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Booyah- posted:Just fyi, hojicha is definitely caffeinated, it just has less caffeine than sencha and other green tea (which has less than red tea which has... etc) the levels are low enough that they’re in the decaf range though, so while not completely free, it’s still low enough to be an option
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Jan 2, 2022 23:23
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It's been too long since I've had some oolong So I'm drinking some now
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Jan 13, 2022 18:28
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isaboo posted:It's been too long since I've had some oolong You should fix that quote:So I'm drinking some now Good
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Jan 13, 2022 19:28
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oolongs are great, it’s usually my go-to when I crave something else than puerh
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Jan 13, 2022 19:42
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All teas other than Yunnan blacks are like, ok, but not what I want.
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Jan 13, 2022 22:12
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Yunnan black tea is excellent, good choice.
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Jan 13, 2022 22:37
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Hey tea nerds, I'm thinking about buying a gaiwan. Any tips on what to look for? I'll likely buy it local from one of the many tea shops in the Seattle area.
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Jan 13, 2022 23:25
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Play with them a lot. Make sure the lid can slide when you need it to and stay in place when you need it to. Make sure it's good in the hand. Nothing is worse than a cheap feeling gaiwan
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Jan 13, 2022 23:35
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Last year I bought a bunch of oolong samples from Taiwan Sourcing and Eco-Cha. None of them really did much for me. They were nice, but only one stood out as exceptional. Another one was absolute garbage and got tossed. The others I just mixed together in the same old tin because they were more or less the same tea to my unrefined palate, and that is what I had today. It was quite nice for a change of pace.
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Jan 14, 2022 00:35
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plester1 posted:Hey tea nerds, I'm thinking about buying a gaiwan. Any tips on what to look for? I'll likely buy it local from one of the many tea shops in the Seattle area. I swear I’ve seen them at the Asian Family Market on Aurora. I have to go over this week to restock and I can take a look. I think they’re up by the checkouts. I wouldn’t be surprised if Uwajimaya had tea stuff too in their gift section.
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Jan 14, 2022 01:38
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Heath posted:Play with them a lot. Make sure the lid can slide when you need it to and stay in place when you need it to. Make sure it's good in the hand. Nothing is worse than a cheap feeling gaiwan
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Jan 14, 2022 02:12
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plester1 posted:Hey tea nerds, I'm thinking about buying a gaiwan. Any tips on what to look for? I'll likely buy it local from one of the many tea shops in the Seattle area. Check out Perennial. I'm going to be in the area and also there as well next week!
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Jan 14, 2022 02:25
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Death Vomit Wizard posted:That's a fair point. If the lid is too big or not round enough it could be an issue. But most imperfections are totally fine. And I really like cheap gaiwans. The factory stuff that you can find for $20 is my jam. I don't mean monetarily cheap, I mean a gaiwan that you don't feel like you can trust in your hand. One that feels thin or like the lid is gonna just give way when you're pouring and dump everywhere. You should be able to pour without apprehension.
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Jan 14, 2022 03:17
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I've been getting into pu ehr teas lately, and I'm having a lot of trouble breaking chunks off of the larger bricks without just turning it to dust. Is there a trick to doing it with the tools I have at home? If I need a dedicated Pu Ehr pick, is there a good place to buy one from? I got the tea itself from Yunnan Sourcing but they're sold out of all their picks.
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Jan 24, 2022 15:43
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a diamond-shaped pick such as this one is pretty great, if you live in america they also have it in their seattle inventory
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Jan 24, 2022 16:45
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Depends a lot on the brick. I have had bricks where you have to use the pick like an ice-pick and dust is the best you can hope for. I feel like shu is worse than sheng and weird shapes like mushrooms worse than bings, but my dataset is not enormous.
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Jan 24, 2022 23:11
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Picks are pretty much mandatory. I hate telling people to buy more stuff, but if you buy pressed tea you really need one. I approach every cake/ brick with two goals: minimize the amount of leaf breakage and don't stab myself. Taking your time and finessing the chunks off such that you keep as many leaves intact as possible will lead to a better brew.
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Jan 25, 2022 05:36
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I used a flathead electronics screw driver for three years out of pure cheapskatedness, but when I finally caved and got a proper pick it became a whole lot more enjoyable. less dust everywhere, and also less injuries from trying to pry apart iron cakes it’s very easy to assume every little extra thing is completely useless, certain things like wooden gongfu tongs and tea pets absolutely are, but a proper pick is almost a necessity with puerh, just from how functional it is compared to the macguyver solutions ulvir fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Jan 25, 2022 |
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Jan 25, 2022 09:08
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Perfect, thanks everyone. I went ahead and ordered a pick, I'll hold off on the bricks until it arrives.
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Jan 25, 2022 14:56
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my replacement ruyao pot from teaware.house arrived today and the outer surface on this compared to the older one that broke (ca 2017) is a lot less polished and smooth. I quite like it, I think. the texture is nice to the touch, almost like a yixing pot, even though it clearly is glazed. excited to see how it is to use
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Jan 25, 2022 22:43
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ulvir posted:it’s very easy to assume every little extra thing is completely useless, certain things like wooden gongfu tongs and tea pets absolutely are, but a proper pick is almost a necessity with puerh, just from how functional it is compared to the macguyver solutions
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Jan 27, 2022 09:53
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Everything has some kind of purpose, like the tea pets are useful to help direct people to pour out rinses or to just have a drinking buddy when solo
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Jan 29, 2022 03:06
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I found a standard white porcelain gaiwan (at Miro Tea in Seattle) and I already love it for how easy it is to resteep for an extended sesh. Still learning not to burn myself or spill everywhere. I consider using tea pets a good ritual in the same vein as pouring one out for the homies when drinking a forty in the street.
