/tea/ Oolong Edition

[Anonymous No.18861227]

/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: >>18829742

[Anonymous No.18861236]

What oolong have you been drinking lately?
Thinking about ordering any new oolongs?
Any oolongs your really enjoyed recently? Or really hated?

[Anonymous No.18861238]

>>18861236
Im finishing off some roasted tie guan yin from purple cloud, it was really nice tea but more then i would like to spend for roasted tgy.
Trying to decide what i should get next.

[Anonymous No.18861249]

>waiting for shipping

[Anonymous No.18861257]

>>18861249
wow, someone with actual taste

[Anonymous No.18861268]

Where to buy oolonger

[Anonymous No.18861512]

Hopefully someone can answer my question in the last thread I accidentally posted at the end
>>18861498

[Anonymous No.18861528]

See some Lipton tea hate here sometimes but what's the problem the black and green tea bags tastes pretty good and so easy to make quickly and dirt cheap

[Anonymous No.18861552]

>>18861512
I don't have an answer for you, but that's a lovely gaiwan

[Anonymous No.18861738]

>>18861227
The giant Chinese store with a million teas near me doesn't have Lapsang Souchong. They said I can find it in Chinatown. Why would they not stock it?

[Anonymous No.18861813]

>>18861738
Chinese don't drink that stuff.

[Anonymous No.18861926]

nothing like a warm cup of swedish bitters to soothe the soul

[Anonymous No.18862006]

>>18861512
only had white tea few times but it seems to be pretty forgiving, you can probably brew it really strong if you like
where did you get that gaiwan though? it's nice

[Anonymous No.18862035]

>>18861236
been drinking:
>unroasted GABA oolong
cinnamon and apple / pear kind of vibes. great grandpa style
>cheapo vietnamese Si Ji Chun from local tea store
creamy, buttery, sweet, a little spicy oddly enough. reminds me of custard
>Jin Xuan
like the above but more floral in scent and milky in taste
>mystery Dancong from Fullchea
honey, a bit of tropical fruit, bready, roasted. can get a bit bitter and astringent unlike the Taiwanese oolongs. not as comfy for me but probably more interesting
>Hong Shui
also honey and tropical fruit. roast is less bready and more smoky but not overwhelming. doesn't have the astringency of the dancong, easier to brew
>green Tie Guan Yin
strong floral fragrance. refreshing green herbal taste, reminds me of mint or lavender maybe? would be great on a hot summer day

[Anonymous No.18862147]

>older years are cheaper
hmm, that's weird. which one should I get?

[Anonymous No.18862156]

I just made a pot of my chamomile tea/green tea mix with lemon juice, apple cider vinegar with the mother and mint. Comfy drink.

[Anonymous No.18862215]

>>18861512
if its buds, 5g/100ml 80-85c, 15seconds then either +5 or +15 seconds with each additional steep. buds can get very bitter but i think they do better with longer gongfu steepings.
if its leaves the same but you can use full boiling, but tend to do better with shorter steeps. some people also simmer the leaves in a saucepan for a long time.

i find whites to be the hardest to brew right because they all seem to require different parameters where as black/oolongs/green ect call brew up well with the same parameters i.e all blacks behave the same, all whites behave differently at least for me

[Anonymous No.18862216]

>>18862147
>>older years are cheaper
>hmm, that's weird.
theres no real reason to age ripes as the wet piling is done to mimic aging anyway

[Anonymous No.18862226]

>>18862216
yeah but the vendors still tend to make the older cakes more expensive for some reason
you think I should go for the cheapest one? or the 2018, which seems well-attested?

[Anonymous No.18862238]

>>18862226
at that price, all 3. but then im a hoarder.

[Anonymous No.18862294]

>>18862215
>all blacks behave the same

[Anonymous No.18862434]

>>18861512
>>18862215
You need to full soak the buds to get them to start extracting, which takes a pretty long time. Depending on your preference, you can do a fairly long hard rinse, boiling water for 30s or more depending on how dense your buds are, or you can do a short rinse, 5-10s at with boiling water, then a long brew, say 30s with boiling water. Once the leaves seem soaked through, they'll noticeably extract much faster. Do 10-15s brews here, if your tea is pleasant but thin, use more leaf, I brew with a very high ratio of leaf to water for baihao yinzhen. If it starts to be astringent or develop off flavors, you can do your main brews at around 90C instead. Once the leaves start to thin out, I like to do a single minute long brew, then a five minute brew and end it.

It will depend on the leaves you have, but the basic profile should look like that. Long brew to soak the leaves and get them to open up a bit, successions of much shorter brews, a few long brews. At close to boiling or boiling water, but feel free to lower the temperature if you feel you need to.

[Anonymous No.18862435]

>>18862215
Thank you very much anon, will follow your advice for my next brew.
>>18862006
I got the gaiwan from Yunnan sourcing, figured I'd pick up a nice gaiwan with all the tea I got and very satisfied.

[Anonymous No.18862443]

>>18862216
>theres no real reason to age ripes
I'd mostly agree with you, but some of the properly stored ones can be pretty good. HK / Guangdong stored ripes can develop a very nice earthy flavor that works with the tea really well. Generally though, if something has been sitting in Puerh city or Kunming or wherever just in a storehouse, I would agree that it most likely hasn't improved any.

[Anonymous No.18862812]

>>18862156
I'd like a cup of that

[Anonymous No.18862901]

what are some good brands I can order on Amazon?

[Anonymous No.18863297]

>>18862035
>Hong Shui
That sounds good, where is it from?

[Anonymous No.18863304]

>>18863297
I got mine from eherbata.pl. it was their Bagua Hong Shui
gotta try more Hong Shui, they're not too expensive and often have some nice fruit notes from what I hear

[Anonymous No.18863321]

>>18862901
Depends on what kinda tea. Vahdam is pretty good for indian teas/english breakfast that sort of thing. Ito en for cheap Japanese green tea bags and matcha. Dayi/taetea has an amazon strore linked in the pastebin if you want puer.
Overall amazon isn't great, and i would use specialist stores if possible.

[Anonymous No.18863331]

>>18863304
Nice thanks

[Anonymous No.18863449]

>>18863321
I was looking at Tian Hu Shan brand for oolong and jasmine.
Are they cheap shit?

[Anonymous No.18863508]

>>18863449
They are cheap, but they are Chinese market classics, if you want the cheap stuff and are on a budget they will be perfectly drinkable.

[Anonymous No.18863833]

>>18861227
does anyone have an organic yerba mate brand recommendation?

[Anonymous No.18863837]

>>18863833
Kraus is nice

[Anonymous No.18863849]

>>18863837
>>18863833
and also Fede Rico

[Anonymous No.18863963]

>>18863833
Mate & co
La oberena
Camino nuevo
Kalena
Anna park
Isondu

[Anonymous No.18864575]

>>18860210
drank it first time yesterday it was really nice, my favourite steeps were the 3rd and 4th and it had the strongest huigan then, it kind of reminded me of peach or some other dried fruits but it wasnt a super strong flavour.
Not as bitter early on as i expected but i still had a bitter taste in my mouth for 30+mins after finishing the session lol, i thought it kinda lacked longetivity but i didnt use that much tea, 5g in 90ml gaiwan
also it was really nice on the stomach, gonna try brewing it much stronger next time should be fun

[Anonymous No.18864863]

>>18862812
I enjoy it hot or cold, usually I have half a pot at night, leave it in the fridge, and have the other half pot when I wake up before a caffeine tablet/energy drank. Mellows me out.

[Anonymous No.18865033]

What are your experiences with GABA tea

[Anonymous No.18865057]

>>18865033
It tastes good, the gaba doesn't really do anything, but the processing they use gives it this interesting unique flavor, would recommended if you like smooth mellow teas

[Anonymous No.18865109]

>>18865033
it gets u fucked up

[Anonymous No.18865392]

>>18865033
GABA is some turbo meme shit, it's not going to pass the blood brain barrier. What you want is GABAergics.

