This is the thread for discussing teas, tisanes, and other …

𓀐 @c7HHqZg_: >put together a sample order >it comes out at over 200€ I'm skipping liubao winter and going straight to the year of the oolong.+

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𓀐 @f7SUw5zH: >Don't I need filtration? Basically it depends on whether your leaves can get overbrewed or not. For example most green teas absolutely will get bitter and nasty after a while, so you need some way to get them out. Also using water below boiling somehow makes leaves float more, which again means for green teas brewed at 80*C or so leaving them in the cup is impractical. Most decent black teas, and most dark teas (puerh etc.), are completely fine sitting at the bottom of your cup for half an hou…+

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𓀐 @XNifgxe_: Your opinion doesn’t matter if you don’t drink aged teas. But if you can’t find the vendors with competitive offerings, even for those who use taobao and browse Taiwan facebook auctions, then that’s a skill issue on your part. Everyone knows the secondhand market is where you find the actual prices. Typical blind taobao worshipper not even understanding what they’re buying. You mention 2005 T8653, but do you know there’s more than just thick vs thin? The thick paper trad characters cake which t…+

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𓀐 @RfgRxQu*: In decending order of preference Black Cat: black-as-coffee dark, thick ripe - breddy gud. Bit fishy Charlie: similar to Black Cat. Hardly touched, gonna finish Black Cat first. Shubar: mild and inoffensive, good for effortless grandpa style. Consists of 50% twigs. Unique packaging and form factor. Big Jacko: well you heard what this one tastes like. Just finished a session with a friend. He said he liked it, reminded him of the smell of his grandpas house. Not exactly my preference but I'll fi…+

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𓀐 @x+*f99F7: I had to throw away around 500g worth of samples because of how badly they molded. Very sad day for me. Folks, this a reminder to air out your puer often. I really didn’t think putting a tiny 65% boveda pack in mylar sample bags would be a bad idea :(+

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𓀐 @GZ7NBdN*: Hello, /tea/. It's about time for me to do my yearly tea order. I plan to focus on oolongs and greens this time, do you have any suggestions website to use/specific teas to look for? I already know I'll be ordering probably around 500g of longjing mostly for gifting purposes, so ideally a site with that as an option would be great.+

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𓀐 @oq=F+-n6: why are you old+

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𓀐 @ogPVmojA: How do you guys handle dry mouth after some teas? Do you just drink a lot of water after? Having some Fuding Shoumei right now, it's very distinct in this regard.+

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𓀐 @dJBarXeS: Is this a good way to brew tea?+

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𓀐 @GKn=2ihf: >smells amazing >tastes like toilet paper why is it always like this?+

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𓀐 @T3EVV3iC: Tea is for lesbians+ 1

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𓀐 @V_dfonXK: i thought it was for stoners+

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𓀐 @R5nUHjmP: This morning im drinking Jin Xuan. Its nice. Aunt from Taiwan gifted it to me+

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𓀐 @~zsqqaKu: Teahome order came in Excited to try the aged oolong, never had one before+ 1

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𓀐 @ht*Zx~~S: Little first impressions of the aged oolong Very sweet, leaves a sugary aftertaste almost like a sweetener, but also cooling. Getting typical roasted taiwanese oolong flavors, but also a lot of something like menthol or camphor, minerals and a fruitiness like cherry or plum. I'm really enjoying this first session.+

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𓀐 @Wjv4D_F4: one of these+

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𓀐 @-8X?Uv+7: I know you guys are all elitists and stuff, but are there any good commercially available bagged teas?+

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𓀐 @n+Fw*QXU: My cheapo bombilla is rusting away, it's so bad that it's tinting the mate leaves black when I leave it in the calebasse after a sippin sesh. What material is used for a proper bombilla, is it supposed to be made out of stainless steel?+

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𓀐 @Smgtp*-p: got myself half a kilo bag of milk oolong from poland was looking for cheapest one on allegro milk oolongs starts from ~10€ for 100 grams in Lithuania 500 grams bag for 59.89 PLN ~ €13.70 ain't bad at all taste is bit weak, but for broke chum like me - not too shabby+ 1

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𓀐 @6KC6yYgA: another crackled pattern gaiwan broken, curious. why even bother with gongfu on bottom shelf rolled oolong? use a big pot and less leaves. you're disgusting. are you the same guy? same guy again?+

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𓀐 @X?n6xrKQ: Drinking GABA oolong. It's not as bad as I remember.+

