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Anonymous
Other Good Places to Get Tea 2017-02-20 02:05:13 Post No. 8595682
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Other Good Places to Get Tea 2017-02-20 02:05:13 Post No. 8595682
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Hello /ck/, /an/ and a bit of /pol/ here,
I have recently got into tea and am looking for better quality loose leaf to buy. My roommate and I went to pic related and I picked out a small selection of earl grey black teas as well as some white tea. They all have had a better flavor than Twinings loose leaf earl grey so far.
I can't help but feel like there are even better places and/or verities of tea. So far I have liked earl grey-type teas, as well as white tea.
What are some other good places to buy tea from? What other verities of tea does /ck/ recommend?
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>>8595682
Marshals/TJMaxx has a lot of nice discount teas that are excellent.
I buy all my this there now, Teavana sometimes shows up.
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>>8595701
Anything you like in particular from there? Anything you could recommend?
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teavana is shit from what i've heard over at /tea/, never been there though so i can't really tell you if that is true or not.
your best bet is ordering online. very few stores will carry loose leaf tea that is of above average quality. /tea/'s pastebin has a good list of websites to check out: http://pastebin.com/SWNA0rLX
my favorite place to order tea from is upton teas. cheap samples and bulk pricing, above average quality of tea. they have a lot of different earl grey teas. adagio tea also has some okay selections, but if you're looking for flavored teas they are hit or miss. their earl grey bravo is good, as well as their earl grey lavender.
personally, i enjoy teas of the green variety, and there are many different types of green teas depending on origin. genmaicha is sencha with puffed rice in it, it is very comfy. regular sencha, as long as it is of good quality, is very refreshing. my personal favorites are lapsang souchong (a very smokey black tea) and genmaicha. good luck on your tea journey, op, i find trying new teas to be very exciting
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>>8595682
My wife is extremely picky about green tea. She buys the Jap green tea from Daei Trading from Chicago. Who knows, but the price seems reasonable. You have to have a retail license, though, their a wholesaler.
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>>8595727
>teavana is shit from what i've heard over at /tea/
the problem with that is that this is still 4chan so there's no telling if it's actually bad or if they are just being contrarian retards because its one of the larger loose leaf distributors.
I get shit regularly from there and havent had a problem.
sidenote: this is the same issue i have with /tv/
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>>8595721
I bought all these there. I really like The Tea of Tao brand, there are about a dozen variations.
I'm not sure if its a local brand or not, these stores tend to deal with local suppliers.
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Just avoid the flavored teas and you'll be fine.
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How long does tea last, give or take? I bought some Oolong way back last year and haven't touched it for most of that year.
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>>8595940
like 20 years if sealed. I opened some black leaf tea that was made in the early 1990's. tasted fine, was very dry tho, had no rot.
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Not OP, but can someone bottom-line for me what I should drink if I like bagged earl grey, but want to slightly improve quality?
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>>8596014
harney and sons earl grey, can find in some grocery stores
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>>8596014
Try loose leaf earl gray, and a brew kettle, or pic related.
try adding a splash of milk to you earl.
and as always, make it hot.
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>>8595727
>teavana is shit from what i've heard over at /tea/, never been there though so i can't really tell you if that is true or not.
It's owned by Starbucks and their primary business is over-priced, artificially flavoured bullshit, same as David's Tea.
A tea store ought to be able to tell you where their product was sourced, when it was harvested, whether it was the first harvest or fifth harvest, who the plantation owner is and what his family had for dinner last holiday.
Ask any of that at Teavana and they'll panic internally and redirect you to their new Birthday Cake Roobios with real sprinkles and non-dairy creamer.
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Teavana is he Apple store of tea: decent product with an insane markup.
Alsi, much like booze, you should have an everyday tea that's reasonably priced. Twinnings loose leaf does the job very well as far as grocery-tier teas go. I order online every few months.
Upper shelf stuff you can get from specialty suppliers or stores. I suggest tasting first.
I was gifted a rare brick of puerh tea a while ago and learned later it was worth a grand. Good stuff, but keep things in perspective
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>>8596069
I got a cup of coffee once and the guy unironically told me all that shit (including the names of the Africans who harvested the beans). Cup was like $13. I couldn't say for sure that it was better than $2.00 bodega coffee. Such is life.
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>>8596030
Noted
>>8596042
I enjoy Earl with a splash of milk and a bit of honey. When I brew loose left I use a tea strainer like pic related.
>>8596069
>A tea store ought to be able to tell you where their product was sourced, when it was harvested, whether it was the first harvest or fifth harvest, who the plantation owner is and what his family had for dinner last holiday.
>Ask any of that at Teavana and they'll panic internally and redirect you to their new Birthday Cake Roobios with real sprinkles and non-dairy creamer.
