Tea

technically speaking if you were to get into tea you would become the flavor

Drink:
PG Tips, milk, 2 sugars

Don't drink:
Pretentious metrosexual loose leaf hipster shit

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>>7937364

>>7937365
This but forget the sugar.

Just PG Tips and a splash of milk. Rinse. Repeat.

What to know: appropriate water temperature and steeping time for the variety of tea you're making
Loose Leaf Best Leaf
Equipment: kettle to heat water in, some form of teapot to steep tea in

What to avoid: herbal tisanes, bagged dust, Teavana, David's Tea, UK shitposters telling you to drink nothing but stale tea from the grocery store like PG Tips.

>>7937373
This, except
>add a thermometer
>herbals are fine
>teavana is fine too if it's the only thing in your area, it's just overpriced.

>>7937407
Thermometer is useful but not strictly necessary.
Herbals are not tea and do not belong in tea threads.
Teavana is horrible candy flavoured garbage just like its parent company, Starbucks.

>>7937373
Have you caught the ghey?

>>7937431
My, quite the purist, aren't you? So even though tisanes are colloquially referred to as tea by the population, they have no place in a tea thread, interesting.

Thermometer, if not strictly necessary, is well worth the minor investment, especially when you're new.

Teavana, I'll grant you. But some places don't have other options where you can look at, smell and discuss tea, so it is what it is.

>>7937365
>>7937372
sub humans

>>7937466
snobbish c**t that's never done a hard day's work in his life

>>7937470
>c**t
Please keep your aggressive lack of standards on facebook where you belong you gormless bint.

>>7937490
please keep your flaming homosexuality on grinder where it belongs.

never listen to brits about tea, even with their snobbery the cunts always burn it.

>>7937359
Avoid teabags.

>>7937359
If it sounds like Starbucks bullshit, don't buy it. Contrary to some comments, David's tea has decent tea but you need to sift through a lot of bullshit.

>>7937359

Go to an asian grocery store and find some loose leaf tea you like.

Good luck

>>7937359
>How do i get into tea, bros?
Drink some tea
>What to know
Tea bags are great
>what to avoid?
Loose leaf tea and advice on tea from /ck/ in general

>>7938717
dumb britbong

>>7938728
Pretentious weebo

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op: amazon: any decently rated electric tea kettle, pot or a metal cup steeper like mine. harney and sons has nice teas.

and hey /ck/, first time trying genmaicha -- holy shit, how cozy and interesting. anyone recommend any brands for it or any similar teas?

Go to chinese markets. I picked up 120g of black lychee, 120g of jasmine, and 400g of thai tea for like $4 each. The 120g even came in a tin. They taste great, excellent value.

I prefer a cast iron kettle, and time/temperature of your steeping is the most important thing to consider.

Don't listen to these teabag memers.

Get a nice load of loose Earl Grey, then add hot water. Maybe a bit of lemon.

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This is the only real tea. It actually taste like tea. Everything else is thinly disguised homosexuality in a box.

Yellow Lipton comes in bags and loose leafs but you should obviously get the bags.

>>7939277
This.

Also add at least half a mug of skimmed milk and five sugars. Anything else and you're a bloody poofter who doesn't know a good days work.

Why is /ck/ full of shit memes these days, this thread is full of terrible advice. Talk about food you nig nogs

>>7939315
>muh food advice

If you can't cook then fucking kys lmao jfc js mwah

>>7937359
If you want to get into tea get into gong fu, anything else isnt getting into tea, just drinking tea

>>7939277
>dust swept off of the floor
>real tea

Nah, fuck you.

>>7939353
>if you want to get into tea, get into karate

>>7939378
>britbong at their finest

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Most people will tell you the most important method of making tea is the quality and water.

... but I think that's only half the experience. The other half is your own personal setting, where you're at, and how cozy you feel. Tea is meant to be drank in a tranquil atmosphere, to feel home within yourself and your environment.

>>7938775
Mmmmmm.
Delicious cup of rice krispies, popcorn and lawn clippings

>>7939277
Lipton a shit
Get some yorkshire down ya gizzard

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>>7940730
>And the he said "Tea is meant to be drank in a tranquil atmosphere to feel home within yourself and your environment"

>>7940730
Well, obviouslly.

>>7939277
In other words you have a child's palette

>>7937359
if you don't want to be an overspending faggot, just pick up some Twining's and start from there. you'll get more into it as you discover your tastes.

>>7940967
also, sugar is a shit-tier sweetener imo. honey and agave are GOAT.

>>7940968
You've obviously never worked an honest day I'm your life.

I get home, and have a nice cuppa of sweeped tea dust with a litre of milk and a good 10 tablespoons of sugar.

>>7937431
>Herbals are not tea

Tea is plant material steeped in water.

