/ck/ - Food & Cooking

my favorite tea is the turkish tea

I like the fragrance of tieguanyin/Iron Buddha. I also like the nuttiness of long jing, and sometimes you get smokey long jings as well. Those are my two favourites.

I started drinking more tea recently since I abandoned soda. I love it.

It's great for when I need some caffeine and it's great for when I need something at night to relax. Also, unsweetened iced tea is so good.

Can anyone recommend any place to buy tea for someone looking to actually get decent tea?

>>5372878
About the soda, me too

I won't hide anything and say that I'm pretentious for this but I defiantly want a clear glass tea cup to drink with

>>5372878

it can be expensive, but Teavana has some good loose teas.
and for bagged teas, I love Twinings.

>>5372878
>>5373693

Teavana opened up their first 2 official tea bars. It's literally a Starbucks version of tea but without the Macbooks and people pretending to be smart. There's one in Manhattan and another in Seattle.

>>5372725

Chai is probably my favorite, especially the scent it gives off which makes my room smell good for a while.

>>5372862

>tieguanyin/Iron Buddha

Where can I buy it?

>>5372725

Tea is there for me when i'm in my loneliest of hours.
The boiling of water,
The choosing of variety,
The gentle clash of Earth & Water greeting each other,
The aroma,
The warmth.

It's my only true friend because it helps me realize that i'm
here for myself. When all is lost at least I still have my cup
at my side.

>pic related, that's my cup.

>>5372849

I got a Samovar about a month ago, and it's been serving me well so far. Hot, delicious tea throughout the whole day. Especially comes in handy when studying for exams.

>>5373825
mf 67 haha good

>>5373833

What?

>>5372725
I've recently started drinking tea and I love it. When I started a couple months ago I used to drink it with lumps of sugar, now I prefer it just strait with no sugar added at all.

>>5373842
I meant to put 2 lumps of sugar.

>>5373830
Is there a point to having a samovar when you don't have guests?
I think it sounds like a waste unless you're constantly drinking tea.

>>5373816
I always get it as gifts from Chinese relatives who also receive them as gifts. It seems to be the kind of tea that's gifted the most. I otherwise get my tea from eBay but it's kind of difficult because different brands of tea don't really advertise themselves so it's hard to tell if you're getting the type of Iron Buddha, gunpowder, etc. you actually like.

I know nothing about tea , i would like to know more if you wanna tell or w/e. i live in New England if that matters

>>5374089
samovar makes tea differently than a teapot, it makes a strong concentration of tea that is then watered down.

Rooibos is where it's at. Just straight supergrade. No extra flavors or spices. Heat that shit up to boiling and let it steep for 7 minutes and en-fucking-joy

i love cold coors light except when im barfing :()

Could anybody please recommend a good whistling kettle brand?

>>5375402

Rooibos is my favorite. It's one of the very few teas out there that's classified as "red tea".

It's the wine of tea for me.

>>5372725
I also love tea OP.

>>5375392

Lemme show you the rundown of tea.

>White
>Green tea
>Oolong tea
>Black tea
>Pu-erh tea

^^^ All the above come from the same tea plant. The difference is how they're processed.

Then there's herbal teas which is a HUGE variety. The possibilities are virtually endless of what you can do.

I can never understand why people never drink their tea out of transparent glass. Why cover it up? Why not instead let light pass through the colors? It's beautiful.

Could you imagine if people drank wine from a coffee mug? It would completely ruin the experience because the sight of wine is supposed to be elegant in sight. So why don't people do the same for tea I wonder.

>>5377998
I love how tea looks in glasses but I also love the feel of bone china, and I also love the rustic feel of Japanese tea cups, and I also love the feel of clay cups. I think they're all lovely.

I do feel that every tea should be drunk from a glass cup at least once, though, to appreciate the colour (and I think I have seen studies that say that visual perception alters flavour, though I have also seen studies that say knowledge of an unconscious perception nullifies its effects), just as I believe every tea should be savored from a small tea cup at least once, and at least once from a broad brimmed cup to appreciate the fragrance more fully.

I'm obsessed with tea. I'll drank any kind. Except earl grey. For some reason I never acquired the taste for it.

Teavana makes my favorite teas honestly even though that company sucks, the tea is really expensive, and their salespeople are the worst.

There is this stuff I used to drink in Japan, i miss it so much can't find it anywhere in the states. It kind of had a floral taste to it.

Starbucks makes a good green tea latte. I also think they make the best chai latte as well.

Am I brewing my lapsang souchong in the wrong way?

I use 212F water, I let it steep for about 3-4 mins, and then drink it.

It has a really nice smell, but the taste seems off. It's kind of woody and bitter. I feel like it should be different. The color also isn't as dark as I expected it to be.

>>5378010
It seems it should be right. If I had to say anything, I'd say steep it for less time (2min) with more tea leaves. It could just be the brand of lapsang souchong you have. I'd probably experiment with different temperatures and steeping times.

>>5378019
I bought an ounce from the good tea house in my county (I don't have a good one in my town, the only good tea house to buy from is about 15-20mins from my house). So I doubt it's a bad brand or anything.

I could use more leaves and less time next time. Though, I expected this tea to be much different than I expected. It isn't bad, just not as good as I was hoping. I prefer English Breakfast or Golden Tips tea.

>>5378027
What were you expecting?

>>5378061
Not sure exactly. People always described it as smokey smelling, which it sure does, so I figured it might have almost a like a roasted mushroom/meat kind of flavor. Not meaty, but more like the "smell" of meat and the caramelized taste of it. If that makes sense..

Still pretty good. But like I said, I prefer EB or GT.

Also, does anyone do any cooking with teas? Sometimes I make crackers made with tea water, or other baked goods like bread or cupcakes or whatever. But does tea have any practical cooking applications? Like could I take some brewed black tea (chilled) and let it marinate with some chicken? Maybe some kind of white tea glaze for a piece of meat?

>>5378005

I hope someday tea becomes more widely used here in the states. The only teas people are aware here is green tea and black tea. Literally that's it. Most of the time it's synthetically altered with lots of shit sugar served cold in a store bought bottle. Tea in my opinion should be served without added sugar or honey (at first at least) to truly get to experience the flavor. Or maybe i'm just a tea elitist, maybe i'm on a high horse thinking my way is superior or something, I don't know.

Coffee is still the drug of capitalism. I dream of a day where tea & coffee are equally consumed in this society. Where a tea shop is as common as Starbucks.

>>5378435

that looks like something out of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter.

>>5373811
>tfw my small college city has one of these for some reason
>tfw I really want to buy some of their loose-leaf teas and accessories
>tfw when I'm a broke college student and have to resort to drinking Stash and Lipton

matcha is the best tea

>>5378473

Are you from Seattle?

>mfw people order tea online
>mfw people buy tea from grocery stores
>mfw people actually pay teavanna money for tea
>mfw you can pay brown people $10 for a massive tin of loose whatever the fuck you want and it doesn't have cinnamon sticks and orange rind thrown in

>>5378503

You mean Asian markets?

>>5378516
If he does, he's retarded. The local Asian community only sells old dusty tea with no flavor left.

>>5378076
The lapsung I had is exactly what you described there
Do you have yours with milk though? Lap sung is like chai, where its usually best complimented with milk.

