/ck/ - Food & Cooking

threadly reminder to drink more puer

Teabag these nuts!

dear /tea/,
if you had a few hundred dollars right now to spend on a single tea, let's say 350g or so but not necessarily puerh, what would it be? does anything make the cut?

>>19625947
Mengku bo jun for sure.

>>19625947
idk, probably the white needle lotus from Dayi. or Dragon Pillar.

>>19625947
I would probably order a bunch of yancha from essence of tea. Or i would get this
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/shuang-jiang-mengku-tea-company-1/products/2006-mengku-wild-arbor-king-raw-pu-erh-tea-brick?variant=33322078790

>>19625947
I'm waiting for this summer oriental beauty 40+ for 100g.

Has anyone ordered from valley green tea before? They are a well known Australian vendor but they seem to be a little dodgy just by looking at their yixing listings and are selling lao ban zhang at around 1 AUD per gram. They are probably talking about greater ban zhang but it does not give me much confidence in them.

>>19626082
I swear that that factory named themselves banzag organic tea factory or some shit and isn't claiming the tea itself is from banzang.
Looking at the valley green tea website prices are kinda all over the place on their puer cakes.
Puwen teas like
https://www.valleygreentea.com.au/pu-erh-tea/pu-erh-raw-cake-peacock-country.html
Are usually cheap as chips even with some age on them.
I really don't like seing cakes like this with beautiful clean wrappers and suspiciously low prices, that should be 300-400 usd give or take IIRC
https://www.valleygreentea.com.au/pu-erh-tea/pu-erh-raw-cake-dual-lion.html
Overall i get some weird vibes, i know Australia is an expensive ilsand but i see a lot of cheap teas being sold for a bit more then they should, and what claim to be a couple expensive teas being sold for maybe 1/3 of what they should and it makes me think they don't know what they are buying.
I can't say much about their clay teapots without better pictures but at first glance i don't get a good vibe from them.

W2T ball lover anon back.
I'm not dead yet (unfortunately) but I have been quite busy.
I've just had the 200x failcorp. Overall kinda mid. Decent option if you want an aged shou but its not special. At around 20 cents a gram its pretty cheap.
I am about to try loon call now.

Inspired from the Xiaguan tuo talk last thread I cracked open my 2008 503. It's described as a substitution for Jia Ji tuo made with similar material during the puerh boom/bust. It's my first Xiaguan that isn't Xiao Fa. I'm going to have a couple more sessions with it before I review it. It's pleasant, though. Got that smokiness. The tuo was tough as hell to break down properly. I'm drinking a 7 gram chunk from the cap of the tuo that's practically lao cha tou. Took two long rinses before an initial long infusion. I'm finally getting the good stuff now though.
>>19625947
I would buy this in a heartbeat.
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/collections/yunnan-pu-erh-tea/products/spring-2022-lao-man-e
>>19626482
I was planning on posting your haul this thread in hopes of summoning you. You alright?

>>19626482
First impressions of loon call is that its quite good but it could definitely benefit from a couple years of aging. Its a very young cake. Really smooth texture with nice sweetness doesnt smell fishy, but it needs to mellow out a little bit since it is a little astringent.
Still, I've only had a few steeps. After this should I try nameless or kuura cola? I've had quite a few cola sessions but I haven't tried nameless yet.

>>19626546
I've been alright, I was a little over dramatic. Works been pretty tough with lots of long painful hours and I have a lot of university assignments to do.
I have also made some progress with humidity and heated storage, I have started on trials and are just ironing out some kinks.
If you want to summon me all you have to do is chant "balls" in a mirror at the witching hour.

>>19625866
Best online shop to buy green tea and puerh?

>>19626575
walmart

>>19626566
I'm always interested in hearing about heated storage. What's the setup?

Balls goes in all fields

>>19626546
Yeah some of those are rock hard. I usually put it cap up and then stab down into the fat edges to pry pieces off.

>>19626590
2 seedling mats in a cooler connected to an inkbird 308 controller. Im having trouble hanging one of the mats upside down though since heat tape and gravity are not friends.
Pick related is separating the mat from the mylar. Temprature probe is in a bag for a better reading along with bluetooth temp hygrometers from aliexpress. I calibrated them at 65% and 75%.

>>19626624
You posted about wanting to set this up a while ago right? Cool project

>>19626670
Maybe. It's pretty boiler plate so it could have been another anon.

Loon call is getter better in the later steeps. Smooths out a bit.

What's the best tea drinking music? Besides Steely Dan, of course.

smells like oregano/italian seasoning
taste is like wormwood parasite cleanse and stevia, very lingering and abrasive, i think my sips were enough
gonna see if it works

>>19626566
>After this should I try nameless or kuura cola?
isn't nameless the super premium ripe? I'd like to hear what you think of that. I remember the TeaDB guy loved it

>>19626895
Godspeed, anon.

>>19626895
Anon, what will you do when you meet the puerh lesbians in your dreams?

Nameless one, expensive, has some nice fragrance that I can't quite put my figure on maybe woody, pretty heavy compression, silky texture, a good amount of sweetness that lingers. Absolutely delightful, but it is also quite expensive.
I would love to see if loon-call becomes similar in a few years.
Loon call is the best shou I've had, but I haven't had a lot of high end shous before. Definitely on the lighter side of shou not motor oil like some other ones I've had and it is pretty light in colour compared to the others today.
Not sure exactly how to describe the flavour bit like vanilla, kinda reminds me of like a high end kuura cola. I'm gonna have to drink that next.
Might be picking up a little qi but that's probably because this is my third session today and I haven't had a lot of food.
Would recommend impulse buying a cake after a day long tea binge.
>>19626945

Im trying to ditch coffee for tea, my issue is im so used to the strong black coffee taste that i need 2 bags for a single mug to have it not taste watered down. Rn im not too worried about getting hyper autistic about preparation, but are there any especially high caffeine teas?

>>19627044
You're looking for CTC Assam.

Guy who got ballin ass One River Tea order here, I have received the order and I am already quite pleased. I started with the 2022 Big Yellow 35%. It was quite interesting. I had yellow tea before but this is really different, no doubt a result of different processing. On the vendor recommendation I brewed it similarly to dancong, and I'm glad I did because the results were great. I snoozed and losed on writing detailed tasting notes but here's my brief description of it

208f, 6.67g 100ml
Dry leaf smell: Chocolate-like, with a hint of something vegetal, maybe peat, also a hint of tart berries
Wet leaf smell: Similar, more intense, and now carrying a milky kind of scent
Liquid: Flash steeps for the initial brews. Nice milk chocolate taste, with a kind of savory, steamed vegetable-like taste in the background. I would almost describe it as "foresty". Texture was pleasantly full and with no astringency. After a couple steeps it developed some bitterness in the finish, complimenting both the sweet and savory elements. Towards the end it became a bit thinner but had more brightness

>>19627519
>ball in ass ORT anon
anon, learn from my mistake. you need to choose better words.

>>19627574
That's okay, I wouldn't mind a ball in my ass

hmmm
should I try that one sample of an expensive semiaged raw today or just keep drinking coldbrew yerba mate?

>>19626546
the ba ka noy of this year is objectively better unless you enjoy the lao man e characteristic bitterness

What’s the cheapest set-up to get started in brewing tea? I want to ease my way in with just brewing simple jasmine tea, might do larger batches as well.

>>19628564
A gaiwan and a glass you already have.

>>19628576
A simple basket tea strainer and some cups you already have works as well. Gaiwan vs strainer depends on what kind of tea you want to make. Both only need to cost $10-15. if you already have come cups/mugs and something to heat water in then the minimum teaware cost of entry is about $10. Basic teaware does not need to be expensive I own 100s of dollars of tea but the gaiwan and strainer i use only cost me $10 a piece. You can also grampa style brew some teas with just a mug and strain the tea with your lips witch would bring the cost down to $0 (amusing you own a mug).

>>19626895
Damn that was fast. Sounds like a real herbal tonic bitter kinda flavor. Gives it a real medicinal vibe.

