/ck/ - Food & Cooking

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Teapot Edition
Show us your pots

I just picked up this little 4oz clay pot, based on my research the two tone color scheme was popular in the late 80s and 90s. I'm not sure if i should use it or not since i don't know where it was made or what it's made from but it's cute.

>>15894447
based

when is it happening?
What if it happened?

waiting for tea to ship from china

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NsoV7T2nbaw

>>15894712
lul, fantastic

>>15894712
fucker you made me search

>>15894773
What would you give for the Don Mei/James Hoffman crossover?
Imagine almost the entirety of a the specialty coffee community learning about how there's a whole world of tea out there.
so it gets people talking about tea, interested, intrigued.
Imagine tea companies tailoring to it. Imagine every grocer having loose leaves.
towns without specialty tea shops, getting them.
More obscure farms and gardens like in America, hawaii, Europe, Africa making new varieties of specialty with love and care, instead of just grinding it into teabags

all from the domino effect of one crossover.

Assam is the king of tea. Why drink anything less?

>>15894892
Assam is fucking shit. Drink white tea.

>>15894859
I'm afraid of what the coffee community would do to tea. I'm not sure they could accept that there aren't exact ratios and brew times for everything. I guess it would be funny to see someone grind tea and stuff it an espresso machine. Also looking at what the coffee community has done with meme beans like the Geisha the price of puer and yancha would triple overnight if they got into tea.
It would be nice to have a few more tea shops around that weren't just bubble tea and desert foods.

>>15894892
Tell us about your assam experience, how do you brew it? Are you into the single estate assams? Do you add milk and sugar? What's your ideal cuppa?

>ordered 2 tea pets despite being a kettle and cheap teabag guy
Sun wukong and a dragon are on the way. Guess I post here now

>>15895073
Haha nice, you can leave your teabag on one of the pets after you take it out of your mug and it will turn the pet brown.
Also monkey warrior guy is a good choice

>>15894971
I put the bag in hot water for bout tree fiddy then add lots of milk. When the 2021 harvest starts I might try some single estate to try at-home blending.

>>15895125
Nice, that's a very classic cup of tea.
I have no idea what the single estate assam is like, i just remembered that it existed recently. I'm not a huge assam drinker but i bet the fancy versions are heavenly.

No pictures but i got my tea bush planted the other day. I'm pretty excited to see what happens with it.
There is still time for you to plant a tea bush this year.
This USA nursery still has a few varietals of the tea bushes for drinking, they also have a huge amount of ornamental Camellia varieties.
https://camforest.com/collections/tea-camellias

>>15894959
Increased demand could also lead to modernization and healthier competition in response to the demand.

Lets not romanticize the idea of some old Chinese dude up in Tong Mu slaving over rolling leaves.

Just as any specialty or hobbyist food market reacted to increased demand for the good stuff.

>>15895136
For some reason it's much more flavorful in loose leaf form. At the moment I'm waiting on a shipment of Ruby 18 from Taiwan. The thing that interested me is it's a hybrid of assam. We'll see if it tastes as good.

>>15895207
Well you can look at what increasing demand has resulted in for the puer market since the mid 90s prices have skyrocketed, production has increased tenfold and quality has plummeted. About the only positive development is it becoming profitable enough to harvest real wild tea trees in the middle of nowhere in the Forest, but it doesn't help me any since the cakes go for hundreds of dollars. Same with "real" wuyi oolong. It can only be grown in one small protected region due to the soil composition, so if they plant more plants somewhere else the tea won't have the same terroir characteristics.
Modernization when it comes to chinese tea means replacing hand picking and hands on processing with mechanized harvesting and processing. Sure the improvements in cleanliness and pesticide testing is nice, but it's not all sunshine and roses.

>>15895178
Take pictures at some point plox. You got it via shipping? I was looking at this store but then I happened to discover there's actually a tea farm about half an hour's drive away from me that sells tea bushes.
https://mintoislandtea.com/tea-plants
Haven't checked it out yet though.

>>15894959
There was a guy in the last thread getting uppity that people just brew tea without being super precise
Just got to laugh these people out

>>15895272
Yeah, got it shipped, it arrived looking great, very healthy plant. I keep forgetting to take pictures while it's light out.
Very cool that you have a tea plantation near you. You can be sure whatever they are growing will thrive in your backyard.

>>15894959
>It would be nice to have a few more tea shops around that weren't just bubble tea
There's a stripmall here with two "Tea House" shops on the same road within throwing distance of each other. They both only sell bubble tea, there's no place that sells normal tea. I was trolled hard. They sell sugar to us like it's payback for the opium days or something, like is this even profitable or are they on a mission to make American girls all get fat?

Just tried this. Tastes like sweet potatoes. Longer steeps make it taste like burned sweet potatoes. The leaves smell fuggin amazing until you steep them.

>>15895360
The things that made me hesitate were 1.) will the plant get fucked up with dirt everywhere by USPS, and 2.) which varietal can I grow?
You got a plant that you can eventually brew the leaves, not a decorative one, right?

>>15895256
there are non-yunnan post-fermented teas

Hawaiian coffee is really expensive, can only be grown in Hawaii. It costs more than a lot of specialty coffee.

Oh no, boo hoo. Buy a different tea.

>>15895442
Yeah i got one to make tea with. They have the tea varietals in a separate category than the ornamental ones on their site. They list the zones that each type will grow in so you can look up what zone you live in a and cross reference it with the listing.

>>15895601
>boo hoo buy a different tea
So where is this outcome a good thing for me as a tea drinker? I'm missing that part where I'm supposed to benefit.

>>15895629
there's more varieties and more availability.
tons of producers putting lots of passion into it.
the culture would generally move away from the giant famous names, and trade it for more variety of quality tea.

Honestly, look into Kenyan tea. You'll be surprised by the price-to-quality ratio.

Most people moved away from Geisha, but now I have a selection of great coffee from tons of regions and roasters, a lot of it pretty fairly priced. Much of the selection might not've existed nor been so readily available if not for the demand for better coffee.

>>15895728
Any recs for good Kenyan tea sellers? I haven't looked too closely.

>>15895777
JusTea is one I've bought from and know people who have bought from them and were very satisfied. These are the type of people who will buy yancha, taiwanese milk oolongs and Gu Shu and such but loooove Kenyan tea as a daily drinker.

I like the Mt. Kenya Black from them. Rich fruity scent, fruity and malty taste. great for gongfu. Pretty long cocoa powder, creamy aftertaste.

Cha Qi is invigorating, but not to get you wired.

comes in at the low low price of $0.11/g

>>15895824
Thanks, ill check it out

>>15894438
>spilling the tea
kike

>>15894121
Let’s go this weekend anon. I’ll bring some gyokuro

Why are these threads full of these retard shills
it's blatantly obvious

>>15895372
>is this even profitable
Very, girls/women don't usually like actual tea, its almost always boba or some kinda shitty fruit flavored bag tea like yogi or something.

>>15895372
People generally love that shit.

just passed the fattest kidney stone lads

>>15896264
>girls/women don't usually like actual tea
but tea is gay and for girls? wtf

i think people who don't like """Tea"""" are drinking shitty bagged stuff. i hate to say it but most americans think tea is literally just slightly bitter water because of l*pton

>>15896192
Let's go dude

>>15894859
>>15895207
I enjoy tea's status as the non-consoomer's beverage.. It's not for everybody and it doesn't have to be. The most popular appeal it has is bagged tea, iced tea, and a couple other trendy tea drinks. It stops there. People who are interested in good tea have fine avenues to get it and it's good as is. In order to appeal to more demographics, tea would have to change a lot to cater to more people, things would be lost. Why not just enjoy it as is?

just ordered this ys gold loose. im not a picky man.

>>15896729
>ys is for Yorkshire

how do you make your ice tea?

thanks for the tea Indian chad

>>15896904
I want to try his tea but I'm not falling for that turmeric bullshit

>>15896906
you don't have to fall for it just get some smokey Assam or something

>>15896906
i just get Darjeeling, smokey Assam and thier spiced green tea (himalayan detox). at least try some masala chai, its how most indians drink their tea
>>15896924
glad my shilling worked :)

Can you get a good tea pot for 100€ ?

>>15897237
yunnansourcing has some nice looking ones for under £100, even yixings

>>15897237
Many quality smaller Japanese clay pots can be had for under $100. I'm not sure about Chinese ones. It really depends on what you are looking for. Sazen sells quality clay pots straight from Japan.

