This thread is for discussing teas, tisanes, and other herbal infusions.info: types of tea, where to get tea, how to brew teahttps://rentry.org/teageneralprevious thread: >>20449193
First for black breakfast tea
First for Tai Ping Hou Kui.
Whats the most astringent tea out there?I love the dry cotton mouth feel
https://kingteamall.com/collections/black-tea/products/2020-black-tea-dian-hong-yunnan-hong-cha-loose-leaf-tea-hong-chaThis is new to me. What're these cute little things?
>>20466085raw pu-erh is always a good bet. the dong guo from FL was really tart but in a pleasant way
>>20465398what are those landscape packs?
:^)))))
>>20466121I think I had the same tea pressed into balls a long time ago. Was pretty gud desu
Later today i'll try a side by side yingpan shan autumn 2023 and spring 2024 to see the difference. The special processing of this year is really good if anyone is looking for something different to drink it's an unsual red tea, really good smell and taste. A lot more enjoyable than any smoked lapsang
>>20466121>What're these cute little things?Blooming tea, its dian hong black tea, but it will open up into a sort of flower like shape when you toss it in hot water.
>>20466132>what are those landscape packs?Bottom right? Probably oolong, lots of oolong used to come in paper wraps around that size, the plastic on the outside was probably added later.
>>20464998to counteract I will say that their advertised read speeds are blatant false advertising...
>>20466332is it very smoky or just a hint of smoke?
Just tried oolong for the first time, not sure if I like it. Maybe I put too much in; those little balls expand into full leaves, I was not expecting that.
>>20466735yeah they expand a ton. experiment with your brewing a bitthere is a ton of variation in oolong, from super dark and roasted coffee-tasting stuff to very light and floral, so it's very possible you'd like some other oolong more
>>20466735What kind of oolong? It spans a pretty large spectrum of flavor profiles, if this one isn't to your taste there might be another variety you like more.
>>20466735Try a non-roasted oolong like dongfang meiren, much nicer
Is oolong the most nondescript category for tea, it can mean anything.
;^))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
>>20466709It's gentle because you have depths in the mouth. The smokey taste doesn't cover the rest compare to other smoked teas (especially cheap ones). The few few brews are complex and really good and you can do many infusions but the more you do the less complex it become and will just have the "smokey" taste remaining
>>20466754What kind? I’m not sure, I bought it from the local Chinese supermarket, see pic related. I’m fairly new to the /tea/ business. I’ve just read posts about it and I thought that I would try it. Possibly to much tea, like when I tried long ching for the first time.
been a long time since I last tasted hq green tea
>>20466825Post a picture of the dry leaves, and tell us what color the leaves are after you brew them (green, brown, or black). The packaging doesn't really tell me anything.Anyway definitely mess around with brewing parameters, if its sour or bitter use cooler water. If its too strong use less leaf. There are some rough guidelines for brewing oolong in the rentry.
>>20466815what is it? oolong?
>>20466815The tea has landed. Did you have to pay the post office any fees?
>>20466862No. It was shipped directly to my house.
>>20466863Nice
>>20466859No, green. I have to admit, like the last time I ordered expensive green, I am a bit disappointed. There is a very subtle flower taste and noticable bitterness, but not much else. I'm brewing 80° 4g / 150ml for 40 secs, roughly 3 infusions with + 20 secs each consecutive infusion.
>>20466878Try lower temp, maybe for longer, and see how it goes
>>20466878Try brewing it with the sencha directions in the rentry and see what happens.
>>20466856The dry and expanded leaves are both dark green and the tea itself is amber in colour.
>>20466863lucky youSame country and costoms also sacked my 2nd FL order. Waiting to get the notification and then spend another fun day in their mad house.
>>20466901Id call that a fairly standard middle of the road oolong processing, a little bit of oxidation and the outside edge of the leaves are reddened. So not a bright green oolong or a dark heavily fermented one. As far as how it tastes a lot probably comes down to the quality of that particular production. Try brewing it a few different ways and see how it goes. Unfortunately not every asian market tea is a winner.
>>20466878what kind of green?
>>20466826>>20466878oh wait, is this taiwanese bi luo chun?I bought sanxia bi luo chun twice and I like it a lot, definitely more than long jing and chinese bi luo chun. it does need to be pushed though, I recommend a simple grandpa brew at 90 degrees celsius
Got a bag of canarias mate the other day. This is the first time ive tried a Uruguayan mate. It's nice but holy shit is it potent, filled a big cup up this morning and brewed it out for a few hours and i was wired.Much finer than the rosamonte especial, but it wasn't too harsh, maybe even a bit less smokey.
>>20467357I had an Urugayan mate today myself, interesting coincidence.I agree it's finely ground like a Paraguayan (maybe even more so, but less dust), but not smoky, much like a Brazilian or the milder Argentinians.Very nice intense dark green flavor, darker than the "cucumber grass clippings" of mate green, but not the dark wood and herbs of long-seasoned Paraguayans. Got an interesting note of tree resin in the later steeps. Though that could be literal resin from my Palo Santo cup but I doubt it, the resin should be all gone now after years of sippin.
>>20467376>Very nice intense dark green flavor,Sounds good.Not sure how to qualify this one, i guess it's pretty well aged, since the bag looks like it was coming up on its expiration date, so it got a bonus 24 months or so of shelf aging. Deep, green, a little woody.
>>20467385I'm not sure if mate ages much in the bag actually, I think they do some sort of open-air ageing at the factory.
>>20467443Yeah probably not, i think in the factory they age the whole leaves and stems in cloth bags or something.
Now I wanna try some 20 year old mate
>>20467467Its time for hong kong storage mate
>>20467464yep. once it's a finished product I don't think it really aged anymore
>>20467045Will try those brewing parameters tomorrow.>>20467036
>>20467528ah, so it's not a taiwanese bi luo chun but something else. still, won't hurt to push it
How is young liu bao?
>>20468071good. more chocolaty like ripe
just ordered a gaiwan, ive tried pu-erhs and greens and other random teas before but its been a while. im looking around for some sorta good sampler. i dont have any fancy temp control so im trying to avoid teas that are very sensitive to temperature differences. any suggestions on a sampler?
SHIT I'm down to 1 pound of loose leaf then I have to resort to silk bagged grocery store tea! dammit!
