Tea Thread

>>8074078
How hot do you brew it? Maybe you can try lowering the temperature?

Currently enjoying Pai Mu Tan and Darjeeling btw

>>8074078
Pastebin link you posted is broken, OP

http://pastebin.com/EnUxQGdK

that is my problem with japanese tea, they are too delicate.
Even cheap sencha is too easy to burn

I gave up with gyokuro when I had some prepared by a tea master who'd spent years studying tea in Japan. Still hated it. It's just not a taste I can appreciate at the moment. Love sencha though.

How do I "get" tea?

Unless I'm getting something really black and strong with sugar and milk, I all just tastes like hot water with a bit of grass or some other shit in there. Not really bad, but certainly not in any way like something I would rave about, or find nuances in.

Which is kinda weird. With food or other drinks (e.g. pretentious wines), I can easily find and appreciate tastes way more refined than the typical flyover palate, but with tea, I just fail.

What am I doing wrong?

>>8076404
Are you drinking bagged tea?

>>8076404
>sugar and milk
eeeugh
this
>>8076414

First for pu erh. Xiuguan a best.

>>8076414
sometimes.
But I also tried some more expensive (but still available from normal shops) loose leaf teas, but didnt notice much difference.

>>8076569
More expensive doesn't mean better, it just means overpriced.
Doesn't matter anyway if you're preparing it wrong. Read the FAQ.

>>8076577
>Doesn't matter anyway if you're preparing it wrong.
But I don't think I'm preparing wrong.
Different temps for green and black, steeping it for the time reccomended, etc.
The only stuff I kinda like and distinguish, is earl grey with milk and sugar.

>>8076603
Are you adding enough leaf? How long are you brewing it for? Are you buying a store brand? If so it's probably already stale from being poor quality and sitting on the shelf for months.
Buy fresh tea from importers to start with, try upton, they have samples and good prices/quality.

I'm getting genmaicha tomorrow. Hype.

My favorite tea is the Turkish Tea.

What kind of tea do they usually serve at Chinese restaurants? I like that kind.

>>8076830
describe it
is probably some kind of oolong

>>8076830
jasmine green tea or white tea

>>8076577
Just checked the pastebin link in OP (not him). It's expired, nothing there.

He could Google that info anyway I guess.

>>8076404
You're not drinking good tea. There's black tea that is as different from a Twinings bag as good Scotch is from cheap whiskey. But "good tea" isn't as well known or readily available as good Scotch, so you haven't grabbed any.

I'm in the market for a kyusu. Anything I should keep in mind?

Such as Banko vs. Tokoname vs. Bizen.

>>8074078
>ERROR, PASTE ID IS INVALID, OR PASTE HAS BEEN REMOVED!

>>8077396
Glance down two posts.

>>8077406
ok, but not the point. the last thread displayed that big annoying gap in the page and i don't know why the same thing was posted again. you do you guys even read your own threads?

coffee > tea

bump and still waiting for that puerh cake

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Is teeccino a meme? Does it taste close go coffee?

>>8078102
*to

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>>8074078

Lyons gold blend, one sugar, drop of milk, leave the teabag in, everything else is gay and against Ireland

1) Brew for less than a minute
2) Use only slighlty hot water
3) Use bottled non-carbonated water

>>8076577
In the case of Gyokuro, expensive actually DOES mean better.

>>8076787
çay is life

Can anyone recommend a full bodied red rooibos? I'm in the UK.

>>8074078
Is the only issue that it's too much flavour? I would just use a smaller amount of leaves. If it's bitter, then obviously you need to reduce the temperature.

This said, my preferred way is a good amount of leaves, and an instant brew, i.e. pour the tea out as soon as I finish pouring the water over the tea. Then extend the time for a few seconds each brew after.

What is there in oolongs apart from tieguanyin?

>>8079925
So much. Oolongs have the widest variety - not only because so many oxidation levels fit into the 'oolong' category but there are different types of processing that go into it. There are light ones, floral ones, refreshing ones, cacao-y ones, tobacco-y ones, smokey ones, and so on.