>>15896331
Yoooo gyokuro gang

>>15897237
This seller has some decent clay teapots https://www.amazon.com/s?me=AE9YJDPOX9HY5&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER

>>15897237
I agree with this anon >>15897538 , Sazen have some quality teapots for sale at a good price.

This Kyusu is fantastic quality for the price: https://www.sazentea.com/en/products/p53-takasuke-kokuyo-kyusu-large.html

i like orange pekoe with chamomile

Can anyone recommend to me a tea pot for both black and green tea, i'm looking for something that's versatile.

I currently have one of those post modern style teapots with a strainer that clips in with the lid at the top of the pot, but I find it doesn't give a strong taste since the leaves can't fall to the bottom of the tea pot.

>>15897966
as long as its not unglazed clay it will be fine for any type of tea
you can get glass teapots with a metal coil in the spout to catch the leaf, that will give maximum room of the leaf or any gaiwan. really depends on the volume you're looking for

my tea order has been trapped in shanghai for the last week. are anyone else epackets taking a long time to arrive.

>>15898173
so what your saying is it's been trapped in the shanghai teahouse?

you'll have to be patient anon, ZUN is a busy man.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB0469B14B266FBDC

>>15898303
>so what your saying is it's been trapped in the shanghai teahouse?

no I am saying my tea is pulling a Shinji.
International Shipping Status: Your Package Can (Not) Advance

>>15896520
hipster

>>15897817
fuck that kyusu but small would be so great but i feel like im already spending too much on teaware and tea

>>15898173
You didn't opt for SAL, did you?

>>15895372
same thing for me i looked up gong fu tea (my city) to try to find something idk anything im even near DC which has a chinatown but then i get KUNG FU TEA ofc its a boba house
any similar ones are also just boba

thanks to whoever updated the tea making instructions in the pastebin. at least i think someone did.

tea snacks are so nice
something sweet on the side goes so well with tea

>>15898802
>You didn't opt for SAL, did you?
no, i payed for EMS epacket shipping.

does anyone have some nice recs for jianshui pots or teaware?
also if you have any experiences with jianshui you wanna talk about
i got this nice little jianshui teacup which is my main small teacup

>>15899016
Can we talk about tea snacks more often?
Those things are German marshmallow snacks, and they are wonderful with green tea. Fluffy and light with a bit of crunch from those rice puffs on its outer shell.

>>15899132
I just got some sweet bean mochi from the store and am enjoying some aged white with them
otherwise i like to just have a bit of chocolate ideally, those marshmallow snacks look good though
I wonder what they eat in china

>>15899016
I like to have mandarins with my green tea, healthy and refreshing.

>>15894859
>don't forget the 2000$ coffee machine so you can have a true espresso

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HIGdYy5of4

are tea picks that much better at prying a cake apart than a swiss army knife, or are they mainly for aesthetic?

>>15894438
>read pastebin
w-wait, your not supposed to just keep the leaves in the pot?

what have I been doing all these years???

>>15899619
Yeah, its more of a wedge than a knife, you use it as a lever

>>15899619
theyre really cheap and not as sharp as a swiss army knife but they work well, be careful if youre using the swiss army knife since you can cut yourself pretty easily but nowadays i just use my pocket knife

Drinking some 2021 Long Jing

75C, 15s + 3s, 5g/160mL

I missed this. Last year I got fancy grade, this year I got oremium grade, and there definitely is a difference. Less grassy, more nutty.
First sip sent a chill of pleasure down my spine and warmed me. The texture is like cashew butter, flavor is an amazing fresh nuttiness with a subtle lawn clippings flavor. Low bitterness.
Long Jing is really one of the greatest teas. While I love my blacks and ripe puerhs, long jing keeps me coming back year after year.

I actually fell asleep mid session and came back 14 hours later and poured more hot water we on the same leaves and it didn't really lose flavor

>>15899619
i have a diamond shaped wedge pick, better than the needle type, the wedge really does open the cake more than a blade.

>>15899702
nice, im still drinking some random mountain green thats 2 years old at this point. think i had the fancy grade last year, really taste the difference between fresh and old, it had a real zest to it

>>15897237
https://essenceoftea.com/collections/yixing-teapots/products/120ml-fang-xia-hongni-shui-ping-yixing-teapot

>>15898173
Same here, EMS, in Shanghai but not yet at the waiting for airline space stage

>>15899093
https://www.yunnancraft.com/en/jianshui-teapots/
I dont have much experience with them myself. But one of the guys on the russian tea thread loved them, he said they have fantastic heat retention, and the don't really change the flavor of the tea dramatically, so you can use them for anything.

>>15899626
Probably drinking slightly bitter tea. It's okay anon

>>15899702
Fantastic, it is easily my favorite green so far

>>15899619
They're nifty for prying open tea cakes if you don't happen to have a knife on you (I live in a dorm, and we can't have knives in the dorm due to the pussies running my college). Plus, they're cheap.

What do you think about rooibos? I bought it by mistake and it tastes interesting actually.

>>15899930
It's very good, sweet. My protip is to try brewing some for exactly 1 minute, no longer. I find it tastes bitter if i let it brew too long where if i keep it short it's intensely sweet.

>>15899714
Fresh long jing is just fantastic

>>15899930
great with milk

Is there any significant difference between gaiwan and teapot brewing? Also what is a good relatively small tea tray?

>>15899973
If you are using both for gongfu style brewing there isn't really any difference.
>good tea tray
There are some really cheap stainless ones on sites like aliexpress, kingteamall that work great. When it comes to cheap bamboo tea trays i would suggest trying to find one that has a plastic bin on the inside to hold the water.

>>15899973
theres cheap amazon bamboo ones and I really like the king tea mall stainless steel trays I think theyre nicely practical and come in a variety of sizes

As for gaiwan and teapot, theres not all that much of a difference but there is some
gaiwans are generally thinner so they retain heat less well which can be a good or bad thing. theyre generally porcelain, so they dont affect the taste of the tea compared to an unglazed teapot. gaiwans allow you to have more control around your tea i think and require more skill to pour well (not all that much skill but some). gaiwans are just the most versatile teaware but if youre getting into puer or oolong a nice teapot coudl be a good investment

one thing that really bothers me is the way that people tell you to hold gaiwans is uncomfortable to me and you can burn your finger more easily from it. I hold it with my index on the lid and pinky on base so i can remove my thumb and middle finger and just twist the wrist to allow for a safe and reliable pour

>>15899973
heat retention and pour times.
teapots stay hotter, better for puerh or hei cha, worse for delicate greens.
Teapots also has abysmal pour times, with leaves often clogging lower end pot's spout and also just having a spout causing the liquor to have a chokepoint to go through, some pots take 15 seconds or more to pour. Compare that to a gaiwan where you can control the pour speed with the lid, and can get 2 second pours if you have the skill for it.

please ignore it looking uncomfortable it just looks weird for the photo angle
test it out with cold water and then test it out because it's much better

>>15900110
I like scorching my fingers and cursing too much to change my method.

>>15900119
live your best life baby

>>15900110
that is uncomfortable for me and takes a while to pick up and position. thumb on top, pink, ring and middle on bottom of saucer works well, nothing will burn me and it has no chance of slipping

Chad burger grip represent

>>15900175
pussy ass grip

>>15899132
I'm forced to bake my own snacks and clotted cream because tea snacks aren't a thing in the US

>>15900160
it looks looks awkward because of the angle i had to take it from to better display
i do not understand how you pick it up burger style but i see mine more like how you use a kyusu, a more ergonomic movement

Just grab the 200 degree porcelainwith your bare hands. Who needs a meme grip.

>>15900382
munch leaves and drink hot water

>>15900392
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHQXBAjkmOQ

>>15900398
I feel like this would be illegal in america

>>15900110
I have small twink hands so I just hold the rim with my thumb, ring finger, and pinky finger and control the pour with my index and middle fingers on the lid knob

>>15900424
tfw no small twink handed bf to pour tea for

>>15894438
>>15893247
This gentleman speaks the truth
>>15893324

>>15900682
Have you tried red ginseng? I think i might like it more than the American kind, it's supposed to be more warming

Is it finally time for me to get Japanese greens this year? What did you get and from where?

