/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>had a perfect smiley face of tea leaves in my cup
>accidentally move it before getting a picture
fuck

drink more liubao

which white2tea sample should I try tomorrow?
941 or Veldt?

>>19993422
Veldt

so to continue the discussion of autism
would it to be correct to say the british putting all that milk and sugar in every cup of tea they drink is a shameful practice

>>19993417
Yup, this guy gets it

>>19993434
i like milk in black tea
sugar is lame though

>>19993434
it makes sense to me with those teabags. they're nasty as-is, the milk makes it palatable.

>>19993434
it's not shameful, just a historical consequence of drinking shit tea

>>19993434
Breakfast tea with whole local milk is one of my favorite ways to wake up.

>>19993434
Adding milk and sugar turns it into a different kind of drink. It doesn't bother me any more than seeing someone add vermouth and olives to gin.

>>19993434
>>19993441
Analogous to the coffeetard flooding cups with milk and sugar. Both are loud and proud grocery store tier drinkers.

>>19993434
It is a very based practice.

Does anyone have good measurements for one or two cups of Tibetan butter tea? I don’t wanna make a whole jug of it without knowing I like it.
I assume boil some puerh for a second, add half a cup of milk and a couple tbsp of butter? No salt if butter is salted. Something like that.

>>19993434
Yes. Behead everyone that mixes milk and tea. No exceptions.
If you are drinking shitty black tea teabags that have no taste, using lemon and sugar is the only acceptable solution.

>>19993417
Liubao is in my gaiwan right now. Had it last night. I didn't read, but for me, no tea beats a simple liu bao when I'm settling down for a book.
>>19993434
Not necessarily. The stuff they use(d) is mostly African commodity tea. Kind of stuff you'd expect to be bitter and astringent...in which case, milk and a sweetener make sense as a counter-balance. Other societies have used additives too. Tibetans for instance have used yak butter in their tea (again, that mulch-looking commodity tea). I think Mongols may have done something similar. Hell, there are preparations like pu'er stored in orange peel shells (chinpi) and infused whole.

I don't think it is a good representation of ideal tea...that is, stuff you don't need to adulterate with additives to be pleasant. It's done with an often unpalatable product to make it palatable and comforting.

>>19993459
Pretty sure they boil the tea on open flame for hours until its nearly a sludge, then dilute back down with yak butter.

i steep my tea for like 30 minutes and it tastes fine
its in a thermos so it doesnt get cold

>>19993472
>pu'er stored in orange peel shells (chinpi)
Which is more tcm shit than masking bad tea?

I see I see, well all of that makes sense to me
the additives are just a cope to cover up the low quality product, the same way you would dilute many things to make them palatable

so then I suppose the only contention would be when they get uppity and say that's the "proper" way to do it and criticize others for not doing it exactly the way they do

milk tea is nice at times

>>19993492
The upper class brits (at least used to) drink good tea. The milk and sugar cope came along after the Indian tea plantations were established and the plebs could finally afford to drink cheap shitty tea.

Today's tea
“2012 purple sheng” from LP beginner pack
Appearance: darkly colored almost black leaves with a purplish tinge, intact medium sized leaves with some small attached stems, no rubbish, clean processing, probably one of the other types of purple sheng that is not yesheng, appears moderate to dry stored, leaves when wet are orangish brown with dark purplish and green tinges, tea liquor is orange with maybe a slight purple tint
Taste: Hard to place, has the citronella note, a hint of dried apple skins perhaps, a bit spicy, sichuan pepper?, mouth numbing dry finish, decently bitter, moderate astringency,
Thoughts: An interesting tea, I think the different material really gives a unique character to this tea, I will have to try more purple teas in the future

For the taobao anon, this offer seems legit right?
The store has 3 crowns so it probably shouldn't be a scam
https://new.m.taobao.com/detail.htm?spm=a21jn4.26183572.srplist.17&id=616524895277

>>19993527
Yeah it seems alright, an authorized reseller.

>>19993509
Purple tea always tastes like purple tea

>>19993462
>buy cheap tea
>add milk and half a dozen spices to turn it into masala chai

What do you lot think of Tenren? I like their eight treasures tea.

>>19993459
2 cups water
5g pu erh
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
pinch of salt if using unsalted butter

Boil tea in the water for ~15 minutes
Strain into blender and blend until emulsified

>>19993621
Haven't heard of them or seen them discussed, though there's some praise for them years ago in the archives.
I tend to be a bit sus of anyone with fancy tins and a dodgy looking puerh section. And not always providing the harvest dates for green for instance.
But I don't see anything obviously wrong with the tea, it's probably fine

>>19993459
Contribootin

I'm dissatisfied with the quality of my tap water run through a simple Brita filter. I much prefer grocery store spring water, but it's becoming tedious to go through those so often. I'm exploring my options.
I'm currently debating between a classic RO system or a distiller and remineralizing myself. Might be a little too autistic for my blood, but I'll consider it. I'm not in a rush to make a decision so lay those opinions and links on me.

Holy shit the fucking LBZ experiment is kicking my ass. My blood pressure is through the fucking roof.

>>19994112
'LBZ'? What's up, anon? Cha qi scrambling your brain? Lmao

>>19993867
Thanks, anon. Trying tomorrow.

>>19994073
Awesome stuff. What’s that from? Thanks, anon.

>>19994073
>grocery store spring water
>classic RO system or a distiller and remineralizing myself
Here's a little info I've found if you want to go down the rabbit hole and report back. Anyone know how to save copy protected google sheets? Therhymingleaf won't let me save this bottled water list.
https://therhymingleaf.info/2021/07/168/
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AEsSN9NqldHeXuvsDUxc33xnLrWrgJoxrt2AwVWltDs/edit#gid=0

>>19993472
>Other societies have used additives too. Tibetans for instance have used yak butter in their tea (again, that mulch-looking commodity tea). I think Mongols may have done something similar.
That part of the world has produced many variants of dairy product + tea. I was watching a documentary on a nomad group and was surprised to see their #1 daily food source was boiled reindeer milk with tea leaves thrown in

>>19994181
Laobanzhang. I feel like exercising my rush away. I feel out of breath, need to take deep breaths all the time. My neck also hurts, my head is pulsating.

>>19994286
Anon are you going to die?

>>19994300
no im not american. i can walk up a few flight of stairs.

>>19994286
His palms are sweaty.
Knees weak, arms are heavy.
There's laobanzhang in his gaiwan already.
Puerh Junky.

>>19994207
The Tea Book by Linda Gaylard. https://archive.org/details/teabook0000gayl_n4f9/mode/2up
>>19994237
Many thanks. I knew this was around somewhere.

>>19994237
>how to save copy protected google sheets?
Use link below, then select all and paste into a spreadsheet editor of your choice. You will loose all special formatting (like colors) but all the data in the columns and rows will be correct. After (and only after) you have made your own backup you could consider emailing the sites owner and ask for a copy. They may even have a newer version.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AEsSN9NqldHeXuvsDUxc33xnLrWrgJoxrt2AwVWltDs/preview
Where on the site did you find this link? Kind of a shame they made it so hard to download.

>>19994472
That pic is from a coffee water doc. Not sure where he got the link from.Just quickly skimming Rhymingleaf, that guy goes way harder on the watertism than anything I've seen in the coffeesphere lel.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kXKjrdYV-ZkORxWX0aDqgQlSlXu85WtJE7eFR5PwlJE/edit#gid=1333273516

>>19994545
>That pic is from a coffee water doc.
Thanks, anon!
>that guy goes way harder on the watertism
I am glad I am satisfied with my filtered tap water. Remineralizing water feels like too much work unless my water was truly bad. Id rather spend the time and effort trying more teas rather than optimizing water for a few teas.

I've really enjoyed the 2023 Yunnan Sourcing "Suan Zao Shu" Old Arbor Black Tea Cake. I know it's kind of stupid expensive for a black tea, but it is really good if you can get past that. Especially if you are a fan of that hay-ish, sun dried assamica black tea flavor.

