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: >>20964654
>>20984539Do you guys find it sinful adding milk or adding almond milk into tea? I remember one of the best teas I ever had in my life was a strawberry tea together with almond milk. My life was never the same after that cup.
>>20984552I recently took the advice of a friend and tried oat milk in tea, and I find it very nice. The blandness of the oats mixes very will with the sharp grassy notes of good tea and mellows out the whole thing.
>>20984552I like it if the tea goes well with it. Needs to be strong tea or milk mutes the taste too much.
>>20984575I've never tried oat milk with tea, but I've tried boldo tea, chamomille, linden, and other types of teas with regular milk and they were quite tasty. Almond milk kinda tastes like chocolate for me, for some reason.>>20984584I tend to use very small amounts of milk into my beverages though, I don't like it when my drinks are more milk than the actual brew itself. Unless it's a milkshake, where yeah, I can drink one and then suffer in the bathroom.I would kill just to try any tea made with berries to be honest.
>>20984552i've been meaning to try it for a while now just to see what it's like. What teas go well with milk? something like ripe puer maybe? I know an anon has been posting his boiled xiaguan milk tea.
>>20984552I typically prefer my tea unadulterated because I don't want to mute any complex aromas, but what ultimately matters is the experience you want. If I'm having a really cheap and simple tea, then I wouldn't see a problem with adding milk, citrus peel, etc. Drink what you enjoy.
>>20984598I've sadly never had pu'er tea in my life, although looking at some info 'round the web it's apparently made from fermented green/black tea leaves (Camellia sinensis/var assamica). I'm not the most knowledgeable person for teas 'cause my economy is a bit rough, but judging from the description, it must smell very earthy and rich. I wonder how it'd taste with coconut or almond milk.Honestly any berry tea or soft, non-citric fruit tea would go well with milk at least for me. Or flowery teas, those would be a blast with milk imo.>>20984639I'm the type of person who drinks tea even if it's 35°C outside, but I surprisingly prefer drinking milk tea or mate cocido with milk when it's cold outside. If I consume milk when it's hot I feel like my stomach will go kapoom.
>>20984598Cheap ripes, heicha. Bitter, earthy teas made extra strong. The milk fat carries the salty, nutty flavors and sweetness while hiding the rest. The whole thing about milk in tea is that it covers up the taste of shit tea and actually ends up tasting pretty good. It's like a rum and coke, it's not a waste if the booze is shit.
2023 or 2024 cspuer Naka?
>>20985078chawangshop naka
>>20984675>>20984685>decide to boil a ripe that i didn't really like>5g, 500ml, 10 min on the stove>give it a taste>it's actually really goodkek i almost wanna just drink it now. i'm committed to trying it with milk though, I'll report back later
Can we address the Puerh problem in current year without being dismissive or resorting to silly memes? It isn't good enough to take over tea culture like it has in the past decade. Something other than flavor made Puerh the tea of the 2010s and we should talk about it.
>>20985182Why is being popular a problem?That aside, puerh is interesting. Terroir, scarcity, vintages, factories. These are characteristics that are much more present in puerh on top of everything else that makes other forms of tea great. IMO puerh deserves every bit of praise and popularity it gets.
>>20983820Works like a charm now. Thx senpai.
>>20984539i love the taste of burnt green tea
>>20984552Milk tea is fucking awesome
>>20985182>Something other than flavor made Puerh the tea of the 2010s and we should talk about itI think the 2000s pu-erh boom in China had something to do with italso yeah, it is kind of the most fun tea to talk about and analyze, maybe with oolong in second place. what other tea has "famous teas" from certain years that are legendary, what other tea has so much regional variation due to naturally evolving local tea tree genetics?oolong is the only tea that can match raw pu-erh in this IMO, because of the processing and because it can also be aged
>>20985078I'd go for 2024 because it's a bit cheaper. the one I have is the 2022 brick. I like it a lot, but the material is more chopped up than a cake would be. maybe that's why it's cheaper than 2023 cake
>there's still zero (0) scientific evidence that tea is beneficial in any way, shape, or form.
>>20985789If you drink tea for health benefits you are doing it wrong
>>20985789not true, ancient Chinese science has long since determined that cha qi affects your overall qi, with great benefits and double auspiciousness
>>20985789Mongolian nomads who stop drinking tea develop diseases and conditions due to a lack of phytonutrients. "Scientific evidence" be damned, that's good enough for me.
>>20985789I don't exactly know what benefits tea has, but it's full of antioxidants and it should be good for the kidneys, as it's basically just filtered toasted leaves or extracts of plants with water. I would rather have someone drink homemade brewed tea all day rather than drinking that starbucks stuff that is pure sugar and milk and almost no coffee or tea.
So you guys are buying the 2000$ LBZ extra premium cake from cspuerh tomorrow, right?
>>20985789here's one just for pu'er:https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10180463/I won't bother looking for articles about green tea, EGCG, theanine etc. and how great they are because there are billions of them
>>20986038I'll wait for the fake reviews first.
>>20986224lmao
>>20986038Looks gay, even by tea standards
>>20984552Nah, to me it's a totally different drink from tea without milk but I like them both. My favorite is earl grey with milk, it's what I'd drink with my mom as a kid instead of coffee. Tastes like home.
So I make my tea and filter it through a fine mesh filter 4 times and I put it in the fridge over night. Then the next day, I take out the tea and I see white stuff floating in it. Not a lot but just a little. I think it is dust.Thoughts?
>>20986712Does every on rise in their tea?And do you guys make sure all the leaves are open before doing the first steep?
>>20986723>Does every on rise in their tea?*does everyone rinse their tea?
>>20986744I rinse any tea older than a year or anything I'm unsure of. I also waken my teaware with that as well. I will sometimes wait a tick before brewing properly after that, but not always. There's always another steep.
>>20986805How long do you rinse? I am thinking of rinsing it until all the leaves open up. I doubt anyone has seen the dust in their tea except for me cause I boil it for 10 minutes first and then refrigerate over night.
>>20984552where do I buy good strawberry tea?
>>20986836Depends on the compression of the tea. 5 seconds on the low end for loose leaves like puerh mao cha. Closer to 15 for beengholes or tightly rolled oolongs. There are some anomalies requiring a bit more. I would say upper maximum of 30 seconds. It's also fair game to rinse twice, adjusting time back accordingly.
>>20985149 (Me)alright bros, here's the update. so the ripe puer with milk was just meh. i liked it better by itself. I even put it in the freezer for a bit and tried it cold, but it wasn't much better. Today I decided to try with a cheapie red tea that I've had sitting around for a while. Boiled it the same way I did with the ripe. After boiling it, I gave it a taste and it was pretty bitter. This time the milk actually did make it much better. It was basically like this anon said >>20984685, the milk covered up the bad flavors and it just tasted like creamy tea. I think I'm gonna dedicate the rest of this red tea to milk now so it doesn't just keep sitting around forever. Also, I think it would be pretty cool to brew up a large batch and just keep it ready in the fridge. how long would it last in there if I did that? (without milk of course, I can add that whenever I want to drink it)
>>20986844How many grams per ml and for long were you boiling and did you filter with with an ultra fine mesh filter?
>>20986842Thing is, I also filter out the tea multiple times and then put in fridge. When I take it out, I see the whiteness. So if you knew this, what would you do? The tea is very smooth and clear looking except for the dust in it.
>>20986844Have you heard of HK Milk tea?Also, you should filter the tea, so you get a very smooth tea. The texture in your mouth is something else.
>>20986844I am drinking a 7572 5g per 450ml boiled 10 minutes and filtered 4x right now. It is good. It is better than for gong fu.
>>20986852I would say it doesn't matter. You're simmering the hell out of your tea. There's nothing a little dust, if you're sure that's what it is, can do. Don't sweat it.
