/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.5126676]

Tea thread?

I just got finished making a pot of green tea (Chun Mee Tai Pan Superior to be exact) to relax in my bed with and watch Space Dandy.

Also, is there a type of pot specific for boiling water or tea? I'd like to get a small/medium sized pot only for tea brewing and the like. I live by myself so I only have a few pots and pans and if I have to use the pot for something else for lunch or dinner or whatever it's sometimes bothersome to clean it constantly to be able to use it over and over.

[Anonymous No.5127037]

You could just get an electric kettle which is really only ever used for boiling water. It's very convenient if you frequently need to boil water, which I do maybe once or twice a day for tea and cooking.

I'm drinking tieguanyin. It goes well with chocolate.

[Anonymous No.5127203]

> cheap tea strainer rusted
> can't make tea
th-thanks china

[Anonymous No.5127228]

>finally tried earl grey
Honestly not that good, I had to add honey and lime for me to enjoy it at least a little whereas other teas I just add a sugar cube. Anything else I should try? I've been drinking a lot of mighty leaf brand flavors lately, chamomile citrus is good as fuck.

[Anonymous No.5127496]

A dandy man in space

[Anonymous No.5127525]

>>5127228
I have yet to find a place that doesn't drench the leaves in begamot oil

[Anonymous No.5127542]

>>5127228
>brand
>flavours

found your problem.
stop drinking bagged tea dust.

[Anonymous No.5127545]

>mfw someone orders tea at a restaurant/cafe near me

fucking plebs out here paying 3.50 for a single teabag.

[Bound2 No.5127563]

My favorite
It makes my body smell like candy.
Also, I have a fetish.

[Anonymous No.5127576]

I really hated tea until fairly recently.. I took a trip to china and ended up in various tea houses in Shanghai and a port city called Xiamen. Over the two weeks I was there I ended up loving tea. Oolong specifically. Found a place down the street from me that sells imported tea, and now I drink it every morning with a makeshift tea set courtesy of a coffee mug with a lid.

Feels good, And I plan on drinking alot more in the future.

[Anonymous No.5127589]

>>5127545
>not going to a japanese restaurant with $1 bottomless, full-leaf green tea

[Anonymous No.5127602]

>>5127545
I fucking hate restaurants that sell tea on their menu. It should only cost like.. 50c, but no, it's also the same amount as coffee or only slightly less.

>Go to nice restuarant with my girl
>"I'll have a hot tea please, and a little honey."
>They bring me a mug of hot water, a little honey packet and a lipton green tea bag
>....

Like.. fuck that, that's bullshit, if I wanted low quality shit, I'd just go to the store and buy a box for the same price and get 30baggies

>>5127228
theteatable.com has a nice earl grey called Lady Baroness. I've never been a fan of EG at all, but that one is pretty good, you might like that.

>>5127203
Stores like Sur La Table have small strainers for cheap, you can probably find one near you or in your mall somewhere. Walmart might have an ok strainer for you to buy; small ones like those for tea are usually only about 3-4bucks.

>>5127563
That tea sounds pretty good, fax me some.

>>5127576
I'd love to go to china/japan/etc to go on some sort of tea hunting trip. I think it'd be lots of fun, to bad I'm poor as shit.

[Anonymous No.5127608]

>space dandy

you are a good guy and i like you. I need to watch this week's episode, but I'm almost at my net cap

really, electric kettles are the shit. Boils water fast, can be used to put hot water in the mop bucket, quickly cook noodles, etc. I never noticed how awesome they were until my roommates had one. You can get diff sizes, colors, etc. Ours is rather big (there are 3 of us) but you can get a little one if it's just you

[Anonymous No.5127616]

>>5127563
That's sort of creepy.
And yet.. I'm oddly drawn.

[Anonymous No.5127619]

>>5127203
got one an amazon for a penny. hasn't rusted yet because I don't leave it in water for days; I dry it when I'm done

[Anonymous No.5127627]

>>5127228
>earl grey
>not adding sugar and milk

pleb tier

[Anonymous No.5127641]

>>5127627
You're already drinking earl grey, you can't get any more pleb than that.

[Anonymous No.5127649]

>>5127589

>being white and living in Japan

[Anonymous No.5127653]

Baihao Yinzhen is good stuff.

