/tea/

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bought some white moonlight yesterday, my first white tea

it's pretty decent, have to get used a bit to the nutty aroma though, I'm mainly drinking green/oolong teas usually

My "premium" YS club shipment arrived today - loving the ginger aroma dan cong. Texture is off the hook.

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last tea I drank was Bai Ye Dancong oolong
can't say I'm impressed with it, smell is basically only roasted leaves, too strong for my taste
flavor is decent, a bit sweet, a bit nutty, a bit woody, aftertaste is only a bit nutty, and boy is it astringent

last tea I drank that I really liked was bi luo chun
fresh is the first thing that comes to mind when having to describe it
a fresh, refreshing, floral taste and an aftertaste soooooo sweet
also smell isn't as aggressive as most other roasted green teas'

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>>8499576
Has anybody tried using epazote (Mexican tea) before?

How does it taste?

Is it as good as traditional east Asian tea leaves?

>>8499576
Been drinking mostly yancha, got a few from ys of varying quality, others from a guy I met who hooked me up, pretty good stuff.
Been meaning to buy a small yixing around 65ml for high roast teas, found a few cool ones but im hesitating to pull the trigger.

Wanted to get into the loose leaf game so I went out to a teavana that while I know now is overpriced I got some youth berry/wild orange mix. What's a good place to order my loose leaf?

>>8500951
Teavana is fine, its overpriced but its not that bad and the tea is pretty solid quality.

Tea drinkers like to rally against it like coffee drinkers rally against starbucks

>>8500951
Samefagging to point out I realize now the pastebin is the master post on it. Also specifialcally says to avoid teavana so fuck me.

>>8499576
>tfw bought a porcelain tea set when i visited the grorious homeland but it broke inside my luggage
such is life, anons

also, chinese new year is coming up so sites like yunnan sourcing should have discounts. happy tea drinking this year of the rooster anons!

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I cold brew this for a few hours - probably drink about a litre a day (at least).

It's basically a homemade (and healthier) teh botol.

I haven't been able to get into lose leaf tea. I don't know if it's just too subtle for me or what but it turns out weak no matter what I've done.

Thought I'd give cold brewing a chance though, so I've got a heaped tablespoon of Ceylon jasmine and 12oz of water in a mason jar in the fridge for after work. Will it be any better?

>>8501985
I'd be surprised if cold brewing tea really works that well and it did I'd imagine you need to use more leaf than that.

>>8499576
>general

I'd like to replace my afternoon coffee with tea. I already have a scale and an electric kettle and an anal retentive attitude towards what should otherwise be a simple caffeine fix. What are water/tea ratios to be using? I like green teas.

Also is argo tea pleb tier? I live in NYC and can go to some better spots but Argo is near my office. There's this place that I can go during my lunch break to check out as well: https://www.yelp.com/biz/radiance-tea-house-and-books-new-york-2

>>8502242
confidence is key here
also I thought the previous thread hit bump limit
>>8502282
>an anal retentive attitude towards what should otherwise be a simple caffeine fix.
you come to the right place, tho a cup of green tea doesn't have much caffeine in it
>What are water/tea ratios to be using?
either use the western method or the gong-fu method; for the first use:
>1/50 tea to water ratio (grams/ml, e.g. 4g/200ml)
>warm the teapot with boiling water
>remove water, put tea in pot, pour water over tea
>temperature is ~75°C for white tea, ~80°C for green tea, ~80-95°C for oolong depending on oxidation (more = hotter water), and as hot as you can for black and pu-erh tea, mind that water temperature lowers when you put it in the pot and warming it is especially useful for black and pu-erh tea
>steeping time is ~2min for white and green tea, ~3min for oolong and ~4min for black and puerh
of course adjust all these to taste
or for the gong fu method look up gong fu (brewing) on google and do a mean of all the slightly different ratios and times you find
>argo tea
never been there, looking at prices I wouldn't, as for the other place, again without having ever been there, I'd say it looks better and it's still pretty pricey

>>8502479
Argo has their new "single origin" or something line. For $4-5, it's a good way to try through a bunch of different styles. I wouldn't buy the loose teas there though.

In the city, I love Puerh BKLYN in W'burg. It's worth the trip if you're ever on that side of town.

>>8502282
get some hoji friend

>>8502214
It works perfectly fine - I don't know why you're so sceptical.

I leave it in the fridge over night and it tastes like sugar-free teh botol in the morning. One tea bag / .5 litre.

>tfw out of tea and the next order is """"""Shipped""""""" since 12/12/16.
>Not even in the country yet

>>8502638
where from?

Recent Yunnan Sourcing took 4 weeks, W2T was closer to 3.

>>8502647
YS with the slowest method. Yeah the time is more or less average, also due to the holidays, I know it's going to take longer. Probably next week. Still, I'm without tea for like 2 weeks and it's driving me insane.

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What do you mates put on your maté?

