/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>19762875
orange juice infused laobanzhang when?

>>19762875
I miss the times when this was a truly niche general that would sometimes get archived before reaching the bump limit, people would talk about their impressions about the teas in the health tea house sampler bought on Aliexpress back when they still used to allow the smell of tea, expensive pu-erh's weren't the meme they are now, and people weren't steeping tea in cola.

My favorite tea is the Turkish Tea.

>>19762916
We're still here anon, or I am at least. Things seem fine to me besides people occasionally not getting any (You)s when they deserve them. I think I still have a tea-expert sample I can write about if it makes you happy. I may or may not be planing to brew some tea in soda however.

You guys ever buy expensive teas or just stack up pounds of decent cheap cakes ?

the tea brewing virgin vs the gigachad alcohol extraction chad

>>19762916
Have things changed much this year? I haven't been posting here in quite a while, so the first thing I saw was that coke ordeal too. Haven't bought from Fullchea in a long time, but those orders brought a lot of fun; even that really shitty mixed mini tuo bag. I wonder if any anons have bought any gems from Chawangshop lately too.
>>19763029
Balance, but I mostly go for solid middle-ground picks and hidden gems. I think it's worth paying a bit more for good cakes, but in my view, there's surely a point of diminishing returns, and I think it comes fairly quickly. I mean, some of the best, most complex teas I've had were around the $8/100g mark (maybe $10-ish with s/h?), so that's a testament enough for me.

>>19763065
>Have things changed much this year?
I don't think so, few of the old regulars don't post as much but thread mostly stays live.
>I haven't been posting here in quite a while,
Where have you been?
>>19763065
>I wonder if any anons have bought any gems from Chawangshop lately too.
Not recently but I got this (and I still need to try it).
https://www.chawangshop.com/deang-sour-tea-tasting-set-20g.html

>>19763029
>or just stack up pounds of decent cheap cakes ?
I tend to be the latter. The bulk of my stash is 7-14¢/g but I do have some 20-30¢/g cakes.

>>19762916
This is one of, if not the best thread on the site. Anything I would complain about is overshadowed by how bad everything else is. I consistently have fun and interesting discussions here, I'm genuinely impressed it has gotten much worse.

>>19763029
I shoot for buying teas that are around 10¢ per gram, lately it's been creeping up closer to 20¢/g. I drink most of the tea i buy within six months or so of getting it, i do have a kilo or two reserved for emergencies but otherwise i never really buy tea with the intention of storing it long term.
I don't really see any point in buying a stack of cheap tea (or expensive tea) unless it happens to be really remarkably good.

>>19762916
What is it exactly you're nostalgic for? Slower threads? No fun? Oldfags? Thread's fine, isnt it?
>>19763029
I like both, but mostly cheaper. I'm working my way up. I want to be able to appreciate finer teas and that requires tuition.
>>19763052
Tea tincture has to be a thing, right?
>>19763115
Best is probably /wip/. Those nerds still have a secret santa.

>>19763125
>I don't really see any point in buying a stack of cheap tea (or expensive tea) unless it happens to be really remarkably good.
I like keeping lots of different teas on tap and drinking something different everyday. Most of the tea I drink keeps indefinitely and is cheaper in bulk so for me it makes sense just to grab whole cakes and stack them deep. Plus I never know when something I want will sell out and be hard to replace. There are a couple teas I distinctly regret not buying more of well I still could.

The greatest blessing we have ever been given is that cheap tea is actually quite good. I'm happy to spend over a dollar a gram on tea but it's because I want to try something interesting and new, not because I can't stand the cheaper stuff.

>>19763167
>There are a couple teas I distinctly regret not buying more of well I still could.
I know that feeling. One point towards stoking up on teas that age well is that they aren't getting any cheaper.

working in the early hours, time for some shui xian
i don't know much about this tea or wuyi oolong in general. it seems to be better with a lot of leaf, i need a smaller gaiwan.

>>19762875
>Order early in August
>Last tracking info is a cryptic ‘Aircraft has enter port’ notice from Sept 6
>Order a week ago
>It’s already in Canada
What gives?

>>19763224
>i don't know much about this tea or wuyi oolong in general. it seems to be better with a lot of leaf
Weigh out tea, fill the bottom of gaiwan, take about 1/3 the tea, crumble it into the gaiwan, cover with the rest of the tea, 8-10g for 100ml brew vessel, if your gaiwan is bigger just measure out 100ml and only fill it that far.
Start with flash steeps, once they start to loose flavor add about 20 seconds with each subsequent brew.

>>19763232
Nobody can truly comprehend why Chinese shipping is the way it is, its simply is

>>19763243
thanks, i'll try your method next time. there's some quite nice retronasal stuff going on with this.

>>19763250
I don't think you are supposed to interpret Chinese shipping updates literally. They are probably the result of an I Ching divination or something. Perhaps they should switch to using fortune cookies.

>>19763269
Oh yeah, its really fun stuff. Tons of complexity, i really like when they have a nice mineral flavor, one of the more interesting tastes in tea to me. It's funny because breaking up leaves is usually the opposite of what you want to do with teas, but for wuyi oolongs it helps giving them a little more punch without adding any bitterness or other undesirable flavors. They are good brewed without crush leaves too, but it's fun do do sometimes, and is a somewhat popular practice in china for people who drink those kinds of oolongs.

>>19763096
I see. It's to be expected with time, but at least some of the old crowd is still here. Wish I could post something fresh, but I haven't bought new tea in a long time. Unfortunately, missed the greens season in Japan again this year, but is there anything I should keep my eye out for anything around this time instead?
>Where have you been?
Difficult year. Wasn't really able to indulge in tea regularly. I'm glad the general is still up at least. By the way, is that De'ang tea a newer listing? I remember an anon or two buying "sour tea" from Chawangshop a long while ago, but I don't remember this specific one, nor the tasting notes. Pricey, but interesting.

Had some xin gong yi white tea today. I thought white tea was supposed to be even lighter than green tea but if I hadn't known better I would have thought this was a black tea or at least a highly oxidated oolong. Was completely different from what I was expecting, even after I kept lowering the steeping time because it seemed like it kept getting bitter.

Also, are all of the puerh cakes on YS worth trying? I would certainly like if you could get cakes of less than 250g and there are some that are 100g and such, and some that you can get for like $10-$20 instead of nearly $100 per cake but I also don't want to be buying garbage, regardless of how cheap it is.

Probably going to buy a big pack of gunpowder green tea as well. I'm glad that she's so cheap.

>>19763336
White tea is better then i expected, it can be pretty enjoyable.
>Also, are all of the puerh cakes on YS worth trying?
It depends, i have very little experience with their house puers, but as far as the other brands they carry the quality is usually pretty good. YS is still more of a warehouse style store, their selection is less curated then some shops, so bigger selection, but the owner is less picky about what he buys and stocks.
Customer reviews on YS are usually reasonably reliable, so thats one thing you can look at. If you have questions about specific teas you can ask about them here and somebody can usually give you some more info.
If you haven't really dived into puer you absolutely do not need to drop $$$ on cakes to get good tea.
Farmer leaf has decent sized samples and free shipping over $30. If you wanna try some puers getting the 2023 fa zhan he, bangwei small trees, maybe one of the aged cakes he has even if it's probably more then you would want to spend on a cake and maybe a sample of one of his white teas would be a pretty good intro, not the cheapest per gram but twice the size samples most sites offer for the same $ and if you like on of them those first two cakes are pretty affordable for full 367g cakes.

>>19763336
I've liked pretty much everything I've had from ys except for their ripes

>>19763335
>is there anything I should keep my eye out for anything around this time instead?
if you are interested in young raw puerh Farmerleaf's spring 2023 Fa Zhan He cake has been popular, I think at least 3 people here own it. Pretty reasonably priced too at $42 including shipping. Note that Farmerleaf typically does site wide discounts on Black Friday if you are patient.
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/collections/yunnan-pu-erh-tea/products/spring-2023-fa-zhan-he
Admittedly, I have only tried my cake once so I don't have strong personal opinions yet. It did seem like a nice young sheng. I will try to do notes sometime.
>Difficult year. Wasn't really able to indulge in tea regularly.
I understand, I had to crack out the energy drinks for much of last winter. Still got to drink tea on the weekends though.
>I remember an anon or two buying "sour tea" from Chawangshop a long while ago, but I don't remember this specific one, nor the tasting notes.
Probably me, he's been selling that sample pack for a long time. I agree the price is kinda high but I figured I don't really have another source. I am kind of afraid I will like it and will be forced to hunt down Deang Sour on taobao.

In any case welcome back teafriend

The natural bodhi leaf strainers mog the metal leaf-shaped strainers. They're finer and filter more tea leaf particles, but more porous so tea pours through easier. You have to pour really close to metal leaf strainers or it'll splatter everywhere. Sure the metal ones are more durable, but you can buy a couple of the natural leaf ones for the same price.

>>19763483
I watched how deang sour tea is made at a series about tea BBC made.
It was one of the more interesting fragments, along with the wuyi oolong competition. Some of the others were too casual-centric or too sappy

>>19764002
First time I see this. Interesting. I'd still rather use a gaiwan though.

Is it bad that I cannot tell the difference between Shou Puers? like legit they all taste the same to me.

>>19764211
They are a similar category of tea indeed, especially if you brew them really strong.
That's part of why I love cheap factory Shu. You always know what you're getting and that it'll be tasty.

>>19764211
Taste them side by side, or at least within a few hours from one another. Differences will start to pop up, even if only subtle ones.

>>19763483
Thanks for the rec; the 'citrus' notes in the reviews sound interesting. I'll keep an eye out for your notes on that cake and more, should you decide to post about it sometime.
>I am kind of afraid I will like it and will be forced to hunt down Deang Sour on taobao.
In that case, I triple dog dare you to taste and write about its notes! Haven't heard of anyone taste-testing such novel stuff since someone tried that chong shi cha from Chawangshop.

