/ck/ - Food & Cooking

tee

>>20488364
thé

herbata

>>20488377
oparty

t

té

>>20488325
It is so fucking hard to find a Japanese teapot for sale with that style of filter.

>>20488605
I'm not ssurprised, shit looks annoying to make

It's surprisingly difficult to find a simple unglazed red clay cup in solo 100mL+ sizes.

Please review the skull teapot

Luv this taiwanese white tea. Its still very fresh and green - from april. Proroprabrly could develop in a different direction with further aging.

28ct/g

>>20488623
There are lots of "yixing" mugs in the 350-450ml range but nome of them seem to be particularly quality, mostly mass produced.

>>20488628
Link?

>>20488628
>Proroprabrly
qi that strong huh?

>>20488623
Unfortunately taobao is your best bet for obscure teaware like that. You can sometimes find stuff on AliExpress but it's very difficult to tell if what you are getting is good quality since stores are just listing huge amounts of products.

>>20488605
I've never seen one like that before. Lots of surface area so I assume that's to avoid getting jammed by small pieces of nip tea?
>>20488624
To be honest, I don't really like the teapot as much as I was hoping I would. I still really like the design, form, and naturally the glazed finish. The biggest problem it has is that the lid isn't snug enough nor has a deep enough lip. It leaks too much from the top. It's perfectly serviceable as a teapot of course, but unless the inner rim is 100% clear of even the tiniest piece of shu puerh, it dribbles too much for my liking. For nice whole leaf sessions from a raw or oolong, it is possible. I've found greater success pushing the lid forward somewhat in addition to holding it down when I pour. I bought this glazed one particularly for ripes though, so I feel like I'm not able to get what I wanted out of it. I also have to say I wish the handle wasn't glazed. It's not such a thick glaze that it's slippery, but it's somewhat slick. I find my self wanting to pinch harder. Couple that with also having to push the lid forward, and it makes for an sub-optimal ergonomic experience.
The positives: The smoothest laminar flow I've ever seen. I can hold that sucker way up there and it's smooth for at least a foot. It feels and sounds excellent. The skull is frankly the best part. Not everyone's taste, I know, but it is rad as hell. It also is unglazed (as is the foot). It feels good to put your finger on as you pour. You know it isn't going to slip, which is perhaps why I started pushing forward as well. The color is great. I love the way it looks.

Final verdict: I wouldn't get another one and I wouldn't recommend one to you, anon. If this were my first teapot, if I didn't have enough experience to dial in its usage, I would be frustrated as a beginner. Maybe somebody might like a tricky session at seaworld, but after a while it feels like more effort than it's worth. I don't really like it.

>>20488717
https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/product/organic-pre-qingming-t-23-qi-yun-white-tea/?v=3a52f3c22ed6

>>20488717
Also just noticed the recommendation:
"The best way to enjoy this tea is through a continuous steep; simply drop a quantity of leaves into a pot or bowl, pour boiling water, let steep to the desired taste, enjoy, and top up with water as you go along. "
It's well suited for "grandpa brewing" since it doesn't have the slightest bitterness.

Sipping this little box of CNNP liubao from KTM.
I keep sniffing the wet leaf. Obvious storage smell but super clean, not much geosmin/beets. Smells great.
It has some potency like you can get in ripes, along with a unsweetened dark chocolate type flavour. It's very comfy.
Not a liubao buff so I can't really say if it's good value or not, but it's well worth its cost to me. I'm just sad I have only 100g, maybe I'll order some three cranes soon...

>>20489365
Hell yeah, that's what i was hoping for when i saw that listed. Nice liubao with storage on it but still relatively clean. Good place to be for 16¢ a gram

>>20489365
I really liked the other modern first grade CNNP liu bao I had

I ordered a "bluestone glazed cha hai" to replace my severely cracked glass one. Unfortunately I didn't quite think it through and I'm trying to find out if it's clay or some other material, because I remember hearing clay teaware was very fickle. Did I mess up?

>>20489385
It looks glazed so i wouldn't worry about it unless it makes your tea taste weird. It's only raw clay that can be finicky

>>20489385
if it's glazed, it won't be fickle

>>20488623
the tokoname guys sometimes make unglazed rad clay cups

>>20489393
>>20489394
Oh thank goodness. I opened my packages up all excited and then had the sudden thought.
It looks nice against the mini table I got at least.

received my order of ripe/raw/liubao samples from YS today and I'm stupid excited to try them.
so far have tried rock spirit and 2020 three cranes 1815 recipe liu bao.
Rock spirit is really great, definitely will need a cake of that one sometime. It's like everything I enjoy about the Taetea 7572 cakes on amazon but a much stronger flavor and aroma, and maybe a touch woodier.
I'm not so sure about the liu bao yet. I think I need to brew it differently because I've just tried a few grams in 16oz of boiling water with a strainer brewer. I'm gonna try to get a gaiwan of smaller volume like 6oz or so and see if that style improves it. so far I would describe it as like a stale sickly-sweet earthy flavor, not quite the same as previous more geosmin/beetroot/petrichor rich liu bao I've tried. In fact it's really lacking completely any sort of petrichor flavor at all.
anyways sorry for blog posting, and want to thank again the lovely anons here for the recommendations and suggestions in my tea journey so far

>>20489577
>Sorry for talking about tea in the tea thread meant for talking about tea
Your description of Rock spirit sounds interesting, I think I'll look into it.

>>20489385
stylish cup, can't comment on the clay but looks great

Mentioned a couple threads ago I was looking to get into a puer. I've been into sencha/gyokuro for about 2 years, but bought this tuo (https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2013-golden-bamboo-garden-village-raw-pu-erh-tea-tuo?_pos=1&_sid=adb9b1d52&_ss=r)) on anon's recommendation, along with a ripe (https://yunnansourcing.com/products/15-years-aged-golden-melon-ripe-pu-erh-tea-tuo?_pos=1&_sid=c85642368&_ss=r))
It's my first time and I'm so excited.

>>20489857
Don't stab yourself trying to pick some tea off that thing.
Easiest it to put it hole side down and then stick your pick straight down a bit in from the edge and pry chunks outward
Usually you push it in 2-3 times fairly close along the same edge and then a pice will come off easily.
Don't worry about trying to sperate all the leaves, just break it down to 2-3 thinner pieces that make up the weight you are going for.

I'm drinking the "Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong of Wu Yi Fujian Black Tea" that came in today at work. Eyeballed a small amount of leaves, if I had to guess 3-4g, and set my water temp to 194°F. Smells like apples and peach cobbler. Tastes a little like it too. Very nice.

>>20490147
that's a favorite of mine, I'm glad you enjoy it. it was such a surprise to me how dessert-like it is compared to smoked lapsang souchong.

>>20490181
I'm almost tempted to see how I'd like it brewed grandpa style or something similar. This is a very, very nice tea. You have good taste.

>>20490229
It works great grandpa style in my experience. It gets very chocolatey at higher leaf-water ratios I'd say. I use maybe a small handful for ~500ml mug, it tends to sink to the bottom after brewing, similar to pu-er, but not as good at repeated brews as pu-er would be I think.

Tea should be a regulated substance. I'm checking the websites of my local tea shops every morning, and the moment the first Japanese green tea shows up (today), my dead eyes light up, I start salivating like a dog and jump out of the bed.

I only ever had two puerhs:
>one from a local tea store which got boring really fast
>https://globalteahut.org/products/autumn-bridge which I quite liked
What should I try next?

>>20491098
The 2002 Fuhai tuo from Awazon is good if you want some dry stored ripe at a good price. Their other ripes have some age on them too

I had my sample of the EOT 2006 Bingdao Lao Zhai Ancient Tree Puerh the other day.
The first few steeps had a very nice aged character, vanilla and caramel with a soft and pleasant body and a lasting texture that seemed to coat my mouth.
The later steeps had a bit of bitterness especially when pushed with longer steeps, but the bitterness would fade pretty quickly and turn to a warm kind of cinnamonish spice and sweetness like dates. There was a bit of astringency on the later steeps as well.
I enjoyed this tea more than the Bangwai, especially the first few steeps, the aged notes were excellent. If this tea had retained more of that aged profile throughout the entire session that would have been nice.
As with the Bangwai, I certainly enjoyed this tea but I did not find it to be worth the $3/g price tag. I think another anon said something to the effect of "you're paying for the prestige of the village the tea came from" last thread, and I think that just about sums it up. It's good tea, but you aren't missing out on anything mind blowing if you never try it. There's plenty of tea that's similarly good for way cheaper.

>>20491449
Thanks for the review

>>20491098
>What should I try next?
If you want a real nice ripe?
https://tea-expert.net/mengku/00135-mengku-bojun-2020?page=2
Plus 100g of this raw
https://tea-expert.net/mengku/10098-benwei-dacheng-1kg-2020

Should I leave my ripe cakes outside of their mylar to hopefully remove the strong fish flavour

>>20491636
Break half a cake up, stick it on a plate with a clean dish towel wrapped over it, stick it on a shelf somewhere far from any strong odors, check on it after a few weeks and see if it's changed.
What ripe are you working with specifically?

>>20491654
2017 Awazon Old Tea Tree Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=926
2011 Menghai Tea Factory TaeTea (Dayi) Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake 7572
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=219
2010 Xiaguan Tea Factory Ripe Pu-erh Tea Cake "8663"
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=283

What are some good tea shops? Mostly interested in shincha right now

My local tea shop sucks. It's mostly blends with meme labels. The rest is grossly overpriced puer and matcha.

>>20491674
I had that dayi a while ago and it was pretty clean, it's probably one of the other cakes stinking up the place. That said do they taste off or just smell a bit fishy? It's not unusual for brewed ripe to have a whiff of fish but taste fine

>>20491829
Check the rentry, mostly you should just order from Japan but there are a few Japanese tea specialist vendors listed for other regions

>>20491960
The 2017 Awazon cake is very high on the fish scale. The Dayi is more tolerable and mild.

