/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Spring greens edition

>>15534975

I'm feeling conflicted about J Tea this year. I feel like anymore I enjoy it more in theory than in actuality, and am reaching for other, better storing teas much more consistently, but I think it would feel odd to skip out on it. Maybe I'll just order a bit of asamushi and gyokuro and deal with the high shipping price/tea price ratio.

>>15534975
Wow, that liquor looks almost neon green. What is it?

>>15534994
Yeah I'm not sure about my orders this year either, I'm really hoping cheaper shipping options will be available but they probably wont.

>>15534963
Where can I get comfy teaware? Like a small tea tray and cute pot?

>>15535012
Some kind of heavily steamed Japanese green tea like sincha, or a fresh sencha. Japanese greens get some amazing colors

>>15535021
I got my comfiest tea ware by commissioning a potter to make it for me.
It's fantastic

>>15534994
The shipping is brutal right now. Is there a store in the US that gets shincha?

>>15535030
Bullshit
Let's see it?

>>15535012

Looks like a nice fukamushicha. Here's some from o-cha from earlier this year.

>>15535016

Guess I'll go with whatever strikes me at the time for ordering.

>>15535021

I feel like I'm shilling for them too much recently but Kong Mountain Tea has some really neat stuff coming in constantly. They're doing monthly rounds where it looks like she's getting in entire runs from artisans over in China. Pricey but, again, a lot of really interesting stuff.

>>15535021
Inside the us check out yunnansourcing.us
Purple cloud tea house. Outside of US kingteamall, chawangshop, yunnansourcing.com
I would advise getting small porcelain or ceramic teapots and avoiding clay unless you want to do research, raw clay can change the flavor of your tea and you want to understand whay that's desirable and what you are trying to achieve before getting clay.

>>15535040
>Is there a store in the US that gets shincha?
https://ippodotea.com/
https://www.denstea.com/
Ippodo is a long time suggested seller, denstea looks good but i haven't tried them.

>>15535027
Interesting. I've only had bagged sencha from Maeda-En before, and it was closer to a moody yellow.
>>15535051
That leaf is beautiful. I regret only investing into pu'er, should have bought a season-appropriate green and white as well. How would you describe fukamushicha in general?

>>15535040

I haven't tried anything from them but I remember last spring an anon was talking about kettl.co. Looks like they work with Japanese farmers to then distribute out of the US.

>>15535051

>>15534858
I guess like a 64litre tub is mediumish
This isn't an exact science, there's a lot of room to wiggle
I'm 99.9% sure anything you are going to buy or will do is perfectly fine

just get anything :P generic plastic tub, cooler, anything with a lid that is relatively airtight

I think once you drink more tea, learn about it, storage all this stuff
these small anxieties will go, It's common for tea drinkers to get anxiety about each and every detail about everything when tea is extremely simple and easy-going, in every single aspect there is wiggle room

>metal Christmas popcorn tins
mmm I'm not sure about metal, but It'd probably fine
this would constitute as small or very small

>>15535047
Here they are. Iron heavy clay with a glaze that encourages "iron blossoms" to burn through it. I think it looks like quail eggs or pancakes

>>15535075

>How would you describe fukamushicha in general?

Lots of vegetal seaweed savoriness. Super hearty. Sea air. Astringent in a good way. In my experience usually pretty one note, just expressed to an absolute peak. I find that there isn't any substitute when I'm in the mood for it but that it's not something I'll grab out of the cabinet if I don't specifically want it. If I go for J teas this year I'll go asamushi, which I think tends to be a little milder and more complex, and then some really nice gyokuro for when I want to go all the way with it.

>>15535092
Not show, the other sides and the inside which has some crazing due to my use of it, makes it even comfier

I would strongly recommended these cheap Styrofoam coolers to use for a starter pumidor. I see them at my grocery store for a few dollars every summer and I'm sure you can find them cheap online, they obviously arent super robust but they have a decent capacity and seal up fairly airtight.

the other thread was fine, dont be autistic.

in unrelated news currently sipping on 2019 Xiaguan Jinbang Gan aka sweet ripe on ys(which is now half the price it was a few months back), jumped to 9g/100ml from my usual 5g and yeah the other anon was right i dont think you can over load on ripe. very thick very dark not over powering

I wasn't able to fall asleep after coming home from my bakery a few hours ago so first reply decides what tea I'm drinking.

Last digit, even = raw, odd = ripe, determines how many cakes down I go in the pumidor. Even dubs for Dan Cong hongcha, odd dubs for Tie Luo Han. Trips for some fukamushi in the back of my cupboard that is the settled dust of something from 2017's harvest.

>>15535128
that fukumushi would be fun but lets hope u get a ripe

>>15535092
Looks great

>>15535092
Nice. The crazing is only on the inside? What volume of capacity are those?

>>15535133

Tie Luo Han it is. This is the stuff from High Climate Tea in Asheville that some friends brought back for me, recently. Very roasty hojicha body with spiced orange gumdrop layered over.

>>15535144
Thanks friend.
https://www.etsy.com/people/ingenielsen Here's the potter I commissioned to make it.

I have been drinking this 2006 Longyuan Hao ripe from puerhshop this week. It's a ripe. It's nice and easy drinking and i don't get any off notes in the smell or taste, it's not bland or weak but or its unremarkable. Good tea when i want something uncomplicated that doesn't demand much attention.

>>15535153

>>15535149
Somewhere around 100ml, definitely over if I fill it all the way. Volume varies in hand made teawares after all, I don't mind at all.
its nice and sturdy and even rolled oolong can't make the gaiwan overfill.

And yes crazing only on the inside, except on the tray at the bottom of the gaiwan, as I spill tea down there all the time, so it has a little too.

Currently drinking green tea out of it, specifically Yunnan "Zhu Ye Qing" from YS. Which is also nice

>>15535082
Thank you once more, anon. I've been so confused about how to make great tea for so long that, when I finally had a nice session with the wuyi oolong, going back to a completely lifeless brew again was rather disappointing and confusing. I see now that I still have much to learn, and appreciate your help with that. I'll look into buying some small containers and a 60g Boveda for each. I imagine I can just put my non-puer teas in the metal container so I still get use out of it, too.
>>15535094
Interesting. I wouldn't have had much interest if I just glanced by those notes, but I think I can see the appeal of a hearty 'sea air'. That description alone kind of makes me want to sip at a gently windy pier. I imagine it's a refreshing one; I'd love to drink tea that feels like a breath of fresh air.

Seeing as I'll have to prepare my pu'ers for consumption, and most of my tea will be pu'er, I think I might like to try some greens this season. Something complex and soothing perhaps; that asamushi sounds like it would be perfect right now. I do like teas with a lot of depth and astringency too, though.
>>15535092
If he aimed to make them look like quail eggs, I agree, he hit the goal right on the dot. I'm just using basic white teaware, but I'm sure that some nice cups or gaiwans really elevate the experience of each cup.

>>15535178

Brews up a beautiful magenta color, though it doesn't quite come through in pictures.

>>15535207
It was the look I was going for, I asked for the glaze and clay specifically so it'd have that look, after looking through the potter's Instagram to see what kind of glazes they had.

And they do, especially custom made ones. It also makes you much more careful when handling them, so it has also improved by pour technique and grip

>>15535182
That's pretty cool. I didn't realize glaze changed with use, thought it was only yixing. It is indeed comfy then. 100ml isn't too big. It's annoying you have to commission teaware in the west if you don't need a fuckhueg pot.

>>15535215

The few rounds I've had with this the roasty notes always came across to me exactly like hojicha, but this time it's starting to develop very clearly into Burly tobacco. I can't tell if my perspective on hojicha and this flavor in general is evolving or if the tea is changing flavor.

>>15535229
Yep, certain glazes craze over time. I didn't know this one did until I was cleaning it and noticed it had started gaining some awhile back.

And 100ml is a nice base line for daily gong fu sessions. Its in my opinion, the goldilocks zone for volume for gong fu drinking. Not to little, not too much, easily adjustable by adding more or less leaf. Just right

Though a few of the sites have affordable and well sized gaiwans and pots that look pretty nice
But commissioning gives you a higher quality product, that's worth the wait. In my case months cause covid hit and the shipping became retarded and tried to send it back to the potter several times.


Which is another reason I recommend her if you want to commission something, she kept in contact through the whole ordeal and offered refunds when it was taking longer than expected.

Great teaware and customer service

Has anyone tried one of these lactic acid fermented Japanese teas like pic related? As a lover of fermented teas i have been thinking about getting some for a while but i was hoping to hear someone's thoughts on them
Yunomi.life has several
https://yunomi.life/collections/japanese-dark-tea/products/goishicha-tea-from-farmer-nagao-kitamura

>>15535207
that's the funny thing
yancha is great for new tea drinkers because they don't know what thing's like a pumi is, they just brew it and drink it and if it's good tea, you're set

puerh can be a pain to first get into I suppose in comparison, but it just requires a bit of lurking in fourms or here or wherever and you pick up the basics enough to be able to know what to do and also what to buy

>>15535284
>puerh can be a pain to first get into I suppose in comparison, but it just requires a bit of lurking in fourms
Aside from maybe Mei Leaf videos on practical techniques, anons here have been my lifeline for learning about tea, what may be worth buying, troubleshooting, and so on. I thought pumidors were mostly for long-term aging or just a dedicated enthusiast activity otherwise. It is very eye-opening for me to see how every little aspect of tea preparation makes such a big difference. In fact, it also makes my longtime experiences of struggling with brews more understandable. I knew I had much to learn about, but it's really fun to see just how much there is to learn after all.

I'm becoming more aware about my own flavor and texture preferences as well. I wouldn't have thought 'cannabis' retronasal smell/flavor would be good, but I ended up liking it a fair bit. I think if I had to get into green or white tea, I'd prefer something with a lot of L-theanine and a quality that gives a feeling of fresh air. When I have bad tea, my breathing feels worse, but from the relaxation of having a pleasant tea alone, I find my breath picks up, and becomes easier and steady.
>yancha is great for new tea drinkers
What sort of qualities does it have? Also, what do you think of kukicha? I hear it has more L-theanine than sencha and many other greens.

