/ck/ - Food & Cooking

mom found the tea drawer...

>>19449181
For all the fellow sluts who missed out, here's the recipe
https://iqfy.com/used-tampons-trans-hormone-tea/

If you have access to used tampons you don't have to pay for HRT!
That's the power of tea.

>>19454080
did the coffeefags send you?

I can't wait for the new pu'er to finish fermenting in my shower. I will totally slut out!

Tea from the tea drawer plus a traditional brekkie

So it turns out beer and tea works really well together.

>>19454170
There's a whole world of cool tea things waiting to happen out there. It just needs to go mainstream in America.

>In_Transit_from_Yunnan_to_USA._We_will_send_you_the_USPS/UPS_tracking_number_once_it_arrives_at_our_US_facility

fuck you scott give me my tracking

>trying a blood orange tea for the first time
>can taste stevia
god fucking damn it just let it be sour or bitter you worthless fucks if I want it sweet I'll add actual fucking sugar

stevia is a plague on unique tea blends

>>19454341
Did they give you an ingredients list or is it a secret recipe sort of deal?

>>19454080
When did we start doing the trans enabling bullshit?

The tea lesbians aren't going to accept you just because you pretend to like fermented teas, faggot.

>>19454368
Hibiscus, apple, rosehip, blood orange flavor, steviol glycosides (didnt know for sure til you asked and I checked) and orange peels

>>19454387
tea lesbians ruined kombucha, now the entire market of pre-brewed is sugar-free (ie. not fucking kombucha) if I dont spend horrendous amounts on imports
death to tea lesbians

Drinking a cheaper ripe right now. max steeping it. like 15 minutes. a mini ball and about 100ml water. (didnt even rinse it. lol. feeling brave. also didnt wash my hands even once today. Krishna is watching over me)

steeping a ripe very long makes it taste like chocolate. Adding a bit of milk makes it taste like a non sweet chocolate milk but without bitterness. Great texture too.

>>19454330
Did you use "YS Express" or "YS Economy"? for those shipping methods they combine orders ship them to the US and then split them up and reship them. They only give the tracking number after they ship your order to you. It supposedly allows them to offer faster cheaper shipping because they get better rates with bulk. Makes sense to me because DHL (from China to the US) is so much more reliable than the China Post which will randomly delay packages for months but also costs more.

>>19454426
>tea lesbians ruined kombucha, now the entire market of pre-brewed is sugar-free (ie. not fucking kombucha)
I don't think I have ever seen sugar free kombucha for sale.

>>19454192
I don't know if I want tea to go mainstream in the US or not. On one hand, it would be awesome to know anyone else who drinks tea that isn't lipton +5lbs of sugar or some cheap bagged tisane/ earl grey. Also I'd like for the US to have a tea culture, to be able to visit tea shops to hang out, try new teas, and meet other tea drinkers.
On the other hand, I'm worried that tea would go the way of whiskey in recent years. Anything aged, hyped, or limited in production would skyrocket in price and rarity, with scalpers buying shit up to resell for an absurd markup. Aged sheng for example would become unaffordable for everyone except those with "fuck you" money who don't care about being ripped off if it means they can have something that most people can't. Even unaged tea would be hard to get if demand grows enough, it would be years before production catches up.

>>19454537
It was YS Express
I don't recall seeing that bundling info anywhere during the checkout process. So YS will hold on to the package for a while before they have good enough rates to have it shipped out? Damn it I wish they disclosed it or made it more obvious about that fact
I would've payed for direct shipping if I knew that info before hand :/

>>19454546
Isn't that what happened in China in the early 2000's? Puer grew in popularity and tea merchants started doing greedy shit: certain tea companies would have exclusive access to certain areas, some middlemen would pay money to factories for exclusive distribution rights (and they would sell the cakes for 3-4 times the amount they buy from the factory), pay for some heavy marketing in order to increase the popularity of puer and so on. All this scalping and speculating had two effects: more and more people wanted to get into this "get rich fast and easy" scheme and the demand for puer skyrocketed. In 2007 the demand was so high factories started caring more about quantity rather than quality and so the prices fell abruptly and the middlemen had to sell their stocks for cheap.

>>19454074
Hey, /tea/! Long time noticer, first time poster. I've come to discuss TISANES with you. Let me just summon my apothecary first. Their name is Moonbloom, and they travel by horseback the widdershins route.

>>19453159
That and also I'm concerned about poor handling ie getting it wet or curious worker opening it up, putting it next to something smelly in thier warehouse when they're preparing to ship it. So much could go wrong
>>19452665
Nice! I like their teaware selection so it'll be nice if someone here could confirm if the shop's legit

>>19454588
Here are the details
https://yunnansourcing.com/pages/terms#shipping
>Every 5 days we will consolidate all the YS Express orders into a large DHL shipment and ship to our facility in the USA, and then ship onward to you.
It will almost certainly equal or beat China Post's Airmail services right now in speed. Your only faster option would DHL express directly to you which is really expensive (like twice as much as "YS Express").


Honestly If KTM offered a "KTM express" I would have used it. My KTM package has be held by the China Post for months now. The speed of China Post has been a real crap-shoot since Covid.

>>19454546
>On the other hand, I'm worried that tea would go the way of whiskey in recent years.
And that is why you don't need to worry. The "West" already has culturally established items like wine and whisky to use for conspicuous consumption. I don't think it is possible for something like puerh to replace those culturally. Half the reason people buy ridiculously priced luxury goods is to show off. Expensive puerh is likely never going to be relevant in mainstream western culture. Who here cares if you have a tong of authentic aged blue marks? The Chinese puerh market, which is larger than the western puerh scene is likely ever to be, already hypes up expensive puerh anyways. I think your fear of western normies finding puerh is misplaced.

>>19454600
>Isn't that what happened in China in the early 2000's?
More or less yes. I will add that puerh becoming trendy then also increased demand outside of where it was traditionally popular. The limited amount of aged puerh available could not meet the rapid increase in demand and depleted the old teas.

Tea novice here. I only really like black and oolong tea, and i also only drink it cold (i honestly don't like any hot beverage). Where do i go from here?

