/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Tried silver needle for the first time today. Tasted pretty vegetal but I like it.

>>16854535
How did it smell? Did you get sweet or fruity notes from the wet leaves?

Tried a rat shit and hibiscus tisane today. Tasted kind of like shit but I liked it.

Today I am drinking some cui ming tea. Will post how it tastes after a few cups.

>>16854535
It's one of my favorite teas. Super lovely. Well worth the price.

>>16854555
Is frontier organics that bad? I haven't bought anything from them except a 4lb bag of candied ginger that i found at an overstock store, aren't they used for bulk bins in health food store type shops?

>>16854584
I have no idea I just thought it was really funny how all of the top reviews were people finding rat shit or feathers in the bags

>>16854580
>cui ming tea
Based

>>16854580
So I did about 4g per my 90ml gaiwan...normally I just do the first poor from my boiler (so in this case 80C) then I put 90C In my thermos since my guess is that it cools by the time I'm onto my other cups.
Steep 1 (15s): I get a really "meaty" taste from this. I don't know how to explain it, but the first drink I took reminded me of eating pork from an asian place.
steep 2 (20+s, forgot it was brewing): water hasn't cooled enough so it's a little bitter. This is reminding me of a smoky tea even though it's not all that smoky. The way it coats my mouth is similar to a tea I've had at a local shop called Russian Caravan. Got some vegetal notes in there but stupid me oversteeped it a bit so hard to say.
steep 3 (23s): those initial hits I was mentioning earlier have subsided and now it's on to becoming more and more vegetal. Kind of tastes like a fresh asparagus to me

Not bad. I halfway post this because I've never brewed gongfu style with green tea so hpoefully my nubmers here are fine. Originally I had planned to do 15s + an additional 5s per steep until it got a little too boring and then I would do +15s (usually that would be around the 40-50s mark for me I imagine)

>>16854640
I love keeping a thermos around for gongfu, it's easier than having to keep boiling water.
Any way tea sounds interesting, i wasn't expecting it to take a smokey direction but i sounds like something i might really enjoy.
It will be interesting for you to see how changing the brew times for you next session changes the flavor of the tea. I bet you can get a few different flavors out of it depending on time and temperature.

how do you sort your teas?

>>16854599
fucking ning'ers

>>16854661
Yeah, it's a lot easier, although harder to deal with temperature autism but I have a stanley I bought just for this purpose and it gets the job just fine. I don't usually notice the tea not being hot enough into my later cups. I don't know how else I'd do it. it's a good tea though, yeah. I'll play around with some times later. Maybe grab a thermometer to make sure my tea doesn't get scalded

>>16854666
I just throw it all into a basket in my cupboard and then drink the same thing everytime anyways

>>16854666
I keep all the puer and heicha in my pumidor, it's all just kind of thrown in so it fits. I keep all my other teas in a big cardboard box on my bookshelf, i just dig through it to find what im looking for.

>>16854675
>. I don't usually notice the tea not being hot enough into my later cups.
At least with my thermos it stays almost boiling hot for a good 2-3 hours, which is usually long enough for me to finish a session, if i only need it at 80°c or 90°c it stays that hot for much longer

Through means that I legally cannot explain I have acquired an excess minifridge. Redpill me on turning minifridges into pumidors.

>>16854782
Clean the shit out of it with dilute bleach in a spray bottle
Buy boveda packs at 55%
Buy digital humidity gauge
Buy lots of tea to fill a decent portion of the space
Profit
Don't plug it in
That's pretty much all you need
There are a bunch of articles about storage and pumidors on this page under the storage section
https://teadb.org/puerh/

>>16854821
Can I store raw and ripe in the same pumidor or will that create nerve gas

>>16854500
what is a russian caravan?
I found the tea, but I don't get it.

