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I've been drinking tea for awhile but does the tea cozy really improve your exp? I have a small pot and I usually drink 1 large mug of it daily.
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Jan 3, 2021 23:13
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| # ? May 17, 2024 20:03 |
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If it is cute it might.
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Jan 3, 2021 23:21
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Alder posted:I've been drinking tea for awhile but does the tea cozy really improve your exp? I have a small pot and I usually drink 1 large mug of it daily. A cute tea cozy is a real nice thing to have around the house. Also, if you drink slowly, it keeps your tea nice and warm for hours, which is great to have in the colder months.
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Jan 3, 2021 23:49
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Hey so during dry January, I realized I turn to tea a lot during the day and at night. I’ve got a tea diffuser, but I’ve just been going the bagged route: usually Yogi brand stress reliever tea or mood enhancer tea depending on how work is going during the day, and then a sleepy time or chamomile tea at night. I’ve got a tea diffuser, so I’m looking for advice on any brands / flavors to try! I just drink it straight. No milk no sugar. Thinking of this : Tiesta Tea Tiesta's Top 8 Tea Sampler Dry Flight Set - High to No Caffeine, Hot & Iced Tea, Loose Leaf Tea Sample Set with Green, Herbal, Black & Chai Tea, 8 Sample Pouches https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086MH8F9N/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_0dN-FbTHEEQGB?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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Jan 10, 2021 04:13
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It's a long shot, but would anyone know where I could find another tea (coffee?) cup with a shape similar to this one, or know what the style is called? I love the shape of this thing, it's so comfortable and pleasant to hold, but I managed to break it recently and the manufacturer no longer exists. I've spent hours on Etsy and Amazon, but I've yet to see anything with that sort of curve-into-curve shape that makes it fit so well in the hand.
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Jan 10, 2021 06:01
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Any recs for an adjustable temp kettle with minimal plastic on the interior? I'm guessing anything with a sensor in it would have some plastic around that but I'd like to avoid it anywhere else as much as possible. e; since realistically it'll be living in the kitchen anyway i might just get a stovetop kettle with thermometer and get a big thermos to pour out of throughout the day elsewhere in the house DisDisDis fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Jan 12, 2021 |
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Jan 12, 2021 12:58
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DisDisDis posted:Any recs for an adjustable temp kettle with minimal plastic on the interior? I'm guessing anything with a sensor in it would have some plastic around that but I'd like to avoid it anywhere else as much as possible.  Something that might be a plus or minus for you: It doesn't make a beep when the water is up to temperature. CopperHound fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Jan 12, 2021 |
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Jan 12, 2021 16:33
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Are there any good teas in those triangle satchels that can be gotten easily at local supermarkets like Whole Foods? I like black tea with no flavoring. Assam etc. I don’t have a tea steeper and don’t want to buy a proper setup cause I’m moving in the next months so it’ll have to do.
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Jan 12, 2021 17:28
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Boris Galerkin posted:Are there any good teas in those triangle satchels that can be gotten easily at local supermarkets like Whole Foods? I like black tea with no flavoring. Assam etc. I don’t have a tea steeper and don’t want to buy a proper setup cause I’m moving in the next months so it’ll have to do. The best bagged tea I have had, personally, is Harney and Sons. They sell it at Target and Barnes and Noble. They tend towards flavored blends but have some straight tea. That being said, if you want to have loose leaf tea, you can easily grab a stainless steel or mesh strainer that will sit in your mug. It’s less than ten bucks and won’t take up hardly any space.
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Jan 12, 2021 17:31
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I'm pretty sure those triangle teabags were found to be shedding microplastics into the tea, assuming you mean the 'fancy' mesh pyramid teabags.