>>20468235It's pretty much just greens that are seriously temperature sensitive. Whites a bit depending on what you've got, the rest will take boiling fine enough in most cases.Imo YS is the place for samplers just because they have such a wide range available. Actually now I think about it, I don't think any of the other usual suspects do a broad sampler like this.https://yunnansourcing.com/en-gb/collections/assorted-tea-samplers/products/first-steps-tea-sampler
>>20468235>>20468276Second Yunnan Sourcing for intro samplers. A little pricey, but no lemons. If you aren't hungry for more after the samplers, puerh isn't for you. Don't forget to post photos of your new gaiwan.
Can somebody explain to me why lao cha tou is usually more expensive?
>>20468643Low yield? Most of the pile isn't going to clump into nuggies?
>>20468620>If you aren't hungry for more after the samplers, puerh isn't for you.I don’t know if you're referring to a different YS sampler but there's only one raw puer in that sampler and it isn't even 5 years old. There's an older one in the "Next Steps" sampler but it's YS brand and looks pretty dryly stored. Everyone should try a well aged more humid stored raw puer before they give up on all of them imo.
>>20468276>>20468620i had it in my cart and it sold out.. should i wait for restock or are there other suggestions?
>>20468740https://white2tea.com/collections/tea-sample-sets/products/basics-puer-tea-sample-sethttps://white2tea.com/collections/non-tea/products/standard-ruyao-gaiwan
>>20468643lower yield and you get more steeps out of it than normal ripe
Drank too much tea, now have to go poopy
Seven Cups "Mogan Huangya (Mogan Yellow Buds) Yellow Tea 2023" first impressions. Gong fu, 185F, 30sec infusions +15s for each infusion up to 2 mins. Infusions 1-2 infusions were grassy and nutty. Infusions 3-5 were more astringent and had more tannin taste. Last infusion had more grass and mildly sweet aftertaste. Seven Cups described the sweetness as "beeswax candle," which I raised an eyebrow at when I first read it, but it kind of made sense afterwards. Comparing it to other teas, it's like it started off as longjing and transitioned to sencha.
>>20468996pre-brew vs post-brew leaves
>>20468996$78.75 for a 100 grambtw, where's the anon with price per gram script? does it work?
>>20468740looks like it's still available from the .com inventory if you're alright with waiting for shipping
>>20469019https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/glodfinch-tease/yes, it works
>>20467676Yes, I just brewed western style with much longer brewing time (several minutes) and it tastes quite good. Neglectable bitterness and some very fresh, vegetable tastes. It pains me to throw away those beautiful tea buds :(
>>20469131>It pains me to throw away those beautiful tea buds :(Brew them again. With western style you're still good for at least two brews (for anything not black tea)
>>20468996Nice to see some notes on a premium yellow, cool stuff
>>20469220No, I find green tea only good for roughly 2 infusions. Just did another gonfu session with this tea. Adding around 1/2 a minute each consecutive infusion and even with gonfu, only the first infusion is really pleasant. I'm using around 4g/140ml 90°
Forgot to include overall brewing time first infusion: 1 1/2 min
>>20469827>Just did another gonfu sessionYou're drinking tea. Stop calling doing shit "sessions". Quit trying to make fetch work.
http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=926Having a ripe sesh with this $12 cake, it's pretty nice.
>>20465398been enjoying this a lot more than i expected.never really dabbled in puerhs til about a week ago. coming mainly from chinese and japanese greens
It doesn't fit :^)
the bag is fucking cool
Very interesting. Tastes like some Taiwanese black teas I've tried before. Has that eucalyptus taste idk.....
>>20465398Is it true that those packs can be as expensive as the same amount of coke?
>>20469908It's possible, with the insanely old collectible stuff they sell at auction houses.https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/tea-treasures-rare-vintage-and-premium-puerh-the-inaugural-tea-sale?lotFilter=AllLots
Why is red and green the most prevalent theme for wrappers? What do the colours signify?
>>20466800It's on the same level as green, black, white which are all fairly non descript, but in terms of flavor you may have a point. All oolong means is partially oxidized, somewhere between green and black, some are much closer to one side or the other.
>>20469888its a weird tea idk how 2 describe the taste. it tastes kinda green but not really idkit also brews at close to boiling at which i think it tastes the fullest. it just gets a smoother mouth feel then
https://www.amazon.com/120pcs-Storage-Absorbers-Resealable-Sealable/dp/B0B87MZ35T/Is this what I should be using for storage?
>>20469938Back in the day, the Chinese government owned all the tea factories and standardised the wrappers, the CNNP was in charge of it. Nowadays even though they privatised in the 80s/90s, they still reference the classic design.I dunno why they chose those colours specifically (maybe it's as simple as they chose red because it's Chinese) but that's why they're all so similar.
>>20470045>https://www.amazon.com/120pcs-Storage-Absorbers-Resealable-Sealable/dp/B0B87MZ35T/these are good for stuff you are drinking daily.for longer term storage look into double lidded tins
>>20469836I’m having a nice cringe session with your post
I want to buy cheap travel tea set from taobao but it feels like such a waste ordering only one thing, when I'm gonna get fucked on shipping. Any tips to make it less painful?
>>20469938China loves red, iirc it signifies wealth and prosperity, no idea about green
https://www.amazon.com/Wallaby-1-Gallon-Gusset-Mylar-Bundle/dp/B09CCQCWPF/Thinking of ordering these. I'm going to put all my raw and white in one bag and ripe in another, sound good? Do the bags still need to be stored separate? Should I use the included oxygen absorbers?
>>20470134Buy tea, there are some official shops in the rentryOr if you just want a travel gaiwan set you can find em on AliExpress for $15-$25 depending on the day of the week and the whims of the algorithm. Usually with free shipping https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2255800009058970.html?https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256806190617856.html?https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2255799896826926.html?https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256805631076338.html?
>>20470154>. I'm going to put all my raw and white in one bag and ripe in another, sound good?Yeah>Should I use the included oxygen absorbers?NoGrab a couple 55%-62% boveda packs on Amazon and toss one in each bag, replace them when they get dry and crunchy.Also might not hurt to open the bags and air them out for a day or two before using them just to make sure they don't have any residual odor.https://www.amazon.com/Boveda-62-Percentage-Individually-Wrapped-Humidity/dp/B00FWPQ8XQ/
>>20470166Thanks
>>20470182You don't really need to worry about putting the mylar bags in another container, i just keep them in a cardboard box on a shelf to keep them organized. If you buy loose oolong you can use the oxygen absorbers in that
>>20470166Mylar distinctly does not have odors.
What would you recommend for keeping a wrapper secured over a cake once you've started breaking into it? Maybe an elastic hair band?
