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 IKEA has a little teapot that works great and I’ve used it with rooibos with no huge amounts of leaf bits getting out. I prefer it to tea ball infusers. You can get about 2 normal sized cups of tea from it or 1.5 large mugs of tea.
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Jun 4, 2020 01:44
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a good, lidded teapot is also going to have a lot higher thermal mass and lose heat a lot slower than a strainer-topped mug, which is good for brewing teas that are really picky about temperature
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Jun 4, 2020 20:58
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Does anybody have any comments about the differences between a shiboridashi and a gaiwan? I brew a lot of Japanese greens and the leaf is much too fine for it and a lot of it ends up coming out and clogging the filter no matter how small an aperture I use. The shiboridashi, from what I can tell, often has a grooved spout and pours without pulling back the lid as you would with a gaiwan. I've never used a shiboridashi, but does it do a better job of keeping fine leaves in the pot?
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Jun 4, 2020 21:56
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there's two handleless teapot styles commonly used for brewing gyokuro: a shiboridashi is exactly what you think it is: a saucer-shaped gaiwan with a little lip in the rim so that you can pour out of a depression in the side without having to slide the lid with your finger and probably spill leaves everywhere. they tend to be a little thin-walled and have less rim to grip onto than a gaiwan, with no bottom ring, because you're not going to be burning your fingers with 60 degree water no matter how you hold it. a houhin is a taller brewing vessel, usually cup or pot shaped with a flush lid; there are a bunch of tiny holes in the side of the cup that lead into a deep spout you can pour out of. they're a little less elegant-looking than a shiboridashi, but just as effective, and often a little cheaper.
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Jun 5, 2020 23:00
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I do quite like the look of the big flat shiboris
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Jun 5, 2020 23:08
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Hey there. I was given an enormous amount of tea recently as a get-well gift, in the form of Harney & Sons sachets. Right now I'm just using a measuring cup to actually make the stuff, which makes me feel like a bad person. Buying literally any teapot with an infuser would be prudent at this juncture, right? Volcott fucked around with this message at 03:32 on Jun 7, 2020 |
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Jun 7, 2020 03:23
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I don't know about "literally any," but most should be sufficient. Not a bad idea to have one around.
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Jun 7, 2020 05:07
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First time poster in these here parts, hello tea goons! My new roommate is super into loose leaf tea, served gong fu style, and I'm completely hooked! I've been sucking down a half litre of pu'erh tea a day, or more. Currently I have my own tea set in the mail and an order of tea that I liked, from my roommate's personal collection. Can anyone recommend some loose leaf teas that they really like? I'm open to anything if you think it's really good 
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Jun 8, 2020 05:00
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if you're just getting into the world of loose-leaf tea, it's probably for the best to get small amounts of a bunch of different teas and see what you enjoy--if you started out with pu'erh and loved it i imagine funky strong flavors are going to be your thing. what teas of your roommates have you tried?
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Jun 8, 2020 05:29
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Cage Kicker posted:First time poster in these here parts, hello tea goons! If you like Puerhs, this is some amazing stuff. Dark chocolatey flavor and brews up almost coffee black. Good rich tea.
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Jun 8, 2020 05:57
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Reiterpallasch posted:if you're just getting into the world of loose-leaf tea, it's probably for the best to get small amounts of a bunch of different teas and see what you enjoy--if you started out with pu'erh and loved it i imagine funky strong flavors are going to be your thing. what teas of your roommates have you tried? so far different varieties of white, green, oolong, black, ripe pu'erh, raw pu'erh...was hoping to hear some people's favorite brands to build a little collection
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Jun 8, 2020 17:45
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A few of my favourites: Harney & Sons (for black teas, esp. flavoured blends), TeaVivre (for pu-erh), Mariage Freres (for rooibos and black teas), Tea Forte (for tisanes), and Upton (all around, esp. for sampler sets). I'm not big on green and white teas, so I can't help there.
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Jun 8, 2020 18:01
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I’ve enjoyed the greens from TeaVivre a lot more than other places I’ve bought greens from. I need to restock, but I don’t want to wait forever for it to get here from China. Yunnan Sourcing is another place with good options. They also have some stock already in the US, which works for me.
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Jun 8, 2020 20:33
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Does anyone have any nonconventional picks for teas that stand up to milk and sweetener? Chais as a whole, obviously, and Irish/English breakfast and certain Earl Grey blends. But if there’s anything else out there, I’m all ears; sometimes at breakfast I want to drink a stout, sweet tea and not wait fifteen minutes for it to cool.
