No.930783
It's been quite a while since we've had a thread about tea.
What are anons drinking nowadays? Find any good varieties? Now that the season is changing into summer, it's time for iced tea. Or perhaps hot mint tea if where you live suffers from a dry heat. Personally I like to brew big batches of cold barley tea to drink throughout the day when it gets this hot and humid. Hot tea can wait until night time.
No.930786
>>930783
Excellent timing, OP. With the start of winter here I've been drinking silly amounts of tea again. It's mostly been cheap Ceylon I got on special but I've been meaning to order some fine Darjeeling like I do every year.
No.930788
>>930786
Second flush or or first flush?
No.930790
>>930788
Usually both, but first flush is the priority and my favourite. I feel it has the most unique flavour compared to other types of tea that really sets it apart.
No.930795
>>930790
Maybe I will put some on order then. I've only had second flush once before and it was the low-grade stuff you would find in a supermarket so the taste and aroma were not great.
No.930797
I just drink the largest leaf ceylon I can find at the store all the time. I've never had any truly refined teas. I don't have any tea stores nearby either.
I've been a yerba mate drinker for about a year but I haven't had any for the past few months. It's good stuff, the taste is acquired but it has a nice, smooth kick to it. Better than coffee, in my opinion. I'll order some again. I've been meaning to buy Nobleza Gaucha for a while, and the store I usually buy my mate from finally has it in stock.
No.930799
Am I a bad person if I unironically want to try recaf?
No.930802
>>930799
>Brew a pot of tea
>Empty the water out of your coffee maker
>Dump the tea in the coffee maker reservoir
>Brew coffee, using tea instead of water
Sounds like a caffeine overdose. You wouldn't be a bad person, just a dead person.
No.930814
>>930799
>>930802
The lazy way:
>Brew a cup of tea
>Pour in some istant coffee
Done.
No.930836
I'm a huge sucker for floral or spice flavored teas, and I know of a great tea shop that rarely fails to satisfy with perfectly balanced blends. I know it's not considered patrician but it's what I go for.. When it comes to pure teas, it's pretty much Yunnan or Pu Erh or bust. Darjeeling I find very overrated and inferior to both, no matter the flush. It's not bad by any means, but I just don't see how it came to be seen as the champagne of teas.
No.930839
I am not into tea, just drink whatever shitty tea I find at supermarket. My favourite is Baihao Yinzhen, like it's peachy aroma. If I want some red tea I drink Hong Mao Feng and I have a disc of Puer I am slowly grinding.
No.930840
I'll sometimes have a little bit of tea that's gone lukewarm or room temp left in my pot so I put it in a glass bottle and refrigerate it for when it's hot. Luckily it's actually winter and I'll be enjoying my favourite teas all season like, genmaicha, oolong, jasmine, and a variety of Chinese black teas. Cold barley tea is excellent too and I pretty much enjoy any cold tea that doesn't have any additives.
>>930836
>Pu Erh
I recently ran out of my nice Pu Erh from Yunnan province and it was tremendously good.
No.930842
>>930839
You're certainly into it more than I am. I still just drink Tetley tea bags through pure momentum, since that was what my family drank every single morning and "learn about proper teas" has never made it as high as I would like on my to-do list.
No.930844
Tea bags are a scam, they fill them with sand and dried grass to pad them out. The brittish invented it.
No.930846
>>930844
Some grasses can actually make decent enough flavor. What the brits do is fill it with dirt and sawdust.
No.930850
>>930846
>>930844
They do the same thing with sausages too!
No.930851
>>930844
I don't think they do that, and I find most of it undrinkable because the tiny cuts of poor quality leaves taste like ass to even the cheapest loose leaf tea.
No.930853
>>930840
I got a hold of an African-grown type of Pu Erh one time, it's called Satemwa and is pretty much a more agressive form of the original, to the point I'd say it should go with milk, which I would never recommend otheriwise. The OG is better for sure, but I have to admit tasting an african attempt was interesting. Africa is better known for coffee farming and the Satemwa tasting stronger makes sense in that context.
No.930854
I like to have Japanese green tea. I also enjoy a few black varieties. I generally like it warm, but cold-brewed iced tea is great. I've been looking to try something new, but nothing's caught my eye yet.
No.930855
>>930783
A nice tippy Assam brewed perfectly is great in any weather.
No.930856
What constitutes as Green tea anyways? Eukalyptus? Mint? Dried celery? Anything that was green once?
