>>21805972
>100 pound for mao teh
pass. i rather indian sri lanka.

>>21805972
I fat-fingered the X while switching tabs and deleted my whole 2003 Tulin raw tuo review before posting it. While unfortunate, the abridged version is that I very much enjoyed the tea. It's taste stays relatively the same, but it's "octave" varies from infusion to infusion, going from middlingly dark, to bright, to darker than before. The flavour profile starts out as wet and woody, and develops into a kind of woody-spicy, while the aftertaste is mellow, malty, and a little sweet. It also has a noticable returning aftertaste / huigan, and some menthol-y cooling, and there's some light astringency and bitterness that develops in later infusions. (I went flash, flash, then 10s + 5 for four more steeps, after that it got too much.)

After the third cup (my gaiwan holds 170ml), I started feeling a pleasant buzz. This evolved into a very nice mellow, sleepy feeling after two cups more. Regarding this, I wrote "I'm starting to understand what Lu Tong meant in his writings". It put me in a good mood.

I'm glad this was the first sheng I ever had, and while I'm a rookie, I hope I can contribute something by saying it's a plenty nice tea. I'll savour it.

>>21806183
Did you mean the 2005 on quiche or did I get my tulins mixed up?
Glad you enjoyed it anyway, it's a good price for a nice sheng at that age

>>21806195
Ha, you're right, it's 2005. It'd been stuck in customs for so long I'd forgotten, and the wrapper doesn't say anything. Good catch.

>>21806183
Sounds like a good pick for first aged sheng. Not fancy but should be well aged and competently made old school factory tuo

>>21806183
First sheng and its a 20yo, the absolute madman.
I'd suggest you to try a young sheng (1-3yo, FL etc) + mid (6-8yo) to be able to judge what 20 years are doing.
Older is not at all always better.

Any kettle recs? I'm heating my water with a pot and thermometer, but it's messy.

>>21806894
Yeah a kettle with a temp control

I tried real tea (a brick of puerh I bought from a local Asian market) for the first time after lurking this general for a while.
Good stuff! I need to get an actual tea pot/gaiwan/whatever though.

tea is shit, literally just dirty water
even coffee is superior

>>21806923
finally an enlightened caffeine pill snorter enters the thread

>>21806892
>First sheng and it's a 20yo, the absolute madman.
It was a happy little coincidence that Quiche added it to the store as I was about to check out on an order of nothing but shou. Being so cheap it didn't hurt to get, knocking aged sheng off the list of things I should try. I was considering doing an Awazon order for cheap sheng at some earlier point, but the angel on my shoulder convinced me otherwise. Another anon said good things about the awa melons, maybe they'd be fun?

>>21806911
>a brick of puerh I bought from a local Asian market
I wonder what kind of tea you'd find in those places, can you read anything off of it? The Asian diaspora where I live all adapted to coffee, unfortunately...

Pu-erh works surprisingly well brewed western style, as well, like in a French press. You'll be able to get the most squeeze out of it with all the proper gongfu stuff, but you can still have a good time with it until then.

>>21806937
This guy chews the maocha right off the trees.

sipping on some w2t dumb cat ripe puerh. pretty comfy.

I'm planning on buying
>some heicha: maybe fu brick samples, and some bamboo pillar tea
>roasted oolong
>some blacks
Where and what should I buy? I've mostly ordered from KTM so far and I am prone to choice paralysis so if nobody has anything to advise I'll just pick up some random stuff from KTM again. But I know there's tons of other sites that may be worth using, I just don't know what to buy.

I'll also be picking up some liubao but I already know it'll probably be either the CNNP orange or black box, unless I get other particularly interesting recs

>>21806911
>lurking this general for a while
The opposite happened to me. I lurked this gen for a long time while I was first getting into tea and /tea/nons convinced me if I drink puer I’ll troon out, become a lesbian, get a gf(bf) and beat her when I’m puer drunk. I’ll stick to greens, blacks, and whites, thank you very much.

any recommendations for white tea? I only just remembered that it was even a thing and I want to get some good leaves. Any brewing tips too? Isn't it supposed to be a less intense temperature?

>>21806953
If you want some cheap sheng at awazon, I'll suggest skip the melon and grab the LSPE cake instead, or 100g of CKG, both are pretty good choices. There's the xiaguan XG81 brick too. Or MH51 dayi spring.
Although the melon is labelled yiwu it tasted ok, but the other ""yiwu"" labelled or autumn labelled cheap tea I had from them was pretty flat to my tastes.
Some of the things I liked have sold out, gotta do some more digging over there

>>21807098
If you want taiwanese roasted oolong, Teahome.com is a great value source for those. The site is in Chinese, so you need automatic translation and it is a bit confusing to navigate. But it's worth it if you want the best value

KTM has some factory wuyi oolong now, from the likes of Sea Dyke and Wuyistar, could be worth a look. Their own yancha appears to be alright too.

What's the difference between https://kingteamall.com/en-gb/collections/dark-tea/products/2024-cnnp-hua-juan-cha-16-liang-floral-roll-tea-580g-basket-cotton-bag-pillar-tea-dark-tea-hunan-province?variant=45983035031782
and
https://kingteamall.com/en-gb/collections/dark-tea/products/2024-cnnp-hua-juan-cha-bai-liang-floral-roll-tea-3625g-basket-cotton-bag-pillar-tea-dark-tea-hunan-province?variant=45983086969062

The name and description makes it look like it's the exact same tea but you 3x cheaper.
I'm tempted to buy the 3.6kg pillar lmao

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2025 autumn Jingmai gushu
Been a while since I got to open up an FL bag and get blasted with apricots.
This tea is has good depth, mellow but the mouthfeel isn't lacking, nice sweet aftertaste. I think it's a tea to enjoy fresh.
As I was writing I checked the listing, but seems it's sold out. Was about $50 in BF sale I think, bit of a no brainer.

Did anyone try the new areas e.g. Yan Leng Yun? I have a sample of Gua Feng Zhai, and FL's shu and the 06 ripe he put up.

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>>21807789
The 3.6kg one is for when you want to get bum blasted by shipping

>>21807796
That's fair

>>21807795
>2025 autumn Jingmai gushu
I was considering it, but went with $48 tflz instead
>Did anyone try the new areas
I've got the manzhuan, gua feng zhai, and the autumn lme gushu.

I am supremely disorganised. I'm going to be travelling in a bit over a week, and I'm all out of liubao to pack with me. Is there anywhere I can buy any half-decent liubao that will ship to bongland in under 8 business days?
Doesn't matter if I have to pay a premium for shipping (as long as it's not exorbitant). Everywhere I usually buy ships direct from china and doesn't offer any kind of fast shipping.

>>21807804
Was between that and the TFLZ for me as well. Got a sample though, I'm lagging behind on trying that cake.
Would be good to hear your thoughts on those teas.

>>21807816
I haven't tried it but mei leaf have some that isn't insanely expensive, at least the shipping is fast. I haven't had bad tea from him but sometimes his picks can be kinda not what you expect.

I need to stop telling people I like tea so they stop giving me mid tea...
Free mid tea is good enough to drink but I would never buy it. I have so much chopped up greens now. It's gonna take me months to get to something decent.

>>21807795
I also had the 2025 Jingmai Autumn Gushu today.
It's alright. I remember liking the 2023 sample more, maybe my cake still needs to rest or it will improve, we'll see. I only got it a week ago.
It is soft and gets thick, but not getting amazing flavor or aftertaste so far.
I remember the 2023 sample having more going on

>>21807198
I would recommend the 15$ 2016 cake from KingTeaMall
I also enjoy the shou mei from eherbata.pl

There are various white teas out there. The ones that are aged or more oxidized (browned) can use boiling water. The ones that have greener leaves might benefit from a bit lower temp. IDK about silver needles, as I haven't explored those much. Seems like the good ones are really expensive and the cheaper ones are mid.

>>21807835
>mei leaf
Thanks for the rec, nice it looks like they have actual stock in the UK so that's perfect.
>isn't insanely expensive
Perhaps not insane but most of them are on the pricier side, hmm. I'll try their cheapo young 2021 one then, it's just for one trip anyway.
Thanks anon!