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𓀐 @f7SUw5zH: >Don't I need filtration? Basically it depends on whether your leaves can get overbrewed or not. For example most green teas absolutely will get bitter and nasty after a while, so you need some way to get them out. Also using water below boiling somehow makes leaves float more, which again means for green teas brewed at 80*C or so leaving them in the cup is impractical. Most decent black teas, and most dark teas (puerh etc.), are completely fine sitting at the bottom of your cup for half an hour. Then you can usually just add more water to brew them again. And using boiling water makes them sink pretty reliably so it's not a bother to drink. Also if you're doing gongfu then that's obviously different (though gongfu doesn't use strainers either). But if you're doing western brewing in the first place, that's irrelevant. >Don't I care about dosing, water temperature These are the two main variables but you don't need a strainer or filter for that. A scale and a temperature-adjustable kettle are fine or literally just eyeball it until you learn what you like. >water quality, filtration, etc? Kinda but mainly you want to avoid hard water. Other than that, extreme mineral composition autism is mostly if you find it fun to care. >Like speshulty coffee. I'm not a coffeefag but as far as I know they place a ton more emphasis on the roast, the preparation, and the brewing, with the actual beans being of relatively minor consideration (I think with regional/continental variations but not like individual cultivars). Tea is a lot more like wine in that the provenance and processing of the leaves is much more important. Then you brew gongfu if you want to degust, or just brew approximately the right temperature for the kind of tea if you just want a nice brew with little effort.+

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𓀐 @PoaMMd_T: NTA but not sure why people worship taobao as some sort of holy grail which provides everything for a fraction of the price. Prices for a lot of things, like Dayi, are standardized and monitored through wholesalers like donghe. People also forget taobao is littered with both fakes and vendors who believe storage doesn’t make a difference. Bad storage can sometimes be worse than a fake.+

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𓀐 @XNifgxe_: Your opinion doesn’t matter if you don’t drink aged teas. But if you can’t find the vendors with competitive offerings, even for those who use taobao and browse Taiwan facebook auctions, then that’s a skill issue on your part. Everyone knows the secondhand market is where you find the actual prices. Typical blind taobao worshipper not even understanding what they’re buying. You mention 2005 T8653, but do you know there’s more than just thick vs thin? The thick paper trad characters cake which teaswelike offered for 145 is very different from the thick paper simplified characters batch you found on MX tea for 70. The one on kingteamall you claim is over 150 is the same thick paper trad characters batch, which is very hard to find in China and hence commands a premium. Not to mention January vs February vs March batch differences, which you can only tell from the jian ticket. They aren’t the same tea. Beyond this difference, check out the prices on quicheteas. Turns out you overpaid for those 2005 T8653 thick paper simplified characters cakes since they only cost 65 each, even cheaper for a tong, on a very easy to use website. You can even find the actual 2005 T8653 thick paper trad characters cake for 85, a legitimate steal compared to kingteamall prices and actually the same tea they’re offering. Looks like blind taobao worshippers should learn how to use the internet in 2026. Vendors are getting smarter at offering what the market wants at competitive prices.+

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𓀐 @KHGQM72K: what size teapots and gaiwans are you guys using? I have a fair selection of sizes but none under 100ml should I get a little baby 50ml?+

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𓀐 @2th=anpK: its this time of the year+

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𓀐 @RfgRxQu*: In decending order of preference Black Cat: black-as-coffee dark, thick ripe - breddy gud. Bit fishy Charlie: similar to Black Cat. Hardly touched, gonna finish Black Cat first. Shubar: mild and inoffensive, good for effortless grandpa style. Consists of 50% twigs. Unique packaging and form factor. Big Jacko: well you heard what this one tastes like. Just finished a session with a friend. He said he liked it, reminded him of the smell of his grandpas house. Not exactly my preference but I'll finish the cake eventually. I generally still prefer young sheng over any shou. Last years Shullween was my first real dip into the waters of ripe. Would recommend getting the Shulloween cakes, in case of being curios or say shourious?+

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𓀐 @ke_-hVNp: i went to a local tea garden recently and their shit absolutely smoked the lipton i've been drinking forever. i get it now. i picked up a couple cans of loose black tea. i don't really know what i'm looking for, or what an appropriate price is, but i want to get a larger quantity since the garden only sells small amounts. i was just going to get maybe 300-500g of various black teas from this best sellers list. is this fine? https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/best-selling-products+

/cooking