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: >>21506243

1st for african teas

>>21524675
I have some smoked african black tea. it's not bad.
some african producers are definitely experimenting with making a more premium product than common teabag fodder. I'm seeing some african white teas too

Pu-erh is delicious but god damn it smells like baked 3 day old socks.

Where can I buy cheap mylar bags for my puerh cakes?

>>21524675
>>21524689
Last year an African man opened an African tea shop in my town. I'm a chode for not having visited yet. They specialize in blends that look miles better than most others I have seen. What should I know about African tea?
>>21524809
Cheap mylar from Amazon is fine. One gallon holds two cakes, but there's excess at the top.

>>21524963
>What should I know about African tea?
it's a new industry and mostly simple commodity black tea. but they're obviously trying to come up with something better too

>>21524797
I have the opposite problem. It smells wonderful but tastes meh.

>>21524797
Stop drinking ripe
>>21525060
Hard water issues/get better material.

Can we add
>$6000 YS Cakes
To the 10 years still a noob pic?

>>21524689
Someone posted about some kenyan or idr which african country it was that had some purple tea that looked interesting

I'll drink some of the smoked Malawi tea I have in a moment. Apparently it's smoked over banana tree leaves.

>>21525317
Nice. How is it?
I had some Malawai hei cha a while ago, seemed like the ferment was done ok but the base material didn't really stand up to it. Wasn't bad though.

>>21524583 (OP)
k cups are the superior way to make tea.

>>21525189
This looks like the first time you've ever been on this website fren. I'm going to need you to lurk more before posting because you're embarrassing yourself.

>>21525342
>Nice. How is it?
it's decent but nothing super special. kind of like you took the smoke from Boat Captain and added it to an assam black tea

>>21524963
The only African tea is Roibos.
I wouldn't trust teas from Africa. If you think Asians are scammers than spend a few months in Kenya.

have any anons ordered from One River Tea? the site seems well regarded for green and white tea, and they also have a selection of yellow tea

>>21525059
>African tea: it's like tea but blacked
Hard pass.

>>21524963
>What should I know about African tea?
Rooibos is gathered along with the weeds they give no fucks, I think it also tastes bad. Hibiscus is grown in Egypt and that tastes nice.

>>21524583 (OP)
>drink Irish Breakfast Tea
.. its just unsweet sweet tea..

>>21525647
Welcome back! Pretty much! Try some honey in it or a splash of milk.

>>21525647
Was it loose leaf or in teabags? If you got a decent loose leaf blend it should be made with a good amount of Assam and not be that generic. But yeah you can put milk in it.

>>21525666
>made with a good amount of Assam and not be that generic.
Not that anon but assam tastes kind of malty to me, in a good way though. Satan sure has good taste.

>>21525658
>>21525666
I'll do that.
And it was in a teabag.
I totally didn't watch a few YT videos on how to use said teabags..

>>21525678
There's nothing wrong with learning how to do something. Just make sure not to leave it in your cup when it's done steeping. Did you like it?

>>21525678
>And it was in a teabag.
Teabags are normally made with tea dust, which is the lowest quality tea, basically the leftover particles from tea production. If you want to enjoy tea more you should buy loose leaf tea. It's easy to make as well, you just need a cheap basket infuser. You put the leaves in the infuser, put it in your mug, then pour in the water and wait a few minutes for it to brew then remove the infuser.

https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Stainless-Coffee-Infusing-Brewing/dp/B000I68NCS

>>21525681
Yeah
>>21525686
Ah

>>21524583 (OP)
What is the best chai tea I can buy?

>>21525686
Personally I'd get one without plastic https://www.amazon.com/Vaincre-Tea-Infuser-Strainer-Strainers/dp/B0BFHHJYBC?crid=KJ9FANXRFDS8&sr=8-5 Either way it's whatever.
>>21525689
Also remember put the milk and honey into it after it's steeped, not before.

>>21525695
The steel ones let some sediment through since the holes aren't fine enough. Not a big deal, though. I don't care as much about the plastic issue as I used to.

>>21525699
That's fair! I used to use the stainless steel ones. I'm probably biased about the plastic because I've tasted some plastic with plastic cups, bottles, or infusers etc and I just avoid it now.

>>21524583 (OP)
Now to embrace my inner Captain Picard and get some Earl Grey.

>>21525782
Don't forget the dorky glass cup.

>>21524583 (OP)
damn his fangs are tearing up his own lips. Looks painful, like the kind of enduring pain that will never end and is constantly fucking with you.

