Thread 21506243

This thread is for discussing teas, tisanes, and other herbal infusions.

info: types of tea, where to get tea, how to brew tea
https://rentry.org/teageneral

previous thread: >>21487095

>>21506243 (OP)
what the fuck even is that shit

>>21506253
white tea leaves that were steamed then pressed into this shape
some Chinese teas are pressed into shapes because they take up less space in transport and storage that way. this one also has a grid to make it easier to break off pieces

>>21506243 (OP)
i do not like waffle cakes, they're too compressed and even brewed the squares struggle to open up. its a gimmick for laziness

>>21506262
gosh that sounds just awful

>>21506276
Explain exactly why

>>21506268
This is my experience with all hard press cakes.
Outer leaves are done while the inner still aren't properly open.
I can never tell how good such tea is since it feels like I'm always chasing that one good brew.
Stupid design that should die.

What's the appeal of liu bao? Other heicha varieties are unique and tasty; every LB I've tried was just like shou but weaker in every respect. Can't speak for the "raw" LB that's supposedly out there, maybe it's better.

>>21506268
agreed, shame that i love this moon waffles tea, but you can barely drink the shit, what they've done to it. the tea itself may as well be a fruit party, too.

>>21506243 (OP)
Do you guys ever get the feeling that the boutique thousand year fish brand tea you are buying is actually the same stuff sold in Chinese supermarkets for 2.99$/kilo

>>21506330
I don't know how it's "weaker". Most of it is pretty samey, true - but then people say the same thing of shou. But all the shou I've tried has a mellow and almost sweet taste, while all the liubao is heavily earthy and loamy; I'd definitely call the latter a lot stronger.
I've not tried other heicha yet though (other than puerh and liubao).

>>21506243 (OP)
From the thumbnail it looks like art.

>>21506348
it's true if you buy at Jesse's Teahouse, but not really otherwise
unfortunately there is some degree of "you get what you pay for" with tea

>>21506243 (OP)
Tisanes you say???

>>21506330
most of the appeal is in the fact that you can get it humid stored easily. factories still do the storage in-house, no such luxury with shou. and old liu bao is cheap compared to old puerh
so if you want the earthy, beetrooty characteristics in shou you need to shop around for a humid stored one

>>21506243 (OP)
Why does london fog taste like that.

>>21506422
What's it taste like? Earl Grey with milk?

>>21506424
It's earl grey, steamed milk, and vanilla extract, so it tastes kind of like a tea latte with vanilla. It's good.

>>21506348
It depends. A lot of tea really is not that expensive. No supermarket sells tea leaves for $2.99/kilo - you can get dust for these prices, but physically not actual recognisable leaf pieces. But for $5-15 per 100g (which sounds expensive per kilo, but lasts for a pretty respectable time when brewed) you can get most decent types of tea.

The main tea that people buy that costs significantly more is generally the raw aged tea, which is similar to wines in that it has to sit somewhere for like 20 years first. That's what makes it more expensive. And no you can't get it in chinese supermarkets for bargain prices either. The thing is it's not necessarily "better", it's different and often subtly so, so it's purely down to preference and how much you wanna throw money just to have more tea variety rather than just being content with the cheaper stuff

>>21506348
>>21506443
you also have to factor in that we're mostly buying from western vendors (sometimes in china) selling to westerners at western prices. im sure chinese in china are buying the same leaf from the same farms and wholesalers for a fraction of the price we've paying

speaking of which a few threads ago people were buying from a chinese storefront called amwason(?) that was very cheap. anyone received their tea yet? how is it?

>>21506455
The one time i checked taobao it had cakes from the manufacturer more expensie than from fullchea but idk if taobao is regular chinese price

>>21506455
>amwason(?)
You probably mean Awazon? Bought from them once, they're a legit store. Very dry storage though so don't expect very aged flavors.
Recently there is also QuicheTeas, basically some guy who resells from a taiwanese store but with very low mark up, so it's close to taiwanese market prices.

>>21506348
No
>>21506455
>we're mostly buying from western vendors (sometimes in china) selling to westerners at western prices
You can check taobao. It's not magically 10x cheaper and that's as chinky as it gets(not saying you can't find a good deal, but its mostly about the bigger selection)

>>21506424
It tastes like disappointment? I make my chai lattes from home and they taste amazing and like an upgraded version of chai, but london fog just tastes like weak earl grey with milk. I don't use syrups. I use vanillia extract (its cheap as fuck here) in them, should I switch to vanilla syrup or something instead?

>>21506539
Maybe retard question but how can you actually trust the claims on taobao? I'm assuming counterfeiting recipes is not exactly difficult

>>21506566
there are trusted stores on taobao. if you buy from more sussy ones, you are risking fakes

>>21506566
They have thousands of positive reviews and usually specialize in tea.
If the store has 100 cakes and have good reviews and is called haiwanteacollectors or whatever, there is a good chance they actually are legitimate store.

>>21506565
>I make my chai lattes from home
Same, chai tea/lattes are incredibly easy to make and delicious. I make mine with extra ginger. Weak earl grey with milk sure sounds disappointing, I agree! You could try a syrup but you might get the same outcome. Try it out?

25 Grams - Anxi "Hairy Crab" Mao Xie Fujian Oolong Tea Spring 2025

25 Grams - High Mountain Red Ai Lao Mountain Black Tea Spring 2025

25 Grams - "King of Duck Shit Aroma" Dan Cong Oolong Tea Spring 2025

25 Grams - First Flush "Mao Feng" Yunnan Green Tea Spring 2025

25 Grams - Imperial Grade Silver Needle White Tea of Jinggu Spring 2025

25 Grams - Premium AA Da Hong Pao Wu Yi Shan Rock Oolong Tea Spring 2024

1 Tuo - 15 Years Aged Golden Melon Ripe Pu-erh Tea Tuo

1 Tangerine - Gong Ting Pu-erh in Tangerine "Golden Horse 8685" Ripe Tea


do any of this taste like tobacco? I want to try the YS favorites sampler

>>21507583
Anon why do you wanna taste tobacco just drink rooibos

>>21507593
I'm trying to avoid that flavor actually

>>21507596
Based, lemme know if you find out because I hate tobacco.

>>21506243 (OP)
Looks like a brick of shrooms

made a ys order bros!
I don't usually reach for ripe puer, but I read anons glazing the 2023 xiao fa last thread, so I decided to try it out
2 fu brick samples because i need more fu in my life. we'll see how they compare to the mojun 1368.
and some regular green tea

>>21507583
Closest would be the dan cong or da hong pao, but it's a stretch. The closest tea to a cigarette might be an old shitty Xiaguan tuo. For more flavorful pipe tobacco, the gentler varieties, maybe juicy dan cong oolongs are close enough. Honey orchid and almond auroma. Duck shit is a little more earthy, dry, roasted. For a robust burly pipe tobacco flavor, I think smokier yerba mate is closest. Rosamonte.
>>21507596
Oh.
>>21507593
Rooibos has kind of a cloying aroma that might compare to a Cavendish blend of pipe tobacco.
>>21507597
Damn it. Drink your tobacco.
>>21507632
Nice order. Xiao Fa might tickle your fancy if you like hei cha like fu bricks. It's not as dark and rich. Goes off on its own direction, a bit. Aged ones are really good too, but there's always the premium.

>>21507632
I really need to try puer

>>21507632
>>21507642
What do fu bricks and hei cha taste like?

>>21507749
only had one fu brick, but it was very mellow with a brighter flavor than shu pu-erh. more similar to an aged white or maybe a much more mellow aged raw

>>21507761
I don't know what any of that tastes like I'm fairly new.

