This is the thread for discussing teas, tisanes, and other herbal infusions.Info on types of teas, where to buy, and how to brew: https://rentry.org/tea-pastebinPrevious thread: >>22189995
Cracked a fresh can of matcha yesterday. Sublimely enjoyable.
>>22223177I keep a sweet mint in a pot and brew what I pick from it, if you want the best mint tea you can make just get your hands on a plant so you can make it with fresh leaves. Before you steep them just crush and tear them good so the oils start seeping out. I like drinking it iced and sweetened with honey. Mint plants all grow very aggressively so you can usually take a lot of leaves from them without it being an issue.
Hello, /tea/.It's about time for me to do my yearly tea order.I plan to focus on oolongs and greens this time, do you have any suggestions website to use/specific teas to look for?I already know I'll be ordering probably around 500g of longjing mostly for gifting purposes, so ideally a site with that as an option would be great.
>>22225129Milk oolong. Tried that shit, dat bih gah.
>>22225129if you want the best value roasted taiwanese oolongs, Teahome is your friend. as long as you don't mind the browsing experience with autotranslateweird pick, but if you like cheap high roast oolongs, you could try KingTeaMall and their selection of seadyke and wuyistar yancha. they have longjing too, I haven't had it but my guess is it's probably decent enough
Anyone had the 2010 Mengku Rongshi "Da Hong Yin" Raw Puerh from Quiche yet? It's really cheap at $26 for 400g.
>>22225150you gotta try some sticky rice oolong.they roast it with like the grass from sticky rice and it has this lovely sweet sushi rice kinda taste to it, quite subtle but really delicious
Gonna be in Shanghai in a few weeksAny good shops for Tea shopping? Online is fine too I heard the big shops push low quality stuff onto touristsGonna buy me some Oolong and puer
>>22225388Sticky rice oolong is one of my favourites. It's delicious. Big nostalgia hit for me too. Has an amazing scent that reminds me of traveling through Thailand, Laos etc (20 - 30 years ago now)I need to buy some more.
>>22225933why are you old
>>22225953happens to most of us unfortunately
>>22225953The linear nature of time. lolI did a lot of things like backpacking and travel from teen years onward. 20yo, return ticket into Bangkok nothing else booked, small bag with few clothes, no phone (not even flip phone style), paper maps, rough plan in my head, camera and a bunch of 35mm film. Wandered across S.E.A drinking, fucking, taking pics, eating great food, making friends, checking in with home via an internet cafe email every two weeks or so. All cheap too. It was awesome. I unironically feel sorry for young people who will never get that sense of adventure and escapism.
Any recommendations of sheng for a solo shou lover? Most of the shengs iv tasted are too green, maybe thats their profile but who knows? And all of them were 200X shengs still.
How do you guys handle dry mouth after some teas?Do you just drink a lot of water after?Having some Fuding Shoumei right now, it's very distinct in this regard.
>>22225373no, but I've had the 2007 mengku spring tips (chungus jian)it's a little boring but a smooth, sweet daily drinker
>>22226315if it's that drying it's probably shit, or overbrewedor you have some dry mouth issues in general. can be caused by acid reflux
>>22226147what store were they from? it depends a lot on storage. I had a 2006 sheng from awazon that still tasted extremely green, then a 2009 one from yeeontea that tasted almost like a ripe or liu baotry some shengs from yeeontea. they have very humid storage so the teas age much faster and become more shou-likeI like:>2009 raw clusters>2007 8531>2001 pine craneif you want drier storage you can try some stuff from quicheteas like 2003 baoyan jincha or 2005 t8653 as far as the cheaper ones go
>>22226341that tracks, got acid reflux diagnosis recently
>>22226350KTM and Essence of Tea. Yeah, i really think that i should be trying to get a wet sheng one to see how it feels.
>>22226315Drink more teaOr grin and bear it
>>22226502yeah definitely try a few ones from yeeon, it's a very different experience. and people like their ripe too, it's also kind of different if you haven't had wet stored ripe before
>>22224700I thought this picture was a big shit in the toilet hahaha
>>22226542Oh i have their Ripes! Two in fact, my main problem its that the ripes always seem to get closer to a pretty similar profile after a while. Of course they differ, but it feels much closer than the dry storage ones.
>>22226727>t the ripes always seem to get closer to a pretty similar profile after a whileAre you using a pumidor?
Is this a good way to brew tea?
>>22227482Yes.
>>22226815Yeah! But each of them are separeted on its own bag with a little boveda.
>>22227482Sure that's good. I'd nix the metal basket but that's personal preference.
>smells amazing>tastes like toilet paperwhy is it always like this?
>>22227647the bag and the floorsweepings its filled with probably have something to do with this
>>22227482Yes. The hario kyusu teapots are very good.The basket is a decent size and gives the leaves some room.Fine mesh basket is ideal for Japanese green teas, but it's also a good general teapot for all styles. They are slightly fragile, and I'd prefer something a little more robust, but I haven't found a better alternative at that price.I have the smallest size, which is ideal for solo brewing.
>>22227647>buy cheapest, shittiest tea money can buy>scent with artificial flavorings>average normies will enjoy the scent and will drink anything that's hot and has 5 teaspoons of sugar in it>congratz, you've just made money
>>22227647I swear all of those berry ones just taste like hibiscusPic related is comfy
Tea is for lesbians
This morning im drinking Jin Xuan.Its nice. Aunt from Taiwan gifted it to me
can someone redpill me on buying tea on taobao from the us? i mostly buy from white2tea and sweetest dew
>>22228533Nice. I will receive my order of taiwanese oolong from Teahome today
Twinings Russian Caravan, yeigh or neigh?
>>22228426i thought it was for stoners
>>22228789no they have stones
>>22228789lesbian stoner here
>>22228426Tea isn't for girlst. have been to multiple tea festivals
does anyone know where the good hongbi be?
Teahome order came inExcited to try the aged oolong, never had one before
>summer is over so it's finally time to drink some good tea>immediately get sickI haven't been able to enjoy good tea without full nose since April.
are you using rolling boil or wait a minute for water to calm the heck down?
>>22230088Nice, tell us what you think of it when you get a chance>>22230093>since April.Damn... I wouldn't be able to make it>>22230097Rolling I guess, but it really stops rolling by the time the kettle stops and I pick it up and start pouring
>>22230088>>22230102Little first impressions of the aged oolongVery sweet, leaves a sugary aftertaste almost like a sweetener, but also cooling. Getting typical roasted taiwanese oolong flavors, but also a lot of something like menthol or camphor, minerals and a fruitiness like cherry or plum.I'm really enjoying this first session.
