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: >>21764206
>>21781907>Santa's pu-erh editionhttps://youtu.be/69oMpbiAS6Q
Still hei cha season.
>>21782161Somehow I've almost run out of factory ripe, I don't feel so good
>>21782195Got 500g of 2023 Xiao Fa tuos coming in soonTotal blind buy, but surely half a kilo for 14$ is a good deal for ripe that is at least drinkable Should try more Haiwan too, I liked 9978. A bit bored of the Dayi house taste for ripe
>>21782245Far better deal than I paid for 1kg of 520 Jin from W2T for $63. Lmao, I wish I saw the anons posting about QuicheTea offerings before I bought. I didn't think I could get good deals anywhere in my country.
>>21782245Xiao Fa is exactly what you need to break the Dayi ripe monotony. Sprinkle in some W2T small batch stuff and you'll be set. Nothing wrong with Haiwan either. 9908 and 9978 are great.
>>21782245Not a bad deal at all I suspect, hopefully no funk.Just turned out the pumi and found an intact fuhai 7576 so seems I've been permitted to live a little longer>>21782255>520 JinHow did it turn out? 6c/g isn't a bad price generally speaking, just these are freakishly low factory productions
>>21782245This reminded me that I have one tuo of 2025 xiao fa that I bought in August and have yet to try. I should get to that soon.
>>21782317 (Me)2023* xiao fa, my bad
to those with way too much puerh and the need for humidity control, what does your storage situation look like? i had used a generic plastic tub as my pumidor for a while, but i realized it still stinks a bit like plastic so i pulled my cakes out just to be safe.now looking into acrylic which hopefully shouldn't off gas that much
>>21782256Yeah I'll probably get more lumber slut at some point. I still have half a cake of peak vulture too, but I find it just alright.Is 9908 similar to 9978? I hear some of their ripes are more similar to the Dayi house taste.
>>21782262>fuhai 7576I remember that from my Awazon order. Best ripe from there was the aged 6ftm tuo though
>>21782334>but i realized it still stinks a bit like plasticNot all of them are like this.
>UFO GaiwanI love this thing like you wouldn't believe.
>>21782344>aged 6ftm tuoMaybe we discussed that one a while ago. I'll have a chunk of it still in the tuo box actually.>>21782334I use an old mini fridge, no issues with smell
>>21782363>old mini fridgeCoolers are another popular option.As an aside, home-brewers have been known to make beer in coolers, and they've been quite good at identifying the best coolers which don't leach flavors or smells. Sometimes you can find recommendations in unexpected places.
Makes you think
>>21782392What's the conclusion here? I hear the trad way to brew bi luo chun is throw it into the cup, but idk if it actually matters or is just tradition
>>21782395I'm thinking you want to agitate the leaves in most cases.
I just bought and tried pear tree leaves tea, processed as black tea. It's interesting. Overpriced but interesting, it's like a weakish black tea with foreground notes of pear and cooked fruits. I was told it could be gongfued so I'll try that next time. The color of the leaves is incredible: an almost black purple.Made me wonder. I tried to brew fresh figue tree leaves this summer. Tasted of figs and bitter green vegetables. Meh, I didn't do it again. Now I wonder what would happen if I rolled them, let them oxidize and dryed them. Wikipedia says controlled moisture and temperature for black tea oxidation. Does anybody know more about those conditions?
>>21782433That's pretty interesting. Now I wonder about apple leaves...I tried oxidising fireweed leaves like they do for ivan chai a couple years ago, maybe you can look into that process for information. You can hand roll and allow them to oxidise in a covered but not sealed tupperware. The most important part was not letting them dry out too much, I let them get too dry during withering and it halted oxidation early.
>>21782471Yeah, I remember you, I didn't hope for such a quick answer, thanks! I have until spring/summer to figure it out but I guess I'll go for hot and humid, watching for mold.
If you are a Darjeeling fan, TeaNourish's Darjeeling Roasted Black is tremendously good. I can't say enough good things about it: https://www.amazon.com/TeaNOURISH-Darjeeling-Roasted-Unblended-Freshly/dp/B08WYLRVHH/?th=1
>>21782508My takeaway was to wither conservatively, if they seem like they're not pliable enough for rolling you can always go back to wither some more, but getting moisture back into the leaves isn't easy. Good luck with it anon
>>21782433>>21782471You can do this with blackberry leaf too and it's supposed to be good. I always forget to try it when the leaves are still young though.
Happy hanukkah!