>>21507762
the notes I got was "sweet, creamy, pear, grain, autumn leaves, interesting active mouthfeel"
this was some fairly premium fu brick, from what I hear it's not atypical of fu

>>21507642
either way thank you for typing it out. I'm just the basic anon that the taetea 7573 tastes like tobacco. I want to try some like was described here >>21507787

I don't even mind bitterness although astringency I am not a fan of. osmantus white tea, jasmine, gyokuro, sencha, etc are all things i like. the chunpin i keep talking about is like the 7573 but with a fruity cassius type aftertaste and no tobacco. I want to stock up a bit with the new restrictions but i also don't want to buy all tea i end up hating.

>>21507806
dropped my pic but this was something i ordered recently (just from amazon) because of the reviews. I hope i didn't make a wrong choice

>>21507806
I must say I don't really detect tobacco flavor in ripe pu-erh like 7572
chuck some fu brick sample into that order if you're curious about it. YS has a reputation for being a bit overpriced / hit or miss, but they do have a big and supposedly good selection of fu bricks

Okay, my old kettle was definitely screwing with temps on its way out as it was dying. Gyokuro is coming in way better now and that was exactly what was wrong, temperature. My 60 ml shiboridashi cools incredibly quickly so I had to raise the temp by a lot. Either way the gyokuro is more green, I'll have to fiddle with temperatures more another day.
>>21507806
>I want to stock up a bit with the new restrictions but i also don't want to buy all tea i end up hating.
Same but I'm a bit afraid to even though I'm fully burnt out on any kind of black tea which is all I have left besides gyokuro. I wouldn't even know where to start since I'm fairly new.

>>21507836
I do. It's like second-hand smoke flavor almost. I do admit I'm pretty sensitive to flavors/smells especially smoke/tobacco so it might be why i can taste it more? do you know any brands that might be on amazon/yami i can chuck in a cart really quick to try before i make my order from ys? if not no problem.

>>21507882
Are you looking to try raw puerh too? If so, you could get something from Farmerleaf, as they have free shipping

What the fugg. I just got a weird package from china with my name misspelled (or rather cut off halfway through).
Pic related - it's a pack of tall rectangular paper pockets/envelopes of sorts. For some reason they're stamped with "china post" on the bottom. The custom sticker calls them "red packets". Unfortunately the shipping stickers are stacked together and impossible to peel off individually, and I cannot read any details of the original sender on the lower sticker(s).
Has anybody ever seen this before? Posting here because KTM and Teahome are the only two chinese stores I've ordered from in literal years, I haven't shopped on aliexpress in forever, so no other chinks should have my address or any reason to send anything to me. Does John just send corny "Everything goes well" chingrish cheap ass paper pockets to anyone who orders above $150 or something?

>>21507978
Yeah it's exactly these. But who the fuck would send me china post branded packets and why

>>21507962
Lookup ways to separate the stickers non destructively

>>21507962
>>21507981
John is a nice man but he wouldn't send anybody a package unsolicited.

>>21507962
my first thought is your address is going to be used for fake reviews and/or the envelopes are lsd

>>21507888
the only raw i tried (also from taetea) wasn't good at all.i'm just going to put it somewhere and forget about it for a long while. so im hesitant to try more raw

>>21508061
>the only raw i tried (also from taetea) wasn't good at all
it's worth noting that a lot of their raw is made to age more than to drink now
most young raw tastes like a more intense green tea with some bitter and astringent but also fruity notes

>>21508061
>my first thought is your address is going to be used for fake reviews
kek
>and/or the envelopes are lsd
wait what

>>21508066
what's *good* aged sheng taste like anyway?

>>21508309
depends on the age and storage
usually woody and sweet, can have darker fruits or notes of camphor and tree resin. or more dank earthy beetroot notes if it was humid storage

>>21508325
okay. yeah i don't think i'm going to be too heavy into that then. i have one or two cakes and they're very very young, i'll be interested to see how they change, but i'm not expecting anything fantastic anymore. i think i just like certain dancongs and whites at this point. basic bitch shit.

>>21508376
Dan congs and whites are not basic bitch. You are drinking good tea.

>>21508412
yeah, i guess but there's something mysterious about sheng. it's really quite terrible, bitter, tastes like a horse's shoe gunk. smells amazing, like apricots and so on. i imagine once i'm so old i can't taste cake anymore or whatever, i'll be able to drink boot juice but the fact that some can enjoy it is tantalizing. it is rather expensive and you can pick up fine fresh whites and really well done dancongs for fairly cheap so i guess i shouldn't complain. FOMO shit

>>21508376
>i have one or two cakes and they're very very young
which ones do you have?
yeah sheng can be difficult to shop for, if you just buy a random one you can get burnt
it's not for everyone for sure, but if you're curious you could sample some aged ones as they are very different to young sheng

>>21508498
some veldt, i also bought a tong of sheng from awazon, i have i think a small holiday sheng cake from last year's christmas w2t club. the awazon cake was half as old as i am, wasn't exactly pleasant, but i know that awazon is one of those bizarre tea relics

>>21508505
a tong? damn, that's hardcore
awazon has extremely dry storage, so most of their tea doesn't really taste its age

but yeah if you found veldt disgusting, young sheng is probably not for you as it's fairly tame for the genre

>>21508505
>>21508529
I know what tongs the kitchen utensil is but what is a tong when related to tea? Google can never give me an answer for this.

>>21508796
Usually either 7x357g cakes or 5x200g cakes. Might also hear stack or sleeve, which is usually 5 tuos.

>>21508529
yeah i figure if i'm gonna order something from some old factory imma get the whole hound. i got two tongs of their white tea.
i had a feeling i had the right impression of the tea thus far, but i do know as you age your tastebuds die so i expect any day now to suddenly like that shit. like liquorice or brussels sprouts. both of those took their time but now they're here. so too with sheng i'm sure.
>>21508796
7 cakes (or bings?) of 357g weight. modern cakes seem to be like 200g, stuff from bitterleaf and w2t are 200g, so seven of those in a weird wrapper and away you go.

>>21508796
7 cakes, they traditionally come in seven-packs

>>21508796
Let me see that toooong
That tong tongtong tong tong

>>21508066
the one i got- maybe it was a bad storage/ block issue?, but it doesn't have any of those notes.just bitter and astringent

>>21508803
>>21508806
>>21508808
Thanks anons!
>>21508847
Thanks for the laugh and visual.

2008 802 Dayi 7542 from Yeeontea
Not as dank as other yeeon teas, but still a little dank. Solid woody profile.

>>21509635
bit of menthol on the wet leaves and in the aftertaste. mouthfeel is quite nice. still has some punch but isn't harsh or astringent
this is pretty solid tea overall, it's cool to see what a traditional stored 7542 is like. longevity is just average though.

Because the bicomponent epoxy glue I've used two (or was it three?) times on this lid doesn't hold for more than a year or so and seems to melt away over time I decided to try a slightly different glue, still epoxy but this one's specs say -40 to 200°C.
I've also decided to load it with gold dust and make it look like traditional kintsugi.

coming to a realization that I like shit like earl grey and assam more than chinese tea

>>21509938
What I've found when I poured the new glue is that it's not clear (like the previous, and like I had naively assumed every epoxy glue was) but a very strong grey, and it's a lot less viscous than the previous, so I only managed to load it with about 15% dust by weight rather than the 44% I had in mind.
The result is it was hard to work with, I couldn't fill the cracks properly and the dry glue isn't smooth.
I also discovered that the reason traditional kintsugi repairs look like that is not only gold dust, but also lacquer, and the glue I used doesn't have the texture or looks of lacquer at all.

>>21509948
Looks surprisingly good, in the photo at least

>>21509948
As an upside though the consistency of this dry glue is much much more similar to that of clay.
I hope the different glue won't melt away slowly like the previous one, and the dust has brought its thermal expansion coefficient close enough to that of the clay.
Overall I'm not terribly happy, especially because of the rough texture, but even if this looks more like citron toothpaste than gold glaze I'll be happy enough if it holds the lid together.
Follow me for more recipes.
>>21509959
Thanks.