Definitely try some Japanese oolongs and try out some milk oolongs too.

>>8080339
Dont forget the wuyi earthy mineral ones

W2t club or ys puer club? Pros and cons of each? Im afraid of the amount of tea in the ys one because the shipping is included in the price and I live in euroland, if it is included im afraid that I'll only be getting like 20 dollars worth of tea and the rest will be dissolved in the shipping.

>>8080339
I'm interested in the tobacco variety, does it have a name?

>>8081072
Not really, i'ts just a note that different oolongs can have. Look for the darker oolongs and the smoked oolongs. Maybe try shui xian.

>>8080339
>japanese oolong
wait wat

>>8082585
Kamairicha?

Can anyone recommend a good online shop to get some tea in Australia?

>>8082947
But that's a green tea.

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Daily reminder.

>hide the thread if it bothers you so much
I shouldn't have to. Get your shit together, mister Singh.

>>8082585
http://www.yuuki-cha.com/japanese-oolong-tea

>>8083021
Try the ones in the pastebin: http://pastebin.com/EnUxQGdK Tea websites usually ship internationally in my experience.

>>8083706
Thanks mate, got a few different things from what-cha to try out. Hopefully customs doesnt fuck me.

>>8076717
Genmaicha is either really good or fucking nasty on every subsequent brew someone help.

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>>8074078
I can't get into Gyokuro either. It's probably the same like with every green tea, start with lower amount of leafs and get used to the taste, then slowly increase the concentration. I want to get me some new japs soon, but I'm so freaking poor recently :/

Currently drinking a selfmade ice tea. Yummy as fk. Used some cheap black tea (profit goes to saving tigers or something like that. No good on its own, too strong, but perfect for ice tea), a lemon and some grape/applejuice.

>>8084774
This is a good idea... I have this cheap assam I'm looking to finish somehow so I'll try this out. Thanks.

>>8082947
Godlike stuff. Not Japanese Oolongs though.
>>8082585
Personally I dislike them, at least the ones I had so far, but I'm not too much into Chinese/Taiwanese oolongs either. At least the Japanese ones are very ok regarding price.
>>8083021
Also Thes du Japon. Personally I prefer them to Yuuki-Cha, as I feel their stuff is more consistent, with less turds than at yuuki.
>>8084162
Where did you buy it? It's quite possible that some of the rice is fucked, due to too long, wrong storage. Had that happen to a friend of mine.
Also you shouldn't use boiling water, but I guess you knew that.
Use more tea and let it simmer less, might help as well.

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I bought a box of green tea (with lemon flavour)
It's pretty great.

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What do you guys think of teavana? I'm thinking of trying their maté teas. What are their best flavors?

>>8085118
Nice you like it m8
>>8085179
I already gave you my thoughts in the other thread, I just took a look at their pricing and it's absolutely insane.
There is a reason why there are very expensive green, oolong, puerh and black tea, as supply of these high-class teas is limited.
Mate tea however isn't made using camellia sinensis, technically it's not even tea. There is no reason it should be that expensive, as the stuff you need to make it, is cheap as hell. Get a cheaper brand. More than 5$ for 100g is too much for mate, even if it's organic. 7$ for 50g is insane.

I enjoy a cup of sleepy time tea with lots of honey sugar and milk.

>>8085199
Their stuff is a blend of mate and other flavors/teas. If you look at the ingredients list on the different flavors some have rooibis and black tea and cocoa blends.

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Also what do you guys think of using rock sugar/sugar crystals to flavor your tea?

>>8085199
Have you used rock sugar before?

>>8085236
just buy demerara unbleached sugar

>>8085236
I don't personally like to add sugar to my tea but my mother was brought up adding rock sugar to chrysanthemum tea so it's a nice novelty to do the same sometimes. I don't really see the benefit of using it over normal sugar though, other than it looking nice and dissolving slowly.

