This is the thread for discussing teas, tisanes, and other herbal infusions.Info on types of teas, where to buy, and how to brew: https://rentry.org/tea-pastebinPrevious thread: >>21672448
>be me>still drinking tea at work
>>21685134Someone tell me the differences between all the oolong types
1st for herbal tea
>>21685151>wuyi oolong aka yanchatwisted, unrolled leaf oolong that is highly oxidized and highly roasted. dark, roasty, coffee flavors, the good ones are also mineralic>dancongtwisted, unrolled leaf oolong that's not as highly roasted. it's known for being aromatic, often very fruity and floral>tie guan yin and other fuding oolongsrolled into balls, usually lightly oxidized and very lightly roasted nowadays, but the traditional darker roastier types are still around>taiwanese gaoshansame as tie guan yin but more taiwanese. likes to flex how high it is grown, higher mountains are more pricythose are the most popular ones, but there are others. dancong is usually expensive and yancha can be equally expensive, the other two generally a bit less so
>>21685165The one i got is similar to green tea but more floral are they all similar to green tea?
>>21685195no, man. no. why did you ignore everything dude just said. no.
>>21685149nice cup, sir. have a gaiwan of similar manufacture.
>>21685195No, those are just the low oxidation unroasted onesThere is a lot of variety in oolong. Some taste like straight up dark chocolate, coffee and burnt cookies
>>21685346Case in point, traditional high roast tie guan yin looks totally different to the green and floral one most people know
Got a nice masala chai to sip on with some honey and oat milk. Buying different chai's from my local tea shop has been great. The Indian women who own it use their family receipe for a few. Easily the best chai's I have had.
>>21685491>chai>chai>chaiThis has to be bait.
>>21685491Good morning sir
>spend literally a thousand dollars on teai'm sick, anons. so sick..
>>21685491I don't understand that reaction, chai is great. I throw it together from spices in my cupboard and it's still great>>21686322Are you the mountains of cheap tea guy or did you blow it all on 2 cakes
>>21686323neither, i have an assortment of increasingly expensive teas
>>21686335Hope you enjoy em at least
>>21686342My tongue's demands grow evermore dear. The coffer doth more than wane. Soon my son will be forced to leave the manse to work the land and bring me more gold.
>>21686344It may bankrupt you, but have a look at essence of tea
>>21686351fie! feed a junkie poppies!
>>21685666hey you dirty frenchman, when's the next video coming?
>>21686323Adding spices to your tea is like adding sugar or milk to your tea. It means the tea material you drink is garbage and you need to hide its putrid taste by masking it with other flavors.
>>21686644puerh is literally putrid.
Halloween promo on Teavivre
>>21686644That's a very cringe thing to say anon
>>21686323Don't worry Anon. I also like chai. Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and star anise are fun. Also whatever else you throw in there.
>>21686644ripe is better with milk
I bought a clay teapot that is of dubious origin and quality for 20 bucks. How do I prep the little guy so I don't die of acute poisoning? Should I pour in boiling water and let it soak for a while?
>>21687083It's either safe or it isn't. There's nothing you can do about it. In all likelihood, it's fine.
>>21686644The best tea ever made was a $600 LBZ with boiling coke and milk. None of you lesbians will ever top this kino.
>>21687210Thanks, I think that gave me a brain aneurism.
>>21687210>no gatorade notes or microwave bombs
>>21687210this is what all puer deserves. better yet, in the dogshit pile with the rest of the garbage.
>but da BEST tea leaves be chosan for de puar!!!imagine believing they'd turn the best leaves of the bunch into mold and/or gasoline
>>21685491Whatever family recipe honey milk goop yer gulpin gets mogged by the Kashmir Tchai I highly overpaid for. Tho Shiva will bless you for enjoying chai in the Winter.>>21686644Had a rough steep today, sir? Chai is even our national beverage! What is your national beverage? High fructose corn sirup?
William will be selling an aged ripe. Interesting.
Yak butter salt tea………… home.
>>21687443you in that /lit/ thread, anon? someone just mentioned going to the himalayas over there
>>21687083stick it in a saucepan with a tea towel on the bottom and soak it in boiling water. rise more boiling water through it a few times. looks nice for $20 but the handle knobs would annoy me
>>21687248why do you hat puerh sir?
>>21687832you know why.
What does white tea generally taste like? I'm mostly an oolong drinker but I want to branch out.
>>21687889depends on how old it is. first year, it usually tastes vegetal, like green bean broth, some of it.floral, sometimes sweet but predominantly floral and vegetal.then after a few years of age it shifts into a fragrant woody wildflower honey.there's an AMAZING wuyi origin shui xian white tea right now which has all those vegetal scents and flavors but also a thick rich body of cream and true ceylon cinnamon. if you want to skip straight to the honey, i had a sample of their bai mu dan 2023 mini cake pressing and frankly, it was one of the most delightful cups of tea i've ever had. basically pure honey and dates. the real surprise was the longevity. 10+ steeps from an average size gaiwan. if you haven't tried white tea, that's the one to try and spoil yourself for every other white tea you ever try again. https://www.wuyiorigin.com/products/shui-xian-white-tea-%E6%B0%B4%E4%BB%99%E7%99%BD2025https://www.wuyiorigin.com/products/2023-mini-cake?variant=50471196262715t. insane white tea drinkeroh, and silver needle is just ok, not really for flavor hunters, more for if you really like the cha qi from whites since it's basically as pure alkaloid content as it gets out of the fresh new spring bud. if you like darkfruit and gentle leather flavors, cream mouthfeel, shou mei is your tea. gongmei i haven't tried and i'm not entirely convinced it actually exists.