>>22230049Is this fucking cold-brewed for 5 seconds? This is just monster, the tea is decorative at this point
>>22230093What happens during summer that prevents you from enjoying good tea
>>22230197I dont know if it's allergies/ac or something else but I have cold/full nose all the time. I feel like it's a waste drinking good tea when you can't smell it, but then again, I have a lot of tea that I should get rid of before I'm going to go on another buying spree.
>>22230201Understandable. Maybe you have an ac allergy or something yeah. That sucks anon
>>22230109Nice, glad you like it. Aged oolong is underrated, or really just not often rated since it's uncommon in western facing shops
>>22230299yeah, definitely seems like one of the lesser known categories of tea in the westI hope it will become more available in the future because it seems really nice judging by this oneit's also like the only cheapish one I've seen, they are usually expensive in western stores
>>22229150did u hook up with any lesbian stoners at them?
>>22230109yo that sounds fucking great I gotta order some of this shit>>22230201that's called hayfever get some fexofenadine.avoid older antihistamines they are not suited to daily use due to anticholinergic side effects.
>>22230368>yo that sounds fucking great I gotta order some of this shitIf you want this particular one, it's the "35 years" option from this page for 1000 TWDhttps://www.teahome.com/product/oldteah/
I only drink tea when I have a cold, and for some reason it's the only thing I am willing to drink. Everything else is absolutely repulsive.
>>22230487It was probably originally medicine.
>>22230088which of the aged oolongs did you buy? I think teahome is stocking a couple different ones.
nevermind I should have read all posts before replying
>>22230468thanks bro>>22230994dw I do that too sometimes
After 11 years of service, my small glass teapot took a dive off of the counter and broke ;_;7The lid survived.
what are the opinions on using a dedicated coffee maker to brew tea?
>>22232195RIP ;_;>>22232225do u mean like a french press?its not too bad if you never make coffee in it but its far from ideal.just go to a charity shop and buy a teapot for like £1
>>22232249one of these
>>22232255seems like a terrible idea.that'll drip water over the leaves u wanna submerge them
>>22232278the basket seems to fill with enough water to cover the leaves
>>22232255You don't get any control over the temp or the steep time but it can work for certain things. It's actually a nice way to brew rooibos.Not really worth it overall though.
>>22232307even if it does you don't have any control over how long it'll steep for.if you simply want a way of making tea that takes zero effort just brew really strong tea of boil it up in a pot to make concentrate then when you want a cuppa just put some of the concentrate in a cup and add boiling water
>>22232255back in my day we called them Mr. Coffees.
>>22224700thought that was a fedora for a second
>>22232225>>22232255Well, when I was younger I tried that but put too much tea and it was undrinkable. Now I'd adjust the amount of leaves to the amount of water running through it, starting at 5-7 g per liter. It's countercurrent extraction (vs cocurrent for western style) and you can't play with brewing time or temperature so you have to limit the amount of leaves. Assuming total absence of coffee taste in the brewer, obviously.
>>22232784fedora is a cowboy hat. trilby is the reddit neckbeard one
>>22232804I think tea would have to be pretty fucking strong for me to find it undrinkable
>>22233547Eh, I did fill the basket like it was coffee and now that I think about it, it was a rolled green tea. The juice was pure grassy bitterness. My body registered it as poison.
I know you guys are all elitists and stuff, but are there any good commercially available bagged teas?
>>22228533>Aunt from TaiwanKonichiwa dude>>22234064Not really, compared to anything you'd buy based on recommendations here. It's value is in being cheaper, convenient, and brewing very quickly (especially if you press it with a spoon). Earl Grey can be decent though, that said.
My cheapo bombilla is rusting away, it's so bad that it's tinting the mate leaves black when I leave it in the calebasse after a sippin sesh.What material is used for a proper bombilla, is it supposed to be made out of stainless steel?
>>22234064Sadly no. I know bag is convenient, but even the cheapest lose tea is just better.
>>22234044I made tea that was too bitter for me today.like 8g of mi lan dan cong brewed grandpa style with rolling boil water then forgot about it
>>22224700got myself half a kilo bag of milk oolong from polandwas looking for cheapest one on allegromilk oolongs starts from ~10€ for 100 grams in Lithuania500 grams bag for 59.89 PLN ~ €13.70 ain't bad at alltaste is bit weak, but for broke chum like me - not too shabby
>>22234484shouldnt rust if you let it fully dry between uses even if its not ss
>>22234744if you want to buy a lot of good cheap taiwanese oolong you can also order from teahome.com if you can brave the challenge of a website in chinese that has confusing listingsbetter than oolongs I bought in Poland for 3x the price
>>22234748Yeah, I left it in the mate mulch for a couple days while I was out of house. I'll probably try to find a stainless steel one for 5 bucks or so.
>>22234797stainless still rusts if you do shit like that. just dont leave it in the gourd, shit goes nasty if u dont empty it out anyway so best to get in the habit of taking out ur bombilla and emptying it as soon as ur done with ur shesh
>>22234064twinings english breakfast tea does the job for a bag daily
>>22224700I had to throw away around 500g worth of samples because of how badly they molded. Very sad day for me.Folks, this a reminder to air out your puer often. I really didn’t think putting a tiny 65% boveda pack in mylar sample bags would be a bad idea :(
>>22235388honestly, that's why I'm not convinced about bovedas. I'd rather drink slightly dry puerh than moldy puerh
>>22235388Mold with 65RH usually means something went wrong with temperature as opposed to humidity. Are you keeping the temperature stable? Bovedas will cushion moderate fluctuations but the problem comes when you have a temperature gradient in your storage. Sunlight, uneven air conditioning, and even something subtle like a wall or surface being colder than the ambient air can all create temperature gradients which lead to condensation risks.>>22235483If you follow some basic guidelines there’s essentially zero chance of mold. I’ve experimented with adding both humidity and heat over the years and have had no instances of mold. There’s also a substantial difference between a rehydrated tea and one that’s dried out, which is well worth investing the time and effort into.
>>22234744another crackled pattern gaiwan broken, curious. why even bother with gongfu on bottom shelf rolled oolong? use a big pot and less leaves.>>22234797you're disgusting. are you the same guy?>>22235388same guy again?
