/ck/ - Food & Cooking

There's no reason to just collect types of tea. Just drink what you like. I only drink black tea, and that my range is comprised of strong tea like assam, something lighter like ceylon, and a citrus blend - I prefer lemony ones.

Don't get any kind of fruit blend that isn't a traditional citrus blend, they're all bad even though they're appealing.

People claiming loose leaf is far above a decent teabag are just operating under the placebo effect. Don't forget to use appropriate steeping time and water temperature for your tea though.

Strong black teas need more milk than lighter blends. Citrus black teas need none or very little. Most needs slight sweetening, but don't go overboard.

>>4796126
If your tea needs milk or sweetening, it's shit tea.

>>4796140
If your food needs salt or pepper, it's shit food.

>>4796118
OP, getting into tea is like getting into wine. There's a huge range of varieties. You should just read the wiki to get starting.

>>4796141
>>4796140
Not even remotely comparable

>>4796141
No, milk in tea is more like smothering things in ketchup.

Also, milk and tea are actually for shit tea. In the early days of Western tea drinken we could only get harsh bricks of broken second rate leaves, so the tea was harsh and astringent. Adding sugar and milk was done to compensate for this.

Traditionally, you can see how close cultures are located to where the tea came from by how they drink it. The Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and Vietname all drink pure tea because they're by the source. They've always had decent tea. Once you start to branch out into Mongolia, West China, Tibet, Central Asia and Russia you get peoples in the habit of adding dairy and/or sugar.

>>4796192

I don't know about sugar, but traditionaly in East Asian culture milk is considered infant food and isn't consumed after infanthood, that's why dairy products are practically non-existant in East Asian cooking. So it would make sense that the East Asians never put milk in their tea because the East Asians never put milk in anything, not because the tea is of higher quality there.

>>4796446
Putting milk in is not the default position, it's something people only resorted to because tea would otherwise be nearly undrinkable. The only people who put diary in their tea are generally nomads, mountain dwellers and the Brits. They all share a traditional culture of shitty tea. Drinking tea with added anything is a later mutation stemming from need. Even the Brits don't put milk in their tea if they consider the tea worth tasting (Darjeelings and such).

East Asians do deal with shitty tea in other ways. The Japanese have genmiacha en hojicha for example, cheap tea with roasted rice and roasted tea, respectively. Which are delicious, by the way.

Just try different type of tea and decide which you like. Personally I only drink green tea and chamomile tea, since I drink it to relax a little.

>>4796118
I think the best tea is chamomile. It's soothing and tastes good with honey. It's a classic tea and makes you nice and relaxed.

I don't care what you faggots say, I'm NOT drinking Assam without a bit of milk and sugar.

>>4796583
I'm pretty sure chamomile is a flower.

>>4796596
It is a flower and the flowers are dried and made into tea.

>>4796596

>>4796599
Tea comes from a bush, m8.

>>4796599
Which makes it a tisane, not tea.

>>4796610
i never heard that term before. interesting.

>>4796599
Tea is a plant. The general term "tea" is often applied to drinks that don't even include actual tea leaves. Normally that is referred to as "herbal tea" or "tisane".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbal_tea

>>4796159
>getting into tea is like getting into wine.
This Anon is not too far off. Styles, flavors, traditions and manner of consumption vary across regions.

Two teas worth trying:

Japanese sencha - Young green tea leaves steamed, then dried. This is the glean tasting, grassy, refreshing tea Japanese drink on a regular basis.

Chinese oolong: The best examples are pretty complex. Traditionally the Chinese will serve this in very little cups, and you'll drink five of them, as the tea is steeped five times. The first will be 20 seconds, and very light and floral. The flavor develops until the last steeping, which will display the tea's tannic acidity.

prince of wales is my favorite
earl grey is disgusting
i like green only with lemon and honey
i take black tea plain with desserts or with milk and sugar with nothing else.

>>4796649
Everyone told me to get some sencha, so I did. It was the most disgusting "tea" I ever tasted. It literally tastes exactly like grass, steamed and dried grass. No, the preparation was not wrong and no, the tea was not bad quality. So better get some grass, which is quite a bit cheaper.
Oolong is fine, but I'm not a big fan. So if OP has a lot of money, sure, try everything, if not, try the most popular ones out of the various types (herbal, black, white etc.) because they're all similar. Every black tea I tried was almost the same and I didn't like any of them too much, so I'll stick to herbal tea mostly, which I can even grow myself.

>>4796649
To add to the list, I heartily recommend atai, which is prepared by steeping gundpowder tea for ten to fifteen mintues in a pot, then filtering it into another (steel is the preferred material for both pots), and adding generous amounts of sugar and mint leaves. Then you bring the second pot to a boil and keep it there for two or three minutes before serving.

Prepare your wallet, because real, authentic, high quality tea is insane expensive.

>>4796700
I'd say moderately, and compared with, say, high quality hard liquor or even wine, it's downright cheap.