[Anonymous No.18865543]

>>18865392
But the nitrogen sparging process they use to make gaba oolong makes it taste good.

[Anonymous No.18865551]

>>18865543
Yeah, you can slurp the 'gab for the flavor, but it won't give ya tha 'gab ya dig?

[Anonymous No.18865568]

>>18865551
Totally agree, not only does it not cross the blood brain barrier like you mentioned but it's also not present in very high quantities, IIRC its something like 40-100mg in an oz of GABA tea.

[Anonymous No.18865633]

>>18861227
Are electric kettles a meme or not?

[Anonymous No.18865645]

>>18865633
please dont microwave water for tea

[Anonymous No.18865670]

>>18865633
Assuming you're American, get yourself a 1500 watt electric kettle. It will be faster and more efficient than heating your water on a stove (electric or gas). 1500 watts is the maximum wattage American power outlets are rated for. You can do fine with lower wattage, but your heating time will be slower

[Anonymous No.18865678]

>>18865645
>>18865670
I put it on the stove normally and just pour it when it's the temp I want - why would I want an electric kettle? just seems like a waste of counter space but idk. i used to have one and it was kinda cool i guess just waiting for it to ding, but idk that i wanna buy one

[Anonymous No.18865721]

>>18865678
The temperature controlled ones are really nice. No need to monitor the kettle; it just beeps when it's at the right temperature. And like I said, it's faster than heating on a stove

[Anonymous No.18865756]

>>18865678
i have mine next to my computer desk, im not going to my kitchen every time i want a cup of tea

[Anonymous No.18865761]

>>18861227
oolong is based
grocery store doesnt sell tho

[Anonymous No.18865866]

>>18865551
What if I smoke it? Would it work if I chopped it up then snorted it?

[Anonymous No.18865882]

>>18865866
No, if you want to do drugs, then do drugs, I won't stop you. But, don't use tea and pretend that it's drugs. If you must take some sort of GABAergic, then benzodiazapenes are popular, but I wouldn't recommend them. If you want to know more about tea, then drink better puerh. Drugs won't help you.

[Anonymous No.18865887]

>>18865756
That's a cool idea actually. That's a good second use for it if I ever regret the purchase.

>>18865721
Recommend one? I'd like one that allows me to set the tempature I'd like it to stop at.

[Anonymous No.18865900]

Teapill me on boba

[Anonymous No.18865908]

>>18865900
Its black tea with shitloads of sweetened condensed milk added to it and tapioca pearls.
If you have ever had that really sweet thai coffee stuff at a thai restaurant its that but with black tea.

[Anonymous No.18865911]

Anyone else drinking lemon balm tea? It really helps me with digestion

[Anonymous No.18865916]

>>18865887
I got the OXO gooseneck one. It's 1500w, 1L, and has temp control. It's also got a timer, but I don't use it. James Hoffmann's got a good rundown on 5 or so other kettle on YT

[Anonymous No.18865922]

>>18865911
I dont have any right now but i love lemon balm tea, one of the best plants from the mint family for tea.

[Anonymous No.18866138]

>>18865908
Is it worth using any decent tea for it or should I just use cheap supermarket brand shit since I’ll be drowning it in milk and sugar?

[Anonymous No.18866745]

>>18865033
tasty, unique flavor. may or may not work. very convenient grandpa style, never gets bitter, just a little sour in a mostly good way

[Anonymous No.18867014]

>>18866138
I wouldn't use anything expensive, but if you wanted to use some cheap loose leaf like ahmad off amazon it would probably enchance it a bit.

[Anonymous No.18867018]

>>18866138
Also ive seen a few people say you should buy the hydrated tapioca perls instead of thr dry ones. I guess they are quicker and easier to prepare and you get a better texture. You can find packs of the wide straws for boba all over Amazon, ebay etc

[Anonymous No.18867655]

looking to buy some factory ripe cakes.
what are your favorite factory shu recipes, anons?

[Anonymous No.18867809]

>Year 7 of drinking mate: an observation

it's a'ght

[Anonymous No.18867812]

>>18865911
Lemon balm tea is good. Smells great, tastes great.

[Anonymous No.18868295]

>>18862901
>>18863321
I ordered "TAETEA Classic V93 Premium Ripe Puerh Tea Tuo Cha". It's currently scheduled for delivery today. It's the right price. I'm hoping it can fare as a beater. I'll report back later this week.

[Anonymous No.18868412]

>>18868295
nice, a safe choice if you like ripe pu-erh. what price was it and what year?
I've gone through about half of my 2018 V93 at this point. I mostly get yeast dough flavors from it, sometimes a bit of that burnt waffle people usually talk about. some creaminess, sometimes a bit of nice vanilla in the finish, sometimes more clean earthy or woody flavors
I find it has a nicer thicker body than the cheaper ripes I've had, but I'm not very experienced yet.
it hasn't knocked my socks off or anything, but it is well balanced and strangely moreish, I keep craving it every day for some reason. I guess that's the definition of a daily drinker

[Anonymous No.18869363]

Some la chao tu-ish ripe
The last brew had more nuggets in it. This just kinda has one big nugget and loose leaves

[Anonymous No.18869421]

How do you go about making tea with a high milk content, such as pic related? Whether I add milk to concentrated tea or brew in hot milk I can't get it flavourful enough to bother with. Does the fat-content of the milk matter?

[Anonymous No.18869454]

>>18869421
>brew in hot milk
try simmering in half water half milk, pretty sure that how the japs make 'royal tea'

[Anonymous No.18869455]

>>18869421
Brew thre tea really strong. Or cook the tea in the milk.
Made some chai the other day with some strong chai tea mix, made with spices and ctc black tea. 1 cup milk, 1 cup water, bring to simmer on stove, 4 tsp of strong blavck tea, simmer for 4 minutes or so, bring up to just a boil and strain.

[Anonymous No.18869495]

>>18869454
>>18869455
I have not heard of using a milk and water mix before, but it sounds logical. I shall try this the next time I buy milk.

[Anonymous No.18869522]

>>18869495
And if you are trying to do some kind of thai tea/boba thing where you add sweetened condensed milk or whatever then you just use 2x as much tea leaf as you normally would in that amount of water. Maybe even gently simmer it for 3-4 minutes

[Anonymous No.18869528]

>>18869363
Nice tea, i really need to hurry up and just get the dayi tea nuggets.

[Anonymous No.18869576]

I assume that this pic related's popularity is mostly a meme, but are there any bagged teas that are considered to be especially good or high quality? I haven't used tea bags in ages, but I'd like to try a top-tier bagged tea just for fun.

[Anonymous No.18869645]

>>18869576
There are boutique brands that sell tea in bags sure.
Its not a grocery store brand but get some vahdam English breakfast teabags you can find em on Amazon. Get some ito en green tea bags while you are at it.

[Anonymous No.18869676]

>>18869528
yeah I'm planning to order some soon as well

[Anonymous No.18869702]

>>18869645
>>18869576
highest quality teabags I've had were probably some Taiwanese oolongs a friend gifted me after her trip to Taiwan
the ripe pu-erh teabag I got as part of the CS puerh sample pack was also great. surprising beetroot notes like in well-aged liu bao
it's worth noting though that they were both in those traingular pyramid bags where the leaves get lots of space to expand. and they weren't dust obviously

[Anonymous No.18869857]

>>18868412
They arrived just now. Price here was $35.99 USD for 500g. Cute little tuos. I've never seen one before. They smell good, too. Both of the ones I got are 1801.

[Anonymous No.18869876]

>>18869576
The brand isn't a super amazing tea or anything, but Yorkshire gold is the king of grocery store teabags.