>>21525788
hell yeah

>>21525898
Based

>>21525980
Kek

TIL Lapsang has a US warehouse. Was ordering a bunch of tea stuff trying to beat the tariffs and was surprised my lapsang stuff got here in 3 days.

>>21526497
What site is it from?

>>21526560
https://lapsangstore.com/

>>21526573
Thanks. Any recommendations?

>>21526497
What'd you order?

>>21526573
Holy shit the markup on their teapots is nuts.

drinking some gyokuro
getting Popeye's fried chicken aroma notes. kind of unnerving for a tea to smell like that

>>21526725
Odd, mine doesn't smell like that. I hope you didn't store your tea next to the stove in the kitchen, anon...

>>21526754
I think it's just the chicken broth notes coming out strong

Where do I get good (but not super expensive) Chinese green teas?
Feels like I only ever had one that I enjoyed enough that I would rebuy... And it was technically a Taiwanese green.
I sampled some 0.5$/gram longjing and bi luo chungus and it was pretty bland. The taiwanese bi luo chun had a more complex savory flavor rather than just being sweet and vegetal. It had some citrus to it and even spicy and brothy notes, like some sort of thai soup.

>>21526914
I really like the soup-like consistency of gyokuro it's interesting.

Drinking random chinese green tea I got two years ago and didn't like. Somehow it tastes alright. Pretty generic umami-vegetal-herbal flavor, but it tastes decent quality, smooth and not bitter grandpa style.
I was sure it would be stale to the point of being undrinkable by now, but no, it's a pleasant surprise. Not sure why I didn't like it back then, maybe my tastes changed.

>>21527621
im still drinking greens from 4 years ago, not as fresh as they once were but still plenty drinkable

>>21526920
What country do you live in? Different countries have different import regulations that impact pricing.

>>21527908
I live in the EU. I'm fine ordering from Chinese and EU stores

I'm drinking a nice eight year old Haiwan raw puerh, Shen Shan Lao Shu. Has a tiny bit of smokiness like a Xiaguan, but none of the signature funk. It's really pleasant. It's darker in color than I would expect for a tea of this age, but tastes lighter than it looks. Maybe some caramel notes.

I love cheap factory raws and nobody can stop that.

>>21528206
Nice. Is that the one with the cool pic of a tree on it? Been thinking about it now it's $30 on fullchea

>>21528245
That's about the price. 500g cake, btw. It'll last you.

>>21525214
I'm not that poster, but it was available years ago in a local shop, it was from Kenya. It was mostly resembled a random Chinese green tea but with a hint of blueberry aroma (the anthocyanin), the color was darker than the taste, not acidic at all, kind of nice, would buy again.

>>21526920
I've had a taiwanese biluochun and 2 chinese biluochuns and I initially preferred the taiwanese one. I think the teas have different philosophy. The taiwanese was more like taiwanese oolongs, very aromatic, smooth. One of the chinese biluochun was mostly basic vegetal/bitter and with a corn flavor, the second one was less corn flavor, with more complex bitterness, strong and almost rusty, or charcoal, and reminding me of a forest. This also helped me realize the correct way of brewing it: it's as strong as possible with almost boiling hot water, and what you get is this strong dry, bitter oomph with a fuzzy aftertaste, and it's one of my favorite teas now. A lot of the tippy expensive Chinese greens need high temp water. Second flush teas are more green in color and need lower temp to carefully extract the aroma while trying to avoid the bad leaf taste coming out.

>>21526581
They're known for having the "original" jin jun mei. They're also known for their lapsang, which I picked up a tin of. >>21526610

>>21527621
>I was sure it would be stale to the point of being undrinkable by now, but no, it's a pleasant surprise.
I had the same experience with a tin of gifted jasmine green tea that was still decent years later.
>>21528481
It looked pretty pricey, is that due to it being "original" or due to it having a warehouse in the US? I might still want to try it though, I've never had lapsang! Right now I'm still sitting on a lot of 100g packets of random black teas. A few are still unopened I think I ordered it in 2022 or 2023? How's lapsang compare to regular black tea? Is it just smokey and that's the gimmick or does it actually taste better? Sorry if this comes out confrontational or something, I'm just very uninformed about teas!

>>21519603
Look up how they do tree rubbings do that and then shove it into ai

I was thinking about buying a fancy Kyusu or Hohin, I was thinking about buying a glut of tea
But honestly I can't even bother at this point. I guess I'll just go through my current stock which is decent, if anything I need to finish my fresh greens. And then I guess I'll be living off of tea bags I can find for the next three years.

>>21528853
That's how I feel.