Earl Grey for breakfast
Apple/cinnamon tea for the evenings.

>What are the essential flavors, the ones that any tea enthusiast would be caught dead missing from their cabinet?
No such thing.

>What are flavors that Anon recommends?
It's more about personal taste and preparation. You should certainy try properly prepared gongfu oolong and maghrebi atai.

>What are overrated/crappy flavors that Anon recommends against?
Again, quality and preparation. I subscribe to the opinion that disappointing tea is a result of shit quality, rather than overrated flavour.

>What is the best method for preparing tea?
No such thing. Just don't buy 200 bags of lipton and drown them in boiling water.

>How plebian does putting sugar or milk in one's tea make them?
What kind of tea?

>Any general tea protips that Anon has to offer?
Get a pottery tea set, a stone one, an iron one, and a stainless steel one. That shit matters.

>>4796118
>acquiring the taste for tea

Trying to fit in?

>>4796671
That's how the Moroccans do it, and it's fucking delicious (if you can handle the sweetness). I'm going to Morocco next month, and expect to drink quite a bit of it.

>>4796118
>What are overrated/crappy flavors that Anon recommends against?
There's no such thing. You like it? Its a good tea.

>What is the best method for preparing tea?
Its different for every particular tea. Ask someone if you dont know. Generally green tea require shorter times and cooler water than black, but every tea have its own way for preparing.

>How plebian does putting sugar or milk in one's tea make them?
You like it? You do it.
Though to do it with some delicate fine tea would seem i bit waste.
But for most of teabags i would consider it a viable option.

>>4796126
>Just drink what you like.
This!

>>4796671
Yea, thats good stuff. Its not very tea-like in usual way, but i would recomend it. Also: Yogi tea.

my favorite tea is the cinnamon tea

>>4796930

Man, do I love that stuff.

>>4796669
>Every black tea I tried was almost the same
Then you haven't been trying properly. The difference between an Assam and a Darjeeling is tremendous, for example. Not to mention something like Lapsang Souchon.

>What are the essential flavors, the ones that any tea enthusiast would be caught dead missing from their cabinet?

Tea is so broad, I can't really begin to answer this one. There's almost nothing for it but just trying as many kinds as you can until you find the styles you like.

>What are flavors that Anon reccomends?

I'm a big fan of roasted Tie Kuan Yin, Raw (sheng) pu-erh, and high mountain oolong (li shan especially).

>What are overrated/crappy flavors that Anon recommends against?

Anything in tea bags. Full leaf teas are much better.

>What is the best method for preparing tea?

It's all about preference. I like grandpa style and gong-fu style. Grandpa style is just putting a small amount of leaves in a a mug with water, drinking it, and refilling as necessary.

Gong-fu style involves a large amount of leaves relative to the amount of water, and running short steeps - 20 seconds or less. You get much more concentrated, fuller cup this way. Also, you get numerous steeps.

>How plebian does putting sugar or milk in one's tea make them?

Drink tea the way you like it. I like my oolongs straight up, but there's nothing wrong with adding milk and sugar to your tea, I love earl gray with both.

>Any general tea protips that Anon has to offer?

Try as much tea as you can, tea bags suck fat dicks, educate yourself on what is out there. You do not need fancy equipment to make good tea.

>>4796669
That's actually exactly what it's supposed to taste like. Grassy and a tiny bit floral. Japanese in particular if I recall.

>>4796700
No it's not. Tea is the cheapest thing to drink after water, even the quality stuff.

Op, I'm an oolong fan, myself. Though a properly steeped white with a little sugar is divine. Anyways, various teas need to be steeped for various times and at various temperatures, both of which can be looked up on the internet. I'd go loose leaf and use a tea ball. Also, buy in smallish quantities. Tea never goes bad, but it's flavor will fade over time.

I'm drinking Long Jing right now. It's great. I haven't been into greens as much lately but this one isn't a classic for no reason.

>>4801277
>I'm a big fan of roasted Tie Kuan Yin, Raw (sheng) pu-erh, and high mountain oolong (li shan especially).
How old are those shengs you drink generally? I've been recently getting into puerh but have only drank shu so far. Sheng seems more tricky to get into.

>>4796118
so here's how to tea:
>basic black tea
>hot
>strong
>some honey
this is how you tea.

>>4796192
but I love ketchup

>>4801785
>>>/b/

>>4801748

0-3 years mostly. Many people find (basically) unaged shengs to be harsh and sort of simple tasting, but the better ones have a nice lingering sweetness and as strange as it sounds, makes you feel different while drinking them.

teaurchin.com has some nice selections, and their samples are generous.

yunnansourcing is another pretty good source.

I can suggest trying samples only until you find something you like enough to consider a whole cake. There are characters to each distinct region of maocha producing villages.

Sample around enough and you may come to find that shengs are not for you, or you may come to find some that you quite like.

