|
Saiphae posted:I haven't seen this tea mentioned in the last couple of pages, but for those who like Oolong tea, I'm finding Tieguanyin or Iron Goddess of Mercy oolong to be really good. I can't remember the brand name of what I have sitting at home right now, but our local Kaldi's Coffee shop has this by the pot if you're out looking for a hot cup of tea, and they are also where I bought my current pack of loose leaf Iron Goddess. It's funny cause I really like roasted TGY, but the more widespread green TGY doesn't appeal to me. Like I get a lot of off-tasting vegetal notes from it, and I feel like high mountain taiwanese oolongs does everything so much better than it. And I've tried multiple varieties and different competition graded green TGYs and I've always been disappointed in them.
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2018 23:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 08:26 |
|
|
hope and vaseline posted:It's funny cause I really like roasted TGY, but the more widespread green TGY doesn't appeal to me. Like I get a lot of off-tasting vegetal notes from it, and I feel like high mountain taiwanese oolongs does everything so much better than it. And I've tried multiple varieties and different competition graded green TGYs and I've always been disappointed in them. I'm right there with you on the roasted instead. The green TGYs aren't the worst, but I'd rather drink a longjing instead. The high mountain green oolongs are brighter tasting in the cup and I don't ever think I've had one to give me a grassy flavor. Teavivre's green TGY from two years ago wasn't bad, but it was completely over shadowed by their premium longjing. I definitely get the appeal, but it's just not for me.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 04:32
|
|
|
Thirding that opinion. I like Dong Dings (har har) better than any TGY I've tried.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 06:09
|
|
|
Roasted TGY is fine. The green stuff tastes like flower petals.
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 10:39
|
|
|
Have any of you ever done any of those tea subscription boxes where they send you loose leaf tea every month? How are those, any complaints or recommendations or things worth knowing?
|
|
#
?
Mar 8, 2018 16:28
|
|
|
I'm doing that with Yunomi.life, but it's only quarterly and one single 100g bag. I've been pretty satisfied with it; if I were to switch to more types but less of each (maybe even 5-10g per), I think I'd like it even more given how I behaved with the one-time build-your-own sample set I got with Verdant Tea. Hell, I just ordered another set of various oolongs from there this morning.
|
|
#
?
Mar 9, 2018 12:30
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:Have any of you ever done any of those tea subscription boxes where they send you loose leaf tea every month? How are those, any complaints or recommendations or things worth knowing? I think it goes with anything else, the quality's only gonna be as good as the vendor you go with. White2Tea's is interesting, apparently they dip pretty often into the private reserve stock that's not sold in their web store, but it's pretty steep at $30 a month.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 00:37
|
|
|
So now that Teavana's finally closed up shop, I've got a small problem. I bought a small bag of their Weight To go tea when it was on sale, and I really liked it. Looking it up, it seemed to be a huge mix of various teas, with hints of strawberry, mint, berry, sweet chocolate, etc etc. Anyone know of anything comparable?
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 02:23
|
|
|
hope and vaseline posted:I think it goes with anything else, the quality's only gonna be as good as the vendor you go with. White2Tea's is interesting, apparently they dip pretty often into the private reserve stock that's not sold in their web store, but it's pretty steep at $30 a month. there's apparently been a few times where W2T gave an entire cake of puer
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 11:08
|
|
|
ulvir posted:there's apparently been a few times where W2T gave an entire cake of puer Without knowing much about specific tea names, is this a good or bad thing As far as subscription boxes go, I was looking specifically at Teabox and The Cozy Mug and Sips By. I tried looking up others but it seemed like a decent amount had gone under and I'm not sure what other ones still exist that are good/reputable.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 12:32
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:Without knowing much about specific tea names, is this a good or bad thing I'd expect there are quite a few of the tea shops in the OP that have sub boxes. I've only seen adverts for them, but they'll be good/bad depending on personal tastes and price points. I have limited experience with the TeaSource one in that I've tried a large percentage of their teas available, and that's the selection that goes into the subscription too. I'm reasonably sure that they select from everything but the most expensive teas in the collection and they have options for straight or blended depending on what you want (it is only $100 for six months of 2x2oz a month, so not sending expensive tea makes sense). I'd think that a lot of places that do it will have a few options like that, so find one that fits what you want to spend on it and try it out. There are also lots of sampler packs that might do a better job of filling your needs. You can still try lots of teas, but you have more control over what you get. They're probably cheaper in the long run and tea doesn't really go bad in a couple months if you keep it in the dark and sealed.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 15:11
|
|
|
A friend once got me a year of Adagio's tea of the month club, and while it's not something I would have bought for myself since I don't usually go for random flavored blends, I ended up enjoying it quite a bit and found a few things I really liked that I never would have tried otherwise. Assuming you like most of what you get, it's also pretty reasonably priced.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 15:17
|
|
|
Jhet posted:I'd think that a lot of places that do it will have a few options like that, so find one that fits what you want to spend on it and try it out. There are also lots of sampler packs that might do a better job of filling your needs. You can still try lots of teas, but you have more control over what you get. They're probably cheaper in the long run and tea doesn't really go bad in a couple months if you keep it in the dark and sealed. Samplers are the way to go when you're still developing your tea palate. Once you've settled into a groove and you're hungry for variety within a certain type of tea, look into specialized vendors that have monthly clubs. I would recommend against those "catch-all" type clubs, you're probably getting stuff that's either potpourri or some generic blends.