I've made sweet biscuits with chai tea and tossed in some of the leaves because it was a finer ground. I'd love for /ck/ to broaden on this though. Cakes and breads are just the thing for them I reckon. Remembering there's stuff like Green Tea ice cream as well... maybe a white tea gelato? Black tea maybe?

I love all kinds of tea, but my favorite is masala chai. I used to make a small pot every morning and keep it in a thermos for myself, but now I usually make a big pot because someone always stops by my place hoping for a cup. I feel like a regular wallah.

>>5378503
>massive tin
Fuck you cossack, that stuff is worse than what you get in Lipton teabags.

>>5378543

I know that sensory feel. Chai in general is orgasmic.

>>5378543
how are you getting people to stop by your place

I'm from the south. Sweet tea is a staple.

>>5378671

Lemme guess, people in the south use cups of sugar to make it taste like soda.

>>5378010
yeah F not celcius there's your problem you fucking neanderthal.

>>5378010

Some teas don't take too kindly to boiling water.

You're basically burning your tea.

Let your water cool down first before you fuse your herb with it.

>>5378667
Grad student. Most of us still live in the small college town and sometimes my near-suicidal colleagues need a nice cup of tea to relax.

>>5378691
lapsang souchong is a smoky black tea, it's supposed to be in boiling water.
he's steeping it a bit too long is all.

>>5378007
>tfw I work at teavanna
You can find higher quality and just plain better teas online for way cheaper. Though I would recommend the watermelon mint tea for iced tea.

>>5378521
Green tea ice creams, etc. tend to specifically use matcha which is much easier to use as it's ground to a powder. But I think you're right, one should be able to make something like a white or black tea gelato (though, I think white tea might not be strong enough), perhaps by infusing the custard with the tea leaves.

>>5378543
What kind of thermos do you have and how do you clean it? I have a thin thermos that I can't reach down into to clean so sometimes I'll soak it with water and washing up liquid, and then try to shake the froth out with my hand loosely over the top, to get the froth to agitate any sort of buildup within the thermos. I hear oxyclean is good but I don't have access to that.

>>5372725

No matter how much coffee I chug during the day, you just can't beat that morning/even cup of tea. Having it right now, and it's so fine.

I fucking hate fake teas

golden peak has to be the most disgusting shit that ive ever tasted in a bottle

>>5377998

Mang, the mug is love, the mug is life. Recently my 10+ year old cow mug broke and needless to say this was a devestating blow.

I've since replaced it with several other mugs identical to eachother, to prevent this trauma occuring again.

>>5372878
>>5373687
I'm a sodafag and ive often considered drinking tea in place of soda.

what tea would you recommend me to start with?

or should i just go to a grocery store and pick something that smells good

>>5372725

I drink a lot of tea.

Recently I ordered a bunch from a german webshop and the packages suggested that I should brew the green tea at 100°C.

I'm not going to be one of their return customers, that's for sure.

>>5379507

Get a transparent mug.

>>5379513

High Quality Oolong. Taiwanese one, to be more exact.

They're pretty sweet and flowery and fairly easy to prep as they brew at 80°C.

in the last like 3 months i started drinking loads of tea again, im still on bags but once i run out of these im going with loose tea (any suggestions would be nice too, i love green, and white tea mostly, nothing added) plus i just got an electric kettle which is bomb although sometimes the water is way too hot and it tastes like nothing

anyway, i had to drink a bag of lipton green tea at work today and it kind of smelled/tasted like fish anyone else have this experience?

>>5379489

l assure you, my new ugly mugs are just fine.

>>5379522
also im an american so i prefer chilled tea especially when its hot.

is it okay to chill most teas?

>>5379513
>>5379522

I'd almost recommend black tea, because boiling water and 3-4 mins is easier than 80C and 45 seconds, like my current green tea. Earl Grey always works, you know?

Also, if you're going from soda to tea odds are tea won't taste much at all. If it really feels bland and thin no matter what, add some honey/sugar.

The amount is up to you, but always try to decrease it with every cup..

Bought my first unflavoured green tea recently

>smelled like rose hip
>tasted like grass

But I'm really starting to enjoy it, honestly. Very nice in the morning.

>>5378671
Southern sweet tea is sickening to me

>>5379540
>is it okay to chill most teas?

Whatever floats your boat, Anon. Just remember that it takes a lot of ice to rapidly cool down hot water. You might wanna keep the ice cubes seperated from the hot tea, lest you thin it to the point of coloured water in the process.

I love tea epecially green, but this year when I moved to university I only have access to city water and now green tea always taste like shit, any tips?

>>5379578
Filter the water or buy bottled water.

>>5379578

Get a fliter jug.

Get a filter jug.

>>5378691
that picture would be so great if it wasn't just ever so slightly tilted.

Just bought my first "real" teapot (a tetsubin) after using an Ingenutea for a while. Really looking forward to it but the shipping is incredibly slow.

I'm addicted to Earl Grey Supreme from Harney and Sons, but I am looking forward to ordering a bunch of other shit eventually and getting into greens and Rooibos

>>5379587
>>5379582
Do filters remove that chlorine taste? Also the water I'm used to had quite a few minerals in it, is there a way to archive that without jut buying bottled water?

>>5379607
Buy a bunch of 5 gallon jugs and take them home

>>5378438
They had to get the inspiration from somewhere. Old bazaars and eastern tea shops are pretty good guesses.

>>5379514
A lot of Chinese teahouses brew at 100c with a large amount of leaves, for just a couple of seconds.

>>5379540
I think the oils from tea tend to separate if you do that, but that might only be if it's done slowly.

Has anyone tried coldbrewing tea?

>>5379588
Is this better? I found it a bit hard to tell what was straight, though.

>>5379646
it seems like if you hotbrew and then chill it you're going to at least get more oils extracted, and then you could try stirring/shaking before pouring a glass, where with cold brewing you wont be able to extract as much but you might end up with a less bitter taste, as less caffeine is extracted without heat

>>5379687

Recently I bought this, it has a lid.

Do you think by trapping in the steam it preserves the oils?

Nothing beats a nice cup of steaming barley or allay tea.

>>5380220
adlay*

Are tea flowers just for show or do they impart a unique flavor experience

>>5372725
here are the teas I have currently. What would you recommend as my next step; a whistling kettle, some nice glass mugs/cups? thanks

>>5381732
Unique flavour experience? They have a flavour, and they have an experience in that you can watch them bloom, but I haven't encountered any high quality blooming tea lower. Once you've had one, you get the general idea.

>>5381790
none of those look like loose-leaf, so i'd recommend you put them all in the garbage and go here

http://www.uptontea.com/shopcart/home.asp

>>5381790
Throw them away and buy loose leaf.

>>5381790
>twinnings

well, your next step would be to buy some tea.

>>5381796
Thanks. Awful lot of Twinings hate in this thread, their tea isn't that bad, especially if you're just starting out.

I quite like plain green tea and Earl Grey, so are there any similar teas on that site / recommendations?

I got my mom a present once - it was a Teavanna tea set. It was a hipster store in the mall.

Dude, that shit was some good tea. Creme Earl Grey was my favorite.

pic related, one of their blends. not all of their blends looks like cereal though.

>>5381864
I can't even tell how much of that is tea.

>>5381864
Yeah, that looks like it's all fruit and rose buds. Probably makes a very sweet herbal tea.