[Anonymous No.18869951]

I FUCKING LOVE CHARCOAL TIE GUAN YIN

[Anonymous No.18870043]

>>18869857
>1801
Nice, i haven't tried it myself but I've heard 2018 was a good year. The code is the year (18) and the batch number (01).It's great that tae tea sells direct on amazon now, makes things much easier for people who don't want to deal with importing a bunch of tea from china.

[Anonymous No.18870054]

>>18869951
How charcoal we talking? Ive seen those ones that just look totally black but im afraid to try them. Anyways charcoal raosted tgy is the superior tgy. I love it.

[Anonymous No.18870171]

>>18870054
which ever one comes in those vacumn sealed red packets

[Anonymous No.18870186]

>>18870171
Oh okay, its probably just normal roasted tgy. I was wondering because i have seen some listed before as "charcoal tgy" that was roasted to a crisp, the brewed leaves were completely black.

[Anonymous No.18870244]

>>18870171
I buy that shit 500g at a time

[Anonymous No.18871035]

Hello anons, can somebody help me regarding keeping tasting notes? My biggest problem is I'm always missing/lacking words to describe what I feel + poor sense of taste. My only idea as for now is to find good flavour wheel in English/my native language and start using that as a ref.
Do you have some good flavour wheels you can recommend or other techniques I could try?

[Anonymous No.18871097]

>>18871035
What's the point of these tasting notes?

[Anonymous No.18871105]

>>18871035
I see now thats tea in a scoop but i thought it was an ai generated taco at first

[Anonymous No.18871309]

>>18871097
It's something which will help me in the future to know what I like more/less. Something like internal notes.
>>18871105
Made my day, would never thought about taco! I love light oolongs.

[Anonymous No.18871319]

>>18865670

>1500 watts is the maximum wattage American power outlets are rated for

this is useful information in many ways

[Anonymous No.18871321]

some people especially older people make tea by boiling a pot with water on the stove and then pouring out the liquid to drink, or using a wood fire furnace to heat a coffee pot

[Anonymous No.18871342]

>>18871309
I see, I guess that could be useful. Never done it myself, plus I'm terrible at describing flavors, so I can't really help unfortunately.

[Anonymous No.18871582]

>20$ shipping for my KTM order
>almost definitely gonna have to pay VAT
oof, this is harsh. and I can't even order from fullchea to benefit from their cheap shipping cause they don't ship to my country for some reason... where do my fellow EU bros buy their factory ripes?

[Anonymous No.18871649]

>>18871035

[Anonymous No.18871655]

>>18869951
charcoal roasted oolongs are great in general, just finished drinking some charcoal roasted jin xuan.
Also I read of a really good way to brew rolled green oolongs, using 99C, 6-8g/100ml, brew the first infusion for 50 seconds, then the second one for 10 seconds and adding another 10 seconds for the subsequent infusions.

[Anonymous No.18871749]

>>18871655
Yeah you rrally have to hit the tolled oolongs to get them to start infusing, and then once they get going they go pretty damn quick.

[Anonymous No.18871765]

Trying out this jingmai gulan from farmer leaf. Its good tea. It doesn't have the storng punchyness as teas from some other regions but it has a solid depth and complexity. Really long lived taste on the tongue.

[Anonymous No.18871841]

>>18871342
So it's like me anon
>>18871649
Thanks!

[Anonymous No.18871847]

>>18871655
This is really good way, agree; I'm doing it even with 5g

[Anonymous No.18871849]

>>18871582
Long time ago I ordered via agents from TaoBao, later YS, and now I might do the same as you and will get fucked with VAT...

[Anonymous No.18871894]

>>18871649
I think it's good to post this with the guide on how to use it, it isn't necessarily straigthforward.
https://www.kyarazen.com/the-kz-tea-wheel/
>>18871841
My biggest advice is that real, professional tasting is hard, and you shouldn't worry about giving brief or simple tasting notes. Trying to force it doesn't really work. When you're starting out you'll mostly give notes like woody, nutty, earthy etc. as you taste more stuff and have a better calibration, you'll start to find different sorts of flavors that can be consistent across different teas that you'll want to look for words to describe. I think it's fun, but a lot of the cultural and focus around tasting is people like Mei Leaf, who do it as a performance and not as any serious exercise. China has a robust culture around tea tasting and evaluation, but it mostly hasn't been exported from what I've seen.

[Anonymous No.18871926]

>>18871849
any advice on where to buy as eufag?

[Anonymous No.18871969]

>>18871926
Not him, king tea mall does put low values on packages. But i don't know how vat works these days so i don't know if you will get charged some kind of fee anyway. You could email him and ask him if he does the vat paperwork when he ships.
Most of the vendors in the EU charge more, i don't think any of them are really great for getting affordable puer. For other kinds of loose leaf you can do decent with the eu vendors in the pastebin.
For cheap puer ideally you want to order from fullchea through aliexpress but it seems like their store is still gone. Basically you want to find a store that will ship to the EU, put a low value on the package and do the vat paperwork upfront so your postal service isn't coming after you to charge duties when it gets into the country.
The new EU shipping rules really made it hard for eurobros.

[Anonymous No.18872108]

>>18871097
It's to have a shared vocabulary when describing tea to anon. It's useful for keeping people aligned with what they're talking about.
>What are the tasting notes?
>What is the quality of the notes?

[Anonymous No.18873053]

>>18871926
>>18871969
Well, exactly this. Except that I could order locally. Unfortunately not aware of other ways anons.
>>18871894
thanks anon
>>18872108
Exactly!

[Anonymous No.18873200]

Anyone put in an order with KTM recently, how are their current shipping prices?

[Anonymous No.18873274]

>>18873200
I just did it today. made a 65$ or so order (around half kilo of tea). shipping was almost 20$, so basically the same as yunnan sourcing, but it probably depends on your location

[Anonymous No.18873319]

Google's thing for today is celebrating bubble tea, it has a little boba making game

[Anonymous No.18873346]

>>18873319
boba tisane*

[Anonymous No.18873363]

>>18873274
> (around half kilo of tea). shipping was almost 20$
Not great, not terrible

[Anonymous No.18873364]

>>18873346
no it has actual tea in the mini game
Do brits not drink tea because they load it with milk and sugar?
No they don't, but its not a tisane

[Anonymous No.18873668]

what's the general difference in taste between small and large leaf ripe pu-erhs?

[Anonymous No.18873697]

>>18873668
This is very general
Smaller leafs and buds, stronger, more bitter, infuses faster, runs out out flavor in less brews. Larger leaves + stems, sweeter, more mellow, smoother, less strong brews but more of them.
But its going to vary based on processing, fermentation level, the batch of tea leaves used etc.

[Anonymous No.18873713]

>>18861738
None of the shops in Chinatown had lapsang souchong either. I picked up some gunpowder green tea there, but I just tried it and it's disappointingly similar to regular green tea (I prefer hoji-cha as far as green teas go). Lapsang souchong is black, which I generally prefer, and I'd rather find it in store because ordering food online is generally about twice as expensive.

[Anonymous No.18873754]

>>18865633
>>18865721
Sadly, there's no kettle in existence that I could find that *turns on* at a fixed alarm time. There are alarm clock coffee makers and alarm clock kettles, but nothing exists for kettles where you can actually put water in, set the alarm, and when the alarm goes off the water heating begins. This would greatly improve my mornings as it would significantly reduce the number of minutes and steps in between waking up and getting to drink tea.

Anyone want to go in and invest in a product like this? It could be mocked up in a day or less -- just override the lever press required to activate existing kettles, and use one with an alarm and a water level safety as your base model.