|
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 15:24
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:Without knowing much about specific tea names, is this a good or bad thing this is a good thing. between 200g-357g worth of what I’ve heard is pretty good tea for about 30 bucks for reference: most of their cakes that they sell regularly goes for at least 50 bucks or more. but this has only happened twice or so from what I’ve read, so I don’t think it’s a regular thing. I don’t subscribe to any clubs myself personally. I assume there’s more in it for the vendor with this kind of thing than the customer. ulvir fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Mar 11, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 11, 2018 23:12
|
|
|
 Harukasumi from Marukyu Koyamaen :3
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2018 02:38
|
|
|
I haven't been able to have caffeine for months for health reasons. I recently got the OK to have small amounts. I am at a 7:30am meeting after losing an hour to DST. This little packet of Bigelow Organic Green tastes like heaven. I can't wait to get back into green tea again.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2018 13:24
|
|
|
Little Red Cup specializes in inexpensive, pretty-decent versions of the "name brand" Chinese teas. They offer $1 tastes of all of their teas, and their catalog is small enough to feasibly drink all the way through this way (unlike teavivre's literal hundreds of offerings) yet large enough to be broadly comprehensive of the major Chinese styles. You won't go far wrong just loading up a bunch of samples into your cart and drinking them all. Figure out what you like, and then hit up a more specialist vendor.
|
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2018 02:56
|
|
|
FirstAidKite posted:Have any of you ever done any of those tea subscription boxes where they send you loose leaf tea every month? How are those, any complaints or recommendations or things worth knowing? I am subscribed to TeaRunners. My only real complaint is that they send too much tea, much more than I'd use in a month. They recently introduced black-, green- and tisane-only sets, so I switched to the black-only and to quarterly instead of monthly as that far better suits my usage. (Of course, I'm trying to switch from Coke Zero to tea, so that might change if I actually succeed.)
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2018 18:17
|
|
|
I have a pretty well stocked herb garden and am interested in making my own tisanes and herbal tea blends. Is there a good in depth guide on how best to prepare fresh herbs and good blends? Googling herbal tea brings up a lot of basic tips and natural remedy stuff, but herbal tea has been around for so long, someone must have perfected techniques by now. I am just experimenting by trial and error, and lemon balm and sage and orange thyme steeped for 5 minutes is very refreshing.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2018 19:11
|
|
|
Schmeichy posted:I have a pretty well stocked herb garden and am interested in making my own tisanes and herbal tea blends. Is there a good in depth guide on how best to prepare fresh herbs and good blends? Googling herbal tea brings up a lot of basic tips and natural remedy stuff, but herbal tea has been around for so long, someone must have perfected techniques by now. I am just experimenting by trial and error, and lemon balm and sage and orange thyme steeped for 5 minutes is very refreshing. Drying fresh herbs is what you should google. A lot of them will change in flavor a bit, but if you have a nice plot of herbs you can dry quite a bit every year. My experience with doing it is just cutting off long branches or vines and then hanging them in a dry dark place with decent air circulation until dry. I'm sure you can do it other ways, but that's what's convenient for me, so that's what I do. I'd avoid heating them though as that tends to release oils and flavor compounds into the air. I'd expect them to not taste as nice that way. Doing blends is going to be down to personal preference. Maybe try some of the websites in the OP and look at what they've blended and use that as a jumping off point. It shouldn't take too long to decide if you do or don't like some flavors together, and the worst that happens is you dump out a cup and make a different blend.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2018 03:34
|
|
|
Jhet posted:Drying fresh herbs is what you should google. A lot of them will change in flavor a bit, but if you have a nice plot of herbs you can dry quite a bit every year. My experience with doing it is just cutting off long branches or vines and then hanging them in a dry dark place with decent air circulation until dry. I'm sure you can do it other ways, but that's what's convenient for me, so that's what I do. I'd avoid heating them though as that tends to release oils and flavor compounds into the air. I'd expect them to not taste as nice that way. Alright I guess it's just sticking leaves in hot water so I shouldn't expect a science manual. Do you have a favorite herb for tea?