>>8085207
always put honey in the tea after it cooled down a little, as the heat changes its taste.
>>8085217
Just took a look at their ingedients and there are even artificial flavours in there. Not that I think those are the devil, but I'd have at least thought it was organic for that price.
Rooibos is even cheaper than mate.
Look, you can try them, but if you ask somebody who drinks a lot of tea, their prices are about 3x what you'd pay without their brandname. I bet their stuff isn't horrible, but you can get equal stuff for much less. I don't know any american shops, so I can't point you in the right direction, sorry, but I can get a good mate tea from my local teahouse for 1.50€ for 100g. Those prices of teavania seem insane to me, honestly.
>>8085236
Yes I have. It tastes different than regular castor sugar, when you put it in your mouth directly. I don't think that you'd be able to tell the difference from white castor sugar and white rock sugar (same for brown/brown) when it's dissolved in tea.
I just took a look at their pricing for that and 8.50$ for 450g are just -way- too much. Get the cheapest sugar (whether brown or white) you can find, maybe even something local, if you got local sugar companies (I do). There is no difference between german sugar and the one from simbabwe. It's just sugar, there isn't a difference between german E330 and american E330 either.

I feel like I sound kinda annoyed, that's not what I was aiming for though. We cool m8

>>8085179
overpriced trash

Where's a good place to buy larger Japanese tea cups? I'll only be drinking tea alone, and the ones on Yuuki-cha hold 120 ml, whereas it seems that many teas are recommended to be brewed with 210 ml, which would mean the tea in the pot would become oversteeped.

>>8085280
You're meant to transfer the tea to another vessel. That said, try looking at some Korean teacups which tend to be larger but with a similar style.

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>>8085280
I got mine through Zenmarket, basically a fright forwarder. You buy stuff from amazon and they send it to you. Other stuff to check out is J-topia and maybe tableinstore, but tableinstore is expensive.
Hojotea got some plain looking ones, if you're into that
Hibiki-an has some too, but they are on the expensive side as well.
Another good source are the artists themselve, got the left one from tanikangama, Hozan Taniis store, whos cups I like a lot. To find those you need some japanese though.

>>8085260
Thanks for the advice. Sometimes teavana have deals in store and some resellers on ebay might give discounts.
I saw a seller on ebay with 4lb of rock sugar for about $16.

>>8085313
rock sugar should be about 3 bucks for 500g max. and that's organic, fairtrade grade.
I can't into imperial system, sorry.

>>8085287
Oh, that would be nice, because the small ones on Yuuki-cha are very inexpensive. Do those vessels have a name?

>>8085304
I really like the cup on the left. Thanks for the site recommendations, I'll see what they have.

>>8085319
The one on the left is this one:
http://shop.tanikangama.com?pid=34197891
3k yen is pretty aok price I'd say.

>>8085317
>>8085313
Just took a look, turns out it's more expensive than I thought. 16$ for 2kg is acceptable. There's no need to get that much though, 2kg will probably last you at least 3 years, if you drink a lot of sweet, sweet tea.

>>8085336
Well it was $11 + $5 for shipping . I usually add the shipping cost in my head,

Are there any other uses for rock sugar?

>>8085378
Well it's still sugar. In theory you can use it whenever you'd use regular sugar, but keep in mind it takes ages to melt, so some sweet sauce should be possible, but rather not stuff like baking. For everything but tea I'd just use castor sugar though to be honest. It's just easier and cheaper.
Also you can be like the cool kids and pretend to smoke crack.

But hands down, what do you hope to get from rocksugar?

>>8085394
I heard it has a better depth of flavor than regular old sugar.

>>8085378
Rock sugar is used a lot in Chinese cooking. The most famous dish that uses it is hong shao.