No.930857
>>930853
>more agressive form of the original, to the point I'd say it should go with milk, which I would never recommend otheriwise.
That must be some powerful nigger tea you've got anon. Where'd you get that stuff?
>>930856
Tea that is unoxidized.
No.930858
>>930856
All true tea, whether black, green, or white, is the same plant. Infusions made from other plants, like mint or rosehip, are not true teas.
The differences between the different kinds of real tea are the result of how the leaves were processed.
No.930860
>>930857
>hat must be some powerful nigger tea you've got anon. Where'd you get that stuff?
To go full disclosure, I go for the Palais des Thés in Paris, rue vieille du temple. They've got a truly prime selection for all tastes, perfumed or pure, common to really high-end stuff, and the nigger tea was just one of their rare collections I was curious to try. If you're a fellow frenchfag, you ought to at least try it out.
I know what you're thinking, it must be expensive as shit, right ? Well, it's certainly more expensive than supermarkets, but I recently come across another Parisian tea shop and they went for easily two to three times the price. So considering I never tasted better tea anywhere else, the Palais des Thés is amply worth the cost in my opinion.
No.930861
>>930856
Leaves from the Camellia Sinensis plant that have undergone the appropriate processing.
No.930864
>>930860
Interesting, cheers. I'm not French and I always seem to get my teas from a lot of different sources, but there's no Palais des Thés where I'm from, although they apparently deliver worldwide. What I'd really like to do is to have my own tea garden.
No.930872
Ran out of Darjeeling. I'll go through the Oolong that I have left before I get more tea. I have yet to try multiple infusions. Any advice on how to store used tea leaves? I'll make this Oolong last for a little while.
No.930873
>>930783
I usually drink plebeian teabags: English Breakfast, Russian Caravan or Australian Afternoon. If I drink loose-leaf it's a mix of Russian Caravan and Madagascan Vanilla. I don't mind iced tea, but even in hot weather a nice warm cuppa always hits the spot.
No.930875
>>930872
Dry them, then store them somewhere cool. Alternatively freeze them while wet.
No.930876
I drank some turkish black tea once. Is it plebian to put sugar in it? I guess the bitterness is an aquired taste. Other than that, rosehip when I was a kid and some mint tea when I get sick.
No.930877
>>930876
If the tea is so foul that you need sugar for it - it's not plebian.
No.930879
>>930872
Those leaves look like disjointed people. Is this one of these weird psychological ink spot images?
No.930904
>>930864
A tea garden does sound like something I'd make for my ideal house, but I'm not certain it would be worth the hassle practically speaking.
Also, to put things into perspective when I'm sperging out about the palais des thés, I'm a big fan of visiting Florence and one of the must-see destinations is the Officina Profumo di Santa Maria Novella. It's an historic apothecary house attached to one of the four greatest churches in Florence. It mainly sells perfumes and beauty products in a really classy setting (it even shows up in the Hannibal movie, though just on a shitty CCTV), but they've got a comfy as shit tea salon in the back, with great service, just a bit shy of ceremonial. Pic related is one of the teas I bought from them, a mix of cinnamon, mace and cloves. Perfectly to my tastes as a perfumed tea fag. I love it, but mostly because of the tea salon itself, the tea can't really compete with the quality the palais des thés offers.
That said, I'm not sure I want to encourage worldwide shipping from them just because I happen to love their collection. That's probably overkill and too expensive for what it's worth. For reference, normal local prices are about 8€ for 100 grams if you don't go for the high-end stuff.
No.930907
>>930802
I already had days when I drank both black tea and coffee, and I survived it just fine.
No.930913
How many teapots do you own anon?
>>930904
>I'm not certain it would be worth the hassle practically speaking.
Yeah, I'll save tea gardening for when I'm retired.
>one of the must-see destinations is the Officina Profumo di Santa Maria Novella.
Nice. I've always wanted to visit Florence and if I do I'll be sure to visit the Officina Profumo di Santa Maria Novella to enjoy a cup of their tea.
No.930914
>>930913
Oh, man, if you're going to visit Florence, do it by the end of January. The city is chock full of tourists most of the year, but the ass-end of winter is when you can enjoy notorious museums like the Uffizi and the Palazzo Pitti all by yourself, with barely anyone around. In any other time, you would just wait in line for half an hour to visit the Uffizi or the Galleria dell'Academia where they keep the Michelangelo's David. In January ? There's no line at all, come on in.
