/tea/ - frog edition

[Anonymous No.20594887]

This thread is for discussing teas, tisanes, and other herbal infusions.

info: types of tea, where to get tea, how to brew tea
https://rentry.org/teageneral

previous thread: >>20583070

[Anonymous No.20594906]

I liked the taste profile of the tang fang liang zi.
What are some other jinggu cakes?
Did anyone try the wen shan ding?
I've found some on yunnan sourcing but they are like $150 per cake AND the usual scummy shipping prices.

[Anonymous No.20594938]

>>20593856
I have hopes for the asamushi saemidori, since I liked the fukamushi version a lot

[Anonymous No.20595091]

>>20594887
I should get a frog tea pet. I am open to suggestions.

[Anonymous No.20595212]

>>20594906
this is a bit out of left field, but the TFLZ from farmerleaf reminded my slightly of the 2020 Lao Wu Shan Qiao Mu Gu Shu sample from puerh.pl I had a year or so ago
lowkey unknown area close to Jinggu. could be worth a shot if you're in the EU

[Anonymous No.20595248]

Sipping on some xiaguan hekai(I doubt it's a real hekai).
Such a bitch to brew desu. I have to be so careful, for it not to get bitter.
It's nice tho. Maybe I'll try sample of the real stuff from FL to compare(although 13 usd for 20g is up there)

[Anonymous No.20595296]

>>20595248
It could simply be Hekai but not gushu. Plenty of plantation or shengtai tea being made in famous places

[Anonymous No.20595314]

>>20595091
get the alligator off ali
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006006962441.html

[Anonymous No.20595364]

oh shit ching chong package is apparently on the way

[Anonymous No.20595385]

CSH has dropped a couple of mega 500g tuocha that are actually reasonably priced at $86 ($0.172/g) before any referral code or discount. Pretty cheap by CSH standards but they don't give much info on whats in the blend. I am considering getting the raw one even if it will be sort of annoying to store. Just a bit worried it will end up being too boring and I don't need another half kilo of plain jane sheng. What do my fellow /tea/ anons think?

https://cspuerh.com/collections/all-items/products/2024-an-kang-raw-pu-erh-tea-dragon-boat-festival-special
https://cspuerh.com/collections/all-items/products/2024-an-kang-ripe-pu-erh-tea-dragon-boat-festival-special

More info:
https://www.puercn.com/news/157412/
https://www.puercn.com/puercha/34013/
https://www.puercn.com/puercha/34014/

[Anonymous No.20595450]

>>20595385
>What do my fellow /tea/ anons think?
500g is a lot of tea, but perfect size if you split it between a few friends.
How is the shipping?

[Anonymous No.20595451]

Does FL offer blended teas? I don't think I've seen anything besides single regional stuff.

[Anonymous No.20595470]

>>20595451
>Does FL offer blended teas?
I don't think so. There are other vendors for that, in my eyes FL is good for unknown villages and sort of guarantees authenticity.
Maybe you could say that yellow flakes are a blend of all sorts of undesired leaves.

[Anonymous No.20595480]

>>20595470
Yeah I know but it'd be nice to taste what he considers a good blend ya dig?

[Anonymous No.20595499]

>>20595385
This one is even cheaper per gram and its standard size
https://cspuerh.com/collections/all/products/2024-zodiac-dragon-raw-pu-erh-tea-1

[Anonymous No.20595536]

>>20595450
>How is the shipping?
Free, I also have a $20 off referral reward I can use so it would only be $66 for me. On the the other hand I could always save the $20 coupon for later and use it on something else (like grabbing another of very good naka cakes). I don't need to put in a CSH order now.

Since it seems like have somehow not seen my rampant CHS referral code shilling before here it is.
https://i.refs.cc/i9DCkFen?smile_ref=eyJzbWlsZV9zb3VyY2UiOiJzbWlsZV91aSIsInNtaWxlX21lZGl1bSI6IiIsInNtaWxlX2NhbXBhaWduIjoicmVmZXJyYWxfcHJvZ3JhbSIsInNtaWxlX2N1c3RvbWVyX2lkIjoxOTIwNjcwMzk3fQ%3D%3D
New customers can get $20 off your order with that link, I also get a $20 off coupon code in return if someone uses it. It should show up as a pop up in the lower left hand corner asking for your email but you may need to disable your add blocker to make it work. CHS will also give a coupon for 5 free samples and a canvas tote bag with your first order if you sign up to their newsletter. The newsletter signup link is on the bottom of the page and may also pop up on the lower right.

>split it between a few friends.
Sadly I don't have any IRL tea friends.

>>20595499
>This one is even cheaper per gram and its standard size
They make that zodiac cake every year so it does not feel as exciting to me. On the other hand it would be interesting to see how it compares on value with western vendors. My suspicion is it is pretty good for the price.

[Anonymous No.20595540]

>>20595470
What do you call "blended" ? Cakes unless they are single trees are "blended"

[Anonymous No.20595550]

white2tea for your blends

[Anonymous No.20595557]

>>20595540
>What do you call "blended" ? Cakes unless they are single trees are "blended"
NTA but they probably mean multi-region or multi-harvest cakes like the big factory recipe cakes or basically all the puerh W2T sells.

[Anonymous No.20595561]

>>20595550
scam2tea

[Anonymous No.20595577]

>>20595561
2 puerh lesbians 1 teapot

[Anonymous No.20595584]

>>20595536
Do I understand correctly that the zodiac cake + samples with the referral would be only $32?
That seems like a good deal, 2024 was a dry year, and CSH is a reputable brand so chances are the value would be good.
Does the referral doxx me?
>They make that zodiac cake every year so it does not feel as exciting to me
I have no idea how the big boy is supposed to be different from the zodiac.
Both descriptions are vague.
> Tea tree over 100 years
sure buddy

[Anonymous No.20595590]

>>20595540
yeah multi region, recipes basically.

[Anonymous No.20595609]

>>20595561
thats jesses teahouse ur thinking of

[Anonymous No.20595618]

>>20595609
look at this $486 200g cake with no sample available and basically no description and tell me it's not a scam
https://white2tea.com/collections/raw-puer-tea/products/2017-the-treachery-of-story-telling-pt-2

[Anonymous No.20595623]

>>20595609
or this one
https://white2tea.com/collections/raw-puer-tea/products/2022-must-be
who knows what tea it really is, there's zero transparency. he just says "highly sought after areas"

[Anonymous No.20595631]

>>20595618
>>20595623
i too like to sort teas by the highest selling ones first and cheapest ones last then get mad about it. there's other reasons to dislike the store, this aint one.

[Anonymous No.20595644]

>>20595631
it's not the high price that bothers me, it's the lack of transparency and shitty descriptions. those are just extreme examples.

[Anonymous No.20595656]

>>20595561
reddit2tea

[Anonymous No.20595675]

>>20595584
>Do I understand correctly that the zodiac cake + samples with the referral would be only $32?
The coupon may have a $50 or $60 minimum but I am not sure, you will have to test it. I thought they used to have a $75 free shipping threshold but I just tested adding smaller things to my cart and it still says the shipping is free so I think they changed it. I may have just misread it and the $75 limit was always just for faster free shipping. Finally I believe the deals can be combined and it is also possible that the free shipping on the samples will extend to an order.
>Does the referral doxx me?
Looking back it at it they send me the email used to claim the referral but no other details (e.g. "[e-mail] has used your referral link"). Make or use an email without your real name if it bothers you. I don't want your name anyways and will ignore it, I am perfectly happy with my fellow tea anons remaining anons.
>Tea tree over 100 years
They probably embellish but it is still likely old arbor sheng even if it's not gushu. CSH is a fancy highbrow brand that is most know for making long-term purchasing contracts in famous tea mountains back when the prices were lower. In particular they have purchasing rights to the majority of Lao Ban Zhang gushu production.

[Anonymous No.20595728]

I've been doing exclusively western brewing for weeks.
Is this sacrilege? It seems less of a hassle and usually gets all the flavors in one shot.

[Anonymous No.20595730]

>>20595675
After testing adding items in my cart it looks like $50 is the minimum free shipping threshold, at least when not using coupons. Adding items with free shipping to cart also does not allow you to ship other items for free unless the total is ≥$50.

[Anonymous No.20595735]

>>20595728
>Is this sacrilege?
depends on the tea. if youre western brewing puerh youre schizohprenic.

[Anonymous No.20595742]

>>20595735
I literally just did that.
tastes like moldy grass with hay notes. very nice.

[Anonymous No.20595761]

>>20595735
i do that sometimes. sometimes i don't want to focus all attention on a tea to pick apart the nuances and delicacies of its flavor profile. sometimes i just want the warm tasty dirt water

[Anonymous No.20595770]

>>20595735
For ripes I don't think it's sacrileg at all tbqh.

