one. For some general info tea sellers and brewing info.
>>14178829

>>14187136
I do have one of those steel basket deals, and have some assorted chai and a Genmaicha that I like quite a bit.
I've definetly been looking at yunnan sourcing so that's why I wanted ti ask about the teaware. I also really like the idea if their dragon balls, especially the ones with flowers, but I dont see those on their us website.
I'm definetly down to try just about everything though

>>14187153
Yeah their us site is a bit limited. But shipping from china is 2 to 3 months right now. Generally YS is considered a good seller. If you want to get into the ritual of brewing tea a gaiwan is nice to have, get a cheap one that's 100-120ml. Their puerh dragonballs are nice, other blooming teas are okay but they don't usually use the greatest tea, good for putting on a show. Lots of spring tea in right now, stick to the 2020 stuff.
For green / black tea and oolong I don't have any specific recommendations, just read the descriptions and see what sounds good to you. For puer i can recommend a few easy ones to try without buying big cakes
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/xiaguan-tea-factory/products/2016-xiaguan-pin-ge-raw-pu-erh-tea-mini-brick-in-box
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/menghai-tea-factory-pu-erh/products/2017-menghai-v93-premium-ripe-pu-erh-tea
If you actually want to order a big cake any of the yunnan sourcing brand "impression" cakes are good for raw and for ripe anything from menghai is the way to go. Also read about Grandpa brewing in the pastebin it's good for puer and Chinese greens and oolongs.

>>14187099
Not really. It's a solid tea to have Western-style. Will consider buying it again in a larger quantity in the future. :-)

>>14186252
thats my waste jug, i never bother cleaning it, my glass teapot cleans with just a rinse and i use it as a sharing/fairness jug when drinking with others

Coof

>>14184692
Do you think anyone here gets their leaves at the supermarket? We have the internet. Even Amazon has unroasted beans.

>>14187096
Don't buy a gaiwan unless you try gongfu style brewing and like it/decide to drink more often. You can brew gongfu style (lots of leaf, short steeps) with a brew basket like the other anon suggested. When I started out I used 2 mugs and a strainer - steep in 1 strain to 2, drink from 2 and repeat

>>14188466
>>14187096

To be fair, gaiwans can be had for < 10 bucks, so it's not a total loss if you don't end up liking gongfu.

haven't been drinking that much tea after I got fined for some inane bullshit reason by customs on my last YS order like two years ago. I'm probably never gonna order tea from china again

>>14188414
Chinamarket leaves say what?

Is matcha objectively the healthiest tea?

>>14188910
All health claims related to tea are dubious at best. Depending on what compounds are in tea that you would consider healthy ripe puer or other fermented dark teas might be the "healthiest".
The reason green tea has been the major focus of studies about the "health benefits" of tea mostly come down to dubious worship of the orient by "scients". Basically the people doing these studies are weebs.
Dayi makes a ripe puer that they claim they ferment under specific conditions and with specific added bacteria fungus etc to maximize polyphenol levels. Does that make it more "healthy" than other tea? Nobody really knows.

>>14189026
Thank you for the insight. I appreciate it.

>>14188910
possible the least as you're ingesting the leaves instead of just infusing

>>14189048
Sure, I'm not saying tea isn't healthy. It's just best to enjoy tea for being tea, and consider any heath effects it might have as a bonus.

>>14188910
If you're considering getting into tea, just do it for the flavor/ritual or something else you enjoy. Eating and drinking stuff "for health" gets tiring real fast.

Also I've noticed as someone coming from a heavy coffee drinking country, that tea is now being marketed a lot as a health beverage. Especially for weight loss, which makes zero sense cause how can oolong be for weight loss but not green or black tea.

>>14189026
>>14189093
Excellent posts, anon. If you're drinking traditional Chinese or Japanese tea it is a healthy habit, period- funnily enough if you approach it from a health perspective more than an enjoyment perspective you'll only end up less healthy for it, between the stressing and the inferior products that routinely get marketed for health benefits (never buy "Green Tea Extract" pills- God only knows what's in them. Just drink good tea and fret not).

>>14189106
>never buy "Green Tea Extract" pills- God only knows what's in them.
It's the stuff that gets skeeted out of this massive industrial process. Seems pretty nasty. I'm pretty sure green tea extract is mostly a way to sell caffeine pills to "health conscious consumers"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OQPD4YBgeT8

>>14180460
i've had very good mate before. it's smooth and herbal which feels strange if you're familiar with tea and expect more mouthfeel and nuance in taste. i bought some recently and i gave it away, i tried to like it but i think tea spoiled my tastes (other times i've had it was before i started drinking tea)

Dem big ol leaves.

>>14190502
Nice, I have a big fat stem.

>>14190531

I'll bet you do anon

bump

Hey /tea/, first time here. I'm taking a more natural approach towards nutrition since I've been relying on multivitamins, and I thought to try tea instead. I'm from the Philippines and I've been drinking a mix of moringa, bignay, soursop, and turmeric. I have no teapot so I just boil 4 cups of water in a saucepan together with the leaves.