>>20470246Turn cake label side down. Crumple up wrapper. Wahla.
Post tea you're waiting forPost tea you've purchased an entire tong of
>>20470246https://youtube.com/watch?v=RCh8ojP-QQY
Anyone order and receive any of FL's 2024 mao chas yet? I'm curious about this year's lineup.Also, when do they typically post the new spring cakes?
>>20470694jingmai liu dui garden very nice
>>20470391>Post tea you're waiting forNone im broke>Post tea you've purchased an entire tong ofClosest ive come is buying 2.5 kilos of 2009 xiaguan te ji tuos back when they were $14 a sleeve. Just cracked into my second to last tube this morning.>>20470694>Also, when do they typically post the new spring cakes?soon™
>>20470242The foil layer traps outgassing volatiles from the inner plastic layer. Unused Mylar bags can have a strong plastic smell when first opened. I have had it happen personally.
Why am I being attacked by a tea website?
>>20469915I want the Liu An...
>>20470757What site is that?>>20470758Just drop a casual 20k on a basket of liuan made during ww2I wonder if the auction how sells this as being safe for human consumption or if they slap a disclaimer on it.
>>20470968>What site is that?https://hienminhtea.comNever heard of them before and couldn't find any mention of them in the archive. But the Viet Sun guy mentioned them on a Instagram story recently. I was considering biting the bullet and being the first to try their teas here.
>>20470757
Drink more tea
It's too late
>>20471026Interesting shop, thanks
>>20471026Cool stuff, godspeed brave tea soldier. If there's more stuff you want to try and you don't want to order a ton, post it here, I might put one in and post some reviews.
Is Kintsugi safe?Just today I broke the lid of my gaiwan so I want to see if I can fix it. Using epoxy seems super sus while using traditional method is expensive af.
>>20471317No it makes mustard gas.
>>20471336Urushi is highly concentrated poison ivy so I thought I ask. Food safe epoxy have shit temperature handling so doesn't seem right to use since the lid comes in contact with hot water albeit very briefly
>>20471368There are two answers, the first is that you're correct and you can't really use food safe epoxy, and that it's probably bad to use epoxy on things that you drink from. The second is that while it's bad, the harm is negligible compared to things you already do every day.
>>20470968>Just drop a casual 20k on a basket of liuan made during ww2This guy sells some more "reasonably" priced old liuan.https://theguidetopuerhtea.blogspot.com/p/specials.htmlHonestly if you are really hitting the old tea hard it may almost make sense to fly over to HK and Taiwan and shop around in person.>>20471026>Never heard of them beforeStill some how in my tea bookmarks folder. I ever get around to sorting it I will share my finds. I know I have found a several promising foreign language shops that probably ship internationally. I really wish I had started organizing it from the start. Now I got like 4000 bookmarks I got to decide if I am willing to go through.>>20471317>Is Kintsugi safe?The real urushi stuff is. I don't think there is any readily available "food safe" epoxy that is also high temp rated. Cured high grade epoxy should be "non toxic" but it depends on your personal tolerance for exposure to eating plastics.
>>20471317Once cured, urushi is food-safe and non-toxic. While wet, it will still light your ass up, so be very careful and use proper PPE when working with it.
>>20471317There was a Japanese guy selling kintsugi kits with food safe epoxy. I can't remember the site name. It was expensive, though.
Who else /iced/? Alishan from teahome. I like these green oolongs on ice the best. Blue skies and golden sunshine.
>>20472365That'll be me in about two days, my new sun tea pitcher just came in.
>>20470757I'd like to meet some virgin green tea, if you know what I mean.I mean that I'm actually almost out of green tea, and I need to get some more.
>>20472373>sun teaIt's an interesting method, is the result significantly different to a cold brew?
Tempted to try that Monkey box from JTH. His videos and travel gaiwan are what got me into Gongfu brewing, but my first go around with the tea sampler didn't impress me. Now that I know more about it, I wonder if I should give his teas another shot.
fuck me I can't get enough of nip green tea. I got 4 bags open and none of them seem to ever finish even as I drink 8-10g a day.Anyone have any particular types of jap green to recommend? I'm currently on kabuse (I think Uji), Shizuoka organic lightly roasted, Kagoshima asatsuyu, and Oita fukamushi. The only stuff I actively avoid is Yame, it ranges from oddly bitter to okay but not worth the gyokuro price, even when I tried it at a couple of serious shops in Fukuoka and the absolute best I've ever had is Uji tenkaichi gyokuro
Any unroasted oolongs in?
>>20472669I'll probably order some shincha soon. I love jap green teas, but last time I left one open in a ziplock for too long and it went quite stale, even the liquor was a different color.I find even the cheaper jap greens quite nice, so I'll probably just grab whichever shinchas I can get for cheapest.
>>20472719how long was that? I had one get fucked up with a brown color and bitter taste, but it was probably open for over 4 years. I usually use rubber bands and clips with a lot of rolled pressure on the bag if there isn't a zipper seal on it, to minimize oxidization, but I think the max life for senchas is around 2 years. I think I actually have a 2023 shincha (lol) sitting in my cabinet so I might open that soon if I can finish one of these bags. The others I bought with it were pretty good.
Got my travel tea set
>>20472761around half a year of sitting in a ziplock. maybe I should get some small mylar just for jap greens or something
>>20472822>travel tea setFor what purpose? To avoid trying local beverages when traveling?
>>20472836I got one of those too. I use it in places that don't really do fancy tea shops. I like to drink a lot of things throughout the day but I always start the day with tea, simple as. There are only a few countries that have consistent supplies of tea: Japan, South Korea, China + the other Chinas, Singapore, and a few specific cities in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Any place outside of those and you're out of luck. Also I find going to the tea shop every day to be arduous and time-consuming, and sometimes it's logistically problematic. Taiwan, for instance, has relatively few gong-fu cafes, and you mostly just get to sample tea when you go to a retailer.
Even a gondaobei fits inside>>20472836As the other anon said, in western countries it's a rarity to find good tea shops, especially ones that do gonfu even less regular people who own such tea.In the rare case that I sleep over somewhere I'll just have it available wherever I go.Now I can also take a insulated water bottle along and drink tea outside. It's amazing (I'll propably never do it)
>>20472426It's interesting... it's done slowly, but the water does get warm (not hot unless you live somewhere really hot), so it has some aspects of brewing with warm water. But usually sun tea is served chilled, so it will have aspects of cold tea, as well. More than anything, it's a great way to use bulk shitty tea you've been gifted by well-meaning loved ones who just know you like tea.
