Finna do it

7572 from Awazon developed a spicy note since I got it. something I also found in Best Taste Ripe. interesting and welcome.

>>21572379
Spicy like capsaicin or like spices such as clove or cinnamon?

>>21572460
like spices, but a sort of earthy spice. sort of like a tingly anise flavor, maybe that's what people call ginseng flavor

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made a QuicheTeas order

>>21573332
Classic choices. I like V93s. I also like the newer ones more than the older ones, desu. I've had that Xiaguan, too. Can't help but notice you paid a lot less than I did. It's one of those that falls back in the pumi and I haven't touched it in a long time. It's probably my favorite Xiaguan raw. I noted some crisp green apple notes. I'll break mine out this week and we'll compare notes.

>>21573395
cool, I'd love to see your notes
QuicheTeas has the lowest prices for these factory cakes, pretty sure those would be twice the price anywhere else
I guess taiwanese dropshipping prices with slight mark up are much better than what the western facing vendors charge

the Xiaguan seemed like a no brainer at that price. the 2005 t8653 I bought last time because a big favorite of mine. I'm hoping this cheaper cake can compare to its glory

>>21573332
the V931 Dayi is nice

Is it normal to finish 1/2kg of oolong in a month? I drank different tea some days also

>>21574191
that seems fast to me

>>21574191
Are you steeping it more than once?

>try weird new tea
>wtf that tastes so weird
>try to like it best as I can, fail completely, can't drink it
>guess I'm never gonna get used to it
>wait 1-2 months
>try it again on a whim
>no longer weird since I've had it before
>quickly grow to like it
Why does this keep happening

On another note my jin jun mei souchong from KTM is dusty as FUCK, like almost as if it was drenched in pollen (especially since the dust is a yellowish orange, from the buds). Is that normal? What I'm doing is giving it a very quick rinse before brewing (pour in boiling water, pour out, like 3-4 seconds total probably), but I've never had a tea that was this incredibly dusty before.

>>21574600
>>21574612
Turns out it was 1/4kg my memory is just shit.
I steep it repeatedly untill it loses flavour.
I just throw what I deem to be enough in a ~200ml gaiwan and from the amount iv used in this amount of time and taking the days I drank different tea into account its probably around 10g, which is a lot but not utterly insane.

>>21574648
>my jin jun mei souchong from KTM is dusty as FUCK, like almost as if it was drenched in pollen (especially since the dust is a yellowish orange, from the buds). Is that normal?
yes, that's the fluff from the buds. jin jun mei has lots of fluffy buds.
you don't have to rinse it, it's considered a good thing

>>21574684
Interesting. I'll try it unrinsed next then.

>>21574648
>jin jun mei souchong
What's it taste like?

>>21574706
Very, very... hmm, I don't even know how to describe it. Kinda honey-y, kinda nutty? Chinese teas are generally described as nutty and this one feels like that taste but very strong.
I haven't had too many chinese blacks, mind you. My other points of reference are KTM's jiuqu hong mei and their low-grade CNNP tan yang butterfly jar, and various indian teas. The tan yang is not too different from indiant teas except noticeably slightly more sweet or maybe tangy. The "red plum" jiuqu has a very much nutty taste as advertised, not at all comparable to an indian tea, but also not overbearing. The souchong has the strongest taste of them all. I tried it first and I couldn't drink it because it just tasted so wrong compared to what I was used to. I think I've gotten used to the nutty taste of the jiuqu though so now I've started to appreciate the souchong.

Maybe honey is a good way to describe it, there are lots of different honeys and I could imagine one tasting somewhat like this. It's not the most typical honey I'm used to though and I don't know enough about honeys to give any real comparison, though I did once have a jar from some village in the mountains in northern greece which is actually not too dissimilar to this taste now that I remember it.