>https://kingteamall.com/en-gb/products/2019-cnnp-liu-bao-gong-ti-guan-lv-guan-yi-ji-gongti-can-green-can-1st-grade-aged-from-2011-liu-pao-tea-250g-tin-liubao-dark-tea-wuzhou-guangxi?variant=45751079370982
or
>https://kingteamall.com/en-gb/products/2020-cnnp-liu-bao-hei-he-te-ji-dark-box-super-grade-aged-from-2014-liu-pao-200g-box-dark-tea-wuzhou-guangxi?variant=45753353928934
I will buy one of the two, tell me what to think

>>21807943
Big Black

>>21807959
Green one is older though (2011 vs 2014)

>>21807963
>>21807098
If you want old liu bao, you could try the 80s one on KTM. I hear it's good

>>21807963
To be honest they probably both have strong tea flavour and slightly typical taste with easy flow into the throat, so I wouldn't worry much about it

>>21807987
This one? https://kingteamall.com/en-gb/products/80-s-liu-bao-nen-jian-liubao-young-bud-s-grade-loose-leaf-dark-tea-wuzhou-guangxi
Shit's pricey, but I'm planning on grabbing a sample yeah. A bit out of my price range to daily drink though

>>21808028
I meant the cheap one
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/80s-wuzhou-liu-baoliubao-a-grade-850g-loose-leaf-dark-tea-guangxi-province?variant=43572485226726

I hear it's good for the price

>>21808032
Oh right. Yeah that one is much more affordable, I'll grab some and try it out.

>>21806956
Is that one of the Shulloween cakes? I haven't opened any of them yet.

>>21808097
yeah, it's one of the better shulloween cakes.
though I have to say, the pencil shavings cake has grown on me. I wouldn't say it's good, but it's definitely an aroma I haven't had from a ripe before.

Anyone got anything nice for new years?
For me, it's beer and some yeeon crypt shit, as nature intended.

>>21808205
2023 Xiao Fa. The cheapest ripe I've ever bought I think, 14$ for 500g. It's pretty decent.

Later, I will meet with some friends and have a beer, bought some kind of strong stout. Don't feel like drinking a lot this time.

>>21808205
Not tonight, but I think I'll try a piece of the 2003 CH Nannuo ancient tree sample I got from Quiche tomorrow, starting the new year on a high note rather than ending this one with it. I know I'll be too tired to appreciate it when the clock ticks over. I'll just sip some '22 7562 until then.

It's my favourite of the budget ripes I got: it's light enough to not become too much during longer sessions, while also being nuanced enough to stay interesting.

Anyone have any new years resolutions? I'm still living in September, so I haven't thought much about it.

Just kanpai'd the new year with some young Haiwan sheng. Had to brew it a little weak to get it done in time for midnight. Cheers!

>>21808607
Cheers!

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>>21805972
brand new, what's the 'entry' point for tea and such? I have a kettle I can control temperature with, so that's not a bad start haha

>>21809957
that's all you need
well, that and some sort of brewing device. a gaiwan, small teapot or a large brewing basket

>>21809989
oh stellar, easy enough to come by.
Any good teas to start with? not used to the multiple steep process. but excited to learn and discover

>>21809957
>gear
gaiwan 100ml-150ml is the go to volume
micro scales
strainer
>tea
>green tea
one thats under a year old(or wait until ~april oft eh 2026 season). dragonwell aka longjing is a classic
>oolong
tieguanyin and da hong pao, ones a light oxidation the other dark
>black tea
Keemun & dian hong or anything loose honestly, its hard to go wrong with blakc tea
>white
Silver Needle
>pu-erh
get any ripe/shou, they all taste largely the same, look for something thick and smooth
Raw, honestly not worth jumping straight into right from the get go, all the young stuff is pretty much green tea till it ages and the aged will be expensive. mostly a meme so seller can up the price on last years unsold stock, but feel free to grab a sample of something

try a bit of everything but dont buy kilos, 100g per tea is a good size and dont feel like you have to get everything right at the start

you can also brew western style in your gaiwan, great for indian teas just used 2-3g for a 100ml gaiwan and the full 3-5mins.

>>21810016
also there's sellers and info in the pastebin, yunnansourcing has a lot of good deals, things like buy one cake get another free or free X tea when you spend over Y amount
>https://rentry.org/tea-pastebin

>>21809957
Entry point? My first order was around 60 bucks or so, I bought a gaiwan and some different kinds of teas (white, green, oolong, black) to experiment with, to see what I might like. I was stumbling around in the dark for a bit not knowing what anything was or what any of the names meant, but discovering what you like is part of the fun. (For the gaiwan, I'd suggest you get one over 100 ml, maybe around 150? The first one I got was 75, and I haven't used it a day since I got a bigger one.)

Really, a kettle, gaiwan, and Chinese tea is all you need for gongfu. There are some good online stores and general info in the Rentry.

>>21810016
>it's hard to go wrong with blakc tea
Well, except maybe with Lapsang. I would also maybe stay away from pu-erh until you're comfortable brewing the rest of the teas, and better versed in Chinese tea. It's easy to end up overpaying for some relatively poor tea.

>>21810025
>>21810016
Thanks, appreciate the help and insight!

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ok tea scientists, why does this little tea bag balloon up and start floating after i pour boiling water onto it?

>>21810435
Because it loves you dearly and wants you to have an easy time scooping it out.

...All that for you to throw it in the bin.

>>21810435
If the tea is of poor quality, the heat of the boiling water initiates a chemical decompasition in the leaves. The offgassing is slightly toxic hence the need to enclose it in a bag, so please don't smell it too enthusiastically.

>>21810546
My mates used to huff the stuff back in college. It got so bad they had to turn off the hot water in the restrooms; kids used to fill the sinks with bags, turn the taps on, and spend all the breaks in this sort of hotbox.

make me fall for the teapill
even though I work in naturist pharma with plants and shit, I rarely drink tea, simply because I am drugged with sugar to the brim, I am ashamed to admit, but that's the truth, I gained belly fat like a fucking slampig in spite of being 1.87cm and 70 (!) kg, with a belly worthy of slampigs
I want to quit sugar, but which tea is good for me? I also used to run and bike to work but I got cozy and quit that too, I am determined to start doing it again once I get back to work on the 8th, what teas do you recommend me?
Also, is boiled tea still good for more than a day? Can I boil say, 1l/2l and let it cool and drink it on the span of 1-2 days? I used to drink a TON of mint tea during my uni years because it was good at calming my mind and easing sleep, I suppose it should have the same effect now, help pls

imagine being so stupid you buy commie hay that stinks of horse urine for $100 and act elite about it

>>21810811
>which tea is good for me
It's just a matter of taste anon. Start by buying some decent quality loose leaf tea. If you can't decide at all grab some loose leaf black (chinese or indian) and loose leaf green (chinese), brew the green with slightly below boiling water (e.g. 85*C, if your kettle doesn't have controls for that look up how to identify it manually based on the bubbles).

>is boiled tea still good for more than a day?
Nothing whatsoever will happen to it except that it will be cold

I got two samples with my quicheteas order that I received today. Got a lishan oolong sample and Nannuo raw from 2003. Still waiting for my farmer leaf order after 36 days got unlucky during christmas and new year I guess.

>>21805972
Has anyone tried some of the lesser discussed kinds of dark teas like Fu zhuan, qianlang cha, goishicha etc? I'm interested in expanding my knowledge in obscure teas but they're pretty hard to come across. Any recs?

>>21810811
Based on descriptions, try to find teas that have a naturally sweet taste; ive had white tea that tasted like nut and chocolate for example (the one from awazon), or black tea that kinda taste like honey

>>21811080
I've only had fu and liu bao
Liu bao is the most similar to shu puerh usually of the other fermented teas

>>21810826
>horse urine
that's the best kind buddy have you tried it

>>21811080
I'm also interested, I never get around to grabbing samples. KTM has a bunch of heicha but I don't think it has super obscure ones.
>>21811115
True, though in my experience liubao is a lot more earthy while shou puerh is a lot mellower and more sweet/aromatic. (And worse)
I haven't had fu yet, how does it compare? Do you get lung cancer from drinking fungus tea?

>>21811123
Imagine those dead crustaceans, with the digestive tracks leaking out as their body warms from the steeping. Squirting poo on to the tea leaves.

Bone apple teeth.

>>21811271
>I haven't had fu yet, how does it compare
It's very different. Lighter, not such a dark flavor. Closer to aged white tea or something

>>21811358
Interesting. "Lighter, not such a dark flavour" is how I'd describe shou relative to liubao. How's fu relative to shou puerh?
>closer to aged white tea
Fascinating, unfortunately I haven't had any decent white tea yet so I don't have a good point of reference for that. I've had shou, liubao, exactly one sheng which is hard to use as a reference, and some blacks and roasted oolongs which are both probably unrelated. Plus some shitty green and green oolong.

>>21811363
>How's fu relative to shou puerh?
It's a lot different. Shou and liu bao are much more similar to each other than either one is to fu cha. I'd say it's pretty solidly it's own thing, you should try some.