>>19764389
I can also recommend the Fa Zhan He. Expect lemon and a savory edamame type of thing, sometimes with quite a lot of sweetness, but it can vary a lot steep to steep. Definitely stands out a bit from your usual young raws.
The Bangwai Small Trees and Dong Guo were also pretty nice from the samples. Dong Guo is even heavier on the lemon and very astringent, while Bangwai is more of a classic young raw flavor but with some extra creamy note that I can't quite place. In between banana and some creamy floral.
I've seen mengku rongshi productions hyped on here lately as well, though I have yet to try any.

>Fa Zhan He
Drinking it right now, it's good. It's not exceptional, but you can't beat it for the price.

thinking of getting some cups with my KTM order. which one should I pick? I want it to go well with a white porcelain gaiwan

>>19764487

>>19764491

>>19764491
seconded

>>19764493
last one

>>19764493
though i am personally a fan of fish cups

>>19764462
yes, it's nice. not the deepest, most complex tea ever of course, but tasty, not boring or generic and comes out quite cheap when you factor in the free shipping

>>19764491
This would match the white porcelain the most, though I like the tan cups themselves more. Personally, I'd say that you should pick not just to match, but what you'd get the most pleasure from seeing as you drink. I'd argue it impacts the experience as a whole if you're the kind to be present and appreciate it. If you don't find anything you really like, I can shill a clayworker on Etsy that made a great cup I daily drive.

On something like my
7th brew of gyokuro
from the same leaveses

>>19764616
Well said.
>>19764487
I like the masculine energy of the cock.
>>19764493
Although this is damn nice, too.

>>19764733
I think I'll go for the cock after all. I think the decoration is very pretty and it seems more unique than the fish and lotus ones. Plus supposedly it's hand painted by one artist, who is stated by name so that's always nice.

>>19764774
I like the fish more, seeing them into the tea swimming, you should be watching the cup from above more than the side but as you wish anon.

>>19764675
Looks as if it's slick with oil on the top; must be good stuff. Haven't had the pleasure of trying gyokuro yet, but it seems refreshing.

Sick today with a stuffy nose, so I decided to go for cheap ripe pu-erh, which does not rely on the aroma.
Good choice! This 12$ Fuhai cake tastes nice when I'm sick, with that classic ripe body and chocolaty notes.

>>19764970
Yes it's delicious. No idea if the variety i have is considered "good" by experts but it's good to me. Will try to remember to get a first brew pic tomorrow.

What am I in for?

Its time, GABA sheng puer, smells like the GABA oolong i tried the other day from the same producer so im expecting it to mostly taste like black tea, but maybe i will be pleasantly surprised.

>>19763335
>is there anything I should keep my eye out for anything around this time instead?
I forgot to mention a bunch of anons tried Awazon tea (not to be confused with Amazon). If cheap semiaged shou (and some sheng) is more your style Awazon has got great prices. Note that a couple anons did get some book lice on their tea from there, so you may need to freeze it to kill the bugs.
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/

>>19765327
Hopes: its bitter, punchy with some good character
Fears: it smells like fermentation funk, tastes like it too

>>19765390
Smells kind of smoky, not much else can I detect.

>>19765382
Its heavy on the black tea, there is still some sheng character in there. Is it GABA sheng? Shure. Even pushing it the oxidation seems to have taken most of the edge off. A little bitterness, a bit of young sheng fuity notes and black tea.
Third infusion, more fruit, more sheng flavor.
Overall its not bad tea, its interesting, i won't be rushing out to buy more. I could maybe see this being appealing to those who like oxidized whites.
Im pretty sure this is the one im drinking.
https://tea-expert.net/magazin-kitajskogo-chaya/yunnan-gaba/50098-nie-qun-hao-gaba-sheng-cha
He did a white tea version that might be interesting
https://tea-expert.net/magazin-kitajskogo-chaya/yunnan-gaba/80012-nie-qun-hao-gaba-bai-cha
He also has a sampler set, and a small brick of gaba sheng that might be from different material, i cant tell.
https://tea-expert.net/magazin-kitajskogo-chaya/yunnan-gaba/50104-nie-qun-hao-liu-zhong-gaba-cha
Anyway i guess he commissioned these productions.

>>19765474
sounds novel at least. what's your opinion on GABA tea overall? i got the impression it's less about taste and more the GABA itself people are interested in.

>>19765327
I also got that sample. Gonna try it when I get home.

>>19765552
>what's your opinion on GABA tea overall? i got the impression it's less about taste and more the GABA itself people are interested in.
Gaba doesn't cross the blood brain barrier so it's efficacy is dubious, also its typically like 150mg of gaba in an oz of tea, highest ive seen advertised is 400mg. Very popular in japan for purported health benefits.
I haven't really drank enough sort of standard Taiwanese gaba oolongs to have a very informed opinion about the flavor. The process certainty does change how the tea tastes, i don't think it makes it taste worse or bad, just different. Heard it described as a sort of roasted sweet potato vibe.

>>19765552
>>19765570
GABA oolong definitely does have its own unique flavor and it can be pretty nice tea. I guess I would describe the typical GABA flavor more as a sour fruity nuance?
I don't know if it works or not, but from what I've noticed it doesn't get me too wired and is easy on the stomach, so that's good enough for me

Redpill me on matcha tea

>>19765620
Matcha
Everything you can find for sale is trash unless you go to specific Japanese tea only specialty vendors, and lots of those aren't great either. Buy it from one of the Japanese shops in the pastebbin like o-cha or one of the local Japanese specialist vendors listed in your part or the word.
Sorry it's like that but all the Instagram health enthusiast people ruined matcha in the west by indiscriminately buying garbage.
Matcha is very strong and if you haven't had a nice quality fresh Japanese green tea before the taste will probably be shocking.

>>19765667
Also you don't need fancy bowls or bamboo whisks to enjoy it. I wouldn't suggest getting any specific teaware for it untill you decide you like it and want to drink it regularly

>>19765612
>sour fruity nuance
This. Almost winey.

>>19765387
What is their shipping and product quality like? Even if cheap, having huge tongs of potentially dull pu'er might be a little rough to go through after a while. Though, their in-house variety seems decent. As someone into whites, this is tempting: http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=1072
Wonder how their reds are. If their shipping is decent, they could be kind of like how Fullchea is/was.
>Book lice
Sounds a bit troublesome. Wouldn't freezing and dethawing it bring about some mold risks from moisture?

>>19765836
shipping is standard price, not the super cheap fullchea shipping
but their prices on some cakes are so good that it's worth the shipping cost. IDK about their house brand, but they have a lot of pu-erh by other brands, including two of the cheapest Dayi ripes on the internet, a lot of quite aged ripe at good prices and good looking raw cakes

>>19765836
>What is their shipping and product quality like?
Shipping is priced more then fairly. Nobody has bought enough of their house brand tea to se much about quality, i wouldn't buy a $65 tong and expect much, someone tried their cheap white cakes and thought they were decent. Focus has mostly been on the aged ripes from known factories. Storage is dry kunming.

>>19765848
I liked the cheapo Dayi Spring of Menghai cake they have as well. tastes much more fresh than the 2006 production date might suggest, but still a really tasty cake with plums, a bit of smoke, some resinous and grassy flavors and a solid body.

>>19762916
I blame the obsession with puer that led to the puer lesbian meme. That’s when non /tea/ posters really started shitting up the eternal /tea/ general.

thread is pretty much the same as its always been, some of the older posters aren't around very often, new ones show up. I don't miss relying on coof anon to bump the thread at 3am everyday so it didn't fall off the board, it's nice that some people other then me make new threads these days. As far as a general on 4chan goes this thread is a miracle

This purple bamboo green tea is another super creamy feeling one like the tung ting mi xiang. It basically has no color too.

>>19765990
Creamy green tea sounds good

>>19765836
>As someone into whites, this is tempting: http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=1072
I think someone bought a cake and said it was ok. I would not blind a tong of it but would expect it to taste fine and the price is right. As the other anons said people mostly talked about Awazon's semi-aged big factory shou.

>Wouldn't freezing and dethawing it bring about some mold risks from moisture?
Check the tea when it is defrosting and air it out if it is collecting moisture. If you are careful I doubt you will get mold. You can also get rid of most booklice by airing out the tea at ~50% for a few weeks so the booklice dry out. The funny thing is the is the presence of booklice means Awazon's "dry kunming" storage must still be 60%+ humidity. Not everyone got booklice however I just thought it was fair to warn you. I still intend to order from them but I know that not everybody would be ok with the risk.

>>19765836
I put in a big order with them and never saw any critters, i wouldn't worry about it too much.

>>19765893
Compared to /ctg/ this place is a paradise these days. I don't think its lost any precovid comfyness.

Does anyone know of a glass version of one of these gravity infusers? I love the one I have but the plastic looks like shit and I want a glass one but I cant find any for sale.

>>19766843
I spent quite some time looking a few years ago, found one listed on a Chinese website, but couldn't find it for sale anywhere.
I can try looking again tomorrow. The Chinese make a lot of them with brands like kamjove, but finding glass ones is tough because of the mechanism.

>>19766856
Yea I see that particular type with the infuser built into the pot but its not quite the same as the gravity one. I saw this particular kind for sale at the northwest tea festival last week and it was glass.

>>19766843
>>19766856
There are these things which use a glass top section and then a ball and magnet to open and close the drain, should be able to find more in this style if you look around aliexpress but they usually are overdecorated/stylized in that classic chinese way.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256804448705053.html?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256805859859862.html?

>>19766843
I'm pretty confident a glass version of a mugtop infuser would be either too fragile or to mechanically complex to last long. Seems like a non starter from a product design.
>>19766856
This is a good example example of too mechanically complex. There's another one with a strange double latch release mechanism. These never last long.

For what it's worth, I really like my plastic mugtop infuser. I hope it's not killing me, though.

>>19765198
Ripe puerh may not be a cure all, but it definitely feels like a comfy pick me up when you're down. Feel better soon!
On a related note, Fuhai needs to go on the list of factories to explore. There's just so much damn tea to try. Does this 7576 strike you as an attempt at 7572, much like Haiwan's 7578?