>>21687449Yah, just migrated here
>>21687889From all types of tea I had, white has the biggest span of flavors. It goes from a fresh and biting taste of a young unoxidized Fujian Pai Mu Tan to earthy and complex notes of some aged moonlight white to heardcore honey sweet people pleasers like a Fuding White Peony. Silver Needle is another story on it's own. Generally I'd say white is very accessible, never had one I did not like.>>21687992noted your recs, dear white tea wizard
Shipping fees to come down VERY SOON. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
>>21688251coming down? are they returning to de minimis exceptions? it doesn't effect me much atm, but I do like to stay abreast of the changes>>21688028nice!http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=796was gonna suggest this for your nepalese yak butter experimentation, and i swear i recall dragonteahouse (admittedly a cheaper company, though with free shipping, and i've never had a problem with them with tempered expectations)has some stuff.. yeahhttps://dragonteahouse.biz/search.php?search_query=yaksimilar tea bricks and novelty yak flavored stuff. might help you on your nostalgia quest!>>21688250o7 got some bmd and silver needle comin from ORT soon, will report
>>21688251How so, and when?>>21687889It varies a lot, just like oolongs do. I've had one that reminded me of buttery crackers, and others than were more fruity/jammy or floral, sugary and vegetal, or even chocolatey (had this with a COFCO 'Butterfly' cake). It's arguably the most chill and easy tea to work with, and yet also typically leaning inexpensive. On reflection, I regret not ordering more white tea since it still remains one of my favorite categories to dive into. Keeps and ages well just like pu'er or heicha to boot.
>>21688267Thanks. I ended up buying the $20 brick from the second website, the first one was a bit out of my price range. Nevertheless I am incredibly excited
>>21688312bro i hope it's exactly what you were missing! idk where you're gonna get actual yak butter though. all i can see are yak butter treats for dogs and so on. I really don't blame you, even for the sample size from awazon, the shipping can be exorbitant. dragon tea house is a safe bet, it should come fairly quickly too, all considered. looks like for fat content, buffalo milk products is the closest approximation stateside? but idk how it'll compare in terms of taste. definitely rooting for ya!
>>21688312uhm the first link is a 2.500g tong for $38.00. Individual brick (250g "sample") is $3.95.The brick is the same brand on both websites btw.Let us know how your yak butter tea went!
>you will never kick it with a buncha chinese ladies talkin shit and making pillows of delightful tea ambrosia fit for the emperorwhy even live?
Anyone ever try the awazon melon?
>>21688350the madman's gambit? nah bruv, nobody has and lived to tell the tale. there were rumors of one fella getting a sample but when he posted in the thread again, all of it was just gibberish, as if leaves were being scraped against a keyboard
>>21688384someone has to do it then
>>21688671I'm due for an awazon order anyway so I'll sample that fuckin melon
how do I drink this 'tea from Long Jing'?it looks like green rosemary pricks.
>>21688892Grab some amount of leaf, put it in a mug, add hot water, optionally remove leaves from mug. The real trick and joy of the hobby is to play around with brewing parameters until you find what you prefer.Where did you get the long jing?
>>21688903it's from an eBay seller. private auction, so this has just been sitting in someones cupboard I guess.the text is all very chinese. I can read the numbers '15' and '100', so I guess I'll start with 15 seconds and 100°C and see how it goes.This is the first chinese green that I'll drink and I was wondering if Longjing is a type of tea that requires lower temperatures in general, but you're right. I should feel it out.
>>21688920>I should feel it out.Remind yourself of this often!That said, green tea and other delicate teas can benefit significantly from lower temperatures. Low quality tea dust in your grocery store teabags definitely needs lower temps because it's so easy to scorch and extract too much bitterness with so much exposed surface area. Yet whole leaf teas, such as your long jing, hold up much better to higher temps on average. >This is the first chinese green that I'll drinkCheers. Feel free to write up and post your thoughts on the experience and the tea itself.
>>21688931the broth is very clear and bright greenish yellow.tastes vegetal and brothy with a high citrus note, maybe grapefruit. a bit soapy/parfumey. some mushroom/umami.quite tart, not much sweetness at all, near no bitterness at 100°C.it's pretty nice. I think I can use some more leaves for the next time, the brew was maybe a bit thin.
>>21688892Any chance to see the leaves? I'm curious what the material looks like from an ebay auction
>>21688892if it's decent long jing it should brew fine in a glass with hot waterwater slightly below boiling would be best
>>21688964I'll be able to get a picture next week or so.
>>21688874buy the 7kg one big value
>>21687305I'm in. Hope it's the thick stuff. Sill have some Bangwai left, was gonna order more as I found it much better than factory stuff for the same price. Tried Da Long Shan and Naka as well. The former was great, the latter I found not thick enough, but liked the flavour.Anyone got a rec for a decent, not ridiculously expensive, Lapsang Souchong?
>>21688322So, here’s the thing about those yak dog treats. They’re made from yak cheese, which is INCREDIBLY hard. However, the yak cheese comes in a more ricotta-like form, which is genuinely some of the best cheese I have ever tried. And I live in the hustle and bustle of the big city, and in Queens about, I don't know, a 20 minute bus ride away, there’s a little Nepal-style area with a fuckton of Nepalese and Sherpa-style restaurants. I’ve doordashed from there and had some spectacular food. Especially food was this picked curry thing called a “Bitter Gourd”, fucking spectacular. I really should head over there and ask for tips on making not just this tea, but also Sherpa stew. Shockingly enough, there are buffalo farms in upstate New York (New Tartary if you ask me), so I genuinely might be able to pull this off. Thanks for linking me some good tea! My Mom is a huge tea nerd who went with me to Nepal, so I can bond over this with her
>>21689147Sounds awesome. Indians like bitter gourd as well for curries but I never managed to get hold of any.Would be cool to hear about it if you get any tea tips.
