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: >>22021835
I keep forgetting to refresh my tea stash at work. Scraping by with the dregs of my russian earl grey, missing my masala chai and floral blacks.
>tfw the feds scour your tea package
Can someone recommend me a tea that is very peach/lemony/citrus forward? I a looking for a nice tea for summer that I could also use for iced tea without putting additives into it
>>22052810Been there, done that. They opened up everything.
>>22052975Why do they do it?
>>22052870It probably hasn't reached the middle, just pry off the outer layer and it's good
>>22053115Have you seen the prices some people pay for bunch of leaves?It might as well be drugs.
>>22052810Lmao
>>22053115Jealously. Those wagies don’t make much.
>>22052876could try one of the fruitier shengs, like dong guo from farmerleaf
Drinking some longjing
I got a new job that pays better but I'm set to start a PhD at the end of the year which pays worse.What tea do I buy to feel rich for the next few months? Some expensive pu-erh sample from quicheteas? >>22052876>peachMany phoenix oolong starting from mi lan xiang.>citrusBai mu dan (grassy-citrusy) or most darjeeling op/gfop (malty-citrusy).
>>22053764We need anon to try the new authentic LBZ from FL. Surely nothing will make you feel more upperclass than that.
Does anyone else have a drinking problem? I keep drinking lots of tea, coffee. It fucks up my sleep, makes me edgy, makes me wanna not go out and interact with ppl. Used to drink lots of alcohol but don't do that anymore.>pic unrelated
>>22053767The one from Spring 2026 that's already sold out?
>>22053776I'm sure he will release a cake in a week or two. Feel free to grab a sample.
>>22053771>It fucks up my sleep, makes me edgyI took a month break. It helped. Also for some reason only sheng fucked me up, black tea was fine. >makes me wanna not go out and interact with pplThat's kind of default for me. Surely one day I will be "normal".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk74JSrF9gI
>>22053848Why can't you just keep it upended while you brew? Seems needlessly complicated.
Drinking pu-erh milk tea.
Drinking gong fu cups of 2023 Day Dragon Pillar. Pretty good quality. How would you guys describe it?
>>22054413I haven't had this one. how would you describe it?
>>22054387Ripe or raw?
>>22054559Ripe. >>22054446This first time, it was gong fu cups from leaves boiled 10 minutes. 15grams and 900ml was the final amount of tea. I also filtered with those ultra finish mesh filters a few times. It tasted very refined and smooth. Everything was well rounded and blended together. Next time, I will do actual gong fu session steep times but 1-3m each steep. I can recommend this tea.
Are tea rooms created or discovered?
>>22054728They are founded.
>>22054566yeah Dayi ripes are never bad. and this is a very slightly fancier one than the numbered recipes so I'm sure it's goodvery cool wrapper too
>>22055100This dragon piller doesn’t seem thick body enough. I don’t know. Maybe the gaiwan too small and leaves can’t open. I just did a 7 gram session with>1m rinse>2 mins steep>2 mins steep>5 mins steepStill not thick and rich enough for me.
>>22055753>1m rinseWhy so long? I've never rinsed for more than like 2 seconds. You're pouring so much of what's available to be extracted down the drainWhat size is the gaiwan?
>>22055761Regular size?I like my ripe thick, syrupy and rich. >1 mins rinse. I don’t think that is long enough but more than 1m seems ridiculous.
>>22055761>2 seconds rinseLmao. The leaves from a cake are hard and compressed. A 1m steep barely opens it.
Is it just me or does English breakfast tea taste like fucking shit if you don't put milk in it? Is the dry filmy feeling on your tongue just a feature of English breakfast tea or have I been buying shit quality tea?
>>22056376It's not just you, this tea is designed to be drunk with milk, which binds the stuff that's overly bitter or astringent (the drying sensation)
>>22056382Good to know, thanks. Guess I need to find a new black or red to drink in my dairyless life.
>>22056386If you can get some, alwazah do a good ceylon that I like without milk. It's very cheap loose in a box online, but you can get it in bags as well.Alternatively, chinese black tea all does fine without milk.
why aren't you?
>like putting lemon juice in my tea >try lemon tea >it doesn't actually taste like lemon it just tastes like floss what the fuck dude
>>22056419I literally am.
Anyone ordered tea ceremony accessories off taobao/with an agent?Really want one of these trays with the built-in space for the 37x20 induction stoves and can't find a single vendor in the west that isn't upcharging by ~900%+ for similar trays, let alone ANYWHERE to actually buy the 110v stovesNot risking getting any borosilicate or lead-painted gaiwans, but curious if anyone has a lead on a reasonable vendor in NA before I send it I get that import/export fees and storage adds up for retailers but I'm not paying $500 for a tray that's $65 after shipping and customs for a 1-2 month waitEnjoying a 2018 raw pu-erh this morning while I browse accompanying glassware
>>22052876Why not drink earl grey, or one of the other citrus variations
>>22056376Brits do drink their tea with milk. And breakfast tea is often pretty cheapo indian shit that's not really meant to be fancy, as well as being the default "black tea" that's served almost anywhereBut I don't know what you mean by dry filmy feeling. I usually drink almost all tea without milk, including when I go out and have to grab some cheap breakfast tea from a random coffee place
>>22056433Try hong kong style lemon tea.
Is liu an supposed to have golden flowers? Mine has tiny dots on it that I think look almost similar to my fu. I can barely find anything online about liuan as a tea.It tastes fine so I'm not too worried, just curious. Also I have my fu bags nearby, but those are those KTM sealed plastic pouches, and also I've only had both teas together for like a couple of months, surely it wouldn't just cross-contaminate like that.
bought a giant bag of yerba mate do i need any special hardware to brew this crap up? its canarias
>>220547285k a month apartment in NY
>>22058821if you want to do the trad brewing, all you really need is the bombilla / yerba mate strawyou can also experiment with making it other ways though. it can struggle with tea brewing devices because it's finely chopped and can have dust. but it works better in a french press or something like that
>>22052690Hey Starting to get into tea, what type of kettle should I get and what teas do you guys reccomend for lunch during work to keep me going and then at night time to help me sleep?
>>22060220Gooseneck kettle with temperature controlling/stabilizing element (ideally want to control temp within 1-2C margin, NOT one of the models that goes by intervals of 10). Plenty on amazon, and you can order the literal exact same models for half the price from alibaba if you're willing to wait on shipping from ChinaIf you're also autistic about coffee at all and have money to burn, you can get one with a flow sensor, but that usually brings price from the $30-100 range up into the lower hundreds, and is really only relevant for dialing in pourover coffee. For midday tea, all true teas (from the tea plant, not herbals) have caffeine, so unless you really want to squeeze as much caffeine as possible out over enjoying the brew, this is your own world to explore. That said, the LOWEST caffeine content is going to be in aged pu-erh and silver needle whites (both of which are delicious and you should still try them!)For sleep, unfortunately as mentioned all true teas have caffeine. They also have L-theanine, the primary calming chemical associated with sleep aide/relaxation. To that end, you'll get the most mileage out of a chamomile blend that've artificially added L-theanine and possibly melatonin(harder to find), of which there's many options - the other herbal add-ins in these sleep blends are largely negligible or dependant on genes for good response, ymmv.
>>22060220Goosenecks are not required. Temp control is more important, but temp precision is not. As long as you have a few values to experiment with, it's fine.