>>8502827
I hear ya. Fortunate to be in NYC with plenty of options for in-person shopping.

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this thing has changed my fucking life
even my parents are aghast as to how amazing this is
now I just need more tea
where is a good online store? my tastes are pleb, I just want cheap and fast (US)

>>8502827
Heard very good things about orchid tea house in nyc, its pricy but thats up to you

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How do I properly use a gaiwan? How long should I let tea steep?

>>8500975
I don't know if you've just not been there recently, but literally upwards of 90% of the their inventory these days is flavored tea blends that are literally made to cover up the low quality of the base tea.
I'm not saying they're horrible and worthless like some people here would, but the quality of their actual tea is not "pretty solid" by any means.

>>8504566
Just buy bulk loose tea from amazon.

>>8502282
Go to Harney & Sons, prices are way better then the place you are going to, wider selection too

>>8505156
it depends on the tea, leaf water ratio and how you like it.
A good ratio is 1g of leaf for 15ml, some teas work better with a bit more or less but you'll learn to adjust to your tastes.
I personally give pretty much every tea 5-10s to begin and adjust from there, for teas that are tightly compressed or rolled like in your pic you can make the first infusion(or rinse if you are rinsing) longer(like 30s or so) so the leaf can unfurl then resume with short steeps.

>but anon, should I rinse?

I tend to rinse older and/or fermented teas, sometimes twice, or if it produces a cloudy liquor or with weird foam on top, if it's relatively clear I don't bother

On the ergonomics of it I usually grab the rim with my thumb and middle finger and press on the lid button with my index keeping a slight opening, if it has a saucer you can put 2 or 3 fingers on it and put the thumb on the lid button.
Try to tilt it relatively quick so the hot tea doesn't drip down the side potentially burning you.
Don't overfill with water or the rim will get too hot, the second method with the saucer is better if you do.

>>8505156
Why buy a gaiwan if you don't know what to do with it.

Start here: https://www.youtube.com/user/chinalifeteabar/playlists

>>8504566
>where is a good online store?
there's a pastebin link in the OP, check it out
>I just want cheap and fast
cheapest bagged tea at your local supermarket

>>8499576
Is green tea actually healthy or is it bullshit?

>>8505815
It has a high amount of antioxidants, as other low processing teas have.
The relation between antioxidants and health isnt as linear as health food stores want you to believe, theres such a thing as too much antioxidants

>>8505907
But what if I run out of oxidants?

>>8502832
>Drinking anything but plain mate
You must be argentinian

>>8505907
So I should more like drink green tea once a few days instead of 2 cups a day?

>>8505921
am another guy, your cells would die a lot more
I don't know enough biology to know if the rate at which they would die would be higher that that at which they reproduce, but I'm positive it would be too high for you to be healthy
you can't run out of antioxidants by not drinking enough green tea tho
>>8505946
nah 2 cups a day still aren't that much, and probably wouldn't be enough to be dangerous even if you drank your green tea very very concentrated twice a day
>>8505942
hey I drink cold mate with ice cubes and sugar in summer, it's pretty good

>>8505815
matcha is more concentrated

>you cant buy tea on aliexpress anymore
fug

That feeling of waking up at early dawn making a cuppa tea watching the steam pass through the sunbeams.

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Just had some Orange Pekoe

>>8509031
And? How was it? Post some tasting notes nigger.

>>8507332
you still can, they just closed some stores, come the end of the spring festival I'll update the pastebin with new links and more info and so on

>>8504566
What makes this so great? Just being able to pour ~5 people tea instantly?

>>8499576
>>>8509031
>And? How was it? Post some tasting notes nigger.

Believe it or not but Orange Pekoe has a slight sweet citrusy flavor to it. I seriously could not believe it at first... Because it's not called Orange Pekoe because of the taste.

>>8505815
Literally thousands of studies proving tea is very beneficial to our health and mind.

>>8509978
I'm guessing more control over temperature. They probably only had a stove top kettle before and are used to burnt and bitter tea.

>>8510088
I didn't realise those things had that. That sounds pretty useful, to be honest, especially for green tea. I'm one of those suckers with a stove top kettle.

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>>8510047
are you, by any chance, trolling?
if not then you might wanna assume people here aren't that stupid.
If so, see pic related

>>8509978

Not OP, but I love mine too. Having water on demand at 195 is really convenient. Also very useful for cooking to have that much water always near boiling.

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Can I make tea in my moka pot if I don't want to buy a loose leaf teapot?

>>8510276
No

>>8510276
Just buy some large empty tea bags, they're super cheap

>>8510448
Thanks

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>>8499576
Bought this yesterday. Pretty excited for it all to get here. Been drinking some imperial grade Yue Guang Bai white tea, some Bai Ji Guan rock oolong, and Bai Lin golden monkey black tea. They are all really good. It was my first order from YS and I didnt havent a ton of cash at the time. So I'm going big with this next order.