[Anonymous No.18873768]

>>18873754
Get a wall outlet timer and leave your kettle in the on position at night

[Anonymous No.18873843]

>>18873768
>leave your kettle in the on position
Try it. Simple experiment to see how the switch on your kettle works. Unplug the kettle and hold down the activation switch, then plug the kettle back in. Does it start?

On the models people tried it with (because others have tried rigging this up online), it does not -- and it should not if the switch is properly designed.

[Anonymous No.18873989]

>>18873754
Govee's gooseneck kettle has the ability within its app
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TSKDKCL/

The only problem I've had with it is the opening. It's a bit small for my magnum hands, so it can be annoying to clean.

[Anonymous No.18874010]

>>18873989
>needing an app to access features on your kettle

[Anonymous No.18874022]

>>18873989
And once I connect my microwave to the internet and pair it to my phone via bluetooth I'll be able to cook things on half-power.

Fucking puh-lease. I want a simple one-switch no-IC capability from a commercial tea kettle (+ alarm clock), not a Raspberry Pi with a usb heating coil attached.

[Anonymous No.18874026]

>>18874010
I know, but for the price I can't complain. The base has preset buttons which I've used 99% of the time since I've owned it. I was curious about the app, so I downloaded to poke around.

[Anonymous No.18874033]

>>18874022
>The iMicrowave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw2nkoGLhrE

[Anonymous No.18874767]

>>18867655
>/tea/ and Monet
Man of culture. I don't have a suggestion for puerh though, sorry.

[Anonymous No.18874776]

>>18874026
>for the price I can't complain.
I wouldn't take it for free. Smart kettles and their consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

[Anonymous No.18874782]

>>18861227
Would it be possible to make a tea that's halfway between white tea and green tea, the way oolong is halfway between black tea and green tea? White/green blends have won me over.

[Anonymous No.18874811]

>>18861227
Where did all this autistic "brew tea x at temperature y for z minutes" shit come from? Literally nobody from tea-drinking cultures in Asia follows these gay ass rules, they just chuck their leaves in a pot, pour boiling water over them, wait a few minutes then drink it. Seems like it was just invented as a way to sell overpriced tea leaves to Americans who want to feel fancy.

[Anonymous No.18874823]

>>18874811
>thinking the Japanese put boiling water on sencha

[Anonymous No.18874826]

>>18874823
I'm not talking about Japanese people, the most autistic nation on Earth. I'm talking about ordinary Asians.

[Anonymous No.18874856]

>>18874826
>goalpost
Controlling the temperature of the water is the only way to prevent green tea from getting too bitter, and literally every country with green tea knows that.
If anything, it's Americans who boil green tea and then need sugar or honey to fix it.

[Anonymous No.18874886]

>>18874856
Like I said, I've experienced first-hand in various green tea drinking countries in Asia like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China, that they don't brew at a specific temperature, they just pour boiling water straight into the pot. If you go to these countries and suggest using 90 degree water you will just get laughed out of the room like the autist you are.

From my own personal experience, boiling water doesn't make green tea bitter. What makes it bitter is:
- shitty quality tea leaves, usually from a bag
- not allowing the leaves room to expand, such as using an infuser basket
- adding too many leaves to the pot

[Anonymous No.18874969]

>>18874886
Go ahead and tell a jap to boil their gyokuro, we both know what they’ll say. In China it’s different as they brew the green tea in a gai wan and the wide shallow cup cools the water off

[Anonymous No.18875007]

>>18874969
There's no point arguing with you since you'll believe whatever your online tea shops selling tea for $10 per 100g tell you. You're a complete mug and they're laughing at how easy it is to sucker you out of your money.

[Anonymous No.18875028]

>>18875007
Thank you for admitting you lost the argument

[Anonymous No.18875037]

>>18875028
I didn't "lose" the argument. You keep bringing up Japan which is the only counterexample to what I'm saying. Everything except specialist Japanese green teas can be brewed with boiling water. It's also obvious from the way you talk that you're one of those guys who got suckered into "tea tasting" so you spend ridiculous amounts of money buying small quantities of tea from online shops like Yunnan Sourcing designed to take advantage of suckers like you.

[Anonymous No.18875139]

[Anonymous No.18875553]

Is it normal that earl grey tea smells like piss?

[Anonymous No.18875584]

>>18875553
Tea should not smell like piss

[Anonymous No.18875743]

>>18871035
Find a tea that has tasting notes everyone almost unanimously agrees with, taste that tea and try to find those flavors that others taste and develope your pallete.

[Anonymous No.18875779]

>>18874811
>>18874886
from what I know the Chinese in most green tea centric areas brew green tea straight in the glass or in glass pots with no lid, so that the heat dissipates quickly and the tea doesn't get bitter even if you use really hot water

but your whole argument is kind of retarded. it's like saying "the average westerner just drinks instant coffee with milk and sugar, so everyone who tries to do anything else with it is wrong and brainwashed!"

[Anonymous No.18876110]

Some good old fashioned cheap xiagun tuo

[Anonymous No.18876112]

>>18876110
which tuo is it? how's it taste?

[Anonymous No.18876161]

>>18876112
2009 te je
Typical xiaguan smokey sweet mushroom broth
Its decent, nothing amazing.

[Anonymous No.18876172]

So I just ran through my entire stockpile of sencha. Should I bother trying other Japanese teas like gyokuro? That shit is mad expensive and I'm afraid it would fall short of expectations.

[Anonymous No.18876214]

Fuck, I just bought some low-grade gyokuro. Why did nobody stop me?

[Anonymous No.18876268]

>>18876214
Should wait to buy that untill its fresh after spring harvest. Really its not even a great time to be buying sencha right now.
Anyway its different from sencha, if you will enjoy the differences and think its worth the extra money is another question, some posters love it, some think its too strong/intense

[Anonymous No.18876275]

>>18861227
made green tea yesterday for the first time in awhile. Bretty kino

[Anonymous No.18876299]

>>18876268
>Should wait to buy that untill its fresh after spring harvest.
Yeah, probably. I'm just used to buying tea every couple months or so. I'm not at that level of autism yet

[Anonymous No.18876341]

what types of tea do you guys drink the most nowadays and why?
for me it's:
>sencha
love it in the morning for the caffeine kick and brewing with colder water means I can drink it immediately without cha hai and shit like that. I also like the savory-sweet contrast and find it more flavorful and interesting than any chinese greens I've had
>ripe pu-erh
I love the strong flavor after a good meal. I like that it usually doesn't have a strong caffeine kick, good tea for relaxing. I like the body and the fact it's usually not too expensive
>taiwanese oolongs
creamy, sweet, hard to overbrew. great everyday teas for me

[Anonymous No.18876344]

>>18876341
>Liu bao
Like ripe puer but better, easy on the stomach, warming, easy to brew lazily
>Raw puer, mostly young these days
Strong, loud, sweet, bombastic, gets me going in the morning
>Ripe puer
Rich warm soft loads of caffeine for whatever reason

[Anonymous No.18876470]

>>18876110
>>18876161
I have quite a lot of these bad boys, they are not bad

[Anonymous No.18876487]

I'm brewing every teas (oolong, raw puerh, etc) using gongfu method in small glass kettle my whole life. I have gaiwan, but don't have yixing teapot. I know heat escape faster, but except that it taste ok for me. Do I really need to spend some stupid amount of money on teapot? Would that make any BIG difference in taste?

[Anonymous No.18876501]

>>18861227
Why does it taste so good?