>>19766880
>I hope it's not killing me, though.

yea thats another concern. I dont like using plastic food related items with heat. Would really prefer glass.

Should i buy one of these for chopping up iron cakes?

>>19766019
>>19765836
yeah, I also didn't find bugs in any of my Awazon tea

>>19766942
thanks, anon
>Does this 7576 strike you as an attempt at 7572
definitely. I got both the 7576 and 7572 from Awazon and struggled to tell them apart at first. Now I think I prefer the Dayi one, because it has more vanilla and cream IMO and less earthy funk, feels a bit "cleaner" to me.
but the 7576 is still tasty

>>19762875
Moon cakes are, as always, on sale this week like Easter eggs the week after Easter, this one's filled with "custard cheese".
The tea is still the cheap Mo Lie cake I've been drinking for months because the Taiwanese postal service is no more efficient than the Italian one.

>>19764616
just noticed they also have some quite pretty jianzhan cups

>>19767543
okay fuck it, I got them. order placed.

>>19764487
you can find these, not sure if exactly these or something veeery close, on Aliexpress for some 50c a piece plus a few $ for shipping

>>19767543
>>19767621
Nice haul anon, looks like a decent variety and all. Consider posting about them when you get/taste them. Your teas will probably look pretty in that cup too.

>>19767621
just got that oolong and jin jun mei awhile ago

the oolong was great, i didnt like the jin jun mei
but i dont like jin jun mei much. it seemed pretty robust for a jin jun mei though which i think is what you want?

>>19767655
I'll definitely post some reviews
I actually got three of the cups because the extra shipping cost was almost the same for one as it was for three. Maybe I'll even do the funny dancong chadou with them.
>>19767659
I haven't tried Jin Jun mei before, but I do like robust black teas, so maybe I will like it. Which oolong is the one you liked?

>>19765565
I gave it a shot this morning. As expected it was bitter (perhaps I should have reduced the temperature? I used boiling water as normal), had a fairly earthy taste as well as sort of fried oil notes. Mouthfeel was good. Some vanilla in there as well.

First brew Gyokuro Cha Musume. Tastes vegetal, nutty, salty. Texture is slightly viscous and feels almost oily on the tongue.

>>19767764
>>19765327
I know that the TeaDB guy quite liked the previous versions of this tea. I think he did mention it had some bitterness, unlike most ripe, so I guess it's working as intended

i received a nice package today so let's try the sample of 2014 Gu Ming Xiang "Bu Lang Tribute Cake" Ripe
is what i wanted to say, but it became apparent that this is surely a quite nice semi-aged sheng in the wrong packet. it doesn't look at all like the pictures of the brewed material on YS. is that a thing, sample mixup?
at least it's good tea but this has totally thrown me off.

does anyone know of european or chinese vendors that sell gaba oolongs? i know moychay does but their shipping is like 35usd to my country

>>19768313
thetea.pl has some GABAs. I have the unroasted one and it's quite tasty. the dark roast one with a few years of age on it sounds like it could be good too

>>19768250
Bitter ripe can be good sometimes, depends on what you are in the mood for i guess

>>19767895
Nice spot for drinking tea, im jealous

>>19768329
>5 euro shipping
Nice, was just looking for christmas gifts but they have a lot of interesting oolongs so might get some for myself, thanks

>>19768301
Lmao, i have that cake and your pic doesn't look at all like mine. The brew is very dark. Now you are going to keep wondering what mystery sheng you received instead.

>>19768359
yeah they have a large selection of fancy oolongs, including quite a bit of aged stuff. most of them are pricey though
aside from the GABA, I can recommend the tanyang gong fu black tea and duoteli liu bao they have, they're not too expensive and both quite tasty

>>19768301
Its not ripe that's for sure, i wonder what tea it is.
I poked around their website real quick but didn't see any obvious contenders for a mixup, the Gu Ming Xiang raw cakes all look too green.
Worth sending him an email. Hopefully he will send out the proper sample.

>>19768301
>is that a thing, sample mixup?
I have not heard of YS screwing up before, but accidents inevitably happen. If you bought the sample and want the other tea I imagine YS offer a replacement/refund if you contact them. Good that it is at least a ok tea.

Cleaned out my pumidor, took out all the teas that were nothing but some dust and crumbs left, mixed all the leftovers together from about 8 young shengs, ended up with more dust then i expected, maybe 50-80g
Anyway tossed some in the gaiwan to brew, it's about as annoying as you would expect to deal with all the dust but it tastes surprisingly good all things considered.

>>19768460
>Even anon's cake shreds are more whole than bagged dust.
Nice to conserve the shreds others would toss out. I do that with separate bags based on tea type, and it definitely adds up Maybe a pain for a typical session, but I'd say that kind of material would be suitable for cold-brewing at least.

>>19762875
Every tea I've ever tried has been bitter to the point of being undrinkable. Is that just how tea is? Is my pallet just ruined from being American? What am I missing?

Farmer made deang sour tea
https://www.chawangshop.com/deang-sour-tea-tasting-set-20g.html

Parameters 5g tea/100ml water, long multi-minute steeps in a gawan, liquor a nice orangish golden yellow, the high compression makes it take a long time to brew, you can tell the leaves were broken up and fermented, the chunks don’t open up much when brewing, undoubtedly a good candidate for simmering on the stove.

Strange smell, something fermented, maybe a little barn yardish, rustic, maybe something like piss and a urinal air freshener pad, not necessarily unpleasant but very very foreign.

Taste, pleasant mild sour taste, noticeable but not overpowering, I don’t have the tasting skill to place what type of acid is, not citric acid I think but there is a touch of lemon/lime in there, the “piss & urinal pad” taste comes though in the cup (hopefully not the secret ingredient!), again not not necessarily unpleasant but quite strange, not like any other tea I have had before, has some more traditional herbaceous undertones as well, drying straw and alfalfa, overall moderate bitterness and astringency, tea taste lingers in the mouth.

All in all I am not entirely sure what to make of it, it is refreshingly different if nothing else, I like the tea well enough but some of that comes from the novelty, I think this is one of those “acquired taste” sort of teas, I will probably try to hunt down more of it but I collect weird heicha so that is not exactly a seal of approval, also chawangshop’s sample pack feel a bit pricey for what you get (though I don’t know the normal going rate for deang sour tea), however if you have adventitious tea tastes like me it is worth a shot.

my gf got us tickets to some super expensive tea tasting in the city, I didn't want to go, I don't even like tea. I went anyway and holy shit I didn't realize tea could be so fucking good.

>>19768524
>Every tea I've ever tried has been bitter to the point of being undrinkable.
What kind of teas have you had? Most of western style black tea blends are rough without milk and sugar. Traditional Chinese and Japanese teas are much more palatable plain.

>>19768531
>my gf got us tickets to some super expensive tea tasting in the city,
Out of curiosity what tea shop? also what types of tea did you try?

>>19765620
Zero brew-time. It's the convenience of instant coffee, except it's damned tasty tea.

>>19768524
you've probably either had shitty tea or you steep it too long

>>19768528
>I don’t have the tasting skill to place what type of acid is
it should be lactic acid, right? similar bacterial process as the one used for making sauerkraut

>>19768382
>>19768414
they got back to me quite quickly. another sample i ordered was the 2013 Chen Sheng Hao "Na Ka" Raw, they suggested the two might've been swapped around but i think i got two Na Ka samples. with any luck they'll send out the Bu Lang again and i'll be at a healthy profit.

What's the oldest tea you've drunk? Have you ever tried a tea that tasted "too old", despite good storage?

>>19765565
Yup, it's pretty bitter and oily. Didn't find any berry notes, which I like in ripe teas...

>>19768581
I've had some liu bao from the 90s. It was full-on beetroot juice when I brewed it normally, but when I simmer it it's much more balanced and nicer.
I haven't tried anything truly ancient and I'm sceptical of the value proposition and fakes.

>>19768567
>it should be lactic acid,
Quite possibly, that would be the logical guess. I should buy some pure food acids and do a taste comparison sometime.

>>19768581
>What's the oldest tea you've drunk?
I have a couple of teas that were sold to me as "1990s".
>Have you ever tried a tea that tasted "too old", despite good storage?
No, I suspect puerh probably becomes completely unaffordable well before the taste is ruined by age.

>>19768581
>What's the oldest tea you've drunk?
A year 2000 ripe and a 2001 raw, both were dry storage and neither tasted what i would call too aged, the raw was quite lively actually. Im sure there is a lot of old tea out there with terrible storage that has lost most of it's taste, but i don't think its anything that most people here need to worry about running into. Maybe if you ordered some 80s tea from that Phoenix collection guy that has stored it in a cave in California for decades

>>19768581
'99 ripe. i haven't had such an old raw, but heicha can take on a distinct old leather/books character. i think it'd be "too old" to some people's tastes.

>>19768618
>Maybe if you ordered some 80s tea from that Phoenix collection guy that has stored it in a cave in California for decades
I kind of want to order from him but his shop sucks. He does not provide pictures, descriptions, or customer reviews for his tea and he requires you to use a pdf order forum. This would be fine if his prices were cheap enough to offset the risk but for many of the teas they are not. Still there are some things he has that sound interesting. Perhaps he will send pictures and sell you samples if you ask him nicely.
http://thephoenixcollection.com/order/tealist.pdf

>>19767673
i got that spring rou gui oolong, ive always liked oolong but that one was especially good better than this almond-y one i had awhile ago

>>19768524
It can be much better. You probably just need a shift in technique and material. Sadly, most western tea culture is centered around over-infusing dust-like particulates of low grade leaf for a very long time at high water temps. This means the bitter contents of the leaves will over-extract and overpower everything. That's why so many people compensate with milk and sugar; the strength of their tea is far too harsh. By paying mind to the temperature and time infused, as well as using whole leaves, you'll undoubtedly get a much better result. Tools-wise, I personally like using a gaiwan and temperature-adjustable electric kettle (both of which are relatively inexpensive) for this.