>>19627033
Thanks for posting notes on your tea ball bonanza. Its got to be somewhat interesting to have teas from such a wide range of price points to compare.

>>19627519
Thanks this is the first time in ages anyone has posted tasting notes for a premium yellow tea. It sounds really good.

>>19627880
Don't always feel like you need to save fancy tea for a special occasion, sometimes the right choice is to just enjoy it today.

>>19628658
I've been on the milk run for a few months. This Sunday to Monday I will drink all the minis from a category with notes. I just need to choice which one.
P.S. kuura cola was pretty bad in comparison but it's still good daily drinker material at the price point.

>>19629379
I would probably buy a lot of kuura tea if i was in Australia and didn't want to deal with ordering from overseas. I know they have a US based distributer now but still haven't gotten around to trying them.
Their marketing/branding reminds me a lot of w2t

>>19629597
There's not a lot of good OCE vendors. I know a couple kuura being one, but china is pretty close so I also order quite a bit from there too. There isn't much point in ordering from the US and EU.

Which should I get? I like that the first can hold a bit more tea, but the second one looks nice.
https://www.craftedleaf-tea.com/product-page/rosewood-black-glass-gaiwan-200ml
https://www.craftedleaf-tea.com/product-page/dragon-spring-celadon-gaiwan
Also, any recommendations for jasmine leaves? I’m looking to get into tea.

Matebros is this a meme or not?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aWqW5CH2HPI

>>19629795
Both pretty big for a gaiwan unless you'll usually be serving for two
I like the 2nd one

>>19629795
They seem a little big imo, and a bit pricey. But if you like them you should get them. I'm not so sure how practicle a glass gaiwan would be too. You say you're just getting into tea, I think you should get something cheaper and smaller if that's the case since you might not even like the hobby and you might break a few gaiwans. Teaware house sells cheap gaiwans, there's also AliExpress or other vendors.
https://www.craftedleaf-tea.com/product-page/moon-white-gaiwan-120-ml
This is a good size 120 to 100 is what I go for.

How do people reuse tea bags? Every time I try to do the resulting tea is so weak it doesn't feel worth drinking. At the same time it feels sort of wasteful to just use the leaves once.

Leaf:stem ratio of a cheap oolong tea I bought. Around 5usd for half a kilo.

>>19630267
tea bags aren't usually leaves, and even when they are they aren't what you would be using for whole leaf infusions. They're usually powder and smaller chunks, which will infuse faster because they have more surface area. You have to use less, but you also don't really have any use for them a second time.

>>19630316
I mean I also have the same problem with my higher quality loose teases. I might just be extracting too much on the first go.

>>19630346
I tend to use rolled and "gunpowder" teas, so I can't relate to your self imposed issues.

Typically I will do infusions of the same two tablespoons of dry gunpowder through an entire day. Though, I have been out of tea for a few weeks and have an urgent need.

>>19630310
do we suppose to remove the stems and only brew the leafs? i have been brewing leafs and stems

>>19629797
never tried. i want to, but i dont want a big bag of mate in my kitchen on top of a few coffees and teas.

>>19629797
It's not a meme, that's just how you do it.

It's like: Did you know you don't inhale cigar smoke?

That isn't a meme, it's just how it's consumed.

>>19630438
It would be more like
>Did you know r e a l cigar smokers only light half of their stogie so they can smoke longer and regulate the nicotine?

>>19630461
Then you would be a retard. Because the Mate mound is the accepted way to use s Mate Gourd. Same as not inhaling a cigar.

>>19630467
If you want weaker tea, use less tea? Seems like a habit born of laziness.
>Fuck it ill just jam more leaf in here so I don't have to refill as often
>Damn now its bitter I guess I'll push some up the wall of this gourd?

>>19630487
I'm not making excuses for Argentinians. I'm just saying that shaking and building the mound is the accepted usage.

>>19630499
Seems like unnecessary paraguyan voodoo thats been passed down because all they had to drink was bitter herbs out of old gourds. Now white tiktokers parrot it for views.

>>19630525
I won't argue that there aren't more efficient ways to brew sinensis teas. But if you're so retarded that you think brewing tea powder from tea bags is a mystery for you, explaining how to use mate is reasonable.

I've been drinking this for the last few weeks as a daily drinker.
It's okay, definitely stronger and with less full leaves than the various moonlight Darjeeling teas I've tried.

>>19630559
>fuck now I have to find and cure another gourd to pour this gourd of leaves into? I'm just going to clean up a reed or something and sip
I think we're a couple years past taking advice from the jungle dwellers of yore. Its weird matesisters are so obsessed with the bombilla+gourd while matchasissies are like yeah just buy a electric frother. It really seems like larping memery.

>>19629797
I used to do it, but can't be assed to anymore. mate has a become a quick morning coffee substitute for me over the years, so I find that putting more effort into the brewing to make it extract slower is not useful to me
I heard the mound can also help with filtration though. but for my triple filter bombilla it's not really an issue anyway

If I wanted to get some good Sheng Pu'er but don't want to pay high profit margins to local tea shops, where would I go online to order? How do I know if I'm buying legit stuff?

>>19630730
Vendor list

>>19630730
Just buy from a reputable site. For young sheng, you can buy from one of the western-facing boutiques. This general likes Farmerleaf in particular, they have free shipping so they're a good place for a small order and they're the most transparent about where their tea comes from. I recommend their Fa Zhan He as a great value sweet, citrusy sheng. White2tea is also a possibility if you prefer blends to single origin. And Chen Sheng Hao if you want strong, punchy teas of the premium category.

For more aged stuff you're probably better off hitting up some site that has a lot of older tea from the bigger factories like KingTeaMall or maybe Fullchea. Awazon is a wildcard with attractive prices. These take a bit more knowledge to navigate, but if you stick to bestsellers and classics you'll be fine.

>>19629797
I usually brew that way if the mate is cooperating

>>19630364
leave the stems in, no need to remove them, they add their own aspect to the flavor

>>19630310
What is this exactly, looks like my kind of thing

>>19630730
>local tea shops
what are your local tea shops?

>>19626895
tried twice, woke up refreshed both times but also slept too deep to remember anything. still working on it

Hey do you like the new 茶 Pokémon, /tea?
https://scarletviolet.pokemon.com/en-gb/news/poltchageist_video/

>>19631615
Did you try smoking some too? Im pretty sure that's part of how its traditionally done

>>19631784
I play pot of tea. It lets me pour two cups.

drinking some Taiwanese shan cha. overbrewed it a bit, but it's still delicious. very sweet, very aromatic and very fruity.

>>19630267
My great grandparents were ridiculously cheap and would grandpa-style a single teabag for make it last a whole day. I can’t recommend this method because it’s horrid but over the long duration you can steep every last bit out.

>>19631905
i'll stuff some in my dynavap

>>19631979
God damn it

What does /tea/ use to filter their water? My tap water sucks, normal brita isn't doing it for me. I'm unfortunately still a rentoid or I would just install a filtration setup.

>>19630310
>>19631087
+1 for this, this looks like something I would drink a lot of

>>19632440
i use a brita but my tap water isn't that bad to begin with. they aint cheap but you can get countertop reverse osmosis filters if you really wanted to go for it.
no idea if this works but try running the water through the brita twice

>>19632440
I use the pur brand filter pitchers, its good enough i guess.

>>19632486
>>19632455
different anon, is water quality important for tea? particularly puerh/black/oolong? ive really only tasted the difference in some green teas

it also just might be my city's (boston) water not being too hard nor soft?

>>19632525
it won't necessarily make a huge difference if your tap water is ok, hard water can mute the tea though. mine is not too bad for brewing but i filter anyway to keep my kettle clean and since i just prefer filtered water to tap

>>19632525
I have hard water and without filtering my tea will taste muted. You can probably look up what your local water hardness is on some municipal website or something if you are interested

>>19632525
The easiest way for you to test is to buy a gallon of poland springs at the store and brew the same tea side by side with the poland springs and your tap water. Some coffee nerds did a bunch of testing on bottled water brands and poland springs is reasonably close to ideal IIRC.

i know chances are close to zero but if anyone has any cuiluan high mountain jade oolong 2014 from taiwan sourcing they're trying to get rid of, please let me know.

