/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>19951089
Ironically CSH's direct to consumer sales business is probably a much smaller operation then w2t

>>19951096
I guess this makes sense considering the western market is probably just a tiny fraction of their customer base
it's always nice to have a direct to consumer site for a pu-erh brand though. I'm a little surprised that they even bothered since their whole brand image and marketing is far away from what most westerners seem to go for (boutique stores with more westernized product names, wrappers and descriptions)

>>19951092
Wearing gloves but no socks is a fucking chinese power move.

>>19951182
You think those gloves are sanitary?

>>19951116
Lots of the puerh factories are trying to move to a more direct to consumer model, the logistics is obviously more expensive but their distributors probably pay less then half of msrp when buying in bulk.

>>19951201
sounds good for the consumer, I hope we see more of that

>>19949400
My life's been slowing down I have more free time then ever, but I've been depressed. There's not much I can do just have to take things a day at a time. I try and make routines but they fall apart like this project.

>>19951182
are these pictures from a video or something?

>>19951299
Ye.
https://youtu.be/xvgTBRevrGA

>>19951415
thanks, i'm surprised i missed that one.

God i love it when they steam the tea and then squeeze it in a cloth bag

Anons, I know absolutely nothing about tea and I need your help. My sister would like a loose leaf green tea for Christmas and I'd like to get her something fairly nice. What sort of green teas would you reccomend? I've looked at the links in your pastebin but this stuff is all Greek to me. I know nothing about quality or what the difference is between pearls and buds and leaves. I've drank tea maybe 4 times in my entire life.

>>19951494
you have to get puerh, from china, from farmer leaf, go to his webzone

get her the most expensive one at the supermarket, make sure there's no dust na the top of the box

>>19951494
Does she like Chinese style green tea or Japanese style green tea?

If you or her don't know the difference, then it's probably Japanese. Go to one of the Japanese retailers in the pastebin like O-Cha and get her anything from the looseleaf section. If it's Chinese, go to one of the Chinese retailers like Yunnan Sourcing and get her something from the green tea section. Regardless of where you go to, try to get things harvested from this year. Green tea doesn't age well like other kinds of tea and can become stale if it's old.

>>19951494
Since you need to get it presumably in time for Christmas you should find a seller on your country, shipping from China is unpredictable at normal times and at this time of the year it’s basically hopeless that it will arrive in a month. I would find somewhere which will ship from your home country/nearby country, preferably with quality well attested, and then buy a few popular varieties (by most number of reviews not review rating), which will allow you to minimize risk and increase novelty.
If you’re in the US you could order from the Yunnan Sourcing (very reputable company) US site. Some popular green teas from there include
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/green-tea-spring-2023/products/imperial-grade-pure-bud-bi-luo-chun-green-tea
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/green-tea-spring-2023/products/premium-grade-dragon-well-tea-from-hangzhou-long-jing-tea
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/green-tea-spring-2023/products/first-flush-mao-feng-yunnan-green-tea

>>19951217
>sounds good for the consumer, I hope we see more of that
Its not all good, some of the big factories such as dayi have supposedly been pushing aggressive "minimum advertised price" polices on their distributors and will cut off the supply to vendors who do not comply. This typically means higher prices for end customers as distributors are no longer in competition with one another to sell at the lowest price. Western customers get affected even worse because we don't get to barter a lower in person cash price like mainland China buyers sometimes can. Companies taking more control over their supply chain and pushing direct to customer sales can theoretically lead to lower prices especially when smaller companies who need to compete on price do it but when large dominant brands do it it is often just serves to increase their profit margins. Big dominant brands often know customers wont stop buying them even if they don't drop prices whereas small brands have more competition.

An real example of this is that with video games (at least as of 5-6 years ago, I have not kept up) the physical release was often cheaper then the digital one despite costing more to make and distribute because stores need to move the physical inventory they paid for and beat out other sellers but it costs next to nothing for a publisher to "warehouse" their digital copies nor do they have to compete with the secondary market as directly. Back when I still played modern games (again years ago) it was not uncommon to see that the sale prices on steam or on the consoles digital storefronts for AAA games were around the same as the everyday low price for NIB physical copies from Amazon or other big retailers. In theory digital game distribution could have lowered the price of AAA games but in practice (at least at the time) it did not. Indie games on the other hand benefited because it would have been cost prohibitive to launch the games on physical copes.

>>19951494
>>19951536
Can recommend O-cha as well for Japanese greens, I enjoyed this especially.
https://www.o-cha.com/loose-leaf-green-tea/sencha/shizuoka-sencha-mio.html
I brewed it 6g/300mL at 66 degrees (celcius) for 75 seconds, then 75 degrees for 45 seconds, then 90 degrees for 90 seconds. You can ignore these notes if your sister is into brewing tea, they're not really conventional anyway.

If you're not sure if you should get Japanese or Chinese green tea, you could also perhaps get both. Any of the teas linked here >>19951572 are good. It's also, in my opinion, totally fine to ignore the more premium tea. We're deep into tea autist terrority, pretty much everything that's called "cheap" tea here is almost always actually a very good product. Cheaper Chinese green tea especially is usually quite good, nothing mentioned here is subpar in terms of flavor. Usually the more expensive stuff is either from a famous region, or has a specific quality or taste that is rare or desirable for whatever reason. If you just want to drink really good tea you can do so without spending much money at all.

>>19937573
>has anyone found a cheap easy gaiwan on aliexpress that could be used similarly to a shiboridashi?
It's not Aliexpress, but try looking at Japanese shopping sites like Mercari or Rakuten.

For example, this houhin on Mercari is selling for $15 USD with estimated shipping to the US being around $15-20.
https://buyee.jp/mercari/item/m30755648727

A porcelain shiboridashi with a handle for around $16.
https://buyee.jp/mercari/item/m84208939270

>>19951182
If you think this is bad, this is nothing compared to what I have witnessed as a young man working in U.S. agriculture. Holy shit. Let's just say that salad is no longer something I'm willing to eat

2021 coyote, standard menghai. nothing to write home about.

I think I have that Bada white from Chawangshop people were talking about in the last thread. I will have to try it gain sometime. It was good last time I had it.

>>19951291
>My life's been slowing down I have more free time then ever, but I've been depressed. There's not much I can do just have to take things a day at a time. I try and make routines but they fall apart like this project.
I know the feeling. Got real burned out during grad school and now that I am done I am having a hard time picking up the pieces. After being so frantically busy and stressed out all of the time I am afraid of committing to anything and feel disillusioned with life and unmotivated. Still I need to push forward and get my career going so I can buy irresponsible amounts of tea. That Lao Ban Zhang I want to try ain't gonna pay for itself!
Hang in there, you're not alone tea friend.

>>19952204
>Got real burned out during grad school and now that I am done I am having a hard time picking up the pieces.
The first year after I finally got my masters sucked so much.
Suddenly the thing I worked so hard for ended and I had nothing to fill the void.
Same thing happened when I ended online gaming.
It will suck for a while but you will find something.

>9 fucking days but my FL samples finally left Shanghai
I will be lesbian soon!

>>19951291
If you're depressed it's likely due to missing something in your life. I suggest touching grass and or adopting or sheltering an animal (it's like adopting, but better)
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/puer-tea-yunnan-meng-hai-batch-7562-aged-tree-ripe-pu-er-made-by-2008-year-material-shu-pu-er-250g
Is this white tea? I guess it doesn't matter since it's only available from Russia and there's an embargo
I'm probably going to grab pic related

>>19952144
Would be nice to hear your notes. The loose version of it is my absolute favorite white. Don't have a lot, so I seldom drink it, but I imagine the cake productions are also good. I kind of want to buy more someday, but it's a little annoying that the price is notably higher.

>>19951968
You found out about the live chickens being pulverized and sprayed as fertilizer?

