/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Drinking Fortmason, a blend of Indian and Chinese teas right now. Good stuff.

>>8030619
Me and my girlfriend drink tea every night either during dinner or after as a way to relax. She's been in the mood for white tea recently, but when it's just for me I'll generally make a black or oolong, as I prefer the stronger tastes of them. I want to make a trip to the store I buy from, but it's around an hour and a half away.

Chai is really good, and I also like rooibos.
Herbal infusions and fruit teas are disgusting.

>>8030924
>Chai is really good

That's just another spelling of tea you dingus.

>>8030944
noob

go drunk your soda

>>8030955
he is correct thought

>Cha is from the Cantonese chàh of Guangzhou (Canton) and the ports of Hong Kong and Macau, also major points of contact, especially with the Portuguese, who spread it to India in the 16th century. Due to the Portuguese occupation of Macau, the Portuguese adopted the Cantonese pronunciation "chá", instead of the more typical Western pronunciations deriving from tê. The Korean and Japanese pronunciations of cha, however, came not from Cantonese, rather they were borrowed into Korean and Japanese during earlier periods of Chinese history.
A third form, the increasingly widespread chai, came from Persian چای chay

>>8030944
>>8030955
>>8030984
The actual person who made that post here: did not know that, sorry for the misunderstanding. What I was referring to is tea that has spices such as cinnamon, pepper, cloves, and ginger. Because where I am, every tea that is labeled chai contains those.

>>8031005
That's normally called spiced tea, which in Hindi would be "masala chai"
It's weird that you would cut out the "spiced" part and just label it "tea"

>>8031023
Here's proof that I wasn't talking out my ass about them being labeled that.

>>8031036
>premium® organic™gluten-free½ Fair-Trade-Certified°C

Figures.

>>8031047
It was a gift, I couldn't give a shit less about it lol. I typically use loose leaf. But I agree, it is meant for hipsters.

Chai guy here, what do you think about Teavana by the way? I like them for all the varieties they have, but they seem really expensive.

>>8031065
I dislike them for being a Starbucks subsidiary, and carrying mostly weird blends with sugary additions.

I feel like I've explored most greens, reds/black and Oolongs at this point, now I want to try some Pu erhs. Anyone ordering from Chinalife? I really enjoyed their Royal Peach Orchid, damn that was fresh.

>>8031082
Where do you usually get your tea? can it ship across the US?

>>8030619
Teavana manager here. The teas are truly of good consistent quality. You paying for convenience though: most of their teas are marked up at least twenty percent from the same product elsewhere. Ama btw, ive been in the tea peddling world for years

The pastebin in the OP is dead.

>>8031121
Nice man, I have bought from them since before the starbucks buyout. My friend worked at one, he would buy so much tea that he would literally give some to me.

>>8031082
Many of their teas are literally picked from the same gardens as typical tea shops, like their gyokuro and silver needle. If youre getting sugary additions youre ordering the wrong thing

>>8031116
I get my tea from a tiny Asian lady downtown, runs her own business.
I guess she could ship to the US but international shipping is obscene here.

>The pastebin in the OP is dead
>Teavana manager here

Ck, pls

>>8031005
>>8031036
ah yeah, that is some short of marketing mistake i think called it "masala chai tea" is very common
>>8031065
dont buy if you have any other choices

>>8030619
>>8031123
>>8031155

http://pastebin.com/ff6mNwUw
Fixed

>>8031148
>implying they have gyokuro and silver needle

I've been in that shithole, it's wall-to-wall caramel sea-salt rooibos with espresso coffeebean garnish and random herbal bullshit.

>>8030619

Whats your point buddy? Ive managed local tea joints and have a passion for thw craft. I dont understand why youre trying to discredit what ive said since i currently work for the teavanna big brother

>>8031121
Your tea is shit and you should kill yourself

>>8031175
>Okakura Kazukou's book removed

I knew this pastebin was a mistake.

>>8031176
They literally have both if you payed any attention and thier gyokuro is of comparable price to what youd find elsewhere, twenty dollars an ounce for consistent imperial grade tea. Its not as advertised as the bullshit but they have it. I used to sell four lbs of it to this one lady every other week.

any of you have experimented with cold brew? does it works on oolong?

>>8031180
>literal first flush darjeelings, gyokuro, tieguanyin, silver needle
>shit

Yeah okay, sure thing pal. Guess ill go off myself since some angry neckbeard on an indonesian stop animation forum tells me to who doesnt even drink tea.

>>8031198
you should fucking kill yourself

>>8031198
You can cold brew any tea and im fact is preferable with some milder whites amd greens. Any oolong will be fine irrespective of their oxidation levels.

>>8031198

Where should I buy matcha? There's a whole foods nearby, but I'm sure it's overpriced trash.

Any specifically good online retailers for the stuff?

>>8031213
wut
>>8031214
thanks, i got some tieguanyin liying around and i wanted to try it

I bought a replacement tea pot from amazon.

It arrived today broken.

I am currently drinking no tea.

>>8031207
Wow, it's so hard to find those teas first flush elsewhere, end your life m8

>>8031175
Thanks!

>>8031231
:[

>>8031231
Buying fragile stuff from amazon is not a good idea in general. They handle packages like crap.

>>8031246
Yeah I know it's risky but it's so much cheaper. All the teapots that are for sale at the local tea shop are gay anyway. So I didn't want one of those.

Oddly enough I bought some other big glass thing that wasn't even bubble wrapped or anything and it arrived fine.

They're shipping me another one so I have to wait until next week for tea I guess.

Achmeds Khalami loose tea is pretty good and sells in bulk. Brew it to drink to dry my mouth out, to mix with milk, or cream liquer.

>>8031304
Don't you have an asian market instead of a tea shop nearby?

>>8031869
Well no, actually.

If it were up to me I wouldn't even go to the tea shop at all but I have no idea where to buy normal tea online in Canada.

I might try the antiques store though.

>>8031937
You should be able to find a plain white teapot in just about any Walmart
Heck, I found one in a dollar store.

Salvation Army's also got a shittonne of old ceramics for cheap, if you're comfortable drinking from the pot of a dead old woman.

>>8030619
>General

>>8031997
Those are gay though.

