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Jhet posted:I use at least 0.5 oz for 2L/2qt pitchers. This is measured by weight and varies up by the tea I'm cold brewing. You can double it for concentrated tea that you'll end up diluting a lot, but do not add ice and just drink it straight from the fridge, so adjust my weights accordingly for your tastes. Or make ice cubes from the tea as well, if your fridge doesn't get it as cold as you like.
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Jul 17, 2018 20:32
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ulvir posted:I was gonna recommend Yunnan Sourcing, but it seems most of their white and blue gaiwans are mostly too big (probably?) being over 150ml, for the most part, plus their stuff isn't quite as nice as Teaware.House's. This one is gorgeous, though. If I didn't have small hands or it was a tad smaller, I'd almost impulse buy this + some tea to balance shipping costs https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/gaiwans/products/jade-porcelain-koi-frolicking-gaiwan-for-gong-fu-tea-1 Yeah, I´ve been looking at yunnansourcing. Both the cups I like and my black gaiwan is from there. The Koi one is quite nice, but 170 seems a bit much for solo drinking, considering multiple steeps. Perhaps the tiny 80-90ml one from teaware.house is fine... On the other hand I just received an email from yunnansourcing that they have a 10% off on teawares this week. I found this one on verdanttea that I quite like, but it got a bit pricy with the shipping. https://verdanttea.com/teas/hand-painted-de-hua-porcelain-llandscape-gaiwan/ Would need to splurge a bit on more teas as well then
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Jul 17, 2018 20:56
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Stuporstar posted:OMG I've been searching all over for a large gaiwan to match my white and blue fish cups. Thank you for linking that haha no problem. your only obligation is to post a picture w/it when you use it 
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Jul 17, 2018 21:36
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I appreciate the advice everybody gave. So, small trip report, I got the gaiwan today and took it out for a try with three teas. I did Adagio's Ti Kuan Yin, and it was more than a bit weak. I think I need to use hotter water, I was hitting it with roughly 195F. Longer steep times and boiling water got a pretty good result out of Adagio's Yunnan Jig, I thought it was interesting how the 3rd infusion was the only one I got a really mineral hit off of. I tried their Pu Erh Dante the same way, and mostly got 'old leaf pile' out of it. Sort of a compost smell/taste, which was pretty good in a remarkably strange way. I need to experiment more.
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Jul 18, 2018 02:15
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Pu er is pretty much composted tea. 
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Jul 18, 2018 03:32
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I use one coffee scoops worth for every cup of cold brewed tea. I'm also lazy/cheap so I use the same leaves a second time.
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Jul 18, 2018 05:05
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YS had a ripe puer sale a couple of weeks ago, so I went ahead and got a few cakes worth, this one amongst others, which I got mostly for the fun of it since it was so cheap. drinking it now, and it's actually surprisingly decent. if the cake was bigger than 100g it could probably go into the daily drinker rotation.
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Jul 20, 2018 09:38
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I feel like this may get asked a bunch in this thread so I apologize in advance but.. Where is the best place online to buy loose green tea? Preferably sencha and gyokuru.
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Jul 23, 2018 14:10
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SHOAH NUFF posted:I feel like this may get asked a bunch in this thread so I apologize in advance but.. The OP has a ton of links. You're looking for Japanese greens, so you'll probably want to look at Adagio and Upton from that list if you're in the US. I've had the stuff from TeaSource myself and it's pretty solid, but Japanese green teas aren't really my favorite thing. E: That next link is way better. Jhet fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Jul 23, 2018 |
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Jul 23, 2018 15:12
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SHOAH NUFF posted:I feel like this may get asked a bunch in this thread so I apologize in advance but.. https://www.o-cha.com/en/
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Jul 23, 2018 15:19
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o-cha is excellent, the best in the business, if you already know exactly what you're looking for, or want the authentic catalog-scrolling/sink-or-swim experience. if you want a more curated selection (and are willing to pay a generally higher price for the same quality), i would suggest den's tea, hibiki-an or thes du japon i would not recommend adagio at all, or upton for anything other than the single-estate darjeelings they do a drat good job of specializing in.
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Jul 23, 2018 20:42
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here's my four step guide to judging a website selling japanese greens: 1) do they advertise spring/new-harvest/"shincha" gyukuro or matcha? 2) do they make dubious dr oz health claims about matcha powder? 3) do they ship from the united states instead of japan? 4) do they refuse to disclose the farm location (and preferably cultivar) of the tea? congratulations! go somewhere else.
