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: >>21964386
I'm drinking this very modest shui xian from a local tea shop, and I was reminded of something William (of Farmer Leaf) said in one of his recent videos: he set up a tea wholesale business with the intent of selling good quality tea to local shops, went around Europe and realized the demand for it was too low for him to turn a profit; many store owners were just not interested because they knew most of their customers didn't care about a high quality product, and the ones who were interested bought a few kilos that they had to actively promote, with little success still.So now I'm wondering, is the local tea shop I bought this shui xian from a good quality shop, so to speak?They sell oriental beauty for €560/kg, mi lan xiang for some €440/kg, and a huang mei gui labeled as da hong pao for some €400/kg.The mi lan xiang is the only one among these I bought and it was really nothing special.The shui xian I'm drinking was maybe €150/kg and it feels like it was oxidized and roasted way too much, their label says 30-40% oxidation but malty and slightly astringent notes reminiscent of less-than-high-grade black tea, and the charred taste from roasting is stronger than the floral stone fruit notes.Then again, their highest quality bai mu dan was around €230/kg and it was good, their highest quality tie guan yin was maybe around €190/kg and that too was fairly good.It's owned by this couple and every time I asked a question about one tea or other they could answer it, though their teas are hit and miss.Anyway, this shui xian is a disappointment but my friend's friend from this >>21976737 pessimistic story is back from Shanghai with my mystery da hong pao, so soon enough I'll hopefully enjoy some good rock tea or at the very least have another funny story to tell you people.
>>21986120what shop is it?you often get mid overpriced stuff at local stores. but sometimes you luck out and get something goodvery roasty and oxidized isn't necessarily bad for yancha. moreso traditional
>>21986370It's La Teiera Eclettica (the eclectic teapot) in Milan, why?>mid overpriced stuff at local storesThat's the going meme and there's obviously a markup with every physical store compared to buying directly online, but I've found many shops that sold tea at perfectly reasonable prices for their quality.There was a stand at the central market in Valencia where I bought a great highly roasted tie guan yin and a great Earl Grey, there was a place in Friedrichshain (Berlin) I visited recently where I got a nice oriental beauty for a perfectly reasonable price and the owner of which really knew what he was talking about, and I even got decent tea at the Damman Freres store in Milan.>very roasty and oxidized isn't necessarily bad for yanchaI've had good yancha from ali or taobao years ago and this doesn't hold a candle to it, the roast here is overpowering, and the oxidation is way too much for a supposedly mellow and floral and lightly fruity tea such as shui xian.
>>21986492>the roast here is overpowering, and the oxidation is way too much for a supposedly mellow and floral and lightly fruity tea such as shui xianIt's just a different style. Might be low quality too. But there is good super high roast yancha too, it's the style that ages better.
Recently I've been pretty curious about Japanese fermented teas like goishi cha (picrel.) I don't really know much about it, but what I have heard sounds pretty interesting. That said, I haven't really been able to find a good vendor for the stuff that delivers to the US, at least that's selling stuff for pretty crazy rates. Are there better options or is this just the kinda thing you need to shell out for?
>>21987299Looks like dried seaweed
>>21986042Chinese black tea with dim sim
>>21987449dneed feed
Warm enough day for tea over ice, noice
>>21987299every time I see this stuff it's quite expensivethere is also another sour fermented tea from China. I don't remember the name, denong or something? it is even less available
Anyone here bought green tea from KTM?I hear their cheap longjing is good value
>>21986120Here's the da hong pao from Shanghai, which turned out to be nothing other than zheng yan shui xian.I'm slightly annoyed because I had specifically asked for rou gui in case the friend couldn't find da hong pao, but ofc I'm grateful that he took the time to go and look for it at all.Also 120g of this cost me €25 and I definitely can't complain about that either.
im drinking pu erh with tangerine-peel in it, the first steep is almost black as coffee :o)
>>21987967I followed the brewing suggestions on the packets, 7,5g for about 140ml of boiling water and the shortest steeping time I could manage.It smells nutty like a rich roasted tea and somewhat fresh, with a weak note halfway between nutmeg and citrus.The texture is barely viscous and the taste is of yellow flowers, nuts and little else, with the characteristic minerality of rock tea at the end.I'll wait a few days and try steeping it in a few different ways before passing judgement, meanwhile here's a picture of the liquor.
>>21987979yeah shu puerh can brew up super dark
I wanna buy shincha again this year. Where should I get some? I know the tea starts to come out in early May. I've already tried out Yuuki-cha and O-cha. Also, I've been rather busy, and I have not brewed tea in several months. I left some water at the bottom of my kettle (the kettle's lid has stayed on the whole time.) I am now seeing white mold on the edges of where the water is. Do I have to throw away my kettle, or am I able to sanitize it safely?
How do I learn to like puerh? All I really taste is a sort of fishy but not really fishy, pile-of-wet-leaves-in-the-fall flavor. I don't like it or see what the all the fuss about puerh is if it tastes like wet fish leaves in the autumn. Did I try a bad batch or something?
>>21988196probably brewing too hot
>>21988191Decent chance that's just limescale. Chuck a tablespoon of citric acid powder in the boiling water, should come offIf it is mould nothing stopping you from cleaning it like other kitchen tools just make sure it's rinsed thoroughly of any residues from cleaning products.
>>21988196Sounds like a cheap shou, try raw puer, young raw especially will taste completely different from that. If you want to try a good shou, look for dayi 7572.And the other guy doesn't seem to have a clue, I brew all of my puer with boiling water
>>21988250Thanks. I'm not sure what kind of puerh it was or how it was brewed because I just got a cup of it from a tea shop to try after reading about it here and seeing how popular puerh has become amongst tea nerds.
>>21988261That makes sense. But yeah there's a lot of variation within puer, so if you really want to try to get into in, try a bunch of different samples from some vendors in the rentry. A sampler from Yunnan Sourcing isn't a bad place to start.
>>21988233I don't think it is, this time. It looks white and cotton-like.
>>21988266That's kind of intimidating. I hate to ask to be spoonfed but do you or anyone else have a recommendation for a starting place as a complete puerh noob? I'm not a tea nerd like you guys but I'm not a complete teabag drinking scrub either. I drink loose leaf greens and blacks of all varieties for reference.
>>21988292NA or Euro? Some kind of affordable sample pack from a reputable teahouse is probably a good place to start with.I personally started by going balls deep with a ~$60 order directly from Taiwan which got me about a kilo of decent factory tea, mostly ripe/shou. A sampler will perhaps offer you more variety so you can check out what's up.
Saw this at Walmart. Thoughts?
>>21988292https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/raw-pu-erh-tea-sampler/products/the-journey-is-the-destination-pu-erh-tea-sampler-setI think this would be a decent and easy way to get a taste of the variety and start to find out what you like
>>21988449They seem to be chamomile, butterfly pea for the blue gimmick, and some flavorings. Probably okay before bed but nothing special.
>>21988449
>>21988449If color is the main selling point then I don't think flavour was given much thought.
I must be getting old, I just drink cheap xiaguan and liubao all the time.