>>22060220sleepy time and constant comment decaf are my night time go tos
>>22046650>>22046691>>22046718>>22046807wasn't able to reply before thread endedjust wanted to say thanks again for recommendations and i'm currently sorting through ones to try first
>>22056390I got some Alwazah tea, didn't know what flavor to get, it's just a box of loose tea with "F.B.O.P.1" on it and I have no idea WTF that means. It's nice, thanks for the recommendation. Reminds me of the tea I can get in an Iranian restaurant in my city.
>>22060220>kettleAnything, if you get temp control it's a plus especially if you wanna do greener teas. It's also possible to do it by hand by cutting off the kettle but if you're starting out it's easier with automatic control.>
Damn whos going to take the plunge on some w2t chinese matcha?
>>22060603>I have no idea WTF that meanssystem of tea grading used in India. the more letters, the better. the shittiest tea doesn't get any letters at alldesu I never found those ratings very useful aside from "no letters = shitty", they don't seem to have much bearing on how good the tea actually tastes
>>22060721sounds like it could be quite horrific desu, I'm not brave enough
>>22060220for green teas anything with temperature controls. doesn't need to be fancy or a gooseneckfor most other teas, you can just use boiling water
What tea is this? Been drinking this slowly for like 5 years but only started enjoying it past 2 sessions. Finished it today grandapa style with a 20 minutes steep and it came out very thick and sweet and fruity. No harshness or astringency or anything bad. Tasted like a barely sweet peach tea.
>>22061063The bottom two symbols in white look like 白茶 which is white tea. What you're describing also sounds like white tea, maybe aged a bit.
>>22061064But what white tea?Super delicious today lol.
>>22061067Helps to show the tea itself
>>22061067A photo of the leaves would be most helpful.
>>22061082>>22061083These have been brewed already.
>>22061082>>22061083Forgot pic
>>22052690Anons I got poo air for the first time and it tastes like an old library and smells like dirt. What's the deal?
>>22061120Hm it looks buddy so my guess would be a sliver needles that has that lil tiny leaf next to the bud>>22061134You're a poo head now
>>22061120Like this but silver needles doesn't always have that lil leaf.
>>22061141>>22061152Okay..thanks. I was quite impressed with the session today because I was told that a sign of good tea is that even after very long steeps, the tea doesn’t have bad flavors.
>>22061164Just a guess mind you, probably best off comparing the dry leaf to stuff on yunnan sourcing or something.Sounds nice, aged white tea can get those kind of fruit jam tastes
>>22061221It was super tasty and thick like apricot or peach. This can is over 10 years old but their website hasn’t been updated since 2018. This is why I mainly just buy factory ripes and drink from old gifted oolong. I don’t trust random ass brands.
>>22061226I love those whites with strong stonefruit and musky floral flavors
>>22061238Sure. I have only drank garbage whites from dim sum places. I think whites and all teas need long steeps to get it syrupy.
I yes I love going to the regular product marketing thread to get instructed by marketers on what overpriced shit to buy!
>>22061244Is Scott in the room with us right now?
>>22061244Shut up!
>>22061134>it tastes like an old library and smells like dirtmmmm
>>22061063You are drinking Anji Baicha 安吉白茶 , which, despite the name, is a green tea.You can look it up. it has an english wikipedia page and it's sold by many vendors online, including YS. I'm surprised at learning that you liked it after aging it. I thought it would be best enjoyed very fresh.It comes in many grades and the flavor of the non-shit ones is generally very delicate, sweet, vegetal, reminescent of fresh squash/cucumber. I love it.I was in Shanghai recently and I found a shop that had different grades of it and the shop owner let me taste them all. I ended up buying 25g of their super duper "politician bribery" grade for 250yuan (37USD). Not sure if he ripped me off but the tea was really good.
Have you ever tried cakes off amazon?
>>22063186No, have you?
>>22063186I actually still haven't tried white tea at all, 3.5 years into seriously drinking tea.
>>22063186I used to buy from ebay(same thing really).The problem with these random cakes is that it is gamble really. It can be ok, it can be bad. There is just too much stuff out there and almost no information(descriptions are all the same and cant be trusted).You are also paying the reseller tax, so the value is hardly amazing. These days when I feel like gambling I just use some taobao agent, but it has been a while since I gambled on a cake. These days I just buy samples as I already have bunch of tea and my space is limited.
>>22063207You should try it, it's goodOne of my favourite types of tea nowadays after pu-erh and roasty oolong
>>22063186nah, but I bought a cheap sheng off of eBay which was surprisingly good for $15/357g.allegedly from 2009, but I have my suspicions.
>>22063207Highly recommend type of tea to try
I dropped my glass gaiwan.
>>22063577Lose one, buy two.
When you buy from teahome now, they show you the shipping cost before you check out, neat. Bought some legend of tung ting and aged oolong
>>22063577Wont these heat up like crazy
>>22061847Very interesting. It is a green tea? Lmao. I opened the can about 5 years ago but it is from over 10 years ago. I didn’t mention this before but a wealthy person gifted it to my parents and parents gave it to me. However, just because a wealthy person buys tea doesn’t mean it is high quality especially if they don’t drink tea. Especially if, not saying this was, they just buy it from a tea province gift shop or something. > I ended up buying 25g of their super duper "politician bribery" grade for 250yuan (37USD). Not sure if he ripped me off but the tea was really good.Lmao. She also gave me a sample of this tea that apparently only government officials can get too. Yeah, the tea was very peachy.
>>22061847> I ended up buying 25g of their super duper "politician bribery" grade for 250yuan (37USD)She gave me a packet of that but I drank it soon after I got it but back then I wasn’t really a tea drinker. How was it?
>>22061847> ended up buying 25g of their super duper "politician bribery" grade for 250yuan (37USD).>politician bribery Is that what the shop keeper actually said?When I was gift that, she said the same thing to me. She said government officials drink it.
Mugwort tastes like perfume
>>22064396Don't know yet.Titanium is 10 times less conductive than aluminium, and these are double-walled.
2010 Dayi 7542 from QuicheTeasSome prunes and darker flavors, mineralic, nice mouthfeel, still some astringency and bitterness leftBretty gud for 50$ tbqh. Better value than my sample of Love Forever Paper Tong for a similar Menghai flavor
Anyone want to help recommend me teas? I've tried a lot of beginner teas from YS and KTM and I love tea. My favorites so far are a really good local ginseng oolong, an expensive light tieguanyin that tasted too complex for my taste buds at the time so I guess tart and umami like good bread (verdant tea), a roasted dong ding, Russian caravan, sticky rice herb ripe, and a hinalayan sencha that was super cheap but better than any expensive Japanese sencha I have tried. Also anyone revived their tastebuds post covid? I used to bum cigarettes off the ground and smoke meth with amigos on the streets so idk if I'll ever get mine back
>>22064727teahome for good value taiwanese oolong. their specialty is roasted ones, especially dong dingif you want to get more into pu-erh, I recommend QuicheTeas for aged raw and ripe. for young raw, Farmerleaf is a good place to start
>>22064632Sounds lovely. I'm looking forward to sampling some more Dayi productions later this year. I love my 7562 Dayi brick, very thick and comforting.
Is there a new meta for ordering cheap teas now that Awazon shipping is expensive. Guess this question is mostly for Americans.
I'm trying jiaogulan for the first time. It's an herbal tea but smells and looks like oolong, unfurling in hot gaiwan soup. It tastes almost minty. I'm not sure if it's suitable for gongfu particularly, but it can satiate the desire for a late night tea session without the caffeine. It may or may not help with weight loss, anxiety, and stress.