The other standout for me is YS's Pure Bud Bi Luo Chun. I've enjoyed Bi Luo Chun in the past, but for some reason this one has really grabbed me. It's got that honey/malty buddy flavor that can be really smooth if you wash it quick, or bitter and astringent if you steep it for longer. It also has a pretty strong tea energy IMO if you believe in that sort of thing.

Also as always, their Purple Voodoo and Laoshan Black varieties do not disappoint.

https://jessesteahouse.com/

the youtube algorithm keeps feeding me this guys videos, anyone have any prior experience buying from him?

>>19995066
A lot of his teawear has photos copy pasted from taobao/ali so I wouldn't trust it

>>19995066
I saw a few of his shorts, but I don't like his face so I don't trust him. It's just weird buying into any Western youtuber that spends a lot of time in China.

>>19993397
I buy Pompadour's fruity teas.
Standard tea is only good when adding a bit of lemon juice, but still inferior to fruit tisanes.

The selection here is not so varied that I can suggest others.

>>19993430
sure
had no idea what to expect from Veldt. couldn't find any reviews and the description says nothing, really
in comparison to the Snoozefest it is more grassy and green teaish. the fruitiness that is here reminds me of a sweet mandarine orange. coupled with the pretty strong astringency, there is some association with orange peel. I get a strong upfront sweetness and a bitterness on the lower side. the tea leaves a bit of a cooling feeling on the tongue and in the mouth, but also dries them out with the astringency

overall bretty gud, not boring. I feel like the flavor is more intense and engaging than the Snoozefest, though the Snooze seemed to have a better fragrance and maybe thicker body (not to mention, it is half the price)
I checked later that "veldt" is a type of south african savannah. maybe that's a reference to the grassy notes in the tea?

>>19995066
Taking a quick look, I don’t trust this guy, selling tea for almost a dollar a gram and having the nerve to talk about how it’s affordable. Also he’s selling 12 year old white tea for only 130 dollars a cake; so either he’s scamming you or he’s getting scammed, either way you shouldn’t buy from him.

Some teas are back in the shop on farmerleaf, not sure why maybe a canceled order.

>>19995066
>1,000 year old sheng
Yep, bullshit all the way.

if I order from the US domain of Yunnansourcing does it guaranteed that my order doesn't get stuck in customs? also if I wanted to do a mini puer sample what would be some good choices? i dont wanna spend 50$ on something that I won't like to drink

>>19995444
>if I order from the US domain of Yunnansourcing does it guaranteed that my order doesn't get stuck in customs?
If you live in the US then yes because they ship from in the country. However, US customs is rarely the problem when shipping from China. When packages from China to the US get stuck it is typically at the Chinese port/airport.

>>19995444

Yes the US site avoids customs. They also have a shipping option on their .com website where they bundle your order into a large DHL shipment, then send it to you via USPS once it arrives at their US facility. That essentially means you don't deal with customs either. But I've never had an issue getting things through customs. It's more a pain for the shipper, than for you. As long as the total value of your shipment is under $800, you don't pay any duties in the US.

Puerh is hard to find what you like. You kind of just have to try a lot of different samples. It takes time and money to figure it out. If you want a ripe puerh that is immediately drinkable, you want something at least two years old. Younger than that, and you'll start running into the wet basement/fresh ripe taste that is no bueno. For raw you'll want something approaching 10 years old for the most drinkable experience, but that gets expensive. You can find drinkable stuff in the 3-6 year range too, but it all depends. Typically the flavor just gets more bitter and "green" the younger the raw puerh is. The tea energy also seems more chaotic the younger it is, so I've had young raw kind of give me a headache before.

>>19995444
There’s a bogo deal where you get a ‘free’ 100g 2022 ripe when you spend 100 or more. It might not be horrible!

>>19995569
the tiger one? it's pretty good

>>19995444
>also if I wanted to do a mini puer sample what would be some good choices?
a V93 tuo (should let you know if you like ripe pu-erh)
a Xiaguan Dali Tuo (should let you know if you like factory semi-aged pu-erh)
and a sample of some sort of YS brand raw pu-erh (to see if you like the fresh raw stuff in the modern "clean" style)

>>19994335
Ah lard that’s gay. Thanks.

Asking frenchbros, is there a good alternative to Mariage Frères?
Their blends are overpriced for the amount you get

>>19995711
If you’re not getting what you want from mariage you can always try afair. That’s how frenchmen do it.

>>19995815
>afair
What's that?

>>19995842
Something that seems fun in practice but is really tedious in application, sort of like gongfu brewing.

>>19994073
There are some water recipies in the pastebin

>>19994112
This was the one session of tea sealed up with a boveda experiment right? Did you notice differences in flavor?

>>19994914
The material in that product shot looks great. Well handled and processed

>>19995564
>You kind of just have to try a lot of different samples. It takes time and money to figure it out.
Make no mistake, this is supposed to be an enjoyable process. Learning the basics and observing one's own tastes and understanding take shape in real time should be an immensely satisfying experience. Not only that, but you can only experience being a beginner once. Enjoy it, savor it, post about it, share it with others. Do not be in a rush to "understand" tea or become a hobbyist or you will miss the point entirely.
Cha Tao in this bitch.

>>19995414
He probably scrounged some up from the bowels of the warehouse, the last sample I got from him was from a cake that's been out of stock for a while.

>>19995972
Thank you for the reminder, it's easy to get too focused on the destination rather than the journey sometimes.

>yellow/brown packaging that looks like it's ginger or turmeric based
>advertised as dandelion and chicory root
>read the ingredients carefully
>lemongrass
>wtf why would you put lemongrass, it overpowers almost everything its added to
>brew the tea, yep that's lemongrass tea, can barely taste anything else in there

I needed somewhere to gripe about this bullshit, it's like modern companies are deliberately making shit products and putting them to market without any sort of consumer testing.

>Supplements taken, L-theanine used
>Room lighting set to dim reds and pinks, just a moderate amount of light from outside coming in
>GTA 3 theme playing on my speakers at juuust the right volume, filling my room comfortably:
https://youtu.be/-HOrnz_N29U
>Liu bao from last night still in my gaiwan...
>Few infusions. A sip, and then a whiff of the aromas wafting off of the wet leaves
You feel it, anons? Why not join me? I think I will grab more liu bao for a fresh infusion and read for a few hours.

At what price do you blind buy cake?
Sub $0.1/g?

>>19996189
I think they do it for sweetness. It has quite the sweet aroma and flavor. I have a tisane blend that has lemongrass as an ingredient, and it smells like damn Fruity Pebbles every time. I've used lemongrass essential oil in my essential oils diffuser multiple times before, and if you don't use it sparingly, it gives the same kind of effect (which I find a bit...'obnoxious' in way). I agree, it is very overpowering. I'm not a big fan, but I don't hate it when done right.

>>19996194
Pretty much any price, but I already have a lot of tea. I only buy samples if I want to compare a lot of similar teas I haven't had before. A twenty gram sample is genuinely not really enough to find out if you like a tea or not, it will only really tell you if you have extreme opinions about it. Samples make a lot of sense when you're starting out, or want to compare a bunch of teas from a similar area or something like that.

>>19996194
I typically ask for feedback before I buy something if I really don't know about it. The price/g itself is not what will steer me so much as what I anticipate to get out of the experience, as well as if there are any ongoing promotions. That said, there are multiple teas I purchased recently which don't really have much or any feedback for, but the value seemed good. I don't recall if anyone commented on the shui xian from Yeeontea outside maybe a "it's good", and there are no reviews for it on the site itself. Yet, the few pictures and descriptions seemed enticing, there was a small discount for Black Friday, and the source itself was reputible, so I bought in. Just look at the material (which I think looks nice for the money): https://yeeonteaco.com/products/shui-xian-tea?variant=18748912074822
$16.80 (on sale), add a bit for shipping, say it's $19 total or so. That's $0.063/g for 300g of an in-house oolong from an interesting storage location. Or, for a 5g serving, that's basically a $0.32c session of something very different from what I usually have. Granted...shipping is going to take a very long time, but the point stands. If you just buy purely out of $/g, I think you'll cheat yourself a little.

>>19996189
Thats weird, i would expect dandelion root and chicory tea to be a sort of coffee replacement type product. No idea why they would add lemongrass of all things to it.

