/ck/ — /tea/ - individually packaged edition

I keep forgetting to refresh my tea stash at work. Scraping by with the dregs of my russian earl grey, missing my masala chai and floral blacks.

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>tfw the feds scour your tea package

Can someone recommend me a tea that is very peach/lemony/citrus forward? I a looking for a nice tea for summer that I could also use for iced tea without putting additives into it

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>>22052810
Been there, done that. They opened up everything.

>>22052975
Why do they do it?

>>22052870
It probably hasn't reached the middle, just pry off the outer layer and it's good

>>22053115
Have you seen the prices some people pay for bunch of leaves?
It might as well be drugs.

>>22052810
Lmao

>>22053115
Jealously. Those wagies don’t make much.

>>22052876
could try one of the fruitier shengs, like dong guo from farmerleaf

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Drinking some longjing

I got a new job that pays better but I'm set to start a PhD at the end of the year which pays worse.
What tea do I buy to feel rich for the next few months?
Some expensive pu-erh sample from quicheteas?
>>22052876
>peach
Many phoenix oolong starting from mi lan xiang.
>citrus
Bai mu dan (grassy-citrusy) or most darjeeling op/gfop (malty-citrusy).

>>22053764
We need anon to try the new authentic LBZ from FL.
Surely nothing will make you feel more upperclass than that.

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Does anyone else have a drinking problem? I keep drinking lots of tea, coffee. It fucks up my sleep, makes me edgy, makes me wanna not go out and interact with ppl. Used to drink lots of alcohol but don't do that anymore.
>pic unrelated

>>22053767
The one from Spring 2026 that's already sold out?

>>22053776
I'm sure he will release a cake in a week or two. Feel free to grab a sample.

>>22053771
>It fucks up my sleep, makes me edgy
I took a month break. It helped. Also for some reason only sheng fucked me up, black tea was fine.
>makes me wanna not go out and interact with ppl
That's kind of default for me. Surely one day I will be "normal".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk74JSrF9gI

>>22053848
Why can't you just keep it upended while you brew? Seems needlessly complicated.

Drinking pu-erh milk tea.

Drinking gong fu cups of 2023 Day Dragon Pillar.
Pretty good quality. How would you guys describe it?

>>22054413
I haven't had this one. how would you describe it?

>>22054387
Ripe or raw?

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>>22054559
Ripe.
>>22054446
This first time, it was gong fu cups from leaves boiled 10 minutes. 15grams and 900ml was the final amount of tea.
I also filtered with those ultra finish mesh filters a few times.
It tasted very refined and smooth. Everything was well rounded and blended together.
Next time, I will do actual gong fu session steep times but 1-3m each steep.
I can recommend this tea.

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Are tea rooms created or discovered?

>>22054728
They are founded.

>>22054566
yeah Dayi ripes are never bad. and this is a very slightly fancier one than the numbered recipes so I'm sure it's good
very cool wrapper too

>>22055100
This dragon piller doesn’t seem thick body enough. I don’t know. Maybe the gaiwan too small and leaves can’t open. I just did a 7 gram session with
>1m rinse
>2 mins steep
>2 mins steep
>5 mins steep
Still not thick and rich enough for me.

>>22055753
>1m rinse
Why so long? I've never rinsed for more than like 2 seconds. You're pouring so much of what's available to be extracted down the drain
What size is the gaiwan?

>>22055761
Regular size?
I like my ripe thick, syrupy and rich.
>1 mins rinse.
I don’t think that is long enough but more than 1m seems ridiculous.

>>22055761
>2 seconds rinse
Lmao. The leaves from a cake are hard and compressed. A 1m steep barely opens it.

Is it just me or does English breakfast tea taste like fucking shit if you don't put milk in it? Is the dry filmy feeling on your tongue just a feature of English breakfast tea or have I been buying shit quality tea?

>>22056376
It's not just you, this tea is designed to be drunk with milk, which binds the stuff that's overly bitter or astringent (the drying sensation)

>>22056382
Good to know, thanks. Guess I need to find a new black or red to drink in my dairyless life.

>>22056386
If you can get some, alwazah do a good ceylon that I like without milk. It's very cheap loose in a box online, but you can get it in bags as well.
Alternatively, chinese black tea all does fine without milk.

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why aren't you?

>like putting lemon juice in my tea
>try lemon tea
>it doesn't actually taste like lemon it just tastes like floss
what the fuck dude

>>22056419
I literally am.