>>19952554
it's raw puerh. haven't heard of the factory
cool selection, let us know what you think of them

>>19951494
get something from a local specialist tea site. make sure it's 2023 harvest. longjing / dragon well is the most popular Chinese green tea, for Japanese I would get gyokuro because it's more in-season now, but sencha is fine too

>>19952513
supposedly they got more black friday orders than they expected, which is why processing took so long

>>19952204
>>19952554
I have a plan, but it's kinda out of my control and I just have to wait. In the mean time I basically just gotta cope. I have been touching grass it really does help, but the suns not always out. Drinking tea also helps, but eventually I have to stop and go to bed.
I'm planning on having a walk every day, but who knows if I will stick to it.
Tomorrow will be a big day for me actually.
I've started playing celeste to help the time pass. I'm up to the b sides now.

>>19952478
>The first year after I finally got my masters sucked so much.
I'm in that stage of my life now too lmao, got my MA this year. College has not prepared me for the realities of how to actually start a career, the clear goal and structure is gone and I'm a bit lost. I hope I'll figure it out.
>>19952584
>>19952144
I should really try some highly recommended shou mei at some point. I've never been impressed by a white tea, I think they're too mild and not dynamic enough for me. But the closest I got to liking one was probably the moonlight white sample from Farmerleaf I got as a bonus

finally finished this bag of stale sencha that i opened a few months ago but forgot about..

I want some cooling tea but don't know what to get

I live in Hong Kong so I can basically get anything though

What should I get?

>>19953088
By cooling I mean cooling in the TCM sense

My body feels inflamed as fuck all the time and it sounds like I have the symptoms of excessive heat

>>19953088
Iced tea

>>19953095
How about chrysanthemum?

>>19953095
you're not chinese you larping faggot. you're a white man larping as chinese. how pathetic

>>19953101
>you're not chinese you larping faggot

Never claimed to be, retard. Hong Kong has a massive expat population

>>19953105
why stop there? get the chinese outfit, fake ponytail and buck teeth in and get it over with

>>19953107
>anon thinks that not living in the city you were born means you want to be of that ethnicity

>>19953117
fuck off steven seagal larping faggot

>>19952513
Shipping for us? Mine took 4 to leave china for eu.

opinions on Harney & Sons?

just looked at the archive, people seem to have a high opinion of Harney & Sons when it's brought up.
i'm nu2T.
over the summer I bought loose leaf tins of Twinnings Early Grey and English Breakfast. Definitely prefer the latter.
Just bought tins of Vanilla Black, Irish Breakfast, and New England Breakfast from Harney.
Haven't tried the New England yet, but honestly wouldn't buy Vanilla or Irish Breakfast again. The former doesn't taste like tea to me, it tastes like flavored water (reminds me of herbal tea. not as offensive as most herbal teas i'm familiar with, and smells nice, but not my cuppa).
Irish breakfast is too malty for my taste.
also, i always steep the teas for like 4-6 minutes and drink it black (i.e., no added sugar or anything, idk if T-ers use the same terminology for that as coffee drinkers). except when i was sick i added fresh squeezed lemon to the Earl Grey (was actually pretty good, but too much of a pain in the ass to do every time i want tea). and i made London Fog for me and my friends, but the taste wasn't worth the effort.

these are my thoughts and experiences thus far with tea.

>>19953095
Snort some rhino dick powder you fucking retard

>>19953229
You need to try some quality Chinese black tea. It's hard to go back to Indian stuff after you experience the depth of chocolaty, malty and honey flavors you can get from simple unflavoured leaves.

>>19953200
Good entry point, much better than what I started with.

found a friendly local Yunnan sourcing reseller, so the prices are meh, but just in time for shipping sucks season

1 x 900ml magnet push teapot €24.90
1 x SILVER NEEDLES 2023, 50 gram €10.90
1 x WHITE PEONY 2023, 50 gram €10.90
1 x HAIRY CRAB 2023, 50 gram €8.90
1 x YUKANG YELLOW PREMIUM 2023, 50 gram €9.90
1 x JUJUBE IMPERIAL 2023, 50 gram €13.50
1 x MAO FENG BLACK 2023, 50 gram €9.50
1 x GOLDEN MELON 2005, 2 x 35 gram €13.50
1 x PREMIUM BLACK PEARL 2023, 50 gram €9.90

>>19953252
do i look for chinese sourced earl grey or breakfast tea? or is there a different blend (or whatever the proper name is) that is popularly associated with Chinese black tea?

educate me on the different macro-regions of tea.
i've only had black tea (i'm an espresso drinker, i figured that was the logical place to start) but i know that different tea growing regions produce different leaves for different blends, etc.

>>19953259
thank you

>>19953264
There are five names that consistently float around Chinese black tea - Keemun, Lapsang Souchong, Golden Monkey, Jin Junmei, and Dianhong. Honestly there is so much variation nowadays within these groups, especially Dianhong which was never really a style to begin with, that there is no point trying to match a name to a taste. If you want to get into Chinese black tea it's best to start with a sampler. There's a lot of sites in the pastebin but the only one which ships from China which has decent sample packs is Yunnan Sourcing. Alternatively you might be able to find a sample pack from a vendor in your country, if you want it faster (it will probably cost more).

God damn it fuck. They're going to finger my snooze.
>Your package delivery is postponed. Please visit the carrier's website
>2023-11-29 23:12 [Guangzhou International Exchange Bureau] return, note: return through security inspection

>>19953264
>or is there a different blend (or whatever the proper name is) that is popularly associated with Chinese black tea?
the good ones are generally sold unblended, blends are more of a western thing
I actually think ripe / shu pu-erh is much more similar to espresso than black tea is. it has a stronger body, similar satisfying creaminess and even some flavors check out
if you're willing to ship from China (which is usually your best bet for good quality and price), I can recc you some starter teas from KingteaMall:
>classically styled dianhong. strong, chocolaty, robust. perfect step-up for a daily black tea and all the newbies I brew it to love it
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2021-xiaguan-hong-cha-black-tea-300g-yunnan-fengqing-dianhong?_pos=1&_sid=1ede9e681&_ss=r
>dark bread with honey type flavor
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/collections/black-tea/products/2021-early-spring-jin-jun-mei-souchong-golden-eyebrow-a-black-tea-hong-cha-fujian-1
>some espresso-like ripe pu-erhs. the frist one even has the fruity acidity of good coffee if you brew it strong
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2018-laotongzhi-9978-cake-357g-puerh-ripe-tea-shou-cha?_pos=3&_sid=2ef99aed4&_ss=r
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2022-dayi-7562-brick-250g-puerh-shou-cha-ripe-tea?variant=43781056757990

>>19953088
Young raw puer is cooling in the tcm sense.
I think asian red ginseng is too

stop telling random people that drink earl grey to try ripe puer
you dykes are out of control

>>19953560
you WILL drink the spores.
besides, he's into espresso. if I'm gonna recommend ripe pu-erh to any newbie, it will be an espresso fan

>>19953574
The only thing ripe puer and espresso have in common is that they are both brown

>>19952993
>College has not prepared me for the realities of how to actually start a career
While I did learn a lot of necessary stuff during college I do begrudge all the stuff I had to do (and pay for!) that is of no practical benefit for my career and will likely just be forgotten. The fundamentals and real life application of concepts should have been emphasized more in my opinion. Now that it is over I am left feeling over educated and under trained. I am going into healthcare too so I have a lot of anxiety about making mistakes in practice. On the bright side once I get a job and my loans are paid off I should make good money.

>>19953584
>both thicc
>both BLACK
>both creamy
>both roasty / chocolaty
>both can have that fruity acidity
they're as similar as tea and coffee can get tbqh

>>19952993
>College has not prepared me for the realities of how to actually start a career
Sounds like shit college.
I'm from EU so it's probably different, but I wasn't lost because I wouldn't know what to do or anything.
I already was working at that time and still am at the same job its just that university was several levels harder than the job and I had suddenly bunch of free time because I had to ditch pretty much every hobby just to survive.

>>19953593
time for some ripe. i forgot which one i put in my jar so this has turned into a blind taste test.

>>19953607
drinking some Haiwan 9978 myself

>>19953639
so am i, i'm pretty sure.