>>21988196That's ripe / shu puerh, probably a low quality one. Good ones should be sweeter and not fishy Most of the fuss is about sheng puerh though, the kind that looks like green tea when young but can be aged for decades into a darker profile
>>21988292My favourite puerh stores are QuicheTeas and Farmerleaf. QuicheTeas has good prices and storage and is a great place to buy aged sheng and some ripe pu-erh (though they don't really offer samples). Farmerleaf specializes in young raw pu-erh and they do have samples.
>>21987299O5 in Vancouver has some unique fermented teas. Gotten goishi cha and a koji fermented one there
Bought some stuff from Sweetest Dew. Any anons tried them? I hear their white teas are good
Anyone ordering/ordered Spring greens this year? I skip it every year since my budget's limited, but I've always been interested. It'd be cool to read some tasting notes at least.
>>21988823Zoomer here, I started with liubao and never got into puerh, still just drinking liubao
>>21988823>>21988973Based. Xiaguan's older factory stuff just hits differently, and liubao is a prime lounging/reading tea. Never change, anons.
>>21988972I ordered the fancy da fang green, will share notes when it gets here >>21988899I might also buy some greens from thetea.pl. their sanxia bi luo chun was really good.Also, KingTeaMall had some cheap 2026 greens already, could be worth a try
>>21988973I feel like liu bao can often be better and more interesting than ripe puerh
>>21987299I've got some picrel. I'll post an update when I try it. I will say though, that in my experience, whilst Japanese teas can be very good, they are never as good value for money as Chinese.
>>21988994Cool picks, I'll keep an eye out for notes. I haven't had long jing in a while, but I think I have some left. Guess I know what I'll sip this morning.>KingteamallKTM would be awesome if the flat shipping rates weren't so brutal compared to competitors (alongside the usual 2kg limit). How are their greens typically anyway? Maybe exchange rates and shipping costs would be better for Japanese offerings in these times.
>>21989024>How are their greens typically anywayidk, mostly unexplored territory but some guy said their cheap long jing is good value
>>21989024I got one of the higher grade long jings from KTM last year, it was the A++++ one. Good quality, but I think it's likely the A+++ one is good also, I'm trying that next time.From the pic the A+ one looks noticeably lower grade, but it might be pretty good. Though I've had similar grade which doesn't have the characteristic long jing taste, in which case you might as well just go for the awazon bi luo chun
>>21988250u don't have a clue bitch
>>21989891bad qi energy
>>21990041buddy you wanna compare qi? i'm the goku of chiyou brew too hot, all the good volatiles boil off fast. and you're left with fishy oily taste.
>>21989016why blend? i thought single origin was more valued. is it for consistency post harvest by the roaster?
May random generator told me to drink the Awazon Melon today. Had a good time with it.
>>21988826What's the black puerh that tastes and smells like a stable? The green ones are alright
>>21975160Fuck, I just found out they're closing their physical store next week, while buying some today.I want to be able to sniff tea and ask about tea. They've become too successful and are moving to online only with pickup in the industry part of town. But no walk in fun.
>>21990429Sad, I guess that's just the reality of things. It's probably not even success (they could always rent an extra warehouse while keeping the store), I'm guessing their physical store just gave way too little revenue to justify keeping it. Physical stores are very expensive compared to online ones so if it's just a handful of autists coming in once every few weeks, it's just economically hard to keep it upSuch is the state of things I guess
>>21990464They've had it for at least the ten years I've lived here. The explanation was at least they've grown too big. Maybe a diplomatic answer but still. They do seem successful.Bought some cheapish tea. Genmaicha is just nice. Haven't had houjicha so that will be interesting.Might go back one last time next week. Fill up on Ming Joan Hong Shui, which was a very nice oolong. And maybe get some kind of pu'er cake
>>21990481>The explanation was at least they've grown too big.That makes no sense on its own, if you're too profitable and want to scale up you can start renting a warehouse while also keeping the store.Closing the store only makes sense if you're basically growing entirely off of online sales and so you want to buy a really big warehouse and stop wasting money on a small but expensive storefront. It's a cost-cutting measure any way you look at it. So what they're probably saying is "we've grown too big to ship all our online orders from the small shop, so we're moving to a warehouse - AND, also, most of the shop's business was online anyway so once we have a warehouse we won't have any need for the shop anymore".
>>21990496>if you're basically growing entirely off of online sales They are. There's only like 50 000 people living here. They could have literally every tea drinker in the region as a customer already. So a combination of both online sales vastly outscaling the store and a small customer base. It makes sense if they want to shift over to completely online. Looked it up and the physical store has existed for 18 years. Which is frankly plenty with how the world looks now.
>>21990501The counterpoint I guess is that a town of 50,000 people can't have rent be that high. They probably could've kept it if they wanted to, it's not like they're a high street shop in a major capital with insanely overpriced real estate.But oh well, business needs and all that. Can't blame them for prioritising wanting to keep more of their money rather than keeping a couple dozen local autists happy.
>>21990429That's a shame.The cute little teashop in the nearest small German city has closed its doors almost 18 years ago. They used to carry some nice Darjeeling and aromatized black tea. I really liked their Earl Grey and also some cranberry Darjeeling that they stocked, but more importantly, in that place I discovered that most of the aromatized black tea is less enjoyable to me than the pure leaf is.One of my first purchases there was some 'toffee cream' aromatized black tea and a pretty nice FTGOP+ Darjeeling. I ended up reluctantly finishing the toffee tea and regarding the FTGOP+ as a real treat to brew up.I was pretty bummed when they closed shop just a few years after I first set foot into that store.
>>21988191Come on, niggers. Tell me where to get some shincha. I'm pretty confident it's actual mold this time.
I purchased my first shou brick. Is storing it in one of those mylar bags appropriate? Any special considerations I should take? The storage space I have is pretty cool and dry but things will start to get relatively humid in the months approaching.
>>21992288No, you can just store it in the mylar bag. Some people like to add boveda packs for humidity control. More important if you live somewhere very dry.
>>21988972Got some spring bi luo chun as my very first Chinese green and I've been flash steeping by eyeballing a couple grams per ~80ml. The warmed leaves have this sweet nutty chocolate aroma and the first brew is very nutty-barley-grain forward that quickly gives way to a semi sweet, slightly grass-bitter vegetal astringency in the second brew onward once the leaves unfurl. The brewed leaves retain a green-barley smell and eventually develop a subtle ammonia smell as the green flavor of the liquor becomes more vibrant. The hui gan is intensely sweet and smells exactly like caramelized sugar with sort of a hay/dried grass sweetness beneath it. I was really blasting these leaves at first and I'm still learning how incredibly sensitive green leaves can be to temperature and brew time. It's impressive how the bitterness you can pull out of it will instantly crush any nuance. Anyway I'm still just starting to get to know this tea and unsure of how else to describe the "greenness" central to its flavors and aromas. It's that green tea green. And it's good.
>>21992837where did you get it? sounds like a solid bi luo chun
>>21992837Thanks for sharing your notes; sounds like a lovely first green experience! Great that it resolves with a clear huigan too. Definitely do try playing with temp and infusion times some more. For instance, you could either flash infuse at a higher temperature, or infuse at a slightly lower temperature (similar duration), and you may find the notes or bitterness/astringency to shift slightly in your favor.