>>15535332
Yancha is just Wu Yi Oolong

I've never heard of kukicha
I don't drink green tea

Mei Leaf is kinda a joke
you'll learn more about tea by watching
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P27k7eJs8ts&t

than anything Mei Leaf likes to shill out

>>15535356
>>15535332

Mei Leaf does have some decent info but I agree with other anon, he's kind of gross for me. Farmerleaf, who he linked, has some really cool stuff, and TeaHouseGhost has an entire series going into the minutia of basically every Chinese tea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ_7sfEf9-8&t=1s

>>15535366
>>15535356
I only use Mei leaf for its steeping guide, which is pretty nice. Have never ordered from them as Mei Seems like a huckster to me

>>15528002
Posting a bit late because im a master of procastination

Honey Orchid Dan Cong Oolong
5.5g for 140ml

The difference in appearance between this and the crab is night and day, its dark like a black tea and smells a bit like one with some flowery notes

The color is a nice amber compared to the yellow/green yesterday

First steep/rinse had a nice honey/nectar kind of taste
Second steep added some peach to the mix
Steeps after the second started to get bitter and on the fifth steep most of the floweryness were gone


I honestly did not expect oolong teas to be THIS different, going from a lawnmower to honey and peaches made me exited to taste what the other samples has to offer.
Im probably done with oolong for this weekend, might break into the puerh tomorrow

>>15535401
how long did you steep?

>>15535401
I love dan cong oolongs, probably my favorite oolong for their fruity flavors.

>>15535356
>>15535366
I'm not really interested in Mei Leaf's offerings, but I found his steeping guides to be clearer and more helpful than the content from others like TeaHouseGhost. I found him to be too verbose yet slow and indirect. Perhaps that's just his more recent/uncut videos, though. I have no idea what to think of Farmer Leaf's content, to be frank.
>>15535401
Very nice, cool to see you went through with the follow-up post. That flavor profile seems quite nice. Was it refreshing, or more mellow and cozy? How was the thickness/astringency? I may have to look into getting some myself down the line.

btw
guys looking for puerh storage knowledge
you're in luck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_O84oOWXigY
live right now

>>15535426
20+5 at 95-100c
doing 30 for the third infusion made it a bit bitter,
so i might experiment with reducing the temp after the second steep

>>15535461
Nice, that's what I tend to do for strip oolong as well. never thought about lowering its temp thou. Tell me how that goes, I'm interested to hear what it changes

>>15535460
i dont really care for this guys videos. the only one i watched he brewed up some shu western style in a gaiwan, so what is his advice worth.

>>15535445
I would describe it as refreshing, the peach is really similar to peach ice tea.
I think it would go well with some kind of sweet snack.
As for the mouthfeel it felt very thick and the aroma punched me in the mouth like i owed it money.
Its not something i could imagine drinking very often but I would recommend trying it out.

Speaking of Japanese greens is this really rustic looking bancha any good or should i not bother? I would normally avoid summer harvest large leaf like the plague when buying Chinese teas.

>>15535532
is a different guy

>>15532449
>We are all humans with differing taste receptors and preferences
I like fish and sea food so perhaps I don't pick up on more mild marine notes or interpret them differently?

>I hope it is clear that the posts I am making aren't to complain
I just don't want to be responsible for people wasting money. I have a limited tea budget so I guess I am a bit neurotic about it.

>subjective notes about my brewing experiences and experiments that may interest or provide helpful notes to other anons
tasting notes are very much welcome here.

Had you previously had shu before? I thought you had said you had?
I ask because I will note note most shu (or a least what I have tried others may disagre) is a bit weird in one way or another. It is literally composted tea leaves and I don't think it is possible to entirely get away from that fact. Shu is definitely a bit of an acquired taste and if you have not had shu before I would not blame anyone for not liking it or having some reservations. Its possible that tea just sucks though.

If you main problem is the that the tea is too weak I would use more. I always brew more than 5g/100ml for shu and also always use boiling water for shu. Treat brewing guidelines like in the pastebin or the PDF from meileaf as a starting point. Those guidelines will not be ideal for every tea and they may not be ideal for your tastes. You should experiment some. I still use a timer but I set my steep times more in response to the tea than any preset formula. As for weight I use 7g/100ml as my baseline ratio for most teas but I often use more for shu. That is just what I do though you may find other parameters work better for you.

If it just tastes too fishy to you the only thing you can do for taste is let it air out. No brewing parameters are going to get rid of funk.

>>15535427
Is that typical of the style?

>>15534795
>if drinking the rinse will make you sick, so will drinking any infusions coming after…
I would be inclined to agree with that sentiment. I have not seen any study that shows rinsing to have health benefits. If anyone has any academic citations I would love to see them. There are definitely some other taste realted reasons to consider rinsing though. Such as helping to open up compressed tea and removing tea dust that may affect the first brew.

>>15534727
>when they're hard and lifeless, get a bowl, fill it up with water and put your boveda's in there, after a couple days they'll be brand new
if you do that you need to use deionized water so you don't mess up the calibration of the pack. Its probably better to put the pack in a sealed container next to a bowl of water so if wicks up humidity from the air instead of submerging it. I would also double check the calibration of the pack with a hygrometer before putting it back into service.

>>15534858
>To clarify, do you mean that I'd only need one or two 60g bovedas in a single small pumi?
Yeah that sounds fine. If it turns out you need more because its not keeping the humidity up you can always add more later. I would probably start with the 65% especially if you have no interest in long term aging because they have a lower risk of mold. Be aware of how the dew point works if you are not already. You do not want to have the temperature drop a bunch suddenly or you will get condensation and may get mold. Here is a nice dew point calculator http://www.dpcalc.org/

>>15535737
Dan Cong oolongs tend to be more fruity and less floral than wuyi oolongs of course there are probably exceptions but that has been my general experience.

Meccha oishii dess

>>15535788
I think rinsing tea is partially a relic from when tea processing was more dirty and teas would have lots of dust dirt and other foreign matter. It also definitely helps some teas that have an off taste like some ripe puer to rinse them, it can help get rid off the off flavors.
As you mention it also helps remove tea dust and open up a tea to get it going.
It's possible that rinsing could remove pesticides but i haven't seen any studies on the subject. Many pesticides are also systemic and are inside the plant instead of on the surface.

>>15535792
How does it hols up after being nearly a year old? Do you store it in the fridge?

>>15535788
>There are definitely some other taste realted reasons to consider rinsing though.
I haven't really tested this hypothesis but I thought tannin extracts at high temp so I nuke dry leaves with boiling water hoping to reduce astringency.

>>15535818
I keep everything in the fridge until the packet has been opened

Decided to try mixing 1 teaspoon of rooibos with 1 teaspoon of meadowsweet

Eear fucking lord I am in fucking heaven. This tea is so fucking amazing

>>15535788
im onboard for rinsing "waking up leaves" and removing some of the smaller broken tea leaves, but claiming that drinking a 10 sec rinse will make you sick compared to all the subsequent infusions, sounds VERY suspect and pseudo-y, and we all know how much some posters here love pseudoscience

>>15535075
>Interesting. I've only had bagged sencha from Maeda-En before, and it was closer to a moody yellow.
water hardness also plays a huge role in color. i am not a expert on Japanese greens but i suspect you need softer water to get that color. you can still make good tea with some hard water but the color may be different than if soft water was used.

>>15535108
>2019 Xiaguan Jinbang Gan aka sweet ripe
how good is it? its certainly cheap.

>i dont think you can over load on ripe.
yeah i have done some crazy ratios with shu before. i once did 18g in a 100 ml gaiwan the tea was fine (probably not a improvement though) but i overdid it on the caffeine.

>>15535207
>I'll look into buying some small containers and a 60g Boveda for each
i will note you cant easily overdo it with Boveda packs. using more boveda packs will make them last longer without recharging and will allow them to correct the humidity faster with the downsides of increased cost and space usage.

>Seeing as I'll have to prepare my pu'ers for consumption, and most of my tea will be pu'er, I think I might like to try some greens this season.
some puer can really benefit from a rest after travel but is not all bad on arrival. however, i seem to recall your big order was was from china so you probably have to wait anyways.

>>15535269
>Goishicha
i have been interested in trying those myself at some point but have not done so yet.

>>15535332
>When I have bad tea, my breathing feels worse
as a warning if you have a mold hypersensitivity some heicha may bother you a bit.

>>15535384
>Mei Seems like a huckster to me
i have heard his marketing and prices are more of a problem than the quality of his goods.

>>15535737
>Is that typical of the style?
i tend to think of dancongs as more floral than fruity but they can often be quite fruity as well. i have only had a few of them so i may be wrong though.

>>15535930
>how good is it? its certainly cheap.
its a very nice ripe, brought it for xmas 2019 and even then it didn't have a wet pile taste, well worth £10 for a 350g cake. very smooth and a little sweet, good woodiness without it being overpowering

>>15535836
>I keep everything in the fridge until the packet has been opened
What sort of teas do you have in the fridge? just Japanese greens or do you have other stuff?

Starting off my weekend with "2018 Fuding Shou Mei White Tea". The cake is very tightly compressed, and the delicate leaves have a tendency to flake into dust if not careful. The tea soup is delicious, tastes like fruity (peaches maybe?) honey, and has that little spice taste at the end of the sweetness, a character of many loose white teas i've tried before. My only complaint is that the little bits of leaves and particles don't really go away after rinse, and I'm too lazy to strain into a gongdao so I'll just have to live with the bits of leaves at the bottom of each cup. Overall a great experience, won't be purchasing again though because this is my first cake of white, and theres many more to try in the future. I've still got my eyes on a silver needle cake some anon linked a couple threads prior, that will probaby be my next foray.

>>15536440
>won't be purchasing again though because ... theres many more to try in the future
i am in the same place on my tea journey right now. something would have to really wow and be a good deal in order for me to try and stock up.