>>22065745This reminds me of oriental beauty. It's definitely a caffeine free oolong. Recommended. You can drink tea at 2am.
>>22064423He actually said it, yes. I can't speak chinese so we were talking through translation apps. Hle let me taste one or two Anji Baichas already and he was introducing this higher grade to me. I imagine he said it as a way to justify the price. He said things like "I can't afford to drink this tea myself" and "this is used as a gift/bribe for politicians".I did get him to brew all of them for me before I bought any, just to make sue I liked it enough. It was, IMO, very good. I still suspect it was a ripoff, but oh well.
>>22065956To be fair, every expensive tea in China is used as a bribe. If you're bribing some local low level official you don't even need unobtanium tier stuff, just something demonstrably expensive, a well known tea from a core area
>>22065403I definitely recommend quicheteas, especially for aged dayi raw puerh
Best taste ripe.
>>22065724>now that Awazon shipping is expensive? Seems about the same as awalways for me.
Where the fuck are the new shengs?It's almost summer already.
>>22066208Are you in the US? Same as in pre-2024?
>>22067356I only ship bulk over SAL so yeah. Pretty fucking much as far as I can tell.
>>22066507New pressings need a few months to air out. 2501 7542 wasn’t released until September. Be patient.
Going through a free sample.15 gramsIt's a solid brick.Tried to nudge it in halfIt exploded into shrapnel
New FL releases!
>In 2018, Rodion traveled to China. He quit his commerce studies to enroll in a tea culture undergraduate program at Zhejiang A&F University in Hangzhou.https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202603/05/WS69a8dc38a310d6866eb3bcc5.html
Some of this year's new stuff is up on white2tea.Blood moon? Moon waffles? What else is worth trying?I'm definitely looking for a good high oxidation white, and I like oolong on the stone fruit side more than on the floral side, but anything goes as long as it's interesting.
>>22066507based William has read your post
>>22068222I liked the dancong chatou if you like fruity oolongsI'd try more of their smoked teas. I liked boat captainof course lumber slut is mandatory if you like ripe and haven't tried it yet
>>22063577The one you're looking at is quite small IRL, more of a 80ml gaiwan than a true 100ml. I love mine though, it does get hot in weird places and holding it properly is counterintuitive but otherwise it just werks. Matte finished titanium is a bit of a bitch to clean so I'd recommend the crystalline finished ones if you can find them.
>>22068290Already ordered the matte 100mL just because the delivery time was shorter (was supposed to be delivered today, but alas).Crystalline looks shiny in a weird way in photos. I might order it later if nominal 100mL would turn out to be inconveniently small. But for me small is good, I'm going to use it when traveling and packability is welcome.
>>22068349Using about 4 or 5 grams of leaves, I get around 70ml to 80ml of tea out of mine, and I tend to overfill it a bit to compensate, it's quite small but it holds on to heat like a motherfucker, better than even a considerably bigger preheated gaiwan. I love using it with teas where I don't mind piling on small brews, and I just use a bigger teapot for things like shou or western style teas. >I'm going to use it when traveling and packability is welcome.It packs down real small, especially if you don't use the saucer, and it weights absolutely nothing, both the saucer and the lid are disturbingly light.
>>22059294ummm it gave me.... digestive issues......
>>22068258>>2206814460$ for Spring Lao Man E small trees seems like the standout pricing this yearMiyun dropped in price again, this time to 40$. could be worth it. I remember it being mid years ago but it's even below fa zhan he in price now so maybe it's worth it
Any good earl grey? Looking for something better than what one can get off the shelf in a grocery store.
>>22068493I enjoy this alot.https://www.hugotea.com/products/hugo-grey>high-grade Yunnan black tea and massaged in-house with essential oil of bergamot from southern Italy's Reggio Di Calabria
>>22065956It might be politician bribe. Who knows? lol. My parent’s friend that gave me a sample literally said that to me in like 2014 and she is very wealthy. Not sure if it is the exact same tea though.
>small heatwave lat month and i start making iced lattes constantly>not as hot now but green tea leaves still untouched in weeksfeelsbadman, i still have black tea while i work but need to get the greens back into my routine
>>22068686Just make a big batch at once.
>>22068460I don't see 2026 fzh, I guess it will come with later batch of releases.
>>22068686>start making iced lattes constantlyMake iced green tea?
>>22068686Carbonated cold brew green teaBeen doing 16g/800mL kabusecha, 30min, 1h and overnight infusions.
>>22068281Thanks.>dancong chatouI hate white2tea's descriptions.Did it remind you of something in particular?How would you rate its quality on a scale from I can only taste the charcoal to I can taste six different fruits very clearly?
>>22069142>>22069125>>22068795a daring synthesis
>>22068460>>22068258What would you recommend to sample? I've only drank some cheapo maocha sheng but really enjoyed it. The aroma strongly reminded me of new wave citrusy hops. I dont mind if the tea is harsher.
I am starting a tea business from the field to the customer,this means I will sell whatever I produce.Is there any info that you can help with, especially with books, publications and whatnot.I already follow a couple small youtubers who have info on the subject.I purchased 500gr of Yunan seeds, I had a success rate of 50%, they are now in pots and will be planted next year in the field. (pic related)my goal is to target green and black tea initially.
>>22068510Already tried this one. Not worth it for the price, they use basic bitch plantation tea.
>>22069401very cool, what region?I'd love to grow some tea plants, but it seems to be a pain in the ass to have them survive the central european winters.
>>22069401Any tips for germinating tea seeds? I've gone through maybe 10 and none of them popped. I got a discount tea plant at a nursery and it died off within a month also.
>>22069401Interesting. I wonder if there's a market for this. Realistically it'd basically be a novelty - all the most expensive teas require 1000 year old tea bushes from sacred chinese mountains or whatever. But I bet there's hippies who would pay a markup for someone's small tea orchard in a novel location, sold directly from the farm.
>>22069276I haven't had many dancongs, but it was better than the last one I had. it wasn't that roasty and had a nice sweetness to it along with the tart fruitiness dancongs often have
>>22069441I followed this guy's istructionshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I99uUR3Ps1EI got some sand and some camelia-specific soil that is common, 50-50 mix.before putting them in the tub, I put them in a mixture of ~3 lt of water to 1 cup of chamomile (I also do that with my pepper seeds) for 24 hours so that they can get hydrated and crack. I also put 2 teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide, because I had the seeds in a bag and some started to get moldy. If your seeds don't have mold or you don't have that many seeds, just use chamomile. chamomile kills any bacteria and is also good for the hydration.>>22069435Greece.>>22069466>InterestingI am not trying to produce any special product that's been rolled and folded 6 gorillion times.The market is flooded with bottom of the barrel tea-crumbs that go for $50. I can do 2-3 harvests per year and offer a respectable product. I also don't like pesticides and I already grow hot peppers without any chemicals (I spray pepper tea with cinnamon and bay leaves for aphids).My plan is to plant next year in the field and have a small production and packaging by 2030.
>>22069479>The market is flooded with bottom of the barrel tea-crumbs that go for $50.It's basically all marketing and brand. It's also flooded with whole leaves folded 6 gorillion times for $10 from china, normies just know jack fucking shit about tea and so all of this coexists in the market somehow.