>>4802570
>0-3 years mostly. Many people find (basically) unaged shengs to be harsh and sort of simple tasting, but the better ones have a nice lingering sweetness and as strange as it sounds, makes you feel different while drinking them.

Doesn't sound strange at all, I'm pretty sensitive to what some people would call the 'qi'. I've noticed it before with good sencha and such, but since ince I went beyond simple greens and blacks into puerh and oolong territory I can really feel how some teas affect me. It's interesting and great to experiment with. Today I had some nice roasted oolong for the first time, which I liked a lot. I've sampled at least broadly what other categories there are, so sheng puerh is my next frontier.

I'm familiar with yunnansourcing already but I'll look into teaurchin, thanks. I assume you're already familiar with the half-dipper blog? ? It's a blog by a shengfiend with a lot of good pictures and pieces.

Where do you guys buy your tea?

>>4802941
At teashops?

>>4802941
Online. Where are you from? Might make a difference in shipping and such.

I've been drinking genmaicha and pu-erh the most lately. Learn how to gongfu if you pick up some loose leaf. Learn your temperatures & steep times, they're the most important things in tea preparation.

I avoid putting milk or sugar in tea. Only exceptions are earl grey & chai (or any other spiced tea).

Herbal tea is nice to drink before bedtime. I picked up a rose tea from a local shop that I've been enjoying

>>4803406
>I've been drinking genmaicha and pu-erh the most lately. Learn how to gongfu if you pick up some loose leaf. Learn your temperatures & steep times, they're the most important things in tea preparation.
Good advice. Also tremendously important: The water you use. Tea is mostly water so it's quality matters tremendously. I recently brewed an oolong I know well with both tap and gentle mineral water and the second one was more pronounced in it's smell and taste. Like the water got out of the way more.

Genmaicha is delicious by the way in a 'comfort tea' sort of way. I recently sampled some Hojicha and enjoyed it very much as well.

So I'm thinking of investing in a teapot
and I have a kinda silly question

Some of the ones I've seen don't come with infuser baskets. Will an infuser basket I get from a teashop be able to fit most teapots

>>4802941
Teashops, a little costly at times but worth it.
I do buy supermarket varieties, Twinings usually, if it's a tea I drink very often and would need constant replacing

I'm looking at you Russian Caravan

>>4804366
You should get a strainer and pour tea through it.
Infuser baskets don't let the tea infuse as well.

I love matcha but am apprehensive over fukushima to buy more. I normally drink a bowl everyday. On a scale of 1 to Walter White, how fucked am I?

OP, just experiment. Try a little bit of the basic types of tea to get an idea of what you like (white/green/black/etc) and expand from there. Maybe get a tea sampler? Mariage Freres has a really nice set that covers most of the basic types and has a lot of tasty blends, but that brand is pretty pricy in general.

>>4796126
>People claiming loose leaf is far above a decent teabag are just operating under the placebo effect.

It is frequently more cost-effective though.

>>4804366

Yeah they usually offer those reusable filter baskets in different sizes, just make sure it fits in the mouth of your teapot.

>>4804388

Unless you're drinking all of it in one go/serving a number of people from the same pot, a strainer is terrible––you can't control the steep time at all. The leaves will just sit in the pot and everything after the first cup will taste progressively worse AND it's a pain to clean.

>>4804448
Well, you could always strain the tea into a thermos or just use a big cup. I mean, I just make 12 oz of tea at a time and have never ever had a problem with that. Have you just tried getting a large cup?

>>4796118

You're approaching the subject the wrong way.

Pick an online retailer. There are tons. My favorite is upton tea. Hit up the site. Read about what tea is, what kinds of tea there are and what makes them different, how to make tea, so on and so forth. Then, browse the shit ton of tea they sell. Notice the samples. They're mostly a couple bucks tops. Get a BUNCH of them.

I am going to assume you don't own a teapot or kettle. You probably do own a glass measuring cup. Use that as a teapot. Boil water on the stove in a saucepan. Get a super fine mesh stainless steel strainer and use it to decant.

Also while I appreciate that everyone has different tastes, loose leaf tea is ALWAYS better than bagged. Those who tell you different have not had really good loose leaf tea. Bagged shit can be good, but notice how I called it shit.

Sugar/milk/honey/whatever - I don't really mess with them, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try them out.

>>4803406

gongfu is cool and all but it definitely isn't necessary unless you're one of THOSE people. Also if you're that into pu-erh why don't you just get a clay pot and use it exclusively for pu-erh? I've been meaning to try the clay pot thing for darjeeling but the fucking things are prohibitively expensive when I can just spend all that money on more tea.

>>4802941

online:

upton
adagio

brick&mortar:

ten ren tea in china town

>>4796700

While there definitely is some stupid expensive tea out there, plenty of it is reasonably priced.