>>21574729
>>21574706
yeah, I can second that it's honeyish and a little bready
probably a darker honey like buckwheat honey? not sure though
the jiuqu hongmei just tastes like marzipan to me. could be stronger, needs to be pushed hard

>>21574747
Dark honey sounds about right. Not entirely sure about calling it bready, though, I tend to associate "bread taste" with something either yeasty or doughy and thick, while the souchong I'd almost say is slightly tart. It's not actually sour but the fact that it tastes somewhat like honey while not actually being sweet (obviously), and the usual nutty undertones, doesn't really make me think of bread.

I want to put together my first Awazon order. What do you guys suggest picking up for Raws/Ripes? I'm generally not picky at all with flavor notes, just don't like anything excessively smokey.

>>21575045
It makes me think on dark rye bread / sourdough more than white bread. But I have a previous year, it could have also changed

>>21575212
The 2002 6ftm tuo is good
They have a lot of really safe factory ripe in general
Their raw could be more hit or miss I think

how much tea does /tea/ drink per day?
I decided to count and I think I'm around 1.4L

Which CTC on amazon would you recommend?

>>21575212
I liked their white tea

>>21575356
probably like 3L

>>21575461
Vahdam

>>21575356
1.5-2L
7-12g of leaf

>>21575356
In the Summer it's around 1.25 liters from 7-10 grams of leaf. In the winter, it's probably double.

>>21575356
About 3L of black tea on a typical day at work: around 0730 I make a pot of tea to start the day, 1000 brew the leaves again with half the water, repeat around 1400 and 1600.
On weekends at home it's more like 2L of tea since I'm not at home hanging out the whole day.

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>Past 2 AM; would be wise to sleep
>Completely ready for bed, just have to turn lights off
>Desire to pull out tea randomly and start a session increases
The duality of man.

>>21575356
I normally make 10oz (~300ml) cups of tea. During the week I normally have one before work and one or two after work (my job is not conducive to brewing tea). On the weekend, or whenever I'm not working, I have four or five per day.

>>21576549
I did that for a whole year once, get in bed at 11, get up at 12:30, gongfu some puer then go back to bed at 2. Wouldn't recommend

>>21576549
Get some low/no caffeine tea for those hours. Hojicha?

How long does it take yunomi.life to send tea out?

>>21576549
Have a session with just hot water. They call it ghost tea.

>>21572150
Is there any teas for euphoria and relaxation? I need a way to relax without booze.

>>21574648
>why does this keep happening
There was someone in the last thread who swore smoked tea should be left for 18 or so months before drinking it, and other types of highly oxidized teas for at least 6 or so months, maybe have a look and see what his point was.
>jin jun mei
They might be trichomes (good, filled with flavory chemicals, sign of high quality).
>souchong
It might be charcoal.
If it's really fine dust it's probably charcoal, but if it looks like yellowish pollen they're trichomes.

>>21577337
poppy tea

>>21575212
Their """old tree""" white tea bricks are pretty good.
Their 2015 Menghai spring cakes are pretty good as well; only 100g pieces are available but you can get a couple considering the low price.

>>21576850
Just stick with herbal mixtures. Chamomile is always tasty

>>21577518
Nice, yes, sounds like both my souchong and the jiuqu hongmei have down's
Btw it's an unsmoked souchong, I hate smoked tea

>>21576850
I have some bancha I could use. Been a while now. I'll post a picture when I do.

>>21578087
>I'll post a picture when I do.
Based

>>21577337
idk about euphoria but CSH Naka is my most relaxing tea, it's just got a warming effect to it. makes me sweat a lot too lol but the vibe is comfy. The jiang xin is even better but that one's expensive ;-; so ive only had it in samples

>>21577337
kratom is kind of a tisane

>>21578385
do not do kratom you will vomit if you try drinking green tea afterwards

>>21578386
I believe that, both have a tendency to upset an empty stomach.

>>21578387
My friend did kratom and now can't drink green tea without getting sick even though he's stopped kratom for over a year

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Oumi inakabancha from Sazentea. It's been a while since I've had it, but this gentle roasty grain/wood flavor and mildly sweet, malty aroma are of comfort when you're tired or it's late.