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Jul 23, 2018 20:46
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I like yunomi.life, myself, for japanese green teas.
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Jul 23, 2018 20:49
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drat I already ordered a few oz of sencha from Adagio, will go to o-cha for at future purchases
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Jul 23, 2018 20:57
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Adagio sencha isn't terrible, at the worst you can make some drat good cold brew with it. But once you get into the discerning palate level for japanese greens, definitely go specialized vendor.
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Jul 23, 2018 21:46
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i also consider selling organic shaded teas (gyokuro/matcha) at a premium kinda scammy, but i understand that there's a market for this sort of thing and the vendors gotta pay their bills, so i wouldn't write a vendor off for just that. it probably does mean that they're optimizing their marketing for people who aren't super picky about their tea, though
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Jul 23, 2018 23:08
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I went to a Ramen place yesterday and had the "cold tea" on their menu since it was a bajillion degrees out. The tea ended up being unlike anything I've ever had before -- it seemed to be a blackish green tea, but it tasted like wood smoke. It was bizarre and really offputting for the first few sips but it grew on me really quickly. I forgot to ask what it was so I guess I'll try my luck here. Any thoughts on what a really smoky tea in a Japanese restaurant could be? I'm talking like full-on tasted like I was drinking campfire smoke.
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Jul 24, 2018 02:25
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Probably lapsang souchong
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Jul 24, 2018 02:33
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Reiterpallasch posted:i would not recommend adagio at all quote:or upton for anything other than the single-estate darjeelings they do a drat good job of specializing in.  )
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Jul 24, 2018 03:58
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chunkles posted:Probably lapsang souchong Hmm, google says likely. Will have to try more of this, thanks!
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Jul 24, 2018 04:00
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bitprophet posted:I'm still firmly in the "TRY ALL THE THINGS" phase That doesn't really go away. At least, it hasn't for me.
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Jul 24, 2018 04:33
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A friend of mine gave me a tin of tea recently and I'm honestly not sure what to make of it. It's called Pride of the Port from Mighty Leaf, and something about the name made it sound really enticing. I'm not sure how to describe what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't whatever this is. The tin says "bright red with floral and toasty notes" but it's more like someone roasted a vegetal, seaweedy green tea. On the upside it's not as astringent as most black teas, but drat. I don't even have anything against really vegetal greens, but this is something else. I don't dislike it enough to get rid of it or pawn it off on someone else, but I'm not really eager to brew a cup either. Here's hoping it works well for making some sort of floral blend, or something.. Good news is that Trader Joes now carries a looseleaf Earl Grey de la Creme that I like. The "creme" scent can be a bit overpowering but the flavor is quite nice. They also have a lemon mint green that's not too shabby. Probably would work really well for iced tea, but I haven't tried it cold yet.
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Jul 24, 2018 05:01
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bitprophet posted:Agree. Also their CEO is apparently quite a scumbag (harassing LGBT employees, etc). Dang, I love their rooibos vanilla chai. I hate jerk CEOs more. Anybody have any good rooibos chai recommendations? I like Adagio's due to the lack of black pepper.
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Jul 24, 2018 19:37
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effika posted:Dang, I love their rooibos vanilla chai. I hate jerk CEOs more. I really like the Upton chais, specifically the rooibos and masala. Looks like they have pepper on them, though I never noticed it getting in the way of other flavors. I also occasionally supplement it with fresh ground clove.
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Jul 24, 2018 19:48
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I really like the Upton chais, specifically the rooibos and masala. Looks like they have pepper on them, though I never noticed it getting in the way of other flavors. I also occasionally supplement it with fresh ground clove. That rooibos one does look pretty close and so does their spice-only blend. Worth a couple of samples! More tea is always good.