>>21990429My condolences. Maybe if you shoot them a message telling them how being able to smell stuff was part of the experience they'll keep some samples available in their warehouse?>>21991664>contemplating throwing out a kettle because he let it grow infested with mold while calling others niggersChill man you can just ask things nicely.>shinchaIf it were me I'd buy it on yuuki cha again, I've only had good experiences with them.If you want to try something new you can try hojo tea and tea hong since they moved to Japan within the last year.
I /think/ I don't like tea, but I've only ever really tasted teabag tea. The only time I've ever had tea from an actual pot, it was a fruit tea (which admittedly was quite nice). What should I pick up to give "proper" tea a try? I see people posting whole bricks of tea, but I'm worried that one of those would be wasted on me if I end up not enjoying it.
>>21993422Get a sample set with a variety of different teas. The first steps sampler from YunnanSourcing is a popular one: https://yunnansourcing.com/products/first-steps-tea-sampler?_pos=1&_sid=cf4795e09&_ss=rThey also have a US site if you want cheaper shipping to US
>>21988823Drinking some liu bao from KTM. 2024 CNNP Bin Lang Xiang.Really recommend this for the price. It has a comfy aged flavor already thanks to 4 years of intensive factory storage. Beetroot and potato vibes, some petrichor and nuttiness. Kind of reminds me of yeeon's 2009 raw chunks for some reason, I might be liking it more than CNNP orange box at a cheaper price, it has a smoother flavour with less bitterness.
>>21993327It's the Yunnan green spring from YS>>21993413Yeah I'm still in the introductory phase of getting to know Chinese teas in general so I've never experienced such a clear example of hui gan until trying this one. Definitely looking forward to continuing to push the parameters around and seeing what comes of it.
>>21993422Start with some loose leaf blacks. Most places in the world you can buy indian loose leaf locally, it's going to be better than almost any teabag. You can also try ordering some blacks from china, chinese blacks are more varied and more nutty/floral/sweet than indian ones.Puerh is very different again, it and fermented teas in general are honestly a lot more of an acquired taste in my experience. If you're happy with trying more unusual flavors and seeing if you like them then go right ahead, but otherwise it's not what I'd necessarily recommend to someone saying "I've only ever drank teabags, give me some good tea", at the very least not as the only or main option. It can be a curiosity and if you do try one and like it then you can go balls deep later.Than YS starter is potentially quite good, I heard green tea can be temperamental but the blacks and oolongs are likely good to sample, I think white is easy to brew as well, and you get a taste of puerh but not too much.
>>21993422The most beginner-friendly categories in my opinion are either white teas broadly (such as shou mei, gong mei, bai mu dan, etc), or Wuyi oolongs. I recommend getting into white teas because it's typically hard to fuck up infusing them...or rather, you can push an infusion with too much heat or infusion time and it'll likely still be pleasant. Wuyi oolongs are just likely to have really solid aromas imo, so they'll be an intriguing first experience. My first tea was a Wuyi oolong, and it was such a striking experience that I still remember it even now many years later. Try one or both.
>>21993886oolongs in general are a great place for beginners to startI remember a taiwanese oolong someone brought me from taiwan was the first really "different" tea I had. I was shocked that an unscented tea could have a strong floral aroma like thatnot everyone likes the heavy roast ones though
>>21994083I imagine the dents in the mouse are just because of the fingers of the guy. must be inhumanly strong
>>21994083anon what is going on with your mouse
I was in Chiang Mai and someone took me to this tea place. I normally don't like tea but they had one where its an actual flower, they put it in the water and it started blooming. Whatever that shit was it tasted great, I bought two boxes and brought it back. Now I have no idea where to buy more and/or if I can even buy more here in the US.
>>21986042My in laws live in China What should I pick up next visit?
drinking my purple papayaberry iced tea and not giving a fuck got blackberry sage oolong brewing too
>>21994305I don't drink Adagio much these days but their blackberry sage oolong is always fun.
>>21994355i just made a pot of pina colada to match my hair while i dye itthis stank ass thread inspired me to pull out some of my stank ass old chinese tea for later this week
>>21994643
>>21994212An actual flower or like tea leaves arranged into a flower shape?
>>21994128>>21994185og mx518
>>21994083been a while since i seen that big cup
>>21995241Haven't visited your mom recently?
>>21995248i've been defeated, good bye
>>21995250I am triumphant
Alright, I've been drinking green tea for a few years now (leaves not scraps in teabags) but nothing very fancy just the average sencha, jasmin, etc you find at local tea stores.What's the next step if I want to upgrade? Tea bricks like in OP?
>>21995278if you like green tea you can just buy better green tea. there is fancy green tea out thereI'd also try oolong for surefermented teas are more of a side grade, not everyone likes them, very different flavors from green tea. but try them if you're curious
>>21986042Making a tea time afternoon lunchie for mom. What normie proof tea should I get?
>>21994083dilmah balls lmao
>>21995316DarjeelingAnecdotally I've fed multiple normies liubao (some accidentally, some because they insisted on trying something unusual) and have had astonishingly good success rate, I did not expect people with zero fermented or chinese tea experience to be this receptive to dirt tea but apparently it can be worthwhile to try
>>21995278The next step is to explore at your own pace. Go to King Tea Mall and spend a hundred or two on a bunch of different teas that sound interesting to you. Run your cart by the the thread for recs and possible better deals. Receive tea. Drink tea. Talk about all the above here.You'll know well before you run out if you like the "next step" of the hobby.>Tea bricks like in OP?IMO everyone owes it to themselves to get a nice Farmer Leaf cake like Fa Zhan He, Tang Fang Liang Zi, or Bangwai Small Trees and learn to enjoy it. Picking the nice big leaves from the cake, the smell of it, the nice wrapper, the hand written name of the tea on the bag, the giant tea leaf nei fei, it's all very nice. Learn to love it. Tea is the best.>>21995316I've had luck with dianhong. I also have one that's strongly flavored with lychee. Very good.
>>21995322lol that's also my picyou can see same mouse pad
>>21995414You have an uncanny way of taking photos.
>>21995424maybe
>>21995440
>>21995441Dilmah nuts swang
>>21995441bro your tea has sideways gravity
>>21995348>>21995278farmerleaf's raw puerh might actually be the way to go if you want stronger, punchier, more complex green teasa cake of Fa Zhan He should show you if you like young raw puerh
>>21995282>>21995348>>21995540Thanks anons, I'll take a look.
>got new teapot>broke lid two days lateris it even realistic to replace a lid with some DIY solutionit was just a 20$ pot from aliexpress, but still sucks
>>21996411Put a strainer over it. It'll act like a pseudo lid for the teapot while the teapot is also a convenient rest for the strainer.
>>21996411You can sometimes find the lids for glass pots sold separately. They're usually shaped in a way where the size doesn't have to be exact too.
What do you guise drink late at night that isn't caffeinated or alcoholic? I'm enjoying snow chrysanthmum and I prefer it grandpa styled to gongfu, it's very brothy and hearty flash steeped compared to when it's brewed longer and gets a minty-floralness pulled out of it which is very nice with a little honey.
