/ck/ - Food & Cooking

For me its roasted wuyi oolong

What foods do you like to pair with your tea?

Threadly reminder if you like cooked puerh you're a peasant.

for me it's cooked puer

>>16194592
reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

>>16194133
That reminds me I need to do a soft roast with my Shui Xain.

>>16195585
Please report your results, I'm really interested in trying some home roasting

>>16195717
Will do. Only wish I had some type of gas element; I'm stuck on caveman coils.

>>16195798
Brutal anon, i hate electric ranges

We're making Chinese hard boiled black tea eggs tonight, boys.

>>16196678

>>16196704

Now to wait a day.

I recently started using deadnettle in my teas. It's a great addition, especially for floral teas. It's hella strong though.

>>16196779
Awesome anon!
Thanks for posting

>>16196903
So it's part of the mint family
does it taste minty?
Are you drinking it for health benefits or do you just like the taste?

>>16196951
It tastes very herbal, but not minty. More of a grassy, slightly lemony taste. It has some good health benefits and it grows everywhere too.

I usually make it into a blend with lavender, chamomile, a pinch of black cardamom tea, and some dandelion honey if I have some.

>>16194044
Any anons have a good lead on some tasty jasmine? I'm always chasing the flavor of the tea used at this Shanghainese place. I could drink it all day instead of water.

>>16196996
Verdants jasmine white is pretty nice. Very heavily flavored with jasmine flowers. I enjoy it. But for pure jasmine I don't know

>>16197001
I just looked it up and it sounds delicious. Thanks, anon!

>>16197062
>>16197001
>currently out of stock
Fuck

>>16194592
very based

>>16194578
very cringe

>>16197065
>>16197001
Nvm, they have the 2020 version in stock.

Caffeine gives me anxiety attacks. Decaffeinated tea still has some caffeine so that won't work. I'm basically limited to camomile which technically isn't really tea.

Anyone have some other solutions?

>>16196975
Sounds good, blending herbs is really fun. I was experimenting with making tea from blackberry leaves last year.

>>16197155
There is a good amount of herbal blends that don't contain caffeine, check out the herbal tea blends from mountain rose herbs.
https://mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/teas/herbal
Decent prices and better quality than teabags from the grocery store. Speaking of celestial seasonings makes a bunch of different herbal teabags that are pretty good.

>>16197172
Thanks.

>>16197182
Jeez, what's with the attitude?
No problem, I guess.

>>16197195
Sorry, I meat Thank You. I really appreciate the advice.

What types and producers of heicha are generally worth trying?

Where do y'all go if you want to buy more, let's say "obscure" teaware? It's easy to find a huge variety of tea pots, gaiwans, and cups online for example. But I've found if you're looking for things like tea trays or strainers, it can be hard to find really nice pieces.

>>16197157
Oh? That sounds interesting. How did it turn out?

Any Turkish teabros in these threads? Just got myself set up with a copper tea set. Have tea from Turkey, which is alright, Azerjannie tea which a a little better, and 2 bags coming from Krasnodar Russia. Nice change from the usual styles.

>>16197462
>Oh? That sounds interesting. How did it turn out?
It worked okay, but they didn't really taste like much.

Soon, anons. My white tea order from Fullchea just updated a few hours ago that it is "in transit to the destination". Not sure if that means it will arrive today or not, but that would be nice, wouldn't it? Just over 1.4kg of white tea and whatever samplers they include. Last time I ordered and it arrived in this distribution center, it was delivered on the same day. Though, it is also a Sunday, and it was a Tuesday last time. Will be nice to explore the white cakes soon either way.
>>16196779
Looks interesting. I made fermented eggs once which were mildly salty and colorful, but not especially funky as I'd like. I recall peeling them after boiling, stabbing them multiple times with a thin needle, and leaving them in liquid with spices. Turmeric made them light up well, but it was lacking in fermentation development. I bet yours will look great in color alone, though I'm curious how the tea will impact flavor and fragrance. Actually, wouldn't that make them caffeinated eggs too? That's a curious thought: getting buzzed off eggs.
>>16197627
Not Turk, but how have the teas turned out? How might you compare them to Chinese/Taiwanese teas? May I see your set?

>>16198699
Damn, a whole barrel of white tea eh?

>>16198714
I bought four white tea cakes of varying sizes. Most had low prices, and a few were on sale at the time. I didn't know they were about to have a 10% sale on the entire site a week or so after, but it's fine. The idea was to try a bunch of the low cost cakes with tons of leaf to see if there were any gems, and one 'nice' cake of greater cost, but also greater perceived quality or renown. This would provide variety and more leaf to do fun experiments with. I'll post a picture of the cakes, and probably taste and journal one daily until all of them and any new samplers I get as gift bonuses are done with.

>>16198846
Oh yeah i remember this, nice that it's moving on its way.

Dongfang Meiren is so good but kinda expensive

>>16200018
Oriental beauty is great tea-masters.com has a few reasonably priced ones, i really liked the one i got from them.

>>16198699
I'll post the set when I'm home bro. The teas are very different. The whole process is different, actually. The Turkish tea is finely chopped tea, even more so than something like Shahia's Ceylon, but not really dust either. The Azerjannie tea is a little more full, more like the aforementioned Shahia, or some other English blend. Scented with bergamot. Generally though the teas are not as brisk as an English or indian/Ceylon blend. Not as malty either. Im still having a hard time discerning what I'm tasting from these. The process itself is more of a "cooking" of the tea. You really steep it for a long time. I'd say the whole affair is like 30 mins to and hour long. You have to heat the copper pots slower and make a super concentrated tea. One pot holds water, one holds tea. After pouring tea, then you pour water to dilute it a bit, if you desire. Sugar is more normalized too. Really different than Asian styles. Ill post review of the Russian teas when they come, but I having had Krasnodar teas in the past, I will say it's pretty mild and tasty. Worth a shot. Let me know if you wanna know anything else fren.

>>16200938
That's really interesting, we haven't had mich discussion about the Turkish style of brewing.
I didn't realize that you could cook black tea like that without it becoming extremely bitter.
Did you order some Russian grown black tea? I've been meaning to try that along with the tea from Georgia.

>>16196779
Marinade definitely got in there. We'll have to see how much. Might need to crack em more next time or just marinate them all nekked.

>>16201671

>>16201671
Eggs definitely smell like the marinade. Can't eat until gf is home.

>>16200938
Unusual, but I can see the Turks making their tea that way since they also finely grind their coffee and make highly concentrated brews that way. If I didn't know the process was different, I would have thought the fine chops of tea to simply be low quality. With this in mind, a thought crossed my mind earlier: what do you think would happen if you tried to brew whole Chinese/Taiwanese/Japanese leaf in the Turk vessels as if they were gaiwans? Maybe the copper would affect the taste, since silver (supposedly) affects flavor?

I read the pastebin, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something dumb before ordering. This is linked for pu erh, if I just bought a brick as a complete novice to tea would this be a fine starting place?

https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Classic-Organic-Black-TEA/dp/B07FTFPNQB/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=TAETEA+7572&qid=1622418572&sr=8-5

>>16201722
Taetea/Menghai is considered a reputable brand. So, the leaf should at least be of good quality. I'd recommend getting something other than just pu'er if you're starting off, though.

