|
Thinking about expanding my horizons from the occasional teabag here and there. I'm mainly a coffee person, but sometimes it's nice to have something a bit more relaxed. I've been seeing the guy who runs https://jessesteahouse.com/ a lot on my YouTube recs and have been kind of interested in gongfu-style brewing, but before I start buying anything, is his site reasonably priced for what he's selling, or is it influencer priced and not worth my time? I was thinking about getting the sampler he sells to get an idea of what I prefer, but I dunno if that's a good price (or high quality tea) at all. Sorry if it's a dumb question, my experience with loose leaf kinda began and ended with weird herbal/fruity blends from Teavana like 10 years ago. I wanna get into the good stuff.
|
#
¿
Mar 6, 2024 06:30
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:18 |
|
|
Hey thanks for the responses from a couple weeks ago. Sorry for late response, been goin' through it lately and haven't really had the energy to be around much. Before making some online purchases, I've spent some time doing a bit of exploring what local stores have to offer as far as loose-leaf teas go. Most local supermarket-type stores have very little to choose from. I found a lavender earl grey at a Kroger that sounded lovely but in reality it's as if a bergamot was given arms, legs, and roids so it could punch me in the nose. Way too intense. We don't have any teahouses where I live (a wonderful coffee roaster, but nothing for tea), so I decided to start exploring various Asian markets around town where I had a bit more luck. I've found some white tea sachets and some pearl green tea (I think I like jasmine tea a bit more though) and some tieguanyin oolong which is probably my favorite so far. I've got a little 12oz teapot that I forgot I had until a couple weeks ago, so I've been using it to experiment before buying different brewing vessels. I think where I've landed is about 2 tsp of tea per pot, so roughly 1 tsp per 6 oz. Don't really have a scale that can reliably measure such tiny amounts of weight, should probably look into getting one. Feeling a bit more confident to start diving in to import stuff. I think I'll go with the sampler from Yunnan Sourcing (and there's a really pretty gaiwan that I'll be picking up too). Jhet posted:There's a ton of options out there, and most of us even have our favorite bagged teas too. What are some good bagged teas to go for? My job has me on the road for most of the day, and the place I usually take my clients has hot water to use, but they charge 75 cents for teabags that you can get from the store at like, 20 for $3. Kinda dumb and not very tasty.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 21, 2024 15:31
|
|
|
So I went and got the sampler mentioned earlier and a gaiwan, strainer, and 2 tea cup set and they arrived on Monday. The cups aren't as pretty as the pictures made them out to be, but I kind of like that they have their own unique look to them. So far I've tried: "Imperial Grade Silver Needle White Tea of Jinggu" - My first attempt at gongfu. I don't think I was messing it up so much as maybe I just didn't use enough? The flavor was so faint that it didn't really start to show until the fourth steep or so, and even then it didn't get very far. 2024 "Cozy" Certified Organic Pu-erh - This was a little sample pouch that came with my order, much smaller than the others. I don't understand this one, but then again I've not had pu-erh before now so maybe I just don't "get" it, or I wasn't doing it right? I dunno. Tasted like black tea mixed with soil. I heard that these kinds of teas can be earthy but maybe it's quite a bit more so than I had expected, which makes me a bit nervous for the 250g bag of Menghai pu-erh I got as a BOGO extra. I dunno. "King of Duck poo poo Aroma" Dan Cong Oolong - I had to try this one because of the ridiculous name, and it's all right. I don't think I did it right, once more? The description noted that it'd be floral, sweet, and toasty, but the only flavor I was really getting out of it after a bunch of steeps was "toasty". And that's not a bad thing really, but I don't think I'm getting out of it what I'm supposed to. Maybe I really should pick up a better scale, my kitchen scale is not very good at very small weights. Also, Trabant posted:I like Harney & Sons, although most of their popular stuff is India-sourced and western-prepared. I saw a tin of their Paris tea sachets at the store the other day and picked it up. Not bad at all. Maybe a bit bubblegum-y for my tastes, but the smell is nice.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 27, 2024 18:47
|
|
|
effika posted:Harney & Sons Paris always seems to be a hit, glad you liked that one! Tried the oolong again, this time in my larger teapot (around 12-14 oz?) for around 2:30 per steep. It's all right. Maybe a bit weaker, should have added more. Definitely less toasty and more nuanced. Tasting a bit more of the sweetness. Heath posted:Get one of those little gram scales people use for measuring weed. Seriously. Gotcha. Ordered a scale this morning (complete with calibration weight!) and it should be here tonight or tomorrow or so. I was reading that white teas were supposed to be a bit lower than green, so I was brewing at around 175F, but I was a dumb and just kept using the kettle from my table when I should have put it in a thermos, so subsequent steeps were cooler than that. As for the pu-erh, I was brewing that at boiling temp (but once again, should have used a thermos to keep the water at that temp rather than just bringing my kettle to the table with me. For the oolong, I was doing 190F. Once my scale comes gets here, I'll start measuring more accurately, use a thermos to keep a more consistent temp, and I'll let the leaves open up more.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 28, 2024 16:22