[Anonymous No.20595787]

>>20595385
>. I am considering getting the raw one even if it will be sort of annoying to store.
Just take it out of the comically large gift box

[Anonymous No.20595793]

>>20595385
>don't need another half kilo of plain jane sheng. What do my fellow /tea/ anons think?
Looking at the description it's designed to be an inoffensive tea for gifting i think.
>With a high fragrance, sweet and refreshing taste, and delicate texture, dominated by floral and honey notes.
Doesn't mean it's bad but don't expect a punchy menghai style tea

[Anonymous No.20595827]

I 3D printed an entire tea tray (because of that one anon who gave me the idea to do it by 3D printing a replacement lid) and I'd like to give some advice for any anons looking to do the same.
If you do not make the slats of the lid skinny enough, the tea will splash back, so make them pretty narrow (about the size of a pencil or even a bit narrower I'd say).
The heat resiliance of the tray is not what I would expect, so youre going to make the lid thicker than you'd want likely in order for it not to warp. The warping does not occur from just resting your gaiwan and cup on top of it, however it does occur from pouring boiling water into it. It is not wet noodle warping, in fact it is only noticeable if you're looking for it and it doesn't make an impact on the use, however over time it probably could become an issue. I would reccomend making the lid about 2cm thick.
The print ends up somewhat porus, not enough to let water through and out of the tray but enough where a lot of water can get into those little pores, so I would suggest that you water proof the tray with something like mod podge (there is probably something better for a job like this but I don't know about it).

So overall it's basically completely fine and I use it everyday but there are these caveats you should be aware of. Hopefully this inspires other anons to do the same, I'd love to see your prints, it seems like no one else has really done this.

[Anonymous No.20595835]

>>20594887
should i start bringing the frogs inside for tea. theyre everywhere in my state this time of the year. i wonder how they would react to some sheng. theyre my favorite animals.

[Anonymous No.20595857]

>>20595835
not that anon but if you do go out herping for frogs, handle them with gloves or cover your hands in mud first, they're delicate and the oils on our skin can be bothersome to them and any other amphibian, as well as potentially being a vector for chrytrid fungus. i imagine the pH of tea isn't amenable to their skin either, unfortunately. sorry to be no fun.

[Anonymous No.20595893]

>>20595770
I only drink ripes now. raws too much autism for me. I like farmer leaf's stuff and all that, but it just feels like a total gamble if the flavor is really there or not.

[Anonymous No.20595905]

>>20595857
>chrytrid fungus
brutal. where did it come from though?
are fungi going to start killing humans next? seems like they're the best primed to, hard to control with drugs, spread easily via spore forming, etc.

[Anonymous No.20595912]

>>20595857
its ok i love frogs i would never want to do anything to hurt them. although i do still touch them with my hands.

[Anonymous No.20595985]

>>20595618
>>20595623
It's "dude trust me". That doesn't mean it's a scam, what they do with that trust determines if it's a scam
>>20595644
I think it might just be for people who want someone to create for them. If you like doing your research and know what you like it's not a good option for you, but for people who go "I like yummy tea I wish someone could give me yummy tea" the lack of description isn't all that meaningful because it wouldn't be of use to them. Basically this poster is right
>>20595656

[Anonymous No.20596073]

>>20595827
>2 cm thick
>I assume high fill percentage
How fucking expensive is that to print

[Anonymous No.20596101]

>>20596073
im not making it incredibly large only about the size of a soft cover book.

[Anonymous No.20596199]

>>20596101
Seems unreasonably small no?
Last thing I'd want is for the board to feel cramped and feel like I might knock something off it

[Anonymous No.20596211]

>>20595584
I'll probably buy another Naka cake from them for black friday. For like 50$ with the coupon and free shipping shit is so cash. Delicious tea.
The Yin BanZhang also sounds good. I'm guessing their banzhang blends are solid

[Anonymous No.20596342]

>>20594887
Is it true that green tea can affect your metabolism? I keep seeing health blogs and shit claim this but it seems incredibly outlandish

[Anonymous No.20596400]

>>20596342
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA0VkuuIJGM
I nowadays take industrial science with a massive grain of salt, but in my personal experience, green tea makes me feel noticeably hot compared to say, black or aged white tea, and makes me hungry a few hours afterwards, so yeah I'd say it does significantly ramp up metabolism and is probably good for losing weight.

[Anonymous No.20596435]

Waiting for puerh,
Coffee's now my last resort,
Tea leaves, I miss you.

[Anonymous No.20596447]

>>20596342
In my experience tea absolutely increases your metabolism. No idea how effective it is for weight loss but all the white guys that moved to china and now sell tea for a living are all borderline emaciated, and im pretty skinny myself

[Anonymous No.20596451]

>>20596435
Reading Anon's post,
I note the syllable counts.
The tea will come soon.

[Anonymous No.20596466]

>>20596435
>>20596451
Anons here are cute
I too am waiting for tea
Soon we all shall drink

[Anonymous No.20596474]

>>20596211
>The Yin BanZhang also sounds good.
I want to try that too. I also kind of want to try their 2022 Bu Lang Yin Xiang cake. I am curious as to what their take on Bulang sheng is like. The 2022 Nan Nuo Yin Xiang and 2022 Yi Wu Yin Xiang would be interesting to compare with as well. This one of those places were I would be interested in a set that had an 100g mini cake of each.

[Anonymous No.20596502]

coworker gave me a teapot that looks exactly like pic related. Any idea if this is real yixing? I feel like the color is unnatural, but I dont know much about yixing. It has a handmade look to it, and you can see several imperfections. there is also texture to the surface, and little black specks. Here's an ebay listing of the same exact looking teapot for more pics https://www.ebay.com/itm/164116270029

[Anonymous No.20596507]

I think I am allergic to some tea. My throat feels swollen every time after I drink those.

[Anonymous No.20596509]

>>20594887
When making black tea, I like to put in a piece of cinnamon bark. Really improves the taste for me

[Anonymous No.20596517]

>>20596435
>>20596451
>>20596466
Weeks pass, store to post
yet comes half a world to fly
How long away from me?

[Anonymous No.20596533]

>>20596502
That is not a typical yixing color and I can't say if it is legit but natural clay can absolutely be found in grey.

[Anonymous No.20596544]

>>20596502
Clean it, make some tea in it and see what happens, it's not going to kill you

[Anonymous No.20596590]

>>20596447
Lol

[Anonymous No.20596596]

>>20595735
>if youre western brewing puerh
This is what I do. I boil it for 10 mins and add milk.

[Anonymous No.20596620]

>>20596544
unless it has heavy metal contamination

[Anonymous No.20596637]

gong dao bei and a little funnel sieve is such a good upgrade

[Anonymous No.20596649]

https://white2tea.com/products/2023-they-mad
I'm made he won't tell me what teas this is a blend of. It's pretty damn good.

[Anonymous No.20596657]

>>20596637
Yes, i don't use my go dao bei enough and Everytime i do i remember that it lets me keep the tea going faster so the gaiwan doesn't cool off between brews, great for older or highly compressed teas where you really want to keep the temperature up to get good extractions.
Plus the litter pitcher is fun to fuck around with and pour tea out of it in increasingly elaborate ways like super high pours

[Anonymous No.20596740]

>>20596435
>>20596451
>>20596466
>>20596517
I still use fingers
To count out my syllables
At least I'm anon

[Anonymous No.20596799]

>>20596435
>>20596451
>>20596466
>>20596517
>>20596740
Words can't restrain me
Seventeen small syllables
Contain my shitposts

[Anonymous No.20596876]

>>20596509
Enjoy your lead poison.

[Anonymous No.20597184]

>>20596199
its not cramped it all. if anything its quite roomy, i only have a gaiwan and a cup on it. still room to pour into it even with everything on.

[Anonymous No.20597339]

Think this is some 2022 mao feng from YS. Kind of melon-y in aroma to my senses right now, which is pretty different from my previous aroma impressions, but it's pleasant. Greens feel so right in this season. Feel like it's more pleasant to have them in Summer than Spring. What is in your cup tonight, anons?

[Anonymous No.20597351]

>>20597339
>What is in your cup tonight, anons?
Unironically cold brewed Jasmine teabags because it is so darn hot right now. It actually pretty good. No sweetener required.

[Anonymous No.20597374]

>>20597339
Can't drink caffeine this late so I'm thinking of chamomile or milk thistle.

[Anonymous No.20597573]

How does the CSH referral work?
Can I send it to my family/coworker to buy my order, they get $20 off and my getting another $20 coupon?

[Anonymous No.20597629]

How do you choose Japanese greens on Yunomi? Reviews? Are reviews kept across years or are they new for each year harvest? Surroundings of farm? (forest, mountains, hill/flat) How big smile the farmers have on their face? Price? Or just buy randomly and then check out other teas from the same farm you liked? Industrial blend vs family-farms?
But a boatload of random samples good idea? Are the best teas sold out by the time you have checked them? (but you can buy next year)
Yunomi has the best shipping price for me seems to have the biggest selection anyway, so are there big reasons to buy from anywhere else, does Yunomi have a bias or blind spot?

[Anonymous No.20597682]

>>20597629
Do you have a feel for what styles of japanese green tea you like? I would kinda focus of stuff from that genre and then pick some stuff that sounds interesting.
Reviews will probably include previous years, qnd there will be some yearly variation but it still should give you an idea of what a tea will be like.
If you have no idea what to get then get a few different senchas, deep steamed, light steamed, medium steamed.
You can sort categories by top sellers, which might give you a good indication of things to try

[Anonymous No.20597697]

>>20597682
Yeah I know my cultivars, steaming and shading, the problem is that teas with same specs can still be wildly different

[Anonymous No.20597731]

>>20596474
the minicake sample set they have looks pretty good. only 28g per sample, but seemingly good value
the expensive tea in the sample box was a bulang gushu IIRC. very bitter, very sweet

[Anonymous No.20597740]

>>20597573
>Can I send it to my family/coworker to buy my order, they get $20 off and my getting another $20 coupon?
yep
you can also just register with another email to grab a new coupon

[Anonymous No.20598128]

>>20597740
even with the same delivery address?