>>7941556
So is coffee.
Therefore coffee is actually tea.
Checkmate, atheists.

>>7937359
I buy a lot of my tea from crepes teahouse

>>7938668
If I might vouch for something, I picked up some of their second flush dajeerling and it's pretty based.

Some of their flavored bullshit white teas are nice when you have a sweet tooth.

idk don't go to david's tea expecting real tea I guess, but some of their pseudo teas are alright

>>7941516
>cuppa
what an homo lmao

>>7937359
>loose leaf
jesus fuck
it reminds me of smoking a blunt when someone cant roll it right and shit gets in your mouth and you spend 5mins trying to spit it out but you cant because cotton mouth

fuck that shit senpai gimme a bag

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>>7941516
This man knows the score
A nice cuppa tea, and a fresh box a family circle.

No better way to create a tranquil atmosphere to feel at home within yourself and your environment.

I was going to give some real advice on brands/preparation, but given how much this thread has gone to shit, I'm not going to waste my time and neither should you

>>7937359
This helped me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puldqGnW9P0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUuw5rqWkZU

Just go to your local shop and buy loose leaf from there, don't go to big in the beginning

>>7941755
>being so high you'll literally drink dirt off of the floor

You know teapots have strainers built into them, right? Of course you don't, you dumb addict.

>>7941780
>box a family
Is this like a new carnival game or something where you have to catch a whole family in a box

>>7941805
A couple months ago there were a series of pleasant tea generals on /ck/. Coming back know I wonder what has happened that has caused the spread of so much literal shitposting. At least those generals revealed how little /ck/ knew about food and cooking.

>>7937365
>milk

In general, loose leaf tea is more flavorful and, if you know the right places, is significantly cheaper than bagged tea.

For bagged tea they're aren't a lot of options PG tips is decent but twinning and Tealey are better. Don't bother with green tea unless you've got shit teeth.

>>7938642
this too

>>7938717
>avoid loose leaf
>bags are great

Yes, good goy. It does depend on how much you drink though.

>>7939294
>adding milk and sugar

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>>7940730
W E W

>>7940968
>honey and agave
>agave
kys

>>7937373
>What to avoid: herbal tisanes
unless you specifically want that, like peppermint tea 4-5 days for digestion

>>7937452
Tisane-shits are the worst pedants. They don't understand that herbs + water is what everyone understands to be a tea, not just canandensis sinensia. It's literally tea-focused autism. The are like medium-function train enthusiasts.

>>7940730
LOL are you a fag for real mate?

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>>7939251

Finally. I had to go through half this thread for a real post.

Bunch of queers itt lol

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Anyone else like mountain tea (ironwort)?

>>7939251
>Earl Grey
Assam is so much better for black teas, though. At least you didn't say Irish Breakfast.

Harney Paris

like Jesus Christ, I considered myself a tea person and I had never had it until a month or two ago

I'm going to keep the shit stocked, goddamn

>>7940968
if you get good honey

my local honey is $10 a bottle but I don't think there's any better in the world

It just makes it complete. I get my favorite tea, some Oberweis whole milk and Eisele's raw honey.

>>7942545
>They don't understand that herbs + water is what everyone understands to be a tea

No one gives a shit about what idiots on facebook "understand", and the minute you start to try you get bullshit like Trump being nominated for President.

>>7942577
Sounds neat. What does it taste like?

I like my tea with a bit of honey.

Tapal Danedar has good black tea which you wanna brew half milk, half water. Then strain out the clumps. Add in some sage if you like it.
Ahmad makes a fine cardamom tea (which is delicious plain).
Celestial Seasonings is VERY hit and miss.
Recently I've been trying out a vanilla chai and sweetening it with maybe a teaspoon of honey.

I know it's not tea, but I like my coffee with just a tablespoon or two of creamer per cup.

I repeat myself with this question every time, but Harney & Sons is a good vendor to start out with. All their stuff is solid and it's reasonably prices. Start out with the most popular types: English Breakfast, Earl Grey, Sencha, and maybe Paris. Good shit.

>>7941755
>not just using a strainer

Teamakers of London are good

get some pu-erh for your first tea if you're a coffee drinker

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I've been shopping pretty much exclusively from Mandala Tea for the past few months. Trying out tons of different pu er (raw only, I don't much care for ripe) , plus oolongs and blacks.

Excellent customer service and pretty good prices.

Also decided to try out white2tea's tea club, first shipment should arrive sometime within the next two weeks, plus another shipment from Mandala, and a shipment from teaware.house as my gravity steeper broke so I decided to replace it with a gaiwan and some teacups.

>>7942738
do you notice a difference in cake pu-erh compared with regular loose leafs?