>>16854920
It's a blend of a few different teas, including one that's somewhat smokey, its a lighter afternoon tea that isn't as dark and malty as an English breakfast style tea

>>16854916
I do and it's fine, just don't put anything in there that stinks so if you have some ripe that just reeks maybe dont put it in, or keep it in a sealed mylar bag. I usually leave all the tea cakes in individual plastic bags to keep crumbs and dust contained.
You can keep ripe and raw separate but it's kinda silly to worry about untill you have enough tea to fill several pumidors
Anyway never had any problems untill i put some aged orange peels (chempi) in the pumidor and the next morning it reeked of orange i had to take everything out and air it out for a few hours but after that it was fine.

>>16854453
>Why do you buy bags of hibiscus that are full of literal rat shit
lol, i just read the recent reviews on amazon. i have been buying from that brand for years and have never found anything in my at least. perhaps they have gone down in quality over the last couple of years or there is some amazon fake goods shenanigans going on. even my local whole foods used to carry their stuff before they remodeled and got rid of the loose spices section. guess i will check my current bag more closely when i open it. will be sure to report if i find anything unexpected.

>>16854920
It's really good

>>16854666
>how do you sort your teas?
currently i divide my heicha and pressed tea by type into different mylar bags. each of the following types gets stored separately from one another but may be combined with same type:
young raws, dry aged raws, wet aged raws, young ripes, dry aged ripes, wet aged ripes, fu zhuan, liu bao, liu an, white tea cakes, black tea cakes
for my non heicha loose leaf stuff i keep the tea in the original packaging and sort it into ziplock bags by tea type (for example a bag of black tea packages) unless i buy in bulk in which case i will sometimes put it in to amber jars or mylar.
I don't label anything yet (i have it memorized) but at some point i am probably going to have to as my collection grows.

>>16854782
this is good rundown
https://teadb.org/pumidors-101-designing-maintain-your-own-pumidor/

>>16854821
>Buy boveda packs at 55%
they should probably get 65% as 55% is very conservative.

>>16854916
the choice is yours. some people do some don't. probably not a bad idea to keep really strong smelling stuff that does not fit in separate.

what if i just wanna store my looseleaf over the time im drinking it? are pumidors purely for puerh? (only for aging?) is any box, shelf, ziploc bag, anything good for just random oolongs, whites (nonpressed), blacks, and greens? should i just drink them faster? i buy in bulk and it takes me a while to get through everything. ~6 months+

>>16856005
Pumidors are only for puer and other weird fermented teas.
Regular teas should just be stored in sealed bags or jars out of the sun, mylar bags are ideal, but plastic bags are fine, or buy a case of mason jars for $5 at your local hardware store.

>>16856065
>buy a case of mason jars for $5 at your local hardware store.
keep them out of the light or get the brown uv protected ones though. uv light is probably not great for tea over the long term.

>>16856065
>jars out of the sun
>>16856137
derp i missed that.

>>16856148
No worries, it's good to stress that point

drinking laoshan

>>16854535
Weird, don't think i've ever had a vegetal taste from silver needles. How dark was the liquid? If it was darker than "clear" or "very very light yellow" you may have oversteeped or burned it.

sweet potato black tea is so cash money

>have metal food network travel mug for years and years
>use it for everything, drink water from it, finish it, brew some tea in it without washing
>piss a lot too
>one night, lay half asleep in bed
>too tired to walk to bathroom but too awake to fall asleep
>decide to piss in my cup
>piss in my cup
>leave it on the floor
>next morning think nothing of it, just assume its water because its early
>boil some water
>put bag of mate cocido in cup
The thing about cocido is you want to have some room temperature to cold water soaking the bag so it doesn't burn when you pour boiling water on it
>my tea bag sits in about 2oz of piss
>pour boiling water in
>steep it
>drink boiled piss and leaves
This is about 4 days ago and I can't get the shame and guilt out of my mind

shit and piss and fuck? cum suck balls and fuck or no?