>>19632598
looks like a fleshlight

>>19632440
I use a berkey for my drinking/tea water and then have a distiller when I fuck around with coffee waters or want to experiment.
>>19632595
>Some coffee nerds did a bunch of testing on bottled water brands and poland springs is reasonably close to ideal IIRC.
It depends on the source and your location but yeah. Theres a particular poland springs site people like in california and I think the east coasters usually rec crystal geyser. Not to say that they're "ideal", they just don't fuck up your espresso machine.

Honestly, I think the hardness / softness of the water is overrated. Either extreme matters, if you make tea with either very soft or even distilled water it's going to taste gross and weird, if you make it with very hard water it will taste minerally and muted. I don't think my water is too hard or soft. It's not about the mechanics of how the tea is being extracted. It's the fucking chlorine and whatever else is in it. The taste is unbearable. Letting it sit, even for days, does not fix it. Filtering does not fix it. Every sip tastes of chemicals, any tea brewed with it tastes like chemicals, coffee brewed with it tastes like chemicals. It's gross. Going from well water to this is unbearable, I can't even drink it straight. I haven't had a glass of water in three weeks. I can't imagine why someone would move to a city voluntarily. I wake up to the sounds of cars and air I can't breathe and water I can't drink. I am slowly going insane.

>>19632640
I'm pretty sure most cities don't florize their water anymore, at least here in Europe. looks like you got unlucky
I agree that distilled water is also bad, but I think it's more common for tap water to be too hard than too soft

>>19632640
I recently picked up a bottle of local bourbon.(Ben Holladay) Supposed to be the original 1856 mashbill, same spring etc etc. Its so fucking good I went back and snagged two more bottles after the first night. I can't imagine how good this shit would have been back then before the water was polluted. We've ruined this planet.

>>19632640
anon you know what you need to do

>>19632525
>is water quality important for tea?
It is important but unless you have very hard or strongly flavored water you can make do. Green teas seem to be the most affected as well. I stated my tea journey with pretty subpar water but I am still here. My current water is fantastic though. I never even build of lime on the inside of my kettle.

>>19632640
Try an under sink filter. My setup only cost me like $80 + $30 every 6 months for new filters. Note my setup only filters out harmful chemicals, It wont fix super hard water, you need additional "filters" for that. I think it makes a big difference. I have been very happy with the city water in the last couple places I have lived once I filter it. Honestly hard well water is often harder and more expensive to fix than it is to remove chlorine and fix the "city water" taste.

Has anyone tired W2Ts liu an. I am trying to decide between getting the 2019 or 2021 Gongjian. The 2019 costs $19 more and I am not sure it is worth the extra cost for only 2 years of age. Perhaps it is a better batch?

Also has anyone tried their raw liubao? I am considering getting a basket of that as well.

Teas in question:
https://white2tea.com/collections/heicha/products/2021-liuan-gongjian
https://white2tea.com/collections/heicha/products/2019-liuan-gongjian

https://white2tea.com/collections/heicha/products/2023-raw-spring-liubao

what're you orderin, /tea/?
thinking about going to this tea place and trying some puerh myself

>>19633141
I'd def take a pot of each of those puerhs.

>>19633128
A poster got their raw liubao from a teaclub order and really liked it.
I haven't had liuan from w2t but i have a basket and its good stuff. I think its a pretty solid heicha

>>19633141
For me its Oriental beauty

>>19633449
>A poster got their raw liubao from a teaclub order and really liked it.
Good to hear.

>I think its a pretty solid heicha
agreed, I already know I like liuan I am just trying to decide whether or not it is worth an extra $19 to get the 2019 batch from W2T.

To anybody interested in throwing together a tea humidor, I recommend against this particular cooler. It's a Coleman 316 and its readily available everywhere, notably Amazon. Relative to another Coleman model, the Xtreme, it has a much more stubborn plastic odor that's pretty unpleasant, even as far as plastic goes. I've been trying everything I can since May to tone it down and I don't feel anything has been successful.
I use an Xtreme cooler and it works very well. I'm going to set up another one. I'll be a little more attentive to the plastic odors over time and report back in a month or two or three.
Just wanted to share.

>>19630730
You should consider support local tea shops if you have them. Vet them sure, not everyone is worth supporting, but if they have good shit you should figure out if the person making it happen is worth knowing. Might be a solid hookup or cool friend.
>>19631784
Dumb :^\
>>19632440
I use the ol' Brita pitcher and I'm pretty liberal with my filter usage. I also buy spring water gallons and use that on for the good stuff or if I have guests.
>>19633141
If anon shares a bit of the high end puer pot, I'll get the da hong pau. Anything there seems fine but I would avoid the flavored/additive teas.

>>19633470
>I use an Coleman Xtreme cooler
Same, unfortunately I think they are phasing out that line. I was unable to find in stores this year and they now only list one Xtreme model on their site.

As far as plastic odors go it is probably a good idea to air out a brand new cooler for a few weeks if you can. The new plastic smell tends to get stuck inside the cooler because it is shipped with it the lid closed. If you are having a lot of trouble with plastic smell It may also be worth looking for clean used coolers because the plastic smell is likely to fade with age. Just make sure it has not picked up any other odors.

>>19633462
>I am just trying to decide whether or not it is worth an extra $19 to get the 2019 batch from W2T.
Iirc chawangshop was saying about 4 years of age is preferred before drinking on some of his liuan listings. Based on that i would say 2021 is pushing it. I would probably opt for the older one if i was buying.

>>19633470
Its ridiculous how long/strongly some plastic smells. I bought some plastic tote bins at one point i wanted to use for a pumidor and gave up after a month of trying to air them out. I know those cambro food storage bins are pretty low odor but most of them don't have anywhere near a coolers worth of capacity

>>19633490
>I think they are phasing out that line
That's been my observation as well. The 70 quart model have been in and out of stock sporadically on Amazon. I just purchased the one that was listed. I haven't been able to find them on Alibaba either.

>>19625866
Just bought my gong fu set today. Should be fun learning the process.

>>19633531
Right on dude! Show off a photo of your first session so we can ridicule you.

>>19633540
kek I'll consider it. I will be looking at tutorials, so hopefully I don't get anything too wrong.

>>19633545
>so hopefully I don't get anything too wrong.
Don't worry its not complicated.

>>19633470
I've had an a tea humidor in the form of a basic igloo cooler (the model is "laguna" 48qt) for a while and I can recommend it, it had a plastic odor after washing it thoroughly and letting it air not for long it became totally odorless as far as I can tell. Now I open it and it just smells like tea.

>>19633489
duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, duck, GOOSE

how come raw puerhs are so sensitive to humidity changes while most other teas like oolong, whites and blacks seem do completely fine in sub-par storage conditions?

>>19634395
theres little gnomes that run around inside the leaves and if the conditions aren't right they go on strike and take away flavour

>>19633449
Someone else here bought the same material all bricked up but I don't know if he ever ended up posting about them. Chapobrick anon you still around?

drinking the rest of my Farmerleaf Dong Guo sample today. I think I added a bit too much material though
it's not bad, but it just kind of registers as a worse Fa Zhan He to me, same citrus character but with less sweetness and more astringency

>>19634530
>same material
Lao chapo is made of coarse late autumn leaves. Good tea, but I doubt it is very similar to the green spring liubao. Its a very different grade of material.

>but I don't know if he ever ended up posting about them.
I will try to do some notes sometime. I have gotten pretty lazy about writing them recently.

>Chapobrick anon you still around?
That me. I got a thing for odd heicha.

I think the postal service has permanently lost one of my tea packages. I should be able to get my money back but I would rather have the tea. Anyone else have their tea lost before?