Compare it to booze. Especially spirits and wine. Frankly tea is cheaper. I would know as I have been sober 131 days and have been going extra hard in the paint with my tea consumption. Tea is cheaper. hands down.

>>4804447
People are actually this retarded.

I have a question. How do you guys know when it's the right temperature? Do you have a thermometer only for tea? If so, where did you buy it?

>>4802941
Online from maya tea.

If I'm in a pinch I'll go to a Teavana and pay about 10x what I should for some quality tea. At least they have good shit in my experience.

>>4804366
In order to get the best tea, the leaves need room to spread and open. The only true way to accomplish this is to simply dump leaves into water and then filter it afterwards. If you're going to do ANYTHING that constrains your tea, it's frankly just smarter to get a steel tea ball. Dishwasher safe, reusable and it takes a fine connoisseur to tell the difference. If someone can truly taste the difference, he'll probably be pissed at you for not rinsing your tea leaves off with a wash of water before you steeped them. Who fucking cares?

>>4796126
>People claiming loose leaf is far above a decent teabag are just operating under the placebo effect.
Or under the possession of taste buds.

>>4804553
Gongfu is necessary if you want to bring out the flavours of the tea in different stages. A nice puerh can last for 10 to 20 steepings and you'll have a different tea with each one. If you brew Western style you essentially mix all those infusions together, which is a waste as far as I'm concerned.

Also, gongfu is often done with a yixing clay pot with oolongs and puerhs. I've never heard of a yixing/darjeeling pairing but it doesn't sound bad since darjeelings are quite oolongy in their own special way.

>>4804654
For blacks and puerhs I usually use boiling. For more tricky ones like whites, greens and some oolongs I use a simple cooking thermometer. I take a little pitcher and put boiling water and the thermometer in, wait for the temperature to drop to the right stage and then pour the water over the tea. Every cooking store will have those things probably and you can find them online easily as well.

>>4804660
Loose brewing is the best, but brewing baskets are the next best thing since they offer the most space for the leaves of all the other solutions. A steel ball is horrible, it's essentially e reusable teabag. The leafs will swell up and have nowhere to go, their exposed surface area will be smaller and the tea won't infuse properly at all. You don't need to be an expert to taste the difference. Do you drink your tea with milk? Milk often masks the delicate parts of making a good brew, that's why the English tend to like bitter shredded leaves and oversteep them. They need this pungent flavour to penetrate the milk it gets covered in a bit.

The best way to go about it is to brew each cup individually. If that's too much bother the next best way is to brew loose tea in a pot and poor the entire contents through a strainer into another pot when it has steeped long enough. I find that a cheap glass teapot works for the brewing in this case. Then you decant into your nice porcelain which you use to serve.

>>4804388
>>4804448
>>4804660

Thanks for all the answers!

At the moment I am only using a tea ball since I'm only brewing for myself, but lately I've been making tea for family too and it's a bit of hassle having to take turns with the tea ball (I don't want to put the amount needed for all people in the same ball too due to what >>4804752 said) or when I want multiple cups to myself without having to drink it all in one go. I think I'll opt for one that comes with the basket since I saw a cheapish one at Victoria's Basement

I'll try steeping in a separate pot beforehand sometime too!

>tfw high on puerh

>>4804465

I'm a faggot who uses fancy bone china teacups and they don't hold much. I usually brew a big pot and keep it under a tea cozy, pouring small cups as needed. It stays warm for a few hours, so it's pretty nice while working/etc.

I guess it just depends on how you're consuming it.

>>4804752

For the lazy, these Japanese-style water boilers are great for getting a particular temperature water with minimal effort.

>>4804562
there have been independent tests where the tea is radioactive. The companies meet the standards by cheating and measuring the radiation while the tea is wet instead of dry and processed. Do you even watch the news or do you learn everything you need to know on /ck/?

I drink PG Tips with a splash of milk every morning for breakfast.
I am resistant to being called a pleb tea drinker.

This shit is drunk daily.

>>4805676
>For the lazy, these Japanese-style water boilers are great for getting a particular temperature water with minimal effort.
Pricey though. I try to go old school Chinese and look at the water (I've got a glass kettle, which is great) and listen to it to determine temperature.

I strive for a technique where I eventually do everything intuitively and don't use any scales, thermometers, timers et cetera. But that's harder than it seems.

>>4806191
genmaicha best cha

>>4806422

I dunno, you can get them for under $100, which isn't so bad if you use it every day.

>>4806471
I've only seen them for a few hundred before, but they're notoriously hard to get here in Europe. I like kettles though since they're better for gongfu.

So do all kinds of tea just taste like nothing?

have you guys had matcha before?

>>4808275
If you have suffered severe damage to the tongue, yes.

Its really hot where I am and I'd like to make iced tea asides from black and green. Is there a particular method I should use? Are some teas suited towards being chilled rather than others?

