Tea Thread

[Anonymous No.]

I want to try some Japanese tea, but I've never brewed tea before. Can you guys help me pick out a brand and help me with the process?

[Anonymous No.]

Dude, you just put dried leaves in boiling water. Unless you are referring to that tea ceremony bullshit.

Like, it's so simple it was discovered by accident.

[Anonymous No.]

But is there a certain way? I don't want to drink leaves. How much leaves do I use?

And I don't know what kind to get.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9809728
Well the kind you buy is a matter of preference. I personally haven't had enough to give you a connoisseur's opinion but there is nothing wrong with starting with the relatively cheaper stuff and working your way up until you find a brand you like.

As for how much to use, unless the packaging says otherwise for every cup of tea you want to brew use a teaspoon of leave (hence "teaspoon"). You always want to steep it whilst the water is boiling and the time you steep depends of what kind of tea it is and how strong you want the flavor to be.

[Anonymous No.]

To be honest, I prefer Chinese teas. I'm a huge fan of Oolongs, and recently I've been enjoying a half and half blend of Teavanna's Monkey Picked Oolong (which was pricy at $100 for a half pound, but worth it in my opinion) and one I picked up in an Austrian Tea shop, a Formosa Top Fancy Silvertip Oolong. Blended with 1tsp each for a 16oz cup, it's the most delicious tea I've ever had.

I've been looking into trying Jasmine teas lately, but I haven't found anywhere near me that has some for tasting. I'm also trying to decide if I should expand my Yixing pot collection or if I should get a cast iron pot.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9809750
You don't really want your water to boil. For Black, rooibos, maté and herbal teas, you should get close to a full boil, but for more delicate teas (Oolong, white teas, green teas, and blooming teas) you'll want to get the water to a spot a good bit below boiling just so that it interacts with the leaves better.

Starting with cheap stuff is a good idea, but try not to start with teabags. They're literally made from the castoff waste produced by making looseleaf tea.

[Anonymous No.]

Here is noob mistake number one. If you want a weaker cup of tea, don't add less tea leaves. But instead brew the tea, pour the tea I love the cup then add water to the cup. If you add too little tea leaves, you end up extracting the real bitter flavors. You don't want that

[Anonymous No.]

>>9809728
I use a tea ball (pictured here on left), but it's better to use an infuser like the one on the right. It allows the leaves more room to expand and breath. Some pots have built in infusers, but I have one that fits in a glass mug and is perfect for brewing just 16oz. For a tea ball or cup sized infuser, you'd just pour it over the leaves.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9809755
>>9809788
>>9809804
here.

I forgot my image with >>9809788 , so here it is. This chart is the best.

[Anonymous No.]

It is always better to purchase tea in person.
Buying from teavana or any such tea place is always a big mistake unless you have a strong personality and can stop them from trying to sell you a bunch of shit.
Try an organic market that sells loose leaf tea or if you live in a large city go to china town to a tea store.
Be weary of buying tea online as tea doesn't have the best shelf life and there's no way for you to look at what you are buying.
If you do go to teavana, never buy into them saying that ooh this is fancy blah blah blah, then never know what they are talking about. Stick to low-end teas or any sort of fruit tea for the least cost, and Don't buy one of their damn tins, they're not really that good.

Bagged teas aren't the worst thing ever they have been starting to make bagged loose-leaf teas which have a nice mesh bag rather than paper coffee filter one and are leaves rather than ground up crap.

To infuse the tea I suggest getting either a fabric infuser or just tightly woven cheesecloth rather than a metal one.

Much of the time the packaging will tell you how much tea to use and how hot the water should be, if you are unsure of temperature try investing in an electric tea kettle which can be purchased for as little as $25. The kettle will heat water better and more evenly and will also have settings that you can change determined by what type of tea you are making.
If you buy from teavana, chances are you will have to use more tea to suit your tastes because most of the measurements are weak.

Something very important is to time the tea correctly, it will usually say on the container how long to brew tea. If you take too long the tannins in the tea will release making it taste bitter and disgusting. This also will happen if the water is too hot. Tea is very sensitive and will taste horrible if not prepared properly.

If you have more questions just ask~

[Anonymous No.]

Get some medium grade sencha that fits your budget and a Japanese-style teapot.

Follow the directions on the bag. I think the usual amount is one heaping tablespoon for one cup.Generally you boil water, wait for it to cool to 70-80C, and then steep for about a minute (temp. and time depends on type/grade of tea). Pour out all of the tea to the last drop and then drink it. When you aren't steeping, leave the lid slightly askew.

You can get 3+ infusions, but check online for times and temperatures to maximize taste. Generally, you want to go a little hotter every infusion, and steep very quickly (2nd infusion only needs 10-15s).

[Anonymous No.]

I'd advise you to check the older tea threads in the archive. Lots of useful information to get there.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9810124
Photoshop or reflecting the monitor?

[Anonymous No.]

>>9810131
The latter.

[Anonymous No.]

I currently have kikucha and tamaryokucha from japan and I'd recommend them both. the latter is a bit stronger while the former is quite soft

also if you've never brewed, pour some water over your leaves before you steep them. this is to get rid of dust that will otherwise end up in your teacup

also pour some boiling water in your teapot to heat it up before actually adding the water you'll use for steeping. otherwise your water will be cooled down by the pot and not be hot enough for the tea

I personally put the leaves in loose and then when it's steeped I pour it over in another teapot through a sieve to prevent leaves from getting in but you can use an infuser if you don't have 2 teapots, just don't get the small eggs on a chain, they're too confining and don't spread very well

as for amount and water temperature, that's usually indicated, you could also ask it at the store you buy it. those people should be able to help you

[Anonymous No.]