>>22235611>crackled pattern gaiwanthats crazying, the glaze cracks from the heat, seems more common on thicker walled gaiwans and made from cheap clay
>>22235643your crazying>>22215728>(essentially unscented bleach)thank you for reminding me of those oxi granules
>>22235706:^)
>>22235611>you're disgustingI'm drinking mate, are you really surprised?
>>22234484yerba mate leaves turn black on their own, it could also be thatbombillas from stainless steel are fine, better if it's a standardized one like 18/8 inox than some random oneif you want to get fancier though, there are also ones made from silver and "alpaka" - a nickel based alternative to stainless steel that doesn't rust
>>22230088the red oolong makes a great office brew. very sweet and fruity
>put together a sample order>it comes out at over 200€I'm skipping liubao winter and going straight to the year of the oolong.
Was out on a job today and the contact gifted me this big box at the end of the shift. Nice gesture. Not expecting much but I'll drink it for sure.
>>22238131Why are you telling people to buy you tea?
>>22238159I was talking about coffee when asked if I liked tea.
>>22238194You always talking about tea at work?
>>22234064Go to your local chinese grocery store and gamble. Sometimes you can get bagged tea with actual full tea leaves
>>22238131I've seen this recommended here as a decent super cheap daily drinking Ceylon
>>22237908>Sample order of like 4 kilogramsBasedWould be interested to hear about some of theseI haven't had any of their low roast / green oolongs, wonder how those are
Drinking GABA oolong. It's not as bad as I remember.
>>22238195you don't? noob.
>>22238656There's some surprisingly good ones out there, there's also some pretty weird ones
>>22238656>>22238671what's it like compared to regular oolong? the translated descriptions on teahome didn't really convince me that it's anything other than a meme but I'd like to try one eventually.
>>22238699it's usually a higher oxidation oolong. flavor tends to be sweet and fruity in a specific way, the ones I had reminded me of pears or apples baked with cinnamon
>>22238699it's like darker oolong, kind of has a tang that I'd compare to overripe fruit, kind of like what >>22238719 said. the taiwan character can have varying levels of muscatel like flavor because of the tea jassids, so not sure if that's gaba-y.most the taiwan stuff I have is more of a "buttery" kind of light sweetness, but I usually don't like mega oxidized oolongs.afaik, the GABA is from oxygen-free, nitrogen specific processing, at what phase? I don't know.
>>22238656gabagoolong(capicoolong if you are a native)
>>22238845but where is the gabagoolong?
>>22238845you ever hear about the chinese godfather?
>>22238873Yeah he drives a Lincoln.
>>22234064Constant Comment is pretty good. Aside from that, herbals are a better bet than real tea for bags.
>>22239111I'll be rincoln my balls across your face tonight bitch
>>22238873
>>22239179>we're reaching levels of cozy previously thought impossible
>>22234064Anything that looks like a tetrahedron bag is probably fine.
>>22234064For supermarket stuff, I would probably stick to black teasBut with how easy some teas are to brew straight in the mug, I don't see the convenience of teabags anymore
>>22239179Wouldn't smoking tobacco ruin your ability to taste the tea?
Drinking ha giang deep forest black. Life is good. Too bad the puer version got sold out, I wanted to try it this black friday.
>>22234064Yes but they cost like 5x-10x as much as an equally good non-bagged tea. Twinings makes some posh bags if you really wantI was just at a hotel that had decent Dammann Freres bagged tea (in fact they even had bagged puerh, albeit ripe)
>>22239179>having to lean forward that far for every sipVery uncomfy>>22239778It's purely performative anyway for the tiktok video
I love this but it's so expensive kms
>>22240118try this instead: https://yeeonteaco.com/products/1970s-little-yellow-mark-cnnp-7542-raw-cluster-pu-erh-tea?_pos=1&_sid=9da1c1aab&_ss=r
>>22240108twinings is only like 10% more than pg tips/yorkshire tea at my tesco
>>22240187They make cheap shitty bags just the same as Lipton or PG Tips or whatever. They just also happen to make expensive ones too.Cheap twinings is not going to be any better than the rest.
>>22240192all the twining boxes are within like 2pp of each other, idk which one is supposed to be the uber quality expensive one
2008 8582 in new teapot
>>22240344I think they're called pyramid bags or whatever. It's like 15 bags for £5 or £10 or some shit.Meanwhile the normal cheap boxes are 100-ish for £3 or so
Did KTM lower prices? I haven't bought tea since like 2024.
>>22240889They lowered prices for Dayi because Dayi prices crashed (they get the most speculation)
>>22241220>Dayi prices crashedAre they finally ok value or still overpriced compared to other factories?
>cant drink puer before lunch>wont have time after lunchGod really gives it's hardest battles to the toughest soldiers huh
>>22241223their sheng is definitely a much better buy now:https://quicheteas.com/products/2010-dayi-001-7542https://quicheteas.com/products/801-dayi-8582-green-pu-erh-tea-cake
>>22241231What happens before lunch
>>22241234Bulang peacock and mountain rhyme are still expensive though
>>22241614well yeah, the hyped high end ones are still expensive
>>22241757You wrote dayi crashed so I had my hopes up.I couldn't care less about the numbered slop recipes from dayi honestly
>>22241825I hear the 2005 502 7542 is really good. quality of numbered recipes did go down after 2005, but they are now fairly priced daily drinkers after the inflated prices corrected
>>22224700The TW of that is quite good.>2026 Banpen Gaogan DanzhuThis tea is unique for sheng because it has some clarity you can only really get with danzhu.The tannin activity has a lot of quantity but is still smooth.It is very clear but not in a way that lacks depth.The feeling it gives is warm and flowy in the body, like a feeling of getting hit with windy hot air.>2005 501 8582Acidic on the finish giving it this bright citrusy taste similar to a mandarin orange.Texture is very thick and syrupy especially upper palate. Very pleasant oily coating feeling that turns into huigan.>2026 Zipin (US storage)It is hard to find a USA stored example of Wistaria’s prods so this one is an outlier. It has at least 8 years of US storage.Interesting smokiness reminiscent of a campfire that seems like it could still resolve. The finish has this deep like an evaporating alcohol huigan.The material is so robust that it went on for like 15 steeps and I think I could have still kept going.Strong feeling of warmth, I would rank it slightly above a Biyunhao 2004 Yiwu in qi, that’s how strong it is.>>22225129If you like to drink tea with food then try out Yeeon Best Taste which is imo the default skin for hktrad shou.For niche stuff that no one else in this thread has probably tried, TShop in nyc sells insanely good white tea and oolong, though the oolong is pricey.Best value sheng that I’ve tried atm is 2010 7542 from Teaswelike, not because the recipe is considered a benchmark but because that particular example of it has actually good storage, just note though that you’re not drinking the material but the storage. There's also the twelve cent brick but I wouldn't know if they'll restock that one.