>>21811376
Nice, interesting. I definitely will.

Just discovered rooibos is actually not tea and contains no theine

>>21811761
what is it then, an infusion?

>>21811804
a hot extraction, you could say

>>21811804
a tisane

>>21811804
a decoction

>>21812082
That requires active boiling

>>21811123
Bruh. Would try.

>>21805972
Are there any gongfu style teas you could enjoy with hotpot?

>>21812312
Nothin too fancy and nothin too fragrant, so basically ripe or any oolong that's not too green/ with a decent amount of roast
Nice combo with hearty meals

what's /ck/ stance on a steamy cup of Tuareg

>>21812420
White tea it is then

>>21812581
Not a bad idea, haven't tried it, for whatever reason I drink it after the meal rather than during

>>21812590
I'm the same. A meal often overpowers the flavor of the tea completely, especially if you eat spicy stuff. So I sip the tea afterwards.

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Lishan Guifei oolong from quicheteas really good on the smell and taste very honey like and not as oriental beauty like as I thought it would be.

>>21812819
Nice, was gonna grab some of that, and we seem to agree on these oolongs
Good price

>>21812841
Also a good price for 150g yes. I haven't tried all of what I ordered yet. Still have 3 other oolongs to try out, the two da hong pao and tie lui han Will do one tomorrow probably since I haven't received my order from farmer leaf yet so mostly oolongs for a little bit cause I want to wait for the puerh cakes to settle before touching them.

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Hey guys, so I tried some Mojun Yi Hao from YS last night! Not sure if I had already tried it/posted about it before but it's a very nice fu brick. It was smooth and gentle and really nothing super complex or fancy. I could see a lot of golden flowers on the surface and throughout the cross-section and indeed the taste was very 'honey sweet' the whole time. My 12g chunk lasted like 2L worth of steeps which I thought was really good endurance. Overall it gave a really cozy sipping vibe. Compared to the 1368 brick, I'd say the yi hao was more mellow in general. The 1368 can be more punchy and it has this sort of menthol/cooling effect and can show a bit of bitterness especially if you push the steeps; it reminds me almost of a red tea. The yi hao on the other hand reminded me more of an aged white like an anon mentioned above. It's like if you take maybe that 2nd or 3rd steep where the 1368 is just opening up and you get that initial golden flower bready taste, but with the 1368 that sort of fades away and gives way to more of the actual leaf's taste (I'd say maybe even a bit medicinal sometimes), whereas the yi hao stays in that early sweeter stage the whole time.

Now I'm drinking the Mojun Guo Zhi Fu Li and it's like the opposite of the yi hao lol. It has more of that leafy taste right off the bat rather than that sweet golden flower taste (even when I was just smelling the dry leaf, my first thought was '...leafy'). There's a bit of bitterness already in the background as well but that might have been my fault steeping it too long, or maybe the chunk I happened to grab just happened to have less golden flowers. Either way I might give this one another flash steep or two and then switch back to the yi hao instead

New video from William about steeping temperature, time and such.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2R6kwnDLbo

>>21812876
Yi Hao sounds nice. Gotta get hold of one of those mojun bricks, my 1953 brick is almost out

>>21811080
I am no expert but I have had examples of most of the types of Chinese heicha. You left out Liu An, Lao Chapo, "raw" liu bao, Qing Zhuan, Tian Jian, kang/ya'an, Qu Jiang Bao Pian, Deang Sour Tea, Chong Shi Cha, and all the other Japanese heicha. Most are at least worth trying if you like heicha.

When I moved, my plastic pitcher I normally use to coldbrew tea disappeared. I am thinking about buying a nicer one with a filter.
Here are the options I am considering.
https://www.amazon.com/Takeya-Coffee-Maker-Black-Pitcher/dp/B07C36HVWK -- Takeya Tritan Cold Brew Coffee Maker
https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mizudashi-Maker-1200ml-Smoky/dp/B0BW3KS55C -- Hario "Mizudashi" Cold Brew Tea Maker
Should I bother with getting a nicer pitcher or just buy another rubbermaid one?
Somewhat unrelated, but I am looking into doing a yunnansourcing.us order. I know for sure I want the 2023 Xiaguan Xiao Fa and the 2018 Dayi V93. I am considering trying some Fu, as I not that long ago dabbled in a bit of Liu Bao.
Here were the ones I was eyeing.
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/fu-brick-tea/products/2009-gao-jia-shan-wild-fu-zhuan-hunan-brick-tea
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/fu-brick-tea/products/2018-mojun-fu-cha-guo-zhi-fu-li-fu-brick-tea
https://yunnansourcing.us/collections/fu-brick-tea/products/2017-mojun-fu-cha-mojun-yi-hao-fu-brick-tea
Are any of these worth a damn? Are there any other must-buys from yunnansourcing (the US website)? I have already tried the King of Duckshit Oolong. I am not looking to go over 50$.

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how to avoid a mess?

>>21814018
Speaking of raw liubao, W2T has some (and is the only place I've seen them, actually) - would you recommend a younger year or an older one? Their 2020 is sold out I think but they still have from 2021 to 2025 to pick from.
Or should I just try both ends

>>21814018
I know there's tons of heichas out there, I was mentioning the ones I remember seeing on online stores. I was browsing gjtea.org the other day and was surprised to see all the heichas they add. I thought their thing was more green tea.

Sipping on a 2006 Menghai Spring. Got a lot of steeps out of it, really good punchy puerh sheng, even on the first steep. Very grassy and astringent, if a bit simple, but that price can't be beat (10$ per 100g on awazon)

>>21814278
I have the Hario one and it works fine. My only complaint is the nylon(?) filter can take on some minor stains.

>I am considering trying some Fu
Paging the anon who drank 50 fu bricks in a row.

>>21814423
I still need to try W2Ts raw liubao myself, so I can't fully advise you on it yet. I plan to pick up a basket of it in the next year or so. If it were me and I could only try one I would probably get the newer batch because the older ones are not really old enough to be aged yet but old enough to have lost some "new" character. To complicate matters further they have both spring and fall pickings, the spring pickings are likely slightly stronger but also more expensive. If you are fine with grabbing samples I would probably get multiple examples to compare.

I have a basket of raw liubao that is likely very different from the W2T stuff. My probably odd example of raw liu bao is made of a mixed grade picking with fine stems (like a lot of liu bao maocha) that was fire roasted and smoked. Tastes like a lapsang souchong with a heicha base instead of black tea, kind of like an extra smokey tian jian. I like a good smoked lapsang so it is right up my alley. However, I am pretty sure this is an atypical batch and not representative of raw liu bao. I'm don't think "raw liubao" exists as as strict a standard as many other teas so there may be more variance.

>>21814427
>I know there's tons of heichas out there, I was mentioning the ones I remember seeing on online stores
I was mostly just having fun listing all the ones I know off the top of my head. I enjoy collecting odd heicha.

>>21814732
That's cool, which one is your favorite? Any particularly obscure one you'd recommend?

>>21814813
In full disclosure I have only had a couple examples of some of the types of Chinese heicha so I won't claim to be an expert on any particular one. For better and worse I am a "the cake is the sample" sort of person which limits how many different teas I buy each year. My long term goal is to keep at least a couple good examples of every type of Chinese heicha "in stock" at all times.

>which one is your favorite?
I like a lot of them but out of what I own I would probably go with a particular basket of aged liu an I own that tastes like wood shavings an licorice root. Unfortunately, it is going to be an endeavor for me to find more like it. Liu an is not that common in first place, fully aged liu an even less so, and finding a basket at a reasonable price with the same storage character is harder still. That is the problem with aged teas, availability is low and storage history has a huge impact on the tea. For example I have another aged liu an basket where the wet storage is strong enough that it drowns out the subtleties of the liu an. Not a bad tea per say but also not what I was looking for when I got it. Young liu an which is also tasty is more like a semi-oxidized black tea and bears little resemblance to fully aged liu an. Kind of like young vs old sheng.

>>21814995
nta but, incidentally, I was eyeing up some of the liu an at chawangshop the other day. How old is old for liu an do you think? I assumed it follows the same kinda trajectory as sheng.

>>21814813
>Any particularly obscure one you'd recommend?
For me part of the fun is trying everything and good examples of all of them are different enough to be worth a shot. A possible exception is some of the extra coarse mulchy picked heichas can sometimes be rather similar. Not bad, just similar.

Out of the particularly obscure ones I have a batch of qing zhuan I remember particularly liking.
https://www.chawangshop.com/2012-dong-zhuang-qing-zhuan-tea-200g.html
The downside is I am going to have to hit up Taobao to get more.
The much lower grade qing zhuan brick I also have is nowhere near as good but it was also much cheaper.

