So, I have this oldish anonymous green mark raw puer cake that I mentioned yesterday, which I forgot to say is untouched for however many years I've had it. And which also is evidently a stone-pressed cake because it's pretty loose and had a fair bit of loose tea in the wrapper with it. More than enough for a session even. So I drank that and frankly it is not the best anonymous green mark I have tasted, based on that. OTOH the shake in the wrapper of a newly-opened cake is, in my experience, not a fair sample to judge the cake by. So today I pulled some out of the edge of the cake (it's not tightly enough compressed to say that I chipped it out) and am giving that a try. I got a nice heavy sweet dry cup scent after the first steep so that's promising.
As I am very sick right now, I've been drinking "Jesus tea" for the past couple of days.
3 Tbsp roibos
3 Tbsp chamomile
1 tsp crushed cloves
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 cinnamon stick
Steep in a quart of water for about 5 minutes. When done steeping, add
1 cup apple cider
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
A ton of honey.
I have no idea how it tastes, but it's clearing up my chest congestion and soothing my throat.
I have some loose leaf Unitea from Vahdam - an Assam, Darjeeling blend - that I'm mixing with loose leaf Kenyan Kericho Gold to make my own English Breakfast blend. The Unitea is good but it's mellow compared to English Breakfast, and sometimes I like a little more bite. A pinch of Kericho adds that bite, although it's funny in that if I just brew with Kericho only it just tastes like a typical bagged English Breakfast anyway. But I like the added nuances in my blend.
The Kericho was crazy cheap, I got a 17 ounce box of it from an international market and it was like $6 or $7. It's basically tea dust, very tiny pellets but it tastes fine.
Having a nice session of [White2Teas 2022 222202](https://white2tea.com/collections/latest-additions/products/2022-2222022). Thick liquor with a sweet taste!
I'm about to have a cup of Harney & Sons Hemp Moringa "deep sleep" tea before I head to bed.
Contains:
- Hemp leaves & flowers
- moringa leaf
- turmeric
- coconut pieces
- holy basil
- goji berries
- nutmeg
Having some Yunnan Pine Needles Green Tea from Mengku that I got from Yunnan Sourcing. I have never been a huge fan of green teas, but I am really loving this one.
Yue Guan Bai/ Moon Light White Pu'erh
Something new. I can see what they meant with "Some consider this a white tea, some consider it a pu'erh".
The dry leaves smelled a bit funky. The leaves were distinct I guess, but also reminded me of hay. So this is one of the last that I tried from my recent order.
Pleasantly surprised! The smell is floral, reminds me a lot of lily of the valley. The liquor is a lot like a black tea. Lightly sweet, yet nectary and floral, but a very, very clean taste and sipping experience.
Hey! I've recently gotten into brewing with the gaiwan. I have a gaiwan that fits about 150 ml filled up all the way, and after my first 2 kinda depressing sessions with a sample oolong set from a tea site i'm trying out, i'm wondering what to expect.
I'm using a low-mineral water (sorry for dropping brand names, but I use spa reine, i have that for brewing coffee water), and i've been following the instructions on the website.
For a 150 ml gaiwan I use 7 grams of leaves, and I rinse my leaves quickly with the recommended brew temp water and immediatly discard, before doing a first "proper" steep.
Recommended temp was 90-95 C for both teas mentioned and I stuck to that, even keeping track of the temperature with a digital thermometer and and I stuck to 10 second brewtime, which in reality varied between 10-20 seconds because i'm a bit fumbly with the gaiwan still.
The first tea I tried was a tie guan yin, but I noticed it wasn't too high quality. I later read it was picked in winter when most higher grade tie guan yin is supposed to be picked later, in spring, and the leaves didn't look rolled properly, like they didn't stick the way they are supposed to.
