/tea/ Vintage Edition

[Anonymous No.18771531]

/tea/ - /tsg/
tea general

This thread is for discussing teas, tisanes, and other herbal infusions.
info: types of tea, where to get tea, how to brew tea
https://pastebin.com/80GeeXJV
Previous thread: >>18754590

[Anonymous No.18771546]

pastebin anon here again
Im working on revamping the western brewing instructions, these are meant to be for beginners and Im assuming they will at most rebrew one time
If you can test any of these and give feedback or have other comments let me know
For black tea use 1-1.5 grams per 100ml of water, use boiling or freshly boiled water, brew for 3 minutes.
For green tea use 1-2 grams per 100ml of water, use 70c-75c water, brew for 3 minutes
For green oolongs use 1-2 grams per 100ml of water, use 80c water, brew for 3-4 minutes
for dark or roasted oolongs use 1.5-2.5 grams per 100ml of water, use 90c-100c water, brew for 4-5 minutes
for ripe puer or other fermented teas 1.5-2 grams per 100ml of water, use boiling or freshly boiled water, brew for 5-7 minutes
for young green puer strongly consider gongfu brewing instead, 1.5-2 grams per 100ml of water, use 90c water, brew for 2-3 minutes
for yellow tea? 1-1.5 grams per 100ml of water, use 80c water, brew for 2-3 minutes

[Anonymous No.18771577]

Buy Cruz De Malta
https://www.amazon.com/Cruz-de-Malta-3-Kilos/dp/B004OPAI5E

[Anonymous No.18771612]

Let me know how you like that yiwu mountain tea sampler, it looks tempting. I'd like to get a more premium yiwu cake and was looking at their stock, or one of the yiwu teas that tea encounter has.

[Anonymous No.18771629]

>>18771612
Okay. Maybe a faux pas not getting puerh but I got oolong cuz I haven't had non-roasted oolongs in forever and forgot what it's like. I'd have spent $20 on oolong samples either way

[Anonymous No.18771686]

>>18771629
Fine, I guess I'll do it myself

[Anonymous No.18771772]

>>18771686
I'll order picrel after I get my order

[Anonymous No.18771776]

>>18771772
What was shipping looking like for the stuff you got?
I'll probably order it either way.

[Anonymous No.18771785]

Kettle noob from a few days ago here. Never got around to trying the other teas. The sus paki green tea is actually growing on me. I've been brewing it cold with lemon. My boss needed me to come in super early and I just made a gallon of it.

Here's the funny bit. Giving up coffee, soda, and energy drinks and exclusively drinking tea I've felt very British. Even though I have no natural association of British culture with drinking tea, I've been thinking about British shit when I taste the tea.
Here's the funny bit. I left for work this morning and my wife said she felt like we were forgetting something.
I FORGOT MY FUCKING GUN.
I've been feeling so British, I forgot my concealed carry pistol. I had to swing by the house before going to "the city." Granted I probably would have been fine, but there were some sketchy people near the job site, and this is a depressingly regular thing.

Anyway, the sus paki shit really grows on you. And since it's cheap shit I assume things only get better from here.
Reposting the teas I bought the other day. My lapsang souchong comes today or tomorrow.

[Anonymous No.18771791]

>>18771776
$8

[Anonymous No.18771846]

>>18771785
Yama moto is a decent Japanese grocery store tier green tea, it should be decent as long as it's not super old

[Anonymous No.18771865]

>>18771846
Unlike my first purchase, this one has an expiration date. I don't remember what it is, but I know I got time.
Pic is my first purchase. No dates. I threw it all out. Wife didn't like the smell. (Actually I still have the pu ehr, it might just need to age, IDK, on noob.) Previous pic was different store (s) in better neighborhood.

[Anonymous No.18771913]

>>18771865
I mean if you bought cheap puer in a Chinese food store and it doesn't smell like a fish market thats a success, age isn't going to make much difference. Better quality ripes with have stronger/thicker flavors

[Anonymous No.18772098]

what's the difference between good tea that teastes like dirt and bad tea that tastes like dirt?

[Anonymous No.18772109]

>>18772098
Good dirt tastes good
bad dirt tastes bad

[Anonymous No.18772121]

yorkshire gold won.

[Anonymous No.18772133]

>>18772098

[Anonymous No.18772145]

>>18772098
my dirt tea > your dirt tea

[Anonymous No.18772146]

is grandma towler’s any good?

[Anonymous No.18772154]

[Anonymous No.18772165]

>Just tasted my first Pu-erh It tasted how old vinyl records smell.

[Anonymous No.18772174]

yerba mate puerh dirt gang

[Anonymous No.18772200]

>>18771546
Anon who did the upton vs vadham test, will test these vs the old parameters tomorrow. Bit late for tea right now

[Anonymous No.18772202]

>>18771546
Great improvement if only for dropping the multiple steeping stuff. 99% of people aren't even aware tea can be steeped more than once, it simply isn't done except by tea nerds fascinated with the Far East. Some places like Turkey or southern US steep tea for 15+ minutes. Directions shouldn't be totally out of touch with real life culture, typical teabag/sachet suggestions, western vendors, and ISO 3103. Here's the current version for reference
https://cdn.standards.iteh.ai/samples/73224/79469b30ce154460b38ebb10af5565cf/ISO-3103-2019.pdf

Example instructions from Upton: 2.25g 6oz (177ml) 3-4 min.
Vahdam: 2g 180ml 3-5 min.

Lipton stringed teabags contain 2.25g of tea and UK square teabags contain 3.125g. PG Tips has 2.9g. ISO 3103 traditionally used 2.83g based on an old sixpence coin. This goes into a 6-10 ounce sized cup, or 140ml for ISO 3103.
Teabag packaging directions are typically 2-5 minutes. ISO 3103 is 6 minutes for black tea with milk, 3-5 minutes for other types depending on how chopped up it is.
Green tea is fine up to 80-85C and others can use off-the-boil or more precisely 86-90C is ideal. This is based on several papers I can link if you're curious, plus I tested with a thermapen. There's not a lot of nuance. Either the tea has catechins damaged by boiling water (green) or it doesn't.

Also, u guise, keep in mind it's often mixed with milk and/or sugar. Astringency is "body" which is desirable to an extent. Upscale stores unironically offer CTC and African tea. A lot of tea is created without any consideration for drinking it like a Chinaman. It's grown in other countries too.

[Anonymous No.18772224]

>>18772146
I saw this shilled on Telegram so I want to find out

[Anonymous No.18772245]

>>18772202
Thanks for the comments, i will look this over more closely tomorrow but yeah part of my goal was offering more realistic brewing instructions since the old ones suggested steeping 3+ times and as a result gave brew times that seemed too short.
I should probably add some mention of black tea with milk, i might just write a separate paragraph for brewing black tea with milk and sugar

[Anonymous No.18772252]

tfw brainwashing my friends into the puerh yerba mate cult

[Anonymous No.18772259]

I can't get anyone to drink puer

[Anonymous No.18772272]

drinking pu erh with milk right now.

[Anonymous No.18772273]

>>18772259
my friends tend to really enjoy it more than me. Puerh and White tea hooks 30 year old virgin weebs for some reason

[Anonymous No.18772285]

>>18771546
>>18772202
>>18772245
i made a post criticizing the pastebin a few days ago and saw you were now talking about it again.
post is here https://archived.moe/ck/thread/18736076/#18753002

i don't know what prompted the steeping time changes so i can't comment but i don't think you need to necessarily remove the multiple steping stuff, you just need to explain it in more detail with a short introductory paragraph before the chart. i had no clue what "2nd/3rd infusion meant" like anon said and i was confused. i didn't know you could reuse leaves. since finding out i think it's cool though.
but it wouldn't be a bad idea to tell people how to preserve leaves for multiple steepings either. for example i had just been straining my leaves until now and with a strainer, saving the leaves is hard. you do mention infusers there but i think it wouldn't be a bad idea to go more in depth on what an infuser is, exactly, and what different kinds there are. (if that makes a difference). i happen to know what an infuser is purely by chance because we have a few in the office left over from previous employees and i tried to find out what they were.
and i think some links to good beginner videos would be a good idea, something like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjk3APp1lPo

but this is my feedback as an absolute beginner who stumbled on your thread. like one anon said you might not want to accomodate complete beginner knuckleheads and gatekeep to an extent. up to you.

[Anonymous No.18772293]

>>18772285
Im not really here to gatekeep, i glanced at your comments but i will take another look at them.
Its can be hard to find a balance between incredibly verbose descriptors that make peoples eyes glaze over and a lack of detail. Maybe i can tweak some things

[Anonymous No.18772306]

>>18772293
well, if someone's interested in tea brewing techniques, they'll read it.

you can try breaking up the text in short 2-3 sentence paragraphs to make it look less intimidating and less like a wall of text. you don't need to worry about "reddit spacing" on a pastebin

but videos remove the need for some of these long texts

[Anonymous No.18772315]

>>18772306
Yeah linking some videos probably wouldn't hurt. I will clarity the infuser thing and take a look at your other comments in the morning

[Anonymous No.18772324]

>>18772315
thanks, and just go with what makes most sense with you in the end. after all i'm just one guy and one guy's feedback isn't statistically significant.

[Anonymous No.18772333]

>>18772245
That'd be smart. The proposal looks fine if you add red tea AKA hongcha. Everything would be covered.
Brewing black tea in a mug is so common that it warrants its own recipe and tips like "pre-heat the mug", "put the saucer on top to retain heat", "use a brew basket instead of a ball infuser"

[Anonymous No.18772357]

>>18772146
>>18772224
Meh, its an English breakfast black tea blend that's probably mostly African since they don't specify. I guess if you drink tea with sugar and milk it might be a grade or two better than supermarket teabags but i wouldn't expect anything amazing.

[Anonymous No.18773182]

>>18772333
>pre-heat the mug
microwavechads we can't stop winning

[Anonymous No.18773194]

My favorite tea is chamomile, followed by peppermint and apple

[Anonymous No.18773200]

>>18773194
I have weed that tastes like chamomile

[Anonymous No.18773252]

>>18773182
nooo you can't microwave because... you need an electric kettle!!!