So I broke the lid of my favorite pot, a clay kyusu. I dropped it when holding my pot, kit slide right off and broke in half. I'm pretty sad, because while the pot is fine, the lid is gone and you can't pour tea without a lid without scalding yourself. I emailed sazen (which is where I got it from) asking if they could sell me a lid for the pot, probably can't because they are handmade. Will probably have to buy a new one. That pot was pretty sentimental to me, its the design of the pot being close to the pot in Senko-san that got me into loose-leaf tea in the first place. Plus my father and I enjoyed many a session together of sencha and hojicha using it. Good thing the post only costs $60.

>>15901649
>inb4 kintsugi
is it too broken to glue it up, though?

>>15901730
>kintsugi
Implying I can do that level of art. How would I go about doing that without spending a fortune. It broke in half and chipped at some of the edges. My father seems to think we can glue it but I'm not sure if that would affect the flavor of the teapot or safety of it.

>>15902160
i was joking about kintsugi because it's a colossal meme that everyone in tea circles loves to bring up any time anyone breaks anything.
ceramics are pretty easy to glue back together though. just get some food-safe epoxy. i don't think you'll have to worry about weird tastes and chipped areas. it's just the lid, the tea doesn't come into contact with it very much at all and it shouldn't experience very much wear and tear.

puer is the best after a meal

what's the best tea to make 5 hours after you should have gone to bed?

Only thing I'd like about hot tea having a wider market is for there to be more cute marketable teawares like pic related, because I'm into that kind of kitschy stuff.

>>15903320
I need to see if i can find one of those slime teapots. I think some anon posted one they picked up a while ago.

>>15903333
Wow play asia has them up for preorder for $23. Unfortunately they are 400ml, i also think i remember play asia having expensive shipping.
https://www.play-asia.com/dragon-quest-kyuu-slime-teapot/13/70dfmv
Bonus yuru camp mug
https://www.play-asia.com/yurucamp-rin-shima-stainless-mug-cup/13/70bzan

>>15903213
Unironically pic related. This shit knocks me the fuck out

>>15903571
Yeah i always keep a box of that around. Nice tea

pleb here. reading the pastebin and i'm not sure what this second infusion business is supposed to be. anyone care to explain?

>>15903765
You can brew the same leaves more than once, so the second brew you use the initial time + the time in the time to add column to get your total time for the second brew.

>>15903770
oh, so this would be for making a second cup then. is there any difference in taste between the first and second infusions? if there's a website about brewing times then i'd be grateful to get a link

>>15899164
I have a whole book on tea snacks around the world. In China it's pretty diverse, but what comes to my mind instantly are tea eggs.

>>15903778
The second cup is usually a bit weaker, but still pretty nice.
The pastebin covers most brew time things except Japanese greens. I'm not really sure what to link, any site i would link would just give you similar numbers. It might be more clear once you read the brewing instructions part.

>>15903778
with really short infusions i.e starting with 10 or 20 seconds 1st cup is usually a bit weak then it'll get stronger till around 4th, plateau and slowly drop off till you're drinking coloured water from the 12th on

for western brewing the steep times are so long the 2nd and 3rd are weaker and you'll probably be lucky to get a decent 3rd cup

>>15903778
Yeah, a lot of high grade teas are releasing different tastes - especially white tea - with different infusion times.

Also Pai Mu Dan is especially apt to let it simmer in hot water for long after 10 infustions. It gives it a real nutty taste.

>>15903807
>>15903803
>>15903798
nice, well i'll be sure to try it and see, sounds good

anyone have any recommendations for a strainer for western style tea? having english breakfast with maccarons is what i'd be using it for.

>>15903851
Finum makes some great brew baskets for brewing in mugs, big so the leaves have plenty of room to expand. Made in Germany so the plastic probably won't give you cancer.

>>15899930
Makes a wonderful iced tea. If you want to sweeten it, I like brown sugar.

>>15903866
I meant more for using in a western style porcelain or bone china teapot, I already have teacaddy and pot I just need a strainer that works with the aesthetic.

>>15903571
>>15903586
Is there a way to get the loose form of these herbal teas? I love them, but I'm not a fan of teabags (microplastics and all that).

Also, does anyone else find tea drinking to be meditative? It tends to be very soothing for me. :-)

>>15904124
look at what herbs they use, throw them together for yourself
This one is
>Chamomile, spearmint, lemongrass, tilia flowers, blackberry leaves, orange blossoms, hawthorn and rosebuds.
figure out the ratios yourself I guess

>>15904124
>Is there a way to get the loose form of these herbal teas?

https://theherbalacademy.com/purchase-herbs-and-supplies-world-wide/
this list has most of the vendors of herbs (may be pastebin worthy but has a lot of non tisane related stuff on it)

https://mountainroseherbs.com/
is perhaps the most popular source of ingredients

>>15902192
So do any of you know what food safe epoxy would be safe for long term use on unglazed clay teapots? I got an email back from Sazen and they said they cannot just sell me a lid by itself because each pot is unique, which I suspected would be the truth. They gave me a 10% discount off buying the same pot, but before I do that I want to try glueing the lid. Either way I’m still keeping my old pot, I love it too much to throw it away.

>>15905035
i am having a bit of a hard time finding epoxy certified as food safe though i know cured epoxy can be food safe.
another option their is silicone Sealant
something like this is a possibility:
https://www.amazon.com/00688-All-Purpose-Adhesive-Silicone-2-8-Ounce/dp/B000KE4PBQ
it may be cheaper at a local store

it is food safe albeit it is technically only rated for incidental contact, it has a 350f rated operating temperature, and is waterproof.
here is the TDS:
https://www.dap.com/media/3171/dap-all-purpose-adhesive-sealant-_tds_3319.pdf

>>15904124
Yeah, if you don't care as much about taste and are just chasing effects/health benefits amazon is a good option. Thats where I bulk buy my chamomile and st johnnies. If you want better tasting, go with mountainrose. I don't bother because I already spend too much on regular tea, gotta cut costs somewhere.

Green tea, lemon, honey, and your favorite mug.

>>15906047

>>15905271
Would you say that's safe for wood fired too?

>>15906583
Wood fired should not matter in terms of what glue to use, it just means the outside has some kind of ash glaze on it

>>15906583
are you asking if it would work on wood fired ceramics? it should i don't see why it would make a big difference vs other ceramics.

I just started drinking tea and I think I like chai tea the best

>>15906828
Chai is pretty nice anon, one of the best milk teas, good in both cold and warm weather

>>15894438
https://stillnessinthestorm.com/

https://www.bitchute.com/video/V1YbsIjWNkLn/

https://www.brighteon.com/db5b19b4-d49b-428f-ad28-1e699f370b7f

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sVLCYMezi0

https://www.outofshadows.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDliTIUq_uw

http://finalwakeupcall.info/en/2021/04/07/total-extinction-of-mankind-is-close/

i folded and finally bought one (the 120ml size because i am in need of a smaller teapot)

>>15907917
Nice, looks good anon, i really love the kyusu style of teapot, it seems like they have great ergonomics.

how do you wash weird tastes out of brand new clay teaware? mine smells pretty stank as fuck right now, will just soaking it in water for a few days help?

>>15908565
I don't remember mine tasting weird when I got it, is it a cheap one? Theres guides on boiling them in water but its pretty risky if you don't follow a ton of safety precautions. Also can just run boiling water through it a bunch of times but thats obviously less effective.

>>15908565
Take a massive risk and boil it, then throw in double the amount of tea you'd normally put in it and gong fu brew, throwing all that tea in a bowl until you can cover the pot, take the tea out and let the pot and lid soak in the liquor for like 45 mins.

>>15908565
do a couple boiling water rinses
then use it as normal

if people tell you to boil the pot or soak it in tea or something
they're fucking retarded

for dirty lqer pots / roc pots, use diluted bleach

>>15908913
ignore this retard please

>>15899702
You should stop being so scientific
whatever guide you're following doesn't have the same coniditons, brewing technique, vessal, water as you, or even the state of the tea as you
go blind and figure it out yourself

have you ever noticed how pouring into a glass pitcher makes the tea's body shittier ?
hmmmmmm

>>15909188
It was done in a thread like 5 threads ago and nothing happened

>>15909209
This is it
This is the worst post in a /tea/ thread ever

>>15909188
I have bought three clay pots over the years, and each time I boiled it on the stove for an hour or so. Keep it to a modest simmer and make sure you keep the lid separate and there really shouldn't be any problems.

im a tea girl

>>15909939
A really cool chick I met at my cousin's wedding said that to me once. I'm more about the coffee myself but I shrugged it off anyway.
We ended up going back to her place and it turns out a terrible misunderstanding had a occurred.