>>21997194Call me a basic bitch but I will always advocate for the simple and humble chamomile. Good cold brewed, so I can toss some into a jug and have it soak while I'm at work so I have something nice to drink when I get home after midnight. Hot is good as well, grandpa style or western brewed at five minutes a rip. It's all the same with herbals really.
>>21997194Ginger and lemon. It's very soothing.
>>21996411Glass, you can buy a new lid.Ceramic or clay, you can put it back together using lacquer sprinkled with gold shavings or (cheaper) epoxy glue loaded with ceramic/clay dust.
>>21997194Rooibos or barley tea, sometimes some herbs like sage/mint, though frequently I just say fuck it and have earl gray, caffeine be damned
>>21997668adding on to what anon said, make sure it's a glue rated for heat and moisture if you plan to keep using this teapot, or eventually it will fall apart again (and you will probably end up drinking glue.) and if you instead go for actual kintsugi materials, wear gloves! urushiol-based lacquer is incredibly strong, food-safe, and water-tight... and also derived from the same chemical that makes poison ivy miserable. be careful!
>>21996411buy a 3$ lid on aliexpress
>>21997736I made a half-assed attempt at kintsugi years ago. It's a lot of effort. My 1/4 finished gaiwan is collecting dust somewhere. You have to want to do it before something breaks.
Shincha orders are up, baby
>>21997977where do you recommend?
>>21998023I swear by Hibiki AnShipping is a bit of a bitch and you need to order 50 dollars worth to get the cheaper rate (8.50 USD) but they're genuinely the best I've experienced yet. I used to get snacks from them too before the tariff rumpus but now it's just the leaf I get.
How is shincha (and rough Chinese equivalents) pricing pricing looking this year, anons? I always skip Spring greens, but the thought never ceases to cross my mind.
>>21998255idk, I think similar as usual? pu-erh was overinflated and got corrected
>>21998255The prices of the place I look at has been pretty standard. 160 grams of farmer shincha was 26 dollars in 24, it is still 26 dollars in the current year. Matcha is still royally fucked but the actual leaf itself seems to be pretty safe.
I had a string of nightmares, and in the last one I unwrapped one of my puer cakes to find it absolutely covered in mold. So I opened my pumidor to check the humidity, and found the bottom of it filled with an inch or so of standing water, a bit of various swamp vegetation, and a ton of flying insects alongside my puer cakes.
>>21994083where it all started
>>21998602>Anon's next prophetic dream, except replaced with a slab of cursed teahttps://youtu.be/9pWC-4dx3Q0
>>21995316Kyobancha
there's a -20% sale on Yeeontea tomorrow, if anyone wants to score some dank hong kong stored puerh
>>21999761Fuck yeah, I'm finally gonna get a xg tuo from them
>>21999772Yeah I'll probably get that + some more best taste ripe
>>21999761>score some dank hong kong stored puerhOh man I'd love to, but the prices are pretty steep on that site, unless I'm missing some Great Value listings.
Hello yes I know I'm the worst type of poster imaginable but here's my question anywayI like latte matchas like the shit from starbucks but I don't wanna spend $7 daily, in fact I'd be happy having it several times a day. Can I just use whatever cheap matcha to get that result? Can I just whisk everything with something like picrel instead of using elbow grease? Please please please I promise not to shit the thread up with godawful questions like these if I just get a decent reponse that gets me to fuck off I just want matcha latte bros i have 0 standards
>>21999958Yes. Just buy a big bag of sweetened matcha tea. Powdered is going to be better than instant granules.
>>21999966based based based thanks will grab that one
>>21999938nevermind, I see that they're stocking teas below 10c/gram as well.
>>21999761Interesting. Can someone redpill me on liuan? This looks enticing https://yeeonteaco.com/collections/black-tea/products/2005-raw-luan-basket-teaI'm a liubao enthusiast, how does it compare?
>>22000607I hear it's fairly different, I think it's roasted?Could be fun to try, too bad they only sell whole baskets at yeeon
>>21999966not that guy but i got some matcha as a gift, dont have a whisk or anything like that and will not buy onehow can i drink the stuff?
>>22000690Use a regular kitchen whisk.
I was drinking lemon balm last two weeks before going to sleep because it helps, made a habit out of it. And now I am drinking oolong and taste is quite similar. I'm thinking I actually prefer lemon balm
>>21994212At least post some pictures of the box and tea, vaguepost KING.
>>21993416>>21998064>Chill man you can just ask things nicely.Okay, anon. I will take it easy. I thought yuuki-cha had gone down the shitter based on what some anons have been saying. Apparently, they switched their packaging to plastic. Hojo Tea has been on my bucket list to try for years. I emailed them about four days ago and haven't heard anything back from them.>>21993416Do you have a particular option you recommend for them?
>>21998064>>21997977What are even the best jap green stores?Only one I ever bought from was O-cha
>>22002065Not that guy. I've tried three jap green tea vendors: Den's Tea, O-Cha, and Yuuki-chaYuuki-cha tasted the best out of all of these. I was really impressed with what I got for the price I paid. It really changed my opinion of Japanese tea. But not sure if they're still any good. Den's Tea offered a good price to quality ratio. Really good value buy, imo. O-Cha was the weakest to me. I mean, the tea tasted nice, but I thought the value was better elsewhere. I can't speak about other vendors. I am going to try different Jap tea vendors and see how the others compare. Ippodo, Hibiki-An, and Yunomi, and Hojo Tea are up next.
>>21986042Why do you guys gong-fu ripe pu erh when it is so much better boiled or steeped long?
Anons what are your favorite teas?Also has anyone tried the gaba meme? What is it like...I assume the effect varies a lot between manufacturers and biochemistries and susceptibility to placebo and so on
>>22003364>what are your favorite teasSheng pu-erh, liu bao, white tea, yancha, Japanese greensGABA's effects are disputed, but the flavors can be nice
Still on my journey to find THE tea snack, I made anpan this time.They came out nicely, but I preferred manju as far as filled buns go, and the top spots are still occupied by moon cakes and plain steamed bread.>>22003364T-18 red jade and other highly oxidized white teas such as yue guang bai, I should get around to trying some of the more odd offerings from white2tea like Blood Moon.Medium baked dong ding, the kind with a nutty steamed bread aroma.Ya shi xiang and most other phoenix dan congs really.I've only tried one GABA oolong and I didn't feel any effect.What about you anon, what teas do you like?
>>22003364>Anons what are your favorite teas?Young sheng but I had to take a break so back to black tea>Also has anyone tried the gaba meme? What is it likeMany times. It does literally nothing. Don't fall for the meme.
>>22003578opinions on mooncakes and fig rolls as tea pairings?
>>22003628Mooncakes are a classic since the middle ages, I like them but they can be pretty funky and unusual depending on the filling, so they're not for everybody.Fig rolls are more like five o' clock tea snacks and they're too sweet if you ask me, they cover the relatively delicate taste of chinese teas but might work better if you're drinking tea with milk and sugar than a relatively bland piece of steamed bread.That said, you're on a mongolian flipbook teleconference asking about snack and tea pairings; just try them out, your own taste is what really matters here.
The awazon jasmine dragon pearls are really good.