De'ang suan cha and Qu Jiang Bao Pian are also really interesting but I am again likely going to have to have to hit up Taobao/Tmall to buy them in quantity at reasonable prices.

I will crack out these teas out and try to post some notes over the next few days.

>>21815012
>I was eyeing up some of the liu an at chawangshop the other day.
As a tip if you get some young liu an you may have to fiddle with the brew times and ratios a bit to get it just right. The black tea like nature combined with typically having a high ratio of broken leaves means it can be easy to overbrew it and make it too bitter.

>How old is old for liu an do you think?
Like aged sheng I would say it takes 20-30 years to get to the coveted fully aged state. 25+ year old stuff is probably what "old man" Hong Kong tea drinkers consider to be traditional. There is probably a distinct semi-aged state like sheng as well but I have not had any in that category yet. My baskets of liuan are either less than 10 year old dry stored or 20+ year old moderate to wet stored.

>I assumed it follows the same kinda trajectory as sheng.
That is my rule of thumb as well. Not sure how well it fits other heicha but it is the scale I tend to mentally use.

>chawangshop
They are one of the few english shops with deang sour tea, it is where I got mine.
https://www.chawangshop.com/deang-sour-tea-tasting-set-20g.html
Probably overpriced but fun to try.

>>21814278
I never bought from YS, but I would sample something from their house brand while I'm at it. Maybe the Ba Wang ripe. TeaDB liked that one. Lao man E ripe could be fun too.

>>21814427
>Sipping on a 2006 Menghai Spring
I also enjoyed it. Many would say the storage is too dry for a classic factory blend like that, but it's hard to argue with that price for a 2006 Dayi

>>21815067
>They are one of the few english shops with deang sour tea, it is where I got mine.
I watched a documentary about tea where they showed how they make that stuff traditionally

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Late night Roasted Da hong pao from quiche. Warm and thicc, I'm enjoying it more than the non roasted from the same year so far. Had it earlier today tasted more "generic" still good but not as notable in my opinion. The charcoal roasted have a longer lasting effect and taste in mouth instead of the nose for the normal one so might be preference. Both good but prefer the roasted one for me. Please enjoy the "special effect" added to the cup by opening the window for a second before taking the picture so you can feel how warm and good smelling it is.

>>21811123
You're teling me a shrimp brewed this tea?

>>21815326
The heat of the tea cooks the shrimp and crab

>>21814278
>>21814612
>the anon who drank 50 fu bricks
Sorry I haven't had a chance to do my final write up. But here are my reccs and raw tasting notes from KTM, these ones I bought larger samples of after going through small samples.
I have them sorted out into my favorites and ones I feel less enthusiastic about after drinking through almost 100g of, but they're physically sorted out at home and I'm not there and can't remember. They're all above average though.
>2016 XiangYi "Jing Dian" 8¢/g
Juicy sweetness balanced with yeasty, warm spice
>2012 JingWei "Jing Dian 1368" 29¢/g
Mushroomy aged note, slight dark cherry,
>2011 XiangYi "Tian He" 17¢/g
Menthol, tannic sour
>2019 JingWei "Shou Chui" 9¢/g
Sweet juicy fruit, slightly tart apple, remarkably youngshengish, more sour when pushed
>2017 JingWei "Qi Zi Fu Cha" 4¢/g
Tart fruity grapes, tannic, a bit flat, slight smoke
>2010 XiangYi "Jun Xin" 9¢/g
Rich flavor, kinda middle-road
>2014 Jingwei "Gong Jin Fu Cha" 19¢/g
Buttery yeasty almost sour fruit
>2015 Jingwei "Jing Dian Fu Cha" 30¢/g
Light but juicy body, doughy sweetness, buttery, maintains balance when pushed, very nice
>2018 Jingwei "Qin Ling Zhi Dian" 7¢/g
typical, a little juicy with yeasty umami

I bought the YS fu sampler too, it's not bad. I found the 2017 Gao Ma Er Xi "Liang Bai Dan" and 2017 Yun Tai Mountain to be not worth drinking but the other ones are pretty good.

>>21814995
Interesting. I've read Liu an being compared to traditional Chinese medicines often. Also I'm with you on samples, I have a hard time formulating an opinion on a tea in only a few sessions. I wouldn't take under 25g that's for sure

>>21815145
For the prices Awazon have, I'd gladly take anything. You can get a 15 years old cake for the same price other sites offer 2025 Dayis. One of my favorite puerh sheng costs only 2$/100g there (BZ61)

>>21815584
Try QuicheTeas too if you want good prices for factory cakes. Their storage is more humid. The 2010 7542 I got from them definitely tastes more aged than the 2006 Spring of Menghai

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FarmerLeaf Jingmai Autumn Gushu 2025
Thick liquour, savory mineralic flavor that kind of reminds me of Autumn Lao Man E if you took out all the bitterness and smoky-leathery hints. Don't get any florals or fruit. Strong relaxing body feel.
I feel like this one needs more time. The 2023 version I sampled had more going on with a nice huigan. The mouthfeel and body feel are promising though

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>A whole week has passed and my white2tea order still not shipped

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>>21816387
wash that pitcher for fucks sake

>>21816403
Adds to flavour

I mix green and black tea 50/50. I put a spoonful of this in my percolator, and then sprinkle very light with coffee, about half a tea spoon per 1 liter of finished product.

This produces the best drink I have ever had. Been doing it for 6+ months now. According to my reading it should also be great for your health.

Am I really the only one? I assume ITT are all tea snobs so I won't get honest answers.

>>21816393
I have 40 days in transit for my farmer leaf order right now still waiting.

>>21816422
I have tried some variations on coftea, whenever I did it was always not unacceptable, but substantially worse than enjoying them unmixed.
Your method is new to me, though.

>>21816393
>>21816429
I don't think I've even received any tracking info from Farmerleaf so far.
William pls.

>>21816721
You get a mail with tracking numer after it's shipped. You get "order confirmed" then "your order has been sent" with the tracking numer took less than a day for me each time between the two.

>>21815040
>https://www.chawangshop.com/2012-dong-zhuang-qing-zhuan-tea-200g.html

2012 Dong Zhuang Qing Zhuan Tea
The first thing to note is that it is pressed into a brick "chocolate bar" style with a very high degree of compression. It is easy to break off blocks but very hard to split them if you need say one and a half blocks or want to break it up so it brews faster. I think this tea is normally used for boiling but can be gongfued if you pre-wet the tea and give it like 30 minutes to open up.

The material includes stems and leaf fragments but is made of finer, more consistent material than the really cheap qing zhuan blocks. I really don't know how they make this kind of tea but it may evolve some sort of steaming or partial oxidation.

The tea color is dark orange to red and the aroma is herbaceous, floral, and sweet. The taste is hard for me to describe it is herbaceous and woodsy with sweet note and maybe a hint of vanillin. It still has the dry leaf mulch notes common in heicha but it is much more dynamic than some of the really cheap mulchy heicha productions. The bitterness and astringency is low but still has some tannic taste. The flavors and aroma kind of linger in your throat. It tastes like it's own thing and is distinctly different than all my other heicha.

The tea in its obscurity is kind of an enigma but I quite enjoy it and intend to buy more someday. I would say if you are interested in qing zhuan it is probably worth tracking down some of the higher grade stuff. It is one of those teas were a lot of it is made as really low grade dirt cheap tea and exported for use in yak butter tea. While you can gongu brew those sorts of butter tea grade tea bricks and sometimes they can be quite good, they are often not as complex as nicer grades. I like dirt cheap mulchy heicha and it is worthwhile to drink but can get sort of samey sometimes.

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Recommend a good place to get fresh camomile? My last case scenario is amazon and my flowers will not bloom any time soon.

>>21815067
Thanks for the info. I think I'll grab one soonish, 10 years aint a bad place to start.

>>21816990
Urge to taobao gamble weird hei cha increasing

>>21816422
Sounds retarded and gnarly but I'm willing to give it a try if you give the details on what tea and coffee you use

>>21817420
green - standard sencha
black - english breakfast
coffee - doesn't matter, I have used many brands

>>21817190
>Urge to taobao gamble weird hei cha increasing
At this point the obscure heicha angle interests me more than than the cheap puer side of things. Some of that stuff is just not available from western facing vendors. It does not even have to be much of a gamble as some of the heicha factories have official shops on taobao or tmall.

>>21817627
No rinse, huh?

>>21817627
Kek

>>21817627
tasting notes?