And that's the story of how I spent three years in prison for a "hate crime"

Does separating tisane leaves from stems affect the flavour? Last year I was lucky enough to have a nice cultivation of yerba buena and ended up using all parts of the plant in my tea. It made me wonder if removing stems from the tisane would better the flavour.

where are the puer autists when you need them?
this thread is turning degenerate very quick.
shoo shoo celestial retards to your discord and reddit.
we had a good thing going here, why you have to poison this one too?

>>15910020
Celestial consoomers took over the thread and real Chinese drinkers dont want to deal with it.
Like 2 if the main puerh lesbos got mad at the meme and people telling them to get off their high horse, theres only like 2 actual brew posters its and >>15909209 is trying to ruin the thread by making them leave

>>15910020
since you asked so nicely I will post some tasting notes

today's sip: 2020 brown sugar (shou puerh) from W2T
very savory: bread and meat broth
some umami: seaweed
quite oleogustus: it has a distinctly greasy taste to it
lightly sweet: contrary to the name I don't find this tea all that sweet
a bit of earthiness: but less so than many shou
other flavors: a hint of chocolate and dried fruit hidden underneath the dominant flavors
overall: it is a very unique shou and I would recommend any shou fan pick up a sample of if they put in an order from W2T. I am still not entirely sure how I feel about it personally (I like it but I would not want to drink it daily) but I strongly think it is worth trying if you think it sounds interesting. It seems to be popular option to pair heicha with a greasy meal to help with digestion but tend to think the opposite way; drinking dank heicha makes me want some fresh fruit or a salad to clear the “funk”. I find this tea in particular has a “greasy meal” feel in and of itself.

my tea is coming today im so excited :3333

>>15910461
Is that label censored?
>unnecessarily foul language
Based

>>15910485
>Is that label censored?
they added the censor bars to the newer label as a joke and so you can tell the different batches apart at a glance. this is one of their signature teas and the have made it for a number of years.

https://white2tea.com/collections/ripe-puer-tea/products/2020-brown-sugar
https://white2tea.com/collections/ripe-puer-tea/products/2018-brown-sugar
https://white2tea.com/collections/ripe-puer-tea/products/2016-brown-sugar

>Based
honestly, i don't care for a lot of their marketing but they do have some good tea.

>>15910461
nice one anon, I have a sample on the way that actually shipped today, so I'll be looking forward to that

>>15910531
did you get a sample of Lumber Slut as well? i had some some of the 2020 batch and liked the tea (despite despising the name).

>Still can't get my teas to taste like anything other than water

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I spend around £31 on what-cha tea and a themeomtre and it still tastes like nothing. I'm using a scale that uses grams, and not milligrams and I don't think it's 100% accurate, though I feel like getting another weighing scale would just be
sunk-cost fallacy

>>15910761
yes I did in fact order that one as well

>>15910918
Get a 1 gram weight for calibration
Don't use distilled water
Stop having coof

I know this general is for eastern style teas, but for any of you who have an interest in afternoon tea but are having trouble finding proper resources for tea ware, serverware and table ware, as well as proper preparation please check this site out.

https://www.myteaplanner.com/

the tea section goes into comprehensive detail on all things one might use when preparing an afternoon tea.

I think it might be a good resource to add to the pastebin regarding western teas as such information tends to be hard to find.

As for as teaware is concerned I personally prefer doulton but wedewood is good too:
https://www.wedgwood.com/en-us/tea-and-teaware/teaware/all-teaware

>>15911022
You can get western style teaware anywhere though

>>15910918
Are you sure its the tea and not your taste buds that are fucked up?

>>15911111
not really, sure you can get a tea set but how many of those sites will sell something like a sugar spoon or tea caddy spoon for example leaves much to be desired.

First and foremost the former link is intended as an informational resource, for things such as teaware, tableware serverware and so forth. As well as how to properly prepare and use such things for an afternoon Tea.

Which is exceedingly hard to find. Such informaiton is intended for someone who wants the full afternoon tea experience, not someone who just wants to brew a simple pot of english breakfast with a tea set they bought off of etsy.

>>15911156
>full afternoon tea experience
it's an american larp for aging WASPs, no such thing on the old continent. I'd advise you to cease such a behavior. you're an american, please worship african-american culture, because it's so underrepresented and yet vital to the way north americans live right now. cowffee, high fructose corn syrup, buttock implants, do rags, pseudohermaphroditism, fresh prince of bel air.
these should be your main concern, not some "high tea" loving menopause struck dried out sack of white aunt, remembering the wetter days.
i CAN'T BREATHE.

>>15911311
>American
No I'm Australian, nice try though. I've got a pretty decent set of teaware and such that i've inherited from my grandparents, but wanted to have a better understanding of what goes into having an afternoon or high tea. That was the best resource I could find and I have been looking. Details on these things are surprisingly hard to find. I don't like linking yanks trying to do anything other than shove burgers in their mouths so if you have a better resource why don't you share that knowledge.

That's what i'd like to say but your obviously from some shitty board like /b/ or /r9k/ or reddit or something. Please stop shitting up this general and go back to where you came from.

>>15911397
>Australian
oh nice one brother. so you're saying that your ancestors came to the continent in chains for committing crimes so vile, that european prisons were to prudish to take them in. seems like that bad blood runs to this day.
again, please worship your aboriginal hosts instead of slurping vegemite and victoria bitters.
I get that nothing of value ships to Australia these days but try to make do with what you have. which is didgeridoo and confused accent. not australian aunt larping to be back in europe sipping afternoon tea.

>>15911022
Interesting recourse anon, i must say the lack of a page for the slop bucket is a somewhat glaring omission.
>I personally prefer doulton
Based

>>15911470
also just for the sake of disambiguation for different tea times I found this chart by ahmad.

I've been looking in the usual places for these things, butlers society archives that sort of stuff, but it has been strangely difficult to find a comprehensive resource apart from the one listed.

If I find any more comprehensive resources like from some english teasociety i'll link them here for anyone interested.

Also if your looking for a more western style teaset and your not an american I recommend you check your local s.t vincent de paul or salvation army. A full royal doulton set can cost upward of $900 dollars but you can usually get such a set from such stores at a much lower price.

Anyways sorry for derailing your puerh discussion, I originally came to this thread because I wanted to learn more about chinese teas but I noticed the lack of mention of such things and decided to do a quick search which turned into some hours trying to find a reputable resource. If I find something more substantive I'll link it here or in a future thread.
In the meantime i'm looking forward to trying some green tea in one of those japanese handle style pots. Hope this info may be of use to you guys.

>>15911535
I thought your post was interesting anon, ignore the more grumpy members of the thread. I don't think this is supposed to be specifically about eastern teas and tea culture, it just kind of works out that way. It used to be on /jp/ and mostly be about Japanese tea, lots of info has been added about Chinese tea and that generally seems to be the focus of threads but Indian tea, English tea culture etc is still on topic. It just doesn't get a ton of interest. Thanks for the links.

>>15911535
>picrel
it's marketing drivel. marketing for what, you ask? fuck knows, but the logo and colour scheme is there, so ahmads. sources for this names and distinctions? >trust me bro, we sell tea
you sound like thirtysomething single girl/mtf girl. I get that you're ugly and nobody wants to get a boomerang throw distance close to you, but have some dignity.
maybe say what you drank recently and such, this usually breaks the ice and such.
>sorry for derailing your puerh discussion
ah yes, the almighty puer. I really hope you get there sometime. and I mean it. you'll be rewarded.

>ignore the more grumpy members of the thread
don't tell her what to do. RAPE RAPE

>>15911607
thanks, if I find anything that gives a more comprehensive and succinct overview of this stuff i'll make sure to link it back to this thread. It might seem trivial but the one or two decent sources i've found have been amid a wave womens magzine websites and clickbait sites.

anyway i'm going to go have a cigarette, glad you found the info useful.

EMS is slow as fuck right now, it seems like epacket is actually faster at the moment. Everything i ordered recently has just been floating in the either.

I'm considering buying into the Premium Tea Box bs from yunnansourcing, atleast until I get a taste for different types of teas (Since I am new to loose leaf and want to explore the varieties before buying larger selections)
Would it be best to do this, or buy samples myself- or something else? Is there a better way to try out flavors? I choose the premium tea pack because work's really good for me right now and I can afford the high expense, and it contains a variety of teas as opposed to the other subscription offerings.
Does YS offer samplers that might be better? Is there even a substantive difference?