[Anonymous No.5127655]

>>5127602
Well, it's pretty interesting to be sitting in a tea house in Shanghai being served by a guy who obviously knows more English than he's letting on, then calling him out when he wants 100 yuan for 3 tea sets because he wants to fuck with the foreigners.

Honestly, though. Potential scams aside. Do it if you ever get the chance. Don't think about how you'll have to move shit around. Just jump on it. You'll fucking love it. I went to a lot of smaller places that only had one relatively large table. People would walk in, pay about a dollar and just drink tea non stop. And the first thing they do when they sit down is offer everyone a cigarette. It's really communal, and everyone talks. It was really awesome.

Pic related, the serving set up in a tea house in Xiamen.

[Anonymous No.5127658]

>>5127649
You don't got any Jap restaurants in your country?

[Anonymous No.5127668]

I've been partial to the Chinese greens and oolong lately, but boiling water on the stove takes too damn long. Pyrex cup, microwave, french press, mug.

[Anonymous No.5127676]

>>5127668
Get an electric kettle for ~$15-20?

[Anonymous No.5127704]

>>5127676
Why even bother? This system works just fine.

[Anonymous No.5127716]

>>5127704
I'm no scientist, and a beginner chef, but isn't the water going to heat up very high, then cool down very fast because it was in the microwave?

Boiling it on the stove would make it last longer I think.

[Anonymous No.5127721]

>>5127704
Because it'll boil water faster and/or use less energy than your microwave?

[Anonymous No.5127766]

>>5127721
The most I ever boil is 16oz(2 cups) at a time which takes a little over three minutes. My microwave runs at 1200 watts and my power supplier charges around .07 per kwh so even if I make tea every day for a month it only costs .22 in energy. It would take roughly 7 and a half years to add up to the initial cost of a $20 electric kettle.
...But how quickly does it boil water?

[Anonymous No.5127768]

Over the past year I'd been having trouble with bad heartburn and indigestion in the mornings, but after switching to strong black tea instead of coffee I haven't had any more gastrointestinal problems. Hopefully I'll be able to get my body accustomed to just tea and juice and be able to cut my coffee intake in half (and my soda intake out entirely).

Also I recently discovered this blend, it's fucking delicious.

[Anonymous No.5127778]

Anyone who buys/recieves roses for valentines day!

Get the rose back when it's dying/is dead. You can pluck a few of the petals and chiffonade them and then put them in boiling water with some honey for 3-5mins and you will have an awesome flower tea/herbal tea.

I am actually super hyped to do it this coming month, I plan to buy my girl 2 roses just so I can have twice the petals.

[Anonymous No.5127785]

>>5127766
With a $10 kettle the same amount of water can be boiling in just over two minutes.
And it goes at 1000 watts.

[Anonymous No.5127787]

>>5127778
Would it be better to use them fresh, or let them dry out?

[Anonymous No.5127792]

>>5127716
Water boiled on a stove won't retain it's boil longer..

[Anonymous No.5127796]

>>5127778
Don't get too excited. The roses they grow for Valentines Day don't have that nice rose oil that make roases and your herbal tea nice and fragrrant. I think your florist would advise against it because of the chemicals in these types of flowers too. Sorry to be a Debbie downer on that one.

[Anonymous No.5127804]

>>5127716
A lot of people say you shouldn't boil water twice or microwave water because it takes too much oxygen out of the water making it taste 'flat'. I don't know how much of it is true, though.

>>5127778
You can buy rose petals and rose buds in bulk for pretty much the price of a rose. Rose petals generally taste stronger while rose buds are plucked while they're still immature and have a sweeter and more subtle taste. I prefer rose buds which go well with cheap oolongs or pu-er.

>>5127655
100yuan is still a damn good price for three tea sets, though.

>>5127228
Different brands of Earl Grey, as with any other tea, can taste distinctly different from one another so I wouldn't make judgement on Earl Grey just from one brand. The first time I tried Earl Grey, I was rather repulsed by it, but when I tried a different brand later, I was rather fond of it. Nonetheless, your palette sounds as though it's more suited to herbal teas. Perhaps you could give Earl Grey another try with an infusion of something like orange and/or jasmine.

>>5127203
You could always skip the tea strainer like I do, I don't find that many leaves come out of the pot anyway. That, or you could use a coffee filter or muslin or any other type of thin cloth.

[Anonymous No.5127808]

>>5127785
Just over two minutes you say? Thanks anon, I'll look into one.