>>8085416
That's a very brave statement.
I don't think that this could be empirically proven, especially when dissolved.
The difference between white castor and white rock sugar isn't what they're mad of (same goes for brown/brown), but that rock sugar melts much, much slower in your mouth. That way it doesn't numb your tastebuds, unlike a spoon of castor sugar.
The main difference between regular castor sugar and many rock sugars is that many people use white castor and brown rock and there really is a difference between white and brown sugar.

http://pastebin.com/hw8XXZV5

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>>8084861
Here's a picture of the tea. Got it from some company called "Tealyr" I think

>>8085872
Can't tell you anything from that pic. Take a deep breath, if it smells weird it could be fucked. Was it delivered in an airtight, original "container" (dunno the english expression), or one of those things to reseal? If it was airtight and factory sealed, it should be fine 100%.
If you're sure it's the teas fault and not your own (you know, brushed teeth before tasting or sth. like that) you can as well just throw it out and get something from Thes du Japon/Yuuki cha.
You could take a look at the ricegrains as well I guess, if they look funky, they might be fucked.

I'm not really into tea but I bought a bag of Thai tea leaves from an Asian supermarket because of how cheap it was. I steeped it with a couple cloves, had it over ice with evaporated milk, it was really tasty.

What type of black tea is usually used in Thai tea? All I know is it has a food dye added to it.

>>8086044
at least post a photo of the tea and the bag, those descriptions are too vague.

>>8085952
It was factory sealed. I guess it's just not for me. The thing that messes with me is that , to my knowledge, I've brewed it the same every time. I just don't understand how it can be so awful or at least alright.

>>8086111
hm that's weird. If I were you I'd give it another shot from one of the well known sellers.
Genmaicha is fucking great to drink during meals, no other tea can even compete and I'm not exaggerating.
One of the best teas to drink in large amounts as well.

>>8086111
Oh just had an idea. Put some of it (more than usual) into your can, or whatever you use for brewing, go get some room temperature water, fill it up and let it "simmer" for half an hour or even more.
Maybe you'll like it better that way.
Also you could try brewing it (no boiling water though, 80°C at most, 2 mins) and then cooling it down with some ice. It's a great tea for iced tea. I wouldn't use any juice for iced genmaicha myself, but you can try.

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>>8086049
The brand is called Number One Brand, the leaves look like this

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Proper red/black tea doesn't get the love it deserves. Anyone who's into it really needs to try this one.

>>8083021
I got teas from https://www.theteacentre.com.au/ and http://www.tealeaves.com.au/ if you're going for local. Free shipping in Australia if you buy over a certain amount too.

Tealeaves currently have a deal for Earl Grey, 500g for $19.95 (expires Friday 23 Sep) which is quite timely as I want to restock.

I want to get into pu erh but I still don't have a gaiwan, no place to store it, and I mainly drink alone.

>>8087378
You can get a gaiwan for about 10-15 dollars from aliexpress, most small gaiwans are sized mostly for drinking alone, I wouldnt care too much about proper storage if you arent buying too expensive stuff, just keep them off funky smells and airtight (no point in aging a daily drinker imo)

>>8087378
Those are no problems at all.
Use a regular teacup, close with saucer and when pouring out the tea, only lift the saucer lightly. At first you'll probably spill a little, but it's not that hard to do cleanly.
Also you don't need to buy an entire cake, just make sure that the store you buy from has cakes in store from which he breaks out smaller portions. That way you can be pretty sure it's not some loose Pu-Erh tea, that is probably just regular red/black tea.
>>8086672
The problem I have with red/black tea is the huge amount of variants and sooo many of them are just utter shit. It's so hard to find something you actually like. I think that's due to the missing amount of subcategories.

>>8087378
if you only want the gaiwan:
Tea set Include 1 Pot 1 Saucer, High quality elegant gaiwan,Beautiful and easy teapot kettle,Blue and white porcelain gaiwan
http://s.aliexpress.com/qUb2IrMZ
(from AliExpress Android)

>>8078115
Nah m8
Lyons
Drop of milk
Remove teabag

Should look like copper when you drink it, but I'm unionist scum so that might be why.