If you were to design a warehouse in the US for aging where would want it and how would you design it?
>>20473175>where would want it and how would you design it?Florida Possibly below ground with at least some kind of hvac system in case parameters get too far out of whack As far as the actual design i would probably just use generic warehouse shelving and put a big focus on trying to make sure it didn't reek like fresh paint and oil before i moved the tea in.Seattle or somewhere else on the west coast might also be an option, im not sure about inland locations, they are typically pretty dry.Big things to look at would be long term average and daily temp and humidity and then compare that to hk/ Malaysia/ taiwan leaning towards the last two since i seem to like storage from those regions the most.
>>20473195>Florida>below groundAsking for trouble. There's a reason nobody there has a basement.>>20473175I think Scott has the right idea with Texas warehouse. Balanced geographically, reliably warm. It's probably possible to have a warehouse anywhere, desu. Climate controls are a well solved problem. I would want it to be where I live, in the frozen Great Plains. Multiple rooms or chambers for different climates or experiments. No windows. Lots of monitoring. I wonder about fire or flood aversion strategies.
Luv this
>>20473285Always hear good stuff about bao zhong but I never got around to trying one
>>20473354It tastes very sweet. There's something strawberry like about the flavour, but also a very slight creaminess. It's also quite cheap compared to other speciality teas. The sweet flavour profile propably also makes it very suitable for trv tea beginners. Definetely recommended.
Listening to some acid jazz. Took around 7 of these micropellets. Feel nuffin yet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chifir
>>20473383Nice I like to have some sweet stuff in the rotation, time to pick some up.
time takes forever to pass
why does the sage tea pacage say you can't drink it daily for more than 2 weeks
1h in. Will take the last 2 pellets now. Will be at 100ug then
I don't know if the hot tea hampers the effect??
>>20473473>why does the sage tea pacage say you can't drink it daily for more than 2 weeksKind of a generic warning you sometimes see on herbal teas. Not sure specifically for sage but sometimes overuse of various herbs can fuck with your blood pressure or your kidneys or some shit >>20473488Aren't you supposed to avoid chlorinated water? Because it can destroy the stuff before you absorb it? I dunno about the lsd analogs maybe it needs to go through some conversion process in your liver first before it becomes active.
My fa zhan he sample was sweeter than my cake.Not sure how to feel about this.
>>20473669It was the same with mine lol. Not sure why. The cake is still very nice though, I've almost finished it
>>20473669This is why the cake is the sample
>>20473473If we are talking about normal consumption common sage (Salvia officinalis) tea it should be safe so long as you are not pregnant. You probably will have no problems so long as you are not taking large quantities in pills or ingesting refined essential oils.https://www.nccih.nih.gov/health/sage
I'm gonna be honest bros I spent like $200 on tea equipment and nice tea and it had less flavor than bottled water
>>20473716The fug did you buy
>>20473663Im fuggin baalllinI swear bros tea has never tasted this great in my life
>>20473774
Got a nice new kyusu from artisticnippon to replace my cheaper one and I'm consistently surprised with the difference in taste between different unglazed clays. I don't even look out for it and yet it's unignorable. I thought it was just autists saying this kind of stuff
>>20473860Yeah it's pretty wild, i thought it was a bit of a meme too until i experienced it
Finished storing my tea in their new Wallaby mylar homes. I should have ordered more boveda packs because you can only fit about 3 357g cakes into a single 1ga bag, or it may particular to this brand. I hope my cheap Awazon ripes will turn out better with the 62 pack. How long should I wait to open it and retry the ripes?
>>20473970As soon as you want to retry it!
>>20473282That map is so fucked
I'm reading many posts (chemistry related) stating that inexpensive mg scales are not accurate and I thought of tea. Which scale do you use and how accurate do you believe it is?
>>20474702You don't really need more than 0.1g accuracy for tea. Both of my cheap ones are 0.01g though and they're accurate to that after calibrating and testing them.
>>20474702Acaia lunar and very.
>>20470391Let me know of which tea you would like a review
>>20474982Hi Pieter.
>>20474982Great screenshot. Now you know my name. Ill review the yixing teas
What is the best value somewhat aged raw pu-erh you've had?I tend to feel that my enjoyment of semi-aged pu-erh is pretty much just lesser than a young raw of the same price. But I want to give it a chance again, just for some variety. Anything better than Xiaguan tuos at a similar pricepoint maybe?
>>20475621How do you define somewhat aged?How many years is that?I've got some 2019 which tastes pretty much like young raw.
>>20475643>How do you define somewhat aged?I mean semi-aged in the way people usually define it. so around 10-20 years. beyond that shit starts getting really expensive, so I'm not too interested
>>20474702I don't weight my tea and it's very accurate
>>20474702Using 0.5g more or less in a given session is just the part of the experience. Just wing it and let it ride out, it's only tea. The worse thing that can happen is it will be bitter, or you will be buzzing with too much caffeine.
>>20475707i always use a scale but i never really care what the value is, im fine with it so long as its between 5 and 8g, its just nice to have in case i want to write notes about the tea
>>20475621>fluorosis from boiling liubaoWhat is fluorosis and how do I avoid getting it from my new favorite tea?
>>20475722don't drink floor sweepings bricks, don't be tibetan and don't live at high altitude
>>20475722>What is fluorosisa condition caused by ingesting too much fluor all the time>how do I avoid getting it from my new favorite teaas long as you're not simmering super cheap tea on the stove every day for years, you're fine
>>20475739>fluor*fluoride
>try new tea>2nd wash tastes the bestits a melancholy feel
The Spring 2024 Jingmai Black special processing is so good... I wish I had ordered more.
>>20475621The 12 cent brick from teas we like has a smooth aged flavor, it's not the strongest tea but it's enjoyable and priced reasonably. Smooth dried fruit flavors, a very easy sipping tea and well priced for something old with proper clean storage that's still sufficiently humid to age it.https://teaswelike.com/product/twelve-cent-brick/
>>20466063me rnclassic english with some oat creamer
>>20475873been considering that one. any other reccs for the cheaper offerings from TWL?
a lot of shincha available already at O-cha.comI think I might get the Saemidori Asamushi, the Uji Aoi and some Chumushi, not sure which one. I like deep-steamed fukamushi shit too, but it clogs my teapot too muchany reccs?
Does anyone here know what happened to Taiwan Sourcing? The website is closed without notification.
>>20475873Pretty tempting. I never browsed TWL fully, for some reason I just assumed they don't stock budget offerings and didn't want to blue balls myself.