>>22242399>2010 7542 from Teaswelikethe malaysian stored one? I have the taiwan stored from QuicheTeas, it's nice drinking for 50$
>>22224700any good brands of matcha to be bought on Amazon? Can't be bothered with waiting for shipping from another store.
what shu are you guys drinking? will you be buying more for shulloween / ripetober?I'm really enjoying this ripe brick from Quiche, has those HK trad flavors like Yeeon but maybe smoother and less of that spiciness which I guess people describe as ginseng. nice aged wood, some beetroot and pleasant sweetness more in the caramel direction
Is LFPT from quiche worth getting? 130 seems a little high and that doesn't include shipping right?
>>22243328Dayi Yi Yuan Su. Extremely clean and I still get chocolate pastry off it.
>>22243341I think it's ovepriced at 130. I enjoy the 2005 t8653 more and it's half the price. and if you want somethin more similar, all those 2005-2010 Dayis are there with a similar kind of profile
>when the new maids see your raw puer stash
I'M DRINKING THE POO AIR
>>22243408Dude I have a 2008 and that's not even close to LFPT in taste.
Jasmine pearls for life. Unapologetically bitter, delightfully fragrant, and heavily caffeinated.
>>22237908lol this is the sort of shit that happens to me >>22238131its probably actually pretty decent.I've had sketchy looking ceylon from middle eastern companies and they are generally fine.even if its mediocre itll make good hk milk tea>>22239778yeah but some tea would go well with cigars
sippin ha gian shan tuyet 2016good shit, pretty unique.too sleep deprived to write proper tasting notes but reminds me of peach skin
>sipping ching chong dong shit dick bong>mmm very unique, mouthy with a hint of peachesthis general is a fucking joke sometimes
>>22245560lmao ok I kinda deserved that I guess lol.its a vietnamese raw if ur interested u can look it up as I'm clearly incapable of describing it sufficiently
How criminal would it be to just soak my tea leaves in hot water and then to filter the liquid through a sieve? I found a local store that sells good hand picked herbs. I guess this is basically what pic related does but I can do it for free with random stuff I have in my kitchen.
>>22245604Not criminal but it quickly gets tedious enough to justify the few bucks a teapot or gaiwan costs
>>22245604Just put them in the cup bro
>>22245611Don't I need filtration?>>22245608Tea is that simple? Don't I care about dosing, water temperature, water quality, filtration, etc? Like speshulty coffee.
>>22245635>Don't I need filtration?Basically it depends on whether your leaves can get overbrewed or not. For example most green teas absolutely will get bitter and nasty after a while, so you need some way to get them out. Also using water below boiling somehow makes leaves float more, which again means for green teas brewed at 80*C or so leaving them in the cup is impractical.Most decent black teas, and most dark teas (puerh etc.), are completely fine sitting at the bottom of your cup for half an hour. Then you can usually just add more water to brew them again. And using boiling water makes them sink pretty reliably so it's not a bother to drink.Also if you're doing gongfu then that's obviously different (though gongfu doesn't use strainers either). But if you're doing western brewing in the first place, that's irrelevant.>Don't I care about dosing, water temperatureThese are the two main variables but you don't need a strainer or filter for that. A scale and a temperature-adjustable kettle are fine or literally just eyeball it until you learn what you like.>water quality, filtration, etc?Kinda but mainly you want to avoid hard water. Other than that, extreme mineral composition autism is mostly if you find it fun to care.>Like speshulty coffee.I'm not a coffeefag but as far as I know they place a ton more emphasis on the roast, the preparation, and the brewing, with the actual beans being of relatively minor consideration (I think with regional/continental variations but not like individual cultivars).Tea is a lot more like wine in that the provenance and processing of the leaves is much more important. Then you brew gongfu if you want to degust, or just brew approximately the right temperature for the kind of tea if you just want a nice brew with little effort.
>>22245645I just want to mix chamomile, linden, and rose for my tea drink and maybe add honey after. Unless that's gay.
>>22245651That does sound kinda gay but the most important thing to keep in mind is that to be a tea drink it must have the tea plant in it. If it's chamomile, linden, rose, honey and nothing else, without any tea, then it's a tisane and not tea.
>>22245653Oh damn I'm kinda tarded. I'm just used to calling all of those tea...
>>22242399I don’t like being that guy, but feeling warm isn’t qi. Also you should retry those early byh productions, zipin is good but it’s clearly not on the same level.>TWL valueThe sad truth that TWL shills don’t want to hear is TWL no longer cares about value. If you check, shipping alone is $40 to the US. If you add that onto the $75 2010 7542 cake you mentioned it’s $115 to get it shipped. And even if 12c brick comes back, it would be $70 after shipping for a 250g brick. You’d have to buy a lot more to get your money’s worth with that shipping price.For actual value at that price range I’d go for 2015 purple Dayi from quicheteas. The one TWL was selling for $220 before the Dayi market crashed. It hasn’t smoothened out as much with age, but is in a drinkable spot and has more going for it than 2010 7542. $75 for a cake + $15 shipping to the US. 502 7542 from quicheteas is also good value, but in a different price tier.Tshop is also super overpriced now. A few years ago it was overpriced but still ok, but in the last year they effectively doubled or even tripled most prices. Everything of good value is sold out, outside of some young sheng cakes I don’t bother with. It’s good to remember that good deals do not last long before they sell out. Why value chasing pu heads constantly monitor new releases, anything which sits around for a long time has been passed over by many experienced drinkers who did not think it was good value.
>>22245740>Why value chasing pu headsJust use agent and buy from taobao. It's cheaper and bigger selection. No reason not to, when vendors charge you 3-4x.
>>22245645>eyeball it until you learn what you like.thisi put some leaves and cold water at the bottom of the cup and fill up the rest with boiling water
>>22245996why the cold water
>>22245645>but not like individual cultivarsYou would be incredibly wrong my friend.