>>15912537
Reviews are somewhat mixed on the ys samplers. it's probably better to pick one tea from each general category that sounds good, black, green, oolong, maybe puer and order those, if you look at 2021 looseleaf teas they are all sorted by popularity so that should give you a descent idea of what is selling well, for black and green get 2021 teas, for oolong fall/winter 2020 is fine. Also look at their freebie offers and make sure to add one if you have spent enough.
Upton teas also offers a few samplers including an "intro to fine tea" sampler. They are pretty affordable but are more focused on teas popular in the west like Darjeeling or other indian/celadon black teas, the kind of stuff that you usually fond in English breakfast blends.

>>15912689
I've been drinking some indian stuff- but only in bags, and even then isn't most super-dark indian tea supposed to be drank with milk? I'd be curious about exploring both English/Commonwealth style tea and chinese teas, honestly, but right now I'm just going with the latter. Think I'll try finding a nice tea from all the types I'd like to try, after I get a gaiwan and cup set picked out...
Is it recommended to sticki with a normal gaiwan or a travel/easy gaiwan, for a beginner? I may genuinely want to travel with it, but I'm not quite sure. Probably overthinking this part- I'm mostly worried about whether I should buy a leaf filter or not.

>>15912537
Get
100g of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/green-tea/products/2021-early-spring-long-jing-dragon-well-a-grade-green-tea-zhejiang-1
100g of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/black-tea/products/2020-early-spring-xiao-zhong-souchong-black-tea-hongcha-fujian-2?variant=32464227958887
20g of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/black-tea/products/2020-black-tea-dian-hong-yunnan-hong-cha-loose-leaf-tea-hong-cha
20g of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/tieguanyin/products/2019-autumn-xiao-qing-special-grade-tieguanyin-oolong-tea
20g of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/spring-shui-xian-a-grade-medium-heavy-roasted-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea
And finally 20g of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/2018-2019-da-hong-pao-medium-heavy-roasted-superior-grade-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea
Goodspeed

>>15912714
Get a cheap thin gaiwan 100-130ml in size, get a cheap leaf filer if you feel like it, i just drink around it at the bottom of the cup but they don't hurt, again get one of the cheap simple stainless steel ones, nothing elaborate. You can get nicer teaware later if you really want to but starting off with a thin cheap gaiwan will make your life easier. Don't worry about tea tables or any of that other stuff, you can just use a plate. I would not worry about travel gaiwan sets. Even if you ultimately end up using something else it helps to learn how to use a standard gaiwan and its the easiest way to get into gongfu brewing.

>>15912727
Know what? I very well might bite and go with this recommendation straight-up.
Any opinion/recommendations on Pu'er? It's the type I'm most curious about

>>15912714
Oh an make sure you get some 2021 longjing / dragonswell, don't worry about getting the fanciest grade just amke sure you get at least 50g

>>15912768
Yeah give me 5 minutes

>>15912768
Get a sample of this, or even better a whole cake
https://kingteamall.com/collections/others-puerh-tea/products/2006-lancang-jing-mai-gu-cha-jingmai-old-tree-tuo-250g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=32118371745895
50g of this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/home-page/products/2013-laotongzhi-liu-jin-sui-yue-golden-times-cake-357g-puerh-shou-cha-ripe-tea?variant=37738443735220
And a single box of this, this is kind of pricey for a ripe but theirs are very nice and clean and sound give you are really good chance to understand if you like ripe or not
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2019-mengku-rongshi/products/2019-mengku-rongshi-bo-jun-wish-cake-12g-puerh-ripe-tea-shou-ch
He also has plenty of cheap gaiwans.

>>15912771
Regarding the Longjing/Dragons Well- the only sizes I can find are 20g, 100g and up- would you recommend shelling out for a full 100g here?
>>15912835
I'll definately look into this, I'm willing to invest some good money to look into Puerh.
By he do you mean the site you're linking? Because I found some a pretty inexpensive gaiwan and teacup to use on the site.

>>15912856
Yes king tea mall has some really good prices on teaware.
>dragons well
Damn, 50 would be ideal,
Well longjing has a bit of a soybean flavor, it's nutty, and it has some umami green tea flavor, kind of savory, if that sounds good to you get 100g, if you are unsure about that get 20.

>>15912877
OK, I'm just getting a sampler of that but otherwise going pretty much by the recommendations.
https://kingteamall.com/products/tenmoku-fancy-rust-glaze-porcelain-gaiwan-150cc?variant=32566660464743
Getting this for Gaiwan + Teacup because it seems inexpensive(?) and practical, no frills really other than the glaze, which doesn't seem to bring a substantial price increase with it.

>>15912856
Yeah anons can definitely help you get into puer, it's best to start out by trying a few kinds like the ones i linked so you can get a better idea of what you do or don't like, then it will be easier to recommended other puer. It's such a huge topic in tea that it really covers most flavors. Ive suggested a few raws that are aged enough to be mellower and not to green or bitter and a ripe that should be smooth a full of chocolate desert notes. From there you could go anywhere, young bitterness bombs, old heavily mellowed teas that taste like a root cellar, and a huge range in between.

>>15912903
150cc is a little bigger than ideal but it should be fine. You can just measure what 100ml looks like and fill it to that level if you want to do a smaller brew.

>>15912768
very good ripe for the price
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2019-xiaguan-sweet-pu-erh-ripe-pu-erh-tea-cake?_pos=1&_sid=7c2b9abfe&_ss=r
the ever shilled Black Gold Bi Luo Chun
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/best-selling-products/products/yunnan-black-gold-bi-luo-chun-black-tea
a nice cheap oolong
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/best-selling-products/products/anxi-hairy-crab-mao-xie-fujian-oolong-tea
if your feeling a little adventurous
Gao Jia Shan "Wild Fu Zhuan"
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2009-gao-jia-shan-wild-fu-zhuan-hunan-brick-tea?_pos=1&_sid=e8e183b94&_ss=r
or Gao Jia Shan "Guan Gong"
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2014-gao-jia-shan-guan-gong-fu-brick-tea-from-hunan?_pos=7&_sid=e8e183b94&_ss=r

any Jasmine Pearls Green Tea as jasmine tea is a classic style

not a fan of raw Pu'er myself but this has been recommenced a few times
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2012-xiaguan-zi-yun-hao-premium-raw-pu-erh-tea-tuo-cha-in-box?_pos=1&_sid=3a344f59d&_ss=r

dont forget to check ys' deals page before finalizing your order, 50g is a good size for a sample that'll give you 10 sessions if you use 5g/100ml

if you want English/Commonwealth style tea i'd commend vahdam, get some darjeeling, assam, earl gray, masala chai that will cover pretty much every main style

Thanks for the help to all who gave it, helped me get a good selection to try out I'm sure, most of the recommendations seem pretty well-rounded and indicative of their varieties from what I can read.
>>15912928
Will look into all of this before finally deciding on an order.
This might be a stupid question, but do English teas really- "work" with Gong Fu? I know that the method obviously works for all types of tea, but I don't know if the things you'd value in Chinese vs. Indian/English teas would be the same- but my experience with Indian teas at this point is just drinking bagged Assam from Taylors of Harrogate, so not really sure
I'd guess brewing it Gong Fu might actually make it not require milk like you might put in a grandpa brewed Indian, due to the shorter infusion making it less bitter?

>>15912960
You can gongfu anything, i usually just brew indian teas western style because im lazy. There definitely is some value in brewing blacks gongfu, if gives you a different flavor experience than brewing western style. Kind of slices of the total flavor instead of the blend of all the tastes that you get with western style.

>>15912960
>This might be a stupid question, but do English teas really- "work" with Gong Fu?
no not in my experience, for some reason it always goes bitter extremely fast unlike chinese, but you can still western brew in a gaiwan and reuse the leaves (only 2 or 3 times unlike chinese which can i reuse ~12 times). good Indian teas also dont 'need' milk, milk is usually added to round off the harsher flavors, also i like my blacks at 90c instead of full boiling, less bitter that way

I should have known that shipping would kill me on the kingteamall order.
I went with the $20 China Air Mail/ePacket (It was listed this way, I don't know which it is or if they're going to be transferred)
Time to wait in shipping purgatory

ninger

>>15913060
Epacket is just a specific kind of china air mail. It should be fine, it seems to be faster than ems based on my orders in the last few months.