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Jan 12, 2021 18:07
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Tea thread, thank you for your advice. The electric kettle was an excellent gift, it's getting a lot of use
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Jan 12, 2021 18:11
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Yeah, if you don’t want to get steeping equipment right now, go for the nicer bagged teas in the regular biodegradable bags. “Fancy” bags does not mean the tea is automatically better. None of the bagged teas are amazing, but find one you like and it’ll be great for you. I’m a fan of Yorkshire Gold in my travel mug, but get small boxes and you can try a couple. That part really comes down to taste preference. Someone who likes Twinnings may not like PG Tips.
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Jan 12, 2021 18:12
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While we’re talking tea gifts, I received (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FC9SKR7/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_zID.FbPHXSDZS)this for Christmas and it’s a real game changer if you take honey in your tea. Straight up eliminates the mess and fuss of dispensing honey, allows you to warm crystallized honey easily, and looks pretty to boot!
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Jan 12, 2021 18:15
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I believe the triangle "silk" tea bags are actually made out of plastic and terrible for the environment
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Jan 12, 2021 18:35
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I had no idea they were polluting water with plastics so I definitely don’t want to use those.Anonymous Robot posted:The best bagged tea I have had, personally, is Harney and Sons. They sell it at Target and Barnes and Noble. They tend towards flavored blends but have some straight tea. I’ve heard good things about Harney and Sons but at my Target they’re all the kinds mixed with herbs or some other things that aren’t tea leaves.
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Jan 12, 2021 18:48
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xtal posted:I believe the triangle "silk" tea bags are actually made out of plastic and terrible for the environment  I have a few things to note: Some tea bag manufacturers claim their bags are not plastic, but made from corn starch. These are made from PLA, which most normal people would refer to as a type of plastic (with a shorter environmental pollution timeline). Those round tea bags that aren't folded and stapled are heat sealed, which implies there is some amount of thermoplastic mixed with the fibers. I personally still use whatever tea bags I happen to grab when I'm in a hurry, but it is worth being aware if you are serious about not mixing plastic with your hot drinks.
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Jan 12, 2021 19:05
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I recall reading that plastic teabags were banned in Britain a year or two ago, so any bagged tea imported from England like Harney and Sons or Yorkshire Gold (both are good) should be non-plastic infused paper. Other English tea brands manifactured in North America no-doubt still have plastic poo poo in them. The other option is to buy compostible paper tea bags and fill them with loose tea. David’s tea bags are a bit on the pricy side but 100% compostible. That’s only the empty tea bags though. The pre-bagged sachets are oxo-biodegradable plastic, which is a nice way to say, “this poo poo breaks down into a billion microplastics,” so don’t get that poo poo. Finum also makes 100% compostible tea bags in various sizes and they’re super high quality. I’ve taken the risk buying much cheaper tea bags on Amazon from China, but I scrutinized the hell out of what I was buying and burnt one as a test to see if it curled up unto burned plastic lumps around the edges (just pure ash—I got lucky). Also, the tea cakes I bought on black friday finally arrived, woo!  Edit: I also bought their grade 3 pu-erh as a cheap everyday tea, and drat is it nice. A tiny hint of fruit over the mellow umami and no fishy notes whatsoever. Stuporstar fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Jan 12, 2021 |
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Jan 12, 2021 19:32
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For my loose leaf tea I bought a french press. Granted, I got it on a trip to Disneyworld last year, but if you want a cheap one, Walmart sells them for like $18, and if you're lucky you can find them at discount stores like TJMaxx, Home Goods, or Marshals in the US for under $15 depending on the size. I definitely saw one around 8oz for about $8 a couple weeks ago. They're easy to maintain, just rinse out the loose leaf, and they take about as much room as a mug.