You don't seem to be understanding the core issue.

>>8032415
Please describe your vision of a heterosexual teapot.
I'll try not to laugh.

>>8032417

Favorite aside from the oolong, shang tea is amazing. If you are ever in Kansas city it is a must go!

This man does gods work, and is very kind without being overbearing

>>8031175
>Implying my deceived trust is fixed

>>8031107
I got their Young Gushu puerh this week. Beautifully rolled leaves that produce a delicious liquor, lighter than an aged puerh but fruity and without the earthy mushroom flavour you get from older teas.
Could be a good introductory choice, but I'd try that and something from the 90s or early 00s to get an idea of the range of flavours.

>>8030924
>Me and my girlfriend drink
It's actually "my girlfriend and I". An easy way to remember this is to remove the other person and see if it make sense. In this case "me drink tea" sounds retarded, while "I drink tea", is correct.

>>8033132
We only sperg about tea in these parts, muchacho.

>>8031121
Teavana uses synthetic artificial flavors, also their tea has been found to have illegal amounts of pesticides... and yet people are still drinking it.

>>8030924
But rooibos is a herbal infusion, is it not? I mean, it's not tea.

>>8033636
Not him
Nevertheless: words.

>>8033667
It's not even really an herb, more of a bush

how much of a bad idea is drinking tea from aliexpress?

>>8033667
Its a tisane

>>8034226
Seriously this.

I wish people would ger in the habit of using the wors tisane so we can stop calling everything fucking tea

I'm really too lazy to clean my tea strainer so I only drink one large cup of cheap assam ctc daily, made with paper filters.
I do have some other teas, but I rarely feel like drinking them because I can't find a strainer that looks easy to clean.

>>8034260

Why not use a french press? If its loose leaf.

>>8030944
Here in BR land chai= black tea with curry nigger spices prepared with +-1/2 of milk.

>>8034260
Look at Chatsford teapots, yw.

>>8030619
Love this.

It's a decaffeinated black tea with lemon balm, lemongrass, nutmeg, and vanilla.

Gonna brew up two gaiwans of tea.
One will be menghai 7582, the other Bang Dong village raw pu er.

>>8034808
I like Bang Dong

>>8034837
Does anyone know a good place to get Ya Shi Xiang Dan Cong Oolong (aka Duck Shit Oolong)?
Only place I've found it is Yunnan Sourcing's chinese location, and that shit takes 2 1/2 weeks to arrive.
I do have some Huang Zhi Xiang oolong from YS, and Imperial Golden Needle and both are delicious but I want my hands on that Ya Shi.

>>8035020
Didn't mean to quote.

>>8034693
thank you lala prancing homo man

I love eating sweet things with my tea.
What are some good tea snacks?

>>8033949
Health tea house have great quality tea for the price. I can't vouch for the others.

Does anyone actually like rooibos?

I tried some and it had 0 flavour so I tried some more expensive shit thinking you might need to go quality with it and it had 0 flavour so then I tried some flavoured shit and it still had 0 flavour.

>>8036045
How long was the steep time?

For herbal tea it's important to steep the tea as long as you can until the water has finally cooled down to drink.

>>8036045
I think that rooibos has a nice earthy tone to it. I like drinking it with a splash of milk and a little cinnamon. The type of thing you would drink in winter for me.

>>8036045
C'mon, it has at least 1 flavour!

I agree though. Its just.. not as complex and interesting as even cheaper true tea.

Any of you guys brew kombucha? I recently started, and I'm in need of some flavoring ideas.

>>8035895
I like bananas and tangerines with my mate cozido

>>8037347
Cinnamon and strawberry have been my favorites so far. I've been wanting to try lavender, though.

Just be warned if you do powdered cinnamon it makes a sort of sea monster looking thing as the yeast attaches to it in the storage bottle.

>>8037347
I bought a bottle with a colony and the guy is sending some kefir grains for free too. It'll arrive this week.

>>8037347
>Coffee, matcha and chocolate powder

>Any green tea with rapsberry

>You can try to add fir, evergreen, cedar or maple to get the flavor in it.

>>8037347
isn't that shit poisonous?

>>8030944
>herpa derp chai and tea are the same thing
No they aren't. "Chá" is a mandarin word that used to refer to tea in some cultures. "Chai" refers to Masala chai, a flavoured tea beverage originating in India. No one ever in the 21st century would refer to a cup of green tea or early grey as "chai" unless they were a literal retard who knew nothing about tea, such as yourself.

What're some good caffeine-free teas to try out? I have some bags of herbal tea but I want to branch out

>>8036045
I love rooibos. I like to add a bit of milk.

I think it also makes a very good base for other flavours. My local tea shop carries a bunch of rooibos blends and they don't use artificial flavours, which is pretty great. I've had

>vanilla rooibos
tasted like liquid cake when I added milk, except not so sweet
>apple pie rooibos
needed more spices desu
>rooibos provence
This is probably my absolute favourite. It's just to fragrant and flowery and delicate. It contains lavender, rosehip, and a bunch of other things and it's so lovely.

>>8038915
Cha, chai, cai, tea, te, so on and so forth are all regional pronunciations of the same word: 茶. Even in China that can be pronounced as cha or te or zo.
Ask for a chai in India and they will give you a cup of plain tea, not masala chai.
Using any variation of "tea" to mean "masala chai" specifically is ridiculous.

Like damn dude you might as well use "catsup" to mean German curry ketchup.

>tfw waiting for a puer cake from ebay
i hope that i don't get poisoned lads

>>8040110
If it's shit try out Mandala Tea. They're located in the US, and they offer samples of cakes so you don't have to go all the way in, if you're just starting out.

Bought a bunch of Sencha from the asian immigrunt store. Its stronger than I thought it would be so I put too much into my pot.

Will do better next time.

Just had some Barry's tea gold for the first time, tastes similar to Yorkshire or Lipton.

>>8040113
>they are located in the US
I will get raped by the shipping, but oh well.
>>8040131
never put too much sencha, and don't oversteep that shit gets bad really fast.

Just tried Russian caravan today with some half and half, honey, and a pinch of some cinnamon. I tried it with the honey and half and half first and then decided that I liked the slight smokey taste to it but also that cinnamon would compliment the taste. It was amazing, new favorite black tea.