>>22069294>tang fang liang zi>lao man E (if you're not afraid of bitter and harsh)>one of the jingmai ones, probably either miyun or gulan depending on your budgetfa zhan he is also a great value one, but it's sold out right now. maybe they'll add the 2026 version later
>>22069479Where did you get seeds from?
>>22069489ebay
>>22069489a little shop called Sneed's Feed and Seed
Didn't the gulan used to cost a lot more than 150?I wonder what it's like now... Maybe in the next black friday I'll grab the tflz big trees since I like the regular version and for 90 dollars it would be tempting.
>>22069510a lot of Farmerleaf's raws dropped in price because they like them to reflect maocha prices unlike some other western vendors. and there has been a drop in prices for puerh maocha from a lot of regionstwo years ago Lao Man E small trees was 100$. now it's 60$. Miyun was 60, now it's 40 etc.
>>22069510Gulan has come down a lot in recent years, used to be well over $200 and it was $180 in 2024 when I sampled it
>>22069412>basic bitch plantation teaWhat would you like to be used in your basic bitch English Breakfast? Its dianhong grown right outside of 普洱市 and oil. I like the unflavored leaves as well.
>>22069537>REEEE Zen browser is blanking out my downloads again
>>22069522I remember some jingmai cake that was 300 but maybe that was some single trees instead of gulan. I'm not saying 150 is cheap and I dont think I've ever had a cake that was over 100 and would consider it worth it, but it might be a decent deal this year. How was the last year's gulan?The autumn gushu was nice.
>>22069497AU $? thought you said you were from greece
>>22069537I don't want basic bitch earl grey. If I wanted one, I would go to grocery store and buy from there. But I'm looking for something better.
>>22069559
How is it called when you complete going full circle? I started few years ago, buying overpriced Mengku RongShi and now, after trying to get better value and getting repeatedly disappointed, am back to buying overpriced Mengku Rongshi.
>>22069544>The autumn gushu was niceyeah, I liked that too. definitely worth the 60$
>>22069539kek get raped
>>22069544I remember really liking it, though it was right after drinking a load of ripe over the winter so might've biased me a bit. $180 was too high thoughCurrent price on a 15-20% sale is pretty tempting to meThe autumn gushu was a a really solid cake yeah, got that for $48 iirc, hard to beat
>>22069570>overpriced Mengku RongshiWhy do you think they are overpriced?I've had decent amount of samples from them and I'm impressed. Especially the newer stuff is all good, some is frankly awesome value. So far I'm ranking them higher than haiwan or xiaguan.
>>22069580>Especially the newer stuff is all good, some is frankly awesome value.Got any recs in particular? Their ripes are some of my favourites but never really checked out the raw
>>22069580>Why do you think they are overpricedCause you can get the same quality for about four times less price if you know where to look. There are many small shops selling good wild teas for attractive prices - they are out there. But we don't know any of them, hence we buy ovepriced Mengku Rongshi.
>>22069597I think I posted it a while back so you might find it in archive. I can't access my notes right now, but from top of my head, two cakes stand out. The rattan king which was one of the most interesting teas I've ever had. It actually tasted like fruit juice gummy bears. The three kings or something like that. It's like $30 for 500g which is just amazing value. Nice sweet and fragrant, basically when people say they like "yiwu" they mean this. >>22069615>Cause you can get the same quality for about four times less price if you know where to look.I doubt that. I'm already buying it from taobao and anything 1/4 price is either scam or just terrible.I'm talking about raws tho, ripes might be different, but even their bo jun ripe which people praise(don't like this either, ripe just isn't for me) isn't that expensive vs w2t for example
>>22063577>>22064396>>22068290I'm satisfied with its thermal properties. The tea gets oversteeped faster than this gaiwan gets hot.Not as pleasant to touch as glass/ceramic, and metal-on-metal scratching is not exactly pleasant, but not to the degree it bothers me.7/10, might buy the crystalline version.
>>22069553this is the currency the seller wants.
>>22069642Oh ok, but the seller was from australia? how did the seeds not get seized
>>22069669no, the seeds came from china and iirc from the yunan province, but the seller wanted AU$, no idea why.
>>22069676You do know that all seeds outside of the EU (should) get seized unless the seller has a phytosanitary certificate (doubtful).
>>22069690>he thinks you can't just send stuff in parcelsThese rules only apply if the sender needs to maintain a clean legal record for some reason, or if you get unlucky with a random search, or if your country's postal system has way too much time and money to waste and inspects every single packageThe greek government is not exactly known for being extra wealthy and being able to lavishly fund its public services
>>22069580>So far I'm ranking them higher than haiwan or xiaguan.And DaYi and every other factory, imo.>>22069623>tasted like fruit juice gummy bearsIt's strange how Mengku Rongshi can pull out such strange fruity flavors from their offerings. It's also the case with this little cake, which I see is running out of stock on KTM (and everywhere else, presumably). It's my favorite Mengku Rongshi, although I've only had maybe five.https://kingteamall.com/products/2011-mengku-rongshi-qiao-mu-xiao-sheng-bing-arbor-small-raw-cake-145g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha
>>22069623>The three kings or something like that. 2023(?) arbor king. >>22069712Yeah that's the one. Taobao should have plenty for good price. This is the rattan king I was referring tohttps://kingteamall.com/en-gb/products/2005-nanqiao-de-he-xin-gong-cha-dx-tribute-tea-501-batch-cake-200g-puerh-raw-tea-sheng-cha?_pos=10&_sid=825d04083&_ss=rFor some reason its "rare tree" on KTM
>>22069698greek things i guess, don't you have to declare it?
>>22069735Yeah same way you have to declare the total value of incoming goods in order to pay custom fees
>>22069753>you have to declare the total value of incoming goods in order to pay custom feesno you don't.sites/services automatically collect taxes for EU countries when goods are bought via sites like aliexpress, ebay, etc. when they are below a certain threshold, which was at some time 150 euros and probably still is and it is also done for >>22069690>phytosanitary certificatephytosanitary certificates are just meaningless paperwork.that anon's chink seeds go through the same sorting facility that some other anon's chink shit from ali go through, or some other anon's tea goes through. so, are talking about contamination here? where?also, when you order hand rolled, aged, fermented tea from china, you are introducing unsanitized products to a different place. you don't know if any fungi in your tea are going to destroy your local ecosystem.
>>22069849>and it is also done forsorry, sentence cut in halfwhat I wanted to say is that it is also done for products above 150 euro, because you collect taxes that were going to be collected anyway in customs, so you offer an extra service to your customer because the parcel won't get delayed in customs and dhl won't scam you for an extra 50-100 for "customs processing".I bought car parts for old corollas from phlips and malaysians and the tax was applied automatically in 300+ euros orders.
>>22069486Thank you
Anyone ever try making chifir with puer?Anyone ever had tea that gets you blasted within a tablespoon
second greatest chinese export (chinese women are the first)
>>22070477NoAnd I doubt puer would produce significantly stronger chifir, you're just a pussy
>>22053771>I keep drinking lotsWell don't. I drink 1 cup of tea or coffee every morning, and sometimes 1 cup of tea or decaf coffee in the afternoon. Contain your greed.
>>22071110>Contain your greed.No. I WANT MORE SO I WILL DRINK MORE.
My kettle just failed in an interesting way: it was on its base but not on, yet continuing to boil away at max. Seems like a house fire waiting to happen. I'm going to retire it after seven years. Not bad for a $70 kettle, but now they're going for twice as much. The model is Cuisinart PerfecTemp 1.7-Liter Electric Kettle.