>>16201742
I've had a loose leaf english breakfast for the last few weeks, my knowledge is basically nonexistent by /ck/ autist standards but even I can tell the immense difference in taste a relatively cheap loose leaf tea has compared to bagged shit. Is puerh too "advanced" or is it just a matter of not fully appreciating what I'm paying for?

where do i buy some cheap ass assam for cheap
upton is ok but i think i could be getting a better deal

>>16201755
Pu'er isn't exceedingly difficult to brew, but the flavor itself can be a hurdle for many. I personally made the mistake of investing entirely in pu'er as a beginner because I wanted tea that I wouldn't have to stress about drinking before expiry, and enjoy deep flavors and textures. While they aren't all terrible, some took longer for me to 'understand'. I still don't think I fully appreciate my pu'er, whereas most of the oolongs and whites I have had were more easily distinguishable. To clarify, I am not suggesting against pu'er, but against only buying pu'er if you're new to tea. The best option is to try a little of everything until you find a type that really 'clicks' with your body chemistry and flavor/aroma preferences. For me, that was white tea, so I'm getting a lot of that now to explore that interest further.

>>16201042
>>16201702
Turkish, Persian, Russian doesn't get much, if any, attention generally. The style is ornate and relaxed, but not really technical in the Chinese or Japanese way. You aren't doing it as such a ceremony or tasting session as you are just having a drink with friends. I also think the reason the tea doesn't get wildly bitter is because of where it's grown. If I remember correctly, Krasnodar tea is the furthest north that tea is grown. So in general, these teas are grown in cooler climates, and probably lower elevations than proper Asian teas. I ordered some Russian tea, but have a little left of Georgian and Russian I got from MoyChai. Russian is more pleasant to me, but both are good drinkers. They lack that briskness and spiciness you may associate with black tea, and instead its sort of a bread//yeast and fresh berry profiles.

As for the question about brewing proper Asian teas in this fashion... I haven't placed them in the Turkish pots, but have brewed them in a similar fashion. Results are good, but nothing spectacular. The insides of the Turk pots are actually lined with tin. Same as my cezve i use for coffee. I don't really know what would happen tbhfam. The tea does spend considerable time in a heated state in contact with the tin, so the chance is there for a change.

So I want to get this yixing pot from Yunnansourcing. Do any of you think its a good quality pot? Its 180 ml for $120. https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yixing-pottery/products/lao-zi-ni-xi-shi-yixing-clay-teapot-180ml

Coof

>>16197155
It's not amazing but I prefer it to camomile. No caffeine since it's just mint leaves.

>>16201755
>>16202329
I'd agree. Pu-erh doesn't really taste quite "like tea", if that makes sense. It's got a lot of unique notes, many of them earthy and a bit funky. Not that I think you won't like it, but if you're looking for "tea", in the way you probably think of tea as a casual tea drinker up to this point, I don't know if it'd be what you want. Instead of a big brick, you might want to try some of those small single serving bricks or tuos, just to see if its up your alley.

Today its 7542 in my porcelain teapot

>>16203213
It looks like it should be okay, the size might be kinda large, what size brewing vessel are you using now?

>>16204942
>you might want to try some of those small single serving bricks or tuos,
Small (100g) tuos are fine, but the single serving 4g-10g ones are almost universally garbage, there are exceptions but they are so few it's better to just tell people to stay away from them.

>>16204955
The few I've got from Yunnan Sourcing were decent.

>>16204949
Well, I have large hands so having a larger pot is nice. Also, most teas I make use 200 ml of water, with 180 being close enough. I own two pots, a 180 ml tokoname kyusu, and a 500 ml or so ceramic glazed pot I got from a local tea shop. 180 even seems small to me. I've been meaning to get into Chinese tea such as oolong or pu-erh recently. 65-75 ml pots seem tiny to me.

>>16205035
For gongfu brewing of teas like puerh i had a 140ml gaiwan and used around 7 to 7.5 grams of tea, i found that it was too much for one person. Recently i switched to 100ml pots and i think they are just about the perfect size for one person, i could even do with an 80ml for some oolongs. I would say 90ml to 120ml is the sweet spot. Obviously personal preference comes into play but you will be looking at using 8-12 grams of tea per session with a 180ml

>>16205050
Okay, thank you for the information. Do you know where I could find a 100 ml pot of the same style as the one I posted earlier? I've looked for a bit but have been having a hard time finding one.

>>16205061
I will take a look around real quick

>>16205050
>>16205061

Here is a 130ml, that should be a reasonable size
https://purplecloudteahouse.com/collections/yixing-pottery/products/zhuni-huangyingchun-style-xishi-yixing-teapot-130ml
Here is a 120ml yixing
https://mudandleaves.com/collections/yixing-teapots/products/zhuni-朱泥-huangyingchun-style-xishi-yixing-teapot-130ml
And here is a 100ml version
https://mudandleaves.com/collections/yixing-teapots/products/zhuni-xishi-yixing-teapot-朱泥西施壶-100ml

Here is a 100ml nixing clay one, im not 100% shure this has a filter in the neck you might want to email them and ask
https://mudandleaves.com/collections/nixing-clay-teapots/products/100ml-xishi-nixing-teapot-坭兴西施壶-by-wu-sheng-sheng-1
And a 120ml, still not sure about the filter, I'm guessing they have them but it doesn't specify
https://mudandleaves.com/collections/nixing-clay-teapots/products/120ml-xishi-nixing-teapot-by-li-changquan
Damn good time to be looking for that cute shape, usually i cant find any in stock, i think the Chinese don't like them that much so they don't make many, and the Westerners love em and snap em up right away.

>>16205159
Mud and leaves is also running a 10% off sale right now, make sure you don't miss getting the discount

>>16205159
Thank you for your help! I'm probably going to continue looking for one used in that especially dark clay called "Lao Zi Ni", I love the color. Is there any particular tea you could recommend? I've never really had oolong or pu-erh, except the lapsang siouchang from Mei-leaf once, which I enjoyed. Since most of the teas I drink are very vegetal, I'm looking for something slightly sweet, light, and fruity.

Is it normal for lapsang to age? I got some lapsang a while ago, pretty mid-grade stuff. Don't even remember where it was from. I remember trying it when I first got it and I was thoroughly unimpressed. Barely any smoke flavor. Then I packed it away for a year or so, and I decided to try it again today. Difference was night and day. It was pretty complex, and the addition of the smoke was very noticeable. Kinda made me feel like I was going crazy. Maybe the tea aged? Maybe my palette just got more sensitive? Hell maybe it's even that I moved and have different water now.

>>16205239
Yeah there is a lot of variety and it's dun to see all the different shapes and colors, definitely check out the selection on mud and leaves while they are running a sale, you might find some other shapes you really like.

>>16205513
It definitely could be different water but yeah black tea can age and become more complex, or at least change and taste different. It's not really recommended to store for decades but well packaged you can definitely keep it for 5 years or so.
I really love when i go back to an old tea i haven't drunk in a while and it's much better than i remember it, it's a nice surprise, i have had that happen with oolongs before.