>>8035895
These things are shortbread with matcha in them. Pretty good with a latte, coffee or otherwise. Just hard to get unless there's a local Asian market nearby. Online ordering could work if you care.

Time to have some expensive white tea.

>>8039871
That's all nice but we're speaking English and in English Chai refers to spiced tea. Anyone who says otherwise is a pedant. You can't hand me some any old roasted tea and call it Hojicha, even though Hojicha just means roasted tea in Japan. In India, Chai means one thing, and in an English speaking country it means something else.

This also relates to people who sperg out over tea/tisane. In the common English speaking world, all tisanes are tea, but not all teas are tisanes.

>>8040485
>im a mong please rape my face

>>8040485
Yeah, I agree.
Sure, chai is just tea. But in in the western world, it usually refers to the Indian spiced tea, that's pretty much common knowledge at this point.

Anyone have any good tea-personas on youtube that you follow?

>>8040504
I follow Chinalife and I sometimes watch teadb because they're chill dudes.

Now I'm gonna start my day with some Longjing.

>>8036045
Have you tried Green Rooibos, it tastes much better in my opinion.
There are two types of Rooibos: Green and Red (Fermented).

>>8031107
really? you tried all the categories and didn't touch puerh?
go immediately to yunnan sourcing and buy few samples, at least one raw, one ripe. check which one you like better and buy a mid-priced cake. done and addicted.
and buy a gaiwan, broseph

>>8034808
deflorated my menghai 7582 cake yesterday.
why nodoby mentions it's fucking salty. so deliciously salty-sweet aftertaste. I love it. there is chinese word for it, but I'm not looking that up.
currently on my 4th steep of 2014 Yunnan Sourcing "Red Horse Gongting" and it was a mistake. this one doesn't do it for me. but it's got that black black soup going on and my back is dripping sweat as I type this.

Oh man. I'm almost out of all the sencha I bought in Japan.

Gotta get going on all the matcha I suppose.

>>8031187
>>8031175
>>8030619

and here's the pastebin, you raging mongolidal characters
http://pastebin.com/4Qw3Jzci

>>8033130
Thanks, will try
>>8041089
Yea, I started with green tea then moved on to Oolong and later black. Pu erh felt a bit complicated at first but now I'm ready. I should buy a gaiwan as well, right now I'm brewing western style but maybe I should up my game.

>>8041149
Here's my advice. Go to yunnansourcing, hardware category, marvel at low prices and pick something fo you.
Then puerh, try raw and ripe. You can take some samples or cheap 100g cakes.
Their store-brand tea is of decent quality, as well as menghai and xiaguan factory brands.
You know you're getting geniuine chinese product, not some four times reselled, fancy hologram package with an inevitable touch of faggotry.
Make a bulk order about 30-50 moneys worth, wait about 10 days (to europe) and start brewing some body altering brews.
At least that's what I did.
In the meantime watch yt, for example teadb.org/raw-puerh-basics/

>>8039871
Here is brland if you ask for chai you will get the spiced, currynigger thing that is brewed in 1/2 milk. But this trendy hipster thing of calling dry leaves in a plastic bag "chai" is coming here too.

>>8040387
You could also try chinalife (I believe they're in the UK), What-cha, and white2tea as well. Thought you were in the US.

>>8041109
>I've been to japan.
I swear weebs are worse than vegans.

>>8041114
>White2tea and mandala tea not listed
>Upton imports not listed
>Verdant tea not listed
>teaware.house not listed for hardware
>basic FAQ doesn't exist such as how to store, what pu er is, what teas to start with if you're just getting into loose leaf, etc

I'll have to write up some stuff when I get back from work.

>>8041249
>my weeb exes want to go to japan toguether
>they coudn't name anything other than places to buy weebshit, ears and more weebshit
Kek it's like my worse nightmare. I still want to go to japan but to chill in Hokkaido. Atleast one of them was very hot. (Was)

>>8041249
Tokyo is about one of the biggest metropolises in the world, why wouldn't you want to go? Even if you're not a weaboo the place seems pretty cool.

>>8041249
>getting mad that someone has a passport
Not that guy but I've been to:

Canada
USA
Mexico
Costa Rica
Panama
Colombia
Ecuador
Chile
Argentina
Cuba
USVI
BVI
Ireland
UK
Spain
France
Italy
Switzerland
Germany
Denmark
Norway
Morocco
UAE
Nepal
Thailand
Malaysia
Singapore
Indonesia
Vietnam
Philippines
China
Hong Kong
Macau
Japan

On a scale of 1 to 100 how much impotent rage are you feeling right now that someone else has more culture than you? Please be as detailed as possible.

>>8041185
Fellow europoor. What would you recommend for greens and oolongs from yunnansourcing (or elsewere)? I just want to try some decent teas instead of the local shit.

>>8041255
Original writer of the pastebin here
Kind of newish to tea, at the time didnt really know a lot of suppliers(yuropoor), w2t definitely needs to be there, about verdant im not sure since the whole 2000 yo trees fiasco.
At the time I said that if anyone had any useful resources they could feel free to add them

>>8041278
Dont buy old greens, try to buy from this year. Oolongs depends if you want something more on the sweeter greener side or wuyi mineral rock side

>>8040485
This

>>8040494
>>8039871
There has got to be something you're proud of yourself about that isn't being a grammar nazi about Tea in a number of languages you aren't even fluent in.

>>8040504
I'm really interested in hearing about more of these.

>>8041259
>weeb exes
I know exactly what this picture looks like. You're the group of greasy, poorly dressed oddballs who hang out in moderate sized groups that get too excited when you're in a restaurant and since you're all so unattractive and offbeat you all date each other. Maybe even a temporary kawaii bi girl couple.

>>8041280
Well the pastebin does include yuuki-cha, despite the shitstorms that site has been through. It's hard to blame Verdant tea for succumbing to some of the abundant bullshit floating around. At some point a decision has to be made whether to include bare necessities in the pastebin or whether to just throw it all in there and let the buyer beware.

>>8041266
All cities are essentially the same.