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Jan 29, 2022 04:52
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At a Chinese restaurant (Tofu Vegan in London, highly recommended) they served some really nice tea on the menu as Traditional Tea. I asked and they said it was jasmine tea, it had a super mild floral flavour though and definitely an oolong base. Any recommendations for a specific brand that might be similar and is available in the EU? I don't drink much jasmine tea as it tends to be overly floral.
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Feb 6, 2022 15:54
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distortion park posted:At a Chinese restaurant (Tofu Vegan in London, highly recommended) they served some really nice tea on the menu as Traditional Tea. I asked and they said it was jasmine tea, it had a super mild floral flavour though and definitely an oolong base. Any recommendations for a specific brand that might be similar and is available in the EU? I don't drink much jasmine tea as it tends to be overly floral. I ended up with a bunch of this jasmine oolong from Tevivre, and it’s nice and mild just like that https://www.teavivre.com/jamine-oolong-tea.html I don’t normally like jasmine tea because it’s too floral, but I like this one because it’s perfectly balanced and you can still taste the oolong underneath it.
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Feb 6, 2022 16:24
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Jasmine oolong is really the only floral tea I not only can tolerate in large quantities but actually enjoy. Usually it tends to be flavored with oils rather than having actual jasmine in it, which results in a much stronger initial flavor but washes away quickly. Tea flavored with actual jasmine tends to be milder but the floral scent persists.
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Feb 6, 2022 16:45
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I used to really enjoy rooibos with orange, drinking it almost exclusively before getting into tea properly. ripe puerh with orange peel or sticky rice herb is also pretty great
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Feb 8, 2022 22:20
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Mixed some hojicha with lapsang suchong. Tastes kind of like com chay.
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Feb 11, 2022 17:56
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Does anyone know of any good electric tea makers? Something like adagio’s velocitea but more adjustable
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Feb 12, 2022 23:43
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just get a regular electric kettle with adjustable temperature to boil/heat the water. as long as the lowest step is 80, it’s reasonably versatile enough for all kinds of teas, and you won’t 
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Feb 12, 2022 23:56
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ulvir posted:just get a regular electric kettle with adjustable temperature to boil/heat the water. as long as the lowest step is 80, it’s reasonably versatile enough for all kinds of teas, and you won’t Yeah. I got an electric kettle with settings for basically all the sorts of teas I'd want to make, for like....I think $30. It's also my Cup Noodle water dispenser.
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Feb 13, 2022 02:02
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Get a Zojirushi water warmer.
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Feb 13, 2022 03:46
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Is the Stagg worth it? Looks cool, and I'd like something small to fit in the cupboard. Local place has them.
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Feb 13, 2022 04:18
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Planet X posted:Is the Stagg worth it? Looks cool, and I'd like something small to fit in the cupboard. Local place has them. I have the stovetop Corvo and I quite like it. It has the larger pour spout and I think it's overall much better for tea. Goosenecks are more for pour-over coffee.
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Feb 13, 2022 04:25
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Planet X posted:Is the Stagg worth it? Looks cool, and I'd like something small to fit in the cupboard. Local place has them. it has such a slow flow rate that it will just be infuriating to use for anything other than coffee. if you also brew coffee and like that style of kettle, brewista, bonavita and hario also pours fast enough for other things, but they’re overall more expensive than regular kettles (I recently bought Hario’s with a temperature control and it was almost twice the price of my old one)
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Feb 13, 2022 09:35
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I returned a Stagg EKG because the flow rate was so low. I hear the Hario with temp control is much better but I have not bought one; if you already have coffee brewing equipment or only brew coffee for parties it's somewhat unjustifiable as an expense.
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Feb 13, 2022 11:07
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I have both a Stagg and a more generic variable-temperature kettle like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0758BZKQN/ The Stagg looks really nice on the counter and that’s why I’m keeping it around. But the Hamilton Beach pours way faster and the presets are quicker to use than the Stagg’s scroll wheel. For tea, you don’t need precise control imo and a gooseneck is a little overkill.
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Feb 13, 2022 11:22
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Thanks for the input. I did a little more homework, and am moving away from the Stagg. I don't do pourover coffee at all. Work has a Cosori, which has the convenient push button temp on the base which I really like. As mentioned, most of us don't need to-the-degree precision. What I like about the Cosori and the Stagg is that they're smaller. The Hamilton Beach one below looks great for my purposes, but I don't know if I need or have room for a nearly 2 liter kettle. I'll poke around a little bit. My use case here is that (probably like others here) I drink different varieties of tea from time to time during the day and having to pull the kettle off the stove to use a thermapen for getting temps right is getting a little time consuming, especially when hopping from meeting to meeting. I want a smaller one not only because it's usually just me drinking tea, but that I have pull out drawers in my kitchen cabinets with electrical built in. I want to be able to roll the drawer out, hit a button, make tea and roll it back. Therefore, countertop aesthetics don't really matter as much to me. I was looking at the Stagg simply because the (local, pourover combination bike shop) coffee place here sells them and I wanted to support them.
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Feb 13, 2022 13:56
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See if they can get you a Corvo instead. They may be able to order one for you.
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Feb 13, 2022 14:25
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My partner got me the breville one touch tea maker for a gift. I don't know if not having used it I would have bought it for myself not having owned it, but I like it a lot.
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Feb 14, 2022 01:28
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