>>8510619
I highly recommend this YS cake, since you're into white: http://www.yunnansourcing.us/store/index.php?id_product=986&controller=product
enjoy your new brews

>>8510737
Ive looked at that same exact cake before and wasn't sure about it. Arent the cakes fermented and have a wet pile kind of flavor?

Where do I buy good tea in Tokyo without having to communicate with a shop owner

>>8510829
What? No. Shu puer and heicha are processed in a way where its literally wet pilled to ferment, like in a compost pile kind of way, that is just white tea pressed into a cake, as in steamed so it becomes pliable then compressed, no fermentation going on in processing it.

Why does Starbucks put two teabags in my grande tea? Why would they do that?

16 ounces should only require one teabags for black tea. Am I not right?

>>8511373
You are not right. Also who the fuck orders fucking tea made from teabags

>starbucks
>tea

>>8511334
Ah ok, I had no idea the differences between them. Thanks for the heads up. I'm still fairly new to tea drinking.

>>8511458
No problem senpai , I wouldnt be so quick to dismiss shu puer if I were you, pretty good stuff out there, and relatively cheap, if you dont buy from the last 2 or 3 years you can pretty much avoid the wu dui (pile flavour) all together. Some bigger factories(menghai) only sell their cakes after the pile flavour dies down a bit, Ive bought 2016 menghai cakes last year and it was pretty good off the bat, got better after I aired it out for a bit.

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>>8511373
We're here to show others the way of the loose tea.

Tea bags aren't necessarily bad, but it lowers the potential of what the plant can do. In a world where conveniency reigns supreme people just want the fastest quickest most mundane way to consume something. We need to seriously change that way of life for our own well being.

>>8511681

Ugh, comfy.

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my first tea store ruined me as I brewed bouqets of beautiful full leaves in a glass ball shaped tea pot with no strainer just letting the glorious things unfurl. Gong fu then just rebrewing.

I remember a particular top shelf they had, a mountain region milky oolong that included many top top tippy peaces that were ful lon stem with many small leaves coming off of it.

Then later I try to get primo tea and at best i get crunched ragged leafs missing large fragments and of an uneven color.

The only place that matched that initial experience was a small place on the corner in the south part of montreal's chinatown , a bit south east of the south end of st laurent.

i drink fermented pu'erh tea

>>8511373
No, 16 ounces is way too much for just one teabag. They're already ripping you off, selling tea from teabags at those prices, one tea bag for that much water would just be incredibly weak.

>>8510489
if you use tea bags tho you lose part of the advantage of using loose leaf tea
just steep the tea in the cup and use a strainer to remove the leaves
>>8510878
>Where do I buy anything anywhere without having to communicate with a shop owner
the internet is your only choice
or you may try being a bit less autistic, quite literally, and try to explain yourself, chances are a shop owner/salesperson will know a bit of english at least

How hard is it to get into matcha? Is it worth it if you are not a weeaboo? Not that I'm not.

i used to spend thousands of dollars on tea but now i just drink bags when im feelin it like whats the point theres so much more interesting things to do than sit around sipping on tea

>>8512549
But bags are more expensive than loose leaf.

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>>8512562
only if you drink SHITbbaby looseleef fuckin retard

>>8499576
recently picked up some Ethiopian Wush Wush tea. Good stuff.

>>8504566
How do I clean the build up inside?

>>8512570
but you are drinking SHITbabby bag tea retard

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>>8512585
nah cause i got important business to do u dont know SHIT about tea fuckin dumb kid i got friends in CHINA

>>8511643
I actually bought a lot of ripe and raw puer from white 2 tea and tried one of them and couldnt finish the cup because of how funky it was. Ill look at some stuff from YS maybe that'll change my mind. Ill definitely try out that white tea cake though.

>>8510207
Are you worried at all about the teflon?

>>8512577
get the zojirushi citrus cleaner you boil inside and it removes all the buildup very fast!

>>8512535
>How hard is it to get into matcha?
not difficult but you may simply not like the taste
I recommend getting the wooden whisk from china if you don't want to pay €20 for it
>Is it worth it if you are not a weeaboo?
if you're not a weeb nor a soccer mom interested in its health properties, most certainly not
but that's just my humble opinion, I'm not really a weeb and I don't like the taste
for something easier you can try organic gyokuro from some small shop, have a look at the pastebin for links
be sure to also use a badly shaped cup without a handle for the max jap exp

I drank some Mao Xie today
wasn't impressed, smell was good, chinese bread, grass, tho flavor was mild, like salty burnt green vegetables, and aftertaste was only salty
wouldn't buy again

>>8499576
So I'm kinda out in the boonies but I went to my local asain market to buy my first tea and i got some jasmine in a tin and some green tea for about $7. now maybe I've just wasted my money but does it take some getting used to in order to pick up flavors besides that of tea or did I just pick up some generic loose leaf. Also the jasmine from a tin tasted sort of mettalic.