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2018 20:15
|
|
|
Schmeichy posted:Alright I guess it's just sticking leaves in hot water so I shouldn't expect a science manual. Do you have a favorite herb for tea? Tea.  I tend to blend into black tea, so hibiscus, rose, lavender, and kitchen spices mostly (peppercorns, coriander, etc). That and dried citrus peels are about where I stop. You can also use nuts if you're into that in hot water. Toast them and steep in boiling water. I also use fresh ginger, but you could easily dry it and use that too.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2018 22:09
|
|
|
Jhet posted:Tea. I've never heard of hot nut water. Sounds intriguing
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2018 23:00
|
|
|
Schmeichy posted:I've never heard of hot nut water. Sounds intriguing Hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios. Try whatever nuts that you like. Slice/chop them up and toast them gently. You can also use bark, but you'd need to check on toxicology reports before steeping those.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2018 23:08
|
|
|
Schmeichy posted:I've never heard of hot nut water. Sounds intriguing I know tea snobs love to hate on DavidsTea but if you ever have a chance, you should try Forever Nuts. It's spicy and nutty and when the nuts are spent after two or three steepings, I'll put them in my oatmeal.
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2018 03:30
|
|
|
snowdoge posted:I know tea snobs love to hate on DavidsTea but if you ever have a chance, you should try Forever Nuts. It's spicy and nutty and when the nuts are spent after two or three steepings, I'll put them in my oatmeal. Drink what you want, really. I don't get the hate that goes either way. There is reasonable logic behind the disdain for places like that though. Just glancing at their catalogue there's maybe 10-15 items of about 200 in their webstore that are tea first. And for people who really like tea, DavidsTea probably isn't going to do it because of all the everything else they put in their blends. For me though, if you're going to sell something and call it tea, it does need to have actual tea in it. It's what we call the plant after all. Glancing at the site, they do a decent job not calling things tea if there's not any tea in it. Someone needs to put a hot beverage in all those soccer mom's travel mugs. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 10, 2018 03:53
|
|
|
What's a good oolong jasmine? I used to drink some stuff I got from one of the Asian grocery stores, but they have stopped carrying it sometime in the last 1.5 years I had to spend without caffeine. I picked up a sample of green jasmine from Adagio with my order of herbals and I don't know-- I think I need a stronger tea flavor than green to go with the jasmine scent.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2018 15:08
|
|
|
Last month my therapist and I started having tea at the start of our sessions She's moving to a new office so I got her an electric kettle with temperature control. I mean, yeah, it's pretty transparent that I got it for us to use instead of an old microwave or the second-hand kureig. But it's still a nice gift.
|
|
#
?
May 5, 2018 08:43
|
|
|
hot nut tea pretty close to beef tea
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2018 01:07
|
|
|
I got some mugicha, sencha, and genmaicha for summer cold brewing, then on a whim got some amaranth tea as well. Has anyone tried cold brewing this type of floral tea before?
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 00:02
|
|
|
Hi tea thread  I’ve loved tea since I was a baby. Growing up in the south I was always downing loads of super strong sweet iced tea. I’ve gone through periods of drinking a ton then stopping, etc etc. never thinking about it much. The last few years I got real into coffee. By coffee I mean coffee with a shitload of coffee mate. It is what it is. Even with good coffee I can’t stand it black. The bad part of this is that coffee is very 50/50 for me. I’m either energized and focused or jittery and sluggish at the same time. It’s a balance of emotions in a way that isn’t likely worth it over a drink I don’t really enjoy. A few months ago I dug out some adagio I got years ago. I decided to try some as is, no sugar, and I actually didn’t mind it. I ordered some more, I have about 15+ sample bags now. I’m absolutely loving trying all of these and so far tea has been wonderful for my energy and mood. I’m assuming it’s the lower caffeine synergy with the l theanine and other chemicals in tea. I had a coffee relapse recently with wanting to overload myself with caffeine but I don’t know. Coffee isn’t what it used to be for me. Maybe it never was. Plain pure tea is becoming something I really, really enjoy. Sorry for the rambling, haha. I’m just curious if anyone has had a similar situation. Tea chat: So far I’ve found some favorites from Adagio. Irish breakfast is nice and strong, maybe a bit too malty. Ceylon Sonata might be my ideal plain black but mine is about four years old. I’ll have to grab some fresh. Earl Grey moonlight is wonderful, bravo was too strong on the floral notes. Citrus mint green is delicious all around. Gunpowder is... weird and smokey but I might end up liking it. Matcha is fun if a little funky but I don’t have a whisk for it yet. Pu erh varies from “uugggggagagghhhh” to “gently caress yeah I love drinking the roots of the earth”. A strong cup certainly gives you a certain feeling. I wanted to like Yerba Mate but my first cup wasn’t great. There wasn’t much flavor and the caffeine didn’t hit me like I expected. If anyone wants to recommend me some tea, shoot! Preferably adagio since I’m enjoying their quality/price balance and have some points ready to go.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 00:57