>>20491997
>The 2017 Awazon cake is very high on the fish scale
Yeah i don't find that too shocking. Airing it out might help

>>20491997
>>20491674
it's probably mostly the Awazon cake stinking up the other two
I got that Dayi and for me it was fishless

>>20491458
>tea-expert
Luv his commie WWII anniversary ripe. It's got a good dark chocolate aroma with a mellow unnoffensive earthiness, that increases with later steeps. Just something pleasant to drink regularly. Too lazy to look up a link.

>>20492617
Guy that owns the shop is such a nerd, huge russiaboo and he is obsessed with old commie imagery. I bet he collects old chinese and russian communist party uniforms and old propaganda posters

I'd like to have some tea with my boomer ass dad, he's 70. He's unwell now and I figured it's a possibility to spend some time together.
Years ago I remember him saying he likes lapsang, has anyone got a rec? Or anything you think might work out well. I'd think things like green tea and puer are totally off the table.

>>20491893
Yeah mine is the same. It sucks but there isn't really any demand for quality tea here so they cater to soccer moms who don't vaccinate their kids.
I just checked their site and they sell picrel for $75.95 ($57.00 on the Bana Tea Co site), which is pretty egregious considering the label is in English so anybody could easily look it up lol

>>20493198
Get some smokey lapsang or some Russian caravan (blend of some smoked lapsang + black tea + dark cheap taiwan oolong)
The real classic lapsang comes in cans at the Chinese market.
This is a classic Taiwanese black smoked tea
https://marktwendell.com/collections/hu-kwa-our-signature-tea/products/hu-kwa-tea-4-oz-tin

Xiaguan Te Ji is really hitting the spot today. Probably their only raw I've really liked so far. Most everything is at least okay, but this right here is darn good. Even over the Jia Ji the quality is noticeably better.

>>20493581
What year?
Yeah i love me some xiaguan tuos, ive been sipping 09 all week while im waiting for spring raws. Ive gone through a kilo or two of te ji over the years. Really nails that sweet smokey flavor, smoother then some of their recipe cakes. Just a nice enjoyable tea. I always imagine it's a stape tea for old ass southern chinese grampas.

>>20493604
Only a 2023! I have the same picture of chinese grampas in my head, too.

>>20493238
kek there's something wrong about the wrapper being all in english. it seems cursed.

I just realised that I got a free sample for my single-cake Awazon order, but not my more recent 800g one. Do they only send out samples to first-time customers, or only to small orders?

>>20491674
I got both that Dayi and that XG, and neither smelled weird at all. Could yours have leeched funk off of the Awazon cake?

>>20493755
My first order was large and contained no free sample

>find e-mail receipts for my old tea orders
>cringe when I see the prices I used to pay
>wonder why, since I pay about the same now
>realise it's because I frequently went under my budget back then, whereas I often go over my current, more stringent budget
I'm buying better tea now, at least.

Anyone here tried tea flavor standards before?

>>20493238
My local shop focuses on afternoon tea service. Besides tea blends they do technically sell a decent variety of plain tea but their prices aren't great so I have never bothered ordering. I also caught a case of gross markup from them as well.

>>20494251
>>20493238
local online store listed a 2006 Xiaguan Jia Ji Tuo for 40$ recently
shit costs 9$ on KTM and probably like 5$ on taobao

>>20494474
Wow, that's pretty bad. It's just predatory at that point.
It would be nice to support local stores instead of only shopping online, but they often don't give people any reason to.

>>20491893
My local tea place specializes in Taiwanese oolongs. It's not particularly high quality, but it's okay and it was good when I was starting out to have a representative baseline. They also have puerh, but it's unknown quality and priced expensively, so I'd rather not gamble on it.

>>20493755
Seems arbitrary, i don't think i got samples with any of my orders including similarly large ones. Hard to complain when their prices are so cheap

Reeeeee just chipped my expensive gaiwan. I don't know why I even bought it when I knew from the get-go that I was a clumsy retard.

>>20494648
A chip just adds character

>>20494648
I dropped the lid of my w2t gaiwan and a chunk came off. It's still functional but it doesn't look nice. I would still rate it as a nearly perfect gaiwan even if it's a bit too small. I'd like to find the same design in a larger size. Perfect pour and handling.

Speaking of gaiwans, does the shape matter?
My friend has a lot shorter and wider gaiwan than me. Both are around 150ml tho.
Which do you prefer?

>>20494917
Wide bowl with protruding lip and a smaller lid that fits inside.

>>20494917
I think either tall narrow or wide short gaiwans can be okay. The wider short ones maybe feel a bit more balanced but it's really up to personal preference. The taller ones tend to have a more narrow pour thats a bit faster.
I think the most important thing for gaiwans is the the flaired lip feels comfortable in your hands and sticks out far enough that it doesn't get too hot to hold.

is my gaiwan supposed to get too hot to hold when I pour boiling water in it?

>>20495290
Don't pour up to the lip, if the lip is not flared it will be more difficult to hold.

New FL cakes when?

>>20495376
Soon™

mfw too late for tea now

>>20494893
I really like mine. My buddy immediately broke his lid lel.

>>20494917
the shape can make an impact on the tea, in that one that is too narrow can prevent the teas from expanding properly (viz oolong). other than that i dont really care at all and i just use the one the other anon sent but in a different colour.

>>20495640
herbal

What are your daily drinkers? I have settled for the moment on a Ceylon black tea and a Japanese green kukicha. Black tea in the morning, green in the evening

>>20495982
Imagine hating tea so much that you drink it daily.

>>20496184
perplexing post

What's a drinkable young sheng to stockpile on a budget?
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/2022-haiwan-raw-puer-chinese-tea-lao-tong-zhi-9948-batch-221-old-sheng-puer-chinese-tea-357g
I've enjoyed an aged cake of this stuff, and I'm considering grabbing a couple young ones.

>>20496240
Try the 7548 as well. Bit of smokiness in there, pretty standard otherwise. I wrote down leathery or rubber notes. Need to try my cake again.
When it comes to cheap raws, Xiaguan usually gets brought up. They have some tuos that are about as cheap as it gets. I think those teas are interesting to have to see what's out there. Having a few tuos is perfect but I couldn't imagine making that the daily drinker. Haiwan on the other hand feels like a step up, closer to something I could stockpile and not get too tired of.

What does /tea/ think of golden flower dark tea? Safe to drink? Tasty?

Do 300+mL gaiwans exist? Am I better off just using a teapot at that point?

>>20496284
>What does /tea/ think of golden flower dark tea? Safe to drink? Tasty?
Yeah it's safe to drink
Yeah it's tasty, usually mellow, smooth, nice after a big meal. Sometimes the bricks are pretty loaded with stems and chopped leaves but they still brew up pretty nice, just don't expect the prettiest material unless you get one of those fancy whole leaf ones yunnan sourcing has.

>>20496284
I wouldn't touch it, seems like pure chinesium and Fluorine death. Very untasty too. Plus think about those glutens. Man fuck that shit.
>>20496310
what are you trying to do with 300ml gaiwan?

>>20496240
>What's a drinkable young sheng to stockpile on a budget?
I don't really recommend buying tea to age.
But if you just wanna buy a bunch of cheap tea so you have it i would probably go on taobao and get mid rand young xiaguan cakes. Not the number recipe stuff but the ones that are a specific town or region and still on the affordable end. Or some of their cheaper blends from that series where the put cabbages on all the labels.

>>20496310
>Do 300+mL gaiwans exist? Am I better off just using a teapot at that point?
Yeah, some poster got a 500ml one at some point, lot's of 250-300ml ones on amazon, should be pretty easy to find on AliExpress too. That size is sort of a standard larger gaiwan size in china.

>>20496384
I meant stockpile to drink, not to age.

>>20496379
>>20496390
okay cool will have to look at aliexpress more. the amazon ones seem to max out at 300ml or so. I'm just trying to make enough tea for 2+ people without doing a ton of infusions, and also like to have slightly oversized gaiwan so it won't burn me.

>>20496415
Here is the 500ml
It's kinda ridiculous
https://www.amazon.com/Gaiwan-Porcelain-Teacup-Beautiful-Mountain/dp/B08HJY863S/

why not just drink monster energy drinks
they taste better and make you sleep even worse

>>20496505
awesome haha, might have to try one of these, surely it won't burn me

>>20496513
tell me when monster makes a dirt flavor

>>20490147
>>20490181
>>20490229
Which black tea on awazon is similar to that one?

>>20496579
I'm not sure there would be any super similar, I think that tea is pretty unique, though I haven't tried a ton of black teas. I'd highly recommend trying it from YS if you can, it's really an impressive flavor profile in my opinion.
Awazon's Jin Jun Mei or Golden Needle/Golden Bud teas sound like they have a sweeter profile, one of those should be the closest I would expect. Take this with a grain of salt though as I haven't tried any of them.

>>20496310
>>20496379
>>20496390
BEHOLD

If you brew some tea and then put it out on a dish afterwards, is it okay to use the next day? I like to compare several at once when sampling them but can't drink enough to get the most out of repeated brews.

>>20496835
damn that thing is massive
it must take like several cakes per infusion lmao

>>20496835
>>20496843
>"cake is a sample" posters brewing 1 whole cake at once in their giant gaiwans
woah

>>20496867
>cake is a sample

>>20489577
update with the standouts from my YS order now that I've got a proper gaiwan and scale (using approx. 5g and 150ml at 100C):

2024 Gold Label Ripe - quite nice, moderately sweet and has the slightest touch of smokiness. definitely get a dark chocolate or maybe acidic fruits sort of flavor from this one. slightly mineral and woody, it's kinda like a sweeter and more dessert-y rock spirit I would say. Pretty balanced and pleasant overall, with a bit of complexity. I'll likely want more of this one.