>>19634764
Oh you're right. I did get some raw raw liubao in the club the month before the uncompressed chapos. It was the month he sent out that fantastic fresh picked sichuan green. I had to go back and scroll oolongowls blog to refresh my memory. W2t also refers to the unroasted chapo as somewhat of a raw liubao.
>Not the typical mass produced and pile fermented dark liubao. Raw may be a misnomer, but calling it green doesn’t quite seem right either, and some folk have even suggested this tea qualify as a yellow tea or some hybrid unfermented heicha.

Trying to get into tea. My wife has some tea in the pantry. Most of it is some cheap tea with some other herbs, then there are also some Kusmin tea. Kusmin tea is shit right? It is expensive but I don't think it is very good. Thoughts?

>>19635345
I’ve never had a flavoured tea I thought my was worth the money. Flavour always underwhelming. Additionally, you’re paying for the box and the ‘organic’ label.

>>19635393
this. check out the vendor list in the pastebin if you want to get into tea

>>19634416
Can confirm, that's why you keep them bagged up so the gnomes cant escape

>>19634709
Thanks for the notes on this i really appreciate it. I was thinking about blind buying the dong guo but i will probably just get another cake of fa zhan he if he still has some.

>>19625866
I found this herban tea mix/infusion thing at a store that I would love to replicate without the tea bag and would appreciate it if you can tell me how I can go about doing this.
the mixture is cinnamon, basil and licorice.
where could i order it from?
what ratios do you mix such products?
would you just use chips of cinnamon sticks?

>>19633489
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_M10aN61pc

>>19635524
I would probably use cinnamon chips yeah, then chopped licorice root, and just dried basil.
As far as ratios the licorice root is strong, you probably only need a small pinch of pices when brewing a cup.
I would try to look for a online store that sells bulk dried herbs to order from, order maybe 1-2 ounces of each ingredient. Sometimes asian food markets will have an okay selection of dried spices but watch out for thai basil, it tastes very different from Italian basil.
You will just have to experiment a bit to find the ratios of each that work for you.

>>19635595
you seem to be knowledgeable about this.
the first time i had this beverage i was struck by how sweet it is. would the licorice be doing that?

>>19635653
I think so, i have some chopped licorice root i use for tea and its very sweet when you use a small amount. If you use a lot it gets very strong and tastes less pleasant in my experience but just a pinch brewed in a small mug has a very sweet taste

>>19635036
I wonder what a porch pirate would think if they got a package full of puerh?

>>19636250
Lol they would be so confused.
I cant imagine why people steal packages anymore, 90% of them are probably plastic garbage from amazon.

>>19636250
Happened to me with a ~$250 w2t order. I hope they tried to take a chomp out of a cake and fucking died choking.

brb making puer chug videos

>>19633724
Hm. I wonder if it isn't worth compiling some of these data points for the pastebin.
>>19635036
Did it get delivered (not to you)? Or is it permanently stuck in delivery?
>>19634344
>>19635552
You win a duck

>>19636743
>Did it get delivered?
Officially speaking yes. I still think there is a good chance that it was never delivered properly because I have never had problems with packages getting stolen before and I live in a reasonably nice area. However, it is always possibly my puerh was nabbed by a thief.

Where can I get a decent teapot for under $30? Searching on the used markets hasn't come up with much..

>>19637134
What kind of teapot? What size?

>>19637233
Fairly small, I'm thinking around 200-500ml.. For type: I don't really care as long as the quality is alright.

>>19637264
These glass hario teapots are pretty popular.
https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Cha-Kyusu-Maru-300ml/dp/B000NVMC4I/
Uou might also be able to find a porcelain kyusu around that price.

>>19637310
Interesting... thanks for the link! Where would I find a porcelain kyusu for that price? I've looked and I haven't been able to find much

>>19637318
I will take a look.
As far as used market stuff i would search on ebay, assuming you are in the us. A few terms to use are Hall china 2cup, hall china personal, restaurant teapot.
For some you might need to buy a new mesh basket that holds the tea inside the pot.

>>19637325
Thank you! Does this seem to be worth it?
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaki-G531-Ichin-Glazed-Teapot

>>19637327
I apologize.. I trimmed the link improperly:
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaki-G531-Ichin-Glazed-Teapot/dp/B01MU2MXG9

>>19625866
If you don't own at least three yixing clay teapots don't even speak to me.

>>19637331
There we go, i knew there was still some affordable jap teapots out there

>>19637340
Thank you!

>>19637342
One more, you can probably find some others if you muck around in Amazon some
https://www.amazon.com/Shigaraki-Pottery-Midori-Mamekake-G5-2709/dp/B00A14D4L2/

>>19632640
Did you move to Flint or something? I've always been under the impression that the water quality in the boonies would be worse since there are fewer eyes on those places, save for designated shitholes like detroit

just received muh Fa Zhan He cake from Farmerleaf. they put the package value as 8$, so barely had to pay any VAT. extremely based
free samples were squares of 2022 Miyun and Moonlight, just like last time. I guess he's trying to get rid of them, makes sense

>>19635702
What about the risk of poisoning/heart problems from licorice root?

>>19637332
>no tokoname
>no bizen
>no chaozhou
>no nixing
Oof... yikes, sweaty! Not a good look. Do better x

>>19637134
Taiwan Teacraft has some sub $30 teapots

>>19637368
Note that I am not that anon.
>Did you move to Flint or something?
The chlorine taste in most city water can be unpleasant, especially if you are not used to it. Even with good city water it is worth using a filter system.
>water quality in the boonies would be worse
in rural areas your water quality is based on how good the local ground water is. Well water can be quite good or bad. Sometimes even good well water can be flavorful which is not ideal for tea.
>shitholes like detroit
funnily enough my understanding is that detroit city water is actually pretty decent because a lot of food industry companies rely on it. Faygo is made in Detroit for example. I am sure some of the plumbing in the suburbs sucks though.

>>19633470
Why not use jars or tupperwares? Cheap and works for cigars.

>>19638290
Large tupperware containers work as well. However, I like using a cooler because it helps keep the temperature more stable and reduces the risk of dew.

shu puer and runescape

Its raining today so its time for some liubao. I will gonfu it for once to switch it up

Today, I imbibe aged Yiwu sheng and feel sorry for myself. It's just one of those days.

>>19638290
Not large enough, mostly. I'm trying to scale up.

im almost out of black tea again. I never go out of my way to buy it but its nice to have some around to brew western style wen i don't want to do a full gongfu session.
What back tea should i try next? I usually drink cheepish Chinese blacks. No indian teas or anything too malty pls.

>>19638687
Nice, yiwu is a good tea for that kind mood

>>19625866
Just came into a shitload of tea bags recently

>>19639570
Sounds messy, why would you cum in teabags?

>>19625866
why do people drink dianhong ive had some sitting around for awhile and it just isnt very good its got like this half-assed malt to this and the most residual sweetness ive ever tasted

>>19639963
i think mine just might be a shitty one, its almost entirely black with a few patches of gold almost as dark as puer when i brew it

Okay, I'm going to either going to do red tea balls or smoked tea balls. Which would you prefer? I'll post my notes in a week.

>>19640111
smoked maybe

Drinking some tea angle duck shit. Wonderful stuff I just finished off a w2t daily duck shit session and the tea angle one is noticeably better, but also double the price.

I feel like my interest in tea has waned lately, I'm just not compelled by anything I try. should I take a break from tea?

sipped on some 2023 lao man e kucha sheng from tea encounter, its the bitter varietal of the lao man e teas only so quite interesting.
the wet leaves had a strong smell of cardamom and on the 2nd infusion it was noticeable in the taste aswell. super strong long lasting bitterness of hops?, maybe a bit sour in the aftertaste like wet cardboard. picked up a very weak rosey huigan. chaqi was the strongest on the 6-7th infusion where i zoned out really hard but also i havent eaten anything in 5 hours. good longetivity but i ended the session early at 12 infusions because the bitterness got a little overwhelming and it started to feel one dimensional.
2nd infusion with the cardamom note was my favourite part of it and the bitterness didnt really stand out to me tbdesu so i dont think i would want a cake of it but it was alright.
gonna try this again but with my zhuni pot since it usually goes well with bulang shengs.
>>19641090
>I'm just not compelled by anything I try
felt the same over the summer, a lot of the recent shengs ive had have been fairly dissapointing so ive mostly just been grandpa brewing ripes recently

>>19625947
Builder's tea. Yorkshire Tea. Tastes better than weaker stuff like PG Tips or whatever.