>>19996194
>At what price do you blind buy cake?
The cake is the sample
I very rarely buy samples before buying a cake. It works out pretty well for me.

>>19996194
for me it's not only about the price but also about how confident I am that I will like it
for example, I like basically every competently-made ripe pu-erh that isn't stanky as fuck. so there's no need for me to sample ripe, I can just buy whole cakes
for raw I am a bit more cautious, at least with full-sized cakes. but I did blind buy the Naka brick from cspuerh this black friday, because the terroir sounds like something I'd enjoy a lot and I got it for a nice price

>>19993434
I would consider it the difference between a latte and espresso. Even if Latte is made with espresso, the two are completely separate drinks.

The brits should be using sweet condensed milk though, fucking plebs

>>19996194
I mostly buy whole cakes. I don't have a fixed price limit but if a tea is too expensive to cake then it will also feel too expensive to sample. I suppose if in the future I were looking at top shelf expensive cake I would sample it first before spending $$$. I have bought and drunk enough tea to have a good idea of what I like and I feel confident in my ability to mostly pick decent teas. Additionally, I value keeping interesting or novel teas in stock even if they are not my absolute favorites so I don't min-max every tea I buy. When I buy samples it is typically when they are particularly cheap and I just want to quickly try a bunch of new things. Plus I honestly just aesthetically like having cakes and it is kind of exciting to blind buy them.

>>19996189
bought rose hip tea some time ago
>ingredients: 90% hibiscus, 4% apple, 4% lemon, 2% rose hip
fuck me i guess

>>19996393
lol, what's with herbal teas just being total bullshit?

>>19995935
It has become smoother, but the flavor is still mostly the same. For some reason the cha qi hits harder.

Today's tea
“unknown sheng puerh from the 2000s” from my LP beginner pack
Appearance: dark brown colored leaves, intact medium to large sized leaves with a few stems thrown in, mostly clean but found a hair, had a tea seed pod so probably a fall production, appears to have moderate humidity storage, leaves when wet are also dark orangish brown, tea liquor is redish brown, appearance makes me think it is from the early part of the 2000s
Taste: prominent camphor note at first but less later, aged taste, just a hint of musty basement, sour old leather or tobacco, still relatively tannic and bitter despite the age, not unpleasant but also not as soft as an similarly aged yiwu tea would be, seems like it has room for further aging, drying papery finish
Thoughts: I like old camphory teas so this tea seems good to me, It’s got a relatively complex aged flavor profile, would be a good tea to drink or age further if the price were right

Test

>>19996401
i'm pretty sure there's a big uneducated audience who are in it for some health benefits type stuff. presumably there's some new age stuff about rosehips. so they'll buy things that say rosehip on the front and not care about quality.
it happens with matcha too, and the various medicinal mushrooms. and even puerh.

>>19996414
Sounds nice
I missed out on the lp beginner packs this year but ive been getting a kick out of the randomness of some of these samples.
I remember one sample i got was sheng in a plastic bag that just had a qr sticker for some Chinese guys wechat.

>>19996422
I drank some roiboo tea today, it was pretty GOOD.

It's...not ideal but I'm getting some synthetic echo of my fix. Shame I bought a whole tong of this, it's not my thing at all. Good and woody like a rotting stump you can kick over but not my thing at all. I think I'd prefer a lapsang or bamboo smoked anything for a cigarette flavored tea.

>>19996525
Sned it my way. I'll trade you a snooze and a peak vulture for 3 sluts.

>>19996525
Memepot filters balls of cheap shou like a champ and doesn't clog.

>>19996528
I got one bing, sorry I was nodding off typing that out. I do have a few tongs of some better shit on the way though.

>>19996500
>but ive been getting a kick out of the randomness of some of these samples.
I am no longer strictly a puerh beginner but I do really enjoy LP's sample packs. The random assortment of teas helps me hone my tasting skills and still sometimes surprises me with new flavor profiles. It's a valuable learning experience to me.

I'm not that big into tea so most of my quality stuff I order from Mei Leaf once a year. I've had two kinds of these purple Zi Juan ripe puerhs and I like them a lot but they aren't available anymore. Pic is the one I'm drinking now, which replaced the last one they carried after that sold out. Now this is sold out and I'm looking for something similar from any other vendor. I don't know if it's a common kind of tea I can find readily

>>19996528
Puerhmon, gotta collect them all!

>>19996542
Yunnan sourcing is probably the most likely vendor to have a purple ripe. Their .com website

>>19996542
>Mei Leaf
crimsonlotustea has a purple tea ripe cake but it is made of bigger leaves than the meileaf one. No idea how the taste compares.
https://crimsonlotustea.com/products/2022-capitalist-lion-tamer-shou-ripe-puerh-tea-357g

>>19996382
>if a tea is too expensive to cake then it will also feel too expensive to sample
This is insightful.

>>19996525
if that's the 2023 one, it'll probably mellow out in a couple of years. this 2021 is still wood and basement dominant with some smokiness, but nothing sordid

My tea storage is full. It's not as disorganized as it looks, it's just the top layer that's a mess.

>>19996735
>me tea storage is full
Good problem to have, i wish i had some yancha right now

>>19996735
Looks like you have a nice variety of (probably) oolongs and reds. Many of those gift packages don't look enormous either, so I bet they're good for portioning out for a few convenient sessions while keeping everything fresh. Any of them you'll infuse today?

>>19996804
Already had my tea for the day, but I'm thinking of going with some of the yancha from OWT tomorrow morning.

About to buy another 6-8 pounds of tea from Freshroastedcoffee, I have a caffeine sensitivity so I usually stay away from buying too many black and green teas, but the caffeine free and low caffeine options are somewhat limited. Do you /tea/ people have any suggestions or recommendations? I like white tea, I love roobios, i like several herbal teas, but I strongly dislike chai and flowery profiled teas.

>>19996735
Looks nice. How has that storage container worked out for you? What is it exactly?

>>19996938
Good in cold weather and after a big meal
https://www.freshroastedcoffee.com/products/organic-qilan-wuyuan-oolong-tea
Maybe this stuff if you wanna try the latest health meme
https://www.freshroastedcoffee.com/products/pos-bot-ll-moringa-leaf
Also tulsi is good, rasberry leaf can be pretty good, lemon balm is great, and getting ginger root and boiling it in water to make strong ginger tea rules

>>19997066
Its a bin m8, he keeps his tea in a bin

>>19997115
That can be considered quite good, I store mine in cardboard boxes on top of my fridge.

Coming from the coffee thread. What are some good jian zhan cups? Or just nice tea cups in general. I'll be using them for espresso shots so 1-200ml's is ideal. Thankyou.

Bros... My kombucha isn't carbonating... What do? I'm leaving them out at about 30C right now and it's day 3.

>>19997354
Anon who sent you here. I came across that tenmokus site a while back when they were spamming facebook ads. Makes me think its jap export grade junk like alot of knife sellers shit out. These are from actual potters willing to attach their name.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/jianzhan-wares

>>19997354
This etsy shop of all things is pretty good
Its a Chinese seller in that has nicer stuff then your typical aliexpress fare.
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TreasureTeawares

>>19997356
Sometimes it just won't carbonate, cap it tightly, put it in the fridge and drink it. If all the sugar is used up then there is nothing for the yeast to make co2 with. Don't lose sleep over it. In the future you can try bottling a little earlier. Or dissolving a small amout of sugar in boiling water and adding it to the booch before bottling (this is called priming in brewing nomenclature if you want to read up more on it)

My Morning Crane tea order finally came in after forever. Not sure which one to try first.

>>19997524
Oh shit, we got the serious business tea here
Start with something green
>its all green
Good

>>19997524
Oh my GOODNESS! Is all that tea for YOU? You're gonna get a tummy ache!

>>19997524
start with the OYS sejak, she(?) looks cute. let us know how it is, ive never seen korean tea

>>19997524
>Korean tea
Rarely talked about here, how neat. I wonder how their greens compare to JP/CN ones.

how do you guys brew your shou?
i can smell some notes but i cannot taste them not sure if im brewing it properly.
what i do is 8-9g on my gaiwan.
rinse twice at 212f for a couple of seconds.
brew at 212f for 10 secs and ill add 10+ secs per brew.
i can smell a cake/pancake not but i cannot taste it.