>>21509948
mmm phthalates

>>21509948
>>21509976
I don't think it looks bad (like the other anon said, based on photos at least). Rough gold is naturally dull - on the contrary something like lemon toothpaste I'd expect to be an artificial neon yellow.

I would be uncertain about epoxying a food vessel that I regularly bring to boiling temperature, hopefully you used a food-grade epoxy.

>>21509938
>>21509948
>>21509976
looks nice but yeah toxic
>>21509945
Chinese black teas? after trying a bit of everything and trying to like every style of tea i also found myself just preferring black tea, albeit Chinese blacks more so than Darjeeling and Assam(which i still drink), smoked Assam from vahdam is max comfy but i wish they still sold it as ctc rather than more whole leaf they've changed to

>>21509948
>>21509976
Looks good, for what it's worth. I broke my gaiwan last year and made an attempt at kintsugi. I only did the first step or so then stopped. I'll get back to it one day, I swear.

This is the best tea

>>21510004
>>21510007
>>21510032
>>21510051
>looks good
Thanks.
>toxic
I don't think so, I used the term "melt" but the softening of epoxy resin due to heat is actually a different process that breaks down chemical bonds inside it, and it doesn't result in, say, a superficial layer melting and washing away.
This glue is also rated as resistant to heat up to 200°C, so none of that should happen anyway.
And I certainly don't think there are any phthalates in this glue, so the most toxic stuff about this teapot is likely the tea that goes inside it.
A broken gaiwan won't fix itself """one day""", just go and fix it if you want to, it'll be a different way to pass your Sunday if nothing else.

>>21510004
I've always wondered if something like thinset mortar would work.

>>21511011
Maybe use clay, and fire it?

>>21510080
Personally I'd be worried about microplastics, or microresins in this case I guess. If a solid plastic bottle can leech minute amounts into water stored in it, then why wouldn't an engineering resin do the same when exposed to boiling water?
But maybe it really doesn't. I have zero sources either way, it just feels weird to me.

>>21506243 (OP)
More like blue waffle edition. Saged for not being food or cooking.

>>21511011
>>21511094
I've seen yixing pots repaired with some sort of staples before. I don't know how it's done or anything about it though

>Puer
>lesbians
>violence
Why? Is it the rare earth metals in the Chinese puerh that only affects womenbros?

finally ordered from Quicheteas
I was considering the quarter cake set, but I chose to have more tea for the price in the end. and I was curious about the cheap Mengku cake, which is apparently their best seller and is praised as some value king

>>21511094
I wonder if that works. I think it would be funny to get a new pot made with your old pot ground up. Soul transfer.

>>21511815
If you grind it up then yeah, it's called grog - but according to wikipedia you normally use 20% grog and 80% fresh clay, so to use up a teapot-sized amount of grog you'd need to make quite a lot of clayware.
As far as I know you can't really do anything with already fired clay on its own.

Repairing a cracked pot with some clay sounds like it should work, though. I'd be scared of the rest of the pot cracking, but it can probably be managed. However I've never heard of clayware being repaired like this - so I have no idea if it's just that I don't know about it, or if there's some reason why it's not normally done.

>>21511831
>so to use up a teapot-sized amount of grog you'd need to make quite a lot of clayware.
Darn. Well, I guess that would be a full set with cups etc.
>However I've never heard of clayware being repaired like this
Same but I don't read about pottery often. I just remember seeing teaware turned into either more clay or bricks, I forgot.

>>21511832
>Well, I guess that would be a full set with cups etc.
That could actually work, yeah. Could be kind of cool.
Main blocker would be sourcing good fancy clay for the bulk of it - if you've got ground up yixing as grog and use random cheapo clay for the rest, it feels like kind of a waste of the old teapot's expensive clay.

>>21511761
Nice I was looking at both of those. Hope they turn out good.

>>21511924
I was also thinking about the 2008 8582, but the Xiaguan cake sounds more fun. and I guess there will always be good Dayi productions around, for 8653 I hear the difference between good and bad versions is far bigger

>>21511841
>if you've got ground up yixing as grog and use random cheapo clay for the rest, it feels like kind of a waste of the old teapot's expensive clay.
I agree.

>>21511110
>one of the most historically rich comestibles on the planet
>its only use is to consume, intrepid peasants would eat it on their journey across mountains to sell them
>not food related
>requires several methods of preparation, has thousands of accessories and utensils
>typically called a soup due to boiling water extraction
>not cooking related

I'm sure it's just caffeine addiction but I really do feel better a while later when I have some tea. Gyokuro sure has a thick, soup broth like consistency.

Do we think the puer lesbian dipshit is the webm dipshit or not?

>>21512112
Puer lesbian is an old meme, in this internet backwater. Not just one dude.

Stop being so new.

>>21512370
I'm well aware. The webm spam seems to stop right when the lesbian posting picks back up again.

I like puerh but I hate being reminded that w*men exist

thinking about investing in a matcha set, i have no background in tea, but i love matcha sweets
i drank matcha a long time ago by itself and i didnt like it, but i want to try again
is it a waste of money? even if i didnt like matcha by itself, i would still make matcha lattes

>>21512503
This is the worst time to buy matcha, as it's trending hard. There is a shortage of the good stuff and prices have increased a lot.
I would wait a year for the trend to fade. In the meantime, I would try other japanese green teas like sencha and gyokuro. Or Chinese green teas like longjing.

>>21512523
it hasnt become a thing in europe (yet)

>>21512584
it was a thing like 10 years ago

>>21512718
well, shucks
i just wanted to drink matcha lattes at home and perhaps enter in the world of this drink
i guess im stuck with coffee :(

>>21512734
come to the tea side, drink some pitch black pu-erh with us

Mini review of the Jettle. I used it for about a month while traveling.

pros
>quoted time of 4-5 minutes to boil fairly accurate
>inside is all enclosed metal, so you could boil other liquids if you wanted
>has most of the temp settings teafags like
>will hold at non-boiling temps indefinitely

cons
>can't set the exact temp. degree
>not great for storing/carrying water--steam vent in lid means water can spill through it if tipped over
>holds 450 mL, long gongfu sessions will require multiple refills

Costs $40 on Amazon. I would say it's worth it. Not that more expensive than the no-name chink versions and backed by a seemingly real company.

tried cheap oolong from the chinese food place.
there's a note in this tea that i can only describe as "vomity." What the fuck is it?

>>21512985
butyric acid

>>21513030
i was joking but turns out that's partially what GABA is. might be tasting the GABA

>>21513032
Not that anon but I'm never drinking GABA if it tastes like vomit

>>21512523
If they want to drink matcha lattes they don't want the good stuff anyway and it probably won't even be Japanese.

>>21513087
I've seen plenty of karens make matcha lattes with ceremonial grade, they're fucking retards.

>>21513114
It is bananas how trendy it’s gotten. It was my go to for years, 0 sweetener added, and now it’s everywhere. Even tea shops just specializing in matcha.

>>21513118
Meanwhile all I've had is the culinary chinese stuff that isn't even sweet. This was the year I was going to try matcha but, lmao nevermind.

A while ago I got some sticky rice pu-ehr which had this really nice toasted grain flavor to it. If I like that flavor profile what else would be similar to that, out of curiosity?

>>21513205
Was it from a mini tuo from Fullchea or something like that? I've heard those aren't very good, but the idea of it sounds good to me. If you have a recommendation, shoot it my way.

>>21513242
It was from Upton tea Imports so I'm certain it won't be up to standard for some folks but it was pretty okay for me as someone who isn't well versed into the pu-erh stuff, I usually stick to greens.
I would recommend it however, if you're willing to give it a try.