I drink coffee these days though, but if I had to drink tea then I think Yorkshire tastes better than other brands.

>>19641238
>felt the same over the summer
yeah I've just been drinking coldbrew yerba mate

>>19640562
Its cool to see more interest in dancongs lately. I think dancongs get a bit of a bad rap because the really cheap ones can be kinda shitty.

>>19641238
The really bitter guys can be a bit of a challenge. I usually resort to flash steeps and hope that they get carried by a sweet finish. Still can be pretty enjoyable but not necessarily something i would rush out and get a cake of.

>>19641996
I think the main problems are that the "good" ones are expensive and they all tend to brew up very bitter unless you deliberately brew them soft. Brewing them bitter is the traditional way however. They just tend to be a more expensive and finicky to brew tea and are not as forgiving or palatable to beginners. The couple cheep mystery dancongs I have had were actually decent. The florals were not as strong or complex as a fancy dancong but they had the characteristic bitter taste and mouthfeel. Just try to avoid any artificially scented stuff.

The way I understand it, is you have to brew dantsongs hard and quick. I forgot the name of the style, but it involves some crushed up leaves in your small clay pot. Your flash steep all the way through and treat it and drink it like shots of vodkie or tequila, focusing on aftertaste rather than mouthfeel like you would do with puerh.
That's why I stick to roasted yanchas for my "flavored" teas. Usual gongfu with stacked brews in the pitcher to blend it to my liking. More intuitive.
Today for me it's Kir Royal with cocaine after an onion soup dinner. La.

chadʐou dænsong is what I meant lmao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA2v2i9X4EQ

Anyone here bought from bitterleaf? I don't think I've seen it mentioned. It's yet another outfit with hwite guy/chinky female hip cooperative, trying to cash in and spread their fetishes to the orient-curious audience in the "west". Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm hooked.

>>19642308
Haven't bought from bitter leaf but they have been on my radar for years. They seemed to have a decent reputation with some of the older puer bloggers 5 or so years ago. Their mansa WMD (its called something else now) puer cakes were supposedly some really nice examples of cha qi, they were also going for $1/g so i never tried them.

>>19642165
>The way I understand it, is you have to brew dantsongs hard and quick.
Correct, that's the traditional way of doing it. I think beginners often have a hard time not over or under brewing dancongs and have a lower tolerance for bitterness.

>I forgot the name of the style, but it involves some crushed up leaves in your small clay pot.
Traditional Chaozhou style is what you are referring to.
https://www.kyarazen.com/chaozhou-gongfu-tea/

>>19642336
>Traditional Chaozhou style
Haven't tried this for dancongs but it was great for a nice roasted yancha. I was skeptical of the whole crushed leaves bit but i thought it worked great.

>>19642336
yeah, already posted, thanks for the link though, slowpoke. here's another one https://archive.globalteahut.org/docs/issues/2018-07.pdf
have a good one

>>19642352
what did you do for parameters including the cups and no pitcher?

>>19642355
>what did you do for parameters including the cups and no pitcher?
I was doing 10g in ~100ml yixing, roughly flash steeps for the first 5 or so then pushing it a little bit after that. I didn't do the who discarding the leaves after 3-4 brews i see in the some of the Chaozhou guides. No pitcher, I was just pouring into a single ~130ml cup because didn't have smaller ones at the time but ive since picked up a few 45ml cups for the purpose.

>>19642371
exciting, yeah, I think the dividing the brew into 2 or 3 small cups without the pitcher might be the key here. you know, going by the colour of the brew and trying to match all three shot cups.
post a picture if you don't mind when you'll experiment with those. cheers.

>>19642308
i had a small order from bitterleaf and was pretty happy with it, very surprised by an autumn sheng from Kunlu they had. from what i can tell they seem to focus on teas from the Lancang and Simao regions

Hi all
Should I drink green tea today or hang myself?

>>19642414
>autumn sheng from Kunlu
this is what Crimson lotus gets and champions too IIRC. another outfit I haven't seen mentioned here. any outstanding features in that kunlu or just price/performance ratio for a young sheng?
>ell they seem to focus on teas from the Lancang and Simao
nothing wrong with that afaic, though I never had an outstanding tea from there. fucking menghai on the other hand, it just werks for me, even tadicha.

Pasha I hear is the new thing, but I might be behind because I don't follow reddits an discords. Haiwan sources from pasha wink wink.

>>19642421
not much difference between the two options, toss a coin.

>>19642438
What about do the both

>>19642438
I had like 15g of some crimson lotus tea. It was one of their 2016 productions. Long sold out new but it was surprisingly good. It was called beneath the starry sky or sea or something like that. Definitely interesting enough to make me want to try some of their other teas.

>>19642479
I have their inky black shou, which was ok, overpriced but motor oil in appearance and mouthfeel, very similar to that half laochatou dark brick from Oleq or something like that, which some anon reccd here. I might have to dig out that one to try. and also similar to w2t charlie cake. fermented dark from the start, but quickly waning. was a fad maybe?
anyways, 2017 Yunnan tea. this vintage produced some extra juice I think. ys, csh, w2t and other boutique. it's all sold out and erased I think.
what do you call coke followed by hash brewing method? disorienting maybe

coof

Drinking the YoT purple zoncha ripe. Never really got along with this tea. Something about it is just off, weird because i liked the other HK storage ripes i got from YoT. I guess it's a pretty cheap tea, maybe the base material just wasn't that good. Not much thickness, not very rich, just comes off kinda thin and woody, gets bitter if i push it hard to try and get some more viscosity out of it. Eh its fine for a casual brew maybe some bakers chocolate notes.

>>19643785
>purple zoncha
Purple zongcha*
This guy
https://yeeonteaco.com/collections/puerh/products/2009-purple-tea-ripe-tea-cake-7342h

>>19643785
isn't this supposed to be a really low fermented ripe that tastes a lot like a raw? maybe that's why you don't like it

Cracked into my cake of FarmerLeaf Fa Zhan He today.
I got more savory, herbal and spicy flavours out of this session than the ones with the sample, not as heavy on the sweetness as before. I wonder if this is down to the brewing parameters or that It was just shipped. Anyway I like that I never quite know what to expect with this tea, at least so far. Sometimes it's savory, sometimes it's full on lemon candy.

drinking Dayi 7572 after a bit of a break
damn, this is just peak comfy

>move to new house
>invite new neighbor for tea
>neighbor visits Taiwan where his wife is from
>brings back gift of oolong and (probably) oolong stuffed orange
Be good to your neighbors bros

Drinking some 2009 Menghai Purple Ripe (7342H) from yeeonteaco today. I don't have a lot to say on this particular production as I am not a regular shou drinker but it seems nice. I think I like it best brewed up on the lighter side (by shou standards). What I have noticed however is that my tea from Yeeon seems to have improved significantly over the couple years since I bought it. The cellar stored stuff really needed some time to air out. When the tea first came the cellar taste tended to overpower any subtleties in the tea and make the different teas all taste kind of the same. While still clearly present the cellar taste is much more balanced now. A few more years of aging would probably be good though.

I've previously tried adding a hint of milk to some black teas, it was okay but nothing noteworthy.
Just now I made some Royal Milk tea (difference to milk tea is that there's a lot more milk and sugar)
https://foreignfork.com/royal-milk-tea-vs-milk-tea/
I used 2nd flush Darjeeling Makaibari (muscatel, earthy, nutty flavor, not malty). Instead of milk, I added Häagen-Dazs Vanilla ice cream, (cream, milk concentrate, sugar, egg, vanilla extract, no emulsifiers or extra crap). Brewed the tea in small amount of water and added 1:1 ice cream, microwaved back to boiling point. Result is extremely creamy and fluffy with a bit of foam on top, sweet with the tea bringing a bit of earthiness to it. Instead of tea, I would think it more as hot chocolate. Very delicious, definitely going to do it again, next time I need to make the tea part a lot stronger though, the ice cream wasvery overpowering.