[Anonymous No.18773281]

>>18772202
>99% of people aren't even aware tea can be steeped more than once, it simply isn't done except by tea nerds fascinated with the Far East.
Why teach people how to brew tea improperly? If you're not an enthusiast, then why are you here? Regardless, you can brew tea multiple times with the current instructions, so it doesn't matter. Add more time, ~60-120s depending on the tea for the second steep. Whoever was complaining about mei leaf was just delusional, there is no adjustment to the recipe to be able to brew tea multiple times. Having the endurance for multiple infusions is simply a property of loose leaf tea. Tea bags / CTC and other tea with high surface area maybe not, but you're not going to get a full extraction from loose leaf tea in a single brew. In this sense I agree that the recipe shouldn't be modifiied to accomodate multiple brews, but only because that sentence makes no sense.
>Also, u guise, keep in mind it's often mixed with milk and/or sugar. Astringency is "body" which is desirable to an extent.
I agree that moderate astringency is desirable, I enjoy it in tea which is why I never add milk or sugar. Honestly, if you plan on adding milk to tea, you don't need to weigh tea or follow a brew guide, you're going to kill most of the flavor anyway. Just stick to teabags. Also agree on CTC / Orthodox, I have some of both for different reasons, but I prefer orthodox.

>>18772245
The only flavor that comes through after you add milk is moderate astringency and maybe slight maltiness. You don't need to change anything from the current guide to brew tea with milk and sugar, at least not for black tea.

[Anonymous No.18773318]

>>18773281
>If you're not an enthusiast, then why are you here?
A large number of newcomers to the thread get an inkling that tea must taste better than the shitty teabags they have had and come here to find out about how to experience that.
To be clear the problem isint that it encourages you to rebrew the tea, the probelm is that is suggests initial brew times of 2 minutes instead of a more reasonable 3 or even 4, and the reason it does that is so that you can get 3-4 brews out of some black tea leaves. This ends up with a brewing processes that is cumbersome, takes time and heavily reduces accessibility for no actual benifit (unless you are the guy selling expensive tea leaves to people and trying to justify the price by increasing the precieved utility)
Directions calibrated around making the first cup as rich and enjoyable as possible provide the best utility to the most number of people, especially beginners that want to look up some brewing instructions. If someone wants to brew their tea 4x they should be gongfuing it.

[Anonymous No.18773319]

tfw got memed into the puerh yerba cult

[Anonymous No.18773327]

I'm awake, for the pastebin
green oolong (balled) 5g/300mL 210s 80c
It unfurled properly, but it's somewhat weak. I've brewed this tea a lot so I know it doesn't develop too many off notes, so maybe I have the confidence that it can be pushed harder / longer, but this cup of tea is only okay. It has some nice floral and some deeper honey / hay notes that aren't here. My instinct is to brew it hotter, 85-90, but I'll admit that that's my preference in general. This one is also just okay. I'd consider pushing it longer as well, I'll probably try two more brews, one at 90c 210s, and one at 80c 270s

[Anonymous No.18773331]

>>18773318
>the probelm is that is suggests initial brew times of 2 minutes instead of a more reasonable 3 or even 4
I agree with this, but the current updated instructions are fine. It's almost double the leaf for almost double the time at the upper end, which is correct.
>Directions calibrated around making the first cup as rich and enjoyable as possible provide the best utility to the most number of people
I agree, fortunately, brewing the tea this way also allows for multiple infusions.

[Anonymous No.18773337]

>>18773327
Im thinking that all but the most delicate green oolongs can probably handle boiling water fine. 80c was too conservative and like you experienced just doesn't cut it, especially for a ball oolong.
Thanks again for the test feedback

[Anonymous No.18773349]

>>18773318
Yes, I believe you hit the nail on the head. It's a skeem by Don. I don't trust a guy who says "stay away from those teabags" every video to be fair about western tea. 4 infusions is diet gongfu on training wheels. Coincidentally he also happens to sell many gongfu teawares on his website. Maybe it's good but it isn't western.

[Anonymous No.18773356]

For the pastebin
green oolong (balled) 5g/300mL 270s 80c
Big improvement actually, the floral notes are still pretty much absent but it's got a lot more of the complexity back. If you had a more delicate oolong brewing like this would probably fine, around the five minute mark is probably the sweet spot. Gonna set this to the side and brew at 90c.

[Anonymous No.18773357]

>>18773319
What happens when you combine them?

[Anonymous No.18773366]

>>18773356
Whenever I've brewed oolong this way I have to pick the cup up and swirl it around two or three times to help agitate the leaves open. It needs to go longer than my intuition assumes due to the shape.

[Anonymous No.18773370]

just drink the tea retards

how to tea:
bag: soak bag in water for as long as you want
loose leaf western: soak leaf in water as long as you want
gong fu: soak leaf in gaiwan for as short as you want, the more you brew the longer you can soak
grandpa: soak leaf in water, and continually refill the container when you have drank between 50-80% of the water.
general tips:
teabags are generally 1 time use, but some can be steeped more than once
loose leaf tea can generally be used more than 1 time, use them until they dont taste good anymore
water temperature: start with boiling water. some teas are more delicate and will taste unnice if you brew with water that is too hot, if that is the case use water less warm than boiling.
gram to water ratio: some teas are nice with more tea, some teas are nice with less. depending on brewing method you might want more, or less. rule of thumb is short steep = more leaf, long steep = less leaf.

[Anonymous No.18773371]

>>18773366
oh yeah and this also applies to puer or anything pressed in cakes

[Anonymous No.18773406]

>>18773366
I have a pretty flat and wide teapot, so they're unfurling properly. This tea also isn't super tightly balled, it's not one of the ones you need to poke at to get it going. I guess I should have mentioned that I always brew western style with a western style teapot.

For the pastebin
green oolong (balled) 5g/300mL 210s 90c
Side by side this is much better, the floral notes are here, it's missing some of the body but it's very pleasant. This is another one of those teas you can brew really strong, and that's usually how I drink it, but this is a nice cup of tea. 90-100 is the right temperature I think, some teas in this category will benefit from cooler water. This tea is probably at the maximum depth of flavor before you start extracting some of the less pleasant more bitter woody bark / birch notes. I feel comfortable recommending this as a starting point, it's very good.

[Anonymous No.18773407]

[Anonymous No.18773412]

>>18773407
Is la merced still your favorite yerba?

[Anonymous No.18773416]

>>18773412
I never said La Merced was my favorite. Cruz De Malta and Rosamonte (pictured) are my two faves

[Anonymous No.18773482]

Alright, for the pastebin, shou puerh round two - A Better Shou
8g/300mL 360s 100c
Night and day, you just can't brew really tightly pressed tea without a rinse, this came from a very loose cake and it's extremely obvious. Really rich, thick, a lot of sweetness comes through. No real huigan, but that's kind of what you get with aged shou. It makes it very pleasantl smooth though, no real rough cereal notes or smokiness. A lot of beetroot, very earthy, somewhat mushroomy, but more gentle like button mushrooms, nothing too provacative like chanterelles or porcini. Absolutely perfect winter tea, it's great.
Some of you might be shocked by the high leaf / water ratio and long brew time, but at least try it first. Piling the tea, if it's done right, cuts all the astringency and bitterness of the tea away. You lose a lot of flavor that way, but you gain the benefit of being able to push the tea super hard and get back a lot of flavors you wouldn't reasonably be able to extract from even a well aged sheng. Shou absolutely needs to be brewed hard, that's why it exists. I feel that people are afraid to recommend a radically different brewing style, but it's a radically different tea. I have a theory that the "all shou tastes the same" crowd are brewing it like the rest of the tea they have and drinking dui wei flavored water.
Final addendum, you can't brew rock hard shou like this, it's impossible. You need to rinse it and let it sit, if you try and do a one shot ten minute brew you're brewing it at radically different lengths of times depending on how long it takes to open up. That's how you get shitty mulchy tasting hot water. The tea I brewed yesterday was simply bad, it's thin, insipid, and none of the actual character of the leaf comes through. It needs a hard rinse, to hang out for a while and open up, and then a similar high ratio heavy brew.

[Anonymous No.18773492]

>>18773482
>Final addendum, you can't brew rock hard shou like this, it's impossible.
Yeah i know when i brew grampa style i make it a point of breaking up big pieces of really dense shu because otherwise it will never open up all the way. Even for gongfu i try to make sure the pieces aren't too big/dense. I think it's because the leaves of shu swell up so much less than sheng they just don't swell up enough to do a good job of pushing themselves apart and separating the chunks.

[Anonymous No.18773549]

>>18773482
>Yeah that was a good cup of tea, time to go dump out the le-
WRONG
Brew two, 600s
A lot of the earthiness has faded, but the sweetness from the leaves is still there. Without the heavy beet notes, it has more of a molasses flavor. There's some mushroominess, but it's more gently earthy than really deep. The mouthfeel isn't as thick, and there isn't as much complexity in the fragrance, but it's another delicious cup of tea.

[Anonymous No.18773556]

>>18773482
>>18773549
The overall takeaway is that I would much prefer these two brews be blended into a more cohesive arc from how the tea develops from start to finish. I usually brew it gongfu and it's much better, but brewing grandpa style and continually adding water once the water is barely covering the leaves accomplishes much the same thing. If you're dedicated to steeping shou western style this is how you should do it, but both grandpa style and gongfu are noticeably superior.

[Anonymous No.18773562]

>>18773482
Sounds like a nice tea. Which was it again?

[Anonymous No.18773570]

>>18773562
The Menghai 7342H from YoT
Super good for the price, the "semi-ferment" is actually closer in my opinion to the standard for older factory tea. At some point people started doing really heavy wo dui for reasons that aren't clear to me, this is what I would consider a more traditional shou insofar as that exists.

[Anonymous No.18773581]

picrel 7.5g 150ml rolling boil 5s-90s
Nice wood aroma, also smells like the ocean air a little. Infusion 1 was bitter, wood and not much else I was able to make out. Should I have rinsed it? Infusion 2 is much smoother, light body, has a lot of background and little foreground, reminds me of instant coffee. Noticable buzz and cha qi. Infusion 3 definitely has notes of coffee and chocolate. Infusion 4 is when it starts to balance out between the bitterness, wood and coffee. Infusion 5 has a dropoff in bitterness and body but it's still coffee-like and enjoyable. Infusion 6 is back to wood/smoky to me and tastes like how most ripes do after 6 infusions. Good durability.

[Anonymous No.18773646]

>>18773581
Sounds good, i usually rinse ripe but you don't have to. To me the rinse serves to get the leaves going and make the first actual brew stronger as much as it helps to clean out any off notes in a tea. I usually only do a 10 second rinse or so.

[Anonymous No.18773762]

>>18771772
tempted to get this too now, sounds like fun if they arrive around same time :) still havent decided yet if i should get aged yiwu or young yiwu if i decide to buy a cake.