I made an excess of clotted cream. Very nice in rich teas.

>>5378493

If he lived in Seattle, he would know New Century Tea gallery in the ID is the place to go. Or Vital Tea Leaf by Pike Place Market.

Why the shit is no one talking about puerh tea? The best tea there is.

I'm working on a beautiful Nannuo Shou Pu-erh

>>5381790

>Not organic

Enjoy your sprayed on pesticides. Not only that but those poisons soak into the ground soil thus depleting the nutrients form plants and fucking up future crops.

>>5382000
>he thinks that labeled organic crops are pesticide free

>>5381999
How do you know what it's called? I have some pu-er, two bricks and one in a bag where it pretty much looks like normal loose leaf. I guess I'll look up what they say on nciku sometime.

I find I can't start drinking it after 3pm or so because of the caffeine.

>>5372725
I like a strong breakfast tea in a chipped enamel mug with a splash of milk and two sugars. It ain't fucking elegant, but it's good.

>>5381999

I always pronounce it "pure tea".

>>5382009

I just know it's nannou from the store. I guess I could have figured out it was a shou since it is relatively young (2001) but has such a deep, rich flavor.

>>5372725
Well OP since you don't care what enthusiasm I go on about. I will tell you how much I fucking hate you shitty bitter leaf juice.
>I hate how fucking inconvenient those shitty loose leafs actually are
>I hate the smell the taste the brown fucking color that looks more closely like a old toilet water that hasn't been flushed in days.
>I hate the price of the so called good tea It seems the less it has flavor and or aroma the more it cost why would you pay more for less?
>I hate how it is only served hot who drinks hot tea in the summer? You must be British because only a filthy gaggle toothed limey could ever have such bad taste
>Then if I actually want you bitter leaf juice I go for convenience and what do I get in return? Little bags of "tea" that taste of saw dust and pencil shavings. What are these bags the defective condoms you limey bastards should be using.
>Finally the waste why would anyone throw away perfectly good fiber? You could live well on the and have a healthy vegetarian diet.

>>5382033

It should really be pronounced POO-ERR but who cares

>>5382040

"Pure" tea sounds way more badass.

It makes it sound like it's the most authentic form of tea, or perhaps some ancient variant of it.

>>5382045

......but really it's just compost tea ;)

>>5381796
That website looks awful, but do you have any recommendations for what you get form them?

>>5381859
Any tea that's comprised of fannings (the itty bitty pieces left over when loose leaves are picked out) and dust in a paper teabag are shit-tier. The majority of mainstream supermarket teas are like this. If you insist on buying teabags, at least buy ones that contain whole leaves and come in a mesh bag.

Can anyone give some recommendations of a kettle/teapot to buy? Roommate just moved out and took his water heater and cast iron with him, so now I've got a bunch of loose leaf and nothing to do with it. I just used his stuff and I really have no idea what's good or isn't. I could go to the teavana at the mall but I feel like they'd just try to get me to buy the most expensive things

>>5381790
Ignore the cunts and just drink up. Slowly replace each box with loose leaf, give some bags for friends to try to help rid of it quicker. Don't worry you're just an initiate.

I find still having some bagged tea helped I that I could carry it with me to work or other places and enjoy there. Coz whose gonna carry loose tea and a press? See tea bags as just travel convenience from now on.

>>5382946

Teapots are good if that's your only strainer.

You could buy a strainer that fits inside of cups and then go buy an electric kettle.

See>>5379992

>>5381859
Oolong you can try.

Does anyone notice any difference in steeping methods?
I have a small old Bodum French press (one with Pyrex not the shit new plastic these days) and tried one of those mesh ball things you split open, fill then dunk. The mesh ball made the tea look milky and not as translucent compared to the press... Same leaves btw

>>5379513
Im one of the people you replied to - I reckon getting a green tea mixed with dried strawberries would be a good start, or any fruit. Drink it straight with nothing added. If its not for you do black teas with milk

>>5382946
If you're buying a stovetop kettle, make sure it's a model that whistles when the water boils (most do). It should also have a removable lid with a hole big enough for you to get your hand in it for cleaning. Pic related, it's pretty standard. If you leave it on the stove all the time it'll definitely get dirty. Scrubbing with baking soda will make it shine like new. The expensive ones do just as good a job boiling as the cheap ones but it takes more to make them rust. I've had a stainless steel model for 2 years ($15) that always has water sitting in it but hasn't rusted at all yet. Glass kettles don't rust so it's a good option if you're cheap and careful, but the insides can develop thin films of mildew inside if you don't clean them (not visible to the naked eye, you have to feel around for them). Look for something with a large, flat surface area on the bottom, as they tend to boil water faster.

If buying electric, electric kettles have two major parts: the heating element and the kettle itself. If you're able to find one without any plastic touching the inside (many come with plastic on the lids), you'll be able to use it for heating more than just water (you can use it for stocks and milk or whatnot). Nice thing about them is they can keep the water heated long after boiling.

If you buy a teapot, you'll still need a kettle for heating water in. Porcelain or ceramic are good, since they're porous (under the glaze, obviously) and will keep your tea insulated. Just don't buy them in dark colors or you'll never know when they're dirty. Baking soda is great for cleaning tea stained cups btw. Glass teapots are great for aesthetics but lose heat quickly. Blooming teas and tea blends can look very lovely in them though.

anyone know any good Chinese style black teas? I've had it up to here with english/western style black teas at the moment. Gone as far with greens and oolongs as I want to go at the moment. Simply just black teas that are not mostly assam bred.

>>5383045
what would you say about getting a temperature specific hotplate with a kettle? For seeping tea at sub-boiling temps.

>>5383050
Just buy a thermometer for a couple of dollars.

>>5383062
well that's novel... guess I will then.

>>5383045

> Baking soda is great for cleaning tea stained cups.

You can also use toothpaste which works flawlessly.

To add onto what >>5382995 said, strainers are only absolutely necessary if you're dealing with one of the following:
>Tea blends (containing things that aren't tea leaves, such as orange rinds, rosebuds, cinnamon sticks, etc.)
>Low quality teas containing fannings
You need a strainer only if you're brewing in a cup.

If you're brewing straight up tea leaves without a strainer (green, black, oolong, etc), the leaves will sink to the bottom of your cup and stay there. You can get multiple brews out of the leaves as well if they're good quality.

When using a strainer, it's better to underfill than overfill. Tea expands to about 3x its size when it steeps, so give it room to grow.

>>5383050
Sure, that sounds like it would work for getting the most out of your tea, haha. You could also steep your tea in an electric kettle (many have an option for keeping water hot but below boiling) or in a clean coffee pot kept on its burner. You may not want to steep things for too long, because you can end up extracting more tannins (bitter compounds) than you'd like.

>>5383068
Yes, toothpaste works great as well (the white pasty kinds only though, not the gels). Both are micro abrasives that won't scratch non-porous surfaces

>>5383020
I don't believe presses are good ways to steep tea leaves because it's too easy to squash them. Even if the press is resting right on top of the leaves, the leaves don't have the freedom to float above it so they end up retaining the shape they're in. The first brew will be fine but there will be a significant disadvantage on your second. Of course, there are differing results depending on the type of tea and the size of the leaves.

Mesh balls are the same, they restrict the freedom of the leaves. It could be that your differing results are from pressing the leaves too much.