>>21513087
i will probably get japanese culinary grade

>>21513064
it doesn't taste like vomit. the gaba note is more like sour fruit

>>21513205
there are other sticky rice pu-erhs out there. the flavor comes from the sticky rice herb, which is sometimes blended into tea. you'll have to look around

>>21512734
If you're just looking for matcha lattes then cheap culinary grade matcha will do. You can get a bamboo whisk but a milk frother is also fine and can be used for the rest of the latte as well.
>>21513205
Nuo Mi Xiang/ Sticky Rice Fragrance is what you should look for, it's one of the more common flavorings for pu-er. I've never tasted anything unflavored with that flavor but genmaicha has similar toasted grain notes. Although genmaicha is less fragrant and more roasted in terms of flavor.

Are there any kind of hibiscus blends you'd recommend?

>went to Nepal and hiked to Everest Base Camp in March
>really enjoyed Tibetan Butter Tea, which has yak butter and salt in it
>finally opened up the Masala I got in Nepal and thought fuck it, I’ll make Butter Tea
>added salt and butter and milk in the required amounts
>tastes very similar to what I had I in Nepal
>take a second sip
>instantly am reminded that I am not hiking in the Himalayas, but rather in the middle of summer sitting on my ass all day
>realize that a tea made for hard working mountain folk full of butter and salt is not something a fat fuck American should be drinking
>I have made three cups of this stuff
>feel my arteries clog as I finish off my creation, and swear to never make Tibetan Butter Tea ever again even though I have fond memories of it
Maybe… maybe I will make it again in the winter.

>>21514593
Don't do it, anon! High cholesterol is harder to remove than to gain.

>his teats don't secrete a ready supply of earl grey
ngmi

>>21514999
>earl grey
do you bros like earl grey? to me it tastes like chugging out of a bottle of perfume lol, i didn't like it

>>21515018
I don't drink it every day but yes I do like it. Try one that's made with bergamot oil instead of "bergamot flavor".

>>21515018
Not often, I get burnt out if I try drinking it daily. I think I'd rather have assam.

Would this taste good?

I remember trying to order an earl grey at a restaurant once and the third world waitress kept calling it "early grey"
Then they forgot about it for a while so it ended up coming late

>>21515087
needs some rum

>>21515095
Last time I had black tea at a restaurant was pretty good. I'm not sure what it was but I wish I asked the old lady. Sadly it's been too long so I don't remember the flavors.

>>21506286
he doesn't know that it's just to make tea later, he thinks you eat it even though you said it was for storage and transport.

>>21515105
Maybe he agrees with >>21506268 >>21506296 >>21506339

>>21515018
Truth be told, I think it's the first style of tea I ever stopped liking. If there ever was a kind of tea to phase out as you learn about good teas, earl grey is damn near the top of the list.

>>21506348
There's no such thing as quality in China.

>>21512808
What temperature settings are there exactly?
Are the temperature settings accurate?

stu' 'n' shu

Got my ailao oolong today. A sample of Hua zhu liang zi with it.

>>21515895
cool. how does it compare to the usual jin xuan and green tie guan yins

>>21515306
I think it's still one of the only flavored teas I like. If anything no-name indian black blends are what I phased out first (e.g. breakfast tea).

>>21515905
I like the teas from ailao in general, got the oriental beauty too last time. The oolong got a really good buttery taste which I love. Very good smelling too dry and wet leaves. It doesn't taste like your average oolong even from good place in taiwan it's really good. I tend to drink it too fast and have to wait for the next release, I wish they would produce a oolong black like fen shui ling to taste the difference.

I've had a bunch of oolongs before but I think they were all lightly roasted. I just tried my first heavy roasted one, and it doesn't taste like an what I think of as oolong at all, which took me by surprise and even disappointed me at first. Instead it tastes very heavily of roasted hazelnuts, and it's really very quickly grown on me. I've got a medium roast sample as well that I'll try later, but so far this is a success.
I'm continuing to love oolongs of every kind, might be my favourite type of tea. I haven't fully explored raw puerhs and other obscure types of heicha, but of those I've had, I'd say they're more "interesting" and varied and I enjoy them for the experience. Meanwhile oolongs I enjoy because they're just plain tasty.

>>21515895
>>21515919
Sounds based. w2c?

>>21516002
It's on farmer leaf. They had a light roast oriental beauty like batch last year but wasn't my favorite, this year oriental beauty is better, fen shui ling area got more insects not sure if the guy used "products" or not for this harvest talked about it last year with william but still listed as "Unmanaged " so don't know.

>>21516002
I wish the one I tried tasted like roasted hazelnuts instead of black burnt residue on a baking sheet. I don't remember the name of it but it was from taiwanese tea crafts. None of their oolongs I tried were any good.

>>21516007
>oriental beauty
Neat, will take a look
>>21516008
That sucks. To be fair at first the tea just smelt burnt. I eventually recognised hazelnuts but I could see how a mediocre version would just be undrinkable.
For reference the one I'm drinking right now is a 2008 shui jin gui from KTM, I should've mentioned it's an aged one. I have a young heavy roast (rou gui) I'll try later

>>21516017
Yeah. Yours sounds nice. I need to try KTM someday but not for oolongs.

>>21516008
Should have ordered from Teahome
Drinking their medium roast selected alishan jin xuan right now
Creamy, milky, toasted rice, burnt herbs, roasted peanuts. Sweet. Nice stuff.

>>21516023
I guess so! That sounds nice. I just made some gyokuro.

>>21516002
yeah oolong used to mostly be highly roasted, super green oolongs are mostly a recent thing

So I just bought a Tokoname Kyusu, I assume that it is ok to brew whatever tea I like on it, provided I rinse it with hot water a few times?

This includes both Chinese and Japanese teas.

>>21516194
Is it glazed inside or not? Also, photos?
I think it should be okay to brew whatever in it

>>21506286
literally fucking look at that shit with your eyes

not one cup you brew will taste like another

>>21516357
honestly, after about 10 years it'll loosen up considerably. this method only works with age, drinking it fresh, you should be buying loose leaf or already aged white cakes.

>>21516357
And that's fun

>>21516357
>not one cup you brew will taste like another
eeeh this really isn't a problem lol. you would need to be off by good chunk to notice a difference, and even then you could just adjust your steeping times accordingly.

>>21516214
Unglazed

>>21512808
Interesting concept but I was chasing down reviews and it just seems sort of jank. I especially see a lot of complaints about the pour quality being kind of shit which could be a problem
I don't drink a lot of tea when I'm on the road, so maybe this isn't the product for me.

>>21516890
>>21516893
Pretty!
Ask some jap tea snobs. Some people say to only use an unglazed pot with one type of tea, like only jap greens. But this could be old wives tales and nothing a hot water soak can't fix.
Check on those jap fans and tokobname enjoyers. Maybe tokoname isn't porous enough for this to be a problem.

>>21516890
>>21516893
Sexy.

>>21516890
>>21516893
Cute! Can we have a closer less blurry picture of the filter? I've never seen a picture online of one that wasn't blurry and I'm curious what it actually looks like.

>>21517001
Just brewed this Puer.

>>21517001
That looks like the finest clay mesh I've ever seen in a teapot.
>>21517006
Well how was it?

>>21517001
Thanks! Wow that other anon is right, that's super fine!

>>21517039
I don't know how to explain a taste of tea sadly. I did enjoy drinking it, tiny bit bitter, sure. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Is Taiwan Sourcing is bricked or do I need an invitation like this is a fucking private tracker?

>>21517128
According to google from around a year ago they're closed

Hello geys

>>21517907
what ripe?

>>21517907
Hi gey, cute teaware. I'm about to make tea too.

> bought one box of matcha for 1k
> Sent me the entire 10pc box
Holy shit anons?? That's like 12k in matcha they fucked up on. Fucking score with the prices matcha are right now

>>21518867
Matcha haul. I wanted to do a matcha furusato this year but not with the shortage. Trying some from Shizuoka since I enjoyed the flavor profile when I was there and some from kakegawa, kanoshima、and of course uji/Kyoto

>>21518867
>matcha shortage because Japan can't count
kek

>>21518900
>Yeah this box of 10 counts as one

>>21518903
RIP whoever messed up the decimal point

>>21518886
What's matcha furusato?

