Dip Viscous posted:

there's also nothing wrong with making small servings in large pots by putting the leaves directly into the pot and then pouring very carefully after steeping

Vivian Darkbloom posted:

What's your favorite mint tea? There are some blends of spearmint, peppermint, and green tea that look good and pretty low in caffeine.

Finger Prince posted:

I picked up this Sloane Marrakech Mint recently which is made from "South African green rooibos and a blend of mint" (so I'm guessing spearmint and peppermint). I have no idea what green rooibos is, I've only ever seen the red kind. I mean, the word literally means "red bush", so I dunno. Anyway it's really really good. Downside is that it comes in those little plastic net pyramid bags which supposedly cause you to die of nanoplastic ingestion and probably do unspeakable damage to the environment.

Vivian Darkbloom posted:

https://twitter.com/ActNormalOrElse/status/1380721224955920391

aldantefax posted:

Caffeine does have a side effect of causing drowsiness in some people instead of waking them up. I've experienced both being woken up by caffeine as well as getting drowsy after having some coffee before! I do not recommend drinking a lot of coffee before going to bed though. Tea seems to be OK, but coffee naps and coffee sleep causes my gut biome to make me have very vivid and sometimes rather unpleasant dreams.

I'm going to the teahouse tomorrow and I think I'm gonna be there in the afternoon until they basically kick me out!

Teddy Thunders posted:

This poo poo does nothing to me and puts everyone else into a loving stupor and I should've never given up hard drugs.

Trying chamomile and I'm mad because it's making me the opposite of sleepy, too. I might just drink rose petals and black tea and lavender and let the weird reaction to caffeine I have lull me to sleep.

aldantefax posted:

Caffeine does have a side effect of causing drowsiness in some people instead of waking them up. I've experienced both being woken up by caffeine as well as getting drowsy after having some coffee before! I do not recommend drinking a lot of coffee before going to bed though. Tea seems to be OK, but coffee naps and coffee sleep causes my gut biome to make me have very vivid and sometimes rather unpleasant dreams.

I'm going to the teahouse tomorrow and I think I'm gonna be there in the afternoon until they basically kick me out!

Teddy Thunders posted:

YAY! Post pics of the good tea. I'm very very concerned I'll never be able to go back to the teahouse near me because of COVID. Nobody here seems to be taking it seriously.

aldantefax posted:

you can come to the cool teahouse that i go to now, i will be happy to host you as a guest

aldantefax posted:

It takes a little bit before the caffeine metabolizes, particularly for tea due to the L-theanine (slows caffeine release to the body, compare to 'coffee jitters' that usually happen right away), perhaps you too are a sleepy tea drinker!

For clogged nasal passages and the like I recommend tea with a lot of ginger. I have a stone mortar and pestle now so whenever I make chai (been ages, I should make a pot for myself as a treat) I use a lot of cloves, cardamom, and a big ol' knob of ginger that I just smash. They say you should grate it or what not, but...me smash big

Ginger and spicy things in your tea are great at this kind of stuff for kind of the same reasons that your nostrils get cleared out when you eat a spicey jalapeno

aldantefax posted:

I did the marathon rounds for a puerh (forgot which already), "Thunderstruck" Phoenix Oolong, and 1992 Haunted Plum. The last two were in my personal teapot that I now store at the teahouse!

"Thunderstruck" gets its name from a thing that happened to a tea bush that grew a varietal known as "Eight Immortals" - the story goes, thunder and lightning split the bush in half, and one half died while the other survived, which was then cloned and scaled for production. Great tea, and if you're into the more "woo" part of it, it does have a certain set of qualities behind it that encourages conversation. I met a new friend, had tea with one of the other teahouse employees, and then also met up with a coworker buddy who I haven't seen in awhile. Much conversation was had regarding all manner of topics, but nobody made an AC/DC joke. We might end up trying to do a vinyl records event though, there was interest in City Pop and the like. Good jams.

We also talked about D&D and its gaming chronology and design and one of the other employees joined in enthusiastically after I broke out some books I had taken with me since I didn't know if I was flying solo or if I was expecting company (conversation seems to often follow when at the teahouse). It is nice to talk about those topics as well as others like technology and other such things.

1992 Haunted Plum is, predictably, an oolong from 1992. It has a very distinct aroma and I had it as one of the first teas they offered me a few weeks ago, but now I brewed it in my own teapot instead of a gaiwan. The owner joined us and we talked shop for awhile about the science and cultivation behind teas and how he sources stuff.