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>>7942756
Yeah, pretty much all the cakes I've had have had a lot of complexity compared to other teas I've had. The shit you hear about "a hint of this" and "so and so on the nose" is pretty true for pu er as well.
The aging is also an important factor of that (and the light fermentation which is the purpose of the cakes). Young raw pu er, I find, is a bit too bitter for me, but 2014 and especially 2012s are fucking fantastic.

If you've ever heard of the term "tea drunk" (combo of caffeine and l-theanine) it is not at all rare for me when drinking pu er.

Over all I'd definitely recommend it, so long as you can find somewhere that sells reputable pu er, and which has samples you can try out.

>>7942775
Cheers.

I've had "tea highs" before from drinking sencha, but I do get that cozy feeling from Pu-Erh. I might pick up some 10yo Pu-Erh tonight.

With tea, how long do you steep for?

I always keep the leaves steeping in the water till it's cool enough to drink, but most guides say only 3-5 minutes for most teas.

>>7942795
For pretty much anything I can (usually pu er and oolong) I do short steeps. 15-45 seconds depending on the tea. This complements multiple steeps, where you do short steeps and then add on a bit of time each additional steep.
For example: 30 second first steep, 45 seconds second steep, 1 minute third steep, etc. continuing on like this until the pu er (or what have you) has yielded all of its flavor.

I've gotten around 10 steeps from one set of leaves before, and it could have been more but I only drink pu er at home so I can't do tremendously long sessions.

Most everything else I just give it a few minutes, depending on what it is. The only thing I really worry about oversteeping is green teas.

>>7937359
Look for suppliers that inform you about the plantation the tea came from,
learn to appreciate the taste of unsweetened un flavored tea before you start adding stuff
if you're buying it in a grocery store it's pretty low tier. like cheese or some liquors

>>7942611
>implying trump isn't our salvation from muslims
>implying the earth isn't flat
>imlpying the bible isnt literal truth
ifchygddt

oolong master race

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>>7937359
fuck you

What are good places online to get tea?

>>7944918
What's your country?

>>7944939
Burgerstan.

>>7945002
Sevencups

Who are the best tea sellers in UK?

I usually go with Tea Makers of L, but are there any fancier brands (where any price increase matches the quality).

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>>7942472
No
Its a big box of cheap biscuits

>not buying your tea from aliexpress

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>>7945002
Mandala tea
White2tea
Crepes Tea House
Upton Tea Imports

Here's my recent order from Mandala Tea.
The cakes are, left to right, silver bud raw pu er, autumn song raw pu er, and heart of the old tree raw pu er.

I need to get a better camera, though.

>>7937359
Yorkshire Gold has the best black tea I know of. The best green tea I know of comes from Taiwanese bubble tea manufacturers; asian food store green tea is hit or miss. If you don't want to bother with all that, get some Stash green tea and put it on ice.

brew that shit in a chemex

>>7937372
Sugar is life.
Just not too much.

>>7945711
Why is everything so cheap?

>>7946416
cuz you are buying directly from china

I'm a huge oolong fan. I like a light-medium roast on mine.

My favorites have been green tie guan yin and medium roast dong ding.

Have an unopened bag of gui fei I need to get into. Eager to try it.

How do I train myself to get better at noticing all the complexities of different teas? I do pretty well with most raw pu er I've tried, and some green teas, and oolongs.
But, for black teas, and ripe pu er it all just tastes the same to me.
Do I just drink more of it? I take my time and pay attention to the flavors, but even good quality ripe tastes like... ripe pu er.

Invest in a nice electric kettle, preferably one with adjustable temperature settings, as different teas require different temperatures. A tea basket for putting directly into your cup is good, but you can also get a proper teapot for large batches/multiple people.
Avoid most of the tea you see at the grocery store unless it's an emergency. Twinings is good, but most else is either overpriced or very low quality (Lipton) or both. Teavana is overpriced and the tea you buy there will never taste like it does in-store unless you brew it extra strong and sweeten it. Buy loose tea: no bags, no syrups, and especially no powders. David's Tea can be good, but know that they do a lot of flavored teas (and some teas with bullshit in it. Like sprinkles and gummi bears and shit). Flavored teas can be nice but they usually only are good for 1-2 steepings and are flavored to mask the taste of low-quality leaves. I like Adagio teas if there isn't a good, local place to buy tea. I find that shops in areas with a lot of Asians tend to be reasonably priced while being decent quality.
I can't tell you what tea is best, that's gonna depend on your own taste preferences. I'd recommend trying some basic teas (earl grey, sencha, pu-erh, etc.) and going from there. Tisanes & rooibos are good too but not really "tea." Also don't buy corn tea. I bought it at a Korean shop and it was not pleasant.

>>7946853
Try drinking some lapsang souchong and some assam or ceylon side by side, if you don't notice the difference then you've got tongue problems.