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Anyone ordered tea ceremony accessories off taobao/with an agent?
Really want one of these trays with the built-in space for the 37x20 induction stoves and can't find a single vendor in the west that isn't upcharging by ~900%+ for similar trays, let alone ANYWHERE to actually buy the 110v stoves
Not risking getting any borosilicate or lead-painted gaiwans, but curious if anyone has a lead on a reasonable vendor in NA before I send it
I get that import/export fees and storage adds up for retailers but I'm not paying $500 for a tray that's $65 after shipping and customs for a 1-2 month wait

Enjoying a 2018 raw pu-erh this morning while I browse accompanying glassware

>>22052876
Why not drink earl grey, or one of the other citrus variations

>>22056376
Brits do drink their tea with milk. And breakfast tea is often pretty cheapo indian shit that's not really meant to be fancy, as well as being the default "black tea" that's served almost anywhere
But I don't know what you mean by dry filmy feeling. I usually drink almost all tea without milk, including when I go out and have to grab some cheap breakfast tea from a random coffee place

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>>22056433
Try hong kong style lemon tea.

Is liu an supposed to have golden flowers? Mine has tiny dots on it that I think look almost similar to my fu. I can barely find anything online about liuan as a tea.
It tastes fine so I'm not too worried, just curious. Also I have my fu bags nearby, but those are those KTM sealed plastic pouches, and also I've only had both teas together for like a couple of months, surely it wouldn't just cross-contaminate like that.

bought a giant bag of yerba mate do i need any special hardware to brew this crap up? its canarias

>>22054728
5k a month apartment in NY

>>22058821
if you want to do the trad brewing, all you really need is the bombilla / yerba mate straw

you can also experiment with making it other ways though. it can struggle with tea brewing devices because it's finely chopped and can have dust. but it works better in a french press or something like that

>>22052690 (OP)
Hey
Starting to get into tea, what type of kettle should I get and what teas do you guys reccomend for lunch during work to keep me going and then at night time to help me sleep?

>>22060220
Gooseneck kettle with temperature controlling/stabilizing element (ideally want to control temp within 1-2C margin, NOT one of the models that goes by intervals of 10). Plenty on amazon, and you can order the literal exact same models for half the price from alibaba if you're willing to wait on shipping from China
If you're also autistic about coffee at all and have money to burn, you can get one with a flow sensor, but that usually brings price from the $30-100 range up into the lower hundreds, and is really only relevant for dialing in pourover coffee.

For midday tea, all true teas (from the tea plant, not herbals) have caffeine, so unless you really want to squeeze as much caffeine as possible out over enjoying the brew, this is your own world to explore. That said, the LOWEST caffeine content is going to be in aged pu-erh and silver needle whites (both of which are delicious and you should still try them!)

For sleep, unfortunately as mentioned all true teas have caffeine. They also have L-theanine, the primary calming chemical associated with sleep aide/relaxation. To that end, you'll get the most mileage out of a chamomile blend that've artificially added L-theanine and possibly melatonin(harder to find), of which there's many options - the other herbal add-ins in these sleep blends are largely negligible or dependant on genes for good response, ymmv.

>>22060220
Goosenecks are not required. Temp control is more important, but temp precision is not. As long as you have a few values to experiment with, it's fine.

>>22060220
sleepy time and constant comment decaf are my night time go tos

>>22046650
>>22046691
>>22046718
>>22046807
wasn't able to reply before thread ended
just wanted to say thanks again for recommendations and i'm currently sorting through ones to try first

>>22056390
I got some Alwazah tea, didn't know what flavor to get, it's just a box of loose tea with "F.B.O.P.1" on it and I have no idea WTF that means. It's nice, thanks for the recommendation. Reminds me of the tea I can get in an Iranian restaurant in my city.

>>22060220
>kettle
Anything, if you get temp control it's a plus especially if you wanna do greener teas. It's also possible to do it by hand by cutting off the kettle but if you're starting out it's easier with automatic control.
>

Damn whos going to take the plunge on some w2t chinese matcha?

>>22060603
>I have no idea WTF that means
system of tea grading used in India. the more letters, the better. the shittiest tea doesn't get any letters at all
desu I never found those ratings very useful aside from "no letters = shitty", they don't seem to have much bearing on how good the tea actually tastes

>>22060721
sounds like it could be quite horrific desu, I'm not brave enough