>>22245861not him but I do.The problem is Taobao recently stopped letting US users sign up, and the app got pulled from the Play Store.Superbuy is legit, but browsing on there is fucking miserable, so you pretty much need a Taobao account just to find anything.Mine got banned for using a VPN to get better search results, so I'm kind of boned. No idea if Taobao support will see that I'm just a tea nerd trying to browse puerh or only see those random login locations and think my account is compromised.
>>22246000to lower the temperature of the boiling water going incold first so the leaves dont get hit by the boiling hot water
Trying a new tea mat at the workplace.
>>22245861NTA but not sure why people worship taobao as some sort of holy grail which provides everything for a fraction of the price. Prices for a lot of things, like Dayi, are standardized and monitored through wholesalers like donghe. People also forget taobao is littered with both fakes and vendors who believe storage doesn’t make a difference. Bad storage can sometimes be worse than a fake.
Is there any kettle that's even remotely aesthetic that could be used on a camping stove? I don't know why camping gear is all so ugly, I want to use a tetsubin but I know that's a really bad idea.
>>22246632I don't even understand how so many manage to use Taobao. The third-party forwarders are all confusing and mostly broken.
>>22246735old ones tend to look nicer maybe try a junk shop or whatever
>>22246632>which provides everything for a fraction of the priceBecause it usually does. CSH is charging gweilos on their "international" site 3-4x for the same cakes. Same with KTM, YS and others. >littered with both fakesSkill issue>Bad storage can sometimes be worse than a fake.Good thing I dont buy aged stuff so it indeed doesn't matter to me.
>>22246632Since when does Donghe get to police prices for the entire Chinese domestic market lol? It's just a price reference, mostly quoted in bulk... When I did my Taobao haul i noticed that only the regional Dayi flagship stores had identical prices, and their individual cake prices weren't even close to the per cake Donghe btw. The smaller stores had pretty big spread spread. And the funny part is that even those flagship stores were running different promotions trying to one up each other. Buy one get one free, gifts, samples, etc.And if you drink more than just Dayi slop, prices are all over the place. Obviously you have to use some common sense and filter out shops selling fakes.The best value mid aged sheng I've had recently was the 2005 XG T8653 thick-paper from MX Tea. At the time, it was one of the cheapest I'd seen at around 70 a cake, while KTM was asking north of 150 USD IIRC. Another cake I'm eyeing right now is the 2008 Liming Ya Yun. MX had it for around $130 and KTM was asking $300 lol.I'm literally laughing at those prices. It's like these vendors think people are retarded and have no idea how to use the internet in 2026.
>>22247036>2005 XG T8653 thick-paper from MX TeYou can also get it from QuicheTeas for 65$. I also like this cake a lot.
>>22246990Your opinion doesn’t matter if you don’t drink aged teas. But if you can’t find the vendors with competitive offerings, even for those who use taobao and browse Taiwan facebook auctions, then that’s a skill issue on your part. Everyone knows the secondhand market is where you find the actual prices.>>22247036Typical blind taobao worshipper not even understanding what they’re buying. You mention 2005 T8653, but do you know there’s more than just thick vs thin? The thick paper trad characters cake which teaswelike offered for 145 is very different from the thick paper simplified characters batch you found on MX tea for 70. The one on kingteamall you claim is over 150 is the same thick paper trad characters batch, which is very hard to find in China and hence commands a premium. Not to mention January vs February vs March batch differences, which you can only tell from the jian ticket. They aren’t the same tea.Beyond this difference, check out the prices on quicheteas. Turns out you overpaid for those 2005 T8653 thick paper simplified characters cakes since they only cost 65 each, even cheaper for a tong, on a very easy to use website. You can even find the actual 2005 T8653 thick paper trad characters cake for 85, a legitimate steal compared to kingteamall prices and actually the same tea they’re offering. Looks like blind taobao worshippers should learn how to use the internet in 2026. Vendors are getting smarter at offering what the market wants at competitive prices.
>>22234064twinings is the best i've had and it really just comes down to them sealing the bags individually instead of freeballing the moisture in any room its stored inprobably the best option if you're an infrequent drinker or just keep tea for relatives/guests since this will be way better than that buckleys you've had for 8 yearsi've had spoiled tea before from improper storage and the oils can make you pretty sick if it gets rank enough and for some reason a lot of these barely sealed cheap teabag boxes don't have so much as a packaging date
>>22247159tetleys*** not buckleys thats cough syrup designed to taste like shit but whats the difference i guess
>>22247157Idk if vendors are getting better prices, it's kind of just quiche undercutting the other western vendors by getting near taiwanese market prices. Let's hope others will start competing
>>22247157>Your opinion doesn’t matter if you don’t drink aged teasRetard
>>22247440no he's right actually
>>22247445So you think FL, store that sells only young sheng, is irrelevant?
>>22247333Undercutting, which leads to changed sourcing approaches. Teaswelike is now focusing on boutique and Malaysian storage offerings, since they can’t compete on the Taiwan front. They, along with many other vendors, have greatly reduced the number of cheap offerings and increased the number of expensive offerings. Lots of other vendors are pivoting to higher quality young sheng, at competitive prices too. Plenty pivot towards heicha, oolong, or other tea categories (looking at you white2tea). The market as a whole is developing since vendors have to be creative in what they source, as a huge part of it is no longer worth fighting over. And good vendors will offer competitive prices in their specialty, whatever that may be.
>>22247460I haven’t tried FL, but young sheng is a very different market. There’s a lot more trust involved as to what’s in the tea and how it was made, especially with teas no one has publicly tried before. The best young sheng is also produced in microlots by boutique producers who sell it themselves, so no point in arguing how much something should be worth when the cost is the cost of production.
>>22247501Nothing you said justifies your previous statement, or explained your reasoning. Just more verbal diarrhea. >Big factories make new tea every year. >I want to try that tea. >I dont want to be charged 3x for that tea. Simple as.