>>21817731
I'd guess "autumn leaves, maybe some old book, a bit woody, maybe hay, leaves a bit of dryness in the mouth, long lasting huigan. overall mellow flavor, not the most complex but good for the price" ($30 rando tong from awazon)

i drink 120ounces of tea a day. my go to right now is a 100 pack newman's own

https://www.meijer.com/shopping/product/newman-s-own-organic-green-tea---100ct/8464335016.html?&cmpid=PMAX:LIA:21325215096:::Google&gad_campaignid=21325215780

and some peoking orange black tea i got from clearance retail for $1.25 for 250 bags, got 12 boxes.

are there any bulk alternatives for when these run out?

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>>21817978
>newman's
>$6.29 for 200g
>portion of that weight is probably the teabags, string, and paper tags
>tea is the leftover dust swept from the floor

vs

>bulk loose-leaf from China like this Awazon listing http://www.pu-erhtea.com/TeaDetails.aspx?TeaID=1061
>$23.90 for 3 kg
>all of the weight is leaves

Tariffs/customs/shipping/etc. might make this less of a bargain depending on where you live, but it'll still probably be cheaper pound-for-pound while getting you much better quality tea.

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>>21817978
If you don't want to deal with importing from China or want to stick to teabags, you could try brands like Alwazah. Better quality tea that's cheaper ounce-for-ounce than the western stuff.

https://www.amazon.com/Alwazah-Pure-Ceylon-14-1-Ounce/dp/B00886E4K0

If you've got a Middle Eastern or Asian supermarket near you, you could probably get it even cheaper than on Amazon.

sipping on some 2022 naka from CSH today, i don't like young sheng much but this is pretty nice and drinkable desu

>>21818421
went through a brick of this some time ago, really good young sheng

>>21818076
>>21818061
Im all down for a big expensive import once a year or something, but average every day tea doesnt need to be anything special to me. Sometimes I dump it, dont finish it or whatever.

got some puerh pucks at uwajimaya.. now brewing.....

>>21818833
How was it?

>>21819133
funky in a good way

Can I get a (blind) shop review? This guy has had a brick and mortar since I was a literal child. Family still in China, allegedly owns/involved with a plantation, drank a few cups with him(15y+ ago, needed a place to chill during a field trip) but long before I had any knowledge. His shit is v e r y expensive to the point where I don't understand how he stays in business. Extremely expensive location for a low volume brick and mortar.
https://www.shangtea.com/

>>21819373
I like paying premiums for everything since I have more money than I'll ever be able to spend. Super high-end can be a viable business model

Tonight, I had some Mariage Freres French Breakfast tea and Dayi 7562. The 7562 was especially good. Dry leaves smelt fruity. Wet leaves smelt like vanilla, raisins, prunes, and almost like a stroopwafel. Had very strong going power. I think I got like 9-10 steepings out of it. It brewed dark and thick like a void. Very creamy and thick texture. Some steeps were more date-ish, maybe dark sugar. Some had more vanilla taste. The second to last steep was my favorite. Very oily and viscous texture and pronounced taste of vanilla.
The Mariage Freres tea had some what of a medium body. Dry leaves smelt like vanilla and chocolate. Wet leaves smelt similarly. I did 2.5g to 6oz of water for 5 minutes at 90C. Again, I feel like it needs more leaf -- but I wanted to start out with the vendor's recommendations as a benchmark. I also realized I brewed it at a little low temperature (vendor's recommendations were 95C. Somehow, I misremembered the correct temperature to brew it at.) I feel like the texture of the tea could've turned out better -- however, I brewed it towards the end of the 7562 session where the water had been re-boiled a couple of times. So I imagine the water de-oxygenated a bit (Normally, I will pour a bit of water in before a re-boil, but I was out of my water I use for tea. I only had enough for a kettle full.) It is hard to describe the flavor. If I had to describe it, the taste would be "red" -- but not like something fruity. I think of a generic malty black tea. There most definitely was a vanilla taste, but it was rather light.
A while ago, I brewed the Wedding Imperial from Mariage Freres, and it came out rather nice. Got simple notes of dark chocolate and caramel. It was like drinking a dessert. Yet, the sweetness was not sickly.
Not sure what tea I want to drink in my next session. I feel like drinking something light like 941 or a white tea to even out the heavy flavors. I know I definitely want to re-visit 8582.

Been going through more of the shou in my W2T Shulloween order, should finish up with trying all of them by the end of the week. To speak bluntly, most of them have been some variety of bland, stale, or flavorless on the palate. Not typically notable endurance. A few have had nice leaf aromas (Regular Enlistment's wet leaves for example practically smell like buttery pancakes), but I'm finding a strong need to push the leaves very heavily to squeeze out any real perceptible flavor (whether on the palate or retronasal, aftertaste, etc). Now, they're serviceable enough in that none of them are outright unpleasant, but they're nothing exciting for me. It feels like a 180 from the otherwise respectable shengs I've tried from them, though I've only had stuff like their annual Snoozefest releases (skipped this year) and a mini or two like Firebat (which I rather liked).

I'm sipping on a 2025 "Romance for Sale" mini as we speak. I keep writing journal notes every time, but most are reading the same at this point. Almost makes me wonder if I'm sick and don't know it, or if my water/kettle are messed up, but I check them, and nothing seems amiss. Have any of you anons experienced this? Well, a few of you did warn me. I'll post later this week or early next about anything that stands out.
>>21819920
Sounds pleasant overall. My vote is to go with a white tea. In my opinion, I think a young/fresh buddy white could be a refreshing counter to the darker, sweeter notes you mention. Maybe flash infusions.

>>21819988
>a strong need to push the leaves very heavily to squeeze out any real perceptible flavor
How's your water?

>>21819989
Water seems fine. Using reverse osmosis bottled water at the moment. Tried both RO and distilled. Kettle is clear of lime. Other teas come out fine. I might try another water source or a Britta/etc instead, but I've tried this when I don't have access to a home filter, and it's been largely the same.

>>21819997
>RO and distilled
>might try another water source
Play around with it. I wouldn't be brewing with distilled in any case. You need s o m e minerals. Haven't tried teacurious' water yet but I do really enjoy empirical's.
https://www.teacurious.com/comparing-bottled-waters-for-green-tea

>>21820015
I'll look into it. I don't think I'm using the same brand of RO bottled water I used to years ago, so it could certainly be a factor. I kind of want to try just using a Britta or similar tool at home and experiment with that first (home filtration too costly right now). The water out of my fridge at my current home is 'filtered' but too hard to use without ruining the flavor and liming my kettle up.

>>21819920
>the water had been re-boiled a couple of times. So I imagine the water de-oxygenated a bit
tea lore

>>21819920
>the water had been re-boiled a couple of times. So I imagine the water de-oxygenated a bit
all gassed as forced out as soon as water hits boiling

>>21820015
>I wouldn't be brewing with distilled in any case. You need s o m e minerals.
You remineralize the distilled water by cutting it with tap water again. You can look up the mineral content of your tap water online. I'd also much rather sip pure distilled water than hard water for tea.

>>21819920
7562 is good, one of the best value ripes out there probably. dunno why it's cheaper than other Dayi numbered recipes

I rarely use a lot of leaves when making tea because if I use more than ~1g per 40ml of water I get a tea with a strong, clear and possibly pleasant smell but the liquor doesn't taste like anything much.
I prepared a high quality jin xuan dong ding with some 9g of tea in a 220ml teapot yesterday, and I did get a lot of that pleasant, sort of milky, sort of steamed bread comfy aroma, but it wasn't all too enjoyable to drink because whenever I actually drank it I got the impression the tea was very weak and light despite the smell.
If I use ~1g per 40-50ml instead I get something that feels a lot more balanced, even if the smell isn't nearly as strong.
What do you think?

>>21820288
what is your brewing method and parameters?

post the death rotten evil pomelo tea again please

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>>21820310
seems like it's not available anymore, unfortunately

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>>21820306
For this dong ding, I heated up a 220ml or so yixing teapot with boiling, scarcely mineral bottled water.
Then I poured the water back in the kettle, put the tea inside and gave it a 30 second wash with the same boiling water.
I poured 95~100°C water on the leaves for a 20~25 second infusion, and then, with the leaves unfurled, did two quick infusions at 90~95°C, which come out at ~10 seconds with the time it takes the water to come out of the pot.
Finally I did a few more infusions at the same temperature and lengthening the time, taking around 20, 30 and 40 seconds.
Regardless of these technicalities, do you have the same impressions when making tea?

>>21820455
>mineral bottled water
Don't use mineral water, too many minerals in the water leads to poor extraction of the tea.