[Anonymous No.18876507]

>>18876501
because everything else at the grocery store tastes like butt in comparison

[Anonymous No.18876517]

>>18876487
>Do I really need to spend some stupid amount of money on teapot?
nope. clay pots aren't objectively better or anything

[Anonymous No.18876533]

>>18876487
>Would that make any BIG difference in taste?
not at all, yixing pots mostly just smooth out the edges or will bring some flavours more upfront though it depends on the tea, the more porous it is the more effect on the tea it has i think.
Unfortunately if you want a yixing one you have to spend minimum 100usd and buy from a reputable seller or you are most likely getting scammed, nixing teapots are cheaper (usually around 75usd for a well made one) and much lower chance of getting scammed.
>I know heat escape faster, but except that it taste ok for me.
can get a cheap glazed stoneware gaiwan if you want to get a pot that holds heat better without being sketchy, usually around 20-30usd
tokoname teapots can be pretty cheap also if you primarily drink green teas

[Anonymous No.18876545]

don't mind me just the greatest tea in the world coming thru

[Anonymous No.18876580]

>>18876545
Really? I couldn't get past a few sips of that stuff

[Anonymous No.18876652]

>>18876517
>>18876533
So much knowledge! Thanks anons.

[Anonymous No.18876656]

>>18876545
>don't mind me just the greatest tea in the world coming thru
It's interesting, my Mom likes it

[Anonymous No.18876763]

>>18874886
what was uzbekistan like? how was their tea culture? I wonder if they all still use handle-less teacups

[Anonymous No.18877041]

Tea beginner here.
I tried and liked Bigelow's oolong, but Twinings is lighter, less earthy, and more of a green tea flavor to it. Is there supposed to be that much variation in oolong?
I prefer Bigelow's to Twining's here. What beginner-level brands should I look for?

[Anonymous No.18877079]

>>18877041
oolong is one of the most varied categories of tea, because it can be more or less oxidized. the less oxidized stuff is closer to green tea, more oxidized to black tea generally. also, oolong can be roasted to various degrees, which can also change the flavor completely. there are many different types of oolong, some of them can be very fresh and smell of flowers and fruit, while others are bready, nutty, sweet or even minetal in taste

you generally shouldn't buy tea by prepackaged supermarket brands if you want to buy good quality stuff. you should be buying it from trusted vendors, who you can find in the pastebin.

[Anonymous No.18877086]

>>18877041
>Is there supposed to be that much variation in oolong?
yes you can get big variation in tea picked from the same mountain. oolongs typically come either as fermented 'green tea' or oxidised fermented 'black tea'
>What beginner-level brands should I look for?
loose will always be better than bagged, get a gaiwan or brewing basket that fits in your mug. vahdam is good for indian and sells on amazon, im guessing as your just starting out you wouldn't want to dive right in to importing from chinese suppliers. look out for iron goddess of mercy/Tieguanyin and Da Hong Pao/Big Red Robe. you'll be able to get both off amazon/tea houses/chinese stores although buying off an actual tea seller will give better quality and probably a little cheaper/quality

[Anonymous No.18877434]

I want to fucking die I am such a retard holy shit.
Last night I was wanking off to ara ara onee-sans I noticed that I had no toilet paper near me so I took a couple of tea filters and cleaned myself up with them instead, which would be fine and all but I noticed just now that some of them are missing and I know that the worst happened considering that I filled up some bags and drank black tea.

[Anonymous No.18877626]

>>18877434
The wage of sin is death.

[Anonymous No.18877684]

>>18861227
I’ve recently tried floral teas and have been really enjoying them. They’re definitely more tasteful and benefical than the other leafy or plant based teas. Chamomile, Jasmine, Hibiscus, and Rose tea are my favorites.

[Anonymous No.18877690]

>>18877434
What the fuck

[Anonymous No.18877726]

>>18877434

[Anonymous No.18877765]

>>18876763
>I wonder if they all still use handle-less teacups
Yep, tea is always drunk from pic related. I guess the idea is that a wider surface area makes it cool down to drinking temperature more quickly.

As for their actual tea drinking culture there's nothing interesting to say. It's a country that really loves tea, it's drunk by everyone there. Every cafe and restaurant serves green tea and black tea as standard. But the idea of tasting certain varieties of tea like a Japanese gyokuro or a Chinese longjing would be completely foreign to them. They're interested in tea as an every day thing to be drunk and enjoyed rather than something special with tasting notes.

[Anonymous No.18877775]

>>18876763
A little fact is that turkic coutries really love tea. Mostly black tea. Turkey’s the major tea drinker of the world.

[Anonymous No.18877809]

>>18877765
that's awesome, I'd love to find some authentic uzbeki teacups

[Anonymous No.18878014]

>>18877434
So you drank a little cum big whoop

[Anonymous No.18878120]

>>18876344
any reccs for good value liu bao?

[Anonymous No.18878303]

>>18878120
>any reccs for good value liu bao?
Purple cloud tea house has a bunch, they are away right now but when they get back any affordable tin or box of china tea/doutei tea from them would be a solid choice. Im drinking the black box china tea from them right now and it's fantastic 20¢/g isn't cheap but its a fantastic price for the quality you get. They also have a bunch of cheaper boxes/tins

[Anonymous No.18878754]

>>18877434
whens the last time you hit the gym

[Anonymous No.18878789]

>be me
>want to try KTM
>put $30 of tea in my cart
>now $27
>there's a 10% off sale going on
>nice.png
>begin checkout
>shipping is $24
>nope.jpg

[Anonymous No.18878811]

>>18878789
KTM gets a lot of my business but you really need to order over half a kilo of tea at a time for the shipping to make sense. Really most shipping from china has beenway too expensive since covid.
Judt buy some $40 cake from farmer leaf instead, free shipping.

[Anonymous No.18878846]

>>18878789
Also most of these sites have some sort of fixed shipping cost per item, im guessing because they hate people ordering two dozen samples. So if you order a bunch of low weight items they will still have some base shipping fee of $10 + $2.50 per item or something like that.
Yunnan sourcing used to add $10 to your shipping if you added a fragile item to your order.

[Anonymous No.18879520]

hey teafags what's the best book on teas: history and recipes welcome but mainly i'm interested in actual scientific studies done on health benefits.. like real studies not some yoga hippy anecdotal $0 kindle book. any good recommendations welcome.

t. litfag

ps i drink a lot of Stash. hate, rate, debate?

[Anonymous No.18879931]

>>18879520
Puer tea ancient caravans and urban chic, you've probably gotten this recommendation before though.
Most good tea literature is untranslated and in Japanese or Chinese, its very hard to find scans of them too but they are usually not very expensive if you can find them being sold somewhere. the puer tea book has references to many other books but i havent looked into them yet
>but mainly i'm interested in actual scientific studies done on health benefits
theres not really that many health benefits from tea that you wouldnt get from just drinking water, its mostly just as a thing they say to sell their tea as its not really disproven either, i recall some anon posting articles about it before but it was a few months ago. just focus on the taste.

[Anonymous No.18879951]

>>18877684
>Hibiscus
Can you gongfu this? I want the taste and benefits but not more than one cup at a time.

[Anonymous No.18879996]

>>18879951
you could also just brew up a big pot of it and drink one cup at a time. stuff's better as a cooling drink in the summer anyway

[Anonymous No.18880114]

>>18879951
I just use basic tea bags because it’s winter up north. I wouldn’t recommend more then two cups. Hibiscus tea is a very powerful drink that could be negative if over consumed. I would look more into it for prefered preperation style/technique.

[Anonymous No.18880148]

>>18868295
>>18869857
did you try them already?

[Anonymous No.18880182]

>>18861238
hey man, roasted tie guan yin from purple cloud is solid but yeah, price can be steep. have you tried wuyi yancha? it's a bit more budget-friendly and still packed with flavor. or if you're feeling adventurous, give bai hao a shot, it's a unique one.

[Anonymous No.18880379]

>>18880182
>have you tried wuyi yancha? it's a bit more budget-friendly
Man i wish, i made the mistake of developing very expensive taste in yancha. 50¢ per gram or more
I need to try some of the stuff KTM has, he has some slightly more reasonable ones on offer but generally yancha is $$$

[Anonymous No.18880504]

>>18854569
Either the gyokuro or sencha. The packages aren't labeled with anything other than the brand, so I need to open one of them to see which is which.