[Anonymous No.18773849]

Has science gone too far?

[Anonymous No.18773868]

[Anonymous No.18773969]

>>18773357

[Anonymous No.18774706]

>>18773482
>brew rock hard shou
Like for cha tou. I break it all apart. Far worth the hassle.

[Anonymous No.18774788]

>>18771546
Okay, anon who said he'd test it. Testing it now. Will report back in awhile (takes awhile to brew this much tea)
do I do the one posted first or >>18773482 for shou/ripe? I have done the green and oolong (writing it all out so I can post the notes all at once). next is sheng, then shou, then black. So I would like to know before I get there what I'm testing for the bin

[Anonymous No.18774883]

>>18774788
I'm >>18773482, if you don't mind, I'd prefer you try brewing it both ways. I'm confident that I'm right that my way of brewing is better for a variety of reasons that I'm happy to go in to, but I'll also acknowledge that I'm the only person I know of who brews shou puerh this way and it might be better to do something more normal (even though I think it's worse).

[Anonymous No.18774906]

>>18774883
I'm cup brewing (because if I drank all this via pot I'd be up all night), so my brewing vessel is a brew basket in a 120ml cup. I'm going to go out on a limb and say 3.5g is what I should be brewing here?

[Anonymous No.18774910]

>>18774906
3-3.5, I might round down .2 to 3.

[Anonymous No.18774913]

>>18771546
>>18772200
>>18772202
>>18772285
>>18774788
imagine not brewing it to your own taste

[Anonymous No.18774919]

>>18774913
we're testing for the pastebin because new guys have no reference point.

[Anonymous No.18775042]

>>18774788
>do I do the one posted first
Pastbin guy here, if you are trying shou try the directions from my post at the beginning of the page. I don't really have a problem with brewing with 8 grams but its outside of the scope of what im going for here
I tried 4 grams of ripe earlier today and was happy with the results
Thanks again for offering to help. Im going to start compiling the results in a few minutes, no rush

[Anonymous No.18775091]

>>18774919
grug put leaf in water
grug drink leaf water
grug think too astringent
grug puts leaf in water for less time
grug drink leaf water
grug thinks tea tastes great
grug genius for making alteration

[Anonymous No.18775105]

>>18775091
grug throw 20 gram leaf in water
grug leave it for half hour
grug no know what went wrong
grug hate tea

[Anonymous No.18775112]

>>18775105
grug leave tea bag in mug
grug wait till water is cold before drinking
grug think tea is dirt water (the bad kind)

[Anonymous No.18775124]

There is absolutely no benefit to leaving a grocery store teabag in your mug of boiled water for more than 3 minutes and people should not be told that it is totally okay to leave the teabag in for 5 minutes or longer. Change my mind

[Anonymous No.18775153]

>>18775124
I just gongfu everything including tea bags at this point. Astringency is just shit. I tend to pour a mug into other mugs to quick cool it, drink, do next 150ml steep.

[Anonymous No.18775163]

>>18771546
Ok, going to test now. Disclosure I'm using a 120ml (4oz) cup and brewing with a brew basket. I will use the same teas for both new and old, but due to it being the dead of winter I am short on supply. I don't have a roasted oolong on hand (drank the last of it a month ago) and I don't have yellow tea because who tf has yellow tea.
>Old Green, 0.5g/100ml, 80C, 2 minutes
>New Green, 2g/100ml, 70C, 3 minutes
Using an Anhui Liu An Gua Pian, 0.6g/120ml and 2.4g/120ml. Fresh leaves for both.
While brewing, the first thing I notice with the new vs the old way is that basket brewing in a cup - the new way packs the leaf to rough about the limit, just barely not peaking over the waterline in the cup. I doubt it’s a problem, but I wanted to note it.
After brewing the new method (right) turned out a more greenish-yellow, while the old (left) turned out a more subdued color. In the picture it looks almost empty, but its a noticeable pale green tint in reality.
The old is very…watery. Tastes like hot water with a hint of tea. The hotter water is drawing out some notes of the Liu An Gua Pian that is desirable. The new method is still very light, but this is also a lighter style of green tea. If requested I may do a sencha to see how it works for a stronger japanese green. The new comes forward a lot more with the nutty chinese green notes and has a floralness that the old method lacks. It doesn’t have any bitterness despite the longer brew time. I think this is clearly and objectively superior to the old way.

[Anonymous No.18775167]

>>18775163
>>18771546

>Old Green Oolong (ball), 1g/100ml, 99c, 2 minutes
>New Green Oolong, 1-2g/100 ml, 80c, 4 minutes
Since the new is a range of 1-2g, and I’m seriously on the last of my bag of oolong, I’m going to brew it at 1.7g/120ml to have enough for the old at 1.2g/120ml
First of all, the new method’s lower heat does not open up the ball oolong effectively, it was barely opening by the end of the 4 minutes, while the old method’s high heat had it opened fully by the end of the brew time. Color turned out similar, seems the old method (left) drew out some more byproduct from the leaf, as it looks slightly oily for some reason. Same bag of tea though, just some standard taiwanese oolong.
First of all, please just gong fu oolong. These both turned out very watery. The old way draws out much more of the floral notes of the oolong, and some honeysuckle and a bit of nuttiness, but overall is a pretty weak cup. Would probably shine when eating some spicy, greasy chinese food like all oolongs do though.
The new method has a bit more penetrating fruitiness, but still is a bit watered down. Kinda has this hard to describe berry note with the tiniest bit of floralness. Its amazing how much the brew actually changes things in oolong. Benefit for the new method is it cooled down to drinking temperature much faster. Its very hard to pick a winner, I genuinely think the new needs a higher brewing temperature to open up the leaf and extract more flavor, and both just need more leaf to water. I’ll edge it for the new because the flavor is more penetrating due to the longer brew time.

[Anonymous No.18775173]

>>18775167
>>18771546

>Old Raw Puerh 0.9g/100ml, 95c, 2 minutes
>New Raw Puerh 1.5-2g/100ml, 90C, 3 minutes
This one worries me, because raw puerh never turns out good western style. I know it says “young”, but the youngest I have on hand is a 2014 cake. 1g/120ml for the old, 1.8g/120ml for the new.
First thing, the new (left) is much darker, but its actually a little less aromatic.
This isn’t so horrible, but I will put that up to it being in a cup and not 9 grams in a liter teapot. The old method is flavorful, not watery but kinda light. Very very mild bitterness, its acceptable. New method as a miniscule amount of more bitterness and a sort of acidic taste the old method doesn’t have. I don’t have much to say overall, the more I drink the new the bad notes seem to come out more, while the old method kinda just tastes like a weakly brewed raw. I actually think the old is better, but please dont brew this.

Note: I forgot to take a picture of this, sorry.

[Anonymous No.18775176]

>>18775173
>>18771546

>Old Sheng Puerh, 0.9g/100ml, 99C, 2 minutes
>New Sheng Puerh, 1.5-2g/100ml, boiling, 7 minutes
>ALTERNATIVE Sheng, 3g/100ml, boiling, 6 minutes
This one is unique because we have 2 competitors for the new pastebin. I do recommend you just gong fu this as well though. Using a 2020 Ripe, 1g for old, 2.2g for new, 3.5 grams for alternative for my 120ml cup.
Writing while this is brewing, idk why you’d do this, this takes a longer time to brew than just doing gongfu. Brewing these 3 cups took about 18 minutes if you include cleaning out the old leaves from the brew basket. In the pic, it’s old (left) new (middle) alt (right). You can tell the new and alt have a similar color, although alt didn’t reach the color until I pulled out the brew basket while the new reached it while brewing. Old is super light for sheng and see through.
The old is a very light taste of the puerh, not watery, just light. It’s not actually bad, all the good notes come through and no bad notes, just a little lacking of the fullness of the body I want from puerh.
New method is tremendously better. I get a fullness I want from puerh, though its still lighter than gong fu. The good flavors come through very well, no bad flavors. Probably not a bad way to serve it to people not comfortable with a gong fu session.
Alternative is okay too, it has the texture of puerh that you’d get with gong fu, but I’m getting more of a muddiness taste and a slight bitterness not present in the others. I’m sorry anon, I think this loses to the new method : (

[Anonymous No.18775180]

>>18775167
Yeah since you and the other poster have tried 80c for green oolong and found it lacking im thinking that 95c or even boiling is the way to go, 80c is just too conservative and the only thing it really risks burning is super green stip oolongs. I think its reasonable to think that almost all ball oolongs can handle boiling water.

[Anonymous No.18775183]

>>18775176
>>18771546

>Old Black Tea, 0.8g/100ml, 95c, 2 minutes
>New Black Tea, 1.5g/100ml, boiling, 3 minutes

Again I have a 120ml cup, so this will be 0.9g/120ml and 1.8g/120ml. Brewing Halmari Gold Assam 2nd Flush. The old way (left) is noticeably lighter in color. The old has a pretty full body and a nice flavor I want from assam. I don’t really see anything wrong with it. The new has a slight, very minor bitter note and a fuller body. I’m going to ay this might go better with milk, definitely has higher caffeine. I think both are fine, I personally prefer the old but I don’t drink tea with milk and don’t want a super full bodied black because it messes with my stomach, do with that as you will.

And thats all I did

[Anonymous No.18775186]

>>18775180
I'd switch boiling as a recommendation if only for the reason that no one who is using the guide is going to be measuring water temperature. "Brew it differently if it tastes like shit" is a good enough caveat.

[Anonymous No.18775188]

>>18775186
Yes this seems reasonable, thanks again for testing and feedback i really appreciate it

[Anonymous No.18775208]

>>18775183
Interesting, we brewed the same black tea. I find the minor astringency necessary to enjoy assam, I actually calibrated the brew specifically to get that mild bitterness. It's a tossup which goes in the guide I guess, it should be obvious by now that I care a lot about mouthfeel and body in tea. Thin tea just doesn't do it for me. I'm surprised it's not more shockingly different since it's almost twice the leaf and a 50% longer brew.

History will vindicate my shou technique.

[Anonymous No.18775213]

>>18775188
I'd just do it strip/ball like the old guide. I think a variable temp kettle should be a required gear for anyone who wants to brew more than black.
t. actual testing anon

[Anonymous No.18775240]

Hey bulk buying anon,
I see you got some ripe puer, how is it?

[Anonymous No.18775245]

>>18775213
I find dancong benefits from hotter water, I wouldn't really recommend people use 80c or even 90c water to brew it.