>>19951291
>>19952204
I drink everyday to distract myself from life

>>19953712
Part of the reason I picked up tea is because I wanted a low effort low commitment hobby while I was busy during college. It was by mere chance that I discovered /tea/ while googling up some tea related question. I found this place cozy and have been here ever since.

>>19953560
Ripe puerh is what normies wish earl grey was.

>>19953639
>>19953689
Same actually.

>>19953347
>>19953423
thanks, guys, appreciate it

>>19953689
>>19953837
based
creamy as always

i am claiming this thread in the name of haiwan

>>19953881
>haiwan
For far far to long when I was new to puerh I thought they were called hawaiian. Must have been the sunflowers on their logo or something.

>>19953927
have you had this particular brick?

Recommend me my 1st ripe.
Something good, no dirt, no oil, no wood or whatever, just some good flavors.

>>19953123
triggered?

>>19953981
idk if you're going to avoid wood and earthiness completely
the classic recc for a baseline "good" ripe would be something from menghai tea factory. clean, no fishiness, their house taste tends towards pastry, cookie dough, dark chocolate and vanilla notes. but something that people often interpret as woody is also common
you could try the bo jun ripe if you have the money. some anons keep saying it tastes like black forest cake, sounds accessible

>>19953981
dayi 7562 brick. if you don't like it ripe just isn't your thing

>>19954031
>bo jun ripe
Link me, can't find it

How do you deal with the center of the cake (the indentation) that is impossible to break up?

>>19954189
One heroic session

>>19952144
>>19952584
Tea: 2022 Chawangpu White Tea Cake 200g
https://www.chawangshop.com/2022-chawangpu-white-tea-cake-200g.html

Dry leaves: strongly floral scented, mix of greenish brown and silver colored medium to small mostly intact leaves and buds, though you will break leaves when prying it apart, no foreign matter or large stems, good quality looking overall

Liquor: clear pale golden yellow to orange, buttery floral scent

Taste: floral and somewhat buttery taste, a bit of raw sugar cane and dry autumn leaves, soothing oily mouth feel, lightly astringent and drying tannic finish, low to moderate bitterness depending on how hard you push it, not lacking in caffeine

Conclusion: good Yunnan style leafy white tea, flavor much as you would expect from the type, if you like white tea I would expect you would enjoy this, pretty reasonably priced at 12¢/g, you can get cheaper white teas but this one seems perhaps a bit higher quality or more refined, still relatively affordable compared to many teas

P.S. Someday I need to learn some flower scents so I can stop calling everything “floral”. I need to improve my tasting vocabulary. Writing notes that make the teas all sound the same is kind of boring even if it is at least in part true.

So I make a lovely sleep tea consisting of about 1.5 tablespoons chamomile, 1 tablespoon of a very fruity rooibos and 0.5 tablespoon of a very deep foresty rooibos. I add 1 tablespoon of flower honey and 1 tablespoon of honeydew honey.

It's absolutely lovely and perfect in principle, but it feels like it's missing something. I've tried adding thyme, freshly squeezed lemon juice, valerian root, liquorice root, juniper berry, lemon balm and vanilla but none of these have really worked.

Any ideas?

>>19954404
based rooibos and chamomile enjoyer. maybe try a small pinch of lavendar?

>>19954404
lol thats a legit mix already. why lemon juice? id drink it without the lemon juice.

>>19954404
lol add kava or thc.

>>19954412
I love lavender unfortunately it actually messes with my sleep, makes me wake up at night.

>>19954422
Dunno, just an idea that occurred to me. It wasn't bad but the tea has a very musky character and its freshness didnt really fit.

>>19954422
I do. Some evenings I drink hash milk. In combination with this tea it really makes me sleep like a fucking log.

>have electric kettle
>just brew my tea in my ceramic mugs
>need a tea pot to brew more than half a liter because it's a bitch to clean my electric kettle

what do?
just buy a BIGGER mug?
my half a liter brews are handled by my minecraft mug
>pic related
or do you think my stanley giga nigga thermos could handle straight brewing

I noticed small cracks in my mugs, is it from pouring almost boiling water into them?

>>19953861
>>19953881
It's been the office drinker all week. It's nice. I wish it brewed a little darker.

>>19954189
The bing hole
I usually break it into 2-3 chunks and either brew them as is or try to separate them into two thinner layers and then brew them

>>19954397
Thanks anon
Those are pretty looking cakes compared to a lot of the cheaper white cakes i see.

>>19954397
>P.S. Someday I need to learn some flower scents so I can stop calling everything “floral”.
Its really hard, i have some familiarity with various floral scents but a lot of times in tea its just "floral" sometimes honeysuckle i guess but the floral notes i get in tea mostly remind me of synthetic floral notes that are used in perfumery that dont necessarily actually correspond to real flowers. Sometimes it overlaps with scents i would call papery, though again not necessarily the actual smell of a piece of printer paper.

>>19954404
I guess you could try tulsi/holy basil specifically the Rama or Indian type.

I'm usually into cheap shu but something about this one just aint right. Maybe it's the fact they had to discount it.

>>19955402
Fullchea discounts stuff very slightly all the time. It's fairly normal.
>>19954397
Somewhat similar to my own impressions; sounds like you enjoyed it. Off the top of my head, the loose one was more along the lines of sugar cane, nut milk-like flavor, maybe minty, bit of florality, light body, low astringency, etc. Just pretty leaf and a lovely note balance. I still have some if you or anyone wants me to check it again. Nice to see more anons are giving their Bada productions a shot anyway...underrated for sure.

Thanks for using my Chen Sheng Hao referral code. I used the coupon I received towards getting that Naka sheng that everyone else bought. Not very original but it should be fun to compare notes on it with other anons. I am curious to how it compares in price to quality vs other vendors like farmer leaf.

In case anyone else is interested and somehow missed it before you can use my referral link bellow to get $20 off an order. I think they are still doing Black Friday sales till the end of tomorrow as well.
https://i.refs.cc/i9DCkFen?smile_ref=eyJzbWlsZV9zb3VyY2UiOiJzbWlsZV91aSIsInNtaWxlX21lZGl1bSI6IiIsInNtaWxlX2NhbXBhaWduIjoicmVmZXJyYWxfcHJvZ3JhbSIsInNtaWxlX2N1c3RvbWVyX2lkIjoxOTIwNjcwMzk3fQ%3D%3D

>>19954867
>need a tea pot to brew more than half a liter because it's a bitch to clean my electric kettle
Just use any large container, a bowl or a big measuring cup or something, pour through a strainer into your thermos.

>>19955402
Most of the puer in the "other" category on fullchea is probably pretty lame.

>>19954916
>I wish it brewed a little darker
Toss an extra 3-4 grams in and see if that helps

>>19954867
>because it's a bitch to clean my electric kettle
Do you have to clean it often? It might be because you have hard water if you're using tapwater. If that's the case, try filtering it. A cheap $20 Brita filter pitcher works wonders. My last worksite had super hard tapwater. After getting a filter, I went from cleaning my kettle every few days to every few weeks.

>>19955340
Oohhh that is a great suggestion, yes, I haven't had that in years. I should get it again anyhow.

>>19955869
>Not very original but it should be fun to compare notes on it with other anons. I am curious to how it compares in price to quality vs other vendors like farmer leaf.
I was thinking the same thing. not that expensive for Naka dashu and the processing should surely be good as well. makes me wonder if a larger-scale operation like CSH can provide better value than all these boutique vendors, at least when it comes to more famous areas (farmerleaf seems to be good at offering tea from more obscure areas with good value)

>>19954188
https://kingteamall.com/products/2020-mengku-rongshi-bo-jun-wish-cake-500g-puerh-ripe-tea-shou-cha?_pos=1&_sid=20c7d3a32&_ss=r
I've shilled this cake on here before, if you're making a KTM order definitely grab a sample. It is a little bit "woody" imo but the wood note is minor compared to other ripes.