>>19768528
Nice, it's cool to see you went out and gave it a taste after all. Some odd notes you picked up on, though those straw and alfalfa qualities sounds cozy. I've occasionally mixed some L-citrulline DL-malate (2:1) into my infusions when I've wanted something tart/tangy like that, and it tastes good. Coincidentally, I'm also having a huge chunk of heicha today (pic related). Good day for heicha in the thread. Thanks for writing about the deang.

>>19768546
It was at a Botanical Garden during an Asian festival. I honestly could not tell you what teas I tried, I think she has a list of what they all were, I'll post it later.

>>19768581
The 1999 Xiaguan puerh that I shared last thread. I actually like that one better than the 2009 LBZ. The Xiaguan is more potent and tastes cleaner than the LBZ. Probably the Taiwanese storage doing its magic.

>>19768780
>Some odd notes you picked up on,
Odd is a good way to put it. The tea definitely lived up to my exceptions.
>Thanks for writing about the deang.
Happy to share about it. I will post about the "factory" deang tea soon as well. I am interested to see how it compares.

>>19768789
>I honestly could not tell you what teas I tried
Not a problem, I was just curious. I like hearing about new teashops. If you find out what kind of tea it was and are looking for recommendations on how to buy more someone here can probably help you.

>>19763065
>>19763096
>>19763125
>>19763158
Thanks for the answer to my question >>19763029

I've bought teas over $10/100g and I swear the difference is remarkable. I guess it depends on where you get it. I tried japanese greens mostly and it feels like I'm in in the field eating the tea leaves straight out the tree. I can remember vividly the moments I brewed it and enjoyed it. Makes me wish I was rich enough to drink it everyday.
Otherwise I pretty much expected the answer to be towards the more affordable for everyday consumption teas, there's so much diversity you can just keep them rolling forever

>>19768672
Apparently he is happy to spend ages on the phone with people that call (he is retired and bored) but yeah, as much as i want to try some 90s feng cha he has on hand i don't feel like spending $40 plus shipping to find out if it still tastes like tea. The stories about him having essentially no records of what he bought and where he put it along with stories of some pro Chinese tea delears visiting him and spending time picking through his collection to find teas to buy out makes me wonder if the stuff he still has is anything interesting.

>>19768841
Teas We Like certainly isint cheap or filled with hidden bargins but they do a pretty good job of picking good teas to sell. There is definitely some value in paying a bit more for cakes that some boomer tea bloggers picked out as some of their favorites that are still accessible. Ive bought a few cakes from them over the years and as long as your tastes are similar to theirs you will probably enjoy what they have on offer.
Never tried LBZ but it's certainly one of the hot locations where prestige and high price points become their own facet of the demand.

>>19769155
Drinking good tea rules

>>19769155
Really, I think the ideal choice is to accept a diversity of tea types and price ranges in your picks. Trying new teas and exploring their unique notes and qualities is part of what makes it all so enjoyable. It's good to have inexpensive options, but if you view tea as an opportunity to wind down, relax, and appreciate something, it's sensible to spend a little extra here and there for yourself. I'm debating buying a cake from Farmer Leaf next month despite them being a bit outside my usual price range because my stash has gone a bit light, and I want to give something new a try. Doesn't mean I can't also get some inexpensive, sweet shou or whatever to balance things out.

>>19769316
i agree, and i'd add that even pricey tea is pretty cheap if you look at comparable interests. a bottle of wine can easily hit dozens of dollars, but $5 is a pretty high end gong fu session. that's what i like to tell myself, anyway.
what cake you looking at on farmer leaf?

Been looking through the raw puerhs on YS and probably going to buy some that aren't crazy expensive. If I was going to buy 2 cakes from the following list, which would you guys recommend, if anyone has had any of them?

>2023 Yunnan Sourcing "Mengban Mountain"
>2022 Yunnan Sourcing "Tiger in the Mists"
>2021 Liming "Man Ke Village"
>2019 Yunnan Sourcing "He Kai"
>2013 Kunlu Mountain
>2019 Yunnan Sourcing "Mengku Impression"

>>19768780
>Good day for heicha in the thread
I'll break open my new qian liang slice this weekend. Thread is officially obscure hei cha edition.

>>19769521
>what cake you looking at on farmer leaf?
The Spring 2023 Fa Zhan He multiple anons recommended the other day is looking like a good bang-for-buck buy once they start holiday sales. The citrus notes from the reviews in particular sound rather appealing. It won't be enough to diversify my thinned stash alone, but maybe I can find some good offers for shou and reds on Awazon or Chawangshop.

hello friends,
can someone please recommend me some good aged raw puerh cake from YS.US or should i buy the Introduction to Puerh Tea Quarter Cake Set, September 2023 from teaswelike.com?

>>19769781
>qian liang
I should buy some eventually. I tried a sample a few months ago and it was so spicy (or at least that's what i think when people describe a tea as spicy). Funnily enough the smell reminded me of a local variety of salami (Sibiu salami).

>>19769521
>22 dollars for 100g oolong
>Get like 100 cups out of it
Tea looks more expensive than it actually is. When you can brew it several times on the same leaves.

>>19770221
the free shipping at farmerleaf actually makes the 40 dollar cakes much more enticing
Awazon is like a treasure trove for cheap factory ripes. maybe try that 15$ Dayi cake?

>>19769781
Nice, I will keep an eye out for your post. I'm still sipping on the huge chunk of heicha from earlier, but I'll post about this within a few days: https://www.chawangshop.com/hei-cha/2014-2018-three-cranes-brand-ye-yun-gu-shu-liubao-brick-tea-50g.html
Been a while since I've had it. I only bought the 50g sample since someone recommended it once, but I remember it being rather nice.
>>19770768
Do you have a link? I think I read someone mentioning a Dayi from Awazon, but the cheapest Dayi I see (when using search) is this $20 one: http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=219
The values are certainly attractive either way, and I'd really like more pu'er/heicha on hand. Only possibly tricky thing is that note in their "How to Order" page about discounts being applied over 3kg, so I'd need to find more picks for the best value.

What would happen if I drunk a gallon of senna tea and a gallon of chamomile tea in 5 minutes

>>19770776
here you go: http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=887
same cake goes for 36$ on KTM
the 20$ 7572 is tasty, I'm drinking it right now

>>19770778
You'd suffer horribly from a case of bursted stomach

>>19770778
water intoxication. 8 litres in 5 minutes would land you at the hospital at the very least

>>19770778
Your ass is gonna get really intimate with your toilet soon, that's what. RIP anon's asshole.

>>19770790
Wow, over 50% difference? That's certainly attractive, maybe even for more than one if it's good. Any quick notes about these two, or other hidden gem recs on the site (even beyond shou)? If they don't host sales, I may have to buy from them soon to stock up.

>>19770803
Not that anon, but i was pleasantly surprised by their 2001 Awazon Ripe. It was smooth and had a refreshing camphor.

>>19770812
Duly noted, thanks for the rec. A 'brisk', perhaps cooling shou is refreshing, isn't it? Might be nice if I can find some that lean more fruity/fermented fruity over syrup/chocolate too. Guess I'll have to arrange for an order from Awazon with these prices, unless they do in fact have sales.

>>19770803
The 2002 6ftm ripe tuo is nice if you want an aged ripe
I also liked the 2006 spring of menghai.

>>19762875
bros can i grandpra brew xiaguan tuos? im lazy and wanna try it but i can only imagine a horrible result

>>19770964
Sure, I don't see why not (especially if shou). Plenty of people do that with pu'er in general. Only risk I'd see is if it's already prone to being harsh and bitter, in which case grandpaing might just exacerbate things.

what tea can I drink if I'm sick and can barely smell anything?

>>19771017
Barely being able to smell anything means you'd miss a lot of subtlety, so a cheap shou or hei cha could be nice. A nice thick infusion of either may feel nice in your throat or otherwise aid in clearing mucus.

>>19770975
NTA, but if I were I'd ask whether Xiaguan tuos have a rep for being harsh or bitter. I feel like that's what he meant.

>>19771017
Coffee.

>>19769643
Sorry i didn't get back to you sooner
Looks like you did a good job of narrowing down your choices. I don't see anything i object to in any of those listings. Good work, i know picking though a warehouse style shop like that to decide what to buy isn't always easy. If i told you to go for this or that tea from your list it would just be my own preferences and biases at play they all look like teas i would consider buying as well.

>>19769781
>Thread is officially obscure hei cha edition.
Nice, i have some sample kicking around ive been meaning to drink. Hopefully i actually remember when i make tea tomorrow

>>19770688
>or should i buy the Introduction to Puerh Tea Quarter Cake Set, September 2023 from teaswelike.com?
I think thats a pretty solid offering. Those guys are pretty good at picking out nice tea. It's not cheap but i think the value is there. Uve had the 2010 7542 from that set and i can confirm they picked out a good example of a 7542
>Aged raw from ys.us
This guy sounds good. Ive been eyeing it since they added it to the shop
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/other-factories/products/2013-kunlu-mountain-raw-pu-erh-tea-brick

>>19770964
>bros can i grandpra brew xiaguan tuos?
I grampa brewed nothing xiaguan cakes and tuos for nearly a year straight once. Just eat some food first and it's fine. Is it a little rougher then gongfu? Yeah sure, but it also tastes pretty damn good imo. Helps accentuate some of the smoother vanilla tones and keeps the smoke pretty balanced, also usually has good sweetness. I usually do 4.5g in "a mug" more if it's a big mug, after a while i think i creeped up to about 6.5g in "a mug" but i wouldn't start out there.

>Tfw the giant, compressed heicha chunk you've been driving non-stop has opened up so much that the mulchy texture looks like some sort of water-logged, battered mushroom in your gaiwan.
Heicha/pu'er is so comfy while reading or doing leisurely tasks, isn't it anons? The sheer endurance and resulting thick infusion of having such a big chunk of heicha is great. I wouldn't do this with really expensive leaf, but it's pleasant.

Show me your tea collection anon.