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Here's a dry leaf picture of the bancha.

>>21578479
Starting to get cooler here. We are entering mulch season

Not really in this thread's wheelhouse, but I bought a bunch of black teas from Harney & Sons and I'm going to post my thoughts on them. I'll mention different steep times but I used boiling water for everything.

Firstly, I got their CTC Assam, it was cheap and I wanted to see what a straight CTC tea was like. Even at 2 minutes this is as astringent and not pleasant, just strong. Add milk and it becomes a perfectly fine breakfast tea, though.

Secondly, some various breakfast tea blends. These are all decent on their own but do benefit from milk. Also I do drink tea after breakfast so having some variety for that is nice. All needed 3 minute steeps and began developing astringency if pushed further.
>English Breakfast (Keemun)
Mild flavor of Chinese black tea
>Irish Breakfast (Assam)
Mild malty flavor
>East Frisian (Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling)
Mild Darjeeling flavor
>Orange Pekoe (Assam, Ceylon)
More generic black tea flavor but still tasty, definitely above crap like Lipton
>Russian Country (Keemun, Assam, Ceylon, Formosa Oolong, Lapsang Souchong)
Nice and smoky, with the smoke neither being weak (it's still present with milk) nor overpowering

Onto the good stuff
>Queen Catherine (Keemun, Panyang, Yunnan)
At lower steeps this was similar to their English Breakfast but once pushed to 5 minutes this become a very delicious tea similar to imported Chinese black tea that I've had in the past. I liked it a lot.
>Darjeeling
I've never had Darjeeling before (my reference to Darjeeling flavor in the East Frisian was compared to this). Apparently this is a blend of first flush and later harvests, though they classify it as a black tea and that's what it looks like. At 3 minutes this was similar to East Frisian but one it hit 4 it really opened up and became delicious. I loved this one and it makes me want to try some more expensive Darjeeling teas at some point in the future.

>>21578780
Also, while I like the classy little tins these all came in, I have to note that the Queen Catherine and Darjeeling were the only ones that had accurate directions for brewing. Every tea I mentioned said to steep for 5 minutes, which is absurd for most of them, except the Darjeeling which said 4.

>>21578134
I agree that CSH Naka has a good body feel to it for the price
It does go more in the ecstatic than relaxing direction to me

>>21578385
>>21578390
Wtf is kratom
Also does this apply to oolong or whites, or only specifically greens?

>>21572150
I like Ti Quan Yin.
Make a pot and top it off with the same leaves all day long.

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Hello /tea/ts,
I bought this Shan Lao Shu 2014 Haiwan sheng puerh that was reccomended in a previous thread a while ago, arrived yesterday. Now I'm not much of a tea gourmand and relatively new to this so take my description with a pinch of salt.

Overall I quite like it. It's got a slightly smoky flavour although not too pronounced, with a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste. It's also very mild, definitely much milder than another puerh i have, likely because that one is half-fermented. To me that's not a bad thing though, because of the mildness I can see myself drinking this a lot and not get tired of it (I hope, this cake is a half kilo).

if someone else tried this one I'd be curious about their thoughts and get told how trash my tastebuds are.

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>>21578853
leaf and bark powder from a plant indigenous to south east asia that contains alkaloids which exhibit low potency opioid activity. the desired, positive effects plateau at a relatively low threshold, so it's pretty safe in that regard (can't overdose fatally, can't increase dose for better effects very well).
it is kinda addictive and can lead to mild withdrawals when stopping, but it's a league below the usual drug habits in my experience.

>Also does this apply to oolong or whites, or only specifically greens?
I've been wondering about this. some teas are very harsh on my stomach, while others don't have this issue at all. I remember reading something about the compound contained in tea which causes this effect, but I forget what that all was about.