>>15536440
yeah i hate large unrolled leaves pressed into cakes, it impossible to break off without turning to dust and even if you get a chunk when the outer leaves hydrate & expand they compress the inner material so they never open up

>>15536440
>>15536510
I really want to try one of these white tea cakes from xiaguan because they are the most visually appealing ones i have seen.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/white-tea/products/2016-xiaguan-yue-guang-moon-light-cake-360g-bai-cha-white-tea
The newest one is $10 cheaper
https://kingteamall.com/collections/white-tea/products/2018-xiaguan-bai-cha-white-tea-320g-yunnan-yueguangbai

>>15535092
Wow. My exact tastes. I never considered getting a gaiwan and I'm jelly af rn. How much did it cost? Which country are you from?

>>15536557
see
>>15535154

Is kratom tea?

>>15536565
Thanks

>>15536397
Black and oolong too. Don't have any pu'er or white so I don't know anything about storing those. It might be pointless to refrigerate some of that stuff but I've got to put it somewhere and the temperature's stable there.

>>15535153
I actually lived in Asheville for a few years up until last summer. Never actually went to High Climate teas as I generally just import everything myself.
Neat to see them mentioned here though.

love green tea

𓁹

>>15536587
>Is kratom tea?
It's a tissane.
Don't bother brewing kratom, just mix the powder into a few oz of warm tap water and chug it, with some plain water to chase. The stuff in headshops/gas stations is gross. Krackenkratom dot com is decent quality and price wise and less sketchy than most of the online vendors.

>>15536751
Maybe I'll try that one. I got mine from golden monk. It tastes and 'feels' the same to me as my head shop's green meang da

>>15536817
>Golden Monk
They seem reasonable and being a member of the American kratom association is a good sign. However i can't help but be skeptical when all their varieties are priced the same for the same quantity. I typically use an older private seller who is not taking new customers at the moment and the difference in price between his cheap commercial bali and his mang da is almost double.

Having some more of this 2004 Nanqiao Bada Nannuo Blend raw. It's very good, one of the best teas i have had. Still a big ask price wise but I'm glad I got one.
https://teaswelike.com/product/2004-nanqiao-bada-nannuo-blend/

>>15536557
>>15536682
161.53 Dollars including tax and the shipping method I chose for the entire set, which cost a bit more
America, but the potter is in Belgium and ships from there.

The Glaze is Yellow Salt, and to get the iron blossoms it NEEDS to be on Iron heavy clay.

Hope you get a set you enjoy friend

And yeah >>15536565
that' guy linked the shop I got it from already

This is the worst time of year for tea.
Spring stock from last year running low or getting flavorless. fall oolong too expensive to stock up on, chinese new year so can't buy something to tide you over until harvest
Wake me when I can buy half a kilo of long jing

>>15537424
>Wake me when I can buy half a kilo of long jing
End of march right? Where do you usually get yours?

>>15537424
lol drinking 2 year old Longjing right now, defiantly not as good as fresh but it was on sale and a year old when i brought it
>>15537450
>End of march right?
1st pickings are first week of April

>>15537450
Yunnan Sourcing

>>15537495
>1st pickings are first week of April
Ahhhhhhhhh
Too long

>>15537293
>2004 Nanqiao Bada Nannuo Blend raw
what drew you to that particular cake?

>>15537712
Lots of the other teas on Teas We Like said they were powerfully bitter, normally i like bitter but they made them sound way bitter. So a combination of the price being affordable, the description sounding good and some of the other teas sounding too bitter for my lazy grampa style brewing.
The description says
> A very balanced and quite lively tea
Which is dead on accurate, it's one of the best balanced teas i have had where all the flavors work together and blend nicely and none of the flavours drown out or cover up any of the others.

>>15528065
Steeping dan cong black tea with 6g of leaves right now. It tastes really different actually, like roses with fruit in the background. The instructions were 6-8g of leaf but dangit, I'm too niggardly to use 8g of leaf at once. But it is better this way.

>>15537775
>grampa style Sheng
i think you are the first i have head say they like to do that. i could see how it could work with aged sheng but i don't get the impression its very common.

>>15537984
>i don't get the impression its very common.
Probably not, i grampa style everything, even young sheng but not very often. I usually stick to the aged stuff and it generally works out fine, apparently I'm not as sensitive to bitter flavors as most people so maybe that's why i can get away with it. As far as I'm concerned if i cant drink a tea grampa style using 100°c water it's not worth drinking.

drinking 2020 first flush mao feng
It's super subtle by this point, small hints of sweet grassy notes, maybe a bit of hay?
It's definitely on it's last legs, I probably have only enough for 2 more brews from the bag.
Did 7g/160 mL at 15s + 3s with 80 degree water. Currently on my 2nd brew but I have low hopes it will gain more flavor.
Although I'm a natural pessimist, don't take it the wrong way. This tea still absolutely mogs any bagged green tea I ever had, I'm just comparing it to itself from 10 months ago. It's probably still a solid 7/10 tea.

>>15538159
>Mao Feng green tea is from Yunnan "large leaf" varietal tea tree.
Nice, sounds like it's probably pretty tasty

>>15535731
>I like fish and sea food so perhaps I don't pick up on more mild marine notes or interpret them differently?
I like them as well, but I think the issue is more that I need to air it out and/or place the cake in a pumidor to rest for 2-4 weeks. I believe that may resolve some of the issues I had, if the advice of other anons are anything to go by. I could swear I sensed something maple-like, and I think it may pop back up if I manage this tea better. I'm getting around 900g more of pu'er in the mail, so I certainly need to figure out how to take care of it anyway.
>I just don't want to be responsible for people wasting money. I have a limited tea budget so I guess I am a bit neurotic about it.
I appreciate the concern, though I certainly believe the error and responsibility lays in my hands. Even if Verdant didn't make a good batch, pu'er maintenance is something I will need to learn and practice if I want any of my cakes to taste or smell decent.
>Had you previously had shu before? I thought you had said you had?
I've had a few pu'ers, but mostly low grade stuff that wasn't maintained or brewed effectively. I recall really liking the texture and astringency, even if taste and smell were weak. I'm still very much so a novice, but I have a general fondness for funk, reasonable bitterness, and moderate sweetness. I've fermented many foods and drinks, and eat odd products regularly. So, I thought pu'ers (ripe and raw) would be worth trying. I probably went too far into the same kind of tea, though. I have a feeling I might find some preference with white tea in the future, though I don't know any vendors who will ship me a white cake (or a few of) for little or not shipping and reasonable item cost, aside from maybe Fullchea.

I think I can rectify some problems with the tea. I just need to encourage it to get better in the appropriate growth environment. It may be a long time, but I'll be setting up a pumidor and letting the tea sit for a little while.

>>15535930
Thank you for your various advice and warnings. I've been doing my best to control parameters like temperature, time, and leaf ratio, but I'll have to try a pumi to improve my results. Thankfully, I can just drink one of my samplers tonight and rest easy. I'll post a picture and some tasting notes whenever I get down to it.

Just went through my third infusion of Verdant's 2020 Spring Tieguanyin oolong tea, and have finished writing my notes. I quite enjoyed this, and will brew more infusions until it goes dead. Here are my journaled thoughts:

Dry leaf is is very floral and gently sweet. Lavender and some low bergamot. On brewing, perhaps geranium. Some garden vine, especially on second infusion and onwards. Very faint bitterness, largely a gentle tea. Light sweetness. Shallow yellow liquor color.

Feels very 'pretty' and relaxing. The retronasal floral scent lingers, and the feeling on the tongue is gentle but not flat. Astringency is modest. Bitterness is low, only really noticeable on the tip of a tongue as an aftertaste. It feels very 'wet' in the mouth, almost quenching. If I had to make a visual comparison, it is like walking in a freshly-watered garden and smelling a bund of delicate flowers.

I don't see many of the 'spice' notes they mention. Tried to brew 5s longer, but it just dulled the floral notes, made it more 'muggy', and increased bitterness and astringency ever so slightly. I think it is better off without them though; this is a very relaxing and elegant tea.

....

So glad I have a spare sample of this for another day. Not bad at all.

>>15538337
It's good if you like more grassy notes

>>15537840

Yeah, I'll only very rarely go above 6.5g with it just because it isn't a cheap tea, but I've had it up at 8 and it really pops.

>>15535092
Looks fucking awesome anon.

>>15534963
Post tea trays

>>15540933
I need to clean mine

>>15540933

Here's the current one >>15535178

Pic is in the mail.

>>15534963
Just tried Tieguanyin oolong for the first time, a very strong flavour of freshly cut grass, olives and perhaps linen. Not sure how much of this I could drink but very pleasant and refreshing.

>>15540933
just big enough to fit all my gear and it sits nicely next to my tower when im not drinking. (its a waste jug not a sharing vessel dont worry)

>>15541090
Very interesting. I just had tieguanyin ooling last night as well, though my leaf/liquor shapes and flavor interpretations were quite different. Did you get any floral notes? I agree with "fresh cut grass". Maybe because they're different tieguanyin. I think it is an infrequent drinker as well, though.

>>15541130
That's just a placeholder image not specifically what I was drinking. Tea leaves themselves were tighter rolled then that image and the liquor had a slight amber hue but still pale. I'd say floral yes, almost a jasmine quality.

>>15540933
I dont have anything traditional yet, just the bare necessities

>girlfriend bought me Chinese green tea
>again
fucking bitch don't you know I hate that fluorine ridden shiet stop BUYING IT YOU FUCKING FOOL get me some other tea damn

>>15541391
Nice setup, looks a lot like mine

>>15540933
The tray is from Crimson Lotus Tea, and honestly it's kind of a pain; I like the look but waste is led away by a tube, and sometimes it feels like it's more trouble than it's worth. If I get another, it will be slatted instead. CLT's tea is great, though- in the gaiwan is some of their 2005 Top of the Clouds sheng.

>>15540933
i just use a baking sheet.

Can someone point me in the direction of a good quality gaiwan?