How do you (financially mindful) anons choose to manage your tea-related expenses? What makes a buy reasonable or otherwise worth it for you? The $/g value, how much you have in stock (and expect to use), etc? It's not like I'm hurting financially so much that I can't buy tea at all, but for some reason, I tend to feel like I need to validate my purchases when it comes to tea. I'm not sure why...maybe because it's a consumable luxury good? I already bought some new stuff to fill my humble stash, but want to buy more still because I want a fuller, more diverse selection. Just stuff I've been thinking about but can't resolve in my head.

>>19956346
$ per gram, special deals and do I expect to drink it sometime soon
For example, I decided not to put in a yeeontea order for now because I'm just not in the mood for wet stored stuff often enough to justify it right now
But I am very much in the mood for some young raws right now, so I didn't feel bad making two different orders of those this black friday

>>19956326
>$50 per 100g
What the fuck?

>>19956409
You are like a little baby, watch this

>>19956346
>It's not like I'm hurting financially so much that I can't buy tea at all, but for some reason, I tend to feel like I need to validate my purchases when it comes to tea
I'm the same position but need to validate ALL of my purchases.
I came to conclusion it's not healthy, I need to turn this part of my brain off so I just buy things(tea included) and try to nit think about it too much.
I can always work a bit more if I really have the nagging feeling that maybe I payed too much for something.

>>19956365
I see, that's sensible. In my case, my stash has become rather sparse, so I wanted to resupply as we go into this coming year during these sale periods. I seldom do so, and so I figured I'd make it an opportunity to buy from boutique vendors I usually avoid too. Ironically, Yeeon is the one I keep holding back from despite having my cart 100% ready already. Though, I feel like I'd definitely take my time sipping through it all...which is probably fine since a majority of it is pu'er, but still, it makes me think. I may regret not getting them in the end if I don't buy now. It's like that when I inevitably skip Spring greens season every year the same way too. I'm sure some other anons feel like this sometimes too.
>>19956419
I really do feel this too. I was even doing it for multiple purchases just last week. I think you're right that it isn't healthy, even if it's also important to not spend too frivolously. In fact, I'm thinking about it now, and I bet if I don't just buy it already, I'll end up thinking about it for a few hours/days until the sale is almost over. Just consider how much easier it would be to chill, get the product, and just use that time otherwise wasted on just making money or resting, drinking good tea, etc. Why do we do this to ourselves? I want to change that. I'm going to just make the order now so I can sleep soon.

It's done, final /tea/ order of the year made. Yeeon's stated shipping time estimates are kind of long, but I wonder what it will really end up being. In any case, let's all continue drinking good tea for a long time, /tea/ frens.

>>19956409
Yeah it's expensive, sample prices especially. The price for a whole cake is a more reasonable $0.38/gram.

>>19956428
>In fact, I'm thinking about it now, and I bet if I don't just buy it already, I'll end up thinking about it for a few hours/days until the sale is almost over.
Exactly. Just buy it and free your mind to do other things.
>Why do we do this to ourselves?
I don't know. I blame my mother that always judged me when I bought something as a kid.
Anyway I read in some book that you should treat yourself the way you would your dog or friends.
Would you buy it for your friend? Absolutely.
Do you like yourself less than your friends?
Same with your pets. I would buy anything to make my guy happy(RIP sweet prince) so why do you treat yourself worse than your pet?

>>19956537
I’m not sure if I would buy my friend a thousand dollars of teas year

>>19956554
I don't know your financial situation.
1k might a lot or a little.
For me, for example $40 isn't much money, but I still have troubles buying random cake.

>>19951092
My favorite tea is the Turkish tea.

>>19951183
LOL. Back when Taiwan still had nightmarkets, some vendors would wear those oven gloves while handling the food. They were always fucking filthy. They'd have years-old grease on the gloves.

>>19953105
>Hong Kong has a massive expat population
Sad that you would stay and support the CCP after the 2018 crackdown.

Honkers used to be a nice place. I haven't been back there in a decade now. Probably never will. :-(

>>19953374
They must have put the fentanyl in the wrong package.

>>19956346
My strike point is anywhere from .20 to .40 $/g. Especially if I know I like the tea. Even when I over spend I think of it like this, .50$ * 5g is $2.50. I can get half and hour to an hour of enjoyment a day at that price. I can't buy a good coffee for that price, I can't get a 20oz bottle of soda and I enjoy tea much more than either is those things. So while expensive, if you enjoy it, it's not an unreasonable expense unless you are doing multiple sessions a day with pricier leaves. The only thing is that yes buying a full cake can be expensive but if you know what you like and have people to tell you what the tea is like just slowly build up a supply.

>>19956755
It does feel very different when you break it down like that. I suppose I'm not even spending as much/g as others. I checked my recent orders, and the most expensive item by $/g was this, at just under $0.23/g (on sale): https://www.farmer-leaf.com/products/autumn-2023-jingmai-gushu?variant=44812927074491
$16/70g = ~$0.23 for what looks like really nice maocha. So, just $1.15 for a 5g session that I can spend my time leisurely enjoying over multiple infusions. What a perspective...

Can anyone recommend a beginner set or bundle for getting into Japanese green tea?

what if you make tea from random plants you find outside

>>19956838
https://nioteas.com/products/30-japanese-tea-samplers-with-a-free-kyusu?_pos=1&_fid=134203b02&_ss=c#red-kyusu-teapot_i1

I think I’ll get this right now before the sale is up. Good purchase?

>>19956864
DEATH

>>19955942
no it's just that it's bulky and doesn't have a wide opening
and I can't just splash it with water willy nilly because of the electrical connectors underneath

>>19955901
what shouldn't I use when it comes to heat resistance besides straight up plastic or cold glass?

>>19956818
I prefer oolongs so I've grown accustomed to paying more, but if you like black, green, or ripes you could probably pay a lot less than what I pay.

>>19956943
Why are FL oolongs so expensive?
$30 for a 70g pouch seems pretty steep.
You can get tgy for like a sixth of that.

>>19956864
Tasty times

>>19956346
>What makes a buy reasonable or otherwise worth it for you?
Particularly good price per gram
Sales on things I want
Things I expect to sell out but want
They were recommended to me
Getting unique teas that are hard to source
Occasionally just trying out new things
Stocking up on a tea I really like

On the flip side I tend to avoid teas that are
Clearly overpriced
Not on sale but I know they will go on sale

>I tend to feel like I need to validate my purchases when it comes to tea. I'm not sure why...maybe because it's a consumable luxury good?
At first I felt the same way but at this point I kinda just except it. I don't have many hobbies right now so most of my "fun money" goes to tea. May as well get something I will enjoy. It is prudent to be careful with money and budgeting but it is also good not let anxiety get in the way of enjoying the things you can truly afford. I cant keep my material possessions in the end and there are more important things in life besides. That all said I do probably err on the side of spending too much on tea.

Life is short, buy lots of tea, become a tea trader in your later years.
That's my plan, anyway.

>>19956943
>but if you like black, green, or ripes you could probably pay a lot less than what I pay
5 cent per gram ripe enjoyer here. can confirm ripe is enjoyable at a low price point

>>19957074
Oolongs are more labor intensive to make. I think William from FL goes to each tea farm and tries the tea and if they don't meet his standard he doesn't buy. So a very curated selection will typically be more expensive then a larger store.

What temperature controlled kettle are you using? Should I order one from China or just buy one here that is intended for coffee?

>>19957151
>What temperature controlled kettle are you using?
I use this:
OXO Brew Gooseneck Electric Kettle
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Adjustable-Temperature-Electric-Pour-Over/dp/B074KHPS7F
>Should I order one from China or just buy one here that is intended for coffee?
Just garb one with good reviews. You don't need one sold for tea.

>>19957169
I seems these pour-over kettles always have a very high and narrow shape. I feel like the water would break into droplets and splash everywhere when pouring into a gaiwan, is that true?

>>19957192
No, at least not at normal pouring heights. I have been using that exact kettle with a gaiwan for years.