>>5383046
I like Lan Xin black tea and Jin Jun Mei. Jin Jun Mei doesn't taste like your typical lapsang souchong (which it is) and tastes almost like plums, while Lan Xin's black tea has a sweet flavour similar to lychees.

>>5382946
>>5383045
This guy gives a lot of good recommendations. One other thing I'd like to add is that for an electric kettle, it's nice to get one that doesn't have the heating element on the inside, since that makes the kettle more difficult to clean.

>>5383134
I also like what this guy has to say about just brewing leaves straight up without a strainer in your cup. I think some people have a misconception that brewing loose leaf is much more complicated than it is, when the simplest method is just to put leaves in a mug and pour hot water on top. Things like specific temperatures, types, brands and locations, and methods are for when you get more interested in tea. (Thanks for your recommendation of toothpaste, by the way.)

Anyone a fan of Pu-Er?

>>5383464
I've got some Xishuangbanna 2004 on the left, JiShunHao 2008, and then this bag that says Qun Ai but I'm not sure what it is. It tastes like pu-er but with a much less developed or floral flavour.

>>5383479
It is a green/raw pu'er or a brown/cooked one?

Can't see all of the words on the packaging, but I think I worked for the company that made the tea you have.

>>5383499
They're green/raw.

That's cool, what did you do there?

>>5383512
Actually, the 2008 is shu, sorry, but the 2004 is raw.

>>5383512
Translating and event management, they launched their Hong Kong branch a while ago and needed somebody to help with "non-Chinese speaking customers" on their debut launch in a local industry fair.

The 2008 shu one would make a good 'everyday tea', shu tea is actually nothin to write home about unless it's been properly 'cared for'/allowed to continue the fermentation process for at least a century.

The 2004 one is good right now but would be excellent in another 20 years.

>tfw you drank tea for 12 hours a day and they paid me less than what was agreed on because "You (as in me) must've misheard them, since my Mandarin isn't very good." but apparently good enough for them to hire me and I was stubborn enough to keep working for them after the other 2 (out of 3) event staff left after 1 day and 10 days respectively.

>>5383540
I can wait another ten years, thanks! That's helpful to know.

Pretty awful management you had, it sounds like.

>>5383624
They're trying to run a Chinese company with a number of problem:
1) A Chinese business management style in places that is not China.
2) No vision
3) Not understanding their target audience/consumer
4) Lack of product range
5) No brand recognition.

"Shu"/cooked tea is the 'safe' choice, since the artificial fermentation (hence, 'cooked') means that there would be no major changes in the tea's fragrance, color and flavor.
"Sheng"/raw leaves don't go through the artificial process, so you have a much wider degree of change from a 'fresh out of processing" to "aged/kept for a century".

Do you know how to actually keep the tea leaves? Pu'er storage is very different from other teas.

>>5383667
I store it the same way as my other leaves, in that I store them somewhere dark and cool, the only difference being that I try to let the pu'er breathe, so I don't put it in metal containers and so on. I put them in a bamboo wicker box. Is there anything else I should do?

>>5383674
All tea should be stored away from sunlight. For everything other than pu'er, store it in an air tight container, the less exposure to air, the better.

However, you got most of it right, pu'er needs to 'breath'. A batch of pu'er that is kept in an air tight will not improve no matter how long you keep it. A bamboo wicker box will do fine, just keep it away from anything that smells rather strong, like you know, aged cheese or lutefisk.
I know some older folks who keep their pu'er tea leaves in bird cages and just hang it in the living room every so often (let's say once or twice a week) and they age quite well.
A humid country in the tropics would age faster than a temperate one, so depending on where you are, you could potentially age your tea much faster (or slower, if you live in Alaska) than usual. The more humid and hotter the ambient temp, the faster it ages BUT the higher the chance of spoilage from mold and the like.

If you need more pu'er tea leaves at some point, I'll be around. I have some contacts from the folks you bought from who might be able to sell it to you at a slightly cheaper price than full retail. No guarantees though.

Southern here. Sweet tea is my vice; I can go through a gallon of Red Diamond in a day or two.

Also been getting into Earl Grey recently with milk and a couple cubes of sugar. Have a Keurig in my dorm room I make tea with, as well as a brewster on my way to class every morning.

Are there any really good Keurig cups of tea?

>>5383726
Oh, that's really cool. Thanks so much!

>>5384082
One last thing, for anything other than pu'er, try and finish it within 6 months of opening the package or 18 months after purchase (or the manufacturing date), not saying that it will go bad or expire like milk but you lose quite a bit of the aroma and flavor that you have in the tea leaves. Tea-bags are another matter, they are absolute shit tier anyway - unless they are in a vacuum sealed, individually wrapped air tight package, in which case store it next to your MREs so that you can brew some tea when IT'S HAPPENING.

>>5381999
>>5383464
I just bought a whole bunch of it for the first time, tastes closer to like, mushroom juice than tea, but I like it.

Just tried milk oolong
it was milky, which was neat
it was also disgusting

>>5372725
i know the feel anon, i have green tea loose leaf everyday, eat the leaves too. perfectly brothy, grassy, and refreshing.

>>5383440
Thanks for appreciating the things I said and adding to them, anon.

More on strainers:
In many countries with tea culture, using strainers isn't even a thing. No one should feel like it's impossible to have tea without them. Wire mesh ball strainers are probably the worst things ever to happen to tea IMO. If you can fill one with a small enough amount of tea for the leaves to expand properly, your tea is likely to be weak and flavorless. Plus, you have to take the strainer out of the cup to drink from it, so your tea won't get stronger as you drink. Lastly, metal is very conductive, so it will expedite the cooling of your tea.

On teabags:
If you feel your tea absolutely must be free of any particles, cloth-like teabags that you fill yourself like the ones in pic related are an alternative to using metal strainers/infusers. Many higher grade tea companies sell tea in these type of cloth bags or in silk mesh instead of the more common paper ones. Leaves and other bits can expand and float around freely inside of these, which is good for the tea. You don't have to remove them from your cup before you start drinking either. Also, good tea shops/cafes use these cloth bags when you order loose tea in them.

>>5384458
whoops forgot pic

>>5384461
damn brah looks like some good purple haze

you got a nice bong to hit that from?

Tetley teabag.

>>5384330
What's milk oolong? Oolong tea with milk? For true oolong, Yellow Gold has a natural milky taste. For oolong with milk, I've heard hojicha referred to as oolong, so maybe you should try hojicha with milk instead.

>>5384527
>Yellow Gold
"Milk oolong" is actually an oolong that has a faint milky taste.

>>5377998
>>5373687
Late reply but if you dig the clear glass teacups, then double walled cups are perfect for you, shit floats on air. I want one but they're expensive, and apparently they break if you do so much as give them a funny look.

>>5384690

Someday I might get one too.

>>5384725

http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Pavina-Double-Glass-12-Ounce/dp/B004NBXR98/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1398482628&sr=8-8&keywords=double+wall+clear+glass+mug

I love a good cup of jasmine, but I've also recently been having a cup of standard red rose with some tea and sugar every day

>>5384308
I don't think it's supposed to taste like mushroom juice...but hey, as long as you like it, good for you.

Oh, one more thing, now that I'm sober:
You guys know how to properly prep pu'er, right?

