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Queen Victorian posted:My hope was that she'd at least enjoy the novelty of loose leaf tea and a teapot for a while before returning to Lipton teabags and hazelnut creamer coffee out of habit/convenience, but holy poo poo you guys, she LOVED it and got way more into it than I thought she would. Like, added tea making/drinking to her routine, started a journal chronicling her tea journey with all the teas I gave her, and she mostly stopped drinking coffee because why drink mediocre coffee when you have fine tea? 
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Sep 14, 2021 14:24
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Aww, that’s amazing. What a cool present
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Sep 14, 2021 14:36
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Get her some gyokuro 
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Sep 14, 2021 17:04
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shoutouts to moms I should sidebar about how I journal for tea these days. I actually have my own tea journal that used to be much more technical but has since changed to focus less on the actual tea preparation and more towards the tea experience. The tea house I started going to earlier this year has their own very robust tea journal that the wife of one of the owners wrote out, and that's a great way to document teas in a very comprehensive way. Nowadays I document the following only: - Date, location (no specific time unless I feel like it's important, else I just do sequentially during that day) - Who was preparing the tea and in what - The tea - Who I was drinking with (usually, by seating arrangement from left to right, otherwise just whoever comes to mind first that I can remember the name for) Generally unless there's something very noteworthy about the tea I find that having all the other notes about the experience makes me recall different ephemeral things about not just the tea itself but the things that made it a comprehensive thing. Plus, I'm bad with names, and before hellvirus lockdown 2.0 I was pouring for quite a lot of people on a regular basis. That yellow tea will likely be interesting. I only started digging into yellow teas myself recently and they can be very finicky to prepare well, but you can cheat a little by using some cold water to temper hot water if it's a little too hot in the brew process.
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Sep 15, 2021 03:51
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 I got yet another tea bowl. It is purple and green
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Sep 15, 2021 16:57
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the absolute worst thing that could've happened, happened, my yixing pot broke I bought it off of YS several years ago, but they no longer has it in store (not even as "sold out") and had just about this type of clay and shape and was around 170ml in size/volume (pictured is not mine)  does anyone know where I can get another like it without breaking the bank? I think I paid just over $80 for it back in the day. ulvir fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Oct 6, 2021 |
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Oct 6, 2021 12:25
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Any Canadians have recommendations for pu erh shops like, well, http://www.puerhshop.com/ with reasonable Canadian shipping?
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Oct 6, 2021 15:09
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ulvir posted:the absolute worst thing that could've happened, happened, my yixing pot broke Looks like a zini shui ping. These are a bit more than 80, but I've heard good things about both these: https://yinchenstudio.com/products/shui-ping?_pos=1&_sid=c7946e92b&_ss=r https://essenceoftea.com/products/100ml-fangxia-zini-shui-ping-yixing-teapot
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Oct 6, 2021 22:34
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yinchen looked nice, the ones at 160+ ml are so far really overtly ornamental, but I’ll keep an eye out on that site in the coming months. thanks
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Oct 6, 2021 23:23
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Subjunctive posted:Any Canadians have recommendations for pu erh shops like, well, http://www.puerhshop.com/ with reasonable Canadian shipping? Am also interested in this question. Have found these two shops so far with good selections of puerhs: https://camellia-sinensis.com/en/teas/pu-er-and-aged-tea?page_size=12 https://thechineseteashop.com/collections/pu-erh-teas
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Oct 7, 2021 05:21
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How do you folks clean your tea strainers? I have one of those finum strainers and I swear it's at least three shades darker than it used to be. I usually only do a quick rinse in the kitchen faucet with its like showerhead spray mode. I'm new to teas and all and would like to 'learn' how to taste, but I never have any idea whether if what I'm tasting is the actual tea, or some frankencombo of every tea I've brewed in the past with that strainer. ulvir posted:YS has started begging for an additional tip during checkout all of a sudden. this is utterly ridiculous I remember a couple years ago when bunch of goons in this thread were raving about YS, but no one mentions them anymore and it's not in the OP. Did anything happen to them or have they gone downhill or something? I'm still working through an oolong sampler from them and my experience with them has been good so far?
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Oct 14, 2021 15:48
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I have a caustic coffee cleaner that I use called Joe Glo, but any sort of peroxide cleaner will take the stains right off in my experience. YS is good still, I just think a lot of people hit peak tea density for a while so there’s less raving as we’re well stocked or just hitting daily drinkers.