Pumidor mold updateOriginal post: >>21778993I took a closer look today and decided I would try to save the affected cakes. Each cake had no more than a handful of discrete mold spots and none of them visibly penetrated deep into the cake. With a bit of time most of spots would probably pass as "frost" if they did not get worse. I generously chipped off around all the affected sections and removed the boveda packs from those mylars. Probably lost about 120g in all. Not sure if I should remove the wrappers. My hunch (cope) is that the tea is probably about as safe as it ever was. Shou and wet stored tea are likely already full of mold and not the safest in the first place.The bigger question is how to manage the rest of my stash. I have moved my pumis to a warmer and more temperature stable location. This is something I had been planing to do but was previously unable to. I had moved and was unable to get into my pumis for a long time. I also have to decide if I want to remove all the 65% boveda packs from the rest of my stash until I figure out what is going on. I could replace them with 60% bovedas which should be safer but I don't really want to buy a couple dozen new bovedas right now. They are not cheap. Still I am strongly considering it long-term. I am also not sure how much I should worry about spore contamination to my other teas. Like do I need to sanitize my tea picking tray every after getting into the affected cakes?My other big fear is that hidden damage was done to my other teas. I looked them all over and all of them seemed fine but have not tasted all them yet. It would be a disaster to have ruined 100s of dollars tea that I collected over years. I have tried two teas from the pumi so far, both young sheng. The first tastes fine the second feels like it may have a light moldy taste but am not sure. They were both from the same time mylar.Picture is of the worst mold spot. Sorry it is out of focus, I did not realize it when I took the pictures.
>>21782578Coincidentally some of that popped up while I was researching about pear leaf, this supplier seems to focus on Georgian teahttps://tearebel.net/products/rolled-black-berry-leaves
>>21782262>How did it turn out?Not outstanding, but not terrible. Fresh oak/leaf as the primary note, some syrup, maybe malt if I stretch it. Better on the nose than the palate. Not that thick, astringent or bitter. Modest endurance. It definitely needed time to rest post-arrival and after breaking up a cake (my original tasting was a bit fishy, but fine now). Basically, I would not go out of my way for it vs a trusted factory cake/brick whether newer or not. I regret the purchase a bit, and would happily trade some cakes if I could, but it's been a good learning experience for me.>>21782510What kind of notes? Did your batch list any age stamp/etc? 100g sounds alright for $9, though I'd worry about freshness from an Amazon order.
>>21782593did your moldy cakes have wet storage before you got them, anon? I wonder if it was already contaminated and just developed further in your stashmy ripes are at around 68% RH and I never had any issues, but my temperatures are also very stable
>>21782580fuck you and fuck off
Amazon lost my package and refunded me for my travel pot I wanted so I could drink my greens again. I hate this time of yearGuess I can grandpa brew it in the meantime while I order it again. If I get two I guess I can just take it to work
>>21782666>did your moldy cakes have wet storage before you got them, anon?Possibly some of the cakes had wetter storage well in the past, but for sure not most of the cakes. Some were dry stored and none had really wet storage either. For comparison my HK wet cellar puerh (in separate bags) has not grown any more mold spots other than what it came with.>I wonder if it was already contaminated and just developed further in your stashThree separate mylars bags were hit 2 now and 1 a year ago. I undoubtedly did not 100% avoid any potential cross contamination but in practical terms the teas were all isolated from one another. Spores likely already come with the teas and are in the air regardless. Still I do worry about the potential of spreading this particular strain or strains around because I know it can grow in my storage. Unfortunately just before I discovered that my aged sheng cake had mold I put another (non moldy) aged sheng cake in the same bag and possibly contaminated it. The whole spore thing may or may not matter but it still worries me. Ideally the tea should be were it wont grow mold at all because it all likely has spores from the start. It is quite possible each case of mold in my stash started independently.>my ripes are at around 68% RH and I never had any issuesThat is the part that is odd to me as well. I though I was pretty well in the safe zone at 65% with large coolers to dampen temperature swings.
>>21782593White mold is based. You're fine. Green brown or black is what you want to worry about.
>>21782896White mold is based and brown mold is cringe, what about blue mold?
>>21782962I think anything other than snow white is real bad. For the stuff anon posted I'd just brush off or dab with a wet cloth and call it a day.
My 2025 Oolong Sampler set from Old Ways Tea is here. How do I brew yancha? No signs of brewing instructions on the website.
>>21782990In a gaiwan, 95-100c 15 seconds for first to let it open and then depends on your taste if you want strong or light.
>>21782896>>21782988I know that is a popular belief in very humid regions like Hong Kong were mold is almost inevitable without climate control, but is there anything other than tradition to back up white mold being ok on puerh?
>>21783018Your wallet makes a very compelling argument, doesn't it?
>>21783018>>21783064I wouldn't drink it personally.it's not worth the mycotoxin roulette
>>21781907Santa Pu'erh
>Chunk of tea from the tea mines
>Birds of a Feather White Tea Boxhttps://riversandlakestea.net/birds-of-a-feather-white-tea-box-pre-order/Thoughts?