I got myself this hidden gem today,I must say that even smell is so different from regular genmaicha

>>19771929
Current stash (not all pictured)
A couple boxes of liubao
a brick of fu cha
a basket of liu an
A few sleeves of xiaguan tuos
Assorted samples and small bags
3-4 ripes that are all down to the last 50g or so
2 farmer leaf raws from this spring that are mostly finished off and that mengku tea spirt cake i picked up a week or two ago.
I have much fewer ripe and raw cakes on hand then i prefer to, i would be happier if i had 3-4 of each that aren't almost finished. I will probably grab a few cheap ripes from awazon or fullchea untill i have some more room in my budget for nice young (or maybe old) sheng.

>>19772144
nice! how's that liu bao?

I bought some Faygo Cotton Candy Soda Pop to brew tea with. What sort of tea should make with it?

>>19771802
Did that last infusion last an hour or something? I'd jist boil it at that point, desu.

>>19771939
Have you had the chance to compare the two Yunomi carries? I'm curious what, if any, the difference might be.

>>19772167
damn, genuine faygo

>>19772159
The black box cnnp from purple cloud is excellent. Rich, deep, chocolaty, some aged taste but with minimal to no beetroot root celler wet storage vibes, that's not always a good thing but in this case it works well. I read somewhere that that the black box series productions are made for/popular in japan so i wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to minimze wet storage flavors to meet Japanese consumer preferences. Anyway the overall flavor profile works great.
The essence of tea signature grade liubao im not convinced, im sort of unhappy with how the packaging performed the inner pouch is a sheet of paper with a few dabs of glue instead of a foil seal. I get why they do it but then they didn't put it in a bag for shipping and it leaked tea all over the box it shipped in. The endurance doesnt seem to justify its pricepoint and he didn't mention that it was obviously fall tea. Its not bad in any way but i would feel better paying 20¢ per gram for it instead of the 44¢ or whatever it is currently.

>>19772167
Got any whites or reds? Something buttery or berry-ish could be neat for your heresy.

>>19772172
>Did that last infusion last an hour or something? I'd jist boil it at that point, desu.
Way longer. I've been infusing this same stuff intermittently for over 24 hours now. It was fine until I broke it up more intentionally earlier, which caused it to infuse a bit more rapidly than I'd like, causing excess bitterness. Still drinkable, but I'll probably toss it in my cold brew jar soon and pick something else for tonight. I could boil it, but I just wanted a casual sipper, and not something exceedingly potent I'd need to pile sweeteners on to make palatable.

>>19772220
Hm, I'm not very experienced with heicha, but these leaves look kinda shou-like to me so I figured it wouldn't get bitter. The longevity is primarily the result of tight compression, I assume?

>>19772184
I'm totally not in topic right now, what do you mean.

>>19772220
Yeah those super compressed hei cha love to do that thing where they infuse slowly and gradually untill the clump finally opens up and then BOOM suddenly you get a strong as infusion really quickly.

>>19772244
Yunomi sell two Hoji-genmaichas. One is Obubu's and there's another one I can't remember the name / manufacturer of. I was just wandering if you (or anyone here) had a chance to try both and compare.

>>19772237
>these leaves look kinda shou-like to me so I figured it wouldn't get bitter
It depends, I suppose. This particular stuff doesn't have the sweetness that's characteristic of many shou, but I've tasted heicha that was like straight-up honey. I'd encourage you to give a few heicha a try, though it may be best to ask other anons for recs.
>The longevity is primarily the result of tight compression, I assume?
In this case, I believe so. It was such an incredibly compressed portion that I decided to forego breaking it down any smaller (and risk cutting myself), and just infuse the whole thing. It isn't bad, but having this flavor in my mouth for over 24 hours makes me crave something sweeter. I have a really nice red that's like a 'fried' fruit bread, so I think I'll have and post a pic of that in a few hours.
>>19772260
Certainly a big shift. It makes me rethink how I want to infuse my highly-compressed stuff going forward. I have some absurdly compressed sheng that is a nightmare to break apart with a knife. So, I've been thinking that the best thing I may be able to do it beat at it with a hammer into fragments and just infuse those whole.

>>19772194
I also bought a bottle of Rock N' Rye to enrich my tea with.

>>19772207
>Got any whites or reds?
That's the sensible choice. I was kind of considering trying shou for maximum effect.

>>19772206
nice. I have another liu bao released by duoteli and it's also more on the chocolate side of things, with only a hint of beetroot

>>19772315
>nightmare to break apart with a knife
Apparently oyster knives are great for puer. Some blogger did a test, said they were better than specialized tea knives.

>>19772315
>I have some absurdly compressed sheng that is a nightmare to break apart with a knife.
Typically i deal with those by using pruning shears to cut the cake into manageable cubes, then i can usually put a cube on its side and use a pick to separate the cube into 2-3 thinner sheets, that usually gets me around the clump that doesn't want to open up problem. I did have a tuo once where i just had to take a hammer to it and that mostly worked out fine. The racheting style pruning shears would probably be ideal but i already had some standard ones so i didn't see a need to buy something else.
I was joking about it when i posted it the other day but i occasionally see racheting shears this guy listed specifically for tea.
>>19767341

>>19772353
I like that the cnnp productions have a bit of range, i got a can of T1101 liubao from chawang shop a few years ago that was pure root cellar. It would be nice if manufacturers that age their own teas provided more information about how exactly they stored it instead of just telling us how long they stored it.

>>19772264
Oh, sorry wasn't ever buying from Yunomi , I was buying directly from Obubu and this is the first one I trid

>>19772505
Oh, cool. Didn't even know they had a shop of their own. Enjoy!

>>19772419
>improvised tea picks
flat head screwdrivers and scratch awls also make great tea picks.

>Tea Picks
I own 4 different tea picks and the cheapest and simplest one is the best in 99% of situations.
Pic related, you should be able to find one for a few dollars shipped on ebay or aliexpress.
This isn't necessarily the cheapest listing, just the first one i found.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256801597000582.html

>>19772347
I decided what teas to use.
Faygo Cotton Candy X milk oolong
Faygo Rock N' Rye X yunnan golden snail
Tomorrow I will tell y'all how they taste.

>>19772962
I'm not sure if light oolongs are good for soda. I would suggest something like a purple varietal tea. Either a white or sheng.

Time for a comfy red-and-read, lads.

>>19773514
Looks good, you going to gongfu it?

>>19773534
Yes, straight into my gaiwan. I don't have a lot of it, but it's got a nice fruit bread-like flavor and aroma.

Heres my contribution to tasting weird heicha
2009 Xinhua Qu Jiang Bao Pian
I bought this ages ago and never got around to it.
>Qu Jiang Bao Pian is one of the famous tea in Tang dynasty, the production of recorded time until the song dynasty, has more than 500 years tribute tea history.
>The researcher looked through the ancient books and records, visited folk, finally reinvent the technique, let this ancient process on the verge of extinction can be continued and developed. Taking high mountain tea from Fengjia and Tianmen as raw materials, using the "two steamed two refrigerated cold fermented" new technology to get rid of the oxidized scent.
https://www.chawangshop.com/hei-cha/hunan-hei-cha/2009-xinhua-qu-jiang-bao-pian-250g.html
Lets see how it goes, no idea if this is a regular production from this factory, i haven't actually done any background research on this particular tea.

>>19773731
The wet tea in the gaiwan smells familiar, hay, reminds me a bit of tian jian or fu brick.
first brew was pretty light, coin didn't open up, hay sweetness.
Second brew the coin just completely opened up as soon as the water hit it sho i poured it as fast as i could. Definitely tastes like hei cha. Fu brick or tian jian, its got some drying astringency, finish is sweet, im not getting any smoke. The astringency stands out since i dont usually notice much in heicha,
Third, kept it short, more of the same, im getting some vanilla notes, wood, astringency is still there, this tea is rather fussy as far as brewing hei cha goes, it infuses very quickly.
Overall i find it closest to fu brick by far.
I won't be rushing out to buy this but it was fun to try. Im guessing this was pretty astringent when it was manufactured.

>>19773813
Nice that you got some vanilla and wood notes from the third infusion. Though, I find it odd that it is so astringent for you when they explicitly marketed it as being not so. I guess you could try flash infusions, no?

>>19773731
>2009 Xinhua Qu Jiang Bao Pian
That is one of those types of hecha I still need to track down.
>i haven't actually done any background research on this particular tea.
I don't remember the details but I believe it is a modern recreation of an old style of tea. Quite obscure these days.

>>19773813
Im also getting a pretry prominent metalic taste in the finish.
I found someone selling this tea, since chawangshop is sold out.
Haven't seen this store before
https://www.panthermoontea.com/store/p246/2009_Xinhua_Qu_Jiang_Bao_Pian_Hei_Cha_-_6_pcs.html
I also found a review posted here
http://www.weratetea.com/teas/hei-cha/2009-xinhua-qu-jiang-bao-pian-60g-10-slices-idt-239/
And a Russian blog that posted about a Qu Jiang Bao Pian from another factory.
https://www.tea-terra.ru/2014/04/08/15984/

>>19772843
He included them too.

>>19773830
>I guess you could try flash infusions, no?
I basically went with flash brews after the first one to open it up, kept them very short. It was infusing really quickly so its not like the astringency was overpowering or forced me to brew the tea too weak to avoid it, but it was very much there.

>>19773731
You could try some old school brewing.

i found another tea shop i need to try out https://kingteaset.com/.. I recognize the name form their watermarks Berylleb the used to be a reasonably well known ebay seller, and i think i bought tea from them years ago. Prices are kind of all over the place but there are a few cheap cakes, the ones from boyou jump out at me. They have a bunch of productions from Dr Puer who i have wanted to try out.

I want to reduce my alcohol intake, what tea would you recommend to keep me busy?

I've been starting to drink alot of ginger tea to drink while fasting. And I kinda dig it.
What's the best way of preparing it? I just peel and chop up the ginger root then put it in my kettle about 10 min after the water is done boiling.