How about this pot? Its 130 ml and has a nice shape and color, also handmade. However, the price makes it seem too good to be true, but that could be because it is made be a younger craftsman? The clay is also mixed, which I have heard conflicting opinions on. https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yixing-teapots/products/jin-hei-gang-clay-xi-shi-yixing-teapot-130ml

>>16205659
Ive been told mixed clay is usually a bad idea but again I'm far from an expert. There doesn't seems to be anything wrong with the construction (it looks half handmade and not slipcast) but it's had to predict how it might change the flavor of tea.
I wish i had more experience so i could more definitively speak about how much clay does or does not matter but the advice ive seen is to focus on getting nice clay over everything else.

>>16205741
>>16205659
If you haven't yet i suggest taking a look at this blog post about different clay types and how that can effect flavor. You might change your mind about not wanting one of the more red colored clays.
https://mudandleaves.com/blogs/teatime/yixing-teapot-pairing-or-which-tea-for-which-teapot
Thry also have individual blog posts with more detailed info about some of the most popular types of clay.

Look i like ripe puer okay?
I get that it's a shortcut to poorly imitate traditional high humidity storage but i don't care, it's tasty. There is nothing wrong with liking ripe puer

>>16206708
Just keep your fists off your girlfriend and we'll be okay.

So I think I've decided to buy the 180 ml yixing pot. I drink tea with my father about half the time, so the size doesn't bother me, also, since I already own a 180 ml tokoname, I know the size, which is not that big in the grand scheme of things. Thank you anons for your help anyways. Are there any oolongs I should try for the pot? https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/yixing-teapots/products/lao-zi-ni-xi-shi-yixing-clay-teapot-180ml

>>16206826
Whichever sounds good
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/wu-yi-rock-oolong-tea/products/wu-yi-shan-classic-rou-gui-rock-oolong-tea
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/wu-yi-rock-oolong-tea/products/shui-jin-gui-golden-water-turtle-wu-yi-rock-oolong-tea-1
Make sure to chech the free gifts section, you should be spending enough to get some freebies.

>>16206772
I try to stick to lashing her with my tongue

>>16206863
how many freebies am I allowed to take?

>>16207119
I'm not really shure what the rules are, last time i ordered i just picked one thing that was around the price of my order

>>16207312
Thanks again anon, I figured it out. I got the pot, 50 grams of the classic rou gui rock oolong and the free 250 gram sample of black tea. I will not be spending any money on tea probably for another year.

>>16194044
I need a kettle for my stovetop, I have a 17.5k burner so something that's wide on the bottom and won't rust out if I leave water in it overnight. Thanks, any good recommendations out there on a tea kettle for me?

>>16207362
OXO brew classic kettle
Or the all clad kettle if you are feeling rich
Make sure you get something made out of stainless steel and not enameled steel.

Does anyone use an actual brazier for their kettle? I've been thinking about getting one. Not sure where I'd actually use it though since I'm sure it gets too hot to set on a table?

>>16207405
The $99 and now made in china all clad kettle has horrible reviews and massive complaints of rust, same shit with the $40 oxo brew classic kettle.

>>16207424
They all suck, they all rust if you have bad enough water. I was looking for stovetop kettles and gave up because they all suck ass. The oxo one is probably still your best bet.
You could also go for the weeb option and get a
Yanagi Sori, but ive read they boil over out of the neck if you fill them more than halfway.

>>16207444
Aaaaah, that makes sense anon, it's probably flyover state peeps with untreated well water. Thanks, will order the OXO, I'm not spending $99 on a made in china kettle.

>>16207497
Yeah i agree, i didn't realize it was made in china now.

>>16207424
>>16207444
There are reviews with complaints of rust on every stainless steel kettle I have seen, even electric ones. A while ago I just said fuck it and bought a Bonavita despite this, and it hasn't rusted.

>>16207530
Same experience here.
>reading reviews of electric kettles in all price ranges
>everything rusts or someone bitches about plastic

Just ended up getting the bonavita through an amazon warehouse deal for "cosmetic damage", which I wasn't able to find, was new and unused.
Paid $40 over 2 years ago. Boiled water in it multiple times everyday and its still perfect.

hey, i'm looking for bulk amounts of sencha for cold brewing. do you guys have any tips/sites to check out?

Why do Yunnan Sourcing's prices seem so much cheaper than a lot of other sites in the pastebin?

>>16207362
https://kurasu.kyoto/collections/kettle/products/takahiro-kettle

>>16208048
Different sources and reputations command different prices. I suppose you can think of it like wine or coffee: specialty/obscure products will often cost more. Fullchea and KingTeaMall are similarly low in cost. Also direct from China instead of going between a middle-man in your homeland/native region. It doesn't mean that they're going to be shit, but there may be more variance of quality and so on because they arguably don't specialize in any specific type of tea.

>>16194044
I've literally nuked my teeth from drinking too much tea and I'm still in my early 20's

>>16209717
ok

any strainers that aren't a bitch to clean the leaves out of?

>>16209924
They are all kind of a pain to clean

>>16209924
>>16210401
I've mostly stopped using strainers in favor of just keeping the gap on the gaiwan really tight when pouring for tea with smaller leaves.

>>16209717

May w2t club touched down finally. Old arbor raw mini cake.

>>16210427
Same

>>16210572
What region?

>>16194044
I don't understand how people can enjoy boiled lawn clippings so much.

>>16210632
The fuck are you drinking that tastes like boiled grass anon? Sounds like a personal problem

>>16210620
"very old trees from a less famous area" since the price rose too high to get the material for The Thing Is.

>>16210682
Literally every tea I've ever tried. Yes, I taste all of the nuances or whatever that people say should be there. It always comes back around to it being nasty.

>>16210776
So what do you like to drink?

>>16210776
>>16210790
inb4 energy drinks

>>16209924
fine mesh, cheaps ones off aliexpress, way better than the western ones

>>16210729
Oh yeah i forgot he never likes to give out region info

>>16209717
what the fuck does nuking your teeth from tea mean?

>>16210516
high-quality post, friend

>>16210776
Have you tried not boil it for minutes at a time?

>>16210776
teabaglets, when will they learn

>2019 Gao Jia Shan "Golden Prosperity Pig Cometh" Fu Zhuan Tea
Been holding onto this one for a little bit because I had some another piece of fu brick that I enjoyed more. The dry leaf has a sort of sweet chocolatey smell to it that unfortunately goes away once brewed. The taste of the liquor is sort of a wet forest taste mixed with raisins. All in all not bad, nowhere as near as good as the other one I had though which tasted more like chocolate cherries and was much sweeter.

You guys are expert right? When I brew tea at home, there's always an oily sheen on it. I don't know if it's the water or if it's dishwashing liquid that won't come off when I rinse the cups. Any ideas?

>>16211512
That pot shape is so cute.
>>16211641
It can come from the tea itself, don't worry about it if it doesn't bother you, if it does you can rinse the leaves for a few seconds by pouring some hot water over them before you brew the tea, that should remove and dust and tea oils.

>>16211512
What was the other fu brick you were drinking? Chocolate cherry sounds like a fantastic flavor

It has arrived.