>>22053771If I did that I'd be pissing out an ocean every 30 minutes. I kinda wish I was able to drink tea at all times but I'd just be unable to function like that
>>22069712Menghai tea factory is king. Dayi and xiaguan stuff is good too if you can find old stuff. Factory sheng during and after the bubble haven’t been great since boutiques bought all the good material the last 20 years. Also why prices skyrocket once you look at factory sheng from 2005 or earlier.
>>22071171>Not bad for a $70 kettleActually pretty fucking bad for a $70 kettle, this is a failure I'd expect from a $20 chinesium one. The very least I would expect from a "premium" priced and branded one is some basic design effort to make the 3000W appliance fail-safe and never create a housefire even at the end of its life.Seven years is a decent life, nothing spectacular but decent, but that failure mode is atrocious for a branded kettle.
>>22071187>3000W applianceAbsolute moron.
>>22071191Americans are scared of kettles so I don't know what your issue isShitposting aside even an american voltage kettle will be drawing near max amps anyway which can still easily lead to a housefire, even at a lower voltage.
>>22071193>max amps>lower voltage>3000w
>>22071198Are you retarded? Where did I claim that max amps with american voltage would be 3000W
>>22071201>The very least I would expect from a "premium" priced and branded one is some basic design effort to make the 3000W appliance fail-safeBreakers
>>22070910Never really understood the gweilo way of thinking that bitter black tea = stronger.It probably isn't stronger than typical chifir, but it's still strong chifir (5x2g teabags = 10g leaves to ~1 cup) and at least goes down smooth.
>>22071171I have two kettles, one 10$ and one 150$so far the 10$ one works just as well, all it lacks is hold temperature functionexpensive kettles are kind of a scam desu
>>22071268I ended up not even using my hold temp function. I certainly won't pay over $100 for another one.
>>22071268>expensive kettles are kind of a scam desui've had multiple chinksium kettles leek after 2 years, my £90 bonavita is going strong after ~7 years. but the main feature is you can set any temp above 60c
>>220712826th year on a Fellow EKG. Can set any temp from 104-212f. Rarely clean it. Zero rust or tarnish but I only put good water in it.
>>22071268Yeah in my experience the main difference is the temperature hold, but sometimes also the design. A lot of cheap kettles are plastic, and I've tried a cheap metal one once and it was single-walled meaning it would get literally boiling hot on the outside (and obviously wouldn't keep the temp). My current one is double-walled and cost £70, which is a bit more than I'd say would be a good price but I'm happy with it.There's also cheap glass kettles which may be more insulating than metal ones, but probably still not as good as just a decent double-walled design.They also differ in ergonomics especially around the lid. There's so many atrocious designs out there, like having a minuscule detachable lid so you have to take it off by hand, pouring is annoying and cleaning is a bitch. My one has a spring-hinged one that spans basically the entire cylinder diameter so nice and easy to clean. I think the design is largely uncorrelated to price, though, I've seen expensive kettles with retarded as fuck lids or ergonomics. (Like wannabe "old-timey" designs with the handle going above the lid and therefore being constantly in the way.)
>>22071268I have two kettles, one $20 and one $80. Both have a metal body with plastic bases and handles.The $80 has a bunch of features like hold temperature and automatic shutdown when the water level is too low, while the $20 just boils water.The $20 started leaking the week I got it after reboiling water 7 times in 15 minutes. The $80 has worked under these same conditions for over a year now with no problems.Turns out kettles which hold temperature are also built to withstand frequent reboiling. Which is important to people who do gongfu brewing.
>>22071171must be a burger problemomy kettle is 15+ years old, my parents have one around 10, another almost 30,no issues, never had to throw one away
>>22071186>Menghai tea factory>DayiThese both refer to the same tea factory
My broken kettle worked fine for the rest of my session, but I had to replace and remove it from the base whenever I wanted to heat my water. Wish I had some extra cash. It's just broken enough to not need replacing.>>22071187Fair enough, if you're calculating in the manner in which it failed. Glad it happened while I was using it and not while I was away.>>22071282>>22071288I don't care for the gooseneck kettles. They're awkward to aim. Also those ones that use a dial to change temps are tedious.>>22071291I'm reminded that my broken kettle also has a spring-hinge that has long been broken. I have to press the button, then use my finger to dig out the lid. Christ, maybe it is time to put this thing out to pasture.>>22071415>must be a burger problemoYou mean my usage of it? Yeah I guess I do beat the devil out of it. It's a workhorse. It's been serving me multiple times daily for seven years. I would not be satisfied with a kettle I had to baby. I don't even baby my teaware. I have lots of backup gaiwans and teapots because I don't want to treat it so delicately. My favorite cup is a fired slab of clay with a dimple pressed into the middle, picrel. Had to measure: It's 5.5cm x 6.5cm and weighs 208g. I could kill a man with it. I'm also anon who posts "break one, buy two."
>>22071593Menghai tea factory dates back to the pre war period, around 1940. Dayi didn’t exist until 1996 with the release of 1996 purple Dayi, and only really became its own thing in 2005. There was also a mass exodus of menghai tea factory people in the late 90s who started their own factories like Changtai and Haiwan. So while Dayi does continue the lineage of menghai tea factory, I would hesitate to say they are the same since the people behind menghai tea factory and its quality standards (and reputation) were not inherited by Dayi.As another analogy, the Taiwanese boutique Chen Yuan Hao founded by Chen Huaiyuan directly descends from and inherits the legacy of Zhen Chun Ya Hao. But the teas produced by the two brands are very different, and it would be dishonest to say they are the same.
>>22053771Same, including the alcohol. I think I'm just used to it now. I can't really dial it back since I cut out every other drink, and an excess of tea is the least bad option.>>22064727Awazon sells really good value daily drinkers: you can get a 2.5kg tong of white or ripe, or the 2.4kg of green for less than $50. As for good taste, I had white2tea blood moon recently in a gaiwan, that was good.
>>22071693I think this is from the book global tea hut sells but I can't remember. It claims that Mengai Tea Factory has been using the Dayi trademark since 1985.If you look up pictures of dayi wrappers they say "Menghai Tea Factory" on them.You can say the quality isn't what it used to be and a lot of people who made the factory what it was have left and I'd agree, but MTF and Dayi are literally the same factory. But anyways it's really semantics and I don't really care.Pre 2005 Menghai is some of the best, Xiaguan from that time too. I really don't know if I could choose a favorite between those two, they're both great and pretty distinct from one another, it depends on my mood really.
Sweetest Dew Pre-qingming Bai Mu DanWhite tea mogs
>>22073075teas for this feel?
>>22073811https://white2tea.com/products/2024-a-i-boiler-plate?_pos=2&_psq=boiler&_ss=e&_v=1.0
Some cold brewed yerba mate to beat the heat. La Mejor despalada (no sticks)
>>22069401You might check out or contact some European tea plantages for information. Perhaps the ones in Italy, Portugal or The Azores have similar climate / soil as in your region. https://www.wanderlustea.com/euteaThe plantage in The Netherlands after lots of experimenting eventually settled with Georgian tea plants.
What are /tea/s thoughts on Yerba Mate? >>22074078Wow, what are the chances....an Anon is channeling the same wavelength as I. >iceAs crazy as pouring milk into Mate Cocido. ¿Qué marca?