Just want to know if you have other recommendations on the most nutritious or health-improving choices I could add? Should I even be mixing the ones I'm already drinking together or would it be better to drink each type separately? Thanks

>>14192288
wrong thread, try /fit/

Finishing off this freebie ripe from YS. It's pretty good, no funk at all, but it's a bit thin and sweet, not much cream or body. It's from 2008 and I'm not sure I'm convinced that ripe puer needs to be aged that long. Definitely worth picking up as a freebie but I wouldn't recommend buying it for the $25/100g they are selling it for.

Anyone here had yunnan moonlight white buds puer cake?
What are some similar teas?

>>14193023
Places like Yunnan sourcing sell lots of white puer. There are other kinds of white tea made in china with different varieties of tea like silver needle white, which is usually sold looseleaf. India also makes some white teas.

>>14193204
nepali and darjeeling whites are kino. silver needles are unreliable and overpriced usually and the white peony i've tried isn't good

>>14177355
When I make tea, it tastes of nothing and the 'flavour' appears as a slight smell. What am I doing wrong?

>>14193644
Using shitty tea, not using the right ratio of leaf to water, not using the right water temperature, not brewing long enough or some combination of those things.
Haven't you posted this before?

>>14193658
>Haven't you posted this before?
No, there must be lots of retards like me.

I buy loose leaf and follow the instructions on the packet (brew time, water temp, amount) but it always comes out way too weak.

>>14193683
Try using more tea.

>>14189130
It's way worse than caffeine pills, which actually have their place. This shit wrecks your liver if used long term, even if it's just pure extract without contamination

>>14178829
>gongfu (traditional chinese method)
no

>>14193658
>Haven't you posted this before?
Anon he posted perhaps the most common complaint about shit tea.
>>14193683
What kind of tea

>>14193683
It’s the water. Google tea water recipe.

>>14180460
>mate
I'm argentinian and I hated mate at first, it was truly en effort to like it, and now I do really enjoy it, but probably the mate environment in my country contributes to that. I drink bitter most of the time, add some ginger slices to the water, but for begginers I's recommend mint and some sugar, the first two mates are shit, some people throw them away.
Give it a chance, you'll really enjoy chilling drinking mate by yourself.
Also pick a good mate, will last all your life I really like watching old people mates (the cup), in a time when everything is a plastic piece of shit made in china, you can see that their mates have been a good partner for many years
>TFW no qt gf to drink mate with

>>14186699
well i'm currently drinking a cake of 2016 tuo cha
should i cut my losses and toss it?
it's the first raw puerh i've tried

What are your opinions on steeping tea with a French press?

>>14195979
>I really like watching old people mate
ewwwww

>>14196602
Probably the ideal teapot, since you can pump the plunger and stir the leaves up vigorously every minute or so for even extraction.
Just don't actually press down on the leaves like you do for coffee, as that will squeeze out bitter tannins.
Also if you make both coffee and tea, use two separate presses.

How do I stop being a tastelet? I always read in description the tea tastes like honey or has hints of peach but I can never taste it. I'm already eating virtually no added sugar.

Nah it's fine, I'm being dramatic.

>>14197391
>I'm already eating virtually no added sugar.
That's a big one. I will also assume that you don't smoke and brush your teeth.
Try brewing some tea with bottled spring water to see if it makes a difference. Some people's tap water isn't great for brewing tea. If using bottled water helps you can jut get one of those filter pitchers and brew with filtered water.
Some of those notes especially fruit ones can dissipate very quickly as a tea ages, so maybe they are there a few weeks after harvest, but not several months later while you are drinking it.
It's also always possible that the seller is taking a bit of liberty with their descriptions of flavors to help sell a tea.
It's good to focus on different nuances and flavors when you drink tea so you can gain an appreciation for different notes that you enjoy but don't let one note being there or not determine if you enjoy a tea or not, at least until you are in a position where you know exactly what you want.

>>14197857
>I will also assume that you don't smoke and brush your teeth.
Yep no smoking and brushing teeth twice a day
>Try brewing some tea with bottled spring water to see if it makes a difference
Will give it a try
>Some of those notes especially fruit ones can dissipate very quickly as a tea ages
I haven't really had freshly harvested tea so I'll try to see if that makes a difference. Right now I store my tea leaves in airtight glass containers (away from sunlight). Would storing tea in the refrigerator instead (obviously in an airtight container to prevent moisture) help keep the tea fresh?

>>14197881
>Right now I store my tea leaves in airtight glass containers (away from sunlight)
This is probably best practices for tea storage.
>storing tea in the refrigerator
It's kind of controversial.
I'm not really an expert but it's certainly a fairly new thing in the tea world. I generally tend to think that it's best not to fight too hard against the natural process that happen as tea ages, but I mostly drink puer so I'm biased.
Based on some quick reading the biggest issues with fridge storage are teas picking up off flavors from the smells in your fridge and condensation. When you pull a tea out of the fridge and open it up moisture will condense on the leaves and this will effect the tea. So fridge storage is best for sealed mylar bags that are then left out for a day before opening to allow them to reach equilibrium with room temperature before being opened. Not really practical if you just want to make a single cup of tea.