What's the tea in Hong Kong like? Does it differ from mainland China? I've been searching for quite a bit now and I mostly get results of British tea and "milk tea". Seems quite weak, what should I expect?

>>8088207
you mean as tea cultivated in hong kong or tea drink there?

>>8088207
ripe puer is the predominant drink to accompany a meal and at teahouses, while in china its greens n jasmine.
"milk tea" is a drink i enjoy very much, its to tea what vietnamese coffee is to coffee.
Its tough to buy good tea without getting scammed, best bet are the governement stores or chains like best-teahouse. While no bargains are to be had, you are not getting scammed on the product.

How long do you steep tea? I just boil it in an old fashion kettle.

>>8086153
I'll go try this. Will report back with each result.

>>8088231
Tea drinking
>>8088376
That's a shame, I will drink tea but won't really buy any then. I guess it's the same with gong fu sets or gaiwans.

>>8088376
>governement stores
What
please inform me on that

>>8089627
actually no its not, since you cant get scammed with teaware (except with yixing clay).
I bought 4 simple, but pretty, white ceramic gaiwans and about 8 cups of the same material for about 5$ a the chengdu teamarket. Its probably the same in hongkong if you can be bothered looking for it. Also i can recommend "The Best Teahouse" for shopping, prices are higher than at your hole-in-the-wall teavendor of your trust, but since you have no chance of finding such a teavendor, it is probably a very good address for you. The tea will still be better than almost anything you can get in the west and its not a huge toll on your precious holiday/traveltime, also the products are what they say they are.

>>8089630
wuyutai is run by the state,
tianfu is a tea conglomerate owned by taiwan.
Those 2 are good addresses for people who are not good enough at judging tea yet, so theyll get scammed with a very high probability at any private teashop.
>>8089627
What i forgot to mention, the prime address in hongkong for locals to buy tea is "bonham strand", if you feel up to the task, know specifically what kind of tea you are looking for and dont mind a potential negative experience (owners dont speak english, maybe they are rude/have no time...) give it a shot. Its very central on the island and famous sights as the manmo temple are close, so it doesnt cost a lot to check it out.

is there something like brands in chinese tea? and i don't meant the overpriced stuff sell by western sellers

>>8090580
Not really. You're better off looking at types and regions.

>>8090580
There are things like "brands" but you habe to dive deep into the topic to be able to distinguish. Menghai factory for example is the best known producer of puer, there are tea competitions in taiwan, getting tea from the winning/2nd/3rd places garanties at least decent quality etc. but its rly nothing you can learn on the fly

Does anyone know where to get good chamomile tea?
t.Buttfuck, Nowhere USA

>>8091542
plant your own

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Does anyone here like fruity type teas or is it all Asian stuff here? Just tried some sangria tea and it was delicious, tart and fruity.

>>8091542
eBay has lots of tea sellers and resellers. The adagio online tea store has some good stuff too.

>>8078115
This has me curious about how much I drink a year. Anyone else?
I'm shit at math so someone check me.

Going with Turkey's consumption per year, a person who had 6.87 kg of tea every day would be having 18 grams a day. Google says average cup uses 3 grams of tea. 6-7 cups a day isn't far off for me. That should put me up with the greats

>>8080339
Pretty sure I had a vodka-y one because whatever I had turned me off forever.

Is milk oolong just the name or does it have a milky taste?

>>8083021
It's either Tea Center or T2 lmao. Tea Center has you encounter more staff that know what they're talking about than the SJW staff they hire at T2. Totally different tea culture. So I reckon the online experience should match if Tea Center hires people by knowledge.

>>8084774
Currently using up a box of Twinnings loose leaf EB the same way, mixed with bit of cranberry juice or lemon juice and some frozen mixed berries as ice cubes

>>8091898
>>8092180
thanks

>>8092177
I have some lime green tea that's pretty tasty. Some strawberry white too. Good on a summer day.