If you're going to travel abroad then you should be going to see the land itself and it's various attractions. Like if I was going to visit the US I wouldn't go to some metropolitan toilet, I would be going to Yellowstone and various historical sites.

>>8041458
That all depends on where you live though? If you come from a minor city, seeing the busy life of a gigantic one is a nice change of pace.

>>8041278
Chinalifeweb.com

>>8041268
Fuck off with your blogshit

>>8041463
But it's still all the same thing, essentially. Unless you're going on an eating tour, which I would argue is also better in smaller towns and cities, then you'll eventually realize that the country itself is the thing you want to visit, and not just the urban hives.

>>8041458
>all cities are essentially the same
KEK, confirmed basementdweller

There is literally nothing wrong with microwaving water

>>8041477
It robs the water of it's psychic energy so the latent power of the tea leaf has nothing to bind to

>>8041477
But how will I reach the 70 Celsius needed for my Japanese sencha?

>>8041492

Heat it to a boil, then dilute with cold water. Use your thermometer to check the temp.

>>8041504
Much easier to just set your boiler to 70 Celsius.

More tea!

>>8041477
The steam absorbs food waste from the microwave and condenses back into the water.

If anyone is interested in how to read a Puerh package:
http://www.xm-tea.net/how-to-read-the-packaging-of-puer-3.html

I like earl grey.
It's a good tea.

>>8041255
I'm counting on you.
Let's get the tea circlejerk going.

>>8030619
anyone here very experienced with puer? i bought a cake and a yixing pot for pretty high prices, and even though i know that its only about how much i enjoy those items, id like to know an estimate of their worth

>>8042607
cake up to 60, pot 160. otherwise you have been rused.

>>8041464
this site raises all redflags in buying tea online
>proclaimed health benefits for every item
>tasting guides
>claiming "ancient" and "old" trees, even though they prolly have no idea and get scammed because
>too many regions, no time to know the products, high risk of getting scammed, no time to oversee packing
>too many products,...
list goes on and on
if you buy online as a yuropoor go to yunnansourcing, this guy at least doesnt scam you with the products, though no bargains are to be had, that goes for every shop ever outside of asia though.

>>8042619
thats a pretty silly answer since you have no idea about the cake i bought

>>8042664
if you bought a cake for well over 60 rupees, you are the one that's silly

>>8042680
show me one decent cake of raw 15+yo you get in the west for below 200$

>>8041519
>le breville masterrace

>>8042568
I'm not an expert but I'll post what I got

Add to list:
>Verdant tea (add a warning)
>White2Tea (pu er specialist, ships from china)
>Mandala Tea (good quality pu er but stocks other teas as well, good customer service, ships from US, currently moving website)
>Upton Imports (1-3 dollar 15g samples, <5 dollar shipping, good place to get airtight tins, nice for ordering a whole bunch of different types of tea to decide on what you like, ships from US)
>teaware.house for teacups, gaiwan, and other tea hardware. Ships from china.

Tea clubs
>Yunnan Sourcing
Has multiple options depending on what you want, monthly. 30 dollars, or 50 for premium.
>White2Tea
30 dollars a month, mostly used to educate (e.g. comparing two teas that have been processed differently, mao cha vs raw pu er, young tree vs old tree)
(I don't know of any more)

How to make tea
>Get a scale
I generally go for 3g per small teapot, but I up the ratio for gaiwan brewing (10g per 150ml). Scales are better as the density of teas vary widely. A rolled oolong compared to a good quality golden needle will obviously vary in density because the tea will be more or less dense.

>Get a kettle
A japanese water boiler works too, don't microwave your tea (hard to judge temperature, unevenly heats), stovetop kettle or electric kettle are both fine it's mostly up to preference

>Raw pu er? Ripe pu er?
Raw pu er is lightly fermented, steamed, and (generally) pressed into cakes, bricks, or other shapes. Then it is aged. The fermentation process continues as it ages developing a more complex flavor over time. I would compare raw pu er to wines.
New raw pu er can taste a little bitter (under a year old) or overly smokey, but these flavors generally mellow with time.

Ripe pu er is strongly fermented artificially steaming the aging process and generally tastes "darker", and is often recommended for those who enjoy coffee. I honestly don't know much about it, as I don't like it very much.

>>8043114
>New to tea what do I try?
A little bit of everything.
Go to upton (or any other decent place with samples) and try some greens, oolongs, blacks, whites, etc (Sencha, tie guan yin, moonlight white, etc pick some that interest you) get some 15g samples. Try them. If you like one, explore that subvariety more, learn what you do and don't like, then try to get some better quality (yunnan sourcing, what-cha, etc).
What-cha also has an intro sampler with a little bit of everything, which may make it easier.

>But tea bags are so cheap!
Drinking loose leaf can be as cheap, or cheaper, than drinking bagged tea if you want it to be. Good quality leaf can be short steeped multiple times to yield more tea per g of leaf, this can be done with any tea but it yields better with some than others.
Even if you don't want to resteep it isn't hideously expensive as long as you aren't buying 1987 cakes of pu er and extremely rare varieties of tea.

>I want to get into pu er what should I try?
White2tea has both a raw sampler and a ripe sampler to show the differences it can have to let you experiment a bit. It has worldwide free shipping.
Mandala tea and yunnan sourcing also both have sampler sizes of their pu er. You can try getting some random stuff that looks good and hope you luck out.

>What if I want to try something from somewhere like white2tea or yunnan sourcing but I'm not sure if it will be good?
Look it up on steepster and see what people are saying about it, or ask in a tea thread. It's not guaranteed, and you shouldn't pay attention to the scores. Someone may have rated the tea low because it had lingering notes of apple and someone beat them with a bag of granny smiths when they were 10 and took a shortcut through an orchard on the way to school. Relevant to them, not relevant to you, especially if you quite like apples.