[Anonymous No.20598545]

Ordered the 2024 zodiac cake from csh and one of those haiwan blends.
Eventually I wanted to try different manufactures anyway and these were cheap.
William shouldn't have spread his releases.

[Anonymous No.20598817]

>>20598545
It's good to try different producers anyway. FL has a bit of a house style, so it can be nice to take a break from that
I haven't tried their zodiac blends. I feel more drawn towards the cheaper banzhang blends. And that nice Naka

[Anonymous No.20598823]

what size brewing vessel is your favourite / most used? ~130 ml seems to be best for me personally

[Anonymous No.20598909]

>>20598823
i'll be honest anons i dunk leaves in a 20oz mug and refill it all day long when it runs dry.

[Anonymous No.20599166]

>>20598545
There's a lot of boutique brands out there. BYH (Bi Yun Hao), HLH (Hai Lang Hao), CYH (Chen Yuan Hao) and YQH (Yang Qing Hao).

[Anonymous No.20599437]

>>20598823
I got a nice 220ml pot for heicha/ stuff I steep for longer. My gaiwan is 140ml but it has more like 110ml usable capacity I guess, I use this for everything.

[Anonymous No.20599554]

>>20598909
I started doing this with green teas in cold water that I top off constantly while I'm at work. I've only tried it with YS's mao feng and bi luo chun, the former held up to 6-8 hours of constant steeping a lot better than the latter.

[Anonymous No.20599708]

>>20599554
Interesting, how long do you wait before you start drinking?

[Anonymous No.20599948]

Can anyone recommend me a good temperature controlled tea kettle? Particularly where you can change the temperate in +- single increments for Japanese tea.

[Anonymous No.20600017]

>>20599948
I have Stagg EKG Pro

[Anonymous No.20600053]

>>20599948
I have used the OXO Brew Adjustable Temperature Pour-Over Kettle for years.

[Anonymous No.20600074]

>>20598545
>Ordered the 2024 zodiac cake
You didn't use my referral code...

Tell us how it is at least.

[Anonymous No.20600172]

>>20600017
is it nice for tea? I was thinking about getting one but it seems like the pour rate could be annoying since it's meant for coffee

[Anonymous No.20600186]

>>20598545
>2024 zodiac cake
shiet that's a thicc cake, hope it's tasty

[Anonymous No.20600235]

You know how Japanese tea always tastes the best on the first sip and you can't quite replicate it for the rest of the portion? I previously thought it was just your taste buds getting used to it, and while that's part of it, I have a better theory. I think that probably on the first sip, tiny leaf particles get stuck in your mouth's porous mucosal membrane, delivering the volatile flavor compounds to your taste buds. However, after the flavor compounds dissipate, and you are left with dud particles blocking your taste buds, and thus the next sips are not as flavorful.

Because of this, my recommendation for drinking Japanese tea is to savor the aftertaste of the first sip for as long as possible. Gulping down the tea trying to chase the flavor becomes counter-productive, it just washes away the taste of the first sip while not being as good.

[Anonymous No.20600239]

>>20600235
Related to this theory, I came up with an additional methods to further intensify the flavor of the first sip, which is pretty much about making the tea more concentrated: You might already slurp tea, which introduces oxygen and is said to release flavors. But I think another purpose of slurping is to evaporate some of the water, making the tea and the particles more concentrated. People often slurp multiple times and even after swallowing the tea, to further concentrate the layer of tea left coating your mouth. So, to further concentrate the tea, you can "dry slurp" air to dry your mouth BEFORE drinking the tea. This way, the tea won't get diluted with your saliva as much and is better delivered to your taste buds.

Why not just use more leaf with less water? Well, you should, but there are limitations. I do like very concentrated tea (3-5g leaf to 60-100ml water where the leaves might absorb like 30-50% of the water). However, I suspect that too low water amount will saturate the solution in a way that bottlenecks the solubility of some compounds more than others, leading to different ratios between compounds in a way that might or might not be desirable. In a fantasy world, you would steep the tea in larger volume of water and then remove some of it, but I can't think of ways to do this without ruining the tea. High heat is obviously a no-no, and too much time and oxygen might destroy the volatile compounds in water solution. So slurping is the best we have. Maybe someone will invent a slurping machine to efficiently concentrate tea just few seconds before you drink it.

[Anonymous No.20600248]

>>20600186
They probably bought the normal sized cake not the special 3kg one.
This: https://cspuerh.com/collections/all-items/products/2024-zodiac-dragon-raw-pu-erh-tea-1
Not this: https://cspuerh.com/collections/all-items/products/2024-zodiac-dragon-ripe-pu-erh-tea-3kg (Interestingly they put ripe instead of raw in the url)
But if you want to get your own here is my referral link >>20595536 Shameless plug over.

>thicc cake
Last thread we had a reply chain starting here >>20587637 trying to find the biggest pressed tea for sale.

[Anonymous No.20600267]

>>20600235
>>20600239
you sound schizophrenic but i guess i cant be absolutely certain unless i try it. thanks for your tips this is very thorough.

[Anonymous No.20600282]

Móng Rồng Ya Bao Spring 2023 from Viet Sun Tea

The site description of fruity, floral, and guava is on the money IMO.

[Anonymous No.20600316]

>>20600239
>slurping machine
don't talk about puerh lesbians like that

[Anonymous No.20600382]

>>20600074
It didn't let me input your code and the free sample and if I only used your code then the price would too low for free shipping.
Next time I use yours. Maybe on BF.

[Anonymous No.20600418]

>>20600248
ohh okay, didn't see that one when I googled it. I need to try some from them sometime I might take you up on the referral, thanks

[Anonymous No.20600439]

>>20596649
aw that's a bummer, did he give any further detail at all about it? i just bought a cake since i liked it so much and was actually gonna reach out myself to ask about it

[Anonymous No.20600455]

>>20600439
>was actually gonna reach out myself
hehe do it! I was just joking around about his descriptions and didn't actually ask. that's such a tasty one.

[Anonymous No.20600463]

>>20599708
Usually an hour minimum. It can't compete with a proper brew but it's extremely convenient.

[Anonymous No.20600472]

>>20600382
Not disappointed at all then. I figured you had tried to do this >>20597573 to get double the codes but cut me out. I though some other anon manged to get both deals to work but I could be wrong.

Hopefully you enjoy the tea. I do want to hear how the zodiac cake is because I have been curious about it myself. Maybe you can also find a better use for the silly tote bag that comes with the free samples. I just use mine to hold empty cake wrappers.

I wonder how many new customers CSH has gained from their free samples and referral codes? I only ordered from them in the fist place because of the $5 sample pack and then came back when I discovered the referral deal. Their prices aren't awful compared to most western puerh vendors even without the deal but most of what they sell is above my typical price range. The referral codes really make them more compelling to me. Farmer Leaf is still my preference for cheap young sheng though. Can't beat their selection of affordable to midrange cakes with free shipping.

>>20600418
>I need to try some from them sometime I might take you up on the referral, thanks
I don't think the link expires so you can save it until you want to use it. I will probably still be on /tea/ as well. CSH does do sales occasionally which stack but the next one may not be until Black Friday.

[Anonymous No.20600493]

Speaking of $5 sample deals I recently discovered this:
https://iteaworld.com/products/5-usd-5-wild-tea-chinese-tea
I am going to get it for the Qu Jiang Pian sample.

Verdant tea also has their 5 samples for $5 deal if you are a new customer.
https://verdanttea.com/five-teas-for-5

[Anonymous No.20600498]

>>20600235
I usually like the second steep the best though.

[Anonymous No.20600503]

>>20600498
Does anyone have a link to that one Chinese guy that compares compares steep numbers to ages of women?

[Anonymous No.20600511]

Is 180f too hot for sencha? Thats the lowest my kettle can go

[Anonymous No.20600522]

>>20600511
Probably, yes. Just pour it into some other vessel first. If you have a creamer pitcher around those work great.

[Anonymous No.20600524]

>>20600498
This might be heresy, but have you ever tried throwing away the first steep? The second steep might taste even better with a fresh mouth. But of course it would depend on what exactly you are looking for. For Japanese teas I don't like this sometimes makes it better. I mostly prefer the first steep though.

[Anonymous No.20600543]

>>20600498
your rinse wasn't long enough then

[Anonymous No.20600552]

>>20600524
>This might be heresy, but have you ever tried throwing away the first steep
Can't remember if I've done it, but it's not much different than the idea of a gong fu rinse.

>>20600239
Also, sounds like you should just drink gyokuro and eliminate the second sip entirely.

>>20600543
First steep of sencha is usually around a minute.

[Anonymous No.20600561]

Is anybody experienced with Chaozhou clay pots? I'm considering one from Purple Cloud when they re-open, but I have no clue what sort of effects they'd have desu

[Anonymous No.20600584]

>>20600561
>what sort of effects
mainly placebo

[Anonymous No.20600618]

>>20600584
Does it really not do much? I'd be glad, I'm just worried about greens and whites being muted

[Anonymous No.20600619]

>>20595091
fucking kill yourself for that feed

[Anonymous No.20600659]

>>20600172
It’s actually nice for tea, the slow pours and accurate temperature control makes it easy to use for gongfu brewing.

[Anonymous No.20600706]

>>20600172
There's the corvo, which is an EKG with a more normal spout, brewista has a larger maximum flow rate.