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Jul 24, 2018 19:53
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Martytoof posted:I went to a Ramen place yesterday and had the "cold tea" on their menu since it was a bajillion degrees out. The tea ended up being unlike anything I've ever had before -- it seemed to be a blackish green tea, but it tasted like wood smoke. It was bizarre and really offputting for the first few sips but it grew on me really quickly. I forgot to ask what it was so I guess I'll try my luck here. Any thoughts on what a really smoky tea in a Japanese restaurant could be? I'm talking like full-on tasted like I was drinking campfire smoke. You're probably looking for kyoubancha/iribancha. They're similar to the Chinese lapsang souchong style, but the smoke is layered onto a substantially lighter and more vegetal/grassy tea than lapsang. Reiterpallasch fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Jul 25, 2018 |
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Jul 25, 2018 01:28
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bitprophet posted:Can you elaborate on this? I've been using Upton as one of my main suppliers for a while, tho I'm still firmly in the "TRY ALL THE THINGS" phase so it's typically sample sizes only. They can certainly be hit or miss, but I've had a lot of non Darjeeling stuff from them that was pretty good. (But then again…maybe my palate's just not discerning enough yet Tea vending is a specialist's game--most teas degrade with storage and the ones that do age well are also esoteric as gently caress, plus the market and production methods are different in all the major tea-growing regions and you can't be an expert at everything. Upton has a 60-page catalog with like 3 grades of everything no matter how obscure, so it stands to reason that a lot of it might not be the best, or have such low turnover that the tea will have degraded by the time it gets to you. I can recommend Upton without reservation for their massive range of single-estate Darjeelings, as well as a lot of their value-oriented Assam and Niligiri offerings. Nepalese and Sri Lankan teas are more sketchy with them. I've never tried a Chinese or Japanese tea from Upton that didn't taste like it'd been left in a dusty cupboard for a few years. I dunno; I just feel like that catalog has a lot of stinkers on it, too many to suggest that someone newer to tea should buy from them. If they sell something you really like don't let me stop you from drinking it, they do good work.
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Jul 25, 2018 01:37
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bitprophet posted:Agree. Also their CEO is apparently quite a scumbag (harassing LGBT employees, etc). Sucks. This sucks, I've been buying up their samples like mad as I try and figure out what I like and don't before I graduate to more specialty suppliers. I guess I'm going to have to make that move a little sooner. TeaVivre seems about the way to go there, yeah? I've got green and oolong samples in the mail, but as is, my jam seems to be Chinese blacks. I ordered some of their Golden Monkey to try, I really liked Adagio's. I also really liked their Fujian.
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Jul 25, 2018 01:48
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I’m an Adagio lifer to be honest. Their price/quality balance is perfect and while I don’t support the CEO’s alleged actions, the company seems pretty ethical and fair outside of that. Maybe I’ll branch out eventually but I realized pretty quick I don’t have the urge to get fancy with tea and coffee.
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Jul 25, 2018 02:19
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Reiterpallasch posted:Tea vending is a specialist's game--most teas degrade with storage and the ones that do age well are also esoteric as gently caress, plus the market and production methods are different in all the major tea-growing regions and you can't be an expert at everything. Upton has a 60-page catalog with like 3 grades of everything no matter how obscure, so it stands to reason that a lot of it might not be the best, or have such low turnover that the tea will have degraded by the time it gets to you. I can recommend Upton without reservation for their massive range of single-estate Darjeelings, as well as a lot of their value-oriented Assam and Niligiri offerings. Nepalese and Sri Lankan teas are more sketchy with them. I've never tried a Chinese or Japanese tea from Upton that didn't taste like it'd been left in a dusty cupboard for a few years. It’s a really small outfit though. I ordered a bunch last Monday and by Wednesday it was at my local distribution hub, but FedEx claimed there was a “clearance delay.” I finally emailed Vadham about it yesterday and they apparently sorted it out so it’ll get released tomorrow; I think some dude over there just didn’t fill out a customs package form correctly  . It always shows up in a fairly sketchy-looking box.
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Jul 25, 2018 02:23
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I've got 8 different samples of chai and chai-like rooibos coming from Upton and Harney & Sons. I look forward to logging all my sample notes and my kitchen counter being a mess of sample bags, just like when I was starting out. Now, why I've been craving a nice cup of hot chai on summer evenings I'll never know.
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Jul 25, 2018 02:46
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I want to thank everyone who recommended Murchies. I finally got to check out their shop in downtown Victoria, and it was heaven. If I was rich enough to live in Victoria, I'd go to their cafe every day until I was broke. Their black currant is also the best I've ever had. On the other hand, the nearby Silk Road shop was really off-putting. Way too much focus on Wellness and aromatherapy bullshit, and I hate tea shops that sell by tin size instead of weight--always makes me wonder how much the prices are inflated. I dunno, people in this thread said their online shop is all right though. How are their teas really in terms of quality for the price? Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Jul 25, 2018 |
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Jul 25, 2018 05:11
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I cold brewed some cranberry vanilla rhoobas and it tasted too sweet. I'd like to try it again with three parts black or earl grey to one part cranberry vanilla rhoobas. Does that sound okay?