[Anonymous No.5127812]

>>5127796
I made atleast 40cups with the rose I had last year, the place by my house is pretty legit for flowers and such. So I doubt it had chemicals and what not on it. I don't know if price = quality (as it's not always true) but for 2 roses last year it cost me 40-50 bucks from my place.

Even if it did, the tea was really great, smelled fine, and I never got sick off of it in anyway.

>>5127787
If by fresh you mean as soon as you buy the rose, then no, I wouldn't recommend that, I don't think it'd work as well or at all maybe. When I got the dying bud back I plucked the most usuable ones and kept them in a bag and let the rest dry out/die outside the bag and then bagged them. It lasted me about 3 weeks in an airtight seal. But they can get moldy if they are at all wet/have air in the bag.

[Anonymous No.5128002]

With electric kettles do you guys ever have any problems getting the water to the right temperature?

I'm always worried about burning my leaves, but I feel pretty ghetto boiling water in a pot while hovering over it with a thermometer for tea.

[Anonymous No.5128016]

>>5128002
You're overthinking it.

For all black teas, use a rolling boil. Trust me, they release the best flavor at the boiling point. Oolong and herbal teas can take the boiling point but it's best just to barely get it boiling. With green teas just heat up the water in the microwave.

[Anonymous No.5128030]

>>5127542
Mighty leaf's bags arent ground, they have whole pieces of leaves and whatever other things they add, like the citrus one has a chunk of orange and lime in it. It's one of the best bagged teas around.

[Anonymous No.5128111]

Do electric kettles have a dial for how hot you want your water?

Or a power guide or whatever the fuck you want to call it?

I would definitely buy one if I could set it for 170, 180, 190, and boiling water; or if it just had an oven like setting where you increase the temp by 5 each button press.

Would that be a more expensive kettle?

[Anonymous No.5128120]

>>5128111
1.0L bonavita electric goose neck kettle lets you set temp anywhere from 140 - 212 oF

[Anonymous No.5128139]

>>5128120
Fuck.. it's 100 bucks...

It seems worth it though..

[Anonymous No.5128190]

>>5128139
I use it for tea and coffee, so it was worth it for me

[Anonymous No.5128196]

>>5128016
>With green teas just heat up the water in the microwave.
I want to yell at you. Heating water up in the microwave will not only make your tea taste flat, but it will also absorb any flavors in the microwave, and if you do it for too long, just super heat it, making you think it's not boiling.

Always boil water in a kettle / over a fire / stove

[Anonymous No.5128236]

I was recently able to get 1 kilo of castleton darjeeling FTGFOP for $40.

Darjeerling is fucking amazing tea, drinking this black makes every flavored black tea taste like a fraud.

[Anonymous No.5128249]

>>5128236
>FTGFOP for $40.
You sure that wasn't fake / falsely advertised?

>flavored black teas
Bleh, they taste even more artificial than flavored whites / greens. I like Taiwanese red / black teas, especially when wild, they're very good

[Anonymous No.5128253]

So do you buy tea leaves and then do something like a chemex pot for coffee or what? I wanna get into good tea, i like it but im tired of cheap bags.

[Anonymous No.5128281]

>>5128253
Buy a teapot. Perferably a cheap smaller ml one. Eventually you'll want to get into gong fu / sencha-do / whatever the fuck depending on your tastes, if you like tea, and if you don't, you only spent 20$ on the pot

[Anonymous No.5128288]

high mountain oolong tea

shit smells heavenly and taste like butter

[Anonymous No.5128298]

>>5128253
Don't buy cheap tea just for the sake of it being cheap, you'll regret it, and will be stuck with awful tasting stuff. You get what you pay for, and only some famous teas have inflated prices.

TBH I would get this teapot, http://www.rishi-tea.com/product/shin-tsuki-teapot/teapots

It's only 15$ and it's ceramic (which retains heat better than galss), which allows you to spend more on the actual tea. Start off with easy to brew teas (white, blacks, some greens) and depending on what you like, just go further and further into the rabbit hole. My first two teas were silver needle, a white tea that's almost impossible to mess up when you're brewing it, and a black Darjeeling. I would recommend them both to a beginner.

[Anonymous No.5128356]

>>5128249

I can't be 100% sure, but it was on chrismas sale from a reputable place in my area.

[Anonymous No.5128382]

>>5128288
What mountain?