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Jun 8, 2020 21:00
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Anonymous Robot posted:Does anyone have any nonconventional picks for teas that stand up to milk and sweetener? Chais as a whole, obviously, and Irish/English breakfast and certain Earl Grey blends. But if there’s anything else out there, I’m all ears; sometimes at breakfast I want to drink a stout, sweet tea and not wait fifteen minutes for it to cool. I drink an East Frisian blend most days. It's quite stout, I don't usually add much to it but I know the tradition is cream and sugar, and when I do have milk to add it's quite nice.
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Jun 8, 2020 21:14
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I checked in on Teavivre today as I was looking for green tea for kombucha and they've really jacked up their prices. I remember them being on par with Yunnan Sourcing, maybe even cheaper for some of the budget stuff, but right now most stuff is more expensive over there, even with the slightly cheaper shipping.
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Jun 8, 2020 21:19
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Anonymous Robot posted:Does anyone have any nonconventional picks for teas that stand up to milk and sweetener? Chais as a whole, obviously, and Irish/English breakfast and certain Earl Grey blends. But if there’s anything else out there, I’m all ears; sometimes at breakfast I want to drink a stout, sweet tea and not wait fifteen minutes for it to cool. lapsang souchong can work well with milk
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Jun 8, 2020 22:58
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Cage Kicker posted:First time poster in these here parts, hello tea goons! If anyone ever wants an intro to puer, red, white or oolong I’m always down to send samples. Shipping is cheap but slow from Taiwan
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Jun 9, 2020 12:08
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Death Vomit Wizard posted:If anyone ever wants an intro to puer, red, white or oolong I’m always down to send samples. Shipping is cheap but slow from Taiwan I'm really interested in Taiwanese tea - I've got a great importer here in Edinburgh, but they mainly go for Chinese, Korean and Japanese teas. Which is normally great, but I've got a craving for some of the great teas I had during trips in Taiwan back when I lived in Singapore  D'you sell them?
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Jun 10, 2020 19:10
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Death Vomit Wizard posted:If anyone ever wants an intro to puer, red, white or oolong I’m always down to send samples. Shipping is cheap but slow from Taiwan I don't know red tea, I assume you don't mean rooibos?
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Jun 10, 2020 19:16
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Carillon posted:I don't know red tea, I assume you don't mean rooibos? Hong cha, we would call it black tea in the west, but it brews up red.
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Jun 10, 2020 22:14
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Cage Kicker posted:so far different varieties of white, green, oolong, black, ripe pu'erh, raw pu'erh...was hoping to hear some people's favorite brands to build a little collection starting out, the "color" of a tea often matters a lot less than the region of production, since different cultures naturally value different things in teas. for example chinese green teas lean towards a natural floral or nutty sweetness, japanese green teas tend to be grassy and vegetal with a little bit of umami. the three "major" tea-producing regions are china, india, and japan. i would generally suggest finding a specialist vendor for each of those regions that you can order a lot of teas from in small quantities, so that you can try a lot of and narrow down what you like and don't like. unfortunately, covid has kind of killed a lot of international airmail type shipping options, so you're probably stuck with us-based vendors for now. i would suggest: chinese: little red cup hits all of the famous chinese tea styles at decent quality, and they do sampler sizes. there are other sites but most of them specialize in a particular subregional style. indian subcontinent: upton but for the love of god don't buy their chinese/japanese stuff (thread favorite vahdam is also great but idk what shipping is like now) japanese: charaku is literally the only reputable vendor for japanese tea that warehouses in the US (japan post is completely down right now) that i know about, if anyone else has another lead i'd love to hear it
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Jun 12, 2020 00:15
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In continuing my drive to actually get through my supply backlog, I opened up the package of bagged houjicha I'd ordered from Hibiki-an and attempted to cold-brew with it, because cold-brewing the same houjicha but loose leaf in the mason jar infuser attachment led to a lot of leafy bits getting left behind. Verdict: in this ~800?mL mason jar, one bag is not enough; the flavor is there but a bit thin. I'll likely try to use two in the future, but maybe I also need to seek out a reusable cold brew infuser with a finer mesh.
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Jun 13, 2020 12:38
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Finum brewing baskets are very fine-meshed and come in multiple sizes-- have you tried those? Upton is where I get my rooibos, and I've had some interesting Indian greens from them too.
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Jun 13, 2020 15:57
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I haven't, but I'll see if they would fit the mason jar I've been using; I also have a french press that holds about the same volume, so maybe I can just use that and pour out what's already been brewed so I can do another batch's worth. I'll still look into those baskets, though, in the hope that I can just keep it all in that jar. Thank you for the recommendation!
