/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Quick shot of part of my stash, i will lay everything out an get some decent shots soon™

from the last thread
>>14816252
3rd-ing Drunk on Red
2nd-ing Black Gold Bi Luo Chun
for indian vahdam is a good store, get 2nd flush darjeeling for floral, earl grey for black tea with orange oil, their smoked assam is great, assam is malty and the smoke adds an extra comfy-ness
>>14817127
90c will give you less astringency so its good if you dont like bitter tea

Half of my tea order came in today. I'll try and post soon. Very excite.

>>14818273
Nice i hope it's all puer

rec me a scale and a electric kettle

coffee for pussies

What do you incels and roasties think of dan cong oolongs? I just got some the other day and I have to say I find it a little weird. It's incredibly aromatic and fresh tasting but it foams when I rinse it, like it was washed with dishwasher detergent

>>14818441
>rec me a scale
Pretty much anything that has .1 gram resolution. I like AWS kitchen scales personally, the little weed ones are kind of a hassle.
Kettles
If you want a non temperature control model
https://www.amazon.com/Secura-SWK-1701DBO-Stainless-Electric-Protection/dp/B07MQLDM67/

>>14818096
Finally enjoying some ice tea since we have an ice maker now. It's old, but still good. I hope Frank's doing better. When he left 52 teas he had a lot of shit happen at once.
>>14818114
I wish my stash was that small.
>>14818551
I think that's just proteins. Like the same stuff you scoop off when you make soup. I love Dan cong though. They are my fav type of oolong, then wyui, then TGY.

Has anyone tried using a meat thermometer for water? Does it work?

>>14818711
I did that before I had a temp controlled electric kettle. It works but it's pretty ghetto

>>14818711
The fast digital ones work great. The analog ones i guess would work but they take kind of long to get a reading

is tea good for you?

>>14818718
>>14818721
Thanks

>>14818777
of course

>>14818836
thank you my friend

Linking my post from previous thread >>14818163

>>14818945
I don't know about filo sources, but remember to buy chinese instead of indian.

Check if these guys ship to your country, they should.
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/
I can recommend a few good teas.
This one is kind of minty herbal flavors
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/new-2008-year-sheng-pu-erh-yunnan-long-yu-raw-puer-tea-in-briquette-shen-chinese-famous-tea-cha-old-100g-pc29-aged-puerh-best-organic-tea-p0027.html
This one is kind of floral confectioners sugar type flavors
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/tulin-2005-chinese-puer-tea-phoenix-premium-raw-tuo-cha-aged-tea-100g-p0492.html
And here is some black tea, i haven't tried this one but the Russians seem to like it
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/2018-yunnan-old-tree-black-tea-dianhong-feng-qing-red-tea-cake-357g-p0573.html
If they won't ship from their website there should also be a link to their AliExpress store, that should offer shipping to your country

>>14818961
Plan was to check out the known place for Chinese stuff which is in Binondo, but I'm always wary of anything from the local Chinese here. I'll order something then from the pastebin, thanks.

>>14818974
If I remember correctly, this is from the same site that I was checking earlier from the archives while looking for the same country as mine. Will check these things out.

so besides matcha I have to get into sencha to get green, green tea?

recommend me a ripe from yunnansourcing

Any recs for a good inexpensive oolong to drink cold brewed? I'm a pleb but I live in a hot as balls climate. I really like to have a few glasses throughout the day.

My favorite cold was Adagio's fujian rain, it had this kinda rocky taste that was nice. Rather than the more woody oolongs.

(any genral recs for iced is still appreciated though)

thoughts on
>ahmad
>harney and sons
>basilur
>simpson and vail
>adagio

>>14818441
I've got an acaia lunar and a stagg ekg. Living the good life.

I've got a kettle and several sampler packets of loose leaf tea coming in tomorrow.any recommendations for someone getting into tea to try?

>>14819213
golden melon tuos, they're big so break them up with gardening secateurs
Xiaguan Jinbang GAN
Xue Ju Shu Pu Snow Chrysanthemum Tea Brick
10 Years Aged Rhyme Ripe Pu-erh
Year of the Pig Red Label, heard good things about this one, ys says it was aged before pressing into a cake so shouldn't have any wet pile taste
>>14819455
anxi 'hairy crab' is cheap and great tastes like broccoli

>>14819645
>basilur
strong smell

at the moment i'm drinking chamomile tea all day every day and it's rather chill

>>14818777
it depends, but mostly yeah, until you get addicted. god i can't live without tea

>>14819645
>ahmad
not very nice, to be honest. weak and makes my stomach hurt, don't like to drink.
>basilur
their floral stuff is ok, although a bit too aromatic. most of their packaging is really nice though. spring and summer tea is quite nice, still prefer loose leaf floral teas though. personally, their black teas are pretty bad, got them as a gift once, stomach hurting. (their chai is decent though, just weak)

Comfy

>>14818114
this is some of my stuff, will get more. (except for stuff like, those metal boxes of twinings and tea bags and shit)
what's a good online shop to buy teas from? (eu)

>>14820653
(Idiot me didnt fucking post the picfuckimsorry)

>>14820653
>good online shop to buy teas from?
lots in the pastebin in the op, you should generally try to order from china or japan, shipping is fine now

>>14820657
How is the shou mei?

For me, it's Yorkshire Gold. Why? Because my parents will make it for me whenever they have a cuppa.

>drinking warm leafwater and then being pretentious about it
lmao, can't make this shit up

>>14821355
pretty good, i like it. but i prefer pai mu tan personally

>>14821404
bet you either never had actual good tea or are a coffeefag, i pity you.

I own so many choices of tea yet I'm too lazy to brew. I wish I could afford an electric temp controlled kettle boys

>>14821540
You can just boil water and the wait roughly 1 minute per 10°c of cooling you need. Just set a timer.

>>14821551
I have a thermometer and already do this sort of thing, I'm just saying that I'm lazy and wish I could streamline the process better.

>>14821564
how do you live without a kettle?
i don't know how much money you have, but if i'm not mistaken you can get one for about 20ish ameridollars, yes? hope you get one soon.

Back to brewing tea since the weather is more accomodating. Making dong ding today. Any recommendations for temperatures and brew times, anons? I've found that my batch goes bitter quickly. Also, any idea what material the kettle in my picture is made of? I've had it for a long time, but I never bothered to figure out what it's made of. Has little cups that go along with it is well, which I use in tandem when drinking the product.

>>14821575
Please don't post ITT if you are going to be an absolute retard.

>>14821583
It looks like enameled cast iron.
It should be pretty heavy, kind of a glossy black finish on the inside?