At the end one of the other employees who was experimenting with blending teas served up a sample mix of a wild puerh with an oolong and then also did an interpretive hand jive dance he called "Coiling Snake Takes the Egg from the Nest (v3)". It's a work in progress. The tea blend, of course, was quite good.

Since I stayed until they closed I also helped them clean up before heading out for the day. Perhaps in the future I will run D&D for them in person on Sundays!

aldantefax posted:

Good. Haymen is a good dude and I used to source directly from him. I actually sent him an email a couple weeks ago seeing about another bigass tea table, lol, since I own one but the tea house here is interested in buying one or two. Tell him "Bernie in Austin" says hi, he may remember me!

It is very nice to be able to have a dedicated tea place to go that isn't just a storefront. It is a warm and comfy place and everybody at the local tea house is very in tune with tea conversation and drink.

Oh! I should add, I was offered spicy garlic cucumbers as a side dish, they are planning to do a family style meal once a week when the teahouse is closed for maintenance and cleaning. I might show up (they invited me) to help out with cleaning as well as enjoying the food.

Since I purchased the annual membership several weeks ago I now have spent north of 15 hours at the teahouse. Considering their hourly rate per person and I've brought a plus one twice already and the amount of tea I used...Well, I'm on the way to having the thing pay for itself multiple times over and it hasn't even been a month!

Haunted Plum is pretty difficult to find, but this place does sell it online if you're interested in buying. I can probably look into hooking you up since the owner does direct sourcing because that is just his deal: https://westchinatea.com/30g-1992-haunted-plum/

aldantefax posted:

I did the marathon rounds for a puerh (forgot which already), "Thunderstruck" Phoenix Oolong, and 1992 Haunted Plum. The last two were in my personal teapot that I now store at the teahouse!

"Thunderstruck" gets its name from a thing that happened to a tea bush that grew a varietal known as "Eight Immortals" - the story goes, thunder and lightning split the bush in half, and one half died while the other survived, which was then cloned and scaled for production. Great tea, and if you're into the more "woo" part of it, it does have a certain set of qualities behind it that encourages conversation. I met a new friend, had tea with one of the other teahouse employees, and then also met up with a coworker buddy who I haven't seen in awhile. Much conversation was had regarding all manner of topics, but nobody made an AC/DC joke. We might end up trying to do a vinyl records event though, there was interest in City Pop and the like. Good jams.

We also talked about D&D and its gaming chronology and design and one of the other employees joined in enthusiastically after I broke out some books I had taken with me since I didn't know if I was flying solo or if I was expecting company (conversation seems to often follow when at the teahouse). It is nice to talk about those topics as well as others like technology and other such things.

1992 Haunted Plum is, predictably, an oolong from 1992. It has a very distinct aroma and I had it as one of the first teas they offered me a few weeks ago, but now I brewed it in my own teapot instead of a gaiwan. The owner joined us and we talked shop for awhile about the science and cultivation behind teas and how he sources stuff.

At the end one of the other employees who was experimenting with blending teas served up a sample mix of a wild puerh with an oolong and then also did an interpretive hand jive dance he called "Coiling Snake Takes the Egg from the Nest (v3)". It's a work in progress. The tea blend, of course, was quite good.

Since I stayed until they closed I also helped them clean up before heading out for the day. Perhaps in the future I will run D&D for them in person on Sundays!

OMGVBFLOL posted:

if you have the money and the patience, you can Hello Kitty anything

Teddy Thunders posted:

I'm pretty sure that I'm going to invest in a tiny fortune worth of Haunted Plum and maybe some more interesting oolongs. I'm on an Oolong Appreciation Journey right now via samples and small quantities of things from all the good teahouses.

Milk chat: it's spring and for some reason I associate this with milky tea and flower water cakes. So I've recently been obsessed with infusing oatmilk with rose and lavender and thyme, and then I put it in either a nice soft black tea or an oolong with body and age to it. It's nice nice nice.

OMGVBFLOL posted:

if you have the money and the patience, you can Hello Kitty anything

Dip Viscous posted:

for a fun time, search amazon for one star reviews on tea pots from people that say it cracked when they used it on their stove top

Dip Viscous posted:

Dip Viscous posted:

i'm sorry

i see entertainment in bad places

Dip Viscous posted:

OMGVBFLOL posted:

if you have the money and the patience, you can Hello Kitty anything

Sleepytime posted:

Greetings, thread.