[Anonymous No.18775246]

>>18775208
I just like thinner black. The flavor comes through pretty good with lower leaf:water and the astringency is more tolerable for me. I can't stand milk in tea in any capacity so the thinner style is just more drinkable for me. The flavor isn't so different as the body is more different.

[Anonymous No.18775365]

>>18775213
>I'd just do it strip/ball like the old guide
My issue with this is that something like super green baozhong and deep charcoal roasted wuyi oolongs are both strip oolongs. For the moment im just going to have ooolongs all under one category and i will tweak it if needed.

[Anonymous No.18775392]

>>18775208
>History will vindicate my shou technique.
Your shu technique is pretty much the ratios that i use for grampa style and i agree for somone that drinks a lot of shu or is used to gongfu brewing it it works great I just think that in terms of a western brew the thinner shu is more accessible especially if someone ends up with a more bitter or funky shu.
Im going to put some notes about how to tweak brewing parameters and encourage people to experiment.

[Anonymous No.18775403]

Okay i have the inital changes up in the pastebin.
I am going to work on tweaking some other things while im in here.
Thanks again to the anons that tested brews and gave me feedback, its really appreciated.

[Anonymous No.18775494]

>FL autumn lao man e cake stuck in customs since christmas
:( anyone recieved theirs yet?

[Anonymous No.18775527]

>>18775208
I agree with that. Astringency+bitterness is the nature of Assam. That's a dilemma with black tea I guess. There's two different plants. I don't brew it the same way as Darjeeling.

[Anonymous No.18775541]

>>18775240
I reviewed 3 out of 8 of the liquidproust sample pack puerhs. I'm doing one a day.
>>18767498 >>18767742 >>18770698 >>18773581

[Anonymous No.18775666]

>>18775494
I just ordered the fall lao man e on the last of the month, just got the shipping notification a few days ago.
Im super excited for it this will be my first farmer leaf tea.

[Anonymous No.18775673]

>>18775541
Oh that was you okay i have been reading your posts, glad you got in on those beginner packs, its a solid introduction.

[Anonymous No.18775946]

>>18771531
>Box says boil water and steep for 4-6 minutes, then add sweetener
>Do it
>It always tastes either washed-out or bitter
How do you unlock the taste with this brand? Are you supposed to use milk instead?

[Anonymous No.18775995]

>>18775946
I make bengal spice a lot, i usually just leave the teabag in untill its cool enough to start drinking then i remove it. I guess it depends on your taste preferences but that works fine for me, i never time it.

[Anonymous No.18776165]

>>18775995
Thanks. This is much better.

[Anonymous No.18776259]

>>18772165

[Anonymous No.18776661]

Drinking this 2016 naka from my liquid prost sampler.
First brew and the leaves smelled really fruity, tea was sweet.
Second brew and some astringency is kicking in, some bitterness, dried plum flavor, not all that sweet.
Third brew, leaves smell like dried plums or apricots. Im having a hard time pinning down the flavor, moderate intensity, its not subtle by any means but not the loudest tea either. not much viscosity. Finish is interesting, some tangyness and some fruit sweetness.
I think one of the posters here picked up a cake of this a while ago, not bad at all for a daily drinker.

[Anonymous No.18776665]

>>18775946
You have to join the weird cult to unlock the hidden flavour options

[Anonymous No.18777455]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHmVRUZEjRk

[Anonymous No.18777593]

Good fresh oolong > good fresh green >>>>>>>> everything else

[Anonymous No.18777616]

>>18777455
>sweeteners
>she uses a metric fuckton per cup
rip love from kazakhstan

[Anonymous No.18777849]

>>18774883
Not those anons. I agree with your recommendations for dark teas. I'd be more specific about the volumes: 100 mL for gong fu and 500 mL for 5-7 min (7.5-10g of tea for both). To me there's no particular difference in taste (more homogeneous by 500 mL obviously) or longevity. I go either way depending on mood, tea or context. I brew my 500 mL like high volume gong fu for 2-3 long infusions (5, 10 and 15-20 min).

[Anonymous No.18777916]

it's funny thinking about teas with the lowest durability like wtf i only get 3 half mugs out of this 7g meanwhile im filling my trash with yerba and coffee grounds after making a couple cups

[Anonymous No.18777950]

>>18777455
i hate w*men so much. everything they do makes me angry.

[Anonymous No.18778140]

>The "nerd tea" is from a brand called dr puer so its definitely a "bingdao" tea and not a bingdao tea, but that's fine ive wanted to try dr puer stuff anyway.
6g 100ml rolling boil 5s-90s
Starts out sweet and slightly floral, maybe slightly smoky like gunpowder. Then at infuson 3-4 it becomes vegetal, a bit bitter and nutty. Good cha qi. I combined some of infusions 3-5. Complex grassy/forest notes. Infusion 6 is just a softer version of 3+. Most likely has good durability.

[Anonymous No.18778181]

I have to say drinking young raws is based and redpilled.

[Anonymous No.18778196]

>The "nerd tea" is from a brand called dr puer so its definitely a "bingdao" tea and not a bingdao tea, but that's fine ive wanted to try dr puer stuff anyway.
6g 100ml rolling boil 5s-90s
Starts out sweet and slightly floral, maybe slightly smoky like gunpowder. Then at infuson 3-4 it becomes vegetal, a bit bitter and nutty. Good cha qi. I combined some of infusions 3-5. Complex grassy/forest notes. Infusion 6 is just a softer version of 3+. Most likely has good durability.

I have to say drinking young raws is based and redpilled. Old raws taste like death and destruction (in a good way)

[Anonymous No.18778219]

>>18777455
SEX
E
X

[Anonymous No.18778231]

>>18778219
don't fall for art hoes aren't true tea drinkers

[Anonymous No.18778263]

>>18778231
I don't care if she's a true tea drinker or not, I wann see her pussy and tits

[Anonymous No.18778388]

>white tea only has "high durability" because it always tastes watery longer than other tea

[Anonymous No.18778600]

[Anonymous No.18778612]

>>18778600
>bayleavesaddnothing.png

[Anonymous No.18778648]

ayo dis nigga drinkin bay leaves

[Anonymous No.18778793]

>>18778600
Turkish or Californian bay leaves?

[Anonymous No.18778814]

I've brewed my 2012 7542 like 15-20 times now, in various ways, and past the first steeping it always turns kind of sour. Do you guys get this or am I doing something wrong?

[Anonymous No.18778898]

>>18778196
>I have to say drinking young raws is based and redpilled. Old raws taste like death and destruction (in a good way)
A lot of the older raws have very different processing and material selection to the point where they feel like a different category of tea.
I was drinking mostly semi aged raws for a few years there and lately ive been on a young raw kick and really enjoying it.

[Anonymous No.18778901]

look at the ergonomics, filling your tea boiler is intuitive like filling car

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Stainless-Cordless-Shut-Off-Protection/dp/B07VW35BQC/

[Anonymous No.18778907]

look at the ergonomics, filling your water boiler is intuitive like filling car

https://www.amazon.com/Electric-Stainless-Cordless-Shut-Off-Protection/dp/B07VW35BQC/

[Anonymous No.18778934]

>>18778814
Sour like vinegar or sour like bitter/astringent?
I would expect 7542 to have some bitterness to it, some drying on the inside of the cheeks. But usually when i think sour i think oolong that has been stored poorly and has an almost vinegary taste.
Anyway the the last 7542 i has was a 2010 and it had some bitterness to it still, but mostly lots of taste of dried plums, apricots, kind of hints of that sulpher smell from dried fruit you buy at the store. I thought it was pretty nice.

[Anonymous No.18778943]

https://www.amazon.com/TIAN-HU-SHAN-Premium-Slimming/dp/B087G345SM
At $13 for 400g this is a great price for TGY, will post comparison

[Anonymous No.18778958]

[Anonymous No.18779048]

can anyone translate?

[Anonymous No.18779055]

>>18779048
here's the whole pot for clarity

[Anonymous No.18779166]

This shit is good, buy it!!

[Anonymous No.18779184]

https://i.4cdn.org/wsg/1673050531156830.webm

[Anonymous No.18779233]

[Anonymous No.18779335]

Reply to this post if you're a member of the puerh yerba cult

[Anonymous No.18779353]

>>18779055
I can't tell you anything useful but it's interesting.
Those little black specs on the surface are little burns from specs of iron being in the clay. Its also got some tiny pockmarks from bits of something in the clay heating up during the firing and popping out of the surface.
Pot is a very common design that was made by many different places at many different times.
Can you post the bottom of the lid?

[Anonymous No.18779364]

>>18779335
Powerful
>>18778943
Okay so where on the tgy spectrum is it? Creamy, floral? Any roasted flavors? Love that its a huge can just packed solid with tea, not enough tea comes pack like that these days

[Anonymous No.18779413]

Drinking this 2016 lao man e from LP
Man this is my jam, smokey and sweet, like a cleaner take on and old xiaguan

[Anonymous No.18779431]

>>18779413
Same and pretty much

[Anonymous No.18779461]

>>18779413
Pushed this a little harder and got some more bitterness out of it. Anyways some smoke on puer is hugely underrated these days. I believe that the exposure to smoke during processing actually rounds out and smooths the flavor of the tea, and when done correctly i think it should be considered a necessary production step for many terroirs of puer.

[Anonymous No.18779555]

>>18779353
it does have a stamp in it but it's so faded you'd be hard pressed to translate

[Anonymous No.18779563]

>>18779364
It's full charcoal roasted TGY, caramel aroma and taste, a bit like dong ding but not as sweet.

[Anonymous No.18779582]

>>18779353
also what do you think its clay type is and relative age?
i assumed like, hongni late republicish era but i could be completely wrong about that

[Anonymous No.18779760]

>>18771531

finally had my first (real) tea (lapsang souchong)

used 4g for 4oz

tried the method someone recommended in the last thread of putting the infuser in the mug, though i found it pretty weak maybe i didnt use enough tea
or didnt brew long enough

figured i wouldnt let it go to waste so i brewed 16oz
for 5 minutes which was very very good

any idea why the first try was so weak?

picrel

[Anonymous No.18779824]

>>18779048
Something about a fast fox and a tired dog

[Anonymous No.18779886]

>>18779824

[Anonymous No.18779915]

>>18779555
>>18779582
Thanks
Sorry i can't tell you much
My gut instinct is that its made with a somewhat coarse clay, probably not slipcast, probably produced for export, probably not made recently but i couldn't tell you an age or anything like that, that design is just so common, there have probably been different variations of that design made continuously for the last 100 years by god knows how many different operations. I know just enough about clay teapots to know that i don't really have a clue but those are my impressions for what its worth.