>>19644066
Nice pickup, i gotta hurry up and grab another one while he still has them

>>19644911
>What I have noticed however is that my tea from Yeeon seems to have improved significantly over the couple years since I bought it. The cellar stored stuff really needed some time to air out
I noticed this as well, especially with the Menghai Purple Ripe and the best taste loose ripe, after some time the storage taste mellowed significantly. I didnt really find the storage taste obtrusive in the other YoT teas that i got, i left em out open air on a shelf for a week or two after they showed up and they seemed fine.

>>19645223
>>19644911
is it possible for FarmerLeaf to have some sort of storage smell? I swear every one of their teas smells like dried tomatoes after shipping

>>19645233
Its possible, i think that most tea i order smells and tastes better after its been in my storage for a few days, it might just be a byproduct of shipping

what tea to buy

>>19645223
>I didnt really find the storage taste obtrusive in the other YoT teas that i got
It seem liked all the cheap puerh I got from them had a strong cellar scent to it. My liuan basket as well. In particular I am happy that the liuan has cleaned up because for the price I want it to taste like more than beet cellar aroma.

>open air on a shelf for a week or two after they showed up
I probably should have done that before sealing them up. Maybe next time.

>>19645233
>is it possible for FarmerLeaf to have some sort of storage smell?
Possibly, but not likely in the say way. Some of the teas Yeeon sells are HK cellar stored which involves intentionally storing the tea in a damp musty basement for years. The result is that the tea smells like it came out of a damp musty basement because it literally did.

>>19645344
>In particular I am happy that the liuan has cleaned up
Oh nice that's good news. I had pretty high expectations for that tea. It's really too bad all the liuan that's easy to find out there right now is either pretty young with all Kunming storage or full on HK basement.
We gotta convince the W2T guy to pay someone to cellar a batch of his liuan in Wuzhou / Liubao town for a few years, that would probably come out fantastic.

/ctg/ visitor here, I don't know anything about tea and only drink some Lipton chamomile infusion before sleep to mitigate the effects of all the caffeine I had throughout the day. I do enjoy my Pai Mu Tan loose leaf tea however. Perfect drink after dinner. Also I hate putting sugar into any drink so it's difficult to find ways to enjoy black tea without honey or something since it's the only drink bitter enough that I don't like drinking it on its own. No one actually drinks black tea without sweetening it... right?

>>19645428
Black teabags/assam/english breakfast tea style blacks are gross bitter and excessively malty with high tannins. A nice quality chinese black tea is sweet and chocolaty, with fruity aspects, some are still pretty malty, some are pretty mild, they dont need to be sweetened at all.
Think of it like the kinda coffee you get at a shitty breakfast diner vs the pour over you make at home with a proper quality coffee from a good roaster.
Assuming you are from the us get a couple small portions of this years black teas from yunnansourcing.us they are sorted by popularity so just read some descriptions and pick out a few that sound good to you. Maybe grab a bit of roasted oolong while you are at it. Get large brew basket like pic related on amazon/ebay for a few $ and just brew in a mug (these finium ones are good or you can find stainless steel ones as well if you don't lije plastic, don't use a tea ball they don't brew properly). It will give you a totally new perspective on tea.

>>19645502
Pretty much this, get the black nin'ger from yunnansourcing, 4 min steep followed by a second 6 min steep

you only really get two steeps put of this tea but boy is it fkij tasty, it's pretty cheap too

>>19645428
>No one actually drinks black tea without sweetening it... right?
no i dont sweeten it.

>>19645428
good black tea usually isn't bitter and tastes nothing like the cheap stuff. chocolate, honey, fruit - it can be pretty delicious

>>19645381
>It's really too bad all the liuan that's easy to find out there right now is either pretty young with all Kunming storage or full on HK basement.
Yeah, western availability of aged liuan is pretty poor. At least we now have a few vendors with fair prices on the young stuff and yeeon has your dank HK storage covered. I would really like some reasonably priced liuan with moderate or wet then dry storage. I kinda want to try some 20+ year dry stored stuff as well for comparisons sake. Last year I did find some leads on smaller Asian shops that I think will ship overseas but I need to dig up the links and try the tea. I will post an update on that when it happens (probably in a year or so).

>We gotta convince the W2T guy to pay someone to cellar a batch of his liuan in Wuzhou / Liubao town for a few years, that would probably come out fantastic.
His business model seems to mostly revolve around selling young tea. Long term storage is an expensive and risky proposition. Not sure he would be up for a long term project and if he were I kind of expect it would be pricey. W2T has a lot of great tea and a few genuinely good deals but often does not lead in value department IMO.

Years ago I bought a large quantity of what was labelled as "japanese sencha", but it tastes pretty different from all of my other senchas. I'm wondering if it might actually be bancha, but I've never tried any. Is there any way I can tell just from the leaves?

>>19646050
Bancha is typically larger and more corse sometimes with stems it's typically made from the summer harvest and the larger older leaves from the spring harvests. I guess arguably there is a good amount of overlap between low grade sencha and bancha so its worth trying if you are searching for a more mellow Japanese tea flavor.

>>19639370
I've found that my shengs brew pretty well western style, so I just do that when I'm in the mood.

Any opinions on the vietnamese tea shop Hatvala? I ordered the whole range of 'I can't believe it's not maocha' and I thought it was pretty good.

>>19646139
looks interesting, ive always been curious about how non chinese puer style teas compare

>>19646139
>I can't believe it's not maocha'
you mean the sheng like dark tea they sell?
https://hatvala.com/dark-tea-vietnam/
How close to Chinese sheng was it? I would bet some of that stuff ends up in puerh cakes.

>Any opinions on the vietnamese tea shop Hatvala?
I have been meaning to try them. They look good to me. I really want to try their lotus scented teas. To anyone else interested I believe they do a 10%-15% off sale sometime every October as an "anniversary sale" and they offer "free" shipping on orders over $80 all the time.

>>19646521
Yes, the ‘Dark Teas’. My sheng experience is unfortunately quite limited, so I don’t know how they stack up but I can tell you that they are definitely not like ripe, liubao, etc., leaves are whole and green. The ‘Forest Genie’ I got was the oldest offered and my favourite, and had good smoky peat flavour with not much bitterness.

slow thread.
>>19645599
Chinese black tea can be drunk plain. but other black teas need milk and or cream.

2018 vs 2021 natural redhead.
2021 is fine but 2018 is noticeably better and is definitely worth 5 cents extra. Little bit malty, the 2018 is smoother and sweeter.
I have a sample of 2020 arbor red and this makes me want to compare it to the 2018.
Both these coins have pretty tight compression I rinsed them around 3 times for them to open up.
I think it had more aroma but I could've easily imaged that since I had them hours apart.

New teas on farmer leaf already ordered my oriental beauty can't wait.

>>19647847
damn, kind of wish I waited with ordering to try that Jingmai ripe. it's actually a reasonable price

I made a jar of black tea but added way too much of it, like 100g for 1.5l of hot water. Am I going to die or just have a stronger than average tea?

The better I got anxious and depressive symptoms under control (meds), the less anal I got over brewing conditions, material, etc. Behind every control freak there's an unaddressed anxiety self medicated with hyper control.

>>19647906
Yeah i knew he would add new things so i waited for mine didn't order the rip but waited for oriental beauty to make one big order instead of two.