>>21820455
>30 second wash with the same boiling water
Too long, the rinse should be no longer than 5 seconds or you could lose flavor.
9g for the 220ml pot is a normal amount, I'd expect you get about 5 steeps out of that. (~1.1l total tea). I you feel like the tea is too weak do longer steeps and shorten the rinse.


>>21820488
Nonsense claim without discussing the actual mineral contents. Pretty much every bottled water is labeled "mineral". As long as hes sub 38mg calcium/l it's fine. High mineral content water doesn't make the tea weaker imho, it just tastes bad.

>>21820488
The water I'm using has a residue of 22mg/l @180°C, a hardness of .9°f and a pH of 6.9, so as I said, it's scarcely mineral, and I'm not sure where I could get even less mineral water without distillation.
Regardless of these technicalities, do you personally have the same impressions about the effect of leaf to water ratio when making tea?

>>21820516
water is perfect

>>21820515
>>21820516
I apparently missed the "scarecly" in your post. But I do find that water too low in mineral content also makes shitty tea.
>do you personally have the same impressions about the effect of leaf to water ratio when making tea?
I always use somewhere between 1g/10mL-1g/15mL.
Some yixing pots will absorb a lot of flavor and aroma. I have one that isn't suitable for anything except the dankest HK stored puer because it mutes the tea so heavily. Try a gaiwan if you haven't already.

>>21820243
On the RARE case that 1/2 * tap water is "optimal" for what you're drinking, sure go ahead. Otherwise you're just pissing into the wind. I prefer remineralizing with a bit more intent. Also depending on where you live the content of your tap water can fluctuate massively within a few hours.
https://youtu.be/X4-mOwEpQJE

>>21820718
>On the RARE case that 1/2 * tap water is "optimal"
Sure thats a rare case. I my case it is 12% tap water with 88% distilled water to get to my desired calcium level.
>depending on where you live the content of your tap water can fluctuate massively
I follow the readings everytime they upload a new certificate and mineral changes are in the bullpark of 1% in my case.

>>21820781
Your tea is affected by quite a few more things than calcium. But if you're happy you're happy.

So I've tasted a flavored black tea from palais des thé. Didn't have to buy it, silly me had it as a gift with my Christmas haul.

It's La Noisette (the hazelnut). Tastes of hazelnut and a hint of cocoa. Not bad per se but the black tea in it (51%, from China) has no taste at all compared to the rest, so I'd prefer a tisane version with no tea at all. It's not tea, it's a caffeinated infusion. Not a bad one, sure, but why the tea?

I guess I'll stick to regular black tea like Yunnan black or keemun. Flavorful without adulteration.

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Quick survey:
https://strawpoll.com/61gD9M2bWZw

Drinking my dayi 7572 that had grown mold today. I chipped off and tossed the moldy spots when I found it of course, not drinking those. The tea has grown no new mold since then and tastes fine. Not a huge shou fan but but this is a very good cake and it would have been a shame to toss it. I think I caught things before they got bad. Not going to put a boveda pack back in with it agin however. Moral of the story is that you should periodically check your puerh stash. Also probably a good idea to remove the bovedas if you are leaving tea sealed for years without getting into it. Also in my limited experience shou seems to be the most prone to growing mold.

>>21820515
>5 second rinse
Thanks for the input, though dong ding is a fairly tightly packed oolong, the leaves won't even begin to open up in such a short time.
I'll try a shorter rinse and taste it next time, but even with a 30 second rinse the liquor comes out very pale and with little smell.
>if the tea's weak steep it longer
The tea is weak in a sense, but if I steep it for longer it becomes astringent and slightly bitter without becoming fuller bodied, so that's not the solution I'm looking for.
Do you ever use proportionally less tea?
>>21820581
Thanks for the input.
I don't think my teapot is the issue as it's high fired, so not very porous, and the more aromatic compounds that come out more in the smell are the lighter and smaller molecules that are more likely to get muted, so to speak, by a porous teapot.
I don't have a gaiwan but I'll certainly try making tea in a mug and see what happens.

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>>21820789
But calcium is the most important and the main contributor to water hardness. My tap calcium is so high, that I get the infous calcium-tea-oxygen reaction, which soils my teaware and tastes ass, pic rel.
Distilling and cutting works perfect for me.
You can also go all out and do a sophisticated remineralization, but that means you either have to buy an expensive premix concentrate or you dose in the salts yourself. The latter would require literal lab equipment + a large container so no thanks.

>>21821150
>if I steep it for longer it becomes astringent and slightly bitter without becoming fuller bodied, so that's not the solution I'm looking for.
Hm I think thats how the tea tastes like then. If longer steeping is no option you have to use more leaves or less water per steep, but I honestly don't think this is going to solve your problem.

>>21820969
eyeballing only works if you only drink one type of tea. 5g of loose Bai Mu Dan is going to look a LOT bigger than rolled oolong or a compressed cake like fu or shou ect

>>21821311
>eyeballing only works if you only drink one type of tea
Pure projection. I can eyeball any tea any compression. I bet a lot of anons can.

>>21821311
It just takes practice. After a while you will know how much of a fu brick you should use vs how much of a bai mu dan

>>21821246
>The latter would require literal lab equipment + a large container
Just a scale and some basic knowhow. Sounds like you've got it figured out though. Buy pounds of dragonballs to waste.

>>21820969
I used to weigh it every time on my milligram scale, but I don't anymore unless I'm doing a first tasting. I do monitor my water temp still.

>>21820969
Grandpa brewing in a 600ml mug anon here, I always just eyeball it. Sometimes my first time brewing a tea is ass but it's easy to adjust to add a ton more or a ton fewer leaves, and the grandpa brew is very tolerant anyway. Over time I've gotten a sense of how much tea is a good amount, and how big a piece of cake is a good amount, and most teas I drink don't vary too much.
Only downside is that I don't actually know how much I drink in terms of grams/day, which makes it slightly more difficult to judge how much an X gram pack or sample of tea will actually last me. But eh I just eyeball that too, it lasts as long as it lasts.

>>21820920
Yeah that's my experienced with flavoured teas as well. I think they mainly exist for normies whose mental concept of tea is limited to "black, green, earl grey" and so adding fancy flavours is an easy way to make premium-sounding fancy tea blends to sell at a markup. And then normies gift each other these packs of $40 for 20g of "tea" and go ooh aah thank you for the fancy gift! and you make bank upcharging 200x for some low grade assam and random pieces of dried fruit or nuts.

Maybe I'm being too cynical but I've had a few over the years, some as gifts, some out of unnecessary curiosity, many from fancy/respected brands like Mariage Freres, and my experience has always been the same. You got the right of it - if I wanted that taste I'd like a tisane of it, probably for 3x cheaper too without the "fancy tea" markup.

>>21810958
>>21810016
>>21806040
>indian
SARRRRRS!

>>21821515
Indian tea is largely the product of colonialism though. Quite literally the white man's drink.

>>21821380
>Just a scale and some basic knowhow.
Even if you do batches of 20l, you'd have to measure 0.1g with a precision of ~0.01g and that only works reliable with a lab scale with cabinet. To dissolve the salts properly to form a concentrate, a (heated?) stirring plate could also be helpful.

>Buy pounds of dragonballs to waste.
For Shulloween I got the cakes. Sippin the cat one grandpa style when theres snow outside is peak comfy.

>>21820969
I weigh tea for my gongfu sessions, not to get consistent brew, but to keep track of how much tea i have left. I don't weigh my breakfast tea.

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Finally got the Darjeeling 'Risheehat' green tea in the cup. Got this bc it is so cursed. This is supposed to be a steamed green tea, similar to Sencha processing.
8g Gongfu, 80°C
Dry laves are cut to about 1cm lengh and don't smell like anything. Wet leafs greet you with a fruity umami scent, which reminds me of Sencha. The fruity smell is strong on this one. The tea comes out very light in color, but I'm suprised how aggressive this tastes despite 80°C. It is a bit bitter, high astringency and high in caffeine. At the end of the day this is an average Indian daily green tea, nothing special yet hard to compain for the price. The Yunnan green tea I had from the same vendor some weeks ago was a lot more interesting.
Will try with even lower temp next time.

>>21821515

>>21822253
The best of these experiments I've had was one Nepali plantation made quite a nice Chinese style black tea. It was very chocolaty and competed well as a dianhong.

>>21822335
>nepal
>sars
??

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Xiaguan 2005 thick paper T8653 from Quiche
Full-on wood and barbeque flavor. Charred wood, almost chocolaty. A bit of cooling menthol.
Thick and smooth with an active texture. That's the most stand-out feature of this tea. It's not thin or rough like factory teas can be, in fact it's the opposite.