>>209868495g for 500ml, so 0.01g/mlI boiled it for 10 minutes and I did filter it with an ultra fine mesh filter (the one I usually use for gong fu). After boiling, I ended up with probably like 450ml of liquid. I didn't re-measure it but it was noticeably less when I poured it back into the cup. >>20986853>HK Milk teahmm I've heard the term but have never looked into it. is it similar to what I did?>>20986855are you the xiaguan anon from before? If so I basically just tried to copy your method from previous threads since I wasn't sure how to do it. I just rounded up because 500 is a nicer number and only filtered once.
Puerh tastes like a pile of wet leaves mixed with an old fish. It's very similar to hippie or festival girl ass smell after camping for a few days.
>>20987063>festival girl ass smell after camping for a few days.which puer are you referring to specifically? asking for myself
what do you do with those red packages YS oolong comes in? cut at the top and roll it up after?
>>20986879>I did filter it with an ultra fine mesh filter (the one I usually use for gong fu).True, I do filter it at least 4 times. The first thing when you drink your milk tea should be how smooth and silky it is. Like the smoothness is impossible to ignore. Also, you should add at least 1/3 milk to the cup and 2/3 tea. It should taste luxurious.>HK Milk teaThis tea, you need to have actually had it from a reputable cafe to understand how it should taste. It is just ceylon black tea with evaporated milk, but it is the very specific taste and profile that is very hard to replicate at home. There are numerous HK milk tea competitions in HK and there is a literal official HK milk tea association in HK. This fucking 900 second thing is retarded. Also, I literally just heard on Bloomberg that Starbucks China is having a hard time competing with local Chinese brands and with milk tea (not sure if it is HK). Starbucks is pricier and Chinese prefer milk tea for less of a caffeine kick.
>>20986879>are you the xiaguan anon from before?Yeah, I do the milk tea with various pu-erhs and blacks. Pu-erh is definitely better, but black tea is good for a variation and for the "kick" that black tea has.For black tea, I use half ceylon big leaves and half chinese blacks and boil, filter and add milk.
>>20987286>The first thing when you drink your milk tea should be how smooth and silky it is.*the first thing you notice when you drink...
>>20987063Steep it longer then the rich thick dark fruit and chocolate notes come out.
>>20987332I don't really see the point in gong fu-ing puerh when it is clear that longer steeps is definitely the winner when it comes to enjoying pu-erh.
>>20987335There's a peak to it where the stronger notes start hiding other things. I usually start by undercooking the first 2 cups because they're usually the roughest anyway, then letting it steep much longer. It gives more body to the later cups. Oversteeping from the start blows the load.
>>20986844>>20986879There is literally a whole industry for HK milk tea that you can look up and research if you want and branch out from gong fu and english milk tea.
>>20987286I see, I'll be sure to filter it multiple times next time and see how smooth it gets. >Also, you should add at least 1/3 milk to the cup and 2/3 tea.Good to know. When I tried it I was kind of just mixing randomly trying to find the right ratio.>This tea, you need to have actually had it from a reputable caferip. there's no real tea places where I live. just a few boba places here and there but I don't really trust them to have the real deal.>>20987289>For black tea, I use half ceylon big leaves and half chinese blacks and boilhmm I've never tried ceylon leaves, I just have a few chinese blacks. I have a really nice gushu black tea that I know I really shouldn't put milk in, but I'm getting curious... maybe I'll just try it once I also have a cheap da hong pao from YS that I didn't really enjoy gongfu. the spicy/floral aroma was so strong that I started getting tired of it mid session. Maybe I can try that with milk too.
>>20987345>Oversteeping from the start blows the load.Idk, one 5 minute steep is good. 5-7 grams.
>>20987348>rip. there's no real tea places where I live. just a few boba places here and there but I don't really trust them to have the real deal.https://www.kamcha.com.hk/en/product-category/tea-leaves-equipment/tea-leaves/Why don't you be the anon to order these leaves, follow the proper brewing parameters and report back to us? That is an official site too.
>>20987348https://yunnansourcing.com/en-ca/collections/black-tea/products/2022-yunnan-sourcing-suan-zao-shu-old-arbor-black-tea-cakeI made milk tea with this before and it was amazing. I have tried to ask other anons here which selection on awazon would be similar to this, but no answer.
Is liu bao good for boiling too? Guess I'll try it
>>20987348>I have a really nice gushu black tea that I know I really shouldn't put milk inidk, try it. I used to YS black tea I linked in my other post and it was so good. The milk tea you make at home is a lot more high quality than what you get in stores, assuming you have coffee shops that serve steeped or local hk cafes.
>>20987374>I used to YS black tea I linked in my other post and it was so good.**I used the YS black tea...One of the most complex tasting tea I have tried. Hit my whole mouth and tongue.
Blurred out the store name, I don't want to advertise for them.
>>20987131Fucking coomers. Not even /tea/ is safe. But since you asked, don't bathe for three days, piss on your hands and let the piss dry, then rub your piss hands all up in your unwashed ass crack and under your balls. It's like that but with a wet leaf pile in the fall aroma mixed in.
>>20987357$15 for 4oz isn't bad, i'd say it's worth a tryIt says they only ship overseas if you buy in bulk though :(>>20987366>>20987374>>20987376Alright I'm trying it lol. I also have this cake: https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2022-yunnan-sourcing-man-gang-gu-shu-black-tea-and-white-tea-cakeMaybe it'll be interesting as well because of the white tea.
>>20987374>The milk tea you make at home is a lot more high quality than what you get in stores,To continue this post, specifically regarding HK milk tea, it is hard to replicate the authentic taste from a restaurant cause they seem to have the tea leaf blend right. I have done it a few times at home with a bag labeled "hk milk tea" I found in my cupboard.https://youtu.be/wW3IxfFXfoQ?si=OQvktqvI-zdOj9Ki
https://youtu.be/kKBBSqRdFB4?si=gCTlYEZ5cXOG5IMAThis one is good
My family owns a tea farm and sells puerh, tfw mom just visited and stocked us up with some yuge yunnan brickz
>>20987398>Maybe it'll be interesting as well because of the white tea.Possibly-->>>20987430
This looks cool.
>>20987398 (Me)Alright, just tried the gushu red tea with milkI don't think it was worth it desu :/ I mean it was delicious, but the milk made it very very similar to the cheapie one I had earlier, so I think this one's better by itself gong fu style. Maybe I just added too much milk. what DID make a difference was filtering it multiple times. It was smoother, but maybe more than 2 times isn't necessary. After that the filter was pretty much clean as far as i could tell. I still did it 5 times just in case, but next time I'll probably just do 2. >>20987408>>20987436I should try condensed milk too. so far I've just been using regular whole milk from the fridge.
>>20987502>gushu red teaI have no idea what red tea is.
>>20987502>I should try condensed milk tooYou can. It is kinda too sweet I think. This bottle isn't bad if you are lazy lol but I wouldn't buy it.
>>20987502Evaporated milk with strong brewed tea is good. Regular milk is good too.
>>20987513>gushu red teaThis is just a black tea.Sometimes Chinese people call black tea, red tea
>>20987538Not sometimes, what the English language refers to as Black tea the Chinese call Hong Cha (red tea) referring to the colour of the liquor rather than colour of the leaves.
Mom's friend visited Yunnan and came back with half a cake of of gushu ripe from Xiaguan
https://cspuerh.com/collections/all-items/products/2022-yi-pin-chen-sheng-raw-pu-erh-tea-2You may remember me posting few threads ago how I'm not impressed by teas in this sampler. I have now tasted more than half the cakes and my opinion didn't change. The good: Lasts for several pours without losing much of taste or qi.The bad: I have been unable to discern any significant variations in taste or qi in teas from this sampler. In fact I have become convinced it's all just one variety of tea which maybe has been processed in different ways. Both taste and qi is strong, but unremarkable. It's just nothing special. What makes this tea so bad however is price/value ratio which is simply horrendous and the fact it completely fucks up your sleep. These two are just complete dealbreakers.Final verdict: Into the trash it goes. I will never buy anything from this retailer ever again.