Is matcha supposed to smell and taste kinda like seaweed? I don't notice this in other green teas

>>19454839
Sea weed smell means it got exposed to smoke from that factory fire, I hope you didn't taste it. It's extremely cancerous and a lot of people have died.

>>19454867
What factory fire
Why doesn't it taste smokey then

>>19454874
he's just pulling your leg. japanese greens often have that seaweed taste

>>19454678
which ones have you had? oolong is a very broad category

>>19454911
It's from China though

>>19454934
then it's shit matcha

Why are you trying to get him to drink the factory fire tea? The others got throat and ass cancer.

>>19454874
Happened in Ching province and all the trees in the Chong tea fields were supposed to be destroyed but they harvested and sold it to dumb gweilos instead

>>19454426
>tea lesbians ruined kombucha
make your own then, if you care at all you can make something better than anything you could buy in a store within a couple of weeks. Plus you don't really want to keep giving money to people like this do ya?

what's the best Hong Cha / black tea you've had? or your favorite value option

>>19455401
Zheng chong ching green dragon imperial garden from Factory Zone 812

I can't bring myself to break into this V93, it's too small and cute. Look how it fits in a teacup. Might adopt it like a pet rock and stick some googly eyes on it
>>19455401
I really like the feng qing classic 58. Good taste, great aroma. Aroma is so good I can't help but smell the leaves a lot, just as enjoyable to smell as to drink it

How do people drink this tea shit? Every time I try to have a cup of tea, I get an intense urge to throw up. Can't stand it. Coffee doesn't do that to me but tea will. Such a weird drink.

>>19455555
sounds like you have some digestive issues. or are drinking super strong tea on an empty stomach

>>19455532
>I really like the feng qing classic 58
thanks, I'll check it out
the V93 tuos are cute indeed. you can always buy a whole pack if you want to display one. I seem to prefer 7572 and the lao cha tou brick so far, as far as Dayi ripe goes

>>19455555
Stop brewing black tea bags for 15 minutes and thrn drinking the tea on an empty stomach.
Try brewing a teabag for 90 seconds, then TAKE IT OUT OF THE WATER, and then drink the tea

>>19455401
taiwanese black teas are great

>>19455532
>his Waifu is V93 toucha with googly eyes
>is too pure to undress her and try her out
Chad move, path of the Jianghu, infinite Qi

>>19455681
I love Shan Cha. Very sweet, aromatic, fruity and honey-like yet it feels light and refreshing, without any maltiness or astringency. perfect black tea for the summer

>>19455555
t. Lacks a primordial spirit
Better luck in your next incarnation

Are the health benefits of pu-erh real? Chinks claim its basically an elixir of life

>>19455797
Yes.

>>19455800
Proofs?

>>19455797
>of life
yes
>of health
no

>birthday cake flavored matcha
Can't even blame this one on the Americans, this is a British brand.

>>19454341
>stevia is a plague on unique tea blends
Stevia is really fucking awful, it somehow tastes just as disgusting as splenda and those other older artificial sweeteners, i guess its less disgusting than those sugar alcohol sweeteners you see in protein bars but it's pretty close.

>>19455797
>Are the health benefits of (x tea) real?
Maybe, i don't care, im still gonna drink it either way.

>>19455797
I won't deny the health benefits, but most of those claims is just marketing to convince mainlanders that puer, a tea considered for most of history to be low quality shit for southern plebs, is worth paying their inflated prices.

>>19455822
This, desu.

>>19455818
The leaves on their own taste alright, it’s when they make an extract that it tastes awful

>>19455797
If you want actual health benefits from fermented foods then go for yogurt, not moldy tea cakes. Puerh is just tea. Tea may have some health benefits but puerh isn't special. Neither is liu bao, which I've heard described in the most mystical TCM ways like "expelling dampness, cooling, warming" all at the same time.

At risk of sounding like a new age acid casualty, tea as a "medicine for the soul" seems accurate

>>19455797
Pu-erh is 99.9% water. Drinking water is good for you.

>>19455532
+1 for the googly eyes. I don't think a pet (rock) is an incorrect abstraction for puer tea. Just give it a nice home with the right humidity and temp. Maybe I should decorate my Coleman cooler humidor with a shingled roof and window like a doghouse.
>>19455797
For nomads in Mongolia, Tibet, even some parts of Russia, drinking tea satisfies many phytonutrient requirements. Without it, these people contract peculiar and rare diseases. It's also why they tend to boil the shit out of hei cha, to get every last bit of vitamin and mineral.

>>19455797
All of the male puerh drinkers I see on youtube shilling the stuff are twiggy and balding.

I get the impression that green is better for you, unless you're trying to go for the malding look.

I'm drinking green+black tea every day to health max, studies say it's good

but how much should I drink? Hard to assess. Opinions?

>>19456130
Scott and William both looking like they're starving monks

>>19456162
I max out at around 750ml of tea in a single tea session before starting to feel strange from drinking too much liquid. IIRC some anons here are drinking a liter or more spread out across the day

>>19456213
Uh I fill a 1.5 liter thermos with boiling water and go through 4 of these a day, sometimes 5

>>19454606
hey boi, fetch me that garden rake and bring it to dee front yard. den after dat boi, go make some tea, and i want the finest tea for me and my friends here. now go boi.

>>19455532
u sound like a girl.

>>19456236
The legendary hero whose blood is mostly tea, I can only kneel

>>19456236
Those are incredible numbers.
How many tea leaves do you put in?
Do you drink some water on the top of all that tea?

>>19456293
the legendary poo whose blood is mostly poo, i can only kneel.

>>19456351
I would say a golfball size of tea per 1.5 liter. I drink some water in the morning and for dinner. I also drink 0.5-1liter of milk in a smoothie depending on whether I choose to go full or half.

Morale booster for friends
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE1WOyMFERg

>>19456388
Green tea causes gout

>>19456388
heres the thing about modern society, 80 percent of men look so fucking dysgenic and just a complete insult to the eyes. like you can be a billionaire, but look like shit.

>>19456414
so does swallowing cum, its ok, they make medication for males like u

>>19456414
>causes gout
Gout is caused by Uric Acid retention, basically kidney function insufficiency. If you have insufficient kidney function, basically drinking anything will cause gout, unless you're on med to force you to piss more.