>>22074822>What are /tea/s thoughts on Yerba Mate?I have only had a canned and cold, flavored yerba mate drink before, so I have no real reference. I imagine it tastes nice, but it seems less convenient due to dusty/shreddy material that probably expedites extraction, need for a special straw you need to routinely clean, and the higher caffeine content/etc meaning it'll be more stimulating. By comparison, I can have some shou pu'er like I am right now and still go to sleep. Just based off of anecdotes and composition, yerba mate comes across more like coffee than it does tea. Still, I'd like to give it a go someday if the opportunity arose.
>>22074822>What are /tea/s thoughts on Yerba Mate?Very tasty for fake tea.
>>22074822>¿Qué marca?Fede Rico (FD)I always put ice in there when I cold brew it terere style. brews up better when the water is ice-cold, room temperature water does not extract it as well>>22074846it's not that different caffeine wise from having a gong fu session with something strong like a sheng pu-erh. and when cold brewed the effect on me is more calming, I think it extracts less caffeine and more l-theaning or whatever else is in there?cleaning the straw is not hard, you can just run some water through it after every use and maybe occasionally use that pipe cleaning gizmo on it if you really care
>>22074972I suppose it doesn't seem too bad in terms of maintenance then. I'm still not really sure about the brands and which ones are actually worth experiencing. They all seem quite different. I watched some videos on the differences, but they just centered it around a wimpy audience that can't handle a bit of bitterness or earthiness/smokiness or whatever. Getting into it still sounds a bit less clear-cut than tea.
>>22074998it's actually hard to go wrong whatever you buy, yerba mate doesn't really have picking grades, tree age, hyped terroirs or other things you pay for with teait's all similar quality, just down to personal preference. so when in doubt, just buy whatever prepackaged south american brand you can get the cheapestthe processing differs by region and brand. if you want smoky and strong with darker flavors, anything Paraguayan will probably be for you, as long as you don't mind some dustif you want smoky but don't like a lot of dust, you can go for some Argentinian brands. I like Rosamonte for slightly smoky and if you want more smoky, La Merced Barbacua should do the trickif you prefer grassier and fresher flavors, some Argentinian brands like Cruz de Malta or Kraus are like that, along with most Brazilian and Uruguayan brands. some, like Kraus will explicitly say they are "smoke-free"
>>22073811any of the biyun hao from teaswelike. wuwei shanfang 2012 2kg anniversary cake if you can find it2003 wistaria zi pin if you can find it1988 qing bing if you are richtrad tieguanyinpic unrelated
>>22075686Bad picks.>>22073811Send an email in French to the Paris branch of Wistaria tea house, asking about their “last cake” of 2004 Taihe. IF you somehow receive a response, be prepared to pay $1600 and spend an afternoon glued to your couch…
Is there a big difference between first flush and second flush?The FL manzhuan was like $80 for 2025 second flush and is now $160 for first flush. Seems like a big jump, since both are spring.
>>22076887The first spring pickings are usually better. Sometimes significantly better, sometimes less so. The reasoning I’ve heard is that after trees get picked they start defending themselves and make their leaves less pleasant to consume.
>>22076902>grasshopper bites tree>tree starts defending itself>this is GOOD actually>farmer plucks tree>tree starts defending itself>this is BAD actually
>>22076902I know but 2x better?Btw I didn't think the last year's version was worth.
>>22076907Very different mechanisms. Bug bitten tea is about more than just the terpene release, since only the bitten leaves are processed into tea. Picking leaves also means the tree has to draw more nutrients from the soil to regrow them. There’s a lot of questions about sustainability of tea picking and how much it hurts the trees.
>>22076939That’s up to you. Some people are willing to pay 3-4x as much for first pick spring tea compared to later pickings. $3/g for first pick spring longjing versus $1/g or less for later picks of the same year, but I guess freshness factors into green tea prices too. With sheng puer I know people want earlier picks since it “ages better”.
>>22076939Nothing is ever 2x better when it's 2x more expensive, you get severely diminishing returns (unless it something perfectly matches your specific personal taste or something). Rare or limited teas in particular enjoy very strong supply-demand pressure, basically there's always fags with way too much cash who are willing to pay extra to get a specific type of tea, whether it be paying 2x extra to get a first flush harvest or paying $5000 to get some meme 40 year old puerh cake, just because they want it and can afford it so why wouldn't they? They're not doing value per tastiness calculus, just like how when you're buying $0.30/gr chinese tea you're not doing mental math on whether it's at least 10 times better than $0.03/gr lipton teabag dust or something.And of course tastiness is also overall subjective and sometimes rich pseuds will pay extra for a "prestigious" tea regardless of how tasty it actually is.
>>22076939>>22076972I’m all for not paying overpaying for overhyped teas, but prices are the way they are for a reason. Expensive tea unfortunately does offer something that cheaper tea does not. And people take the whole “is it 2x better” thing too far, because the bottleneck for people deep into tea is less of a budget limitation and more of a “when are you going to drink what you that” limitation.At the beginning of my tea journey if I went into a shop which offered a standard $100/100g oolong and a standard $10/100g oolong, I’d probably pick the $10 option. Now I’d probably pick the $100 option, not because I think it’s 10x better or it’s more rare and prized, but I have more than enough teas in my collection I’d drink over the $10 oolong. Lots of people also decrease the overall quantity of tea they drink over time while maintaining the same budget. So when you see something that looks overpriced, remember you’re probably not the intended buyer.
>>22077032>Expensive tea unfortunately does offer something that cheaper tea does notI mean, not always, sometimes it is a scam or does have severe diminishing returns
>>22077183>diminishing returns I won’t talk about scams since people should vet their vendors before buying anything. What constitutes diminishing returns often depends. It’s very common for drinkers to spend several years orienting themselves and figuring out what they want out of their tea, which often leads to the infamous “tuition tea”. Even something as simple as tasting notes may not make sense to a complete beginner.But if you’re just looking at flavor, it might be hard to see the difference between a $1/g and $0.25g tea. There is a pretty big difference though. One could have a superior mouthfeel or texture. Or one gets really unpleasant when it cools down while the other remains alright. Or one has a presence in the throat and the other does not. Or maybe one only lasts 6 steeps while the other 12. And learning to recognize things like these as well as figuring out which you care about takes time.
>orientaling themselves
>>22077264tea is British coded
>>22077183To add on to what the other guy said, imo and ime expensive tea almost always does offer something cheaper tea doesn't as long as you're buying from a reputable vendor.
i went to a taiwanese tea place and got something called tie guan yin that was very good. but they brewed it in a way I've never seen that resulted in a lot of foam in the cup, like maybe they forced water through the leaves with a high pressure quick extraction or something. does anyone know anything about this tea or this method of brewing tea? I'd like to get some tie guan yin now but it looks like there are different varieties and I'm not exactly sure which one i had
>>22077436I don't know about any brewing method like that, did you see them brew it?Most tie guan yin nowadays is very lightly roasted and when brewed is a pale greenish color, some of it is more heavily roasted and will be tan to darker brown colored.Most tgy is grown in Fujian, more specifically Anxi. Taiwan also grows it though, look for Muzha tgy. If the listing doesn't specify light/med/heavy roasted, I would assume it's light roasted. Taiwanese Muzha tgy seems to me to be heavily roasted more often then Anxi which is almost always light roast
>>22077474i didnt see how they made it but it was quick, maybe 3 or 4 minutes.. maybe they have all their teas prebrewed but they have a big menu and i didnt see a bunch of pitchers so idk. it looked like this at the top. it's definitely not milk and it dissipates after a while.the tea itself was between the color of green tea and barley tea so it may have been lightly roasted. anyway, it was good.