>>19957274
good to know, thanks. I was just a bit concerned since a pourover setup with mug and filter is much higher than a gaiwan standing directly on the table.

>>19957169
I also got this, great kettle and heats pretty fast. However, don't worry too much about the kettle for ~5 years before I was boiling water on a stove top kettle and pouring it into a thermos to keep warm. The only reason I upgraded was due to a sale and that I wanted something closer than the stove. Pic is the thermos.

>>19957300
not that anon but is it fine to pour basically boiling water into a Stanley thermos? it won't be damaged?

>>19957314
I've been doing it for a long time, no problems. The inside is some type of stainless and then vacuum and then an outside of enamel coated steel. Sure if it was freezing cold it might be a problem, but the only issue was that if I left it sealed too long, the pressure would build up and make it hard to open. But maybe I'm an outlier, so you could warm it up like a thin teapot if you were worried.

>>19957314
Definitely no problem.
>>19957332
You should always heat it up, then pour out the "rinse", then pour in your boiling water.

Some anon mentioned possible Christmas FL sale.
Another few % off or something more?

>>19957352
I used to do that at first, not to protect it but so I wouldn't loose too much heat, but I found that the 10 degree loss wasn't too much of a big deal and stopped doing it pretty early. Again probably should do it, but haven't had problems yet.

I suddenly want to drink mimisaka bancha. Where would I find some?

>>19957354
And he said he might actually add some new teas from the autumn harvest, from Lao man e or naka

>>19957354
Didn't talked about discount just adding some teas for christmas. It's not on the latest stream but the previous one if you want to check it out.

>>19956456
Damn i wish i had more of those bricks

>>19956903
Modt things should work, cold glass is the biggest one to look out for

Where can I get OP’s feet tea but handled by a young woman haha

>>19957520
>For Christmas you can … give William another red envelope!!!
Wow!!!

>>19957520
didn't they do a sale last chrismas?

>>19957683
You csn get the Chinese girl boob sweat tea

Why did nobody try zhu tang or tang fang Liang zi?

>be me
>be over 98 years old
>live outside in a run down unheated trailer
>house overflowing with heicha
>multiple sheds full too
>just going about my daily routine
>reading news headlines on some random forum
>”missing hoarder found dead under pile of tea…”
>”…coroner noted extensive skeletal fluorosis…”
>“… likely cause of death is dehydration”
>look closely at the article’s pictures
>instantly recognize a piece of broken teaware
>”hey doesn't that belong to someone on /tea/?”
>frantically try to contact anons next of kin
>gotta be fast to beat the other /tea/ anons
>sweat dripping down my brow as the heir picks up
>tell them that I’m one of anons old friends
>say that I’d like to buy anons stuff
>my hands are shaking as I speak
>”you really want that trash?” they start but cut off quickly
>”actually, we were hoping to sell the property”
>it’s on the other side of the country
>also condemned
>no matter, I still need it
>”yes yes, I’ll take it all” I blurt out ecstatically
>feel a wave of relief when they agree
>get a fantastic deal on anons former estate
>”suckers” I think, they didn’t know what they had
>now proud owner of TWO derelict houses full of moldy tea
>finally get back to business
>return to browsing 4chan
>sip tea directly out of my xishi yixing pot
>be happy

>>19956864
It's actually pretty amazing how tasty tea leaves are compared to other tree leaves. Basically, you're lucky if some random leaf happens to taste like nothing instead of a mouth of awful

>>19957815
The day that old Californian tea hoarder dies, you'll have ever puer lesbian in America going there and fight for the treasure.

This might sound kind of pathetic but tea helped save my life. I got into drinking tea when I was suicidal and it gave me something to look forward to every day.

>>19957748
kou chun cha, mouth picked by a "virgin with at least a C cup" too

>>19957964
When I’m suicidal I just call out of work and drink tea all day.

>>19956898
Get some citric acid. You can find it at most grocery stores.

>drop a few tablespoons of the citric acid in there
>fill it with water
>boil it once or twice

simple as

>>19957748
>>19958003
The perfect tea to use to press into anime waifu cakes and sell to thirsty weebs.

>>19957848
Somebody needs to organize a group buy contingency for when it does happen. Nonzero possibility all that goes for auction.

What's the best tea to drink when sick? It's shu, isn't it?

>>19958950
Ma huang.

>>19958003
>mouth picked
This ruins it for me

>>19957580
How were they for you? Did you try anything else from that list?

>>19959138
Both bricks were great, best taste ripe is nice, endurance could be better but its cheap so i can't complain

Okay so I'm still very new to loose leaf tea, having drunk teabag tea with milk and sugar. I bought some mini pu erh from fulchea tea a few months ago and I really liked the taste.

How's this tea from Taetea? Is it any good?

>>19959645
It's the best mate

>>19959645
Taetea is a reputed brand, and 7572 is a well-known shou recipe. You'd be fine with that. If you want a different option, you can also try the simple Menghai 9978: https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/2018-yr-shu-puer-cakes-lao-tong-zhi-9978-batch-181-ripe-pu-er-chinese-tea-pu-erh-tea-yunnan-357g-te-pc01-aged-puerh-best-organic-tea
Both are fine choices for shou pu'er. You could consider getting either and a sheng cake if you want to explore both sides.

>>19959645
7572 is considered the benchmark for what a nice classic shu pu-erh should be. one of the oldest and most popular recipes. can't go wrong with it (unless you overpay)
the taetea house taste always makes me think of pastries, cookie dough, cream, vanilla. in addition to the classic dark ripe flavors, they tend to be really clean and balanced

>>19957794
someone here did recommend Tang Fang Liang Zi as a soft, sweet tea with a good body that's yiwu-ish. and some other anon has a sample incoming
Zhu Tang is one that I haven't heard anons talk about. I wonder if it'd be any similar to the Fa Zhan He
brewed up some more Fa Zhan He by the way. 2/3rds of the cake are gone already, my white2tea and cspuerh orders can't come soon enough. I'm almost out of young raws

>>19959687
>Zhu Tang is one that I haven't heard anons talk about.
I really wonder why when everyone is jerking off to Fa Zhan He 24/7.
I guess I gotta get sample myself to see what's up.

>>19959656
>>19959664
>>19959677

Thanks. Like I said I don't know a lot about tea. I saw that one recommended on blogs and other places, but I wasn't sure. I figured I'd get a more honest answer on here.

What's Java Tea like?

>>19959791
I had some Java black tea from Malabar in the past
I remember it being quite good for the price. A little fruity in an apple way. Nothing extraordinary, but a good daily drinker

>>19959753
They're supposedly from the same farmer
I haven't sampled it because it's a bit more pricey for a random location with no info or reviews. And the site doesn't really describe it much.
Could still be a hidden gem, FarmerLeaf seems to be good at sourcing from unknown areas

>>19959761
Have fun with whatever you end up buying. You're always welcome to post here with impressions/pics of your tea or ask for more help.
>>19957794
I didn't even hear about them. The Fa Zhan He hype was definitely big enough to encourage buying one, and the price is also much less than those two, making it more accessible in general. Then, a rec for the aroma-focused Cang Yuan encouraged me to buy that. I guess interested anons need to buy in first, or people need to be fortunate with samples before anyone brings them up.

Speaking of which...I wonder if/what I may get thrown in with my FL, W2T, and Yeeontea orders. Any anons get something cool tossed in recently? I saw someone got a pu'er pick in their October W2T order.

>>19959832
I think I was one of the first to order a snoozefest this year, so maybe I'll get some extra swag

>>19951494
Thanks to everyone for the advice. I ended up going to a local teahouse. I got a couple ounces of Gyokuro and an ounce of pre-Quingming (whatever that means) Long Jing. I hope she likes it.

>>19959925
It means it was harvested early in the year. Spring harvest is said to have the greatest quality, especially vs. summer harvests.

>>19959925
Pre-qingming is early spring harvest, supposed to be good for Chinese green tea
Sounds like a good selection, two different teas showcasing the general differences between most chinese and Japanese green teas

>>19959842
Same. He gave me a 10th anny chabu back in 2021 but I think he posted on the blog he was giving shit away. First 100 orders got a beanie or something.