It throws me off how much the same tea can taste so different day to day. I opened this sample of Thailand oolong a few days ago and it was mellow and buttery, and when I return to it today it suddenly develops a very forward cherry, almost sour note.

>>21506253
A marketing gimmick for morons.
>>21506262
>Takes less space for transport
It's been a fucking disk for thousands of years
>the grid makes it easier to break pieces off
no, it absolutely doesn't you fucking retard it breaks with the leaves not the seams. If it's breaking with the seam than your tea is dogshit and over dried.

I just want to drink. Drinking keeps me focused away from shame and failure of my own life. When I'm not drinking I'm left alone with my own thoughts and that's not a good thing. I need to drink more. Thank you for reading my blog.

>>21519532
Gross and sad

I love tea

>>21509938
>>21509948
>>21509976
>>21516893
>>21517006
Have any idea what this says? I bought it in korea forever ago from a lady that didn't speak English.

>>21519603
This is the full set.

>>21519278
yeah, it do be like that
I'd like to try more thailand and viet oolongs, they can be hard to find

had some of a 2009 Tulin tuo I got from fullchea
threw it out after two brews. thin, astringent, bland but harsh. a bit of smoke but it's not satisfying in such a harsh thin brew. pretty bad.
brewing up some Yeeon Dayi 2008 7542 instead. now that's better.

>>21519901
Lame. I had a similar experience with a random haiwan cake from there. I'm not so sure about their raw puer outside of basic xg tuos.

>>21506253
tea cake, its pressed tea, usually white tea or pu erh, its easier to store and transport it this way and in case of pu erh its perfect for aging said tea

>>21519418
are you sperging out because of the shape of tea cake? why? yest traditionally it was a "tao" which means nest and resembled a deep plate, it was like that because it was easier to press it like that, later it changed to a flat disc because its even easier to store and transport and now a lot of them have more sophisticated shapes f.ex. one resembling a chocolate bar so you wont need any tools to break it up

>>21519418
>It's been a fucking disk for thousands of years
I was talking about tea cakes in general, I assume anon doesn't know what a tea cake is.
>it absolutely doesn't
I have one cake like that, and it obviously does work. It is a bit of a gimmick, but not sure why it got you so angry.

>>21506262
this, don't listen to morons who are reeeeeing about it not looking the same way they saw on youtube.

Its tea, some of them are pretty good, shape doesn't matter that much.

>>21506348
you should buy asian tea from asian vendors, its usually not that expensive.

avoid premium boutiques and buy from people who know their stuff

>>21520180
>buy from people who know their stuff
Every international seller i have talked to is like a deer in headlights. Forget knowledge about tea, most sellers talk like have never heard of tea, much less ever tasted any. Either there is some miscommunication or the person responding to me isn't Chinese at all and from some third culture where they don't drink tea

>>21520236
Which ones have you talked to?

Oh I'm sure this will hilarious.
(Currently drinking cold brew lao cha tuo)

>>21520236
This is why i only order from fullchea

>>21519060
you basically make a tax deductible donation to the prefecture and they send you gifts like locally grown fruits, meats, etc. it's very similar to CSA?
take a look at the amazon page here so you get an idea of what it is:
>https://www.amazon.co.jp/fmc/furusato?ref_=nav_cs_tatsumi_discobar
It's this but some prefectures let you choose matcha

Got samples of:
FZH 2025
TFLZ 2025
Jingmait autumn gushu 2024
Mohei 2025

I'll give it a week and then start comparing.
Let's see if TFLZ is still a kind of budget soft teas.

>>21520470
I got a free sample of the Jingmai autumn gushu 2023 and was quite impressed, it had good depth. Not great longevity though

The Mohei interests me too

>>21520145
>Uses a lot of words to say nothing
You absolutely are the kind of guy to buy meme cake waffles of shit tea.

>>21520160
>Everyone who disagrees with me is angry
I see the issue, you're retarded. You must think you're surrounded by "angry" people lol.
Protip: get off of ledd!t, it's destroying your mind.

Yes, as I said, if it works it's because you're using shit tea that has been overdried. You also have the reading level of a toddler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th86Ge4fFJs

Cheap, shit tea is fine m8, just admit that's what it is and don't get all huffy when people call you on not knowing anything about tea at all.

First one river tea box landed. Amazing packaging. One of the teas is a 2025 spring green, first time i've had truly fresh green tea. The pervasive vegetal umami is as one might expect, but I don't know if it's simply being on an empty stomach and messing with my vitamins, but I'm truly zooted. All the alkaloids and volatiles are en entourage akickin my ass. I'm currently camped out in the shower, terrified of what might come from the next glass, what new altered states await me, and what will be left of me when this boulder finally rolls from me.
I'll talk bout the oolongs later should I survive with mind enough intact to express it. like, tomorrow yo.

>>21520180
>Shape doesn't matter that much
Typical American.
You should read this book--it's all about you. Maybe stick to coffee if breaking up a tea cake properly is too difficult for you.

>>21520796
I'd like to buy more chink greens but not sure which websites have good ones at okay prices

>>21520805
https://yunnansourcing.com/

They've been around since 2004 and sell premium at very good prices. I bought a cake from them around 2010 for 150USD that now sells for 6k. They have deals for cakes around 50 to 60 USD with small sample sizes if you're patient and want to experiment.

>>21520813
Lmao.

>>21520819
Use your words like a big boy.
Communication is hard but I believe in you.

>>21520813
My bad, these guys have been around since 2004 and I just ordered from them.

The cake I ordered for 140USD was a 1993 Menghai Beeng Cha that I ordered around 2004. The receipt doesn't have the date (I save my tea receipts) but I remember around when I ordered it.

I got it from
https://generationtea.com/

Both websites are good. You can get a pur-eh cake for around 30 to 40 USD but it's hit or miss so, again, I'd start with the samples.

Best tea/alcohol pairing? I don't mean mixed

>>21520908
Moutai, chunghwa cigarettes and Lao ban zhang or aged Dayi is the classic combo for crazy rich asians

>>21520813
He said good prices kek

>>21521139
I find it fascinating that you're apparently incapable of posting a coherent thought while paradoxically feeling obligated to post anyways.

You can get a 400 Gram tea cake from Yunnan or Generation tea for around 33 USD. That's about 17 cents a cup.

A box of 50 tea-bags of English Breakfast is 7.50 which is about 15 cents a cup.

You can get a cheaper tea cake and more expensive tea bags so I'm questioning your sanity at this point.

>>21521173
*7.50 at Walmart
...for Walmart tier tea that unusually takes two tea bags for the same consistency. I was also being conservative on the amount of mileage you can get out of a single tea cake.

Scott,

You’ve left me, and I imagine many others, confused by your reply. So in fact Yunnan Sourcing is not in fact actually Sourcing anything. Rather you’re just rewrapping cakes sourced and pressed by someone else. I gather that you now live in the US full time so has the entire operation been outsourced? It seems that this has been the case since at least 2011
What % of your puer are you physically involved in producing? You really do owe your customers an explanation.

>>21521312
I don't have a dog in whatever fight this is, but I do know what "sourcing" means in other contexts. For example in the whiskey industry, sometimes whiskey is "sourced". This means that a business buys whiskey that is produced by some other distillery, then they bottle and distribute that whiskey themselves under their own brand name. They might do some extra modification to it before selling it, like extra aging, but they did not produce the whiskey itself (there are various reasons someone might want to engage in this practice). So when I read a name like "Yunnan Sourcing" my assumption is that they are not producing anything but are buying it from producers in China and then redistributing it. So when this post says
>So in fact Yunnan Sourcing is not in fact actually Sourcing anything. Rather you’re just rewrapping cakes sourced and pressed by someone else.
I don't get it, because that's literally what "sourcing" is.