>>21822370
Was on the fence over that one but you sold me on it

Drinking some 2021 mengoku roshi xigui.
Tastes like mint and cherries.
Sometimes there are some other notes as well, but can't put my finger on it.
Kinda nice, definitely something other than the usual young sheng taste.

>>21822479
It's good. I also have the cheaper Jinse Yinxiang, which is a bit similar but without the standout mouthfeel and with some more sour fruit. Good value on that, though I prefer the t8653

>>21822481
Interesting, never had a young raw with cherry notes. Maybe it's the higher oxidation some claim Mengku tends to do.

>>21822500
I've had a raw from them that had notes of gas station blue raspberry slushie. Maybe I should look at Mengku more.

>>21822500
I've already thrown away the leaves, but I don't remember them looking particularly oxidized.
I think this and their mother tree line are the only two teas where I've tasted cherries instead of the usual dried fruit(peaches being the most common)
>>21822746
They make some decent tea for sure.
You can sometimes even find a good, but it's usually 500g cake and I already have too much tea and not enough time to drink.
Much easier if you have a tea buddies to split the cake with.
Last year they also made few new 100g cakes, so I might eventually get those.

>>21822746
the only one I have is the cheap 2007 from Quiche
kind of bready, vanilla, chicken soup notes
not very complex or interesting but the profile is weirdly specific and I wouldn't call it generic. it's okay

>>21822198
>you'd have to measure 0.1g with a precision of ~0.01g and that only works reliable with a lab scale with cabinet
You're drinking tea. $15 on amazon will get you what you need. Easy recipes on teasecrets or empirical tea.

has anyone tried brewing tea in warm liquids that aren't water?

>>21822926
royal milk tea is tea brewed/simmered in milk/water

Boiled ceylon leaves with water, pour then add evaporated milk.

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Going to buy these cups soon

>>21822810
>>21822818
2026 year of the Mengku Rongshi.
>>21823035
>>21823037
Maximum comfy.

>>21823042
Thanks

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Tea egg?

>>21823258
I should call her

>>21823274
You can do better anon

My collection contains over a dozen cheap chinese teas like pu'ers, dianhongs and gunpowder, yet the only tea I own that I feel like I have to rinse is my bulk CTC ceylon, which is absolutely filthy!

>>21823329
>yet the only tea I own that I feel like I have to rinse
It's about the ritual.

>>21823258
It'd have to be made of white tea, with with yellow tea in the core.

>>21823274
Is she dried up, dead, dusty, or what?

>>21805972
Been getting into a lot of Dayi v93 lately. Really, really great for a daily drinker. Clean tasting with good caramel, vanilla and doughiness. Honestly to me it's on par with some of the cheaper options that boutiques offer at half the price.

>>21823903
Luv me some v93, almost out actually
Can't argue with $15 for a half kilo either

Tonight, I revisited the 2008 8582. So far, it was alright. Somehow, I remember it being better. In the beginning, I got notes of grape skin and orange. It came with a gentle sourness and a little bit of mouth drying. It was somewhat sweet. The wet leaves smelt like apricot and old books. Sometimes, I got kind of plum-ish notes. Other times, I got ripe fruit notes.
I told myself I'd have a white tea like a Shou Mei, but I was enticed by the scent of the Wedding Imperial by Mariage Freres while sniffing different teas in my tea drawer. The dry leaves smelt like caramel chocolate cake -- vividly so. I steeped it one time with 4g of leaves at 95C for 3 minutes. It was far smoother and the notes were more crisp than when brewed according to Mariage Frere's recommendations. However, I still felt it was missing something. Next time, I'll trying steeping it for 4 minutes. So far, I got vivid notes of dark chocolate and caramel, and it was rather sweet. The texture was velvety. I feel like this would go nice with a light bit of honey and some milk or cream. In spite having enjoyed the tea, I feel like the tea could have been a lot better for what I paid for it. I didn't really notice much complexity.
I still have a lot of Japanese green tea to get through. The first time I bought some good quality Japanese tea from Yuuki-Cha in 2024, I think I bought 3-4 packs thinking it would last me through the year. Nope. I still have two left that are half-way done. I am probably going to cold brew some of those to get through it quicker. I drank some pretty recently, and the flavor is still good despite nearly being about 2 years old by this point. I hate buying green tea in general because you have to drink it quickly before it starts to taste like crap. Hopefully, I can get through my Japanese green tea by March. Next time I buy Japanese green tea, I'll probably buy like one pack from either Ippodo or Hibiki-An.

does anyone else do thermos brewing? i did it just out of convenience (can make a big 1-1.5L pot and keep it warm) but it seems like its actually legit (although the 焖泡 brewing can actually be for several hours rather than what i do which is just like 20-30mins)
i noticed when trying some tea at a friends place who just does small ones in a glass, comparatively it had to use a lot of tea for not much flavor, i assume because heat escapes quickly so it doesnt remain at a good temperature for releasing flavor for long. i suppose it would make sense if doing gongfu and reusing the leaves

>>21815141
Original anon, here.
>Ba Wang ripe
I looked that up, and that looks pretty delicious. However, it is out of stock on yunnansourcing.us. There are multiple Lao Man E ripes. Which one? Lao Man E Village or Lao Man E Old Tree?
>>21815489
In the Fu Sampler from YS, were there any ones you liked specifically more than the others?

>>21824041
Also, for both teas, what year is the best?

>>21823903
I don't see much point in entry level boutique ripe, they can never outperform factory productions value-wise

>>21820920
>>21821473
Plot twist: I'm drinking one I like. It's a green tea with pistachio and roasted almonds. It's well balanced and I can taste the tea first, then the nuts notes as a nice finish. It's just one tea bag, I might get more someday. But I bet it's expensive. Even infusions are 10-15€/100g there.

>>21824041
>There are multiple Lao Man E ripes. Which one? Lao Man E Village or Lao Man E Old Tree?
depends how much you want to spend. also, go for an older one if it's not much pricier
I hear these are interesting because they are bitter. ripe usually isn't particularly bitter. I'm sure not everyone will like them

>>21824165
Not that Anon. The two Lao man e I had were probably my favorite ripes. I don't remember they were particularly bitter but they were very tasty.

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Fu brick anon here. I tried all of these, plus the YS fu sampler.
Sorry this took me so long, during the first round of samples I got burned out on fu, tariffs delayed my purchasing of the second round of samples, and life delayed my drinking through the second round of samples.
My takeaway is that most fu bricks are very similar and very mediocre, hence the burnout. If you were to pick a random fu brick to try, you'd probably be left with a lukewarm at best impression of this type of tea (that isn't totally undeserved imo), but I think most heicha/tea enjoyers would appreciate a good example.
While most fu is pretty samey, there is considerable variation in the fu bricks that stand out, and the good ones are quite enjoyable. Age doesn't seem to me to have much of an effect, nor can I make out any marked/consistent differences between fu bricks made with tea from different locations.

The ratings given are in comparison with only these particular fus, in comparison with all of the fu I tried they're (except the shitty YS ones, which are more "typical fu cha" than shitty, really) above average.
My recommendations for a quality, solid example of a fu brick are asterisked, the first 4 bricks are ones that I'm gonna buy.
The YS sampler is a pretty good representation of fu, throw in one of my asterisked samples and you'd have a really solid spread imo.
All of these are from KTM except the ones prefixed with YS which are from Yunnan Sourcing.
I'll note that I personally enjoy the initial steeps that are lighter, sweeter, and more bready over than the darker later/longer infusions. I don't think that's typical of fu brick drinkers, so keep that in mind.
Also of note is the 2007 CNNP - XiangYi "Te Zhi - Fu Zhuan"- by far the worst tea I've ever had, tasted like drinking toxic waste from a heavy metal mine.
I just got done drinking all of these back to back so that I could rate them against each other and confirm my earlier tasting notes.

