Tea thread! What are your favorite flavors? Do you use any special

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>>9391108
>impress your gf with a great cup of tea
as if a woman will be impressed by my 2005 bulang

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>What are your favorite flavors?
Shou pu'er, the darker and thicker the better. Gotta be an underrated category among teafags.
>Do you use any special pottery?
Mostly stick to my gaiwans, but pic related recently arrived in the mail and it's a fun change of pace. Will most likely dedicate it to dat dank ol' shou.
>Whats your special technique to impress your gf with a great cup of tea?
Somehow my bf hates 90% of oolongs, so it feels like a neat trick when I find one he doesn't.

fucking with some Tetley at the moment

>>9391459
It must be nice to impress your bf with good tea, wish you good luck in your next attempt.

>>9391108
>>9391459

question for teafags,
does special pottery really effect the tea in any discernible way?
I just stick some looseleaf genmaicha into a cup of hot water and call it a day

>>9391689
Thanks. I'll invest in some nicer Taiwanese oolongs when I have the dosh.

>>9391792
It's not a dramatic difference, but maybe a little. I'm new to clay and can't speak with authority on e.g. on how it changes with time. But the power of suggestion is surely at play; if you expect the tea to taste better, it will.

what's the next step up from a metal strainer for loose leaf tea?

>>9393528
For just about every type of tea (not sure about Darjeeling and some Jap teas), the answer is a gaiwan.

>>9393952
Why are gaiwans better?

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>>9393986
-A gaiwan is the easiest and cheapest vessel to use when brewing gongfu style, which for many loose leaf teas is the only way to go
-It gives the leaves plenty of room to expand
-It doesn't really interfere with the tea's taste in any way
-It allows you a ton of control over the brew; you can widen or narrow the gap as you pour depending on how quickly you want it to leave the vessel, how much leaf material you're willing to part with, &c.
-It looks nice and is fun to use

Tried sage tea for the first time yesterday. It's really quite nice.

I'm more of a boring unsweetened green/black tea type of guy, so having a variation every once in a while is quite nice.

Another "unusual" tea I also enjoy and would recommend is fennel-anise-caraway tea

I mainly drink japanese green teas (Secha, Gyokuro, Genmaicha).
Whenever I try green teas from different countries they often taste like shit. Why can't other countries into green tea?

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>>9394766
The japanese are autistic when it comes to their tea. They even practice the way they move and talk when having tea ceremonies

>>9394779
I want to live like that, seems so comfy.

Can a nice anon give me advice on tea, i am new to it an would like to know more about flavors, health benefits and cold brews

>>9391792
I've only owned clay once, and DESU after a while once the taste built up I actually just wished I had a regular ceramic/glass.

>>9394766
I like japanese greens, but dragonwell is also an excellent green tea.

>>9394832
it is until you miss a step and have to press your knees into dried rice grains and salt for an hour