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Jan 12, 2021 20:11
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Why does my tea taste like mushrooms? It typically happens with raw pu-erhs, and some greens and lighter oolongs. Is it something to do with how I'm tasting them? Are they literally growing fungus in the sample bags they were sent to me in? Is my tea mug interacting with the tea? (I do clean it.) Is this the vegetal taste mixed with the earthy taste some people like? It's only some teas that taste like this for me, the "raw-er" types. And sometimes it only happens after I've had a few sips and they've cooled down a little. Fermented pu-erhs, black teas and the less vegetal oolongs don't have this problem for me. Edit: to be clear, this isn't the slight green-grass flavour I get with green teas, but a much more rich, meaty flavour you'd associate with some types of mushroom. Mrenda fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Jan 18, 2021 |
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Jan 18, 2021 21:15
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Mrenda posted:Why does my tea taste like mushrooms? It typically happens with raw pu-erhs, and some greens and lighter oolongs. Is it something to do with how I'm tasting them? Are they literally growing fungus in the sample bags they were sent to me in? Is my tea mug interacting with the tea? (I do clean it.) Is this the vegetal taste mixed with the earthy taste some people like? Can you put some notes up about your preparation routine with them and if the taste changes over time? I assume you're doing multiple washes, appropriate temperature, etc, but each thing may have different root causes. Greens can get overcooked with higher temp water, as an example, and then impart a kind of umami-heavy sensation. Some say fishy, but mushroomy could also be the same. Raw puerh may have been contaminated and lighter oolong could be the same, but they could also be temperature sensitive (I've had dancongs and other black teas that have this kind of sensation as well).
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Jan 18, 2021 21:29
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Mrenda posted:Why does my tea taste like mushrooms? It typically happens with raw pu-erhs, and some greens and lighter oolongs. Is it something to do with how I'm tasting them? Are they literally growing fungus in the sample bags they were sent to me in? Is my tea mug interacting with the tea? (I do clean it.) Is this the vegetal taste mixed with the earthy taste some people like? It’s definitely normal for some pu-erhs. They’ll describe teas like that as having umami. I’ve had some ripe pu-erhs so strong they almost taste like a vegetal beefy soup broth, but mushroomy is more usual. For greens and oolongs, the umami usually comes off as more nutty than mushroomy to me They suggest the rinse to get rid of any off notes, especially from fermented teas because stuff is growing in there as intended. If the flavor remains, that’s just how the teas taste I guess. Though I’ve had a couple bad samples of truly moldy teas, but those typically have the dirt taste you get in moldy bread or cheese.
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Jan 18, 2021 21:30
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This is definitely a "food-like" umami taste, just to an extreme, not anything bad. With the pu-erhs, it's usually off a boiled kettle let to sit for a minute or two while I scald the pot (it's a glass pot, but I heat it anyway.) The steeping is typically in a Bodum tea-press teapot. They're like French presses, but for tea, and supposedly compressing the tea the stops any serious steeping (which has worked fine on a load of other teas I've tried so I don't think it's that.) This particular tea was steeped for three minutes thirty seconds, at about 95c. It had a few rinses beforehand as well. The raw pu-erhs have a different umami flavour to the greens and oolongs, which I'd describe as lighter and sharper, while the pu-erhs are thicker. (You're probably correct about "nuttier" with the greens and oolongs it's more astringent.) And it's not the fishy flavour some pu-erhs have. I've had that and can mostly either deal with it with rinses or just accept the tea isn't the greatest. It seems like this is just a flavour of some teas that some people find desirable. I had someone else taste it and they quite liked it. But to me it's not the more-ish full flavour of umami, it's more like a musrhoom breaking down, or literally growing in wet conditions. (The teapot I'm using, which is really great with the teas I like. https://www.bodum.com/ie/en/1823-361b-y20-assam)
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Jan 18, 2021 21:40
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Try reducing water temperature across the board for those preparations from off-boil to waiting an extra 3 to 5 minutes. This will change the flavor a bit but you can start fiddling with something that opens up more flavors of what you might like. You could theoretically pitch the first couple of brews if they are too strong, or water it down after steep but before drinking.