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Jun 14, 2020 00:53
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The Finum brew basket M should fit in a standard mason jar okay. It might be a little tight if you’re brewing in a half-pint, but for a pint jar it should fit fine. Mine took about 8 years to wear out and I need to order a replacement. The fine mesh is great for keeping particulates out of the cup.
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Jun 14, 2020 01:24
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after about two months in limbo in guangzhou, my white2tea order's finally made it to the states!  it'll probably spend two more weeks in limbo in new york, but that's shipping in the 'rona time for you.
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Jun 14, 2020 03:07
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pim01 posted:I'm really interested in Taiwanese tea - I've got a great importer here in Edinburgh, but they mainly go for Chinese, Korean and Japanese teas. Which is normally great, but I've got a craving for some of the great teas I had during trips in Taiwan back when I lived in Singapore But honestly I'm more excited about my Chinese (Yunnan ancient tree) teas right now because I know how pure they are. No matter how cool my farmer friend is, I feel like I need to replace him with an organic Taiwanese grower. Tea grown without chemical fertilizer is like 5% of Taiwanese production so it may take me a minute to source that. But yeah I started an online shop. Goon discount if anyone here ever wants something https://spiritwoodtea.com (100% of June proceeds go to Black Lives Matter charities) Carillon posted:I don't know red tea, I assume you don't mean rooibos? Red tea = Black tea Green tea Yellow tea White tea Oolong tea Puer / Dark tea Red tea, also called hong cha as stated above, is one of the 6 kinds of tea. Which size leaves to use, what to do with them as soon as they're picked, whether put in wet piles (and oxidize -> red tea), pan fry to stop all oxidation and microbial processes (some green tea/ sheng puer), etc. etc. Oolong gets really complicated and takes a group of men 2+ days of constant work without sleep. There is "oolong" from Nepal and other places but that's not correct oolong according to Chinese tea (production) rules. White tea is almost totally unprocessed and tastes very different from the rest imo. It's oxidized a tiny bit so it gains the mild sweetness of red tea or Oriental beauty, but no astringency at all.
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Jun 15, 2020 04:26
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Tell me more about this red tea made from oolong trees. As in, what is it called on your site. I’m about half done with my stash of hong cha and will need to find a replacement. It was a gift from a former coworker of my wife and she got it from a farmer friend herself.
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Jun 15, 2020 04:50
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I don't have that tea on the site, but I can get some for you. Hit me up at teafriends@spiritwoodtea com
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Jun 15, 2020 11:04
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Ordered a couple of your Taiwanese oolongs, very much looking forward to them
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Jun 15, 2020 22:52
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Death Vomit Wizard posted:I feel like I need to replace him with an organic Taiwanese grower. Tea grown without chemical fertilizer is like 5% of Taiwanese production so it may take me a minute to source that. But yeah I started an online shop. Goon discount if anyone here ever wants something I would honestly stay away from organic teas when it comes to Taiwanese oolongs. Taiwanese tea production, especially on higher elevations, is already extremely clean. In a lot of cases the hoops a farmer has to jump through for the organic certificate is not worth it, especially the good farmers already sell out their teas about a year before harvest. Knowing the farmer and his production methods mean a ton more than just the "USDA Certified Organic" stamp. My two cents anyway. EDIT: Do you find that the taste of organic teas to be much weaker than their normal counterparts? Werewolf of London fucked around with this message at 02:24 on Jun 16, 2020 |
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Jun 16, 2020 02:20
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Death Vomit Wizard posted:I don't have that tea on the site, but I can get some for you. Hit me up at teafriends@spiritwoodtea com Awesome. I’ll send an email later tonight. I know about a year ago or more there was someone looking for a Taiwanese tea seller in the thread, and I’ve always found it harder to find myself. The only time I’ve really had issues with chemical tasting tea was the last time I ordered Darjeeling direct. It tasted really terrible, and no amount of washes would get that chemical flavor gone. It wasn’t the astringency I would have expected and it wasn’t tannic, so I tried to check off all the boxes, but it was really just bad chemical tasting tea.
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Jun 16, 2020 02:42
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graybook posted:In continuing my drive to actually get through my supply backlog, I opened up the package of bagged houjicha I'd ordered from Hibiki-an and attempted to cold-brew with it, because cold-brewing the same houjicha but loose leaf in the mason jar infuser attachment led to a lot of leafy bits getting left behind. https://www.amazon.com/Hario-Mizudashi-Coffee-1000ml-Black/dp/B001VPXEBU Try this one. I cold brew all my teas in hario containers and never had a complaint. Muji has them for cheaper as well, for around $12. Also, for the hojicha, if you taste it and it is too weak, try letting it sit in the water and put it in the fridge for a longer time. It usually works.