>>19774418
go to yunnansourcing, get a wide variety of good teas and a gaiwan and start brewing gong fu style. that's the best way to keep busy with tea

>>19774418
Myself I was addicted to hashish and drinking (although mostly hash)
I started drinking Earl Gray and Breakfast tea, and went from there.

>>19774418
Gong fu brewing is indeed most time/attention consuming. As for which tea, read the descriptions and get what sounds good to you. I, for example, like roasty foods (coffee, cocoa, roasted nuts etc.) so most of the teas I got on my first order were roasted. You know you in that regard.

>>19774430
Chop it into pieces or dice it and toss it in, boiling in a pot as much as you wish or until your water changes to a suitable hue. I wouldn't use a kettle personally, since you can really drive it in a pot.
>>19774418
Gong fu with a gaiwan and relevant teaware, alongside a bunch of shou pu'er and red tea or Wuyi oolongs. That's my vote.

>>19774490
So I should keep boiling it until it aquires a strong ginger color?

>>19774500
Well, it depends on the ratio of ginger to water, but go for a steady boil, yes. It doesn't have to be absolute shreds, but chopping it so there are multiple smaller pieces will improve infusion of the contents so it comes along faster. You can just play by taste if you want too; if it isn't sufficiently spicy, do it longer or add more material next time. If you find it to be too potent somehow, you can always just add water to dilute it anyway.

>>19774513
Alright, I'll try boiling it more next time. One time I made it pretty spicy and I loved it, but I couldn't really replicate that, and It's been rather mild (still good) but I crave that spicy flavor.

what dancong oolong brewing parameters do you guys prefer? been doing 4.5-5g/100ml, 15s rinse then 20s+5s infusions with 99c water but i feel like i could be getting more out of it

redpill me on jianzhan. are these easy to clean? do they make for practical teacups?

>>19774536
More leaf, try another gram or two of leaf, maybe shorten the first few infusions a bit and see how it goes.
>>19774632
They are easy to clean, it behaves like any other glazed ceramic in that regard. Pros: weighty, solid, usually they are big enough to hold your whole pot/gaiwan worth of tea when doing gongfu. Cons: a lot of them a pretty thick, they can sink a lot of heat, occasionally you might want to preheat the cup with boiling water for a few seconds so it doesn't cool the tea too much.

>>19772962
Anticipating the pics.

is fu brick nice boiled? what method do you lads usually use to boil heicha?

>>19775297
Ask and you shall receive.
I already drank the Faygo Rock N' Rye X yunnan golden snail. Unfortunately, the taste of the tea only came through faintly. I had figured using 8.5g of black tea per quart would have been enough. Perhaps I should have let it cold brew for an extra day. The flavors did at least get along OK. The pop was too darkly colored for the tea to change its appearance. I am going to hot brew the leftover black tea leaves in just a moment to see how it tastes.

>>19775536
Worthy pic for the next thread's OP. Maybe you can dilute the soda next time? On this topic, do you have any heicha and seltzer/mineral water at home by chance? I had some grape-flavored, slightly sweet mineral water that had slushed up yesterday, and since I had some remaining heicha that I infused at the time, spontaneously combined them (after cooling). Ended up being quite refreshing, so maybe you'd enjoy it too. I've got some coldbrew tea on hand too, so I'm thinking of making it again today.

>>19775536
>I am going to hot brew the leftover black tea leaves
The results were underwhelming. I accidentally over brewed the tea. The results are bitter, lightly fruity black overspent tea flavor on top of a background of cherry creme soda. The whole drink is course still a bright red 40 red. Interestingly the tea leaves never fully opened with cold brew but opened up much more with hot water. This is not usually a problem, I wonder if all the sugar affected the opening of the leaves? I still think you could make the combination work with the right brew parameters. At least in so much as combining liquid diabeetus and tea is ever a good idea.

I am ashamed to admit the Faygo Cotton Candy X milk oolong is surprisingly not that terrible. Because I have not drank it all yet I am considering adding an extra 7g of tea (for a total of 14g!) and topping off the quart jar with pop then waiting till tomorrow to see how it is. Think I should go for it? In any case I feel that if I drink any more artificial dyes and flavors today I am going to get turbo autism or something. Not a big pop drinker any more, guess I would not make the cut to be down with the clown.

>>19775676
Forgot pic, What kind of tea would Juggalos drink anyways?

>>19775647
>On this topic, do you have any heicha and seltzer/mineral water at home by chance?
One step ahead of you there. I also bought a couple bottles of plain sparkling mineral water to play around with. I even got some Jarritos (but I already drank them oops). This time I may try brewing in the original bottle so that I can keep the carbonation. Plain mineral water would be far less interesting without it.

>>19775676
>I am considering adding an extra 7g of tea (for a total of 14g!) and topping off the quart jar with pop then waiting till tomorrow to see how it is. Think I should go for it?
If you've got plenty to spare and want to mess around, why not? It's intriguing if nothing else. I just made a mixed tea drink myself. Smooth and tart. Usually prefer my tea unadulterated, but it's been warm out, so this is refreshing.

>>19775676
Try adding some milk to it :P

>>19775536
lol

Is it possible to make alcoholic tea? Would I die if I soaked a bunch of tea in Everclear, strained it, and drank it?

>>19775930
i guess you'd call that a tea tincture. there's no reason why you can't, but i dunno if it'd taste any good. give it a try

>>19775943
I've had a tea tincture at a party once. I think it was made with gunpowder? wasn't bad

>>19775943
Yeah but would the tannins or whatever make me sick?

>>19775930
>Is it possible to make alcoholic tea?
Sure.fermenting kombucha is just alcohol tea with an extra step at the end (bacteria converting the alcohol to yeast)
No idea how tea tastes when extracted in alcohol. I would probably just brew stong tea concentrate in water and then add everclear to your desired alcohol content.

>>19775957
I dunno, you might be able to see if there is a study analyzing the content of tea brewed with water vs water and alcohol but its probably just easier to do this
>>19775962

>>19775957
seems that in general ethanol is less effective at tannin extraction than water. this is for coco coir but i'd assume tea is similar
maybe a nice shou mei in vodka would be good

God i love it when /tea/ actually pulls papers to figure shit like this out

>>19775962
Ok but kombucha is disgusting SJW vinegar water.
I’m just gonna chuck a bunch of random teabags from the cupboard into a big jar of Everclear, seal it up tight, and leave it in the pantry for a week. I think it may be an terrible idea

What type of tea would pair well with thie?

>>19776054
fu brick

>>19776045
If you have an Asian market or something like a HomeGoods nearby, getting some whole leaf tea may be more worthy for infusion in alcohol than bagged stuff in my opinion.

>>19776054
Roasted tiegyuanyin

>>19776054
Shou pu'er. Alternatively, I second a fu brick/cheap heicha.

>>19776054
>>19776073
I could actually see myself doing this, maybe I will. I don't have any soda though, but I just had an unholy desire for fu simmered in rootbeer.

>>19776045
Shitty mass produced grocery store kombucha is. Big difference between that and the shit I'm making with (half) decent puers. I've had a few theorycrafted recipes on bottle finished cocktails using a kombucha base that I need to finally try. Just preserved some blackberries in sugar+cask strength bourbon so I may bottle some up tonight to see how proofing up booch tastes.

>>19776240
>Shitty mass produced grocery store kombucha is.
Whats your beef with store bought kombucha? it has always tasted fine to me. I am sure its cheaper to make your own but I drink it so sporadically I can't be bothered to maintain a scoby.

>>19776376
They use shitty tea and they're constantly fermenting. If you're trying to avoid that kombucha "vinegar" taste controlling how long off bottling before you drink them is the way to go. You can have sweet flavorful effervescent kombucha without the acetic acid bite. I don't particularly mind that bite, but when its washing out the flavors from a second ferment its not ideal.

>>19772144
Looks good mate. How do the boveda packs work out for you?
>>19773731
This what I'm talking about. Love coins.
>>19774632
Beautiful finish, nice thick glaze. That will be no problem to clean. I like the extra little vertical walls. Bit easier to hold versus something that's uniformly curved.
>>19775482
Pretty much all hei cha has a tradition of being simmered. I've never done it myself, but if I had one, I would use a lovely percolator kettle like this.
>>19776023
I was going to object to all of this tincture as something good to drink, but I think I would give a shou mei tincture a try. Especially one with a good few years on it.

I once saw a middle aged black guy lose his shit over kombucha at a grocery store to the point that he was trespassed and escorted out by police. He bought a bottle thinking it was soda or something, took a sip, realized it was flavored vinegar and asked for a refund. When customer service said no we can’t offer refunds because you don’t like the taste of something he lost it and started screaming and hollering about cracka ass niggas selling him bitch ass motherfuckin vinegar in a soda bottle to trick real niggas like himself out of they dolla. He ranted for a good 20 minutes about racism and how white people intentionally take wealth from the black community with shit like faggot ass fake soda vinegar. That was more than a decade ago and if it happened now I’m sure he would have been given an apology, a full refund, and a $100 gift certificate to the store

>>19776449
> How do the boveda packs work out for you?
They work pretty well, im too lazy to recharge them so i buy 2 58% 320 gram packs a year when i see them cheap on ebay. I typically open one at the start of winter and it gets through it fine. I open the cooler everyday, usually multiple times so i think that 6 months or so is reasonable longevity. I don't even really need them in the summer because the humidity is relatively high anyways. Its of course easier when the cooler is mostly full of tea to keep the humidity up.

Anybody tried stuff from wuyi origin? This da hong pao is tempting me.
https://www.wuyiorigin.com/collections/wulong/products/da-hong-pao-blended-%E6%8B%BC%E9%85%8D%E5%A4%A7%E7%BA%A2%E8%A2%8D-2023

>>19776419
If you don't want acid why not just use yeast? You can even buy bubbly low alcohol short fermenting yeasts if that is what you are looking for. There are also plenty of traditional wild fermented effervescent drinks. The SCOBY by definition includes acid producing bacteria. I don't think I would consider Kombucha without an acidic bite Kombucha.