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Oct 14, 2021 16:17
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Oh yeesh, I just added YS to the OP (as well as a small entry on Yaupon since that seems to be picking up traction lately and I also really like how it tastes). I admittedly haven't been great at keeping it super up to date in the uh..... ten years?! since I first made the thread. Feel free to yell at me if there's anything else that should definitely be there!
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Oct 14, 2021 17:01
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You may as well add guayusa to the section with yerba mate and yaupon. It’s the third cultivated caffeinated holly, and if you like its relatives, you may well like it. To me, it has a fruity taste. Drinking straight, I generally prefer yaupon, but I rank it above yerba mate, and guayusa’s unique flavor goes well with things like citrus. Not to mention, it’s much cheaper than yaupon. Platystemon fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Oct 14, 2021 |
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Oct 14, 2021 17:26
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I use dish soap on a green scouring pad, the kind not attached to a sponge for easier maneuvering. Though at some point you do have to give up the ghost and buy a new one. If you have large fingers, you can wrap it around a butter knife handle to scrub the inside of the strainer. Be sure to inspect it afterwards so there's no plastic threads from the pad clinging to various holes or stamped edging.
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Oct 14, 2021 17:39
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Does that metal staining on the strainer affect the tea flavour? I thought it was just cosmetic. I’ve been drinking a lie!
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Oct 14, 2021 17:44
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Subjunctive posted:Does that metal staining on the strainer affect the tea flavour? I thought it was just cosmetic. I’ve been drinking a lie! It certainly can, but if you’re drinking the same thing most times you may never notice. The hand scrubbing method is fine for cleaning the visible faces, but a good soak in the coffee cleaner or Oxiclean Free (emphasis on the free of fragrance) will get into the mesh part of the filter. You’ll end up discoloring the plastic over time, but the Finum fine filters tend to last me about 10 years like this.
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Oct 14, 2021 17:53
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My filter is all metal so usually I rinse it out daily and then once a month toss it in the dishwasher.
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Oct 15, 2021 02:12
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Platystemon posted:You may as well add guayusa to the section with yerba mate and yaupon. It’s the third cultivated caffeinated holly, and if you like its relatives, you may well like it. To me, it has a fruity taste. Drinking straight, I generally prefer yaupon, but I rank it above yerba mate, and guayusa’s unique flavor goes well with things like citrus. Oh drat, I completely forgot about guayusa! And apparently there's also a fourth caffeine holly in Asia called Kuding? What a talented plant.
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Oct 15, 2021 02:46
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I have a teapot that filters the leaves out of the liquid only at the point of pouring. It’s a very handsome teapot but it seems like there’s no good way to keep the leaves from oversteeping.
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Oct 15, 2021 03:49
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YS is good but shipping has gotten more expensive so I am drinking my way through my significant stock.
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Oct 15, 2021 07:27
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DurianGray posted:Oh drat, I completely forgot about guayusa! And apparently there's also a fourth caffeine holly in Asia called Kuding? What a talented plant. You would think that it’s caffeinated from context, but actually, kuding has no detectible caffeine.
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Oct 15, 2021 10:51
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thotsky posted:YS is good but shipping has gotten more expensive so I am drinking my way through my significant stock. However shou puerhs are currently on sale for 12% off from YS for the next day or two. Just sayin'  I am new to puerhs so am putting in a sampler order from CS (free shipping in Canada for orders over $50) for some shengs and shous, see what I can find that I like For cleaning tea strainers: I just use the dishwasher, but Cascade Platinum seems to do the best job of cleaning them. One site that sells them suggests a soak in baking powder dissolved in warm water. Have not tried this and there are no specific amounts mentioned.
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Oct 15, 2021 22:52
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Bilirubin posted:I am new to puerhs so am putting in a sampler order from CS (free shipping in Canada for orders over $50) Wait, what? I ordered a bunch of stuff from them recently and shipping was most definitely not free. I wonder what I did wrong…
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Oct 16, 2021 00:20
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Subjunctive posted:Wait, what? I ordered a bunch of stuff from them recently and shipping was most definitely not free. I wonder what I did wrong… I just put in an order of about $60 CAD and got free shipping, was automatically applied so dunno. Over $50 applies to the US too according to their policy page: https://camellia-sinensis.com/en/shipping-policy
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Oct 16, 2021 02:02
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Oh hey, it was free! It was the Puerh Shop that was very not free. My bad.