Gotten a little into yerba, looking for recommendations on what bag to get next. I've tried curz de malta and it's alright, but what I really liked was Canarias Serena, I'm a big mint guy
>>22003364>Anons what are your favorite teas?I quite like a good liu bao. It's just a sort of smooth, 'grounded' earthiness that I find really relaxing. I want to try liu an someday. I also like all kinds of white teas, from young buddy ones to cheaper, aged leafy whites. Easy to infuse casually, and a wide variety of pleasant aroma notes. Plenty of good teas in this world.>Also has anyone tried the gaba meme?I've had a 'GABA' tea or two. I don't buy into the GABA-related benefits (blood brain barrier and all), but I think the processing can have some unique aroma notes that can be pleasant. Something like sweet potato for instance.>>22002916I like having multiple lighter infusions of shou. I may mix it up mid-session and make a thick infusion. In any case, it is more convenient for me to gong fu it, and I find I pick up the aroma notes more clearly that way too.
Test
What's the difference between raw liu bao and ripe liu bao? I don't usually see the distinction made but looking at Yee on Tea recently I noticed it.>>22003578>Still on my journey to find THE tea snackGodspeed.>>22003364I had a sample of Farmer Leaf 2021 Lao Man E Sweet Gu Shu and I thought it was the best tea I ever had in my life. 10/10.
>>22003898Some of those sweet desserty aromas in GABA are really nice>>22003909>What's the difference between raw liu bao and ripe liu bao?It most likely means it wasn't pile fermented. Liu bao often goes through a pile ferment, but less aggressive than shu puer. There's also processing steps involving storing it in moist environments that aren't exactly like a pile ferment so it's kinda a vague term for liu bao.I have some of that raw one on the way so I'll post about it at some point.Here's an article on liu bao production I think is nice, maybe some more detail on "raw" liu bao can be found in the GTH archiveshttps://archive.globalteahut.org/article/1000
>>22003364Tried several at this point and the only one I felt any kind of effect from was this weird green tea cake GABA that was a few years old. Tasted as good as you'd expect an old green tea cake to taste but gave me the most pleasant buzzy feeling in my forehead, like a massage gun was going back and forth on my brain.While it's true GABA can't pass the blood brain barrier, iirc there's more recent research suggesting it may be affecting the vagus nerve instead. But even if it's all placebo it's worth trying a few since the processing brings out some interesting notes. I'd recommend looking for a GABA made with Hong Yu/Ruby 18 leaves, it's a hybrid of the native Taiwan trees and Assamica and the GABA processing pairs very well with the Assam flavor profile.
>>22003909>I had a sample of Farmer Leaf 2021 Lao Man E Sweet Gu Shu and I thought it was the best teaI've had the recent autumn version (also sweet gushu) and thought it was... ok. Nothing that would knock my socks off desu. I know it's autumn vs spring, but still.
>>22003792Try colon completo, it's an herbal yerba mix with chamomile. Good comboAlso try something smoky if you haven't.
I’m going to start making my own tea to save money, I’m no connoisseur and just plan on doing a simple overnight cold brew in a gallon size pitcher. Anyone got good black tea recommendations and how many tea bags to use? I want ~50-70 mg of caffeine per ~16 fl oz
>>22003909>What's the difference between raw liu bao and ripe liu bao?Raw liu bao is a somewhat ambiguous term and I have seen it used to refer to different things. The brick yee on tea sells is a modern style liu bao with a shorter wet pile time, white 2 tea has some raw liaubao that is actually "raw" like sheng (this a an uncommon style), and while I have not seen it called raw there is also old style steamed liubao where the tea is not wet pile fermented.
>>22003959>https://archive.globalteahut.org/article/1000Very interesting read, thanks.
I've never in my life been able to make tea right whether it's hot or cold. I like hot tea, and I like iced tea but only if it's prepared by somebody other than me.
>>21988261I had a similar experience, which turned me away from pu'er for a while. Your average tea shop doesn't know anything about pu'er.
>>21990429>I want to be able to sniff tea and ask about teaLearning to buy tea online has been really liberating, but man do I miss this. Shame my LTS is worthless for anything I like.
>>21999761Hopefully they will be able to ship to the US again someday...
>>22003792When I got into Yerba I drank thru 8 or so bags, 2 were small producers, other 6 were major, of the major I couldn’t stand drinking the two I’d gotten with some amount of herbs added, and I found that across all of them I liked no smoke, few twigs, lots of dust. I daily drink picrel now, Amanda tradicional, found that I hate the Amanda special blend though. Just got some Brazilian chimarrao in, which I’m enjoying a bit, more vegetal and overall very different experience from what I’m used to with Argentine maté, but not bad. I think if you try like the top 5 matés with the questions of “do I like smoke, do I like dust, do I like flavoring herbs,” you’ll figure something out, so it sounds like you’re already on the right path given that you know you like mint. Depending on where you are in the world you can get shit shipped from various distributors. I am in the US, used pampa direct for my first order.Oh, experiment with the heat too of course. I’ve used every type of gourd you can get now also and have found that I prefer ceramic, don’t love the way that the calabash imparts its flavor upon the yerba. If you want to upgrade your gear it never hurts to get an alpaca steel bombilla also, doesn’t cost a ton but I notice a large difference (cheapo spoon started giving rust flavor in a couple months for me, nicer spoon hasn’t even after 2 years of use). Any more questions on this lmk I’ll try to remember to check this thread later
anyone have recs for good mugicha? i've just been getting the oi ocha stuff which is cheap and nice but i can only assume theres much better stuff out there
>>22003792try rosamonte and something paraguayan. and of course buy more herbal mix yerba mate if that's what you like the most
Farmerleaf got some LBZ maocha, well the price is right at least. Anyone gonna get it?
Why is yunnan sourcing looked down on? It seems like fairly mid tier stuff for cheap
>>22007608big selection of everything makes it feel uncurated thus not hipster enough, was also caught giving himself positive reviews on a reddit sock account
>>22007608>Fairly high yearly price increases on puerh make some of their older puerh overpriced>Generally more expensive for the same products than Kingteamall and some other sites>Dry kunming storage ages tea slowly>Hit or miss selection, especially for teas they don't specialize in>Owner likes to get into online beefs and controversiesThat being said it is not a horrible store or anything and actually has a large and tempting selection of fu bricks and some other stuff
>>22007608One time I ordered a kilo of white tea from YS. Ended up being .75 kilo, written as such on the bag, but I wasn't compensated or given generous samples to make up for it. I would have taken anything. I just got less than I ordered, and it was pretty sizeable for a personal order. YS is fine I guess, but they have enough strikes to earn my disdain.
>>22007572Too rich for my blood but I would trust that it is good.>>22007608I think they are overhated but their biggest con is that a lot of their prices and shipping are a bit on the high side. Their house brand puerh also in particular feels expensive for how little reputation it has. They also tend to not be the best at any one thing or have cray good deals. On the plus side they have probably the best selection of Chinese tea (both regular and heicha) out of the big western vendors, the US shop can be convenient (if they have what you want in stock), and they do have a good selection on a couple less common categories (e.g. premium fu bricks, fancy white tea and dianhong cakes). Personally I mostly only order from them when they have something I can't get elsewhere. The are probably not a bad shop for the sort of person who just wants to put one big order of Chinese tea a year, but for enthusiasts always chasing the best deals or the choicest picks YS just tends to not come out on top.