Just bought this gaiwan from Amazon and overall it's a good build in terms of solidarity which helps retain heat. However, due to its thickness it has a very thick lip which causes the tea to catch that lip and ride down the side of the gaiwan. It makes a fucking mess everywhere no matter how I pour it. The opening is also very open and wide causing the liquid to split off into 2 different streams which causes them to collide mid air causing another fucking mess.

This red pilled me that not all gaiwans are created equal. Physics plays a crucial role in how it pours.

>>15541394
WTF anon
Is she trying to poison you?

>>15541391
Is that a shiboridashi? You make black or pu'er tea in it?

>>15541930
Cool gaiwans in shops in order of price from $20 to $200
Kingteamall
Purple cloud tea house
Kong mountain tea
Bitterleaf teas
Mud and leaves
Red blossom tea
I will post a few of my favorites in a minute

>>15541394
you realize that all teas are high in fluoride, right? Japanese tea is all radiated now and pajeet tea has poo on it so better not drink any tea

>>15541930
>>15542124
Thin porcelain models
https://kingteamall.com/collections/gaiwan/products/dehua-white-porcelain-gaiwan-150cc-175cc-ktm15?variant=37865651634356
https://kingteamall.com/collections/gaiwan/products/milk-white-porcelain-gaiwan-160cc
https://teaswelike.com/product/thin-70ml-porcelain-gaiwan/
https://www.mudandleaves.com/store/p382/150ml_Scholar%27s_Jingdezhen_Porcelain_Gaiwan.html
https://www.mudandleaves.com/store/p915/jingdezhen-porcelain/gaiwan/small/hole-in-saucer.html
https://www.mudandleaves.com/store/p106/jingdezhen-porcelain/gaiwan/white/classic-120ml.html
Personally i find the more narrow taller models to handle and pour better

>>15541930
>>15542124
>>15542161
Another couple thin porcelain one i missed great shape on this one
https://www.bitterleafteas.com/shop/teaware/sweet-water-gaiwan
https://www.kongmountaintea.com/gaiwan/classic-thin-wall-white-porcelain-gaiwan-tall
Heavier ceramic and thick porcelain gaiwans
https://purplecloudteahouse.com/collections/gaiwans/products/lubao-gaiwan
https://kingteamall.com/collections/gaiwan/products/jianzhan-gai-wan-140-cc-ktm008
https://kingteamall.com/collections/gaiwan/products/antique-coarse-blue-and-white-porcelain-150cc-gaiwan-tea-cup
https://kingteamall.com/collections/gaiwan/products/antiqued-celadon-porcelain-gaiwan-110ml-for-chinese-gongfu-tea-tea-cup
https://www.chawangshop.com/huaning-pottery-wood-fired-gaiwan.html
https://redblossomtea.com/products/ru-kiln-gaiwan-series-1
https://www.bitterleafteas.com/shop/teaware/gaiwan/sunlit-gaiwan

>>15542161
>>15542214
Thank you very much

I dont know what this assam shit is but I hate it and I'm annoyed it was given to me

Anyone ever order from Japanese Greentea (sic) Co.?

>>15542594
These guys?
https://www.jp-greentea.co.jp/english/index.html
They look like they only do business to business sales on their website

>>15542637
These guys
https://www.japanesegreenteain.com/collections/loose-leaf-tea
They ship from the states USPS instead of insane FedEx fees.

>>15542648
Haven't heard of them before, they are fairly pricey.
For JP green tea sellers within the US
The shops in this post should be a good start.
>>15535074
At this point it might be best to wait for this years harvest to get Japanese greens.

>>15542745
Yeah I never heard of them so I wonder if the price is justified. By March there will probably still be no affordable shipping. Things only ever get worse.

>>15541930
Standard white Ruyao Gaiwan. Been using mine for the last two years far more than any other piece of teaware I own.
Broke a small piece of the lip a year ago, and I still can't bring myself to replace it.

https://teaware.house/collections/gaiwan/products/standard-white-ruyao-gaiwan-100ml

I'm a filthy westerner and can't speak moon any idea what this kanji says
At first I thought it said made in japan as is says in english on the other end of the kettle but I looked up the translation and its not these

>>15543295
Does it match this one?
I think it says Iwachu which roughly translates into southern iron it's the name of the foundry that makes cast iron

>>15543579
that is it! thank you it was killing me and im too much of a gaijin to know how to search for kanji

>>15541998
It was listed as a gaiwan on YS, but it really does look like one of the japanese ones now that you mention it

Soon

>>15543106
That's literally the same gaiwan I bought except a slightly different color.

It works like shit. Makes a fucking mess every time I pour.

>>15544155
that's called user error.

>>15544155
Hopefuly you find one that works better for you. I got kind of carried away spamming links at you there.

>>15544155
Mine pours perfectly and has a lid that fits so well if you use a specific amount of water it straight up suctions itself to the base. I've picked it up by the lid with it filled with water before.
Either you got really unlucky, or its user error.

>>15544327
I think I figured out why I kept messing up my gaiwan pour.

After doing many testing pours I realized that if I rotate my wrist inwards as I pour it helps direct the flow of liquid into a singular stream that's easier to maintain.

>>15544424
Nice

Okay I live at extremely high altitude, so boiling point for me is 92c (198f)
Am I doomed to never enjoy black tea properly?

>>15545294
Don't overthink it.

>>15545350
It seems like a pretty significant difference

Journaled my brew again. This was for a Spring 2020 Laoshan black tea from Verdant Tea:

Dry leaf smells of milk chocolate and perhaps faintly roasted nuts.

Roasted chocolate and damp bark smell on first infusion. Did it a bit longer than I would have liked, at 205F, 5g, 100ml, 15s. Flavor is a bit odd; not unbearably bitter, but fairly so. Medium astringency, and moderate thickness.

Retried second infusion at 205F for 10s. Leaf became very toasty, rather bread-like in scent. The liquor is similar. Bitterness was cut down, and the bread notes are more prominent, but I'm not picking up much else. No real chocolate notes or similar.

Third infuson made at 200F for 12s. The nutty bread notes are comfortably visible here, though the liquor is a bit weaker. The retronasal scent and flavor seems focused on the bread notes, almost tasting like slightly charred bread. There has been virtually no sweetness in this tea, but it hasn't been unbearably bitter. It isn't flat, but it is very mono-characteristic.

This seems like a very warming tea compared to some of the others I have been drinking recently. Something about this tea leads me to think it would make an interesting cold brew, perhaps mixed with some almond milk and a sweetener. Those toasty notes would be pleasant when paired with something more gentle and sweet. It would be a nice breakfast drink for those who like a splash of milk in their morning tea as well.

I don't think I would buy this, as I have some faint stomach/gastric upset. Historically, black teas have often caused some unpleasant effects in me, though I largely consumed bagged blacks before. That said, this has been less aggressive in that regard.

>>15544424
Thank you, anon. I have been pouring and struggled a bit, by a slight turn inwards is working quite well for me. I have to use my left hand though, my right hand pours always seem to end poorly.

>>15545748
Sounds like it's shit

>>15545793
I'm inclined to agree; it wasn't great. So far, I think the 2020 Spring Qiya Wuyi oolong they have was the best (the cannabis retronasal scent and flavor was surprisingly relaxing). I think their oolongs may be good in general so far from my testing, but not impressed with the pu'ers or blacks. I'm just being verbose as a way to explore the brewing process and improve my appreciation/detection of flavors and scents. As stated, I do not recommend it. I'm having a decent time with the learning process, though.

>>15545748
stop buying from verdant holy fuck guys

>>15545858
These are just samples. I got them since they would be made 'free' after their $5 coupon they give you. I just bought from them for their teaware for the most part. The majority of my tea is coming from Fullchea. I agree that they're not worth buying from again though.

>>15545858
I never heard of these guys
If you're going chinese tea why wouldn't you use YS or King Tea or W2T?

>>15545884
Fullchea is a scary place
the curation there is truly garbage
be careful with what you're selecting, for safety just stick to some factory poductions like XG/Dayi
the older you go with both the better, more so XG than Dayi
Like young XG tuo's should be thrown in the trash
young XG anything desu
Dayi you cant go wrong with any of their shou's, Dayi is a great shou vendor and also really affordable, but sheng should go older
I wonder what their storage is, hopefully nothing too dry


For other tea's Idk I'd recommend MST maybe
https://mountainstreamteas.com/
or even this
https://oldwaystea.com/t/tea
or this
https://txs-tea.com/

lots of people got duped by verdant in the past "1100 YEAR OLD TREES GUSHU PUER!!!!"

>>15545892
W2T is great, Paul has a lot of good contacts, experience and curation, gets his hands stuck into his own productions
YS gets farmers to make his cakes so the proccesing can be shoddy and the aging is normally done in kunming, so trash basically
though you can do worse than YS, some of his older productions have been good
just try get non-kunming stuff, even though the other stuff is still relatively not great storage, better than kunming

never heard of King tea, so probably trash

>>15545949
>YS gets farmers to make his cakes
Well good thing I'm not a puerh lesbian.

>>15545961
that's true
almost all of his other tea's are mediocre at best
better to get from other places
not like westerns have good access to any decent oolong's though, mostly it's low elevation high oxidation stuff

>>15534963
is little specks of white mold on loose tea toxic?

>>15545979
yeah if you've got mold at all, especially it's pure white and not the cobweb stuff (even though that's still bad) either condition it to get rid of the mold, but preferrably throw it out and make sure your other tea's aren't infected also

>>15545965
I've never had a problem with YS loose leaf teas. Long Jing gets me tea drunk and is flavorful, Oolongs are strong, Nin'ger black tea (my favorite) tastes like honey, white tea is good and complex. The worst offerings I get from them is their purple teas which are insanely bland and flavorless.
YS is cheap enough (calculating it out, on their mid range options I can get about a liter of tea liquor for $0.14, their higher non puerh options I can do about $0.75 per liter) and gives decent freebies too. The worst part is shipping but thats anywhere now
I don't care for Puerh so most Puerh lesbian hate for Scott doesn't concern me

>>15545996
if it works for you it works for you
can do way worse

it's not that's it's bad tea, it's just not good compared to what you probably could get for the same price from other sources i linked

>>15545949
Kt is the homie. Only vendor who takes pictures of your order before it goes out.