[Anonymous No.5128384]

Favorite tea websites? I'm looking for a seller that's as close to the tea grower as possible.

[Anonymous No.5128409]

>>5128384
Teasource.com is having an aggressive internet sale blitz this week. I recommend taking a look, they just got new shit in and it's fresh as hell. Get it while it's on discount, anon.

[Anonymous No.5128415]

>>5128384
>as close to the tea grower as possible.
Tons of places source tea directly from framers while taking business flights to china, taiwan, etc. Literally every website that does this will we worth while, it's important to find tea vendors that have similar taste to yourself.

I like O-cha and dens for my Japanese Greens. Origin tea, floating leaves,and teamasters (a blog, a bit weird to order from) for my taiwanese tea. Seven cups, Peonyts, and Camellia-sinensis (they also have good Taiwanese oolongs) for my Chinese teas. Norbu, Rishi, and Camellia-sinensis tea are my favorites for a vendor that has a bit of everything. If you're looking for some of the best you can get, bestteahouse, based in hong kong, is great for when I want to spend some cash. Camellia-sinensis also carries some very good stuff, I especially like their highest grade rou gui.

Norbu usually carries more interesting teas you wouldn't see on every other website.

One of Sevencups' owners is a certified tea master from China, and they spend 3 months in China a year directly sourcing.

jingteashop is based in china.

[Anonymous No.5128424]

>>5128384
>>5128415
Oh, mountaintea is a grower based in taiwan, you are literally buying from a grower if you buy from them.

[Anonymous No.5128431]

anybody ever heard of these guys?

apollotea.com

[Anonymous No.5128436]

>>5128249

On the assumption that $40 is way under priced for that grade, would that make this stuff fake?

http://www.teasource.com/tea-products/1043.html

[Anonymous No.5128458]

>>5128436
Not fake, just advertised wrongly. No website is going to tell you they have an inferior grade of tea, because they would just lose money if they did. The lesser offenders won't directly say it's AAAAA grade, or "the best grade available", and price it at less that 0.50 cents an ounce ( 50$ per 100g) they'll just use ambiguous wordings like "premium," "select," or "imperial."

I don't know much about Darjeeling, but 40$ for a higher grade at 1000 grams seemed suspicious to me. Just go with your gut m8.

For example, the best grade Tie Kwan Yin from China is worth it's weight in gold, and will never leave China, as all the aristocrats will just buy it up.

[Anonymous No.5128461]

>>5126676

Tea thread? Tea thread. I like tea.

I like black tea, to be specific. Something about white or green doesn't do it for me....

I need that bite, I need that kick, I need that scream that black tea has. Coffee comes close but doesn't compare when you get fancy.

Honestly fancy for me is a cup of strong Earl Grey with a teaspoon of honey and a quarter slice of lemon.

Boom. EXPLOSION. Teabot.

[Anonymous No.5128469]

>>5128458

Well, after investigating, it seems like i fucked my conversions. I thought 1lb ~= 1kg, but its actually ~450g. The stuff i bought was $40 for 450g.

[Anonymous No.5128474]

>>5127627
>>5127641

earl grey is delicious. i do it with milk and without. with milk its like a delicious thai iced tea... but eventually you get sick of milk.

same thing with coffee. i love coffee and i used to be pleb (with milk) but now im solid (black minimal sugar thats it THANK YOU. LEAVE!. GET OUTTTT!!!! COFFEEE TIMEEE)

[Anonymous No.5128514]

>>5128474
>go to England
>ask for tea
>get 5 grams of leaf for 250 ml steeped for 12 minutes in boiling water, diluted with milk, honey, and sugar, and way too bergamont tasting
>no fucking wonder Americans have no interest in tea

[Anonymous No.5128539]

>>5128514

im sure some brits take their tea without milk as well dude. the dairy industry is a lie. it was competing with the tobacco industry at one point until some idiot made up some bullshit about cigarettes being bad for you.

But wait a minute.. now some idiots have been saying meat is bad for you.. so like dairy/meat same thing riggght... so...

Go Green. Smoke Stoges. Milk is Murder.

[Anonymous No.5128554]

>>5128469
That might be more realistic. I wouldn't know, I've never bought from that vendor. If it tastes good, drink it.

[Anonymous No.5128663]

wow i love Chai Latte

did you know Chai is an Asian word (how exotic!) word for tea

[Anonymous No.5128727]

Here's a question that's been irking me for the longest time; Does suspending a tea ball in your pot diminish the taste at all?