>>14821600
Yes, it's reasonably heavy and has a glaze-like black finish inside. I thought it could be cast iron based on the weight, but the visual appearance and glazing made me wonder if it could be something else. Either way, I think you are correct. Wonder how the brewing process differs with this compared to a dedicated gong fu setup, though. I've usually just quickly roasted the tea to clear impurities, tossed the liquid, then began my infusions.

Had trouble getting decent brews in the past, but I want to try again. Do you have any advice for my (delicate) dong ding? I think it has potential since the unsteeped portions smell quite pleasant and sweet, but I want to take the beginner's stance and see about improving my technique from the base. I have an electric kettle, so I can control the temperatures and steep times. Should I even bother using the metal mesh filter inside, or just toss the leaf in directly? Any advice overall for this case?

>>14821624
Do you preheat the kettle? If you do it could be retaining a bit too much heat, and brewing at a higher temp then you intend.
I would try 70°c, don't preheat the kettle and do a very brief rinse of the tea about 5 seconds, toss that liquid and then do an initial brew of about 60 seconds. Once you are brewing cups that aren't bitter, you can experiment with increasing the steep times.
It's fine to use the mesh basket.

>>14821656
>Do you preheat the kettle? If you do it could be retaining a bit too much heat, and brewing at a higher temp then you intend.
I do in fact pour a small amount of liquid to warm the kettle up slightly so the temp doesn't dip when I put in freshly heated water. Is that truly considered a poor practice? I've always done it on the pretense of maintaining a reasonable temperature without dips. I never thought that it could impair the brew.
>do a very brief rinse of the tea about 5 seconds, toss that liquid
To clarify, should I be preparing the first rinse within the same kettle, or in another vessel? I imagine undesired particulates could reside in the kettle if the initial tossed steeping is done there.

Any tips on Sencha brewing /tea/ lads? Are there any special tips or tricks I should know about to get the best results?

>>14821686
>Is that truly considered a poor practice? I've always done it on the pretense of maintaining a reasonable temperature without dips.
Generally preheating is a good practice, however with cast iron it can hold a lot of heat, so it might keep the water too warm while brewing.
I have personally screwed up some brews recently because i got my vessel way to hot before brewing.
>To clarify, should I be preparing the first rinse within the same kettle?
Yes, this will both clean the leaves and provide a small amount of warmth to the kettle.
>I imagine undesired particulates could reside in the kettle if the initial tossed steeping is done there.
It is possible however, the rinse is traditionally done in the brewing vessel, wouldn't worry about it unless you are dealing with a tea that is visibly dirty or gritty.

top 3 chocolate/cacao ish teas from YS to try?

>>14818096
Has anyone ever tried pepper tea? I'm wondering if it's spicy

>>14821846
I have put red pepper in honey ginger lemon tea before, it's pretty spicy. Good for clearing out the sinuses and seems like it helps when you have a cold. I don't think i would drink it for fun

>>14818096
Newfag to tea, what's the trick to a rich tasting tea? Cream? Every tea I try tastes like hot leaf water.

>>14821738
Tried your method. Tea turned out less bitter while still bodied, but I couldn't detect much of a sweet element. The smoke-like, thick earth flavors popped up more. Not sure if that is typical of Taiwanese Dong Ding or not. Doubt my leaf is the purest/cleanest, but I think I can get better flavor out of it somehow.

>>14821931
You could try 80°c, if that comes out bitter than go back to 70°c and increase brew times. Make sure to only change one thing at a time while brewing.

>>14821953
I'm confused, wouldn't a hotter temp just extract more of the tannins/bitter elements? I'd expect increased brew times to just make it more bitter as well.

>>14821978
Well the only other variable you have to play with is leaf to water ratio, so you could try using more leaf.

>>14822014
I'm using quite a bit of leaf. Could that make it more bitter in this case? I imagine with my great amount of leaf, I could get by with less brewing time.

>>14822023
Look up specific suggestions for your type of tea, there are some general guidelines in the pastebin in the op. Remember with a tea like that you should be able to get several brews out of the same leafs before they loose flavor.

Here is a shot of most of my liu bao collection.
My current favorites are the Three Cranes 2014 0222 brick and the 2018 Three Cranes Ye Yun Gu Shu

Here is a shot of most of my Liu Bao teas.
My current favorites are the Three Cranes 2014 0222 brick and the 2018 Three Cranes Ye Yun Gu Shu

>>14821583
hey do you want to be my girlfriend

>>14821914
>Every tea I try tastes like hot leaf water.

>>14821914
1. water quality. i use a brita filter, makes a big difference. if you dont want to buy one try bottled just as an experiment
2. water to leaf ratio. for gongfu ~5g/100ml, for western ~2g/200ml
3. leaf quality, the jump in results from teabags to loose is insane considering the small price difference

does aged sheng get less tannic then fresh? is there any good raw puer types that are not bitter. my gut is unfortunately somewhat sensitive to very bitter things.

does yunnansourcing.com usually ship in a bag instead of a box? I am hoping the tea i recently got did not get crushed too much. it looks ok without opening all the bags but with how snug everything was in there i suspect some weight was put on it a some point. i am a bit disappointed as i don't want any of the tea leaves i payed good money for damaged.

>>14823832
Yes. Never had a problem with damaged stuff though. They use different styles of bag for different kinds of tea.

>>14823567
Get a berkey. Brita filters are a joke when you compare the cost over time.

Against my better judgement, I am enjoying this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fzs9jGW6g6Y

>>14823023
Good old Iroh.

>>14823620
>does aged sheng get less tannic then fresh?
Yes
>is there any good raw puer types that are not bitter
There are definitely some that have very little bitterness.
Trey and zero in on exactly what bothers your stomach. I have issues with clorophyl from very fresh teas, especially greens. Bitterness and tannins are kind of two distinct aspects of tea.

>>14825976
Oh i forgot the toss in a tea recommendation
Try either or both of these fist two teas in this post and report back.
>>14818974

>>14823841
I don't think my order is seriously damaged I just don't want the percent of broken leaves to be meaningfully increased in shipping because it was not boxed. I guess will find out what they look like as I work my way through the tea. I am not going to open them all at once for freshness reasons.

>>14825546
weirdly relaxing

>>14825976
>>14826000
thanks
while i have not tried everything the things that have bothered me past are western style black tea blends, certain types of incorrectly brewed green teas, and to to a lesser extent the one young sheng i have was a bit too bitter for my preference. I am going to try tuning the brew a bit more.

>>14826279
Yeah young puer can be bitter and also pretty rough on the stomach. Arguably it's not actually puer for the first year or two after processing and is just a really strong bitter green tea.

>>14818096
Someone argue me on why I should brew my tea using hot water instead of cold brewing it, specifically white tea.
Don't give me that well if you steep it with hot water it tastes just like grandma used to make it.
tea is nitro, not some pseudo-candy.