>>19647933
Fucking kek
I would keep it in the fridge as a cold brew and then dilute with a bit of water before drinking

>>19647933
you're not gonna die, but it might make your stomach hurt and it will probably taste like shit. dilute it with more water

>>19647150
I find the wole concept of ageing black teas pretty interesting. I had a xiaguan assimica black tea cake with a few years of age on it and it was pretty good. I had a really great experience with a sealed package of nice quality unsmoked wuyi lapsang, i think the factory sealed mylar bag + the kind of oolong influenced processing that some wuyi black teas get made it a good candidate for aging. Its definitely something i want to look into more. Those wuyi black teas that are sold in individual 7-10g packets would probably be great to buy a bunch of and forget about them for a decade.

>>19647906
>2021
Nice of him to hold onto it for a while before pressing and listing the cakes. I haven't had any jinmai ripes, i wonder how the jingmai flavor profile would translate as a ripe tea

>>19648898
I've had one ripe that was supposedly from Jingmai ages ago. Much lighter and more fruity than most ripe. I didn't really brew it gong fu back then though, wonder what it would taste like brewed like I usually brew ripe now.

>>19647906
I hate to be that guy, but Farmer Leaf had a perfect aesthetic for their wrappers. I can't stand these low rez, max saturation designs. Stop it, William.

>>19625866
Just when I thought this board couldn't get any gayer there's a tea general

>>19647933
post a photo lol

>>19649503

Does anyone have any ideas/recommendations on what to do with yerba mate so it doesn't taste like bitter dirt water

>>19649627
You're supposed to meme out and mound it against the wall so only a little bit brews at a time, then sip for hours as you refill.

>>19649699
Who the fuck invented this piss drink

>>19649702
Jungle dwelling paraguayans. I brought up the same tomfoolery a couple days ago.
>>19630487

>>19641486
Very underappreciated shitpost

late night liu an
Haven't cracked into this in a while, should be nice

>>19650327
Good shit, smooth, sweet, kind of a dried cherries note. Pretty damn good especially considering it came from puerhshop of all places

Speaking of teas from puerhshop i was thinking about a sample of tea i got from them that was incredibly frustrating. This 2019 Still Love You Ripe had a huge amount of storage flavor when i got it, rivaling the funkiest ripe ive had from xiaguan, it was definitely beyond a reasonable level of fermentation flavor. Anyway behind the funk i noticed this fantastic grahm crackers/baked goods flavor i haven't had in a ripe before.
I kept the rest of the sample for like a year and tried it again, the funk died down a bit but it was still there the grahm craker taste was still very distinct and very enjoyable, i don't think ive gotten quite that flavor from any ripe before.
A very frustrating tea, if it wasn't so funky i would have snapped up a few cakes right away. Maybe i will get a sample again and see if its calmed down any.
You can see the pressed cake looks straight up muddy, which in my experience is a bad sign, other ripes ive had with that look were still funky a decade after being pressed

I had a some puerh arrive with only 6 days of travel time i chucked them in a bag with a rh sensor and they're reading ambient. Should I rest for a week or get into it? So hard restraining myself.

>>19649627
buy the brand with the word "sauve" on the packaging.
the more dust it has the more bitter it is, you have to remove the dust by closing the mouth of the container with hand and shake it, your hand should be cover in dust.
water temp is very important, if the water is too hot it will scorch the yerba, thus making it bitter.

if you took that picture you attached, your doing it wrong, you're not suppose to fill the whole container with water like you're brewing grampa. that picture is the equivalent to filling your glass with 100g of black tea, you're also going to get caffeine poisoning.
unless you're a filthy Indian savage from south America, there are other ways to brew mate, you can try to brew it like coffee or with a coffee press. yerba is pretty much tea so brew it like tea.

>>19649627
use less material or cold brew it (make terere). yerba mate cold brews really well. you can add fresh mint if you want, makes for a great summer beverage
and definitely don't use boiling water
>>19650666
>if you took that picture you attached, your doing it wrong, you're not suppose to fill the whole container with water like you're brewing grampa. that picture is the equivalent to filling your glass with 100g of black tea, you're also going to get caffeine poisoning.
what do you mean, satan? the picture looks fine to me. I fill my whole cup with water, though I also use a small 120ml cup

>>19650423
Just drink it, it might taste a bit different after a few days but who carrs

>>19649495
I don't really mind the designs, but I agree that they are low res up close

What's the deal with silver teapots?
What are the benefits? Why do people use them?

>>19650421
I had a sample of the same tea a couple years back but I don't remember it having any particularly troubling wet pile or storage taste to it. Maybe I will grab another sample sometime.

Farmer leaf discount:
15% discount on the whole website
Active until Sunday September 3rd 12pm

Currently drinking oolong with some cinnamon and ginger.

>>19650953
>silver teapots
>Why do people use them?
Mostly because they look pretty and as a way to show off. From a taste perspective they are relatively neutral. Not sure exactly where they sit on the thermal retention spectrum, probably depends on how thick they are.

>>19651615
You guys get samples during discounts? Or it's just depending on the amount of your order?

>>19651782
>Farmer leaf
>You guys get samples during discounts?
Somwtimes
>Or it's just depending on the amount of your order?
I think it may be but i am not sure.

Regular Farmer Leaf drinkers, just to confirm the Spring 2023 Fa Zhan He is cheap tea to get right? Any of cakes I should consider. Also has anyone had the Spring 2023 Huey Wa?

I ordered before the discount and william got me a refund anyway applying the discount on my order nicest shop with the best tea i tell you.

>>19651977
Looking for pu-erh only? Fa zhan he is really good for the price yes. Anyth specific taste you are looking for? Didn't try the huey wa

>>19651977
>just to confirm the Spring 2023 Fa Zhan He is cheap tea to get right?
I would say so, im really enjoying it. Not sure about the Huey Wa, i don't know if any one here ended up getting any because he didn't list it till he put up the later batch of menghai teas. Or to be more precise he did list it probably accidentally but then took it back down untill he listed the second batch of cakes he made this year.
Anyway fa zhan he is good stuff, bright citrus, a bit of that beany Chinese green tea flavor, lasts on the tongue nicely. Just a solid overall tea

>>19651977
yeah Fa Zhan He is the one I've liked the most

>>19652019
>>19652040
>>19652047
Thanks anons, I will grab a cake.

>>19652019
>Looking for pu-erh only?
Not necessarily, but I want to keep my order small. I was actually considering getting some of the Yingpan Shan Black tea as well

>>19652135
Yingpan Shan Black is nice, i just ordered the oriental beauty and fen shui ling so can't give an opinion on those. The menghaitian oolong is special but you need to like black and oolong really it was nice during summer ligter than the yingpan. Oolongs from ailao are always nice i don't have the most recent spring one but the 2022 winter is good. If you want loose leaf pu-erh i had nuo gu wan small trees earlier this year and i liked it a lot smell and taste like honey and ordered the nuo gu wan ancient trees to taste the difference.

can't pick kettle

>>19652272
Simple temperature control no need to go fancy or expensive.

>>19625866
I thought tea was gross until I started putting milk in it

>>19652272
>can't pick kettle
Double check reviews, the controls are a little weird but otherwise its awesome, all stainless steel inside, temp control, i think it does keep warm too, $40
https://www.amazon.com/JOYHILL-Temperature-Stainless-Thermostat-Protection/dp/B09ZKHXMG1/

I found what I am pretty sure is pricing error (in my favor) for some interesting looking tea on a somewhat sketchy shop. I think I am going to YOLO and put in an order. I would give more details so other anons could benefit but I suspect if anyone else were to put in an order they would cancel all them and I don't want to indirectly dox myself either. The price will probably end up fixed after my order anyways. It is only a "very good deal" and not "highway robbery" anyways. I hope they actually ship my order and don't cancel it or just never ship and force me to try to do a charge-back. Wish me luck anons. I will tell you all how it goes.

>>19652040
I picked up the Huey Wa and Fa Zhan He, but I haven't gotten to them yet. Instead I've been focusing on the Bangwai Big Trees and Small Trees, as well as the Single Trees sampler.
Feels like I'm always a little out of sync with what the thread is up to!