>>19997356
try putting raw fruit

>>19998102
I do either 1 or 2 quick rinses and then brew for 1 minute (or maybe 2 if i have a heavily compressed tea), increasing the time by 1 minute for every brew. I like my shou very dark.

>>19998102
I put a chunk in a mason jar and fill it with boiling water, I wait for it to be cold enough to drink, maybe 5-7 mins, and when it gets low, or too strong, or too cold, I top it off with boiling water.
like the other anon said brewing for longer might help, could be your water is hard brewing with some bottles spring water might help

i live in japan, my local chinese joint - which is run by real taiwanese people and a lot of their stuff is really good - recently started offering pu'er. i've never had it and i don't even like tea that much in general but i keep seeing it memed so i'm wondering if i shouldn't try it. what do you think bros? 680 yen for a cuppa

>>19998145
>680 yen
buy a bunch of cheap cakes from farmer leaf and a couple of cheap gaiwan from ali and make your own tea shop which specialize in puerh. charge 3 bucks a cup and get rich.

>>19998015
I hear they're a bit like jap greens, but I haven't had them yet

>>19997354
Kingteamall has some cheap options
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/jianzhan-zhe-hu-ban-jumping-knife-oil-drip-150-cc-tea-cup-ktm004?_pos=2&_sid=d1cb5afbf&_ss=r
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/jianzhan-yin-you-di-silver-oil-drip-tea-cup-55cc?_pos=1&_sid=d1cb5afbf&_ss=r

>>19998145
Give it a try, if it's like chinese places here it'll be cheap shou, in which case 680 yen is quite a lot to charge imo. It's free with the meal here. Let us know what it's like

>>19998102
I do a single rinse, then a longer first brewing to get the chunk to open. then shorter second brewing and lengthen with time
but really, I brew going by color. if I start pouring and see that the color of the liquor is too light, I stop and wait a while more. I like it dark. ripe doesn't really overbrew, so you can even try making it pitch black if you want. it can actually be quite nice like that, though I tend to prefer mere coffee-dark

>>19998102
>for 10 secs and ill add 10+ secs per brew.
Do one rinse, the first brew should be at least 30 seconds, more if the tea is in chunks and not crumbs or small loose pieces push it hard, it's ripe. You could do a full minute and it would be fine

>>19998102
Lot of material, high temps, long infusions; I get it, you want the thick, syrupy body and notes. Yet, I like making many of my teas, including shou, much lighter. Mostly lighter infusions with less material, maybe a few seconds and poured, or even flash infusions if the temp is high enough. I don't need a thick body because I prioritize clearer aromas, and I find it is easier when you don't push it too much. Too much material that's infused for too long may have subtle aroma notes become obscured, which coincidentally may also impact flavor (since aroma/taste share a bit of a link).

That is just how I often make it. In your case, if you want to seek out subtleties, maybe trying focusing on retronasal aromas.

Do you rinse your leaves?
Do you pour out your first rinse?

>>19998299
>Do you rinse your leaves?
I do for anything compressed or aged
>Do you pour out your first rinse?
yes. but I also only do one rinse and it's just a one second flash

I’ve had a few autumn black teas recently for tis the season, and I’ve noticed that many of them have a sort of back of the throat peppery/spicy note. Am I insane or is this a real phenomenon?

>>19998299
Sometimes, not always. If I do a rinse, I usually just drink it unless it's really rough material leaving behind too many particulates.

>>19997104
is FRC overall pretty good? I guess i'll just go with them

>>19996525
I'm liking my Lumber Slut so far. it's a little spicy in a way, like peppery gingerbread. in addition to the "wet decomposing campfire" woody smoky vibe
definitely a bit different from the factory cakes I usually drink, though it does have some of that creamy vanilla dough thing Dayi does too

>>19997519
I did add like 8g of sugar before bottle, but I'll try that next time.

>>19996938
Have you tried the hibiscus tisane from them by chance? It looks interesting to me.

I have a white tea that has been sitting in my shelf for 6 years and doesn't taste any better than when new.
I'm thinking aging is meme.

>>19998942
Was it sold as browned/aged?

>>19998961
No. It was just some random silver needle cake I think.

>>19998934
I don't think I like hibiscus teas; a little too floral for me. I don't like flowery, bitter, astringic, or similar teas.

>>19998967

I'm not a white tea guy, but I don't think that silver needle is one of the white tea styles that people typically age? I could be wrong though.

Also I think that part of the reason that people age white tea is chasing Cha qi/tea energy or whatever you want to call it. Getting stoned on tea. Some people claim that it's the strongest with aged white tea. IDK though, I went through a phase of chasing that only to eventually realize that if I want to get stoned I should just smoke weed. I'm not saying that tea doesn't have nice effects sometimes, but it's far from anything psychedelic.

>>19998991
Aging whites is some marketing that developed in the 80s, I think. Some asshole was sitting on a warehouse full of 7 year old whites and said that it peaks around that time. It does change the flavor, some fresh whites are disgustingly floral and perfumey, not really sure what it does to the cha qi, whites are usually cooling and bestow an alert calm that isn't what your average asshole is looking for.

>>19998991
>I'm not saying that tea doesn't have nice effects sometimes, but it's far from anything psychedelic.
It technically contains psychoactive substances, but I'd agree that it should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, I have used tea (alongside L-theanine and light ambients) around when I've meditated before, and it can all contribute to the sense of equanimity. I think spending the time to perceive and experience the aromas, flavors, visuals, and textures of teas can be a meditative, ritualistic practice in of itself that lends to a composed state most associate with the cha-qi "high".
>>19998942
I think it depends. I've had fresh and aged whites, but by far, the quality itself has mattered substantially more than the age. A white with 0-2 years of aging time but good material is going to easily outpace a white with 6-12 years with cruddy material in my opinion. I remember a cheapshit 2015 shou mei cake from Fullchea that was $0.023/g, and even though it had over six years of aging at the time, it was just...not great. By contrast, I got an excellent 2021 Bada white from Chawangshop (maybe 1 year of age at the time), $0.08/g before shipping, so say 10-ish cents per gram, but miraculously better even though it was still younger by over half a decade of aging. So, I guess you can compare it to how some pu'er/heicha drinkers who stockpile tea may focus on good material first and age second.

Wish me luck, it should be about a third of KTM's price

>>19999322
Glad to see i influenced someone with my taobao experiment.

>>19999322
nice let us know how it goes. i think my next buy will in the new year will be from there, too.

>>19999322
Good luck anon. Taobao shopping seems like a pain, but I know anons have gotten some slick deals.

>>19999340
>>19999351
>>19999364
Btw I know nothing about these cakes.
The common feature from the KTMs descriptions is that they should be sweet, fragrant and not bitter, so good enough to try.
Never had a good ripe but it's supposed to be gushu and light fermentation so let's hope the result isn't total garbage.

>>19998587
I have no idea. I just looke at your site because you said you wanted to order from them.
For herbal teas mountain rose herbs is good. Their black and grean tea isn't amazing but the ancient forest black will do fine if you just want a little bit of the caffeinated stuff.
Mountain rose has both herbal tea blends and then tons of loose bulk herbs as well, many of which make good tea. Their herbal blends are mostly not flavored too which is nice.

>>19999322
Nice, that baolong commune tea was really interesting. Probably the sweetest cake i have ever bought

>>19996525
Let's see how a cake of the 2020 slut compares to the 2023 balls.

>>19999464
Much better. There's a nuttiness with the smoke and some initial sweetness rounding it out. I'm actually getting camphor and a bare amount of blackstrap molasses poured over the previous punkwood stump. Much more wood with the ciggy butts. It's also giving me the sweats.

>>19997066
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XXQF5KP

It's just an insulated cooler bag. I wanted something that was somewhat portable and it seemed like a logical choice. So far it's served me well, no issues with it imparting weird notes into the tea or anything like that.