>>21578875
>blind buying a 500g cake
Brave, good that it's to your taste at least. Have you considered buying a bunch of small samples to explore the variety? I feel like if you're "not much of a tea gourmand" then generally you're better served with buying ten 50g portions rather than a single 500g one. Then not only do you have more variety rather than drinking the same thing every day, but you also actually get closer to becoming a tea gourmand yourself, in particular you get a much better idea of what you like, and you can then buy a full cake of any of the types that you liked the most - after you've compared a bunch of different teas and picked your personal favourite, rather than relying on a blind recommendation.

>>21579081
samples are more expensive dough

My yunomi order got packaged, time to wait forever.

>>21578875
Good man! I have the 2017 and posted about it a few threads ago. I suspect your tea has mellowed out with an additional 3 years of aging.
>>21579081
A cake is a sample! Build a pumi and the worry about drinking tea before it dries up goes away.

>>21579114
>A cake is a sample!
If you're buying cakes as samples then cost is probably not even a factor for you, in which case sure fair enough.
>Build a pumi
Elaborate, maybe I'm retarded but I don't know what that is and searching only brings up the dog breed

>>21579081
Yeah the next teas I'll buy will definitely be smaller packages. However i already knew that i generally like puerhs so i wasn't all too worried and i kinda wanted a "special" tea to come back to every now and then.
>Have you considered buying a bunch of small samples to explore the variety?
Yes, i just have to find a place that offers sample sets at a decent price because so far most i've seen are quite expensive because they're like 30+ teas big.
Also thinking about buying an Oolong because i already have one and I'm curious about compareing the flavours.

>>21579114
>I suspect your tea has mellowed out with an additional 3 years of aging.
Really. I would've expected the taste to intensify with age. But i guess it doesn't unless the tea is fermented?

>>21579126
I mean a pumidor. A humidor for your puerh stash. And other tea. An insulated cooler or bin you can keep hydrated and with steady, warmer temps.
>>21579131
Certain notes can be made more intense, I suppose. When we're talking puerh less than 20 years old, it's generally becoming more mellow from its younger, bitter version.

>>21578853
It's an opioid drug. Basically the same as being addicted to tramadol but it's "natural", so people think it's less bad for some reason

>>21578875
Yeah a slightly upscale Haiwan production should be good drinking

>>21579081
There is also value in getting lots of sessions with one tea. You can experiment with brewing, you can come back to it in a year. It can be just as useful as more samples

>>21579126
>If you're buying cakes as samples then cost is probably not even a factor for you
Cakes are cheaper per gram. Blind buying cakes is actually the cheapfag thing to do if you know what you like already

>>21579201
If you do know what you like then definitely, but it's not a "sample" then. When you say cakes are samples that implies buying 10-15 different cakes (not necessarily all at once, but within some reasonable amount of time that's shorter than the time it would take to actually drink 15 cakes straight up)

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Apparently the bags from YS don't block smells. All of my tea now smells and tastes like the strong hay scented one.

>>21579206
"A cake is a sample" is a popular meme, but there is some truth to it
>You get to know a tea much better if you have a whole cake
>It can be treated as a sample for a whole category (lao man e cake will really let you know if you like lao man e, same for factory recipes, better than a few sessions with a small sample would)
>You start realising with time that 400g of tea is not a huge amount in the long run
>A lot of the best value stores don't have samples at all

>>21579388
What an exceptional vendor. Premium prices, premium year over year increases, worse shipping practices than the cheapest taobao sellers.

>>21579424
I'm very upset

>>21579455
If you get upset on a more visible forum Scott will come and lie to you then disappear.

>>21579460
I'll use this as a lesson and order from a Japanese site next month

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Tsushima benifuuki from Oishi Tea Farm.

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Dry leaf image of the benifuuki red. Many stems, it seems. I like the aromas and flavor. Rather beautiful fruity-floral balance.