Mornin. Please remember to drink tea today.

kinda new ish to looseleaf tea, I have this sencha and some blends with fun and interesting flavours, anyways from what ive seen this tea is very amber looking rather than pictures ive seen online where the tea is rather a vibrant green, what am i doing wrong really? I do about a teaspoon/cup

>>14199185
It's probably just an older tea. The neon green sencha you see posted is people getting tea shipped from japan the week after it's harvested.

thinking of placing my first o-cha order lads
what are some must-trys?

>>14200414
Yame Gyokuro and Sae Midori Sencha

>>14200470

>Sae Midori
>not Yutaka Midori

Absolutely incomprehensible. For real, though, either are great. San no Ma for asamushi if they have it in stock. The Kabusecha is also great, and if you're willing to shell out the extra cash, the Kamejirushi gyokuro is superb. Also browse their teaware if you're looking for any. They're saying the FedEx shipping is closer to flatrate than JP so now's the time to get heavy/bulky orders in.

>>14199185
That looks like piss

>>14200414
kurasawa kabusecha, uji musashi, and sencha powder are great along with the more classic ones (sae midori, yutaka, etc). i haven't tried many of the newer ones but i can tell you the chiran (idk about organic) is poor quality

My new kyusu came in from Ebay a few days ago! The seller threw in three cups for free! It's a wonderful set. :-)

>>14201305
Nice, I really want to get a kyusu. They seem like they would be more comfortable to pour than little Chinese teapots.

>>14201331
Mine holds about 400 ml, so it's enough for me most of the time. :-)

Coof

>>14200414
If you haven't ordered yet, consider picking up a few packs of the Daily Sencha. It's not their most exciting tea but it is a steal for the price- I have incorporated it as my first tea every morning.

>>14200934
>i can tell you the chiran (idk about organic) is poor quality
Really? I enjoy it just slightly less than the Yutaka.

Could I brew a gallon of tea and use it for the rest of the week?

>>14203303
Sure if you want to make iced tea. As long as you store it in a clean container in the fridge it should keep for a week.

>>14203332
Sweet, thanks anon. I usually drink iced milk tea anyway so it works out.

>>14202922

>daily sencha

Seconding. I almost forgot about that.

>>14200504
Tongu Okumidori from Sazen tea

>>14177355
I dated a Moroccan girl for 2 years every morning mint.

God I miss it, she is still a stuck up bratty 26 year old whore but I miss her tea so much.

>>14177355
Tea noob here
Got my gf a gaiwan and some loose leaf tea. Using Wu Yi Oolong. Some say it's good for up to 10 steeps. But we can't drink that much tea in one go. What do we do with the tea leaves in between? Reading some people saying to spread them on a towel overnight and others say they have to be thrown away due to bacteria.

>>14204087
You can leave them in a gaiwan overnight without the lid on and they will be fine to brew the next day. They won't taste quite as good but totally safe. But no more than one day. Don't bother spreading them out and drying them, too much work.
The real answer is to drink more tea but you will probably get there eventually if you get into it.

>>14204122
Caffeine fucks me up :( but I could drink herbal tea all day. Especially rose tea.

>>14204122
Too much work to just spread them on a towel?

>>14204122
How about in the fridge? Would that fuck up the flavor? Sorry but I'm paranoid about foodborne illness.

>>14204130
>Caffeine fucks me up
Yeah, you get quite the caffeine buzz from a nice gaiwan session. Just enjoy tea the way you want to. If you like herbal tea you should try rooibos. It has a very sweet honey flavor. It would probably be pretty good brewed in a gaiwan.
>>14204138
Your welcome to try it but it just seems like a hassle. Drinking tea is no fun if it feels like a chore.

>>14204150
>How about in the fridge?
It would pick up bad smells and flavors from the fridge. I have left tea in a gaiwan long enough for it to get mouldy, you would see the mold right away by looking at the leaves and the tea would taste very sour and off.
I drink mostly puer, where the tea is aged in pressed cakes. There are sime places like hong kong where they intentionally let the cakes get moldy and just brush it off before brewing the tea.
It's very unlikely that you would get e coli salmonella or some other food poisoning from tea leaves unless you keep raw chicken in your gaiwan.
If it gives you piece of mind then just go ahead and dry them out on a paper towel or something, it's not a big deal.

>>14177355
How do I make milk tea properly? I tried to order this shit but it all taste like tea-flavoured knock off hot chocolate with expired milk.

>>14204183
Wait we're NOT supposed to store raw chicken in a gaiwan??
>>14204153
Sounds delicious I'll check it out thanks king

>>14204197
There is a lot of different variations on milk tea. What countries milk tea do you want to make?

>>14204237
Japanese milk tea. I was there last year and shit was dope.

