/ck/ - Food & Cooking

superior nippon kettle editon

>>16598670
Why yes, I use a Tetsubin (Tetsubin doesn't refer to any specific type of kettle)

>>16598662
what up fellow autists. twigs and leaves amirite?

Has anyone tried using a meme clay boiling kettle? Seems like it might be fun like cast iron but without the possibility of rust

>>16598760
use a normal kettle like a normal person you fag

>>16598754
The closer it looks to a compressed brick of lawn rakings the better it tastes

>>16598764
I heard the more rotten and unhygienic the tea, the better your 19th century chinaman larp will be

>>16598764
*sip*

>>16598807
>Hanamizuki ctc
Is this grown in japan or just being sold by a Japanese retailer?
https://www.hanamizuki-f.com/?pid=44893675

>>16598839
Never mind it's just a Japanese retailer, they sell a bunch of flavored just and indian / ceylon tea

i keep hoping someone else will buy some stinky lactic acid fermented Japanese tea and do a write up for it but i should probably just do it myself. I hope it actually tastes good, shits expensive and the fact that only a few farms still produce it means it's probably weird tasting.

Is Earl Grey the king of flavoured teas? I don't like them. I like tea tea, or blends of tea leaves no other flavourings.

for me it's genmaicha

>>16598731
>Tetsubin
I wish they weren’t so damn expensive. Someday though, maybe if we get another stimmy check
https://www.teadealers.com/products/araremon-tamagata-tetsubin?variant=39405299662913

>>16599469
i intend to sample all the types of Japanese heicha someday but dont wait on me its gonna be a while. as you said it is on the more expensive side of things and i cant justify currently the price. they look tasty to me though.

this store has a good selection if you want to try.
https://yunomi.life/collections/furyu-bancha-specialty-shop

>>16600425
Only because of this man. Imagine:
>”Computer, pureh tea”
>”the fishiest one you have on file”

>>16600448
That's very expensive looks like some custom artisan crafted japanes living heritage type deal
The ones from iwachu arent too expensive
Especially if you don't mind digging around on rakuten some for stores that will ship internationally

>>16598662
how do you clean the inside of the spout?

>>16601617
just run boiling water through it or use a pipe cleaner if you really want to scrub it

>>16601617
Citric acid

For me it's cream tea

I ordered some valerian root, chamomile, and California poppy. I'm hoping to make a blend that has some sedative effect.

>>16602546
Hopping on to this. Favorite infusions? I've started to have some herbal "teas" in the evening and it can be really nice. Verbena, calamansi or pomelo peel, mint etc

>>16601459
I'd use the holodeck to simulate a Chinese tea house, except its staffed entirely by anons from this thread

>>16602546
Nice, that should do something, i had a tincture made from wild lettuce aka bitter lettuce aka opium lettuce aka Lactuca Virosa (does not contain actual opium) that i found quite sedating. I don't know how the dried leaves would taste as a tea but it's worth looking into.

>>16602564
I usually do some combo of spearmint, licorice root, chamomile and holy basil.
My gf will drink lavender and hops sometimes but i try to avoid estrogenic compunds.

>>16602578
>I'd use the holodeck to simulate a Chinese tea house, except its staffed entirely by anons from this thread
lol, i am still trying to imagine what the regulars of /tea look like.

>>16602950
Imagine the smell

>>16602957
it would probably just smell like heicha. honestly, i suspect the members /tea/ are probably not too bad in person. i could be horribly wrong though.

>>16603051
Yeah realistically the regulars seem pretty well adjusted compared to other boards on here.

Tonight I'm drinking some celestial seasonings lemon ginger because im lazy

I ordered some kava recently to brew.
Should i post about it here when i make it or is that too close to not tea territory?

I don't know how and don't see it mentioned anywhere but from a couple Fuding white teas, in some brews I get a hint of minty taste. It's really pleasant. As I've only heard of such a thing in sheng puerh it was surprising to get that from a gong mei tea cake.

My order will arrive next tuesday bros

>>16603459
Godspeed anon

>>16603408
Doesn't seem that surprising, might be some combination of camphor and herbal flavors. Maybe nothing that fancy and it just tastes kind of minty.

>>16602950
I'm a relatively inoffensive person who could serve you a completely acceptable cup of tea, and I'd assume the majority of people here are similar. We're on /ck/, not /pol/ or /r9k/

Are their any fall or winter harvests that are considered very nice or special?
I know fall tea is usually considered lower quality than spring. But are there any exceptions?

>>16598662
fuck you all
>put milk and boba into your tea

Having English breakfast. I vastly prefer IRish breakfast but this tastes very good somehow.

>>16604466
Some men just want to watch the world burn.

You haven't lived until you spent 20bux on tea and 30bux on shipping

>>16606282
i spend £120 and shipping was ~£20

Anyone know where I'd buy Sambong?

had this for 9 years, think i might have some

>>16606589
Is it loose leaf or those little cakes?
Pls post tasting, im enthralled by what might be in the bag

>>16606471
Never hear of this site before but im guessing this is what you are looking for.
https://philherbs.storenvy.com/collections/1770486-herbal-tea/products/25894641-sambong-herbal-tea

>>16606471
Ebay

>>16606688
it's loose leaf and ur too late! here's a pic in the bag though, not much left. it smells and tastes like those root bear bottle cap candies, but not sweet.

>>16598662
For me it's Lipton, with about 2.5 lbs of sugar per gallon.

>>16606872
>it smells and tastes like those root bear bottle cap candies, but not sweet
Pretty good outcome for random loose leaf raw form a vendor that specializes in orthodox teas

Anyone tried Mariage Freres before? Just got a tin of Marco Polo black tea and it might be my favorite I've ever tasted. Floral flavors with a dark dried cherry fruitiness.

Quite expensive, spent about $35 for 100g. Any other flavors I should try?

>>16607422
Mariage Freres is the official /tea/ approved flavored tea brand. Iirc marco polo is their most popular blend.
I haven't tried these but they do a yearly sakura blend that is different variations on cherry blossom green tea.
https://www.mariagefreres.com/UK/2-sakura-2021-green-tea-flavoured-cherry-TE8681.html
I was also interested in these smoked Japanese teas
https://www.mariagefreres.com/UK/2-smoky-nara-smoked-black-tea-japan-TP4292.html
https://www.mariagefreres.com/UK/2-smoky-hinoki-black-smoked-tea-japan-TP4294.html
Otherwise i think you should just browse a little bit and pick out some teas that look good.

i bought tea leaves and it was expensive, can i use the same leaves twice? im quite lacking in funds atm

>>16607613
yes, but you have to re-dry them in the microwave first

>>16607613
Depends on volume, brewing factors, tea leaves etc but I usually get 9~ gong fu brews (150ml~) out of 5g~ of tea leaves.
If you're doing a more traditional Western style brew with higher volume and more extraction, expect 2-3 brews. But yes, loose leaf tea should last more than one brew.