>>16212395
Fullchea packaged this one so incredibly well, even better than my first order. Two nice thick resealable plastic bags for each set of two white cakes (four total). I haven't opened any yet, but they smell very promising from the outside alone. At least two or three smell somewhat fruity, but each in their own way. The gong mei to the left smells like a deep jam, whereas the cheap shou mei smells like a sweet bread or something. I don't know if I should wait and let these sit for a few days before tasying or not, but from smell alone, I may have to just indulge myself. Curious if I should still store them in sets of two or separately. Pick a cake for me to brew, /tea/!

>>16212421
The cake on the far right just because i like the wrapper.

Loving this chingrish
"Whole embryo tea"

>>16211641
don't listen to the "expert". it's a combination of hard water, rich in calcium and your shitty teabags.
brita filter and loose leaf tea is the answer. next!
there is a third possibility and its the saucepan in which you boil your water, but I don't consider this lever of debilitation in you so we'll ignore it.

>>16212441
Got it. I'll brew it within the hour, write my notes, and post about it later tonight.
>>16212447
Yeah, I have no idea what it is, but it was a surprising description to say the least. Maybe buckwheat? I'll look into it later.

>>16212470
It's really not uncommon to get an oily film when brewing looseleaf teas grampa style, and it's obvious that some teas have more of a film than others, it's definitely the tea. I use filtered water and keep my kettle and teaware free of residue from soaps or other detergents.

>>16212134
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2015-gao-jia-shan-cha-duo-tang-wild-harvested-hunan-fu-brick-tea?_pos=1&_sid=5df9113ed&_ss=r&variant=12873804677223
Very ugly looking stemmy tea but it was much better tasting than what I have now. I think I posted notes on it a few months ago but I remember it tasting like a ripe mixed with chocolate cherries.

>>16212470
Britta filters are fucking junk. Get a berkey.

>>16212665
Thanks for the link, yeah i have a Gao Jia Shan tea and it's ugly and stemmy but it tastes good.

>>16207530
>>16207655
I'm thinking some people have shitty water, maybe not shitty, but well water that isn't treated properly or doesn't need to be treated but maybe slightly acidic and towards the hard side, or iron present, who knows. I've used stainless steel kettles in the past and never had them rust and left water in them for days.

>>16212886
Yeah my kettle used to rust before i started filtering my water, now it stays nice and clean

Tested one of my four new white teas from Fullchea, as requested by an anon here earlier. It is Fullchea's 2018 Yue Guang Mei Ren (Moonlight White), which for some reason, had three or four duplicate entries the last time I saw it. This is the one I bought: https://www.fullchea-tea.com/-p0751.html
I will say, their statement about this tea being feminine and "as gentle as a girl" is spot-on. Here are my notes:
_________
5.5g/195F/12s

Dry leaf possesses an aroma of light jam with a floral body. Brewed leaf smells of a floral bread, still with a notable background fruity jam scent (perhaps most comparable to blackberry).

Low thickness, astringency, and bitterness. The body is very light and gentle, with a consistent underlying floral character throughout. There is some low fruitiness that can be detected within some initial lower temperature/duration infusions, but that is soon lost as the session goes on, or brewing parameters increase. The aftertaste is slightly herbal (nondescript), but still noticeably floral. Brewing from 190F-200F, I'm finding that lower brews seem to be performing best to bring out the modestly sweet, floral notes. Harder brews (such as one instance of 200F/~30s) seem to obscure these qualities a bit, adding a bit of low herbal bitterness in return for some nice juiciness in texture.

Overall, it is not bad, possessing a great leaf aroma and a liquor I find easy to sip on. This is only around three years old at the time of review, so perhaps with some more time in storage, those fruity aroma notes will begin to emerge more into the flavor body of the infusions. It isn't a particularly robust tea (as advertised), but it is a pleasant one to relax with. I think it has some excellent potential for maturation as well.

>>16212447
黑珍珠全胚芽茶
Black Pearl Whole Germ Tea
It's just buckwheat tea, known as sobacha in Japan.

>>16214135
Nice, thanks for letting me know what it is. What is buckwheat tea like, anyway? Isn't it fairly popular to serve to guests in Japan? I've heard it's good for cooling you down or preventing heat stroke, too. Maybe I'm thinking of another type, though.

>>16214141
Never tried it, but I expect it to be close to genmaicha (popcorn tea, green tea with roasted rice).
I think you might be thinking of barley tea (mugicha). It's served in place of water, and is a popular summer drink. You can get it bottled, cold and hot, too.

>>16214181
Yeah, I believe you are right about me thinking about barley tea. I haven't tried that either (maybe I should). Haven't had genmaicha in a long time, so it will be neat to taste the buckwheat.

i love having smokey tea in the morning.
Actually i love smokey tea any time of day.

>>16214295
What about smoky and fruity or smoky and honey teas, though? How do those make you feel, anon?

>>16214352
Both smokey are fruity and smokey / honey are good combos, basically anything smokey and sweet is ideal.
I need to find some more smokey hei cha

What teas are best for cold brewing?

>>16214988
The ones you like.

>>16215001
Any recommendations on proportions for black tea?

>tfw no frens to drink tea with

>>16215045
It's in the pastebin

>>16215066
Comfy solo sessions are superior

>>16215066
I don't think any of my friends would want to drink tea either, not that they don't like it, they just aren't into it as much as someone from here would be. That's why I drink with my father. We talk about all sorts of things together over cups of tea, from tea itself, to politics, culture, work, etc. Its incredibly comfy and rewarding. My grandfather is old and has a hard time getting out of bed. I regret not spending much time with him, so I make sure to spend as much time with my father as I can. Tea has not only made me more aware of other cultures, lose weight, but brought my family closer together. I hope you find some tea frens anon.

>>16215144
So just western style proportions I assume? Doesn't have any specific info about cold brewing

>>16194044
Where d'you guys rec buying fairly cheap (less than £30) gaiwans which look really cool?

>>16215181
Maybe, with cold brewing you can try western proportions or 1 tsp per litre of water.

>>16215412
Kingteamall, purplecloud teashouse, aliexpress, sometimes yunnan sourcing

>>16215412
Nothing you like on meileaf?

Is it redundant t call you a faggot

who are you talking to, anon?

me

>>16210516
underrated post

so What's the deal with Japanese green tea this year?
Is the 2021 sencha available yet? Can i order from anywhere in japan without having to pay for express mail?
I want to buy some basic sencha but i don't really want to pay $20 for shipping.

>received ripe puerh which I ordered a few days ago after consulting anons in this thread
>warned me that I might not fully appreciate it
>it just tastes "okay," it is definitely missing some of the grosser flavors that bagged black tea has, it goes down smooth, but there isn't much flavor overall
Hopefully I just didn't brew it strong enough, I'll try a stronger cup in a bit. In the meantime, how should I store this brick of tea? Airtight container obviously, but leave it as a brick and shave it off every time I want tea, or break it all up at once?

>>16216615
How are you brewing it? Pu-erh really needs to be brewed gong fu style imo

>>16216625
I shaved off approximately 1 teaspoon of material and then just put it in a strainer in boiled water for 1 minute, until the color had turned dark. How critical is gong fu? I'm not really looking to dive balls deep into tea as a "hobby" right now, I just wanted to try something a little higher quality.