>>22077347>"everyone and their mum now drinks tea">21st century rolls around>absolutely fucking nobody drinks tea anymore except the boomiest boomers>everyone only ever drinks coffee>tea is only offered in cafe places for the occasional autist, just because stocking tea bags is cheap as fuck
>>22078028>>everyone only ever drinks coffeethe americanization of the world was a mistake
puer.... on ice
>Dian hong, cold brewed and carbonatedYunnan blacks work better than japanese greens
>>22078383What do you mean carbonated? How did you do it?
Loose leaf in self-fill tea bags > loose leaf in teapot/gaiwan > tea bags
>>22078386SodaStream. It's a bit of a mess because of the foam but it's worth it imho.I'm tempted to use homemade ginger beer for cold brew instead. What kind of tea goes well with ginger? I think I'll start with sheng.
>>22078388loose leaf in cup >>> all
Anybody here use a samovar? Thoughts on the concept?I do grandpa brewing a lot more often than bothering with gongfu, and I mostly drink easy to brew teas like ripe, roasted oolong, and heicha. The idea of a massive brass tea brewer is kinda neat, but I'm wondering if it's practical these days or whether it makes shitty tea for slav peasants
>>22078394Mmmm, extra fiber
>>22074808>Hello is this the tea plantation?>Yes>I'm anon, can you tell me how to steal your business>Sure, plant your seeds in rocky soil, never water them, pick only big leaves, bag and sell immediately>Thanks innit
>>22078398Don't eat it lmao
>put bunch of ice cubes into glass>slice of lemon>some syrup>top it off with few quick gong fu brews of cheap black teaIt's tasty and I finally have a way to use the cheap stuff that is taking space
>>22078399You actually don’t want to pick the biggest leaves. The older, larger leaves are frequently too bitter and taste bad. Usually there’s a mix of buds and smaller grade leaves in each picking, which gets sorted a few more times in the tea making process.
>>22078416this is an esoteric method of brewing that has been known to the people of the southern united states for several generations and passed down in a strict lineage from family to family. there, they call it "sweet tea"
>>22078383>laughs in dian hong kombucha
>>22078482>laughs in sugar free drink
>>22078518>what the fuck does fermentation do?
>>22078522It leaves some sugar on the table and you like it. Child.
>>22078558Children famously love drinking vinegar.
>>22078562Seems to me like bad kombucha but I respect your tastes.
>>22078577Hydrometers are very cheap. Going to come in handy if you're making ginger beer.
>>22078581>hydrometer for ginger beer Why would I care since I won't brew an alcoholic drink ?
>>22078605So you're planning on making shitty Ginger Soda/Ginger Ale instead. Thats cool I guess. Not really /tea/ appropriate though.>Ginger beer is still produced at home using a type of symbiotic colony of yeast and Lactobacillus bacteria (SCOBY) known as a "ginger beer plant", or from a "ginger bug" starter created from fermenting ginger, sugar, and water.
>>22078622>Not really /tea/ appropriate thoughThe question was: what tea with ginger?
>>22078720Goes great with light carbonation.
>>22078416I just made a big Arnold Palmer with some cheap Ceylon brewed 5+ minutes and a bottle of pic related because it's way too acidic to drink straight anyway.
>>22077828I want to say that looks like hong kong style milk tea that's frothed up, but if you know that there's>no milkthen I'm stumped.Maybe it was brewed with one of these fancy automatic coffee machines and the high pressure causes the foam.
Drinking a 2023 Prosbloom white2tea dragonball, lots of petrichor and wood, brews up thick. Not a lot of longevity. Pretty nice and kinda cheap for white2tea standards at $15/200g, though I think you might get more value out of something that brings a bit more endurance.
>>22077436>>22077828Sounds like cheese foam to me.
>>22079716There's an unusual flavor in Prosbloom that I can't put my finger on. I don't think it's in the woody family of notes. It's been controversial here before. I didn't like it at first, but it grew on me. Was yours a sample? W2T seems to give them out like candy.
>>22079730is that a tea thing? the contents of the cup were only brewed tea and sugar.
>>22079905Ye, it was a sample to my '25 shilloween order.They must be sitting on a lot of stock for this one since they sell it cheap and like to shill it with freebies alongside many orders.What I have left is pretty brewed out, so I'm probably describing my local britta'd tap water, but after trying it again to figure out what taste note you or the other anon from the archives might be picking out I can only come up with maybe dates (which really is just vague caramel sweetness), iron(?)/minerality and some vegetal taste.There's a hint of swimming pool/chlorine that I'm getting at the moment, but as mentioned, that could just be my tap water shitting the bed at the moment or some fermentation taste that I'm misattributing.TeaDB and Steepster reviews are pretty lukewarm with nothing standing out. Idunno, I liked the first 5 steeps that I had today.
>>22079946don't see much reasons to buy a lot of these w2t ripes when you can get 500g of Dayi V93 for 18$. or 7562 for 10$ per 250g brick
>>22052876>Sometimes such items as onion, ginger, jujube fruit, orange peel, dogwood berries or peppermint are boiled along with the tea. Such ingredients may be merely scattered across the top for a glossy effect, or they can be boiled together and the froth drawn off.>Drinks like that are no more than the swill of gutters and ditches; still, alas, it is a common practice to maketea that way.Lu Yu, the Classic of Tea
>>22078388loose leaf in cupfuck extra steps
bought some more yerba mate, I'm running out and when it's so hot outside I prefer to drink terere style cold brewed mate. it's very handy, brews up much faster than cold brew tea or coffeeglad I found another blend with chamomile, I had one before and it was my favorite herbal mate blend. we'll see if I like the inclusion of anise seeds
>>22069466I'd buy local tea just for the novelty but unless >>22069401 is a horticultural expert or this venture is likely to fail, and even if the plants do grow it's a ton of work to make new tea trees into good tea. However, there's a growing niche for locally produced goods regardless of quality, the traditional chinese tea harvest is sustainable on its own but not when you ship it around the entire planet.Approaching it as a learning experience is the right start at least, I'll post some relevant materials later if I can
currently enjoying a green tea, Mao Feng from Wu Liang I get a big bag of green every time I order a bunch of oolongs and drink the green once I run out of others, favorites this time around were Sweet Potato (Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong) and Honey Orchid, both Wu Yi oolongs I think
I've been offered two Nepalese blackish (some of the material is still green after infusion) teas for my birthday a while back. They're both just awful. I tried gongfu and cold brew and they get this tart taste plus a concentrate of the plain tea flavors I like the less. I've had better floor sweepings than those loose leaf teas. What might I be missing regarding brewing them?
>>22081109Have you tried western brewing? That's probably how these are meant to be brewed. Could also try slightly colder water?
>>22081109I've had a really good Nepalese black tea before that was done in the style of like dianhong or something. Chocolaty and malty. It was more of an experimental one, usually nepalese black teas are more like darjeeling
>Places to avoid: Teavana (over-perfumed, expensive, poor quality), Starbucks (same issue), any place that sells lots of flavored tea that isn't French.Is there any reason why flavored french herbal tea is well regarded ?