>>15546004
I have trust issues with most tea websites. I find YS fine. I spend maybe $250 a year on tea which is really not too bad for something I drink every day.
I practically replaced alcohol entirely with tea, which is saving me nearly $4,000 a year, so I really don't complain if Scott upsells the tea by a few cents per gram compared to elsewhere

>>15545949
YS isn't top tier even though I see it recommended so much?
I got a box of oolong from Mountain Stream Teas, haven't opened it yet, but he gave me a freebie sample of big leaf green which was strangely salty and I sort of want to buy it now.

>>15546109
It's an angry puerh lesbian. YS is still great, they just don't focus on puerh so lesbians discount them

>>15546122
Ah, not a problem then for a heteronormative tea drinker

>>15546109
because it's a generally safe and cheap place to buy tea / introduce yourself to tea

I personally don't buy from there, be it puerh or any other tea, just because of the flat markup and kunming, but it's not so bad

>>15546160
The smart thing to do is look at the tea samplers, get get each of these teas individually, and save a few dollars. The samplers are pretty great but he marks them up for grouping them together. Also always make sure to check the coupons because you can usually get something free.
buying a like 2 or 3 samplers worth of tea and a kilo of miscellaneous around the april harvest stocks you up nicely for a year.

>>15542994
Nozomi $35
https://www.japanesegreenteain.com/collections/loose-leaf-tea
Nozomi Gold $6.95
https://www.arahataen.com/products/detail.php?product_id=1015
Nozomi silver $5.63
https://www.arahataen.com/products/detail.php?product_id=1077

>>15546203
Idk if the tea sampler packs will tell you what you want to know
but yes, buy a FUCK ton of samples

Idk if I'd say only buy that many samples for the whole year and a kilo of tea, I'd rather say just buy a fuck ton of samples all year round

>>15546224
the tea is only picked once and degrades in quality at your house or at the warehouse. It's just smart to buy your bulk all at once and save on having to pay freaking DHL more than once.

>>15545949
With the exception of one goofy option I selected for fun, everything else I bought were recommendations from anons in the thread. So, I'm not too worried. The biggest issue is lacking a decent pumidor setup, but I'm looking into it. I do wish I bought stuff other than pu'er though; that is my biggest issue. If I could get a few cakes of white and green at a low price shipped free at a low minimum, I might consider it. Seems like the season for greens too.

>>15546259
>seems like the season for greens
Not yet. Green season starts mid march and peaks in april.

>>15546264
That's what I intended to say. Though, I'd expect them to be really expensive. I guess it's better if I buy some whites somewhere.

>>15546274
It's not really any more expensive to buy in during harvest through some places (like YS), it just tends to take longer due to demand at the time
Japanese teas on the other hand ARE more expensive during harvest because people are more autistic in japan about that

>>15546291
YS has big price minimums for free shipping and will take a while, though. I don't want to spend much on more teas right now, but all I'll have is pu'er soon. I'll have to put them in a pumi, too. That will cost a bit and take 2-4 weeks for them to be ready for consumption, I'd expect. So, it could be 1-2 months of no tea. Just poor choices and timing on my part, I suppose.

>>15546222
checked
Do they ship internationally? Maybe order a sample in the US then order in bulk from the farm.

>>15546313
>japanesegreenteain.com
They seem to offer free shipping in the US (except Washington State) and Canada.
>arahataen.com/
This is the price in Japan

2014 Cha Tou Sheng Yun from YS. Tous are the compressed tea nuggets that form towards the bottom of shou piles from the pressure.

This is steep 13 and it's still going, but steep times are reaching out to 10-15+ minutes. This tea is thick and creamy in the early stages before thinning out and has that nice wood shou base to it with sweet dried cherries layered over it.

>>15546417
>steep times are reaching 15+ minutes
For freaking gong fu? Thats insane.

>>15546445

The thing about tou is that they're heavily compressed. I find I run through most shou in 6-8 steeps. For the first 6-8, this functions much like any other shou, but instead of going dead at that point, you can just keep it in the pot for increasing periods of time to slowly extract from the compressed centers of the nuggets.

>>15545294
i prefer my blacks at 90c, less bitter and tannic

>>15545979
Unless you are buying puer from hong kong traditional storage then you probably dont want to see mold.

>>15545989
>cobweb stuff (even though that's still bad)
ah fuck i think i've got some of that stuff, also seem a mite crawling across the cake

>>15546607
yeah
throw it out
check your other tea while you're at it

>>15546616
its been there since i brought the cake 2 years ago and it hasn't grown, think it might be mite silk not mold

>>15545949
King Tea Mall is good, he is in Guangdong and has a massive basically uncurated selection of factory cakes. It's good if you know what you are doing but not necessarily great for noobs.
If you are interested in yancha you should look at essence of tea and chawangshop.
I still haven't found any Taiwanese oolong sellers i really like, too much muh family tea garden type stuff with those shops.

>>15546646
That is probably just fibers from the paper it's wrapped in.

>>15546753
The issue with kingteamall is that his prices track very closely to Chinese domestic market prices, so while a few years ago he was incredibility cheap often 50% less than other western facing vendors for the same production, now that another price bubble is inflating around puer some of his prices are quite high, especially lightly aged Dayi is going totally nuts right now.

>>15545294
get a pressure cooker if you really care so much. but really it probably doesn't matter

>>15546793
that would make gong fu cha interesting

>>15546646
that's not cobweb
that's material from the paper or neifei

>>15546753
yes KTM is good for your factory tea's
Guangdong isn't great, but it's not bad either
I'd prefer any tea on KTM much more if it had TW, HK trad / HK / MY stored

the Yancha i get is from TXS, I haven't heard much about these two in terms of Yancha but EoT's puerh curation is good

>>15546646
I've heard small white fibers are sometimes considered a desirable quality or at least that's what Mei Leaf claims, however I'm not entirely sure of the context. That doesn't strike me as mold perhaps it could be from the packaging

>>15546840
yeah white hairs on lightly processed teas such as white and greens(hairy crab is named of these hairs). this is a ripe so even the leaf is mostly broken down
>>15546759
>>15546828
i gonna take it as wrapping paper, hasn't stopped me drinking it either way

>>15546840
>small white fibers are sometimes considered a desirable quality or at least that's what Mei Leaf claims
That guy is bizare.
I don't think it's a problem at all but i don't know why you would say it's desirable.

>>15546828
Ahhhgh nobody knows what the acronyms you are using stand for.

>>15546913
he's talking about these, not mold/wrapper fuzz. common on buds but also on young leaves, sometimes rolled into little balls during green tea processing

>>15546917
use your brain
Taiwan
Hong Kong
Malaysia

>>15546828
>I haven't heard much about these two in terms of Yancha but EoT's puerh curation is good
EOT doesn't have a lot of yancha but they do grab som nice ones occasionally
Right now they have a quite good value sampler from several producers that they are selling slight above cost.
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/wuyi-masters-tasting-set

People keep listing overpriced importers for green tea, easily 3-4x the base cost. Where can someone in the US pay a reasonable amount for local shipment on green and white tea now and when the next season starts?

>>15546999
Anon, there's only 1 tea plantation in America and it's not that big
There's a reason it's an import commodity

>>15546999
For Sellers of green tea that are located inside the united states yunnansourcing.us is one of the cheaper ones that I'm aware of no idea who to suggest for Japanese stuff, thr us based ones are basically all expensive, there is a reason i usually encourage people to import tea.

The price of tea imports will be going up as of next month.
You can thank Trump for that little fiscal policy and it doesn’t look like Biden will do anything about it.

>>15547102
Trump won.
Dilate, tranny.

>>15547102
keep it relevant anon.

>>15547102
Only thing that raised import costs during the last 4 years was COVID19

>>15547019
Interesting, I didn’t know that.
>>15547107
Fuck off back to /pol/.

>>15547118
>what is a trade war?
Trump’s America first financial policy has driven the price of most imports up, doofus.

>>15547128
Okay? I know about politics but this is /tea/, so tea related, I only noticed import costs go up last march when imports got screwed with lower flights cutting flight based cargo services. Logistics got all messed up and companies are still having trouble with imports. Trade war didn't do much. Trump raised tea tariff to 10%, china retaliated with a 5% export duties, making it 15%, but tea imports already dropped 17% before the trade war started so supply already existing in the US met the demand and tea prices remained mostly stable. Only 1% of the US tea market is loose leaf and the tea market makes up 15% of the US beverage market. The tea tariffs being raised only lasted 5 months from September 2019 to January 2020, which was during a low time for tea imports as most tea is imported in the spring and summer, so it didn't affect much costs at all. As far as I'm aware bigelow got more hit than the specialty tea market that people ITT participate in.

>>15547102
what specific policy are you referencing that drove up the price of tea?

>>15547128
Raising tariffs on Asian stuff was aimed at punishing China.

>>15547019
>>15547073
Fair points; I should have diversified my tea order from Fullchea. I'm considering just ordering more tea from Fullchea, but is now not ideal since the Spring harvests will be happening soon? If it's fine, I'm thinking around $25 of product is good, but not sure what to get if I do. I do think I'd like to get a white tea cake and some simple greens/oolongs. However, white tea aside, then come other concerns.

Main issue I see is all the cheaper/on sale stuff is from around Spring 2020, so most of the shelf life and freshness will be sapped up. Yet, if tea prices are going to increase, and I have to wait for everything to ship too, what is the best choice in the end; wait and buy the new harvest, or pick up old stuff? I wouldn't plan on sipping only this stuff 24/7, so I don't know if I'd be able to consume it all before going stale (if it isn't already). Maybe I should just buy all white tea cakes to avoid this issue? There seem to be plenty of high-value whites for sale at the moment:
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/c/white-tea-0430

I like some of the honey-like amber liquors in them as well. The 2020 FuDing looks quite pretty with both its textured dry leaf and whiskey-like liquor sample. Though, it's also more expensive than some of the other cakes like the Caicheng 2020 with a cool cultivation background or the FuDing 2015. Do you have any opinions on these cakes or my concerns? These are the cakes I'm referring to:
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/2020-fuding-quotlao-shou-meiquot-white-chinese-tea-high-mountain-bai-cha-white-chinese-tea-from-fujian-350g-p0714.html
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/fuding-2013-high-mountain-white-tea-gong-mei-tribute-eyebrow-350g-p0588.html
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/caicheng-2020-white-peony-white-tea-moon-light-white-pu-erh-tea-200g-p0667.html
The Slavs all seemed to enjoy them. There are other low-cost cakes as well. I'm much more comfortable owning products that won't expire so easily.