>>5384952

yeah, don't strain, just relax
using a footstool is recommended to get the body in optimal position, but I don't bother

>>5384952
Yeah I know how to make it, it's just super earthy, the first thing that it reminded me of was earthy mushrooms.

do any of you have a thermos?
I use the old stanley thermos that my formula water was kept in when I was babby. (it's from before stanley moved to chinkland and was quality)

>>5378750

which are your favorites? also the watermelon mint sounds amazing. my favorite combo is still the youthberry mixed with wild orange blossom.

>>5379489

Agree with you, golden peak tastes like straight up dirt. Red diamond makes a good sweet tea though.

I just ordered this from Adagio, it's going to be coming in later today. It will be my first time drinking loose leaf tea, instead of bagged stuff I pick up at the supermarket now and then. How did I do? Any tips for brewing it correctly?

>>5379607
>Do filters remove that chlorine taste?

No idea. We don't use chlorine to purify the water around here. Main problem's that the water's too hard and the filter at least fixes that.

Honestly, you're probably out of luck and will have to buy your tea water in bottles.

>>5381939
>Probably makes a very sweet herbal tea.

You have no idea how right you are. Though the worst of the lot is pineapple.

The smell of pineapple was so overpowering that we threw it out.

>>5385027
>do any of you have a thermos?

Yeah, we always strain our tea into a thermos. It's more convenient that way as me and my mum sip tea all day long.

ITT: People who boil the shit out of their teas

>>5385027
It's not even because it moved to China, they redesigned it to save money. "Thermos" thermoses are made in China and they shit on the modern day Stanley.

I use a big 40oz Thermos to hold hot water.

>>5385940
>I just learned it isn't coming until tomorrow

shrimps.
god damn they are nice when fresh.
lobster, although good, doesn't come close to shrimps.

>Drink only green tea for whole life
>Then one day Lupicia's Silonibari
I never went back, black tea is love, black tea is life.
Also Lupicia > Teavana, shame they're only in Japan and California. Never had problems with ordering online, though

>>5377995
Don't forget yellow tea!

>>5377998
I prefer to drink tea out of the container that is traditionally used, but I think I'll pick up a transparent glass or two.

I had some tea at the tea house in the Chinese garden in Portland yesterday. This old guy was playing this wiiinnniiwiinniwaaiuuuww instrument with one string. It was nice. And it was raining outside. My wife and I are staying with our friends and sleeping in the living room. We haven't banged in a week and I almost got her to sex with me in the bathroom outside.

>>5382946
Yixing teapot retains some of the tea flavor inside of it so overtime the teapot itself adds some flavor to your brewed tea. You should never wash it with soap, just like a cast iron skillet. Get one.

>>5383020
I don't mind some tea leaf in my cup. So, I don't mind using a tea ball. I've only ever used a french press for coffee. My good friend has this dealie, you but loose leaf in it and then water on top and close the lid. There are little feed on the bottom that hold it off the ground. Then there is a little door on the bottom that is pushed up when you put it on top of a tea cup and all the tea comes out the bottom and into your cup! Very handy.

>>5387638
If you're talking about the er hu, it actually has two strings!

I've been waiting for this thread...

Fucking love tea, favourite part of my day is siting down to have a cup in the afternoon. I've been drinking for about a year but the only tea place remotely near me is T2, I would appreciate it if someone could point out some other good places.

I don't like the creamy texture that some green teas leave in my mouth.

>>5387674

I share your enthusiasm. There's something about such simplicity that strikes my passion for it. Tea is literally putting some Earth in a cup to drink. As I like to sometimes say, in every cup there's an idea awaiting to be drank.

I recently bought this bad boy because I was paranoid about water temperature.

http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/NC-EH22PC

>>5387801
I just brewed my green tea the "correct" temperature
Weak and disgusting. Oh well.

>>5386331
That explains why the one I got leaked from the top all over my car. I was fucking pissed everyone recommended it, it leaked like it didn't have a lid.

>>5382000
>He doesn't know how farming works
For hundreds of years humans have used a farming system which replaces the nutrients in the ground by rotating crops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_rotation

That fucking "Organic" propaganda.

>All these pretentious hipster faggots who think they're special for drinking tea
Daily reminder that if you haven't been having at least two cups of strong black tea per day since you were a child then you don't get to talk about tea without automatically being a poofter.

>>5384332
Do you eat all of them? Just by themselves?

>>5372725

>Americans are pretentious as fuck with tea

Fuck that

>Boil water
>Add tea back
>Dunk it up and down for a few seconds
>Add milk, add sugar if you are a pussy
>Stir and drink.

>>5388142

tea bag even

>>5388142
>tea bag in cup
>add boiling water
>let it sit for 5 minutes
>take the tea bag out and squeeze the fuck out of it
>add a tiny bit of sugar (and stir) if you are a pussy, and a dash of milk (and stir)
>drink within ~30 minutes and then get another one

>>5388147

Also

>Coffee
>Take spoon
>Put one spoonful of coffee in the cup
>Add water
>Done

Fuck the yankee 10 minute jobs.

>>5383440
I dunno, leaves floating on top touching my press's pressor being a big deal seems a bit pedantic. Either way I wouldn't have to push my presser let alone have it touch the water until its done steeping now would I?

Anyway thanks to this thread I went out to the thrift store and had you guys in my head when I found this glass cup, same as brand as my press. It matches the removable Pyrex container, which also looks like a beaker only with a tiny spout. It's quirky. Pic related: a fresh warm specimen (strawberry green tea)

>>5388147
>>5388142
Barbarians

>>5373815
ah, a nice milky chai my brothers, nothing better

>>5388147
>>5388142
Issue is in america, teabags are weak as fuck. I'll never forget when I was a kid and a friend of mine's mom offered to make us tea and it wound up tasting like liquid cardboard.
>mfw my friend practically upended the sugarbowl into their cup

What winds up happening is that americans who 'discover' actually good tasting tea feel as though they've stumbled across the holy grail of beverages and that they're in on some special secret.
Imagine NEVER drinking tea until you enter your twenties, chances are you'd mistake it for a religious experience as well.

>>5388140
Not that guy, but I eat the leaves as well
They aren't very good
But, I figure it's food that I'd otherwise be throwing away, so free food in a sense, maybe?
I'm sort of broke.

Also, I don't really buy into the whole "tea is super healthy for you and just drink a cup and you'll be impervious to every disease and lose weight and grow a bigger penis" thing because I'm of the opinion that you'd have to drink a shit ton of tea to even hope to see any effect. Health nuts and the media never ever understand the concept of "concentrations". So, I figure that by eating the leaves you'd get a lot more of whatever magical bullshit is in the tea than if you just drank the water. Not that I really care, but I'd feel pretty smug if I lived to 110 like some shriveled 3 foot 5 chink just because I ate my tea leaves.

>>5388895
Oh, and I do eat all of them just by themselves. One time I did have this green tea that tasted just like spinach so it was good with salt and butter, as crazy as that sounds. Almost all of them taste better plain though.

>>5372878
Upton Imports

>>5388158
I'm sorry, what I really mean about the French press is after you make the first brew. You wouldn't push your presser unless you're done steeping the first brew, but after that you'll need to to pour the tea out, and it's easy to compress the tea that way, restricting their movement for further brews.