>>16216520
You're may have to pay the $20 shipping. I used yunomi and paid $11 shipping for my 2020 setoya midori so you might be able to pay less.

>>16216634
Well the main difference with gong fu brewing is the leaf to water ratio. Instead of a teaspoon of tea to a whole mug of water, you're looking at 5-7 grams of leaf for like 80mL of water. This means the flavor is far stronger, but because you only steep the leaves a few seconds at a time, you avoid pulling out most of the bitter flavors.

That said, most ripe pu-erhs aren't really bitter at all and you can really abuse them and you don't need to worry about steeping too long or two hot. Plus, pressed teas often need extra time to really hydrate and open up. So, if you want to brew western style I'd recommend putting in maybe twice as much tea and steeping it longer.

>>16216662
I understand, thank you. I reused the same leaves but brewed for double the amount of time in half as much water. The color is darker now than the first cup, and there is some more noticeable flavor, although it is still weak. Definitely no bitterness. I was using color as a gauge of flavor based on the english breakfast I drink but evidently that is not the way to go at all.

I'll continue to experiment with amounts/times but now I think I'm on the right track, I appreciate the help.

>>16216715
Honestly I'd you brewed it for a minute the first time, I'd go way longer. Maybe like 3 or 4 minutes. If you're used to tea bags, you gotta remember that the tea in there has a really small particle size. Its basically dust, which means lots of surface area, which means it brews super quick.

Oh, and as for storage, you can honestly just wrap it back up in the paper it came in. Whether or not you break it as you drink it or break it all up at the same time is up to you. Some factory pu-erhs can be a little fishy, and breaking them up and exposing them to a bit of oxygen can mellow them out a bit. But if there's nothing wrong with your cake, then there's probably no reason to bother breaking it up.

>>16216615
>>16216634
At least you were willing to experiment. That is the biggest point of note here, and will serve you well if you still want to try more teas. I still think you'd benefit from having something non-pu'er on hand to mess with as well.
>leave it as a brick and shave it off every time I want tea, or break it all up at once?
It depends on the brick condition, but the most standard, accepted option is to stab into the sides with a thin blade or skewer and lifting up or down to break off whole leaves. You don't want fine particles, you want whole leaves and/or buds when ever possible 99% of the time. Look at how to use a pu'er knife on YT if you want a more accurate demonstration. I don't use a pu'er knife, but some scientific measurement and surgical blades because that is what I have. Some people use letter openers or similar household items.
>How critical is gong fu?
There are many respectable methods, so it is not exactly 'critical'. That said, from the perspective of someone who never got good brews beforehand, Gong Fu brewing changed my entire tea experience. Vastly improved aroma and flavor, ease of infusion and drinking, easier to clean and maintain, and more tweakable 'brew interface' sold it for me. A basic porcelain gaiwan set with cups doesn't cost much, and there are also some "easy gaiwans" that I haven't tried, but hear are convenient and at least 'okay'. It is of course up to you, but I like using gaiwans.
>Hopefully I just didn't brew it strong enough, I'll try a stronger cup in a bit.
Usually better to consider adding more leaf over just making it hotter/infused longer, if the issue is weak taste.

>>16216634
Okay i got you,
Take the ripe tea about the same amount you are using, toss it in a mug, just right into the bottom of the mug, fill the mug with boiling water. Once it cool down enough to drink, just sip and enjoy, you can add more fleshly boiled water once you drink it about halfway down.
See also, the instructions foe grampa style in the pastebin.

>>16216819
>>16216662
You guys he can just western brew his ripe puer and it will be totally fine. You really don't need to insist that everyone brews everything gongfu style, especially ripe puer.

>>16216844
No one is insisting that. He's the one who complained that it was too weak, and he received suggestions to try gong fu as well as suggestions about how to improve his western style brew. In fact both posts you quoted gave him advice for better western style brewing.

>>16216844
Yes, that is why I said I don't think it's critical. Just that it worked really well for me. I agree that it's less necessary for something like ripe pu'er. He probably needs to adjust his ratio of leaf to water and make sure he's getting whole leaves over dust, at least.

>>16208275
I'll leave that $130 kettle for the hicksters.

>>16216715
Most ripe Puerh brewed correctly should be so dark that you are unable to see through it

>>16216894
I'm sure someone will put up a poormans /tea/ thread for you soon. Hold your breath.

Poormans tea thread
Post your favorite asian market teas
For me it's anything by sea dyke
also those cans of super smokey lapsang souchong with the boat on thr front

>>16216989
Enjoy your major city neighborhood turning into a warzone if it hasn't already, I'm sure the natives will leave you alone. Hey, look on the bright side, you can always move back home to the town no one ever heard of.

>>16217065
My family has lived in kc for ~120 years. We are the natives. The white man bulldozed one of our old properties for an interchange, but they were unable to gentrify all of our historical homeland. My neighbors pray that I leave them alone.

>>16217229
You the poorman now dog

>>16217273
She don't know money so she's calling me rich.

What kind of tea should I get at a tea house to impress a guy on a first date?

>>16217370
First flush green.

>>16217392
Hmmm. That sounds a little basic. This guy I’m meeting this weekend apparently knows a lot about tea. Thanks tho

>>16217370
Depends what kind of tea house. Western, or Chinese?

Also, fag.

>>16217370
the kind when you slurp on his balls in the restroom. swallow the cum and then gongfu his cock. he'll add your good picture to your profile on his phone after that, for sure.

>>16217583
Western tea house. It’s Pride month, try not being so homophobic.

watch as they swallow the bait

>>16217665
I don't think you're going to impress anyone at a western teahouse. They're not even really about the tea itself, just whatever horrible fruity sugary flavored tea abortion the owners think is good when drowned in milk.

Also, cope and sneed.

For me it's Barry's

>>16217774
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. It isn’t that kind of western tea house. It’s a dimly lit hippie place with tea shelves on the wall like a Chinese apothecary. I’m pretty sure they have real tea. I’m leaning towards getting lapsong suchong because I’ve heard it is a strong and manly tea.

>>16218052
I wouldn't say it's "strong" but it's definitely an uncommon tea that a normie wouldn't know anything about. That said, if you don't actually know anything about tea, the other homo you're trying to get to fuck you in the butt is probably gonna figure it out pretty quickly and you're gonna look like a tard.

Today I will drink Earl Grey.

sex gifs

>>16218338
Huh? You can buy LS from any normie tea brand in any regular supermarket

Another day, another pot of yancha

>>16197327
I got my tray and strainer from a local tea shop that imports all their stuff from china. Might be hard to find a decent place near you tho.

>>16197155
grow some chamomile plants and pick the flowers, it makes an incredible tea thats so much better than bagged chamomile you would think theyre different teas entirely

Has anybody tried Kamairicha before? I'm wanting to buy some from yuuki-cha and am curious how they compare to chinese greens.

>>16221166
I haven't tried it but it sounds really good, it seems like it would be really interesting to try the Japanese take on a pan fried green tea

How many times do you guys make tea per day? And during each session, how many infusions do you usually make? As for me, about once per day, two if I have more time.