>>16856835
shitty titty cummy butt

>have piss for piss and piss
>use it for piss, drink piss from it, finish it, brew some piss in it without pissing
>piss a lot too
>one night, lay half asleep in piss
>too tired to walk to piss but too awake to fall piss
>decide to piss in my piss
>piss in my piss
>leave it on the piss
>next piss think nothing of it, just assume its piss because its early
>boil some piss
>put bag of piss in piss
The thing about piss is you want to have some room temperature to cold piss soaking the piss so it doesn't burn when you pour boiling piss on it
>my piss bag sits in about 2oz of piss
>pour boiling piss in
>steep it
>drink boiled piss and piss

>>16855728
>>how do you sort your teas?
>currently i divide my piss and pressed piss by type into different piss bags. each of the following types gets stored separately from one another but may be combined with same piss:
>young piss, dry aged piss, wet aged piss, young piss, dry aged piss, wet aged piss, piss, piss, piss, piss, piss
>for my non piss loose leaf piss i keep the piss in the original piss and sort it into piss by piss type (for example a bag of piss) unless i buy in bulk in which case i will sometimes put it in to piss jars or piss.
>I don't piss anything yet (i have it memorized) but at some point i am probably going to have to as my piss grows.

shitty cummy butty

Trannies raiding our thread with their unfunny trash because tea is the chosen beverage of The White Man

You will never be a woman. You will never be a lesbian and drink Pu-erh with your girlfriend.

whats earl grey and where do i get some, will my american mcdonalds taste buds enjoy i t?

>>16857364
No, daddy Picard will not invite you to teatime and roofie your tea. When you die, you’ll have your dead name on your headstone, and future archaeologists will know the truth from your large hands.

>>16857364
Earl grey is black tea with bergamot flavoring, bergamot is a citrus fruit like lemons or oranges. If you want to try a decent earl grey in the us try the low bergamot earl grey from upton tea, they also sell fill your own teabags or finum brew baskets to make it easy to brew looseleaf in your regular mug.

Finished my 25g batch of dian hong song zhen, that was not so bad. Wasn't able to feel sweetness or anything like that in the drink itself, but the smell of it was tremendous: bread and honey.

I am drinking Indian Breakfast tea this morning. Can't figure out the best brewing way so far.

/tea/ told me gaiwan sucks for that, which I guess makes sense. I tried doing the sticky way western style, which still didn't help (95C, 2min, +1min ea steep). The steep instructions on the bag it came in says 5min, 90C.
Hopefully my tea basket infuser comes today like amazon claims. Maybe the tea ball is fucking with my infusions. They really expand and fill the thing up to the limit with only like 2g of leaves.

>>16858943
Yeah the basket should help. I would try the directions on the package, the ones on the pastebin are maybe a bit short

>>16857364
vahdam tea sells it(dont get the green version) on amazon
>>16858943
you can brew in a gaiwan just not short gongfu steeps. Breakfast tea at least 3 mins at start or try 5 if you like it strong, 90c if its too bitter
>They really expand and fill the thing up to the limit with only like 2g of leaves.
yeah they're crap.

maybe its bad tea? what is it

>>16859206
https://www.teabox.com/collections/black/products/teabox-indian-breakfast-blend-summer-black-tea

It's not really *that* bad. I brewed it in a pyrex measuring cup and used my gaiwan lid to separate the leaves this time. mildly malty and sweet mostly. Not the best, but it's also cheap as fuck too, compared to the other teas I bought to sample from this site.

Down to my last bit of tai ping hou kin today. Highly recommend it in the future. It's a very different experience from other teas I've had. Brewing it grandpa style is the way to go.

>>16859292
Really interesting looking leaves
>>16859275
>I brewed it in a pyrex measuring cup and used my gaiwan lid to separate the leaves this time.
Nice, we used to have a thread regular that brewed all their tea like that.

>>16854512
Are there any other teas like chai or the kind of ginger tea with milk?

Sorry, I don't know about food in general.

>>16859292
what does it taste like.

Trying my first ripe pu-erh, it's certainly something.

>>16859619
why did you get?