>>16607696
Which one? I really want that banpen 5 star that on yunnan sourcing.
I actually haven't gotten around to trying any of the older teas from that line. I probably should since i love the crane so much.

How long should I brew my earl grey for?
The pastebin says 2 minutes, and 3 minutes for the second infusion, but I normally steep for 5 minutes and chuck out the loose leaf.

>>16604466
Milk in tea is good.

>>16608532
ISO standard is to brew for 6 minutes. Steep for six minutes, try it, see what adjustments you need to make for your next brewing. The second steeping I usually go for 7-8 minutes, depending on the tea I’m brewing.

"Grandpa Style" tea drunk with a mate bombilla has turned me into the laziest fuck imaginable.

>>16608722
Haha fantastic, yes the allure of ultimate tea lazynes can be powerful

So there's a little sieve at the top of my tea pot is it better to put my loose leaf in there, or is chucking it into the teapot better and sieving when you poor into a cup?

>>16609131
It really depends on the shape of your teapot and the sieve. If it is big enough to let the leaves expand and be submerged, you can just put the leaves in the sieve. Otherwise, sieve the tea as you pour.

>>16608722
It just works.

ahmad tea good?
>INB4 bags

>>16609141
I have this:
https://avantihomewares.com/cast-iron-cheery-blossom-teapot-1-1l-black/
It can fit a good 4-5 tea spoons, but it doesn't go down far enough if I only want to brew 2 cups.
Maybe I should get a smaller teapot for when I'm not making tea for others.
Any recommendations for 1-2 cup teapots?

I tried a new sheng cake I just got in a couple days ago and it was pretty bitter, so last night I tried a cold brew with it. Just tasted some this morning and it’s even more bitter than when I brewed it hot. Is there anything I can do to reduce the bitterness or is this just what youngish sheng is like?

This is the cake for reference https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2019-yunnan-sourcing-impression-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake?_pos=2&_sid=e4b3df2cf&_ss=r

Anyone get ippodo “premium select” gyokuro?
I just had it today and think it’s a waste of money. Extremely flat with too subtle of change with each infusion. Their tenkaichi gyokuro is probably one of the best and if I’m spending money, I’ll go for that instead.

>>16609642
try treating it like green tea(so brew at 80c) or leave it to age for a while, a cake i brought a year and a half ago was terribly bitter but now its pretty drinkable. Pu-erh basically is green tea without pan frying to kill the enzymes

Anyone know if this is genuine?
I have had multiple chinks confirm that it is in some form of archaic mandarin.
The seller says that he isn't Chinese, and that it was left by the people that previously owned his house.

>>16609818
He also said that it maybe 'new republican'

>>16609164
>Any recommendations for 1-2 cup teapots?
I have one of these, i like it a lot
Inflation is a bitch they used to be $25
https://www.amazon.com/London-Teapot-Company-Chatsford-2-Cup-Filter/dp/B000GIXH0Q/

>>16609818
its never genuine
If it was actually old the owner could sell it to a chinese collector for thousands and not some dumb white guy.

Hello all. I have a package I must buy the shipping on from Japan. I have the option of adding additional items to this package. Since shipping is massive for individual non bulk items, and I know I will pay for this item to be shipped, I'm curious if anyone here knows of items from Japan that are usually too expensive in shipping to justify buying.
If you know any Japanese tea ware, teas, etc, that can't be bought from an American site I would be thankful for suggestions.

>>16598662
that tea pot looks like hitler

>>16609914
Are you using a proxy shipping service? Do they handle buying off of yahoo auctions JP? Lot's of iwachu cast iron tetsubin and things of that nature. Rakuten always has tons of fun stuff. How about some classic vintage styled champion sweaters? Only sold in japan, careful reproduction of early champion design.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Champion-C3-T023-Trainer-ARCHIVES-Sweatshirt/dp/B08DZJCCBK/

>>16610003
Here are the pullover and zip hoodie versions
https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Champion-C3-W103-Reverse-Zipped-Hoodie/dp/B004GJVD66/
https://www.amazon.co.jp/Champion-C3-W102-Reverse-Pullover-Hoodie/dp/B004EDB972

>>16609770
Thanks, that’s good to know. I’ll try a lower temperature next time I brew it normally. As for the cold brew I found that diluting it with more water significantly improves the taste, so I think I just got the lead to water ratio wrong there

Moved into a new place, have absolutely nothing for tea, what should I buy?
I prefer iced tea to hot tea tbqh

>>16610159
Leaf* lol

>>16610165
You in the usa? Buy looseleaf, java tea and iced tea blend from upton tea.
https://www.uptontea.com/java/java-breakfast-loose-leaf-black-tea/p/V00089/
https://www.uptontea.com/afternoon-tea/iced-tea-blend-loose-leaf-black-tea/p/V00409/
Probably 200g of each depending on how much tea you drink.
Maybe a little bit of finest russian caravan for the occasional afternoon hot tea
https://www.uptontea.com/afternoon-tea/russian-caravan-loose-leaf-black-tea/p/V00411/
Also check out the cold brewing info in the pastebin for top tier iced tea.

Friendly reminder to check your bovedas and replace your water filter. Just swapped 4x60g@69% for 1x320g@65%. Wanted the extra few % for a few months since my cakes were sitting out naked for a long time. Pumi smells like china when I open it up now.

>>16602950
Bruised and battered. Big sunglasses and long baggy clothing to hide the bruises from spousal puer rage.

>>16610537
Mmm i love the smell of a nice pumidor
My humidity in my box has been hovering around 65% all summer, i might have to take my boveda packs out for a while as it cools off to make sure my tea doesn't sweat

>>16610606
I've only had to recharge those 69%s(nice) once since january, and the packs I pulled out aren't crispy yet. I can only assume the pumi has done its job and my tea is now moist as a ripe puer lesb.

>>16610237
yeah i'm in the usa, thanks for the links

>>16609163
No idea. Because of the tins I regard it as “tea for tourists”.

>>16609926
I read once Hitler used ludicrous amounts of sugar in his tea. If Hitler was here, /tea/ would laugh at his sugar:tea ratio.

>>16610747
this, we're an Orwell general
orwell.ru/library/articles/tea/english/e_tea

>>16610619
I made the mistake of buying a 75% 320g because i had a lot of tea to get up to humidity. It's not a huge problem but i expected that it would have mostly been spent getting things seasoned, i might just toss it and replace it with a 60% but right now i just have it in a few layers of plastic bags to slow it down.