[Anonymous No.18779921]

>>18779563
>It's full charcoal roasted TGY, caramel aroma and taste
Nice i might have to grab some of that

[Anonymous No.18780325]

>>18779048
I sat here and tried for a good half hour, but some important bits of the handwriting are too faded to make out for a gweilo like me

[Anonymous No.18780519]

"7035 shu" from my LP samples, smells like Hong Kong
Going heavy with the leaf on this one and im going to push it pretty hard.

[Anonymous No.18780709]

im pretty sure i weighed out some tea from a sample bag and then threw the rest of the bag away without thinking. It wasnt anything special or fancy but i feel like a fucking idiot.

[Anonymous No.18780861]

>>18780709
I do that anytime the tea sucks. Life is too short to drink sub-par merchandise.

[Anonymous No.18780899]

i ran out of sencha as my morning tea what else can i drink which has a similar feel, western brewing some chinese black tea but it just dosent hit the same

[Anonymous No.18781034]

>>18779461
Can you link a smokey puer of decent quality I could order, currently?

[Anonymous No.18781390]

>>18781034
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/xiaguan-tea-factory/products/2013-xiaguan-chen-yun-fang-cha-raw-pu-erh-tea-brick
https://white2tea.com/products/2006-old-bear-fangcha-puer-brick?_pos=1&_sid=7003a0478&_ss=r
Both come to mind as good examples of a smokey puer
Sorry i can't think of anything off of fullchea

[Anonymous No.18781393]

>>18781034
this one is alright though they raised the price a lot recently so maybe not worth it for the price anymore:
https://kingteamall.com/products/2009-tulinfenghuang-930-cake-125g-4pcs-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea?variant=32348570812519

[Anonymous No.18781524]

>make tea in gaiwan
>tastes about right
>make tea in plastic infuser thing with built in mesh filter
>tastes off
Best theory I have is temperature loss is greater in gaiwan but I haven't measured that theory yet. Anyone have ideas? Is the stainless steel mesh or the

[Anonymous No.18781544]

Dude. WTF is with GABA tea? It smells like something a carnivorous plant would give off to attract insects to eat. This is some weird ass shit wtf.

[Anonymous No.18781632]

Thoughts on butterfly pea tea?

It's fun to drink because it's blue.

[Anonymous No.18781658]

>>18781632
Idk it tastes more like a purple to me. Underwhelming but ya cool color.

[Anonymous No.18781676]

[Anonymous No.18781850]

Wtf is special grade Yamato?

[Anonymous No.18782090]

My w2t order finally came. I got a tote bag instead of a hat but that is OK. The bag is probably more useful to me anyways. They also thew in two free sheng dragon balls.

[Anonymous No.18782276]

So, I've got some cakes of tea.

Do I need to pick a bit of tea off the cake each time I want to steep some, or is it just as good to break the whole cake up and keep it loose in a pouch to use?

[Anonymous No.18782383]

I hear about free stuff from w2t often. I guess I've gotten a few free samples but never anything non tea. Is there a secret passphrase to include in my order notes or something?

[Anonymous No.18782574]

>>18782383
why would you want nontea samples? It took forever for Upton to send me a sample that wasn't some gay herbal shit.

[Anonymous No.18782604]

>>18782090
>Do I need to pick a bit of tea off the cake each time I want to steep some, or is it just as good to break the whole cake up and keep it loose in a pouch to use?
It is up to you, I think either way can be made to work. I personally keep my cakes whole and just chip off what I need but if you find that too inconvenient you can just break up a bunch of it at once. There may be a difference for long term storage and aging but it should not matter as much if you are going to drink the tea soon.

>>18782383
>I guess I've gotten a few free samples but never anything non tea. Is there a secret passphrase to include in my order notes or something?
The hat was part of their their Black Friday sale and is not a typical thing. They also tend to throw in free stickers with your order at least in my experience.
https://white2tea.com/blogs/blog/2022-black-friday-and-cyber-monday-tea-sale
This is the bag I got for free with my order (they must have run out of the free hats).
https://web.archive.org/web/20221127051509/https://white2tea.com/products/white2tea-tote-bag

[Anonymous No.18782644]

>>18782383
it was a part of their black friday sale i believe, the first so and so many got a hat, and i guess they threw in some other goodies, i got 50g of a random black tea

[Anonymous No.18782649]

2012 ZiJuan Shou
7g 130ml rolling boil 5s-90s
Wood aroma. Sweet, smooth, bitter. Little smoky, spice. Has all the essential ripe puerh notes. Has some black tea notes. Infusions are similar, bitterness drops off after infusion 3 and continues to be an enjoyable easy to drink ripe. Sweet aftertaste. Does the basics well.

Review 5 out of 8

[Anonymous No.18782683]

Good cha qi, very much like drinking old vinyl records smell

[Anonymous No.18782897]

>>18781544
instead of being oxygenated it is wilted with nitrogen iirc. Or some kind of weird process to flood the plant with nitrogen when its done or something idk. It's nitrogen. The GABA content is only slightly higher than normal

[Anonymous No.18782907]

>>18779048
Yíxìng zǐshā gè hú
宜興紫砂各壺

Literally says "Yixing Purple Clay Teapots"

[Anonymous No.18782944]

>>18782574
Who doesn't want a cool hat

[Anonymous No.18782966]

>>18781850
Its named after the battleship

[Anonymous No.18783089]

WTF?
Tea has calories?
Also, what the fuck is up with the warning? Yes, I looked up prop 65. Why did this tea have it and no other tea I've seen have it? Should I be worried?

[Anonymous No.18783177]

>>18783089
Chinese tea is high in lead, anon.
The better question is what are the chinese doing that makes their tea have fat and sodium.
The label reads like it expects you to eat it with carbs being marked. Those carbs aren't going to dissolve into the water

[Anonymous No.18783239]

>>18783089
These things are measured with a bomb calorimeter. 35 grams serving size. They probably burned the dry tea leaf to get a calorie count.
Chinese tea is proven to cause cancer, a new study suggests
https://www.livescience.com/61660-hot-tea-cancer-risk.html

[Anonymous No.18783249]

>>18783239
>https://www.livescience.com/61660-hot-tea-cancer-risk.html
>drinking tea at temperatures it damages your cells may cause cancer
duh? Thats why you drink out of tiny cups that let it cool very fast. Burning your throat is how you get throat cancer

[Anonymous No.18783281]

>>18783177
Yes, but I have other teas from china without that warning. Also, there are japanese teas that are saddled with the prop 65 warning.
I told you I looked it up.
I was looking for less obvious information.
>>18783239
>>18783249
This is the same shit they did to yerba mate. Bullshit article based on bullshit study.

[Anonymous No.18783301]

>>18783089
>>18783281
>Yes, I looked up prop 65. Why did this tea have it and no other tea I've seen have it?
Prop 65 sets very low thresholds for warnings and California is a huge market. It's way easier/cheaper to slap the warning on everything than to have to print one label for California and one for everywhere else. Even worse to not print it at all and get sued by some greedy law firm.

Ergo you see the warning on everything from faux leather jackets, jewelry, bathing suits, kitty litter to play sand, coffee to prune juice, etc.

t. live in California

[Anonymous No.18783338]

>>18783239
>Researchers found that people in China who consumed scalding tea — and also smoked tobacco and drank excessive amounts of alcohol — had a five times greater risk of esophageal cancer than people who had none of these three habits

Woah, you mean if I smoke like a chimney, drink sketchy hard liquor all night, and drink boiling water, I might get throat cancer?
Never would have guessed agitating my throat constantly would be bad for me.

[Anonymous No.18783385]

>>18783301
Okay.
As for the tea (>>18783089)
It didn't taste or smell like fish. It was in a very tight vacuum sealed foil liner. It smelled like something I can't place but it makes me think of Florida, golf courses, and landscaping sheds. This is the second puer I've bought, so I don't have much to compare it to. I'm starting to think that puer isn't my thing. I'm digging green tea and the Amazon lapsang souchong I bought so far, and I haven't even tried the "good" green tea yet.

[Anonymous No.18783416]

>>18783385
Try some longjing from YS and some Sencha from Ippodo, should give you an idea if you prefer Chinese or Japanese styles of greens

[Anonymous No.18784336]

>>18771531
is it better to gong fu jasmine or western style jasmine?

[Anonymous No.18784381]

>>18784336
My guess would be that typical jasmine tea is is possibly better "western" style and that is how I think it is typically prepared. You can always use shorter brews if it starts getting bitter. "Grandpa" style could probably be made to work as well. Some of the fancier grade stuff is probably more conducive gongfu. I would experiment to find what works for you.

[Anonymous No.18784388]

Anyone have any idea how to clean a musty smell out of an old ceramic teapot? This was a wedding present to my parents when they got married 40 years ago and I got guilted into keeping it around so I figured I might as well get some use out of it, but it sat disused for at least over a decade and smells musty as shit. Tea made with it takes on the oder too and it’s just nasty.

I’ve washed by hand a few times and put it through the dishwasher twice and it hasn’t helped at all.

[Anonymous No.18784912]

>>18784388
Hydrogen peroxide
Bleach
In last resort: oven pyrolysis

[Anonymous No.18785173]

i had a dream where i went into a teahouse in china that was kinda cool

[Anonymous No.18785395]

>>18785173
Were they smoking opium pipes too? Did the guys have a long braid and the ladies all dressed in cheongsam?

[Anonymous No.18785406]

>>18782966
Ya but... Ok based.
>>18782897
Ya something like that. All I know is it tastes fucking weird and smells undesirable. And as someone who drinks japshit at hot temps, even burning rubber smells better.

[Anonymous No.18785987]

2022 xigui Caicheng sheng
7g 120ml rolling boil 5s-90s
Vegetal creamy aroma. Tastes sweet, a bit floral, spice. Good body, vegetal aftertaste. Seems similar to white tea to me. No smokiness at all. I got more bitterness on infuson 3 steeped for 30 seconds. No astringency at all. Good caffeine content. Good durability, flavor remained consistent from infusion 1 to 6. Very good tea.

6 of 8

[Anonymous No.18786089]

[Anonymous No.18786209]

>>18782276
either way works

[Anonymous No.18787151]

>2015 Xiaguan "Gold Ribbon Tuo" Raw Pu-erh Tea
Cheap but enjoyable. Bitter taste is nearly gone, would taste amazing aged a few more years. Mild taste, smells like an old library book both wet and dry, some grapefruit and earth notes when brewed.