Which tea do you like for your daily caffeine fix that you always have on hand?

>>19456916
raw puer
yerba mate

>>19456916
sencha or yerba mate

>>19456916
ripe black and green

>>19457068
USA USA USA USA

>>19456916
shou puer
nothing but

>>19456916
what do when tea doesn't have enough caffeine for me?
t. sugar free energy drink boomer

>>19457168
Drink more tea

>>19457168
Plan a white house tour after Hunter visits.

abbadon thread

>>19457506
Hello /ctg/

>>19455555
nice get

A nice smoked Lapsang Souchong in the morning for a beautiful day.

>camping
>could not sleep at all
>morning comes
>forgot the tea

>>19458157
Just dip your head in the nearest stream

>not camping near water

Anyone got any tips for drinking more green tea other than previously mentioned tip about mixing in some lapsang?
>>19457883

Just green tea on its own isn't very good but maybe I haven't tried some good ones. I don't use sweeteners or milk and don't want to start.

>>19458275
Weak bait anon just go away

>>19458275
I brew like 2 liters from 2 tablespoons of gunpowder green, with a little mint. That works for me.

>>19458275
1. You're choosing poor quality brands
2. You're picking tea strains that don't suit your tastes
3. You're brewing the tea wrong, strengthening the astringency rather than highlighting the soft and subtle fruit, herb, honey, and umami notes
4. You're fat, retarded, and gay and you can save on a gaiwan and tea set by putting that money towards a 10mm rope

>>19458401
>4. You're fat, retarded, and gay and you can save on a gaiwan and tea set by putting that money towards a 10mm rope
this was extremely unnecessary and makes you sound like a reddit tranny in a kimono

>>19458435
what if they are actually fat retarded and gay thought?

Another wonderful day of drinking cheap ripe puer because my order is stuck in Guangzhou

I can't stop drinking it

Every time I make green tea it's cloudy as shit and has a gritty mouthfeel. How do I prevent that?

>>19458615
Throw out the first wash dumb-ass.

Green tea seems to be an extremely toxic community and on the transitioning spectrum. best to stay away.

>>19458625
Good.

>>19458275
what green tea have you been drinking? is it fresh 2023 spring stuff? green tea goes stale quickly

>>19458605
>Another wonderful day of drinking cheap ripe puer
sounds like a win to me

>>19458646
Just various tea bags, and sencha

>>19458650
>tea bags
yeah there's your problem. I've had alright black tea from tea bags, but never green tea. they always suck, basically tasteless compared to decent loose leaf stuff
and sencha is the one tea that goes stale the fastest so that could be the issue

if you want to try good green tea, find some store that sells this spring's harvest of loose leaf greens. and if you want stuff that's really cheap but not undrinkable shit like the teabags, get some temple of heaven gunpowder

>>19458435
nothing you've said makes any sense. Are you fat and gay too, or just retarded?

you guys have been really irritable recently, consider drinking more tea
also this combination of cheap chinese teaware and hagi is pretty ugly im not gonna use these two together again
and also i was using my mom's kyusu but the filter holes are pretty small on them so it kept clogging with the fukamushi sencha i was brewing with

>>19458782
yeah fukamushi tends to clog most standard kyusu, that's why they make the special fukamushi kyusus with the metal mesh filter. I still brew it in my kyusu, I just try to factor in the long pour time and unclog the filter using a spoon after each brew
and I agree that hagi does not fit with the smooth plate

ironically enough, the one japanese teacup I have I only use for western-brewing black tea in a brewing basket. it's too big for the way I drink other teas. besides, the robust black tea flavor is more fitting with the rough texture to me on soem weird synesthetic level

>>19455797
If you keep drinking it you will become big boobed blonde sexy anime girl

>>19458788
i usually brew sencha in a smaller western style teapot with a removable basket but ive been considering getting a real kyusu recently but i drink so much fukamushi and the basket works really well with it...
>I still brew it in my kyusu, I just try to factor in the long pour time and unclog the filter using a spoon after each brew
i think the clogging would annoy me too much personally, ill look into some kyusus with a metal filter though im not a huge fan of them
also i saw someone here post about getting a circular metal mesh insert but i dont remember seeing any reviews about it

>>19454074
I tried a Dayi 7572 cake today after trying a Fuhai cake a couple days ago. I would say that the Dayi cake is probably a better beginner cake. The smell was much less off-putting The taste itself wasn’t particularly strong in any way. The KTM description claims that the tea is ‘floral and fruity’ but I didn’t think that was true at all. I want to thank whoever told me to push the steeping times longer, the enhancement to mouthfeel was drastic.

Tried this 2014 bulang mountain shou puer. Twelve infusions at five grams starting at 10 seconds, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 45s, 1m, 1m30s, 2m45s, 6m30s, 12m. Aroma was woody, forest floor leaf aroma, a subtle sawn wood. Flavor was typical ripe, umami, mushroom tastes, some meat tastes, thick and silky body. Some bitterness, maybe 3/10, no astringency. Tea broth was more red than brown, and dark. Leaf was a good consistent size and grade, little breakage, some stem. Overall, I'd rate this tea as "very good", above being just "good". Ripes are not my favourite but this performed well in every category, can't think of anything wrong with it. Maybe a little generic flavor wise.
>>19458280
Tea gator cute. CUTE. moisturized, happy, in his saucer. cute

>>19458848
Sheesh, when my ripe comes out that light I tend to finish the session by giving it last 5 minutes steep.
>15s, 20s, 25s
Are you extremely autistic?

pill me on waste bowls, where do i buy them, what size?

>>19458821
>I want to thank whoever told me to push the steeping times longer, the enhancement to mouthfeel was drastic
no problem anon. the thicc mouthfeel is one of the best parts of ripe pu-erh
are they both from Awazon? the 2009 Fuhai and 2011 7572 I got from there taste very similar to me frankly. I think I tend to get more enjoyment out of the Dayi (stronger vanilla maybe?), but do give the Fuhai another shot. it sometimes takes a few sessions to get a feel for a tea, and you'll probably enjoy it more as you get better at brewing ripe

>>19458867
The flavours were very similar to me as well. I will hopefully try my third and last cake, which is a Haiwan of some description, later today. Perhaps that will be more distinct.