[Anonymous No.20600725]

>>20600706
>>20600172
yeah I have the Stagg Corvo. I prefer that to a gooseneck

[Anonymous No.20600738]

>>20600472
>I wonder how many new customers CSH has gained from their free samples and referral codes? I only ordered from them in the fist place because of the $5 sample pack and then came back when I discovered the referral deal
same here, the 5$ sample pack with a free tote bag was a great promo. probably never would have ordered from the store otherwise
the Naka cake on black friday with the coupon was an amazing buy, delicious stuff

[Anonymous No.20600818]

>finish nearly 2 hour long gongfu session
>immediately want to start another one

[Anonymous No.20600825]

>>20600172
i use a stovetop Hario v60 kettle and the gooseneck is really nice, i dont find it slow to pour at all, the gooseneck of the ekg is probably similar

[Anonymous No.20600982]

Just want to report I ordered from https://theguidetopuerhtea.blogspot.com/ and got the package recently and everything seems ok. Will start brewing from it tomorrow.
>pic unrelated

[Anonymous No.20601033]

Description: earl grey
Ingredients: chinese green tea
I don't know how this got into my disorganized stash of tea samples. Tea tasted like soap.

[Anonymous No.20601051]

>>20600818
>Tfw you've been sleeping poorly or struggling to sleep at all and want to just be comfy and drink tea, but it's 3 AM...
>4 AM...
>5 AM...
>6 AM...
>...
It's that feeling of "everything is fucked, I want tea", but being faced with "are those tweeting birds I hear" too.

[Anonymous No.20601058]

My actual tea order hasn't arrived yet so I can't comment on those, but the Assam tea some anon suggested for cold brewed iced tea has and it's worked great
Might get some flavorings like the other anon suggested because I feel like this'll go great with some peach essence

[Anonymous No.20601059]

>>20601051
30c almost 70% humidity to sleep is terrible but I think about the tea enjoying the weather so I sleep anyway...

[Anonymous No.20601074]

>drank several cups of tea and coffee everyday
>very poor sleep quality, felt like crap all the time
>bought some chai tea premix (for those machines) and drink that instead
>sleep quality is back
My life

[Anonymous No.20601158]

>>20601033
Bergamot seems to be a very love-it-or-hate-it experience (I'm not personally a fan.)

[Anonymous No.20601203]

>people are actually paying out the ass for o-cha
Keep using it if you really like it, but you're just paying twice as much for what could be the cheapest non-shit tea available outside of developing countries. Anyway I decided to stop just being snide and wrote a little infolet

[Anonymous No.20601204]

>>20601203

[Anonymous No.20601266]

>>20601203
>>20601204
I'm used to forwarding services, but this does not actually seem much cheaper, takes more time, and loses the benefit of having a somewhat curated collection. The tasting notes on o-cha are middle of the road but not terrible, I don't really feel like playing roulette on amazon. I'd be way more interested if there were specific teas you liked that were not otherwise available. Hopefully someone finds this helpful, though.

[Anonymous No.20601346]

>>20600982
I love it when people here try new obscure vendors. What did you get?

[Anonymous No.20601513]

So apparently the autumn TFLZ was probably mislabeled spring which means I've had 2, spring 2023 samples and both were quite different.
One underwhelming, the other good... these 20g samples are so inconsistent, I think I'll just say fuck it and get the cake already.

[Anonymous No.20601583]

I fucking love matcha

[Anonymous No.20601612]

>>20601266
Honestly if I were to use a forwarder to order tea from Japan I would probably go right to producers official outlets and known tea stores so I can still get decent curation. Someday I intend to put in a bulk order of Japanese heicha and I figure that is the sort of thing where using a forwarder would save me money.

[Anonymous No.20601681]

How can I get "jinggu ye sheng" cakes without giving Steve my money?

[Anonymous No.20601689]

>>20601513
>autumn harvest in June
Should've been obvious.
As for the differences, could've been just placebo ya know

[Anonymous No.20601726]

For me it’s woojeon

[Anonymous No.20601858]

>>20599437
I use a 150 ml tea tasting cup

[Anonymous No.20601878]

>>20601689
Could have also been a few months of ageing having some effect

[Anonymous No.20602144]

>>20600282
Got more of the woody and peppery, but there was definitely something fruity to it. Don't know if guava would be the best choice of fruits. Also had a hint of liquorice on the aftertaste..

[Anonymous No.20602272]

>>20601681
>How can I get "jinggu ye sheng" cakes without giving Steve my money?
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2022-yunnan-sourcing-jinggu-ye-sheng-cha-wild-tree-purple-tea-cake

>>20600738
>CSH Naka cake
What do you think stands out about it?

[Anonymous No.20602278]

>>20601681
What's wrong with chawang shop?

[Anonymous No.20602301]

>>20602272
>>CSH Naka cake
>What do you think stands out about it?
absolutely great sweet apricot-floral aroma that gets better in the later brews oddly enough. good complexity and depth, nice cooling aftertaste. surprisingly good qi, strong minerality. it's just an all-around class act. I think it beats all the FL cakes at its price point tbqh when you factor in the coupon. I like fa zhan he and LME autumn, but I don't think they have as much depth or body feel

[Anonymous No.20602359]

for me, i only drink Chaozhung zi Hyun ba Ding premium Gu-ching lai mountain Huangzingtaijiangbingchianzu Huing Ba Cha, from the Pingdong province

[Anonymous No.20602370]

>>20602359
lmao just enough of the chinkese to be confirmed /tea/head

[Anonymous No.20602380]

>>20602278
>chawang shop
Is the owners name even Steve?

>>20602301
Thanks, that seems like a good description. The apricot part is spot on. I have the naka cake as well. I quite like it but I am not that well versed in premium young sheng so I wanted to know what you though was good about it.

[Anonymous No.20602476]

>>20602359
You strike me as they type that enjoys a good afternoon session of ManGang.
https://yunnansourcing.com/search?type=product&q=Man*+Gang*

[Anonymous No.20602540]

>>20601203
there are anons which prefer japanese teas? arent they inferior? theres reason they are powderized and put into cakes...

[Anonymous No.20602815]

Any anon have a nice recipe for a ginger-based tisane? I found it a little lacking, just ginger.

[Anonymous No.20602892]

>>20602815
Try sujeonggwa

https://kimchimari.com/sujeonggwa-korean-cinnamon-ginger-punch/

[Anonymous No.20602990]

>>20602815
Add honey
Add some sliced wisconson ginseng root
Add jujube dried dates (either buy pitted/sliced ones or slice and remove the pits)
Add dried chrysanthemum flowers

[Anonymous No.20603019]

>>20602815
toss in some velvet deer antler slices

[Anonymous No.20603039]

>>20601346
Bunch of samples and cakes.

I'm drinking 2000s Bangwei right now. Stated description is:
>Good leaf material, dark character, sweet caramel/brown sugar, marmalade jam, old wood in a soft and smooth brew.
Not sure whether I taste any sweetness. It has dark character but not overwhelming, but also not sure I would describe it as soft or smooth. Overall does not seem so special but I had similar sentiments about Autumn Bridge https://globalteahut.org/products/autumn-bridge and then one month later I realized it's actually quite good and I'm looking forward to drinking it.

[Anonymous No.20603057]

>>20602815
you could try chai spices, like cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise, black pepper, cardamom, coriander and nutmeg

[Anonymous No.20603059]

>>20601203
Honestly that works out to about what I've paid elsewhere. And most Japanese tea isn't shit because it's so heavily automated. I used to be able to find sellers on ebay sometimes, but shipping is the killer these days.

[Anonymous No.20603419]

>like drinking chamomille/sleepy time teas
>don't like having to wait for it to cool off
>don't like having to pee right before bed
AAAAAAAAAAA

[Anonymous No.20603462]

Is chamomille + some lavender the best combo for inducing sleep?

[Anonymous No.20603547]

>>20603462
>The best
Probably not
>A good option without long term addiction/health risks
Yes, depending on how schizo you are about the phytoestrogens in lavender.
I guess you could try adding some valerian root in there, it may or may not help.

[Anonymous No.20603583]

>>20603419
Vape chamomile. Problem solved.

[Anonymous No.20603638]

>>20600618
Nah don't think so. Though if you use it for something really strong like ripe pu-erh or hojicha and then make something light like green or white you may be able to taste some of the stronger tea that seeped into the clay. Other than that, I don't think it should have much effect.

[Anonymous No.20603799]

>>20603419
You could take apigenin supplement since it's a chamomile extract.
>>20603462
Try this sleep stack: 50mg Apigenin, 200mg L-Theanine, and 300mcg melatonin.
It's basically Huberman's stack minus Magnesium L-Threonate and Inositol. Apigenin and LTheanine are compounds found in teas so I was already familiar with how each of those feel and comfortable taking them. 300mcg melatonin recommendation is from this MIT sleep study(https://news.mit.edu/2001/melatonin-1017))

[Anonymous No.20604093]

>>20594887
the frog adds flavor to the tea

[Anonymous No.20604099]

>>20596400
matechads we can't stop winning

[Anonymous No.20604138]

>>20596400
Mate can also suppress appetite a bit. I notice this effect sometimes myself

[Anonymous No.20604148]

>>20604093
The heat of the tea cooks the frog

[Anonymous No.20604156]

>>20601612
Yea, you can absolutely do that. Some smaller vendors just set up Amazon shops anyway because it's less trouble than setting up a whole website and distro system and they want to focus on their bricknmorty shop. That's how I discovered Susumuya (Kagoshima) which has mostly great reviews and a real solid asatsuyu.