>>16859710
I got the 2016 Jingmai ripe from farmerleaf. I've kind of liked tea for a while, so I thought it made sense to actually order some different kinds of good teas I haven't necessarily had before. Pu-erh seems to be exactly what I'm looking for, and I like ripe pu-erh waaaay more than I thought. Really really complex flavors, but not strange or offputting in any way like some aged / long fermented things can be. I'm really liking it.

>>16859747
>I got the 2016 Jingmai ripe from farmerleaf
Pretty good start anon, ripe is really heavenly when its cold out, or when it's warm, best causal sipping tea

>>16859747
nice, glad you like it. interesting choice for a first order. farmer leaf is reputable vendor but kind of an obscure one so not where i would expect someone to get their first puerh from. i have been meaning to put in an order from them myself at some point. they have one of the best tea related YouTube channels as well. his videos can be bit of a ramble but his experience and enthusiasm is very apparent. what teas do you usually drink? did you get anything else from farmer leaf?

>>16859521
It's very vegetal. Notes of artichokes and kind of buttery. A little sweetness. It reminds me of sencha a little

>>16859894
Yeah, someone in this thread recommended farmer leaf when I asked what I should try as someone just getting into tea. I don't need to buy tea, so if possible I want to buy it from someone who is emotionally invested in what they're doing. If I can enjoy receiving a product, and give my money to someone who really enjoys producing that product, then two people win. I got a cake of the "yellow flakes", which I thought was interesting as a concept, (and cheap, the budget for new hobbies is low right now), and a sample of the Jingmai Miyun as a kind of baseline tea. I'm intentionally buying stuff that's more different so I can have a lot of things to try, I have no idea what I like yet. I drank only mystery oolong, and relatively low quality sencha up until now. This is the first tea I've bought where I was actually thinking about what it was or where it's from. I'll drink through some of what I have and try and form stronger opinions. The ripe pu-erh was really surprisingly good.

>>16860043
>"yellow flakes"
as a bit of trivia the yellowed leaves that get removed from sheng puer and sold separately is called "huang pian". traditionally it was something of a "farmers tea" that they would keep to themselves because it is cheaper. they tend to be a somewhat more mild version of the parent material while still retaining some of its unique terroir. I have been drinking a lot a "huang pian" cake i got from a different vendor.

if you are looking for more cheap samples keep an eye out on https://www.liquidproust.com/ as he normally sells really cheap "puerh beginner sets" every November. last year they were $5+shipping for 7ish different samples totaling 100ish grams. bought it last year and was very happy with it. i don't know exactly when he is going to put them up for sale though. i will post a reminder here when i see the beginner sets available.

>>16860271
Yeah i also got this last year and got some good teas out of it, a warning tho, he gives you the option to pay more for maybe better tea and thr people that paid for more than 2 sets didn't get anything more than the people that paid for 2 sets, so don't do that unless you want to help subsidize his costs for giving out cheap tea to others. I would just order a single one.

>>16860313
yeah, I heard about that good warning. i think he accidentally oversold it last year and his supply of donated tea to give out was stretched thin. he ended up delaying some of the orders so he had time to buy more tea so he could fill them all. because of this he was probably a bit less generous than he was previously. still it was a fantastic value and i learned a lot. looking forward to doing it again this year.

>>16860380
Yeah i mean he said upfront that you weren't going to get an extra 100g for every unit you ordered. I think things should go more smoothly this year, i got an awesome selection of teas, lots of cool stuff i enjoyed trying.

Bros, I love black tea with milk but I'm afraid it will stain my teeth too much, does the milk proportion matter in this case? any advice from experienced drinkers?

>>16861053
Just brush your teeth, floss and go to the dentist for regular cleanings. Maybe use a whitening toothpaste if you are really worried about it.
It's no worse than coffee or red wine or smoking, your teeth aren't just going to turn brown unless you totally abuse them and don't brush for months at a time.

>>16860271
Good info, thanks.