>>19458867
And yes these cakes were all from Awazon.

>>19458860
Is it really that weird to use a phone timer anon? What are you using to gauge brew strength?

>>19458848
you reminded me that I have some cheapo supposedly Bulang ripe left as wel, I should try it again. it also tasted mushroomy to me back when I tried it. brew looks really light for a ripe, but maybe it's just the photo
>>19458887
NTA, but for ripe I use color, it works really well because of how dark ripe can get. for some other teas I also brew with a timer

I used to judge by just color, but found it annoying to peek under the lid repeatedly. Now I'm tasting + looking at the color and adding whatever time I think it needs for the next brew

>>19458887
>Is it really that weird to use a phone timer anon?
Nah i used a timer for years, it works great, now after years of drinking tea i can kinda time things okay in my head but i still use a timer for the 4 and 8 minute brews when im finishing off my tea.

>>19458605
Man i think you have surpassed the wait time on my mid bat flu ktm order. You should definitely email john if you haven't already

>>19459084
I'm not that anon, i have an order from YS (e-packet). I know i'm exaggerating, it has been staying in Guangzhou for only 16 days, it just that i'm sick of all the cheap tea i have been drinking lately. You made me curious how much ktm anon has been waiting.

>>19459090
I have an order that’s been stuck for 22 days. Basically unliveable

I guess I'm the only one who likes short brewing ripe. Ill do something like 10s 5s 10s +5s steeps. steeping for minutes just makes every ripe overly creamy and masks the subtleties. Might as well get the cheapest ripe at that point

>>19458218
good way to get brain eating amoebas

>>19458863
I just use a bowl. something with high sides I'd say. you probably want it big enough to hold a few washes and still have room, so you aren't spilling it when you go to dump it out

>>19458401
>You're fat, retarded, and gay and you can save on a gaiwan and tea set by putting that money towards a 10mm rope
this.

>>19458608
yeah this one is kinda gay.

>>19458821
mind giving some info on the Fuhai cake? Im thinking of trying a fuhai cake.

>>19458860
>>15s, 20s, 25s
>Are you extremely autistic?
shorter steep time stops the estrogen from seeping out.

>>19459507
Not him but the 2000s fuhai cakes are fairly similar to the 2000s dayi cakes.
See
>>19453341
>I have that cake and I think it's good for the price. very classic balanced factory ripe flavor

>>19459084
>You should definitely email john if you haven't already
What would he do if I did?
t. waiting on KTM order for over 2 months

>>19459507
I’m not very good at describing teas but what I will say is that I’m not confident that in a blind test I could distinguish it from the 7572.

>>19459562
You are the guy that should email him.
He might reship, or try to follow up with postal servixe or something.

Anyone here tried either of the two types of purple leaf teas yeeontea is selling? I am considering grabbing them.
https://yeeonteaco.com/collections/new-release/products/copy-of-2016-tea-for-connoisseur-purple-bud-ziya-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
https://yeeonteaco.com/collections/new-release/products/2017-tea-for-connoisseur-purple-bud-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake

>>19459642
I have had wild purple puer like your first link from other vendors before, its interesting but also kinda weird, it has a sort of citrus flavor that i can best describe as vaguely reminding me of citronella candles. I think they are also supposed to be supper bitter for a year or three after harvesting but that shouldn't be a probelm with hk storage tea.
Haven't tried purple beauty puer.

>>19459689
>it has a sort of citrus flavor that i can best describe as vaguely reminding me of citronella candles.
I have an aged yeshang white label brick that has the "citronella" note.

>>19459705
It's definitely something pretty unique, but i could see some people not enjoying it.

I admittedly don't drink much black tea at all, maybe 100g a year, but anyway this cheap ass $7 per 100g black tea from farmer leaf is possibly the best black tea ive ever had. If it wasn't already two years old i would drop $55 on a kilo in a heartbeat.
Its somewhat fruity, sweet, with a very mellow black tea malt flavor, extremely easy to drink.

>>19459808
Is that the Sun Dried? Mellow is right. I went a little hard yesterday with like 9g for 135 ml gaiwan and I definitely overdid it, but I regret nothing.

>>19459838
Its the Autumn 2021 Yingpan Shan Black

>>19459856
That makes sense. I was struggling to believe the Sun Dried was a favorite black tea of anyone here.

>>19459867
I would have ordered that one if it was in stock so i guess im lucky it wasnt

Ordered my yearly uji tea haul. Got manten and taiko-san matcha.

Also picked up this tsuen gyokuro "yume no ukihashi" green tea to test out.

Expensive ass tea...

>>19459929
SEXOOOOO

Because of this thread, I am going to boil some water with tea bags in it. I am then going to poor that hot tea water into a pitcher and, when a little cooler, will drink it.
You all have done this, never feel you are blameless, for I blame each and every one of you for what I am about to do.

Review of the uji gyokuro.

Incredible. Complex, rich, creamy, subtly bitter, lovely green flavors, some of that ocean breeze/saline flavor, almost a malty/milky/creamy flavor that is just delicious. Kind of reminds me of very high quality usucha matcha.

I don't have much experience with gyukoro, but I've had many other high quality teas and this stuff is really really excellent. Probably worth the 42$ for 100grams.

The brewing is kind of interesting. Followed it exactly with scale and thermometer.

1.2g tea/ 1oz of water. 140F water. 150/30/90 seconds brewing time respectively.

>>19459929
What’s ukihashi, and what does it mean for a tea to have none of it?

>>19460013
Idk. I tossed it in google translate and it returned ukiha city of dreams. Fitting for how dang good the tea is.

>just got my ys order
>tfw too late for caffeine
not like this...

>>19460034
Next order get a 2oz yixing teapot.

>>19458871
Update: I have now consumed a few infusions of my most expensive purchase, a Haiwan 'Pure Aroma' from the year of 2005. I quite enjoyed this tea. The first infusion tasted like sour milk, so I sent it back to Demeter. The subsequent infusions have featured, along with what I assume are the universal factory ripe tastes, a pleasant amount of pepperiness and a lingering sweet and sour aftertaste. Was it worth the extra 8 dollars? I would say unequivocally yes.