2014 Three Cranes 45007 Recipe Traditional Liu Bao - This is probably the most complex liu bao I tried so far. Aroma has a hint of petrichor, and is slightly vegetal, almost smells like roasted corn. It has a slight menthol and woody after taste and produces a bit of a tingly sensation, which I found a bit odd (maybe concerning kek). Later infusions, maybe second or third had a bit of a spicy flavor as it hit my tongue. Definitely a tea I'll have to continue sampling, I'm certain there are more flavors present which I can't put a name on yet. Maybe not the most pleasant but certainly interesting.

2019 Three Cranes "75117 High Mountain" Liu Bao - This one has a much stronger petrichor and beet flavor. much more along the lines of what I was looking for in liu bao than the 2020 Three Cranes. Mostly this one tasted earthy and dank, I'll likely want more of this one when I finish the sample. It seems like it would be a nice choice when I just want that sort of fresh rain flavor without much complexity.

2024 Bang Wai ripe - This one I didn't order but received around 10g as a free sample. It has a great floral/fruity aroma and flavor and slight mineral earthy flavor, with pleasant sweetness. I'll probably order a larger sample of this one and then maybe consider a cake in the future, it's quite nice.

>>20489612
I definitely recommend it. I've almost finished off my sample already I'm enjoying it so much.

>>20496924
also, about the 2020 Three Cranes "1815 Recipe" Liu Bao - I tried this one again with the gaiwan and I still feel the same about it. I discovered that this one (or maybe just my sample in particular) has substantially more golden flower fungus than any others I've seen so far. I'm thinking this is responsible for the off-putting sweetness. Probably gonna toss this sample.

You know I make herbal tea for it's effects, but I wonder - how much of the substance is wasted by being left in the teabag? Would the effects get stronger if just ate the teabag content?

>>20497288
>effects
Which? Chamomile is probably the only one where I actually notice anything.
>Would the effects get stronger if just ate the teabag content?
Likely, but it probably depends on the substance.

>>20497347
Can't speak for them but mint tea has the effect of making my shit turn to mush if that counts

>>20497347
Lemon balm

>>20496867
Kek
(kinda wish I could afford that)

EOT 1990's Special Order Red Mark today. Mushroom, tobacco, and leather, but not at all harsh. When pushed with longer steeps the flavor intensifies in a very satisfying way, there's still no trace of bitterness or astringency. It has a very nice and long lasting aftertaste as well. This is really good stuff, I'll probably buy a cake.

>>20496838
>If you brew some tea and then put it out on a dish afterwards, is it okay to use the next day?
Yeah, 12-18 hours should be fine, 24 is pushing it, past 24 it's probably getting a lil funky but realistically isn't going to kill you. When wet tea left in a gaiwan gets moldy after a couple days it's covered with fuzz and smells disgusting, you probably wouldn't drink it accidently

>>20496924
Thanks for the notes on these, glad you found some interesting liubaos.

>>20497570
Leaves and tea liquor look good.
Sounds like a solid cake
I need to try more fully aged stuff, i havent had much that was pre 2000.

Should I start buying sin palo mate? I just realized I'm basically paying for twigs, but I'm remembering the one time I bought Canarias and it was so fine that it was nearly impossible to drink.

>>20498002
I'm not super familiar with mate, I've only tried it like once, but could it not be brewed grandpa style or with a strainer?

>>20498002
There are somewhat more course sin palo mates.
>>20498087
You can, but it's not the same

>>20498002
Sin palo is usually a bit more expensive. Twigs add a bit of flavour too, but if you just want to caffeinemaxx then Sin Palo makes sense

>>20498002
Canarias is fine because its Uruguayan cut, not because it's sin palo. Sin palo doesn't have to be so finely cut.

Anyone have recs for a thermal carafe to use with gaiwan style brewing? I'd like to fill it with boiling water once and then take it to my desk to make several infusions.

>>20498283
It's all about the vacuum insulation. Thermos is a solid brand to look at.

>>20498319
Cool, thanks. Will look into these. Vacuum insulation sounds very effective.

>>20498283
I use this one
https://www.amazon.de/Emsa-508932-Isolierkanne-Verschluss-Edelstahl/dp/B005XU00YI

Made a pitcher of iced rooibos.

>>20499248
Just sat down for some late night 9988.
How is rooibos on ice?

>>20499269
Creamy and prickly like the entrance of my crust dome. Wanna come over?

>>20499283
As tempting as that is, I'll have to pass this time I'm afraid.

Maybe I'm dense but to they say when this was made?
https://www.amazon.com/TAETEA-Fermented-Puerh-Chinese-12-59oz/dp/B0CGV7CJDB

>>20496838
I hang my infuser (with brewed leaves obviously) in a cup so it can kinda drip dry, then rebrew it the next day. I figured it was better than leaving the tea to sit in a puddle. I've been doing it for a while and it's never caused me any probl

>>20499297
Jokes aside, I should add that I do throw it out if I don't use it the next day, 24h isn't my hard limit but it's definitely a "best by".

>>20499288
I have killer7 on my gamcube
>>20499291
this particular cake was not reported here, others were quite fresh from amazon storefront, right?
you can go lookey if you dare https://www.puercn.com/pinpai/dayi/

went looky myself. this one https://www.puercn.com/puercha/28046/
138 RMB - 19 USD RRP
should be pretty nice dayi "boutique" cake.
>>20499291
what's the price on amazon? doesn't show in my land. I say buy it and report something back.

>>20499360
34 bucks.
>buy it and report something back
I'm not a good judge of puer, don't drink it much.

>>20499366
if you had some raw puer and know what dayi is I still say go for it. 34 delivered is a good price for a full cake from reputable factory in *current year*

>>20499375
>know what dayi is
nta but curious what is dayi? subtype of taetea brand cakes?

wow, brewing raw pu-erh like I might brew ripe results in the most heinous beverage. quite different results with a few degrees less than boiling though.

>>20499452
They're the same. You might also hear them called menghai tea factory.

>>20499456
Yeah you gotta go easier with raw usually. I use about 1.5x more leaf when i brew ripes.

>>20499469
>They're the same. You might also hear them called menghai tea factory.
ahh interesting, thanks for the info, I'll have to keep this in mind

>>20499269
>How is rooibos on ice?
It's good. Maybe a little easier to taste the sweetness up front and more of the minerality on the finish. It might be nice with another herb/spice added, but I'm not quite sure what.

>>20499456
Shorter brew times should fix that

>>20499523
>>20499469
I'll have to play with lower leaf-water ratio and brew times, thanks for the tips

>>20499304
do you have f-zero gx though

>>20499304
>I have killer7 on my gamcube
Oh the memories. Great game.

>>20499990
For me its No More Heroes and sheng.

How many trve tea faggots do you estimate are there in your country?
My guess for my middle european socialist cesspit is around the 100k mark. But I might be massively wrong.

The supposedly much greater prevalence of tea enjoyment is one of the reason I might want to leave for eastern europe

>>20500607
is that the t-14 armata

>>20496184
FUCK ANIME!

luv dis

Tis not bad though I dont taste tea much lel
Hrejsnb gjfk dru m drunm

>Into tea since 2021
>Finally got a good job
>Can afford good tea
I've tried lots of stuff from YunnanSourcing, I've gotten a decent introduction to each tea type and a few varieties of each. What's some GOOD stuff you guys have experienced? I'm tired of drinking $0.10/g swill.

>>20501231
>Oolong tea with whisky
Could be good, i would probably go for a strong dark roasted ball oolong and a really mild soft whisky

>>20501231
I read just a few days ago about about whisky and puer. Apparently a mixture of 1:3 whisky to puer is nice. Feels like whisky would overpower a regular oolong.

>>20501245
>I'm tired of drinking $0.10/g
Nothing wrong with $0.10/g
Plenty of that stuff tastes better than more expensive stuff.

>>20501258
There's nothing wrong with it, that approximate price level is my "daily drinker" category, but I haven't splurged in a long time on something *really* good. Of course more expensive stuff can suck or be "mid" but generally you get what you pay for.

>>20501245
https://teaswelike.com/product/2004-nanqiao-bada-nannuo-blend/
Or just straight load up on quarter cakes from teas we like, probably the most curated store out there so it's hard to buy bad puer from them.
https://essenceoftea.com/products/wuyi-masters-tasting-set-ii
This tasting set is dope if you wanna see what nice yancha has to offer. Also most of the other yancha they sell is pretty damn good.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2022-mengku-rongshi/products/2002-cnnp-7572-202-batch-cake-357g-puerh-ripe-tea-shou-cha?variant=43682285289702
Good younger raw, not super high end but solid. Probably much cheaper on taobao.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2000-2006/products/2002-tailian-international-puerh-tea-seminar-commemorative-cake-400g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea
Old clean tea with dry kunming storage if you wanna see what that's about.
If you wanna splash out some cash for expensive Chinese greens.
https://sevencups.com/shop-category/new-2024-teas/

>>20501249
>Feels like whisky would overpower a regular oolong.
I guess this is the case here. I still have hope for the Darjeeling Black Tea variant that I also bought.
Any orher khv autistic loser faggots here whose only hobby is gobbling down expensive chinese compost brew?

>>20501285
You inspire me and I was going to get drunk anyway so I'll fuck around with xiaguan whisky tonight.

>>20501245
And of course if you just wanna fuck around you can try some 1950s era liubao. This one i haven't tried. I would rather spend this kinda money on cakes from teas we like.
https://essenceoftea.com/products/1950s-pu-tian-gong-qing-liu-bao

>>20501294
Seems like a logical combination

>>20501249
>>20501285
Ok this one is much better. Very aromatic indian black tea taste and the whiskey just adds a nice spice on top. Brilliant.
And the spice of the liquor isn't unpleasant at all like with the oolong whiskey.
>>20501294
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsnLyzpfs4U

First time trying hojicha (roasted Japanese tea). It tastes exactly like it smells, like roasted nuts, I never tasted anything as viscous as this, it's like my cup is full of oil.