>>14204244
iirc thats royal milk tea, tea leaf is heated in a water milk mix in a sauce pan

>>14204244
Apparently they use some weird tea as the base, it's called uva and it's from Sri Lanka. So you could try and buy some of that, then just brew it like regular tea and add sugar and milk.
Here is some weebs blog post about it.
http://wandertokyo.com/milk-tea/
If you live in the US uptown tea imports is a decent place to souce sri Lankan tea.

>>14204309
Yea so I actually tried this with both Darjeeling, Assam and a blend of the two. I'm like 99% sure it's gotta be a blend of sorts though.

Boiled it 1 min.
Added milk.
Brought it to a boil.
Added sugar.

I probably fucked quantities a bit but will figure that out later. It was better than all the powder shit I bought but still tasted off in a way that just adjusting amounts will fix.

>>14204312
Thanks. This looks promising will try get some Uva.

>>14204324
>Boiled it 1 min.
>Added milk.
>Brought it to a boil.
If you want to drink it warm you should heat the milk separately. You really don't want to simmer black tea for more than a minute or two. That could be part of why it tasted off.

>>14204409
It only takes a min to bring it back to a boil. I'm letting it cool down and putting it in the fridge as well.

I thought it's gotta cook with the milk as well?

>>14204424
I really don't know

>>14180859
I drink 3.5 to 7 grams per day. Everything grampa style in random mugs because I'm lazy as fuck.

Do you guys have any tips on how to make good iced tea? My favorite drink is Teas Tea unsweetened oolong iced tea. I'd like to save some money making my own and experiment with different varieties.

Is there any particular brand of oolong or method of preparation that you'd recommend?

>>14206220

1. Find a big bottle, preferably glass because plastic sometimes soaks in smells and flavors.
2. Fill it with cold water
3. Add tea of your choice flavored or unflavored doesn't matter - green, oolong, black etc. I don't know the exact ratios, I just eye it out and if it's too weak/strong adjust the ratio next time.
4. Add extra shit of your choice for flavor - slices of lemon, orange, ginger, mint leaves, jasmine, chamomile flowers, crushed juniper berries, rose buds, whatever you can think of
5. Add sugar, honey or sweetener if you want
6. Cold brew from 12 hours (overnight) to 48 hours

My favorite combo is:
1. Fruity black tea, I don't want to promote products but the Dianhong Superior from Benjowski tee is absolutely the best loose leaf black I've tried for this, it has a subtle natural flavor or peach ice tea.
2. One pureed peach
3. A spoonful of honey

Other favorite combo:
1. Random generic "white tea" from Muller someone gifted to me
2. Elderberry syrup

Third:
1. Random generic "green tea" someone else gifted me. I usually do gongfu and these teas are not so good for gongfu but great for cold brewing
2. Couple slices of ginger
3. A spoon of dry mint leaves
4. Couple slices of lemon


You can also try steeping the tea hot and then cooling it down, but the cold brew method is much better because you don't get the bitterness and the subtle flavors like florals and fruity are more noticeable.

>>14199185
How old is your sencha and where did you buy it? If you're not ordering from special suppliers like o-cha it most likely has been sitting somewhere for a while and wasn't sealed properly. Most western oriented shops that sell blends and not pure tea will use lower quality sencha or the one that isn't super fresh. Nothing wrong with that, as the purpose of blends is to highlight the artificial/natural flavors added and not the tea itself. I have some sencha blends flavored with pomegranate and peach and you should try cold brewing it in the fridge overnight. When I made them with hot water they had the same color as your picture, but after cold brewing they retained the fluorescent green color. I have some brewing right now and will post the pics later.

>>14204087
You can try using less leaf and then filling the gaiwan 3/4 or halfway depending on how much you use. You can also try to get used to it, I couldn't drink much when I started but nowadays my daily water intake gets over 4L with 2 sessions and drinking a lot doesn't feel forced anymore.

>>14199185
I've never had sencha look like this unless I forget the tea and steep it for 10 minutes. What leaves are you using, where did you buy them, and when? How long are you steeping and at what temperature?

>>14206220
If you're in Europe, any yogi tea is good iced. The purported health benefits are probably bullshit, but any tea I tried from them was good sweetened and cooled down.

>>14207049
I'm gonna say rinse the tea with hot water once or twice, especially if it's compact. It will help reduce the time to cold brew.

>>14202922
it's not my thing taste wise, kind of candy/almost fruity and at least the batch i got has a noticeable influence by pesticides

>>14204087
freezing leaves works well

>>14204087
Cold-brew them overnight is the best answer. For oolongs 12-16 hours works well in my experience.

protip: it's pronounced poo-ah

>>14209787
I thought it was poo-air

>>14209980
no, the chinese pronounce it "ah"

has anyone ordered from china in the last few months and received their package yet? mine was shipped march 31 and it's been in the beijing airport for a month and a half or so

>>14210359
What shipping method? E-packet / china post is taking at least 2 months right now. Someone in the last thread said they got am EMS order in about a month. DHL and Fedex are a few days.
I'm waiting on an e-packet shipment too and it's been in Bejing for a week so far.

>>14209980
poo-urh

>>14188734
Looks pretty comfy desu. How is the green

Coof

I love Laoshan black so much.