I was taught that letting the leaves steep as loosely as possible ensured a more even release of flavor from whatever leaves you're steeping, which makes sense and would obviously be worth it if you're working with premium tea leaves, but what's been your guys' experience?

I'd imagine any bruising would be minimal if you're only making 16oz worth or something thereabouts, but I'm pretty sure this is more an issue of flavor distribution.

[Anonymous No.5128739]

>>5128663
But the Chai Latte from Starbucks is a lie ! It is only a sirup. With dairy. NOT a real tea (which is stupid, since you can ask for a real chai tea (whole leaf) with milk and pay half of the price of a "chai latte")

[Anonymous No.5128894]

>>5128002
>feel

Don't feel, just get a thermometer and measure the water's temperature.

[Anonymous No.5128990]

>>5128727
It depends on what kind of teas you're drinking. Anything rolled won't really be able to brew properly in a ball, depending on the size of a ball. So that goes for rolled teas, like Iron Buddha, Gunpowder, or Dragon Pearl, or some flower teas like chrysanthemum.

As for flavour distribution, it also depends on how long you keep the ball in to brew, the size of the ball, the amount of tea, and the amount of water. The shorter the amount of time, the less even the distribution. If you're taking the ball out, it'll help distribution anyway. I personally don't feel it has any effect but there is a Chinese tradition of steeping the leaves (without a ball) in a half full pot, then after it's steeped a while, filling the rest of the pot. This is meant to give better distribution to the tea so it's not all just at the bottom, so it's a valid concern.

[Non-Directional !LaserEWlCA No.5129365]

>>5126676

>Also, is there a type of pot specific for boiling water or tea?

Tea is not generally boiled with most traditions of preparation, although there are many notable exceptions. To get you the answer I think you're seeking, I would suggest something inert. A stainless steel kettle, electric or otherwise. The Chinese prefer using clay or other non-metal materials to boil their water as part of their five-elements tradition (五行). Long story short, get a stainless steel kettle.

>>5127589

>full-leaf green tea

The places I've seen in North America all use powdered green tea. I don't think they even use 'full-leaf' tea in most of the restaurants in Japan... they would be more likely to use konacha. dat haruhi

>>5127655

It also happens in Western Chinatowns, although I have never heard of paying for drinking it in-house. Usually it's just a free sample that they keep brewing over and over again.

>>5127716

This is correct. Microwaving superheats the water without the actual process of boiling it. It can be dangerous, I do not recommend it.

>>5127768

Coffee is extremely acidic. Tea is very mildly acidic by comparison, rating about one point in pH below pure water.

>>5128727

It doesn't make a bit of difference because the balls are inert, guys.

[Anonymous No.5129645]

For some reason I thought it was a mint tea. Turns out it's not.

[Anonymous No.5129774]

>>5129645
Certainly not mint, but if you think it's gross, try brewing it with water that isn't boiling. Like 80C for 1 minute or something. You might like it better.

[Anonymous No.5130805]

I have a nice new set-up going now. I bought a small glass test tube steeper that holds up to 8oz. and have my Ru Kiln 1oz. cup. Steeper holds in heat well, so I can drink an ounce at a time.

I'm on my fourth infusion of some delicious Mi Lan Xiang right now.

[Anonymous No.5130860]

What's a good baby's first tea? I mean I love the taste of tea(Earl Grey, Oolong, etc.) but I know fuck all about actual loose leaf stuff.

[Anonymous No.5130916]

>>5130860

Find a place that sells sample boxes. Doesn't need to be high quality, but make sure there's a little bit of everything. Narrow down what you like and don't like, and then do a bit of research to find similar teas.

[Anonymous No.5131270]

Your tea has some nuanced as hell flavor notes that might be lost if you let it cool off too much. Pop the finished brew into the thermos, cap the lid tight, then get ready for an adventure. Carry it with you while you're out freezing your shits off for a 30 minute commute in a Wisconsin Winter. Drop it in the snow. All kinds of shit can happen.

When you settle in to work or school, pop the top and pour a little bit into a cup -- nice and steamy, probably a little too hot to drink right away!

If you remember to bring Stanley on your side before you go, he'll be there for you when you get there.

Every day, I get where I'm going with a liter of Sencha, Tie Guan Yun, Yunnan Black, or a nice Darjeeling.