Should i order tea or wait for 11.11

>>21580438
all your photos are so beautiful, you show off the leaves and liquor so well

>>21580591
Thank you. Even a little overhead lighting helps a fair bit with my measly phone camera. I always tried to get decent shots when I'd journal and share my notes before. I'll sip something else later today and share some pictures again since you enjoy them.

Can anyone recommend a tea shop in Japan? I'm travelling to Osaka and Tokyo (and will be passing through Toyama), and wondering if it makes sense to buy in person instead of ordering from home. I know ippodo and nakamura tokichi have stores in the major cities, but maybe someone has more experience? Thanks

To the anon who's been recommending the YS "1368" fu brick: thanks for the rec! I've tried it twice now; didn't like it very much the first time, but for the second I went for a much lower ratio (closer to sheng than to shou numbers) and it was delish. Some edge to it but given the complexity of the brew I'll instead call it "character."

Another session with 2005 t8653 from Quiche
Gotta be my favourite aged raw so far. Great mouthfeel and lots of smoke and menthol. Barbeque, wood and menthol cigarettes. Doesn't gut punch me like some factory raws do.

does anyone remember which thread the jacket schizo was in

>>21580810
I think somebody posted that telluride pic. Haven't got a copy but could probably get it in the archive from that

>>21580446
I don't know what that is. Jap tea? I thought they were too stuck up for stems.

>>21580810
I can grep for it if I could remember what you're talking about. What was the situation?

>>21580932
It was some retard samefagging about $1000 jackets

>>21580810
>>21580948

Oribe edition in April 5 of this year.
>>21283185

>>21580963
>April 5
time flies, thanks man
>>21580932
>grep
are you saying you have archived all the text from the tea threads? can you share pls

>>21580810
Lmao I forgot about that
>>21580916
Someone kept ranting about designer jackets and that spending daddy's money on designer jackets is the highest form of familial relations

>Shipment requires a certificate of origin from the Chamber of Commerce at the origin location. Certificate must include origin of goods (country of manufacture).
>Recommended action: Shipper must provide Certificate of Origin from Chamber of Commerce.
uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhh

>>21581019
>you have archived all the text from the tea threads
Yes. Not just the text, but the whole html page. Images, links, and replies. Everything except webm.
>can you share
I would point you to the online archives first. All of the pages I have saved are relative to my POV and contain all of my (You)s. I'm a little reluctant to share such evidence corroborating who I am.

That said I have been mulling over the idea of curating a bigass /tea/ torrent with books, videos, thread archives, blog mirrors, price graphs, even some 3D models. Maybe this Winter I'll get started on organizing it in earnest. I would include archives in a share like that.

>>21581339
If you could somehow compile all the reviews anons have written about their buys and organise them, that would be a massive contribution to tea-kind.

>>21580920
I think it's this one: https://yunomi.life/en-gb/products/oishi-tea-farm-handpicked-benifuuki-tsushima-black-tea
>I thought they were too stuck up for stems.
I don't think that's the case. They have kukicha after all, which is straight-up just stems. That said, I looked at my gaiwan later, and while there certainly were stems, many of them had leaves too, just thin and needed time to unravel.

>>21581144
just have AI create the certificate, what could possibly go wrong?

>>21582255
I don't understand why yunomi won't put a several cents paper invoice in the fucking package. I'm going to have to call customs every single time I order

>>21580438
That's a damn nice 'wan. The little metal inclusions and the color are beautiful

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2022 'Chicxulub' Huangpian Sheng from KuuraCorp. It's interesting to reserve just one final portion of a tea and wait months or years to have it again and compare to old notes. I had this around the end of last year, and while most of the notes match up with my impressions now (like a grassy quality, medium thickness, low bitterness, etc), some seem different. Maybe it's because I'm infusing at a higher temperature and longer durations today, but I get less of a honey quality right now and more of...other notes. It's hard to describe, but I sometimes perceive "meat-adjacent" notes from certain shengs sometimes. Though, the leaves are spent now, so it's hard to make out much besides grass/vegetal qualities. Not a critical analysis session, just for fun.