>>16221333
I usually do 1-3 sessions in a day. For each session I do at least 3 infusions since I combine 3 100 ml infusions into my 350 ml gong dao bei

>>16221333
Lately i do 1 gongfu session of about 6 grams and a litre of water total, and then either another in the afternoon or a mug something brewed grampa style, usually about 5 grams and 1.25 litres of water total. I don't really count how many infusions i do.

>>16217322
Says the butthurt hickster talking shit from nowhere USA

Nothing like some chilled barley tea right from the fridge on a hot day. Any other types of cold brewed teas that hit just right? I know one Anon here has been enjoying his pu'er. I'm thinking about doing some cheap black teas to keep in the work fridge.

>>16222169
Second flush Darjeeling
Upton tea has a few blends that are good for iced tea, they make a couple specifically for iced tea, but then some other things like their finest russian caravan are good too and their java tea.

>>16222157
you're projecting. How many other raguesa pics you have saved? Sip some more sea dyke. 31st biggest MSA in the states.

keep sea dyke out of your sissy slapfight, it's good cheap tea.

>>16222412
>cope and seethe

>>16216715
Day 2 of trying ripe Pu-erh, this time on the first extraction I did 2 teaspoons steeped for 3 minutes and it came out much better. The flavor is still quite mild but it has a very smooth mouthfeel and no bitterness. I'll increase the amount of tea again tomorrow, although I am beginning to be limited by the size of my strainer ball. I took someone's advice in here and just dumped the leaves directly in the mug but a good amount of stuff floats to the top and it was not a pleasant experience. For now gongfu is off the table.

One thing I'm realizing is that my tea forms small "pebbles" and is rather crumbly when I pry apart the brick, as opposed to what I've seen online where it's supposed to separate into individual stems and leaves more. Maybe it's a sign of it being low quality. Thank you for reading my blog.

>>16222722
>seathe

you fucking flyover

>>16222715
Did someone say dyke in a /tea/ thread? We know where this is gonna go.

>>16222959
Huh??

>>16222778
You could try getting some kind of little sieve to filter from your brewing mug into a drinking mug. It defeats the purpose of grandpa brewing, but would give your leaves room to expand without impacting your drink

>>16218338
Fuck. Thanks. This is the expert advice I was looking for. As a /tea/lette, is there any way to feign /tea/ knowledge? What should I pretend to like? This guy is really cute btw and I want to seem worldly to impress my bussy upon him.

>>16223040
Don't try and feign anything. Any kind of subterfuge involving lying about knowledge you don't actually possess will just end badly.
Personally I'd just be straight, lol, with the dude and ask him what he suggests. Use it as a way to start the conversation and get them engaged in talking about a topic they enjoy.
Showing interest in learning from them about something they care about or know a lot about is how I would handle it.

Good luck on getting your butthole widened I guess.

>>16223040
Showing genuine interest in something someone else likes is a far better way to build rapport than pretending to know about it just enough for them to realize you're bullshitting. You could even ask him what he likes. Tell him your preferences, and let him flaunt his knowledge by recommending a tea. Like damn dude have you ever had a genuine interaction with another human before?

>>16223040
I agree with this anon: >>16223107
I would be rather displeased if someone faked having real interest in something I liked. That would suggest to me that all they would want is my assets or to have sexual relations. That's a shallow and unpleasant engagement for me. If I was that individual and found out, I'd drink my tea and leave. Likewise, if it was someone who showed genuine interest without knowing much, then that's an opportunity for me to sperg out with autism about tea, aso I can have fun while we build rapport.

>>16222778
Ripe puer is much more fragile and tends to crumble to bits.
Sorry grampa brewing didn't work out. Most stuff except stems should sink but it doesn't always work out that way, and ripes usually have a decent amount of stems, i just wait untill it's cool enough to drink and then flick out anything that is floating with a fork.

Tasted my 2015 Fuding Gong Mei cake from Fullchea last night. Was rather plessant and light, bready, and touch fruity. Creamy on harder infusions. I wrote about it, but I think I might scrap the journal entry and try it again since I was a touch occupied and thus distracted. So far, these lower cost whites from Fullchea don't seem bad. I think it is time to give the more expensive 2019 Butterfly/COFCO/Zgong Cha 5929 white cake a go tonight. Maybe the cheap 2015 shou mei next time. In any case, I will say that the cheap white tea buys anons mocked and warned about purchasing have not failed me as of yet.

Thanks for the genuine responses /tea/bros. It seems like the best course of action for getting my bussy wet is to ask him what he recommends and NOT try to be Mr. /Tea/n it all, man about town tea drinker. And you’re right, as a fag who is (unironically) on the spectrum it’s incredibly difficult to meet romantic partners who want more than to just shoot a hot chest load and then just completely ghost you. We’re meeting Saturday so I’ll try to let y’all know if your /tea/dvice worked or not.

>>16223040
Post bussy.

I know some of you were interested in the Butterfly/COFCO cakes on Fullchea. I bought one and just sampled it. Here are my notes on the 2019 "White Beauty" Zhong Cha cake:
_________
6.5g/195F/12s

Dry leaf smells of deep mellow fruits and perhaps chocolate, with a subtle floral character. Brewed leaf smells more deeply of a lightly roasted milk chocolate, still with some of that fruit aroma overhead (which seems lighter somehow).

Thickness low, astringency medium, bitterness low. The flavor balances on an indulgent roasted milk chocolate note, which then goes floral, and balances between the two until settling on a very slightly bitter herbal finish. There is some light creamy texture present (especially on earlier infusions), even on a short rinse. Longer brew times bring out more of the herbal bitterness, which isn't bad at all, but I think better in moderation. Interestingly, the chocolate character becomes increasingly subdued over each infusion, each time relinquishing more control to the light floral notes until the leaf eventually loses potency. This would surely be an excellent cake to age or cold brew.

I know some of you were interested in the Butterfly/COFCO cakes on Fullchea. I bought one and just sampled it. Here are my notes on the 2019 "White Beauty" 5929 Zhong Cha cake:
_________
6.5g/195F/12s

Dry leaf smells of deep mellow fruits and perhaps chocolate, with a subtle floral character. Brewed leaf smells more deeply of a lightly roasted milk chocolate, still with some of that fruit aroma overhead (which seems lighter somehow).

Thickness low, astringency medium, bitterness low. The flavor balances on an indulgent roasted milk chocolate note, which then goes floral, and balances between the two until settling on a very slightly bitter herbal finish. There is some light creamy texture present (especially on earlier infusions), even on a short rinse. Longer brew times bring out more of the herbal bitterness, which isn't bad at all, but I think better in moderation. Interestingly, the chocolate character becomes increasingly subdued over each infusion, each time relinquishing more control to the light floral notes until the leaf eventually loses potency. This would surely be an excellent cake to age or cold brew.

What is your upper limit on price of tea? Where do you consider the marginal gains in quality for price to no longer be worth it?

Coof

>>16223742
Goof question, too many variables for a hard number.
I drink a lot of puer and most of my favorite tasting cakes have been in the $75-$200 range
There is a shitload of expensive tea that isn't worth the price, it helps if you have some insight into Chinese culture and can get an idea of when things are expensive for prestige reasons instead of quality reasons.