>>4808311
How to I make a cup that actually has taste? Do I have to be precise with temperature and steeping-time? And is it a big difference between if I use an infuser or if I just put the leaves right into water?

>>4808393
>Do I have to be precise with temperature and steeping-time?
Yes.
http://steep.it/

How do I know what kind of tea I have just by looking at it?

>>4796192
At least with Japan, they mostly drink green tea, which you simply don't ever put milk into.

>>4808393
I have never tasted any sort of tea that didn't have flavour. You're either unable to taste, you have the worst tea in the world or you're doing something wrong - too cold water or too short steeping time. With most teas boiled water is used and the steep time is around 3 mins.

Tetley orange pekoe with sugar or honey and milk. I drink this everyday and serve it to my guests and they always enjoy it. You have to admit this shit is delicious even if it isn't sophisticated.
I also drink plain green tea sometimes.

I want to start drinking my tea at work and I already have some high quality whole leaf tea templed tea to brew, but the kettle at my office is full of limescale and the water is disgusting.

How can I heat up the water for my tea? I was thinking of using a jet flame lighter rig, but that might result in explosions or melting.

>>4796599

Chamomile oil, extracted from the chamomile flower, is commonly added to black tea.

Protip: all tea comes from the camellia bush.

Ok, OP, here is A definitive guide.

Don't buy tea bags or tea from grocery stores.

Some great online purveyors are Upton Tea, Verdant Tea, Butiki Tea, and Mandala Tea. Check out the 'steepster' website for some tips and reviews.

Avoid adding sugar and especially milk to your tea, it's distasteful. There are also some reports that adding milk to your tea destroys any helpful effect that the antioxidants may have, I can not cite this though.

I prefer oolong teas the most, followed by black, then green and white. All tea comes from the camellia sinensis and the extent of processing the leaves determines what "type" of tea it is. White tea is set out and dried, very little processing. Green tea adds a step to this and is quickly heated after being dried. Oolong tea varies. It is withered like the first two and then the leaves are shaken to bruise them. After this the leaves are fermented, with longer times resulting in darker teas. Black teas go through all this and are then fired.

My favorite teas are Phoenix Mountain Dan Cong oolong, tie guan yin oolong, and jasmine scented green tea. Osmanthus and magnolia scented oolongs are pretty good too.

Brewing methods and vessels varies and can be tricky. Western brewing involves relatively smaller amounts of tea and steeps them for typically 3 minutes. Gongfu uses more tea and steep times are very short, usually 6-10 seconds, adding a few seconds for each additional steeping. This method yields more steepings with the same tea and allows for a more gradual gradient of the tea's flavors to be tasted.

For western steeping look into buying Japanese cast iron tea pots wholesale. For gongfu look into purchasing gaiwans, ru kiln, or yixing. I use my ru kiln kyushu (Japanese side handled tea pot) for my tea.

No matter what you should buy an electric kettle or precise water heater. You may want a tea as well, you should be able to find this on your phone, depending.

Tea is beautiful in a myriad of ways. Enjoy!

>>4810830

>You may want a tea as well

You may want a TIMER. Oops.

I also did not mention pu'erh teas. These are tea cakes, or bricks that undergo lengthy fermentation times underground. I don't have any experience with these but they usually produce earthier, more savory teas as opposed to greener, floral brews. I plan on trying some when I make some headway on my cache of tea.

>>4810747
Desk job? Get your own kettle. They even make small ones. I have one with a one cup minimum, which is great since most require boiling at least half a liter of water.

>mfw liptons shitty "fruit" teabag blends everywhere

God why

Atleast put out some Earl Grey or some shit.

>>4810830
I hope you're not brewing all your teas in the same kyusu unless it's glazed.

Also, why no puerh?

>>4810830
>For western steeping look into buying Japanese cast iron tea pots wholesale.
There's really no reason for this. They are overly expensive and impracticable. You would have to get a glazed one otherwise the flavours of all your tea will mix. A glazed pot is essentially a glass pot, with maybe a bit more heat detention.

The best type of pot for Western teas is a good bone china one.

>>4810830
>Avoid adding sugar and especially milk to your tea, it's distasteful.
But the biggest consumers of black often add milk or milk and sugar to their tea. I believe it's only a faux pas in East Asia, but they tend to drink different black tea than from westeners.

My mind was blown when I realized a majority of Brits essentially drink the Folgers of black tea.

>>4810917
Even Westeners omit milk and sugar when they drink good tea. Brits often drink Darjeeling without milk for example because they actually want to taste it.

>>4810927
So you're saying Assam and Kenyan teas are bad, period?

>>4810934
No, I actually love Assams. But that's why I drink them straight.

>>4810897
What does pu erh taste like? Heard it's like dirt, which is definitely something I wouldn't like

>>4811048
Well there are different kinds of puerh but puerh is typically associated with an earthy, woody taste. There's so much variety puerh is a world on its own though. You could try some samples next time you place an order somewhere. Would be a shame to miss out on a complete category of tea as an enthusiast.