>>22247460no idea but I've never ordered from fl so sure
>>22247157I can't believe I bought the simplified version. MX listed it as “2005年繁体厚纸t8653 357g干仓普洱生茶(收藏品)”. 繁体厚纸. Pic rel is what my buying agent photographed during that haul. Welp anon won I got scammed into receiving the traditional version for $70 lol.You wrote all that about me not understanding what I'm buying, then compared my purchase to Quiche's $65 simplified cake without even knowing which version I bought.And I know Quiche lol. Last time I was on the tea Discord, he was doing Taishunhe group buys with me. It's cool that he became a vendor and I fully support him, but that's relatively new. He wasn't an option when I did this haul.The entire point is to expand your horizons and have more tools in your belt. Quiche having good prices is a reason to buy from Quiche, not a reason to write off Taobao. If I see something I like from a Western vendor at a reasonable price, I'll buy it. It's not like Taobao has me by the balls lol.
>>22247570man, I love the 2005 t8653 cake so much. I did get mine from Quiche.one thing that Quiche doesn't really offer right now is a good selection of Xiaguan tuos, if I ordered from MX tea I would probably buy some of those. KTM has a lot of them but at worse prices and with sometimes shit random storage
I'm just a dumb westerner, actually how the fuck do you filter out fakes on taobao and get what you actually wantedIs there just some shortlist of sellers with good reputation that you should stick to (if so where does one find it) or what? It's not like I'd likely be able to tell if I received fake tea either, I might just think I don't like that particular cake (or I might even like it since price doesn't always correspond to enjoyment)
>>22247658>Is there just some shortlist of sellers with good reputationThere's a list of official storefronts for big factories in the rentry
>>22247606T8653 is a pretty good sipper for what it is and I enjoy what aging has done to it. Quiche is still mostly Taishunhe stuff atm. There’s a lot of good tea they don’t carry, and I’d be more interested if he brought in more selection from other shops.
>>22247808I’ll never forgive ezstar for how they decimated the community. They’re responsible for TWL, jade leaf, and other TW based vendor shipping price increases. Also responsible for ending both the quicheteas quarter cake sets and partnership with local collectors plus other sources outside of TSH. Apparently ezstar thought vendors were getting “too much business” and decided to raise their fee prices. It’s the main reason quiche only deals with TSH now, they split off and manage their own shipping now.
>>22247909Huh, that explains it. fuck ezstar. looks like I got lucky and bought in before all that.Man it would've been nice to see what Quiche had before this. Very unfortunate timing on my part but I only buy once every few years so I miss a lot of this stuff.
what size teapots and gaiwans are you guys using?I have a fair selection of sizes but none under 100ml should I get a little baby 50ml?
bought some earl grey bags at the store the other day. do you guys put anything special in your earl grey, like cream or something?
>>22248306I usually drink it straight, but it's fine with milk considering it's basically the same flavor as froot loops.
>>22248221I use a 600ml cup
Any other vendor apart from tea encounter, that sells Tongqinghe?
>>22248221Depends on what you drink. Unless you like stuffing your vessel full of dry leaves, I would not recommend anything below 70ml. You’ll have to raise your water temp to compensate.>>22248855A few boutiques like yiwu mountain tea and fat bat have tongqinghe productions, but I don’t think you’ll find anything as cheap. People who press from these famous locations usually want gushu tea, which makes it very expensive.
>>22248221I have a 150ml yancha tasting cup and 180ml teapot. I recently bought a 100ml teapot too
Just something magical a bout a shou puerh on a chilly day
so I'm gonna admit so far I am a noob that got into tea from Jesse's tea shop, are his prices for the quality that bad? I hear mixed things, and all the stuff I got from him have been good and ship in less than a week. And if the prices are that bad where would you reccomend someone from the US shop at for stuff like white tea, oolong, and red tea? This one in particular was good.
>>22249130if you want oolong, I hear Old Ways Tea is a very good store that specializes in wuyi oolong and is located in USAnot sure about white tea, the main reccs for white tea specializing stores I've seen were the sweetest dew and one river teaI also like buying taiwanese oolong from teahome.com , which has a hard to browse website in chinese but extremely good price to quality ratio since you're buying from the producer at taiwanese market prices
Having second session with my tflz single trees version. As a #1 tflz fan, I don't think I would take this over the regular version. It's similar, but less fun. I'm glad I went with bunch of samples instead of blind buying cakes on BF.
>>22250224I never bought a full cake over 70$. If I buy one it might be 8531 from Yeeon, stuff is really nice. I guess I dropped 60$ on their 2001 Xiaguan tuo though. But the 8531 might even be better
thanks for the replies>>22248786for gongfu? you must be using like 40g of tea at a time lol>>22248883hmm yeah less then 70ml does sound a bit small. I do have a teapot that's like 15ml but its more of a novelty item>>22248951yeah i think these 100ml ones are nice for tasting because u don't need like 10+ grams of leaves
>>22249130jesses tea is not only MASSIVELY overpriced but is also apparently rlly shit quality.he's a jewish internet personality I don't see why this would come as a suprise
>>22248306Just milk
what's your favorite tea from 2014?
>>22251287I think the only 2014 tea I've had was a Dayi lao cha tou. For sheng I go older than that
>>22251062>for gongfu?I'm shitposting, it's for grandpa of course kek
Seadyke AT117 shui xian brewing up pitch black
>>22251321it wouldn't suprise me if someone here was gongfu-ing those quantities>>22251401I did not realize there's different kinds of seadyke I tried two with different boxes and they were pretty much identical so thought its all the same
>>22251709>I did not realize there's different kinds of seadyke I tried two with different boxes and they were pretty much identical so thought its all the sameYeah, they have a lot of different ones. But all with a similar very heavy roast. The one I can recommend is AT110
>>22251719They also make both yancha and tie guan yin
>>22250360>I never bought a full cake over 70$I'm planning to(in that price range per gram, the sizes varies), but it's really rare to find something unique enough to be "worth" the extra.
>>22251719thanks ill give it a go if I see it at the chinese market>>22251720 I think thats one of the ones I tried and maybe one in a blue box but was a while ago
>>22250224when I got single trees of lao man e and jingmai I didn't like them either over the cakes.
>when u finally have a good oolongwhoa. local tea place must know wat they're doing.what's a good oolong you guys have bought? I bought some from upton tea I didn't care for
>>22251709>it wouldn't suprise me if someone here was gongfu-ing those quantitiesMight be possible if you're gongfuing for a dinner of like ten people, I suppose. Though at that point it takes 5+ seconds to fill and empty the cup, so if you're doing 10 or 20 second brews just the time to add and remove the water becomes a very significant factor.