>>19460197
peppery sounds fun

>>19460197
>unequivocally yes.
sounds very gay, you drank the estrogen?

>>19460221
>Was it worth the extra 8 dollars? Equivocally, perhaps.
ftfy

>>19459808
If you really enjoy it you should try the new ones from this year Spring 2023 Jingmai Sun-dried Black is the best black i had this spring and i mostly drink black teas.

>>19460275
He’s completely out of that, and not very surprisingly I guess

>>19459965
Don't forget eight tablespoons of sugar!

>>19460197
>sour milk
Did you see any bugs in your cake?

>>19460328
I got 200g of it the day it was added on the site.It went "sold out" once before william added some more i think but hasn't moved in some time now. The quality of the leaves makes the huge difference when you compare to any other "classic" ones imo. Pic is the sun-dried one

>>19460356
I just looked again and I don't see anything. I think it's just bacteria perhaps.

>>19460011
That sounds great. Did you play with the heat or leave it constant?
>>19459965
>tourists invade
>shitpost
>realize /tea/ is actually the best thread on /ck/
>forced to drink their tea
>death by fluorosis
shucks

>>19460760
Does anyone ever actually drink those massive puer tea melons or are they purely decorative?

>>19460792
That's such a good question. I wish I knew. When you consider how long these same people are aging teas instead of drinking them, does anyone in China actually drink puerh at all?

>>19460799
The only place i have ever seen selling them is the Phoenix collection or whatever that guy in California hoarding tons of old puer in a cave is called. And he apparently would buy anything indiscriminately so that doesn't tell me much.
The ones in that pic have some big old stems in them.

>>19460799
I want to taste that sheng if you catch my drift

I'm starting to dig into these bad boys: 2009 XiaGuan Xiao Fa.
>The Tuocha
I don't have much experience with aged shou puerh tea, so I'm debating what is aged taste and what is XiaGuan's signature funk. Either way, I think this is fantastic.
It's really robust, and tastes the least shou-like I have experienced. It tastes like dirt in the best way conceivable, with some dried wood notes. No sweet or fruity flavors really to balance it out, it leans pretty heavily in its own direction and I admire this tea for that reason. I also recently had a 2022 of the same tea, which has obvious similarities but is less impressive. If I recall correctly, their prices weren't that far apart, so I would skip the vertical and go for the aged one.
The tuo was compressed very strongly. That binghole was a real sphincter.
I'm about 1.5 liters into 9 grams with little sign of slowing down. This has way above average endurance. Its the strongly compressed nugs probably has something to do with that.
I bet somebody who wanted to stop drinking coffee but has only ever commodity junk coffee would really like as an entry point into tea.

>>19460842
Sounds good, the kind of soil loamy taste i generally associate with storage on the more humid side, where KTM is is much less dry then kunming but not as humid as hk. Of course the tea hasn't necessarily been there since it was made. So i would guess its at least partially down to they wax xiaguan ferments their ripe.
I will have to grab a few of those next time i put in an order

>>19460760
I left it constant. That was literally the first brew I did with the tea. It's hard to imagine it being better. The bitterness was just peaking through in a way that added additional texture and balance.

Maybe a colder temp for longer would be interesting.

>>19454431
>the dyed hair one
Kek now I am imagining an indian jersey shore with these characters

>>19461209
jersey shore was pretty based. the way mike would separate the girls and the grenades was savage. we need to bring back the grenade trumpet.

>>19460882
>KTM is is much less dry

>>19460013
"Yume no ukihashi" is the name of a chapter/part/folding book of The Tale of Genji. I guess that's what the name is referencing.

>>19460882
That's a good consideration. The flavors may be coming from gnarly storage. I also got the KTM Project 1 storage sampler in the same order. I've been waiting for a quiet weekend to study those. I might make it Saturday. If I do, I'll post about it. There may be a parallel with the wet stored sample and the Xiao Fa.

more farmer leaf fa zhan he, still a solid performer, still tasty

grandpa brewing some Dong Ding oolong today
nice roasted, nutty, bready + floral honey and typical greener oolong flavors
it's nothing fancy, but I like the balance of relatively low oxidation and fairly strong roasting. makes it different from most other roasted oolong

>>19462021
It must be nice to be rich enough to afford farmer leaf prices

>>19462201
40$ for 360 grams of tea with free shipping is not super expensive
that being said, I still haven't made an order there. maybe next time he has a sale

Nothing pairs better than smoky sheng after a hearty breakfast.

>>19462445
I had some after chicken and rice today. the 2006 Spring of Menghai from Awazon. grassy, smoky, resinous, good body, some plums. not very aged, but seems like good value

>>19462458
is this the one you mean?
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=1051
it's a while till i make my next order but i haven't yet had a sheng i'd call smoky or resinous, sounds nice.

>>19462476
Yeah, that's the one. By resinous I mean a bit of a pine resin type flavor. It's not the smokiest sheng out there, but the smoke is noticeable if you push it. Some of the xiaguan recipes are more smoky if that's what you want.

>>19462445
Roasted to hell cheap black tea with plain oatmeal

Any idea what this white stuff is?

>>19462981
Natural and organic flavouring.

Looks like awazon storage.

>>19462981
cocaine or pieces of the paper wrapper. or corn starch if your a DIGGER.

>>19462992
I did get it from Awazon actually... Do you think it's bug eggs? Doesn't look like mold to me.
Whatever it is, I've pried that chunk off, just in case
>>19463018
I do hope it's just pieces of the wrapper.

>>19463052
My az bugged cakes didn't look anything like that. No marks on the tea at all,no paper bites etc etc.You're fine. Also the teas I froze smell exactly as they did prefreezing so seemingly no harm done if you wanted to be paranoid. I'd assume I didn't gain or lose any moisture in the cakes at all in the vac bags?

>>19463473
in a vac bag there's probably not much change in overall moisture content. you might want to rest them in the pumidor for a couple weeks though
i wonder if there's enough moisture left in the leaves to damage them from ice crystals but, if i had to guess probably not
have you tasted any yet? curious if you noticed any change

I just tried hai lang hao yun hua bulang ripe.
This is a great ripe, it's very bold with incredible flavors, brews inky black even with flash steeps.
Creamy tea with shades of dark chocolate and cashew nuts but it's mildly astringent at the end. It's a very clean tasting ripe, without tangy sourness and wet pile funk. Strong bitterness only lasted first 2 infusions for me :( I like bitter profiles so that was a bit disappointing. Still great flavors 8 infusions in, you could easily push 10+ like ys claims.