>>21824250
>>21824041
>2015 Jingwei "Jing Dian Fu Cha" 30¢/g 8/10
Light but juicy body, doughy sweetness, buttery, maintains balance when pushed
>YS 2012 Cha Yu Lin 29 Steeps 8¢/g 8/10
Classic fu sweetness with hay/yeasty umami, a bit metallic, nice body. Longer steeps are more fruity and sour, complex for a fu
>YS 2018 Mojun "Ming Pin" 31¢/g 7/10
Pronounced creamy honey sweetness, plummy but not sour when pushed
>*2010 XiangYi "Jun Xin"* 9¢/g 7/10
Rich flavor, typical but elevated fu brick-y with breadness and plum/grape

>2012 JingWei "Jing Dian 1368" 29¢/g 6/10
Slight mushroomy aged note, slight dark cherry, bit of smoke. It's interesting, I might buy this one too, but I'm not sure it's good enough to justify the price
>YS 2013 Ba Sha Xi "Run Zhi Fu" 12¢/g 6/10
Good balance, sweet, bready umami
>2014 Jingwei "Gong Jin Fu Cha" 19¢/g 6/10
Buttery and yeasty with full and rounded fruit
>YS Mojun 1368 9¢/g 6/10
Perfumey floral sweetness, juicy grapes, tart
>*2018 Jingwei "Qin Ling Zhi Dian"* 7¢/g 5/10
Typical but elevated fu brick-y, a little juicy with yeasty umami, plus a hint of bitterness
>2016 XiangYi "Jing Dian" 8¢/g 5/10
Juicy sourish fruit, sweetness balanced with fu yeastyness and warm spice
>2011 XiangYi "Tian He" 17¢/g 5/10
Menthol, tannic, sour, kinda flat
>2019 JingWei "Shou Chui" 9¢/g 4/10
Sweet juicy fruit, slightly tart apple, remarkably youngshengish(for a fu), more sour when pushed
>2017 JingWei "Qi Zi Fu Cha" 4¢/g 4/10
Tart fruity grapes, tannic, a bit flat, smoky
>YS 2020 Jingyang "Fu Aroma on the Silk Road" 3/10
Rounded dark fruit, grape, juicy, some sourish bitterness, thick on long steeps, dark Cocoa. Not bad at all, but not at all what I want out of fu. I don't have much experience with black tea but to me this tastes very similar to black tea
>YS 2017 Gao Ma Er Xi "Liang Bai Dan" 9¢/g 3/10
Bit of smoke, flat, boring
>YS 2017 Yun Tai Mountain 10¢/g 2/10
Smokey, flat, thin. Bitter when pushed. Pretty bad

>>21824250
The ultimate madman sampling 40+ different fu bricks. I noted the asterisk ones, thank you for your productive autism.

>I got burned out on fu
you don't say

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>>21824250
What a lad. Will definitely be taking up a couple of your recs, and the 2007 CNNP because I've just gotta taste how bad it is

>>21824250
>>21824251
thanks anon. could be useful to archive this
I've only had one fu brick, the XiangYi "anniversary of hong-kong's return" one from KTM. I thought it was quite good, maybe I'll get the one you recommend on next order

>>21824120
>I don't see much point in entry level boutique ripe
The æsthetics of the packaging.

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>>21824308
Cheap factory ripe can have pretty packaging too

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Am I still a tea noob?

>>21824336
>2.7kg of raw
yeah you fell for the meme, ya noob

>>21824336
I'd call you knowledgeable about puerh and familiar with b/w (depending on what the 4 blacks where, whether you got varied samples or similar ones), and a noob in most other categories

If you want to aspire to be a rounded expert then grab some oolongs of a few different regions + roasted/unroasted from each, grab some heicha of a few types (liubao, fu, maybe some esoteric ones for fun), consider a few extra blacks to taste. There's also greens and jap tea that I know nothing about.

>>21824336
I haven't counted, but right now my stash would be like
>2kg aged raw
>1kg young raw
>700g ripe
>700g white
>400g roasted oolong
>100g black
>100g green
>30g yellow
>10g liu bao lol

>>21824336
Is this your stash or what you drank so far?
Anyway, judging tea by weight is meaningless.
If you have had 10 samples, 10g each, you are more knowledgeable than drinking 100g of the same tea.
Same for cheap stuff vs good stuff, same vendor vs different sources etc.

>>21824417
>If you have had 10 samples, 10g each, you are more knowledgeable than drinking 100g of the same tea.
I disagree, you can get to know a tea and its particularities much better over 100g than over 10g

>>21824417
>>21824425
Having 10 samples will broaden your view more than having a single sample for 100g. I agree that you will know that particular tea a lot better.
IMO there's diminishing returns both ways. If you're drinking 2kg of tea, you should have at least some cakes in there, because drinking 200 samples is just going to confuse you as similar teas blend together yet you don't have the time to fully explore any single one of them. But if you're only drinking 100g, then samples is the way to go because fully appreciating the depth of a single tea is not going to tell you anything about the various possibilities of that kind of tea in general. Unless it's really a very samey type of tea like shou maybe.
In my personal humble opinion the best way to sample a specific kind of tea is to buy a bunch of samples AND one-two larger batches. Maybe some medium sized like 50g batches too. Get some breadth and some depth, so you have a good anchor point to really learn that you can compare the others to, while also getting a taste of variety.

But anyway >>21824336 also included number of teas purchased and I think that's a more useful metric than raw weight.

>>21824417
>Is this your stash or what you drank so far?
Teas I've purchased, or been given, of which I have drank much. There are many samples, but a bunch of cakes too.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good sites to buy Japanese tea from?

>>21824600
I've bought from O-cha before

>>21824603
Were they good? I'm looking for a site similar to Rivers and Lakes for other types of tea.

>>21824612
Solid, but I feel like sencha is always at least decent. Sort of like ripe pu-erh.

Does hojicha fussy about temperature?

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Holy shit, KTM ratings go below A+???

>>21824600
I bought from yunomi, i'm happy with it. just check the rentry for tea shops

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>>21823903
Xiaguan 8663 today (2014). This one leans more woody,chocolate,tinge of smoke and leather. Great mouthfeel. Underrated recipe imo.

>>21824669
I haven't seen that either! I've been meaning to send an email to John to ask about his oolong rating system. I'll report back with what I learn.

>>21824637
Nah. I tend to hit it with boiling though anything works.

>>21824251
thanks for the write-up. are the prices for the full bricks or is it the sample pricing?

>>21824745
Similar to Xiao Fa?

>>21824251
Could you find any taste pattern correlating with age?
Do you have a preference for younger or older material or is there no difference?

>>21824886
A bit different. Xiaofa that I've had have been a more of a leather and slight fruitiness thing and less body in the mouthfeel. Doesn't feel nearly as satisfying to drink. 8663 is more akin to a stout or something for me. Deeper/richer flavors.

>>21824870
Prices are for the full bricks.
>>21824928
No, I couldn't make out any difference.

>>21824958
Drinking Xiao Fa recently, quite enjoyable honestly
I should get more factory ripe. So far I've drunk:
>7572
>7562
>V93
>9978
>7576

Any idea what to try next? Maybe 8592 or something

I only drink boiled pu erh with milk added.

>>21825197
Not a fan of tea by itself. Unless after a meal.

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After being sick since Christmas I finally feel good enough to try new teas
Today it was the 2024 Oolong from VietSun.
I must have underdosed the leaf, it was 3 grams in almost 100 ml at near 200 degrees for about a minute per cup. Didn't really experience much to enjoy

Tomorrow I'll probably just do a western brew style and see if that gets me anything. Or maybe I just need more tea leaf for this water amount
I don't know I'll keep working at it.

>>21825602
>3 grams in almost 100 ml
Yeah you should at least double the amount of tea. I use 7-10g (usually closer to 7) for 100mL

Gotta say ripe puerh has been helping me cope with mild alcohol withdrawals.

>>21824336
Looks neat. Where is this from?

>>21825743
https://my.teadb.org/

>>21825731
When I first started drinking tea it was in part to replace habitual drinking, it worked well for me.
For a few years at least, until a few months ago when I started drinking heavily again to the detriment of my enjoyment of tea.
But I'm out of liquor now and I won't be buying any more, cheers to tea over alcohol and I wish you well.

>>21825607
if he's brewing for a min 3g should be plenty. i use around 5-6g but at most im brewing 20secs on a first brew.
>>21825602
did you only brew once? you might have gotten more after a second

>>21826119
>did you only brew once? you might have gotten more after a second
Yeah I brewed around four times at roughly a minute to two minutes at the last cup
Today I doubled the leaf amount to about 6.5 grams and that was definitely too strong even at a shorter brew time. I'll keep playing with it

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Drinking some tea seed pod shells (Cha Guo Ke) right now. Pretty interesting stuff. Has a prominent bready character which I was not expecting. Surprising longevity too.

>>21826883
That is interesting. How much like tea leaves does it taste like? Which region was is made in?

>>21826389
>6.5 grams and that was definitely too strong even at a shorter brew time
I was the one who suggested that much leaf, sorry I wasn't as helpful or informative as I could have been, but with that high of a ratio, start out by doing brews that are super short, like pour the water in the pot/gaiwan and immediately pour it out (flash steep), and add time from there if it's too weak.

>>21826903
>How much like tea leaves does it taste like?
Not mutch, aside from some heicha.
>Which region was is made in?
Not sure, but probably guangxi as that's were they traditionally make it. Same region that Liu Bao is from.