>>20602540
I'm impressed at how many ways a single person can be wrong in one line.

[Anonymous No.20604159]

>>20604148
This one somehow still gets used sparingly enough it never really gets old.

[Anonymous No.20604237]

>>20603799
For me it's vitamin D, magnesium glycinate, some carbs (for the blood sugar dip), eggs (melatonin and it's precursor tryptophan), a glass of milk (calcium calms the nerves, f). Optional: zinc, vitamin b1. These are all basic food stuff which I prefer over herbs with special effects.

[Anonymous No.20604245]

>>20602272
>>20602278
I was talking about yunnansourcing.
One of my many problems with them is the shipping.
I know for a fact, after ordering from taobao several times, shipping one cake to my location (small package, 400g) will cost me $10.
Watching FL stream, he says, it costs him $6 to ship a cake(but he has it in the price of the cake already)
So why the FUCK are not only yunnansourcing teas expensive, but I would also leave like 2x tip?
I also find the hefty increase in price for every year the cake sits in his warehouse scummy,

[Anonymous No.20604327]

>>20604245
I checked out shipping costs for a few vendors a while ago (cost to me of course). If I'm interpreting it right, YS is effectively using smaller orders' shipping to subsidise larger orders? I found a hard cap at about $35. KTM for instance keeps increasing.

[Anonymous No.20604336]

>>20604327
Looks like it.
$20 seems like the lowest no matter what.
Again, their teas are easily expensive enough to have shipping priced in, so there is no reason for this.
When it comes to puer I would say, CSH, FL, or straight taobao seem to be the only reasonable options.
Too bad I didn't find these wild cakes elsewhere, but my google fu isn't the strongest.

[Anonymous No.20604358]

>>20604336
>When it comes to puer I would say, CSH, FL, or straight taobao seem to be the only reasonable options
Yeah I like making small orders depending on what I want right now. Now I'd like something more aged, but most places that stock aged raws have that expensive shipping which makes small orders not very viable.
Maybe I'll grab something from fullchea, if they even still deliver to the EU

[Anonymous No.20604377]

>>20604358
>Maybe I'll grab something from fullchea, if they even still deliver to the EU
They do but you have to email them a list of what you want and then the make a custom listing for you on AliExpress so the tax shit is handled automatically

[Anonymous No.20604421]

>>20604327
>>20604358
>fullchea, if they even still deliver to the EU
They have an ebay shop with most of the inventory.
I'm also in EU and when I tried to use their site, somehow 1 item was no problem, but the other didn't have shipping to my country, so I just used ebay for the other one.

[Anonymous No.20604430]

Speaking of fullchea, has anyone tried any of the three cranes they stock?
My haiwan cake is finally kill so I'm grabbing some other one too.

[Anonymous No.20604433]

Is buying 5000 different fermented/puerh cakes and tasting them for their "bouquet" like some wine faggot all there is to this hobby, once you go deep enough?
Is there anything interesting to be had with non-fermented, normal black/oolong/green teas?

[Anonymous No.20604436]

>>20604433
There's all kinds of interesting stuff to be had in all categories if you ask me.

[Anonymous No.20604442]

>>20604245
I hate YS and KTM so much. These guys became hyper jewish after they found sucess. I will Taobao gamble, give money to Paolo before I give them my money anymore.

[Anonymous No.20604521]

>>20604442
Anon everything is getting more expensive. Inflation is permanent. You are blaming the wrong party.

[Anonymous No.20604548]

>>20604433
Is buying 5000 different red wine bottles and tasting them for their "bouquet" like some puerh faggot all there is to this hobby, once you go deep enough?
Is there anything interesting to be had with beer, liquor, white wine, mead, rosé or cocktails?

That's how fucking stupid you sound

[Anonymous No.20604600]

>>20604521
There a difference between few% markup and 100% markup on some teas because.... uh.... inflation? Fuck those guys.
There are still vendors who have kept great prices like awazon and tuochatea who are somehow immune to inflation. Curious.

[Anonymous No.20604614]

>>20604430
>Speaking of fullchea, has anyone tried any of the three cranes they stock?
I tried one of the tins of three cranes, they don't have that particular one anymore, it was fine but i wouldn't order again.
If i was gonna get some liubao from fullchea i would get the zongcha tin or the paper bag of three cranes. Or that zongcha 8312 brick actually.
>>20604600
>There are still vendors who have kept great prices like awazon and tuochatea who are somehow immune to inflation. Curious.
Those are dead websites that have barely changed in 15 years, i genuinely have no idea why touchatea or a few of those other ancient puer sites even exist or who buys from them. They aren't really representative of any kind of norms

[Anonymous No.20604617]

>>20604548
to be fair the wine tasting culture is orders of magnitude bigger than any other alcohol-centered one
all wines of course, putting "rose" and "white wine" separately is cheating
but like for example, there are so many more wine connoisseurs than anything non-wine, and you'll almost never find like a spirit tasting session or a cider tasting session

maybe whiskeyfags are the only ones who can compete, but even then it's much more niche. beerfags in a distant third. and that's about it

[Anonymous No.20604635]

>>20604521
>You are blaming the wrong party.
Nah ktm just straight up quadrupled his prices once he got popular. He used to sell at like 10% over taobao vendors and now some of his teas are close to western brick and mortar markups (200%-300%)
Take a look at an archive of his old website kingteamall.net
This snapshot is from 2019, only 5 years ago.
https://web.archive.org/web/20191211114148/http://www.kingteamall.net/

[Anonymous No.20604639]

>>20604614
What the hell I'll try that zongcha tin then. Thanks anon.

[Anonymous No.20604649]

>>20604614
Keep buying from John and Scott lol I'll enjoy mimimal markup on other vendors instead of paying out my ass.

[Anonymous No.20604651]

>>20604635
To be fair anon, an absolute metric fuckton has changed globally since 2019.

[Anonymous No.20604654]

>>20604651
Schizophrenia.

[Anonymous No.20604663]

>>20604654
My brother in christ you cannot be this retarded.

[Anonymous No.20604715]

>>20604654
Do you have any idea how much inflation there has been in the past 5 years? Do you live under a rock?

[Anonymous No.20604745]

>>20604715
He was not talking about inflation but about mark up percentage you retard.
From 10% mark up to 200+%

[Anonymous No.20604756]

>>20604715
Xiaguan is not charging $100, KTM is

[Anonymous No.20604767]

>>20604756
Yeah one of the many reasons to stop buying from KTM. We grew him and this is how he treats us.

[Anonymous No.20604787]

>>20604745
As inflation increases in USD, so will the markup, if you're comparing USD to other currency that hasn't inflated at the same rate

[Anonymous No.20604798]

>>20604787
No we are comparing taobao prices to king tea mall prices for the same products.
Yeah yeah 50% inflation in the last 4 years, sill only accounts for less then half the markup that's happened in the same period

[Anonymous No.20604903]

>>20594887
>>20595091
>>20595835
>>20595857
>>20595905
>>20595912
>>20604093
>>20604148
>>20604159
Here is your tea anons

[Anonymous No.20604999]

>>20604903
truly cursed

[Anonymous No.20605002]

>>20604903
This is just fucking depressing.

[Anonymous No.20605014]

>>20604756
Find me the best deal on some bo jun.

[Anonymous No.20605022]

The hardest part isn't even having had to wait. It's now deciding what one to try first...

[Anonymous No.20605063]

has anyone ever bought a full kilogram of a particular tea? I see the option on YS but have never heard of anyone choosing it

[Anonymous No.20605118]

>>20605063
I've bought a few kilos of these.

[Anonymous No.20605124]

>>20605022
my turn next plz scott

[Anonymous No.20605149]

>>20605063
>has anyone ever bought a full kilogram of a particular tea?
Only when it's bricks of puer
I pretty often buy 300g portions of looseleaf

[Anonymous No.20605154]

>>20605022
Get anything cool?

[Anonymous No.20605255]

>>20605154
Lots of fun things. And also he threw in a freebie of a green I have already forgotten the name of between walking from my kitchen back to here. I'm trying the aged white cake an anon recommended right now -- it smells so lovely.

[Anonymous No.20605258]

>>20604617
It's so weird that it's wine out of all things. Such a boring and samey drink all things considered. Compared to tea or even beer it's all the same shit.

[Anonymous No.20605279]

>>20604617
I know multiple people who went on a beer tasting session & nobody that went to a wine tasting session
>putting "rose" and "white wine" separately is cheating
why? Anon also specifically mentioned fermented puerh.

[Anonymous No.20605281]

>>20604903
Thank you anon, nipnong chingchong to you too

[Anonymous No.20605292]

>>20605279
Ah yes as opposed to the many wide choices of unfermented puerh on the market

[Anonymous No.20605343]

Am I a tastelet or am I the only one that finds the soft drinking puerh regions all samey and boring?
Yiwu, Nannuo and Jingami are broring. I could also expand this to Hekai, Pasha and Banpen.
So far, Lao Man E and Naka are the only ones that leave a strong enough impression for me to remember them.

[Anonymous No.20605387]

>>20605343
>Yiwu, Nannuo and Jingami are broring
Yiwu can be interesting but fuck does it get expensive. Sample some premium yiwu teas from bitterleaf or essence of tea or get one of the younger cakes that teas we like has.
I have no idea what to think about jingmai. My current impression is that their tea just isn't that good but i haven't tried enough to really say. I enjoyed some random old cheap jingmai tuo from king tea mall.