>>8043145
>How should I store tea?
Normal tea: in airtight tins away from light, heat, humidity, smells, and temperature fluctuations. In a tin inside a cabinet, in a glass jar away in a cupboard, etc are fine. Tea absorbs smells very easily so make sure the container is SEALED and do not store two types of tea together, or anywhere near strong smells of any type.
Pu er: in clay pots with a snug lid is generally best. The point of long-term aging pu er is to expose it to light humidity and air to allow it to continue aging, therefor air tight containers are counter-productive. Pu er, like any tea, picks up smells easily so avoid storing it near anything with a strong scent, or in cardboard. You don't have to use clay (but it is recommended as it is porous) you can store in pretty much anything as long as your pu er won't pick up the scent and it can breathe a bit.
Also if you are storing pu er in a high humidity environment like a cellar be sure to check for mold often. And in general, check for bugs and signs of pests trying to get in to your stash (nibbled wrappers, spider web, etc).

>Places to avoid
Teavana (overperfumed, expensive, shit quality), starbucks (same shit), bagged teas (poor quality, no room for the leaf to expand meaning the flavor has more difficulty getting into the water), anything overly expensive for standard types of tea without reason, anything that sells "fanning" quality (tea dust instead of closer to broken or whole leaves).

--
This shit can obviously be edited down/added on to, corrected, etc. Just some things that came to mind.

>>8043114
>>8043145
>>8043172
Since the pastebin is getting big I thought I'd add my two cents. When I order japanese tea I typically have 2 places I look.

First there is Yunomi.life . They are for the most part a middleman for different japanese vendors to reach international markets. They're good for finding strange things are some tisanes. Though as you can imagine, quality varies across vendors.

Second there is Ippodo. I have never ever had an questionable quality tea from Ippodo, and their different sencha are for the most part consistent from year to year. The downside though is you WILL be raped on shipping.

what japanese tea can you guys recommend? Isn't all just green?

>>8031225
Generally for japanese tea, I like yunomi.life. However, I haven't tried their matcha yet. For matcha, I've generally used O-cha

Anyone here like Mugicha (barley tea)? A korean restaurant near where I lived last year had some stuff for free and I liked it, so I decided to buy some. Makes for a great warm tea in the cold winter and incredibly cheap on amazon (seeing as it's basically just roasted barley).

just got all this from a friend that's moving.

mostly pleb, but it'll keep me occupied.

>>8042662
Not an argument.

>>8044007
Get yourself some hojicha, friend.

>>8043114
>>8043145
>>8043172
>>8043446
Previous pastebin here, feel free to make a new one, copy and paste the previous info or alter it if you like and add yours. Im definitely not an expert, im happy someone who knows more added to it.

>>8044007
>>8044783
This. Hojicha is delicious. Genmaicha is also definitely worth trying and not quite like anything else you've likely tried before. Also, high quality sencha and gyokuro teas won't taste like any chinese greens you may have had before (for better or worse).

this is semi-related but what kinds of dishes would the flavors be enhanced through tea?

Like I know of some Chinese oolongs being used in some sort of saucey glaze for fish like seabass

I love straight red tea and tieguanyin oolong cha. Do yall have any similar teas to suggest that aren't hard to get?

>>8030944
I don't care gook fuck off

>>8045633
Are you talking about cooking with tea or serving food with tea? I've never heard about cooking with tea (apart from baking matcha and tea leaf salads)

can someobe reccomend a flavorfull?

i cant stand ginseng or green tea

>>8045824
https://trissalicious.com/2009/07/01/master-cheffing-tea-smoked-duck/

>>8041268
You should go to that nice forum, they love adventurous gentleman and scholar like you! www.lemonparty.org

>>8045664
>>8045834
Try gabacha oolong, I have one who taste like biscuits.

>>8031246
It's actually usually fine. All the glass I've bought from Amazon has arrived in good condition. Ironically, the most damaged item I ever got was a large box of Twinings Assam bags (which are incidentally shit) that had been half soaked in water.

>>8041458
>All cities are essentially the same.

This is true to some extent, except for a few global cities, such as NYC, London, Paris, and Tokyo. But most other large Western cities are interchangeable. Denver, Toronto, Atlanta, etc.--not much difference outside weather and other superficial things.

NYC (and prob London, Paris, etc.) is not just an overgrown Denver or ATL though. It has a fundamentally different culture and lifestyle that's interesting and worth experiencing in its own right.

>>8046985
I'd further state that there's a difference between cities like Denver, Toronto, Atlanta being the same to visit and the same to live in. As someone who's lived in multiple large-but-not-internationally-so cities, each one has a unique vibe in its community that only reveals itself to those spending more than a few months there.

>>8043114
oolong club https://eco-cha.com/

is just me or oolong smells like weed?

I'm just getting into drinking tea. I want to make it a part of my morning routine because I don't really like coffee. Are there any good high caffeine teas?

Also any tips on brewing? What happens if I over brew

>>8046985
I'm from NYC and I've been to Boston, El Paso, Phoenix, and San Diego. I guess I don;t have a super large samples size but all those cities felt like hollow shells. There were big buildings but they just seemed lifeless.

NYC has a real heart to it and while there are tourist attractions everywhere there are also local favorites mixed in.

>>8047804
Yes, black tea. If you over brew you will get excess caffeine as well as excess tannins, which is a bitter astringent taste.

By the way having caffeine routinely gets your body preempting when you will have caffeine, make chemicals that negate the properties of caffeine (because caffeine is a foreign nervous system chemical stimulant) and the effect of caffeine doesn't happen any more. I wouldn't do it for caffeine hits, just for pleasure.

>>8047804
Tea is generally lower caffeine than coffee. However it also contains L-Theanine which combined with coffee promotes a sense of calm alertness. Especially matcha (a high quality powdered japanese green tea) and gyokuro (another high quality japanese green) tend to have very high L-Theanine content due to the unique way they are raised. Unfortunately these teas tend to be fairly, albeit not prohibitively, expensive and may take some getting used it.

For general caffeine, the general consensus is that black teas and oolongs have the highest caffeine content. However I've also heard that actual caffeine content in tea can fluctuate a ton based on climate and altitude and that black teas don't necessarily always have more than green.

>>8047828
Fair enough, I also like to drink it on cold winter days and to relax. Are there any I must try or that I should steer clear of? And I guess where is a good place to get tea leaves?

>>8047845
see
>>8043114

bump

>>8046986
Sverige for helvete

>still waiting for that aliexpress order
fug i just want to get poisoned by puerh

>>8050524
go yunnan s next time bro, under two weeks.
it looks like I'm shilling, but I'm not.
they do have decent ripe face melters in 100g cheap cakes.

also, has anybody assembled new pastebin? because I'm too drunk and tired to do so now.