Good luck anon. Your tea is trump card; no matter what life throws at you, you can counterpunch with a nice cuppa.

[Anonymous No.5131294]

>>5128739
>chai tea

Chai and Tea are regional pronunciations of the same Chinese character: 茶.
They are the same word.

The beverage you are referring to is "masala chai", meaning spiced tea. Traditionally the tea and spices are boiled in milk rather than adding milk afterwards like a British cuppa.

[Anonymous No.5131441]

>>5126676
>loose green tea
>space dandy

if you were a grill or trap I'd snuggle the shit out of you

[Anonymous No.5131447]

>discussing tea with friend
>they talk about the health benefits of tea and how good it is for you
>then talks about how they love to add milk to the tea

[Anonymous No.5131449]

>>5131270
>not using a vintage stanley

[Anonymous No.5131458]

>>5131449
Those are only worth it if you already had one before PMI shat on the Stanley name.
A vintage Stanley is ridiculously expensive and/or caked with coffee residue. You're better off getting a Thermos.

[Anonymous No.5131481]

>>5131447

I wonder why most people don't know that animal milk and soy milk completely cancel out the health benefits of tea. Must be something those industries don't want the general public to know.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17213230

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19268288

[Ned Smanks No.5131699]

>>5127203
I got a tea infuser for crimbo with some decent Harrods breakfast blend. I'm so happy with it (the infuser, I mean)! The tea wasn't too bad, either. (Shitty phone)Picture definitely related.
>>5127576
I've yet to try oolong, what can it be compared to taste-wise (if anything)?
>>5127608
Is boiling the kettle on the hob more of an American thing? We used to do that in the UK but everyone uses electric kettles nowadays. And teabags.

[Anonymous No.5132290]

>>5131699
>I've yet to try oolong, what can it be compared to taste-wise (if anything)?

You can't compare oolong to a single taste, because it encompasses a very wide range of teas. Lighter oolongs can be more vegetal and tend towards greens and whites, darker oolongs can be very sweet, very chocolate, smokey or mineral or woodsy. There's a huge range. Which is why it's my favorite type!

[Anonymous No.5132367]

OP here, my internet cut out for a couple days, glad to see my thread is still up.

What is some good white tea to buy from online? White tea is commonly the most expensive kind, atleast from my experience. Each time I go to buy white teas that are good, they end up being like.. 4 dollars more (and then some sometimes) compared to black or green or anything else.

I'd really like to get silver needle, but that is always super expensive where-ever I go to buy it; silver need and some other kind would be a good purchase I think.

Thanks for any help.

[Anonymous No.5132381]

>>5132367
>http://www.butikiteas.com/White.html

Butiki has a great selection of them, especially if you want to compare terroir against terroir for Silver Needle. I would suggest Fuding Silver Needle, the Bai Mu Dan and Malawi White Peony. White Whisper is also delicious and light, if you want to start trying Kenyan teas.

[Anonymous No.5132417]

>>5132381
The Fuding Silver Needle seems pretty good, and in my price range.

Thanks, I'll probably order some tonight.

[Anonymous No.5132492]

Where do you guys buy tea from?

I'm rotating between:

>local tea shop (flat prices for all types of tea, but that means really cheap varieties are $5.75 per 2oz). Haven't actually tried their tea yet, went there yesterday
>teasource
>local teavana during sales
>david's tea

[Anonymous No.5132512]

>>5132492
I'm curious, why would you ever buy from teavana?

The only thing teavana ever has worth buying, and even then it's a stretch, are tea accessories like pots or cups. Teavana is usually a bunch of over priced bullshit so hipsters can be like "I drink tea, it keeps me so calm." or other bullshit like that. Atleast all the times I've ever seen someone in a teavana or talk about it or whatever is like that.

Though, the only other thing it has is some OK, not anything better than OK, mixed tea drinks.

[Anonymous No.5132518]

>>5132512

>why would you ever buy from teavana?

He explicitly said "during sales." They usually do 80% off after holidays, so you can pick up several pounds of tea for like $30.

[Anonymous No.5132526]

>>5129774
Thanks m8. It still kind of tastes like burned wood though.

I think I'll get some mint leaves tomorrow to make a somewhat proper mint tea.