>>22007608They sell a lot of kinda crappy overpriced tea. Like others have said they do also have a great variety and some good tea too. I buy from them on occasion, but not if there's a better option for whatever it is I want, and there usually is. I think it's a good place to point noobs towards though, so they can try a wide variety of tea without placing 10 different orders from 10 different vendors.Also this, and the way he handles them:>>22007627>Owner likes to get into online beefs and controversiesIn the most recent one I remember, marshaln made a blog post essentially saying that YS tea was aging like shit because of poor processing, and in order to defend himself, Scott comments that Yunnan Sourcing brand tea is actually>sourced, processed, and pressed by Zhen Si Long.lol, way to inspire confidence in your brandhttps://marshaln.com/2025/06/green-tea-pu/
>>22008172>I’m super curious….the 2015 Wa Long from ZSL is priced at $232. The Yunnan Sourcing 2015 Wa Long is priced at $536. Are they the same tea? It certainly looks like it from the photos.Notice how Scott immediately rats out of the conversation never to be seen again.
Completely new to tea and just starting to try stuff out. Coworker just went back to China for a visit and asked what I wanted as a souvenir and brought this back for me. What do I have?
>>22008580says yi pin xiang ming on the box
>>22008580you got tie guan yin oolong. dunno if it's a good one or not. probably the green / unroasted kind, but there are also darker and more roasted ones
Got my order from theTea.pl
>>22008610Nice, would be good to hear how their bi luo chun is
>>22008172>>22008294To be fair Marshaln is a grumpy old fart who likes talking shit and starting shit. At least Scott isn't on a high horse. I don't particularly like either of them.
>>22008702I already had it last year, I thought it was really nice so I rebought. will probably try the 2026 version tomorrownote though that it's taiwanese bi luo chun, which is quite different from the mainland one
>>22008714Love how I don't know who any of these fuckers are.
>>22007572>the price is right at least>$2.86/g for 50g of maochaTruly I wonder what is a right price for lao banzhang.Also, quicheteas has 30g samples of last year's LBZ for $62,37, I don't see any reason not to go for those unless you want the greenest and rawest leaves possible.
>>22008714The comment I quoted wasn't from Marshaln. Scott is willing to go back and forth in the comments until someone asks the correct questions. Then he scurries away until the next time he gets into a spat on reddit or wordpress blogs noone reads. Can't even claim Scott didn't see it when he's replying 18 hours later.>Grumpy Tea Guy // July 1, 2025 at 1:11 am>Scott Wilson // July 1, 2025 at 7:30 pm
>>22008856Oh sorry. Thanks for correcting that. Truth be told, when I heard about this recent spat, I tuned it out and avoided it all.>>22008792You're better off. Neither man is more important or interesting than their respective websites.
>>22008861The more I reread his replies the more I really don't want to fucking give that guy any more money.>BTW, you could have shown a modicum of politeness by replying to the friendly email I sent you when you made the order for these samples.While he's actively shorting people out of their full orders.
>>22008580as the other anon said it is a tie guan yin oolong. A very classic style. I don't know if it is a cheap or fancy one right off but even the cheap ones are typically good. The "Monkey King" brand is owned by cofco which is a big state owned food conglomerate. Their tea brands however are generally good quality for the price and many of which are iconic.>>22008792Scott Wilson owns Yunnan soucuning and marshaln is a tea blogger (as was once the style) notable for being one of the few who wrote in English and lived in Asia. They are both influential old fags in the western tea community though neither is as active or relevant as they once where.
>>22009174thank you anon for explaining. i've had some good tea from ys over the years but other than that one freebie white tea that no one seems to have anymore, nothing i can't get from anywhere else. these people should spend more time sipping and less time typing.
>>22009190It was probably seen as kind of a personal slight by Scott since they both were part of the same small community back in the day. It is still very petty however, nobody who reads marshaln's blog in present day is so new as to not already have an opinion on these matters. Marshaln could straight up say YS's tea is shit and it would not meaningfully affect YS's sales.For a bit of extra context I probably should of added that Marshaln is the kind of old school puerh head that mostly only considers fully aged premium puerh as being worth drinking (and got into puerh back when that was a more affordable preference to have) while Yunnan Sourcing was one of the early (est. 2004) enthusiast tier online Chinese tea shops available to the west. They both had significant influence in the early days of the English speaking, online, Chinese tea enthusiast sphere.>these people should spend more time sipping and less time typing.They mostly do these days as far as I am aware. Marshaln hardly posts any more and I think Scott is only active on the YS facebook group. Scott does have the bad habit of popping up from time to time when any of the old tea bloggers say anything bad about his shop.
Do you people use the (near) same leaf to water ratio and steeping time for all teas?I've been trying out a lot of different things lately since I've gotten a handful of teas that are supposedly high quality but didn't feel like it when prepared in my usual way, like this oriental beauty which, despite being a highly enough oxidized tea, tastes much better to me when steeped for a longer time at a lower temperature, like 30-40s at 85-90°C compared to the usual 10s at 100°C I use for anything above green oolongs.
>>22009742Pretty much because I'm mostly lazy, but you can definitely get better/interesting results from playing around with it. Some things do better at low ratios in a more standard western style for example.I'll your way a try with oriental beauty actually
>>22009742I only brew grandpa but I just eyeball the amount, and whenever I get a new tea it can take a few tries to get the right quantity. Some teas are weaker and some teas are stronger. I would be very surprised if this didn't carry over to gongfu.Also the "eyeball amount" varies significantly with leaf shape and compression, but if you're bothering to use a scale that'd be less of an issue.
Any adventurous anons that order from TeaHome? I have not directly compared the prices with places like KTM or Quiche, but it seems like one of the cheapest options to get some good chink tea, simply based on the fact that it's not a western facing store.
>>22011358I've heard a lot of good things about them
>>22011358Solid, I've ordered from them a few times. I didn't like everything, but generally speaking tea's good and prices are good.
>>22009742As I became more and more familiar with the vessels I use I essentially just eyeball things. For my greens I have a little hohin and I just sort of know that for my tasting purposes and it's capacity I heat it to the one setting on my electric kettle, spread enough leaf to cover the base of it and a little extra and pour to slightly under the opening. Scientific? NoBut it gets me a continuously pleasant experience. And that's what I want from my teas.
>>22011358Yes, it's a very good value option that I can recommend if you can deal with their websiteBut there is not much comparison with KTM or Quiche as TeaHome is a Taiwanese oolong specialist. Totally different focusQuiche is probably the best value for aged puerh right now if you don't want to dig through taobaoKTM has a huge selection of factory productions and is a useful place to get ripe puerh, liu bao and recently even factory yancha. Their aged puerh can be more hit or miss though
>>22009742>Do you people use the (near) same leaf to water ratio and steeping time for all teas?No, I adjust on the fly depending on the tea in question. When you develop familiarity and experience with infusion, you pick up an intuitive understanding of good starting points with infusions as well as how to adjust things to your preference. I think it's good to be a bit meticulous early on. As you learn more, you can be a lot more casual because it just becomes second nature. Ultimately, don't absolutely depend on charts too much; what is 'right' for you is what matters.