>>19999494
Nice, the nutty/smoke notes sound like a good improvement. You seemed to dislike the other one, but I guess since you bought a tong, you can just leave it to age for a few years and maybe get a better result. Alternatively, maybe it just needs time to rest since you only just got it in the mail.

>>19999528
Nah, I got a sample of the 2023 in the shulloween bag and a single cake of the 2020 because it sounded like my kind of thing. This is more my kind of thing, but I prefer darker notes of dirt and mushrooms.

Good fucking morning everyone, i want you all to know that this is my favorite place on 4chan and i like reading the /tea/ threads during my morning shit (sacred time). I met a lot of tea elitists in china and i thought i knew a lot about tea but after reading a few threads here i still feel like i have a lot more to learn, feels good man.

>>19999528
And in other fuckup news, I accidentally'd a tong of the EoT 2021 Earth Shu instead of the 2022, which was excellent in sample form. I hope they're at least comparable and the extra year of aging makes up for less initial pile fermentation because that shit had me lit.

>>19999543
We talk big game but most of us are functionally retarded from all the mycotoxins and doing some serious bluster and bullshit with a tone of authority. Still more knowledgeable than r*ddit and not afraid to call out dumb shit.

Step aside for the jasmine pearl master race.

Heh, chubby nubby spout dribble.

>>19999558
I am too a functional retard owo

Starting today off with da hong pao, got a bag of these lil containers as a gift. I think ioverbrewed the first flush tho.

>>19999558
I buy the tea I drink the tea I tell the anons it's
>Bretty gud

>>19999558
I know shitting on Reddit (and by extension Discord) is popular but I've met some really knowledgeable folks thanks to those platforms. If you are willing to wade through the shit there are some very kind and very knowledgeable tea friends to be had.

>>19999599
I'm unimpressed by how the very nature of the platform has created a race to the bottom due to anti-gatekeeping and dogpiling combined with most popular comments being so because they're base rhetorical appeals to the lowest common denominator. I don't doubt that there are better corners of it but the whole attitude is "LOOK AT THIS THING I OWN AND TELL ME HOW AWESOME I AM, BOTTOM TEXT". The truly interesting topics get no traction or views and you're left with mediocrity and empty consumerism masked in sophistry.

>>19999579
Tastes like wood and minerals.

>>19999599
The people who do seem to know something seem to be really fucking smug about it. Maybe I can believe some cool people exist though.

>>19999621
The food pairing is key. The grease cutting power of shou is unparalleled.

>>19999626
>mercury dime
based

>>19999599
>>19999615
I don't know if it's the "must get internet good boy points" mentality but people there just repeat what they read, say offtopic garbage, call you out for having different opinion etc.
Let's say you ask a question, even if they don't know shit they will post some useless comment. Just stfu, you aren't helping.
There will always be few people that are above average, those will become God's that cannot be called out and you either need to suck their dick or get down voted.
Ofc sooner or later they will become smug assholes.

>>19999615
I don't disagree that the platform sucks, I just think it can be utilized to meet people if you are so inclined. Discord is a little easier to navigate than Reddit, because it at least filters out the bagged tea enthusiasts in /r/tea.

>>19999649
Not all who are above average become smug assholes. Honestly a lot of the good posters get very little traction as the other anon suggested.

>>19999649
>Let's say you ask a question, even if they don't know shit they will post some useless comment. Just stfu, you aren't helping.
I keep running into this when looking up stuff and following reddit links. Looked up some question about LED lightbulbs, guy replies, oh that bulb has this color and this tint etc with complete confidence. OP asks him where he found the info and the guy say oh im just repeating something i read on here. He was completely wrong about everything he said and luckily somone else chimed in with the right answer and a link to where someone had tested it.

>>19999649
Time and time again I have seen that, when challenged, they downboat the fuck out of you instead of being forced to challenge the assertion. Challenge commonly held beliefs that are wrong and you'll be downvoted even with a mountain of evidence. Go nuclear and suggest that bag tea is overpriced dust that tastes like shit and anyone who hasn't had loose leaf has no meaningful opinion in life and you get called an asshole and are banned for disrupting the social order.

Essentially, the whole site relies on the largest amount of people agreeing (a circlejerk) and anything that calls that into question is considered a personal attack and not only leads to the downvote brigade but is also a bannable offense according to global rules. You can recognize that there is a problem as long as it doesn't offend the majority, but you can't call out who is responsible for the problem.

>>19999670
Exactly.
Example, I was researching about reptiles many years back and at that time the meta comment was "sand bad, don't use sand"(it's mostly true but not always).
Dude asked about desert species. The thing literally spent millions of years to adapt to sandy environment.
Of course the first and the most upvoted comment was "sand bad", dude got down voted to oblivion for calling it out.

>>19999692
I suggested that there is now enough evidence to safely say that traditional foreign language education is a scam and 2 years (16 credit hours or $32,000 at a small private liberal arts college) can be done by grinding a free SRS app for 8 weeks, watching telenovelas and anime, and shitposting on discord and forums with native speakers. Vs. practicing with other retards who are at the same level as you and a single (hopefully) native point of contact, but usually a ouiabeaux bootlicker in the case of french. I backed it up with numerous studies on the effectiveness of spaced repition and the total failure of for profit ventures and anecdotally showed that it could be done.

They didn't like that. That was not was anyone who sunk cost into a scam wanted to here. The comments from ESLs who did the same thing were positive but I had like 80 downvotes.

Anyone whose brain isn't rotted by heavy metals know if I can yank this pipe out the minifridge or if I'll die of toxic gas or some shit? I wanna put my cakes in it.

>>19999758
Sorry wrong pic.

>>19999743
wew the tea drunk kicked in hard on that last part.

So, back to tea. I only trust tightwads and hipsters because they actually try things and are invested in doing things in the most cheap and efficient or obscure and value conscious way possible. Like anon who bought the viet tea. Damn those prices looked nice but I'm tapped out on tea cash for a while.

>>19999599
>>19999649
This exchange on the r/tea about non-tea stuff in cakes that was brought up here a week ago is the perfect example of Reddit at work.

>guy who barely knows anything gets tons of updoots
>guy pointing out that the first guy is full of shit barely gets anything or actively downvoted

Reddit is bought by Paul and his white2tea lapdogs.

Greetings, so after
>>19993668
I bought some today, let’s have tea discussion concerning who gets a loicense to brew and who doesn’t

>>19999774
We already went over this at the start of this thread.
>>19993434

>>19999599
>>19999649
This exchange on the r/tea about non-tea stuff in cakes that was brought up here a week ago is the perfect example of Reddit at work.

>guy who barely knows anything gets tons of updoots
>guy pointing out that the first guy is full of shit barely gets anything or actively downvoted

>>19999776
Ahhh well I just put sugar and water in it

>>19999774
>>19999781
My report:
It’s delicious

>>19999777
This is more or less why we shouldn't go forward with non-4ch groups. Those will inevitably just turn into shitposter hugboxes born of ignorance and intellectual stagnation. I would personally like for people to not bring R*ddit up in the thread precisely because I don't want for discussions to deviate from the communally-maintained standard. It's why I didn't engage this long off-topic reply chain until now. I want to keep /tea/ as /tea/, not /r/tea, and I hope others will agree with me on this. By the way, checked.

>>19999760
It says cyclopentane. I'm gonna snip it

>>19999840
That's a flammable refrigerant. Please don't.

>>19999828
It's good to remember why the communal standards exist and what the consequences are. I mean, this site was pretty much founded on and grew from escaping and making fun of drama on other forums. We have our own native and mostly cordial f*rfags for fucksake. Shitting on the alternatives is about the only culture left.

>>19999840
Don’t do it anon

Alright alright. Turns out it's metal anyway
I managed to bend the whole thingy out the way n tape it to the roof.

>>19999774
I actually had a nice scone with whipped cream, raspberry jam, and a cup of tea on an excursion with my family a few weeks ago. The tea was a sencha however, a massive improvement on the typical bong tea.

>>19999626
>>19999637
>puerh and mercs
I really am home.

Am I allowed to operate motor vehicles when tea drunk

>you can't reheat water that has already been boiled, you need to start again
Why do old people say this

>>19999774
Savour it well, it’s your first step into becoming an insufferable tea snob.