>>19960044
I see it for 2022, but not 2023: https://white2tea.com/blogs/blog/2022-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-tea-sale
>The first 300 orders will receive a free white2tea beanie*, limit one per customer** while supplies last. Orders made after the first 300 will also receive free gifts/samples with every order. The gifts will be automatically added by us, no need for additional coupons or adding special items to your cart!
Free samples/gifts tacked on are an exciting prospect regardless. A chabu would be neat as an aesthetic piece for my tea space. Though, I doubt I'd get a $15 chabu for a $30 order. Maybe a sample of something cool if I'm lucky!

>>19960081
Oh it was a single 2022 vulture. I def didn't pay for this. Hope we get lucky on the snoozers. I snagged 3 and the cheap gaiwan.

>>19956346
7-10¢/g for the everyday stuff.
I used to buy higher end tea when I had more money (30-40¢/g) but nowadays I appreciate cheap but decent ones. Finding out what styles I liked the most was more rewarding than trying pricey stuff within those styles.

>>19959832
>wonder if/what I may get thrown in with my
>FL,
I think they often throw in a sample even with small orders. I got one with my last ~$40 order at least.
>W2T,
They seem to typically throw in a small sample or two. Think a couple dragon balls or a single serve packet of oolong. Also they typically throw in stickers. Gotta have that brand swag. Last Black Friday I got a canvas bag from them but they did not advertise that sort promotion this year. Sad I missed the snoozefest this year.
>and Yeeontea orders
First order with them I got a sample, the second order they upgraded my shipping to express for free. Both were $100+ orders.

>>19960500
>>19959832
FL said on a livestream he'll start favouring samples for his 2021 cakes to encourage sales on them.
which sounds nice because my past couple of orders i got those little cubes of white tea which i wasn't a big fan of.

>>19960626
Yeah I got some miyun and moonlight white cubes on my last two orders. The miyun was really boring, the white was alright

>>19960626
>>19960644
Honestly I kinda hope I get a sample of white tea with my order from FL.
>>19960500
Looking at my sample bin. I found I still had the dragon balls I got for free with my W2T order last year. The pair appear to be a custom pressing (ie not a sample of a regular production). When looking at the fine print one noted "this is a raw puerh" and the other "this is also a raw puerh" which I find kind of amusing. I think I'm going to drink one of them today.

>>19960754
I tried simmering the white tea just now and it's much more to my taste this way, maybe I was overly critical.

>>19960754
>I found I still had the dragon balls I got for free with my W2T order last year.
>I think I'm going to drink one of them today.
Well its young sheng all right, they didn't lie. Not sure I can describe the finer details but it was usually bitter and punchy even by young sheng standards. Leaf quality was good though and the ball opened up nicely after a quick soak.
>>19960922
>I tried simmering the white tea just now and it's much more to my taste this way
White tea tends to be kind of easygoing but you can push it if you want more intensity. I think some people just prefer their tea to have more kick to it. Personally I like it either way. I'm not too picky about my tea.

test

you scared all the lgbts of this god forsaken thread with that word, that's some chi

Late night oolong fuck it

fuck, I woke them up.
haha, have a nice oolong

Nobody knows I'm doing nude gong fu again.

>Tfw waiting on three orders of tea and not nude and comfy like other anons.
Only liu bao will cure my pain now. Had some last night, and am going to have some of this shortly: https://www.chawangshop.com/hei-cha/2014-2018-three-cranes-brand-ye-yun-gu-shu-liubao-brick-tea-50g.html
I hope some of the stuff from Yeeon I bought is liubao/heicha-ish. That'd be really nice for when I want to read.

>>19961910
>>19961917
>>19961926
>>19961945
Glad to see at least some of my tea friends are still alive. I was getting worried you had all died of mycotoxin poisoning.

>>19962305
who the fuck are you. close the fucking door. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pPBYYs0MyE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUw82NpsXqg
>>19962293
I'm really afraid you're mycotoxin by now. I bet that three cranes is good raw style liubao. you have the whole brick?
what do you mean >is liubao/heicha-ish
if you bought liubao or heicha from them then it should be just that.
It's not your first puerh, right?

>>19962479
Not at all my first pu'er buy, I just heard one of the cakes was kind of liubao-like. As for the brick, I just have a sample portion. Had it before. I drank some with my niece earlier, and she surprisingly ended up enjoying it.
>I'm really afraid you're mycotoxin by now.
I feel my power level growing by the session...

Butter, sugar, salt, Fukien roasted TGY.

Feels like I'm drinking melted toffee icecream.

>>19951092
what's the best way to brew green tea? do i need to fill half my pot with tea? it always feel underwhelming to me.

>>19962919
I always brew chinese greens grandpa style, straight in a glass
japanese greens tend to be more intense and potentially bitter, so it's better to do the whole funky japanese brewing

>>19957438
Not gonna lie the lao man e sweet variwty sounds nice but the is no way in hell I'm paying $300+ just to get my hands on this stuff.

>>19962941
the one I'm hoping for is lao man e autumn shengtai, which was 55$ or so last time it was added

>>19962943
Is it also sweet?
The autumn ba ka noy or what it was had "Strong sweetness" in the description and got sold out in two days.

>fish and earth pu-erh
>buy it from the local shop because of the funny name
>brew it
>smells like fish
>drink it
>tastes like fish

wtf

>>19963025
sounds like a good gimmick to sell some shitty pu-erh
good pu-erh should not generally be fishy

>>19960044
yeah, i got a free beanie. wearing it now in the cold season. bit small at first but stretched it enough.

>>19961945
That's a nice cup

>>19961945
I always wondered why Scott is semi-nude in so many videos

>>19962941
Do yourself a solid and get a sample of the Lao Man E Sweet Gu Shu. Go through that 20 grams before you say "no way in hell." I've been on the fence about picking up that cake for a while. It really is that good.
>>19963025
>>19963052
I've never heard of shitty ripe marketed deliberately as fishy lmao. I hope that doesn't trend.

>>19953263 arrived :)

>>19963510
It’s to save money. Not only does Yunnan Sourcing offer high quality teas at low markups, but too many people abused the generous Buy One Get One! deals and 10 dollar off coupons that Scott is struggling to survive. Let’s all place a Yunnan Sourcing order worth $100 or more to help Scott ‘Our Man in YunNan’ Wilson out!

>>19953263
>shipping sucks season
yeah, my white2tea order has been sitting at "received by airlines" for a week now...

>>19963622
Drink some of the mao feng black for me

>>19963547
>$32 for 20g
It's not like I couldn't afford that cake, but this is not the sort of money I want to be spending.
Dimishing returns are real in every hobby and I don't want to go down the rabbit hole of chasing the last few %.

>a general for fucking tea of all things
i just take whatever they have at the hotel room/lounge

>>19963817
It's difficult to understand how the diminishing returns applies to puerh without periodically sampling something high end.
I argue that even then, Sweet Gu Shu is not in the top few %.
>>19963836
At least read the thread first.

This fucker really grew on me.
I drink it cold almost every day now.

>>19963836
Not everyone has trash taste

>a board for fucking food of all things
i just take whatever they have at the local soup kitchen/salvation army

>>19963667
distinctly floral and fruity, but gently so and might need a longer steep

>>19963622
What site is that? Sinensis has to be the worst name for SEO ever

>>19963878
Luv barley. Not the korean corn so much. I simmer it usually, do you cool it down or cold brew? Haven't tried it cold yet.

>>19963948
I just pop it in the fridge overnight.

>>19963951
Cheers I'll give it a go.