[Anonymous No.5132540]

>>5132526
Pro tip, if you buy a lot of mint leaves muddle them together in a glass with a slice of lemon and a slice of lime and then fill the rest of it with gin. It's a dope drink.

>>5132518
Yeah I get that, sales are always nice. But I don't think I've ever bought anything from there on purpose.

[Anonymous No.5132544]

>>5132492
I mentioned one of my places above, Butiki Teas, but I also buy from Verdant Tea, Teavivre and Den's Tea often.

Den's just came out with a neat new houjicha, Karigane Houjicha, which is roasted kukicha from Gyokuro. So, top tier houjicha.

Verdant has a nice rewards program for basically just spamming them on social media and you can get $5 off coupons fairly often, which is useful to cancel out shipping prices.

Teavivre for Chinese teas, they have good prices for everything.

Red Blossom Tea Company is also excellent in all ways, but the downside is that they sell 2oz at a time at minimum. So you need to make sure you already enjoy what you plan to order. But their quality can't be matched.

[Anonymous No.5132560]

>>5132492
>$5.75 per 2oz

That's really good pricing for any kind of decent camellia sinensis tea. But if they're selling everything at that price, that makes you wonder about the quality of the teas which warrant higher price points. What all do they have there?

[Anonymous No.5132568]

>>5132560

http://cozytea.wordpress.com/tea-room-and-shoppe/gourmet-tea-menu/

I haven't actually looked at their menu and judged the quality, I just decided to stop by and see how it is.

[Anonymous No.5132593]

>>5132568
Oh, that's mostly infusion and blend stuff.

It looks alright to me - the regular teas they have like Bai Mu Dan, Kemum and Assam can be fine that cheap.

[Anonymous No.5132920]

>>5128436
>>5128458
>>5128469

I can personally attest that I saw the official Certificate of Origin that came with that shipment.

[Anonymous No.5133063]

TeaSource renovated their website, nice. Last time I looked, it was a barebones site that didn't even have pictures. Just menus with short descriptions.

[Anonymous No.5133141]

>>5131449
Does it have any actual benefits or is it just hot drinks version of vinyl records?

[Anonymous No.5135684]

bumping tea thread

[Anonymous No.5138327]

>>5126676
Iam using this one.. i normally make yasmin-tea or green tea (sweetened with dried pineapple-pieces)

[Anonymous No.5138449]

Found this on other board discuss

Official Song Power Ranking
>For the First Time in Forever - Reprise
>Let it Go
>Do You Want to Build a Snowman
>Frozen Heart
>For the First Time in Forever
>Love is an Open Door
>In Summer
>Fixer Upper

[Anonymous No.5138454]

>>5126676
>is there a type of pot specific for boiling water or tea?

Yes. It's called a teapot.

[Anonymous No.5138464]

>not making your own tea
>fucking plebs

So yeah. I made about 1,5 litres of pure tea powder from this mushroom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inonotus_obliquus

Tastes little bit of birch and bread. Wich might be because I took it from a birch-tree. 3/5 without honey and 4/5 with honey.

[Anonymous No.5138753]

>Discussion of black teas, no mention of Assam (particularly Mangalam estate)

>Discussion of flavored teas, no mention of lapsang souchon.

>thread is obviously populated by a bunch of weeping vaginas.

[Anonymous No.5139049]

>>5138753
Or, somehow, people aren't drinking those exact teas at this moment. Shocking.

[Anonymous No.5139086]

>>5138753
>lapsang souchang
>assam

Oh wow, I'm so impressed with your knowledge!

Tell us about how you don't eat processed garbage either.

[Anonymous No.5139102]

>>5127563
Is goat's rue like salmon roe?

[Anonymous No.5139123]

>>5128727
That's been bothering me for a while, too--I finally decided that swirling the tea ball around while still in the cup solves the flavor distribution problem pretty well.

[Anonymous No.5139910]

Fun sight for anyone using a ball strainer:

Hold the ball to the bottom of the cup with a spoon or something. The tannins (color) will pool at the bottom, and will flow out to fill the cup when you remove the ball.

[Anonymous No.5139981]

>>5139910
I do that on occasion. It is pretty neat to see, the "fusing" of the water and tea.

I only use a strainer/ball when making thermos of tea. I just leave the ball in there and take it out later.

[Anonymous No.5140156]

something like this.

[Anonymous No.5142255]

>>5132526
Couldn't get mint leaves. Had to use mint syrup.