>>20000521
Your honor I didn't meant to run over the kids, you see I was tea drunk.
I'm tea drunk please send me to rehab and to jail.

Any one try eagle tea before? AKA laoying or lao ying cha.

>>20000601
Is that different fro ya bao?
It was being discussed a few threads ago.
It's a bit finicky to brew since it just seems to repel water and there is some disagreement over how well it ages or if it should be drank fresh. It's a relative of camellia sinensis. So it's technically another plant that's closely related to Tea instead of a subtype of capital T Tea

>>20000601
>>20000636
Nevermind it has nothing to do with ya bao, the just kind of look similar.
>Laoying Cha (eagle tea) is made from the dried leaves of a type of a Laurel tree, Actinodaphne cupularis

How's everyone tea orders going? Christmas time is usually slower than the rest of the year, I hope to get my package before christmas at least.

>>20000530
I'm on a well and the water is such that after just a single boiling you can visibly see mineral precipitates in the water. For that reason I won't make tea with twice boiled water

>>20000674
I thought they were all going to arrive much later, but tracking updated through all my orders I made around BF, and it seems even the ones I thought were deadlocked in customs updated as being in-country, at sorting centers. They might even all arrive this week!

>>20000724
But this water now has less mineral content, right? Am I missing something here?

>>20000521
In moderation, anon. You must use the cha qi to evade carolers, not let the cha qi use you.

>he doesn't match his tea to the proper tea clay
>he doesn't burn incense while drinking tea
>he doesn't play guqin while drinking tea
>he doesn't have seasonally appropriate flower arrangements in his tea room
>he doesn't have a charcoal fired hearth in the center of his room for heating his 100% iron tea kettle
>he doesn't have his tea room optimized for feng shui
>he doesn't have cute names for all his tea pets (in Classical Chinese, of course)
>he doesn't have a mountain stream he can see from his window
>he isn't friends with a Chinese diplomat so that he can get his tea gifts
Yikes. Could not be me.

Got some new tea I'm looking forward to trying. Nothing like some liu bao in the evening. Gonna post my impressions/info in a little while after I try it.

>>19993867
Did this. Was delicious.

>>20000864
Damn that looks interesting
Is it old?

>>20000725
I have 20 days transit on mine. 5 days since last plane update. Not arrived in my country yet I think so still need to wait.

>mention that I like tea once
>people keep regifting me endless amounts of tea

2006 CNNP "Liu Bao" From KingTeaMall
5.1g/200F/10s (first infusion)

Dry Leaf has notes of a light syrup and perhaps a very subtle woodsiness. Wet leaf has a similar aroma, but the syrup note seems a bit deeper. Perhaps a faint vanilla note.

Medium thickness, low astringency, low bitterness. Quite smooth. Though not especially blatant, surprisingly, the initial primary flavor note comes out to more of a light vanilla instead of syrup to my senses (at least with lighter infusions). Proceeding a bit heavier moves it more towards something syrup-like, and further infusions also lead it towards syrup. Touch of subtle cooling woodsiness that I find refreshing; lingers on the palate a little bit.

Syrup/woodsy aroma from the wet leaf smells clearer as I go through a few infusions. I think this is the kind of tea many people will push, but I am finding that I rather like it infused lightly. The vanilla quality may be in my head, but I like the overall result with this. The product description says it has a "subtle earthy undertone", and is "smooth and mellow", which I'd say is mostly accurate, though I'd say it is more woodsy than earthy. A nice daily drinker as they recommend.
--
Been so long since I've been able to sit down and have a nice focused session like this. I'm having a lot of fun right now. I'm also surprised how different this liu bao is from the ones I've tried from Chawangshop. Lighter, and pleasant in its own way.
>>20000909
2006, so it has a solid 17 years of age on it. It's this one: https://kingteamall.com/products/2006-liu-baoliubao-a-grade-loose-leaf-dark-tea-wuzhou-guangxi

>>20000601
>Any one try eagle tea before
no but it looks interesting. I noticed that on TeaHabitat as well.
>>20000636
>ya bao
>It's a relative of camellia sinensis.
I think some of it comes from camellia sinensis proper. It is however most associated with wild tea plant whatever species you want to call them.
>>20000674
My farmer leaf order in in the states but my CSH order is still in shanghai I think.
>>20000742
>But this water now has less mineral content, right? Am I missing something here?
Maybe it helps avoid poring flakes of mineral into your tea? I think some people worry that boiling will remove dissolved air and therefore the water wont brew tea properly. Personally, I have no problem with reboiling water. I don't think it really maters much.

>>20000938
>doesn't appreciate a package of premium longjing that has been re-gifted since mao was still alive.

Well genuinely wish there were some way to give all this sencha I don't want. For health reasons I won't go into I can only drink a little bit of tea (this developed AFTER I had all this for a while) now and then, so this sencha is mostly going to go old and stale. I don't want it to go to waste so I want to know some way to give this to someone? The odd situation where I wish the tea general had some discord or like tag map to make this easier

>>20001128
I won't pry, but have you tried lighter infusions to still enjoy your tea with this condition? Even flash infusions since you have so many greens. I'd think that may be easier to take on, and still be pleasant. I've done that with harsh (or otherwise really potent) shengs so they don't overwhelm my digestive system. That said, I rarely try greens, so I'd be happy to take them if you don't think there's an immediate solution. You can reach me at Dot09@protonmail.com, or I can drop a Disc if that's easier.

>>20001164
Thank you for the advice, I might keep one green but yeah it's better to give away the rest. A Disc would be easier. That said, I have so much puerh, heicha, oolongs etc that are far more suited to aging that I feel these greens deserve someone enjoying them.

>>20001186
I do hope you can keep enjoying some of your teas somehow, even a little. Still, my Disc is 'kingcoinless' if you'd like to discuss it.

>>20001202
I sent a request. I go by Mal

>>19997536
First impressions.

Rinsed with 160F water and brewed for 30 seconds at 190F per this guy.
https://teabuykorea.blogspot.com/2019/09/brewing-korean-green-tea-and-ddeokcha.html

I'm sure I underleafed this first infusion (I'm going to buy a scale one of these days), so added more leaf in the next infusion (which is common in Korea according to the guy in the link) and again in the one after that. Tea liquor was very light in color, though that might've been from underleafing. Taste of the tea was similar to a Japanese green with more sweetness and less bitterness. The leaves themselves taste mildly sweet with a bit of seaweed taste. Next time I'll try Eric's brewing method from the link that uses much hotter water as high quality greens supposedly take the heat better.

>>20001295
The dry leaves look so pretty. Reminds me of a young white. Never had Korean tea before, but that seems like a good vendor as far as product quality goes.

Gotta say this thread is the most mature i've seen on 4chan. Am gonna brew some zhenghe red tea.

>>20001699
>Gotta say this thread is the most mature i've seen on 4chan.
Just a fortunate accumulation of good-natured, open-minded people enjoying themselves while they sip tea and "pour on pige". I genuinely like reading people's impressions and seeing their pictures here because it opens my mind up to new things. The environment feels pleasant and composed without lacking stimulus, and that's simply nice.
>Zhenghe
Isn't that a place that makes a lot of white tea productions? It's in Fujian after all. Wonder what that means for red production there.

>>20001723
Yeah it's usually where they make loads of white tea, but this one is an experimental red tea.
Quite solid, not too bitter, reminds me of yixing red but with less complexity.

>>20000674
white2tea order arrived, cspuerh hasn't updated in a long time, I hope it isn't still in Shanghai...

>>20001699
hey it's one of the mei leaf trays. how is it?

>>20001769
actually really good, great size for small pots and u can have it straight on your desk without it getting in the way of typing on your keyboard, however its a bit tall.

Any must-buys from moychay? I'm most curious about willowherb and some of the other relatively obscure tisanes, but they've got all sorts of curiosities.