>>14826441
on a less serious note, steeping white tea in hot water for a longer period of time, and then cold brewing that batch for 24 hours; just to keep a cycle going, seems to work wonderfully, if you're an aestheticist(poor) like me.

>>14826441
If it's white tea you should actually simmer it.
Realistically there isn't anything wrong with cold brewing, it tastes different but I don't think anyone will have strong opinions about cold brewing being bad.

>>14825050
Maybe, but Berkey filters do not seem to soften water, as filtered water keeps essential salts. Different technologies. Activated carbon (Berkey) cannot compete with ion exchange (Brita) for water softening. The survivalist part of me tells me I should also get a Berkey just in case, though.

>>14826483
I have pretty good luck with the pur brand filters. Every once and a while they will airlock if they dry out too much but it's easy to fix by soaking them for a minute or two. I have pretty hard water and they soften it pretty well as long as i change them within their rated lifespan.

>>14826455
This is pretty hard to do on a bums stovetop, but heating the water to a boil, pouring that in the tea pot; so that it retains the heat, then bringing the water to a simmer and pouring the water, with some airtime, right into the leaves and just letting it sit there for a century or two, seems to do the trick pretty well.
I'm just a lazy bum, can't someone tell me cold brewing is much better for the rash on my ass or something?

>>14826529
Cold brewing is good. It preserves more of the volatile organic compounds in the tea and the expense of maybe not fully extracting some of the polyphenols or other large phenolic compounds but extended cold brewing (12+ hours) should yield a relatively complete extraction.

>>14826552
So from my logical deductions from your science-man brain. There would be no real purpose to cold brewing it first, then doing a longer simmer for the rest of the good stuff, if I just smack it in the fridge for 24 hours anyway?

Is matcha possible without a meme whisk? I tried it with a handheld milk frother and got slightly frothy grass water

>>14826663
You want the meme tea, you need the meme whisk.

>>14826657
> There would be no real purpose to cold brewing it first, then doing a longer simmer for the rest of the good stuff, if I just smack it in the fridge for 24 hours anyway
Yeah, the only real advantage to heating at the end is if you want to drink your tea warm

>>14826663
Any whisk or frothers is fine, you can even use one of those plastic bottles with the agitator insert for shaking up protein shakes.
But 99.5% of all the matcha on the market is absolute garbage or stale or both, so it's not really worth drinking it unless you are importing it from good Japanese tea shops like the ones listed in the pastebin.

>>14826663
Works well with a french press for frothing. Just make sure you sift the powder beforehand, but it's best practice to do that even if you use a whisk anyway.

>>14818096
Today I’m gonna go to my chinese supermarket and buy whatever jasmine shit looks good to me. Hopefully I’ll have good luck.

>>14827432
Good luck
Grab some sea dyke oolong if they have some

>>14826483
I just snapped up another 4(so ~16k gallons) I've got an old japanese distiller for when I want to play water chemist. Britas have always tasted like shit for me, but I've got decent tap water. Keep an eye on their scratch and dent page. I got a 3.25 gallon one for the price of the 2.5 a few years back. Original filters still going strong, but I figured there was no reason to not horde a few of them.

>>14826497
Do a little cost/life comparison on those purs. You're literally burning money that could be spent on tea.

what kind of moon cakes are you guys eating today? you are celebrating the mid-autumn festival, right anon?

>>14827529
>You're literally burning money that could be spent on tea.
Yeah if i was smart i would be installing an undersink system.

I was under the impression that mooncakes taste disgusting and nobody actually likes eating them

>>14827810
yep, my chink friends confirm, but americans were memed into liking them, because exotic. same as the new wave of tea, it's exotic to yankee, he progressive, he likey.
it's just another photo op to fill some hole in one's life. just disregard and drink your leaf water.

>>14827923
Nice try chink, i know you faggots would drag your balls across broken glass to be "gifted" a prestigious puer cake.

>>14827432
I managed to find myself 100g of Sunflower-brand jasmine tea. Very fragrant and nice looking. I don’t really have any experience with this type of tea so I foolishly followed the instructions on the tin and steeped the leaves for 5 minutes. Holy fuck it was bitter! For the second infusion I brought it down to ~3 minutes and it’s much more palatable.

>>14828143
Nice, asian market jasmine tea is a classic

Having some liu bao for the night.
What have you been drinking lately?

corn silk tea

>>14828799
Woke up with some black tea, then had some ripe tea later on, and rounded out my evening with some green tea. Nothing like having tea while gazing upon the full moon. :-)

>>14829400
Interesting progression. I have seen a few people who say they drink ripes in the morning but i definitely find it more of an afternoon or evening tea.

>>14829412
It depends on what I'm feeling, but I generally wake up with black tea, have ripe tea after lunch, and maybe black or green tea in the evening to wind down.

What's a guilty pleasure tea for all of you? For me, it's Harney and Sons' English Breakfast, which is a Keemun tea that I enjoy despite it being rather broken-up in terms of leaf size. I'm thinking of getting some Keemun from them or Upton.

Also, I'm thinking of getting my family some porcelain mugs/gaiwans and loose tea for Christmas. Where can I get some simple, plain porcelain at a decent price? :-)

>>14829624
>Harney and Sons
>guilty pleasure
never tried them, what's wrong with them?

>>14829113
it's alright.

Bump

>>14830358
Well, it's a good introduction to loose tea, but it's aimed at a Western/American market whereas I generally drink Chinese tea. It's not bad in terms of quality for what you're getting in the end. It's just that there are better options out there when it comes to loose tea, I would say. I'm considering getting some black tea from them as Christmas gifts for family this year.

On an unrelated note, there's nothing quite like waking up with a cup of tea and watching the sun rise over some trees. :-)

>>14831103
Yeah morning tea is pretty great. It's not quite a good as a cup of coffee and a ciggarate but it's up there.

anyone try tea from panther moon tea?

I am thinking of mixing peppermint leaves with darjeeling black tea, what sort of ratio should I do?

>>14832186
It took a bit of training for me to tolerate tea and coffee on an empty stomach. Now I skip breakfast and drink tea first thing with no problem. Having some afternoon Pin Ge ripe tea right now. Will probably have some black tea after dinner. I really like this ripe tea even though it's from 2016 because it makes a dark, heavy brew that tastes smooth and creamy, with a slight vanilla scent. As the days are getting colder here, ripe tea and black tea are my main source of fuel when I'm not eating. I'm considering blending a little shou puerh and some Yunnan black tea and seeing what I get. :-)

Yunnansourcing really need to get back in stock their silver teaware
I wanna buy the 120ml teapot

>>14833069
>It took a bit of training for me to tolerate tea and coffee on an empty stomach
My system used to be cup of coffee, hand rolled ciggarate then a bagel with cream cheese or maybe sausage nd cheese a few minutes later.

