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Does anyone have any good recommendations for some samples of teas that would make good cold brews? I've got a nice oolong that I get from the local Asian grocer, but I'm looking to diversify a bit and have a few different flavors to pick from. I'm looking for lighter, summery, sweeter flavors that I can just toss in a gallon of water in the fridge for 24 hours and then drink.
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Apr 9, 2021 17:25
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 00:12 |
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Rooibos tea is caffeine free. But I guess technically it still counts as an herbal tea. Still, that may scratch your itch. Personally, I stick to sweet minty herbal teas for anything near bed time. I find that there's the psychological benefit to that beyond the caffeine-free-ness, where my brain goes "Ok, it's a cold night, you're drinking mint tea, it's getting to be around bed time then", and it helps me fall asleep that way. If you have a well stocked Asian grocer near-ish to you, and they happen to have a section of teas, they may also have jars of various herbal tea components that you could throw together to make a nice blend that's not reliant on the ever-present mint tea.
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Oct 21, 2021 23:31
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Platystemon posted:I had a bag of yerba mate that I didn’t think tasted great. Which brand, if you don't mind me asking? I just acquired my first bag of yerba, Cruz De Malta, and have been really enjoying it so far. I don't have any of the fancy equipment that's apparently needed, but I do have a french press, and after following this article, I've kinda come to love the stuff. The bag is just a standard folded over paper bag, so it doesn't reseal. Given how large it is, I'll definitely be experiencing whatever offgassing is going to happen.
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Jul 4, 2022 19:11
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SeaGoatSupreme posted:That's pretty normal for me when I roast a batch of yerba mate. The first week there's a few off flavors depending on what I started with, then after that it's stable for about six months. Was it green or roasted yerba mate? Wait, you can roast yerba? I'm intrigued; Tell me more.
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Aug 5, 2022 02:33
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SeaGoatSupreme posted:No pics of the process because I was also making lunch, but a comparison in color between what I started with and where I ended up. Good to see. I'm gonna have to try that this weekend and see how mine turns out.
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Aug 9, 2022 00:36
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Just from cooking a lot, I can tell you that toasting anything before boiling it in water will change the resulting flavor. The actual question is how much that flavor will change when you're done.
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Aug 9, 2022 13:47
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This past week, we had the Oddities & Curiosities Expo come through town. I found this nice booth there from Morose & Macabre, selling loose leaf tea. There were a few that I was interested in, but I ended up buying a pouch of their Obidiah Steam. It's a blend of lapsang, ceylon, jasmine flowers, vanilla, and cocoa husks. I just had some this morning, and holy poo poo is it good. Sweetly smokey, slightly floral, and nicely earthy. It's gonna make an amazing fall tea once it gets cooler in the mornings.
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Aug 28, 2022 16:24
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Thoht posted:+1 for throat coat. Seconding throat coat. I forget what the instructions are for it, but ignore them. Steep the tea for 20 minutes, and be sure to wring out as much of the syrup-whatever out of the bag as you can, since that's what actually does the soothing. And sip it slowly.
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Oct 31, 2022 02:36
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Stuporstar posted:A lot of bulk food stores also tend to carry it, if they have a tea section. Holy crap, this. I have a french press, and I have a bedtime tisane that has chamomile in it, and the next morning the mesh looks like velcro from all the little bits and crap from the chamomile. One way you could potentially strain the tea is to just take a coffee filter as a strainer, pour-over style. As for buying the stuff, check out any local Asian grocers you might have. I have one across town that has a literal whole entire aisle of tea and tea components. I can buy an entire jar of around 2 cups of chamomile flowers for like $5.
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Apr 1, 2023 00:33
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Vivian Darkbloom posted:I've been experimenting with hop extract added to tea, adding some bitterness and complexity. Are there any teas with more of a beer-like flavor that might scratch this itch too? Stuporstar posted:Would boricha (barley tea) do the job? Along with barley tea, I'd recommend roasted corn tea. I never liked barley tea, but corn tea just has this amazing malty popcorn flavor that really takes well to a bit of sugar. It ends up almost tasting like you're drinking a cup of liquid kettle corn.
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Sep 30, 2023 23:52
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I'm trying to get the wife into drinking tea a bit. She's an ardent coffee drinker, but every once in a while she'll indulge a chai tea. The issue is that when I ask her what sorts of flavors she likes or wants to try in a tea, she's got no idea, and won't even pretend to entertain the question. Does anyone have any particular teas that they've seen coffee drinkers enjoy? Or maybe know someone they can ask, or something?