>Brazil
>green, black, camomile, strawberry, apple, liked all but with sugar, wanna try without sugar and/or milk
>do not own a teapot, just a little pot for boiling water and a mug

>>14212758
Oh man,i know that importing electronics to brazil has huge taxes but what about tea or food? Can you import from china without paying lots of money?
Anyways the easiest thing to do would be to buy some tea in a local store for now because shipping is all fucked up. Try and buy looseleaf tea, if you live in a big city see if there are any asian markets or tea shops that you can visit.
For brewing you just need something to hold the leaves in the mug, normally tea balls aren't recommend but it might be all you can find. Something like pic related, get the biggest one you can that will fit in your mug. You can also just brew the tea in one mug and then pour it into another, using a plate or something to hold back the leaves.
Tey to get some green and some black tea, also some oolong if you can find it. For black tea darjeeling or Chinese black tea is usually sweeter and will be good without sugar. For oolong tieguanyin is a good starting point, it's creamy and thick and has almost a milk flavor.

>>14212831
Forgot pic

>>14212835
If you can find something like this it it better. They also come in all stainless steel. They give more room for the leaves to expand and the water to contact them.

>>14212758
if you have a pot with a spout or a pyrex i'd use that and a sieve/strainer over anything that constricts the leaves ability to expand in water

>>14212860
Can confirm these are dank, just don't let leaves get moldy in it like my dumb ass did.

>>14212758
Just do western style or grandpa

>>14212460
From YS? Classic or imperial? I'm gonna get 1 kg of classic Laoshan it's my favorite daily drinker to date. Tastes like fucking chocolate and baked goods

>>14213887
I get it from Verdant. I'm almost out and planning to get some from YS to compare after. Price is comparable to the imperial, so I'm curious to see if quality is too.

>>14207060
Here's the pic - cheap flavored pomegranate sencha blend, left cold brew right hot water

>>14214086
What temp did you brew with for the hot tea?
It might have to do with the flavoring.

>>14214100
Don't know the exact, but under 90 C for sure.

Even at 70 the color changes a little, just wanted to show that it's not impossible for sencha to be that color like the OP's pic. It's cheap, stored in non-sealed paper bags and who knows how old.

>>14214147
The flavor is almost same, not much bitterness but cold brew has no bitterness at all and more floral and grassy aromas I think come from the tea. Artificial flavoring tastes the same in both

>>14209787
>>14209980
There's thousands of chinese accents, but they definitely pronounce the r sound in the standard northern dialect. In taiwan it could be poo-uh (e.g. they pronounce 二 and 餓 the same)

>>14214156
Interesting, thanks
>>14214147
Oh i see, i didn't follow that reply chain very well.

Just burned my tongue on 90 degrees C water and it feels like TV static, how are you doing tea bros?

>>14215444
Just need to wait another two months for my tea to make it from China and hope nobody starts a war or a trade embargo in the meantime.

Bad time for the tea thread these days. Not many people interested in exploring tea with all this shit going on.
This Cake is decent, I liked it more the last time i bought it. It's all camphor and basically nothing else, with a fairly short sweet finish.

Coofs

Just about done with my favorite cake from my last order. It was a pretty standard puer, smokey a little sweet with a decently long finish. A bit of age (2007 vintage) but dry storage so its a pretty subtle aged taste.

>>14214147
>not impossible for sencha to be that color
sure is posible.
this one in your picture looks more like piss than sencha

>>14219157
It's the 2007 feng quing "zao chun yin hao" from YS. I don't think they actually give the name of the factory Feng Quing is the region.

>>14216957
I'm just glad my What-Cha order finally came in on Saturday. I got some Korean Dong Cheon green tea, and it's not too shabby.

>>14177355
Is rice tea real tea?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genmaicha

>>14220734
It's tea+ rice. It's a flavored tea but it's not the same as some tea leaves sprayed with artificial peach or whatever.

>>14220470
What's it like? Is it similar to japanese greens?

>>14219783
I know about high quality sencha anon, I had some from o-cha (daily, Chiran, Yutaka Midori). The color was amazing but it tasted like wet algae and fish broth, extremely overpowering.

I stick to Chinese greens and gifted garbage "sencha" blends nowadays

Tips on multiple infusions for western brewing? If my first brew is 3 minutes how long should my second be?

>>14214147
>he doesn’t add a dash of lemon juice to cool down his tea and add to nutrient absorbance

Disgusting

>>14221081
It tastes a tiny bit like gunpowder green tea, but on the whole seems grassy. It does seem like a middle between Chinese and Japanese greens, if leaning a little more towards the Chinese side. Then again, this is rather old tea from May 2019, if memory serves, so it might not be as fresh as, say, younger tea from this year.

The Darjeeling I ordered was less oxidized than I am accustomed to with black teas; it almost reminded me of young raw puerh with its slight astringency. The Nilgiri was good as well.