>>14833473
I have been dreaming about getting one of those 100-120ml silver teapots far a while, i just keep spending all my tea budget on old cakes.

>>14833473
>>14833908
>falling for the silver meme

>>14833918
I only use glazed ceramic at the moment desu.

>>14833936
I brew tea in my mouth like a real man

>>14833908
I've got enough pu erh to last my a very long time
so would rather just spend the money that I would on tea, on some new teaware

Ordered from YS in February and still haven't received it. Anyone else had to wait this long?

>>14834047
i ordered in march and got mine within 2 months, contact them.

>>14834047
Email them, these were shipping issues this year but they should sort that out for you.

>>14834047
Covid messed a lot of shipping up. YS probably shipped it ages ago and it got hastily tossed in some warehouse by the shipping company when everything shut down due to covid and its now waiting to be dug out. contact YS and see what they say. do you have a tracking number?

best bang for buck place to sample a bunch of teas?

there are a few teas i am looking at ordering from YS and wanted to see if anyone has tried them and has an opinion on them.

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2020-yunnan-sourcing-happy-elephants-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-impression-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yunnan-sourcing-pu-erh-tea/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-year-of-the-pig-red-label-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yunnan-sourcing-pu-erh-tea/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-spring-morning-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

>>14834947
I have the 2019 Spring Morning one

It's decent for the price, I wouldn't look past someone reccomending it for people new to Sheng to be a daily drink, it's pretty friendly, for people more versed in sheng pu erh , it's not going to blow your mind as it's not very strong and lacks complexity, but it''s pleasant
you cant really argue against the price though

Welp, I don't get how you guys get tasting notes out of raw puer behind all the occasional smokiness, accidental bitterness and constant astringency. I'm out of that style, it's not for me.

>>14827529

My girlfriend uses a Berkey since she's got some complex chronic illness shit going on and she tries to eliminate as many potential environmental factors as possible.

You can save a shitton of money on the setup by just buying the filters and installing them in ~$15 worth of Walmart items. Pic related.

>>14834047
sorry to tell you that, but you lost your money. many people who ordered around that time did. google ys covid shanghai, threads on reddit.

Anyone waiting for tea mail?

How exactly do I season a new Yixing teapot?

To me, it's quite conflicting online

Just made an order for this
It's one of the most reviewed and purchased Yixing on YS, but the price seem kinda kinda too good to be true for it to be quality Yixing.

Either way, I made the order, let's see how good it is when it arrives

>>14836962
It should be fine, i that that kind of filter with the simple holes is the best in terms of functionality.

>>14836920
Wash it throughly with water, throw some tea in it, add hot water and leave it for a few hours. If you want to go crazy you can repeat that once or twice more, letting it fully dry in-between brewings.

>>14837117
I'm quite sure the functionality will be good, based on the pictures and reviews
Just as a yixing I'm curious / concerned, wondering if it will leech too much
will be using for my aged raw pu erh

>>14837129
So no boiling?
Just submerged in hot water water over a couple of hours?
do i keep hot, or let it cool over time?

>>14837175
Boiling the pot in water is just way to likely to damage it, do not recommend.
Don't even submerge it in water, once it's washed just throw some tea in the pot and add water just like you are going to brew in it, then just leve the water in there for a few hours. You basically want tea water to soak into the pot from the inside out and then to dry to create the seasoning.
>>14837167
>Just as a yixing I'm curious / concerned, wondering if it will leech too much
Yixing is a really insane rabbit hole, im guessing the stuff scott sells is fine. Remember that the Chinese think things that are rare are automatically better than other things, so what they value in yixing may not be the same things you would look for as a western tea drinker.

>>14837264
> Chinese think things that are rare are automatically better than other things
It is not unique to them wealthy epicures all over the world have been equating scarcity to quality since antiquity.

>>14837264
Prehaps, I do trust scott, and it is after all a blend of Zi Ni and Zhu Ni, it's also Bao Lan Zhu Ni, maybe that explains the price, if it was pure aged zhu ni the price would most likely be exceptionally more expensive
Anyway's, we'll see

>>14818777
She obviously deserves a full meal.

>>14818541
ye coffee is for pussies with rectum issues /tea/ is like coffee you can drink all day with culture and variety

>>14819125
yes

>>14819455
fujian rain is very cheap wuyi from adagio. just ordered some a couple days ago i'll post a review later

>>14819455
also dong ding and water turtle more expensive but worth it, also dan cong/da hong pao from ebay/amazon might be worth looking into

>>14819645
harney has good variety and prices on blacks. adagio has good prices all around, not especially nice tea but good cost/quality ratio

>>14821699
use kyusu low water temp and 90 sec or less for first strait

>>14822461
>Three Cranes 2014 0222 brick
notes/review?

>>14829624
songluo full is a good keemun type tea from harney/sons

>>14837767
Yeah i will fire up a kettle now.

>>14837767
Okay the three cranes 2014 0222 brick
First brew, chocolatey, toasted rice, a little bitterness seeping in.

>>14837972
Second infusion, this is definitely a bit bitter, dark chocolate, chocolate milk, it doesn't really change much after this. Both fullcha and puerhshop.com sell this, i think it was cheaper on puerhshop.

I got this when it released
gone up £30 in price since

Aging really quite well, bringing out a lot more of a clean taste as time goes on

>>14838160
2017 was the last good year for puerh, screencap this

>>14838270
*2003

>>14838160
should i just give up then?

>>14838426
No there is plenty of good puer out there, scott from Yunnan Sourcing raises the prices on most of his old puer stock by 20% to 30% every year, he always has. The best advice is if you find something you really really like, fucking buy hard, buy enough for it to hurt, because it's either going to be gone later or cost twice as much. That being said i wouldn't really buy puer to sit on long term that was less than 5 to 7 years old. It changes too much while it's young to know what it's going to turn into. Right now that's actually a good thing as there is loads of puer from 2010 to 2017 or so that's cheaper than the cakes from 2018 or 2019 since another bubble is inflating right now.

Advice for a casual tea drinker? My go to is stash brand, specifically English breakfast and chai blends. Not sure where to look for quality tea or even what to get if I do find it

>>14838515
Pastebin in the op has lots of good shops. Try a variety of different teas to decide what types you like.
Some kind of black green, oolong, maybe a white tea is a good starting point

>>14838530
Great, thanks

>>14818096
tea importer and grader here.

I own a moderate sized importing and retail/wholesale firm in a top 5 world city.

AMA

>>14838555
What's your absolute favorite tea
What's your daily tea of choice
Do you have several

>>14836962
let me get this straight, the chinks season this with tea? so i brew some puehrs in it it will retain the flavors?