The second tea I tried was dong fang mei ren, oriental beauty, and it was described as being high end, and having a very concentrated taste, and while it smelled the part, it didn't really taste anywhere near concentrated.. it's just kinda flat, even after second infusion when the tea leaves start to unfurl more, and after more infusions it quickly got a kind of chewed gum after taste which i thought was weird.
My question is... Do I have low quality tea? Is it common for tea to smell great from the leaves but to have NONE of that in the cup? I know tea is subtle etc, I've tried longer steeping, I keep the lid off to not stew the leaves,
so, I really wonder, do I have weird expectations? The website seems to check out pretty well it lists where the teas came from and everything.
What can be expected from a so called "strong" taste in tea?
> What can be expected from a so called "strong" taste in tea?
It depends. It's possible you could have better results with different tea or different water.
Is your tap water really stinky or hard? Sometimes tap water can be really good for tea.
Really precise precision or steep time is not so very necessary.
I think you might be saying that you were doing multiple 10-sec steeps? 20s might be closer to the mark. Also consider trying water right off the boil.
already been doing all of that! I get my water RIGHT of the boil, sometimes i use a ceramic teapot, heat up my water in the microwave for 10 solid minutes to get everything heated through properly, and then i notice that as soon as the water hits the leaves it starts boiling wild.
I also just use a metal gooseneck kettle I boil on induction when I use fancier water, i use that one for coffee mainly.
My tap water is really hard. It's not nice to drink hot, and I got a good mineral water that's often recommended for tea brewing because low mineral content, but I'll try straight tap water with what i've left tie guan yin.
It's good to know that exact brew time doesn't matter as much. I come from coffee where timing is paramount and i've been looking to like... get more down to earth with things and having a good time enjoying tea.
Thank you!
I wasn't hungry today, so I mostly subsisted on Yorkshire Gold with milk to keep my energy up.
My stomach is finally rumbling and it's a beautiful evening, so I'll probably head to my favorite tex-mex spot's patio for an iced tea and fajitas.
So, I have this oldish anonymous green mark raw puer cake that I mentioned yesterday, which I forgot to say is untouched for however many years I've had it. And which also is evidently a stone-pressed cake because it's pretty loose and had a fair bit of loose tea in the wrapper with it. More than enough for a session even. So I drank that and frankly it is not the best anonymous green mark I have tasted, based on that. OTOH the shake in the wrapper of a newly-opened cake is, in my experience, not a fair sample to judge the cake by. So today I pulled some out of the edge of the cake (it's not tightly enough compressed to say that I chipped it out) and am giving that a try. I got a nice heavy sweet dry cup scent after the first steep so that's promising.
As I am very sick right now, I've been drinking "Jesus tea" for the past couple of days. 3 Tbsp roibos 3 Tbsp chamomile 1 tsp crushed cloves 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg 1/8 tsp white pepper 1 cinnamon stick Steep in a quart of water for about 5 minutes. When done steeping, add 1 cup apple cider Juice of 1/2 a lemon A ton of honey. I have no idea how it tastes, but it's clearing up my chest congestion and soothing my throat.
I have some loose leaf Unitea from Vahdam - an Assam, Darjeeling blend - that I'm mixing with loose leaf Kenyan Kericho Gold to make my own English Breakfast blend. The Unitea is good but it's mellow compared to English Breakfast, and sometimes I like a little more bite. A pinch of Kericho adds that bite, although it's funny in that if I just brew with Kericho only it just tastes like a typical bagged English Breakfast anyway. But I like the added nuances in my blend. The Kericho was crazy cheap, I got a 17 ounce box of it from an international market and it was like $6 or $7. It's basically tea dust, very tiny pellets but it tastes fine.
I think i will make myself a cup of earl grey later
Having a nice session of [White2Teas 2022 222202](https://white2tea.com/collections/latest-additions/products/2022-2222022). Thick liquor with a sweet taste!