>>20987581I don't know much about teas but I would not buy outsie of famous vendors or name brands. I have only ever purchased from the ones mentioned here. (i wont name them, dont want to give them free advertisement.)
>>20987581Some people look like they smell bad.The girl in that pic does even though she does not have dark skin.
>>20987581I had the naka, emperor and zodiac. They were different enough, but I agree paying premium for emperor etc is not worth. I wouldn't say it's the same tea, you can clearly tell what is bled and what isn't, but there was some common house taste to them. This isn't anything new tho, every vendor has this. You could argue that FL young raws taste similarly as well, but they vastly differ to the CSH offerings.
>>20987434please post pictures of the tea farm
>>20987370it's great for boiling
>>20987581>the fact it completely fucks up your sleep>drinks bulang gushu before sleep>complains when he can't sleepare you just new to sheng pu-erh or something?
>>20984552If you're going to add milk, commit and add unsweetened heavy cream/unsweetened evaporated milk. I don't think Tea *needs* milk but if you're gonna add dairy add the fattiest dairy you can find in order to justify things.No half (no pun intended) measures.Almond milk eeeh. Do w/e but I don't think it's worth it.
considering these raws from cspuerhhere's a 20$ coupon refferal link if anyone wants to buy too. yes, it stacks with the black friday sale, though you'll still need to hit 50$ for free shipping: https://i.refs.cc/eDKlC6dp?smile_ref=eyJzbWlsZV9zb3VyY2UiOiJzbWlsZV91aSIsInNtaWxlX21lZGl1bSI6IiIsInNtaWxlX2NhbXBhaWduIjoicmVmZXJyYWxfcHJvZ3JhbSIsInNtaWxlX2N1c3RvbWVyX2lkIjoxOTY1ODE0MTAzfQ%3D%3D
>>20987932Any deals of note? This site is hard to browse properly. They do that very annoying thing where the advertised price of an item isn't consistently for the full cake but for a sampler. Everything I'm finding is priced pretty high.
>>20988066last year I bought the Naka and the Sheng Yun 100 gram cake, I was very happy with boththe Naka cake with the coupon and sale is 56$ + free shipping, I think that's a good deal. lots of reviews of that tea out therethe Gan En blend is the cheapest raw on the site. no reviews on that one, you could be the one to try it. the Zodiac dragon sounds like good value for a clean modern Menghai blend from one anon's description and sounds similar to the Sheng Yun toothere's also the minicake sample set, which seems like decent value per gram. I just noticed they include the TeaDB review in the listing, lol. you can check on their channel, as they've reviewed a few teas from cspuerh
>>20987932I was curious about the Gan en as well. There is also the cheap 2020 fu raw and the 500g tuo. If you have any questions about the 2024 zodiac, ask away, I have it.
>>20988617>If you have any questions about the 2024 zodiac, ask away, I have it.any comparisons to other teas?
>>20988624Have anything specific in mind?It's a blend so every session varies bit more than usual single origin cakes and also it changes more in later steeps. But in general, it has some of the dried fruit/peaches of naka, some leather/cigar funk and some bitterness. It's fine if I don't overleaf like I usually do, it gets too bitter then. I'm not a fan of the leather notes so I usually grab something else (god knows I'm not short on tea), but there is nothing wrong with it, just not my thing.
>>20988644different anon, but do you have TFLZ from farmer leaf too by any chance? It's my favorite tea right now and would like to know how it compares to the naka since people have been hyping it and also the organic certification makes it attractive
>>20988747>you have TFLZ from farmer leaf too by any chance?Yup. One of my favorites as well. Naka is very different tho, not sure how to compare it. There are definitely tflz days and naka days. I don't know how I would describe the tflz... green, soft, mellow I guess vs naka that can be "stronger" gets bitter if you overbrew it, and also has the fruity(peaches I guess) notes like some older puer. Also I kinda liked the 2023 tflz more than 2024, but maybe it's not completely fair, and the extra year helped elevating it. Still nothing compares the that one 2021 tflz sample I've got... man that was good stuff, so relaxing it was unreal. I should have bought cake when I had the chance.
>>20988747I also have both TFLZ and Naka and I enjoy both a lot lolI have the 2022 Naka brick and a 2024 TFLZ cake, so that makes comparison harder than same yearsthey're both fruity, TFLZ is softer and more mellow while Naka is more mineral and has some bitterness when pushed (it's a short and sharp bitterness though, not like a Bulang. I think William was on point about the bitterness being unique, it's almost more like coffee bitterness than the tannic one you often get with sheng). The Naka also has a standout fragrance IMO, which varies from cold mountain air floral to syrupy apricot. with the TFLZ I get more of a typical FL floral fragrancebasically, you can think of the Naka as between something like TFLZ and a more punchy and mineral Menghai tea. I think you're likely to enjoy it unless you only like the softest and roundest of rawsAlso, the sweet taste is so enjoyable and the fact that it's organic is a huge plus! 50 yuan have been deposited to your account
>ran out of any tea that isn't Assam>Assam tastes like a raisin bomb went off in my mouth>Have about a kg of thisI guess I need to buy more tea bros...
>>20988793>>20988838thanks bros, I pulled the trigger on the nakacan't wait to try it
>>20988857yep. no other choice I'm afraiddrink assam with milk and pick up some other teas
>enjoying my tasty tea (sheng)>pop in one of these bad boys>next sip tastes like absolutely nothing, just water with a little spiky sensationthis is so sad bros. i just wanted to snack a bit
>>20984552I do add milk to my tea especially if I'm drinking it on an empty stomach. I find it helps alleviate the tannins sickness.
>>20984575Oat milk is better than real milk when it comes to coffee imo. Never had it in tea though. It is very neutral and still nice and creamy
>>20989440I slam ripes and whites first thing in the morning, haven't done it with much else but those don't give me the pangs or nausea. My daily red doesn't give me any problems either most of the time, but it's very gentle. It's probably a personal thing because I've had people get a sinking spell from gongfu, apparently it hits like a freight train if you aren't opening your meridians and balancing your qi on the daily. The only time I felt the dip was aged liubao first thing in the morning that put me on the floor for a while pondering immortality. >>20989430That's why steam buns and pot stickers are pretty bland on the whole. It's like folks who piss and moan about coffee cake when they don't drink black coffee. That fake cheese powder is overpowering and pairs better with a cheap red wine from a box. You'll also find that tea pairs with the regional cuisine and hooch above other things. Homemade white spirit in a jar is the usual puerh pairing and it quickly goes sideways from there. Bourbon is rustic enough to go well before or after shou, tequila might for sheng. There's a tea>hooch>chow>tea cycle to consider. Tea enhancers are mostly flavorless fat and salt carriers. Bread, maybe with butter. Rice and soy sauce. Some chicken with hot peppers. Fat and salt are the carriers of flavor.>>20989448Hit or miss, it's like there's a flavor carved out that real milk has and it doesn't make tea better. It's just two things in a cup. It can come together or be absolutely vile and watery. I think milk is missing it compared to heavy cream in coffee and some other dishes, so it's probably some fats and complex sugars/proteins. I think it's that you want to add to tea and not water it down, if that makes sense. I'd be tempted to try it with one of the cheaper traditional roast rock teas, there's a lot of coffee overlap there that might make the issue more clear.
What is this shit from Fullchea? 2 kilos isn't that much.
for me it’s
Ah Fa Zhan He (2023), my beloved.Will get the 2024 one this month. Any other Reccs? Reading this thread i will probably also get the TFLZ.From w2t im thinking All Fine, all crime; Snoozefest and maybe hypnotrain.