>>20476171That stinks. I ogled their aged stuff quite a lot.I think they were operated by YS maybe you can catch their stock there, at least some of it was available there.
>>20473669I have one in my cart right now because I liked the sample. Should I get something else instead?Also, wasn't super impressed with my lao man e sample, despite it being praised around here. Brew issue maybe? Do you think a full cake would be better/different?
>>20476377>Should I get something else instead?I don't know. It's not as sweet, I'm not salivating as much as I remembered but the wet leaves smell is still very nice. I think the 2024 stuff should be up soon so maybe wait a while?It's not a bad tea by any means, but I liked the sample better. I've also drank a fair bit since then so maybe I've changed.
>>20475921>been considering that one. any other reccs for the cheaper offerings from TWL?I was gonna recc some of the nanqiao quarter cakes but they are all sold out.Got a full cake of this a few years ago and it was fantastic.https://teaswelike.com/product/2004-nanqiao-bada-nannuo-blend/I think the into to puer quarter cake set is interesting but maybe too focused on factory teas.Haven't tried this yet but zoned in out it being an interesting proposition https://teaswelike.com/product/2011-chenyuan-hao-qianjiazhai-jincha/Got one of these a while ago, $75 is a reasonable price. It's a very solid example of a 7542 with some age on it, really has that characteristic dried plum flavor and isint too harsh like some plantation teas can be. Would recommend if you wanna understand 7542 better or just try a nice example of it.https://teaswelike.com/product/2010-dayi-7542-batch-001/
>>20476377it's still a great tea. the sweetness in the cake is also elusive I find, sometimes it's there, sometimes less so. but when it's not there, you just get more of the savory aspects, so it's all goodfor the lao man e I just went full cake without sampling and I do like it a lot. I guess it's a bit trickier to brew since it's more bitter than most FL raws
>>20475738I'm going to drink my floor sweepings bricks even harder now.
>>20476622i'm drinking floor sweepings butter tea right now to be honest
>>20476466thanks for the reccs. I might wait until I have more cash laying around for a TWL order
>>20476171No clue, but it is a shame they are gone. I was considering grabbing a few things from them.
Taiwan sourcing didn't seem like it was going very well. They seemed like they tried to apply yunnan style tea sourcing techniques to taiwan and things are just entirely different there. You cant just drive up a dirt road on a mountain and find some farmer with old trees in the woods.
>>20477631I don't think their sourcing or selection was the problem. They just never seemed to get a strong marketing presence. I rarely saw them recommended. So perhaps their sales were poor. It is also possible they closed due to personal reasons. They deleted their youtube videos as well which is strange.
>>20469881I'm drinking that exact tea right now. I love it, my favorite so far from the sampler it came from
>>20476554I liked the fa zhan he because it had some complexity in the tasting experience, and changes as it brews, with nice endurance to boot. If the full cake is a bit less sweet, but retains that complexity, I'd be happy!>I guess it's a bit trickier to brew since it's more bitter than most FL rawsYeah it wasn't the bitterness that bothered me. It just seemed to lack any complexity, just wasn't getting much exciting flavor/mouthfeel out of it. Just ran a bit flat.
>>20473231>Climate controls are a well solved problemhot dry areas are still an issue. it's hard to get high levels of humidity and cool air.
>>20473494NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE NIGHTMARE
Viet Sun Tea is having an anniversary sale. Everything 15% off.
>>20478771Fuck yeah
Why is the 2013 version, dare I say, so cheap?
>>204790742012 and 2013 was the height and deflation of the second puer bubble, it wasn't as dramatic as the 2005-2007 bubble but again you had a LOT of tea made in those two years, and prices have stayed somewhat lower as a result.That said if you want a nice 7542 get the 2010 from teas we like for $75, its a good cake with good storage on it.
>>20479303>That said if you want a nice 7542 get the 2010 from teas we like for $75, its a good cake with good storage on it.I'm intrigued. Does it have that old taste to it?So far everything aged I've tried, I could always taste that it's old. This strange dustyness/wetness/staleness... don't know how to describe it. This always ruined the rest which was either like white cake, or something sweet but smoky.
>>20479506I didn't notice any prominent wet storage notes. It's more that the tea has the edge taken off/is rounded out/smoother. Less bitterness/astringency more sweetness.I mean it's still a factory sheng, it still has some of those characteristics but TWL selects typically for teas with clean Malaysian / Taiwan storage, its much cleaner the traditional hk yet has sufficient humidity for the material to age and change. At least from my experience with TWL they tend to avoid stocking teas with prominent wet storage notes. Basically they offer teas with what in my own personal taste is the ideal storage conditions for aging tea while retaining its inherent character and personality.
Bros what are some teas that are good when cold? I already make black tea and mate. Need more cold refreshing sweet drinks in my life.
>>20479710Second flush Darjeeling, roasted Taiwan oolongs (https://www.teahome.com/product/ao202700/) yunnan black teasMaybe some Chinese greens like dragonswelllightly steamed Japanese sencha
>>20479710Virtually every sencha. Kabuse and gyokuro are probably the best because they bloom in low heat (50-60c vs 70-80c for typical sencha). Asatsuyu (poor man's gyokuro) is particularly common as a cold-brew, marketed heavily these days.
/tea/'s thoughts on this stuff?
>>20479832Mostly sugar but at least it's cheap.I don't think anybody outside of Asia does bottled tea right.
>>20480082There are a few brands that do tea well, but they're often $3-5 per bottle for some reason. otherwise they're americanized with more sugar than a soda. Arizona's taste like candy which I like, but at the end of the day its no longer tea just like starbucks generally doesn't serve coffee. Try whole foods, some of those bottled teas are okay but they're horrendously expensive not just because of whole foods pricing.
>>20480087The unsweetened Pure Leaf/Gold Peak/etc stuff is okay. The added acid usually makes them taste a little weird. It's nice to have the option, but I can make gallons of cheap black tea that tastes better for literally a few cents.I do like a nice peach tea sometimes though.
Seven Teas black tea and lemon in a can is wonderful
Census time.>Approximately how much tea do you currently have at home?For me, somewhere between 1.5 and 2 kilos.>Approximately how much tea do you consume per month?Varies a lot, but I'd average it out to 100 grammes.