>>9810136
Make one like if it was a 2hu looking at you (I don't know how the perspective will be).

[Anonymous No.]

>>9810146
I might once (or if) I have a phone/camera like that again.

[Anonymous No.]

Bump! Drinking some delicious oolong tea!

[Anonymous No.]

>>9814102
I wish I could appreciate Oolong but the one I have tastes pretty dire. It was rather cheap compared to my other tea so maybe I should spend a little more on it next time I run out of tea.

[Anonymous No.]

I asked once in /ck/ I didn't get answer. I know researchs have shown that green tea increases fat burning effect. Does anyone of you know what type of green tea is the best fat burner. Yes it isn't much but I am still interested.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9814138
Hm, you could also check out white tea. Though I'm not sure about fat burning.

[Anonymous No.]

Drinking a lager.

[Anonymous No.]

Japanese tea is shit-tier

[Anonymous No.]

Most good tea we can get here in the states that claims to be "japanese" really isn't at all.

It's a shame, but it really doesn't matter, unless you're anal over those kinds of things. Tea is Tea.

[Anonymous No.]

Drinking some tea right now #japan #otaku #praisemeido

[Anonymous No.]

>>9809697

>in boiling water

do not.

[Anonymous No.]

Am I Japanese yet? Ugu~

[Anonymous No.]

>>9822048
>It's a shame, but it really doesn't matter, unless you're anal over those kinds of things. Tea is Tea.
I see you've never tried good tea.

>>9817603
>>9822144
>>9822156
Where did all this post neo /jp/ come from?

[Anonymous No.]

>>9809683
>Japanese tea
god dame

[Anonymous No.]

Tea masterace.

I'd recommend the following places for good Green tea: obubutea.com, sevencups.com, & highmountaintea.com.au

Also if you want a accurate steeping chart, look here: http://www.obubutea.com/tea-info/steeping-chart

[Anonymous No.]

>>9829077
"Accurate steeping" time should be on the package of the tea or included by the company selling it.

That being said it's time for my 60cent/g shincha. Next year I'll buy a little less shincha so I'll manage to drink it all before Summer.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9823009
Some butthurt gooks/chinks, ignore them :D

[Anonymous No.]

>>9823009
>Where did all this post neo /jp/ come from?

That's what I'd like to ask you, dweeb. It doesn't make it /jp/ related just because this awful threads pop periodically out. And now back to Gaia and take your weeaboo homies with you.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9829162

[Anonymous No.]

>>9829162
Trying too hard to hate Japan, go back to /a/v/.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9822144
>its not a repost or a personal story so it must be a normalfag twitterfag outsiderfag
Why can't we give people the benefit of the doubt anymore.

[Anonymous No.]

>implying japanese has tea

[Anonymous No.]

>>9829162
>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

Here you go, 20 minutes of tea knowledge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npFAFX04ROE

[Anonymous No.]

I'm not a big fan of the matcha that I've bought but since I already have it, I was wondering if it was a good idea to try and make iced matcha tea out of it. Did anyone try that?

[Anonymous No.]

I'm super excited to order some hojicha. One of the reasons I love the changing of seasons is because certain teas feel better to drink in certain weather.

[Anonymous No.]

Can't you just let this thread die.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833722
Yeah, this board needs more 2hu threads.
>>>/a/

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833724
You are the worst kind of shitposter.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833731
That's definitely an overstatement.

[Anonymous No.]

sooooooooooooo mad!

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833722
Tea threads have been accepted by /jp/ for years now. Please considering "lurking" before posting.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833741
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3560019/#3560019
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/2901769/#2901769
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/2936060/#2936060
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/2942546/#2942546
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3004513/#3004513
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3019360/#3019360
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3125954/#3125954
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3534265/#3534265
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3534453/#3534453
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3892664/#3892664
http://archive.foolz.us/jp/thread/3812063/#3812063

Why is old /jp/ so good?

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833762
If I was as autismal as you I would dig out all the 300+ reply tea threads we've had in the past. Luckily I don't care enough about convincing you.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833773
I don't think you'll ever convince him that you should stop bumping your thread on a daily basis.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833777
>All images and discussion should pertain to light and visual novels, figures and other otaku paraphernalia, Touhou Project, Vocaloid, doujin works and music, NEET lifestyle, and diverse niche Japanese interests (kigurumi, idols, mahjong, tea).
Go vent your sexual frustration elsewhere, nerd.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833773
It only took me five minutes to find that tea threads used to die as quickly as they were made. You'll be able to find some exceptions that go beyond about 40 posts, but never 300+. Ever. Well, not ever. Maybe up until 2011.

If only you were browsing /jp/ in 2009, you could have bumped all those threads every day and sure they last for several months despite having zero discussion. ;_;

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833787
>All images and discussion should pertain to light and visual novels, figures and other otaku paraphernalia, Touhou Project, Vocaloid, doujin works and music, NEET lifestyle, and diverse niche Japanese interests (kigurumi, idols, mahjong, tea).
What you said and what I said have fuck-all to do with each other.

>Go vent your sexual frustration elsewhere, nerd.
no bully pls

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833787
That list of 'acceptable /jp/ topics' is missing headphones, trains, cooking, and fashion.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833791
I don't see why you even care. Hide threads that you don't like and move on. It's not like they're against the rules in which case I would understand complaining.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833798
My headphones always go missing.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833800
>Hide threads that you don't like and move on
The last logical fallacy a shitposter uses after he runs out of excuses.
Why don't you take your own advice and hide my posts?

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833814
Mine keep breaking.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833814
I keep spilling tea over my headphone drivers.

[Anonymous No.]

>>9833822
How is that a logical fallacy? And I'm complaining because you're shitting up a legitimate thread.