>>20990230you could wait and see what FarmerLeaf adds in a few daysthe cheap lao man E autumn cake was also popular on here, he might add it again. I'm almost finished with my cake.from white2tea I liked the sample of veldt
Ordered Csppuer's 2024 Naka ordered one each of the Gan En cakes as well because why not
>>20990282Oh yeah, veldt is also on my list. Also got it as a sample. I hope Wiliam adds it soon enough.
>>20990282I wouldn't say no to some autumn jinggu. Who knows maybe there will be some pleasant surprise. >>20990301Nice, let us know about the Gan en, for future anons.
Snoozefest is up.https://white2tea.com/collections/2024-raw-puer/products/2024-snoozefest?mc_cid=699204f23b
>>20990662Nice, I just got the email about it around 40 minutes ago. Was surprised to see it come this early. Don't remember it being this early last year. Guess I could get two cakes for fun since I liked last year's, though I wonder how different it'll be. Anything else of note on their site right now? All I know I like is their Firebat I had a sample of once and the Snoozefest from 2023.
>>20990669I'm skipping this year. I've got 3 or 4 kicking around from last years.>Anything else of note on their siteThree spot guanyin is great.
>>20990662cool. the 2023 cake I got was just alright to me, probably not gonna get another. a little bland for my taste, and too vegetal.I might get one of their white teas though, since I liked Moon Waffles
>>20990678Thanks for the rec, I'll get one of those too.>>20990712Have you had the Wayward White?https://white2tea.com/collections/latest-additions/products/wayward-white$0.16c per gram. I could probably get better white cakes for better prices per gram elsewhere, but I've never had a white from W2T, so I kind of want to try it.
>>20990731>Have you had the Wayward White?I haven't. If I get any it's probably either the moon waffles or the nightlife, which sounds good too and is not too pricey.
>>20990742Heard good things about their Waffles lines, and Nightlife seems decent for a lower-bud cake. I'm trying to avoid spending too much on this vendor, but I'll get the Wayward for the hell of it and post itt with my impressions/pics when I get the opportunity to. I just hope more vendors this year will offer crispy heicha, white, and oolong deals come BF.
What tea would you suggest as an appropriate Christmas gift for a friend? She's Russian so drinks a ton of tea, her favorite is puer, and should last some time without losing quality.Something available in Europe, please
>>20990766what kind of puerh does she drink and how much are you willing to pay?
>>20990766If she likes ripes, the Russians seem really into some of the classic factory ripes in the fullchea reviews section. Maybe a dayi or haiwan cake would be nice.
>>20990785>what kind of puerh does she drinkNo clue, I'm not a tea person at all, that's all I know.>how much are you willing to payAbout 50 euros I suppose, again I have no mental price point at all. You could tell me it's 20 or 200 and I'd believe you all the same.>>20990794Noted, thanks.
Just finished my order on W2T. Little under 0.5kg. Would still like to buy some inexpensive heicha/oolong this year too, but this will do. A word of warning, I was going to use a prepaid card, but Shopify doesn't support prepaid cards and rejected two I tried to use after a $0.10 ding on each, so I had to default to my usual card. Doubt anyone here will be paying with a prepaid card, but if you're thinking of it, try something else.
>>20990766I haven't had much from EU stores, but I kind of liked these twohttps://thetea.pl/en/produkt/2007-youle-gushu-sheng-pu-erh-natural-xishuangbanna-storage/https://puerh.pl/en/product/2020-lao-wu-shan-qiao-mu-gu-shu/you can usually get better value buying from China though. EU stores tend to have a lot of mark-up, these are probably no exception
Thinking of buying a new electric kettle this black friday, maybe one with a temperature set. Which do you guys have or recommend?Glass or stainless steel?
>>20990975>stainless steelall the leaking kettles i've owned have all been glass(and chinese). bonavita is what i have and no complaints for the past 4 years
Is it best not to order green tea anymore at this time of year given it's picked in early spring and is said to last 6 months?
>>20991032Technically it's best at its freshest, but I think Chinese greens taste fine for a longer time than 6 monthsI think Taiwan has the best year round harvests, so if you want some good quality autumn green tea that's very fresh, try some of that.
>>20991032i have 3 year old Dragonwell that still tastes fine
It never ceases to amaze me that considering how much money I blow on tea, it's still cheaper than starbucks or whatever. Short of some rock teas and vintage madness, it's pretty cheap and I don't know why I keep wasting money on really cheap shit other than liking hot liquid in a mug every now and then.
>>20991212spending money on Starbucks coffee isn't a normal to be accepted as such. It's fine to buy cheap tea (I always do) among regularly priced ones, in the end it's just camelia sinensis leaves steeped in hot water.I'm often surprised by how good some of the cheapest tea is. Though I once bought Chinese gunpowder tea and threw it after trying it once as it tasted like an ashtray.
>>20986839I have no idea where I could recommend you strawberry tea, anon. I'm not from the US so our products might be different here. Maybe some chinese tea stores or online tea specialist markets might have some good quality strawberry tea packages.>>20986844Woah, sounds interesting. I wonder how different puer tea is from common black tea. Since it's apparently made from the same leaves as black tea but they're fermented, from what I investigated.>>20987392I must admit when I found out that some teas are fermented and then drunk I thought "that's like yogurt without the tasty part"... I'm thinking of buying myself a box of flavored tea once I get some money, I already tasted earl grey (it was quite nice although a bit boring imo), strawberry, chamomille, linden, one called boldo, I hope I can find one of red berries or berries in general.>>20987903>No half measureskekI need to get a job ASAP, I've been looking like a madman and still no luck. I want to treat myself with tasty teas and good milk with the money I could earn doing a simple job. NEETing is hell.>>20989440Drinking something warm with milk definitely does fill the stomach up, it's ideal for cold days or for days where there's not much to eat. I must admit drinking coffee with milk is a bit too heavy for my digestion and makes me run to the bathroom in like less than 15-30 minutes.
Assorted Black Friday Deals so far>Umi Tea Sets15-30% off>Den's Tea20% off>Purple Cloud Teahouse20% off Dancong, sale on Qinghua Teaware
>>20991270taiwanteacrafts is also having a pretty big sale
>>20991236I meant more in the sense of hitting up any coffee shop, or any daily caffeine fix really. Most of my shit comes out to far less than the cost of a monster per pot/session and I get at least 6 large mugs out of it. I disagree on your one point, it's the pit bull terroir (I fucking hate that word) of a region and life of a still-living plant steeped in hot water and it all comes through. But yeah, once you have good cheap tea, you can't go back to shit. I bought a brick of some kind of red from a Chinese grocery maybe 12 years ago and had to figure out how to not be a bag babby. Once I did, it was all over, although I didn't go deeper until more recently. I usually introduce people through some kind of cheap red and go from there, the whole process and culture outside the bag scares them for some reason. >>20991265When you have good tea, you don't need milk. It is its own reward. Or someone could mail you a cake of shou and some samples if you live in the US. God knows I need to unload some shit from the hoard. You also sound like your guy doesn't like coffee or milk.
>>20991270I want free shit from EoT, they're doing 20% free towards shit of your choice. Someone who knows raws help me build a cart.
>>20991290I've already got a few samples I've wanted, only at $67 in free shit.
>>20991313chose the value picks from EoT I see, smart. "won't destroy your wallet / punches above its price / daily drinker", as white2tea would put it
>>20990975the oxo onethe bonavita is good too as someone said but...touch buttons are horrid
>>20991324I got the oxo one based on meileaf's review and it's been great.
>>20991318I'm a value conscious drinker, y'know. Need a cheap little cup instead of a tea tureen made by a dude, went for one that's been repaired to save a little. Nothing fancy on the whole. I could easily buy another tong of either year of the Earth ripe, but want to branch out a little without breaking the bank. Any raw recs?
>>20991313>228 buckaroos for 50ml cupGod damn, should have been potter
>>20991342that's a Ming dynasty cup. should have been a potter 500 years ago.