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Huangpian sheng dry leaf.
>>21582450
Thank you; I've cherished it for around 2.5 years now. Chawangshop has had some excellent teaware in the past, and the prices were fairly reasonable for handmade works. So, I can recommend them. I'd like to possess some nice handmade Japanese or Korean works someday too. I think that teaware you connect with visually adds a little something to the experience.

>>21582459
I agree that chawangshop has nice teaware. Are they even still operating?

>>21582456
>meat-adjacent
Yup i have gotten some of these in sheng before, i see the description horse sweat used occasionally and i have had some bulang teas with that aspect. Most dramatic was a liubao i got from chawang shop years ago, huge smoked / cured meat aspect.

>>21582700
Chicken broth is another one I often get

>>21582671
Seems so. Their page loads, and I can go through various offers, though it seems they have much fewer clayware items up for sale at the moment. I recall quite liking their Bada region offers and some heicha (liu bao?). Some decent budget oolongs.
>>21582700
I guess it's just been a while since I've had sheng like that. I say "meat-adjacent" because I've had teas that are much more on the money. Yet, I never quite know how to describe that kind of note beyond some variation of 'meat'. In this case, it came across as some kind of mildly acidic, broiled meat, but not particularly acrid or offensively pungent at all. It's nice for it to not be too dominant; I've experienced that with stuff like those funky cheapass mini tuos you get from Fullchea.

>>21582788
I've got some green tea with a very distinct faux-chicken instant noodles note

What's a daily drinker green tea from yunomi life?

>>21575560
>Vahdam CTC
Had a cup this morning and while it was enjoyable it tastes like Yorkshire Gold, so I will consider spending less next time. Wagri Bakri, maybe.

>>21584053
Wagh Bakri is decent. If you're in the US Tea India has a good flavor in my experience. If you have an actual Indian market nearby you can usually get a big sack of something for cheap.

>>21582456
Maybe there is something wrong with the water? I had a water contamination once and suddenly every tea would taste really savory. I get savory chicken notes from some funky green teas some times, but never bad that with sheng.

>>21584101
The water should be fine since it's from a filter, nor do I have limescale problems (I never use tap). I wouldn't say that tea was particularly savory, I just noticed that note was in there. Maybe less direct if I'd infuse it more lightly. I think I'd have to venture into something like steamed Japanese greens to get that much savoriness.

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>open kettle to see if it needs refilling
>dead bug in the water
haha kill me

anyone order anything since this de minimis shit? thinking about grabbing all the farmerleaf samples but don't want to get tarriffucked

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I'm the anon who posted some weeks ago about going on a business trip to China. So here is how that went regarding /tea/:
Most places serve you tea without much asking, similar to the US where you always get water served. 1st hotel restaurant had plenty tea selection, I opted for some silver needle white and got it served grandpa style (annoying, leaves floated on top) and got hot water top ups. 1st business contact served me green tea grandpa style without asking and also did hot water top ups. 2nd business contact did not serve tea but pic rel. Most restraurants either served green, white, black ("red") or barley wheat tea, mostly in a western tea pot with a strainer. I did not come across any Puer in the wild but people know what it is and tell stories of their cakes at home.
Went to 3 tea stores, they were all quite small with limited selection of puer cakes, I spotted some really expensive ones tho. Shops are more focused on lose tea and sealed pressed mini pucks for convenience, which are very popular. Shops would engage you in tasting sittings, where they serve it with a gaiwan. There are some nieche puer shops for sure but did not look into it.
Factory cakes I got:
2008 Long Yuan Hao Sun-Dried Mingquian Sheng by Xishuangbanna Gucha Mountain Tea Co. (Cake is brown like Shou but it is clearly labeled as Sheng)
2018 Menghai Big Tree Sheng by Menghai Bajaoting Tea Co.
Other stuff:
Hand full of 6g sealed white tea mini pucks
Hand full of Chen Pi (this one is really fresh with strong citrus smell in the box. The other ones I saw before were old and stale)
Grandpa Style mug, which has a half round glass sieve in the top, which I thought was really convenient.
Some ultra fancy cup in a gift box

>>21584276
You probably drink Chinese dirt on a regular basis so what's the big deal? Maybe the boiled bug water will give your tea new dimension.