Greetings from /co/
I love tea too, and thought I would storytime this tea comic by a friend of mine
http://dummcomics.com/2014/04/26/teatimefinal/

>>5390538
2/8

>>5390544
3/8

>>5390546
4/8

>>5390548
5/8

>>5390551
6/8

>>5390556
7/8

>>5390558
8/8
Hope you liked!

>>5390538

I loved it :)

Thanks for posting.

>>5390560
>Don't worry, I assure you this gold is stolen
always a pleasure, /co/

>>5372862
i think long jing tastes like asparagus.
also
>tiguanyin
mah nigga. ever try buddha's hand?

bump

>>5389339
Ah
Then I'll keep that in mind when I have oolong or green. Mostly having black tea these days so I think I'm safe

>>5390750
No I don't go for dothead shit.

Ever try road apples?
Go for it or you'll miss out.

>>5390560
i laughed the entire comic, thanks for sharing

>>5391071
>dothead shit

Wow. No.

Buddha's hand is a variety of oolong tea that originated from China.

>>5373825
I have that exact same mug.

>>5372725
>I fucking love tea. Everything about it is elegant.
It's leaves steeped in hot water. Nothing more, nothing less.

>>5390750
Oh, I've never tried Buddha's hand before but it seems interesting. What particularities does it have that you like?

>>5378007
Nigga, they sell the liter sizes of that exact brand at Marukai. If you live in an area with a large populace of Japanese people, try seeking out the Japanese supermarkets first.

I would tell you to visit South California for it, but I wouldn't wish such a punishment on someone who likes Royal Milk Tea.

>>5388793
>What winds up happening is that americans who 'discover' actually good tasting tea feel as though they've stumbled across the holy grail of beverages and that they're in on some special secret.
>Imagine NEVER drinking tea until you enter your twenties, chances are you'd mistake it for a religious experience as wel

I can confirm this. I fell in love with tea when I finally started getting loose leaf as I despise coffee. Only took me until I was 28 years old.

>>5383479
you could make some interesting t-shirts with those bags

>>5383757
you use a coffee machine to make tea, how do you know if its steeped long enough or not?

do you cycle the water back in to get a second rinse?

>Express your enthusiasm in this thread, I don't care about what.'

I FUCKING LOVE CATS

>>5392642

VIBRATING LITTLE FUZZY WUZZBALLS

tea nooby here

just made some grocery store tier tea: good earth - mate and citrus, i drink it chilled.

the instructions call for 2 bags per cup when drinking chilled.

so far its pretty good, it doesn't have an overbearing citrus flavor, nice and subtle

>>5392655
cold brewing generally takes longer,
They say two bags to account for impatient people.

has anyone used one of these?

http://www.shamansmarket.com/mate-tea-drinking-gourd.html?gdftrk=gdfV25511_a_7c1921_a_7c7153_a_7cmg012&gclid=CMPMnpichL4CFU5lfgod4rMATA

>>5392638
>place cup with tea leaves under keurig
>let keurig run
>keurig dumps hot water into cup

You don't put the tea in the place where the K-cup goes lol

Im an idiot and I want to start trying more than just the generic tea at my grocery store can someone pls recommend what I should try to get started?

>>5392751
I have no idea where you live or what kind of tea you're interested in so all I can recommend is that you go to your closest Teavana and get some earl grey creme. I'm suggesting that one because you can pretty much never go wrong with earl grey, and you can get about eight oz for less than twenty bucks. Also it goes well with creme and sugar, which if you're new to tea you'll probably feel compelled to dump on.
(But for god's sake don't let them know you're a nub or they will try to talk you into purchasing everything in the store.)

>>5392778
well I know I like chamomile, but I live in the south east us and Ive never even heard of Teavana

>>5392795
don't go to teavana, it's owned by starbucks.

>>5392808
should I just order online then?

>>5392812
probably.

if there's a bulk dry goods store nearby then you might find assam or darjeeling or something common like that.

>>5392808
Starbucks didn't get big by being terrible. They have an amazing product and this is why everyone went there. Just because you wear a fedora and are anti social and want good things to fail, doesn't make you right.

>>5392808

fuck i hate walking by that place at the mall. they've always got someone out front trying to beckon you to sample the teas, and they are actually kind of tasty (albeit too sweet to really count) but then they will not stop trying to talk you into buying their crazy overpriced stuff, and i'm often too beta to just flat out say "no, i'm not interested in anything. thanks for the free tea though haha bye". so... i walk on the other side whenever i can.

>>5392808
listen man, i'm not saying teavana isn't an awful store, but the fact of the matter is it's just about the only place you can get really quality loose leaf tea in america. There are of course smaller non-chain stores, but you can't just recommend the hole in the wall owned by the sweet elderly japanese couple half a mile from your apartment to a stranger on 4chan.
Unless you know of a place no one else does.

>>5392874
I do, its called
Amazon.com

>>5392874
Good point.
If only there was some sort of large scale communication system where you could actually browse types of tea and have them delivered to your home without ever setting foot outside your house.
Well, a man can dream.

lel

>>5392893
>>5392896
But with ordering online comes the weeks of waiting, not to mention additional shipping costs. In some cases it'd be less expensive to buy irl.
Also the entire prospect of buying food off the internet just doesn't sit right.

>>5392981
Where do you plan on ordering from? Brunei?
It's 7-10 days. I usually get my packages in 5 days and shipping costs are only a couple dollars.
And it's tea, even the fastest spoiling tea lasts for six months. Black tea lasts for well over a year if you keep it packed up in a dark airtight container.
You think those packages of tea from the store were shipped there yesterday?
Online is undoubtedly the best way to get good quality tea unless you live next door to a purveyor.

>>5393093
Where do you order from? Just got into this thread, looking to do some online shopping for teas.

I enjoy many black teas and very much enjoy chai.

>>5393100
uptontea.com
There's a huge variety.

>>5393116
Thank you, I appreciate it.

>why dont you just dtink pop like real people fags

>>5393154
because it makes me fat

thats why i drink tea

>>5393198
but you drink more milk+sugar in plant water than tea you filthy amerafat that has more calories than pop

>>5372878
David's tea. It's a Canadian company and some of the best tea I've ever had in my life

>>5393203
anyone who drinks tea with more than a very small amount of milk or sugar is the plebbest of plebs

>>5393203
>implying i put anything in my tea

>>5393245
>implying you dont

>>5393257
go away yurolard

>>5393242
>tfw Buddhists who popularized tea in the first place put a shitton of milk and sugar in their tea, because tea was the only thing their practice allowed them to consume during the day and it's how they got calories enough to not starve to death
Of course, no one ITT is a monk so whatever

>>5393203
>Implying there's milk in proper sweet/iced tea
>Implying everyone puts milk and sugar in their tea
>Implying you know what the fuck you're talking about

>>5393402
they were plebs too

>>5391304
its floral and only lightly vegetative. Tiguanyin and Buddha's hand have a similar profile, but Buddha's hand, for me, is more floral. Highly recommend to anyone who likes tiguanyin. Baochong is good too

Bump

>>5392751
>>5392795

If you like chamomile tea, there's a brand with a good chamomile that some supermarkets carry. It's called Two Leaves and A Bud. It's on the pricey side, 8 bucks for a package of 15 or ~50 cents/tea bag. If you only have access to supermarket tea, it can be a place to start. Each tea bag is made of silk mesh, is individually wrapped and brews a very large amount of tea. This brand carries a variety of blends and tea types. I've tried the peppermint, chamomile (they use completely intact chamomile flowers), jasmine green tea, regular green tea, black tea, and earl grey. All of them have been clean-tasting and fragrant. I usually brew each bag with about 16oz of hot water and can get multiple brews out of them.

