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: >>21602747
Current QuicheTeas power ranking from 4 cakes:2005 Xiaguan T8653 > 2010 Dayi 7542 = 2011 Xiaguan Jinse Yinxiang > 2007 Mengu Chun JianThe chun jian is still decent though, especially for the price. Just not my preference as it's less intense and more mellow.
What's your price sweet spot for teas?In specialty shops I found the $0.15-0.20/gram range to offer the best teas for value.I'm not sure about online imports.
>>21625730I try not to go above $0.30/gram unless I really love somethingbut the sweet spot really dependswith some teas like unaged ripe pu-erh, you can get tasty stuff for as low as $0.05/gram if you look around.while for other teas like aged raw pu-erh, it's not worth cheaping out and there's barely anything drinkable below like $0.10/gram, much less actually tasty
>>21625730i buy absurd quantities of golden yunnan from my local tea and coffee store for around 0.08 USD. they rarely have teas in your price range that is worth buying imho. i expect really good shit for that price, i refuse to pay too much extra just for rare teas if it doesnt also blow my mind with the taste
>>21625749>golden yunnanThat's a fantastic tea. My local shops sell it for around $0.17/gram.I was surprised to see it for way cheaper on Awazon, hope it's just as good.
>>21625730I'll pay up to $0.30 per gram.
>>21625755i buy 100grams of pretty much every black tea that they get just to try them out tho. they had this benifuki that was quite expensive that i bought like 300grams of before they ran out. they tend to buy the really nice unblended teas in pretty small quantities, they buy a bunch of fancy darjeelings every year that are pretty much never worth what you are paying for them in my experience, so i dont buy them too often (they might also just be a bit too delicate for my tastes tho)
>>21625755some of the tea stores where I'm at have good tanyang gongfu. now that's a black tea that's absolutely worth the $0.25/gram I'm paying for it
Trying some Darjeeling right now (second flush). Everything I read said not to use boiling water since it will make it bitter. The packaging said boiling water was fine, though, so I went ahead and used boiling water and steeped it for 5 minutes and it tastes quite good with no bitterness.
>>21625730It depends entirely on the tea. I haven't bought pinnacle top-tier exclusive tea, so my perspective may be skewed. I did get a small 70g pouch of gushu sheng for $16 (~23c/g) once. While good, it was not anywhere near my favorite or most memorable teas I've had. I've had good quite good stuff around the 4-12c/g range. I think sourcing and storage matter more than outright price.That said, IRL stores are just not worth it. You might as well save the transport/time costs and just have tea shipped to you. I remember walking into a local tea shop with alu can containers of tea. Eye-watering pricing for what was unimpressive-looking material in a shop that also did casual lattes and such. Not surprised to have gone walking just a few months later, see it wasn't open and had a for-sale sign up front. Why pay for overpriced, old product you have to walk to and back to get, when you can get better stuff at cheaper prices online? If they at least offered a place to sit down and sample it, maybe you could argue for it on a vibes stance, but damn, I'm just someone who likes tea, not an Instagram soccer mom.
whats the best golden yunnan that you can buy?
>>21625829I don't think it's much of a concrete nameIt usually refers to some kind of dianhong. I think the more expensive ones are often sold as "golden monkey", but that's another mostly meaningless term
>>21625829They all have their qualities, but the ones considered the best have only golden buds and no leaves.Look for something along the lines of>Golden buds>Gold hill>Pure gold>>21625836>dianhongPretty much all Yunnan "gold" teas fall under that title
>>21625604>Still using the defaced OP instead of the new oneBut why.https://rentry.org/tea-pastebin
>>21626052I'll include it in the next one, forgot about that shit
>>21626052>DefacedWhat the shit even happened besides someone jumping the claim.
>>21625604Please switch to the new rentry when making new threads.https://rentry.org/tea-pastebin
I have once again drank delicious Oolong tea at 11pm. My sleep schedule is in ruins.
>>21627141Time to go super Saiyan and drink even more, anon. It's too late now; embrace your fate and crash out on good tea.
>Most authentic looking specialty shop around me>The boss is an older white man who presumably married into a Chinese family>Selling nothing but Chinese teas along with some flavored ones>Try out his 20 years aged ripe Pu'erh>$0.28/g, looks very muddy>Not any better than your average cheap brick>Friend described it as tasting like "a damp tree trunk"Two things learned: Looks can be deceiving and 20 years aged mediocrity is still mediocre
>>21627553Yeah I've had that situation with one local tea storeOwner seemed passionate, talked about tea, bought some samplesThey were all terrible aside from one young sheng (which was just a resell but admittedly not much markup)I wonder if they were just very old and badly stored, but still very lame
>>21627553I'm still waiting for an example, where an older tea is better than the younger equivalent. Older sheng just gets more earthy and tobacco notes. Had some 18 y/o sheng recently, one of the worst teas I had so far. Tasty cellar dust scraped off the wall.No thanks, I like em young.
>>21627553>>21627596I had a similar experience to this as well. Along with being laid off, it motivated to me to try starting my own online store. I'm confident I can spread the love of good tea to others including people who have no idea what good tea is. Tbh, if I can do it, you can do it too.