>>15547119
fuck off back to r*ddit

Time for Formosa red. It smells kind of like dried fruit.

>>15547285
Someone else can comment about that retailer, I never bought from them, but if you're going for loose leaf anything, wait for the 2021 harvest. Cakes you can buy whenever, but do you know how to care for a cake? You ever buy a cake before, and have you picked one apart? It's a different game than loose leaf, if you're a novice, I wouldn't commit too much to cakes without experiencing them first. If you like cakes, like the experience and the ritual of picking it apart and the flavors, they're pretty good for bulk buying if you have the capacity to care for them. Although you said $25 so I have my doubts on how much you want to bulk buy. If you want to get a cake, get one this month because they tend to go up when the spring harvest hits.

>>15547285
As far as i know the guy ranting about trump tariffs is talking about electronics and so the price of tea wont be going up outside of fluctuations in demand and inflation.
If you are planning on ordering from yunnansourcing.us i would wait untill he restocks with this years teas. If you keep an eye out he should be putting the spring 2020 stuff on sale at the same time. If you sign up for emails he also has 10% to 15% sales pretty frequently.
If you want to get a white tea cake from fullchea i would go with what the slavs say is good, make sure to translate reviews to looks for the ones that actually post tasting notes.
Beyond that i would say you should try to relax, tea is supposed to be chill and relaxing. I also fall into stressing too much about orders or getting the absolute best value per $. Slow down a bit, don't order too much stuff at once, taste and enjoy what you have, figure out what you want to try next and casually make an order. It is pretty unlikely that there will be any drastic changes to te availability in the next few years.

>>15547322
It doesn't taste like fruit (dried cranberry), it only smells like it. Seems a bit like honey.

>>15547362
The color looks inviting

>>15547326
>You ever buy a cake before, and have you picked one apart?
Yeah, I've purchased several, but only pu'ers. Though, I've only received and picked one apart so far. It hasn't been troublesome, though I'm still working on my pumi setup. Do white cakes even need or benefit from being in a pumi?
>If you want to get a cake, get one this month because they tend to go up when the spring harvest hits.
I thought this would be the case. Though, doesn't basically everything go up in price this time of year? I've read a few anons suggest that is so.
>>15547337
>taste and enjoy what you have, figure out what you want to try next and casually make an order.
I have been, though because my current and future inventory will be almost entirely pu'er, I thought it would be a smart idea to diversify. However, I don't want the stress of buying several greens and oolongs and having to rush to finish them off. I've kept fairly relaxed about it, but in a few days, I'll be stuck without good tea until my Fullchea order comes in, and that is all going to be pu'er which I suspect I'll need to leave out and/or set in my pumidors. I'm getting that prepared this week, but I'll be stuck with nothing for a fair while at this rate.
>If you want to get a white tea cake from fullchea i would go with what the slavs say is good
Most of the reviews I find mention something like that, but as you alluded, don't mention many tasting notes. My interest in whites stems from them being something I can hold onto for a while and having liked them more than blacks/greens when I still drank bagged tea. Do you have any general tips for spotting/caring for a good white?
>>15547362
I don't think I like the look of the leaf, but the color and tasting/aroma notes sound nice right now. It's the season for honey, I think.

>>15547362
I just got to the bottom of the pot, it has this jasmine tea taste now. I wonder if the second pot will be even more like that?

>>15547322
That's the Taiwanese thing crossed with assam, right? How's the astringency?

>>15547396
If it helps any medium and heavy rosted oolongs like most wuyi and dan cong oolongs can keep indefinitely in a tightly sealed container. You don't want to keep them in a pumidor because added moisture can make them tastes sour over time. It's really only very green Taiwan oolongs and most tieguyanyin or other green oolongs that need to be drunk within a year or two.
Yes you want to store white tea in a pumidor. I still say you don't have to worry to much with keeping ripe and raws separate in your setup unless you get some really stinky ripe.

>>15547439
Thanks for the advice, it does help. I think I'll spend maybe $30 on two whites and an oolong. Kind of interested in the weird herbal/fruit stuff too though. Ever try any tisanes of interest? Wish Fullchea had osthmanthus.

>>15547499
I can tell you that kuding is extremely bitter, bitter melon as well. But kuding is actually used to fake quality puer sometimes, it's ground fine and added as a dust when the cake is pressed, this makes the tea strongly bitter which can make a bland weak tea seem powerful. I'm not sure if most people would enjoy making an herbal tea with it.
Im waiting on some dried tangerine peel from fullchea, another anon got some and said it's very intense and a bit of a laxative, so i don't know if i would recommend that either.

>>15547530
Thanks for the warnings, might have bought some of these and had a bad time. I already have a sensitive stomach, so I like the stuff I drink to not leave me offset. Shame, since the bitter melon and tangerine peel teas seemed interesting.

>>15547422
Not bad.

Second pot. Oh yeah, the smell is somehow even stronger. The dried cranberry taste just barely shows up in the aftertaste. I bet this baby could go for 3.

Having one of the more odd teas from my liquid prost sampler. This was in a clear ziploc bag that just had 2020 written on it and had a qr code sticker that brings up some Chinese guys wechat account. Grandpa style because why not, it's almost a year old at this point.

>>15547873
I don't really know how to rate this. I don't drink enough young sheng. It's good, not super bitter but bitter enough to have some flavor, still tastes green, maybe some bits of fruit flavor. Surprisingly easy on the stomach. Id say it's decent now but i have no idea how it would age.

>>15541930
>>15541930
double walled cha hais are so nice actually. I have a few carafes but this like cheapish amazon one has a nice curve inside of it that catches any broken bits so i don't have to use a filter and thus i get a nicer texture
I'm still split on whether or not to get a tea tray. I know I do not need it but it would be a cool tea accessory. Also, if you want decent gaiwan, mei leaf don the jew of the east sells a pretty nice one for 35 bux i think

If you could only drink one tea for the rest of your life, what would it be.

>>15548065
Get a tea boat instead of a tea table. It's like a combination tea tray and waste bucket. Purple cloud tea house usually has a few reasonably priced ones.
https://purplecloudteahouse.com/collections/tea-boats/products/ceramic-soda-glaze-tea-boat
https://purplecloudteahouse.com/collections/tea-boats/products/chaozhou-hong-ni-tea-boat?variant=31795603341355

>>15548152
a nice young pu erh, i never really liked the aged stuff

>>15544424
I like to just hold my gaiwan by one finger (index) on lid with my pinky on the other end and let it fall. That way i never burn my fingers like how you do grabbing the lips

>>15548500
lmao puer lesbian

Milk with keemun, yay or nay?

>>15548152
I mostly drink puer but if i didn't have to pay for it i would be happy with aged oolong.

>>15548565
Meh, if it needs it

>>15548500
GROSS
FUCKING GROSS

>>15548764
older pu erh or fermented is disgusting it tastes like boot polish
nice young pu erh is just like green tea with a kick

Oh hey, the new tea tray from Kong Mountain came in along with 200g more of the Dan Cong hongcha and an 8g sample of their rogui that should be interesting to try. The tray is definitely a bit smaller than I thought, only enough for a teapot or gaiwan really, so I'll have to change up my setup a little bit. Pretty, though.

>>15549019
Is that base of the tray ceramic?

>>15549036

Yeah. Handmade ceramic from a studio in Jingdezhen, apparently, and the top is copper.

>>15549051
Oh nice
Definitely classier than some bamboo and plastic shit

>>15549077

Yeah, my big complaint with the last one was the bamboo top. I had a thought to have a buddy of mine who's a metal worker make a copper top for it but it never ended up happening. I'll keep it around in case I'm ever able to get him to do it and then I'll have the benefit of the bigger tray if I ever want it.

>>15534963
Milk + sugar + cinnamon + breakfast black tea

I honestly cannot trust teas coming from China.

China may have invented tea, but their modern day society is beyond. They'll spray every toxic pesticide known to man just to make a penny. Even if it's "organic" I still don't trust the Chinese. They'll the ultimate scam artists.

>>15549550

Don't Hong Kongers drink metric fucktons of this stuff and also have the highest life expectancy of, like, anywhere? Seems to me like you should be more concerned about all of the things you interact with in your daily life that we know are fucked for your endocrine system.

>>15549602
>t. puer lesbian

>>15549602
Chinese sip boiling hot tea which causes cell damage and is carcinogenic. The shit they eat is retarded. The only reason they live long is superior genetics. You can't handle China's strongest tea, gwailou.

>>15549666

Evolution only happens in adversity. I'll either adapt and thrive or become a puer lesbian along the way.

>>15549550
I don't trust japanese teas after fukushima

>>15549666
Getting esophageal cancer from drinking overly hot liquids for half your life is peak tea.

>>15549602
>Don't Hong Kongers ...have the highest life expectancy of, like, anywhere?

You’re thinking of one place in Japan, and their long life is based more on their whole diet, not just drinking tea.

>>15550336
Actually it's mostly based on welfare fraud from before extensive centralized government record keeping of births was established.

How bad are these pack away tea sets?