Maybe a long shot, but do any anons have good bang for buck vendor recommendations for people in the Netherlands...that accept bank transfer payments (I think it's "iDEAL")? I've slowly gotten my Dutch friend into tea, and he usually buys from Moychay, but their prices aren't always the best, and they have no heicha, not many whites or cheap pu'er cakes, etc. At least he loves their Georgian reds.
>>22011378>>22011384>>22011506After looking through the Teahome catalogue again, I notice that they don't offer too many different items, maybe 30 different teas. I somehow was under the impression that it was a huge teahouse like KTM that stocks hundreds of teas, just for the chinese market instead of western facing. I don't really know why I had that in my mind, when they're basically a >taiwanese oolong specialistlike that anon said.Is there even something like a 'KTM, but chinese' that we know of?
>>22012051I'm pretty sure that's just taobao
>>22012072
>>22012051>KTM, but chineseTaobaoYou can also just buy from Quiche. They have close to Chinese prices
What's the oldest tea you've owned, and was it worth it?Mine is a 2008 XG sheng I bought recently, and it was well worth what little I spent to experience how Xiaguan used to make them, but I don't think the age alone makes it taste better than younger shengs of similar quality.
>>22013218A few 70s-80s shengs, and yes they're worth it imo. There's nothing else like them and I love the fully aged sheng flavor profile.
>>22013218Been drinking a 2006 Menghai from Farmer Leaf. It's alright. Kind of smoky somehow?
when is a new tea going to be invented?
>>22013218Some 1980s and 1990s liu baoFor puerh I think the oldest I had was the 2002 ripe tuo from Awazon? I am about to receive my order of 2001 Pine Crane Xiaguan from Yeeontea though, so that will be one year older.
>>22013668Happens from time to time. Jin Jun Mei is like a relatively recent one that got big
>>22013218I bought some Ceylon of unknown age which I'm guessing is from the 70s at the youngest, looking at the packaging.I haven't tried it yet because I'm slightly afraid that it'll kill me.
>>22013675i want to try that
ive been using my larger gaiwan way more recently, especially with teas i know dont have much duration, its nice to use and im consider getting a 200ml one nowtoday im drinking the yeeontea's taste of Hong Kong puerh, sadly most of the storage funk that was there when i bought it is gone but its still alright
>>22013668I don't know a ton about it but I've heard Taiwan's come up with "Orange tea" recently. Hard to find info about it in English though. https://www.hanyitea.tw/en/single-post/brown-tea/
>>22013737You can even buy it straight from the brand that invented it in the 2000s. The OG one is expensive though.It was created to be a fancy high end black tea, something that was mostly missing from the market
>>22014003That sounds delicious. Is it rare and expensive still, or is it somewhat reasonable to acquire outside of Asia?
>>22014090No clue about buying, the only people I know who've tried it did so in Taiwan or had family in Taiwan who sent it. My google-fu isn't very good either so I'm mostly getting results for tea with added orange peels.As for taste the consensus seemed to be that it's not quite there yet, and could use a few more years of experimenting, as it is now it's a novel thing to try but not good or consistent enough to drink beyond that.
do you add milk to earl grey?
>>22014192You can for a London Fog. They're great.>earl grey>steamed milk>vanilla extract/syrup>maple or honey(if using extract)
>>22014192Imo earl grey is the only tea that always tastes worse without milk. Milk tamps down the most overpowering perfume note from the bergamont and brings out the sweet and pleasant floral flavors it has.
>England's oldest teahouse, dating back to approximately 1687Do you think it's haunted by tea ghosts?
>>22014563Why does it look like a jewelry shop inside
I'm teapilled now. Robiff oolong tea teapilled me
>>22015086made some oolong a bit ago, it's real tastygot some wuyi rock in my cup
>>22015111Do you think it smells a bit like chocolate? I think so
>>22015174YES, I've been on this for a few weeks now that oolong has a subtle chocolate smell/taste more like an olfactory taste
I found out that I don't really like herbal teas. They mostly taste pretty bad. I like black teas though. Tried lady grey today. That might be my new favorite.
>>22015317Reminder that herbal tea is not tea, any more than hot cocoa is coffee
>>22015317Lady grey is a tea blend similar to earl grey (just with added lemon peel and orange peel), so it's likely that you might in fact like some blends involving herbs/flowers. If you want to try something similar, you could tear some fresh citrus peel and infuse it with any loose leaf of your choice. Or, if you want to branch out to other blends, an osthmanthus oolong or classic jasmine green are easy picks.
>>22015317try some chinese black teas, I think they are a step up from indian. can be quite sweet and desserty
>This tea is a great example of Shaihong (sun dried) black tea done right. Notes of caramel, a sugary sweetness, and even a slightly buttery quality make this tea an exceptional daily drinker. Smooth and well rounded, this tea is also low in sourness and astringency, even when hit with boiling water.
What are some good "goblin mode" teas?
>>22015833what does that even mean, anon
>>22015833I'd imagine a goblin would be drinking liu bao, one of those hei cha that come in a big log or goishicha or something.something fermented and weird tasting
>>22015965Your mom is fermented and weird tasting
I'm going to try and get into teas. The AI tells me to try vendors Yunnang Sourcing or Harney and Sons. Is this sound advice? I'm looking for convenience and quality.
>>22016030>Harney and SonsNo>Yunnan SourcingYes, they have beginner oriented sample packs
>>22016030YunnanSourcing is an okay start. There are higher quality and better value vendors, but they are more specialized and you can always pivot to them once you know what you like. YS has a lot of cool sampler sets and a huge catalogue of almost any kind of chinese tea out there.
>>22015965fuck you
>>22015768>it's not on white2teaHuh, that cake seemed like it could only come from white2tea.Where is it from?>>22016030If you're just starting out you should be able to find some big samplers on fullchea/health tea house, at this point more than the quality I think it's worth getting as many different types of tea as possible to see what style you like, and then buying higher quality stuff in that style.
>>22016368>it's not on white2teaProof?
>>22016030Purchase advice is the one thing AIs are hopelessly bad at still even now
>>22016368It says right on the wrapper?https://www.bitterleafteas.com/shop/tea/non-puer/black-tea/giant-cookie-2026-spring-bulang-black-tea
noob hereI'm looking to get a new teapot or gaiwan. what capacity (in milliliters) would you recommend for solo tea sessions? I like being able to eyeball the right amount of water without having to measure it so I was thinking maybe 100 or 120ml since measuring the tea/water ratio based on 100ml of water seems pretty easy. How do you guys decide on teapot/gaiwan capacity? Do you choose based on capacity or is it better to buy teaware that you like regardless of capacity and just learn how to eyeball the water based on experience?
>>22016504I use 150ml, but 100 or 120 works toodepends if you want to do high ratio gong fu with a small pot or more casual semi gongfuish brewing
>>22016507thanks
>>22016504100-120ml is fine. I wouldn't go too high personally (if you do, just get a teapot imo). Teaware should be practical for how you want to enjoy tea and be either visually pleasant or neutral. I wouldn't want some 180ml+ chunky gaiwans for instance because then the ease of handling and general comfort go down (for one-handed pours and smelling the warm, wet leaves). I have long fingers, and I still wouldn't want it much bigger, but maybe it'd be fine if you have big bear claws.