>>21627696>I'm still waiting for an example, where an older tea is better than the younger equivalentThis is true of all the classic factory blend rawsNowadays they process these a bit different, but they used to be almost undrinkable when young
>>21625707the T means it was made in Czechoslovakia
>>21627909the T means it's the iron cake version, pressed into this flatter, more compressed shape than a normal tea cake
Brothers, I am in dire need of inspiration. Please post your favorite cup/mug/yunomi/test tube/erlenmeyer/drinking vessel, whatever it may be. Bonus points if it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, but feel free to flex your finely curated teaware on us peasants.Mine is currently a bargain bin glass cup, but it doesn't fit my assthetics, hence my request.
>>21628594There's something quite nice to me about a glass cup. I have a handled one I drink western brewed stuff from.This is my favourite, I got it from ali express. 2nd happened to be in the background there, that's from viet sun. Both cheap
>>21628607There's nothing inherently wrong with glass cups, but mine is just too big for my gaiwan (~170ml cup for a ~80ml gaiwan...), and I use a small beaker with my much bigger kyusu so cup size becomes irrelevant.That's a cool cup, I love those types of uneven patterns. They have that artisanal feel without trying so hard they end up all fucked on purpose like what some modern japanese potters dare to call mingei or wabisabi.
just made a cup of cheap aldi tea w/ a little sugar, probably going to have another when I finish this one
>>21628617based
>>21628615The oversize might be a good thing, having a bit of rim helps. Though it is a bit big even for that.I don't really like the deliberately fucked up ones either, though I can see how the almost brutalist vibe they get could be appealing to some >>21628617Is it good? I would be killed for buying anything apart from yorkshire.
>>21628639>Is it good?it's not complicated or anything like a nice oolong or earl grey, but it's still enjoyable
>>21626052>>21626221Okay so here's a question that might be good to put into the bin.What's the use of various bits of teaware?When or why would one want a Kyusu over a Gaiwan or Shiboridashi/hohin?There's an entire section on clay pots but not much of anything else other than where to buy said tea ware
>>21628594Here's the one I use https://www.spode.com/blue-italian-jumbo-cup-saucer-boxed-set-1503762.htmlt. grandpa brewer
>>21628977That's dope, euro-style wares are a rare sight here. I checked them out and they have a cup/saucer set with a very fat quail on it kek https://www.spode.com/woodland-teacup-saucer-1538025.html>size: 20ozJesus Christ how big is that cup anon? No wonder you can use it for grandpa style.
>>21627909That's a very specific lie... on the internet... why would anyone do that?
>>21628594These are my favorites, all cheap. The left and center were $10 each, from local farmers markets. The right was about $2-3 from a thrift store. It takes some time and luck but those are my favorite places to look for interesting teaware.
>>21628907>When or why would one want a Kyusu over a Gaiwan or Shiboridashi/hohin?traditionally it's:>Kyusu for sencha, bancha, daily drinking jap green tea>shibo / hohin for gyokuro and other really fancy jap greens>gaiwan for chinese tea (it doesn't do so well with steamed teas like jap greens)
>>21628977i love brewing Tieguanyin grandpa style, its not very picky in terms of temp and steep time but it really benefits from lots of extra space
>>21629171>how big is that cup anon20oz big, anon. It's great.>euro-style wares are a rare sight here.Yeah over here Spode and the like are quintessential boomerchina, overpriced to the moon if you buy full price but often able to be found at bargain sales or clearances, or from even older boomers offloading their massive collections for peanuts for younger boomers like my mum to buy up. I don't think we have the quail cups (unless they're hidden in a closet she hasn't taken them out of yet lmao) but we have a full set of dinner plates with those quails and deer and rabbits and stuff.>>21629518I have some green oolongs which are pretty picky and get bitter eventually, and a few roasted ones which really do work great. I really need to get more roasted, it brews great and tastes great.
>>21629518>benefits from lots of extra spacetea lore
>>21629662>leaves are tightly rolled>when boiled they unroll and expand to take up like half the cup>"lore!!!!"it's basic geometry, not fromsoft tea, relax
>>21629678>fromsoft tea>pour boiling water on the leaves>they roll and avoid the water
>>21629577>Yeah over here Spode and the like are quintessential boomerchina, overpriced to the moon if you buy full price but often able to be found at bargain sales or clearances, or from even older boomers offloading their massive collections for peanuts for younger boomers like my mum to buy upyeah in Europe there is a lot of really cheap used fine china. there is no reason to buy from these brands new unless you want more modern styling
>>21629577Doesn't it get unwieldy at that size? That cup has a bigger capacity than my steel camping mugs and my zojirushi thermos, and those are already quite huge.Picrel is how I imagine your tea sessions go, but with a much more beautiful cup.
>>21629948Kek. It obviously looks comically large, but it's actually surprisingly wieldy. I just measured it for you, it's 5 inches in diameter at the top and a bit over 3 inches tall. When it's full to the brim it's obviously a bit weighty (that 20oz is some kind of "politely full" capacity, when I fill it it usually takes about 700ml or 24 oz), but I'm a manlet and by no means fit and I don't have a problem, so you'd have to be some kind of ultra soiboi to struggle.I don't know if I'd use a much bigger one, but as it is it's pretty much the perfect size to grandpa brew a big cup of tea and take it to the office and just sip for like an hour as it slowly cools down. I only need to brew about 2-3 cups a day this way.