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Jan 18, 2021 21:51
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I’ve never had raw puerh without doing it gongfu, so maybe try that as well, it always comes out perfect
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Jan 18, 2021 23:40
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There's a sale on TeaVivre at the moment (for the next two days.) I presume to clear out stock in time for the next batch of Spring teas that'll be coming in a few months. TeaVivre are the only site I've ordered from (because their sample system is extensive.) I have a local tea shop too, and from their stuff I tried a Da Hong Pao, which I quite enjoy. Does anyone have any recommendations for a similar-ish roasted/darker oolong. From TeaVivre, mainly, but if there's an Asian site that's competitive I wouldn't mind putting in a big order from them too if they have some of the teas I want to pick up. (A ripe pu-erh brick of some kind, a milk oolong (artificially added milk) and a Golden Monkey black tea.) North American sites are out, I'm in Europe, so it just doesn't make sense to pay for something to go from Asia to the US or Canada, then back to Europe, even if tea is tax free where I am.
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Jan 20, 2021 21:54
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Mrenda posted:There's a sale on TeaVivre at the moment (for the next two days.) I presume to clear out stock in time for the next batch of Spring teas that'll be coming in a few months. Yunnan Sourcing works well for us Europeans too; in fact I feel like they've been doing a better job on price the last couple of years.
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Jan 20, 2021 22:16
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for puerh needs, White2Tea, Bitterleaf teas and Crimson Lotus all ship from China, and Teas We Like ship from Taiwan. and for general tea needs, yunnansourcing.com ship from China (they have a good puerh selection too), also give Taiwan Sourcing a look if you’re into taiwanese oolong (guess where they ship from, that’s right: Taiwan) I’ve bought from all of them, and if they can ship to a non-EU part of Scandinavia, they should be able to ship to the rest of Europe without problems ulvir fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Jan 20, 2021 |
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Jan 20, 2021 23:42
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I second the other suggestions above I recently picked up some nice puerhs from yee on tea company in HK. They have some traditional wet storage cakes I was very curious to try. Supermusty, but nice. Also, been drinking some pricy oolongs from txs-tea recently. I find the quality very varied. Some stuff has been heavenly, while others are bland and almost sour. Taiwan tea crafts and tea-masters also ship from taiwan, and have quality teas. The norwegian vendor ville trær has some really nice stuff. His hong shui oolong is superb.
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Jan 21, 2021 12:24
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Tried my first white tea today. I got one of Mei Leaf's White Tea Headliners bag, which comes with 3 different white teas. I tried the one named Silver Needle, and really enjoyed it. Quite a subtle flavour, but very nice. Definitely looking forward to the other two now!
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Jan 23, 2021 00:44
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I grabbed a variety of teas over the summer to get to know what I like and white tea definitely came out on top.
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Jan 23, 2021 01:11
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I’ve become a big fan of aged white tea cakes. They’re a lower grade tea and have a much rougher taste, but omg the character in a good one
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Jan 23, 2021 01:21
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is there a good cheat sheet anywhere for gaiwan steep times to start with for different kinds of tea? I got my yunnan sourcing christmas present order in today and tried the yunnan black i got and it was kinda tasteless. i had a residual tongue burn from the day before i might put that down to and i probably let the water cool too long fiddling around with something else but I realized in the middle of it I had no idea what I was doing with the steep times. (I did like 5-10s each time) When I did the rinse I got this huge whiff of dark chocolate which was very exciting, just hope I can get more of that to come through in the brew. Also is there any disadvantage to "underfilling" a gaiwan? I see a lot of guides mentioning 60-120ml for a single person but I ended up getting a 170ml one because I thought it was pretty, and it turns out it fits really nicely in my hand. Used 4g tea with 60-70ml water in it.
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Jan 26, 2021 05:28
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DisDisDis posted:Also is there any disadvantage to "underfilling" a gaiwan? I see a lot of guides mentioning 60-120ml for a single person but I ended up getting a 170ml one because I thought it was pretty, and it turns out it fits really nicely in my hand. Used 4g tea with 60-70ml water in it. No, and I wish I had gotten a larger one as well for comfort.