>>20000742
>>20000995
>Maybe it helps avoid poring flakes of mineral into your tea?
This is it. I've forgotten what mineral is responsible but boiled water in my area develops a fine sandy grit. I have no choice but to swap kettle water

>>20001699
This is what it could be like without being under constant bad faith ideological attack from tankies and tourist shitposters. /tea/ just slips between the cracks.
>>20001723
This is also probably the case relative to most boards.
Cheers.

>>20002213
Interesting. In my area it develops into thin sheets. They don’t get in the tea but they are quite sharp if they are dislodged from the bottom.

>>20002079
Someone here supposedly went through all of their ripe productions. Maybe he can chime in.

>Tfw used my whole bottle of deep cold brew in both a breakfast stew and creamy green shake
Lads...my food is so savory and rich right now. More anons here should give using tea in their dishes sometime.
>Pic related, the bottle through a bit of lighting.

>>19993454
Yeah, based on being an Anglo bitch
T. Turk

>>20002079
>moychay
Can you order internationally from their Russian site again or do you still have to buy through their EU distributor?

>>20001699
haha benis

>>20000531
So I just ordered one of these
https://youtu.be/dLQrh_6A9S8?si=7a1zr-l9TCzJUz1h

>>19999464
>>19999494
yeah I think that cake might be a bit hardcore when fresh and get more balanced latrer
this 2021 I have sure has the campfire and basement thing going on, but not without the usual ripe flavor to balance it out

>>19999464
What is that

>>20002483

>>20001128
I don't want to selfishly eat into the other anons windfall or make things difficult for you but If you are willing to split things up I would appreciate some as well. I liked the green teas that I have had in the past but have never really tried that many and would appreciate the opportunity if you are willing to share. I don't have a discord account but I can figure out how to make one if you really prefer it over email. If you do want to email me you can contact me at vegetablesacquire@proton.me

In any case I hope you get well anon.

>>20001699
Comfy setup anon. Are you Buddhist?

>>20002636
For me? It’s Bepis

I used some tea in my spinach-PB-cinnamon shake earlier this morning. Spinach often yields a rather creamy result, but it was more fragrant overall than usual. Pretty refreshing. The visuals remind me of matcha too. Pic related.

I diluted my kombucha with club soda and now it's fizzy and not like vinegar. I think it works bros. Now I just need to learn how to flavor this shit.

>>20002819
Flavoring is the fun part, highly recommend infusing lemon zest into a simple syrup and adding that with lemon juice. Tastes like lemonade on steroids.

Today's tea
“part of a 3000g raw puerh cake, absolute unit of a cake broken down for you all to try!” [sic] from my LP beginner pack
Appearance: dry leaves are brown with a few hints of green here and there, intact medium to large sized leaves, moderate grade picking, has a few small fragments yellow leaves, quite a few thin long stems sometimes with tea leaves attached, reminds me a bit of cheaper yiwu style cakes, no rubbish, appears to be semi-aged under moderate humidity storage, wet leaves are brownish green, tea liquor is pale golden yellow
Taste: quite sweet, some sort of herbaceous minty thing going on, old hay and straw, maybe a light waft of smoke especially at first, maybe a bit fruity, perhaps dried tropical fruits?, “smooth” mouthfeel, moderate bitterness, lightly tannic and drying finish, taste profile also seems plausibly yiwu or a blend with yiwu
Thoughts: a perfectly good semi-aged sheng, the minty herbaceous part is the main highlight, I am curious how big a 3000g cake would look in person, the material is good quality considering it is a gimmicky mega cake, wonder what factory made it

>>20002967
Absolute unit of a cake
Did it have any name or origin claims or anything?
Ive seen a few 3 kilo cakes here and there. I know xiaguan did some at somepoint. It must be another lucky number thing or something

>>20003490
>Did it have any name or origin claims or anything?
Not on the label at least. LP probably knows but I don't really care enough to ask him.
>xiaguan did some at somepoint.
I think LP has split those up before so that would be a good guess.

3000g?! Are we talking about a tea cake wide enough to use as a tea table or a cake thick enough to be a table leg?

What tea is best for the homunculus?

>>20004739
Golden flowers heicha. You WILL drink the spores!

opened up the Fa Zhan He again after taking a bit of a break from it
got hit in the face with a beautiful floral honey fragrance. used to be more vegetal, I guess it changed over the last two months or so. flavor is savory, green bean, herbal. a bit less lemon than I recall. very nice, intriguing sweetness to it and a fluffy texture

what are some similar teas to this one? I'm enjoying it quite a bit more than the more fruity raws like the Miyun and such

>wake up
>fucking cold
>eventually force myself to get out of bed
>feel like shit
>do morning chores
>eventually stumble out of apartment to walk my dog
>stop by to buy coffee in 7 eleven
>drink it while walking
>no longer feel miserable
>good mood now
>arrive home
>pour water in kettle
>do some chores and eat
>pour boiled water over tea leaves
>sipping tea
>everything is good

>pic unrelated

3 weeks for my package, it's not even in my country. Why is it so slow during december.

How would you go about figuring out whether the material of your new tea cups is porcelain, as advertised by a less-than-perfectly-reputable seller, or much cheaper painted glass?
The density is around 2,18g/cm^3.
Asking for a friend.

When you keep your wet leaves for a few hours, to keep drinking at a later time, do you leave them in your closed gaiwan or somewhere in the open?

>>20005411
I thought porcelain was pretty cheap nowadays?

>>20005567
depends on the quality, but it's still more expensive than comparable quality glass

>>20005529

When they are still hot after brewing, I always leave the lid open so they aren't just sitting in there steaming and cooking themselves. After everything cools down, I'm not sure that it matters so much. But I always leave the lid open still. I'd rather the leaves dry out a little bit, than for them to just hang out in closed up wetness. But I've never tried both ways and compared, this is just what I end up doing.

>>20005609
>steaming and cooking themselves
is that a thing? i always leave the lid on between steeps. i'll try leaving it off.

>>20005529
I leave them closed. If I'm making consecutive brews, I leave them open. I'm not sure which way is better, but seems sensible. If I'm brewing Shu or hei cha I always keep them closed, gotta get that heat retention

>>20005529
You can watch a white tea oxidize in minutes when it isn't covered in water.

>>20005120
>what are some similar teas to this one?
Good question, im far from an expert on young raws but i haven't had one that scratches quite the same itch as that one does. Usually if i get fruity notes its more in the dried plum kind of spectrum.

>>20005411
Its probably porcelain, shits cheap
Anyway look at the base, usually some part of the base will be unglazed and will have a rough texture where you can feel the raw ceramic

>>20005761
William said on a stream it reminds him of some southern Menghai (I guess bulang / banzhang?) teas in a way. IDK if that's true, I haven't had many young teas from that region. I wonder if the autumn Lao Man E would be similar if they sell it again?

>>20005775
The lao man e was pretty different. Bug upfront bitterness turning into sweetness. Maybe some citrus aspects but not as prominent, also didn't have the green bean note or it at least didn't stand out amongst the rest of what was going on.

>>20005792
thanks. that was the only autumn raw I was really interested in from the site, I hope he will still add it on Christmas

I make a big 2 gallon batch of tea at a time so I have something to just sip on during that day that isn't soda or pure water. Typically throw a little pink lemonade mix and a cup of splenda in it to give it a bitch of sweetness but still on the bitter side. I've been taught to boil the tea bag in a pot first, dump that into the container then add cold water and let it cool in the fridge. Is there any real benefit to the boiling process or can I just add cold water and leave the tea bag in there? It takes like 6 hours for the boiling water to cool anyways so not like I'm saving much time.

>>20005831
boiling and cold brew will result in a different flavour profile, you'll get less tannin in the cold brew. so you might prefer it might not, i'd guess if you're sweetening you probably want to boil to get a stronger taste.
i usually cold brew for 12h at least but i haven't tried it with black tea bag.