>>16610853
Those 320gs are a lifesaver. I've got a 69% in my humidor right now. I planned on keeping the teas at 69% until I felt the packs I pulled out. Probably better to have the extra moisture on the cigars as the season turns since I usually drop several % when my heater starts to kick on. That reminds me. I should probably label these bovedas, don't want to accidentally send a tobacco tainted one into the pumi.

> i might just toss it and replace it with a 60%

Honestly just keep it. Toss it in a ziplock. If you ever need to use it, recharge it in tupperware with a shotglass of distilled water next to it for a while. I think at this point I've got enough packs sitting around that I can have a set for each recharging for when I need to swap them out. Less money on bovedas, more money on tea. For revision 2 of the pumi, I may just switch over to heartfelt beads.

>>16610844
If he wasn't from an age where knowledge about things created on the other side of the planet was hard to come by, I'd smack him as a pretentious, ignorant twat.

>>16611012
>knowledge about things created on the other side of the planet was hard to come by
Didn't he live in india for a few years?

>>16611083
He was born in India, actually. But he never went anywhere with a chinese-style tea-drinking tradition. And his life in Hindoostan probably just involved him anglo'ing it up around other anglos and anglofied Indians.

>>16611012
>>16611113
where does he go wrong?
>brewed in small quantities
>brew in a pre warmed teapot
>large amount of leaf
>loose not bagged
>milk optional to taste but 2nd after water
>no sugar
dont forget gongfu ing is fairly recent and isn't even the standard for chinese tea drinkers
>muh anglos
ahh there it is

>>16611157
>First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase ‘a nice cup of tea’ invariably means Indian tea.
I would call him "Holy fucking [tea] pseud." if he posted this shit ITT.
But as I said before, I don't blame him, as his knowledge of the subject was above-average for the time. "Chinese tea" actually refers to green tea, just so you know.

>>16611180
might just be me but i find green/white teas to be weaker than more oxidized blacks/ripes

>>16611228
That's not even tangentially related to the point I made about his period-accurate ignorance.

So you lot like a good ole mug of Yorkshire tea?Big splash of milk and a chunky dollop of sugar.
Ahh makes my day

>>16611329
Aye, really hits the spot.

>>16611344
drinking soil is close to drinking a cup of Yorkshire tea. there are tea plantations in the uk but its bloody expensive and very small scale, not sure i can justify £16/12g even as a meme bday present to myself

>>16611435
pffttt, you're a stuck up fag.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with it, just drink it and learn to enjoy it ya woss

How the fuck do I make decent ice tea? I'm not talking about sweet tea, just normal ice tea. It always ends up weak or bitter somehow.

>>16611474
its only drinkable with massive amounts of sugar and milk to the point that you're not drinking tea anymore
>>16611490
better quality leaf, cheap tea bag dust will always go bitter because of its high surface area, or if you're brewing it then cooling it dont use full boiling

My parents gave me their Keurig machine recently. Is there any decent Keurig cup tea brands? I seem to only ever find coffee

>>16611474
I'd honestly rather drink a can of arizona than yorkshire with milk an sugar.

>buy cheap-ass Aldi tea
>intense nana mint aroma
>mild honey note

This stuff is great

>>16611524
You’re gonna burn your house down with that Keurig. Many such cases

>>16611524
If you do find a tea pod, run some plain hot water thru the machine before using the tea pod after using a coffee pod. Otherwise you’ll get coffee-flavored tea.

>>16611435
The one that's 16£ for 12g has non uk tea mixed in lol.

>>16598662
For nutritionfags - EGCG is a good zinc ionophore
https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2009.01191.x

>>16611840
peterstontea 'claims' to be 100% Welsh but i wouldn't be surprised, a Scottish plantation apparently only produced 20kg last year

>>16611912
Welsh tea huh? Sounds awful
Same issue with grown in USA tea
Other than one large plantation it's all farms in hawaii selling tea for $1 per gram

>>16611898
Im pretty sure my face cream has EGCG in it

>>16611898
So what you're saying is I should drink raw Thyme

>>16612947
Uhh once in a while?
Better zinc absorption to cells is a good thing and won't lead to cellular zinc overload if you're not overdosing on zinc intake yourself

>>16613080
So what's the takeaway, take a zinc supplement with your morning tea?

>>16613107
Yeah
Or food rich in zinc

god i love zinc
If you arent taking a zinc supplement you are basically a moron

>>16613323
Zinc toxicity is too easy to induce with supplements and gives you nasty fucking gut problems. Just eat food with zinc in it.

>>16598662
cheapest kettle you can fin + cheapest green tea + citrus juice. Its not much but its good enouh.

>>16613368
Amusingly my cheapest green tea (8.5c/g) is actually pretty good.

Do you guys find letting leaves "rest" between infusions does anything for them? I ask because I've been doing "gong fu" and I notice my 7th cup tends to be the best.
I heat enough water for 6 infusions in a row after my first rinse and they're all usually pretty good. Then I take a break and let the leaves sit for anywhere between half an hour to an hour before I heat more water and finish the leaves. Of course I heat the water a bit hotter than the first time, and maybe that's where the difference is, but the 7th cup is always rich, flavorful and strong like a rinse/first infusion with none of the undesirable flavors.

>>16613107
>take a zinc supplement with your morning tea?
This is a 1 way trip to severe nausea, don't do this.

>>16611524
Celestial Seasonings has pods and you can try looking for reusable pods to add your own leaves, but for some reason tea brewed from Keurig machines tastes like ass

i make loose leaf tea in a french press

>>16598662
Found at my local chinese store. Havent tried it yet. It smells very much of lychee

>>16615420
Tastes just like regular black tea, slight lychee scent

I cant imagine what lichee tea would taste like

whats your opinion on Cornflower in tea?
I tried a new store today and saw that they had cornflower mixed in with the chamomile... i knew it was being used for filler but there is so little of it i dont feel like its a rip off, I figured id give it a try, it certainly looks pretty if anything.
Brewing it now.

>>16617109
Never tied it, could you taste in in the tea?

>>16617401
no, i cant taste it but it does barely change the texture... it feels ever so slightly thicker... almost slimey.
cant say im impressed with it other than how it looks, pic related.

I don't know if this is a life hack but I stored my Sencha (in a sealed bag) too close to an extremely pungent Gyokuro and now my Sencha tastes like the Gyokuro.

>>16617504
The chamomile looks good, the flowers don't do anything for me

I actually rinsed a ripe today bros..
I was brewing it grampa style and as soon as the water hit the leaf i was blasted with funk. So i dumped the water and then moved the wet tea to a fresh mug, much better.