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Jun 16, 2020 02:57
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Werewolf of London posted:I would honestly stay away from organic teas when it comes to Taiwanese oolongs. Taiwanese tea production, especially on higher elevations, is already extremely clean. In a lot of cases the hoops a farmer has to jump through for the organic certificate is not worth it, especially the good farmers already sell out their teas about a year before harvest. Knowing the farmer and his production methods mean a ton more than just the "USDA Certified Organic" stamp. What do you mean by extremely clean? The fact is in Taiwan there is almost no demand for organic tea. Most top tier fancy oolong (essentially what I'm selling right now) is grown with great skill and care, but the tastes created by chemical fertilizer are what the market wants, and so the farmers all add it. I'm not saying that bad tea can't be USDA certified (actually Taiwanese farms usually get a japanese certification called MOA), or that good tea can't be un-certified. Organic farmers here and their tiny market are real, and they are often buddhist monk-adjacent operations from what I can tell. Here's a vice article where they interview David Tsay, a guy in Taipei who goes around Asia advocating for organic tea farming. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vvqjm9/taiwan-is-destroying-its-high-mountain-oolong-tea-farms There is also wild tea in Taiwan (a tiny bit), but it's usually made into red tea or something like sheng puer. pim01 posted:Ordered a couple of your Taiwanese oolongs, very much looking forward to them 
Death Vomit Wizard fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Jun 16, 2020 |
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Jun 16, 2020 03:11
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I meant that the farming and production methods do not use a ton of harmful chemicals like industrialized farming of say, wheat in the USA. I mention this because a farmer can use all the "organic" fertilizers and methods that he wants, but the process of being labeled as "certified organic" requires a ton of investment and changes in how planting and harvesting are done, that may not pay off in the end. So people who buy high grade teas like high elevation oolong should look into how the farmers produce things, as opposed to just seeing if the product is organic or not. You are absolutely right that bad tea can be "certified organic" and that is one of the problems I have with consumers in the USA, is that people want the easy answer to a "healthy" product.
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Jun 16, 2020 03:40
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At the end of the day terrace tea will never be truly healthy like wild or large growing cultivars. Especially when the leaves get harvested 5 times a year. Another important issue is the ecological impact of high mountain tea farming, and like you insinuated above, that goes beyond organic certification. I intend this hunt for a farm I'm happy with to be a long, hard one. There are just so many dang mountains on this island it's nuts.
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Jun 16, 2020 03:49
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Some of Spiritwood Tea's claims read a bit like bullshit to me. 800 year old tea trees? Wild gardens? Ancient hundreds-of-years-old wild gardens? That weren't already sourced before you got to them? And I can buy it myself for as cheap as 50 cents a gram after your overhead and margins? I've seen random blends more expensive than that.
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Jun 16, 2020 08:07
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The guys I get that stuff through are really smart about it. They were dumb when they first started buying puer in 2008, but they learned fast how to avoid being scammed (almost all puer is blended with outside leaves unless you monitor the whole production process) and also which mountains were undervalued. They have low prices because they follow the prices of all the mountains and make contracts with tree owners from the undervalued areas. There are many, many old trees in Yunnan. If my tea came from the ones in LaoBanZhang, it would cost 10x as much, sure. Price is much more about location than tree age.
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Jun 16, 2020 09:59
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Repaired Radio posted:Some of Spiritwood Tea's claims read a bit like bullshit to me. 800 year old tea trees? Wild gardens? Ancient hundreds-of-years-old wild gardens? That weren't already sourced before you got to them? And I can buy it myself for as cheap as 50 cents a gram after your overhead and margins? I've seen random blends more expensive than that. To be fair, some places like Yunnan has really old trees that were untouched during WW2. So yea, those exist, and so do a lot of wild gardens as well. The only white tea that has flavor (to me anyway lol) is a wild Bai Mu Dan. Death Vomit Wizard posted:At the end of the day terrace tea will never be truly healthy like wild or large growing cultivars. Especially when the leaves get harvested 5 times a year. Another important issue is the ecological impact of high mountain tea farming, and like you insinuated above, that goes beyond organic certification. I intend this hunt for a farm I'm happy with to be a long, hard one. There are just so many dang mountains on this island it's nuts. Yea it is a journey for sure. I personally like the tea from Nantou.
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Jun 16, 2020 12:29
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