I have some OPA Ceylon that I remember being mediocre but after sitting in a jar for a couple years it seems like it tastes sweeter.
Do i lose out on not doing ongfu nonsense
>>22015833Chifir made from whatever dust you find at the bottom of the pumi.
>>22016663It changes the way the tea tastes. Whether you lose out depends on what you like and what you're drinking
>>22016663"Lose out" depends on what you want from the experience. Gong fu infusion methods are arguably some of the best for yielding the most aromatics and complexity of infusions for many leaf, but it's not like it'll bring the right experience for YOU, nor be quite right for every tea in the book. I personally indulge in the gong fu shit because it's what I find most pleasant and most convenient.
I got my 2022 7562 Dayi brick from KTM and it unexpectedly stinks like dried anchovies. This is probably an effect of the multiweek shipping process right? Should I just let it sit out in the open for a while to fix it?
>>22016734Fishiness in shou can happen from storage conditions and somewhat also shipping, yeah. Airing it out for a few days or a week may help. If you want to accelerate it and get a drinkable portion, consider breaking off some several loose portions (or the whole thing) and leaving it aside to acclimate. Drink some of that if it smells like most or preferably all of that aroma has subsided. I've seen some miraculous recoveries from questionable pu'er before. Seen it with my first cake, and to a much lesser degree in recent months, some of W2T's 520 Jin cakes.
Liu-an I impulse bought from yeeon arrived (this one https://yeeonteaco.com/collections/black-tea/products/2005-raw-luan-basket-tea).It's actually really good. The review on it is pretty spot on, it tastes similar to a really good liubao. I took a gamble due to lack of samples and I'm not disappointed. I'm drinking it grandpa style like everything else so it's hard to comment on the finer tasting notes, but just by enjoyment I'm putting it pretty high up out of the various dirt teas I've tried.It's not dirt cheap but honestly not that expensive either, I think it's worth a buy if you like liubao.Only thing is the basket is a fucking bitch to get the tea out from, without having it crumble everywhere. It comes covered with leaves like that first pic on the listing, should I rip them out so it looks like pic related? It's going to be completely open in storage then though in my cupboard, most of my other teas came in sealable bags and stuff.I also picked up their 2001 raw liubao, gonna try it one of these days.
>>22016663The easiest way to know would be to just try it yourself and see if you like the results. You don't need a gaiwan or anything fancy, just use a measuring cup and a mug.
>>22016750for storage, maybe get a cloth bag or something big enough to shove the basket in so it's not just exposed to the open air, but it's also not sealed in plastic with no airflow whatsoever.
>>22016804Hmm, it came in a paper bag, I might keep it that way after ripping out the top leaves. But if not then a cloth is a good idea yeah
>>22016030>Harney and SonsNot as good as some of the Chinese stuff, but way better than what you typically find in grocery stores. I like the Earl Grey.
>>2201650480, 100, 120 = small, medium, large
>>22016500bitterleaf sale when
Pre-ordered Hibiki-An Fukamushi Shincha earlier this month. Surprisingly, it got here very quickly. I wasn't expecting it to get here until the 20th-ish. I will report back when I clean my kettle out (have been too busy up until now.)
Having another go at the Awazon old tree raw brick AW93.Adding some more leaves this time and I enjoy it quite a bit more than before.
What do we think of the chuds over at the /coffeetime/ general. Do we want to kill them or are they our allies?
i am the idort of beveragesi drink matcha, tea and coffee, i enjoy all of them equally.
>>22017503As a tisane coffee is technically within /tea/'s jurisdiction, but it's better to have a containment thread
>>22017503$1000 portafilter espresso machine + $700 adjustable coffee grinder + local roastery to match the desired time window of exactly 2-4 weeks consumption post roast is considered beginner bare minimum in the coffee world. It is pure gear wankery, where the bean was grown is considered unimportant. They also are quite ignorant of what water to use for coffee although it makes up 99.9% of the beverage. Many wonder why the 2kg Lavazza they bought on their last Italy trip tastes like shit at home.With all the different kind of teas out there you get a lot more variation in taste profile while needing very little gear to have fun which is why I'm here.
>>22017539Lavazza tastes like shit everywhere
>>22016383If you go to white2tea and look for it, it's not there.>>22016500Thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tu3vALcuNY
>>22017503there can be no peace, only caffeinated war
>>22017539>$700 adjustable coffee grinderAs opposed to the $700 non adjustable grinder.?
>>22017559me in the bottom rightI am not falling for the cup with a lid jew
>>22017497Looks like some pretty chopped up stuff. I really want to put in an Awazon order too.
>>220132181990s ripe. Nice but not worth the money. Aging can change flavour but doesn't necessarily improve it. It's even come out that aged white tea was promoted by China to clear out old warehouse stock. They also did studies and found that tea ages to a maximum of around 30 years then either goes into stasis or gets worse. >>22017497>AW93I also liked it with more leaves, I found it quite mild otherwise.>>22017754Awazon is the best by far for cheap tea, but their more expensive stuff can be good as well. I've not ordered anything undrinkable. What sort of tea were you after?
>>22017503They are our allies and I want to kill them. I pop into their thread every once in a while. They definitely know what they're talking about. I wish diy roasting at home was more popular there. It's a good general and the pretend animosity between the threads is mostly good spirited and hilarious.>>22017511Exactly.>>22017773>What sort of tea were you after?That's a great question. I have a sizeable collection already. I guess I'm looking for anything interesting. Awazon seems to fit that bill for probably just one order.
Oh yes. It's real tea time now.
>>22017779I think their jasmine tea is quite good. I got LM01, it's about $5/100g so very cheap. And their plain green tea even cheaper at $3/100g, but still a good quality. From the cheap raw puerh XG81 is well liked, but I think rough on an empty stomach.From their more expensive offerings I've had AW20 raw, I liked it. Seemed best to me brewed at lower temperatures with lots of leaf, then refilled cold over a day, or a couple of days.You can also get a tong of LSBC white cakes from there or AW65 ripe and you're set: 2.5kg for $50. Not the best stuff but it's good to be able to break a chunk off a cake and not even think about the cost; just throw it in a pot and refill all day. Again, it's not the best, but when you're working or otherwise occupied I think those kinds of tea are best because they never go bitter, and you'll miss subtle notes anyway.But if you want to do community service order something no one has ordered before and review it.>>22017791Japanese tea naming still throws me off.
>>22017804>Japanese tea naming still throws me off.Shincha = first harvest, minimal processing after drying Sencha = steamed after dried Gyokuro = shaded for up to 20 days before harvest which is what gives it that famous seaweed flavor There are additional variations but they're just the Japanese name for what's done to them (steamed, roasted, so on)
>>22017804>Japanese tea naming still throws me off.Yeah don't act like dong ding xing fu sneed chong tea is much clearer
>>22017858>He doesn't drink ching chong wala wala beeng bong from the esteemed Lao Gan Ma villageNGMI
>>21986042I drink Yorkshire Gold because it tastes good :)