I've been really enjoying eating my spent Japanese tea leaves with rice.

>>16617928
High IQ move, sucking on half spent tea leaves is highly underrated as well

>>16617928
That's funny, I've been enjoying genmaicha a lot lately.

>>16618069
Gencmacha isint funny

I almost didn't drink tea yesterday, but then i remembered the awful cluster headaches i get after the second or third day of no caffeine

Is king of duck shit oolong actually good? Or does it just sell well because of the name?

>>16620320
the ones i've had have been pretty sour/tart, its different to a lot of tea. you'll probably either like it or hate it, the meme name is probably why a lot of people at least try it

>>16620343
Thanks sour oolongs don't really do much for me.

>>16620320
I really like it, you definitely don't want to overbrew it because the floral notes can get overpowering, but brewed correctly it's a nice mix of everything.

>>16620434
Where did you get yours?

>>16620631
Yunnan Sourcing.

>>16610537
>check your bovedas
i use 65% in zip-lock Mylar bags that are kept in a cooler. one year in and so far i have still not needed to recharge any of the bovedas.

i tried in vain to get a neifei off a Xiaguan toucha today. unfortunately, i only succeeded in shredding it and stabbing myself in the process. it was just pressed in too tight to remove.

>>16620830
Yeah they just jam em in there, i very rarely get one off in one piece but with xiaguan especially sometimes they are halfway through the cake

>>16620785
Im so glad i had a cooler laying around, it works so well for a pumidor

>>16610537
>check your bovedas
i get 60-70% humidity all year round, got to love the Welsh weather, just keep all mine in a drawer
>replace your water filter.
i do it every other month, more importantly check your water tank/jug for mold, found green slime in my tank's tap and i haven't checked that in over a year...

>>16620931
>xiaguan especially sometimes they are halfway through the cake
that was the case here. i did not even get to read it as it was so covered up with tea. the dayi touchas i have were much easier to get the neifei out of.

What type of tea would be best to ferment into alcohol? Assuming I'm using the tea liquor just for flavour and plain sugar for the actual yeast fuel.

>>16621126
Good question i would probably start with black tea, i don't know how something like oolong or green tea would turn out

>>16621126
smoked Lapsang souchong

>>16621540
Yeah, that would work

>drink tea
>head starts to spin
Let's GO

Yeah tea is drugs lets goooo

>>16621540
lapsang souchong sugar wine is a go

>>16622384
I'm ready for this, i think it will probably taste pretty good for sugar wine

>>16622019
this but unironically

What's the deal with Japanese black tea? Is it as bold as Japanese green tea? Is it malty? Fruity? Sweet?

>>16621540
>>16622384
i'd advice against smoked tea, whenever i cold brew smoked tea you can feel the oily smoke residue as you drink it(more so than brewing it)

>>16609163
I used to drink this in russia, it's alright and comparable to lipton in my memory.
PG tips is better.

Bout to finish of this 7542 from TwL.
Im nit in a rush to buy more but I'm sort of going to miss it. Better performance than i initially thought, still a bit smokey

hey quick question, /teachads/, how long can ripe puerh sit in a mailbox in 87 degree (fahrenheit) heat and about 65% humidity before going bad?

>>16624865
never, it'll just age and get funkier(this is good), even if it starts growing mold thats just flavour town

>>16624896
oh, ok. what about white tea?

>>16624909
heard that white does better in drier aging but it should all be fine, how long do you plan on leaving it there

>>16624925
4 hours max hopefully

I recently bought a water filter as I live in a very hard water area.

I tried brewing tea with the filtered water, and the tea has much less flavour as a result.

Thoughts on whether water mineral content should impact the tea flavour, or am I doing something wrong?

I guess I should just try brewintg tea again but with a higher tea/water ratio.

>>16625027
Having ions and shit in your water helps extraction so filtering it might make it extract less efficiently

for me, it's yorkshire gold
puer lesbians and anime trannys can suck a dick

>>16624942
That's fine man don't stress, maybe if it was a week youmight want to worry about it.

>>16625027
Which water filter did you buy? Those zero water filters are tooo good, kinda messes with the flavor, but most other ones are fine for tea. I have hard water and use a pur filter for all my tea water, the tea tastes noticeably better than when i brew it with tap water.

anyone tried this, does this taste the same as the bottle one?

>>16625158
I just got the standard table top Brita one that everyone seems to have.

I'm not even particularly bothered by the high mineral content of tap water, but I read up on PFAs recently which freaked me out a bit.

I read a research paper that found that they remove c.50% of PFAs from tap water, which is better than nothing I guess.

>>16625145
Yeah, I'll try not to stress to much about it. thanks anon

>>16625176
Standard brita filter shouldn't have a negative effect on tea flavor. But it might just taste very different than you are used to, keep messing around with your brew parameters untill you find something that works

>>16625158
>hose zero water filters are tooo good, kinda messes with the flavor
Water shouldn't taste like anything, so that means it's doing its job.

>>16625555
No you can look at the international speciality coffee association water quality guide. Even places like starbucks filter and then remineralize their water to give it a specific profile that works best for the flavor of coffee. 0 ppm or completely mineral free water doesn't really taste very good when you brew with it. You can try this yourself at home, buy a gallon of your favorite spring water at the store and a gallon of distilled water, brew a batch of the same tea with each type of water and compare them side by side.

>>16625555
Natural water has a flavor profile, so much so that "water sommelier" is an actual job title.

>>16625606
The "espresso aficionados" discord has e x t e n s i v e discussions on water tables and remineralization and shit. Probably the most info in one place on the subject but discord sucks to read through so I've never bothered.

>>16625848
Sounds like too much autism for me. I already almost bought a reverse osmosis system and a series of remineralization units but id rather just be happy with my filtered water and remain ignorant.

>>16626235
Yeah I just run tap water through a berkey. Best $200 I've ever spent.

>>16625770
What is "natural water?"

>>16626438
Nice

>>16626934
Any water that hasn't been artificially filtered or treated with chemicals to alter the composition? I don't know what's so hard to understand about that? I know you're just trying to set up a Gotcha with "uhh but I have unfiltered water that's completely tasteless" and good for you but that's the exception rather than the rule. The vast majority of water is given a flavor profile by it's mineral content, for better or for worse.

>>16627576
>The vast majority of water is given a flavor profile by it's mineral content, for better or for worse.
That's my point, "natural" water isn't some singular entity, it encompasses all sorts of minerals and concentrations, for better or worse. To say that tea tastes better in "natural water" is completely arbitrary. I would argue tea actually tastes worse in most waters that I have tried anecdotally. Perhaps there is some ideal concentration of minerals that give tea the best taste, and I'm sure some nerds have experimented with this somewhere online, but outside of creating my own mineral water from scratch, the more filtered, the better.