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>>21584462
Heres what I got. The minis are Fuding White Peony by Hang Jia Dian Cang. Tastes like sweet honey. The grandpa style cup works really well.

I forgot to mention above: I was suprised how thin the Chinese drink their tea. I always brew it stronger at home.

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>>21584516

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>>21584522
pic of the 2008 Long Yuan Hao Sun-Dried Mingquian Sheng

>>21584484
I will drink ze dirt but I will not eat ze bugs.

>>21584462
>>21584516
Cool mug.

>>21584522
Nice jianzhan cup

>>21584462
>(Cake is brown like Shou but it is clearly labeled as Sheng)
2008 sheng will be more brown in color than young sheng

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I didn't take a great picture since I wasn't planning on posting it, but the chenpi batches I've made over a few years came to mind some hours ago. First batch was with lemon peel well over 3.5 years ago (4 in the coming January). I made a few orange peel batches in different ways years after (including one this year). Have yet to ever drink any of my finished product; I wanted to commit to aging them, but they all smell lovely. Each one smells uniquely different too, whether due to how I processed it or the age. I've found that the (unheated/non-infused) dry peel aromas certainly shift from tart to something sweeter and 'softer'.
>Pic rel, my homemade chenpi.

Have you anons ever heard a roommate drop ceramics, shattering them and think it's your teapot? I just had the shit scared out of me by someone gardening and shattering a terracotta pot.

>>21584976
I have a very early childhood memory of me shattering a fancy hand potted teapot my mum had. She sat there and cried. It is a horrible memory, which haunts me to this day

>>21583511
>mini tuos
I've been wondering - are these, in theory, inferior to a full sized cake of identical material?
It seems intuitive that the fermentation process in a larger sample would be stronger, or even more complex, due to the increased volume that the microorganism can inhabit to do their thing.

>>21585181
Fermentation happens in big piles before the tea is pressed into a shape. For ripe at least.
But in practice most mini tuos are very bad, they are made from leftover dust and scraps or just low quality material. I would avoid them in favor of cakes, bricks or normal sized tuos.

>>21585181
>are these, in theory, inferior to a full sized cake of identical material?
It's more of a practicality issue. The kind of ones I referred to are going to be made of low quality material or outright scraps. Probably not stored in the best conditions either. In comparison, you'll find way morr whole leaves/buds in typical cakes and bricks. You can have small balls (pressed whole leaves) like the ones from W2T; those are fine, but please don't buy a Fullchea mini tuo bag or go out of your way for mini tuos.

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>>21584462
That's awesome to hear. It's nice to get some evidence towards grandpa style being most common. Sounds like you were able to dedicate time to tea. If I ever get to visit China, Taiwan, or Japan, that would be my dream.
>>21584516
Looks great. If that mug is entirely glass I want one so badly. That's exactly what would get me to do granda style. The white minis and chen pi are probably just fine. Those two puerh cakes are what you need to do some research into. I have never heard of these companies. They could be dynamite. Please do a review when you've had some time with them.
>>21584522
I'm so indifferent about 99% of kettles, teapots, gaiwans, and even cups. Teaware is a different hobby, imo. But those deep dark black glaze cups are so sexy. Mad jealous.

>>21584462
>Hand full of Chen Pi
>other ones I saw before were old and stale
>>21584875
Isn't aging the entire point of chen pi?

>>21572150
does anyone else just throw a whole box of teabags into their bathtub once a month and drink that?

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>>21585977

>>21585815
Aged chen-pi is preferred. The several decade-old ones go for a great deal of money due to TCM connotations. That said, this is just an amateur's efforts.