>>4810897

My Ru kiln pot is glazed on the inside. I'm well aware of what steeping in unglazed, clay vessels involves.

I mentioned pu-erh in my addendum. I didn't list it before because I have no experience with them.

>>4810910

You can snag one for ~$25-30 if you can find it wholesale, which really isn't too difficult. They're almost always glazed on the inside. That price is way worth the functionality and aesthetics of the pot. Cast iron insulates better which is an important aspect for some tea makers.

>>4810917

Often the best black teas are better enjoyed sans milk and sugar. They possess a complexity like that of oolong teas that should be enjoyed alone.

Granted, it is up to personal preference and I prefer Earl Gray with a little milk and honey.

Milk and sugar masks and muddles flavor, it literally is distasteful.

>>4811091
They tend to get rusty along the edges and if the glaze ever cracks you're pretty much fucked. Which is quite likely to happen in my experience. I also dislike the fact that you can't peek inside to check the colour of the brew since they're mostly black. Modern bone china pots can also easily be thrown into the dishwasher, which is a plus for a lot of people.

Cast iron is great at retaining heat I agree, but loose leaf Western style black tea is steeped for 5 minutes at most which is managed perfectly fine with porcelain, possibly with tea cosy if you like. Also, the cast iron glazed teapot is mostly a thing for Westeners who want to play at being Eastern. Cast iron kyusus are rarely used in japan, for the simple reason that clay fulfills that function in a better way. Metal teapots are traditionally mostly reserved for poorfags and nomads.

I do love their tetsubins on which the 'let's exploit white piggu' cast iron teapots are based, but a tetsubin is an unglazed water kettle. Not a teapot.

In every country with a tea tradition the tea is brewed in porcelain and clay and sometimes glass in more recent times. This is the result of hundreds to thousands of years of making tea. Some traditions are there for good reasons. As for the aesthetics, I think boiling water for a sencha session in a tetsubin over a hearth is beautiful. Misusing a bad replica to steep earl grey not so much.

>>4811154

All good points. My preference is not my cast iron pot, which is in great quality after years of use and didn't cost me much. I prefer my smaller, clay vessel for gongfu. I don't know about 'exploiting the white piggu', that's an edgy stretch. The reality is that a cast iron pot remains a practical, viable option if offered for a reasonable price. Also, kyushu pots are not made of cast iron, as you may I have mentioned. I'm not sure what you were getting at with that point.

I bought my genuine, Japanese cast iron pot from a Chinese restaurant supply store many years ago for $30. It remains in great condition and I have never been displeased with it.

>>4796118
I drink jasmine and chamomile usually. I hate fruity shit, and I despise white tea mixed with green tea

>>4811048
i think it tastes like black coffee with mushrooms...that sounds really gross but it fucking works somehow.

>>4811195
>which is in great quality after years of use and didn't cost me much
>I bought my genuine, Japanese cast iron pot from a Chinese restaurant supply store many years ago for $30. It remains in great condition and I have never been displeased with it.
That's good to hear. I had two that I returned, disastrous junk both of them.

>I don't know about 'exploiting the white piggu', that's an edgy stretch. The reality is that a cast iron pot remains a practical, viable option if offered for a reasonable price. Also, kyushu pots are not made of cast iron, as you may I have mentioned. I'm not sure what you were getting at with that point.
It was meant to be more tongue in cheek than edgy. There are in fact cast iron kyusus (after all kyusu simple means teapot in Japanese and is not a particular style) but those tend to be rather rare and rather small. The cast iron pots of about 0.5 to 1.5 litre sold in the West are to accommodate Western people who enjoy the aesthetics of the tetsubin but have no use for one. They look like a Japanese kettle, but are used as a Western teapot. This is of course fine and if people like it that's no problem for me, but I do get annoyed by those things being peddled under the guise of authenticity while they are anything but.

They're a bitch to be cleaned by hand though, and if used as a general purpose teapot for experimenting and exploring you're going to have a hard time getting the lapsang souchon out of them for example. If someone's interested in Western brewing I would stick with a nice porcelain pot(it's the Western way, after all) but for Eastern stuff I think the greatest piece of teaware by far to get into it is a no-nonsense, well made gaiwan. Extremely precise, very neutral, easily cleaned and perfect for smaller quantities and sampling.

>>4811154

Misusing a bad replica to steep earl grey not so much.

>Resorting to presumptuous insults.

>The glazed interior of a sturdy pot more likely to crack than a porcelain pot thrown in the dishwasher.

>Metal for poorfags, and not clay.

Oh my.

>>4811296

Kyushu, as you said, does simply mean teapot. I was referring to it colloquially as the side-handled style. You are certainly more well informed than I am in regard to Japanese teapots and such. I never claimed cast iron tetsubin lookalikes to be the apex of authentic, but they are a nice western take on an iconic Eastern idea. In the end the look, quality, and heat detention make the cast iron pot my first choice but I wouldn't exclude the bone china as an option.