First time trying HLH brand, gotta say I'm impressed

>>19463544
grams per ml?

>>19463544
are Bu Langs famous for being bitter?

>>19463809
yes

Anyone order from FatBat before?

They're in the pastebin but I've never seen anyone talk about them.

https://fatbatpuerh.com

>>19463534
Sipped on some 2021 w2t lesser evils two nights ago. 4-5 days at 0 in a freezer, 3-4 days coming back up to temp before cutting the bags open. Everything seems fine. Hopefully it was long enough to knock them down but it seems painless enough that you might want to just freeze anything new like the serious cigar collectors do. Tobacco beetles are way more destructive than a couple of silvertails but it might be good practice once you start adding 0s into your stash.

>>19463784
Measured 8.4g, brewed in 100ml gaiwan.
2 washes then 5s 10s 10s 15s 20s 25s 35s 45s 1m

>>19463828
Just gave them a look and the site is absolute aids to use (in my experience). I can't seem to add a full cake of anything to my cart nor check the prices.

>>19463917
Never mind me, it decided to start working. Perhaps it was just an internet problem.

>>19463898
Forgot image

I'm trying this black tea made in Nepal today and it's surprisingly good. Also surprisingly, it tastes much more "Chinese" than the Darjeeling-like style of many Nepalese black teas. Really intense dark chocolate notes, as well as some dark bread, a bit of gingerbread. A full body and a robust flavor profile, this would be nice in the winter.
it's Jun Chiyabari "Himalayan Imperial Black"

>my O-cha order arrives to Europe in only three days
>only to spend an entire month in customs
Anyway, sipping hojicha right now.

>>19463984
same here. the cheapest O-cha shipping is still really fast

>>19455555
Some people are borderline allergic to theanine. You're probably just drinking shit though.

>>19463884
Nta but aren't you trapping the bugs in the cakes though by freezing them?
Why not create an unfavorable environment for the springtails by drying your cake with the wrapper off so they leave after munching on mold?

>>19464015
>>19463984
Ordered on the july 2nd, delivered to CA on july 6th. Pretty good.

>>19463544
Okay fine i will try some of his teas next time i order from ys. I was avoiding them because im a tightwad but im interested it trying some more exciting ripea

>>19463828
I don't think anyone from /tea/ has ordered from fat bat. I think some poster said one of the puer discords likes them but i don't use those myself so i can't say.
Their self produced cakes are a real laundry list of hyped villages which is interesting but mostly out of my budget. At a quick glance their factory offerings seem reasonably priced and probably beat out king tea mall generally.
I might have to grab some of those mengku rongshi productions from them.
Seems like they have much more tea then they did when i tossed them in the pastebin.

>>19464059
Freezing the cakes will kill the bugs and any eggs. Drying out the cakes can negatively affect the flavor and aroma of the tea, the whole point of western puer storage with bins and bags and humidity packs is keeping the teas feom getting too dry.

>>19455555
yeah.if your body cant take tea, it means you have a weak stomach.

>>19464059
Yep. That would take way more time and effort. I didn't exactly have an "infestation" just a couple on a couple different cakes so I opted for quick stop to it. If there was like a swarm of them on every cake I looked at I'd opt for airing them out for as long as it took. We're talking about maybe a pinky nails worth of bug mats in a couple kilos of tea so I'm not going to worry too much about it.

>>19463828
Looking more at fat bat its really refreshing to see a shop that actually bothers to write coherent detaile tasting notes for factory teas without veering to far into bs. They are doing a good job of convincing me that their stock is curated well and thwt they have interesting stuff on offer.
They do seem to strongly prefer kunming storage which isn't always my cup of tea but any way interesting stuff, thanks for reminding me they exist.

>>19463898
even with 8 grams, such short steeps doesnt bring out that thick richness a ripe can bring out tho. I can appreciate subtle notes, but it lacks body. even a two minute steep lacks body.

>>19463942
looks nice dark and thick.

>>19464271
Two minutes might be pusing it for a bitter ripe. Personally i usually just grampa brew ripes to get nice thickness out of them. I only gongfu ripes occasionally

>>19464184
Would temporarily drying out the cakes have a negative effect?
Also it makes me think if the reason why my mini 7542 wasn’t as good as the full cake was because it came in a box with desiccant pack inside.
>>19464222
Oh I see, that makes sense. Guess they’ll just be extra flavor then lol. I was imagining cake swarming with little critters. Glad to hear that the bug issue is dealt with.

>>19464283
>Personally i usually just grampa brew ripes to get nice thickness out of them.
yeah same, i like grandpa brew. sometimes i wonder if brewing like this makes me miss out on some flavor notes.

>>19464297
>because it came in a box with desiccant pack inside
yeah in china, we look like dissidents.

>>19464283
>Two minutes might be pusing it for a bitter ripe
the YS 2022 Lao Mane Old Tree is bitter and dark and full flavor. I think the chai qi was very strong too. its their most expensive ripe and its only year 2022? Has a slight dryness on the last couple brews i think. its either woodiness like sawdust or astringency. Would I recommend it? not really.

>>19464282
Just like my gfs thighs and biceps when I get some puer up inside me.

>>19464297
>Would temporarily drying out the cakes have a negative effect?
Probably
>Also it makes me think if the reason why my mini 7542 wasn’t as good as the full cake was because it came in a box with desiccant pack inside.
Nah i think those are mostly to prevent water damage from a sudden humidity spike or the cake somehow hitting the dewpoint, i don't think they are enough to really keep a cake dry long term

>>19464313
Personally I think you aren't, but maybe someone with a more acute palate would disagree with me.

>>19464297
>Would temporarily drying out the cakes have a negative effect?
It could mess with the short term flavor but probably no long term effects, especially for shou. However to actually kill the mites you would have to really dry it out.