[Anonymous No.20605402]

>>20605255
Jujube leaf is fun as a kind of caffeine free green tea substitute. I does not really taste the same but I enjoy it.

>>20605343
>Am I a tastelet or am I the only one that finds the soft drinking puerh regions all samey and boring?
Aged teas from those areas can be good at least. I have not had as many of those areas young.

[Anonymous No.20605494]

>>20605343
I didn't think I liked Yiwu until I tried 941 from W2T, that one is really nice.

[Anonymous No.20605536]

>>20600017
>>20600053
Don't the gooseneck ones lose a bit of temperature because of the spout, making it less accurate? This seems like a concern because I've found that Japanese green teas are very sensitive when it comes to temperature
>>20600725
The Stagg Corvo looks more similar to what I want. How is the temperature accuracy between 140f and 160f?

[Anonymous No.20605538]

>>20605387
>TWL
I'm waiting for some BYH quarter cakes to be back in stock. I've been wanting to know why those cakes are like few hundred dollars.
>>20605402
I should've clarified young sheng. For semi aged and ripes, I'm not much of a fan so I'm not as familiar with those.

[Anonymous No.20605638]

I drink lots of budget-friendly Chinese black and white teas- dianhong, shou mei and such. Usually I get them from YS, but if I want to change things up, who else is worth trying? Ideally US-based but with reasonable shipping it doesn't have to be. Largely looking at the ten to twenty cents a gram range. May also use them for kombucha.

>>20599948
My old Bonavita variable-temp wore out on me a few months ago, and I decided to just get another. Got thousands of good cups out of the last one. I hear good things about the Stagg but I don't like that they're 0.9L and not a full liter. The Corvo is handsome but if you're used to a gooseneck nothing else will satisfy.

>>20602815
I recently tried brewing grated ginger, cinnamon, and cascara ("coffee fruit tea"- you could use black tea in its place, or omit the caffeinated element), it's popular in Yemen supposedly. Not for everyone but it's something different.
If you have both ginger root and turmeric root, you can brew those two together (optional: black pepper at the end and some fat to enhance absorption).

>>20603462
IIRC lavender is slightly relaxing but lacks GABA activity without some cofactors, and that pairing it with lemon balm (already a little bit sedative) enables this extra level of relaxation. They're nice together anyway, it's another mint.

[Anonymous No.20605654]

>>20605538
I think if anything is going to convince you that yiwu has something to offer its this
https://teaswelike.com/product/2021-biyun-hao-longdui-guoyoulin-strong-rounian/
Or maybe just the regular processing version since you are planning to drink it now and not age it for 15 years, not sure, maybe you could email them and see what they think.
https://teaswelike.com/product/2021-biyun-hao-longdui-guoyoulin-standard-rounian/
>Biyun Hao Quarter cakes
They have the 2006 ones in stock, i don't think they will get more desu, or if they do they will be even more expensive.

[Anonymous No.20605658]

>>20605638
>if I want to change things up, who else is worth trying
you might like teavivre's selection, their site is very slow but they have some good stuff

[Anonymous No.20605681]

>>20605536
>Don't the gooseneck ones lose a bit of temperature because of the spout, making it less accurate?
Maybe in theory but I don't think your water possibly being a couple of degrees lower than expected will matter in practice. The gooseneck is nice when pouring precisely into a little gaiwans or teapots and at least on the OXO one it is not so slow as to be annoying when pouring the whole thing out.
>>20605638
>Stagg but I don't like that they're 0.9L and not a full liter.
Part of the reason I decided against one myself. Also the gooseneck version is supposedly slower than the other gooseneck kettles on the market.
>>20605638
>I want to change things up, who else is worth trying? Ideally US-based but with reasonable shipping it doesn't have to be.
Farmer Leaf has good cheap yunnan black teas and a low free shipping threshold but ships from China. Their selection is small however and the more unusual black teas tend to sell out. I have not tested teavivre much yet but the samples I got from them recently were good. Again they ship from China but have a low free shipping threshold. Verdant Tea has fast shipping from the USA and also a low free domestic shipping threshold. It has been a few years since I last ordered but I really liked their laoshan teas. Also check out their 5 for $5 deal if you are a new customer. https://verdanttea.com/five-teas-for-5

[Anonymous No.20605729]

>>20605654
Yeah those are the BYH Yiwu teas I was eyeing but the standard rolling quarter cake is out of stock. I could email them to see if they're willing to break up a cake for me... I'm kinda tempted to try both.

[Anonymous No.20605874]

>>20604903
What’s going on here? Is this supposed to be served like this?

[Anonymous No.20605904]

>>20605874
tadpole tea

[Anonymous No.20606041]

>>20605874
i did some googling and the vid is just something some random guy did for a lol, not a real drink nor something that is actually served anywhere

[Anonymous No.20606073]

>>20605681
>Maybe in theory but I don't think your water possibly being a couple of degrees lower than expected will matter in practice. The gooseneck is nice when pouring precisely into a little gaiwans or teapots and at least on the OXO one it is not so slow as to be annoying when pouring the whole thing out.
I see. Mainly, why I bring it up is because those small deviations would really mess up the flavor of my sencha back when I'd brew it. ± 2 or 3 degrees could mean the difference between bitter hell and heavenly tea. That was my experience, anyway.
Think I found another one better than the Corvo. The reviews of the Corvo were saying that the temperature wasn't entirely accurate. However, the reviews of this one say it's pretty accurate. Also doesn't break the wallet as bad as the other one.
https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Cordless-Adjustable-Temperature-Stainless/dp/B01KTRDKNW/ref
Looks like the non-gooseneck version of the one that the other anon was mentioning.

Just had the 15 years golden melon again. Why do the steepster reviews mention all of these complex flavors, but the only flavor I'm getting is merely dirt and sweetness?

[Anonymous No.20606102]

>>20600982
drinking 2003 Yiwu (Special Grade) now
>Elegant character, aromatic bouquet of aromas with strong sweetness in taste, balanced by a touch of tart and bitterness, reminds me a lot of the charming sweet/tart signature of Riesling wine.
Yeah, this descriptions fits. Maybe not as sweet, but aftertaste reminiscent of red wine is definitely there. Weak qi.
Is it good tea? Yes. Is it worth $200/cake? So far doesn't seem so.

[Anonymous No.20606103]

>>20606073
steepster reviews are pretty shit in my experience. try some young sheng for stronger flavors. it's difficult to find good aged stuff for reasonable prices.

[Anonymous No.20606109]

Tried the free white cake from Yunnan Sourcing that an anon recommended, which I am not linking because I now understand why anon wants to hoard them all. I want to stock up on this, too. You ever eat dried unsweetened cherries out of a bag? tastes like that without as much tartness. Steeps forever. Lovely smoothness in the mouth. Tastes great hot, warm, room temp, haven't tried cold yet but I suspect that, too, will be lovely. And it comes off of the cake gently without immediately turning to crumbs. I don't tend to have quite this much effusive praise for a tea very often, but this is just great. I wish I could crawl into the cup and take it in through my pores like a frog.

[Anonymous No.20606157]

>>20606109
I'm glad you like it, that one is such a gem

[Anonymous No.20606183]

>>20606109
>which I am not linking because I now understand why anon wants to hoard them all.
fair but understand you torment me

[Anonymous No.20606189]

>>20606183
let me order another first heh

[Anonymous No.20606216]

>>20606102
whoops, I mistook this one! It's actually 2011 Yiwu Impression 2 https://theguidetopuerhtea.blogspot.com/2024/02/tea-beyond-border-yiwu-impression-2.html what am I drinking right now.

[Anonymous No.20606218]

>>20605063
Sure mate. I've got tongs of 7572, a couple of w2t offerings, and the cheap aged shou mei from KTM. A kilo isn't so much if you drink every day.

[Anonymous No.20606224]

>>20606183
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2018-chen-nian-shou-mei-aged-white-tea-cake-of-fuding

the other free white cake you can get is good too

[Anonymous No.20606225]

>>20606218
>a couple of w2t offerings
I'd be curious to hear your favorites of theirs

[Anonymous No.20606231]

>>20606224
cheers. thank you so much!

[Anonymous No.20606242]

>>20606109
>>20606157
>>20606183
>free but you have to spend $140
that's not free...

[Anonymous No.20606248]

>>20606242
you expected to be handed a whole cake for nothing?

[Anonymous No.20606253]

>>20606224
Oh, that is the one I got! It tastes like cherries and happiness. I hope ther's enough for everyone (especially me.)

>>20606242
the retail is like $30, it's not a bad price.

[Anonymous No.20606256]

>>20606225
When it comes to ripe, I'm reluctant to spend a lot of dough. Diminishing returns start earlier relative to raws. Just putting it out there that I don't reach for W2T's expensive ripes.
That said I like Peak Vulture, Camphornought, and Waffles for ripe. For raws, I like Daily Drinker (I might be misremembering that name), Boat Captain (spread out sessions), for raws. Might be one I'm forgetting. Kinda buzzed.

[Anonymous No.20606267]

>>20606256
cool, I'll give some of those a go, thanks. and thanks for the tip about diminishing returns, that's hard to get a feel for

[Anonymous No.20606287]

>>20605904
>>20606041
I couldn’t tell. On one hand, I’d totally believe live tadpole tea was consumed in china, but this looks more like someone just irl trolling.

[Anonymous No.20606298]

>>20606267
Moonwaffles, snoozefest, hot brandy, lesser evils, and gingerbread man are great too.