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I'm hesitant to keep posting about my recent infusions too much (I don't intend to blogpost), but I was very surprised just now to see that I appear to not have journaled on (or lost the notes on) one of the teas in my stash; that being the Sep '23 kyoubancha/京番茶 from Sazentea. I'm not sure what happened, but I took the time to write session notes and take some pictures for the anons here. I'll post them now:
_________
3g/195F(91C)/12s

Dry leaf smells of very sweet smoky (yet smooth) barbecue coals and BBQ sauce. Toasted wood behind those notes. Wet leaf is similar (albeit more savory) with the subtle wood note being slightly clearer and 'damp', yet still in the background. Maybe the slightest pinto bean note.

Low bitterness, medium thickness, Low-medium astringency.

The liquor is smoky-sweet and smooth just like its aroma, and lingers inoffensively in the mouth. A bit savory in flavor, but not starkly so in texture. Perhaps the notable amount of stems has something to do with it? It also possess a retronasal aroma that brings that smooth smoke note (and maybe a bit of the wood?) onto the back of the tongue, which I find rather pleasing. Very easy to sip on overall.

Pushing it slightly; 205F(96C) for about 15 seconds doesn't change it much favorably for me. More smoke comes out, but it's largely the same. The sweetness characteristic on the palate dulls after a few initial infusions, but can still be detected within the wet leaf. With that in mind, endurance is so-so if not a bit weak. It can be infused multiple times, but loses its prominent characteristics in the cup somewhat early and eventually thins out. Still enjoyable, especially with its smooth leaf aromas.

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Dry leaf shot of the kyoubancha.

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Bonus filled gaiwan close-up because I thought it looked cool. Like a bunch of driftwood or kukicha.

>>21586313
Frequency alone doesn't make it blog posting if you ask me. I'm always happy to see good reviews with nice pics.
Gotta try some kyoubancha, I will drink anything retronasal, and sounds very tasty. poor longevity does make sense with that kinda tea.

>>21586345
I'm glad you see it as such. Bancha in general is a chill time. I have had their Oumi inakabancha too, and it's also pleasant, though pretty different.
>I will drink anything retronasal, and sounds very tasty.
I only had a sample of it, but I recall W2T's Firebat having more of these kind of smoky BBQ notes. Honestly outright like barbecue snacks on the both the nose and palate. I imagine you'd get them retronasally, but it's been too long to say. I also only sampled it, but I had the 2019 "golden tip lapsang souchong" from CraftedTeas with a lot of nuance to the aromas and some good florality in the retronasal aroma.

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Two weeks from now I'll be in Chengdu, China. I read everything about the tea houses and will visit them with my CN-GF's grandma. Unnecessary to say, I also want to buy tea leaves. What's my approach? Tea shops, Taobao, Flag Stores? Anything in particular?

Also, I bought tickets for the Berlin Tea Festival.

>>21586032
mmm, cold brew with notes of mud and asphalt runoff

>>21586499
I have never been to china but is there anything you can buy in taobao in china that you can't just buy shipped outside of china also? Especially considering agents exists.
Also does your gf know nothing about buying local tea?

>>21586499
Having just been in China, my advice is the following: It is essential to have a Chinese speaking local with you. No one in China speaks any english at all. To find tea stores, Google Maps is worthless, since Google services are blocked in Chine by the great firewall. You have to use Baidu Maps (Baidu = Chinese Google) but thats all in Chinese. Best is you tell a local in advance what you are looking for in tea shops and they can research shops to visit. Locals told me that - no suprise - they also buy their tea online since it is cheapre than in the shop. However I would advise you to still go to some shops for the tasting sittings, which I really enjoyed.
To get censor free mobile internet, I suggest to get an esim service such as trip.com (saily is a ripoff.) Worked like a treat and is way better than the shitty Great Firewall wifi you get there.
Store don't accept western creditcards, they all do either WeChat Pay or AliPay so sign up to that in advance.
Good luck fren and tell us how that went