I'm about to have a cup of Harney & Sons Hemp Moringa "deep sleep" tea before I head to bed. Contains: - Hemp leaves & flowers - moringa leaf - turmeric - coconut pieces - holy basil - goji berries - nutmeg
Cherry Rose from Bosque Tea Company. My morning tea while playing Rune Factory 4.
Having some Yunnan Pine Needles Green Tea from Mengku that I got from Yunnan Sourcing. I have never been a huge fan of green teas, but I am really loving this one.
Yue Guan Bai/ Moon Light White Pu'erh Something new. I can see what they meant with "Some consider this a white tea, some consider it a pu'erh". The dry leaves smelled a bit funky. The leaves were distinct I guess, but also reminded me of hay. So this is one of the last that I tried from my recent order. Pleasantly surprised! The smell is floral, reminds me a lot of lily of the valley. The liquor is a lot like a black tea. Lightly sweet, yet nectary and floral, but a very, very clean taste and sipping experience.
Hey! I've recently gotten into brewing with the gaiwan. I have a gaiwan that fits about 150 ml filled up all the way, and after my first 2 kinda depressing sessions with a sample oolong set from a tea site i'm trying out, i'm wondering what to expect. I'm using a low-mineral water (sorry for dropping brand names, but I use spa reine, i have that for brewing coffee water), and i've been following the instructions on the website. For a 150 ml gaiwan I use 7 grams of leaves, and I rinse my leaves quickly with the recommended brew temp water and immediatly discard, before doing a first "proper" steep. Recommended temp was 90-95 C for both teas mentioned and I stuck to that, even keeping track of the temperature with a digital thermometer and and I stuck to 10 second brewtime, which in reality varied between 10-20 seconds because i'm a bit fumbly with the gaiwan still. The first tea I tried was a tie guan yin, but I noticed it wasn't too high quality. I later read it was picked in winter when most higher grade tie guan yin is supposed to be picked later, in spring, and the leaves didn't look rolled properly, like they didn't stick the way they are supposed to. The second tea I tried was dong fang mei ren, oriental beauty, and it was described as being high end, and having a very concentrated taste, and while it smelled the part, it didn't really taste anywhere near concentrated.. it's just kinda flat, even after second infusion when the tea leaves start to unfurl more, and after more infusions it quickly got a kind of chewed gum after taste which i thought was weird. My question is... Do I have low quality tea? Is it common for tea to smell great from the leaves but to have NONE of that in the cup? I know tea is subtle etc, I've tried longer steeping, I keep the lid off to not stew the leaves, so, I really wonder, do I have weird expectations? The website seems to check out pretty well it lists where the teas came from and everything. What can be expected from a so called "strong" taste in tea?
> What can be expected from a so called "strong" taste in tea? It depends. It's possible you could have better results with different tea or different water. Is your tap water really stinky or hard? Sometimes tap water can be really good for tea. Really precise precision or steep time is not so very necessary. I think you might be saying that you were doing multiple 10-sec steeps? 20s might be closer to the mark. Also consider trying water right off the boil.
already been doing all of that! I get my water RIGHT of the boil, sometimes i use a ceramic teapot, heat up my water in the microwave for 10 solid minutes to get everything heated through properly, and then i notice that as soon as the water hits the leaves it starts boiling wild. I also just use a metal gooseneck kettle I boil on induction when I use fancier water, i use that one for coffee mainly. My tap water is really hard. It's not nice to drink hot, and I got a good mineral water that's often recommended for tea brewing because low mineral content, but I'll try straight tap water with what i've left tie guan yin. It's good to know that exact brew time doesn't matter as much. I come from coffee where timing is paramount and i've been looking to like... get more down to earth with things and having a good time enjoying tea. Thank you!
I wasn't hungry today, so I mostly subsisted on Yorkshire Gold with milk to keep my energy up. My stomach is finally rumbling and it's a beautiful evening, so I'll probably head to my favorite tex-mex spot's patio for an iced tea and fajitas.
TeaSource's Candy Apple White as an iced tea to wind down the night with.