>>16627590
>but outside of creating my own mineral water from scratch, the more filtered, the better.
So close, but you don't actually want 0 ppm, you want home filtration levels of filtering, you don't want a reverse osmosis or distillation setup. There is such thing as too filtered. Again any cheap filter pitcher you buy is going to get you closer than most tap water, even those fancy berkly filter setups. I used to have a reverse osmosis setup and it made shit tea.

>>16627608
This, there are minerals you don't want but there are also minerals you NEED for the optimal tea experience, without them you draw a blander and less flavorful cup.

>>16627608
>>16627634
How about we actually get into the details then, what minerals make tea taste good and at what concentration? I'm not gonna grab some random "spring water" which is just city tap water full of lead and PCBs to make my tea taste 0.1% better.

>>16627650
I said check out the specialty coffee association water quality guidelines
http://www.scaa.org/PDF/resources/water-standards.pdf

I've been alternating between Scottish and Irish breakfast. I can't decide which I like more.

>>16627674
>TDS target: 150 mg/L
Absolutely disgusting, seriously fucking wretched amounts of minerals. ~50 TDS is tolerable in drinking water, 150 is literally the same as tap water.

>>16627707
Water? They put that shit in toilets, I only drink Brawndo.

>>16627720
Ironically the "water" you are singing the praises of has more in common with Brawndo than actual water, it's got electrolytes.

>>16627707
Don't they specify what the makeup of the mineral profile should be or is that only in the pdf they sell for $40?

>>16627867
https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/diy-water-recipes-redux/

>>16628003
Awesome thanks anon

>>16603154
It's not really a tea but I am interested in kava desu it seems very interesting, hopefully it's like a benzo

>>16607422
Gf gifted me some marco polo for my birthday a couple years ago. A very good gift, it was delicious

Is cast iron worth it or a complete meme, especially for black tea?

when did fukamushicha get as expesnive as gyokuro what the fuck

>>16610550
I was in the gym and laughed too fucking loud, people are staring

>>16607535
>blended and scented teas being /tea/ approved
>ever
We've sunk low friend, low enough to not shame people that use bags out of the thread on sight, but not that low. Never that low.

>>16629152
holds heat well, i brew in a ceramic pot and then decant it into a pre-warmed cast iron one to keep the tea warm

>>16629399
Why not just brew directly in the cast iron?

>>16629417
cause i put the leaves directly in the pot, i don't want it to over steep and get all bitter

>>16629422
Fair enough, I thought there might have been some reason you can't brew directly in the pot.

Just started getting into tea and so far I've enjoyed assam, what should I try next?

>>16627867
here are some other references:
teasecrets(you know what symbol goes here)home(you know what symbol goes here)blog/water-recipes/
empiricaltea(you know what symbol goes here)com/category/water/
baristahustle(you know what symbol goes here)com/blog/diy-water-recipes-redux/
apparently 4chan thinks discussing tea water recipes is spam, perhaps we should talk more about Taco Bell like the rest of /ck/. maybe that would make the stupid filter happy. I hate having to edit my post repeatedly to get around it.

>>16629494
Darjeeling, earl grey, masala chai then some chinese

>>16629538
Pretty sure its just you trying to dump several links at once. My bh water redux link posted fine.

>>16600425
Earl Grey is hot garbage for dumb housewives who drink with their pinkies up.

>>16629935
tfw you're currently sipping earl grey like a fag housewife

>>16629875
>Pretty sure its just you trying to dump several links at once.
oh i know i am just complaining. sometimes, i can dump a bunch of links just fine though, so there may be temporary keyword or IP range filtering for when someone acts up.

>>16628629
Oh i forgot to post about it
It was interesting, it tastes terrible and it is kind of a hassle to prepare, i guess you can do it in a blender.
Definite buzz, moderately strong, somewhat similar to alcohol, maybe slightly similar to benzos but nowhere near as powerfull.
Its kind fun but it really tastes fucking bad, it even numbs your throat and mouth.

>>16629875
It lets me spam walls of links to individual teas when people ask for shopping tips.
Nobody knows how the filter works, not even the people who made it

>>16629977
Hey...

Looking at buying a cast iron because my tea always gets cold before I finish it, are there any specific ones to look out for or is the first thing you see on amazog for $30 "gud enuff"?

>>16625848
>discord
i hate how discord has made a lot of useful information surrounding niche hobbies unsearchable. honestly, i miss forums and despite their flaws i think they are still overall a better medium than discord. hell, even reddit is still usually less cancerous than discord so long as you avoid the big subs and power mods.

>>16630871
Don't bother, just get a thick 2 cup stoneware pot and a heavy knit cozy for it it keep it warm, or make smaller single cup batches of tea instead of pots.
However if you want cast iron, get teavanna ones on ebay, yeah they have stupid dragonflies on them but they are $150 Iwachu brand Japanese made teapots that teavanna ordered in bullk and when they went out of business they cleared them out at significantly below retail, a few year ago you could get one for $30.
The ones like this listing, look around some if you feel like it
https://www.ebay.com/itm/313220413255
Same with these if you want a larger one, this is juat an example plenty of deals out there still, look for ones that have the stamps on the bottom in the same place these do
https://www.ebay.com/itm/255017236801
Another
https://www.ebay.com/itm/185002061542
Note these have enamel on the inside so they will not rust, thwy are for brewing tea and not boiling water on the stove, preheat with fleshly boiled water before brewing for maximum heat retention

>>16631033
>i hate how discord has made a lot of useful information surrounding niche hobbies unsearchable
Yeah this is a massive issue that is causing all kinds of problems and at some point decades of niche information will just disappear all at once when discord stops maintaining it.

I'm very tempted to just get a tong of dayi ripe and drink that exclusively for the next year. I really wish i grabbed one of those 2000g dayi ripe bricks from KTM last year before the price quadrupled

Hello anons. I'm taking the opportunity to follow up on the results of the adjustments to my tea storage, in case they may be useful to others. It's been a month or two since I moved all of my teas outside of my main domicile, and into another space with a much more consistent, cooler temperature. All of my teas appear to have stabilized, and I attribute this specifically to the consistency of temperature rather than it being cooler. My space would fluctuate too severely from cool to hot before, and this surely was the cause for instability and flatness in flavor and aroma.