>>20991342I already have some Qing, I'd like Ming I can actually drink out of. Or maybe those are Ming too and the size is why they were so affordable.
>>20991356if he had been a potter 500 years ago he'd be dead.
>>20991366sounds like something an ex-potter tea vampire would say
>>20991313>>20991290Should I? I've never had good raw before.
>>20991373I'm not balling, but I'm approaching drunk enough to shelve the cup and samples and go for some properly aged liubao. And then get the cup free.
>>20991387wtf is that? I wasn't even born.
It turns out that lapsong souchong pairs pretty well with butter chicken
>>20991392~45 year old liubao.
>>20990975>>20991324>>20991334i can also vouch for the oxo onebeen using it almost daily for like 2 months and no issues so far.
>>20991415>>20991324>>20991334This ?It's $80 on sale.
>>20991613Yeah that's the one.
>>20991324>touch buttons are horridBonavita has physical buttons.
Wasn't there talks of a teaware secret santa? Is the anon who was going to run that still around?
>>20991708oops was thinking of the brewista, similar name and shape
>>20991359I always forget that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder
>>20990662missed it fml
>>20990662honestly I didn't find either this or Peak Vulture to be outstanding. they're both decent teas at a good price, but not enough to warrant all the FOMO
I posted a little while ago about the aged liubaos that I bought from Essence of Tea and how they disappointed me. That was after I tried brewing one of them with gongfu style short steeps, and I tried both of them with several minute long steeps on two other occasions.Today I boiled about 5 grams of the 1990's Wuzhou Tea Factory Third Grade Liubao for about 5 minutes in about 300mL of water, and man what a difference. It's got a bit of bitterness, it's meaty like beef jerky, some walnuts, and that classic liubao soil/beet note. I boiled it two more times for about 10 minutes both times, the second boiling was a bit weaker and lacked any bitterness, and the third boiling was pretty weak and bland, like the regular steeps I had in the past.I wish I hadn't wasted tea before by doing anything other than boiling it, it's really good when boiled. I still don't think it's quite >$1/g good though.
>>20992607I've often found boiling tea to introduce a nut component. Paired with a hostile feeling to the throat. Not exactly chemical burn, but adjacent
>>20992576It's a good deal, but that grade of tea isn't very impressive anyway. It's like there's cost/value hole in that low mid grade range. >>20990731I can't quite remember if I had a sample of their other whites, but the moon waffles is decent enough. The tea itself and (lack of) processing push the leaf forward and you get what you pay for, whites can get expensive. Sip white cool tea drunkChinese fiddle play insideClouds on mountain
>>20992743>that grade of tea isn't very impressive anywayTrue, but personally I enjoy Fa Zhan He more and it's a similar price per gram when on sale. I'd probably enjoy the budget blends from CSH more too, I like that classic Menghai profile
>>20992764You CAN get some good tea buys, just not from w2t mystery meat. The actual leaf quality is all over the place as well.
>>20992743>but that grade of tea isn't very impressive anyway. It's like there's cost/value hole in that low mid grade range. Nah that's w2t skill issue. If haiwan can make banger cakes for like 0.1$/g then there is no reason other vendors can't.
>>20992576>decent teas at a good priceCan you really ask for more? They're something to stash back for a rainy day. Make great christmas gifts too. Buy a few every other year and let them migrate to the bottom of your storage.
>>20992892Factory teas have a massive economy of scale to work with and enough material for consistent blending. Your boutiques are doing single origin shit and a different kind of value shou.
>>20984539morning teafa- i mean frogs :)just stumbled across the GROSCHE Aberdeen Teapot and it looks kinoshould i get it?i figure you guys would know if its trash or not(i dont care that its plastic)i have been looking for a teapot for ages but every one has been shit but this looks exactly what i have been looking forthanks :)
>>20992918I think Snoozefest is more noteworthy because it's much cheaper than any other raw at white2tea. Vulture is just another ripe at a standard ripe price.
>>20992948How about a nice chaozhou teapot?
>>20992930You are forgetting w2t doesn't mention from where he sources the material. He could be getting cheap shit from Laos for all we know. I'm also not convinced the big factories are getting that much better deal on leaves especially in today's age. Every tea farmer has weibo where they can immediately get better price for their stuff, if gweilo pays 10% more, better save some harvest for him.
>>20993037*wechat not weibo but you get the point.
>>20993023nah
>>20992948I've used a couple of variations of these. It's possible there are poorly made ones. Details make or break mechanical products like this. That said, the core concept is good. I used mine for a long time at the office. Low hassle.
>>20992607I got the EOT signature landscape box liubao a few years ago. I had one fantastic session with it that had those cured meat flavor profiles you mentioned. Every other session was pretty bland.Pretty disappointing overall
>>20993070>That said, the core concept is good. I used mine for a long time at the office. Low hassle.basedi have a clever dripper which is more or less the same thing as this but for coffee and i love it and found this teapot(is that the right word?) scrolling through a black friday sale and it clicked in my head that this is exactly what i want to make tea with.because i have used other teapots but they always have some feature that i dont like.im gonna buy this one, thanks :)
>>20992948The fundamental design is solid.I would try and look for one that allows you to easily remove the mesh filter for cleaning however you can simply clean the inaccessible areas with coffee machine cleaning solution.
I'm amazed, I had this gyokuro yamashiro 2023 from a certain vendor and it was the best tea I've ever had. I went to get the 2024 version and it tastes nothing like the 2023. I would put this among my worst teas.
>>20984539I have some ancient as fuck Wuyi big red robe from Verdant tea, from the middle 20-teens that was un-opened. Pretty good for probably being stale. Lite tart stone fruit and cherry notes and spice tigles like cinnamon, cardamom, and maybe allspice. Might try lightly roasting it with my Japanese hand tea roaster(forget what's it called) to "wake it up". Any advice on lite roasting it to do so?>>20984552If the tea your drinking is good like that, go for it. If anything flavored tea with additives work great together. It would only be sinful maybe if your using really high grade expensive tea; like using a vintage wine to make sangria. Its you're money at the end of the day. Just enjoy your tea.
>>20993249>I have some ancient as fuck Wuyi big red robe from Verdant teadark roast wuyi oolong that was unopened shouldn't really go stale. many people even age that stuff
>>20984685This exactly. I honestly love having some cheap tea or coffee on hand to add flavors to for a treat. >>20986844Don't do a rolling boil. I first bring water to a boil, add my additives like milk, spices, sugar ect and keep it on a very low simmer for 3-8 minutes. You might want to add the milk last to avoid scalding it and adding weird sour flavors from over cooking the milk. >>20987574Pics or it didn't happen.
>>20993256Good point, that could be more for greener teas
Has W2T ever disclosed what material has gone into one of their Snoozefest blends? I liked last year's, and liked the visuals of the material for this year's, so I figure it will be at least decent, but I of course would prefer more background info. By the way, do any anons have recommendations for vendors who'll have BF sales for inexpensive liubao/liuan or JP greens? Maybe it'd be nice to try maccha as well while yen prices are still low.
>>20987581F. Puer can be really hit or miss unfortunately.>>20989430You want mild sweet pastries or breads. I like rich tea biscuits as well which basically taste like an animal cracker.>>20990050I haven't had mate in a while. Is that the raw or roasted kind?
I know they're fake Yixing, but would there be any consequences to buying one of TeaVivre's pots? Safe to use and all? They have some shapes / sizes I like that legit clay pot vendors don't
>>20993268>By the way, do any anons have recommendations for vendors who'll have BF sales for inexpensive liubao/liuanShould have gone on taobao for the 11/11 salesI guess there will be some more sales leading up to Chinese new year.
>>20993286Damn, did you grab anything good on there? I haven't bought on Taobao before, and managing the acc/shipping process seems like a pain, but it's tempting.