>my mini 7542 wasn’t as good as the full cake was because it came in a box with desiccant pack inside.
It should be fine, just give it some time to settle. Some vendors include desiccant packs when shipping to help avoid mold in transit. If the tea goes from a hot and humid place to a cold plane cargo hold you could get condensation.

>>19454431
I'm a half-indian american-born muslim and we don't do shit like this. Legit question for any pajeets, is it only the hindu untouchable class that does poo-play or do all the hindu castes play with the cow poo?

It gets lonely sometimes drinking tea alone for 40 min in autistic gongfu style with different cups for each steep.
I wish I had friends that would appreciate going back and force between different cups and ponder the differences.

>>19458608
same but pic related. pure leaf has a sour after taste that i don't get with red diamond. during a hangover, i could literally drown myself in ice-cold red diamond unsweetened tea. it tastes like really cold water, but better.

>>19464820
back and forth*
I'm retarded

>>19464313
Life's too short to sweat the small stuff. You know you're drinking good tea.

>>19464313
Life’s too long not to seek excellence
You know you could be drinking better tea

>>19464820
I drink alone, for no friend is near.
Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
For he, with my shadow, will make three men.

>>19464418
I've been throwing away those "tea desiccant packs" they have in some DaYi productions. What I should be doing is throwing them into mylar with a hygrometer and see if they're like the heartfelt beads or just destroying all moisture.

>>19464951
>"tea desiccant packs" they have in some DaYi productions.
Wait did they come in the wrapper (I.E. from dayi) or where they something added from the vendor?

>>19464933
Life is too short for regrets. If you let them they will grab every grain of time, every speck of joy and drag them into the past.

>>19464962
From DaYi, I think DaYi branded and everything. I could open a V93 pack if you'd like a photo.

>>19465009
Fascinating, I have never heard about this. I actually would like a pic. I would also be curious to hear whether they are straight desiccant packs or two way humidity packs.

Does it come stuffed inside the wrapper or outside the wrapper but in the package? Where did you get the tea? Their official Amazon store? Perhaps it is something they only do for batches of tea intended for E-commerce sellers and not the stuff sold in bulk to wholesalers for aging.

>>19465047
It only now occurs to me I should have used the tuo for scale rather than a pick.
>Does it come stuffed inside the wrapper or outside the wrapper but in the package?
It comes outside of the wrapper, but inside a secondary packaging, like a box or a paper tube.
>Where did you get the tea? Their official Amazon store?
Yes.
I'll gather the ones I think I have left, might just be this one though. I can throw them in some mylar with a BTLE hygrometer and see what happens.

>>19465102
Perhaps you can sell the desiccant packs for $$$ after they have been properly aged. The Dayi logo is a valuable thing.

>>19464820
Have this feeling too sometimes, but wouldn't know where to put the body after they break a cup

>>19464820
Solitude is a blessing. I drink tea at work not only for the needed caffeine kick, but to have a quiet moment to myself. All the drama and buffoonery can wait until I've had my cuppa tea.

Its time to get out the pruning shears to chop off some of this 2004 xiaguan four fortunes brick. These might have the strongest compression of any of the XG iron cakes of fang cha ive bought.
I would love to try some xg iron cakes with good traditional storage, it seems like they were made for it

>>19465426
Dammit forgot the picture

>>19465426
>iron cakes of fang cha
*Iron cakes or fang cha
Before somone asks what the hell im talking about
Shouldn't be posting before i drink a few slurps of this

Just found the biggest stick ever in my yerba mate

>>19465671
Here it is next to a Lego brick for scale

>>19465671
I had one of those as well in a pack of Kraus original. A looong boi it was. And Kraus Original is prob one of my favourites to this day. Such a green and fresh taste, its sin huomo, and the caffeine kick was out of this world, sometimes I couldn't sleep the whole night even f I drank in the morning (but I drank a lot admittedly, at those times)

>>19465701
yes, Kraus is nice. probably the best choice for organic / smokeless mate that isn't just the generic westernised tea store stuff
the one I just found the big stick in is Indega btw. very different mate from Kraus, clearly smoky, dark, aged Paraguayan flavor.

>>19465673
That's a fat stem

>>19465710
>Indega
I was looking at buying a bag of that recently, would you recommend it?

>>19465953
yes, it's nice. classic smoky paraguayan flavor. I used to get some earthiness out of it, maybe not anymore. but it's definitely pretty far on the "dark and seasoned" side of the mate spectrum, not the "fresh and grassy" side. could be a good reference point for that reason
desu I think most yerba mate is comparable quality and you should look at what you can get at a good price and what flavor profile you prefer. I think mate preference is largely subjective, you can think of the packaged stuff like factory ripe pu-erh in that way

>>19465962
Thanks

>>19465953
Considering paraguayan, do you brew it hot and just like argentinian? Because if I do that it becomes waaay too strong and I was wondering if it is generally brewed cold? Because as I said, hot water makes it kinda strong....
Additionally it is a finer grind so it extracts faster and more....
TL;DR: How to brew paraguayan mate? (I have kurupi)

>>19466237
I use hot water like normal. You can just add less leaf. But cold brewing is very popular in Paraguay.

>>19464820
When I visited a tea store with my parents they acted like I tortured them to go inside.

>>19466237
in Paraguay brewing with cold water and adding herbs is popular, which may have something to do with their preference for stronger, moe finely ground mate
but I prefer having it hot because the smoky flavor doesn't really work well with cold water for me. just tweak your brewing proportions or water temperature

>>19466290
Did you at least buy them some Man Gang Bang Dong Gu Shu sheng?

>>19466290
maybe you did, ever think about it that way you narcissistic zoomer?

>>19466237
>>19466604
I'll add some demystifying video, because some of you on this here forum have the tendency to go very esoteric with their descriptions of real life practices and also tastes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmGpKN9D0ow

>>19466890
please notice how exact he was with the weighing of yerba on 0.01g tolerance scales and the exact timing of the steeps. you'll learn something.

maybe some breakfast show type of television programming is better suited to you. imagine watching that often
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Ghg3trRus
she starts preparing terere at 3 min.
I'll have to try for myself. with fresh juice.

thoughts in ginseng tea?
I drank it a lot then I found out it has an aphrodisiac effect

>>19466890
something about seeing a first worlder in the first world really makes me go AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

>>19467076
so now you cant control your urge to swallow cum?