Love drinking tea after brushing my teeth.I get a sweet aftertaste that lasts for hours.
>>21630014Huh, that's about the same size as a small bowl I also used to brew grandpa style (or is it bowl brewing in this case?) so I get why you like it so much. It's just hilarious to me that it's basically a beautifully decorated soup bowl with a handle stuck to it. Imagine going to a posh tea party and just whipping out this absolute chonker in front of the ladies and their smol little cups.
>>21630090I think the difference is it's quite a bit taller than most bowls relative to its width, it's still visibly cup-shaped to me. But yes it's kind of similar in capacity to a bowl of soup kek.>tea partyIt's actually perfect for bringing out to unsuspecting guests.>cup of tea anyone?
>>21625604>cup of gyokuro>reading twilightYup, life is good,
>>21630213Bring back old gyokuro prices I hate this clown world
Day 40 of not being able to buy from fulchea
>>21630250Can't have shit in the 21st century.
>>21630250>The last two packets of gyokuro I have are the last im going to get for at least a couple years>Can't really make them last as the freshness is crucial Hahaha this fucking sucks man. I can get all the shitty beer I want at the store but want some nice tea in the evening? Fuck off
>>21630275Yeah.>>21630303>>The last two packets of gyokuro I have are the last im going to get for at least a couple yearsI've got a bit of one left too.
>>21628594I needed an excuse to photograph my teaware. From left to right, a professionally made rust glaze cup, a thick walled locally made cup, and a heavy divot in a wad of clay and fired I made at a pottery event. Forget thrift stores, support local artists.None were expensive, all are my favorite. I prefer them over my fancy Chinese porcelain teaware.>>21629305That's what I like to see.>>21628907It's a good subject but I'm afraid it will feel a little gearfaggy for what is a beginner's guide. The East vs. West brewing parameters and reasoning is as deep as it should go.
>>21630427>Yixing pots aren't magical, they're tools. Good ones can absolutely transform your tea, making it rounder, smoother, and more complex. Bad ones will just mute everything and waste your money. Here's what actually matters:>Forget the romantic crap. It's about the clay:>Don't buy cheap. If you're spending under $100, just get a nice gaiwan.You have already entered gear faggotry. If we're approaching from the pov of someone who doesn't know anything about tea, at the very least having a small index of what the common ones are and their best fits would be useful. Shit, >>21629473Is pretty much all that's needed.
How do you all feel about Costco green tea?
>>21630565Aren't those just rebranded itoen teas? If so they're pretty good as far as tea bags go.
Switched to CTC Assam to cope
Chen pi midnight kind of night.
>>21631207What are those, tangerine peels? wouldn't it just make it bitter
just spilled all of my tea onto the floor. am i doing it right?
>>21631478There was a TV show about cheapstakes where a woman didn't throw out her used tea bags. She instead used them as cleaning products.So in a way you're doing something right
>>21631469They actually look like lychee skins. Wtf is unc cooking
>>21631478No it's supposed to go on the TABLE, dammit anon
I think the guide really needs a basic discussion of the different types and cultures of tea. Right now if you scroll down from the top, the very first thing people will see is a list of chinese shops. The brewing methods are a dry list of instructions with zero context of what they're for, or why would one choose to brew a tea one way or another.>Gyokuro can be brewed using normal equipment you would use for sencha, however, it's often brewed using a special flat vessel called a shiboridashi.Completely incomprehensible to someone who wants to find out about tea and is trying to read a guide in the OP of the literal tea general.Now granted yes you can just look everything up, but IMO the pastebin is a good place where one could put an actual detailed guide that serves as a good introduction without having to send people on a trip to google a bunch of new terms and names on their own.The FAQ is pretty good but it's way down, and also immediately gets into chinese stuff without much explanation. There should be a "what is puerh?" entry before the "raw and ripe?" one, and probably also summaries of different kinds of tea in general not just puerh. Like the anon pointed out above, in-depth discussion of yixing clay should go into its own separate in-depth chinese brewing section, not in the general FAQ.Basically>normies and tea noobs will read from the top, so put the general and normie-friendly explanations at the start>knowledgeable users will just click on the table of content to go to the section they want to read about>autistic details should go into their own sections, while the general FAQ and summaries should provide a good overview of the different kinds of tea, tea cultures, etc. without going into too much depthAnd right now I think the guide has too much depth upfront, and lacks breadth everywhere.It'd be a lot of work to rewrite everything of course, but I just think the guide could be improved incrementally in that general direction.
>>21631469>>21631652Nta, but chen pi is aged tangerine peels. They are not as bitter as fresh ones
>>21631689Are you talking about the old pastebin or this new one >>21626221
>>21631772Aren't they identical except the old one was locked down by a griefer?
it's a huangpian kind of day. The farmerleaf stuff is pretty good but I want to find an aged cake at some point