RandomPauI fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Jul 25, 2018 |
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Jul 25, 2018 05:38
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Reiterpallasch posted:Tea vending is a specialist's game--most teas degrade with storage [other good poo poo snipped for brevity...] Thank you! That all makes a lot of sense (and does explain some stinkers I've gotten). I've a list of suppliers I've been meaning to try (including TeaVivre, O-Cha, Yunnan Sourcing, yunomi.life, etc) so your input solidifies that desire. Once my current Harney & Sons order dwindles, anyhow; been seeking good "brewed at 212ºF, caffeinated, doesn't need additives, comes in teabag/sachet" teas for the office. Flavored blends aren't my favorite but Harney makes good ones and many in sachets. Main problem is most are Earl Grey in nature, which tastes like it wants milk/sugar. Also, for anyone who has more time than sense and likes playing "human recommendation algorithm", here's my dumb over-thought tea impressions database: https://airtable.com/shriHWuq67GnzjdHD. (Actual, rambling notes-to-self impressions are in the 'Steepings' links.)
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Jul 25, 2018 06:00
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david_a posted:I feel like I’m shilling for Vahdam Teas since I bring them up so often... Vahdam and Upton are unquestionably the #1 and #2 internet vendors of Darjeeling; both vendors carry all of the big-name estates in first and second flushes, and sell for fair prices. Upton ships from the US, Vahdam from India, which is why I'd usually give the internet recommendation to Upton. I know I just got done complaining about Japanese tea vendors who ship from the US, but there always seems to be some annoying headache with EMS or customs specifically from Indian vendors (Japanese vendors tend to be meticulous, Chinese customs will pass anything that doesn't have cartoon bomb wires sticking out the side). And Upton definitely moves enough Darjeeling quickly enough to handle storage/shipping well even with an American warehouse, so I'd usually rather just take Upton's crazy good domestic shipping rates and call it a day. Still, nobody I've ever met has ever had anything bad to say about the tea from Vahdam. By all reports, their cheaper blended Darjeelings are also way better than Upton's.
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Jul 25, 2018 09:39
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Placed an order with Vahdam on Saturday. They shipped it via FedEx (from India) on Monday. Tracking shows it will be delivered (to US) today, Wednesday. This was their free shipping option. 3 days. My Upton orders usually take all week to get here via USPS.
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Jul 25, 2018 15:27
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Eccles posted:Placed an order with Vahdam on Saturday. They shipped it via FedEx (from India) on Monday. Tracking shows it will be delivered (to US) today, Wednesday. This was their free shipping option. 3 days.
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Jul 25, 2018 16:14
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Trip Report: the Westholme Tea Farm https://www.westholmetea.com is pricy, but worth it if you want to try some Canadian-grown tea. At $20 a pot, I couldn't afford to try all their home-grown teas, so I picked their white tea to get the best sense of the tea's terroir: slightly woody and nutty with a sweet, slightly creamy finish. I told the server it tasted exactly like the sweet country air around there, and she got so excited over my tasting notes I'm pretty sure she's going to use that description on all her customers from now on, lol. Unfortunately it's $35 for 10 g of that tea, and I've already bought too much tea on this trip, so maybe next year. I'm also going to try their oolong next time.
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Jul 27, 2018 23:56
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Maybe my sense of taste is jacked up, but so far every oolong I gongfu seems to come out week unless I'm steeping close to 45s or something early, and even then things just aren't that strong. Could I be missing something or are these just more delicate than I thought they would be? I do half wonder if it's just a palate issue. I'm new to these, used to strong blacks, and often have sinus trouble, but I get taste out of the greens I've tried mostly fine. So far it's mostly Adagio sampler oolongs plus TeaVivre's Yellow Goddess.
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Jul 29, 2018 17:05
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Depends on the oolong, TW high mountain oolongs are pretty delicate, ones with a heavy roast on them aren't really. The short answer is just use more leaves, I guess, I don't know how much you're already using. If after you're done brewing the gaiwan is half full or less of the rehydrated, unfurled leaves, I'd say that's too little for most teas brewed this way. I usually shoot for more or less full but not packed in too much. Also it's normal for the first steep, or two or three if you're brewing quickly, to be pretty light. If you don't like that you can brew the first one longer or do a rinse, wait a minute, then do your real first steep. breaks fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Jul 29, 2018 |
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Jul 29, 2018 17:51
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