No.930928
I enjoy the white teas the most when I decide to have some tea.
>>930802
Caffeine is hard to reach cardiac arrest levels when drinking regular coffee or tea (or a mix) in an adult human because your body would begin to show signs of you reaching too high of a dose and most then stop drinking it. A few cups of recaf are fine.
No.930931
>>930928
>white tea
I've never had this what kind of flavor does it have?
How you do brew your tea /a/? Do you use a kettle with built in temperature control? A pot with a thermometer? Fancy tea pot/infuser? I've been looking for a kettle with temperature control beyond preset values but cannot find an affordable one.
No.930932
>>930931
> How you do brew your tea
Pour water in a cup with tea leaves, than pour tea into another clean cup. I measure temperature by the sound water makes in the kettle. Fancy stuff is for faggots.
No.930954
I like 'tea' a lot but that's just because it's common to drink it over coffee as a casual beverage where I grew up, especially during breakfast. Where should I start to stop drinking tea eaji moodo? Frankly I've only ever really had junkfood tea like Twining's English Breakfast and Lady Grey for the longest time so I really have no idea.
Also mugicha I guess but I don't know if that even really counts as tea, and I've had some matcha served at I think Rikugien which was really nice but I sure as hell won't be preparing that the proper way on a regular basis.
No.930955
>>930931
Whites taste a bit milder than green tea to me. My knowledge of tea is limited so it's hard for me to describe it in detail.
No.930956
>>930904
I've never really been into tea besides tea bags. My unhealthy soda addiction has always stopped me trying to seriously get into tea.
>>930931
I did drink white iced tea and sometimes drink plebeian teabag white tea. The taste is lighter/milder than black or green tea. But since ice tea is heavily sweetened, and the teabag type I use is a white tea/fruit mixture, you shouldn't put any trust in my opinion.
No.931004
>brush teeth twice a day every day
>still get yellow teeth because I do this thing where I take a sip and hold it in my mouth for 30 seconds while reading or watching something
>can't smile in public because my teeth are really, really yellow
>had to stop drinking tea and coffee completely
No.931005
>>931004
Don't drink saffron tea.
No.931008
>>930931
I currently use an electric kettle with temperature presets that was gifted to me. It's not great but it does the job. Eventually I'd like to get one of those Japanese water heaters, like a Zojirushi.
No.931021
>>930783
Considering the post quality since the last one, I hope most /a/nons choke on their drink.
No.931023
>>930932
>Fancy stuff is for faggots.
Says the Pleb that doesn't understand. Verily, while the average person will get "fancy" expensive kits to drink their tea, this is because they are consumerists. They buy frivolities because they think the products look nice, and for no other reason. In the past, those who had the money, and wished to let the world know, whether for their family's namesake, or for another reason, may spend on expensive kits, besides that they look nice. But, there is a clear reasoning as to the Patrician's purchase over the Pleb's purchase. Plebs like you wouldn't even consider image for their family's honor.
No.931049
>people that dont touch assam "because its too strong"
No.931052
>>931049
Assam is for English style milk tea. Darjeeling is for no milk pure tea.
No.931075
Reminder that the hardness of the water you use affects the taste of your tea.
No.931104
>>931052
Correct.
Though, Assam is also the only tea that's acceptable to have a teaspoon of condensed milk in.
No.931154
>>931075
>not using dew for your tea
No.931208
>>931052
Assam is perfectly fine on its own. When it's brewed perfectly, it even has a natural honey-like sweetness.
No.931240
I've been on and off brewing some hot Pine Nettle tea from the pine trees near my house. I enjoy the taste, the smell of pine is very homey to me. Allegedly, it provides a lot of vitamin c when boiled fresh, but that sounds like that spinach myth where it's true but vastly overstated. The local Walmart in my town has started carrying a brand of Southern Sweet Iced Tea called Milos. Dirt cheap and tasty, allegedly 0 calories. Doesn't matter to me. I dont like anything in my tea but tea, but that sweet tea is just the right amount. Normally I drink the bottled green tea when I can get it. If I'm brewing at home it's either cheap green tea or Oolong or a nice, aged Black tea I got from China. Still trying to find a nice brand of green tea though. My dad always drank it so the smell and taste is very nostalgic. Can't stand aromatics or mixed teas, or British teas like Earl Grey.