>>20481248I just ordered another 8 pounds. I have 1lb of loose leaf rooibos and 18 silk bagged green tea left. I go through about 1 pound of loose leaf every 30-45 days. I've got a large bodum french press, makes about 3-4 cups of tea every morning. Sometimes I'll rinse that out and put some tea in it in the fridge for all day (or all night) cold brew. Increased tea usage over the winter when its cold and I just want something hot to drink. A little less over the hot as balls summers but usually do cold brew when its unreasonably hot.
>>20481248>at homeMaybe 10 kilos. I sell to friends and coworkers, though.>per monthAround 500 grams per month, I'd guess. That includes a bit of yerba mate.
>>20481380>bodum french press, makes about 3-4 cups of teainteresting, do you use it like a giant grandpa style brewer or pour it all off into a separate container after brewing?
>>20481610I just leave the leaves in the press and drink it through the morning. A strong black tea has too many tanins and makes me vomit, but green or white tea is just fine as long as I get the water temp right. A little bit of honey in the bottom I don't stir.
>>20481677cool, I'm gonna have to try that, sounds convenient
>>20475621If I share the prices will go up before i have time to accumulate
>>20481688share you bastard
Went to Tea Chapter in Singapore. Got to try before we buy in the upstairs tea house
>>20481719Nice, did you end up buying anything?
>>20481248considering the 300ish grams of half-opened cakes, the 6 or 7 bags of japgreen sitting in the back, my recent 400g order of Taiwanese stuff, and the half kilo of shelftrash that sits there looking pretty? I'd say just over 2kg.I drink 7-10g a day, so we'll go just above average and say 250g
>>20481248The joys of storing your tea log in SQL. All amounts are in grams.Not counted a breakfast teas and such.>Approximately how much tea do you currently have at home?[code]+--------+-----------+| type | left |+--------+-----------+| sheng | 2326.2067 || green | 432.6 || shou | 328.51 || black | 270.71 || oolong | 212.11 || white | 7.224 |+--------+-----------+[/code]>Approximately how much tea do you consume per month?[code]+-------+-------+-------+| min | avg | max |+-------+-------+-------+| 26.91 | 118.8 | 180.6 |+-------+-------+-------+[/code]
>>20482068>storing your tea log in SQLbased
>>20481248about 2kg of mixed stuff on the bag shelf (oolongs, black etc) and about a kilo of yerbaabout 250g in the tuo tower on my deskthe pumi (white, sheng, shu) is a little crowded at the moment with about 5kgsSo maybe 8kg. I prefer to be closer to 5kg total, bought a bit too much young sheng last year though so it's throwing things off until I get through it, the rest are in an ok balance.Usually I'm drinking 15g/day so 450g a month.
>>20482068Do you update the tables on-the-fly as you drink? Seems like a lot of effort.
>>20482226It's driven by a bash script. I select the tea im drinking with fzf and it just asks me how much g im using. It really takes no time at all.
so thes du japon disabled paying in yen for non japanese addresses. if you look at their terrible usd/eur prices it's 50-100% price increase over the yen prices. gaijin tax. what a joke.
>>20482402I've seen news about some jap restaurant that charges foreigners more. Basically the yen is collapsing and japs refuse to accept it. I wish I was into green tea, cause I bet you can get the good stuff extra cheap these days.
>>20482422>>20482402Where do you guys recommend to buy shincha this year?I bought at O-cha last year, they look to have the same prices now more or less but cheaper shipping
>>204812481kg maybe, about 10 different types
>>20482422the issue though is that their usd and eur prices always have been signficantly higher than what yen prices converted would be. that's been a thing for many years.also for the shop there's basically no difference if you spend 10k yen from abroad or from japan. so that reason wouldn't make any sense.from what people gathered it seems like a decision from the ceo guy to make a bit more cash. that guy owns roofing, stoves and knife business/shop too. so it's seems like just some weird hoping to get rich with different business kind of thing.i wouldn't be as mad if the usd and eur prices would have been adjusted but until they change or undo their decision i'm not going to order from there. it's unfortunate since it's basically the best sencha vendor around and i loved exploring all the cultivars and regions.>>20482451i'm going to order from o-cha. i've ordered alot from them in the past and i liked how they advertised the cheap yen in their shincha newsletter lol i guess they paid attention
>>20482579>i'm going to order from o-chawhat are you planning to get? I definitely want some more Saemidori cultivar, that's been my favorite from them
>>204812482-3 kilosI drink somewhere between 320 and 720 grams per month
Brewing loose leaf pu'reh for the first time.I probably eyeballed a little too much tea, heat, and brew time; but its nice.I like the earthy flavor compared to the black bagged tea that ive been drinking before.
>>20482744are you drinking the one in the pic? a certified hood classic
>>20482765yeah, I heard another guy on the thread try it or talk about it a few threads ago and its on amazon.
>>20482744If you get the chance can you check what date is stamped on the back of the wrapper? Im wondering what year the current stock on Amazon is from
>>20477946I heard that the guy who ran it didn't want to work with Scott from yunnansourcing anymore, so he's going to make his own site and shutdown the co-owned one.
>>20482744>>20482777I'm glad Taetea has an Amazon storefront so pu-erh newbies can buy something reliable and good on there
>>204827882021/8/8
>>20482800ThanksEnjoy it, it's a great place to start for raw puer. Try and look for some dried plum tones in the flavor and look for a lasting sweet taste on your tongue after you take a few sips.
>>20482607i'd recommend the chiran, that one's always been great. i'll probably get most of the shinchas except the two tsuen teas and the organics.
>>20482937>except the two tsuen teas and the organicswhy not? are these not worth it?
>>20481248>Approximately how much tea do you currently have at home?~10-15kg, a cake is a sample>Approximately how much tea do you consume per month?~300g, about 10g/day
>>20482402>so thes du japon disabled paying in yen for non japanese addresses.Bummer, I was planing on ordering from them but now I will see if I can cut out the middleman. Reminds me of how some EU sites will raise the price if you are in the US because they think you don't know the EU prices include VAT (IE they charge US customers as if they had to pay EU VAT so the prices look the "same" and pocket the difference).>>20482579>O-cha >i liked how they advertised the cheap yen in their shincha newsletterBased, wish they had a larger selection of uncommon Japanese teas though.
>massive floods hit KeniaHope you lads stocked up on the Lipton. Tough times nearing.
I haven't had tea in days because I have no time after work before I need to wind down for sleep which I don't get anyway. No one has suffered more than me.
>>20483749Drink tea at work
Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime. I brew on company time.
>>20483510It's going to be rough but I think I'll pull through
What's the best assam I can get online?
