/tea/ - Tea

Nepalese tea has roughly the same taste but is much cheaper.

Darjeeling is good. But I can't get myself to pay for that stuff. China black tea is great.

The difference in the soil from China -> India is so…. different I guess. They are both good but I love the chocolate tones of good China black tea, yum

>>563

Darjeeling has a more 'floral' flavor than Assam, if that helps.

Don't listen to >>556, OP. Blooming teas are more for decoration. They always come out kind of light and kind of bland in the steep.

>>563

If you like Assam less than Ceylon, you will probably like Darjeeling.

Sure its good.

But I won't pay that price for a tea from India, sorry.

>realize mate is a type of holly bush

>know european holly can be infused as a tasty caffinated drink

>pick leaves from some nearby hollys, probably american holly and some kind of holly bush

>wash

>boil a bit in a pot

Came out fairly tasty, even though its just leaves from random holly plants.

I drank a weird herbal tea lately. I bought some at a Korean supermarket. Its made out of Gastrooia Elata & it literately has cornflakes floating in it. You don't steep it you just drink all of it like Ginseng tea

I tend to go for either straight peppermint or a blend I make on occasion with roasted yerba mate, honeybush and ginger. Sometimes I throw cardamom in it too.

I call it Honeybuzz.

>>527

I agree that you don't need to examine the leaves, but you're on a tea board so you should expect some people want to examine them.

>>529

I agree that some people will want to, but for posters complaining that buying good tea is too complicated and unpredictable, maybe they should quit overthinking it and making it science.

>>469

Experiment with different brewing times, temperatures, and water amounts if you don't remember which cup you used. Use a thermometer and timer so you can be accurate in your research and keep notes. Longer brew time and more heat produce more flavor but also eventually lead to bitterness.

Don't overbrew it.

Don't let the tea get stale

Use bottled spring water.

>>647

>bottled spring water

This will vary depending on where you live. In my country tap water is held to higher standards than bottled water.

>>663

Nor-tea-gen.

>>334

I have an interesting story about guayusa.

I lived in the Amazon with an Ecuadorian family for about a month. Every day at 5 AM, the father would get up and prepare guayusa, by literally picking the leaves off the tree that grew right near his house, fresh as they could possibly be.

The great man told me at one point that guayusa was an Amazonian cure-all. When you were out in the jungle, it would create an invisible shield of energy around you, to ward off snakes and wild animals and such. It also was a bona-fide study aid, as he told, and helped to increase memory and calm you before tests, if you were anxious.

Did a damned good job of waking me up every morning. If there was ever a tea that's a replacement for coffee, it'd be that one. It brewed naturally strong.

>>334

Guayusa is like a Maté that doesn't taste like brewed hay.

I want the melon white tea from lupicia, but lupicia is expensive for what you get and there's no guarantee it'll be good. Their melon oolong is utter shit, but the strawberry vanilla/ginger-orange are both okay. I'll probably put it on my christmas list, instead.

That is a really cool tea canister.

Can you pick me up some of this while you are out and about? I don't have the money to pay you back.

http://www.maiko.ne.jp/english/shopping/yamashita-gyokuro.htm

>>625

The process is exactly the same as making tea with tea bags, except instead of pulling out all the leaves with the bag, you need to strain the leaves out somehow. Typically, it's brewed in a vessel separate from the cup you'll drink out of, then poured through a strainer (either separate or built in to the tea pot). You can also try a teaball, which works similarly to a tea bag, but like tea bags they don't give the tea much room to expand, so you end up getting bitter tea, much like you do from tea bags.

There are resources out there (even just on this board) that will have more details.

>>625

at least with the leaves ive had theyre dried up and crumpled into a ball. you just leave them to sit in hot water for a while as if it were a teabag. they expand into their regular leaf shape and thats that.

>>624

well i found nothing. in any case it cant be any worse than the corners surely cut by that usual lipton swill i drink with their pesticide fetish.

what do you prefer about the leaves that the bags take away? just the atmosphere or does it interfere with the flavor somehow? could i just rip the bag open?

>>628

I do enjoy the brewing process, but there is a definite taste factor. Tea bags will use the lowest quality of leaf left over from the production of higher quality leaves. Generally, smaller, more broken pieces of leaves produce a more bitter, less flavorful tea. Combine that with the pressure that the confines of the bag exert on the tea, and you're almost guaranteed to get a cup full of tannic acid that will overwhelm whatever tea flavor you would have gotten from the leaves.

Ditch the tea bags like anon said, I honestly don't think I've encountered someone who prefered them over loose leaf after they switched. Other than that, if there's one thing that I would expect the Chinese to take good care of and produce good quality, it would be tea.