Also picked up pic related from Tsushima. There's only 1 tea farm on Tsushima and they specialize in black tea rather than green tea like the rest of Japan.

[Anonymous No.18880807]

>>18880504
I really need to try Japanese black tea. It seems like i might really enjoy it

[Anonymous No.18881328]

>>18880807
>>18880504
what does Japanese black tea taste like?

[Anonymous No.18881385]

>>18865633
I think they're a meme. It takes next to no time to heat up 500mL water in my v60 kettle.

[Anonymous No.18881483]

>>18881385
>500ml
I need at least a litre of water for any tea related activity

[Anonymous No.18882044]

why does drinking tea in the bath feel so weird

[Anonymous No.18882074]

>>18882044
Too dry

[Anonymous No.18882143]

>>18867655
>what are your favorite factory ripe recipes
Try something from fuhai, their 2000s ripes are very nice, i haven't tried any of their more recent productions.
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/
Has a bunch of cheap fuhai ripe cakes

[Anonymous No.18882318]

>>18880148
I'm going to let them rest for a while before trying. This weekend I'll bust one open. How exactly does one pry apart a tuo? I feel like I have some skill over your average compression cake. How does that translate?
>>18882143
>awazon
I would absolutely never purchase from this website.

[Anonymous No.18882319]

>>18881483
Why so much? Multiple people?

[Anonymous No.18882354]

>>18882318
>I would absolutely never purchase from this website.
You are not yet ready.

[Anonymous No.18882361]

>>18882354
how is this possible?

[Anonymous No.18882393]

>>18882361
It's cheap taidi, they probably pick mechanically, they don't operate a storefront, and you have to buy in bulk and pay for shipping. Did you think those peasants in Yunnan were drinking tea all day at 0.15/g?

[Anonymous No.18882403]

https://empiricaltea.com/water-recipe-original/
New water autism just dropped, what do you guys think?

[Anonymous No.18882487]

>>18882318
>I would absolutely never purchase from this website.
Your missing out, cheap shipping, prices frozen in 2012, a couple posters have ordered from them and stuff shows up fine. Just don't buy their cheap own brand tea and expect anything special.

[Anonymous No.18882499]

>>18882318
>How exactly does one pry apart a tuo?
Put the tuo down with the dent on the bottom, go around about an inch from the edge with the pick and push downwards/pry outwards. Once you have the loosest tea around the edges removed you can either pry a layer off the top or just break the rest into chunks with your fingers.

[Anonymous No.18882511]

>>18882403
This is way more complex then the other water recipes ive seen

[Anonymous No.18882604]

>>18882361
Oh its possible, i just wouldn't suggest buying a cheap tong like that. I guese it might be fun to get a cake just to find out whats going on but i would probably consider it a just for fun kind of purchase

[Anonymous No.18882720]

How are you. tea cucks able to talk about tea all day? Jfc

[Anonymous No.18882985]

Does anyone know where to get a nice handmade Gaiwan? I have tons of Japanese pottery but no good high quality Chinese pottery I'd Ike a nice handmade gaiwan.

[Anonymous No.18883022]

>>18882985
https://mudandleaves.com/collections/gaiwans

[Anonymous No.18883507]

>>18882985
Bitterleaf teas
Kong mountain tea
https://www.etsy.com/shop/GraceTeawares
https://www.craftedleaf-tea.com

[Anonymous No.18883767]

>>18882403
added to the pastebin water section, thanks
this guy has several different recipes for creating different flavor profiles, this seems logical to me over the idea of their being one singe ideal mineral blend for all tea brewing.

[Anonymous No.18883912]

>>18882985
Where'd you get the Jap stuff? Do the spouts dribble?

[Anonymous No.18883937]

>>18883912
Artistic nippon and hojotea, the kyusu I do have dribble yeah but my shiboridashis are fine, though they're different.

[Anonymous No.18884008]

Essence of tea three leaf liubao
I have been looking forward to trying this, this will be the first liubao I've had with the clasic historical processing method of repeated steaming rolling and frying, wuth the fermentation taking place entirely during storage and not as part of the initial processing of the tea.

[Anonymous No.18884037]

>>18884008
Rich, complex, warm, long finish, a bit more sweetness then i usually find in liubao
Good stuff, price is a little rich for my blood but i would love to buy a kilo or so of this to hold on to.

[Anonymous No.18884046]

>>18883937
Dribble is my biggest fear and why I'm reluctant to buy a nice kyusu. I thing shiborodashis are just easier to get right because of the sharp beak.

[Anonymous No.18884113]

>>18878303
a store near me offers black box china tea for 25 cents / gram and duoteli first grade box for like 18 cents per gram.
does that sound like an ok deal?

[Anonymous No.18884125]

>>18884113
Yeah those are both around where they should be.

[Anonymous No.18884161]

>>18884125
nice to know, always good to not have to ship from China

[Anonymous No.18884653]

>>18883912
What is dribble?

[Anonymous No.18884667]

Just a casual 12g shou granda brewing session today

[Anonymous No.18884675]

>>18884667
Powerful stuff. I hope you have a big ass mug

[Anonymous No.18884709]

>>18884653
It's when after you pee and zip up your fly there's still a few drops that leak down your leg.

[Anonymous No.18884776]

>>18884709
I hate getting old.

[Anonymous No.18884834]

>recover from the coof
>think my sense of smell is coming back
>drink a fancy tea to celebrate
>I can't taste it

[Anonymous No.18884841]

>>18884834
Took me ages for my sense of smell and taste to get back to 100%, it did get there eventually though

[Anonymous No.18884881]

>>18884667
>12g grandpa style
sounds like some thicc stuff. do you eat it with a spoon? lol

[Anonymous No.18884948]

>>18861227
dumb rural american here.
what's the deal with milk in tea?
ive been trying it and its not been very good, its flavor with milk and sugar just doesn't seem to work well at all (unlike say coffee, even though i prefer say coffee, black, coffee with cream is just fine and i get the appeal), at its best id describe it as a sort of vanilla cookie, but it mostly is not working very well.

also any oolong (or any good tea) to recommend for a tea newbie? (ideally in a bag cause im lazy and just make it for myself, but loose leaf is fine if the quality is good enough)

[Anonymous No.18884996]

Why do the more fermented teas have higher caffeine content than green tea? Surely there is no actual additional caffeine being produced in the process, so what's making the per-serving difference?

[Anonymous No.18885037]

>>18881328
nuclear radiation

[Anonymous No.18885062]

how is houjicha not black tea?
you'd really think

[Anonymous No.18885066]

>>18884948
Milk makes tea crushable, sessionable and refreshing. Less astringent, less bitter. You can brew it stronger. Have you been making it the same with and without milk?

[Anonymous No.18885136]

>>18861227
Newfag here. Is there any actual benefit to the gooseneck or is just for style?

[Anonymous No.18885160]

>>18885066
>crushable
>sessionable
can you clarify what you mean by these, i don't know how these apply.
>refreshing
>less bitter
that's fair
>Less astringent
that was a part i like

>Have you been making it the same with and without milk?
sort of, i heat up enough water for half of a like 12oz mug, put two tea bags in, but instead of water and ice, i used a bit of water, some sugar (like a spoon full), and then some milk (2%, but then a dash of cream just to give it the best shot).
sorry if that's not descriptive, im not that kind of person to go super precise.