[Anonymous No.18787725]

drinking 15g of TGY a day help

[Anonymous No.18787731]

>>18787725
You don't need help. You need to accept that this is who you are.

[Anonymous No.18788219]

>>18787151
Nice, love me some xiaguan

[Anonymous No.18788222]

>>18787725
>drinking 15g of TGY a day help
Its only a problem because it doesn't leave much room for yerba.
Anyway you can get those numbers up

[Anonymous No.18788916]

I'm new to drinking tea, I somehow made the perfect tasting milk tea (to me) one weekend but I can't recreate it no matter how much I try

[Anonymous No.18788958]

>>18788916
This is why we preach & shill digital scales.

[Anonymous No.18789068]

>>18788916
Sorry to hear that. I hate achieving something and not being able to do it anymore because I eyeballed everything or didn't take notes.

[Anonymous No.18789317]

[Anonymous No.18789325]

>>18789317
Took me a minute to realize it was half milk. I thought it was just barely tinted leaf water

[Anonymous No.18789337]

>>18789317

[Anonymous No.18789871]

>Teapot: 38 oz
>Cup: 7.4 oz
>Pour water and tea into pot
>Expect 5 cups
>Get a solid 7
Is there a little Jesus in my teapot, helping me fight inflation?

[Anonymous No.18789917]

>>18789871
did you fill the cups right up to the rim?

[Anonymous No.18789919]

>>18789917
No, just below.

[Anonymous No.18789950]

>>18789871
inflation isn't real, chud

[Anonymous No.18790024]

>>18789950
>Favorite tea latté on Amazon.
>12.5g per serving
>36 servings per container
>Have the bag from 3 months ago in my hand
>12.5g per serving
>72 servings per container
>Both are 2 lbs (0.9 kg) with the same nutritional values, down to the exact decimal
The only explanation I can imagine is that they've somehow replaced half of the weight volume of the new package with some powder that has the same weight, but which lacks any nutritional value at all.
12.5g x 36 = 450. Where's the other half of the bag? I'm scared to buy now.

[Anonymous No.18790078]

>>18790024
Maybe they're reusing tea. They could collect it, dehydrate it, then blend it back in with fresh leaf. That way it's technically still the same ingredients list as before. Real shady stuff.

[Anonymous No.18790079]

>>18789871
You're dumb

[Anonymous No.18790091]

>>18790078
If they were doing that, the serving count would go up. It'd have to, and that'd benefit them. Right now, the weight only accounts for half of the package. What the hell is in the other half?

[Anonymous No.18790268]

>that 30 year old boomer who drinks puerh and yerba mate
>he likes the taste of old vinyl records and tobacco
>people around him wonder why he's drinking that dirt water
>he's convinced of psychoactive effects

[Anonymous No.18790306]

>>18790268
Sounds based

[Anonymous No.18790439]

>>18790268
more pu-erh fags should try yerba mate. especially the smokier stuff

[Anonymous No.18790490]

Tea isn't tea without milk, sirs.

[Anonymous No.18790500]

>>18790490
>drinking milk with the wipe hand
not like this sers

[Anonymous No.18790677]

[Anonymous No.18790739]

>>18790677
I've also had ripe that tasted like chocolate, mushrooms, leather, very clean. The fishy dirt shit is nasty though

[Anonymous No.18791028]

What would you guys recommend for a non caffeinated brew for after work? I'd be drinking tea right now, but I got to be in bed in three hours.

[Anonymous No.18791395]

>>18791028
Camomile, mint, lemonbalm, any of the celestial seasonings herbal teas like bengal spice, buy some ginger root and chop it up and simmer it and make some really spicy ginger tea

[Anonymous No.18791446]

Can anyone recommend any sweet puer to look out for. Doing keto and im dying for something think and sweet.

[Anonymous No.18791451]

>>18791446
*thick and sweet

[Anonymous No.18791529]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/353320019214

the multicolored wrappers hypnotized me and forced me to hit the buy button. there was no hope for me, i couldn't stand a chance

[Anonymous No.18791617]

[Anonymous No.18791619]

>>18791446
https://www.amazon.com/TIAN-HU-SHAN-Premium-Slimming/dp/B087G345SM

[Anonymous No.18791637]

>>18791446
Try this
https://kingteamall.com/collections/2020-xiaguan/products/2020-xiaguan-bao-long-gong-she-lao-shu-yuan-cha-baolong-village-old-tree-round-cake-357g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?variant=32772437934183
Tastes like honey, litte bitterness

[Anonymous No.18791639]

>>18791446
https://www.ebay.com/itm/394378182118
https://www.ebay.com/itm/294825305266

[Anonymous No.18791644]

>>18791639
Have you actually tried either of these yet? I don't really care what you spend your money on but i would prefer if you didn't reccommend mystery tea to other posters.

[Anonymous No.18791647]

>>18791644
mine just got on the plane

[Anonymous No.18791658]

>>18791647
Then please don't rec it to people. I keep telling you its probably not very good and you keep ignoring me.

[Anonymous No.18791672]

>>18791658
there is a chance i might like it

[Anonymous No.18791881]

>>18791395
Like shave the root? I have dried ginger and powdered, but no whole root at the moment.

[Anonymous No.18791908]

>>18791881
>I have dried ginger and powdered,
Either one of those works too
If you get the fresh root, scrape the skin off with a spoon, cut into thin slices, simmer for 20 min on stove, something like a fat mans thumb size piece per litre of water for a nice strong tea.
For dry ginger same simmering thing but use half the size as you would if it was fresh. For powder you can probably put a teaspoon or so in a measuring cup, add a mug worth of boiling water and then strain into a mug to drink, or just use a teaball or a brew basket or something

[Anonymous No.18792201]

wat's the best site to order tea from in the US?

[Anonymous No.18792250]

>>18792201
Probably yunnansourcing.us
Bunch of other usa shops listed in the pastebin but YS has a pretty huge selection

[Anonymous No.18792386]

If you get tea in one of those square metal tins you know it’s trash

[Anonymous No.18792389]

>>18792386
no

[Anonymous No.18792450]

>>18792386

[Anonymous No.18792847]

>>18792386
This, but pressed cakes instead of tins.

[Anonymous No.18793095]

Essence of Tea signature grade liubao
i still have to write up some decent tasting notes for it but this is some special tea. Smooth, clean complex rich, really clean malaysian storage. Good stuff

[Anonymous No.18793507]

>>18792386
not true for liu bao. a lot of good liu bao comes in tins

[Anonymous No.18793592]

>>18793507
Even when i comes to cheap Asian market teas the stuff that comes in tins is usually surprisingly decent. Im sure you could find some that sucks but even the typical cheap stuff like the big tin of Jasmine scented green tea or lychee black tea really aren't bad, probably better then the coffee i was drinking in college.

[Anonymous No.18793598]

So the dayi tae tea store on Amazon is stocking their instant ripe tea packets now. Im tempted to get some to try it but its so expensive. I guess its supposed to be 4-5 grams worth of tea concentrate per packet but i still dont want to pay nearly $3 per packet.
Too bad i was hoping the pricing on KTM was a fluke.

[Anonymous No.18794215]

Newfag here

Is it worth getting into loose leaf and all that if I don’t drink real big boy tea and only drink herbal teas and fruit teas? I can’t drink caffeine with meds I have.

I enjoy reading with a cup of chamomile or raspberry tea most evening but I do wonder if I could make my relaxing nightly ritual into an autistic hobby, which is always more fun

[Anonymous No.18794232]

>>18794215
Absolutely, I was just considering writing up something about this. I've been drinking more chamomile at night, I'm pretty confident loose leaf chamomile (whole flowers) is significantly cheaper than tea bags, and tastes different but better than teabags. I think the sort of non-flower chaff surrounding the buds adds a bit of depth and sweetness that teabags alone don't have. I use a somewhat annoying large diffuser ball now, but I'm thinking of buying a finum brew basket, and my intuition is that basket-in-mug is pretty much the endgame of brewing herbal teas.
Mountain rose herbs is the place to go if you're in the US, their chamomile is cheap and good.

[Anonymous No.18794450]

>>18794232
Cool, thanks m8. I will give it a go

[Anonymous No.18795122]

>>18794215
Hell yeah, if you are in the us try out mountain rose herbs, they sell a bunch of herbal tea blends and various single loose herbs, pretty cheaply too.

[Anonymous No.18796369]

Should Gween Tea taste slightly salty or did the chinks give me ye olde jewish honey freebie?

[Anonymous No.18796423]

>>18796369
Yeah, i would call it more savory then salty but you will get some of those flavor profiles for sure.

[Anonymous No.18796431]

>>18796369
I got a sample of some green tea once that I swear was salty. It was weird.

[Anonymous No.18796666]

>>18796423
With 1 being the creamy bitterness of dark choccy, I'd say
0.1 - 0.2 salty
0.4 - 0.6 grassy
0.05 - 0.1 umami
0.1 bitter?
0.2 buttery? it's kind of a taste-feeling more than a taste I guess

[Anonymous No.18796867]

I've tried these three Assam teas from Vahdam now. Needed to know wtf is the difference between English Breakfast and Daily Assam since they're both 100% Assam of the same grade that look identical. Basically, Daily Assam is slightly better, as in more similar to the gold summer tea. Not a major difference though.

[Anonymous No.18797058]

Is it worth it to get an yixing or other unglazed clay gaiwan? Does it add anything to the flavor or pick up flavor over multiple brewings the way a bigger teapot does?

[Anonymous No.18797164]

>>18797058
I have one but I haven't used it enough (just because mine is a little too big) to say the clay effect definitely works the same as a teapot, but I think there's no reason it wouldn't. Remember the clay effect is always going to be subtle though. As to whether it's worth it though, you got to weigh that personally.

[Anonymous No.18797366]

>>18797058
i have a lot of different teas i cycle through so its not really worth it for me but if you have 1 tea you really like i could see how getting an unglazed teapot just for that would be worth it

[Anonymous No.18797380]

>>18796867
>English Breakfast and Daily Assam since they're both 100% Assam
damn would have guessed that EBV would have been a blend, probably just marketing. also their smoky assam was better when it was crc and not the more whole leaf chinese style, had more flavour both for smoke and malt tea

[Anonymous No.18797386]

imagine drinking t*a on your own volition

[Anonymous No.18797480]

>>18797366
>yixing is for raw puerh
>jianshui is for ripe puerh
>two types of clay good for 50% of puerh and nothing else

[Anonymous No.18797523]

>>18797480
this table is pretty awful for yixing theres like 4 types of yixing clays and they all behave differently too, i get really good results with green oolongs in my zhuni yixing pot but for sheng puerhs the effect changes depending on the tea.