>>8047804
There's always yerba mate, and its lesser-known caffeinated cousins in the holly family (guayusa, yaupon). Not twoo tee but it's hella cheap.
Though there doesn't seem to be a consensus on this, a number of research papers claim that just about all varieties of C. sinensis have comparable caffeine levels (too lazy to dig them up myself atm). I can't tell whether some are overall more stimulating than others- still fairly new to the tea game as well. But some people insist that things like sencha or white peony give them a stronger boost than a black would.
>tfw accidentally ordered from Yunnan Sourcing's Chinese site

>>8050541
Here you go.
http://pastebin.com/fET3DhzM

>>8050722
>>8050541
Actually here, fixed a typo.

http://pastebin.com/EnUxQGdK

>>8050541
i wish, but i live in a country with a shitty postal service so i dont think that i will change anything.

>>8047823
There's this unique energy in NYC I've never felt anywhere else. You feel like you're living on a faster, more connected "plane of existence" when you're there. It's incredible.

With other big cities, it just feels like a faster pace of life and more people/things to do, but it doesn't come together to nearly the same effect.

What commercial teas are recommended that don't use pesticides?

I know it's a snobbish thing to ask, but apparently most of them do.

>>8051008
>commercial teas
what
you mean bagged shit?

>>8030619
if you drink anything other than pic related, you're weeaboo trash. fuck you.

>>8051336
*sharts*

>>8040463
WANT

>>8050722
>>8050743
Very nice, good job

>>8050743
what about the how to read a puerh cake?

>>8051336
Shouldn't you be putting air in one of your trailer tires so it evens out a bit, Cletus?

>>8047293
If your oolong smells bad, you are preparing it wrong. It should smell like a combination of grass after a rain and fresh fruit.

is there actually a difference between putting tea in a tiny infuser vs a teapot?
i've heard something about letting the leaves unfurl but that sounds like it could be bullshit

>>8053300
The tea leaves do need room to unfurl anon, it helps release the essential oils in your loose leaf tea.
Honestly, tea infusers and BASIC tea pots have no actual difference as long as the infuser has enough room for the tea to unfurl
Now caste iron pots are the best, they are expensive but the iron distributes heat more evenly and results in a more uniform flavor.
If your just brewing tea bags all you need to do is put that shit in the trash to brew it properly.

>>8040463
Is that silver needle?

>>8050567
Black tea has roughly 25% the amount of caffeine of a cup of coffee, while Yerba Mate has the equivalent amount of Caffeinate* (not sure if I'm spelling that right) to a cup of coffee
Caffeinate is similar to caffeine but your body takes longer to process it, so instead of an instant rush like you get with coffee you get a longer lasting caffeine high
So Yerba Mate is equivalent to a cup of coffee. Tea can't compete
Also technically Yerba Mate is an herbal infusion, not a tea.

>>8053321
Yes. Yes it is.

>>8054395
Top shelf taste there anon. Good job

>tfw running out of tieguanyin
why is this so delicious

What're the best UK stores?

>>8054743
Chinalifeweb.com
Read the thread or pasta

>no tea houses in my shithole

>>8055738
Just order online pham, most tea houses sell that fake aroma bullshit blends anyway

I got a friend of mine into tea and she bought this from our eBay equivalent. I've had a taste and it definitively doesn't taste like green tea at all.

She bought it under the guise of 'bancha'. I never had it. Is the taste supposed to be really different from regular green tea?

So a family member has been bringing me back a steady supply of tea in fancy boxes from china in the past year, so I've just taken up tea drinking. However, I can't read a lick of chinese. What are just some general tips for preparing chinese tea at the best conditions?

I did find one of the boxes labeled as gandoderma fungus.

>>8055999
it not really looks like bancha, it tends to look more like tree crust did she ordered from a chinese store or something?
>>8056075
depends, what kind of tea? how are the leaves? pic of the boxes?

>>8055999
The fuck is that shit? Buying tea from ebay is a terrible idea.

>>8056186
She bought from Brazilian Ebay (Mercadolivre). So it's some random unsourced tea.

Should I break up the bad news?

>>8056337
I have no idea. It certainly doesn't taste like tea.

>>8056459
yes, that dont look like any tea that i know not even the leaf.

i restocked on cinnamon, cardamom and ginger the other day - been making a shitload of chai.

normally I use a family recipe but I don't have it on hand so I've been tweaking it and I've got it just about the perfect balance and level of spiciness.

so good to get cozy with on a rainy day

>>8056531
also as an aside I bought way more ginger than I can reasonably use so I guess I'm making candied ginger someday soon

>>8056531
can you share the recipe? my niece love masala but for my life i never get it right

>>8055999
anon
are those literally crunched up leaves
because that's what it looks like

>>8053300
Only in an extreme circumstance, such as using a really tiny infuser to try to make 4 cups of tea. Most infusers are plenty big enough to let 2 cups worth of leaves unfurl to the point there'd be no noticeable difference in the taste of the tea. And there are infusers that are big enough to make 3-4.

The smallest infuser I've seen is maybe 1" across, but that's enough room for 1 tsp tea to "unfurl" all it needs too (maybe with the exception of oolong, which unfurls much fluffier than black and green), so they're fine I think for 1-cup brews.

>>8047804
for me the caffeine from tea really isn't comparable to coffee's. I could drink 15 cups of tea throughout the day and never feel adverse caffeine effects, but more than 2 cups of coffee in an hour or two and I could get irritable, anxious etc.

Tea's caffeine just sort of removes a bit of your grogginess, but doesn't have much more effect than that, and isn't very useful if you're seriously tired. It's a mild caffeine effect.

You could always pop half a caffeine pill with your morning tea though. So you'd get the same effect, but enjoy tea instead of drinking coffee.

>>8054743
Canton Tea sells fantastic black teas.