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Oct 16, 2021 02:04
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actually, now that I think about it there was an option where you could select a faster delivery option for payment (expedited vs. xpresspost)
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Oct 16, 2021 02:07
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Thanks for the tips re: cleaning filters. I hadn't thought to look at coffee gear cleaners, that's a great idea! I'm hesitant to either use anything caustic or toss it into the dishwasher, because the mesh is fairly fine, and dishwashers tend to scratch up the plastic parts of it (not to mention it's unclear how the mesh part would react to it). I do also have a metal filter but I don't like it as much as the Finum. The holes don't air out as well so I always get annoyed at the leaves stuck at the bottom when I try to empty them out, heh.
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Oct 16, 2021 06:20
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facepalmolive posted:Thanks for the tips re: cleaning filters. I hadn't thought to look at coffee gear cleaners, that's a great idea! I'm hesitant to either use anything caustic or toss it into the dishwasher, because the mesh is fairly fine, and dishwashers tend to scratch up the plastic parts of it (not to mention it's unclear how the mesh part would react to it). yeah sorry I just assumed it was metal. I have a few larger sized basket types for loose leaf, by Forlife and Chacult, and there are no issues I have had with them releasing air.
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Oct 16, 2021 15:51
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The Finum mesh is metal, it’s just extremely fine so it’s more flexible than thicker metal filters. The plastic the mesh is attached to is also really durable I’ve been putting my Finum universal strainer in the dishwasher once a week for years and it’s fine.
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Oct 16, 2021 16:55
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Hello tea connoisseurs! I'm looking for a crowd pleasing tea recommendation (or potentially several). I teach a kayaking class that goes all winter, and I'd like to have a tea to offer to my students to help warm them up because it gets very cold. I'm looking for some recommendations for approachable yet delicious teas I can brew en bulk and store in a thermos for a few hours during practice. I can brew loose leaf, but I have a slight preference for bagged because because I'll be brewing it while half awake and performing several other prep tasks. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated/herbal recommendations are great (lots of my students are older and may not want caffeine). Any ideas? My current plan was to just grab a few miscellaneous boxes from Smith since I've bought rooibos from them before and enjoyed it, but if there are any hidden gems out there please let me know? Thanks in advance!
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Oct 18, 2021 15:35
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kedo posted:Hello tea connoisseurs! I'm looking for a crowd pleasing tea recommendation (or potentially several). I teach a kayaking class that goes all winter, and I'd like to have a tea to offer to my students to help warm them up because it gets very cold. I'm looking for some recommendations for approachable yet delicious teas I can brew en bulk and store in a thermos for a few hours during practice. I can brew loose leaf, but I have a slight preference for bagged because because I'll be brewing it while half awake and performing several other prep tasks. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated/herbal recommendations are great (lots of my students are older and may not want caffeine). Are you US based? If you want tea that is cheap and easy to brew in bulk, Prince of Peace's jasmine tea is my go-to. Bagged versions are available, the price point is decent at retail, and you can make a lot of it. I frequently resteep the bags as well and they do just fine. Considering the breadth of other teas that I drink at all price points and methods, it is one of the easiest teas to work with by volume without having to put too much thought into it. Just be careful with adding too many bags to a given batch since it will get pretty strong, but you can just water it down and it'll be fine. You can also cold brew it if that's your jam. For decaf, I unfortunately have no specific recommendations, but you could reuse the spent teabags to capture some extra flavor and the caffeine will have brewed out after 1 or 2 rounds of it.
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Oct 18, 2021 18:07
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I really like Uncle Lee's Organic Black and Green teas. They cannot really be over steeped, the bags can be resteeped, and there are no metal staples so the bags and teas are fully compostable. And it is cheap and easily found in boxes of 100 online
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Oct 18, 2021 18:37
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Bilirubin posted:I really like Uncle Lee's Organic Black and Green teas. They cannot really be over steeped, the bags can be resteeped, and there are no metal staples so the bags and teas are fully compostable. That's rice, not tea.