>>20005831
I prefer cold brew. Taking black tea, especially teabags boiling just extracts more tannins without really adding any flavor benifit. Just cold brew overnight in the fridge. Use cold tap water, put in the teabags or loose tea, cover and stick it in the fridge

drinking the Jiuqu Hongmei from KTM
it's quite sweet, on the lighter side of black teas. a bit fruity, just a touch of milk chocolate and something like marzipan?
it's quite nice. I'm happy with the black teas I got from KTM, especially for the price

>>20006073
Nice to see some reviews of KTM looseleaf offerings. I had some of their mid grade dragonswell a few years ago and thought it was pretty good but that's the only decent dragonswell i have tried so i can't compare it to much.
KTMs looseleaf offerings always made me a bit weary because they were cheap but i think they are probably just not as marked up as other western vendors are

>>20006089
yeah I've had their cheaper Jin Jun Mei, JiuQu Hongmei and 2012 "gushu Shai Hong" and they're all quite nice
I also bought some samples of their lower tier yanchas, but I still have to try those

>>20006106
Im really interested in their yancha as well. I would love if i could get some acceptably quality yancha at 20¢ a gram

>>20005619

I think it makes a difference with like black teas. If you leave the lid on in-between steeps I find I get infusions that are more bitter, but that could just be circumstantial.

I do agree with the other poster saying to leave the lid on when brewing ripe and hei cha. That is a good exception that I agree with. And green tea I always grandpa brew, so I guess that's an exception too. But any other style I like to let the leaves cool and air out in between steeps.

>>20006134
I know the chinese like to leave a bit of water in while brewing green tea
on the other hand, the japs love dribbling every last drop out and also leaving the lid on, so IDK. some conflicting attitudes

>>19995912
i ended up buying from dammann frères one russian earl grey and one christmas blend (noel a st petersbourg)
really liking them

i've been using an infuser similar to pic related for forever now and it just works but i've heard that tea should ideally have more space to expand blablabla
i'm willing to try these little clay pots because they look comfy but i have been wondering: when only the leaves are left behind in the pot after I pour my tea, how do you properly and efficiently remove the leaves from the pot without picking every single piece by hand? i dont get it. i dont want to rinse it with water and pour the leaves into my sink

>>20006333
I rinse it with water in the sink but my sink has a filter basket, similar to your picrel, that catches the leaves.

>>20006333
>take gaiwan/kyushu
>give it a slight tap above bin
>99% of the leaves fall into the bin
>use fingers to pick the rest

>>20006383
>use fingers to pick the rest
no thanks.....

>>20006333
The infuser you are using is pretty ideal desu, i recommended that design to everyone.
Clay teapots are a meme, if you want to try gongfu style brewing buy a $10 120ml porcelain gaiwan off of amazon or aliexpress.
Clay teapots change the way that tea tastes, not always for the better. They also pick up flavors so you don't necessarily want to use the same pot for every tea, depending on what you drink.
Also the cheap $20 teapots you see around will generally just make your tea taste worse, advice on clay is to buy from specialized dealers who's prices start at $100 or so.

Had W2T's Firebat a bit earlier today. My notes:
___
4.1g/195F/8s

Dry leaf smells like sweet barbeque chips and firewood, maybe charcoal. Wet leaf retains the barbeque chips smell while moving the firewood note into more a 'soft' charcoal.

Medium texture, low bitterness, medium astringency. I'm surprised how much that barbeque aroma transfers onto the palate, even into the aftertaste, which seems a touch sweet, but without the preceeding bitterness to really be huigan. The liquor itself is quite smooth, and rather light-colored unless you push it. Smokiness was enhanced when I did a short high-temperature infusion. Though I'm usually inclined to drink my tea isolated from a meal, I feel this would be a really good pairing with a meat dish. Nicely balanced.
___
I still have the aftertaste in my mouth as we speak. These notes are kind of hunger-provoking in a way I'm not used to with most teas I drink. Yum.

>>20006333
I concur with the previous anon who responded to you. Consider getting a gaiwan or shiboridashi. The inherent nature of their designs means once you've poured out the last infusion, you can just open it up and dump the contents into the trash (or a rolling coldbrew jar if you're big-brained). A cheap porcelain one off of a site like AliExpress is nice, though you can also find pretty (glazed) clay ones on a place like Chawangshop or even certain Etsy stores if you know how to dig around.

>>20005529
I only use teapots and I leave a different tea in each pot from first to last steeping

>>20005767
right, thanks

>>20006333
Throw leaves in trash, rinse the rest of the leaves off with water, throw the rinse in the trash

https://www.hotsoup.nl/

Does this site have any good teas?
I bought some puerh there and it tasted like nothing at all, only a fishy smell like it was cheap crap.

>>20006516
Its generally bad to buy puer from anyone but shops that specialize in puer, in the EU there are very few shops and the are mostly quite expensive.
Outside of puer there have been some eruo posters that ordered from hotsoup and were reasonably happy with the tea they got.
You can find a few eu vendors with puer in the pastebin, most are in eastern Europe and again not exactly cheap but their tea is good from what anons have reported.
Unfortunately there is a lot of cheap shitty ripe puer out there that smells like fish and tastes like nothing and it always seems to end up in large general tea vendor shops

>>20006548
If I cant buy puerh from EU shops, what would you suggest I buy?
White tea?
Green tea?
I've tried oolong from hotsoup.nl and I found it a little too bitter and similar to black tea

>>20006564
what oolong did you get? oolong is a really broad category so it's worth trying more than one.

>>20006564
Just buy tea from china
>inb4 no i will have to pay the same VAT that i pay on everything else i buy but i can actually see the number so it makes me feel bad

>>20006570
I'll keep trying then, do anons enjoy stuff like japanese encha and whatnot?

>>20006581
Sencha is good, it's very surprising because it tastes absolutely nothing like green teabags from the grocers. It's got a very strong savory flavor and a viscous texture.

>>20006590
I'll try sencha teas, also this one:
https://www.hotsoup.nl/nl/oriental-beauty-bai-hao-oolong.html
I've read that this is a really good kind of tea to start with?

Or is it similar to pu-erh, in that its going to taste like shit unless it's from China?

>>20006272
Sorry that no one gave you any advice and all you got was my shitty joke. Glad you found something.

i've forgotten the cost of these yeeon samples so it's a good time to try some. here's the "2009 connoisseur yiwu spring delight"
the storage notes aren't super strong on this one. has a little astringency and bitter.
i wanted this to be good, but it's kinda bland and not really doing anything for me. i'm not even sure what to write about it. the mouthfeel isn't all that good either. a solid MEH/10

>>20006597
Oriental beauty is good, im a big fan, somewhat floral with lots of aroma and sweetness.
I think theirs will be fine
It's really just puer thats a pain in the ass for euros.
Make sure you check the brewing parameters for oriental beauty and sencha because you don't want to use full boiling water on them.
Let us know how it goes.
Some other general teas i would suggest, Chinese black teas are typically more fruity and less malty then indian blacks our your typical black teabag blends.
White teas are usually sweet and fruity, usually very accessible.
Tyeguanyin oolong is popular, sometimes its roasted, the greener ones have more of a tangy sometimes creamy flavor profile.

>>20006702
Bummer, i know yiwu is famous for its extraordinary blandness but ive had some wet stored yiwu that presented some interesting mouthfeel and taste. Eh cant win em all

>>20006741
does that site have any good white teas I should try?

I want to drink tea but I have norovirus

>>20006745
way she goes. i have the 2013 ban zhang also from the "connoisseurs" series which i'll probably sip on tomorrow, hopefully it'll be better.

>>20006752
maybe you can do some smelling. just standing around smelling stuff is underrated.

>>20006748
Maybe try ome of these, whichever sounds better to you.
https://www.hotsoup.nl/nl/herkomst/yunnan-white-moonlight-yue-guang-bai.html
https://www.hotsoup.nl/nl/bai-mu-dan-white-peony-2023.html
https://www.hotsoup.nl/nl/bai-mu-dan-bio.html
Those types of white teas are usually pretty forgiving with brewing and pleasant to drink.

>>20006780
Thanks a bunch for picking some, I'll try them out!

Drink more tea

>>20006859
the FUCK did you just say to me

Tea

>>20006384
if you really don't want to use your fingers then get a tea needle with a little hook like picrel
at some point the pot will need rinsing though, and i'd be surprised if you can get every last bit of leaf out first however you do it

>>20006384
how about just using goddamn tapwater to clean the inside???

>>20007568
>>20007568
>>20007568
>>20007568