>>20993270I could give a fuck about being snobby about clay pots. But the issue with buying mystery raw clay pots is that they might make every tea you put in it taste like shit and you have no way of knowing.Clay can just suck the flavor out of tea and make it extremely bland, it can also add strong mineral flavors like you are drinking your tea while sucking on a rock, and not in a good way
>>20993286>the 11/11 salesFUCK i forgot
Threadly reminder that buying raw clay teapots is a separate hobby from buying and drinking tea. Best enjoyed by people who have thousands of dollars of disposable income to spend just on clay pots. 99% of the time you will be better served by a plain white porcelain teapot if your goal is to drink and enjoy tea.
>>20993286>>20993290I haven't seen any 11/11 deals on tea apart from slightly cheaper superbuy shipping. Don't wait for some magical deals, the prices are always decent, it's just the shipping/tax that can fuck you.
>>20993268>Has W2T ever disclosed what material has gone into one of their Snoozefest blendsI doubt it, but I read some blogpost speculating that it's a mix of autumn Jinggu with something else (maybe Bada?)IIRC it was basically just a guess based on the taste though
>>20993270I second anon's opinion, buying fake clay pots doesn't make sense. Just buy porcelain or glazed, plenty of cool stuff in those finishes too.
>>20993430>>20993268it was from mattchas blog btw
was undecided if I want another snoozefest and it slipped byoh well, maybe next year. it's like a 6/10 cake to me, but good for a bit of variety. I guess I'll buy from cspuerh this year
Any opinions on these hot water dispenser things? Apparently a family member bought me one for Christmas.
>>20993249High grade expensive tea would absolutely seem like an experience to have on it's own. I like flavoring cheaper teas, but if a tea is very strong tasting, I feel adding a minimum of condiments like sugar/sweetners and milk would make it's flavor show up. I wonder, what's the rarest flavor of tea that you guys know? I'm a newbie to all things tea related, but I'd love to taste tea from exotic flowers. Or if there's even watermelon tea.
>>20993531i can only speak for the zoji models but i assume all brands are basically the same. i still haven't had one though, only extensively researched in the past. they do seem surprisingly efficient, functional, and convenient. there are a handful of concerns tbough. there's a tube between the chamber and spout that can potentially get calcium buildup and plug it up so if you have hard water you might want to descale with citric acid relatively frequently, the water chamber's lid is plastic on the models i've seen and will slowly deteriorate (they should sell replacement lids but it's still quite concerning of course), and the water gets to temp slowly so make sure you fill it for overnight or while at work. if these caveats aren't a problem for you then they are otherwise great
>>20993532>I wonder, what's the rarest flavor of tea that you guys know?I hear good things about osmanthus flavored oolong, it is little obscure
Anyone w/ experience from them have any recc's for stuff off of https://www.teasource.com/I moved recently and didn't even realize that I'm only a few minutes away from their actual in person store, and wanna take advantage of having something so close, but also all their teas are renamed so I can't really get a sense of what I'm buying
>>20993532Not necessarily the rarest but osmanthus flavored oolong is top tier for flavored tea. Im not really a flavored tea guy but i love that shit.
>>20993599>>20993599>/tea/ tends to sperg out about shops that sell flavored teas with bits of fruit and flowers and shit in itFrom a quick look i would try their second flush Darjeeling. Make sure it's from this year and not several years old Maybe that tian jian dark tea they have
>>20993532Snow Chrysanthemum, its a little like potpourri, very nice. i also have black tea with rose petals which works surprisingly well
>>20993571>>20993622Osmanthus oolong... Ooh, sounds curious. I've never heard of that tea flavor before in my life, once I get a job I'll try to see if I can buy some rare flavored teas online. Or maybe head into the dietetic stores of my city to see if there's any unique flavors.>>20993647That looks like it must smell so well and fragrant, damn. I'm envious. Black tea with rose petals sounds super kino.Have any of you ever tried to grow your own tea leaves or make teas with fresh plants or flower petals? And if so, how did it go?
>>20993684>https://tea-expert.net/Has a good osmanthus oolong, Chinese shop ships from china, $5 flat rate shipping under $60 or something.
>>20993249>Might try lightly roasting it with my Japanese hand tea roaster(forget what's it called) to "wake it up". Any advice on lite roasting it to do so?I don't have any advice, but if you end up doing this I would be interested in hearing about the results.
>>20993684This picture burnt my rednas
>>20993532Rarest? Actually tea? Hyperlocal regional variants I won't mention because it drives the price up for people who already like and care about them. Barley tea is a starting point, sometimes the barley in the tea is malted or fermented, as an example. Other shit used local herbs and flowers.
>>20993786>Barley teaThe secret is buying roasted barley by the kilo from brewing supply stores
>>20993856That's waaaay too much at a time. Be a real bro and buy the leftovers from your homebrew pals that they can't repurpose into another recipe. Does them a favor, gives you a good deal, plus they offload some beer, you offload some tea!
What kinda ratio to use for dan cong? Should I brew it like a yancha?
>>20994246Just brew the same ratio and then adjust the amount of leaves in subsequent sessions according to your taste
>>20994246As far as I know yes, but be more careful to keep the brews short, as it gets more astringent than yancha.There is also a lot of advanced brewing autism around it because it's one of the most teas to gong fu. You can do the meme method where you stuff as many leaves in as you can and only do flash brews.
>>20984539Tisanes, you say?
Which Japanese vendors (who ship internationally) are having BF sales now or soon? It'd be cool to buy stuff at a discount while the yen is still kind of weaker.
>>20993647Looks like a potent potable
>>20993647Is this the freebie from YS? If so very tasty.
>>20995075no i brought it ~6 years ago. i dont think they sell it any more sadly. came as a little 50g cube off a brick
>>20995112Yeah this would have been like 2019ish when they were giving them out. 110g free brick on $100 or something. Earthy spicy and floral in all the right ways.https://steepster.com/teas/yunnan-sourcing/49568-2013-yunnan-sourcing-xue-ju-shu-pu-ripe-puerh-and-snow-chrysantehmum-tea-brick
>>20995115thats the stuff, wish they they still made it, insanely good for £10/100g
>>20994246I'd go for "stuffing your gaiwan/pot with leaves and doing flash steeps" ratio, which would be in the 1:15 ratio. The Bitterleaf instructional video on that is pretty good and relaxing to watch.
Drank some salty tea with pepper and spicesIts nice, really warms you up
Fear of tannins is a psyop. Leave the bag in.
>>20995592Thanks for stopping by
>>20995592bag?
>>20984539Besides some loose leaf Assam and yaboa, I bought this cake from Liquid Proust. I haven't bought some cakes outside of some recommend old school introduction sheng and shu in a while. A dead link said it tasted like spice and incense with a creamy mouthfeel. I tend to like novelty cakes and I like yaboa in general and $80 for an almost 2 decades old 300+gram cake seemed reasonable. I'm not smart enough to know much between humid Taiwan aging and dry environment ageing other than humid can give deeper fermentation. Thoughts on my cake I picked?>>20993770Will do.
drinking 2023 snoozefest after not pulling the trigger on the 2024I feel like it's improved over a year, when I got it I really didn't care for it much. right now it has a good upfront sweetness and body and a pretty pleasant blend of fruity-vegetal flavors. it's lacking aftertaste and depth, but the flavor itself is pretty good. I'm sure it got more fruity and less vegetal with timemaybe I should have grabbed one again after all...
Anons, where can I gat some decent, cheap Lapsang Souchong? I'm trying to put together a Russian Caravan blend and would preferably buy all the ingredients from the same vendor. Bonus points if shipping to EU isn't obscenely expensive.
Does Farmerleaf release on black friday itself or before that? I wanna wait to see what he adds before making my BF orders.