>>4811320
Most cast iron teapots available are bad replicas and often have suboptimal glazes which are easily damaged, especially by chipping at the edges after which you get a rust problem. Of course I wouldn't claim that an iron pot breaks easier than a porcelain one. As for the poorfag/nomad thing: Metal pots are very durable and sturdy (making them a good choice for people without a lot of money since replacing broken porcelain would be a financial strain for them) but it also makes an inferior cup of tea tastewise. They're practical and economical but show inferior results. That's why you'll find a stainless steel pot in a greasy spoon and shoddy yurt and porcelain and clay at the Ritz and the emperor's tea room.

>>4811326

Kyushu is the south-most Japanese island. Kyusu is what you are referencing.

>>4811326
Perhaps your pot (maybe being acquired before the trend that flooded the market with shitty products?) is of a quality I haven't experienced myself and is therefore not susceptible to some of my objections. If heat detention is of primary concern for you, you might want to look into yixing clays as well. They're famous for it.

>>4808393
You come to terms with the fact that you have terrible taste.

I did. All I can enjoy now is dark-roast coffee.

>>4811376
this is actually pretty helpful in articulating my shit

My favourite flavours:
Assam with milk. Or a mixed tea like Frisia with milk or lemon.
Ceylon with lemon (Candyman or Nuwara Eliya).
Chai (the Indian spicy one) with milk. This is my best for breakfasts.

When I want a green tea to taste it real good, I go with Sencha Makoto.
Sometimes I want green tea but more consistent, then I go for Genmaicha or a Bancha.

I keep some Oolong and Darjeeling Earl Grey for some special occasions where I got fuck all.

>>4806191
>genmacha
This was a shit thread until I got here.

>green tea tastes like weed
Probably the water was too hot. The brewing and water temperature varies for every kind of tea.

>>4796159
OP getting into tea is just like getting into wine. You should just go out and buy some and start trying different flavors to see what you like and work from there.

>>4811212
I hate coffee and I hate mushrooms. So... it would probably be a bad idea.

>>4811376
Would be great if there were actually any teas named beside the flavours. I'd like something nutty.

>>4811941
long jing greens are pretty nutty in my experience

>>4811940

You might want to work on that. You won't go very far with such poor taste.

>>4812096
I won't go very far with it? So I could be president if I liked coffee and mushrooms? Coffee is pretty shit. It's unhealthy, bitter, makes you poop, gives you bad breath, makes you nervous and addicted. I don't mind people drinking it, it's their choice, but I see no reason for myself to start drinking it.
About the mushrooms, I once ate well prepared mushrooms, but the other thousand times they were terrible and slimy, especially normal champignons. People have different tastes, opinions. It won't bring you very far being intolerant to everyone who doesn't like everything you do.

One of my favorites is a Baroness Grey that is hand blended by a local tea shop, and I use coconut palm oil as a sweetener because it still allows a bit of the tartness to come through.

Plus it's fucking beautiful and has a great aroma. I just put mine into a tea ball and place it right into the kettle.

Try some Pu-erh tea. Not that common in the states but it's the smoothest type of tea you will ever find. It's a type of fermented black tea.

>>4811212
puerh tastes absolutely nothing like coffee whatsoever.

>>4812118
Puerhs can easily taste like the most delicious puddle in the woods though. Give it a shot.

>my cunt when gongfuing a good Chinese black tea after drinking English breakfast all my life

>>4812168
It does work pretty well as a coffee substitute though after dinner and such. Not that it tastes like it, but it feels good after a big meal.

>>4796126
>People claiming loose leaf is far above a decent teabag are just operating under the placebo effect. Don't forget to use appropriate steeping time and water temperature for your tea though.
not sure if stupid or trolling

Has anyone tried this particular variety of tea? Thoughts? What about Taylor's China Rose Petal Leaf Tea?

I bought this tea a few months ago, but haven't opened the bag inside of the tin yet. I opened the tin and it smelled marvelous, but I haven't gotten around to buying a teapot yet. (When I bought the tea, I thought a tea kettle was the same basic thing. I'm 'merican and not upper crust, so it wasn't common knowledge.)

Also, how would one suggest storing tea? I've heard air-tight and in the dark and consume quickly for optimal flavor. If I open the bag, should I tape it closed again?

>>4814299
I haven't tried that tea yet, but generally so called Moroccan blends are a bit deceptive. Moroccans drink Chinese gunpowder green tea with a shitload of sugar and fresh (this is important) mint. So you won't get anything near the Moroccan tea experience. That doesn't mean it can't be a delicious tea of course, but it's not Moroccan style tea.

As for storage just a tea tin that closes well is fine. You're storing it for consumption, not aging. Unless you're planning to keep it for years (for which there is no good reason with green teas) you're fine keeping it in a tin.