Notably, my tea's ambient 'roasting' and dankness have decreased. This is despite my shou/sheng/dark teas all having Boveda packs, which should increase the humidity level of the storage environment for each. Aroma has slowly but surely become reinvigorated, and flavor has followed suit. I've mostly been drinking whites (which are doing much better), but my 2018 Haiwan 9978 (Batch 181), purchased from Fullchea, appears to have developed quite well. I am drinking it right now, and it possesses a much more definable, deep "maple syrup" flavor and smoothness than when I initially tested it some five months ago. I'd say it's almost dessert-like right now; very pleasant to sip. Not one tea I have tried hasn't benefited from changing to the more stable environment.

My hypothesis from all of this is that rather than some temperatures being exclusively superior than others, consistency of temperature and humidity is possibly an ideal point of focus. If someone here has an environment that isn't really stable, and this individual isn't satisfied with their tea, I'd like to see how it may improve if moved to one with fewer fluctuations.

An aside, the discount store polypropylene bags I've been using for storing small stashes of tea in my refrigerator have been excellent. No degradation noted at all. No explicit need to pay extra for mylar for modest storage cycles as I see it.

>>16632125
Yeah i can see drastic temperature swings causing issues with storage. Especially at moderate to high humidity you rub the risk of teas cooling off at night to hit the dew point and getting misted by the ambient air.
Good to hear you are having better luck, i know you were stressing about your storage before

>>16632149
>Especially at moderate to high humidity you rub the risk of teas cooling off at night to hit the dew point and getting misted by the ambient air.
I fully agree with your reasoning. I think this is a prime reason as to why some of my teas would have a brief increase in dankness/perceived humidity, and then eventually go flat in every way. My Verdant Tea 2014 Gong Ting was rather fishy from day 1, and never quite stabilized in this environment. I haven't touched it in several months, keeping it isolated in a separate bag from all of my other teas. I may break off a portion soon to see how it has developed, seeing as it has had some time to rest within a more stable environment. Would be quite interesting to see if it has changed much. I can post about it whenever I do, if anyone is interested.
>i know you were stressing about your storage before
It is a relief to see that the choice to relocate everything has saved my stash. It's nice to be able to relax and just enjoy my tea again. Hopefully, it has been the same for the rest of you.

>>16632216
>My Verdant Tea 2014 Gong Ting
lol, i dunno if that one will ever get better, smart move separating it from the rest of your stash.

>>16632306
>i dunno if that one will ever get better
Most likely not much better, but it's so small that I'm just going to hold onto it and see what happens. I smelled it earlier, and it's certainly better, but not free of all dank scent. I suppose its just the intrinsic 'installed' nature of the tea. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.
>smart move separating it from the rest of your stash.
It almost predated over the scent of my aforementioned Haiwan cake despite being about 3-3.5x small in quantity of grams. No sign of that now, but it was noticeable before. Incredible how even a small amount of 'off' tea can affect the rest. "One rotten apple" and such.

Finally received my first YS order. I'm in EU. so i had to pay for VAT now, other than that things were ok.

I found a cigarette butt in my tea for the first time!

Don't frequent these threads just here to ask if anyone has any experience with russian teas and which ones would be good to try out for a newb.

>>16633525
Russian tea brands? Or teas made in russia?
If you don't live in russia i wouldn't bother with Russian tea brands. I don't have any experience really with Russian grown teas, i think there is a Russian store in the pastebin that has a handful of russian and georgian grown teas.

>>16633525
if you want info about russian brands of tea ask them over here or read their thread.
https://2ch (period) hk/di/res/410079.html

>>16633604
Thanks will check out.

>>16633604
>>16633622
Thanks will check out.

Coof

>>16598662
I have been drinking Harrod's No. 14 tea in loose leaf every day for 21 years now

>>16633498
has anyone else here found anything exciting in their tea? so far i have found plenty of hairs, paper and cardboard occasionally, some twine, a sliver of bamboo, a few pebbles, a piece of cement, bits of plastic bags, some metal filings once, and now a cigarette butt. perhaps i should start collecting what i find.

>>16634792
No, but I only buy Japanese tea so I guess quality control sorts that out for me.
I imagine if I bought inferior quality Chinese tea I would be astonished by what I find.

>>16634792
>a piece of cement
lol same and a hair, what cake had the cement? mine was the Gao Jia Shan Wild Fu Zhuan that got shilled here a few times

>>16634792
I pulled a black hard chunk out of the 2006 xiaguan box ripe. Plasticy, might have been a broken piece of a pen? If I find where I tossed it, I'll snap a pic.

That's nothing, I ended up getting a full refund for a cake because it had an entire human tooth in it, complete with a bit of dried blood.

>>16634930
>what cake had the cement?
i cant remember exactly what it came from. if i recall i found it in a sample of some big factory shou.

>>16635238
hilarious if true. I hope you saved the cake, human tooth or no free tea is always nice. give it a few years and any human pathogen will be long dead. what vendor is if from if you don't mind me asking? not looking to avoid them or anything (stuff happens to everyone) i am just curious.

>>16634792
I can't believe you found a cigarette butt, that's really intense
Ive found, rocks, random seeds, tea seeds, greasy thick hairs, plastic, pieces of burlap sacks, bits of paper, and my crowning achievement, a large heavily rusted bolt head in a tin of loose leaf liu bao.

>>16635300
>I can't believe you found a cigarette butt, that's really intense
well at least now i know where fu zuan's signature smoky flavor comes from...

I was kind of surprised myself as it was not a particularly old or sketchy tea.

>a large heavily rusted bolt head in a tin of loose leaf liu bao.
neat.

>>16600448
just buy one on aliexpress for like $10 lmao

>>16634930
I've gotten a small cement chunk out of a super cheap white tea brick.
Can't remember which one but I kept the cement for good luck.

>>16635678
Tea pets are officially out. I want to see small pieces of reclaimed cement stacked lovingly on trays now.

>>16636068
kek, now i wish i saved my tea debris

I come from a very horny and eastern land
i bring booba in exchange for asking what your healthiest tea is

>>16637243
no such thing as healthy tea. reconfigure your priorities.

>>16637342
I asked for tea not a riddle

>>16634792
Corn kernel. Only thing I found lol

>>16634792
Twigs are about the oddest thing I find. Wish I could find something more exciting like razorblades or eccie pills

>>16637351
where's the riddle in my answer?
you seem like a "health benefits" person (female). no such thing to be found in tea leaves. only caffeine and various other compounds (mostly toxic) which seem to vary wildly in experiments depending on the probing method.
stick to your diet soda.

>>16637466
I assure you i am guy
do you not think tea has health benefits? also i say riddle because your post rhymed

>>16598662
>black tea
>ginger
>milk
>sugar
its quite simple, op.