[Anonymous No.18885184]

>>18884948
yeah I also don't like milk in my tea
try some taiwanese oolongs. most of them are easy to brew grandpa style (straight in the mug), so you can be lazy even with loose leaf tea
you can try Jin Xuan oolong which is naturally a little milky and buttery in a more harmonious way. Dong Ding and Tie Guan Yin are also solid starters. I hear that Hairy Crab oolong over at Yunnan Sourcing is also nice and not too expensive

[Anonymous No.18885190]

>>18885136
the gooseneck is more for coffee autists who want to minmax their drip brewing I think
for tea, I prefer a normal snout myself

[Anonymous No.18885200]

>>18861249
I'd say this was worth the money. The oolong and grey are both better than twinnings. I haven't tried the Ceylon yet.

[Anonymous No.18885210]

>>18885184
thanks, sounds good.
one question, this may be dumb, but is tea time sensitive like coffee? or can i but some and wait to drink, cause i get through tea relatively slowly so that will affect when and how much i buy.

[Anonymous No.18885258]

>>18885210
Tea keeps very well. Autism Japanese green tea goes stale pretty quickly (6 months to 1 year) but black tea, oolong etc keeps well for years as long as it's stored in some sort of air tight container or bag.

[Anonymous No.18885266]

i like black tea from goran mevlana, Cyakur tomurcuk earl Grey, and english breakfast tea from twinings, any other brands i can taste ? or is this just basic bitch stuff ? and if yes, literally any black tea will taste good for me ?

[Anonymous No.18885287]

>>18885210
the rule of thumb with tea is that the greener it is, the worse it keeps. so japanese green tea keeps the worst, followed by non-japanese green-tea, followed by low oxidized oolong, followed by everything else...

[Anonymous No.18885490]

When is the time to start ordering Spring greens/etc? Been busy since late Dec, so I've missed most posts since then. I keep skipping out on the prime seasons every year; figure it's a good time to buy this time, if the yen is still weak.

[Anonymous No.18885548]

>>18885490
They claim they start picking in April but I only see finished tea available in May.

[Anonymous No.18885727]

>>18882487
What should I expect from their cheap own brand tea, then? Aging material? Cheapest shit imaginable? Something I should just avoid altogether?

[Anonymous No.18885729]

>>18885266
Not familiar with that tea but it's probably okay black tea. Try indian teas, assam specifically.

[Anonymous No.18885742]

>>18885727
No idea, i wouldn't be surprised if its pretty bland or rough

[Anonymous No.18885754]

>>18885727
I hear their ripe pu-erh tastes like rotting fish. raw might be a bit better, but I'd still be cautious

[Anonymous No.18885759]

>>18885742
>>18885754
I'm very interested in trying it. I'd like to try the gamut of badly regarded teas to round out my understanding of puerh.

[Anonymous No.18885805]

>>18885548
Good to know I still have plenty of time, thanks. Though, I wonder what lads will be drinking until then for the season. I've been off my regular schedule of tea, but it isn't feeling as nippy as it was weeks ago anymore. What has the general been hyped for lately anyway?
>>18882985
https://www.chawangshop.com/
They have nice masterwork wood-fired handmade gaiwans and cups. Some part of a limited series, some individually sold 1/1s, and decent prices. I was using mine almost every day before some schedule changes in December. Recommend their Bada region reds and whites while you buy from them too.

[Anonymous No.18885854]

>>18865633

electric kettles, man... i mean, they're convenient i guess, but it's not the same as using a traditional kettle on the stove. just feels like you're missing out on the experience, y'know? but hey, to each their own. if you're into electric kettles, go for it. no need to listen to me, i'm just an old-fashioned tea head.

[Anonymous No.18885883]

>>18885854
Agreed.
btw I use induction

[Anonymous No.18885899]

>>18865900
boba, huh? it's that sweet chewy tapioca stuff you find in those bubble tea drinks. not really my cup of tea (pun intended), but some folks seem to love it. just adds another layer of sweetness to an already sugary drink. but hey, if that's your thing, enjoy it! just don't come cryin to me when your teeth fall out from all that sugar.

[Anonymous No.18886106]

>>18885854
Post kettle

[Anonymous No.18886874]

>>18865633
Inexpensive and convenient for repeat infusions during gong fu sessions. More convenient and adjustable than standard stove kettles too. Anyone drinking tea regularly should consider getting one even if they ultimately decide against it.

[Anonymous No.18887250]

>>18885759
well, a cake will barely cost you anything anyway. and you can round out your order with some of non-sussy brands they offer

[Anonymous No.18887570]

>>18885883
looking at an induction plate + tetsubin setup to replace my 100% plastic electric kettle currently, what kettle are you using on induction and how well does it work? will be a bit sad not being able to choose the temperature like with a good electric kettle but i've seen a lot of them dying after 3 years

[Anonymous No.18887602]

>>18876172
It did for me, but I'm just not fond of umami in tea generally. If you like sencha that tastes like potatoes, you should give gyokoro a try. It's not nearly as difficult to brew as one might think.
Consider trying some matcha, which is course also expensive, because it's made from gyokoro after all, but tastes a bit different, and is a novel experience to brew compared to any other tea.

[Anonymous No.18887617]

>>18887602
>If you like sencha that tastes like potatoes
interesting, I always get more chicken stock and algae than potatoes out of the really umami heavy senchas

[Anonymous No.18887720]

>>18887570
>looking at an induction plate + tetsubin setup to replace my 100% plastic electric kettle currently
Not that anon but this is a pretty sweet setup. I guess you could also look at an electric heating element + a clay/cermaic/stoneware kettle as well they both have pros and cons. With cast iron you don't have to worry about temperature shock (maybe if you put ice cubes in a hot kettle or something) so you can refill and boil more water in the middle of a session, but you do have to worry about rust, so you have to make sure to empty the kettle after use. With clay you have to worry about temp shock so if your kettle is already hot you have to refill it with water that has already been heated, but then you don't have to worry about rust.
Personally im too lazy for either so i use an electric kettle that is 100% steel on the inside.
https://www.amazon.com/Secura-Electric-Stainless-Protection-K15-F1E/dp/B087BRBX4Q/

[Anonymous No.18887741]

Drinking this 2022 white tea from farmer leaf.
Second white tea ive ever had but the first one was junk. Really nice stuff. He said he goes for a higher level of oxidation and some black tea elements are definitely noticeable. Sweet, fuity, mild smooth black tea aspects. Very nice tea. Can't believe i haven't gotten around to buying any nice white tea yet. I can see why that one poster loves this stuff so much.
I guess i need to order some assamica/moonlight white tea now

[Anonymous No.18887928]

drinking some smoked tea from Malawi right now. I like the balance of smokiness to tea flavor, it's much better than the cheap commodity lapsangs I've had so far but nowhere near as expensive as the proper wood-smoked lapsangs
very warming, nice stuff for the winter

[Anonymous No.18888013]

>>18885759
Get a cake and let us know. I'm very interested in how their brand tea is as well

[Anonymous No.18888076]

Turns out that Fullchea don't ship to Sweden, and their Amazon page is out of stock. Any recs for someone wanting to get into ripes for the first time? Would like some young sheng as well, if you know any.

[Anonymous No.18888138]

>>18888076
kingteamall and yunnan sourcing are good options, though with somewhat expensive shipping
farmerleaf is a good option for young sheng cause they have free shipping over 40$
if you're feeling adventurous you could try ordering some ripe cakes from that Awazon site some anon linked. they have really well-priced cakes from Dayi and Haiwan even if their own brand is a little sussy

[Anonymous No.18888268]

>>18887928
Man i love smoked tea. My local asian market used to have some butterfly brand lapsang but i guess some guy bought all of it and they haven't been able to get more.
Malawi smoked tea sounds interesting. I know they have at least one estate there that is trying to do more interesting things then typical commodity black tea for teabags

[Anonymous No.18888280]

>>18888268
yea the tea was called Malawi Moto. see if you can find it, it's pretty nice

[Anonymous No.18888315]

>>18888076
Man im annoyed at fullchea, they are really screwing our EU bros over.
Anyway this shop is fine and im pretty sure they ship to the EU
Grab one of these
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=219
This is not a young raw but should be nice
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=134
Maybe a 100g sample of this as well if you want to try something else
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=193

[Anonymous No.18888324]

>>18888315
>Man im annoyed at fullchea, they are really screwing our EU bros over.
yeah, it's annoying, I'd totally buy there with their cheap shipping and good prices. but now that their aliexpress store is gone I can't order from their main page...