>>15550677
It depends.
Some of them are pretty great for one or two people.
Some are kind of junky.
The one you posted looks decent as long as the easy gaiwan has some holes to pour the tea through and you don't mind that the capacity of each cup is the size of the gaiwan (good for a single user)

>>15550677
do not get them they really arent that good and kinda take away from the experience of it all. it is pretty much just a teapot at that point with a higher chance of burning your fingers. the only up side i see in something like that is that its convenient to keep in that pouch travel case and has a teacup. now that I'm looking at it though, that tea cup is way too big. also the one i bought when iwas first starting out is hard to clean (compared to normal gaiwans which are so silly easy to clean)

>>15551103
Im looking at these because im going more for convenience than i am the full experience, something thats a step up from my pyrex measuring cup and reusable k-cup as a filter setup

and looking at other options this one seems a little more practical.

>>15550677
>>15551189
I know something better. Just get a tea strainer and a travel mug. Hell, you can get them japanese, and in something that isn't steel, if that strikes your fancy. Even those fags that run around buying hundred dollar tea cups are telling you it's not worth it, maybe you should listen.

>>15551237
I agree with this, those are pretty much the same thing as all our Chinese ceramics

I don't know if any of you like reading my amateur brew journal entries, but I have another one for tonight. I likely won't be posting too many of them going forward, as this isn't a blog, and rather a public space for everyone. I may post one more tomorrow though, since I have a pu'er sample which may hopefully not taste terrible. Tonight's was rather bad, as I am coming to expect of anything by Verdant that isn't an oolong. Here are my note's on Verdant Tea's 2020 Spring Laoshan Green tea:

Mildly sweet dry leaf aroma. Smells fresh and only faintly grassy.

1st infusion at 175F, 5g, 15s. Leaf smell has more vegetal notes, borderline seaweed. Pale to medium yellow liquor with a subtle tinge of green that smells like muggy grass and potatoes. Surprisingly bitter, even more so than many pu'ers snd oolongs I have had as of late. Seaweed flavor lasts for a long time, leaving a light aftertaste. Astringency and thickness are both low, but the bitterness pushes that right back.

Second infusion is even more off-putting despite going to 10s/175F this time. The smell in the gong dao bei is almost 1:1 to the smell inside one of those linear water coasters with animatronics, except less salty. Interestingly, the smell in the gaiwan is a touch sweeter, but just barely. The bitterness continues to be an overpowering, unpleasant force. There is no subtlety to this tea; it just tastes like bitter seaweed and maybe spinach. Retronasal scent seems to emphasize the old spinach taste, whereas the flavor on the tongue is closer to the seaweed.

Perhaps I should have used less leaf as recommended in various guides. Yet, even by reducing the brew to 165F/5-8s (including pour time) on this third infusion, the same issues persist. So, I don't think this is a matter of brewing perameters such as using a bit more leaf. I've had bagged greens better than this. Poorly-maintained lawn aftertaste lingers for a fair while. Do not recommend at all.

I need decaf tea and my walmart does not have decaf green tea. They only have decaf black tea. This is complete and udder cultural appropriation and i will have no part in furthering the green supremecy of blackface tea. How can i get my walmart to stop being such racialy divisive biggots

>>15551796
If you don't want any caffeine theres a huge world of herbal teas you can try. Apart than that try amazon idk?

>>15534963
I drink 120 cups of cheap earl grey every month.

>>15551943
Bags or loose? What times, and how do you manage caffeine? I'd think all that black would be a bit overwhelming at some point. Do you drink anything else?

Has anyone dared to try one of these sets of tea from Wish?

I got this as a gift from someone whos heart was in the right place, but I'm not putting this in my body, they smell like polyester.

Bag is nice though.

>>15551237
>Just get a tea strainer and a travel mug
But I'd like to be able to brew gongfu with it (~100 mL) and I'd like the strainer not to let the leaves spill their juice over between sets. I already stained a backpack.

>>15552169
Not from Wish, but they sell bags that look suspiciously like that on Fullchea:
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/50-pcs-10-different-flavor-pu-er-puerh-tea-mini-yunnan-puer-tea-chinese-tea-with-gift-bag-p0158.html
I didn't expect any of them to be amazing, but I bought one for fun anyway. Wish I just bought something else looking back, but it is far too late to make that change now. It is coming in my order from Fullchea at some point; I can post about them whenever they arrive if you wish. If they're trash, I'll just stew them and make kombucha out of their essence. Perhaps you could just brew, smell, taste, and spit out the liquid?

>>15549666
Chinaman, listen to me! I need your strongest tea.

>>15551766

I'm enjoying your thoughts, anon. Never a bad thing to keep adding to the knowledge floating around here to make things progressively easier for newer folks.

>>15552458
I'm pleased to know my notes are appreciated. I only have my one sealed pu'er sample left to taste before I'm just stuck with a single pu'er cake I need to train. So, I'll write about it in my next journal entry. I mostly bought much pu'er (which I am still waiting on), so I'll be buying one or two white cakes and one oolong in a secondary Fullchea order. I hope to provide tasting notes on all of my teas eventually, though I don't know how verbose I ought to be or not be. I just write in a documenting style that is useful for me to reflect on.

I have my white cakes selected, and am quite excited for the prospect of drinking those, though I'm still hunting for a pleasant oolong to dip my toes into. Thinking a comfortable sipper with something like honey and citrus notes would be great. I hear Dan Cong might match my interests most in this case. Some of the GABA Taiwan oolongs sound tasty, though a bit expensive and low in quantity. If there are any varieties you might recommend with such notes, I'll hunt around for some on Fullchea.

Can someone recommend small travel sized pu-erh options like this?

I saw this on amazon and this format would be perfect for me and im sure this exact one is "ok" but im sure there's better out there.

>>15552616
Why not get a thin jar and fill it with pu'er you like? You can just break off a few chunks and achieve the same thing.

>>15552624
I really like this storage format because its a perfect "cabin in the woods" tea, it'll continue to age if its in storage for a few years because of its packaging and its the perfect shape and size for slipping into a backpack.

Also it looks cool.

>>15552616
would just get a stack of v93's

>>15552183
Get a vacuum sealed travel mug

>>15552616
https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Count-Weeks-Organic-Black/dp/B07FT9N14L/
https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Pu-erh-Sachets-Classic-1-06oz/dp/B089352XJD/
https://www.amazon.com/TAE-TEA-Gold-Organic-Black/dp/B07FT9NCMG/
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/xiaguan-tea-factory/products/2019-xiaguan-mini-ripe-tuo-cha-pu-erh-tea
https://kingteamall.com/products/2020-xiaguan-wei-tuo-mini-tuo-3g-66pcs-bag-198g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?_pos=1&_sid=901d957bd&_ss=r

Any recommendations for light, fruity/honey note oolongs available on Fullchea?

>>15534963
>
>imagine being such a limp wristed poor fagg that you dont get a prize inside your tea box
RED ROSE REPRESENT

>>15553131
I thought they stopped giving those out.
I used to love them when i was a wee lad

>>15553131
>Tfw have no tea pets at all.
>Tfw don't even have a tea tray or boat to feed them on.
Which Red Rose anyway? I presume you mean Red Blossom and not:
https://redrosetea.com/
Super cute sea lion, by the way.

Tea is ONLY good with honey and/or milk added to give the spices something to complement. This applies to anything from zesty orange tea to black tea to memes like real grey tea. Chai is an enlightened gift from the land of tea and it's pathetic that westerners drink imported chai from teabags without milk trying to larp that they're austere with their distinguished herb water. If you can't taste the herbs properly when mingled with the sweetness of honey or the richness of milk, you can't taste in general.
There are probably a few teas that don't pair well with either milk or honey, but I probably don't want to drink them unless for medicinal purposes.

>>15553213
enjoy your short lived tea hobby :)
I wonder what it'll be next, films?
anything to fill that void of boredom and depression

>>15553242
Imagine spending your entire life devoted to three ritualistic hobby of drinking something wrong because you're historically illiterate, and considering yourself distinguished for it.

>>15553213
shoo shoo pajeet, this is a non-shitting street

>>15553308
I don't think there is any historical use of milk or Honey in tea untill the Europeans got there hands on it. I'm not sure about spices but i dont think it was widespread out of medicinal concoctions.

>>15553213
>He needs milk and honey and spices to drown out the flavor of tea

Just go drink hot chocolate instead, you fucking 5 year old pleb. You don't even deserve lipton

>>15552616
https://white2tea.com/
offers a large portion of their product stack in single serve minis.

>>15553213
>the land of tea
thats China, tea plantations in india were started by the British so they wouldn't have to buy from China

That's one assmad poo in the loo

>>15552616
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yunnan-sourcing-pu-erh-tea/products/2013-yunnan-sourcing-premium-ripe-pu-erh-tea-mini-tuo?variant=34876483910

I bought these mainly as a novelty to give away to friends and didn't expect much of them as they are pretty cheap, but the flavour actually surprised me, they are really decent and nice especially now in winter

also this
>>15553383

I really do not like TGY that much. It just doesn't really taste that good compared to other teas, idk why its so popular

Man W2T is out of control
>The 2020 Milan Maocha is a bit of a misnomer, how can a tea be both maocha [loose tea] and a brick? In this case, the term maocha refers to the Dancong oolong tea being left in its raw form before pressing. We commissioned this production to be left with stems and large leaves for this pressing.
$200g for $65
https://white2tea.com/collections/latest-additions/products/2020-milan-maocha-brick?variant=37803145986239

>>15545949
>>15545965
>YS is trash

when did it become trendy to hate on YS?

>>15553790
I had their raw pu erh sampler for like 5 months and only got 1-2 good teas, very disappointing lmao. Their unpressed teas are pretty not bad though (especially the greens I find to be okay).

>>15553790
It's always been trendy to hate on YS because they are one of the first vendors that always get recommended to people who are getting into tea. There are definitely some reasonable criticisms of them (im especially wary of taiwan sourcing) but i don't think that ys has terrible prices or sells lots of bad tea. I haven't tried enough of their house label puer to comment on it's quality. I will say the wet storage puer he sells always seems to be more on the side of water damage than just humid storage, i get the feeling he does it intentionally to keep his customers focused on kunming storage. The guy from teabd has mentioned this as well so it's not just me being paranoid.