>>8055999
Honestly from the visual I can tell you that isn't green tea at all. I don't even think it's camelia Sinensis. It's hard to get an idea of the scale of the leaves but they look too broad.
It doesn't even look like it's been processed in either the Chinese or Japanese style.
Kinda looks like shitty basil

>>8047828
You aren't correct
Caffeine is amazingly water soluble, brewing the tea longer just gives you the extra tannins and just ruins the flavor of your tea.
Also, black coffee even in its strongest forms can only have about 25% the amount of caffeine a cup of coffee does. So if you are an extreme caffeine addict it can't really match unless you are unaware of the lower caffeine amount and a placebo effect helps you out.
>The more you know

>>8053316
>>8056687
This guy knows what he's talking about
You must not be American
I'm an American living in the south. Knowing anything about tea is maddening here. No one drink it unless it's Lipton "sweet southern iced tea"
Fml

is lapsang souchong meant to smell like kippers

>>8036045

Red rooibos has an earthy, vanilla flavor if you prepare it properly. It isn't terribly strong, however.

>>8031246
can confirm i deliver for amazon and i dont give one single fuck about any of your packages

Can any of you weebs identify this teapot? Likely it's just some shit, but the surface pattern is kinda cool.

Drinking eco-cha's jin xuan spring 2016, it's ai'ght.

>>8057156
i looks like a clay teapot
probable a fake yinxing

>>8055999
Bancha does look like a bunch of leaves and stems and it is lower grade stuff made from larger leaves. I can't see enough of the leaf to really tell though. I haven't had much of it, but it doesn't really taste like sencha or most Chinese greens.

>>8055999
That looks really sad

>>8055999
My bancha looks like this. It's not like the premium green teas, it's more of a earthy thing.

>>8057756
It's not too far off though. From what I've seen Bancha really is more of a grade descriptor than a stylistic one. Pic related is directly from Japanese Wiki. Some of it is really rustic stuff.

>>8055999
are those bay leaves?

>>8053332
What's with all the mate shilling lately?
>>8055999
Looks like random leaves from a random bush/tree

>>8058063
I wish I could make money shilling this shit online.
I just know a lot about mate and like correcting people on the internet. It pleases me

>>8030619
Brahs pastebin is broken

>>8058063
argies

>>8056862
Kippers are usually smoked so yeah
Did you taste it yet?

>>8058186

>>8050743

Having a menghai ripe from ys

>>8031231
Link to teapot?

>>8040463
Excellent taste Anon.

>>8059093
>that pic

My first gaiwan arrived today from YS! So far I'm happy with it, but a lot of tea spills when I pour the thing. Is there some trick to minimizing that, or does it come with experience?

>>8059353
Looking good, about how thick is the ceramics? Is it like those very thin ones or does it conserve heat well?
>>8059353
>Is there some trick to minimizing that, or does it come with experience?
Experience mainly, also not worrying a lot about letting some leaf out

>>8059695
It seems fairly thin, but I can't tell if it is, relative to other gaiwans.
I'm already getting significantly better at not spilling much- still have a ways to go, but that's fine. Thanks for your input.

>>8059353
looks good, are you drinking directly from it?

>>8051008
Numi Tea

>>8059353
How's the pu'er? What's its name?

I am a complete newbie when it comes to tea, I just tried a green tea and I found the taste to be a bit too subtle. What would type of tea is a good option for a stronger flavor?

>>8060853
I'd recommend getting a more mature palate.

>>8060853
what green tea?
get some lapsang anyway

>>8060917
Stash Premium Green Tea - It's my roommate's, I figured I would use it to establish some kind of baseline. Thanks for the recommendation, lapsang sounds good.

>>8060341
Nay, I have been drinking from some decent glass cups. I'll experiment with this contraption.

>>8060811
The cake on the left is a shou called Dragon of Jing Mai. Not sure how to describe it- It's only the second or third pu-erh I have tried. It's smoky, somewhat bitter...

The right-side cake is Drunk on Red, which is actually black. It's p cheap and people seem to like it; I'll make some in the morning and report back if the thread is still up.

Best teapots to buy? Thinking of buying a cast iron teapot for my burner top.

>>8060974
>Stash Premium Green Tea
that really dont mean anything.
>>8060987
try drinking from it, you will never go back after that
>>8061110
a cast iron teapot is a solid choice but they tend to be expensive

Best tea for anxiety?

>>8061322
Just get into gong fu cerimony, its very soothing and adds to the tea effects on mood, the tea itself isnt very important imo as long as you enjoy it and its good quality, personally i prefer puer because it leads to long sessions

is green tea truly helping lose weight?

>>8061557
Diets are a meme, if you can replace food with tea, which has virtually no calories then sure, if you want to drink a mug before bed and expect results stay fat pham.
Personally I can replace food with tea easily but I drink like 3-4 liters a day and Im kind of a skelly with no appetite

Onion,garlic and jalapeño mix

>>8062060
what

>>8059353
Ayy, I have that same gaiwan.
I've found it actually spills less than my other gaiwans. Only open the lid a tiny crack (seriously: TINY) and if I'm feeling lazy I hold the cup right under the lip of the gaiwan to prevent any spillage.
Over all just takes practice I suppose. Though I'm also lazy and hold fingers under the saucer, and thumb on the handle instead of the "proper" way.

bump

Is anyone here subscribed to the w2t club, Im thinking of joining now that I have moved to a more permanent location. The ys club seems nice too but I have to pay shipping.

>>8054476
I only have enough Tie Guan Yin for one more pot.

>>8065229
I am, but I've only received 1 month so far. That one compared tea from young trees, with tea from older trees. It was actually quite a fun comparison.

As for YS
>https://yunnansourcing.com/en/content/21-yunnan-sourcing-tea-club-learn-more
>Shipping is included in the price of all of the plans.

It employs sjw and your proceeds will go towards liblub virtue signalling. Vote with your wallet.

>>8065707
???

How the fuck do you wash a teapot, your hand can't even fit, how do you wash the inside of the spout what the fuck

>>8066371
Baking soda with water till you form a paste or a thick liquid, rub it on the inside, rinse.

>>8066371
You can buy a spout brush for a couple of dollars. Essential if you use glass teapots

>>8066357
/pol/ spillover, report and ignore.