>>22251837>what's a good oolong you guys have boughtteahome legend of tung tingwuyistar silver can lao cong shui xian (from kingteamall)dancong cha tou from white2tealots of variety in oolong, maybe the most variety of any type of tea
its this time of the year
>>22252567I could participate this year if the deal is good. But usually it's not that great compared to factory ripe
Why is regular tea such dogshit compared to Earl Grey?
>>22252620every kind of tea on w2t is cheaper elsewhere, it's not for broke sipping bois
>>22252567Reddit tea
>>22252567Sounds good. Still doesn't taste anything like pencil shavings.
>>22252769would rather spend extra on some aged ripe
>>22251287Shoutouts to anons with spreadsheets.Mine is an aged da hong pao from a KTM sampler pack. The only other is a Xiaguan Te Ji tuo.>>22251837All of the best oolongs I've had are the roasted ones like dan congs and yancha.>>22252620>>22252769Don't underestimate the power of the Shulloween minis. It's very handy to have a pouch of minis you can give out to anybody who's interested. Or to reach for when you can't be bothered to pick from a tuo. They're priced just fine.>>22253027I'll trade you my Red Loons for your Camphonoughts.
>>22250102>I hear Old Ways Tea is a very good store that specializes in wuyi oolong and is located in USACan vouch for Old Ways, they know their yancha + their "Wild Style" Red is fantastic. Not the cheapest but not robbery either, and life's too short to cheap out on oolong.
>>22251842hmm I think when ur brewing larger amounts the time required also increases so would probably be fine.I can't exactly figure out why (I've barely slept) right now but like every time I see some instructions for brewing like a huge vat of tea they leave the leaves for weirdly long amounts of time, I know its a bit different as these instructions are for western style but id imagine whatever causes that also applies here
TEA
My teahome order arrived, sadly won't have the time to dig in until later today.I bought a lot of their questionable cheapies, very curious how they hold up and how they compare to the Farmerleaf oolong. I'm probably going to start out with their legend of tung ting as sort of a primer.
mhhh look at dat sick boiiinto the grandpa it goes with style
Looking for a comfy daily shou. Viscosity is the main thing I want and I notice it tends to come with heavy fermentation, which I also like. Flavour-wise, I prefer malty and doughey, but more herbal flavours are fine so long as the texture is nice and thick. Budget is 50€ for a bing and the shop has to deliver to the EU. Farmer Leaf used to have Bangwai and Da Long Shan ripes that fulfilled this role for me thus far.>>22225180Had KTM's cheapest Long Jing last year. My notes say it was vegetably and a bit nutty with almost a 0,001% of an ash note. Also tried some cheap yancha from them, was fine, but too boring to order again.>>22256146Name of the book? I was looking for one that details the processes of making various kinds of tea for a while now.
>>22256295I didn't know it still had a nei fei. I love the presentation.
>>22256322It's a book an anon posted pictures of a couple years ago, "A Glossary of Chinese Puerh Tea" by Chan Kam Pong. There's some more in the archive
>>22256286nice, which ones did you buy?I've tried:>legend of tung ting>selected legend of tung ting (charcoal edition)>selected alishan jin xuan (roasted)>roasted shan lin xi>ruby 18>red oolong>35 years aged oolongenjoyed all except for maybe the ruby 18. the tung ting mogs a lot of more expensive taiwanese oolong I've had desu
>>22256473I'm the >small test orderanon, though I didn't receive what I ordered at all lol. For some reason he sent me 2 kilos of "Brilliant Everyday" oolong instead of the other shit.Trying the legend of dong ding right now and it's lovely, so at least there's that.
>>22256533Alright, did some reconstruction and I think the order checks out. 1950g of tea got sent in generic orange packaging (labeled as "Brilliant Everyday"), with no way to tell what type it is. the other 1650 grams are more or less acurately labeled. How weird.
>>22256541contact them and ask what the fuck did they sent to you. you've got chink'd hard and if you stay passive they'll flag your address as sucker and continue to chink you hard as you sip on your exquisite taiwanese tea. brilliant everyday indeed.
>>22256600I'm curious, has anyone ever had this happen with teahome? I'll write them and ask. Maybe they'll even have an english speaking employee answer.
>>22256541weird. maybe they ran out of labels for some reason. my teas all arrived labeled
Resisting the urge to shuball this winter...
SHULLOWEEEEEEEEEEEN
No free shipping for Shulloween?
>>22258257same as last year only Sunday Special instead of 2022 Charlie, same years too for the other 3. bare in mind 2024 had Trap Bird, Old Reliable, Mushroom & Shoo!. pretty laze, maybe Shulloween was always just getting rid of older stock and this years sales weren't as high(trump's tarifs?)
>>22258441never has been. they do free shipping on black friday>>22258470kind of tempted by it this year as I am mostly out of ripe. but I might just buy factory ripe instead
>>22259065~$20/cake isnt bad especially as Sunday Special on its own sells for $46 but i'm still drinking the stuff i got in the pervious 2 years
>>22259071any opinions on the ripes from previous shulloween?
>>22259097i liked black cat and i think the minis are great if you just want something simple to grab instead of breaking up a cake. Trap Bird is great really dark and smooth, but they dont seem to be selling the old stuff anymore. blakc cat and jacko are well worth $20, shubar is awkward because its a bar and not a cake with extra wrapper.
>>22258470>maybe Shulloween was always just getting rid of older stockI was wondering the same but then again neither Black Cat, Big Jacko or Shubar are for sale in their regular catalog. Maybe they are just re-wraps? Would be strange to keep all that stock just for a short offer every year.
>>22259137these cakes have the same release year as the 2025 shulloween cakes2022 Big Jacko 2023 Shubar 2024 Black Cat
>>22259097In decending order of preferenceBlack Cat: black-as-coffee dark, thick ripe - breddy gud. Bit fishyCharlie: similar to Black Cat. Hardly touched, gonna finish Black Cat first.Shubar: mild and inoffensive, good for effortless grandpa style. Consists of 50% twigs. Unique packaging and form factor.Big Jacko: well you heard what this one tastes like. Just finished a session with a friend. He said he liked it, reminded him of the smell of his grandpas house. Not exactly my preference but I'll finish the cake eventually.I generally still prefer young sheng over any shou. Last years Shullween was my first real dip into the waters of ripe. Would recommend getting the Shulloween cakes, in case of being curios or say shourious?
>>22259165>Big Jacko: well you heard what this one tastes likepencil shavings?