[Anonymous No.20606360]

I am a sad /tea/ anon. I've just brewed the last of my '1 big tree' sample from viet sun. It was so good while it lasted.

[Anonymous No.20606545]

Could anon please recommend a yunnan sourcing tea with strong earthy taste (don't mind horseish smell if it has one), preferably with strong qi?

[Anonymous No.20606556]

>>20606545
Try some liu bao, pick a few that sound good, the reviews can be pretty helpful
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2014-three-cranes-45007-recipe-traditional-liu-bao-hei-cha-of-guangxi
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2019-three-cranes-75117-high-mountain-liu-bao-tea?variant=37455749611719
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2010-bin-lang-xiang-collector-liu-bao-tea?variant=41524868546759
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/guangxi-liu-bao-tea/products/2008-hei-shan-old-tree-raw-liu-bao-tea?variant=39671035199687

[Anonymous No.20606671]

>>20605343
idk if I would call Nannuo or Banpen soft-drinking. I had a very bitter Banpen tea some time ago

[Anonymous No.20606673]

>>20605494
that's more of a yiwu style blend though, isn't it? I thought the sample I had was a bit bland, but I'm also a soft puerh hater most of the time

[Anonymous No.20607151]

>>20606545
YS tea is almost all very dry stored, not very earthy to my tastes. These ones taste like a straight up cup of dirt to me (in a good way):
https://yeeonteaco.com/products/best-taste-ripe-puerh-loose-tea
https://yeeonteaco.com/products/2009-purple-tea-ripe-tea-cake-7342h
https://kingteamall.com/products/2020-sanhe-liu-bao-cha-liubao-tea-1st-grade-loose-leaf-100g-tin-boxed-liu-pao-tea-dark-tea-wuzhou-guangxi

[Anonymous No.20607255]

>>20606242
an easy threshold for any serious tea drinker to hit before the cart is anywhere near finalized

[Anonymous No.20607326]

>>20606673
yeah true I don't think he directly says it's yiwu material. it was definitely very light, reminded me of a green tea a bit, but it handled a pretty strong brewing well

[Anonymous No.20607350]

Does everyone here have shopping addiction?

[Anonymous No.20607367]

>>20607350
How do YOU define it?
I exchange my time for money which I then exchange for goods and services of others.
I'm probably buying more tea then I'm drinking since sometimes I'm not impressed with the stuff I bought and it ends up in the pile of shame, but I wouldn't say I spend more than I can comfortably afford.

[Anonymous No.20607415]

First tea batch arrived
Long road ahead of me

[Anonymous No.20607478]

>>20600619
that was the recommended landing page, not my feed. No music ever occurs in my feed.

Max Miller is pretty based though. The most suffer-able of faggots.

[Anonymous No.20607512]

>>20607415
nice assortment, let us know what you think!

[Anonymous No.20607542]

>>20607350
I don't particularly care for the shopping aspect. I just like stockpiling teas to drink, gift, and sell.
>>20607415
oh YEAH! Reminds me of ballanon. Hope you keep your mental health in check, though. Definitely looking forward to your reviews. When you do finally get through them all, circle back and do a top 5 or top 10 and I'll get those.

[Anonymous No.20607562]

>>20607542
>Hope you keep your mental health in check, though
Chu mean by this white boi
>When you do finally get through them all, circle back and do a top 5 or top 10 and I'll get those.
I'll likely post now and then as I go along and start figuring out what I like and how to brew decently

[Anonymous No.20607563]

>Origin Post is Preparing Shipment

[Anonymous No.20607571]

>>20607562
The anon who ordered one w2t mini of their whole selection ended up a little less stable than expected. Needs to drink more tea, I think.

[Anonymous No.20607607]

>>20607512
>nice assortment
credit goes to the anons who made the suggestions, I just wanted to find my path so I tried to get a bit of everything

[Anonymous No.20607629]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v37d8X4ChQo
Chef John tea recipe!!!

[Anonymous No.20607693]

>>20607542
how do you resell?

[Anonymous No.20607707]

>>20607693
>how do you resell?
Spend 20 years developing a trusted reputation in the "tea community" so the stuff you sell is a known quantity and people are willing to purchase it.
Or do small taobao group buys with a few people who are interested in the same teas you are

[Anonymous No.20607727]

>>20607707
Nta but I'm too antisocial and lazy to make leddit and dicksword account to trade/sell teas.
r/teaexchange or something looked interesting

[Anonymous No.20607730]

>>20607727
Yeah same
Could be fun but i don't like the whole establishing and online identity that has a reputation and internet friends thing.

[Anonymous No.20607749]

>>20607727
>>20607730
How to deal with teas you don't like? Just >>20607367 pile of shame? Gifting to friends and relatives feels sleazy and unwanted teas just piling up at your home is bad energy.

[Anonymous No.20607754]

>>20607749
>How to deal with teas you don't like?
I usually drink them eventually
If they are actually bad i throw them away

[Anonymous No.20607774]

>>20607749
I imagine you'd experiment with them
if they're straight up bad instead of mediocre, toss them

[Anonymous No.20607795]

>>20607629
his inflection is very annoying kek

[Anonymous No.20607845]

>>20607350
If I'm at a favorite restaurant, I like to have a regular thing I order where I can slide to the counter like the Fonz and say "the usual" and they know what I mean. But I still like to try other things on the menu to make sure I've exhausted my options. That way I'm confident that I haven't missed anything good and truly found 'my' choice.

With tea though, there's just so much variety out there and room to experiment. A single type of tea can have a dozen different categories and each one of those categories has multiple subcategories and within those subcategories are a thousand farmers who might be doing a little something different from each other. Each tea can be brewed different ways, so I need to brew and drink a lot to make sure the problem isn't user error (if I don't like it) or to find my favorite preparation (if I do like it). Hell, even if I find "the one" and get tea leaves from the same farmer from the same tree processed the same way, I could still get different results from year to year. Maybe the harvest was late or early or extra sunny or extra rainy, making the 2024 harvest slightly different from 2025. 2025 could still be great, but it won't hit the same, and once my '24 stockpile is gone, it's gone for good. I don't even want to think about aging and terroir and all the other stuff.

tl;dr combination of autism and FOMO.

[Anonymous No.20607857]

>>20607749
Bad ripes are compost tier no doubt.
Poorly stored sheng = if they're premium teas I'll try to salvage them by airing them out, if not they go in the compost.
Plain raws are the real problem. You just don't know if any of them will be good with aging so you're sorta stuck between wasting time and money on aging them or selling them to some reddit chud.

[Anonymous No.20607883]

>>20607857
buying puerh to age in the typical dry western climate has always seemed a little ridiculous to me
shit takes like 20 years and you don't even know if the results will be any good. it makes sense when you live in south east asia and buy cheap, proven factory recipes

[Anonymous No.20607892]

has anyone here tried any of moychay's Georgian or their other own production tea from Vietnam or Thailand? im curious about some of the oolongs from Thailand but shipping from moychay is ridiculously high to my country so i probably wont make an order in a while

[Anonymous No.20607900]

>>20607892
no, but I've had some other georgian black teas. they seem to be on the light and fruity side. maybe a bit like that yingpan shan autumn tea from farmerleaf

[Anonymous No.20607920]

>>20607350
>Does everyone here have shopping addiction?
Yes pretty much, though if there was any easy way to get free tea I would do it. Trying new teas is is a large part of the hobby and buying teas cost money. That's why the topics of sales, deals, and value come up so much.

>>20607542
>oh YEAH! Reminds me of ballanon.
>>20607571
>The anon who ordered one w2t mini of their whole selection ended up a little less stable than expected.
What happened? I remember someone ordering a bunch of samples from W2T but I don't remember the aftermath.

>>20607730
>i don't like the whole ... internet friends thing.
Your our fren at-least, right?

>>20607749
>How to deal with teas you don't like?
I mostly don't have that problem besides a few wet stored teas and some shou I am airing out. My tuition tea I guess. Fortunately I am not too picky so I enjoy most of my teas. Also I avoid overbuying green tea that may go stale, so I can always sit on teas and reevaluate them later. I would not give outright bad tea away but there is nothing wrong with sharing tea that is just not to your taste or is mediocre and unappreciated by you. You got to remember most cheap daily drinker looseleaf teas are way better than what normies typically drink. Your boring tea could be someone else's mind opening intro to tea.

[Anonymous No.20607955]

>>20607883
Aging in the West is not rocket science. If you have a pumidor, like most puerh drinkers have, then all you need is a seedling heater mat or two. Or if you have hot summers, attic is a pretty good place to stick your pumidor in. Just remember to air out your puerh once a month.

But for what's it worth, aging at home is a meme. I just see it as a fall back plan when you have mountain of cheap puerh and no one to dump your tea stocks to.

[Anonymous No.20607963]

>>20607883
>buying puerh to age in the typical dry western climate has always seemed a little ridiculous to me
They way to do it in the west IMO is to buy good value semiaged heicha you already like and get more than you drink. I don't think well stored semiaged or older heicha is going to go bad. So worse case scenario you end up with a lot of tea you are already willing to drink, best case senerio you save a bunch on getting the coveted aged taste. Buying young sheng to age Is a more iffy proposition because it is harder to predict the trajectory of the tea, it will probably go though boring phase that may take a long time to complete, and the prices on a lot of modern young sheng are high right now. It may still be worth test aging some cheap young sheng however.