I'm new to the world of loose leaf tea, this was from a sampler, but it's sad how people who drink tea will buy commercial tea like I used to. I used to think lipton green tea fannings and dust in satchets made a good cup, but since I've had various loose leaf tea I realise how I was missing out, I can't even drink it anymore.

>>20493238
If they don't vaccinate their kids they are smart, wouldn't want them to die from myocarditis.

>>20501245
Here are a few of my favorites from YS (not all much more than .10/g but all really great teas):
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/zheng-shan-xiao-zhong-of-wu-yi-fujian-black-tea
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/imperial-grade-silver-needle-white-tea-of-jinggu
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/wild-tree-purple-sweet-ya-bao-white-tea
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/king-of-duck-shit-aroma-dan-cong-oolong-tea

>>20501231
>>20501248
I've never had it, but in Japan they mix oolong and shochu. It sounds pretty good.

>>20501355
>tastes exactly like it smells, like roasted nuts
damn that sounds awesome. I'm gonna have to look for that tea.

>>20501336
Any good? Sounds like a good combo

>>20500641

>>20501279
Good list, I think I'll start with a couple greens from sevencups (Long jing is one of my favorites overall). I also have very little experience in yancha, most of the ones I've had weren't good. The 1950s liu bao is a bit steep for me lol. The job is good, but not THAT good.

>>20501420
I've had all of these, they are definitely good picks though. Sweet ya bao is honestly too weird for me, other people I've given it to say they liked it a lot though.

>>20501355
Hell yeah, it really is amazing how different even mid grade looseleaf is. I used to think green tea was garbage because i bought organic green tea teabags from trader joes and made them with boiling water. Compared to even the cheapest fresh sencha any of the nice japanese tea dealers offer it doesn't even seem like the same plant.
The huge viscosity some teas have is also really fun, it's interesting how you can develop an appreciation for the mouthfeel of teas on their own totally outside of the taste.
>>20501441
>I'm gonna have to look for that tea.
If you are in the us you can try some from ippodo.
https://www.amazon.com/Ippodo-Tea-Bancha-Gokujo-Hojicha/dp/B07KPQWFXR/
Hojicha is interesting because you can find it made from very different grades of tea, from the large stems from the summer harvest to the stems sorted out from premium matcha production. It also comes in different roast levels from lightly toasted to deep dark roasts.
Genmaicha (find one without matcha powder) is also really good, it's a mix of sencha and puffed roasted rice which gives it a great toasted flavor. Both are pleasing on a hot afternoon or a cold rainy day.

>>20501355
ONE OF US

>>20501486
>I also have very little experience in yancha, most of the ones I've had weren't good
Yeah good yancha is pretty expensive. I had the previous version of that sampler and it was fantastic. If you don't want to spend that much just grabbing a few of the house yanchas from EoT will be a fun experience. Use a 100ml gaiwan (or only fill with water up to that level) use 10g of yancha or a whole packet if it's individually bagged and do very short infusions. Also set aside like half of the fist infusion you do and drink it after it cools off, really helps emphasize the minerality.
Another site that doesn't get much love but is great for buying a bunch of smaller portions of tea is chawangshop. He has great yancha and ages it properly, he only gets really interesting red teas, and going through and getting small portions of a bunch of different hei cha can be pretty enjoyable.

>>20501492
>If you are in the us you can try some from ippodo.
awesome, just ordered some from there. genmaicha sounds really pleasant as well. thanks for the recs, I need to look more into japanese teas it seems.

I forgot how much I fucking hate the aftereffects of alcohol. I wish i was just born sum tea pucker chink so i wouldnt have to worry about all this painIll only do lsd and tea from now on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxLvkFv_9fI

>>20501598
>I forgot how much I fucking hate the aftereffects of alcohol
Just buy/make ghb, as long as you use it in moderation and don't abuse it it's like getting buzzed off a couple beers but without feeling like shit afterwards.

>>20501598
>>20501606
this is the tea thread sirs

Chen Sheng Hao is running a sale for the next week or two if anyone is interested. I have their naka cake which is pretty good if you get it on sale. I would love to try their LBZ cakes but I in no way have the cash for that.

I am going to shill my $20 off referral link again. Full disclosure if you use it I get a $20 coupon as well. If someone buys something I may grab a cake as well. Hence the shilling.
https://i.refs.cc/i9DCkFen?smile_ref=eyJzbWlsZV9zb3VyY2UiOiJzbWlsZV91aSIsInNtaWxlX21lZGl1bSI6IiIsInNtaWxlX2NhbXBhaWduIjoicmVmZXJyYWxfcHJvZ3JhbSIsInNtaWxlX2N1c3RvbWVyX2lkIjoxOTIwNjcwMzk3fQ%3D%3D

I think they are still giving away their sample kit with first order if you sign up to their newsletter as well. The deal probably stacks. I know a few other people here got that. Has anyone actually found a use for the canvas bag that came with it? I just have my stashed next to my W2T bag along side all my tea cake wrappers.

>>20501712
Did you get any coupons off that link yet? Just curious.

tfw ni aryan tea gf

i know vintage tea goes hard but this is house money.

>>20501231
mix vodka and black for that brothers karamazov feel

>>20501294
Even with xiaguan overbrewed the whisky just takes over, and you drink pretty much watered down whisky which is gross. I got it a bit more into balance at 1:2. Chalking this one up as a failure.

>>20501761
>40k
>house money
I wish. But yeah it's stupid.
I'm now waiting for both housing and puer market crash.
Any day now....

>>20501761
Note that the factory is still stuck with these 17 years later, made at the absolute peak of the 07 puer bubble, they probably paid out the ass for the raw material, gave a few away as gifts to officials and have been hoping someone would buy the rest ever since.

>>20501782
Addendum: whisky with tea chasers is excellent

>>20501784
Like before they even finished pressing those cakes the bottom fell out of the market and nobody wanted to pay more then $100 a kilo for the most premium stuff imaginable. They probably got in bidding wars with other tea factories to buy all that shit and spend thousands a kilo on it.

>>20501799
Also worth mentioning that, assuming their story is true and it's all from 600+ year old trees it would probably cost you $200,000 to buy and press that same raw material today. The tea from that massive 1700 year old tree isn't even harvested or sold anymore for any price iirc. Or they maybe harvest a kilo a year and auction it off.

>>20501739
>Did you get any coupons off that link yet? Just curious.
I used one toward the Naka cake I bought last year. $20 off from referral + $9 off from sale + free shipping made the price pretty reasonable. $61 all in is not bad for a full size "gushu" naka cake though it is still not cheap. Not sure whether I would want to pay the full $90 but but even then it is still probably not unfair vs places like YS or W2T. I mostly just prefer to buy cheaper cakes. I should pull out my CSH naka cake again, It has been awhile. I have mostly been drinking cheap dian hong from FL lately.

>>20501761
Presumably that is for rich people with too much money. There is no way the quality matches the price on those. I wonder if anyone actually drinks teas like that or if they just hoard them?

>>20501811
>cheap dian hong from FL lately.
I thought they only had shai hong. Nothing clicked chocolate, just some spicy water.

Wash your teaware NOW

>>20501816
I was using it more in the general sense, isn't shaihong a type of dianhong? dianhong literately means yunnan red. I always though the sun dried stuff was considered a subset. I could be wrong though. I also think the Yingpan Shan from FL is not sun dried but I am not 100% sure. I like it either way though.

>>20501831
Sodium Percarbonate is better.
Everything dissolves. Tea stains gone.
Billy Mays was right.

>>20501831
>>20501857
I don't know shit, but I was meaning to ask. Do I need to buy fancy descaling tablets or is there something I can make at home to do that for me. (I know I could into water autism, but listen, I live in limestone country, the calcium is just a fact of life.)

>>20501831
I hate it.so fuckimg much. I,.'ll do A L pf LSD tomorrow ill nwver have a gf

>>20501872
you should have some tea and a nap, anon.

>>20501831
Mine just doesn't stain enough to need anything more than dish soap.

>>20501868
For your kettle at least, citric acid powder is very effective

>>20501880
Thank you anon, I figured it would be something like that. Much obliged!

>>20501868
>Do I need to buy fancy descaling tablets or is there something I can make at home to do that for me.
Buy food grade critic acid. It is safe, cheap, and works really well at busting limescale.

>>20501896
It also smells nicer than using vinegar.

>>20501811
> I wonder if anyone actually drinks teas like that or if they just hoard them?
It's funnier actually, the most rare and expensive material gets press into cakes that are usually given as gifts to party officials and high ranking ceos. Most of which probably don't give a fuck about puer and just stick it in a kitchen cabinet to forget about it or at best give it to some nephew of theirs who likes tea.

>>20501783
Housing market will pop.
Puerh on the other hand, what's the general consensus here? I don't hear much talk about the markets on /tea/ except for "remember when xyz was cheap?" Any anon particularly savvy here?

Speaking of mixing, what's everybody's thoughts on mixing tea types? Never been happy with it. Closest I got was a pre-mixed white/green blend and it still gets bitter if you look at it wrong.

>>20501952
Puer is probably never getting cheaper. The price of puer tracks with the expanding Chinese middle class and the upper classes accumulation of wealth. For puer to really go down significantly at the point the Chinese economy needs to retract dramatically and it's quite likely that an event like that would be tied into larger geopolitical issues which i don't really want to get into on /tea/ but could mean parts of the western world can't really buy tea from china at all.
The most you can really hope for is that it gets expensive less quickly or that the price plateaus and merely keeps pace with inflation.
The rising standards of living for tea farmers and the upward pressure on the wages of tea pickers is putting a pretty hard floor on the price of teas like puer that require lots of manual labor to produce. We aren't going back to the 90s when some tea farmer could pay the local minority peoples 15¢ a day to pick leaves.
For us in the west the best way for puer to get cheaper for us is buying from taobao and cutting out Western facing vendor markups.