I'm wondering what tea to get my dad for Father's Day. For Christmas I got him a teapot and some "Classic 58" hongcha. I wonder if I should give him more black tea or maybe some puerh or oolong. Any suggestions? He's typically a coffee drinker. :-)

>>14221734
i normally do 3 then 4, 5. some tea can take it some are done after 1, it definitely isn't the same depth of gongfu, i typically only western brew Indians because they dont seem to give good gongfu for some reason

>>14221907
>The Darjeeling I ordered was less oxidized than I am accustomed to with black teas
Yeah i got some first flush last year that i was convinced was a green tea. I think I just prefer second flush when it comes to darjeeling.
>Classic 58
That was a pretty good choice.
I'm a big puer fan but cakes might be a little big of an ask for most people. Makes brewing too intimidating. You could get some mao cha (lose leaf puer) from somewhere like king tea mall.
I think some dan cong oolong might be good or some other Chinese oolong, lots of oolong options from the Chinese brand wuyi star are for sale on ebay. Otherwise some Chinese black tea is always a good bet.

What's a good black tea for iced tea?
I tried the lapsang souchong I usually drink, left it in for 16 hours or so and it just didn't turn out good. Not the right sort of flavor I need in an iced tea and it didn't take to any sort of sweetener.

>>14222019
You want an assam or ceylon or a blend of the two.

>>14221907
Also some left field options would be a liu bao or a tian jian.
Liu bao is a smooth creamy tea with a distinct betal nut flavor. Similar to ripe puer.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/three-cranes-2503-premium-liu-bao-tea-in-basket
Tian jian is another Chinese dark tea, smokey molasses, good for a whiskey fan.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-tian-jian-tea/products/2018-cha-yu-lin-liu-bu-xi-village-tian-jian-basket-tea

>>14221170
Japanese green teas tend to have this special "umami" taste which for most may be too unusual at first. you shoul be careful with brewing. use one pot only for this type of tea. watch for water temp (must not be over 80degC), water must be good quality (buy spring water or even better smartwater). watch for correct times, usually 1st flush 60sec, second 30sec, 3rd 90sec.

Watch how much you put into the pot. if you put too much taste will be too strong !
For sencha is generally 0,6g per 30ml of water

>>14181520
>green tea
>ooooww pop corn candy caramel popcorn
>taste like cookie dough sweet and creamy
>peanuts and wasabi, like raw cookie dough
Sometimes very cringey description but kind of enjoyable.

>>14177384
>snail
What did you expect?

broke down and brought some meileaf because they store their tea in the uk and shipping is fucked, i'll do some reviews from tomorrow

I've been drinking Perfect South Shincha to keep me warm at work, it's amazing. I brew a pot in the morning and tip it into my insulated bottle. Is it healthy or bad to be drinking 3 - 4 cups of tea every weekday?

>>14193658
I use 5g and roughly half full 200ml teapot, yet the only tea that seems to end up having solid flavor and not end up bitter is this Dian Hong from dragon tea house

I've had several different ys teas and use a temp accurate kettle, following instructions for steep time

So what the fuck is my problem

>>14222007
What temperature do you brew Darjeeling?

>>14223637
Honestly I'd rather spend money on stuff I like than force myself to drink something until I can tolerate it. The umami taste was so strong that I couldn't get over it. It tasted like that smell during low tide on rocky shore when the algae get exposed and then the sun heats them up during the day. I gave some away, put some in seafood dishes like risotto and fish broth and sold the one I haven't opened.

It's weird because I had family members try it and they could feel the grassy flavors, fruity and my mom even said one has a hint of blueberries. But all I taste is concentrated ocean juice no matter the water temperature, leaf amount or water type (I already drink all the tea with spring water).

I have gotten in the habit of grinding some black pepper into the last steep of my sencha sessions, has anyone else tried this? The flavor perks up a weak brew surprisingly nicely, and piperine is highly synergistic with EGCG for antioxidant power.
The jianshui pot I ordered in March finally reached me yesterday; I brewed up some 2013 Autumn Ye Sheng in it and wasn't thrilled with how it muted the edges of that tea, but I'll try other types and see how it goes.

>>14224337
>Is it healthy or bad to be drinking 3 - 4 cups of tea every weekday?
Absolutely, just make sure you're drinking water as well.

>>14193658
Is your water hard? Mine is. I recently bought a Brita filter and I had to retaste all my mostly sample sets YS order. On some teas it is literally night and day.

>>14224409
>What temperature do you brew Darjeeling?
First flush i brew at 90°c second flush i brew with boiling water.
You have to play around on temp a bit it depends on how lightly oxidized the first flush stuff is.

>>14224399
If you are doing western brewing 5g is a lot of tea for 100ml. If tea is coming out too bitter the first things i would recommend are dropping temp a few degrees or reducing steep time.
Brewing Chinese black tea western style I usually use 3 grams in a 10oz mug and brew for 2-4 minutes depending on variety.
I'm not really convinced about brewing every kind of tea gongufu style. I generally only use it for puer and oolong.
Also make sure you try using bottled spring water and see if it makes any difference. Lots of people insist on using filtered water for brewing tea.