>>14838515
their stuff doesn't look too terrible although a lot of it seems to be flavoured/fruit blends. i started with a variety pack from vahdam off amazon, 10g of 10 different types of tea, probably cheaper off their website rather than amazon. they're indian so they do a lot of chai ect they also state the year picked and leaf grade, around the same price too

>>14838565
>the chinks season this with tea?
yes, clay is porous
>so i brew some puehrs in it it will retain the flavors?
yes, people typically keep a pot just for one type of tea i.e you wouldn't brew green and ripes in the same unglazed teapot

>>14838562
I mostly drink coffee every day.
my favorite teas are darjeelings...
I like TGFOPs... mostly single estates.

I do like green tea, but i think at least where i operate there is more myth than actual daily use for green tea, but my favorite green is a Snow Sprouting Green tea. I also like King of Golden Needles...

Tanzania grows some great teas a well. Im a big fan of herbal blends or flavored black teas as well. I'm not a snob.

If i drink a tea "everyday" its usually because I'm vacationing with my family somewhere that serves a high tea and then i drink darjeeling or lady gray.

I commercially manufacture LARGE quantities of earl grey so i do love it... the humble bergamot orange.

>>14835382
thanks

anyone else tried any of these?
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2020-yunnan-sourcing-happy-elephants-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-impression-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yunnan-sourcing-pu-erh-tea/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-year-of-the-pig-red-label-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yunnan-sourcing-pu-erh-tea/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-spring-morning-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

>>14838575
lol ok. I usually use bone china or porcelain teapots. I will investigate this...

>>14838567
I'll give them a try. Fuck Amazon though I'll get through store

>>14838580
Too bad, I absolutely hate earl grey

>>14838586
here's a good vid on the differences different clay can have on different teas
https://youtu.be/oam3sZtmIJw?t=3305
i personally just use a glazed gaiwan

>>14838597
t. plebeian

its a good daily drinker for a lot of people. Are you drinking 2004 Scholium Project wines every day for dinner?

>>14838601
very cool thanks for the information

if you ask me nicely i can direct you to one of the best herbal tea blenders in the

>>14838465
think the bubble is going to pop at some point or in ten years are all the vendors going to be selling $99/μg turbo premium LBZ sheng puer grown on Mount Everest from glue shoe trees that survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event and packed in a oil on canvas wrapper painted by a lost renaissance master artist.

>>14838582
The ys impression cakes are good, i would recommend getting the 2016 one, it's a bit more money but it's old enough to have mellowed out a bit.
Get the year of the pig ripe, a 2020 ripe will still be a bit funky, this has had some time to air out
The spring morning raw... Huan pain is really best whith a decade or two on it, it's never going to be as bold as the smaller young leaves and buds so it's usually popular when it's aged out for a bit until it's nothing but honey sweetness.

>>14838611
I don't know that wine. Before trying ceylon, yunnan black and darjeeling, etc., I only had earl grey because that was the only tea they drank in my family and for all that time I thought by ignorance I didn't like tea.

>>14838632
There have been several bubbles notably circa 2006 and 2012, they pop eventually but prices never really go back down, in 2003 you could buy LBZ cakes for $100-$200 and at the time people were calling those prices insane.

>>14838555
What's your favorite Darjeeling Estate? First or second flush?

>>14838635
>>14838648
I import these, as well as these pressed bricks that almost look like woodcuts. they are sold for souvenir purposes. Ill tell you this, you are overpaying by about 90%. Tea is a keystone business.

Currently fasting 48 hours before going on keto.
Kusmi Russian morning tea (room temperature) + sparkling mineral water + Torani sugar-free lemon syrup = starving Arnold Palmer

>>14838638
if you want an interesting tea, you should drink a genmaicha. It has roasted rice pieces, cups grassy and nice. Good daily drinker not too expensive.>>14838653
aut

>>14838671
Fuck genmaicha is so goddamn good

>>14838653
margaret's hope autumnal flush

>>14838662
Yeah we know the dogshit black tea bricks with trains pressed on them or whatever are souvineir garbage. What price can you get per kilo for old tree Bing Dao puer?

What's your favorite oolong? I've had some that taste almost like malt, I liked that. I just want a good standard loose leaf to keep around, tired of buying samplers.

>>14838679
Based

>>14838682
i will make a thread next week when i am at work anon

>>14838685
"Single Trunk" oolong

>>14838685
lol but if you want a daily drinker

Hairy Crab is a nice greener oolong that isn't extremely expensive like >>14838712

>>14838666
>torani

Based

what's the bare minimum I need to get into a more everyday japanese green tea
what's the everyday japanese green tea (variety, brand, whatever)?

>>14838730
you can drink Gyukuro Jade Dew, an excellent green tea, and a good daily drinker. also, just a plain ole sencha would be good for you. haha by brand? where do you live?

Twinnings? lol find a tea shop

>>14838730
also, don't believe the snobs. buy a box of Finum XL slim tea filters and some loose tea and a cheap kettle...

>>14838671
Lol, genmaicha is also a tea I hate. I prefer unadulterated green tea, but I suppose you suspected that.

>>14838730
or u could be that real nigga and drink that TUNG TING

>>14838730
O-cha daily sencha
https://www.o-cha.com/daily-sencha.html
And a brew basket like the ones made by finum so you can brew in a mug, a digital scale and a temperature control kettle or a little digital thermometer help but aren't 100% necessary.

>>14838745
lol ok faggot drink any of these>>14838736
>>14838718
>>14838712
>>14838751


i bet you can't even afford to buy white teas by the kilo you are the worst type of fucking tea drinker fuck you fuck you fuck you

>>14838662
where, pray tell, would you recommend us buy tea 90% off? You would forever be the hero of /Tea/ if you shared such knowledge.

>>14838682
btw i sell this tea 357 grammes for 77 euro. I just looked so u want a kilo u do the math
i also sell bu lang old treefor 250 grammes for 67 euro

>>14838764
buy enough to import it in containers?
fly to source and fill duffle bags with it?
also
>>14838764
see
>>14838775

>>14838756
BASED finum poster

>>14838764
I mean he is right that western facing tea vendors like yunnan sourcing have a huge markup. Probably at least double their cost if not trebble, but that's not a 1000% markup. I think he is confusing those black tea bricks they sell to tourists with actual chinese pressed teas that people buy to drink.

Are you russian or eastern euro?

>>14838795
no moron, i import BOTH. I literally just told you what i sell the old tree for you moron.

>>14838775
>i also sell bu lang old treefor 250 grammes for 67 euro
Yeah that sounds about right actually

>>14838810
thanks man, tea drinkers are so much better to talk too. Coffee people are the WORST they think they know everything... at least you guys respek the game and all

>>14821834
anyone?