>>20483049the tsuen i avoid because of the price. the organics i didn't particularly like when i ordered them but i should probably give them another chance.>>20483458yep, unfortunately no other shop comes close to the selection and curation of tdj. >>20484284https://www.ketlee.in/assam-teasi love ketlee, aside of nice assam they a lot of interesting and unique teas from other great regions like nilgiri, arunachal and manipur
Drinking some Golden Yunnan (Silk Road Teas, first tea I've bought from them). Initial steep was very soft and a little peppery, not much body even at three minutes. Second steep is bitter, then malty, sweet, and astringent. It's fine, but I don't think I will buy it again.
>>20483777Have you considered slipping your boss some puerh?
>>20482402>so thes du japon disabled paying in yen for non japanese addresses.>>20484305>yep, unfortunately no other shop comes close to the selection and curation of tdj.It just occurred to me that you could use a mail forwarder though at that point it may make more sense to just order from shops that don't normally ship overseas.
What do you do with ripes that taste like fish and ass?
>>20484570Enjoy
>>20484570You could try doing more rinsing before the first steep. Try cooler water or shorter steeping time.In general, you could blend it with another pu-erh. But maybe not if it tastes like "fish and ass."You could air it out or let it age longer. Who knows, maybe the taste will improve.
>>20484380>Initial steep was very soft and a little peppery, not much body even at three minutes.This is my experience with all black teas that are mostly golden. It just fragrant/spicy water. No real taste. I was missing the nice chocolate notes that even cheap Dian hong can provide.
>>20481248about 1.5 kilo more
has anyone ever had any of the stuff in the hei cha category from w2t, it looks interesting, never had this heicha stuff.
Can someone tell me what it is. My gf brought me this sampler for china and i really liked the taste
>>20485311The label says it's "flower-scented" lapsang souchong. It's not smoked, as lapsang souchong traditionally is.
>>20484305Are pajeet puers worth trying?
>>20485270I got some of the chapos before they were pressed from the monthly club. I thought they were interesting. I know another anon purchased the bricks a while back but I can't remember what he thought. The 21 spring raw liubao was pretty good too.
At least 1k in assorted samples and half-used cakes/bags of loose leaf I've been working through. About to order more, too... many of the older stuff I have isn't to my taste because I was experimenting to find out what I was interested in.
>>20485347Thanks
>>20484034Yeah, I already got myself a 200g pack of my usual Marynnin brand. And already pricier than last time too. Hope I won't have to resort to 6-brewing.
>>20484570If tea tastes disgusting then don't drink it
What variety is this?
>>20485789Some kind of Camilla sinesisIts kinda hard to say much more then that, might be a larger leaf species, maybe an oolong varietal. It doesn't look like a small leaf varietal and the leafs have somewhat prominent serrations.Once it get larger you might be able to get a better idea based on it's growth patterns (upright tree like or bushy) and the full size of leaves.So for now i can say it's a tea plant.You can make pretty much every kind of tea with every varietal and you don't typically see the contemporary commercial clone varietals on the western market.Nice blumat
>>20485789>>20485848Also considering the climate in Europe i wouldn't be surprised if they tea plants they stock are more focused on the smaller bushy type plants that work better for container gardening. It would be pretty annoying to try to bring a 10 foot tall yunnan assamica tree inside for the winter.
>>20485853You say that but some plant people are just insane that way. A good buddy of mine is one of them and one day their houseplants will probably displace them in their own home.
>>20485365 it's not very like chinese puerh, but it's certainly worth a try if one would order from there anyway. imo they have a heavy black tea taste to it, but it's interesting. they did get better at making these puerh over time too
I live through cycles of fanatical tea drinking and then have to stop cause it makes my teeth go yellow. I don't want to be british... what are some teas that won't fuck up my teeth?
>>20484305What the heck. Indian puerh? Its heckin expensive though
>>20485924Learn to love your beautiful tooth patina, with correct cultivation even a sip of the plainest water will be flavourful and channel intense Qi.
>>20485980because they havent perfectly optimized the efficiency like they have in china aka they have no idea what theyre doing LOL
>>20486053Are there some written down notes on how to make puerh?>>20485848>You can make pretty much every kind of tea with every varietalReally? But I suppose taste will vary? A big quality marker for tea is the raw material. Like tieguanyin is a specially processed oolong tea but also the name of the variety of the tea plants.How did the chinks figure out that certain varieties are better suited for certain processing techniques?I tried infusing the bare leafs a while ago which tasted like nothing. I guess the plant cells also need to be destroyed.I thought the easiest way would be just to dry it in the sun which would effectively make it white tea?I also saw this. It's basically raw tea leafs grown in germany.https://www.chenshi-chinatee.de/de/rheinhessischer-roher-tee-2022.htmlCould it be economic to grow and process tea in central europe?
>>20485848Is there any way I can get my hands on a chinese varietal?
>>20486170>Really? But I suppose taste will vary? A big quality marker for tea is the raw material. Like tieguanyin is a specially processed oolong tea but also the name of the variety of the tea plants.>How did the chinks figure out that certain varieties are better suited for certain processing techniques?There are a number if factors that go into selecting specific varietals for different kinds of tea, the leaf size shape and appearance, disease resistance, adaptation for the local climate, plant vigor and yield and also the inherent flavor characteristics of the tea. When we are talking commercial tea plantations yield and disease resistance are probably the two primary factors followed by leaf appearance and then flavor. For your example of tgy, basically nobody but a handful of farms in Taiwan still grow the original (red heart?) tgy varietal because of it's lower yields. I believe the same holds true for the mainland but im not sure what varietals are currently used for tgy.>I thought the easiest way would be just to dry it in the sun which would effectively make it white tea?Yes that should be the easiest. Simply sun drying the tea should be sufficient. However giving the tea a quick hand rolling to break the cell walls might make it infuse a bit faster.>Could it be economic to grow and process tea in central europe?There is a history of tea production in Georgia. If you look around you can find tea from there from some vendors.Im not super familiar with Europes climate, the southern regions like spain and Italy would probably be able to grow tea very easily. Further north it depends on the winters, without some sort of winterization tea plants tend to die back to the ground if it's much colder then -5 to -10 °f for any significant part of the cold season.
>>20486196>Is there any way I can get my hands on a chinese varietal?Tea seeds are a little tricky because they aren't viable for very long and they need to be cold stratified. Outside of looking for plant sellers that offer them another option would be to find a local botanical garden that grows tea camillas and not the ornamental varieties and go discreetly take some cuttings and root them.There are lots of places selling tea seeds online but ignoring possible import issues i think most of them won't be selling seeds that are fresh and viable. However there may be sellers im not aware of, i haven't dug into it.Commercial tea varietals are typically propagated by clones and not from seed.