>>14224517
Did you "season" the new teapot? I've never really gotten into the whole unglazed clay thing but I've seen places recommend simmering a new pot with tea to help build up seasoning. I guess to simulate lots of use.
I'm sure it's controversial but might be interesting to read about.

>>14225110
Yeah, whenever I get a new unglazed pot I (carefully) boil it for a half hour or so- take of the top and place both parts in a pot, cover with water and leave on the stove at a gentle boil. I mostly just want to clear out any loose clay or unpleasantness before use, no idea if it functions as a "seasoning." Hopefully I don't stupidly break this one like I broke all my other pots- some day it would be nice to have one that's been through thousands of brews.

Using the new pot for aged Da Hong Pao this morning and this tea is definitely better suited to the clay than the Autumn Ye Sheng was. This tastes pretty similar to coffee, actually, especially the aftertaste. The clay mutes a lot of the danker notes.

>>14222019
In my experience black teas are not great cold brewed. I'd suggest a half-decent bai mu dan.

>>14177355
Sweet tea in a Togo cup

Coof

>>14225139

I've only ever had an unglazed kyusu for my sencha - I'm curious to try a glazed one now. I've also been wanting a teapot for puerh but I feel like I can't justify buying any more tea stuff right now. I don't actually need more tea wares and I dislike the idea of my stuff becoming "cluttered". If I were to get a glazed teapot though I could finally drink the hojicha I've had forever. Don't want to brew it in my kyusu but it's also a nightmare to do in a gaiwan.

Suggest a tea for me please
>Mexico
>Chamomile, lemongrass, oolong, matcha green, chai tea, others that are local blends
>Cast iron small teapot, electric kettle
I like soft flavor tea, and a good cup of tea with a splash of milk during night time.

>>14227507
Chinese black tea it's a lighter black tea with notes of chocolate and sometimes fruit.
Second flush darjeeling it's a mild and fruity black tea.
Genmaicha it's a Japanese green tea with bits of puffed rice. Its smooth with a pleasant nutty flavor, avoid the stuff the has matcha powder mixed in.
Hojicha, a Japanese green tea made mostly from stems and roasted, has a toasted flavor.
I have no idea about sellers in Mexico. Shipping from China takes months right now. I guess i would recommend ordering from yunnansourcing.us for shipping from USA.
Check out their spring 2020 black teas and order some that sound good.
If you want to try some ripe puer, grab one of these.
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/menghai-tea-factory-ripe-pu-erh-teas/products/2017-menghai-v93-premium-ripe-pu-erh-tea

>>14227636
Some other suggestions from YS
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/compressed-white-tea/products/2018-fuding-gong-mei-white-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/xiaguan-tea-factory/products/2015-xiaguan-golden-ribbon-tuo-raw-pu-erh-tea

how is your slow session with a good tea?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGuu7NiALvo

>>14227850
maybe more this way? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E-Cf12zmaM

>>14227877
Something like this
https://youtube.com/watch?v=T2syY0U-eY0

>>14227928
sounds proper on some level, something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEJkJBqNwAo
but broken haphazardly.
xiaguan team unite!

>>14228044
You must respect the crane

>>14228098
smoke newbs please direct your questions at him.
>>14228098
you forgot yt embed.

>>14228116
If you insist
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ozs1mLnN4Z8

>>14227636
I just got all your replies, thanks anon!! I'll be sure to try them out

I put in an order for a few toucha and some samples from puerhshop.com
I had forgotten that they exist and they ship from USA. They actually have some half decent prices too. I will report back when it comes in.

Coof

>>14227850
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-wMbT4BUTI

Coof

Who is your favorite tea youtuber? I really like teadb but their taste is pretty expensive and it's annoying that they get so many samples of stuff that's not actually available on the market.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Vns0yvUKc

>>14231059
>I really like teadb but their taste is pretty expensive and it's annoying that they get so many samples of stuff that's not actually available on the market.
Understandable. I like their content more as just cozy pre-bedtime fodder than anything else. They and Mei Leaf are the only ones I watch- both are flawed but worthwhile and they cover pretty different things.

>>14231059
Used to like Don Mei but he's a grifter and his videos are more for beginners so I don't watch him anymore

>>14231059
i also have yunnansourcing, nannuoshan and farmerleaf subscribed. at one point i also had crimsonlotustea in my list but i threw it out randomly.

>>14231504
Yeah farmer leaf makes some great videos. His video about fake tea was one of the most informative discussions of the tea market that i have seen.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=kwvx3yrsyLU

>never had actual tea, only infusions
>buy a few bags of twinings english breakfast tea because I wanted to try tea with milk
>try it out
Holy shit I understand why the brits conquered half the world because of tea now
Shits delicious

>>14177355
Tea is for faggots.