>>21521340
(cont.) The only sense I can make of what they're saying is that they're complaining about whether the owner of YS is physically observing the tea in China before they buy it from the Chinese producers, versus paying an employee or contractor to do it. But that's just normal delegation of work? I don't get it.

>>21521340
What if a distillery bought another distillery's bottles, changed the label, and charged double?

>>21521358
>charged double
+ an extra 20% a year for storage while they hang out halfway around the world

>>21521358
I don't think talking about bottles as an analogy works here, due to industry differences. Whiskey is produced in wooden barrels and it gets sold that way. I'm not aware of any distilleries that are going to bottle it for you too when you source from them, but I suppose it's technically possible. That being said, the kind of practice you're referring to is actually fairly common and there are a number of sourced whiskeys that have a premium pricetag. Like with other things, pricing isn't necessarily indicative of quality. If you don't want to buy that then you buy something else. Plenty of whiskey out there.

>>21521387
It's confusing to me, not knowing shit about whiskey, that you said sourcing = acquiring raw material, bottling and distributing.
The grievance is that they try to hide massive mark up from consumers by rewrapping the already-produced cake anyway, maybe the semantic argument is just petty.

>>21521312
Holy fuck you're observably retarded.
>>21521340
He's, as mentioned, observably retarded.

>>21521345
Don't try to figure out what he's trying to say. He's clearly an idiot. The price is 30 to 150 USD for tea imported from China from reputable producers.

He's seething about being called out for repeatedly saying stupid shit.

Here is reality:
There is a farmer.
There is a distribution chain.
There is the end user.

He's crying about the distrobution chain because I called him out for saying retarded shit about pricing.

Both websites sell pressed cakes from 30 USD to thousands. No matter what getting a pressed tea cake from china is going to go through intermediaries.

>>21521404
I guess my familiarity with this is what makes me not see much difference. The only indication a whiskey is sourced, on the bottle, is that there will be some small font text on the back somewhere that will say "Bottled by X. Distilled in Y" (they often don't list the source distiller but only the location, like saying it's from Indiana or something, but this isn't always the case). If it's not sourced it will say "Distilled and bottled by X" or something along those lines.

>>21521413
Would you feel scammed if you found the exact same whiskey in another bottle from another distributor at half the price?
I'm sure it goes on all the time in industry, but when Scott spergs out and says the actual name of the tea and I find the same cake as his substantially cheaper for sale to the public, it feels like a rip off, and it feels safe to assume if you shop there you're risking paying double for no reason other than obfuscation.

>>21510080
Post what you used as an adhesive and I'll explain chemistry to you.
>>21510007
There is no such thing as food grade epoxy.

>>21521422
I'm waiting for you to post where people can find the same teas for half the price of those two websites.

You use a lot of words to avoid actually saying anything intelligent.

>>21521428
>two websites
We're talking about yunnan sourcing.
>teas
Tea, one in specific.
I'll try to dig it up for you.

>>21521422
>Would you feel scammed if you found the exact same whiskey in another bottle from another distributor at half the price?
Sure, and I wouldn't buy it. But I'd actually want to see that being the case.

>>21521440
>I don't actually buy tea enough to have my sources linked.
So you don't actually know what you're talking about but kept spurging about nonsense anyways.
>>21521449
He doesn't know anything about tea.
Tea is graded before packaging. Shit leaf is ground into a powder and sold in bags, slightly less shit tea is sold as loose leaf or in more fancy bigger tea bags, higher end leaves are sorted and pressed into cakes. These all come from the same fields mind you.

If there is fraud over a 30 to 60 dollar tea cake that retails for like 4 USD in china that all happens in China and a 30 dollar 400gram is going to be about as cheap as you'll ever find in the US.

This isn't imported scotch from Ireland retailing for hundreds of dollars a barrel.

>>21521455
*Scotland

Regardless--I'm waiting for him to post a website selling the same cakes for 1/2 the prices previously listed and he ain't gonna.

>>21521455
I understand, I just wanted to make a point about what sourcing is in comparison with another industry that also uses that terminology.
>This isn't imported scotch from Ireland
Scotch is from Scotland, whiskey from Ireland is a separate category called Irish whiskey :)

>>21521455
Believe it or not, I didn't anticipate arguing with autists on 4chan about this specific point.
Here's the tea I was talking about. Admittedly, I misremembered that this one isn't proven, because Scott didn't admit it directly on marshaln's article.
The price has been dropped from about $500 at some point over the past month or so.
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2015-yunnan-sourcing-wa-long-village-yi-wu-old-arbor-raw-pu-erh-tea-cake?variant=35015581382
https://tea-encounter.com/product/2015-wa-long/

>>21519559
This fucking guy, imagine posting a hot take like this, even anonymously.

>>21506243 (OP)
I was given some 'Irish Breakfast tea' by sister. I usually do not drink leaf water. Is it any good?

>>21521534
It's not tea snob approved but it's probably breddy gud. Assam blend most likely.

>>21521542
Twinings is the brand name.
What do the tea snobs like? Are they as annoying as red wine snobs?

>>21521543
>What do the tea snobs like? Are they as annoying as red wine snobs?
Have you read the thread?

>>21521549
No.
>reads the thread
Oh

>>21521552
Topkek.

>>21521358
Fair game, so long as they don't claim to distill it themselves. There is value in curation, storage, shipping logistics, and marketing. Any potential shortcoming of the origin. The practice may be geared towards noobs or people unwilling to learn about the hobby.
>>21521370
Fair game.
>>21521422
Scammed? Absolutely not. But I would know better for next time.

>>21521561
Literally the only explanation is that you do this in a different industry and don't want to feel bad.
>there is value in [...] marketing
Not for the fucking customer lmao. If your marketing doesn't pay for itself you're fucking up.

>>21521552
Hahahaha

>>21521570
I don't understand what you're implying. Of course the marketing has value, they're customers. A noob saw a product and liked it enough to buy it. They wouldn't have even found the market where this tea was sold otherwise, much less the co-op or village it came from.
Just because as hobbyists we can pull back the veil somewhat doesn't suddenly make merchants unethical.

>>21521561
>I would know better for next time
We know better. Hence the keks and lmaos. He's at best a dropshipper for whatever ZSL will sell him. Thats not sourcing. I'd put him at Paolo tier now. Someone needs to set up shop next to the xiaguan canada store, pump out ai gen wrappers, and shill through reddit socks.

>>21521505
I apologize, it will happen again!

>>21521534
>>21521543
>Irish Breakfast tea'
>What do the tea snobs like? Are they as annoying as red wine snobs?
The karen normalfags are, yeah. The thread ones are fine. I haven't had Irish Breakfast tea but I've had English Breakfast tea also from twinings and it was okay I guess. Years ago that was my first experience with black tea. I think I added a splash of milk and sugar. You should try it and report back! Follow whatever steeping instructions are on it. Is it loose leaf or bagged?
>>21521552
Top kek

>>21521653
NTA but where would be better to order from, KTM?

>>21521487
Just admit you were talking out your ass.
You made nonsensical posts, than started rambling about tangents when you were mocking me (trying to) about pricing on the websites I posted... and now you're straw manning my argument completely while pretending you didn't make an ass of yourself.

Fucking 2015. I'm glad you'll go back a decade and pretend that I wasn't correct the whole time.

yunnansourcsing and generation tea have been around forever and have affordable tea. You can not post any other website that has better pricing for the US market because it doesn't exist.

>>21506243 (OP)
I hear that those go great with some maple syrup.

>>21521549
Tea snobs are more of a novelty. Asian and Indian immigrants are the ones that buy the lions share of the tea cakes and traditional tea sets. It's more like family tradition than snobbery. I know there are white people that drink pur-eh tea, and having lived in seattle I know they exist: but I've never seen one.

Seen lots and lots of wine snobs though. They're like vegans--they tell you.