>>20501929
I think the Chinese sometimes re-gift gifts to save money. So perhaps it has been in many peoples cabinets.

>>20501952
I think the market will remain stable with slowly increasing prices for the foreseeable future. At least in terms of average new puerh costs. Labor costs are up, supply can only increase at a limited rate, and demand is widespread. It is possible there we will eventually see prices drop on the more speculative (i.e overpriced IMO) parts of the market (dayi cakes, gushu, ect) especially if the younger Chinese generations decide they don't care about it. Some "price corrections" could definitely happen. Sadly most of the golden era aged puerh is gone and will never be affordable again but it is possible the stuff pressed right now may still be reasonably obtainable in 20-30 years. Just depends on how much the market grows.

>>20501975
I think it can be a bit underwhelming, good tea already has its good points in balance so diluting and muddying that seems to just make it worse. But for mediocre tea I like to mess around with it.
Heavily roasted oolong and ripe blend has been ok in the couple experiments I did. Needs more tests but I think it could work.
I haven't tried it yet but I've heard shu/sheng mix can be nice, apparently in the 80s the factories made some cakes like this. I think W2T is selling a modern version.
White/green feels like a bit of a mismatch to me but maybe an easy going white could put some sweetness in.
And there's russian caravan of course.

>>20501810
does the age of the tree really matter so much for the flavor of the tea, or is it just some sort of prestige kind of thing? seems like the growing conditions would be substantially more important than age.

>>20501977
>parts of the western world can't really buy tea from china at all
ack don't say that
you're gonna make me fomo buy a bunch of cakes with credit kek

>>20501986
>It is possible there we will eventually see prices drop on the more speculative (i.e overpriced IMO) parts of the market (dayi cakes, gushu, ect) especially if the younger Chinese generations decide they don't care about it. Some "price corrections" could definitely happen.
Yeah i agree with this, there is definitely a bit of room for currently overpriced teas to come down a bit. Maybe to early 2010s levels, but even that may be optimistic. I don't think we will see another 07 or 2012-2013 style bubble pop situation.
There is also a big question mark over how some of this new modern style of puer production is going to hold up in 20-30 years. There is definitely a possibility that some of these overly green boutique productions that are optimized for immediate consumption are going to age pretty poorly.

>>20501868
seconding citric acid. I just got a probably almost 1mm thick layer of calcium build up off my kettle with 3 or so boils of water+4tbsp citric acid crystals. stuff is magic, and safer than most cleaning things.

>>20501975
I love mixing different white teas. Not sure about mixing different types though, it would be hard to match the brewing parameters I'd think

>>20502001
>does the age of the tree really matter so much for the flavor of the tea, or is it just some sort of prestige kind of thing?
Yes and no
I think farmer leafs single tree sample pack he did last year was a good demonstration that just because a tree is old doesn't mean it makes good tea.
He did a pack that was individual bags of something like the 7 biggest /oldest trees in some ancient tea garden and at least one of them was pretty flavorless iirc.
You have to remember that china at least partially views tea through the lens of traditional chinese medicine which basically says the older the tree the tea comes from the more powerful medicine it is and that has a sizable effect on the value of old tree tea on the market. Same goes for aged teas, the longer the tea is aged the more desirable it is from a tcm standpoint and that plays at least some role in why old tea is so expensive.
I think tea from healthy trees with deep roots that are grown spaced out in more natural environments instead of in tight rows of plantation style bushes yield better tasting tea, i do also think tree age plays some difference but in general these old trees grow in these more wild conditions and so that could account for much of their perceived superiority.

>>20502000
>And there's russian caravan of course.
I feel like that one's cheating since it's just smoked and unsmoked variants of fairly similar black teas.
>>20502001
>does the age of the tree really matter so much for the flavor of the tea
>>20502004
>are going to age pretty poorly.
I really wonder how much the flavor is actually relevant to the price. If we compare it to the more well-traveled world of wines, those that age well are held in much higher regard to those that age poorly, but there comes a time when age and prestige outpace flavor, and you get extremely valuable vinegar.

>>20501977
An absolutely astute assessment. I agree.
>>20501986
That's true. I do expect to see the market grow.
>>20502001
Don't FOMO cakes, but do have more than you do currently lol
>>20502033
That was such a good sampler. I want to give what remains of mine away. Too valuable to finish myself. It really shows how necessary blends are.

>>20502035
>I really wonder how much the flavor is actually relevant to the price.
Oh yeah that's a whole other discussion. It gets pretty interesting with these old assamica trees that are all grown from seed, how much of the regional flavor variations come down to terroir vs genetics vs regional variations in processing.
Anyway it's pretty obvious that at the top of the market village / region prestige is valued as much if not more then flavor. I haven't tasted enough of the high end of the market to say how much of it is worth the money and how much is hype. I kinda doubt bingdao is worth 6 grand per kilo wholesale when the stuff a few kilometers away goes for $40 or less.

>>20502035
>it's just smoked and unsmoked variants of fairly similar black teas
Isn't there oolong in the blend?

I imagine it's also true in wine that there's things that are exclusively bought and sold, and never get drunk. The new and insanely expensive dayi cakes aren't regarded very well by the puer boomers who actually drink them.

>>20502074
>Isn't there oolong in the blend?
Some Russian caravan has oolong in the blend, but it's a very fermented and roasted oolong typically called formosa oolong, they don't even really make much of it anymore except for a few more traditional western tea vendors that still stock it.

>>20502074
>Isn't there oolong in the blend?
Never heard of that. Most sources say Lapsang and Keemun.

>>20502094
How about that, I stand corrected.
A quick google suggests it's pretty rare though. Upton says theirs has tea from Formosa but don't say it's oolong. In-tea has some, I might try it.

>>20502105
Maybe it's better to just make the blend yourself then. It's easy way to sell off defective tea after all. But then, the shittiness can be a good point like gunpowder and it's hard to replicate.

My stupid amazon gaiwan is stealing all the hot from my water. I can't seem to hit over 180F except on the first (preheated) brew. Still plenty hot to burn me though.
I think I need a thicker one maybe.

>>20502153
A thick one will steal more heat into the ceramic. It's mostly just natural to lose 10-15c from pouring it into another container.
If it's burning you, fill it less. A more flared lip helps but some are just designed badly. I've got one that's pretty but you really have to underfill it more than you want to for a comfy pour.

>>20501975
I really liked the w2t hot brandy sample I got with my last order. Black/white mix.

>>20502153
The secret is to get like 4-5 of those cheap little 40-50ml bone china cups on AliExpress and a little glass pitcher. Preheat the gaiwan, maybe do a rinse and toss it, then brew and dump it into the pitcher, then start the next brew while you pour the pitcher into the cups, then drink the tea as fast as you can without burning yourself so you can keep the tempo up and give the gaiwan less time to cool off. Even just having the pitcher so you can hold one brew in there while you are drinking the tea from your cup makes it way easier to drink the tea faster and keep things hotter.

>>20502172
>A thick one will steal more heat into the ceramic
I think this is what I want. It would make the preheat last longer, like a bigger battery of sorts.
>If it's burning you, fill it less. A more flared lip helps but some are just designed badly.
I'll give this a go. I've been trying to adapt to holding the edge of the lip but it's very unstable like that.
>>20502186
Ahh good idea, I'll try this as well. I've been waiting a fair bit between infusions.

Thanks for the tips. I'm still very new to this style, it's more complicated than it seems at first.

>>20502192
I will say generally i just pour my brews into the cup i drink out of and the gaiwan cools off some and I don't worry about it too much. Some teas really benefit for keeping the heat up and for some it doesn't make as much of a difference. It's good to find a balance between enjoying yourself / relaxing and trying to push your brewing techniques. The best way to figure out what works for you is just brewing a drinking tea and you will get experience as you go.

>>20502192
>make the preheat last longer
That's true, it's something teapot guys are into, I've seen graphs from temperature probes.
For me I use a thin gaiwan and I don't bother with preheats outside the rinse. If the tea isn't strong enough I add more leaf. But do whatever satisfies your particular 'tism.

>>20502004
>>20502035
There is a lot of talk and worry about modern puerh will age but I wonder how much effort was really put into the supposed ageability of classic cakes. People like to romanticize old school puerh production and imagine it was all crafted with care by tea masters out of the finest gushu. In reality it was probably mostly tea picked by peasants struggling to get by and processed by big state owned industrial facilities to to meet productivity goals for commodity output. Not saying that nobody cared at all about quality, tea does have a longstanding strong cultural value in China after all, but I have a hard time believing that the CCP was really that interested in high culinary artistry back then. For the most part It just had to be good enough to maintain trade relations with the (often poor) border regions that have historically drank heicha. I doubt anyone involved at the though about optimizing their puerh production for long-term aging so that people could sell cakes 50+ years later for more than what was probably their (at the time) expected lifetime salary. The whole popular perception of the modern history of high tea culture feels very rose tinted and anachronistic. It is as if the Chinese are trying to forget the costs of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution and imagine a better past that links them directly with the high points of traditional Chinese culture. The modern gongfu ceremony apes the aesthetics of the Chinese imperial nobility which waned generations ago preformed by individuals whose entire past family tree may have never experienced such lavish ceremony. It seems a connection as much to an desired past as to the real one.

This stuff is awesome
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/feng-qing-ye-sheng-hong-cha-wild-tree-purple-black-tea
It's like if W2T Pretty Girls was a black tea. Reminds me of berry baked goods.