[Anonymous No.18797568]

[Anonymous No.18797817]

Spring harvest waiting room.
I still need to buy a kyusu though.

[Anonymous No.18797867]

don't know if my V93 actually improved since I got it two weeks ago or if I just got used to it, but I actually like it quite a bit more now and get a clearer burnt waffle note from it

[Anonymous No.18797908]

>>18797867
Sense of taste is very inconsistent imo. You don't always get a good tasting even if you do everything right.

[Anonymous No.18798032]

What is some good green oolong?
Something refreshing like sweet/citrusy notes.
Not too expensive.

[Anonymous No.18798264]

>>18796666
Yup that sounds like green tea

[Anonymous No.18798277]

>>18797058
>Is it worth it to get an yixing or other unglazed clay gaiwan?
Not really. Unless you drink the same tea everyday (and it compliments whatever unglazed clay you get) you will find yourself reaching for porcelain most of the time. Plus there are very few shops that im aware of that sell unglazed clay gaiwans i would want to use. Most of them are cheap mass produced things.

[Anonymous No.18798295]

>>18798032
Imperial "AAA" tie guan yin from yunnan sourcing is everything I want in a Chinese green oolong. Might be pricier than you're hoping for at a bit over $.50/g but it's worth it.

[Anonymous No.18798320]

>>18798032
Try this
https://www.tea-masters.com/en/lightly-oxidized/1560-1471-2022-dong-pian-sijichun-oolong-from-mingjian.html#/3-weight-150_gr
Maybe sample this
https://www.tea-masters.com/en/wenshan-baozhong/1438-1413-2021-spring-wenshan-baozhong.html#/1-weight-25_gr
Or look at the other taiwan tea shops in the pastebin

[Anonymous No.18798384]

>>18797817
very excited i hope the weather will be as good as last time, i got mostly sweet saemidori greens last spring so i will go for more vegetable and umami ones this time. what style of kyusu are you thinking of getting? i might get an oni hagi one to match my cup but i cant find one in 200ml

[Anonymous No.18798406]

THREADLY REMINDER
yunnan sourcing will raised prices on all their in stock aged teas, puer, hei cha, compressed white teas etc by 20%-30% sometime in February. They do this evey year and every year some anon waits a day or two too long to put in their order and gets shafted. If you are planning on putting in a big order to YS do it asap.
THREADLY REMINDER

[Anonymous No.18798418]

>>18798384
I haven't thought about it too much, I mostly buy very cheap functional teaware. I'll probably get a fairly small one though.
Probably a rather nondescript red tokoname kyusu.

[Anonymous No.18798449]

>>18798406
Good reminder, I was thinking of getting some hei cha from them

[Anonymous No.18798475]

Tried some pu'er for the fist time.

I had some lose pu'er, which honestly doesn't taste that good.
But I also got a pu-er cake which was pretty good.

I'm not sold about second infusions though. they taste very thin.

[Anonymous No.18798476]

>>18798449
What are ya looking at? I really love that YS has so much hei cha in stock. Prices are generally better than his puer prices as well

[Anonymous No.18798480]

>>18798475
What do you have and how are you brewing it?

[Anonymous No.18798493]

>>18798480
https://www.hotsoup.nl/nl/2018-menghai-xian-shu-cake.html
and
https://www.hotsoup.nl/nl/gu-shu-old-bush-ripe-puer.html

And something like pic related for brewing. I can't be arsed to get proper equipment and timing.
Only for sencha do I bother timing since green tea is more delicate and easier to fuck up.

[Anonymous No.18798500]

>>18798475
Eh you don't need to worry about rebrewing if its not worth the hassle. Anyway welcome to the world of puer, i swear i can quit anytime. Ask in the thread if you want advice or help exploring deeper. I will also say puer is a bit of a weird one, there is a lot of fantastic tea out there, don't let the old grumpy puer lesbians here bully you into just drinking puer all the time

[Anonymous No.18798505]

>>18798493
You only have shou which is kind of its own thing, I'd recommend trying sheng at some point. I'd recommend trying grandpa style, so not doing infusions and just leaving the tea in the mug and continually pouring hot water over it.

[Anonymous No.18798506]

>>18798493
One of those brew baskets is top tier low effort brewing equipment and you really don't need to worry about timing ripe puer. You are on the right track to lazy tea enjoyment.

[Anonymous No.18798820]

>>18798476
I ordered a bunch of liu bao from purple cloud a few months ago, so I should be good on that, though I had some 3 cranes from yunnan sourcing that was really good

https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2011-three-cranes-15010-liu-bao-tea

and had more of an earthy taste, compared to the vegetal beety type taste the purple cloud stuff had.
I think it would be good to get some fu brick, though there are so many choices I dont really know whats what. I've only tried a little fu brick, but one of them was really smooth/mellow and nice to drink

https://white2tea.com/products/2018-sun-fu

the other was smokey, but the smoke has mellowed out a bit over time

https://www.amazon.com/FullChea-Golden-Flower-Digestion-11-21oz/dp/B08CF28MN4

I think I prefer something more like the first one, though I don't really know what else is out there
samples are good if the whole brick is expensive, But I dont have a problem buying a brick or two, up to the 50-75 usd range
If anyone has recommendations I am interested.

[Anonymous No.18798966]

>>18798820
>fu brick,
I have heard mixed things about the mojun fu brand, i would probably avoid unless you really want to sample one.
I have a full brick of this and its excellent, like a super smooth well aged raw with this sort of creamy taste and mouthfeel like you ate some whipped cream. He has had the same price on it for 5 years now. Worth trying some at least.
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-fu-brick-tea/products/2009-gao-jia-shan-wild-fu-zhuan-hunan-brick-tea
In general the gao jia shan teas seem to be pretty damn good, with the caveats that some of the super premium productions seem really mellow, maybe a bit on the subtle side flavor wise.
The more premium bai sha xi productions seem pretry promising, if you want a more classic take on processing and maybe some smoke look into those.
Haven't tried this one yet but planning on blind buying a kilo, the reviews arent loading for me right now but some guy tried half of ys fu brick stock and said this was the best
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/hunan-fu-brick-tea/products/2017-yun-tai-mountain-sentinel-mountain-fu-zhuan-brick-tea
Consider grabbing some tian jian while you are at it, good stuff

[Anonymous No.18799142]

If anyone cares, my wife ended up quitting coffee, not because of the tea, but because she got sick after a hang over and when she got better she kept having one sip of coffee and quitting. She put the coffee maker away.
I've been drinking cold brewed tea instead of energy drinks at work and an feeling better. I'm still drinking cheap shit and haven't gotten to the Moroccan gunpowder or matcha, yet. I'm probably going to try the sencha as a cold brew tomorrow. The lapsang souchong from Amazon smells very smokey, and the taste is strong, but I wouldn't describe it as ashy. I love it and it's okay as a cold brew. I have been adding lemon to the cold brew, and nothing else. No sugar or milk, hot or cold. I went through the whole jar of sus paki green tea.
I'm not a big fan of the puer.
I might try some of the better shot from the shops in the sticky later, bit I got a lot to go through still. I kinda want to wait until the harvest maybe? It's that a thing?
Anyway, thanks for the advice guys. I'll be around.

[Anonymous No.18799231]

>>18799142
Spring harvest starts end of april into may, wouldn't hurt to wait at this point.
I would suggest yunnansourcing.us for a good selection of acessable looseleaf.

[Anonymous No.18799392]

>>18799231
Since I'm consuming about a half gallon of cold brew at work five or six days a week, I'm using at least five ounces of tea a week. I'll probably need to buy more cheap shit to make it until then.
The Arab store I got the paki and Moroccan shit from had cheap tins of English breakfast and Earl grey lose leaf. Should I try those, or are they a meme? I feel like there was some Ceylon tea there as well, but I don't remember.
I'm afraid to cold brew the matcha because if I like it then that's going to become a really expensive habit!

[Anonymous No.18799400]

>>18799142
No real point in waiting for spring if you're just starting out, I'd buy a variety of samples of better tea to see what you like. I don't drink cold brewed tea so I can't help you there. Overall you should focus on trying a variety of better tea before buying larger packs of something, you might like some cheap chinese black/green/oolong and it would be better to find that out before you load up on mediocre cheap tea.

[Anonymous No.18799428]

>>18799392
why are you so stuck on tea being cold brewed? Unlike coffee, heating tea doesn't introduce bitterness, but rather it allows bacteria to be killed. There are known dangers to sun tea for the fact it doesn't get hot enough ti kill bacteria.
Any cold brew shit you are buying labelled as such is INSTANT tea.
At bedtime, nuke a 8 cup/2Qt pyrex measuring cup in your microwave until boiling, pour into a pitcher with 8 teabags, then move to the fridge overnight, adding ice if you wish it not as strong by morning to stop the brew at 5 mins. Use 2-3 large quart teabags like Luzianne or 6-8 small tea bags, maybe even 1 teabag that is flavored, like mint, or orange in spice. I love iced jasmine green tea. Feel free to use loose leaf or bags, whatever.
Matcha is ground tea, and the fame and flavorful foam is just overrated, brew green tea equally, if cost is a concern. I can buy Luzinanne green literally 30 teabags for 1 qt pitchers for like $2 for the whole box. Where do you shop?

[Anonymous No.18799598]

>>18799392
Get a box of Ahmad tea off amazon
If you want to try a ceylon tea
https://www.amazon.com/Ahmad-Ceylon-OPA-Tea-Carton/dp/B0011010XY/
If you specifically want English breakfast then the classic English breakfast from vahdam
https://www.amazon.com/Original-English-Breakfast-Leaves-AROMATIC/dp/B00VFYPK82/

[Anonymous No.18799608]

>>18799428
What are you talking about man? Instant tea? Teabags?
Cold brew tea is fine and much better than whatever the hell you are talking about. Sure sun tea is a meme but nobody is making that. Putting looseleaf tea in cold water in the reidge overnight isint growing any meaningful amout of mold or bacteria.

[Anonymous No.18799731]

>>18798966
>I have heard mixed things about the mojun fu brand
What have you heard? I have not heard anything bad about them but than again I have not heard much of anything about them. I was intending to buy a brick from them at some point.