>>19773985
>https://kingteaset.com/..
Thanks for the reminder anon.
They even have the Feng Jia Qu Jiang Bao Pian I have been looking to try.
https://kingteaset.com/products/feng-jia-qu-jiang-bao-pian-thin-slice-hunan-anhua-black-tea-200g-w-t-tin-free-shipping

>>19776662
Theres a big difference in the bite between a two week bottle ferment and a six month one. The guy was asking about alcoholic tea. Yeasts in the scoby converts sugar to ethanol, acetic acid bacteria turns ethanol to acetic acid. If you're after wine, don't let it turn to vinegar. If you're after vinegar go nuts. I've got a half growler from 2021 I'm afraid to open.

>>19776714
>I've got a half growler from 2021 I'm afraid to open.
That sounds really cool. Maybe if it's really potent (and not moldy), you could use it as an ingredient in other dishes. I like how various anons have quiet tea-related 'projects' on hand. Makes it more fun when we share them after so long.

>>19776706
>Feng Jia Qu Jiang Bao Pian
After years of drinking tea names like this still make me wonder if it's a shitpost for a second

>leave early grey steeping for 1-2 minutes too long
>bitterness stab my throat
>accidentally leave chinese tea steeping for like 10 minutes
>completely fine

>>19776662
Also to add on, if you're just after acidic drinking vinegar why waste tea? They've got sipping vinegar on the shelf now or make a shrub.
>>19776727
Less of a project, more of a growler I moved and forgot about lol. I'm worried theres so much gas built up by now the bottle may break when I pop it. Its been sitting in a ~75f room the whole time. I'm going to wait until we get down to freezing and toss it outside for a bit to settle down.

anyone like drinking this stuff? it's so good...

>>19776742
>After years of drinking tea names like this still make me wonder if it's a shitpost for a second
I only remember that type tea by appearance, I just copy pasted the name. Apparently that translates into phoenix tea Qujiang thin slices. The "phoenix tea" part is probably just branding.

>>19776770
>if you're just after acidic drinking vinegar why waste tea?
Why make Kombucha if you don't want Kombucha? Acid producing bacteria species are defining fermentors in Kombucha. You can make and drink want you want but trying to define Kombucha as non acidic is wrong.

>>19776884
Because I like the taste of tea and enjoy how particular ones present after active fermentation? Letting those teas overferment into vinegar overpowers what I enjoy about those teas? Less acidic=/=non acidic. If you want to suckle at the teet of bigbucha don't let me stop (you). The crock I have going now is about a month old. Plenty acidic. Give it a shot of raspberry cheung for some bottle fuel and it'll be great in about a week.

>>19771929
Bunch of tea from YS, FL, ITW.

>>19771929
My sheng puerhs.

>>19771929
Some hei cha and tangerine teas.

>>19777106
Nice,
>>19777114
What do you think of that golden pig fu brick? Ive had pretty good luck with that factory

>>19777299
I haven't tried it yet. I'm a noob in tasting the Liu bao/fu/zhang/qian liang/tian Dian side of hei chas. I need to drink the sample that I have. Do you have any recommendations on how to brew them?

>>19777439
Fu brick usually isint too fussy. If the compression is really strong try to separate it into 2-3 smaller layers instead of just putting a big thick chunk in. Basically treat it like you are brewing puer and then adjust the length of infusions to taste. Watch for when the chunks open up and keep that brew short. The more chopped up the leaves are the faster they will brew once they start to open up. Once the flavor starts to drop off you can usually push the infusion lengths pretty aggressively. Liubao tends to infuse a little faster, especially if its lots of buds instead of larger leaves.
Also consider simmering some, amnd maybe making butter tea. Bring 1.25 litres of water to boil in a pot on the stove, reduce heat to a simmer, add ~7g of tea, cover and simmer on low for about 20 minutes. If you want to get the full experience put a mugs worth of the boiled tea in the blender, toss it a pat of butter and give it a quick blend to whip it up. Basically makes tibetan butter tea, salted butter is fine, if you have unsalted butter and a tiny pich of salt, tiny, even less then you are thinking.

>>19777439
>Do you have any recommendations on how to brew them?
Not same anon but most of them are pretty flexible I typically brew all mine gongfu but a lot of heicha will work well grampa style, simmered, or even western style if you really want. A lot of them are also on the low end of bitterness and therefore are not as finicky with brew times or ratios, if anything you may want to be careful not to underleaf or underbrew the teas. Since you are already familiar with puerh I doubt you will have trouble with properly breaking up tea bricks.

Should I buy it? 130 ml black yixing clay pot
costs 105 bucks

I prefer tea bags to loose tea. anyone else?

>>19777967
no

>>19777967
I'd much rather teabag you than drink tea bag tea.

>>19777967
No, but I'll bite: why?

>>19777967
There simply isn’t a contest if you have nostrils.

Anyone here make panty tea?

>>19762875
Whats the best way to clean a gaiwan? I got some cheap, porcelain(?) one that's white. It stains awfully whenever I make puer and sometimes black tea. Rubbing it with a towel doesn't work too well and there are always some stubborn stains that I find you have to scratch out but its really arduous to do that.

>>19778151
Keep the stains just hot water and towel.

>>19778151
is that normal? none of my porcelain stains badly it just rubs right off with a bit of water.

>>19778151
Melamine sponge?

>>19778151
The best way is to stop caring

>>19777967
Even if you prefer tea bags, stuffing good quality loose leaf into an empty tea bag is going to be better than 95% of pre-packaged teabags.

Been getting into tea through my local tea shop for the past few months (really lucky to have a good one in my out-there town) and just tried the lapsang souchang he ordered in for me to try. After two cups I'm pretty sure this will be my daily sip for some time, and the pricing is more than reasonable.
Thanks for the advice bros.

At long last my 2009 qian liang slice. I'm not very experienced with hei cha, so this is an interesting experience. Brewing it in my gaiwan, the flavor is light and subtle. It's strongest flavor is a slight wet aged note that's very pleasant. There's even a gentle sweetness that reminds me of an aged shou mei. I want to try simmering it next and really wring the flavor out of it. I'll update again another day when I'm more acquainted with it.
I took a video showing the rattling seed pod, but my mpv scripts aren't working so I couldn't make a snippet. I'll try to figure it out and post it later.

>>19778440
Glad you like it. You can push that qian liang pretty hard if you want, I think I used ~9g/100ml with longer than typical steep times when I last drank it.

>>19778416
nice, can't go wrong with a good lapsang.

>>19778416
>lapsang souchang
Nice, that was my entry into tea as well. I need to buy more sometime.

>>19777580
From where? YS?

>>19778151
Those magic eraser things take care of tea stains really well

>>19778440
That's a big dense hunk of tea eh?

>>19778562
a specialized tea shop in Finland

>>19762875
is it alright if I keep the teabag in my cup and keep sipping an increasingly darker tea? I just feel like it's a waste to steep my tea for a few seconds like the instructions say

>>19778440
Does this cake have an odd visual texture, or is the pic just a little grainy? Reminds me of Van Gogh's Starry Night.
>There's even a gentle sweetness that reminds me of an aged shou mei.
How comfy, sounds pleasant. Have you considered another session with less leaf in a gaiwan? I usually have my heicha that way, and find I get a cleaner, softer aroma balance, so it could be a neat way to test it some more even if you prefer it simmered.

>>19778649
You can do what you want; there aren't really any hard rules. The reason you may wish to not leave it for too long is because it will over-infuse and become more bitter, astringent, and/or sour. This may taste unpleasant and even cause stomach upset if made too harsh. You may be able to get away with two cups if you keep it aside with a shorter infusion. Alternatively, you could coldbrew with the teabags, which would be very smooth and likely much gentler.
>>19778151
I pour in some warm water from my kettle into all vessels, and pour off into a secondary container. They're left clean for future use every time, with all debris cleared. You don't need to break out anything special.

Ordered pic related along with some darjeeling. At the amount of tea I drink I'm probably not going to have to buy any more tea for quite a while.

>>19778679
Nice, should be fun, love me some mengku puer

>>19778642
Buying yixing is really a minefield, it's impossible for me as an amateur to evalate a pot from a vendor im not familiar with based on pictures. Sorry i cant be more helpful. There is some reasonably good info about buying yixing in the pastebin that has been contributed by a few more knowledgeable posters.

>>19778642
I should add in that price range i can recommended essence of tea and mud and leaves as two vendors whos pots are a known quantity and generally considered solid.

>>19778650
they're rolled into a huge log and sliced i believe. so the leaves are packed a bit differently.

You fags are more insufferable than the coffee dickheads.

>>19778440
What is the reason for pu-erhs international success and heicha's obscurity?km4nj

>>19778151
Wash all glazed ceramics with regular dishwashing soap (handwash only) after each and every use. Boiling water cleans nothing. I know not whether it's a hygienic concern, but as far as staining goes, "washing" with only warm water is useless. For stubborn stains let the pot soak in half vinegar half water and/or baking soda and water mixture. As a last resort, sodium percarbonate, but that is an industrial chemical not to be ingested and you must know what you're doing, which at the moment you clearly don't.

>>19779198
BTW, you absolutely can put fully glazed ceramics in the dishwasher, it's just that with teaware some hand rubbing is usually required and areas like spouts and filters will just never get cleaned properly in there. Also, plenty of glazed teapots have unglazed undersides of lids and edges of the pot that touch them and I wouldn't out those in the dishwasher as they are porous and might absorb the scent of the detergent. That said, dishwashing doesn't do any irreversible damage even to unglazed pots, provided they aren't decorated with some fancy sensitive engravings or have wooden / bamboo / natural fiber parts.

>>19778468
Next time I'll use more material.
>>19778571
At six cents per gram it's easy to justify.
>>19778650
It's a sharp photo, I would say. It's just an unusual cake. I'm brewing about 6.5g for about 120 ml of water.
>>19779189
Puerh is better.