>>20501952
Market prediction is just impossible. But just for argument sake if we have a housing crash, I think we will have some puer correction as consumers tend to tighten their belts during such times. Keep in mind I mean mid high to high end puer like LBZ cakes and aged factory cakes and not your everday drinker $40 cakes. Though I might be wrong ofc.

Another aspect I feel a lot of people are overlooking is exchange rates. I'm guessing the US-China trade wars might lead to some interesting currency valuation from both sides which might have an affect on how I buy puer(I'm a burger). Actually, it might affect neighboring countries like Taiwan, Korea and Japan more who are Puer buyers. We might have a situation where it might be cheaper to buy from those vendors due to currency fuckery, but ofc there's no way to tell.

There is a chinese site that track prices of Dayi cakes, you might want to google it to gauge the Chinese consumer interest.
iirc there's a Taiwanense?not sure Puer trading site that buy and sell high-end puer as well from "esteemed" tea collectors, might want to look into that as well.
>>20501977
Chinese zoomers don't into puer though. So even if these younging enter the workforce and have a well paying job, they dont suddenly drink puer. They just do coffee and boba like every other zoomers in the world.

>>20502419
>Chinese zoomers don't into puer though
how do you know this? do any zoomers really care for it?

>>20502302
I don't really disagree with your post. Old puer wasn't processed with care by some old tea master. But that's not really what i was getting at. The way modern puer especially boutique stuff in the last 5-10 years is processed is somewhat different, with the current trend to make greener puer with more of an emphasis on immediate drinkability and aroma, the rolling step is also shorter then it used to be.
Im definitely not in a rush to go back to 90s plantation bush puer that was undrinkable for years after it was produced, but there is some question as to how these modern processing trends will affect aging.
Puer has changed a lot over time, it's pretty wild.
On the same topic i know at least xiaguan and maybe some other factories were fucking around with making lots of reddened puer in the mid 2000s which was probably also aimed at making the tea drinkable sooner but in my experience that stuff hasn't aged very well.

>>20502419
>Chinese zoomers don't into puer though
This is true but i didn't drink puer when i was 20 either.

>>20502302
Outstanding post.
>a hard time believing that the CCP was really that interested in high culinary artistry
Why do you think all the classic recipes are utilitarian numbers? They didn't give a damn.

Imagine if you were me? You'd be having chamomile and lavender

are Yi Wu and Wu Yi different places, I'm so confused

>>20502688
You got it. Yi Wu is in Yunnan, known for being a puerh growing region. It's also pretty close to the original start place of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, I believe. Wuyi is waaay on the other Southeastern coast in Fujian. They make a lot of oolongs there.

>>20502726
ahhh cool okay, thanks for the map and details, saved

yancha time

>>20502790
Did you see this from KTM? Adding it to my cart.
https://kingteamall.com/products/2018-2019-wuyi-yancha-sample-set-including-15-kinds-of-tea-15-20g-300g-oolong-tea

>>20502794
my tea budget is exhausted right now unfortunately. looks very cool though, do post about it.

>>20502794
Goddamn i fucking hate the chat gpt generated descriptions. Bring back the chinglish
Also dont forget to grab some of the dirt cheap dahongpao crumbs if you are feeling adventurous.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/spring-shui-xian-a-grade-medium-heavy-roasted-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea?variant=44489748087014

>>20502790
any you'd rec for someone unfamiliar with that variety? I love the zheng shan xiao zhong samples I've tried and from what I read these teas are somewhat similar

>>20502809
expensive stuff. this is the one that really sold me on it.
https://yunnansourcing.com/en-gb/products/wild-da-hong-pao-rock-oolong-tea-from-wu-yi-shan

>>20502825
ahhh nuts chocolate and floral, that sounds heavenly, thanks for the link

>>20502478
>there is some question as to how these modern processing trends will affect aging.
I also don't disagree but sometimes I think people worry too much especially with how scant the hard evidence to go on is. My guess is most tea will turn out fine if you like the style it is. If you want aggressive tea buy aggressive tea, if you want soft stuff buy soft stuff. Bulang and yiwu puerh are both popular despite being different. Historically speaking by the time a tea is 30+ years old it is going to be difficult find good data on what precisely it was like when it was young to compare with. Often it was even confusing to know exactly what batch you had so mixups probably mess up the record as well. Going forward things should be better on those fronts. However even with written notes there is a lot subjectivity, especially when trying to compare two tastes so far apart. A shame we cant easily take "pictures" of flavor. Ideally detailed notes on the teas processing should be saved for comparison as well but where those exist they tend to be private to the manufacturer. Storage conditions play a big role in the taste of the aged tea as well which may skew perception on which teas are good to age. There is also of course a variety of opinions on what exactly constitutes an ideal aged puerh to begin with. I guess I am not too worried about whether or not their will be good aged puerh available to me in a couple decades. The rising costs are a greater concern personally. Mind you I am also not investing in warehouses of puerh so I can afford to not be too anxious about it.

>>20502806
utterly sovlless

does anyone remember the video where william shows off a foamy tea and he describes what the foam means briefly? does anyone remember why he said tea foams, and why this is a good thing? online says this is because of soluble proteins, however i thought william said something else but i very easily could be mistaken.

>>20503019
who is william? sounds like an interesting video.

>>20501849
From FL site:
There are two kinds of black teas in Yunnan: Dian Hong and Shai Hong.

Dian Hong is dried quickly with hot air, this process gives the leaves a light roast and the final tea has chocolatey or malty notes. This tea is at its best a couple of weeks after its production and can be properly enjoyed for two years.

Shai Hong is sun-dried, just like Pu-erh tea. It is not at its best right after production, months of aging will reveal its fragrance.

>>20501952
>Housing market will pop.
I don't see it happening unless some policies are set in place.
In my shithole all new apartments are empty since noone can afford them(especially with local wages) yet new ones are constantly being build.
It's been like this even before covid inflation, but nobody seems to care and looks like developers pockets are bottomless.

Any other must-see teas on King Tea Mall before I check out? I like damn near everything, so feel free to pitch me something weird. Just stocking up on my favorite liu bao and green right now as well as that cheap dahongpao, would love puerh (ripe or raw), white, or oolong recs to round out the order, but feel free to pitch me your favorites.

Question about gaiwan (盖碗)

In areas where these a popular and a popular method for preparing tea,
what do people tend to do if they have dexterity or physical issues?
Things like severe arthritis, tremor, elderly, etc

I like gaiwan, but have a condition that affects my left hand and will eventually worsen and fuck up my right hand
At some point in the future a gaiwan might be difficult to use
Just wondering what people tend to switch to

I have one of those glass pots with an upper chamber (that releases the brew when a button is pressed)
That's nice, but wondering what people did before then
Just switched to tea pot?

>>20503646
I saw really old people using both hands, putting a finger under for support, some woman also does it if the gaiwan is too big for their hands.

>>20503646
There's also "easy gaiwan" that makes the pouring simpler

>>20503592
Got one of these tuos a few years ago and really liked it.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2004-2006/products/2006-lancang-jing-mai-gu-cha-jingmai-old-tree-tuo-250g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=32118371745895
These cakes are pretty great for younger sheng
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2021-mengku-rongshi/products/2020-mengku-rongshi-ben-wei-da-cheng-original-flavor-great-achievement-cake-500g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=38075600109748
Xiaguans black tea is nice
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2024-xiaguan/products/2021-xiaguan-hong-cha-black-tea-300g-yunnan-fengqing-dianhong?variant=43682417115366
Maybe 100g of this would be good, Havent tried it
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2023-xiaguan/products/2023-xiaguan-lv-yin-green-mark-bangzhang-bingdao-jingmai-wuliangshan-cake-357g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=44115752419558
These have gotten mentioned a few times as nice tea that's affordable, again haven't tried it
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2022-xiaguan/products/2022-xiaguan-da-xue-shan-big-snow-mountain-357g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=43017993748710
>>20502912
The old descriptions were very useful to me and could be read quickly, the ai slop just makes my eyes glaze over and I can't even force myself to finish reading it

>>20503677
Thanks anon! And agreed on the AI descriptions. I preferred the older, plainer text by far.

>>20503698
For oolong, i would just try some of the mid priced yancha, fair warning, heavy roasted means HEAVY ROSTED. Think the well done of the steak world. Medium-heavy is more likely to go over well for most people.
Haven't tried these.
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/spring-tie-luo-han-medium-heavy-roasted-a-grade-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/spring-que-shesparrow-tongue-heavy-roasted-a-grade-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea?variant=37560903729332
https://kingteamall.com/collections/wuyi-yancha/products/2019-spring-shui-xian-1st-prize-medium-roasted-special-grade-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea?variant=31593279455335
His tieguyanyin is a bit green for my tastes but maybe worth sampling if you like greener tgy, probably one of the fall 2023 batches would be the way to go.
Maybe some cloud fog green tea
https://kingteamall.com/collections/green-tea/products/2024-early-spring-yun-wu-yunwu-cloud-fog-a-grade-green-tea

I'm thinking of buying pu erh tea for the first time, is shou the most saught after?

Should I just go for the oldest I can find?

I'm thinking of buying pu erh tea for the first time, is sheng the most saught after?

Should I just go for the oldest I can find?