>>15553804
>I had their raw pu erh sampler for like 5 months
this?
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/tea-club-boxes/products/tea-club-box-raw-pu-erh-snob-box

>only got 1-2 good teas, very disappointing lmao.
what did you like and what was wrong with the other ones?

where is your preferred source of young raw puerh?

>Their unpressed teas are pretty not bad though
yeah i have mostly ordered loose tea and non sheng heicha from them so my option may be biased. i am not a huge fan of strong young sheng.

Doing another tasting of White 2 Teas 2018 Hype. I forget what my thoughts on it were last time other than it not being as bland as i thought it might be.

Genmaicha, cold brewed. It really brings out the cracker in the roasted rice.

>>15553822
>There are definitely some reasonable criticisms of them
it was not my point to say they are beyond criticism. i for example think they overprice some of their semi aged stuff due to how they handle price increases.

>im especially wary of taiwan sourcing
whats wrong with them? i have never heard anything bad about them before and was planing on putting in an order at some point.

>wet storage puer he sells always seems to be more on the side of water damage than just humid storage
thanks i will keep that in mind.

>i get the feeling he does it intentionally to keep his customers focused on kunming storage. The guy from teabd has mentioned this as well so it's not just me being paranoid.
that comes off as a bit paranoid to me it i think it would sabotage more sales then be beneficial. perhaps he just has a myopic view of wetter storage or wants to sell stuff that has the most contrast with his typical storage. because of his location he is not really in a great position to sell a lot wetter stored stuff anyways. maybe if his business grows enough he could build a tea cellar or something.

>teabd
i presume you meant
https://teadb.org/
not
https://teabd.blubrry.net/

>>15553973
Yeah teadb
And i guess i was wring about that article, i thought i remembered him complaining about it.
https://teadb.org/five-things-i-like-and-dont-like/
You are probably right that it has more to do with him looking for deals and taking chances on things that got pretty wet at somepoint. It's not all bad, but a few that I've had have been too wet, with things like the cake being bent down the middle and loose one one side like it was wet and bent from the weight above it.
Taiwan sourcing is weird because it some Chinese guy going around taiwan and processing random teas himself in the farmers backyard. If you read some of the descriptions of earlier seasons he makes it pretty clear he is learning by doing and then still charging semi premium prices even when they flub a batch. None of this means that their tea is awful or you shouldn't buy it but i would look at some of the established oolong vendors on teadb
https://teadb.org/taiwanese-tea-vendors/
Look at their prices and then think hard if taiwan sourcing is the best way to spend your money.

>>15534963
hello I like black tea with milk and honey

>>15553895
Im still not sure what to think of this, not much bitterness, thr flavor is hard to describe, my best guess is it's more heavily fermented than other young raws i have tried. I don't think i would buy this tea. I wish i could come up with a better critique then just calling it weird.

>>15553879
yes that was it
most of the teas generally just had an 'off' taste that was a little disconcerting. I know how to brew but even so, some were really astringent or bitter.

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2018-yunnan-sourcing-autumn-suan-zao-shu-old-arbor-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
This one doesn't really taste all that amazing, but it has the craziest effects. It wakes me up and keeps me up for so long in a nice focused state. Good cha chi

White2tea seems like a good place but I've never bought from them. Mei leaf is consistently good but overpriced. If you're willing to waste money on bad tea with a chance to find a good bargain YS is an okay place. Maybe just look for the highly reviewed ones.

I find that the shengs have a stronger 'high,' like a more Chinese feeling macha kick, if that makes sense.

>>15554098
I'm the same poster as this but i have a general inquiry, does anyone have a rec for a nice kyusu? I want to get into more Japanese steamed teas but I do not think that my pots/gaiwans are really suitable for it

I've said this before but i really appreciate that scott is making a big variety of hei cha available to the west. He has been willing to go out on a limb and get a load of fu cha when there is not much demand from his customer base. If you believe his videos it's because thats what he prefers to drink these days, but whatever the reason it's nice to have all these higher grade fu cha productions available without having to dive into taobao.

>>15554116
Something like this is good
https://www.yuuki-cha.com/teaware/japanese-teapots/yohen-sendan-gyokko-teapot
A little larger version
https://www.yuuki-cha.com/teaware/japanese-teapots/kokudei-fukuju-teapot
Here is a smaller size but it might be too small
https://www.yuuki-cha.com/teaware/japanese-teapots/mini-shudei-tokoname-teapot
Im not really sure what size to suggest tho.
Might want to wait for someone else to offer advice.

>>15554116
>>15554159
Something like this could also be pretty good and its fully glazed so it wont have any effect on flavor like the bare clay ones can.
https://yunomi.life/collections/tea-pots/products/sawa-houzan-shigaraki-yaki-shiboridashi-teapot-for-one

>>15554176
Last suggestion is these glass hario teapots, nothing fancy but they get the job done and work well, you should be able to find them on lots of places if you look around. Just make sure you get the 300ml version and not the 700ml version.
https://yunomi.life/collections/tea-pots/products/hario-glass-tea-pot-300-ml
>>15554116

>>15554193
>>15554176
>>15554159

oooh interesting, thank you very much
Once I finish my backlog I will get one. I wonder how well the jap gaiwan works. The kyusu style handles seemed smart to me, easier on the brewer

>>15554031
>some Chinese guy
the website claims he is a native
https://taiwanoolongs.com/pages/about-simon

>processing random teas himself in the farmers backyard
aren't most specialty teas processed by the farmer or the a very local processing facility anyways? even with puerh the maocha is often made locally.

>Look at their prices and then think hard if taiwan sourcing is the best way to spend your money.
their prices are not that bad but you are right they are not the cheapest vendor either. obviously quality matters as well. they were not the only vendor i was planing on ordering from anyways. perhaps i will do a comparison when i get around to going on a Taiwan oolong binge.

thanks for the forewarning though i will keep it in mind.

>>15554098
>I know how to brew but even so, some were really astringent or bitter.
isn't that just normal in young sheng that is not specifically picked and processed to drink fresh? i though it was desirable in cakes meant for long term aging and have seen some old timers bemoan the new style sheng.

>>15554296
I would imagine that aging would mellow out the flavors a bit though some are definitely better not aged. To be honest I think that a lot of the reason people think old means good is tea sellers making unsold tea seem like a premium product. shou is unnaturally aged, maybe its just my tastes, but I have not experienced a tasty shou. It reminds me of compost liquid because that is pretty much what it is

>>15554330
>>15554296
Also, shouldnt a sampler include shengs that are meant to drink young? Some astringency/bitterness is good but there has to be a balance.

While everyone is discussing Taiwan/CN teas, why is it that Taiwanese teas all universally seem to cost more than mainland China teas? I can understand Japan up-pricing their autism teas, and have no idea about the Russian market, but it seems like such a huge gap between China and Taiwan.

>>15554367
High demand for Taiwanese teas plus limited farmland available. Mostly the demand is just absolutely massive right now for high altitude Taiwanese oolongs and they only have so many mountains.

>>15553895
>>15554071
Interesting! Incidentally this morning I drank the 2017 version of the hype. I didn't like it much either sadly. It was a little too bitter, but mostly my criticism is that it didn't really have anything exciting going on. It was merely okay with nothing special to taste.

>>15554409
>mostly my criticism is that it didn't really have anything exciting going on. It was merely okay with nothing special to taste.
Yeah this seems pretty similar to my experience today. I didn't hate it or anything.

>>15554409
On second thought i can see the bitterness you mention, i have a weird tolerance for bitterness.
The nice thing i can say about it is it isnt a tea that's just blended and processed to be drunk immediately which is what i suspected some w2t offerings would be like.
I have a few teas i want to order from them, mostly cheap shu and the 2016 PROLAXICORVATIN. I will get around to it eventually.

>>15553790
>kunming
>curation is trash
>no quality control of the cakes they source from farmers
>flat markup's

yep

>>15554330
>I would imagine that aging would mellow out the flavors a bit
i have not had aged sheng but semi aged sheng tends to be much less harsh.

>To be honest I think that a lot of the reason people think old means good is tea sellers making unsold tea seem like a premium product.
i don't know aged sheng seems like a unique thing in its own right and not just a way to correct faults. mind you some of the original development of aging sheng may have been driven by trying to make it more marketable.

>shou is unnaturally aged, maybe its just my tastes, but I have not experienced a tasty shou. It reminds me of compost liquid because that is pretty much what it is
its an acquired taste you either like it or you don't. i am not sure calling it artificially aged is fair though wet piling tea predates the recent aged tea craze. Liu Bao processing which is a bit similar to shu is quite old. i think it is better to think of shu as its own thing.

>>15554349
>Also, shouldnt a sampler include shengs that are meant to drink young? Some astringency/bitterness is good but there has to be a balance.
young sheng being harsh is kind of the typical. easy to drink young sheng is kind of the eception and is often made of materials that would have previously been considered lower grade (yellowed leafs and fall harvests). i am not a huge fan of young sheng but some people really seem to like it. many of the most famous puerh mounts are known for their bitterness and its described as a desirable trait. everyone's sense of taste is different i guess. i think the old timers would question as to why you would insist you want to drink sheng but not have it taste like sheng traditionally does (i.e. harsh)? young sheng is also probably an acquired taste.

>>15554367
> why is it that Taiwanese teas all universally seem to cost more than mainland China teas?
less land available and a significantly higher standard of living than then the mainland.

>>15554478
>kunming
preference
>curation is trash
not every store need to be hyper curated. stick with TWL or LP if thats what you want. scott's quality control is not that bad either.
>no quality control of the cakes they source from farmers
the cakes seem fine from what i have had. they are cleaner then a lot of the big factory stuff. you are not comparing them with tea that cost twice as much right.
>flat markup's
don't buy their older stuff then. most vendors have at least some of their selection overpriced.

new thread
>>15554594
>>15554594
>>15554594

>>15553330
>>15553339
You can cope all you like, but you're still just mindless purists missing out on superior flavor.
>>15553361
Ah yes, a representative from the tastebud-impaired community who can only process and appreciate single flavors in isolation. How sobering.
>>15553483
That WAS Britan, it IS India.