>>21521543
Twinnings is a British "brand" that has been importing from China since 1706s.

Snobbery rankings:
Wine>iPhone Users/Apple Users>Coffee>Beer>Video Games>Cars>Gamers>>>>Tea

>>21521462
>I'm waiting for him to post a website selling the same cakes for 1/2 the prices previously listed and he ain't gonna.
>>21522034
>have been around forever and have affordable tea. You can not post any other website that has better pricing for the US market because it doesn't exist.
Not that anon, but this is what I made a while back.
Just for the record, the "real" price of this tea is around $10 on Taobao. I'm not a fan, but for $15 I paid, I can't complain.

You seem like a YS owner/employee, and all I have to say is that your/their lack of transparency and questionable pricing is finally being called out, and it is justified.
Dropshippers need to die in hell.

>>21522074
cont.
>>21522028
>NTA but where would be better to order from, KTM?
lol
>>21521653
>Someone needs to set up shop next to the xiaguan canada store, pump out ai gen wrappers
Why even bother with wrappers?
Here is another example of drop shipping in action.
Again, I put my money where my mouth is, bought the cake, paid around $30+maybe $10 shipping(I don't remember, it was a while back), so I can say the price is real.
I like this cake a lot for $30 btw, but I'm biased since it was my first puer I liked. It's still factory mass-produced cake though. If you have $90, for the love of god, don't spend it on dropshippers, at that price range, there are way better teas from small batch makers.
>>>21521653
>He's at best a dropshipper for whatever ZSL will sell him. Thats not sourcing.
Maybe he has some original cakes, but there is no transparency.
It's the same reason I, as a tea enthusiast, hate W2T. Maybe their tea is good, but their names, descriptions, lack of information/transparency... I hate it. It also feels like whatever blend they found for some reasonable price, they sell with a fancy wrapper, and all this mumbo jumbo is to just cover their asses.

This is an example of a store that I think does it right. They have their own cakes and ZSL along the side
https://teaencountereurope.com/

>>21522034
https://kingteamall.com/en-pl/products/2002-tailian-international-puerh-tea-seminar-commemorative-cake-400g-puerh-sheng-cha-raw-tea?variant=31575383474279
https://yunnansourcing.com/products/2002-tai-lian-international-pu-erh-tea-expo-anniversary-raw-tea-cake?variant=35878077254

NTA, but YunnanSourcing does have high markups on some cakes compared to other websites. Here is the same item for almost half the price. They have a huge selection (of heicha too) and sensible descriptions, but are not the cheapest store nowadays for puerh, so it's good to at least compare with other vendors. Their strength is being an accessible generalist, not pricing.

This whole argument has been one weird miscommunication between a guy who remembers when YS really was one of the few good options available to the western tea fan but is out of the loop and the guy who's a little too invested in their current dramas. Just agree to disagree or something.

>>21522028
If you want factory cakes, the best priced west facing site right now is probably QuicheTeas. It's basically some guy drop shipping from a Taiwanese puerh vendor with very small markups, a bit of an anomaly
They don't have the huge selection of YS or KTM though

>>21521534
Is it loose leaf tea or is it tea bags?

>>21522050
Are you saying most of the thread is chinks?

Gong fu is like... wow... the Kung Lao Ding Dong Snail Shit tea tastes slightly different each time you infuse it... woah... and then I get to drink it out of a baby sippy cup too? Holy shit... this sucks and I hate it

>>21522034
I think you're confused anon. I wasn't posting when you were talking about two websites, that is somebody else.

I think I'm actually already bored of ripes. I got two ostensibly different ones and they both taste the same to me, and they feel kinda thin is the best way I can describe it. I think maybe they're just not meant for grandpa brewing at all but I'm too lazy to do anything else.
Liubao also all tastes the same but it feels so much thicker and richer in comparison. The couple of raws I've tried have also been somewhat varied and neither was anywhere as thin as the ripes I've got.

>>21522502
gongfu is literally placebo-level delusion. just make your tea normally and enjoy it.

Thing is, some people get their enjoyment out of pretending to be an ancient hermit or whatever shit, so let 'em enjoy their bullshit I guess

>>21522106
>Just agree to disagree or something.
Please.

>>21522586
Yeah, raw is more interesting
If you like liu bao, you could also try some of those Hong Kong stored ripes from Yeeontea. They have a similar appeal to aged liu bao

>>21522563
>I'm not angry now watch me sperg out on the wrong people all night

>>21522563
Sorry about that.
>>21522835
Your mental disorder is showing anon.

>>21522074
These aren't aged teacakes my dude. This is lower grade loose leaf or cake sluff.

You can get these for this EXACT PRICE on yunan.

>>21522106
>This whole argument has been one weird miscommunication between a guy who remembers when YS really was one of the few good options available to the western tea fan but is out of the loop and the guy who's a little too invested in their current dramas. Just agree to disagree or something.
Accurate.
>>21522684
This.

>>21522095
>>21521653
Nowhere in your barely coherent ramblings did you even come close to making a point.
>>21522106
How you store it matters. Yunan stores their cakes in US warehouses and KingTeaMall stores them in China. The markup is a result of one having a climate controlled warehouse and the other being stored at wherever in china.

>>21522988
The irony is someone asked where to buy tea, I gave options, and the spurging retard went into retard land for a dozen posts before someone ELSE actually posted an alternative website.
... which unironically has about the exact same pricing for the low end stuff which was the question in the first place.

>>21522608
The difference between wine fags and tea fags is wine fags want to drag everyone else into their fantasy where tea fags do it for their own edification and don't need an audience.

Tea fags know showing off a collection of tiny ass teapots won't impress anyone but other teafags. Only other teafags know how expensive some of that shit it or how hard some of it is to get.

No one I know gives a shit about my Yixing teapot except teafags who know they couldn't buy my tiny tea set for any price because I bought it direct from the potter in Asia and they don't sell it in the US market.

>>21522290
No, I'm saying most chinks and indians wouldn't bother posting here and only some white dude would buy a pressed tea cake put through a waffle iron and be proud about it.

>>21522608
>gongfu is literally placebo-level delusion. just make your tea normally and enjoy it.
I think there's genuine merit to it, in the sense that when the tea has a lot of flavour then brewing the entire thing for 5 minutes is just going to blend it all together, while doing very concentrated but very quick steeps can give a lot of snapshots of rich flavour.
Obviously it doesn't make much sense for just normal blacks. If all you've ever had is like five types of indian tea, you wouldn't be wrong to say that it all tastes the same, and doing gongfu would be pretty much placebo. But fermented teas can really have wildly different taste profiles, much more so than wine even - I'm no wine expert but I've had some different wines here and there and I'd find it really hard to explain the difference, whereas with teas they can be so completely different that you don't need to be an expert or have a "trained palate" to notice with a single sip how they're completely different.

>>21523006
>Yunan stores their cakes in US warehouses and KingTeaMall stores them in China. The markup is a result of one having a climate controlled warehouse
YS stores their cakes in Kunming, China. Their .us site has some stock stored in US. US storage is arguably too dry for aging a lot of pu-erh, but it is convenient for fast shipping. If anything, I would pay more for cakes stored in humid areas of China and south east asia, though it is a matter of preference

The guy is too aggressive and you're too defensive on this issue of vendor preference. Please just drop this subject and post about what you're drinking

>>21523010
I'd feel extremely awkward if I was that anon asking for tea sites. This kind of situation is exactly the type to deter people from trying something new. A couple years ago when I came here to ask for tea recommendations, I figured I'd get the same kind of spergy responses. I'm really glad that I didn't, and I'm glad that /tea/ isn't like this most of the time. I'd expect this kind of behavior from shills on reddit or other forums, not here (I realize if this was a video games board it would be normal but it's not). I feel bad for anon who only wanted some help finding tea shops.
>>21523033
>Please just drop this subject and post about what you're drinking
This! I'm drinking some cheap instant sencha I picked up along with my gyokuro order. It's... kind of lame? I think I'd rather drink regular tea but I drink it every few days since the bag is open.