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Oct 18, 2021 19:11
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thotsky posted:That's rice, not tea. Have not had enough tea to get the joke, so I will sincerely assume you are mistaking this guy (https://www.unclelee.com/) for Uncle Ben (https://www.bensoriginal.com/)
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Oct 18, 2021 19:22
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kedo posted:Hello tea connoisseurs! I'm looking for a crowd pleasing tea recommendation (or potentially several). I teach a kayaking class that goes all winter, and I'd like to have a tea to offer to my students to help warm them up because it gets very cold. I'm looking for some recommendations for approachable yet delicious teas I can brew en bulk and store in a thermos for a few hours during practice. I can brew loose leaf, but I have a slight preference for bagged because because I'll be brewing it while half awake and performing several other prep tasks. Both caffeinated and decaffeinated/herbal recommendations are great (lots of my students are older and may not want caffeine). I'd like to introduce you to large tea bags. https://www.teasource.com/collections/teaware/products/t-sacs-4-tea-bags This way you can bulk buy loose tea and get some really good stuff that you can just measure into the bag ahead of time and brew in bulk in the morning. I tie mine shut with butcher's twine. That tea shop has lots of well priced blends that would suit your needs for both approachable and cheap. But there are also lots of other sites in the OP that you can buy from then too. Tea Source will sell in 1 pound bags though, so if you're going to go through a lot of it (and you will if you're doing thermos portions regularly), find something you can get consistently cheap. You can probably get decent pounds from plenty of places, but this is the one I use for bulk purchases for better than tea bags but not going to break the bank. For decaf, just get herbals. Many will be roiboos based and full of flowers and fruits.
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Oct 18, 2021 19:45
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Would it be too on-the-nose to get a "winter blend" with Christmas-y spices etc. for your kayakers? I lived in western NY for 5 long-rear end winters and a cup of one of those would really hit the spot after trudging through the snow. Back in the day I went through one of these (out of stock) and settled on a couple of a permanent rotation. Of course, I don't remember which ones -- I've since moved to TX and haven't had the same impulse for wintery teas.
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Oct 18, 2021 20:03
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If you have a Chinese market near you, that’s a good place to get great tea for cheap but at least for me it’s a process of trial and error to find stuff I like.
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Oct 18, 2021 20:49
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Thank you all for the replies! My students will greatly appreciate it. aldantefax posted:Are you US based? If you want tea that is cheap and easy to brew in bulk, Prince of Peace's jasmine tea is my go-to. Yep, I'm US based. I'm a big jasmine fan as well so I may grab a box of that for myself if nothing else! I feel like jasmine can be a divisive tea, but since my students aren't paying for it I suppose they can just deal with drinking the tea I like? Bilirubin posted:I really like Uncle Lee's Organic Black and Green teas. They cannot really be over steeped, the bags can be resteeped, and there are no metal staples so the bags and teas are fully compostable. And it is cheap and easily found in boxes of 100 online Awesome, I'll check this out as well! Compostable is a big plus, I unironically must feed my backyard Jhet posted:I'd like to introduce you to large tea bags. https://www.teasource.com/collections/teaware/products/t-sacs-4-tea-bags Niiiiice, this is super helpful. I'll probably be brewing a gallon at a time (two teas, 1/2 gallon each), so this will be super helpful. I have two weekly classes throughout the winter so I expect I could easily burn through a pound of tea by spring. And yeah, herbal tea for decaf is probably what I'll end up getting, but it bums me out! I wish there was a decaf black tea that didn't taste like it had already been steeped 3-4 times previously (if there is one that I don't know about, please tell me!) Trabant posted:Would it be too on-the-nose to get a "winter blend" with Christmas-y spices etc. for your kayakers? Maybe, maybe not? My plan is to bring two teas to each practice, and I know some folks loooooove wintery/spicy teas, so I may give this a shot to see if it sticks. Thanks again, folks!
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Oct 21, 2021 16:06
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kedo posted:Niiiiice, this is super helpful. I'll probably be brewing a gallon at a time (two teas, 1/2 gallon each), so this will be super helpful. I have two weekly classes throughout the winter so I expect I could easily burn through a pound of tea by spring. And yeah, herbal tea for decaf is probably what I'll end up getting, but it bums me out! I wish there was a decaf black tea that didn't taste like it had already been steeped 3-4 times previously (if there is one that I don't know about, please tell me!) They have a decaf Earl Grey that's okay, and it being Earl Grey helps with the tea tasting flat. There's nothing wrong with sticking to herbals either. They'll at least be full flavored and will make the people needing decaf happy. Which is what it's about anyway. When making 2 qts at a time, you'll end up going through more than you might expect. I think it's 1oz for 2 quarts. The t-sacs (#4) are big enough that this leaves enough room to get a good steep.
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Oct 21, 2021 17:08
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