>>19963948
Yunnan Sourcing importer local to Lithuania, https://www.sinensis.lt
only worth it to skip customs+tax+shipping during the holiday season, plus supporting your local tea boomer

sorry for possibly retarded question in advance

can i apply the chart in the op about brew/infusion times and amounts to herbal teas? i just got some premium, if such a thing exits for these herbs, linden, chamomile and sideritis (greek mountain tea?).

mainly i'm worried about burning them and making them bitter so i'm leaning towards the eastern method in the op (larger amount, short steep time, multiple infusions) for the sideritis because it seems to be made up of big whole stalks.
and the western method for chamomille and linden (smaller amount, a couple of long steeps), because it seems to be full of tiny particles that will pass through the filter.

>>19963995
>filter
the filter meaning my fine mesh infuser

What tea is xiying da hong ni pot for

>>19963995
A lot of herbals don't need much care to brew since they don't really get bitter. So to get the most out of them just simmer for 5-10 mins. Or brew western style and just leave them in the pot.
I simmer sideritis. Maybe it's possible to overbrew but hasn't happened to me yet.

>>19964025
Sorry being retarded, I simmer rooibos and brew sideritis western style for 5 mins.

>>19963945
Don't do longer steeps flash brew is the way

>>19963995
the opposite actually, herbal tea's sometimes require boiling directly or leaving to steep for hours, since there's no bitter components to accidentally extract

>>19964013
you use it for tea, red clay isn't specific to any kind

drinking the cheapo Fuhai 7576 cake from Awazon
really good stuff for the price. definitely lasts for more steeps than Haiwan 9978. flavor is not dissimilar to a 7572, but more woody and forest floorish, a bit less vanilla. might have slight aged features already

>>19964025
>>19964043
thanks, good to know, will do

Drinking some fukien high roasted shui xian today. Tastes deeply roasty with a touch of sour on the back end. Reminds me a bit of coffee yogurt actually. Very nice tea.

Whats in your cup today?

>>19962305
i eat grapes and apples all the fucking time. why does it always have to end this way

>>19964076
sounds nice. always enjoy shui xian. looking forward to my (fairly cheap) da hong pao coming in
had some of the old Fen Shui Ling Oolong Black, good as always

>>19964111
>Fen Shui Ling Oolong Black
I did not order any of that but I do have some 2021 Menghaitian Oolong Black from FL coming in the mail. Hope it is good.

Is there any tea snack better than the dried cranberry? Citrates counteract the tea oxalates and they lack fat completely.

>>19964053
>lasts for more steeps than Haiwan 9978
I think the 9978 has some longevity and/or strength issues. I can't quite brew it up as angry as I like sometimes. Still a fine tea, though. Thanks for the comparison.

>>19964328
yes, it's definitely lighter than most ripe, that's my main gripe with it. I think it might be because it has more stems than most ripe and maybe a bit lighter fermentation? but I'm not really sure
the flavor itself is great though

Why are autumn teas cheaper than spring?

>>19964408
because autumn harvest is considered inferior to spring for most teas

>>19964440
Yeah but why?
What are the new leaves missing?
They can't just pick all the leaves in the spring so if they let's say pick half in the spring, then the ones left can still feed the tree and the new flush should be similar to spring ones no?

Anyway how noticeable is the drop off in quality, cause the price cut is significant.

>>19964481
To simplify things, humans like the taste of free amino acids. In early spring photosynthetic activity is limited by temperature so the plant keeps it's amino acids in the free state instead of making proteins with them, and in addition free amino acids reduce frost damage by lowering the freezing point. Autumn leaves are similar to spring leaves because of similar environmental incentives for the plant, however there are less free amino acids in fall leaves because some of the free amino acids are drained back into the twigs in preparation for winter leaf drop.

>>19964481
>Yeah but why?
Early spring is typically drier and the leaves are slow growing (less diluted compounds in leaves). The plants also probably put more energy (in the form of chemicals) into the leaves because the first leaves of the year are especially important (so the plant can start feeding again) and in colder climates the fall leaves are prone to drop off anyways (not worth greater energy investment when the plant needs to save up).
>Anyway how noticeable is the drop off in quality
The taste difference is often noticeable but fall leaves can be good to. It depends a lot on what you are trying to get out of the tea. Spring leaves will typically more intense then fall pickings. I drink both personally.

Aged teas always taste like non-aged teas that have already been steeped a few times. They don't offer any brightness, freshness, just that woody taste that's in all teas

>>19964512
See pic rel, note the massive mobilization of free amino acids into buds in preparation for an April budburst in these peach trees.

What kind of water is the best? The pastebin doesn't really mention that. Is tap water fine? Do I use bottled water?

>>19964979
Easiest is bottled water with low TDS.

how do I get into these extreme chinese teas anons

>>19965064
Night oolong for you anon, just go for it.

Bros, is it time to split my scoby?

>>19951092
what tools do I need to make tea? I'm deep into the espresso game but know nothing about tea and want to delve into it.

>>19964512
>however there are less free amino acids in fall leaves because some of the free amino acids are drained back into the twigs in preparation for winter leaf drop
Does this still apply to tea plants? They are evergreens after all

>>19965314
Literally a gaiwan. If you are British enough, literally just some muslin tea bag or paper filters.

>>19965326
What type of material do I want my Gaiwan to be ? Clay or porcelain ?

>>19965332
Porcelain is the least problematic. Clay will theoretically alter flavor of tea and is also harder to clean (with soap) without imparting some scent to it. Porcelain or even glass should be non reactive enough.

>>19965339
Thanks, Ill get a Gaiwan and a few teas and try this out.

>>19965341
The plastic bottom dispensing ones also just work, but the silicone seal at the bottom may leak or break and they're usually made of plastics that will degrade in UV light.

>>19965341
I own like 20 kilos of tea and I still use the same cheap $8 porcelain gaiwan I got when I first started.

>>19951471
brown hands typed this post.

>>19953105
have you visited those herbal tea shops that serve drinks before?

>>19953593
yeah for sure, especially those more bitter puerhs like this sample i got from ys named Bu lang moutain

>>19953593
you can try super over steeping puerh and making milk tea.

>>19953095
As someone with Crohn's who is inflamed as fuck intestinally, I can tell you tea won't solve shit and TCM is a gay meme. I drink tea for the flavor and the caffeine second.

>>19965370
>As someone with Crohn's who is inflamed as fuck intestinally,
get this decrepit fuck outta here. tcm aint no meme.

>>19965370
中國有5000年的歷史!!知道你的位置!中國網路已經在這裡了。下跪!

>>19965296
Ye looks real healthy and thicc. I just threw out like 2lbs of the shit a few weeks ago.
>>19965314
Also deep in the spresso game. You need far less to get into good tea vs good coffee. You can go as fancy as you want with any of the tools, end result is going to be the same outside of a little tuning with certain tea/clay pairings.
Brewing vessel(gaiwan,teapot,mug)
Tea
Water
Tea pick(if you want to try compressed teas)

>>19953244
I fucking died laughing. It's always funny seeing the difference between /ck/ and the pu'er lesbian and chink larper communities.

>>19965405
its not that funny.

Bets on 2024 season?
Are we looking for another banger?
How many duds were there in the last few years?
The FL guy said that this autumn was shit, too much rain.

>>19965074
what you drinking anon? i am severely lacking in good oolong

>>19965317
Yes, as I now know tea plants don’t lose their leaves during winter. However I believe the process does still occur, with autumn leaves acting as nitrogen sources and losing nitrogen over time so that it can be stored in buds in preparation for spring. The graph I posted shows the typical trend of leaves losing protein and free amino acid content as they mature because of redistribution to new leaves.

I need help guys. My daily tea is a jasmine green tea I get cheap from a local Asian market, but I just picked up some black tea from there thinking it would be just loose black leaves. I open it up, and it’s a bunch of these shits (see pic rel). Then, I noticed the ingredient list says pu’er—I’ve never had pu’er. How do I brew this shit properly? (Btw, I usually use a kyusu pot but I do own a gaiwan).

>>19966832

>>19966834

>>19966834
I have never seen vacuum-packed pu'er before. As for brewing, put a bunch in a gaiwan, do a long initial steep (20s) and dump it, then proceed with long infusion times.

>>19966850
How long is “long”?