Is the biodiversity of tea understudied or is it just all in Chinese and no one has bothered to translate it?
>>20486286I've had some georgian black tea. Light and fruity in flavor.
>>20485924Rinse your mouth with water after every session, and you should have that problem, assuming you brush your teeth daily.
>>20486505I'd wager a buttcheek on the latter. My dude there are so many universities and labs working directly or indirectly on tea in China. It's massive at scales equally hard to fathom as the amount of Chinese tea consumed worldwide
I had some roasted oolong and shoumei white tea with orange peel last night, and they were very good. Normally I just stick to black tea, but I'll probably hunt them down and order some more.
>>20486844I always get kind of relaxed when drinking shou mei
>>20486803I wish there was more information in English. It's fairly surface level in regards to taxonomy and biological history.
>>20486849I wonder if the orange peel shou mei that YS has is similar enough to Jesse's. I was expecting a citrus taste, but it was more like a cinnamon. It was a much better white tea (to me) than the jing gu silver needles I tried.
>>20486787shouldn't*
>>20486880I personally prefer a good shou mei over silver needles. especially since there's so many medicore ones out there
>>20486286>There is a history of tea production in Georgia.We had a Georgia anon once who said they were considering buying an old tea plantation but they never came back.
>>20484570hope you bought a sample sized amountI would throw it away and not order morenot sure what the sense is in drinking something unsatisfying like that.
Have you tried this?
>>20487313I think he reviewed it in the last thread
>>20486923I'm still very new to all this, I just remember people saying silver needles (or something like that) is an indicator/classification that denotes a high quality tea. Are there any specific shou mei that you prefer?
>>20487349iirc silver needles is made with camellia taliensis and is a bud only tea with a huge emphasis on appearance.shou mei i believe is made with a different varietal but i might be wrong.
>>20487349>I just remember people saying silver needles (or something like that) is an indicator/classification that denotes a high quality teaSilver needles is higher quality than shou mei only in that it is a fancier often more expensive picking. They both come in a range of quality in terms of taste. They both also have somewhat different taste characteristics. It is probably better to think of them more as different styles of tea than as different grades of white tea. Neither is strictly better.>>20487360>iirc silver needles is made with camellia taliensisI think that only applies to some Yunnan silver needles. The stuff grown elsewhere is not taliensis.
>>20487313>>20487345I reviewed it recentlyhttps://warosu.org/ck/thread/20449193#p20457488TLDR: I think it's pretty good; I don't think it's $4/g good.
is the anon who was trying to find the identity of their white2tea sample in here? I think this is it:https://white2tea.com/collections/ripe-puer-tea/products/2024-jamrock-steady-minis
I get headaches from green teas and oolongs are meh so I stick to black teas but is that a mistake? How are pu'erhs compared to black(red) teas, in general?>>20487653Good review. Could you please link more of your reviews?
>>20487760https://warosu.org/ck/thread/20068601#p20075264https://warosu.org/ck/thread/20095605#p20098523I've done a few others but mostly in replies to anons asking about specific teas, and they were shorter than these. I don't remember what all I've reviewed and couldn't find any more in the archives with the brief search I did.Also I had the EOT 2006 Bingdao Lao Zhai yesterday and I'll post a review and pics later when I get a chance.What kinds of oolongs have you had? It's a super broad category with a lot of variation in style and quality.I haven't had a lot of black tea, but puer to me always seemed to have a much greater range of flavors between different puers and much more depth of flavor in (good quality) individual puers.Aged, semi aged, and young raw are all "raw puer" but they're all quite different, and ripe is also quite different from all of those.Black tea (in my experience) is much more homogeneous. I find puer a lot more interesting, black tea in comparison seems kind of flat and boring.
>>20487876Thanks, I added 2020 MengKu RongShi "Bo Jun" to a list for when I'll order next.I have this oolong https://yunnansourcing.com/products/wild-da-hong-pao-rock-oolong-tea-from-wu-yi-shan and it's meh overall. Nothing special about taste, qi it gives me is pretty weak but with nervousness and feels like headache is lurking just around a corner.I always start with https://yunnansourcing.com/products/wild-tree-purple-varietal-black-tea-of-dehong cause that's what I have and it works pretty well for me. Strong qi but no bad side effects and good full taste without acidity. But besides the oolong it's all I have and at this point I'm getting tired of it.I also had https://globalteahut.org/products/autumn-bridge and it was pretty good for when I had something stronger before (like the aforementioned Purple Wild) and just wanted to maintain qi. It also had a taste I quite liked, earthy, does not overwhelm, stands on it's own but also compliments and does not clash with teas you drank previously. I think pretty much what would you expect from this kind of tea.>pic unrelated
>>20487349>Are there any specific shou mei that you prefer?just any made from fancy high quality material, it's nice when they give the village name. I feel like a lot of silver needles is just made to look nice
>>20487653I guess with this one you're paying mostly for its supposed source in "the king of tea trees", a really old tree which is a local tourist attraction
>>20488003>Bo JunNice, one of the other anons here sold me on that one, it's good stuff.Cheaper Wuyi Oolongs from less curated vendors such as YS are often pretty underwhelming. The good stuff is expensive. If you haven't yet, you should try some Anxi oolong like a Tie Guan Yin or Mao Xie and a Taiwanese oolong such as Dong Ding or Jinxuan before you give up on oolong. They're quite different from Wuyi yancha and each other.Dancong is another big oolong category, but similar to yancha it's expensive, more finicky to brew, and often underwhelming unless purchased from specialized vendors.
>>20488178>Anxi oolong like a Tie Guan Yin or Mao Xiecould you please recommend some batches which are being sold right now? I did a google search on these but results it gave me didn't seem very trustworthy
>>20488255I haven't had newer oolong from YS but a couple years ago I bought some of their TGY and Mao Xie and enjoyed it. I don't remember the grade, it was not the cheapest they had but also not the most expensive. https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/anxi-oolong-tea-spring-2024Last year after Verdant released their '23 spring harvest TGY I bought some and really enjoyed them. I even bought a sample of the super expensive special grade but I didn't think it was worth the huge increase in price. Looks like they haven't released this years harvest yet. https://verdanttea.com/tea/by-tea-type/oolong-teaI drink mostly puer and heicha though so someone else might have better recs
>>20488325>>20488325>>20488325>>20488325new thread