>>14821834
find a chocolate chai,

or buy some Taza chocolate

>>14838635
thanks, i am a bit new to this.
>the 2016 one
is there a 2016 one? they have a 2015 impression but it is before they started testing for as many pesticides. not a guaranteed deal breaker but i prefer knowing my tea is clean where possible.
>old enough to have mellowed out a bit
do they get less bitter with age? i have had some young sheng that was unpleasantly harsh before but have never had any aged stuff. is the young stuff ever good drinking?
>2020 ripe will still be a bit funky
oops i already got a different 2020 ripe coming from them in the mail. I hope it is drinkable. is the funk really that bad on young high quality shu? I thought it was more of a problem with the cheap stuff.
>Huan pain is really best whith a decade or two on it
is it still drinkable young?

>>14838839
>is there a 2016 one?
Oh yeah my bad i meant the 2015 one, don't worry about the pesticide stuff so much, be aware but don't loose sleep over it, i try to drink a variety of teas so even if one is kind of sketchy it's not a big deal.
>do they get less bitter with age?
Yes, though how quickly depends a lot on where it is stored, but within a few years after pressing they definitely mellow out to an appreciable degree.
>is the funk really that bad on young high quality shu
It can be, if the one you ordered comes in funky just break up a big chunk of the cake and let it air out for a few weeks. Then just give it a generous 15-20 second rinse and you should be golden. A general rule of thumb is that most funk will be gone within 9months to a year of when the cake was pressed, less if the material was aged loose a bit before pressing.
>is it still drinkable young?
Yeah sure,
Ill recommend a tea i really enjoyed from my last ys order
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/other-factories/products/2007-feng-qing-zao-chun-yin-hao-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
The description is pretty accurate, sweet easygoing maybe some smoke, really shockingly different from a young bitter puer

>>14838730
https://www.o-cha.com/kagoshima-organic-sencha-kurasawa.html
way better than daily sencha

>>14838940
Thanks anon

>>14838781
in other words no you don't know how to get tea in quantities suitable for an end consumer with a total landed cost 90% off open retail market. I could buy a whole lot of tea for the total cost of leaning multiple languages, making the connections necessary to get wholesale costs, getting the knowledge necessary to find the high quality tea, flying the world over, buying tea by the ton, shipping, and warehousing it. after all that I would not even be able to drink it all by myself anyways. at that point i might as well just get into the tea business. its almost like retail markup exists for a reason. you said we are "overpaying by about 90%" but that does not seem possible after factoring in total monetary and opportunity costs. since I am sure you are a good professional businessman and therefore are aware of all these things then i must assume you simply misspoke on the "overpaying by about 90%". I would like to have faith that you are not just lying and I still sincerely would love to hear how you suggest /Tea/ save 90%.

>>14838967
https://www.o-cha.com/uji-sencha-tsuen.html
here's my second favorite. the one i recommended before is like spring water, very clean, jade/light blue tasting if that makes sense. great daily drinker, not heavy but definitely worth it (also probably very healthy). that one i just posted has karigane in it, i can't describe the difference but it's very worth trying. if you're interested in gyokuro i'd try https://www.o-cha.com/loose-leaf-green-tea/karigane-gyokuro.html or something
like >>14838736
also their matcha is excellent if you've got some cash saved up, sencha is best though if you're new

>>14839013
Awesome thanks anon, I wanted to give him the "bare minimum" but I'm far from an expert on the Japanese stuff

>>14839032
get the first two then. everyone i know likes the second one the first one is very light but worth it

anyone know a specifically forest/woody tea without fungal/hay notes? bonus points for tobacco/smokey/nutty/roasted flavor

>>14838580
kindly fuck off and die with the rest of "importers and graders", you're part of the reason average customer thinks fancy tea means broken leaves and petals in metal tin. on the other hand demand for real tea, my pajeet friend, is high as it is, so there's no need really for bigger customer base, which would inflate prices even more. so push your africa made granulate and stay away from my chink tea, ok?

>>14838582
1. nope, don't buy 2020 small vendor ripe, especially from scott "wet pile taste" willson
2. if the 2019 is made from the same material as 2018 as they claim, go ahead. it's very good litmus test for your storage too, if you'll fall deeper into that later
3. nope, I have this cake and it's far from ready to drink, pssst: https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2013-yunnan-sourcing-blue-snake-cha-tou-ripe-pu-erh-tea-brick if you like seal and batman forever.
4. it's huang pian, aka byproduct of sheng puerh producing. big, fried leaves which normally are sorted out of maocha and discarded, but behold, we can make some money out of those too, said one chink. I happen to have this cake and it's a good tea, but don't call it sheng puerh. worth a buy.
5. ?
pssst https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2014-yunnan-sourcing-red-horse-gongting-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake
oh my...

>>14838671
>cups grassy and nice
What did she mean by this?

>>14839135
Based highly opinionated tea drinker.
Thanks again for the Myanmar big suggestion.

>>14838567
Ordered Vahdam Black and Chai tea samplers. Thanks anon

Are Cast Iron Kettle's any good for storing water hot enough and long enough for lengthy gongfu session's?

if so, where can I buy one ?

>>14839167
picrel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K_eDzecqVg
are you liubao guy or xiaguan guy? or both or none of them?
you're welcome, happy that you liked it. it's just pretty fucking great tea, plain and simple. I love finding some underdogs, but this one is the biggest, I think. godspeed.

>>14839232
thermos is the keyword

>>14839232
Sort of... Cast iron kettles are fun but they are very high maintenance. They have to be emptied and then heated until dry at the end of each session, instead you should get a 1 litre vacuum insulated bottle and then dump you water in that right aft it boils, as a bonus it will be much cheaper than a cast iron kettle.
If you do want a cast iron kettle get a Japanese one from Iwachu or "sothern iron" as some of the ebay sellers list it.

>>14839244
>liubao guy or xiaguan guy?
Both

>>14839232
>water hot enough and long enough for lengthy gongfu session's
get an electric kettle with a hold temperature function and have your water the perfect temp for as long as you need it.

>>14839135
lol

>>14839311
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCol1dhLmco

>>14839135
did u just like find this tea website and now your the fucking tea expert? lollo how many times u been to chink land fag i bet you don't even Cha

>>14839150
ignore it genmaicha uses way cheap sencha and the rice is too overpowering. get sticky rice puerh or a real sencha if you're interested in cheap rice/green flavored teas

>>14839135
>yunnan-sourcing-blue-snake-cha-tou-ripe-pu-erh-tea-brick
think i had a sample of this, was pretty nice

cheap shiboridashi/hohin?

is earl grey the best black tea?