[Anonymous No.18799764]

>>18799731
Somone posted here a while ago and said the ones on YS weren't very good. Then again i remember someone from here getting one of the bricks from purple cloud and liking it.
So im unsure, but its enough for me to suggest sampling before grabbing a full brick.
On the other hand i think Scott from YS really likes fu bricks so i would hope he wouldn't buy into a brand so heavily if the tea wasn't great.
I haven't had a chance to try them myself so im only going off of what ive heard

[Anonymous No.18799898]

>>18799428
>Where are you buying your tea from
So far, two Asian and one middle eastern stores and Amazon.
>Why cold
It's easier for me to drink cold at work. Regulating hot water at the job sites isn't really convenient.
Honestly the 1&⅓¢/gram sus paki tea was really good and it's so cheap I can brew it strong and don't worry about wasting it. I imagine the similarly priced Moroccan gunpowder will be the same, but I have gotten around to it yet. Tonight I put 6 grams of sencha (and a lemon cut into quarters)in a half gallon. I'm sure it will be fine, but it's more expensive (really not that much, it was $5.99 for 5oz) and I would put way more in of the super cheap stuff (like 20+ grams in a half gallon.)
As far as drinking it hot, I keep meaning to try in the morning, but I've been working super early six days a week and I'm too tired at night too drink tea.

[Anonymous No.18799931]

>>18799598
I was considering vadham, but I found that one place and more I got a backlog. The shit they got at the Arab store is so fucking cheap, like I said. I can put two ounces per gallon and not even worry about it. It probably runs me five bucks in gas to get there as it's in the opposite direction of my house from work, so it's not worth going there just to buy one or two jars. It will be about a month before I'm even low on what I got.

[Anonymous No.18800117]

>>18799898
I don't know what that is but it isn't sencha. If it's cheap I guess keep buying it. You can get much cheaper green tea teabags, or buy some kind of super cheap herbal tea and dump caffeine into it, you'd end up at pretty much the same place.

[Anonymous No.18800539]

So, I'm trying to get into pu er; I posted here once before and I finally got around to buying some. One of the cakes I was recommended was a yi wu. My favorite type of tea for stuff I've already tried is Wu Yi Oolong, so it seemed like a natural fit.

Is it reasonable to pick a few different samples that all come from the same region to make my first real sampler? I figured that since I already know and like a lot of the region's flavors when processed in other ways, the familiarity would bridge the gap as I lean into the new style. I don't actually know if that's how that works. Is there any chance of any yi wu pu er I get actually reminding me of yancha?

Unfortunately I got a little excited and made the purchase already, but I figured if it was worth asking; was that reasonable or did I potentially fuck up?

For specifics, I bought a sample of ripe from 2004, raw from 2007, a ripe from 2021 that was supposed to be made from golden needle tips, and another ripe from 2021 that was specifically recommended to me.

[Anonymous No.18800695]

I have a teapot, and I've been running an instant latté through it. I've been pretty consistent about washing it out soon after finishing, but does this run the risk of some gunk blooming in the spout?

[Anonymous No.18800792]

>>18800695
I wouldn't worry about it. Teapots are really easy to clean out if you do ever have an issue, you can grab one of those little nylon bristle brushes they make for cleaning reusable straws and get into anything in the spout. Or real pipecleaners actually made for cleaning pipes, not the kind with the metal bristles. Something like that. Or you can buy some coffee pot cleaner or citric acid and mix it with boiling water and just fill up the teapot and let it soak for a while. Anyways don't sweat it, just try to make sure you rinse it out after you use it and if you notice the inside getting dirty clean it with some white vinegar or something.

[Anonymous No.18800794]

>>18800792
Thank you, saint!

[Anonymous No.18800832]

>>18800539
Don't stress anon, yiwu is good stuff. Its not going to have the charcoal roasted flavor that yiwu oolong has but i can see them having some similarities, yiwu puer isn't as punchy and intense as some of the other puer regions, its considered to have a more mellow flavor with enjoyable subtle nuances.
A few comments
Ripes don't benefit from age as much as raws, that said when you get to teas from the early 2000s or older they tend to have different processing from modern ripes, they arent fermented as strongly and they retain more of the character of the tea, those tend to benefit from age more than modern ripes.
2005-2007 was the first puer price bubble, think the dutch tulip craze but with puer. Positives are that there is a lot of affordable puer out there from this time frame, but negatives are that they were pressing any leaves they could get and sometimes quality suffered, i wouldn't sweat it, im not saying the tea you ordered wont be good but its something to be aware of, especially for suspiciously cheap tea from that era.
Anyway it sounds like you picked a decent way to get started, a good variety of ripes should let you get a pretty good idea if you like them and want to explore them further. A raw with some age on it like the 07 you ordered is decent place to start with raws. Young raws are almost a different tea compared to the stuff with a decade or two of age on it, the aged stuff is much smoother, the harsh edges are rounded out some and its starting to devlop "aged tea taste"
Anyway once you get to try your samples make a post about what you like and somone can probably recommended some ideas for what you should explore next.
Cheers

[Anonymous No.18800908]

Do you guys think this is worth a buy?
https://www.yunnancraft.com/en/jianshui-gaiwans/jianshui-zitao-gaiwan-140ml

[Anonymous No.18800928]

>>18800908
Fuck off, I'm not going to some clickbait bitch website when you can just describe it here, are you that desperate for clicks?

[Anonymous No.18801198]

>>18800117
No, that's the sus paki shit. The sencha is in the green bag.>>18771785

[Anonymous No.18801230]

>>18800928
>clickbait

[Anonymous No.18801237]

>>18800908
Price isn't bad for actually handmade clay.
Only thing im hesitant about is the lip, ive oly used gaiwans with wide flared lips, haven't used one with that narrower style like the one you linked so i don't know how they handle. Ive certainly seen a lot of gaiwans with that shape so im guessing they are fine.
Anyway that size is good, price is okay.
Tea-expert.net also has some janshui gaiwans a bit cheaper might want to check them out. I would just stick to the jianshui or nixing clay that they sell and avoid the yixing they have (The website is in Russian but its a Chinese shop that ships from china)

[Anonymous No.18801416]

https://www.fullchea-tea.com/chinese-2017-yunnan-shu-pu-erh-tea-quotpearl-old-tea-headquot-ripe-pu-erh-tea-200g-box-p0638.html

anyone tried this Lao Cha Tou from Fullchea? it's very cheap for lao cha tou

[Anonymous No.18801431]

>>18801416
Haven't tried it, i will say the fact that they are smaller bits and not those massive clumps seems promising, also i like the color.
The Russian reviews are positive so i would say it's worth a shot

[Anonymous No.18801722]

>>18801416
it's very cheap because it's shit. 9 out of 10 times thats true for any tea. have you tried any LCT? if not, start with this https://kingteamall.com/products/2021-dayi-lao-cha-tou-old-tea-head-brick-250g-puerh-shou-cha-ripe-tea
the og kush so you have a baseline.
the 'positive' russian review reads:
>"Excellent pu-erh, who have not tried it - I recommend it, for this price you can safely take 400gr (200x2) and you will not almost regret it!

3-4 straits boldly holds, after several straits I add a little ginseng!

Worth $"

4 steeps seems awfully low for cha tou, but maybe he has three nuggets in a half liter pot, who knows, he adds ginseng (?) too. disregard the retard.

[Anonymous No.18801818]

>>18801722
I guess that 2021 Dayi brick isn't badly priced. thanks, anon
I was thinking of trying some stuff from KTM anyway. does this look like a sensible order?
I could use some green tea too, but should probably wait for the spring harvest at this point, right?

[Anonymous No.18801859]

>>18801818
looks pretty good to me.
which type of green are you eyeing? i would add some mid-high grade long jing from them to round off the order. it's not FOMO jap green, at 1 yo it's still plenty drinkable bean juice.

[Anonymous No.18801868]

>>18801818
also some shui xian, everybody need shui xian in their life
https://kingteamall.comcollections/wuyi-yancha/products/spring-shui-xian-a-grade-medium-heavy-roasted-wuyi-yancha-oolong-tea

[Anonymous No.18801936]

brehs i want to make pourover tea

[Anonymous No.18802132]

>>18801859
yeah that's basically what I was thinking. not the "S+ tier" stuff that's 1$ / gram though, that's a little silly lol

[Anonymous No.18802167]

>>18801936
I tried it once and it was absolutely foul. The m:v ratio has nothing to do with pour over coffee and I didn't bother to trial/error it.

[Anonymous No.18802634]

>>18801237
Thanks!

[Anonymous No.18802683]

>>18798966
oh that gao jia shan sounds exactly like what im looking for good, ill have to pick up some. Torn between just getting many samples, vs one or two full cakes of different teas. theres just so many to try

[Anonymous No.18802771]

I like green tea with lemon a lot and am trying to move over to loose leaf/better overall tea
Do i need to buy green tea and add fresh lemon or is there an alternative?

[Anonymous No.18803062]

>>18802771
have you tried each seperately? Guy I knew who used to work as a butler for the fucking Arab Prince in the 90s, he liked just dropping a sixth of a lemon into a mug of boiled water and leaving it in

and then just get some really nice green tea harvested in 2023's summer from somewhere like yunnansourcing

[Anonymous No.18803638]

Went to the bigger Arab store. Picked up Ahmed Earl grey 465 grams for seven bucks and gunpowder 500 grams for nine. You could buy the exact same thing for twice the price and it comes in a tin with four clasps to make it air tight, but at the rate I'm going through this shit I'm not worried about it going bad. I can't read Arabic so I don't really know about the other brands and I didn't want to be there all day.
They also had Ceylon tea in different varieties, but I don't know anything about that
I also bought a big cheap bag of dried mint so I can try to make "Moroccan Gunpowder" the drink. I'm not sure I want to add sweetener, tho. Defeats the whole purpose of switching to tea.
>>18802771
They had (Ahmed) green tea with "Earl Grey" so I'd imagine you can find green tea with lemon in it already, or something similar. If you don't or can't conveniently use fresh lemon, you could justtandtw buy a big bottle of juice and add it as desired.

[Anonymous No.18803653]

Shit, someone bake new thread!

[Anonymous No.18803815]

I recently learned something cool

you can wrap tea bags around a spoon/fork/etc and tighten the string around the bag to squeeze the juice out and use the tab at the end to squeeze it tighter with the thumb

[Anonymous No.18804187]

new thread up in a second

[Anonymous No.18804198]

>>18771531
New
>>18804194
>>18804194
>>18804194