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>>7946905
Haven't tried ceylon, but I've had both assam and lapsang and there's obviously a difference. With some, I assume there's subtle differences/different flavor profiles as with any other tea I've tried but I have more difficulty noticing them.

With Silver Bud pu er for example, I taste some tart apple, hay, and some subtler flavors I can't place.
With Autumn Song it's lemon, and fresh grass.
Mu Ye Chun has a buttery flavor mixed with dried apricot.

I got some Black Beauty and Downy Tips (both black teas) so I'll do a tasting session of those and see if I can spot some differences.

>>7937359
If you want to be a fat fuck who can't drink anything remotely bitter than be my guest and follow this queer's advice
>>7937365

If you want to drink tea and actually taste it and not just drink something sweet then get into the loose-leaf "hipster shit". I didn't even know there was a hipster tea scene.
I buy my shit from amazon by the brick or in bags
I recommend Pu'Ehr, it comes in Shu (fermented) variety and Shang (unripened) variety.
You could also get into Matcha but it can get expensive if you get higher grades of it and if you decide to buy an expensive set but you could probably find something cheap online.
I would recommend loose-leaf, there are some bagged teas that can be just as good but I don't really no any brands besides Mighty Leaf regarding that.

Anyone know where to get a good gaiwan?
I want a dark colored one with a decent looking pattern on it to match some teacups I have. Don't care too much about size but over 90ml would be nice.
My gravity steeper broke and I figure I might as well replace it with something that looks good.

>>7947150
ebay or taobao if you feel brave

>>7937359
that looks like really nice teaware, anyone know where to get something like it?

Yorkshire tea, dash of semi-skimmed milk, one sugar.

Alternatively, if you're feeling fancy, loose darjeeling, nothing added.

If you're feeling exotic try making Indian style tea.

>>7941657
Fun fact: This is actually truer then you know, since the only reason that Brits today are tea-snobs is because their ancestors loved tea, and their ancestors only loved tea, because it was the most efficient way to caffeinate the body for a hard day's work. If the earliest Brits had coffee that's what they would have preferred, but since the past was different traditionalistic snobbery is, aswell.

>>7947853
doubly funny if you consider that brits actually have no fucking idea about tea at all and all just drink the same bagged shit or at best some cheap loose black tea

>>7947839
This guy here. Yorkshire Gold is the only tea that matters.

>>7947857
>doubly funny if you consider that brits actually have no fucking idea about tea at all
Learn me up, mother fucker. What's the right way to have tea?

>>7947857
We drink tea for efficiency in the main.

Being a proper tea snob is expensive if you're drinking a whole lot of it.

>>7947857
Brit tea drinker here. Pisses me off when I see "tea-snobs" complaining about how other people prepare tea, when they prepare tea by putting hot water on a bag of dust and pouring some milk and shitty sugar on top.

>>7937359
Wants to get into tea
More intrested in what /ck/ likes
Try some god damn teas then try some more you pretentious fart

>>7947766
Drinkware 9pcs Honeycomb Kung Fu Tea Set,Tea Tool Exquisite Puer Tea Cup,Bone China GaiWan,Clear Mug,Tea Infuser High Quality
http://s.aliexpress.com/UNrqMj6n
(from AliExpress Android)

>>7945014
Apparently this place has teahouse near where I live. Should check it out.

>>7937365
>something that is consumed for centuries by most cultures around the world
>hipster, pretentious
yeah hipsters will have a foothold in most of the "finer things" and techniques that have been used since forever bc they'll brand them as "obscure" and kooky, the point is to ignore that bullshit.

Anyways OP, I started with black tea and herbal, get yourself a nice stovetop kettle, pretty cheap, a tea ball infuser for loose leaf if you're going that route, and some teas. English Breakfast is good, Irish Breakfast is my personal fav, very strong and malty.

Look up boiling temps for these types of teas ex. Green, black, herbal, and kind of adjust steeping to your own liking. Generally 4 to 5 is recommended for black teas

Add milk and sugar if you want, but not too much, if people really get that butt hurt about it then they're kinda the hipster pretentious ones

Also, avoid Teavana or any of these "designer" tea brands. Online or at some grocery stores is good enough for all tea

>>7948600
Why avoid them? Are they poor quality?

>>7948782

Usually meh quality yet very overpriced.

>>7948536
thanks, I checked out some of those on aliexpress but they're all such tiny capacity

>>7947853
Drugs can move empires. The history with tea and Brits is actually pretty fascinating. Opium Wars, Robert Fortune and all that. Same with Americans largely switching to coffee with the revolution.

I like British tea as a distinct cultural thing. I think it's fine as long as people realize it isn't the only way.

>>7948793
I see. Doesn't effect!e as I'm a bong.

Anyone got anything to say on Teamkers of London and Jing Tea?