Mulberry tea is very calming, it's one of those teas you can drink lots of and not get sick of
>>19652376
lol
>>19652800
good luck, send me a small bag when it arrives

>>19652800
Godspeed anon

>>19652813
Oh nice, ive been drinking a lot of the small trees too, im at least halfway through that cake. Really enjoyable, not as good as the big trees but a nice solid young raw thats easy to drink without being boring or bland.

>>19626895
>>19631615
>>19632370
Any update?

fellow au/tea/stics, what's your preferred method for brewing and drinking tea at the workplace?
being forced to go back into the office, and i'm not stooping to using teabags

my plan at the moment is bringing ~5g of dried oolong in a glass bottle, and a thermal carafe to fill with hot water from the kettle. basically i can only fill it up once, i dont want to be getting up and down to go to the kettle because my boss will chew me out for wasting time

what's a better option? make matcha at work with a shaker bottle?

>>19653136
I have two half litre vacuum flasks that I fill up every day. You have to be careful with tea selection because some flavours are lost/get muted by the metal easier than others. Generally I’ve found that grain, mineral, earth, smoke flavours have the best persistence.

>>19653136
I have a big mason jar I grandpa brew ripe puer in. we have an electric kettle so I just fill it up slowly through the day

>>19651615
I ordered some pu-erh samples before the sale started and they gave me a partial discount refund :)

>>19653136
I use a mug-top infuser that drops filtered tea when set on a glass mug. I'll walk to the hot water dispenser and fill to a certain level on the device, then either drop it into my mug there or walk it back to my desk and do it there. Ingenuitea 2 is the one from Adagio that is excellent, but a little hard to get. I found an unbranded one from an online weeaboo teashop, so I have a feeling they're out there for cheap somewhere on Alibaba or Taobao. I'll bring in about 100g of shou puerh and go through it in two weeks. It works so well. A couple of my coworkers do the same thing now, too. It's pretty easy to use Eastern brewing parameters, although I don't have control over the temps. Good enough. I highly recommend it.

>>19653136
I kept an electric kettle and a teaset on my desk and brewed whenever I took a break.

>>19653207
Felt good when i receive the mail too thank you william

When's the best time to buy Taiwanese oolongs?

>>19654230
Late spring I guess? But Taiwan has quality harvests year round, so it doesn't matter that much for some of them

>>19651977
I had samples of 22 and 23 huey wa and quite enjoyed both, it's nice.

>>19654634
Got the samples during discount? what was your order total price?

recommend me some good oolongs anons

>>19626575
>puerh
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Numi-Organic-Tea-Emperor-s-Puerh-Tea-Bags-16-Ct/26969015?from=%2Fsearch

>>19655291

>>19655548
We don't care about your reviews terri stop posting them

>>19655548
lmao

>>19655265
not during discount. i bought the 22 sample some time last year and think i got the 23 as a freebie with a $60 order a couple months ago.

>>19652800
>>19652837
>>19652924
Well I put in the order. Now I just have to wait.

I'm finally cracking into my KTM Project 1 packs, which is a 3 set sampler of the same tea stored in three distinct ways. It came in three 15 gram pouches labeled #1, #2, and #3. Actually, I got short changed a bit on one of 'em. Oh well. It also came with a print out which includes more information about the manner in which these teas were stored. I'm ignoring the print outs for a while, as recommended by John on the listing. Due to logistics, I'm only gong to drink two at a time, specifically #1 and #2.
My first sip of #1, the darker of the two made me say "wow!" I will concede I haven't had much aged sheng, and certainly not something DANK like this. I'm pretty sure this is the traditionally stored one. It reminds me of a freshly tilled garden. Like a muddy cellar. Dirty potatoes. #2 is more mild, but still has similar characteristics. It has vegetal, slightly more subdued notes. Idk. It tastes like a nice sheng. This is just on the first couple of infusions.
An interesting project for sure. I'm surprised they're still in stock.

>>19656630
>I'm pretty sure this is the traditionally stored one. It reminds me of a freshly tilled garden. Like a muddy cellar. Dirty potatoes.
Yuup, that's good shit, or at least it can be when its done well

does anyone make their own matcha? i have a good stone mortar & pestle, even culinary grade stuff is so expensive for ~100g, that i was thinking i'd be better off using half a bag of yame gyokuro to make my own
not trying to get ceremonial grade stuff, this will be for mixed drinks

How many of you guys, gals, and non-binary /tea/men are cringe anime weeblords who only got into drinking /tea/ because of extreme Orientalism? I suspect it’s a fairly high percentage of /tea/men.

>>19656922
tea is the most consumed beverage and then its coffee? i dont know what your talking about.

>>19656922
I am oriental.

>>19656922
I am Indian

>>19656922
I am trans.

>>19656939
Don't type your faggy upspeak at me, puer drinker.

ripe puer is actually not bad for hangovers, im surprised

>>19656630
I liked the wet stored one desu. too bad they don't sell it, it all went to the sample pack

>>19656922
most people here are into chinese and not japanese tea though
anime didn't get me into tea, but it did get me into traditional Japanese pottery

>>19655277
I'm no yancha specialist, but I thought the tie luo han from kingteamall was nice and not too expensive for a yancha
the jin xuan from fullchea is nice value

anyone tried this cheap Dayi cake? KTM added this year's version

>>19657697
i haven't but i've never had a bad dayi cake, probably it's pretty decent.

Hello /tea/.
I wanna get into Roiboos, is there a scene for high quality stuff? Regular tea makes me sleep badly and I already have loads.

>>19658977
any old loose leaf rooibos is basically fine, i get mine from jeff bezos. as far as i can tell there isn't really higher quality rooibos beyond that. i've heard it said it's basically all made by just a couple companies since the growing region is so small.
just avoid any flavoured mixes and shit in bags, it's dog shit

>>19658977
>is there a scene for high quality stuff?
Yes, but most of it is basically unobtainable unless you're willing to make phonecalls. Generally it's handled like a fungible good at every step, so producers will buy bags of the grass as long as it meets certain quality standards, chop it up, dry it. Wholesalers will buy it and grade it, then sell the grades in bulk to distributors who will either use it or repackage it and sell it on the commercial market. It's like flour, you're buying a quality guarantee but you have absolutely zero information on where it came from in most cases. This is the only one I'm aware of that ships to the US and seems to credibly not be the general basic production.
https://rareteacompany.us/products/south-african-wild-rooibos
It tastes fine, I don't know if I could tell a huge difference. The processing is not really complex so it's all made basically the same way from the same material. This is all almost certainly from the same place and same year so you get probably more variance between batches and more interesting flavors to compare but it really all pretty much just tastes the same.
https://mountainroseherbs.com/red-rooibos-tea
This is what I buy when I want to drink rooibos. There is also green rooibos, which is just unoxidized, and honeybush which is a similar plant and product, that I personally find more interesting. I have not tried green rooibos but some people seem to like it.

>>19659009
Oh, I found the company, Rooibos ltd controls 70% of the market and processes the tea in one facility. As far as I can tell almost a full 100% of the Rooibos that reaches Europe and North America is processed all together in this one facility. All the stuff you see in the supermarket is the exact same thing.
https://grondtotmond.com/2020/05/25/red-bush-blue-skies/

There are other producers and some of them have webpages but none of them are export focused from what I've seen. You'd have to find a small producer and look for their contact information and see if they'd be willing to mail you some, I assume you would be buying around a kilogram at a time.

>>19658990
>just avoid any flavoured mixes and shit in bags, it's dog shit
I'm drinking a cuppa lord nelson roiboos vanilla and I think it's quite pleasant desu
But thanks I'll check it out.
>>19659009
Very informative, thanks anon.

>>19659035
Thanks for looking this up, i know it was discussed before but its solid info

>>19659077
>it's quite pleasant
Maybe then I've just had poor luck with the bags.

>>19659198
I'm not a tea autist though. PG Tipps is also very nice.

NEW THREAD:
>>19659231
>>19659231
>>19659231

>>19657406
Absolutely. Couple it with a salty breakfast and hangovers are a nonissue.