>>19466890
simply from this video, you can see how far behind some races and countries are.

>>19466890
his typical third world body language, very loose body, his idgaf attitude, his smirk, his "hehe im not third now, me in first world country" attitude is infurating. makes think think of jose aldo.

>>19454546
i live in redneck infested Tennessee and we have 3 tea shops. idk were you are but god that must suck

>>19467076
>thoughts in ginseng tea?
Ive brewed chopped up American ginseng root before. It was surprisingly strongly energetic, i didn't reslly enjoy the experience that much. But i want to get some decent quality korean red ginseng and try that

>>19467117
what do you think of the mosques in tennesse?

Anyone have experience with puer outside of China? I know I know it's region specific but there's a bunch of sheng from SEA these days and they're looking JOOCY

>>19467299
I know farmerleaf has some sheng from Laos. reviews on their site are unenthusiastic though

>>19457168
Vivarin

>>19467307
Oh yeah I think I saw it briefly when I was browsing his site, what was it called?

I just bought a 150 quart cooler to store more puerh. May god have mercy on my soul...

>>19467344
Your Mothers Filthy Cunt 2023 (Raw) if I remember correctly

>>19467344
2022 Huey Wa

>>19467375
nah, I'm sure it was the other one

>>19467367
nigger
lol
>>19467375
Thnx

>>19467375
i sampled the 2023 huey wa, it was pretty nice.

>>19467375
i sampled the 2022 huey wa, it was pretty nice.

>>19467299
i dont really trust brown hands. different culture.

>>19467348
Good man. Any details about how you plan to set it up?

>>19467650
I use gusseted ziplock Mylar bags that can stand upright and stick them (with tea inside) in the cooler. This is what I already do but my two smaller coolers were getting full. The gallon sized bags can hold 2-3 standard cakes and I use the half gallon ones sometimes for smaller cakes/bricks/toucha. I have some larger bags as well that I have not tested yet. I like using Mylar because it keeps the different tea smells isolated and keeps things organized. Also most coolers don't seal as well as I would like on their own. For humidify I use 65% boveda packs. The reason I use the cooler is to help keep the temperature stable to avoid condensation. They also serve as a nice tub to keep all the bags together.

I thought about gutting into some tea cakes, but I feel like I'd need a second humidor for proper storage.

Maybe I should just get a bigger humidor and get one with shelves so I can use it for cigars and teacakes.

having a vs battle between 2011 dayi 7572 and a 2018 Menghai "Wu Zi Deng Ke" Ripe Pu-erh.

If I run loose black tea through my vitamix and use it like matcha, is that gonna be healthier? i know it's gonna be more convenient than dealing with byproducts.

Also, will the ground powder rapidly lose "potency" from further oxidization in that state?

>>19467910
>If I run loose black tea through my vitamix and use it like matcha, is that gonna be healthier?

It will probably make you violently ill from the tannins

>>19467868
I wouldn't mix tobacco and tea. Maybe a small tupperdor experiment but you're going to fuck up your sticks and cakes. I won't even reuse old bovedas from my humi in my pumi.
>>19467910
Maybe. I ran some lang he 7599 through a $2600 coffee grinder last night, then brewed it with some long pressurized steeps in an espresso machine. Came out bretty gud. Give the matchamix tech a try and report back. I've thought about trying to matchapowderize puerhs for a while now but never got around to trying anything. I'm pretty sure yunnansourcing had some organic black tea matcha a couple years back.

>>19467978
>$2600 coffee grinder last nigh
holy. coffee is a drug. but yeah some people slave 40 hours a week and work weekend and still would have issues buying a 3000 dollar grinder =/

>>19467910
>>19467978
you can do it with ripe. But black tea, it would be very astringent. idk, add milk. make milk tea? try it.

>>19467978
Not a burr grinder, right? I can't imagine that would work for tea leaves. What grinder costs thousands that isn't a burr grinder?

>>19468007
I live a very frugal life with a couple nice extras. It was either an endgame grinder or a nice offset smoker and I managed to pull an old weber out of the trash to play with instead.
>>19468075
wug2 83a with 80mm ditting cast flats. Works just fine. Comandante even talks about grinding tea in their manual.
https://www.instagram.com/wug2grinder/
https://ditting.com/products/807-lab-sweet

>>19467895
How did it taste?

>>19468260
the wu zi deng ke ripe lol at the name, is very creamy and sweet. its pretty good. are there any ripes like this?

>>19468260
i would recommend it both. like for a cake i think its about 70 USD, it would be great if some can compare it to dayi Dragon Pillar or White lotus needle.

>>19468260
>2018 Menghai "Wu Zi Deng Ke" Ripe Pu-erh.
its sold out at KTM too, so i can assume its a good.

>>19454074
no normal person drinks tea

>>19467910
Yeah but it will be gritty as hell, matcha needs to be ground to like a micron in particle size
Adagio does sell black matcha, never tried it though

>>19468540
no normal person respects females, yet i do

>>19468863
I'd say that the people in my life that I have known personally with the least respect for women were lesbians. I'm not sure what this has to do with tea.

Something something... tea lesbians innit.

holy fuck rooibos is absolutely vile shit.
fuck the british
fuck the south africans

>>19470204
That's tellin' 'em!

>>19470204
Only brew it for 60-90 seconds and it tastes way better.
I had some rooibos chai tea mix once that wanted you to simmer it and holy shit it was disgusting

followed the brewing instructions to make it cold to keep it in the fridge and its pretty pleasant

>>19470224
the mixes are universally disgusting. get decent pure rooibos and you can steep it forever.

>>19470266
Cold brew is usually pretty tasty

I've got a Taiwanese four seasons black tea which is pretty yummy. I do need to put a lot of leaf in my gaiwan because it is a bit subtle and you need a lot to get a powerful taste. But overall this is pretty good. Not so good as the ruby black tea from Taiwan.

>>19470687
interesting, I've never had a black tea made from the four seasons cultivar, just oolong. what does it taste like?

>>19470702
It's really woodsy with a sugarcane sweetness. Not a very complicated taste, just really satisfying.

Tea

Old tea

mysterious tea

>>19454074
NEW
>>19471763
>>19471763
>>19471763