>>15894959
I'm a coffee autist first and foremost. The problem is that most people who are into coffee are actually lazy and bad at it, and hyperfocus on measuring as a crutch instead of a tool to make repeatable brews to improve. It's the same thing with cooking. The recipe is supposed to be something you refine yourself, a way to, at a high level, be able to control certain parts of the dish so you can improve it. Generally though, the "YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW RECIPE" crowd simply doesn't have the palate to season food themselves, and has no desire to improve or develop a palate. As far as tea / coffee crossover, I absolutely gongfu coffee and it is indeed amazing. Pourover tea would be really hard if you wanted to actually end up with a decent product at the end.
Coffee is really enjoyable if you get into roasting, and the barrier to entry is actually quite low, but coffee attracts more of the mechanical keyboard crowd than the people who want to develop a skill.

>>15913221
>It's the same thing with cooking. The recipe is supposed to be something you refine yourself, a way to, at a high level, be able to control certain parts of the dish so you can improve it.
Yeah this is key,
My dad messed around with roasting a bit back when the cool thing to do was to modify old air popping popcorn machines. I was a big coffee drinker for years before i got into tea but i never got into the roasting aspect myself.

>>15913060
My order got cancelled for some reason and Paypal's refund is taking ages to actually return to my account
Frustrated, I'll wait until the refund is given and then try again

>>15913444
Weird, paypal sucks

Is there a genmaicha you guys recommend? Ideally it'd be relatively cheap, but I'm wary of places that attach zero information to their tea.

>>15913469
Most genmatcha is (relatively) cheap
Most important suggestion is to avoid the kind that has matcha powder in it.
What continent are you on?
For the usa try
https://ippodotea.com/
https://www.denstea.com/
For canada
https://www.capitaltea.com/
For UK
https://what-cha.com
For EU
https://cajchai.com/product/te-verde-genmaicha-ecologico-arroz-tostado/
Otherwise order from japan
https://www.o-cha.com/

>>15913541
Ah, so I've read the OP post, mostly I was wondering if there was something someone tried and especially liked, or at least cheaper.
>ippodo
Nothing against the site, but ~120/lb for organic genmaicha seems laughable no?
>denstea
This is what I was looking at most closely, looks pretty good but again, the tea seems nice but it's priced nearly the same as the sencha it's made with which sort of defeats the whole purpose. I might end up going with this anyway, but really I was looking more for.
>decent cheap tea I can buy a pound of and drink every day, without it being absolute shit
Which, is exactly what genmaicha is for.

>>15913564
Well the usual answer is to get it from one of the Japanese vendors, they usually have decent prices on it, the problem is that i think they are all still only shipping via DHL for $20 due to bat flu. But you can try and check out on a few and see what happens, you wont get better prices or quality from anyone domestic.
Upton tea has a few, they don't really specialize in Japanese greens but they should be okay.
$25 for 250g
https://www.uptontea.com/japanese-green-tea/gen-mai-cha-loose-leaf-green-tea/p/V00203/
Sorry i don't know what else to suggest for the US, it's kind of bleak when it comes to Japanese stuff. Personally i get really cheap bags at my local asian market but that doesn't help you any.
Yeah ippodo is expensive, their Japanese site is a bit cheaper but overall they are pretty pricey.

>>15913596
Well, I really appreciate this anyway, thank you. I'll look around and make a post here again after I order and drink some for a bit.

>>15913611
And if anyone else is following along, I learned something already. I was watching through this video here because I saw the channel mentioned
https://youtu.be/Sh6xRBG-LlU?t=1173
Organic tea produced without pesticides will often be first flush because there are too many insects later in the year. Which, is why organic genmaicha is a large jump in price (and seemingly quality) of the sencha used. Neat!

>>15895824
Looks like a great seller but $50 shipping to my backwater country is too much, I'll have to settle for that $10 chinapost for now.

Drinking the 2020 Happy Elephant Ripe Puerh

Boiling water - 7g, 150mL Yixing, 15s + 5s.
_____________________________________

I was thrown off guard by this. Scott at Yunnan Sourcing described it as sweet, so I expected sweet, but this is actually an incredibly broth-y ripe. First brew was very light colored, almost a caramel, but by the second brew it's black like you'd expect from a ripe. The flavor as well is a slow starter, starting as a weak ripe and evolving to be, to be frank, a little too strong by the 3rd brew.
A bitter, woody tone comes through from front to back. It almost conjures up memories of burning aspen logs in a wood stove, lacking the smokiness of the real experience. The wood flavor is definitely not very pleasant that it'd remind you of pinewood or cherry-wood or even oak. However it follows with a very thick liquor that tastes like a very well made mushroom broth, maybe even reminding me of beef broth.
Letting this cool down to room temperature, the broth entirely vanishes but the wood rounds out much better and reminds me of spruce rather than aspen. The flavor at the back of the throat entirely disappears, rather lingering near the teeth. I feel as this tea ages, it will actually end up being very good, but as a young ripe, it is decently disappointing.

For the price, I can not recommend this tea, but if you want something woody to age for a few years, it could be a decent investment. If you do end up getting this for any reason, I recommend you drink it in the peak of winter by the fire, as I can only imagine actual smokiness coming from a fireplace may trick the mind into thinking this is better developed than it is, or at least match the feeling of the moment.

>>15910020
The 4chan /tea/ threads have always been shit

so much missinformation it's fucking ridiculous

>>15910918
What-cha is low quality bland tea
it's probably just the tea anon

Why does everyone in these threads shill for yunnan sourcing anyway
it's often pretty low quality tea

the only thing they do "ok" is some of their own shou
everything that isn't their own produced stuff is either overpriced or has god-fucking-awful storage behind it, or just plain shit

some of the older productions of sheng are good, but anything recent? no fucking way

>>15912928
that Bi Luo Chun sucks ass
why are you unironically linking that xiagaun shou, why are you trying to waste people's money
that cheap oolong is garbage, not even worth the price
don't buy fucking heicha from YS, how dense do you have to be

that 2012 Xiagaun tuo...again, why you wanting people to waste money

can you fuck off recommending people bad tea?

Vahdam, kys

>>15913932
their loose leaf is pretty decently curated

>>15913955
some of their loose stuff is ok, but they're diamond in the roughs
you can get better quality stuff from most other western facing vendors that specialize in that type of tea

>>15913961
I've personally never had issues with scott's curation of black teas, but that guy's taste in oolong is absolutely abhorrent.
I always go for long jing for green so any vendor is usually okay for that

>>15913975
yes, out of everything, his black tea's are his best curations
but it's still a pretty bleak situation, and again, better stuff from better vendor, for the same price

>any vendor is ok for longjing
no this isn't true at all, longjing is a fucking expensive tea, the lowest quality longjing that has just been harvested is a couple hundred
and let me also tell you, you're only getting the lowest quality in the west
you can't get any decent or amazing longjing in the west because there's no market it for it, no one wants to spend $$$$ on amazing longjing in the west

What's the certified best way of brewing a cup of tea?

>>15913989
I don't care for amazing long jing, I'm not rich. I'm fine with lower quality consumer grade as long as it tastes good enough

>>15913995
there is no best way that people can tell you

there's too many variables to account for

Find out for yourself, a good experiment is to brew the same tea everyday for a month or two and test every variable for yourself, learn "if I do this, or use this, this happens" this can be so many thing's, water, ratio, vessal, pouring high, pouring low, pouring in a steady stream in a corner, or everywhere over the leaf or pouring not on the leaf, material of kettle, material of cup & vessal, not using pitchers (Id say water temp, but boiling for 99% of your tea, but try yourself also)
there's so much


learn about the different brewing styles, I'd say go gongfu as gongfu contains the most control over your tea

>>15913997
it's not consumer grade stuff though
it's "stuff we cant sell here because it's so low quality & grade, so we sell it in the west"

>>15914005
rather pessimistic
I've definitely gotten long jing thats higher quality than random green teas like mao feng

>>15914032
it's not pessimistic
it's a simple economic fact

I'm telling you, why bother with longjing since all you're getting is the worst of the worst of it
when you can get some other variety of green tea where the name doesn't add aditional cost, and get something half decent for roughly the same price

>>15914005
There is at least a few vendors selling real west lake dragons well.
That said i think most enthusiasts understand they are buying longjing style tea and the quality of the ones ive tried (not from YS) has been fine.
90% of the price of real authentic dragons well from the designated area is Chinese jerking off over gifting culture and buying expensive things to flash their wealth around.