|
|
|
Taking notes as I go here: Mm. Yeah, I don't think pu-erh is for me. My scale came in and I figured I'd give it another try. Menghai ripe pu-erh, 5g (precisely!) Water temp: boiling 3 second rinse, 1 minute wait, then 10, 15, 20 second steeps at around 100ml per steep. I know it's supposed to be earthy but this just tastes like musty dirt to me. The smell is off-putting to me. The color is lovely though, almost as deep and rich as coffee. I do get little hints of woodiness and just the faintest sweetness out of it after some sips, and it kinda makes me feel like I'm out hiking on a summer day after a rain. Almost like a petrichor. I don't like it, but I can understand the appeal, maybe? 30-ish seconds: A bit more intense. Bit of a vague chalkiness on my tongue? I feel like I'm drinking essence of landscaping mulch. 50 seconds: Last steep since I can only take so much of something I'm not really enjoying that much. There's no feeling of drinking tea here. I have fallen face first into fresh mulch. The experience has been interesting and I don't regret doing it, but this may need to be an acquired taste for me, just like the rich bitterness of coffee or the grassy bouquet of green tea, both of which I didn't like at first either. I feel like this is a bit more challenging to my palate though, as this less resembles tea to me so much as it resembles a broth of soil, compost, and wood. It's hard for me to want to come back to it when the gorgeous fragrance of jasmine tea (still my favorite) or the almost maple-y aftertaste of tieguanyin are right there on my shelf by it. Very impressive that it can just keep going steep after steep though, even for such a small amount of tea. With a 250g bag, that's 50 all day sessions. But it's probably not my cup of tea, literally.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 29, 2024 03:47
|
|
|
Heath posted:This is a really good introductory Puerh. It's got some cacao mixed in so it accents the earthiness in a way and comes out very creamy. It's excellent mixed with a little milk and honey. Bookmarked it for later. I might try it sometime. I still want to try raw pu-erh too; I've heard it's got a different flavor profile entirely. The more I've been drinking though, the more I think I like my teas on the fresher and/or more floral side. I wanna look into getting a really high quality jasmine tea-- the stuff I have in a pretty tin that I found for $4 at a local Asian grocery is already pretty good, so I wonder how much better it can get.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2024 01:58
|
|
|
Da Hong Pao, maybe?
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2024 19:39
|
|
|
Maybe? I've got some from the sampler mentioned up higher on this page from Yunnan Sourcing and that came with that and a buncha stuff for like $39 (plus a lot for shipping, but still.)
|
|
#
¿
Mar 31, 2024 19:57
|
|
|
The oolong teas from this sampler aren't really meeting the description of how they say it's supposed to smell or taste. They're not really bad, but I'm not getting the flavors or scents they're describing. That being said, it also came with this green tea: https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/best-selling-products/products/first-flush-mao-feng-yunnan-green-tea It's beautiful. It's like no green tea I've ever had. It's got some of the floral and fruity notes of the silver needle white tea that comes with the sampler, but it's also got a verdant bitterness the white tea doesn't have without being grassy like most green tea I've had in the past. It's sweet, floral, bitter, and savory all at once. No astringency whatsoever. Of all the ones I've tried from the sampler, this is the best one so far.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 5, 2024 18:32
|
|
|
This oolong from the sampler is really good: https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/best-selling-products/products/anxi-hairy-crab-mao-xie-fujian-oolong-tea It's similar to the green tea I mentioned in last post, except replace the silver needle flavor I mentioned with a slightly more oxidized richness.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 8, 2024 14:41
|
|
|
Trying the pu-erh tangerine from the sampler today. Absolutely WILD how strong this poo poo is after 10 seconds steeping. It's a full 25 grams after all... should this have even gone into a gaiwan? I pour this into my cup and it's blacker than coffee. EDIT: Apparently, I was not supposed to steep the whole loving thing. I'd say I'm dumb but this poo poo doesn't come with instructions lol Framboise fucked around with this message at 13:42 on Apr 9, 2024 |
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2024 13:31
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 06:18 |
|
|
I mean that, and it's like 5 times more tea than I should have put in there. I feel like I've taken like 2 shots of espresso over here. Kinda nauseous.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 9, 2024 14:39
|
|