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Jan 26, 2021 07:04
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DisDisDis posted:is there a good cheat sheet anywhere for gaiwan steep times to start with for different kinds of tea? I got my yunnan sourcing christmas present order in today and tried the yunnan black i got and it was kinda tasteless. i had a residual tongue burn from the day before i might put that down to and i probably let the water cool too long fiddling around with something else but I realized in the middle of it I had no idea what I was doing with the steep times. (I did like 5-10s each time) When I did the rinse I got this huge whiff of dark chocolate which was very exciting, just hope I can get more of that to come through in the brew. Steep times are mostly dependent on temperature and type of tea from oxidation level, roast profile, and how it's rolled. To start, a generally foolproof method is to do 90 seconds you can tolerate and do a medium to high pour using a kettle fresh off the boil until you have the leaves covered with a small amount of water. Drain off and then pour to steep, enough to cover the leaves. Ideally you want to have the water up to the inside line where the gaiwan lid touches, creating a seal. You can then crack the lid a little and then check the color of the water at 90 seconds, taking a sip or decanting. On successive steeps, add 30 to 60 seconds each time until you can't taste the tea anymore or you quit for the session. You'll know you've reached full extraction with rolled teas if the leaves are fully open. e: fill the gaiwan until at least you can form a seal. You can decant and drink only what you need. 50ml doesn't make a major difference compared to the tiny ones since your output is only going to be less than half a normal mug per round anyway.
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Jan 26, 2021 07:45
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I bought a tin of Harney and Sons tea from Target and the teabags are those pyramid sachet things. Going back to the discussion a couple weeks ago are these safe to drink? I thought someone here said that tea from companies like this one would be compostable paper but this feels a lot like plastic. It’s the Earl Gray w/ Bergamot fwiw.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:10
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You're already drinking and eating microplastics so it's safe.
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Jan 27, 2021 17:18
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In my experience the pyramids are always in a type of plastic. As far as safety, they do shed some microparticles of plastic, but if you drink water, eat packaged food or breathe air (any clothes or textiles made of synthetic material - so basically anything besides cotton, wool, linen or silk - constantly shed microplastics into the environment) you're ingesting microplastics constantly anyway and it's just a personal decision for what you feel comfortable with. I personally don't have a problem with the occasional plastic sachet but I don't drink them often either (mostly because I tend to stick with loose leaf since there's generally much less packaging waste and it's usually much cheaper for better quality). e: beaten by a much more succinct post
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Jan 27, 2021 17:25
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I think more of the concern was directed towards how the plastic satchels would impact the environment, rather than the human drinking the tea.
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Jan 27, 2021 22:08
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Finally bought my first PuErh cake. Will be fun trying out my first ripe, fermented tea! I got Milk Float Nomad from Mei Leaf.
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Jan 28, 2021 18:06
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| # ? May 17, 2024 20:03 |
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'ello tea brothers and sisters. I was active posting about and selling tea a bit last year and as a result I've just received a DM from forums poster nyquil looking to get into Good Tea. Let me first say that I quit my tea e-commerce shop about 6 months ago to focus on the crypto market, heh. So I don't tea-post like I used to. But I am still "in the game" and stay in contact with my tea suppliers. I probably should start posting again and I hope I do, but right now I'm gonna help this goon with some general advice and samples of ancient tree teas like young sheng puer, semi aged sheng puer, red tea and white tea. I may also include some oolongs and rock tea, though I am less enthusiastic about most tea from "small leaf cultivars" for reasons I'll get into later. So whatever form this crash course takes: posts here, emails or zoom chats, I'd welcome any and all Good Tea-curious goons to DM me your email and your snail mail so I can include you when I start sending tea samples out. Or if you can't DM on the forums contact me at teafriends [at] spiritwoodtea.com I'll keep the thread updated on the developments. I look forward to hearing from you all
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Jan 29, 2021 02:06
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