>>19779189
Puer became popular for a huge number of reasons, ripe tuos were first exported to france in the 80s and sold as a heath/ diet tea, so it's been known internationally for a long time. The fact that most puer traded through hong kong which became one of the worlds financial/trading hubs. The popularity exploded in the early 2000s with the chase after certain teas that were discussed on Chinese BBS and forums like the 88 bing. Puer has also reinvented itself half a dozen times in the last 50 years and the definition of what puer even is has changed to match new trends and consumer preferences.
I don't think stuff like fu brick was ever exported in any huge volumes, liubao exports were mostly limited to Malaysia for chinese tin miners and when the mines closed the demand collapsed so hard many merchants didn't even bother shipping it back to china when they couldn't sell it. The growing Chinese middle class with a larger interest in redscovering traditional domestic food products and crafts. The Chinese cultural emphasis on gifting expensive things also played a part along with the various puer bubbles helping to drive it popularity. Really it's a whole lot of different factors instead of one major driving cause. It doesn't hurt that it tastes really fucking good too

>>19778440
I figured out a webm of the loose seedpod. It's as compressed as the tea itself. Fortunately, the tea isn't quite as shitty as the vid.

You guys make hei cha sound pretty good and I'm really interested in trying it, but the fungus inoculation and general concept of the golden flowers triggers my autism so I've been hesitating. I want to rip the band-aid off and try some so that I can at least understand the style. Can someone recommend 1-2 samples that are worth trying on the order I'm about to place?

I already have my heart set on getting a sample of this
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2021-gao-jia-shan-how-awesome-hunan-fu-zhuan-tea?variant=39312660103367

I like fruity and malty flavors, primarily a fan of black tea. I also enjoy the fruitier and less floral white teas, including some aged pressed whites I've had. Chocolate flavor notes are hit or miss, sometimes they have a weird brightness to them that I find relatively off-putting, but sometimes it leads to greatness.

>>19779268
gotta get some liu bao, this one seems decent. I had a three cranes liu bao from them and enjoyed it very much. https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2018-three-cranes-2506-liu-bao-tea-in-basket?variant=39328645710023

>>19779255
lol nice

>>19779268
Dont worry too much about the fungus stuff. In my experience it doesn't have some sort of dramatic flavor ot make the brewed tea look weird or anything like that. It's just sort of there.
You should definitely try some tian jian, some of it can be pretty smokey but other are more mild in that respect. This one sounds good
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-tian-jian-tea/products/2010-cha-yu-lin-monkey-jian-tian-jian-hei-cha-tea
And this one is supposed to not be smokey at all if you prefer that
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-tian-jian-tea/products/2012-gao-jia-shan-wild-tian-jian-in-a-bamboo-basket
Also check the review on this and see if it appeals to you
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-qian-liang-and-shi-liang-tea/products/2012-gao-jia-shan-hua-zhuan-hunan-hei-cha-brick?variant=32907655086183
Probably wouldn't hurt to try some liubao if you want to hit the major hei cha notes
This first one has relatively clean storage
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2019-three-cranes-75117-high-mountain-liu-bao-tea
And this one is more old school in terms of longer storage in a humid environment in big baskets. Again go with what sounds more appealing to you based on the descriptions/reviews.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2014-three-cranes-45007-recipe-traditional-liu-bao-hei-cha-of-guangxi
Most hei cha is pretty easy to drink and laid back, relaxed tea. Yunnan sourcing has a pretty solid selection and is one of the better western facing vendors to buy it from imo. The only major thing he is missing is liu an basket tea but you can worry about that some other time.

>>19779071
What did he mean by this?

>>19779255
So spooky...are you gonna drink it?
>>19779268
If by fungus, you mean the "golden flowers" thing or whatever, I don't think it really impacts flavor. There are some alleged health benefits, but otherwise, it does little as far as I'm aware. Just imagine it like a visual flair, like how those hacks wrap steaks in gold leaf. As the other anons mentioned, both liu bao and tian jian are a must. You could get a fu brick too, I guess, but it'll likely be pretty different.

Is this one any good?
CNNP Zhong Cha 2014 Dark Tea Brick 8312 Liupao Tea Hey Cha Liu Bao 400g https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/zhong-cha-2014-dark-tea-brick-8312-liupao-tea-hey-cha-liu-bao-400g

>>19779721
I haven't tried it myself but the cofco/zongcha/cnnp brand makes good liubao, it has a few years of age on it (2011 production pressed in 2014) and the price is reasonable. It should be a pretty enjoyable yea.

I'm a huge newfag to teas, but does anyone have some suggestions for pu'ers and oolongs that are similar to silver needle or tieguanyin in taste? I've tried a few different varieties but those ones are by far my favorite; I really like this one oolong from a local teastore that's got the same kind of rich and slightly sour flavor as tieguanyin, but is almost a bit more sweet, I guess?

I've been thinking about getting a sampler from Yunnan Sourcing for some oolongs and pu'ers, since even though I love drinking it and the meditative feeling of preparation, i still feel way in over my head reading through all of the recommendations and reviews in the thread and seeing the huge amount of variety there is

>>19779856
Puerh doesn't really taste much like oolong or white in my opinion, it's a broad category but has a taste to itself.
The hairy crab oolong on YS is a popular choice.

>>19779856
>I'm a huge newfag to teas, but does anyone have some suggestions for pu'ers and oolongs that are similar to silver needle or tieguanyin in taste?
If oolong, you might find some Wuyi oolongs worth getting into. I wouldn't compare pu'er to oolongs, as they're categorically fairly different, and I think it'd be more enjoyable to treat them as such.
>i still feel way in over my head reading through all of the recommendations and reviews in the thread and seeing the huge amount of variety there is
One thing I'd encourage you to consider is to let yourself explore more. Some of my favorite teas are ones I discovered and chose to buy on my own. Anons here can have great advice and feedback, so it's nice to ask around, but part of the fun is exploring on your own a little. Best to not stress about min-maxing or perfecting an order too much. You can see however many reviews you want, but everyone has different perceptions of taste and aroma, so you have to take them with a grain of salt anyway.

Really, don't stress over picks too much and just enjoy some nice tea. Your tastes and understanding will grow in time.

>>19779856
Yeah there is a kinda overwhelming amout of tea out there eh.
Anyway you might enjoy aged/pressed whites.
For puer i just finished off a cake of this, its very sweet, and its not particularly bitter, definitely worth sampling just to try it out.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/xiaguan-tea-factory-1/products/2019-xiaguan-ma-hei-gong-she-yi-wu-mountain-raw-pu-erh-tea?variant=29491347062887
As far as puer goes you want to look towards younger cakes that are described as floral, sweet, fruity.
Look at the aged white teas.
I know what that flavor your are talking about in oolongs is but im not a huge oolong drinker.
As far as YS goes i would try some Anxi oolongs, thats the region where tyeguanyin is made so i think those teas will be the most similar.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/anxi-oolong-tea-spring-2023
Farmer leaf has free shipping over $30 and some reasonably priced samples.
This is a nicer puer, very citrusy with a bit of that green bean gree tea taste.
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/collections/yunnan-pu-erh-tea/products/spring-2023-fa-zhan-he
And this is very sweet and quite enjoyable
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/collections/yunnan-pu-erh-tea/products/spring-2023-bangwai-small-trees
Throw in some pressed white tea, maybe a sample of one of his older cakes (the 2013 naka sound good) if it appeals to you and you will be sitting pretty.

Just dropped another $100 on Harney and Sons

Last time I ordered that much from them was a year and a half ago and went through most of a 1lb bag of genmaicha. I kinda wondered why it wasn't tasting as good as it used to, it's probably at the end of its shelf life at this point.

Went through the 4oz Paris blend as well which was excellent, probably getting the pound bag this time. Really recommend that blend from them in particular if you're a fan of Earl Grey. Darjeeling was pretty good too.

Thanks for reading my blog

its just bitter water.
That's all black tea is. I followed the rules and everything and it just tastes like biter water. There is no way the Brits helped an entire country get addicted to opium just to get something which just makes bitter water. Its not unpleasant by any means however is this just how its supposed to taste?

>>19780039
Ah, alright, that makes sense, I haven't really tried any Pu'ers but I was wondering if there were any with a similar flavor to oolongs, I get what you're talking about though. Suppose I'll just have to try some Pu'ers out and really see for myself! I'll look into hairy crab though since another anon linked a sampler that has some of that in the collection.
>>19780070
>If oolong, you might find some Wuyi oolongs worth getting into. I wouldn't compare pu'er to oolongs, as they're categorically fairly different, and I think it'd be more enjoyable to treat them as such.
Ah alright, I might see if there's any Wuyi ones I like then, that's also where Da Hong Pao comes from, right? If so then that's perfect since I was already thinking about trying some of that. Also thanks for the advice on not stressing about it though, anon, I suppose I've just been pretty overwhelmed with the amount of choices there are while not knowing much, which is why I've been inclined to think about getting some samplers.
>>19780077
Yeah it's definitely a bit intimidating to get into haha, there's so many more varieties and different regions for it than I thought. Thank you for the suggestions and links though, I appreciate it! I might try that Anxi sampler since it seems to have some of the hairy crab oolong that another anon brought up, I think I might try out that xiaguan pu'er. The 25g sample is pretty cheap so it definitely won't hurt to pick it up if i'm already gonna place an order on YS.

thanks to all of u guys for the suggestions and recommendations, I really appreciate all of the advice as I'm trying to get a better understanding of tea!

>>19780349
>hairy crab
i remembered i had a sample of it around and am having it, it's quite nice, vegetal and sweet and not so much floral.

>Da Hong Pao
enjoyed this one quite a bit, it's like cooked chocolate biscuit or something.
https://yunnansourcing.com/en-gb/products/wild-da-hong-pao-rock-oolong-tea-from-wu-yi-shan

>>19780303
What kind of black tea is it? If it's bottom-of-the-barrel crap, then there's a reason why the Brits drown it in milk and sugar to make it palatable.

>just spend $46 on a pound of matcha iri genmaicha

Probably way too much for genmaicha but I've heard people rave about higher grade genmaicha so maybe it'll be good

>>19780444
>>19780444
>>19780444
>>19780444

>>19780303
Bagged or whole loose tea? What kind, and is it old? How did you prepare it?