>>20503760
>Should i just buy the oldest i can find?
No
>Is sheng the most sought after?
Sheng and shu are very different, sheng is usually made with higher quality tea and has the tastes of the original tea leaves. Shu is fermented and most shu lands within a much narrower flavor profile.
Here is the quintessential factory raw cake with some age on it. It's not the best puer ever but it's a good introduction to factory teas.
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/2012-puer-tea-dayi-taetea-7542-150g-gift-package-china-yunnan-menghai-puerh-puer-pu-erh-raw-organic-health-care-food-chai-aged-puerh-best-organic-tea-
Typically it has some bitterness and dried plum notes with a sweet finish.
If instead you would like to try a young modern boutique production then this would be a nice choice, citrus flavors, sweetnes, mild bitterness.
https://www.farmer-leaf.com/collections/hidden-locations/products/spring-2023-fa-zhan-he?variant=44640900841659
But i would start with the factory stuff

>>20503760
>Should I just go for the oldest I can find?
Buying old puer is kind of a minefield, there is a lot of fake old tea out there and its a little difficult to know what's fake until you get a bit of a feel for the market. Easiest way to avoid those undesirable teas is to stick with trusted vendors and avoid the ebay and amazon sellers (except for the taetea store on amazon)

Odds oolong, evens black tea

>>20503176
farmerleaf

>>20504247
Oolong it is

Puked up my whole bedsheets yesterday. Felt like shit the whole day and just now am having my puerh, stomach feels immediately better.
Should have done this immediately after waking up. But it's hard to convince yourself to chug something down when you feel like emptying your whole stomach contents. Puerh is the best hangover tea.

*shu puerh ofc

I just leave Chinese prison long time been here. Careful Chinese tea many metals! Some brand good some brand bad do research! Anons!!

>>20504253
thanks, these are great

>>20503019
I believe I found the video you were looking for https://youtu.be/tdy9ig5K4Io?t=486

>>20504330
this is exactly it, thank you so much for finding the video and even the exact spot

Received my small order of samples from KTM today, so far I've tried the little box of liu bao. Seems to be accurately described on KTM, has a nice nutty sweetness and a rich petrichor flavor. I'm quite a fan, I'm glad I went for a box of it over a smaller sample.
https://kingteamall.com/products/2020-sanhe-liu-bao-cha-liubao-tea-1st-grade-loose-leaf-100g-tin-boxed-liu-pao-tea-dark-tea-wuzhou-guangxi

>>20504582
>2020-sanhe-liu-bao-cha
Guy really needs to stop fucking up his urls, sanhe is three cranes
Back on topic glad you are enjoying it. It's a pretty sweet way to get some liubao with some proper factory aging on it without paying 40¢/g+ for older batches of the same box.
It's pretty sweet to see several posters digging into liubao lately. I think its really good tea

Do we have hydroponically grown puer in the market?

>>20504900
Nobody is going to hydroponically grow perennial plants and if they did you wouldn't want to consume them due to all the shit they would have to put in the water to keep the root ball from eventually rotting.

Ordered some of this because the reviews made me laugh (it's like half saying it's great and half saying it's the worst tea ever created)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B016DJ2S3I
Have to say I side with those saying it's great, I'm pleasantly surprised. I was expecting dirt and maybe fish but it's actually a really solid ripe flavor imo, not dirty or fishy at all, just mellow ripe sweetness. Not really complex, but super pleasant and smooth. Probably a good choice for introducing someone to pu-erh or as a daily drinker.

>>20503646
In the past, most people who used gaiwans were rich enough to not have to actually be the one using them.

>>20504900
>Do we have hydroponically grown puer in the market?
Why though? it doesn't seem like there would be any advantage.

>try sample
>delicious
>cake is budget friendly
>sold out
fuck fuck fuck fuck

I bought a bunch of Indian tea (darjeeling among others) a little bit ago that I'm now finishing off and want to focus more on puerh. I've been out of ripe puerh for a bit and so ordered a cake of that along with two raw cakes (this time from PuerhJunky, while last time I bought from YunnanSourcing). I still have at least half of the raw cakes I previously ordered left but I can see why puerh is so popular. It's been the best tasting for me out of what I've tried. I've seen people say raw puerh is bitter or otherwise doesn't taste good but I like what I have a lot. This shit can be expensive (though I'm still mostly sticking with cheaper stuff) but you get a lot of leaves for your money.

A question though, ripe puerh is meant to simulate aging and fermenting. Does raw puerh actually eventually become similar or the same as ripe puerh if aged for long enough? I haven't found any good answers for this from searching.

I kind of want to try matcha as well at some point.

>>20506207
>Does raw puerh actually eventually become similar or the same as ripe puerh if aged for long enough
I too am curious about this. I've recently start trying some pu-erh as well, but haven't found an aged raw that comes near the flavor of what I'd consider a good young ripe.
Slightly aged ripe seems to approximate some of the more mellow and delicate aged raws I've tried I would say. I think they should really be considered as fully different varieties of tea though.
Do post when you've tried those new ones!

>>20506207
>>20506231
>Does raw puerh actually eventually become similar or the same as ripe puerh if aged for long enough?
A fully aged raw will have more depth of flavor and complexity than any ripe. It won't taste the same, but yes it is similar and if you try one you can see what the originators of ripe were aiming for.
That is if it's aged under the right conditions for around 30+ years. The timeframe for how long puer takes to fully age depends on factors such as the base material used, the processing methods, and the storage parameters.
Yeeontea has some puer from the early 2000's that I'd consider fully aged, while puer stored somewhere dryer such as Kunming for 24 years won't be anywhere close to having a "fully aged" profile.
https://yeeonteaco.com/collections/new-release/products/2000-7532-menghai-tea-factory-25-years-of-traditional-experience-manufacturing-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake
(Good fully aged puer is expensive.)
If you've never had Hong Kong storage before though I would suggest trying a cheaper tea first, it has a damp basement flavor that might be off-putting to some. But I would definitely suggest giving that tea a try, it's really good.

>>20506276
wow, pricy stuff that. it sounds really tasty but I'm scared to try some in case I find I love it hah

>>20506292
Lol I don't blame you, fully aged raw is my favorite type of tea, but man it's pricey so it's a rare treat.

ripe pooair tastes horrible and i'm tired of pretending that it doesn't

>>20506350
how do you brew it? which have you tried? it's definitely not a tea for everyone's tastes, but I've found it can be quite easy to make even my favorite cakes taste awful if I don't stick to the brewing parameters I like.

>>20506350
This. The ripe lesbians are getting away with murder!

>>20506355
I've tried western and gongfu and leaned towards too long and too short on the steep and I quickly rinse it first, I've never gotten it to taste good. Admittedly it might just be a mediocre cake and I've only tried one but I'm a diehard greenfag

>>20506364
I find the leaf-water ratio has a really strong effect compared to brew time or temps with ripe. If you've got some still it may be worth trying less leaves (maybe 2-3g to 100ml or so) and gongfu style.
Though if you're into green I suspect raw puerh would be more up your alley.

>>20506378
That's about what I've done I think? I think it was 5g/200ml? I'll try again with less sometime soon perhaps. It was a smaller 100g cake and I probably have 80-90g left.
>Though if you're into green I suspect raw puerh would be more up your alley.
I'd agree based off of my limited knowledge, I'll try some out sooner or later of course! Even if I don't end up liking things I enjoy the experience so it'll be pleasant

>>20506157
Yet another reason why the cake is the sample

>>20506804
what do you do with the other 352 grams if it turns out to be terrible though kek

is it worth trying to buy some betel nuts to figure out wtf betel aroma is

>>20507399
Its annoyingly difficult to get anything but old ass dry slices in the west, if you want to see what the buzz is like you can get cans of pan malasa / pan parag from some indian importers.
https://www.gutkhausa.com/collections/delicious-pan-masala/products/1-can-100g-supreme-pan-parag-pan-masala-export-quality-september-2019
https://www.gutkhausa.com/collections/delicious-pan-masala/products/1-tin-can-of-kick-sada-pan-masala
It's shredded betel nut mixed with some lime paste and indian spices. You basically chew it up a bunch and then stuff it in your lip like chewing tobacco and spit.
My local asian grocer sells sliced areca nut, the betel leaves and lime paste but it's like 10 years old.
If you are really lucky you can find an Asian grocer with pic related in the freezer.
Maybe just getting the sliced dried nuts from one of the eBay vendors would be fine if you just wanna see what they taste like. Arguably the betel leaf is also important to the flavor of the betel nut quid but you can't get fresh leaf in the west, only dried.
Im sucking on a piece right now. I can see where the liubao comparisons come from.

>>20507460
Here is all my old dry ass shit from the Asian market, they even had cheeky bags of shredded tobacco.
If you actually wanna get buzzed off of it the cans of pan masala are way easier.

>>20507460
I don't want to eat them, sounds like the side effects are rather severe, just trying to get an idea of what scent vendors are talking about when they describe something as having betel nut aroma.
I'll keep a look out for those frozen ones at the asian grocer, thanks.

>>20507358
You forget about it for 5 years and then try again.
Might get a nice surprise.

Mulling over a KTM order. Going to dip my toes into yan cha and liu bao, plus a few others that have been posted here recently. I welcome feedback and other recommendations.

>>20507594
I can highly recommend the red liu bao boxes if you like petrichor sort of flavors, but haven't tried the others.
I'd be a bit wary of those dan congs, from what I understand those cost like $1/g if they're good/legit. Haven't tried it from KTM though so maybe these are gems.

carafe + tiny gaiwan + tiny cup is so comfy

>>20507782
what the fuck is a carafe. send pic of your setup or youre larping.

>>20508000
I don't feel like taking a photo for you but this is a carafe.
It keeps water very hot for a long time so I just boil water once and fill it, then I can make several infusions over an hour or more without turning my kettle back on.

I would like some thick teas. I currently have a cart on KTM but I'm willing to shop anywhere. I want to experience something new and soupy, or even more than that.

>>20508019
Buy some fresh 2024 Japanese greens

>>20508011
Now I'm looking at steel insulated carafes. Have you tested the temperature of the water?

>>20508049
Get ones with a glass double insulated inner bottle, vacuum insulated glass is still unsurpassed for heat retention. zojirushi still makes them and i think some other brands do as well.
You can sometimes find them new in box pretty cheap on ebay.
https://www.zojirushi.com/app/category/thermal-carafes

>>20508049
I have, it seems to maintain 198F or so until it gets to below halfway empty, then starts to slowly fall off. I filled it a couple hours ago and used about half since then and it's now at 188F. I like to refill it when it has around a quarter left.
This one is a 1L vacuum insulated variety from Thermos brand as recommended by another anon here.