Typhoo is the greatest tea in the universe.

Go ahead and prove me wrong. All your teavana custom blended shit teas don't hold a candle to this stuff.

>>4799486
So I bought some assam today and it tasted exactly the the same as darjeeling. both are high quality. I'm not sure whether there's something wrong with me, the tea or with you. You're gonna say it's me, I know.

>>4796118
>Any general tea protips that Anon has to offer?
I don't know if it counts like general, but if you plan on consuming large amounts of tea throughout the day, try brewing it Russian-style. Basically, you are brewing really strong tea in a teapot (put 2-3 good teaspoonfuls of tea leaves into it), then you pour brewed tea and boiled water into a cup. It will allow you to control how strong is your tea more easily, and make it much faster (boiling water is much faster than brewing tea, especially with modern kettles). Be warned though - when you are pouring a tea from teapot, only pour around 1/10 of cup volume before pouring a water in, you can add more later if it is not strong enough, don't overdo that.

>>4814402
Yes, but not to be smug. Darjeeling is Chinese style small leaf grown high in the mountains and on the light side of oxidation for a black tea. Assam is Indian style sea level large leaf robust fully oxidised and dark. The first is floral, the second is malty. The first is has an amber liquor, the second a deep reddish brown. It's well established that these teas provide a very different experience from one another.

So maybe it's the particular tea or maybe it's your preparation, tastebuds or simply lack of experience with tea. It can take a while to grow accustomed to the nuances. But noticing zero difference between a Darjeeling and an Assam is strange. I can tell them apart by the look of the dry leaf, the wet leaf, the dry smell, the wet smell, the colour of the liquid and the taste of the tea. They're really quite distinct.

Do you: Pour milk into tea, or pour the tea into milk.

I've never got a definite answer for this.

>>4814416
Actually, darjeeling is from India too. The leaves look a little different, assam leaves being smaller and finer and perhaps a little darker. When brewed (is that a word), they look pretty much the same. Dark reddish brown. Maybe assam is a little darker. But the taste seems the same. I might try some of both at the same time, but I doubt that there would be a major difference.

>>4801748
you should try taiwanese wulong

>>4814434
There is no definite answer. Originally it would be that pouring the milk first is for plebs and pouring the milk after the tea is for the upper classes. This was because plebs had pleb cups that could break under the sudden heat of the tea so the milk helped to smooth out the transition. There's also the added bonus of being able to regulate the amount of milk you put in your tea more efficiently if you add it afterwards. So originally milk first was for proles.

Nowadays you sometimes hear people say that adding the milk first is better since you introduce the hot tea more gently to it. The idea is that if you put the tea in first and then the milk the milk will curdle because of the sudden heat.

>>4814439
I know Darjeeling is from India, but the Darjeeling tea plants are of the Chinese variety. That combined with the high altitude is what makes them so unique and delicate among Indias teas. Darjeeling is Camellia sinensis var. sinensis and Assam teas are Camellia sinensis var. assamica.

The Chinese is the small leafed one, the Assam is the larger leafed variety.

Also, you often shouldn't brew them in the same way. Darjeelings are more delicate and required shorter steeping times in general. If you can't taste the difference between Darjeelings and Assams you are really doing something wrong I'm afraid.

>>4796656
GREEN WITH LEMON AND HONEY???

YOU'RE AN ABOMINATION!!!

Milk is only good with desert teas that have a dark and bitter flavor.

Mint, and most fruit teas do not need sugar in them. If you are going to use sugar make sure to use pure cane sugar, the higher the quality, the less it will dilute the taste of the tea.

Red tea is my favorite, mostly because it is easily the most complex in terms of flavor. It's not subtle, but it also isn't simple.

Breakfast teas = eat with sweet foods, don't add sugar
Earl and Lady grey = good for serving to other people. Also good with chocolate deserts.
White teas = 2/10 would not bang, some exceptions prove to be god tier though. Good with pretty much anything because white teas are to light to make a fucking difference.

>>4815245
Which reds do you drink? I've recently had my first proper Chinese red and I really enjoyed it, but it didn't strike me as necessarily more complex than oolongs and puerhs.

Parents passed down thier azn secrets to me and its engrained in my blood now.

>flower tea - for digestion
>ginger - for tummy aches [buy fresh ginger, cut it up, put in hot water, done]
>mint - digestion health, stavs off illness [refreshing as fuck, use real mint]
>dandelions - liver health
>artichoke - flawless skin [boil artichokes, add rosemary and lemon if you want]

I don't carry any other teas and no tea bags.

I have a glass tea pot with a glass strainer. I'm paranoid of a dirty tea pot. Glass is clean.

Don't add sugar [prefer eating my calories rather than drinking]

Also, tea enthusiast call themselves that?

>>4815372
>artichoke

Viet detected.

>>4815417
Hi

>>4815463
Hai