>>16637477
in which ungodly cadence the "tea" and "-ties" rhyme? I assume horny eastern one.
yes, I do think that tea has no health benefits on its own. replacing sugary drinks with tea may have some, but it depends on the individual. why should tea have any health benefits? because it's broth from natures own leaves? I don't see the correlation.

>>16637502
Well i'll wait for someone elses answer then, also how do you pronounce Ties then?

>>16637506
the only real health benefit, as i see it, would be caffeine, as >>16637466 mentioned. Since its in comparatively small amounts, it might be some benefit from that. At the same time since there's smaller amounts you might be less likely to experience withdrawal symptoms.
other "benefits" from drinking tea could be the same as meditating/mindfullness shit but i wouldnt count on that from just drinking tea, it would be more from the process.

>>16637613
What do you think of this?
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/white-tea-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_10

>>16637617
i think nothing of it, its all wishy washy.
it says MAY help slow the onset of parkinsons.
the pesticides used during productions MAY cause parkinsons.
it COULD help you lose weight, it MIGHT make you eat more,
the antioxidants thing is probably fine, but just eat blueberries or some shit if you want actual benefits instead of just marginal crap

>>16637506
Tea has polyphenols, antioxidants, other things that may or may not do anything.
Typically the snons here don't advocate drinking tea for health benefits, though it probably isn't bad for you unless you drink a whole box of the really shitty teabags every day.
What tea is the most healthy depends on what compounds you are after, green tea has the most antioxidants and egcg, probably. Fermented dark teas like ripe puer and liu bao allegedly have the most polyphenols. Other teas are intentionally inoculated with fungus which may or may not be good for you.
There are always tradeoffs, many people consider green tea more healthy but fresh green tea can be rather rough on the stomach while black teas and some fermented teas are rather easy to drink in comparison.
The tea that would probably give you the most "health benefits" is matcha, since you are eating the ground up leaves. However cheap matcha is very nasty and i recommended not buying it unless you import it from japan from one of the shops in the pastebin, or buy it from very specific high end Japanese tea only stores located outside of japan.
Generally it's recommended to drink the tea that you enjoy and not worry to much about health benefits that may or may not be meaningful, beyond drinking less soda and fruit juice when you are busy drinking tea

>>16637727
well i dobut antioxidants can be bad
also matcha huh, i'll look into that

>>16637733
> matcha huh, i'll look into that
Seriously don't bother unless you are willing to pay the big bux for the real premium stuff direct from japan (vendors in the pastebin, don't get the culinary grade stuff). No sympathy if you buy it on Amazon or at your grocery store or any random not Japanese specialist tea dealer and it's inedible grit made from the worst quality chinese green tea.
I'm not snobby about any other kinds of tea, love the cheap stuff, but with matcha you cant afford to skimp.

>>16637727
it was honestly nice of you to give them such a high quality reply. it is annoying that health related posts always attract idiots, contrarians, and trolls.

https://naturalmedicines.therapeuticresearch.com/
this database has a decent summery of current research on tea and health if your library or university has a payed subscription to it.

i don't think a lot of people appreciate how hard it is to prove any marginal health benefit/detriment. humans are not lab rats and therefore researchers cant control all the variables. this makes it very difficult to get enough data to prove any effect that is not pronounced in the short term.

for example say some hypothetical food causes a 1% lifetime reduction in cancer risk for those who eat it weekly (a nontrivial amount considering how serous cancer is). to really ideally "prove" this effect strongly and precisely quantify it you would need a large (1000s of people) diverse (to ensure the results are applicable to all demographics) set of participants with an equivalent control pool (who are statisticaly equivalent but don't eat the hypothetical food) and would need to be able to follow them for decades in order to get a truly robust dataset. its usually not practically possible to do this in the real world and as a consequence you get a lot of "may"s and "possibly"s in science. also in order to get the funding to do something big you first have to gather weaker evidence in order to convince people a big study is worth the time and money.

>>16637733
Drink as much ma huang as possible.

>>16638897
Based

>>16637243
>I come from a very horny and eastern land
Why do you nips love green tea so much, it taste like shit

>>16608722
Now try drinking mate and forget about the tea

>>16625176
Add a tiny pinch of table salt to the water

>옥수수차
Why are they like this.

quick how do i make my shrooms into tea
also im not a degenerate and i respect you guys thank you in advance

>>16639862
Heating mushrooms will destroy the psychoactive compounds, just eat them raw in a PB&J sandwich

>>16639862
boil water, pour on shroom, 10-15ml water per gram of shroom, first steep should be quick, just a rinse, then start at 10 seconds and add add 5-10 seconds every subsequent brew. continue until tea doesnt taste more

but for real you probably want to cut it up and then boil it for some time

>>16638675
thanks for the link, i'll take a look at that

>>16639862
Google lemon tek

are some good teas with a nice dose of funk?

>>16640700
*What are

Testing my old fishy/dank Verdant Tea 2014 Gong Ting, as mentioned a few days ago. Was interested in how a dank cake may develop after a few months in a stable environment, so I gave it a shot.

General dank smell of the dry leaf was much more tame, and closer to the maple/syrup scent of its brewed leaf, which also retained that characteristic. Interestingly, despite possessing a much-improved aroma, it is surprisingly flat in texture, and not particularly astringent. This is in stark contrast to the original, which was more medium-thick and quite astringent. I'd like to say that it is 'smoother' now, but lacks much flavor or body, which is rather weird. I tried adding a negligible amount of a tieguanyin I like to it after a few infusions, and it seemed to soak in that flavor more than the large mass of Gong Ting shou (though it was still quite weak). At least the energy kick from this shou is quite a rush, which is fun.

Overall, it became more tame and smooth in the more stable environment, but did not resolve to improve in taste or texture. Note, I have found that my teas which already had nice flavors and aromas improved within the new environment. My concluding hypothesis is that you can make good tea greater with stable storage, but you can only really make a shoddy tea at most bearable with the right storage. I'm sure that's obvious to many of you, but many of you have probably had questionable tea with characteristics you'd hope may 'develop' someday. It makes me wonder what I should do with stuff like this besides toss it. Compost?

>>16602578
I've never wanted to visit a restaurant concept so badly

>>16598773
>he fell for the hygiene meme
Whatever you say bubble boy, sorry about your severe peanut allergy

>>16641080
>you can only really make a shoddy tea at most bearable with the right storage
Yeah that sounds about right, there is inly so much storage can do if the material or processing sucks in the first place

saladas pretty good

>>16639667
I found mate to be pretty mediocre. Maybe because I live in a state that only has the one brand for sale.

>>16611619
How can Aldi have cheaper stuff than every other supermarket, but yet it's way better quality.