>>20996673I think their quality to price ratio is reasonable for the Snoozefest releases, but agree that a little time probably helps. I don't know when the 2024 will ship and arrive, but I also have the 2023. I intend to write about the 2024 soon (when it arrives), so if it isn't all that different from my initial notes for the 2023 batch, you'll know. I'll go break off some material from my 2023 cake and infuse it in a bit too.
>>20996525Seems like an interesting cake, I hope you'll report back on it anon. I didn't even know aged yabao is a thing.
Quick and dirty picture of some 2023 Snoozefest. While the flavor is still more vegetal to me, I agree with most of >>20996673 's observations. Most of the fruitiness I pick up is on the nose (both dry and wet leaf), though the vegetal/herbal notes come through much more on the palate. The aftertaste may have developed slightly, but not a ton. Pleasant amount of astringency and subtle rounded bitterness imo. Somewhat light yet 'alright' texture; not that thick. I think the amount of astringency makes it seem juicier than it is otherwise.Infusion endurance is not half bad; I haven't been counting strictly, but it's been at least 6-8 infusions now, and I'm still going just fine. Does lean towards vegetal over more infusions. I don't write about stuff like cha qi much, but I feel rather relaxed yet focused at the moment.I'm rather pleased with it, and think it was a good buy. The limited yearly nature of it is fun in a way, especially since I know other anons will taste and write about it in the general. I'll be sure to write about the 2024 batch soon as well. Makes me wish I'd try their fun-looking Halloween stuff, but I always end up not buying due to shipping turning me off.
>>20996907yeah I'm happy with my cake too overall, almost finished it. just wasn't sure about a rebuy, I feel like getting something new
>>20996673I have zero doubts that a cake like that improves after a bit of time in proper storage.
>>20997162what do you mean by "a cake like that"?
>>20997228I don't necessarily mean this in a derisive way. Snoozefest is a hodgepodge blend of lower grade, probably Autumn material. Some of the material is probably aged a year or two before blending from photos I've seen. I feel a tea like that does well when any newer material has some time to settle down in storage and balance better with the rest of the tea. If there are any less desirable characteristics in the blend, they will have time to dissipate over a year as well. It's also my opinion that nearly all fresh sheng puerh improves after a year.
>>20997241thanks anon
>>20996907>Most of the fruitiness I pick up is on the nose (both dry and wet leaf), though the vegetal/herbal notes come through much more on the palateI also agree with this. I think my intitial disappointment with the cake was that it had the reputation and dry leaf aroma of a fruity raw, but the flavor was mostly vegetal. It's definitely balanced out well in a year.
>wake up>everything sucks>force myself to brew a tea>after first few cups realize I'm feeling great, everything is gonna work outAnd they teach us to stay away from drugs
I just split a pot of ripe and pot of sheng, chances of falling asleep tonight?
>>20984552Yes but only because cream is so much better. Masala chai is an exception because it's a specifically milky beverage.
Give me your best Ceylon English breakfast brand. It has to be Ceylon, I love how smooth it is. The Ceylon tea company with the elephant on the box was my favorite but they have been fucked since the canal shipping crisis. I’m using bigelow Ceylon tea right now cause I can buy it in bulk but it’s not quite right. I’m in USA
>>20998693idk, i just bought this pack of ceylon leaves of Amazon. It is a black bag with red on it. And a box of ceylon tea bags
>>20998693doesn't English Breakfast always have some Assam in there?
>>20998919Yeah. Not Ceylon.
>>20998919>>20998995That’s fine, I just need the base to be Ceylon. It’s so smooth and delicious I can’t go back to non Ceylon tea
Black friday sale on thetea.pl is live. -14% on everything.
>>20999249Tried any of their shengs? I'm tempted to grab a few grams of something and some old ass liu bao
>>20999255I tried the semiaged Youle and the Banpen.I liked the Youle. Clean and mellow with a nice long lasting huigan. Might buy more of it.The Banpen had a strong, kind of medicinal bitterness that I didn't care for.I'm far from an expert on aged raws though. My favourite from the store was the Tanyang Gongfu black tea and the Yuchi was great too but is more expensive.You could also sample some aged oolong, they tend to stock a good number of those.
>>20999309Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I'll go with this after some more deliberatingThe aged oolongs are interesting, it's not so easy to find them either.
>>20999602>chinese medicine aromaSounds good. Nothing like the smell of tiger penis in my liu bao.
>>20999602I've had the Jingmai white tea too, it was good. A little herbal with good depth.Nice to see someone order their more unique stuff like those aged oolongs
>>20998033I'm drinking some chamomille tea with regular milk and it feels warm and comforting. The only joys I sometimes feel in my life are warm drinks and tasty food.>>20998689I wish I could afford to put cream into tea, although cream can be kind of salty around here...I wonder what types of food pair well with tea. When I think of tea I think of sweets.
my beloved kyusu broke, i am so depressed
>>21000318Let's see the carnage, my friend.
>>21000391i don't like uploading my photos to the internet, it's this kyusu though, and it's a big hole leading onto the bottom edge that got punched out between the handle and the spout. i was just dabbing some of the water out from inside so it could dry faster and it popped off, i don't recall pressing very hard
Thread tourist don't feel like reading it - which purple tea to buy? Having small leaf buds? Lots of hair?
>>20995592Not true. I projectile vomited and quickly ran away more than once in crowded public squares after drinking black tea on an empty stomach.
>>21000133>I wonder what types of food pair well with tea.Liubao and shou puer go well with greasy foods like burgers, pizza, and bacon and eggs breakfast
>>20999602>something like SPH>Chinese Medicine Aromathis would be the perfect order for schizo lyrical review anon
>>21001755>1999 „8582 Style” Sheng Pu-Erh ( HUMID Taiwan storage)pu-erh niggas really be buying teas with those kinds of names
>>21000887I could never imagine drinking tea AND greasy foods, maybe after eating something heavy I could drink tea or mate without milk, but the two together would be like an atomic bomb to my stomach.
Teahome order is here!>Legend of Tung Ting>Selected roasted Alishan Jin Xuan>Ruby 18 black teaGot some unexpected freebies too, red oolong in those condom looking packs. And Teahome branded bag closers, that's really cool!
>>21001935a total of 400grams of tea for a bit below 50$ (including shipping). 2$ VAT, package value thankfully marked way downI'll be trying the Tung Ting now
>>21001920You have to be used to taking hot tea with meals. Usually, the ripe puerh comes out after a greasy meal mopping up copious amounts of alcohol, or to chase shots. It has a lot of compounds that break down lipids and is gentle.
Farmerleaf sale will probably go live today
>>21002054It's up
>>21002241Eye watering prices on the new pieces. WHEW
>>21001989Is this a common issue? I can drink tea any time with any food or no food, no problems ever
>>21002244YepTwo new ripes and four new raws + a ton of expensive teaware
>>21002054A lot of teawares but no new black teas or oolongs and only one autumn cake? I thought I saw william drinking some on a facebook post few days ago. Maybe wasn't good enough.
Maybe mohei could be worth?Not sure if I want to blind buy a cake. Mangzhi is too expensive for me.
>>21002270Mohei sounds like a good bet from the location coulb be worth a lot more than its price. Safe buy is always fa zhan he 2024 can't beat it's price for value. Maybe tlfz if it's your "kind" of tea for same price range as mohei but mohei could be better this year.
>>21002270I would have recommended the ao ne me for your price range but it's sold out again...
>>21002284I was waiting for that one but I don't see it on the page. It's either mohei or skip for me.
>>21002286Ao ne me is only spring and only when the guy is visiting william so can't add a new one here unless williams said so on socials.
I was waiting for autumn black teas from jingmay and another half smoked batch from william but maybe later after black friday I guess.