>>5393220
David's Tea is a good alternative to Teavana as a chain-tea store. I think mom and pop places are still the best though.

>>5393242
Anyone who drinks shit tea from paper tea bags should add as much sugar/milk as they want. Anyone who drinks quality tea should never add anything to their tea, ever.

>>5393690

before i get called a pleeb or weeaboo,my favorite tea is this shit

Genmaicha yo.

Help a budding (hue) tea drinker, /ck/. Say I have a 2-cup teapot and I steep the tea in said teapot for an appropriate amount of time, then remove the infuser basket. Do teapots do a decent job of keeping the tea hot? How long can a cup of tea wait in a teapot before it's "stale"?
I've also seen reference to people using the same tea leaves for multiple infusions. How does one store the once-used tea leaves? How long can you keep the wet leaves before quality deteriorates?
Sorry if the questions are dumb, but google hasn't been helpful, I hope you can set me straight.

>>5396035
I have a similar teapot. I've never had one go too cold before I was done. Yeah, I do warm it first. I don't know if that helps, or if it's just something fussy old grannies do.
Most of the time, I forget to take the basket out too.

Here is a very informative tea guide created by a /jp/ anon.

http://pastebin.com/hw8XXZV5

>>5394731
You're hardly a pleb for enjoying genmaicha. It's the imperial stout of teas, for those who embrace full flavor, rather than trying to abstractly deconstruct the subtle nuances.

>>5396035
wait.. you can use the leaves more than once?
How many times?
When did this happen?

>>5396083
>Nips
>cultivating tea dust, the lowest grade of tea possible
>convinces everyone it's a delicacy
>"matcha"
>crafty bastards

I wonder why this hasn't been done with other teas.

>>5396035
Tea is "stale" once flavor can no longer be extracted from it. No one stores used tea leaves, that's kind of gross. After the first brew has been drunk, you pour more hot water on top and make a second brew. This is great if you like to drink a lot of tea in one sitting or if you have guests over.

>>5396150
I'm a poorfag so I run water through my tea leaves until I can only taste water. As far as I can tell, it's personal preference.

>>5396153
I know you're baiting/being satirical, but matcha is serious stuff, it's basically stone ground gyukuro, and follows a very specific procedure as such. You can even tell the freshness of it, depending on the mere color. Fresh, it's almost a neon green, and stale, it becomes a dull, almost brown green. Hardly simple "tea dust", in the least.

>>5396163
Oops, I misread your post. I've never heard of brewed tea "going stale" before. Most people don't store brewed tea, they just dump it if they don't do a second brew right away.

>>5396196
Why haven't people done this with other teas yet though

>>5396083

But I wasn't an Anon, I had a trip! Appreciate it nonetheless though.

I'm surprised people still read that Q&A. I would consider making a new one if there was the demand for it, especially since I would no longer recommend the places I did there.

For those who don't know, it's the harvest season right now. Tea is at its freshest right now, and it's still being picked. From now until July is the best time of the year to be drinking white and green tea.

Ive got some oolong steeping

what should I expect /ck/?

>>5396083
oh, do we share things now? usually these threads are so grumpy.

here is a hundred year old book on the culture of tea written for white people by a japanese dude:
http://mysite.verizon.net/william_franklin_adams/portfolio/typography/thebookoftea.pdf

I recently moved into the Rochester, NY area and the local Wegman's had a tea bar. Surprisingly high-quality loose leaf tea. I have some silver needle still sitting around from it. Recently they ripped it out and put in a shitty approximation of an asian market in its place. The tea still sort of exists as a self-serve, but I miss my tea bar.

>>5373830
Holy shit I am all sorts of jealous. Is it an old-school one, or electric? Some of the antiques are gorgeous. Also, you best be makin' your own strawberry jam for it.

How much tea should i have per dl?

>>5396035

You can buy glass teapots with a stand that has a candle under to keep the tea warm. Works very well if you like tea over a few hours because you can make 4 cups worth at once and never leave your desk. Also it looks pretty

>>5396265
Hello! What a surprise to see you here. I would certainly like to read another guide written by you, as I've found the one I linked to be most useful. In fact, I've received praise for sharing it in other tea-related threads. So I would say there is some demand for it. Which places would you currently recommend?

This thread is probably largely dead but what varieties of tea should I start with? I'm planning on just finding a smaller tea shop (not T2(Ausfag)) and asking there, perhaps...

>>5396035
>Do teapots do a decent job of keeping the tea hot?
Depends on the material, glass and metal will lose heat rapidly. Clay will retain heat much better.

>>5396150
Depends on the quality and quantity of tea leaves. Speaking from my experience back when I worked for a tea company, I could probably go 4-6 times with the same batch of tea leaves, though you have to steep the tea for slightly longer after the 3rd or so time.

>>5396497
Tea, that's what you expect when you make tea.

>>5396709
Depends on what you're after.

>>5396752
I am after a drink that is just as enjoyable to prepare as it is to consume. What I've experienced of tea so far has not been that good; either weak flavour, bitter flavour, or those bottled ice teas that are full of sugar. I would like the flavour to be robust so I can experience it with an untrained palette and then gradually work myself onto more subtle flavours so that I can appreciate them properly.

>>5396754
>weak flavor
add more tea leaves

>bitter flavor
You probably wouldn't enjoy the greener varieties of tea, then. Perhaps a 'shu'/fermented pu'er might be a good place to start. Actually, any black or red tea as opposed to green might be where you might want to begin. Also, don't steep your tea for very long. 10-15 seconds is what I usually go for in quality black/reds, 8-12 for greens. Quality will also play a factor in the bitterness and flavor you can extract.

>>5396709
Theres no The Tea Center in your area?
think they do online orders. can't say how good it compares to T2 as I haven't been to one yet

>>5396577
what's DL?


>>5396497
Woody kinda flavor. I love it personally

>>5396765
>>5396757
So I should just go into the store and ask for whatever they recommend based on what I just told you?

>>5396838
Any half decent store will have samples for you to taste, if the staff is any good, they will be able to narrow it down based on your feedback.

>>5396847
well, I just don't want them to try and sell me some bollocks I don't need. As long as they're not trying to pull the wool over my eyes then I should be alright, I'm just very hesitant to trust people who try and sell me things.

>>5396849
>go to tea store
>try samples to narrow down your preferences
>buy recommended tea
Are you Jewish or poor or what? It's fucking tea and a bit of money, relax, you aren't getting involved in a relationship built on mutual trust and love with the tea store people.

>>5396849
If it doesn't sound like something you *need*, just say it doesn't convince you today, you don't need to leave the store with a traditional Japanese macha tea whisk and a duckie tea steeper. You know what you're in there for. To buy a tea you enjoy. Buy the flavor you like.
I had your anxieties once, I been there. Go in to a store knowing what you want, that's it. Then you'll know you're not being fooled or suckered. Like i see it with middle aged women going into a electronics store knowing jack shit, spout some tech words in and what you *totally think is great * and because they dont know what they want they end up leaving with a PC too powerful for just browsing Facebook and watching funny baby videos or a pile of junk.