No.931241
>>931240
Also, as advice, never drink black tea while smoking a cigar. If you enjoy both, the taste is amazing, but the moment you stand up you will fall right back into your seat. Very powerful if you're unprepared.
No.931269
>>930913
I have three teapots. A large ceramic Chinese teapot, a medium metal pot from Australia, and a small Japanese teapot. I'd like to get a another nice teapot that has been locally made in Japan but I'm still thinking on what sort to get so hopefully an anon can share some of their teapot experiences here.
>>931240
Some of the Asian shops/restaurants around here sell bottles of all sorts of ice tea but the one's I've tried were pretty bad except for the Japanese stuff that are purely iced green tea without any additives.
No.931341
>>931240
>Southern Sweet Iced Tea called Milos. Dirt cheap and tasty, allegedly 0 calories. Doesn't matter to me.
Because it's just artificially flavoured water + artificial sweeteners. Real sugar and even HFCS always have calories. It's cancer, don't drink that mass produced piss for your own sake.
No.931344
>mfw I put two spoons of sugar in my tea
No.931354
>>930783
>What are anons drinking nowadays?
Juice.
No.931362
>>931344
Why not just drink soda?
No.931405
No.931406
>>931344
>mfw I put three spoons of sugar in my tea
No.931408
>>931341
I'm convinced it's not artificially flavored water because the ingredient list would legally need to be longer than just three items. Now hard to tell what's in the tea bags themselves, but that's a risk with any prepackaged item. Sucralose (Splenda) is the sweetnee used, which is a real bummer. I would say that I do think the amount of Splenda used is incredibly small as there is barely any sweetness to it. I'd still reccomend it over any other premade sweet or unsweet tea (barring Milos Unsweet if you can find it or better yet Japanese Green Tea). I hate to sound like a Milos Shill, but it is legitimately the only good Southern Sweet Iced Tea bottle I've ever tasted. I had to double check the ingredients because I thought it was Sucrose and not Sucralose. I don't know why they have to cling to the 0 calorie crap with sucralose whens ghey could switch to sucrose and take the 10 or so calories that imparts. I doubt that it would significantly change the taste for the worse either.
No.931413
>>931408
Update; I'm retarded. There are two types of sweetened tea. There is the 0 calorie sucralose and the 75 calorie cane sugar. Mixed them up.
No.931469
>>931408
I've never had milo's, most premade sweet teas just don't taste right or throw in a lot of sugar. I'll take your word for it and try it out sometime but I'll probably stick with drinking homemade sweet tea.
No.931502
Tea has been something of a soothing peace of mind ritual for me for years, but all I've ever had is shitty supermarket bags of tea. My late uncle used to talk about the stuff he'd drink overseas, where you could actually tell that they were using leaves rather than crumbled detritus, and I'd love to try it. But I don't even know where to get nicer stuff like that. There's a health food store down the road with a loose-leaf tea section, but it all looks pretty much the same as what I have in Lipton teabags. The nicest food place I can think of is Whole Foods, but I don't know if their stuff is actually quality or just marketed to hipsters.
How do I find good tea in America?
No.931508
>>931502
>How do I find good tea in America?
Online obviously. I'd give recommendations but I'm not American.
No.931691
Yep, nothing beats a Twinings's English Breakfast at the end of a long day.
No.931700
>>931502
Online is the easy place. If you are in or near a reasonably sized city (more than 100,000) there may be a small local tea shop that sells whole leaf tea including imported varieties.
>>931691
Is that milk or cream? Do people put cream in tea?
No.931706
>>931700
Milk, I've know people to put cream in tea, but it's not common. I guess it adds some richness without overpowering the tea flavour.
It's another terrible tea by most people's measure, but I truly love earl grey with plenty of milk.
No.931778
>>931700
>Do people put cream in tea?
Its commonly done in East Frisian Tea drinking.
No.931785
Found this at the local Chink market.
It's some kind of Japanese diet tea that comes in a huge quantity of bags that make 1L of tea each. Quite possibly one of the best herbal teas I've ever randomly stumbled upon. Has that woody kukicha flavour. You can put it in the fridge and make iced tea also.
No.931800
>>931502
>Lipton teabags
>where you could actually tell that they were using leaves rather than crumbled detritus, and I'd love to try it.
Are you really going to betray Liptan?
No.931801
>>931800
I'd use Liptan to make marbled eggs.
No.931802
>>931502
And here's the original Lip-tan/Liptan oneshot.