>>14818096
>have shitty hard water
>will never experience a good cuppa
reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

>>14841035
modern earl grey is literally the shittiest cheapest black tea that has 0 aroma by itself so they add bergamot to it to make it smell like something at least

>buying Japanese green tea from gaijin vendors instead of using their information to source the teas yourself
retards
No gaijin tea vendor "makes" their own tea. Every single one of them are simply repackaging (in some cases not even repackaging) tea they found in Japan to sell to you at a huge markup because you are a baka gaijin

>>14841705
it's better if they don't repackage, tea stays fresher

>>14841728
By repackaging I meant they ask their supplier to use a different (their branding) bag when packing the tea. It's cheaper and better to source tea yourself and use a proxy buyer or package forwarder to ship it from Japan to your house.

>>14841733
did i ask you a question?

>>14841812
No, but you made a statement that showed you had no idea what you were talking about, so I corrected you. You're welcome.

>>14841826
in this thread you can only speak when ordered to

>>14838762
I didn't ask you for suggestions, I ask for your preference, and it seems to be coffee. I'll disregard your opinions.

>>14839114
Have you tried roasted oolongs?

>>14841042
Brita filter

What exactly is the appeal of dan cong?

>>14842244
It's really nice, i had one that was heavily roasted and then i aged it for a few years. Very floral and enjoyable.
That being said I have seen a few unsourced claims that you should avoid Dan Congs because they are just loaded with pesticides, but i haven't really found anything documenting that.

>>14841868
a meme

>>14842395
better than nothing, mine gives a noticeable difference, both with tea and just drinking it straight

>>14838922
>>14839135
thanks for the advice i really appreciate it.

>>14842395
>hard water is softened
>a meme
Any other water softener will do. Go find your own.

Don't let your water get too soft

Anyone have any thoughts on tian jian? I have tried one that was pretty okay but I'm not sure if i should dive deeper or not

Jasmine green tea

Best tea I can buy on Amazon? Inb4 >Amazon

>>14841854
you are a fucking moron.

i prefer black teas mainly darjeeling. enjoy your overpriced puehr

>>14846252
It's puer not black tea like it says i some of the listings.
https://www.amazon.com/s?me=A3NJR96E5IH0W2&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER

>>14821393
That stuff is good, I run it through a French press.

Any other chads drink straight from the gaiwan?

>>14846432
I do that for green tea normally.

>>14846432
extra steps for grandpa style
kys you degen

Is putting ginseng in green tea orthodox or is that a scented-tisane tier cringe?
I've been recommended to take ginseng for a health condition and I find it more palatable that way

Is rishi good tea?

Tried tieguanyin for the first time. It's weird, it's not bitter at all, and leaves an aftertaste for so long.
I might have to get more; I really enjoyed it.

>>14846432
i use a gaiwan as cup sometimes if that counts.

>>14848303
Was it greener or more roasted? Where'd you get it?

>>14848696
It was greener. I got it as a sample from fullchea.

Got these two on my recent purchase order from YS among other stuff
I'll probably buy a cake of whatever Pu Erh I thought was best, as they are all near £100

>>14849992
Nice, i got a sample of the sister cake to the 2002 Tai Lian "Kunming Tea Market Opening" from the kunming dry storage sampler and thought it was pretty damn good.

>>14849992
Can you describe what the aging brings to raws?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V2LHtdECgw

>>14850207
I'm really suprised these cake's are only £112
I also wanna try the 2004 Tai Lian "Yi Wu Zheng Shan"

but I'll wait to get a sample of that for my next order

>>14850223
If you've had many young sheng pu erh's you'll notice a bitterness, astringency, and sharp freshness to most of them, not very smooth at all, not to say they're unpleasant traits

Aging sheng pu erh removes a lot of these qualities, making it quite a lot smoother and richer flavour / mellower taste, while adding new taste notes depending on the storage type, floral to fruity to nutty / dried fruit's

But I'll say, aged puerh doesn't mean it tastes better, it just means it tastes different, it's all dependant on what you look for

but I'm no expert, I just drink tea, you'd be better off looking online for these questions as there are many expert's on this that have posted articles and what not

For me, my preference is midaged sheng puerh that has been dry stored

>>14850223
Not him, aging depends a lot on location, aging in kunming is pretty gentle compared to somewhere hot and humid like Hong Kong. Anyway aging in the short term (first few years) gets out a lot of the young grassy green tea flavors. Aging in the medium term (7-15) mellows out some flavors, bitterness converts to lasting sweetness, more medicinal and herbal flavors come in. Aging long term 20+ years, i haven't had much tea this old but it tends to change quite a bit, it gets a sort of old tea taste, chinese medicine, other deeper more warm flavors.
This is a very general explanation, but hopefully gets the general idea across.

Has anyone tried this? is it any good?

I got it for free with one of my orders

>>14850338
>For me, my preference is midaged sheng puerh that has been dry stored
Yeah I've really been enjoying the 10-15 years aged range but lately I've been getting into the slightly more humid stored teas. I really like king tea mall because i think the storage on their teas is pretty ideal. Humid enough to mellow them out without wet funkiness seeping in. A lot of the "wet storage" teas from Yunnan Sourcing are kind of funky.

>>14850338
>I'm really suprised these cake's are only £112
You can get the sister cake a bit cheaper even.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/others-puerh-tea/products/2002-tailian-international-puerh-tea-seminar-commemorative-cake-400g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea?variant=31575383474279
This doesn't have the same storage as most of the KTM cakes because he just picked they up a year or two ago from kunming.

>>14850338
>>14850339
Thanks. So it's seems like aging removes (or attenuated) all the traits I dislike in raw. Might try one day.

>>14850374
I know scott doesn't really go for the wet storage either or he would stock more of it

I haven't actually got this specfic order, but "Aged Raw Pu-erh Tea Storage Comparison Sampler" on YS seems to be good to learn the differences

>>14850386
oh, cheaper for sure
I wonder if they ship to the UK?

>>14850394
Mmmm, I guess if you don't like those qualities then you don't like them, you'll definitely appreciate aging then
I guess the best comparison I can make is that young sheng puerh reminds me of a dry white wine

>>14850458
I would not really recommend buying wet storage teas from YS. I have had a few that were good but like i said he generally tends to stock ones that are WET, and you can usually taste it.
>I wonder if they ship to the UK?
Yea KTM ships to the UK, the advantage of Yunnan Sourcing is that scott does a decent job curating his stock and usually only has stuff he thinks is good. KTM has a massive selection of basically whatever he can get his hands on and lots of stuff doesn't even have descriptions, but if you are into the big factory teas and know what you want they are generally cheaper.

>>14850357
I have. Quite good actually. Changed my opinion on young sheng. It's astringent and energizing without being overly bitter. I'd recommend it. :-)

>>14849003
How long did you have to wait for it to get to you?

>>14850481
ah nice
I'll look around their shop

thanks for the big tip

>>14850641
great, cant go wrong with a decent 100g young sheng that you get for free :)

>>14821583
fart in my mouth please

>>14850649
Less than a month. Around three weeks, I guess?