You could go to a local store like DavidsTea and ask them where their tea gets shipped from, also. Buy some Japanese loose leaf or something like that if you really insist on not drinking Chinese stuff.

>>633

>> Buy some Japanese loose leaf or something like that if you really insist on not drinking Chinese stuff

Yeah but China black tea is the best and so good.

Rule of thumb: you get what you pay for. If you are worried about quality buy the expensive stuff. For China black $35-$40 for 3-4 oz should do the trick

the "licorice" taste is from anethol. a component of the essential oil of those herbs.

I find fennel has the nicest flavour for brewing.

I've found it needs to be ground from the whole seed just before use.

Possibly you could get essential oil of fennel and add it to a small percentage of the black tea then mix that into the whole.

What's your face when you find out it's Qing LongDong's pube?

Have not gotten into puerh yet. It kinda freaks me out

>>615

Oh man, imagine what that room must smell like.

Anyways, I usually start my day with a shu pu (the light and mellow kind, not the strong, earthy kind you drink after a hearty meal), or a fengqing black tea, or an aged white tea.

>>618

Nope. I've had it with milk before, but I don't do it regularly at all.

The only thing that I really do to any kind of tea that I drink is add a little bit of sugar and lemon to my cold brewed oolong. Makes it like iced tea.

>>615

I prefer Assam, myself. My day is always so much brighter when it starts with a nice cup of tea.

ah either black tea from China (or India if I am in a hurry) or green tea. I will drink green tea in the morning but in that case will usually supplement with mt. dew. Sorry if thats gross.

>>581

I would but caffeine dependence is great, i moved back to tea from coffee just to slowly ween.

I've cold turkyed before for months and the taste never comes back really. well, the tannin does but i quickly get used to it.

i've drunk and eaten such bitter (manuka tea heh) and strong things in my recent life that everything is now muffled so to speak

>>634

No idea about the Cossack, but that's pretty cool that they sent you an extra ounce as an apology.

4th steep of 'Yume no Ukihashi' time to make another pot of something different

My top three are:

Crepes Tea House, located in MA. Free shipping to my area (NY), and reduced shipping elsewhere. Huge selection, the owner is nice, and the tea is great. Have some storage tins ready though, because the 30g bags of tea come in clear baggies, which aren't good for storage.

Upton (uptontea.com): Great selection for unflavored teas, update their stock pretty regularly, good place to buy storage tins of various sizes.

Adagio (adagio.com): okay, but not as good as the above. I pretty much only get occasional stuff if they have a flavor I want but can't find elsewhere. More expensive as well.

https://www.o-cha.com/

http://www.hibiki-an.com/

http://global.rakuten.com/en/category/201423/

also ebay

also http://www.maiko.ne.jp/english/

but don't buy anything below exhibition grade at maiko, as the cheaper stuff is meh.

Just hand wash normally? If you're trying to get some tough stains out, try baking soda or Barkeeper's Friend.

>>629

I've got some bad caked in black tea that isn't coming out with washing normally. Baking soda you say?

>>631

Baking soda and some elbow grease may be able to do it, either making a water-baking soda paste and using that as an abrasive or boiling a water-baking soda solution, then scrubbing thoroughly. I used it on my stainless steel cookware and it worked, though it did take some effort. If your stains are bad, this might not work as well as you hope it does.

From what I've seen, barkeeper's friend should also do the trick and with less scrubbing. I've never used it myself, so I can't vouch for it.

So I ordered from here, but my order never arrived. I gave it three weeks before emailing.

Support said they'd resend, and it usually only takes a week to arrive. Any idea what's going on? I this common?

I'm going out of town tomorrow, for two weeks, so I won't know until I get back if it arrived this time.

If it doesn't I'll just give up and ask for a refund.

Meanwhile, I ordered from a Russian cafe in Massachusetts, 2 dollars per ounce with plenty of selection, plus free shipping nationwide.

>>587

Pretty ridiculous if they don't get your tea sent to you soon. Think it has anything to do with their failed kickstarter or a genuine mistake and they're resending it?

>>590

They resent it and it arrived in a week.

Seems it was a genuine mistake, on the part of the Canadian post. You can never trust those fuckers.

To sum up:

The quality of leaf is good, and the flavors come through well. But it's too fucking expensive. You might as well buy everything yourself and blend your own teas. Okay for a novelty gift for a birthday or something, though, I guess.

>>600

God mode: grow your own tea

As long as the tea all stayed in the box it technically should be "fine", I guess. But you know. Customs is shitty half the time.

Alright, the package just arrived and everything is fine. They didn't unpack the puerh bricks or open any of the bags. They did charge me 4.5 eur for their "services" on top of the tax though. Cunts.

>>592

Actually, I didn't realize it was puerh we were talking about. Fuck anyone who messed with that.