[Anonymous No.20607991]

>>20607963
Yeah i agree with this.
If you are buying tea that you might keep for longer periods you should be buying tea that already has 7-10 years of age on it and already tastes good now, so even if it doesn't change much in a decade it's still good tea that you wanted to drink in the first place.
For young puer all bets are off, i usually buy young puer to drink right away, or at least within the year. Better to let the tea dealers take the risk of aging it for that first decade or so so if it becomes bland and flavorless it's not your problem

[Anonymous No.20608262]

>>20607749
For me, it's the compost pile.
Very few teas are truly compost-worthy, though I do get a sick thrill from chucking them in there.

[Anonymous No.20608273]

>>20608262
I admit I'm curious what makes something compost-worthy.

[Anonymous No.20608290]

>>20608273
Generally it's a strict absence of anything at all. Even being disliked is enough to save you from the compost.

[Anonymous No.20608301]

>>20607892
Does Moychay not have their Russian site up anymore? The moychay.com domain redirects to their .nl site now.

[Anonymous No.20608367]

Give me cheap whites and raws

[Anonymous No.20608381]

>>20607845
just like women

[Anonymous No.20608384]

>>20608301
.ru my friend .ru

[Anonymous No.20608388]

>>20607350
No, but I have tea addiction. I keep drinking even when I shouldn't. Good thing is it does not damage my social life because I didn't have any to start with.

[Anonymous No.20608403]

>>20607542
>>20607512
>>20607415
Did my first loose leaf hot brew
Brewed Lapsang Souchong Wild Black Tea (Ye Sheng Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong) in the western style (Aberdeen Tea Infuser). (I wanted to opt for a more appealing sounding cheaper black tea, as those are apparently the easiest to brew)
I followed the instructions on the package/site (355ml, 194℉, 3 grams, 4 min) then did a second steep as well the way the rentry recommended (same water, but boiling water for 6 minutes this time).

First cup really tastes more like caramel and honey to me than chocolate (those were the three notes they gave). Even has a bit of floral-ness. Way better & more complex than bagged tea I used to drink occasionally, you can notice so much more going on.
Second steep feels similar, but less bold. Perhaps more floral than the first.

I don't have much of a reference to score off, but I'll start this off with a score of 8/10

Is there any downside to letting the wet leaves rest for a while as you drink the first cup? I ended up with just two cups of tea on my desk now because I didn't drink fast enough lol

[Anonymous No.20608406]

>>20608384
Thank you friend, it wasn't showing up in Google.

>>20608381
pic related

[Anonymous No.20608432]

>>20608403
>Is there any downside to letting the wet leaves rest for a while as you drink the first cup
The moment you pour over them for the first time is like a timer starts and at the end of it substances which you don't want to drink start to be released as the leaves break down. This timer ticks fast when leaves are in hot water and slower when they are out between pourings.

Pouring instructions are just guidance, do whatever you prefer. For me, I hate drinking diluted tea so usually I just take small amount of leaves, steep them for 5-10 minutes, then throw them away.

[Anonymous No.20608527]

>>20608432
I don't find this to be accurate, but maybe we drink different teas. For sheng pu-erh, I often continue using whatever I brewed the previous evening the next morning

[Anonymous No.20608539]

KTM delivery day! Maybe went a little too overboard on this one but no regrets. Got some CNNP liu bao, both young and aged, that 16 piece yancha sampler, the Mengku Rongshi Ben Wei Da Cheng cake, tight tower dianhong, a couple of dan congs, a heaping handful of ripe stuffed oranges, and a $5 kilo of the broken leaf da hong pao. Thanks to anons for the several recommendations.
>>20607693
I sell to friends and coworkers. Looking to expand to a proper ecommerce store this Winter. Mostly aimed towards beginners of good tea.
>>20607707
That's a little excessive, but if I built just enough reputation and respect, I could organize sizeable group buys plus facilitate secret santa's and the like.
>>20607727
>>20607730
Marketing and an online presence is not my strong suit. I like being anon, but I also want to share the love with normies.

[Anonymous No.20608568]

One last frog post before the thread dies.

Shu puer from Tea Expert.

[Anonymous No.20608577]

>>20608539
>>20607707
How do you select teas to buy wholesale? It cannot be as simple as buying bulk from taobao based solely on online pictures, can it?

[Anonymous No.20608582]

>>20608539
>Marketing and an online presence is not my strong suit
How you plan on making ecommerce store work then?

[Anonymous No.20608584]

>>20608577
I only sell what I like. Doesn't even need to be from taobao, either. Just buy some stuff and sell it at a markup.

[Anonymous No.20608589]

>>20608582
I'd figure it out. It's more reluctance than an outright lack of skill. I'm just generally a private person. I want my teas to speak for themselves rather than having clever branding or youtube vids. What I would provide is probably not the most appropriate for anon since anons tend to be unafraid to do a little research on teas and sourcing from Yunnan. Normies on the other hand don't want the hassle. They just want to try some good tea and are willing to pay for the convenience.

[Anonymous No.20608671]

>>20606103
Well, recommend me some young sheng, my nigga.
Anyone got any thoughts/opinions on the OXO non-gooseneck, temperature-controlled kettle before I pull the trigger?

[Anonymous No.20608694]

>>20608589
How does anon do proper research when all anon has is pictures and vendor reputation? How is anon different from normie which wants to try some good tea and is willing to pay for the convenience?

[Anonymous No.20608712]

>>20605536
>>20606073
>This seems like a concern because I've found that Japanese green teas are very sensitive when it comes to temperature
>those small deviations would really mess up the flavor of my sencha back when I'd brew it. ± 2 or 3 degrees could mean the difference between bitter hell and heavenly tea
Usually bitter hell happens when the water's too hot. I don't think the gooseneck would affect the temperature much, but it'd only cool the tea, so it shouldn't make a difference.

[Anonymous No.20608716]

>>20608367
>Give me cheap whites and raws
If you like factory raws with smoke and some roughness
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/xiaguan-2011-sheng-puer-cake-bulang-old-tree-since-1902-puercha-357g
Some haiwans are on sale, never had this but fuck it, it's a 500g cake
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/haiwan-tea-2017-raw-pu-erh-quotshen-shan-lao-shuquot-raw-pu-erh-tea-500g-990
If you want cheap puer you should really find a buying agent you like and start using taobao. Any of the affordable recent xiaguan single village/region cakes should be good drinking and you can get them for like $20-$30.
If you are feeling brave grab one of these, but i haven't tried them.
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/2020-yunnan-spring-mengku-quotdong-guoquot-village-raw-pu-erh-tea-old-tree-raw-materials-sheng-pu-erh-tea-357g
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/2017-taste-of-the-beautiful-place-of-brown-raw-pu-erh-tea-brown-mountain-old-tree-pure-material-sheng-pu-erh-tea-357g
And some random assimica white tea that nobody has tried yet because it's not in the white tea category
https://www.fullchea-tea.com/products/2020-ancient-tree-golden-white-sheng-pu-erh-tea-cloud-like-white-beauty-raw-pu-erh-tea-357g

[Anonymous No.20608719]

>>20608403
>Is there any downside to letting the wet leaves rest for a while as you drink the first cup?
Meh, i wouldn't worry about it too much brewing western style. Just wait till you finish the first cup to brew the second

[Anonymous No.20608723]

New thread in 500 seconds

[Anonymous No.20608731]

>>20608582
NTA
LP already does what I had in mind which is organizing group buys and breaking them up. I think Mopar guy does something similar as well. I think the problem is that western puerh community is too small for slick massdrop like operation but who knows in a few years we might get something. If any of you start something, I'd support it.
>>20608577
I think it's like any other alibaba drop shipping. You buy a small sample(a cake in this case) from a couple of shops and taste the shop's storage. If it's good then just ask if they do wholesale. Then you buy a tong or even a crate of tongs and break it up for resale. Some of these stores said I was welcome to visit them in person (it was all shitty MTL messages) but I'd imagine some of these shop's are willing to sell wholesale if they can.

[Anonymous No.20608733]

>>20594887
anyone have any tips on making chai? i've been trying to follow the standard procedure (steep for a bit in water, then add milk and let it almost boil over), but it just doesn't hit the same

[Anonymous No.20608739]

>>20594887
NEW
>>20608736
>>20608736
>>20608736

[Anonymous No.20608743]

>>20608733
One cup milk one cup water on the stove, bring to a simmer, add a heaping spoonful or a few teabags of tea and spices, simmer for 3 minutes, then turn up heat and bring to a boil quickly, then kill heat and strain and serve

[Anonymous No.20608787]

>>20608733
what spices you using? if you use ginger, be sure to boil it before adding milk. I usually do black tea + ginger bring that to a boil and simmer it for 5 min or so, then add milk and spices and bring back to a boil and simmer for another 5 or so and then add honey or sugar. also if you aren't crushing the spices to a powder, definitely do that

[Anonymous No.20608971]

>>20608733
I haven't experimented much but from what I did letting milk stay near boiling point for any long periods of time only took away from quality.

Fresh spices make a lot of difference, and again in my experience letting them boil for extended periods of time is bad.

I think communism and popularization of methods from poor regions (using the cheapest blends) really did a number on chais. Similar how cocktail culture used to be in US before revival of the last few decades which brought quality ingredients and reinvented the entire thing.

I think the proper way is to put in powderized fresh spices, strain out tea leaves after couple of minutes and after this just maintain temperature around 60 degrees celsius or however hot for it to be ready for immediate drinking it would be from samovar. Who knows tho maybe I'm just retard doing it all wrong.