>>15914039
Because I like it?

>>15914049
yep there are a couple good western vendors who sell fairly ok / decent longjing, but nothing under a couple hundred $$$ which is expected

I doubt the quality is fine, but I'm sure the enjoyment you got from it is fine

that's not really true, but it's also a bit true
it's a very simplistic look basically, not rooted in much fact, just antidote

>>15914069
You seem to think there is some huge markup over other green teas for longjing style teas that aren't from the designated area, there really isn't and they are quite affordable.
The stuff from the designated area sucks anyways now, they replaced all the old bushes with a new modern varietal that has bigger yields and earlier harvests and it sucks compared to the original.
Like i said 90% of the price of the authentic tea is just hype and people buying luxury goods to give expensive and prestigious gifts. For westerners that don't care about that they are just buying green tea that is processed in the style of longjing that they enjoy. Nobody is paying $60 for 20g of it.

>>15914086
When I type longjing, I mean longjing
not a green tea produced in the style of longjing

but also, most people don't know there's a difference
I'm showing people the difference from the imitation stuff to the real stuff, and you're showing the real stuff to the imitation stuff

we're doing the same thing but in reverse

>>15914086
I think a lot of westerners forget chinese like to buy expensive things just to show other people they have money, without caring for quality.
This is a country that it's not uncommon to buy $100 packs of cigarettes for your boss that he'll never smoke. They don't buy high quality stuff like rolex, they just buy high price items which drives the price itself.
Case in point, these people will buy menghai 7542 cakes with special wrappers at a 500% markup just to put on display.

>>15914098
People don't know or care that there is a difference because untill recently there weren't even any western facing vendors selling the real thing. You are probably right that it is stupid to buy the cheapest authentic longjing possible because it probably sucks. But people in the west are just buying longjing style tea, to them the name is just a style of processing that they think tastes good. The anon you were talking to probably pays $20 for 100g. He isint getting tricked or ripped off and he buys the tea because he thinks it tastes good.

>>15914140
Sure
but I'm saying, that money would be better spent buying a better quality tea where the name alone doesn't increase the value, and it will actually be the thing instead a style or imitation of that thing

but, if you enjoy it, nothing really matters
I thing there is a bit of deception there, maybe not ripped off, not as far as to say tricked, but mislead

>>15914005
I meant are there different methods like with coffee - moka pot, pourover, chemex, machine, etc etc
What's the tea equivalent

>>15914179
there's gongfu, western brewing, grandpa brewing, bowl brewing, thermos brewing, boiling in a sauce pan, in a kettle & keeping it hot

kinda it?

but to compare it in any mind related to coffee is not right

Speaking of longjing
Kingteamall seems to have really stepped up his green tea selection this year. For people who haven't ordered their Chinese greens yet you should take a look at what he has.

>>15914199
I love KTM tea grading
S+++++++++++++
hilarious

>>15914212
Yeah it's pretty great

You tea drinkers sure are a contentious bunch.

>>15914241
tea is serious business
The entire history of tea is a long trail of spilt blood and spent treasure.

Got more tea delivered

>>15914258
Taiwan right?
How are Taiwanese blacks? I imagine them being similar to Japanese blacks but i have tried them yet.

>>15914241
very true
though also expected

>>15914258
I like MST
though please ignore those brewing instructions

I am a tealet who once drank some green tea from leaves but now drinks teabag green tea only.
Is it over for me or can I make it? Should I go back?

>>15914293
do whatever you want
the only person who cares what you do is yourself

>>15914293
Try some looseleaf, it's a good time of year to get some since the spring harvest is just coming in. This is actually a winter harvest but just grab it. I got a sample of it recently and it's very nice for the price.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/High-mountain-Chinese-green-tea-from-Teng-Chong-200g/303849835659
Then grab a brew basket on ebay or wherever, pic related by finum. Total cost will be around $25 and you will have lots of tea to drink. Follow the western style brewing instructions in the pastebin and enjoy! Feel free to ask questions.

>>15914258
It's not very astringent to start off. Really different from assam despite being a hybrid. The aroma is like a lady's vagina. Starting to get watery after around 7 infusions, finally there's some tannins after all.
I'm gongfuing this right now because he wrote "not best for western style" but he also defines that as 1 minute steeps. Fuck this guy, tomorrow I western steep.
>>15914276
This is the first I tried. Good first impression so I will try more. It actually looks exactly like Chinese tea, not rolled like their oolongs.

>>15914311
Thanks. I will actually do that. Just need to stop being lazy. Thanks for the link. I never knew you could buy tea that cheap from china and no shipping. So I suppose I dont need to worry about the quality and/or contamination?

>>15914185
>but to compare it in any mind related to coffee is not right

why
a brew method's a brew method

>>15914524
there's massive swings of variation in each method, not only objectively, but personally

>>15914179
Those methods of coffee are fundamentally different when it comes to what they do with the grounds and what size of grind. Like pourover is letting the water trickle through mid-sized grounds while moka pot is forcing water up through finer grounds to make a more concentrated coffee. Different tea methods are all basically just steeping the leaves in water except for matcha. There's no real comparison.

>>15914373
Yeah that seller is good, and it's packaged tea so it was subject to some level of heath standards and quality control.

My favorite tea is the turkish tea

>>15912903
>Getting this for Gaiwan + Teacup
just to note that gaiwan is a bit on the larger side of things 100ml is more standard for solo drinkers.
as another note the cup is likely smaller than the gaiwan so you either need a fairness pitcher like this:
https://kingteamall.com/collections/other-tea-accessories/products/gongdaobei-chinese-gongfu-tea-ware-glass-pitcher-300ml-400ml-with-stainless-filter?variant=30674726682727
or you should get 2 identical gaiwans and use the second as a cup.
you want to be able to pour al the liquid off the tea leaves so it does not over brew.

>>15913090
Epacket is the special budget version of EMS for small packages. they are both handled by China Postal Express & Logistics Co (state owned subsidiary of the China Post Group) but they may go through separate courier routes.

>>15913727
I don't get why you think this shu is so bad based off you description. strong woody shus are a fairly popular type of shu. are you saying you don't like woody shus therefore you personally don't like this shu or do you really think this is a universally bad shu?
>For the price, I can not recommend this tea
it is approximately $0.10/gram which is hardly expensive for shu.

>>15913951
>that Bi Luo Chun sucks ass
>why are you unironically linking that xiagaun shou, why are you trying to waste people's money
>that cheap oolong is garbage, not even worth the price
>don't buy fucking heicha from YS, how dense do you have to be
>that 2012 Xiagaun tuo...again, why you wanting people to waste money
>can you fuck off recommending people bad tea?
>Vahdam, kys

>>15913989
>but it's still a pretty bleak situation, and again, better stuff from better vendor, for the same price

if you are going to make statements like this you should actually provide specific examples of alternatives otherwise you are just spiting hot air.

why has this thread suddenly been colonized by contrarians?

How much tea does, say, a 100ml gaiwan actually make in practice?

>>15913961
>>15913989
please name a better vendor. i want to know.

>>15914086
>Like i said 90% of the price of the authentic tea is just hype and people buying luxury goods to give expensive and prestigious gifts. For westerners that don't care about that they are just buying green tea that is processed in the style of longjing that they enjoy. Nobody is paying $60 for 20g of it.
this is the correct answer.

>>15914098
>but also, most people don't know there's a difference
and why should they when 90% of the difference is price. most people in the west probably don't even think they are getting a bargain because they don't know how expensive the west lake stuff is.

>I'm showing people the difference from the imitation stuff to the real stuff
as a tea drinker if the tea is produced similarly and tastes similarly and preferably grown in a similar terroir in a nearby geographic location than it is absolutely "real". only a braggart cares about lines on a map and artificial scarcity. nobody buys the "real" stuff over here because we don't recognize it as a status symbol and if you buy it just as a tea west lake stuff is horribly overpriced.

>>15914150
>but I'm saying, that money would be better spent buying a better quality tea where the name alone doesn't increase the value
but most of the value of "real" longjing comes from name alone. if it was not one of the most famous tribute teas with a history of gifting it would be worth a fraction of the what it currently sells for. it is a veblen good where people buy it because it is recognized as expensive and "elite".