>>21002252It's two things. If you don't come from a hot beverage culture or develop the taste for it, you don't drink hot stimulant like the dragon lady at your local buffet drinks boiling water. If you're not a serious tea drinker, throwing down with a meal is difficult. I also think that was argie anon, and coffee and mate are rough on the stomach, along with shit tea, where puerh and liubao ain't. The other issue is that your tannic or astringent teas like reds and greens will rip your shit up on an empty stomach or in larger quantities. Young raw puerh is especially rough. Whites are pretty easy going, somehow. There's some personal tolerance involved, but it makes some people extremely nauseous and it goes downhill from there.
I'm looking to buy some nice quality green tea having only drunk the poorer end of stuff so far. As a beginner is it worth me spending more money for a gyokuro, will I be able to appreciate the difference? The teas I'm deciding between are both from obubu farm.
>>20984552English breakfast tea is pretty much undrinkable unless you add some milk to it.
>>21002454Not a green expert in the least, but the difference between bag and good is a few orders of magnitude even if it's shit good tea. Almost anything you get will will show you one style of japanese green well enough. Any half decent looking tea from a reputable site will blow everything else out the water, you become one of us once you go from there.
>>21002454I hope someone comes with facts; greens are very different and nip greens are their own thing, to the point that I can't say how one varies from others compared to chink greens. What little I've had has been something I either loved in a weird way as an extension of tea I've had or went in a different direction entirely. There's an extreme amount of terrior and varietal going on. Whatever you get, you get to taste real fucking tea. It's a little different.
>>21002270it sounds goodI quite like the sample of 2023 Autumn Jingmai Gushu I got as a freebie, and it's cheaper this year at 80$. so maybe that could be worth a shot toothe Bangwai ripe they added is the cheapest and sounds like it could be a good buy
>>21002454if by "poorer end" you mean decent quality sencha, then go ahead. if you mean lipton tea bags, go with a decent quality sencha firstthere are definitely diminishing returns in tea
>>21002454>obubu farmguessing you're looking on yunomi then. don't buy gyokuro yet, it's too expensive for too little as a start. buy some asamushicha and fukamushicha, start with the asamushi and once you have a feel for it then get into the fukamushicha. if the fukamushicha is something you enjoy then order some gyokuro to try. i'd recommend practicing your steeping before you can reasonably go for gyokuro without "wasting" it as i find nip green very fickle, you have to be surprisingly gentle with it or it'll take on adverse traits. i tend to pour it very slowly and do things like my 2nd steep being instant. i also really have to play around a lot with steep times for each new tea.i'm not autistic enough to know much about cultivars but for the fukamushi try to pick mountainous terroirs like the uji or shizuoka region, but for the asamushi just pick anything really as that'll be your introduction anyway.absolutely any loose leaf nip green tea will taste completely different from bag tea, whether you like it or not is anyone's guess until you try though. most people here prefer chinese greens. chinese greens are nuttier because they're roasted while nip greens are steamed instead. jap green is vegetably and seaweedy but in a sweet/buttery wayunrelated but pick up some of the shinichi kihara kyobancha, i am an unapologetic shill for it
>>21001945>>21001935Good first impressions on the tung ting. Roast is fairly heavy. Has some of those pastry notes, burnt cookies with a bit of coffee. Some cinnamon, something savory in a greener way.Flavor is what I expected, but whatsurprised me is the mouthfeel and depth. Tea flavour does actually go deep into throat and the body and texture is quite nice.
Took me like 70 grams, but finally found some brewing method that is satisfactory for me on this sencha. Sugary, buttery and grassy, with only a wee bit of intrusive bitterness. If only this wasn't so violent on the stomach. Still prefer a 4 season oolong, but it's got some qualities that scratch a different itch.Also, I know nothing about sencha. I don't understand what all the umami is about when this has got nothing remotely in that direction.
>>20985789Yet there's mountain of scientific evidence that tea fucks with your thyroid due to high fluoride content.
>>21002622>fluoride contentNot a real problem if you aren't using bagged tea.
>>21002618>Took me like 70 gramschuckled, thanks for providing a real world example of what i said 2 replies above about how steeping sencha can be a pain. what sencha is it?on a good tea doing first steep at 60c can bring out a lot of "Le Umami" if you haven't tried that yet
>>21002618there's usually an element of seaweed or chicken broth in these, that's what people refer to as umami. it's much stronger in gyokuro though4 seasons oolong is good value. tends to be the cheapest taiwanese oolong around and it has that creamier flavor compared to stuff like tie guan yin. I remember a set of that + a cui yu jade oolong really opened my eyes to how good and different tea can be
>>21001935I wish I knew the name of those thingies so I could buy a bunch on aliexpressIs that the ruby 18 in the silver bag? Curious how it is
>>21002663>Is that the ruby 18 in the silver bagyep. 100 grams but takes up so much more space than the 150 gram oolongs lolnever had a ruby 18 before, but it's much cheaper there than anywhere else so I thought it's worth a try
>>21002656It's from kiyosawa, that's as much info I've got on the thing. Bought it while visiting dusseldorf. I'm not german. Shop had a big wall of differend kinds of matcha and this was laying in a basket on the side. My temperature controlled kettle only goes as low as 80 °C, which is part of my issues, because 80 really is about 10 degrees too much. There are workarounds, but got to strike the balance between convenience, consistency and taste.
Let's liu bao.
>>21002709Smells like good mulch, wash bowl smells like distant fruits and tastes like good liubao, I'll have to see what the first cup yields because I'm going to steep it hard. The cake smelt like tea and it's all pleasant and subtle. Nice huigan, the finish is excellent.
>>21002722>Nice huigan, the finish is excellentThat's also what I noticed last time I had a premium liu bao
>>21002722Lid smells like real maple syrup and related foraging for it. Second cup delivers. The tea flavor and astringency is going towards something I don't recognize. Probably betel nut. There's a delightful complexity to it, not getting any meat like other liubao. >>21002738I don't know what newbs expect, but old tea just tastes pleasant compared to new shit. I can say this tastes like an old house and fancy potting soil and has a slightly sweet finish and it probably sounds like it tastes like shit. There's a dark broth right now and it's tea all the way through, which I don't usually like but it's hitting all the tea notes on top of the heicha.
>>21002755This is a sublimely pleasant pot of tea. Makes me want to chase it with a rye. It's all earth and a little betel nut. Goes hard, at least 4 beers fell off. The qi is that immortality feeling, a placid lake of infinite depth.
>>21002611Big teahome shill here, glad you are enjoying it. Really nice tea considering how reasonably it's priced. I haven't tried the ruby 18 so it will be fun to hear your thoughts on it
>>21002818I'm curious how the "selected roasted jin xuan" will compare too>Really nice tea considering how reasonably it's pricedtrue, 10$ for 150 grams is not much at all even with the shipping
>>21002774Tea and alcohol doesn’t go together. Something to do with astringency and the tongue. Don’t do it.
Anybody else drink their tea plain?
>>21002870Heicha after getting drunk is awesome
>>21002870We clearly drink different tea and alcohol. Heicha after drinking is like being a Dostoyevsky character after being your average Catholic.
>>21002531I'm torn between Bangwai and Jingmai. The former is cheaper, yes, but the latter sounds more durable and froim that I gather it might be able to be made thicker as I like it. ot that much is said about ether, though too early for user reviews yet.
>>21003016You'd think that they'd figure out wireless keyboards by now. The mice have been fine for at least a decade. You get what I mean, anyways.
>>21002468>>21002488Cheers anons.>>21002535I haven't been drinking bags, just bad loose-leaf. I've had tea in the past that's at least good enough to know that I like it though.>>21002608Thank you this is a very helpful post. I'll note down that kyobancha to buy at a later time.
>>21002622Yeah, if you're a Tibetan nomad boiling tea for hours at a time or a fat southern white woman brewing a 5 boxes of Lipton teabags per pitcher.
>>20985789I don't need experts to tell me how to live my life
What's the point of black friday if I've got like a kilo of tea to carry me through next spring?
>>21004185It's to feed your shopping addiction and/or consumerism.
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