>>5396849
So yeah, what is it you want?
You want to start trying tea. Start small and simple.
I'd say start with green or black tea, and let them let you sample their types and blends. Theirs black tea types like Ceylon or Assam for example. Try a chai. At least with tea sampling you can actually take a tea you will like, unless you beta out and buy a tea the tea lady likes and reccomends. Feel free to be disgusted. Just make sure you let them know why you didn't like it, so she can narrow it to something you want (something more/less sweet, aromatic, floral whatever). Much better than going to the alcohol store and randomly selecting a bottle that's for sure.

Are you the T2 anon BTW? If so are you in Brisbane? Because I know one of the store assistants there.

>>5396752
>glass and metal will lose heat rapidly.

are you sure about that? my cheapass tetsubin retains heat a fair bit better than my cheapass porcelain teapot.

>>5388142
>>5388147
>Boiling black tea

I have tea from the personnel tree of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

>>5396917
what do you think a samovar does?

>>5396923
Boils the flavor out of tea leaves ?

>>5396930
duh. you want the flavour out of the leaf and into the water.

what, are you eating the leaves?

>>5396940

i eliminated coffee from my diet by substituting pg tips tea w/almond milk in the morning. i love it! dont drink it w/o the milk unless you like nausea.

>>5396897
I agree with this anon about this post
>>5396752
Porcelain/clay etc cool off way faster than metal or glass. They're porous, the heat will escape. I think what anon here is confused about isn't that glass and metal loose heat rapidly, but they confused it with "get hot rapidly".

What the difference between a Breakfast or Afternoon tea?
Or at least, what is it that makes them what they are? Caffeine levels? Level of sweetness?

Do you guys have milk / sugar in your tea? or is that not a common thing in murica? Kiwifag here

>>5396849
Well, what is bollocks and what isn't really depends on your budget. The point of you going to the store is so that you can evaluate the products you will be buying before you pay for it.
As a guy who sold tea, be honest and direct - we won't give you too much bullshit if you don't act like some sort of tea connoisseur when you obviously aren't. It infuriates me to no end when I hear customers go "Oh, I only drink pu'er that's 5 decades old" when they can't even understand the difference between a cooked and a raw batch of tea (which, to put into layman's terms..like not knowing the difference between a red wine from a white)

Go, taste stuff, find something in your price range, go home and be happy with it. If you're looking for tea brewing equipment, unless you want to have guests over who are regular tea drinkers, it's not really a necessity.

>>5396897
>>5396950
Heat does not escape due to the material being porous. In fact, air is a great insulator. An object that gets hot rapidly is because it is a good conductor and a good conductor will also lose heat rapidly to the environment. Think about it this way, touch a clay/china cup, a metal cup and a glass cup all at room temp, the metal and glass will feel 'cooler' because your body is losing heat more rapidly towards the surface of the object - hence, the glass and metal will heat up faster when exposed to heat.
However, the opposite will be true. Heat up the same 3 cups, wait 5 minutes and come back and you'll find that the metal one will have lost much more heat than the clay one.
Of course, this is working on the assumption that they are all of equal thickness and the same shape. Which also means that on a 'per cost' basis, you'll probably find that a clay tea pot is much thicker and therefore, retains even more heat than a metal or glass one because the materials used are thinner.

>>5396993
I do both, depends on what sort of tea and what time of the day it is.

you should try coffee

>>5397001
>you'll probably find that a clay tea pot is much thicker and therefore, retains even more heat than a metal or glass one

that's why i figure the tetsubin retains heat, being thick iron.
i did have a thin stainless steel teapot and that thing was shite.

>>5396993
Anyone else see Hitler in this pic?

>>5396993
It depends on the type of tea you're drinking m8.
When you guys start on the "do u drink tea straight" its like you only know one type of tea. I know you probably don't but some kinda do call for it.
In a chai I love milk. Lapsung too. Green, white, oolong I have plain. For breakfast I have milk in my black based teas. I skip breakfast normally coz I get sick so the milk beefs it up a little. During the day and night I have it plain. Chamomile I have with milk because childhood nostalgia (and the only one I have with honey since along with the childhood thing it tastes slightly like Froot Loops to me)
Also Kiwiborn bro, but I've been here in Oz longer.

>>5397041
2spoopy

>>5397041
>What the hell is he talking about
>Filename
>the sihouette
JESUS CHRIST

>>5397050
the whistle even looks like a little salute

>>5397083
>trouble brewing

cheeky cunts

>>5397030
Your iron teapot is still more conductive than and will still lose heat more quickly than ceramic or porcelain. That's why when using a tetsubin it's common for people to "pre-heat" the teapot once or twice (or more, even) with hot water before using it. People don't usually pre-heat their porcelain/ceramic teapots. While thickness definitely is a factor in insulation, what makes porcelain/ceramic/clay a better insulator is the air pockets in the structure. Think about a thermos. A thermos has a large air pocket in it that prevents heat from escaping and can keep something hot for hours. That's essentially what porcelain does, but on a smaller scale. Cast iron contains no such air pockets. Don't forget how conductive it is either.

It honestly sounds like you're trying very hard to convince yourself that you have a good product, when in reality, it's extremely inefficient.

>>5397041
I chuckled

>>5397126
>People don't usually pre-heat their porcelain/ceramic teapots
really? i preheat mine. and my bone china pot.

the tetsubin was a gift and is actually kind of shitty, so it's not like i need to convince myself of anything.
i just noticed that if i forget my second cup of tea in it for like an hour then it's still kind of warm, is all.

>>5396754
Try barley tea. It's nearly impossible to mess it up.

>>5396993
I normally add it to black tea.

>>5372725
Favorite tea is wulong OP. Also I love trying to taste terroir differences, have you heard of Verdant tea? The founder wrote a blog about his tea training in China, tasting 1200+ varieties of Tieguanyin to learn about terroir/season etc. I love tea :)

>>5396586

Hi Sakuya-san. Well, if anyone wants to ask me questions, I'll answer them, and if someone is willing to compile them into a new pastebin, we can make a bigger, better FAQ.

As for recommendations, I don't have anywhere I'd be confident in recommending. Most of what I have tried has disappointed me. I just sat down to drink my first shincha of 2014 right now and I couldn't possibly recommend it to anyone. Finding good tea is hard, and Japanese green's the hardest.

>>5398177

Forgot my trip.

>>5398177
Okay, well this thread has reached bump limit, so we could either discuss it in the next /ck/ thread or on the one on /jp/ right now.

Ah, that's disappointing. I've only bought tea from local purveyors, so I don't have any experience with online retailers.

>>5398344

I don't post on /jp/ anymore. It's sad what happened with the old threads... it's just not worth it anymore there. I'll keep an eye out for another /ck/ thread.

>>5398354
I still have fun there. But I do miss the NEET threads... See you later~

>This entire thread
Really gotta start coming to /ck/ more often
There's just something so fantastic about people being completely candid regarding subjects they're experienced with

>>5398476

OP here. Thanks anon :^) that gives me the feels.

I have a sincere passion for tea in all forms that words alone can't express.

Tea has gotten me through some of the toughest moments in my life, it has helped me overcome enormous obstacles by being there for me. Strange how such a simple beverage can have such a profound effect on someone.

>>5399501
nerd

>>5396265
Thank you, I found your FAQ helpful.