>>22259165>good for effortless grandpa style>Consists of 50% twigs.Pick oneI HATE TWIGS I HATE TWIGS
>>22259165I'm a little curious. but also ripe is such a samey category to me that I will usually just cheap out with the cheapest factory recipe I can findor buy trad storage ripe or something with a very weird profile like lumber slut. maybe I'd like the Jacko if they are similarly woody
are there other good stores for Yixing teapots than the ones in the pastebin? im thinking of buying a ~110ml zini shui ping pot
>>22260455I recommend https://www.realzisha.com/collections/new-arrivals-collection?page=1Their website is kinda ass but the pots are legit and quality. I bought this one from them a couple years back
Urge to buy flat pot rising again
>>22260490I've seen this flat pot, but it was tiny only 40 ml.
>>22260469Thank you, I think I'll wait until something interesting pops up here or on mudandleaves then, are the teaswelike pots good also? I mostly just want high quality clay.
>>22260521I don't have any TWL pots but I have two from mud and leaves and I recommend them as well. I'm brewing up some lumberslut in the duanni right now.
W2T 2022 Kuboo, a bamboo roasted bud heavy raw puerh. Not particularly complex, just some really nice bracing bitterness. Might have mellowed if I'd stored it in a Cambro with some Bovida packs but I've just had it sitting in a cabinet for three years. I need to actually wake up though so it's a good salve there.
>>22260632Nice! I got the 2025 Scrip (also bamboo roasted sheng). I think this is one of the best teas I've had from w2t. Punchy fruity young sheng flash steep galore. Bit annoying to pry apart but thats part of the experience.
>>22260526Very nice, I love that shape, poor other pot :(
>>22260669>poor other pot :(The clay is called Jiangponi and it's a blend of duanni, hongni, and zini according to mud and leaves. I really like the look and texture of it.And yeah... I was pretty disappointed with myself for being careless enough to chip it. I still use it though, it works just with a bit less capacity before spilling out the spout so I have to be careful to not fill it too much. I've thought about replacing it but meh... I really like this one and it's functional enough to still be practical.
i went to a local tea garden recently and their shit absolutely smoked the lipton i've been drinking forever. i get it now.i picked up a couple cans of loose black tea. i don't really know what i'm looking for, or what an appropriate price is, but i want to get a larger quantity since the garden only sells small amounts.i was just going to get maybe 300-500g of various black teas from this best sellers list. is this fine?https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/best-selling-products
>>22262889Having a local tea garden in the area, which also sells, sounds cool af. If you are looking for black tea specifically you can check at local tea stores. Non-terrible lose black tea is usually quite available in western stores.Getting a selection of teas from YS is also an option of course.
>>22262889Yeah should be fine.
>>22262889yeah these are fine :) if ur used to lipton though u may wanna also look into some south asian teas.i don't personally drink indian tea much because of the ick factor of having jeets touch my food but there's some good shit from places like Nepal and sri Lanka (yes yes I know they are basically jeets but they are a lot cleaner and more civilised than ur average streetshitter)
Is double-fisting tea OK?
>>22265476Like drinking two at once? Yeah, I'd say it's encouraged even.
drinking 90s 7581 brick from QuicheTeashighly recommended for HK trad ripe fans. smoother and not as spicy as best taste and purple mark from yeeon. very comfy
what am i in for?
>>22266697based bbq wood flavorbomb with great thick and active mouthfeelsimple herbal woody easy drinker with good thicknesswell, I have the 2005 and 2008 versions but should be similar enough
>>22266755sounds like a rockin' good time, thanks for the hot tip anon
>>22266697Two cakes that did very well on the speed test for me, both good choices
Drinking some Meijian Township competition oolong from teahome, the jin xuan Sieger version. It's nice, sweet, nutty and with some savory notes like I've tasted in longjing. The taste is lingering and it coats your mouth.Pretty good for 9,50€/300g (+shipping and tip).
>>22266808Nice to hear about some of the competition stuff, sounds tasty
>>22266697bretty good dailies but only 2 cakes?
Hope you're not drinking pu-erh as a beginner, anon....
>>22266813I would try more of them, but most are listed at disproportionate prices. There's other stuff I want to try before I blind buy 300 grams of bumfuck township competition Sieger tea for 80 bucks.
>>22267396getting a strong major bitch qi from this user
I quit caffeine for about six months.Last week received an order of four teas from Camellia Sinensis in Montreal.Royal Jasmine OrganicWoojeon JejuOrganic BanchaDu Yun Mao JianAll four are very clean with no dust.Jeju is very brothy, marine, quite tasty. I drink this before runs and first thing in the morning.I had never had jasmine before, I was sort of not sold on it immediately as the scent was quite strong and almost overpowering. I enjoy it now though after the fourth or fifth session with it.The Duyun Maojian is likely to become my every day tea. It's reasonably priced, quite tasteful. In my previous tea adventures I had only drank cheaper greens and blacks from Bulk Barn or grocery stores, and a single cup would make me puke if taken on an empty stomach. Now I can drink three brews and go run.It was quite nice to be free of caffeine for six months, but the brain fog never lifted. My previous routine was 200mg tablets every 4 hours from 6am until 2pm. The withdrawals took three weeks and I felt like I was dead, pounding headache, no ability to think.Coming back I consciously decided to move to green tea, and I can say the theanine and lighter caffeine content are wonderful. I think about Bodhidharma cutting off his eyelids and throwing them to spring up tea plants. I understand now !
I found this picture from about 15 years ago when I was a coffee and energy drink hater in highschool. I'm still not sure if the energy drinker has a moustache of a dirty sanchez
>>22268431its Friendly Mutton Chops, popular in England in the 1800's
>drink some pu'er>wow that's nice>flavor and experience starts grating on me>go back to oolongs, greens and blacks>hmm maybe I should buy this 200 dollar tea cake I won't drink>cycle repeatsWhy do I do this /tea/?
>>22267396>this man spent decades learning to press the cake
>>22267396I've read first two sentences and refuse to continue. These types of people should be shot on sight.
Is the 2004 XG Songhe cake as bad as people say? Ipucha reviews are ruthless and James rating it pretty low makes me wanna skip.Also, how’s the 2005 XG Jiaji? cake (下关繁体厚纸甲级泡饼)? That one looks interesting as a budget sipper. Anyone had either?
>>22269374Had the 2011 XG Jinse Yinxiang myself today. That's a good daily
>>22269293I'm kind of bored of young raw personally, exploring more aged stuff