>>8066371
>>8066410
What works really well is sodium percarbonate. It's basically what OxiClean and the cleaning tablets for coffee gear are made of. I use pic related because it's cheap. A little bit in hot water will completely remove stains and oils. It's pretty awesome. Just don't use it on aluminum, don't accidentally drink any, and rinse stuff well.

I always turn gay during the autumn season. As the cooler weather stops on by my passion for tea grows by the day. Even just holding it in my hand I feel like a stoner looking at a crystalized bud as if it's a goddess.

I'll be taking a few days off work in mid October to head up to Seattle to my favorite tea shop and splurge on my favorite plant (besides weed).

Do ya guys ever smoke weed while drinking tea? They're like the perfect pair.

>>8060987
>>8060987
Drunk on Red is delightful, less agressive than the Dragon and quite comfy

>>8062551
A few days in, I'm much better at avoiding spills than I was when I got the cute lil' bugger. I'll be sure to take good care of your gaiwan.

>>8066936
oh my yes, and IIRC the tea can help prevent against a lot of the undesirable effects of smoking oodles of weed. It definitely helps palliate the damage from cigarette smoke, at least, but weed with tea is a much more pleasant endeavor

>>8066371
If it's unglazed clay, just fill it with some boiling water and swish it around a little bit.

If it's anything else, just fill it with some boiling water and swish it around a little bit.

Just bought pic related.

What am I in for?

>>8066936

why did that person put a dead butterfly on their book

like let the dead bug lie, man

>>8056839
>black coffee even in its strongest forms can only have about 25% the amount of caffeine a cup of coffee does.

>>8056847
In all fairness Britain does the same shit except they dump ungodly amounts of milk and sugar into hot Lipton. At least the American diabetes elixir tastes somewhat okay.

>>8067377
Shitty tea

What is the best method of "portable tea"
I want to take tea with me when I set off into the city in the morning.
Does it matter if I just put it into a heat retaining container?
Or is there a special twist?

>>8067377
I also use this, will using a basket infuser improve the taste of my tea?

>>8041292

Ye in a lot of slavic countries Chai means 'tea' as well.

Western chai = Masala chai in india, meaning spiced tea. Chai literally means 'tea' in a huge amount of languages.

>>8067819
As long as it's big enough for the tea leaves to expand properly, yes. The ball infuser definitely does not.
Doesn't matter if you're not getting good quality leave, though.

>>8067774
A thermos is perfectly fine for a few hours, but hot tea is best made on site so if you work at a desk you could pull it off Anon

>>8067881
Sadly,I can't pull it off.

Enjoying a nice cup of chai rooibos before I head off to work.

To start a good day requires a good cuppa tea, no need to ever rush mornings or you'll have a tiring day. Autumn is coming anons, get ready for the cozies to become the norm.

>>8067870
This is what i do, not a lot of leaves water significantly below boil, refill with thermo from time to time.obviously not fitting for very special teas, but nice for cheap easy drinks

>>8068258
dont that get bitter?

My white2tea shipment finally came in, so I'm currently enjoying their 2015 Old Reliable puer. It's pretty good.

I'm looking forward to brewing the puer-stuffed xinhui when I get the chance.

>>8030619

The King of Tea...

>boil water
>add to cup
>toss in a bag
>forget about it for a few minutes
>remove bag and add sugar

Too easy...

>>8031036

Do you add lemon to your tea?

>>8068909
no it doesnt, its what probably 200million chinese people carry around in their daily routine. If you got a hot water source close its definitely best, since refilling when around halfway through guarantees tasty tee for a long time, the expression used for this way of drinking was established as "grandpa-style". i even take it when i go shopping and feel like just having a cup of tea with me. i usually put in oriental beauty, cheap aged oolong, jasminetea w/e you like basically thats not expensive and you dont mind using up.

>>8069181
get the fuck out amerishart
>>8069339
i tried that once that with some green tea and it got bitter as fuck, better do it with oolong then

>>8069368
seems to be either your tea or the water temp. once the temp gets down to like 60C theres not much happening anymore anyways.
Chinese people like their greens bitter and tend to cook them at way higher temps than people do in europe, i also enjoy the bitterness sometimes.
But yeah, with halfdecent oolongs you wont have that problem

>>8069368
You seem upset, cupcake.

I just got some Bamboo strainers

and two loose leaf black teas - Ching Wo & Yunnan

Did I do ok?

>>8069735
That looks rather interesting and all, but the cleaning process looks like it would be a bit of a hassle.

>>8069735
would that get ruined pretty fast

Drinking: mint tea
Waiting for: a good cup of earl or lady grey
Discoveries: dried lemon orange and lime peel are a good addition to many teas, though prefferably black teas. And just drying them yourself works, save yourself some money.

>>8070693
Faster than stainless steel. Thats for sure.

Drinking: Golden Assam

Chai """tea""" is shit by the way

>>8071662
Its really not anon. Chai tea is meant to be boiled in milk and sweetened. If you arent doing that then you are doing it wrong.

Anon, you are wrong. You will always be wrong.

Daily reminder that if you aren't using AT LEAST blue milk in your standard session teas then you are the definition of pleb

>>8072150
also if you put sugar in then fuck off

>>8072150
Well it depends on the type of tea of course. Chai is best served with a whole milk and honey.

>>8071657
>normalfag bingo
Does being homosexual preclude someone from being normalfag? Because I can tick off nearly all of them except the ones that mention uterus-owners.

Outside of those, the only ones I couldn't tick would be the two birthday ones (Jehovah's Witness upbringing), and the two pertaining to social networking sites (don't use them other than Linkedin).

>>8072175
Do not acknowledge the bingo anon. That was a mistake i am most assuredly ashamed of my friend.

I bought this tea called "Assam Rani Organic" from a discount store for $5. The brand is ESP Emporium. It's a 500 gram bag.

The sell-by date on the back is August 2016. That's pretty meaningless right? How long does it really take for tea to go bad?

>>8072150
>milk
faggot

Injun Summer: got to be osmanthus oolong in the garden.

>>8072546
Have you ever tried english "tea"

They are absolutely horrible and you need to do all you can to mask the taste. Would rather just drink the hot water than that swill.

What is a good sleep tea? Preferably a brand.

Any websites that sell all three of these: hojicha, kukicha, and sobacha