>>14850649
Not him, my last fullcha order took about 2 1/2 weeks to the USA.

>be me
>find qt blonde girl
>start talking to her for a few days
>ineveitably try to talk about tea because autism
>she actually likes drinking it too and we have a nice conversation
>untill she says how she likes it
>she says she puts green tea in BOILING water and lets it sit for around fucking fifteen minutes, she says she likes it bitter
>look at her like she just grew an extra head right in front of me
>pic related mfw
>she notices so we just start joking about it, try to change subject
Genuinely didn't even think people like that existed, what do anons

>>14851472
She probably just drinks crappy green tea bags and that's how she gets flavor out of them. Don't be autistic about it. Make her some tea sometime, but sometimes you just gotta let ur girl be happy drinking instant coffee.

>>14851533
Yeah, I guess so. I normally just stick with black teas because I can't be bothered to do anything other than boil the water because I don't have an electric kettle, might have to look into some good green teas and ways to tell water temp to see what she thinks of it. If she doesn't like it, oh well

>>14848067
https://vtlseattle.com/blue-people-ginseng-oolong-8oz/
best tea. ren shen oolong is ok if you're poorfag as well, never tried non powdered ginseng with tea

Never tried powdered ginseng oolong, do the flavors actually go well together?

>>14851472
Ew

How exactly do you approach Gongfu brew times?

What timings do you have in mind when you first start your session, and how do you adjust and what makes you decide to adjust a timing, either shortning or lengthning the next steep

>>14852850
im lazy, i just add 5 seconds each time, i also keep notepad open and track how many steeps ive done too

>>14852850
Usually I'll start with instant steeps and then add five seconds at a time like the anon above. Some exceptions are balled oolongs and tightly compressed teas like mini tuos, which get longer first steeps to open them up and then a series of shorter ones. A few teas, mostly strong shengs, are potent enough that steeps can remain short for a long while. Most whites and blacks are quite forgiving, and you don't need to stress too much about perfecting their timing.

>>14853357
Ok, ill try this out

I'm just getting a little annoyed at the moment with my lapsang souchong, it's too weak for the brew times, amount im using and temperature, and the fact it's lapsang souchong
I'm pretty sure it's just quality of the tea though, my brother got 500g for under £20 like heavily cheap stuff and he drinks western style, he stopped using, I didn't want it to go to waste so I thought i'd try it out

>>14852850
If it's too weak, steep was too short
If it's too strong it was too long

Recently I started to let the tea rest a while after the wash instead of directly drinking a cup. It has drastically shorten the first steep and the time needed for rolled greens to fully open.

I also almost boiled it at the end of the session.

>>14851472
Introduce her to young shengs, Anon.

What are some /ck/ approved lapsang souchong teas? I found a fairly cheap Tarry Souchong today and am impressed by how good it is, looking for similar stuff now

>>14852850
for Chinese teas (5-9g/100ml) 10-30s (depending on how compressed it is and how much tea there is) first steep+rinse, then 5-15s for second steep, then increase time by 5-15s until tea starts getting weak, then increase time by 30-60 seconds until i get no more good tea or get impatient. often times i stop doing gong fu half way though the session and transfer the tea over to a larger pot (1000ml) and brew "western" style for 90-300s a steep because its quicker overall when i am in a hurry. i think i tend to steep a bit more aggressively then the standard recommendations

my limited experience with darjeeling teas is that they need much longer steep times to taste right. not sure about other indian teas. i have no experience yet with japanese teas and i don't drink western blended teas.

Remember the most important think is that your steep times make tea that You like the taste of not whether you are doing it orthodoxly. if you are not sure what you like or want to reevaluate the taste experiment a bit to find out what works for you.

>>14854215
>not sure about other indian teas.
i've never had a good experience gongfu-ing indian teas, no idea why, they always seem to fall off after the 2nd steep where as western brewing i also get 2 but with a lot more flavour

>>14854236
Not him but when I was out of ripe pu er I reverted to the darjeeling I had, brewing it the same gong fu way. I didn't try it like that before and it was better than I remembered.

>>14854236
yeah even my oolong style darjeeling seems to need long steeps to really shine. my best guess is that it is due to differences in plant varietal and production processes. most of the indian tea production evolved around making strong breakfast teas for the west and the traits that were selected for in the plants and in the processing were different. terroir may play a role as well.

Where would you guys recommend looking for a tea set? Operating with a cheap see through Hario and an old mug. It works, but I kind of want to look at alternatives

>>14854654
Asain brewing or western brewing?

I think I don't really love tea
I just like a sweet drink with a slightly bitter taste

Is Simpson & Vail comparable to Upton?

>>14854816
>Simpson & Vail
Nice

>>14854816
To actually answer your question i would say they have fairly similar offerings

>>14854094
I got Happy Mug’s. Is good. Someone here will probably tell me I have shit taste.

>>14852164
yes very well

>>14854094
mr zheng lapsang souchong and https://moychay.com/catalog/krasnyj_chaj/eshen-syao-chzhun

>>14854763
What would you recommend for both?
Would like some sources to then help figure out exactly what I’m looking for.

>>14825050
>>14826483

Which filters gets chlorine out better? My local tap is way too chlorinated. Almost to pool levels after a rainstorm.

>>14855323
Western brewing implies around 12oz~ for long brew times and 2 maybe 3 resteeps at most. The one teapot I want in my collection is a legit Brown Betty: the symbol of English ulatariany. You can of course brew western style in the smaller eastern teapots, but you be damned to find even an 8oz teapot made in the west. The link below is the only source I recommend for a brown betty. Tl;Dr dont buy Cauldon Betty's, only Adderley. Cauldons have a craze issue and more. I'd buy a back up lid as well.
https://www.english-teapots.com/england/teapot_brown_betty.htm

Asain sets vary wildly from gaiwain, specialty like yixing, and Chinese and Japanese style. Below are links to some that I've used before, but I'd only buy yixing after lots of research and from a trusted source like verdant tea. A good mold-made basic yixing should still be around $100. Anything fancy looking under that should be ignored. Alixpress has a lot of asain ones, but they are going to be mass produced and generic; still good though and I've used 2 in the past from alixpress.

https://etsy.me/3nksCnH
Recently bought a teapot from here. They have website as well. Would use the website instead of Etsy if your buying a lot of things, since stuff on etsy is priced expecting you to buy one thing with "free shipping".

Japanse teapots
https://yunomi.life/

Also when you mean set, do you mean the whole shabam like pitcher and cups with saucers? Know that western ones will tend to be much bigger in both teapot and cups than Asian.

P.S. a good rule of thumb for teapot is the spout should be level with the lid opening, and have strainer holes inside. A lot of western pots might not have strainer holes so get a brew basket.

>>14818096

NEW THREAD
>>14855924

>>14855924

>>14855924