|
|
|
Yoooooooo don't drink adagio puerh, that's literally some of the worst quality pu out there and totally non representative of the type as a whole. Mandala Tea was my first dip into puerh after having that lovely adagio stuff. https://www.mandalatea.com/puer/ Their Wild Monk is some fantastic drinkable young raw pu (light on the bitterness and a medium smokiness), and I've heard really good things about the phatty cake for a representative of ripe pu (pretty sure the adagio stuff is ripe and fishy smelling due to being straight out of the factory or just being really bad quality). Samples are your friend, but you seem to know that already Their cakes are also pretty small, 100g, so less of an investment than the 200-357g cakes that are more normally sold.I'd also recommend Adagio's yunnan gold for a decent qualilty chinese black if you haven't had it before. It's nothing like the british blends like english breakfast and earl grey, more on the dark cocoa and nutty and smooth tasting notes. hope and vaseline fucked around with this message at 01:21 on May 22, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 01:17
|
|
|
hope and vaseline posted:Yoooooooo don't drink adagio puerh, that's literally some of the worst quality pu out there and totally non representative of the type as a whole. I like the adagio though! I’ll try some that you recommended for sure. Thanks! Is the quality difference mostly flavor based? I’ll grab some yunnan gold next order for sure. I haven’t tried a good Chinese black yet. Those notes sound interesting, certainly different from most of the teas I’ve had so far. e: any specific wild monk or others you would suggest? I’ll have to see what their sample setup is and maybe grab multiples. Kilometers Davis fucked around with this message at 01:47 on May 22, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 01:42
|
|
|
This article does a better job of explaining it than i ever could https://white2tea.com/2013/11/09/what-is-reason-for-the-fishy-puer-smell-in-young-ripe-puer-tea/ There's a crazy amount of stuff that goes into the quality of puerh, and its demand is so high that the stuff that western vendors are able to acquire at a mass amount is usually really bottom of the barrel. And uh, I haven't had the 2015 wild monk, but it's probably just a similar pressing to the 2014. Always go older if you can though
hope and vaseline fucked around with this message at 02:04 on May 22, 2018 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 01:59
|
|
|
Interesting, I appreciate it. It makes sense that the pu erh I have isn’t that fishy smelling or tasting since it’s about 4 years old. I remember disliking it when I got it and I’m sure that’s why. e: cool cool, gonna grab some old tasty tea
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 02:05
|
|
|
Kilometers Davis posted:Hi tea thread sup tea buddy I've had the same experience. Coffee is fun to get in to as well because of the different beans and roasts, but ultimately it's too much caffeine for me to drink a lot of. I can have like 3 pots of green tea and it's probably about as much caffeine as a 16oz cold brew coffee. You might enjoying trying more types of black tea, particularly the ones they make blends from since you already like Ceylon. Maybe try an assam and darjeeling. I think the ceylon I buy is roughly the same as yours, though adagio gives it a sonata name. It's this one from kenilworth estate: http://www.uptontea.com/kandy-ceylon-black-tea/kenilworth-estate-pekoe/p/V00114/ These are two of my favorite black tea blends as well: http://www.uptontea.com/afternoon-tea/finest-russian-caravan/p/V00411/ http://www.uptontea.com/afternoon-tea/richmond-park-blend/p/V00095/
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 02:20
|
|
|
Got my shincha in from Hibiki-an last week. It's got a nice welcome level of astringency, and I also got some nice little azuki jellies to go with it for a sorta Japanese experience. I really wanna get some loose houjicha but I need to finish up a lot more of my stock before I can let myself do that.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 02:34
|
|
|
Also if you like super sweet teas, try making some Thai iced tea. I have kinda been janking around with it this last week, and my "winging it" recipe is over-boiling and over-steeping a chunk of black tea with some caradmom pods and vanilla in there too. Add too much sugar or sweetened condensed milk. Chilly. When you swerve add some combination of cream, half and half, or evaporated milk. Is that about how it should be? Is there a fancier better way to make good restaurant-style/quality Thai iced tea?
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 02:49
|
|
|
Hangon, hangon hangon... so puerh is not supposed to taste and smell sort of fishy?
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 09:10
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 08:26 |
|
|
the scent can vary. ripe is supposed to smell a little bit fermented, but if it smells like fish and/or outright nasty even after a couple of weeks, then it’s really poo poo quality.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2018 11:30
|
|