>>16642766
german engineering

Should I try keemun or lapsang souchong next? I wanna try out a smoky tea

>>16642868
If you want it to be smoky lapsang souchong for sure. Also keemun is just a worse version of a Chinese tea, souchong would be the same but it's smoked so much more than its' non-britishized counterpart that it's unique.

>>16635300
>random seeds, tea seeds
How do you tell them appart? I found a seed once.

>>16625158
I have almost undrinkable tap water now, I let all the water sit for 24 hours to get rid of immediately volatile smells like chlorine. Then I move it to the fridge with a carbon filter for another 24 hours. I have enough water in some stage in this process but it's very annoying. I just filter with lump charcoal.

>>16625555
Like my water, you got filtered

>>16625770
I'm used to what is probably in the top percentile of water in the world. There's a spring around 15 minutes from where I used to live. Best water I've ever tasted, perfect for tea. A fancy tea shop in NY used to import it, I talked to the owner about it a bit. Treated city water, even in NYC, is almost unusable even with filtration. Untreated water is best if you can get it. Before you retards start whinging about nature being scary and how you only feel safe with the chemical slurry that is city or bottled "water", I sent water samples to a lab every six months for testing, always came back perfect.

>>16625770
you bastard, you're making me conscious of what filter to buy.

>>16642979
Just buy charcoal, the stuff for grilling is fine. I rinse mine first. If that's too autistic for you, just buy activated carbon from a lab supplier and stick it in something like a coffee sock or similar. It's the exact same shit Brita uses, but you're not forced to use their shitty pitchers and expensive tiny volume filters.

>>16642936
Tea seeds come in these big dried seed pods typically and the seeds themselves are pretty large and distinctive.
Pic related

>>16642970
>I have almost undrinkable tap water now, I let all the water sit for 24 hours to get rid of immediately volatile smells like chlorine. Then I move it to the fridge with a carbon filter for another 24 hours.
You should strongly consider installing some kind of filtration system if possible. A reverse osmosis filtration system + some remineralization units will set you back about $200-$300 but they will significantly increase the quality of you water for both drinking and cooking.
Or if you live nearby a place that sells filtered water by the gallon consider investing in some 10 gallon bottles and a dispenser.

>>16642997
I am confused, are we talking about a tea filter? I have a hot water thing and i'm not sure if i could just throw charcoal into it

>>16643047
>A reverse osmosis filtration system + some remineralization units
i had almost forgot to do this, gonna go look on amazon, any brand you'd recommend?

>>16642979
>you bastard, you're making me conscious of what filter to buy.
Don't use charcoal, just buy any filter pitcher except the zero water ones or others that advertise getting the water to 0 parts per million.
I like pur personally but britia is fine too as long as you change the filter when you are supposed to.
Throwing chunks of bamboo charcoal in a pitcher of water is nowhere near as efficient and pouring it through a fliter, which uses activated charcoal anyway.

>>16643063
I haven't replaced my hot water filter in months, i wonder if i'm drinking bad water in my tea
well, im sure they sell replacements for my model

>>16643053
Check out https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-under-sink-water-filter/
They dont cover reverse osmosis systems but they may be sufficient depending on your needs.
I don't have any recc for reverse osmosis filter brands, the one i used to use was rebranded by some generic company.

>>16643075
do you remember what the name was?

>>16643047
Not worth it since I live in an apartment now, this is pretty effective and cost optimized. If I was living anywhere for an appreciable amount of time I'd drill a well anyway. Probably a decent option for most people though.

>>16643048
I don't know what you're trying to say. The carbon just needs to be in contact with the water, however you accomplish that is fine.

>>16643063
Forcing it through the medium will be faster, yes, however you accomplish it. Regardless, even if the medium is just present in the water, eventually the concentration of whatever you're filtering will be reduced, approaching the minimum as concentration is reduced. It will adhere to the carbon either way. As for using lab supply activated carbon pellets, or activated carbon as lump charcoal, it doesn't really matter as long as it works. I find lump charcoal convenient and aesthetically beautiful, but you can source it however you like. If you wanted to pour it through the filter medium for whatever reason, a simple stainless mesh, muslin, cheese cloth, really whatever would work plenty. If you want to pay 10x to use the shitty plastic Brita filters in their shitty plastic pitchers of course you're welcome to. It's both the worst and most expensive iteration of a very simple concept though.

>>16642970
>Before you retards start whinging about nature being scary
This is only a concern if you drink green tea and only bring your water up to 75-85c before using it. If you drink black tea, or boil your water and let it cool to the proper temperature, it doesn't even matter if the water is "clean"

>>16643141
No, you're fucking retarded and your existence at the absolute peak of mount stupid is why this fear exists around "raw" water now. There is a laundry list of groundwater contaminants like industrial runoff, agricultural waste, heavy metals, lead, a million different things that WILL fuck you up that are not rendered harmless by boiling. You CANNOT just drink water you know nothing about. Unless you're either very close to the source (fresh melt etc.) and you know what you're doing, or have a test kit, you cannot just drink water without having it tested in a lab. There is absolutely no danger to drinking untreated water as long as you use your brain and make sure it isn't contaminated. But, if you think you'll be fine just because you boil water you are rolling the dice that you're not going to be permanently fucked up by one of the many, very common sources of contaminated ground water. Drinking water you don't know the source of is not safe, ever.

Cinémathèque Française - Images of China (1901)

>>16643182
sorry I'm not American

A friend of mine sent me a box of teas she received as gifts from people she worked with. Her household doesn't drink tea, so I told her I would take them off her hands. Among packets of sealed white tea, jasmine, and black tea + herb blends, I got two canisters of baimao hou green tea as well as a canister of unopened (sealed) Xihu longjing from 2016. I was, naturally, rather hesitant to drink the stuff, but I bit the bullet. It certainly wasn't as good as a fresh longjing, but was still surprisingly drinkable. I've been powering through it, trying to drink all of it by summer's end (because green tea is best enjoyed in the summer).

>>16643312
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/water/60-european-water-bodies-highly-polluted-study-61058

Just fucking buy a berkey. When shit hits the fan, you're going to be happy you've got a few thousand gallons of headroom to filter rainwater.

>>16643335
> trying to drink all of it by summer's end (because green tea is best enjoyed in the summer)

>>16643702
Yes? Who the fuck drinks tea in the winter.

>>16643745
>who drinks hot drinks in a cold season

>>16643702
Yeah. I'm saving black and dark oolong teas for autumn and winter, for the most part. I tend to buy tea in summer or winter, but I need to go through my stash a bit before replenishing.

>>16643793
I only drink Coffee and Hot Chocolate in the winter.

>>16598662
New thread
>>16644253
>>16644253
>>16644253