>>16223742
£0.10/g is my comfort zone i think the most expensive tea ive brought was £0.35/g, you can get some really nice tea for less than £0.10/g. so many people when they start a hobby think they have to get the most expensive things just to make it worth while, as if sinking cash is a yard stick for enjoyment

>>16225372
Yea i mostly agree with this, 10¢ per gram is a pretty sweet spot a lot of the time. With tea there is a really hard line where diminishing returns kick in and you are paying 2x more for tea that is 5% better.

>>16221333
One to two sessions a day. Depending on the tea: 3-5 g for greens, ~5 g for blacks, 5-7.5 g for ripe pu er. I try to get at least a liter from them, sometimes up to 1.5-2 L @100-120 mL, so 8-10 infusions at least. I don't mind brewing leaves from the day before if they still have juice.

Puer lesbians stepping on my balls

>>16223742
i target 10-20¢/gram for day to day teas depending on the category of tea (some types are just more expensive). i would consider paying more occasionally for particularly special teas. a 50+¢/gram tea would have to be fantastic or very unique to be worth the price.

This might be common knowledge but I figured out something recently that’s been pretty useful so I thought I’d post about it here. If you want to measure out a certain amount of water but don’t want to use a separate measuring vessel like a beaker or graduated cylinder (since pouring between multiple vessels will reduce the temperature a lot), you can put your teapot on your scale and tare the weight. Then just pour the water in until it weighs x grams where x is the number of milliliters of water you need. This works because 1 ml of water should be 1 gram. I’ve found this useful when the amount of tea I have is too small for my teapot so I can’t just fill it up all the way. For example today I had a 3.5 gram sample of Da Hong Pao. Typically the ratio should be about 5 g per 100 ml, so I measured 70 ml of water using this method to get the proper ratio.

>>16227121
Nice trick

>2021 and still measuring
you need some zen western-kun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w6YpBopwL8 lose yourself once in a while, it helps not only your brewing but the qi between the bones that we call soul.
try to lose yourself.
when you graduate to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKF2GjRAUtE you can start to use unglazed teaware.

am i the only one here that leafs my hei cha really heavy? i use 10+g/100ml gong fu style for most of my hei cha besides strong young sheng.

>>16227317
Not sure how those videos are related, but yeah my goal is to be able to do all this without measuring. Since I have no one to teach me I need to do measurements first so that I know what the ideal results are supposed to be like. Once I have a sizable catalog of sensory experiences related to tea in my memory I will start to do less and less measuring and compare the results against my memories of the measured results to guide myself.

>>16227539
oh wait, you is zoomer kun, let me spell it out for you ass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yhyp-_hX2s
look what those boomers do, entirely on the feeling (of the scriptwriter).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaM_6RtioM8
are those videos related?

>>16227705
Not listening to that garbage lol

>>16227422
Yeah i go fairly heavy with it.
Same with ripe puer

what should i do when i drink too much tea? I overdid it earlier and i was a bit shakey for a while.

>>16228649
Make sure you eat enough throughout the day. I once had tea before eating anything in the morning. This was the first time I tried gyokuro, and while the tea was good, I was incredibly jittery and shakey the entire day afterwards because I had not eaten anything yet. Was that what people call "tea drunk"? Also just drink some water, you'll feel a little better.

>>16227121
Hahahaha

>>16226671
>look mom I posted it again
Have long have you been trying to force this meme, you silly cunt?

ginger+camomille+a bit of sugar.

Best tea.

>>16229442
None of those 3 things are tea.

>>16229655
Of course they are. The package says so.

>>16229442
I bought a camomile and peppermint blend from Harney and Sons thats really good

Big pot of rou gui this morning
Very tasty stuff

>>16230434
Do them loofah pads actually serve a purpose?

>>16230449
They keep the pot from sliding around once their is water in the bowl from spillage. Also keeps the bottom of the teapot from getting scratched. Would be totally unnecessary with one of those draining tea tables.

chilled oolong
very nice

>went a little heavy on the english breakfast this morning, got a little jittery
>waited a few hours, laid out in the sun naked, foam rolled all my sore muscles
>feeling the comedown from the caffeine high combined with everything else

>>16231573
>>16231537
Feels good man

I really need to hurry up and get some hk storage teas. It's a complete paradigm shift. I really need to understand the earthy loamy root cellar goodness.

Anyone else hate finishing off a tea?
I have a single brew left of a couple different teas and i have to force myself to drink them

can I brew pu erh in a French press

>>16232919
y tho

>>16232919
yes just dont plunge down, use it as a filter as you pour(this way also makes better coffee are you're not agitating the grounds)

>>16232983
Parrot says what?

>>16232996
how am i wrong

>>16232960
its the only thing i have to make tea with

>>16233030
Yes it fine do what this anon said
>>16232983
So leave the filter up at the top but in the water, brew and then pour it out when it's done

>>16233042
>>16232983
thank you

>>16233030
Literally just put the leaves in a cup with water.

>>16233007
Regurgitating hoffman's video. Fuck off.

>>16232996

>dried raspberry leaf
>red hibiscus
>little drop molasses
literally tastes like fresh raspberry bros
i love it i just recently discovered this combo

>>16232983
I tried this shit after watching the video and a few more times after thinking I missed a step or did it poorly, still got sludge at the bottom of my cup and the taste was the exact same every time.

>>16233983
I should clarify this was for coffee, not tea.

>>16233983
>still got sludge at the bottom of my cup and the taste was the exact same every time.

Yep, turns out if you've got fines in the carafe, its going to be sludgy. All not pressing does is try to let the fines settle. Its not going to eliminate them, and they're still going to overextract altering your brew. Getting fines into your cup may unironically be better because then they're not sitting in the rest of your brew getting more and more bitter.

>>16233942
Sounds pleasant, anon. Have you tried adding any tea leaves or other herbs? I kind of want to try something like a sage and white tea tisane or similar. Wonder how mugwort/wormwood would be.

slurp

ive been drinking and enjoying a lot of tea lately but i haven't really been thinking about tea or learning about tea. Do i need to go deeper or is it okay to just know enough to buy tea i like without going full hobby with it?

>>16237280
Do whatever you want. If you post the tea you enjoy, I'm sure the fine folks here can steer you deeper based on your taste.

grampa style brewing is the absolute apex of tea luxury

Alright, I'm ready to take the gong fu pill. I know you get what you pay for, but for my first set is there anything horribly wrong with getting a cheap porcelain travel kit? (see link)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JTV12V4/ref=twister_B08NCVBFTR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

I want something portable because I travel often to visit family, and I'm moving within the next year so I'm fine with having something small in the meantime. I just want to make sure I'm not violating some /tea/boo that isn't written in the pastebin.

Got my matcha set with the thin bamboo spoon. Says to put 2 spoonful with 80c water but the amount of water isn’t precised

>>16238027
No there is nothing wrong with getting cheap teaware. It's actually recommended so you can spend money on tea instead.
That set looks totally fine.
Thr only issue i see is that the size is 200ml for the pot, that is a little big, i would recommended 100-150ml as a better size for one person.
I really like these cheap kamjove pots they keep everything contained and makr it very easy, just push a button to drain the water from the leaves.
You can look around on ebay or amazon or wherever and find people selling them cheap. I think the 200ml size (of the holding vessel) is the right size for one person.