>>8092322
I've calculated it before. It would be easier for me to go by cups because I'm fairly conservative with my leaf. I get at least two steeps out of most things and I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine. Based on the amount I buy I'd say I use about 1kg a year. So, well above the U.S. average and maybe somewhere around China or Japan's.

>Like bagged tea
>Apparently my taste is shit

>>8092322
It's pretty easy to consume those quantities when you brew dust like in Turkey. When you brew whole leaf you need much less since you resteep. You shouldn't be proud of consuming 6.87 kg a year.

>>8092177
Flavoured teas are too random for me.

Multiple times I have gotten a small sample and then tried it and it was the best thing ever. So I go back and buy like 250 grams and get home and taste it and its fucking flavorless. I don't know if its a bad batch or if its old or what but now I have all these bags full of disappointment sitting around.

Its like how drug dealers will give you the good stuff to get you hooked before giving you the garbage.

Do shops that exclusively sell high quality tea exist?

I have only seen places that have 95% flavored tea with a few token quality teas.

>>8092583
it is, you literally drink dust

>>8092583
Try loose leaf and you'll become an incorrigible snob, like we are.

>>8092701
I miss not getting triggered when my friends mention morrocan nights "tea" or tranquil dreams.

>>8092353
I thought T2 was meme tea or something, Someone gave me a box of strawberrys and cream T2, tastes like trash.

>>8078240
Also in the UK looking for rooibos

>>8092921
I've never never tried it so I cant vouch for the quality, maybe someone else here has
http://chinalifeweb.com/shop/product/organic-rooibos/90/

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>>8088567
Please do.
>>8092729
>Hey Anon, can I offer you something? We got tea, coffee, juice and obviously water
>Some tea would be nice, thank you
>Which one would you like. I got seabuckthorn cream and some with seaweed, lemongrass and raspberry
>mfw

>>8092921
>>8078240
I don't drink no rooibos, but london tea makers stuff seems pretty decent. I have never tried them desu. but their pricing is very fair and it's next to impossible to fuck an organic rooibos up (as it's not made from camellia sinensis and much easier to process). Judging by their pictures of other tea (mostly chinese green tea) they seem like they know what they're selling, as leafs are mainly intact when they should be and aren't when they shouldn't.

>>8092353
Milk oolong has a kind of slightly creamy-milky smooth taste. I wouldn't say it tastes like milk but it's kind of reminiscent of milk.

>>8093017
Thanks for the rooibos recommendation. £35/kg seems kind of expensive to me but if I don't get any other recommendations, I think I might give them a try. The other rooibos I have are maybe 2/3 the price but leave me wanting.

Can anyone recommend me some place I can order milk oolong online in the USA?

preferably some place cheap so i can try it.

where can i buy some quality green tea in bulk for cheap? which of these sites is best for this? i'm in the south central united states

>about to run out of my ginseng oolong
I guess I'll have to buy more, my Yixing is for oolongs after all. I have this 100g bag of "milk oolong", but I'm really off-put by the fact the brew is OPAQUE and smells really strongly of artificial flavourings.

So do you guys flavour your teas? When I make cheap black tea I tend to throw in a few leaves of dried mint or oregano in the teapot.

>>8074078
>I thought T2 was meme tea or something, Someone gave me a box of strawberrys and cream T2, tastes like trash.
Didn't say it was top tier. You do realise they also sell unflavoured teas?

>>8095330
Adagio . Also check eBay

>>8095330
Dont buy green tea in bulk, green tea ia best consumed within a month or two, try to buy it from the current year also

>>8092637
Look at the pastebin.
I'm sure most of the stores listed match what you're looking for (I only order from what-cha and yuuki-cha).

>>8095365
>adding anything to tea
kys

>>8095565
This. Green tea's flavour dissipates quickly once exposed to oxygen.

>still waiting for that puerh cake in the mail
and i am running out of tieguanyin too ;_;