>>22081216Probably just refers to that one french teashop that specialized in aromatic blends
>>22081216The well known one is "Mariage frères" they have a very large selection of tea but they are not really able to compare to "real tea" that you can find in the tea growing countries. They sell both blends, some made by the brand and some collections called "Les Grands Jardins" which are semi direct products from producers usually way above the normal price tag but sold as natural teas meaning nothing added to them. If you are looking for something specif I could maybe help a bit since I reside in france and tried over the years many of their teas.
>>22081117Will do>>22081128Those indeed look like Darjeeling but don't taste like it.
>>22081216Palais des thés has some pretty good flavored stufft. used to dislike flavored stuff before
Do you guys think there will be second wave of cakes from FL?I'm betting next releases are two weeks away, since fzh is no where to be found.
>>22081370I was simply curious since [spoiler]I live here too hon hon hon[/spoiler], not looking for something in particular but I'll gladly take recommandations of blends if you got any. I've started drinking tea 13 years ago while mostly sticking to flavored blends by Mariage, Dammann, Compagnie coloniale and my local tea shop so I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means but these years I've begun to grow tired of always drinking the same kind of tea. I may take >>22081470 advice and taste Palais des thés for a change, or bite the bullet and try "real" tea
>>22081614Well I would push you to try directly imported teas then, buying on a western facing shop will be lower cost than trying to find so called premium in any shops in france. Palais des thés is really similar to the others maybe you can find one blend you like or a flavored one but it's not really tea in the grand scheme of things, not judging but it's the reality, most of blend or flavored are a cheap way to add non tea to the mix because the tea they use is so low quality that it doesn't work by itself for people. One tea I really liked from Mariage is one of the japanese smoked collection they have in little cardboard pouches but the price doesn't even correlate to the quality compare to some japanese shop you can order from including the shipping cost and taxes. Trying some chinese or tawainese tea once is always a good idea, japanese maybe but can't recommend much since I don't drink any matcha, sencha or greens in general.
just copped some dank nugs
>>22081587yes, they always do more than one waveI'd guess sure there will be a new fa zhan he too, it's sold out and it's surely a crowd favorite, probably with cheap and readily available maocha since it's a totally obscure location
>>22081629that's nicea four season oolong my aunt brought over from Taiwan was the first tea that ever made me realise tea can be naturally floral and sweet and so much different from the ceylon black and stale supermarket sencha I knew
>>22081650that's good to hear. this is the first time I'm trying it. i got turned on to oolong recently after trying tieguanyin.
>>22081628Now that you mention it I recall buying a tea from that Mariage collection a few years ago. Milky something, not sure about its name but it was a oolong with a very nice milk fragrance despite being 100% tea. I might just bite the bullet and import a substitute from one of the chinese rentry shops. Can't I'm pleased with the VAT and duties I'll be charged with, but going by Mariage prices I'm not sure buying locally would be cheaper
>>22079950Yeah I agree. the pound o' minis was fun, it offers some convenience and a good overview of the w2t productions, but I could have gotten better value out of quiche, KTM or maybe even TeaHome.I do like the Black Cat for it's thickness and Big Jacko for it's weird pencil shavings/woody aroma, but they're not especially unique as to justify the expense. At least when you need to penny pinch and think twice about your purchases.
>>22081779at least lumber slut is worth buying
>>22078399The European tea farmers are connected in an association. Check it out if you are serious about your tea farm. https://tea-grown-in-europe.eu/It is also fun to try the member's teas. They are quite unique.
Do any of you have teas that are "for special occasions", or precious or rare or whatever that don't end up getting drank?I told myself I wouldn't ever do that with any tea, but here I am.I bought this tea (old ass supposedly 1960s loose leaf sheng, really good stuff) in Taiwan 2.5 years ago and the tin is still more than 3/4 full. After I got home I figured I had a two years supply if I had it every other month. I have another tin of a different super old loose leaf sheng I bought from a different shop on the same trip that's similarly still pretty full.These threads seem to have slowed down considerably from what I remember 2-3 years ago. I wonder if we lost a lot of people to discord, especially during the hack. Posting seems to have slowed down more in the past 6 months to a year though. I think the US tariff situation also hurt us quite a bit.Anyways, I'm having some today, cheers. Old damp wood, mushroom, tobacco, leather, a bit of dark chocolate. Man I love that fully aged sheng flavor profile.
>>22083717the thread might be slow, but at least it's still goodI think in this kind of weather less people want to drink teaI personally am just cold brewing yerba mate. the anis one is not bad actually >>22080118
>>22083730>the thread might be slow, but at least it's still goodVery true, much better than a fast low quality thread.I have some indega yerba mate on the way for the first time, I'm excited to try it out.
>>22083739Nice, I love Indega seleccion especial, it is the earthiest yerba mate I've had. Idk why, maybe it has a very long seasoning time. But it's extremely characteristic because of the earthiness.Today I'm cold brewing some Rosamonte, which I like for a balanced argentinian flavor that isn't too grassy
>>22083748Ice cubes really help with extraction, it works best when the water is ice cold
>>22083749Love that stuff but hate drinking it through a hot metal straw. I just make it in the french press now.
>>22083717>These threads seem to have slowed down considerably from what I remember 2-3 years agoI started buying cakes about 3 years ago and for me there isn't that much to talk about. Vendors are the same, releases are also stable every year, I already know if I am interested in something or not. It's also hot as balls and my nose is constantly full so I can't tell if I'm drinking something good or not. >Do any of you have teas that are "for special occasions"Not really. If I feel like it I just drink it. I wanted to reward myself for achievements with some special cake, but haven't found any that I would really like. Every time when I try sample of something that could be special I feel like it's just not worth getting since I already have bunch of good enough tea.
>>22083749Following it up with the anise Fede RicoNever had a yerba mate with anise before, gotta say it's a great combo. It doesn't completely dominate the flavor the way mint can. The tobacco like Paraguayan mate flavors shine through nicely.
I've been steeping mate like regular tea. Same ratios, steep time, full boil. Any advice on how to improve that?
>>22083808the trad way is shitton of leaf (to taste, in a small 120 ml teacup I like to fill it 2/3rd of the way with leaf but most people start with less), 70-85 degree celsius water and filtered through the bombilla drinking straw
I unironically love this stuff.
The Awazon jasmine dragon pearls is really good.>>22083717I haven't splurged on anything really special yet. The thing I'm touching the least is probably some semi-fancy Gyokuro, mostly because the 'special' brewing perimeters (have the first cup be intense as shit) make it a bit less convenient then just doing gongfu with a shu.Oh, and also the first taiwanese TieGuanYin that I ever bought. I really like it and there's only two portions left, so I'm probably just going to keep that forever.
>>22083717I don't have a "special occasions" teabut to be fair I also haven't tried anything truly eyewateringly expensive or rare, I don't think I've ever gone beyond 1$ per gram
>>22084005>Black tea*, natural flavouring (3%)I'm sure it's good, but I wonder if you could get the same effect by adding malt syrup or something.
New thread:>>22085089>>22085089>>22085089
>Hi Anon,>It's been quite a while since you last stocked up on Mei Leaf tea and we are concerned that you are really thirsty by now. Concerned that you will miss out on spectacular new teas and teaware. In fact, we are so concerned that we begin to think the worst and have images of you dunking teabags!Yeah nah fuck off, why are brits such poofters
>>22078395You can easily brew zavarka without a samovar, and it's often my preferred way to drink assams, ceylons, that sort of thing.