>>16238070
Iirc its around 100ml

>>16238116
Not sure where you got 200 mL from, but thank you for the input. I think I'll stick with a tea set over the kamjove pot. Yours is definitely very convenient but in the balance between convenience and aesthetic I feel like I'll lose too much from the experience.

>>16238151
Oh if it's 120ml that's perfect anon

>>16238027
That is actually a pretty sweet set for $20
Nice find

Decided to go all in and get good amounts of what I thought were good starter teas of each type, balancing price and quality. There's never been a tea that I didn't like so all of it will be drunk eventually.

If I'm going all in though I want to be able to compare to some higher quality teas, so I'm putting a cart together for yunnan sourcing as well. Apparently as far as green teas go Dragon Well is a must-try, the only question is do I get the premium grade or splurge even more for the imperial grade? Will I even notice the difference? My gut is telling me to not blow my load all at once, and have something to look forward to after I've refined my palate a bit. Also thinking of getting some duck shit oolong to compare to the more generic quality oolong in pic related.

>>16239543
Even the imperial grade from ys is on the cheap end of the dragonwell spectrum desu
The fancy stuff is several dollars per gram (also not in any way worth that much)
I would just get the premium grade personally.
Duck shit oolong would probably be fun, or the saturn peach if they have any in stock.
I would also recommended grabbing a small amount of some Yunnan black tea, just look at the top selling black teas and pick one that sounds good, it will be fun to contrast to the assam

fucking weebs

>>16239590
>I would just get the premium grade personally.
Yunnan also has a "fancy" grade which is actually a worse quality than the premium, would you say I should just go for the cheapest option in that scenario? Or is "premium" a proper starting point while "fancy" is just lacking too much to be representative?

I'll get some black tea like you said, by the description it sounds very different from Assam or generic English breakfast tea (which is my only actual experience drinking black tea). The osmanthus GABA oolong also sounded very intriguing, it gives me meme vibes but supposedly GABA "adds a thick layer of baked sweet potato taste to the tea" which sounds amazing.

>>16239647
Don't expect any effects from gaba tea but yes it's processed in a different way and is known for that sweet potato flavor. I dont love flavored teas but the best I've had was an osmanthus oolong from a different vendor.
As far as thr longjing is concerned i would say the premium grade should ve the sweet spot, the fancy grade is a little too cheap.

I really like what-cha's Taiwan 'Mi Xiang' Honey Black Tea but I'm not in the UK so I am wondering if there is anything similar on yunnan sourcing's US site or another store from the US. Anyone know of anything similar?

>>16239929
Yunnan sourcing us has a few black teas from taiwan sourcing.
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/taiwan-sourcing-black-teas
This site is also us based and has gotten recommended by at least one anon
https://www.wangfamilytea.net/product-page/taiwan-no-18-black-tea

>>16238027
I think a modest porcelain gaiwan set is the ideal base for gong fu brewing. For me, that is one gaiwan and saucer, two cups, and one gong dao bei. The set you linked isn't exactly a typical gaiwan, in that it has a spout. Regular gaiwans are just combinations of one lid, a cup, and typically the saucer. It's fine if you prefer a spout, but they offer less control over the pour/initial rinse, so consider that before buying. I'd say that 100-120ml gaiwans are ideal for solo brewing.

>>16240023
>but they offer less control over the pour/initial rinse
How so? Is it because it will take several seconds to pour vs. the "dump" you can get with a gaiwan?

>>16240028
That is certainly one factor, yes. It is slower due to needing to flow through a small spout channel. It may be clogged in some cases, causing greater flow difficulty (though this is more of a problem if it has a mesh filter or similar contraption). You don't get to dump out many of the small leaf bits/dust in the first rinse either (if you do rinse) as effectively due to a smaller flow area being available for them to slide through. That said, it probably won't be terrible if you want to give it a try, and perhaps you won't experience any of the points I've mentioned (especially if you maintain your equipment). In the end, if it helps you make tea you enjoy, then go for it.

>>16240023
The set anon posted has a teapot not a gaiwan

>>16240023
>The set you linked isn't exactly a typical gaiwan, in that it has a spout.
That's because it isn't a gaiwan. Its a teapot.

>>16240038
>>16240042
I specified "typical gaiwan" because there are some I've seen that include lips molded in both the cup lid and cup itself, while not having a dedicated spout.

>>16240060
you could have just said "oh lol my bad" but instead you're trying to rationalize. Incredible.

kek

>>16240065
I'm not sure what you are so taken aback by. I thought it was understood that I realized that isn't a gaiwan due to having a dedicated spout. Typical gaiwans are just lidded cups. I have seen some gaiwan-like devices with a curve/lip on both the lid and cup once before, which is the only exception I can think of, but maybe they weren't true gaiwans.

>>16240081
ur a gaiwan m8

Anyone knows if cold brewed green tea has less antioxidants than normal tea? It's hot and I'm lazy so I was thinking of just making 2 liters of coldbrewed green tea a day and drink that instead of my usual boil 1-2 cups at a time.

>>16241253
Just cold brew friend, dont worry so much about antioxidants

>>16241506
I can't help it, I have the urge to min-max every health related thing I can.

>>16241512
>A July 2015 study published in the Journal of Food Science and Technology compared several steeping methods for green, black and oolong teas. Scientists found that cold-water steeping increased the phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity in all teas, especially green and black varieties.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4648929/
Apparently you should have been cold brewing the whole time

This is going to sound like a stupid intro question (because it is) but I'm looking for a really high quality source of chamomile tea and couldn't find it in the OP links.

>>16241639
Check out mountain rose herbs if you live in the us.
If you want to get more autistic than that you can find individual organic farms selling their own crops on sites like etsy but they are usually $$$ and probably not worth it
The best in the world is probably grown in small organic french farms but i haven't found any good sources other than one incredibly overpriced vendor, i think they were called letterbox teas or something.

>>16241628
Thanks anon. Now I'll be able to drink more green tea than ever before and get ALL the antioxidants.

What's the best hot tea at starbucks

>>16242392
Do they do an unflavored black tea? Really all of Starbucks tea blows.

>>16242392
iced espresso

so how do i actually wash a clay pot inbetween uses?
I have just been rinsing it out thoroughly and leaving the lid off to dry.
Am i supposed to do more? Should i get some kind of gentle scrub brush for the inside?
I haven't really seen any mention in any of the information ive found about brewing with clay.

>>16242703
>am I supposed to do more
No, you got the right idea, but you don't even have to rinse it thoroughly. Personally I just do a quick rinse and it works.

>>16242724
Thanks, I'm sure it's fine but it feels dirty to me. Probably just me being a neat freak.

>>16242882
It's "dirty" in the sense that it is not being returned to its initial pristine state, but it's not going to attract insects or bacteria or mold, so it's "clean enough." Similar logic to simply rinsing out a moka pot.

teabag gang

samovar squad

for me it's english breakfast

with milk of course

>>16194044
NEW THREAD
>>16243719
>>16243719
>>16243719