>>14231525
It only gets better from there. If you live in the US grab and english breakfast blend and a brew basket from uptown tea imports. They have a few brittish blends but get one that they say will hold up to milk. Also grab a sample of some second flush Darjeeling or finest russian caravan and try it as an afternoon tea without milk.
Something like this would be a good start and is very affordable.
https://www.uptontea.com/breakfast-tea-blends/english-breakfast-loose-leaf-black-tea/p/V00404/
https://www.uptontea.com/afternoon-tea/russian-caravan-loose-leaf-black-tea/p/V00411/#V00411

Has anyone here ordered from Teas We Like? They have gotten some positive reviews the teadb guys on YouTube and they have some pretty old well stored teas at pretty moderate prices.
There are a few from the early 2000s that sound like bangers. I definitely will be grabbing a cake or two from them in the fall.

Just finished off the last of my ripe puer. Luckily I have more on the way. I need to remember to actually order a full sized cake or two of ripe next time I put in a big order.

>>14232366
Haha, nice try Marco. Now fuck off with your shilling somewhere else, ok?
>pretty moderate prices
I swear you shill fags are the worse.

>>14232701
I just wanted to know if anyone has bought from them before. Compared to some of the batshit insane western vendors like The Chinese Tea Shop their prices seem okay. Where would you recommend I buy cakes from 2000-2004 in the $150 range? I'm all ears, I'm still a noob at buying old tea.

>>14232744
Maybe i need to just start buying from taobao or doing group buys buy I would never buy random zongchas on taobao because i absolutely don't know enough to avoid getting scammed. There are a few decent teas on king tea mall in that price range. I don't think there is anything on yunnan sourcing in that range. I'm not going to start paying crazy prices to tea urchin. I don't think chawangshop has anything that old. I'd rather not get involved in group buys. But I would love to hear some other good sources that don't involve flying to china.

>>14232701
>>14232744
So i looked around some more and i guess Teas We Like is on the expensive side. I guess I would have to try some of their teas to see if it's worth it but they don't really seem overpriced for what they are offering, at least for western facing vendors.

A picture of my tea stash from sometime last year. This is all long gone by now.

>>14233644
Looks based

>>14233654
Thanks, I'll try and take a new collection picture tomorrow, but I probably won't get as lucky with the lighting again.

i just got some jasmine pearls.. they dont taste particularly nice? they smell quite perfumed i guess
do people really drink this stuff

>>14234282
Flavored tea is weird. It's really best to avoid it entirely unless you are buying the really expensive stuff that the french make.

>>14234368
I disagree, it's better to get the cheaper ones cause if you're spending that money on flavored French shit, it's better to buy actual tea at that point.

>>14234282
what temp are you using? treat it like green, 80c 20 seconds and i find it gets bitter after around 5 infusions

>>14234654
the tin said 80c 3 mins lol
ig ill try again for a shorter time

>>14234679
thats western brewing, try gongfu i.e 5g/100ml water, short steeps with many infusions increasing the steep time by ~5 secs each time

I enjoy tea nearly every day but I've never dug into tea like this thread seems to.
This tea is my go to, I bought a bunch of boxes of them on clearance. It's not the best tea I've ever had but it's tea and it's good.

>>14235576
As long as you enjoy it anon. You might be pretty impressed if you imported some hojicha from Japan. It's probably cheaper for the good stuff than it is bagged. But you have to pay for expensive shipping right now to get packages from Japan so maybe if you are feeling adventurous this winter you should give it a shot. Also look into genmacha for a similar toasty tea flavor m

A bit of an update on shipping from the chink shopping thread on /g/. These are finally some flights in the air and freight is moving again. Apparently lots of problems are on the US side now. It's taking as long as 8 days after the cargo gets off the plane for it to be dispatched from the airport. Also not mentioned here but there where some posts where people on the west coast were waiting 1-2 weeks for their package to get through customs. So that's up to 3 weeks of delays once the package hits the US. Hopefully this will be smoothed out in the coming weeks and shipping times should start to get back to normal by the end of June assuming air traffic continues to increase.

>>14235576
My guilty pleasure favorite tea is this super sweet barley black tea they have everywhere in Taiwan. Costs 25 cents per box there, but I haven't found anywhere that ships it to the US.

>>14237276
Yeah importing drinks from foreign countries is a hassle. I was looking around for boss coffee online and I could only find it for something like $48 per case.

whats the best tea for generalized anxiety thats easily available to buy

Does green tea go well in smoothies?

>>14238331
>best tea for generalized anxiety
I doubt there are any. To be fair, if anything in tea drinking eases anxiety, it's probably more its ritualization than the tea itself.

>>14239240
yeah i was going to say this, especially gongfu as the sessions are longer than just making a mug and very ritualized. setting an hour or 2 each evening to drink tea is very calming

>>14238331
Proper tea (Camellia sinensis) shouldn't be your first choice- there are gimmicks like GABA oolong that *might* help a little with anxiety, but there's always caffeine in tea as well. Some popular tisanes that could help are chamomile, lavender, kava, and valerian (the latter isn't very tasty though).

>>14238626

Maybe? Could see a mango green tea smoothie being good.

>>14239570
Based on what I have read gaba oolong doesn't have enough gaba to actually do anything (assuming gaba does anything in the first place)

New thread
>>14239792
>>14239792
>>14239792