>>19966837
guessing it's ripe if they called it black tea maybe it was a tl mistake. open one up and show us

>>19966861
Bro he said 20s. Don't worry, ripe puerh is hard to overbrew. Some like it as black as coffee (me included)

>>19966832
>>19966867
"Black tea" is actually "Red tea" (hongcha). Puer, (heicha) is what translates to "Black tea"
One of the classic tea blunders.

>>19966867

>>19967068
Looks like a leafy, low grade ripe to me. Good to go, that's what I'm drinking too.

>>19966276
Pic was Wenshan Baozhong

What's the next big sale for teas?
Christmas? New year? New season?

>>19967819
>Don't ask questions, just consume tea and then get excited for next teas.
Black Friday has the best overall sales but some shops will do sales for New Years or Chinese New Year. The tea must flow after all.

>>19963025
Isn't this one the cheapest from moychay? I wanted to try it and the other slightly less cheap loose leaf ripes.

>>19966832
Dump half a bag in a mugg add boiling water, wait 5 minutes, flick out any stems that are floating with a fork and drink, refill with more boiling water when you drink it halfway down.
Or dump a full bag in a gaiwan, add boiling water, wait 10-15 seconds. Dump out that water, then add more water and brew for 20 seconds or so, keep adding water and brewing longer as desired.
Chinese call fermented teas black teas and what westerners would call black tea the Chinese call red tea.

I want to order some heicha samples from KTM. What should I get?
I want to try FBT and liubao. Also open to order from somewhere else.

>>19967819
Spring harvest

>>19967950
KtM has those small basket 80s/90s liubaos pretty cheap, their other liubaos are pretty fucking pricey.
Honestly if you wanna try heicha the yunnan sourcing china website is probably the best. Chawangshop is decent too but only offers small portions for the most part and shipping is expensive.
For ys get this guy
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2014-three-cranes-45007-recipe-traditional-liu-bao-hei-cha-of-guangxi?variant=35492312582
Three cranes is one of the two premier liubao factories and this has the proper humid storage on it from spending a few years in liubao town before getting sold.
If you want you can compare it to a younger more premium production without the humid storage to get an idea of the range that's out there.
While you are at it sample this
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-fu-brick-tea/products/2017-yun-tai-mountain-sentinel-mountain-fu-zhuan-brick-tea
And one of the tian jians made by gao jia shan factory, the younger one is probably a better deal and the extra age wont make much difference between the two.

>>19967950
I've sampled this one and it's really tasty. pricey for fu brick though: https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/collections/dark-tea/products/2017-xiangyi-fucha-20th-year-of-hongkong-s-return-brick-980g-dark-tea-hunan?variant=43575544676582

>>19967983
Have you tried the Mojun fu bricks from ys? They seem quite cheap on there.

>>19968062
I have not tried any mojun fu bricks but i read some pretty negative impressions of them (not here, i forget where) somewhere. For the price i would opt for other fu bricks ys offers instead, especially gao jia shan

r8
What else should I get? I'm thinking another liubao would be nice, but it's already so pricey for only 200g of tea.

>>19968249
>I have not tried any mojun fu bricks but i read some pretty negative impressions of them (not here, i forget where) somewhere
I would be curious as to where you heard that. Most of what I have heard about of them when I looked them up a while back was positive. Nothing that would make me think they were a bad brand. They had a bit of buzz about them several years back when they advertised to the western market at the World Tea Expo. Probably partially why they became reasonably common at western vendors. I think I the most negative I remember seeing about them was someone claiming one of their teas was boring compared to their preferred (more expensive) fu brick. I guess I will report my options on them whenever I get around to grabbing a brick from them.

>>19968386
Looks good, those should be some nice teas
Maybe some of this
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2019-three-cranes-75117-high-mountain-liu-bao-tea
Or this
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2019-three-cranes-old-tree-liu-bao-cha?variant=32305804116071

>>19966869
>ripe puerh is hard to overbrew.
yeah it is. especially if you get benchmark ripe. i think lesser grades you can overbrew and an astringent and leafy taste comes out.

>>19968475
Some of the young fancy lightly fermented ripes that still have a good bit of bitterness to them can get pretty strong if you overbrew. But yeah with your typical factory ripe ive put boiling water on a fresh set of leaves in my gaiwan and forgotten about it for 15 minutes and its still totally drinkable.

>>19968386
just finished a 2009 version of that tian jian it was delicious highly recommend

What are your recommendations for aged sheng?

>>19969504
>move to china
>buy sheng
>leave on shelf for 20 years
>???
>profit

>>19969504
Anything from teas we like
I really enjoyed this one
https://teaswelike.com/product/2004-nanqiao-bada-nannuo-blend/

>>19969520
Its gotta be sothern china
Do that in Beijing and you will have crispy dry ass tea

When a tea isn't tasting quite right, what kind of checklist do you perform to figure out why? I don't mean when you first get it either, but after having had it for a long time. Maybe I'm just sick of the flavor, but it's off somehow. I'm using reverse-osmosis purified water (don't think it has minerals added), and my gram/water/temp/time values are sensible. I checked inside my kettle, and I don't see any visible signs of limescale or rust. My storage hasn't changed a bunch. I'm not sure if it's the infusions or just me at this point.

I'm thinking about ordering some pu-erh tea for the first time. Does anyone have any suggestions for which pu-erh to order?

>>19969550
what site are you planning to order from?
for ripe pu-erh, anything from Menghai Tea Factory is a safe bet and will let you know what classic big production ripe is all about. just grab the cheapest one you can find and don't worry about age. this is their most famous standard ripe if you want a whole cake: https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/collections/2023-dayi/products/2023-dayi-7572-cake-1st-batch-357g-puerh-shou-shu-cha-ripe-tea

for raw pu-erh, it's more complicated. you can grab this sampler if you want to see how different storage conditions affect aged raws: https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/project-1-storage-comparison-sample-tea-set-15g-3-45g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea?_pos=1&_sid=d83b489a7&_ss=r
or if you just want one, this tuo is pretty nice if you like smoky flavors: https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2008-xiaguan-xi-zi-happy-tuo-100g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea

and for a young raw, I know an anon recommended this one highly. sounds like it's worth grabbing a chunk: https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2006-langhe-8539-603-batch-cake-357g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea

>>19969658
i dont have one in mind yet, but i am EU. thanks, i'll check them out. probably gonna order the first one you linked.

>>19969675
for what it's worth, KTM seems to be pretty good at cheating on VAT, last time I ordered I didn't even have to pay anything
but supposedly there have been some legal changes this october, so IDK how it will work now

>>19969681
The shipping prices are a bit grim (15 euros), but I'll probably just order some extra as gifts so it don't feel as scammed.

>>19969685
this black tea would make a good gift. my mom and one of my friends can't get enough of it, seems very normie-friendly:
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2021-xiaguan-hong-cha-black-tea-300g-yunnan-fengqing-dianhong

>>19969685
>The shipping prices are a bit grim (15 euros)
This annoys me way more then it should.
Same with YS where I was about to place my order and $23 was the cheapest shipping.
If FL can do $4 shipping anywhere there is no reason for others to scam you on shipping like this.

>>19969724
FL just incorporates the shipping costs into product cost. no shipping is truly free
but I do agree that FL is handy for grabbing a single cake for this reason

>>19969724
if the shipping is cheap you're just paying more for the tea. it does feel annoying though.

>>19969658
>https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2006-langhe-8539-603-batch-cake-357g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
Did he say anything more?
How does it compare to FL etc.
It's so annoying that are milions of cakes out there and basically no info.

>>19969732
I think he mentioned production is on the clean and modern side and it showcases the characteristic taste of mengku region tea well
it seems to be the flagship blend for that factory, so I'm willing to bet it's good. I'll definitely grab a chunk next time I order from KTM

NEW:
>>19969783
>>19969783
>>19969783

>>19962933
>so it's better to do the whole funky japanese brewing
what is funky japanese green tea brewing?

>>19967899
it is and still it's not worth it