>and it will actually be the thing instead a style or imitation of that thing
for all we know modern west lake longjing may "merely" be an imitation of the historical tea. or due you really believe it has been unchanged in the last 350 years.

>I thing there is a bit of deception there, maybe not ripped off, not as far as to say tricked, but mislead
and trying to shame into buying overpriced tea is not deceptive?

>>15914212
>S+++++++++++++
for some reason a lot of Chinese vendors use hyperbolic notation like that. i presume its cultural and they think it looks cool as it is sure not fooling anyone.

>>15914241
>You tea drinkers sure are a contentious bunch.
this is overal the crankiest thread i have seen. it is often more chill here but we occasionally get hot heads and riff-raff here.

>>15915224
>How much tea does, say, a 100ml gaiwan actually make in practice?
it depends on the type of tea, how much you put in, and how strong you make each steep. as really rough ballpark i would say around 1L if you use 7ish grams of a tea that has at least decent longevity.

>>15909970
if not larp, tell us more. if larp, then better make it good

>>15915074
https://txs-tea.com/
https://oldwaystea.com/
https://purplecloudteahouse.com/
https://www.lazycattea.com/
https://onerivertea.com/
https://floatingleaves.com/
https://mountainstreamteas.com/
https://www.threebearstea.com/

to name a couple decent western vendors

>>15915368
for longjing?
buy the bitterleaf private order

>>15915396
>but also, most people don't know there's a difference
and why should they when 90% of the difference is price.
because it's misleading

>as a tea drinker if the tea is produced similarly and tastes similarly and preferably grown in a similar terroir in a nearby geographic location than it is absolutely "real"
it doesn't though?

>but most of the value of "real" longjing comes from name alone
yes as I've said, don't buy either the real stuff or the longjing style stuff
don't get either

>for all we know modern west lake longjing may "merely" be an imitation of the historical tea. or due you really believe it has been unchanged in the last 350 years.
no, but there's a pretty clear distinction between the style / imitation stuff and the real stuff on the market being sold today just in terms of quality

>and trying to shame into buying overpriced tea is not deceptive?
I have nothing to gain ? vendor's are trying to get money from you
how am I shaming, better to be informed than ignorant
why are people so sensitive about tea, everyone takes criticsm as a personal attack when it's a lot farther from that

are there any tea discords? i know about the communitea one but are there any other more /ck ones?

>>15915869
yes but it's mostly just invite-only vendor
more /ck ones?
no, reddit is pretty similar to these threads

>>15915892
dang

What kind(s) of loose tea do average Japanese people drink? I know they mostly drink sencha, what vendors/brands do they like? Just curious, I'm always wondering if I'm overpaying for a tea that is not even drunk in Japan such as from yunomi or sazen.

Asian boomer colleague gave me a mystery sample
Gonna start with 95c water for 20 secs
Dry leaf reminds me of a mild black

>>15916051
why worry about what's podrink just you like
why
something is fucked up with the website drink whil

>>15916114
I guess so, was just curious.

>>15916051
Sazen prices are honestly really good and match the quality, they don't raise their prices because they know weebs will pay for it. I think in Japan most green tea consumption is honestly on bottled green tea and then people drink proper sencha during the weekend, have guests over or just every now and then.

>>15916190
Thank you for the information, anon.
Another general question for you all, I have tea-tins to store my loose leaf, how do I wash them when I finish all the leaf and want to store a new type of tea in them to prevent contamination of the old type? Sazen says that you should only store one type of tea per tin but that seems a little expensive and unsustainable long term, especially if you want to try new teas.

>>15916066
Im not very well versed in blacks, but its like assam black tea without the nasty bitterness
Mouthfeel was thin and it did not leave my mouth feeling very coarse

>>15916327
just tap the dust out and see if the container has any strong lingering odor to it. if not you are good to go. if it does have a smell you can wash it out or just leave the container open for a while until it fades. honestly, i don't think you will have any much of a problem with strong lingering scents besides roasted/smoked teas and heicha.

my tea came and I want to try it but its in the other room and I'm scared of getting up because my gf fell asleep

>>15916327
I use some of the cheaper containers from Sazen and I just tap out the dust that's left. It honestly comes out completely without needing to wash it, it might not be that way for Fukamushicha since it's a lot finer and is bound to have more dust in it.

>>15916066
Interesting looking tea, i guess it's probably a black but it also looks like it could be some kind of hei cha or heavily oxidized white style tea.

>>15916457
Kek, trying to be quiet tea drinking mission

Mason jars also work pretty well for storing loose tea, you just have to keep them out of the light and wash them very thoroughly when you get them. If you have a hardware store nearby you can get a box of mason jars for $5-$7.

I'm sipping on some 12 cent brick from teas we like tonight. It's very good tea for the money, i should probably just start recommending this for people who want to try puer. The longevity isint the best but the storage is great and the flavor is a very nice dried fruit kind of feel.

>>15915041
t's the type of woodiness, not the woodiness itself

>>15918295
Not the annon you were talking with
I agree that woodyness can be pretty lame when it comes to shu, especially if you get one that is mostly just a single linear wood note. Sure there can be some good quality wood notes but it works better as a single aspect of an overall flavor profile and not a single note.

>>15918521
It did have the broth flavor to help, but the wood flavor itself was pretty undesirable, not like a good wood flavor but a bad wood flavor.
I did say it would probably get better with age, but as of now its kinda hard to recommend

>bought some dragon well green tea
>the aftertaste is awful

>>15909209
While his conditions may not translate to other teaware, I doubt he's following any guide. He's just adjusting parameters to fits his teas best. With my own teaware and taste, depending on teas, the amount of leaves can go from 3 to 8-10 g, the temp from 70 to 100°C. The times of infusion also widely vary. Don't you keep track of what works best for the teas you like?

>>15919842
He's just being salty that someone in the last thread said that tea isn't a science and you should brew however you like. Someone as going off in the last thread that westerners aren't scientific enough until people brought up grandpa style.
Someone posting brew perimeters describing what they did to the tea triggered him.

>>15919842
There is no set best way
only good ways for the tea
since the tea is aging (presumably) and you're picking up different sections each time, you should be adjusting in regard to these type of things

Anyway, I don't follow parameters or measure, anything like that
I don't want the same experience with the same tea on each session

>>15919879
that wasn't me
what are you on about

>>15919883
>There is no set best way
>only good ways for the tea
But there are bad, at least unpleasant or least pleasant ways too. Like not enough, or too much. It's what I meant by what's best: what's enough and not too much. It's not a single and fixed set of parameters. I don't eyeball because I have a better reliability to consistently fall in the 'enought and not too much' of my teas. I like that especially when I'm sharing them. To each their own. Even eyeballing is a sort of intuitive measurement that yields results. In the end, the good way(s) is what you find good.

>>15919879
>>15919883
>>15920153
I like to see basic parameters, not because I want to stick to them but because it's nice to have a baseline to start with that at least got someone a good result. Plus if they're talking about how a tea tastes it communicates more of how they got to that result.

What's your favorite tea for: morning, midday, evening?

>>15920153
mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
idk
sure

>>15920219
I don't really care about what other people say they taste
it doesn't say much anything or provide any use to me, since I will get a different result to them even if I use and do exactly what they did

Basline? sure, baselines are good and valueable, but not because it got to a good result, but because you can compare with others at the same baseline

afternoon tea time

Currently drinking some high roast shuixian oolong tea. It's about 16 C and raining outside. Perfect weather for this stuff.

>>15921539
How does the roast compare to other high roast oolongs?
Do you ever brew in clay or do you stick with ceramic/porcelain?

>>15921667
I generally stick to ceramics because I have neither the time nor the money to delve into different kinds of clays. The only clay pot I own is a Tokoname pot, and I own a small Dehua stoneware pot with a dragon spout. The rest of my teawares are all ceramics and porcelains. I don't dedicate any one pot to any one type of tea. I want vessels that can brew any or most types of tea, generally speaking. :-)

The roast itself is intense at first, but mellows out into a slight sweetness and honey scent later. I like to drink it early in the morning; it gives my brain and my gut a kick, almost like black coffee minus the bitterness.

>>15921711
Nice, sounds tasty

>>15894438
new thread
>>15922042
>>15922042
>>15922042

>>15918795
I'm sorry you got potentially scammed. Maybe try a different brewing method first.