>>20507594
You buying some of those black tea cones to gift? 1kg is a lot to buy at once.

>>20507631
>from what I understand those cost like $1/g if they're good/legit.
You don't have spend that much to get drinkable dancong. It is a bit like yancha where you can always spend more for slightly better tea but the cheaper stuff is still decent. Most "serious" dancong is probably more like 25-75¢/g. In my limited dancong experience (~12 teas) the budget <25¢/g dancong is ok too. Again it is kind of like yancha where the higher quality stuff is more complex but the cheap stuff still has the core characteristics. dancong can be a bit finicky to brew however as can go bitter fast. The traditional way of brewing it pushes it quite hard (lots of tea per volume even by gongfu standards) and you end up with a tea that has a unique "juicy" bitter mouthfeel. You can always brew it less strong if you want to though.

>>20508432
>The traditional way of brewing it pushes it quite hard
this is what I've tried in the past, though I've never tried any of the more expensive stuff. the lower end leaves which I've tried always seems to have a great aroma but awfully bitter flavor. is there a way to avoid the bitterness and get more of the aroma in the soup when brewing a lower quality dan cong? and any recommendations for a serious one that won't break the bank?
the ones I've tried so far have all been from YS and the only one which I'd say met my expectations of having great flavor along with the advertised aroma would be their king of duck shit, but I only got that good flavor with grandpa style brewing which makes me think I did something wrong still when brewing it gongfu style.
sorry to hammer you with questions but I'm super interested in this variety, there are so many great distinctive fruit aromas available it seems

How practical is it buying Japanese tea from Japan to Europe? I like my local tea shop teas, but my financial situation is worse and I'd like to start saving money.
One local shop buys most of their tea from J-Port https://greenteajapan.com/, that I liked first but now think are sort of mediocre, then I found another shop with smaller selection that were significantly better but also expensive and likely high margins.
Is the shipping cost ridiculous like with anime merch? How much is it most efficient to buy at a time? How many times a year do you order? I'm aware of the cultivars and processing, but how do I judge quality? Buy entire stock from one site and then have either great or mediocre tea for the next 3+ months, repeat until you know who has the best stuff? How about a central European middleman vs local shop, worth it or just buy straight from Japan?

>>20508011
sorry for berating you, this is an awesome idea. i might try this.

>>20508447
>the lower end leaves which I've tried always seems to have a great aroma but awfully bitter flavor
I have some cheapo dancong I got off ebay or something that gets quite strong but I enjoy it so I don't know if I got lucky or if its just a matter of taste.
>is there a way to avoid the bitterness and get more of the aroma in the soup when brewing a lower quality dan cong?
No idea, I push most of my teas hard. I guess if you have not tried it yet you should do flash steeps. That is where you put in the hot water and then pour off the tea right away or after only a few seconds. I often use 7-9.5g of tea in my 100ml gaiwan but then flash steep it.
>and any recommendations for a serious one that won't break the bank?
Sadly no, all my dancong experience comes from random free samples, gifts, or small purchases here and there over the last several years. I have tried a good number of them but I have not really studied the dancongs yet. I probably should keep better track of which ones I particularly like.

I lack the experience to say if they are particularly good but I had couple of dancong samples from teavivre recently and they have a good deal on samples for new customers. For new customers you can get 5 samples for free that you get to pick with your first order (or pay cost of shipping). The deal cant be linked to but should pop up on the bottom of the page. If you spend $40 you get free shipping and get to pick two more samples. You could for example grab 7 dancong samples for free with a $40 dollar order which seems like a good deal to me. Should be educational at least. I don't think teavivre has the absolute best prices but they can be good if you game sales and the shipping is free. They double mylar packed my full size bags of tea too which is impressive. Should mean the tea stays fresh. I would recommend this tea from them https://www.teavivre.com/huang-da-cha.html but it is out of stock. It is kinda like a Chinese hojicha.

>>20508682
>dancong I got off ebay or something that gets quite strong
by strong do you mean like strong bitter flavor, or like a strong flavor that's similar to the aroma with strong bitterness alongside? maybe I'm just looking for something dancongs don't offer. I'm hoping the flavor can be similar to the fruity/flowery honey aroma they tend to have, and wouldn't mind moderate bitterness alongside, but all I get so far is bitter generally
>7-9.5g of tea in my 100ml gaiwan but then flash steep
ahhh I'll have to try this ratio and flash steep, thanks
> For new customers you can get 5 samples for free that you get to pick with your first order
sweet, I'll have to make an order with them, that sounds pretty good
the huang da cha sounds cool, I've been enjoying some hojicha lately but tend to stick with chinese teas so I'll be keeping an eye out for that one
thanks a bunch for the recs and brewing info

>>20508653
not to worry, hope it's a pleasant brewing method for you if you try it out

>>20508641
Check the Japanese shops in the rentry, shipping isn't terrible but it's a bit more expensive since the coof. I think you will find the prices for the tea itself pretty appealing.
I think most of the tea from the vendors we like is at least good.
Now is a decent time to order since the fresh new spring teas are ready.
There are 1 or 2 euro vendors listed in the rentry that specialize in jap greens but they aren't cheap.

>>20507631
I really like the honey orchid dan cong from 2023 I got. Worth the price from my perspective, but I also don't drink oolongs too terribly often. I suppose I'm looking to change that.
>>20508432
I do gift and sell often. Plus, I have storage for it. Black tea keeps pretty well.

Okay so, I have a problem. From previous years I have determined that I like shincha better than sencha, even when saved to later in the year, however (I think) it has to be in unopened vacuum pack. The problem is that the a lot of the shinchas are sold in 100g packs, which is too much to drink by myself (I like having more variety), and saving it later after opening it won't be fresh anymore.
Also, what do you think is the best way to store Japanese tea, when in vacuum or ziplock bag? Room temp, fridge or freezer? Last year I used fridge and I'm not sure if it helped at all. Though I haven't had non-refrigerated shincha that late in the year so I don't have much to compare to.

>>20508764
>by strong do you mean like strong bitter flavor
I am not sure how to best describe it describe it. It has a bitter juicy puckering thing going on that is as much a sensation as a flavor. I personally enjoy it but it may not be for everyone. The floral fruity side of the tea is not that complex or delicate but it was a very cheap tea. Under 10¢/g if I recall, which is of course why I bought it. I will try that tea again tomorrow and see if I can add anything.

>I'll have to make an order with them
The free samples and huang da cha were what made me try them out. I don't remember exactly which of there dancong samples I got but I think one was a "honey orchid" and the other was a "duck shit" oolong. Both were more floral and neither was as bitter as my mystery cheapo dancong. So they may be more your style.

For some reason the popup for the samples does not always show for me on teavivre. Maybe they disable it during sales? I used the deal not long ago. I just tested and I know it will pop up for me on this page https://www.teavivre.com/info/teavivre-facebook-fan-giveaway.html ignore the Facebook thing that is some old expired deal, instead look at peach colored banner at the bottom of the screen that says "Limited-time Free Sample Offer Try 5 Samples & Pay Only $5.9 for Shipping Fee" then click "Chose the Samples" and it will take you to a page where you can pick the 5 samples. If I link the page directly (https://www.teavivre.com/free-samples.html)) it wont work. You pick the other free samples later in the checkout process because the number of samples is based on how much you spend. Looks like they may only have 4 types of dancongs on their free sample menu right now but they do sell most their teas in sample sizes if you want to try more dancongs. Alternatively you could just buy some Dancong samples (e.g. https://www.teavivre.com/guangdong-phoenix-dan-cong-oolong-teas-samples.html ) and grab some free other free samples or extra dancong sessions.

Is tea-expert.net trustworthy retailer? Won't you get your door kicked in by gov agents for sending money to and receiving goods from russian company?

>>20509129
>I will try that tea again tomorrow and see if I can add anything.
cool, I'd be interested to hear for sure
>one was a "honey orchid" and the other was a "duck shit" oolong
I'll give these ones a go. I really enjoy the aroma of honey orchid from YS but the flavor wasn't so great, hopefully this one will be better.
I tried brewing some of what I had leftover from previous samples with the 9.5g/100ml ratio and flash steep -- it definitely improved the duck shit and peach aroma samples I had, much more flavorful soup this time, thanks again for that suggestion!
>For some reason the popup for the samples does not always show for me on teavivre
Hah, their site seems all sorts of messed up. I tried that facebook link which at first didn't show the banner, but after disabling my adblock it shows it now

>>20508925
>I really like the honey orchid dan cong from 2023
I might have to give the 2024 a go next time I order from there, I'd be interested to hear what you think of it (and really everything else in your order as well!)

bump limit page 9

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>>20509216
>>20509216
>>20509216

>>20509194
>but after disabling my adblock it shows it now
Sometimes it is worth temporally disabling addblock to see if a shop has a newsletter deal. A lot of shops (not just tea related) have X% off your first purchase offers if you sign up too their newsletter. Use a spare email of course. The more you save the more tea you can buy!
A few other /tea/ deals I know of:
https://verdanttea.com/five-teas-for-5 They also used to have a code for half off your first month of tea club but I think they stopped it.
https://yunomi.life/pages/the-yunomi-newsletter says " ¥1000 coupon off your first order of ¥3000" but it used to just give you free sample pack.
https://cspuerh.com/ has $20 off referral code deals.
https://kingteamall.com/ has 10% off referral code deals.
https://www.liquidproust.com/ does a $5+S&H puerh beginners sample pack every november.
Besides the 5 free samples https://www.teavivre.com/ gives out free rewards points on holiday sales with no purchase necessary that you can bank for later.

>>20509218
>bump limit
You cant stop me I'm /tea/