>>21522985
>You can get these for this EXACT PRICE on yunan.
The original price is $10. You post screenshot with $21.50 in it. The fuck are you talking about.
>These aren't aged teacakes my dude.
Does it fucking matter? It's still 2x markup, 4x if you count shipping.
>>21522988
Just ignore YS, and you will be most likely fine.

I really hadn't realised people had actual brand loyalty towards the various shops. To me the name is nothing more than a marketing gimmick, I didn't think YS was "sourcing" their own teas anymore than I imagined KTM was a physical mall for royals or teahome was the actual registered domicile of all tea.
It seems straightforward to choose a tea first, based on recommendations or experience, and then buy it from wherever offers it cheaper overall (including shipping). If a shop offers cakes at a markup then just buy from another shop offering the same cake, I don't see why you'd "hate" the first shop.

>>21520805
Ignoring all the back and forth, YS is fine for green teas. I've had some nice green teas from Verdant Teas as well. Recommend getting a Bi Luo Chun if you've never had it before.

>>21523056
>I didn't think YS was "sourcing" their own teas anymore
The fuck do you even think "sourcing" means? It means you buy something from its source (where it's produced) and then package and resell it yourself. That's what they do.

>>21523033
>I would pay more for things stored in china
Because you're dumb.
>>21523041
Go back to ledd!t if you want to feel good about listening to idiots. Only woman and retards try to tone police. I'm not here to make you feel good about anything.

>>21523053
Holy fuck there you go being retarded again.

I don't know where you're shipping to but I've never ever paid 23USD for shipping from YS--you're not in the US and are retarded.

> it's double the price but no it's like really 10% more because of import taxes.
Dear lord canadians are so stupid it's amazing.

>>21523074
First of all "sourcing" can mean sourcing directly from farmers just as much as it can mean sourcing from alibaba, if you interpret it cynically. Secondly once again since when are shop names meant to be taken 100% literally?

>>21523074
There are two nutters that keep moving the goalpoasts. First they said YS was twice the price but when they posted the actual price it was something like 12% difference and then they are comparing different ship rates... after spending half the thread talking about whiskey for some reason.

I don't have any loyalty but I do love mocking retards that can't get their story straight and get buthurt when they realize they're not in their ledd!t hugbox where they don't get called out for being incoherent and spewing nonsense.

>>21523084
In this case it is literal. Again, what did you think they did such that you have been disillusioned about their purpose?

>>21523084
That's not what sourcing means at all.
Sourcing doesn't imply direct from the farmers you illiterate retard.

>>21523104
I thought they sold tea
>>21523106
>Sourcing doesn't imply direct from the farmers you illiterate retard.
Where did I fucking say that? Reading comprehension, nigger

>>21523112
>I thought they sold tea

>>21506243 (OP)
How do I become a tea snob?

I was going to say that for over a decade YS has had a section next to it in the pastebin that says they do a fixed markup on their tea each year so some older teas that they've had in stock for a while are wildly out of sync with the rest of the market, but it seems it's not there anymore. It probably should be. It's only really a nice source for bulk loose leaf stuff like longjing or cheap oolongs, it's not the best place to be buying puerh, I don't think I've purchased a cake from there in years.

>>21523081
>>I would pay more for things stored in china
>Because you're dumb
not him but that would be cheaper than paying for American warehouse rates
>>21523155
i remember this along with the yearly posts near Chinese new year because thats when they raised the prices
>>21523143
cheap ass gaiwan off amazon/ebay and some loose leaf tea. i recommend yunnansourcing ;p
or also amazon, vahdam is a good source of indian teas or Czar Nikolas II teas off ebay. dont worry about buying the best of the best right from the start

>>21523155
I don't have the old pastebin saved anymore but some old posts did mention mark ups >>16814170 >>14838795 >>13443326 I can't be bothered looking deeper

>>21523143
>>21523230
Don't mistake snobbery with elitism.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWSWNWASfMg

>>21523155
>>21523282
>I can't be bothered to support my argument with facts

>>21523339
nigger no one is putting a gun to your head and forcing you to shop there. i havent since 2022, get over your one sided war

>>21523353
>One sided war
Thankyou for finally admitting I've been right about everything. Was it that hard to do?

>>21523413
Anon, I can't even keep track of which of the retards shitting up the thread you are, pro-YS or anti-YS.
I've never seen such ridiculous seething about such a non-issue in this thread. Buy wherever you prefer and step away from the screen for a while

>>21523413
you clearly need a win, so yes, congratulation

Favorite tea for making iced tea?

>>21523509
could be interesting with a white tea

>>21523509
CTC Assam

>>21523509
I don't do it often, but the Yunnan Sourcing Black Gold bi luo chun has been my favorite. Does not much or any sugar or lemon. Nice and gentle.

Honestly not feeling tea anymore... But I've been eating more sugar in the form of fleshy fruits and just junk food. Low sugar intake seems to directly correlate with tea enjoyment I think. Is this expected or am I insane?

>>21523668
think im in the same boat, gained back the ~15lb i lost over lent. maybe our taste buds are too blasted with junk we're no longer getting the more subtle flavours from tea. im probably holding more water wight too from the carbs and salt so less desire to hydrate with tea

>>21523688
Ok. As an experiment, I'll just stop eating refined sugar. I've gone low sugar before (not low carb) it's just hard because my gf likes fruits and buys shit like pop tarts sometimes. FFS my life is a mess.

Count calories though. Even with my sugar intake I haven't really gained weight.

>>21523668
>>21523688
>>21523698
>pop tarts
That will fuck your taste buds, yeah... Cut back on a bunch of sugar and eventually your taste buds will be fine. Fruits are nice but stay away from junk food. Good luck anons!

>>21523708
Honestly they're really mid too. Idk why I keep eating them. It's like they're really convenient breakfast or something. kms

>>21523727
I'm the same way with certain sugary stuff that I don't even like. Honestly if you need a better breakfast and are okay with eggs lookup whatever those egg bites are called. It's like an omelet but baked in a cupcake tray. You can let them cool and refrigerate them for your next breakfast.

>>21506253
Cheap ass Meme tea targeted at retards who will pay premium for low quality because of packaging.

Back when I was drinking coffee I enjoyed coffee the most when I bought preground coffee from the grocery store and brewed it with an Aeropress. It was unironically great and I could taste the coffee all day afterwards. The more I tried to get into "real" coffee, I enjoyed coffee less, like not only was the coffee not as good but I enjoyed everything about it less and it eventually felt like a chore and I stopped drinking coffee. Currently experiencing something like that with tea. I enjoyed it the most when I first got into loose leaf and was buying Harney & Sons tea and using a cheap basket infuser to brew "western style". The more I've tried to get into "real" tea and other methods the less I enjoy it. I'm going to avoid the same mistake I made with coffee and just go back to what I actually liked. My mind is starting to associate tea with the crap I bought from China that I don't like, and with Chinese tea culture that I don't feel any relation to, and I need to stop it before it's too late.

Sweet tea is best tea.

I hate cakes of all kind.

>>21523919
What do you use for your base?

>>21519603
use an ai image search and select the text and have it translated. I think google does it.

>>21523906
You can brew tea western style, do what you want anon!

>>21523020
what are you talking about? me and my winefag friends (and anyone i know who actually knows wine) gatekeep wine extraordinarily hard so the best stuff doesn’t get inflated in price

>>21522049
Canned maple syrup? Just when I thought canada couldn't fall any further.

New:
>>21524583
>>21524583
>>21524583

>>21519418
lol what the fuck disk shaped tea

>>21524587
>>21524229
You have the reading comprehension of a toddler.
>>21523996
The text can't be scanned. I've tried numerous image scans and it's just too hard of a contrast for them to recognize.