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Nov 7, 2023 02:49
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neongrey posted:imo you'd be better off not trying to get her to approach tea as a subsitute for coffee. the previous advice is certainly still good for finding things that shes likely to enjoy, but I'd also try to not put it in opposition to the thing that she does like. If she's stapled to her morning coffee, tea is great later in the day, in the evenings even for something warm to drink. Oh, I'm not trying to get her to switch to tea instead of coffee. Sorry if my post read like that. Usually I'll relax on the weekends by playing a really chill game while I enjoy a gongfu style session of some nice loose leaf tea. The wife's not a gamer, so I figured maybe I'd see if I could find a tea she would enjoy so that we could sit down and do something else together while we shared some good tea for a few hours. Heath posted:Dark ripe Puerhs, including ones with actual cacao in them, and I've found adding a splash of vanilla soy milk to give it a little bit of that cafe au lait creamy sweetness is a good avenue. Unfortunately, I still haven't really gotten into puerhs. Do you have any recommendations? effika posted:Puerhs are great, though I never quite got into them. Good to try for sure. That.... might work. I have a couple leads on that kinda tea I can look at. I do need to order more for the holidays. poronty posted:There's also roasted yerba mate, I have this and I love it with a bit of milk or cream, tastes very cocoa-y ulvir posted:could try smoked or roasted tea as well. lapsang souchong, or hojicha. Unfortunately, I know both those ideas will not fly. She's not a fan of smoky flavors in her drinks, and I have yerba here that I've tried to roast and have her taste, and she wouldn't even consider it. Honestly, she's really weird about stuff like this, to the point that I've been thinking lately that she's purposefully avoiding any activity that we could possibly do together. It's pretty disheartening. I'll certainly give it another try though, if for nothing else than the fact that at least I'll get some good tea out of it.
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Nov 9, 2023 02:33
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aldantefax posted:It was a minute bing cha that was a gift from the tea shop. I think my companion was, uh, thinking it was chocolate. Not gonna lie, you had me on the edge of my seat in anticipation. Like, I was expecting this person to have eaten a clump of just dry loose tea leaves as an opening power move. That it was a tiny bing is still amazing. Anyway, now that I've got that answer, I've got a question of my own for the thread: I'm kinda toying with the idea of trying to open up a casual tea shop. My town only has like 1, and it's basically a British-style shop that is geared towards grandmas. When I say "British-style", I'm talking like, black teas only, tons of flavored blends, lots of English sounding names, literally zero oolong/puerh/etc, and all decorated with stuff you'd find in your wannabe-trendy grandma's house. I wanna open a place that's kinda like an eclectic coffee shop, but for tea, catering to all styles and methods of tea. I want a place where people can go and hang out and try different brews, brew methods, and just be cozy and drink something tasty. So, given that, if you guys were to wander into a shop like that, what sort of stuff would you like to see and experience in it? Anything and everything, from decor to how the tea menu would be presented and the various teas described to whatever else you can think of.
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Dec 9, 2023 04:01
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 00:12 |
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Gonna admit, I thought I'd get more posts here about this than in the discord, but it went the other way around. JNCO BILOBA posted:At our shop we had very minimal style tables and chairs, some tapestries, local art on the walls rotating monthly, books about tea, local baked goods. We had friendship nights, poetry readings, etc. mostly a space for creatives and the community to gather. If you tea, people will come. I firmly believe in reflecting the community you are in, the beauty of tea is that there is something for everyone. A lot of our thing was explaining teas to people - knowledgeable staff and a diverse but easy to read menu. You’re doing a lot of translation for people vs black British tea, but that’s the fun of it. This is very close to what I want to do, yeah. I want a space where people can grab a quick cup of something delicious, or spend some time hanging out and having a long gongfu-style session with friends, or just sit down in a warm corner and get some remote work done. I want a space that can easily host small gatherings and events for the community, to be a safe space for anyone who needs to shut out the world for a bit to clear their head. My town's got a few different colleges, a bunch of different meetup and friendship groups, and a complete over-saturation of coffee shops, with the only tea representation being a tea shop for grannies, and bubble tea cafes. Nothing's wrong with all of that, but I feel there's a niche in the market that could use a bit more representation. Agrinja posted:It would be nice to have a good selection of chinese offerings Selection-wise, I hadn't really thought about it yet when I had posted the question. Ideally, if space and money weren't a concern, I'd definitely want to have varieties that are representative of as many cultures and styles of tea as possible. Everything from all of the various myriad regions and mountains of Asia to Indian teas, rooibos from Africa, yerba mate from South America, and yaupon from North America, and etc etc etc. In practice I'll probably have to do a probably-seasons-based rotating menu of options, with some year-round staples and "classics" that everyone enjoys. Either way, I'd still try to have a selection that's from as wide a swath of the world as possible. One idea that I like that was brought up to me was having a big map with all the current teas in selection pinned on the map, to show where they came from.
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Dec 11, 2023 12:45
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