Verdant Tea seems to be very good at this, telling about the farmers and the teas they specialize in. I haven't been to any other physical shops that offer tea like this yet, only Teavana so far.
>>8596114
>Twinnings loose leaf does the job very well as far as grocery-tier teas go. I order online every few months.
I suppose it does. I have had Twinings Earl Gray with breakfast and dinner everyday so far.
>Good stuff, but keep things in perspective
I would hate to dilute the value of something that should be a treat and enjoyed.
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>>8595682
Teavana is literally shit dude. Find any asian/indian/middle eastern grocer shop and go to their loose leaf tea section. I guarantee you its going to be better than the shit teavana sells
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>>8596430
>muh brown people have magical tea growing secrets
Eat shit retard.
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>>8596042
Don't buy an infuser like that. It won't last long at all as the two halves of the infuser can easily become misaligned. Something like >>8596187
is much better. Just make sure whatever you buy will give enough room for the tea to expand in the water and that the infuser won't break in use. I've had the latch on some tea balls break, covering my kitchen floor in wet tea leaves.
Or, you can buy a small teapot (2 cup ones are pretty cheap) with an internal filter. Some can have meshes in them, or just a few holes before the spout for filtration.
>>8596069
>their new Birthday Cake Roobios with real sprinkles and non-dairy creamer
Is that a thing? It sounds awful.
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>>8595886
It's OK, but they will cut corners good tea shops don't.
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>>8596461
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>>8597575
>Baseless accusations
>Muh evil racists
Have you considered that fetishizing other cultures for their food might be the most culturally acceptable racist thing to do? Of course not.
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>>8597605
My friend, my disrespectful nonsequitors arrived with you long ago. I was comedically attacking your shitpost and your disgusting lack oh introspection made you think you could ascribe yourself some moral high ground, Sad! Go back to lol.
PS I'm about to drink 2 cups of green tea+greenrooibos left out overnight after about 3-4 steeps. 200-195 degrees.
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>>8597575
it's hard to believe people like you can even use a computer.
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>>8597661
W H I T E M A L E
H O L Y
G R A I L
If you can't post something tea related, please go be triggered in your containment board.
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>>8596430
OP here, phoneposting for now, I don't have any of those around, I don't think. I would probably need to go to Houston or something like that to find one of those.
>>8596430
Thank you, I bought the book in the pastebin.
>>8597546
I didn't know I made an good purchase with the infuser I got. Will a teapot have any impact over flavor over a infuser, though.
>>8597566
What does Teavana do that I should know in the future?
>>8597575
>>8597605
>>8597661
I may go to /pol/, but I didn't want my thread to devole into this.
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>>8597718
If the thread was devoled we would have less /pol/sters
Tea general where
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>>8597718
>Will a teapot have any impact over flavor over a infuser, though.
It can in some scenarios. The most common example would be yixing pots. The clay is porous and will flavor the tea that is brewed in it; however, it takes quite awhile to season, and you should only do one type of tea per pot. Or that's what's usually recommended at least.
Metal infusers should not affect the flavor of tea ; but, as I mentioned earlier, make sure the leaves have enough room to expand as it well help get the flavor from the leaves
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>>8597546
I have 4 of these infusers, they are the best kind there is. If anything gets misaligned, its very easy to bend back.
The other ball, and chain type are shit. those break all the time and infuse like shit because they have small tiny holes that dont do shit.
Dont buy those two piece infusers like >>8596187
The tabs become bent, and it stops clicking together, the shitty chain come apart, easy to loose the two halfs, not dishwasher save, sharp corners, overall shit design.
>>8596042
is superior in every way.
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>>8595682
look for tea shops, not Tea Shop Chains. The latter will fuck you with added aroma/flavour, and gouge prices...
http://www.taotealeaf.com/
That's where i get my tea, but that's because he's local.
Find a local tea person... check your nearest metropolitan area for a "tea festival'
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>>8598117
>they are the best kind there is. If anything gets misaligned, its very easy to bend back.
I wouldn't say the best, but I just didn't care for their performance. With very fine teas, I'd often get quite a bit of leaf in my drink, and bending the halves back together is only a temporary solution.
As for the two-piece cup infuser, I haven't had any issues with it yet. I don't use it in a dishwasher, but I don't like how sharp it is when hand washing it.
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>>8598167
Its great tho. can be used to stir too.
alignment issue is a none problem since its so easy to bend back. do it right, and it wont happen again.
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>>8596069
It's definitely more expensive than it should be, but they do have a decent selection of straight black, green, oolong and white teas.
Their "herbal" tea selection, which includes the aforementioned tea with sprinkles and dill pickles and far too much cinnamon, tends to outnumber their real tea selections 5 to 1, but a lot of that is just catering to teenagers who don't actually like real tea, and who have money to spend (Almost all of their client base).
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>>8595682
Just drink Yorkshire tea like a normal person you enormous faggot
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