[Anonymous No.18888342]

>>18884996
Supposedly in the coffee world, a single light-roast bean has more caffeine than a dark-roast bean, but since the dark beans weigh less you end up using more of them for the equivalent dose, and potentially more caffeine ends up in the brew. It's not a one-to-one comparison with fermented teas, but something like that is possible. Doubt there's really that big a gap between the categories overall when it comes to caffeine though.

>>18885210
Being into both, one major advantage of tea is how little it matters how long you wait before using your leaves. Greens are best drunk young but people overstate how much it matters. I'm still sipping last spring's sencha and gyokuro and enjoying it just fine.

>>18885854
I just hate the sounds stovetop kettles make, it's way more stress than I want in my teamaking.

>>18887741
White tea has so much going for it. Tasty, easy to brew, easy to store, not too strong, still pretty cheap, probably around as healthy as green. Did you get any pu'er? My farmerleaf order from November finally came in a few days ago and I'm giving everything a little time to adjust.

[Anonymous No.18888397]

>>18877079
>>18877086
Sorry for the late reply. Thank you for your help!

[Anonymous No.18888500]

>>18888315
>http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=134
Sell me on this one. How does it taste?

[Anonymous No.18888576]

Trying to drink some hot tea after eating food with Tabasco sauce on it. OUCH!

[Anonymous No.18888684]

this is why I hate reddit and come here instead...
today's cup: baihao yinzhen

[Anonymous No.18888869]

>>18888684
>8 years ago
Sister...

[Anonymous No.18888939]

i found out my maths teacher likes chinese tea now im going to be really autistic to him to find out how deep into it he is this is fucking cool i hopes hes not a teabag poser

[Anonymous No.18889148]

don't use http://www.pu-erhtea.com/ if you don't want to have your data stolen and misused
http://pu-erhtea.com/TeaType.aspx?typeID=%22

[Anonymous No.18889201]

>>18889148
What's going on in the pic

[Anonymous No.18889214]

>>18889201
let's just say they have poor security

[Anonymous No.18889388]

>>18888500
>How does it taste?
Haven't tried it, im familiar with that factory (Long Yuan Hao) and ive had some nice teas from them from that era. I expect a nice semi aged factory puer. Recipie looks like its got a decent amout of buds in it so it should have some decent strength to it.
That shop has very dry aging so i expect the tea to still have most of its original character but with the edges softened and rounded out, and any green tastes aged off.

[Anonymous No.18889394]

>>18889148
>Nooo muh sql injection muh no https
Thry don't even process payments via their website, calm down

[Anonymous No.18889447]

>>18889394
you're forgetting the part where a system user is running the vulnerable database, which can be used to escalate privilege and control the machine and therefore control anything that goes through this website including the payment process

[Anonymous No.18889490]

>>18889447
Oh no, and then they will send a token to paypal asking for $5000 for dimitry popov and then i will say no.

[Anonymous No.18889521]

>>18889447
>Noooo they're gonna steal your credit card info
Not my problem

[Anonymous No.18889866]

Having some of that yee on tea best taste ripe
It's no amazing but its good for grampa style
i need to try boiling some

[Anonymous No.18890335]

>>18887250
>>18888013
I hear what you're saying, but from an opsec perspective, I can't bring myself to order from them.
>>18889148
Exactly
>>18889394
Their login is also over http. This shit matters in current year + x

[Anonymous No.18890364]

>>18890335
Okay enjoy not buying good tea so you can larp as opsec aware

[Anonymous No.18890415]

Seriously, you are afraid you are going to to mitm attacked logging into a website that sells tea and what? They are going to steal your login credentials? That you don't use on any other website because you are good at "opsec"
This other nigga is talking about sql injection attacks and privilege escalation. So some guy is going to hack this website and instead of turning it into some zombie spam vigra advertisement they are going to leave it 100% the same except have it pass tokens to paypal to change the account requesting payment with one they they control instead? Somebody is going to get your address and do what with it? If you are going to act like a security researcher learn how to actually evaluate risk.

[Anonymous No.18890422]

>>18890364
>>18890415
Embarrassing, desu

[Anonymous No.18890436]

>>18890415
You shouldn't underestimate the unbridled autism of trannies who literally have nothing better to do than harass 4ch anons.

[Anonymous No.18890440]

Muh https noo

[Anonymous No.18890634]

>>18889148
I wasn't going to buy it anyways. All Chinese tea is sketchy. Thank you for the heads up irregardless.

[Anonymous No.18891074]

My teamasters order from today.

[Anonymous No.18891339]

>>18891074
Fuckin A
Tea masters is pretty solid, i have been happy with my orders from them.
Have you gotten any 100+k teas before? Any qualitys you really enjoy from them?

[Anonymous No.18891391]

>>18889866
how does the taste differ from a more typically stored ripe?

[Anonymous No.18891487]

>>18891391
With Hong Kong traditional storage you get a kind of earthy soil flavor, the tea is very rounded out and mellow and the taste of the storage is fairly prominent. Sometimes you get prerty strong camphor notes but that's not necessarily ideal. You definitely get some aspects of mustyness or wet storage taste and it usually benefits froma solid rinse before you start brewing it, depending on what your tolerance for funk its. Think earthy, beet root, root cellar, it's a very transformative process and needs to be managed by somone with a lot of experience and understanding of traditional storage for best resuts. Each HK vendor will have a sort of specific house flavor based on their exact process which is pretty interesting.
Teadb has a decent post about it
https://teadb.org/what-to-expect-from-traditionally-stored-tea/
https://teadb.org/some-thoughts-problems-about-traditionally-stored-puerh/
If you want to try some ripe from YOT this is my favorite of the several i tried and its on the more affordable end of his range. (Prices are in hong kong dollars)
https://yeeonteaco.com/collections/puerh/products/2008-ripe-puerh-tea-brick-jinggu-factory

[Anonymous No.18891657]

>>18891487
so sort of like aged liu bao?

[Anonymous No.18891693]

>>18891657
Yeah, the storage tachniqe is similar

[Anonymous No.18891720]

Speaking of liubao, EOT signature grade
this stuff is good, probably a bit expensive for what it is. I see some seed pods kicking around in the tea
I dont necessarily think fall tea is bad, but this essentially ungraded tea and a the fact that its also fall harvest makes the price a bit of an ask. I guess in it's defense it seems to be made with something a little nicer than plantation bushes.
The black box china tea liubao that purple cloud sells is competitive for half the price

[Anonymous No.18891745]

hey I made a new thread because this one is nearing 300 replies now
>>18891730

[Anonymous No.18891758]

>>18891745
The bump limit is 309 posts
Thanks for making a new thread but please dont dont make new threads early, jannies don't like it when two copies of a general are on the front page

[Anonymous No.18891762]

[Anonymous No.18891766]

[Anonymous No.18891769]

[Anonymous No.18891775]

[Anonymous No.18891780]

[Anonymous No.18891792]

[Anonymous No.18891839]

[Anonymous No.18891841]

[Anonymous No.18891844]

[Anonymous No.18891846]

[Anonymous No.18892104]

>>18891769
what the FOOK is wrong with bonavita kettles

[Anonymous No.18892983]

>>18891339
Never gotten anything from Taiwan in general before, so this is my first time trying anything from that area.
But in general I like the more green oolongs if given a choice.