Tea

Well some tea is better when you brew it at like 80° rather than boiling. You can "burn" green tea for example, and it gets even more bitter.

Mainly just brew it and enjoy it. If it's weak leave it longer, etc.. It's up to you really. If it tastes like shit to you then why drink it?

Mind elaborating on the "there's more to it" part?

Okay, thanks.

If you like the taste then it's good for you. Why would you give a fuck about anything else?

If I'm doing something, I'd like to get good at it.

How does one get good at drinking tea?

Very few people in life actually take tea seriously, it's not something we can talk about openly to others without them thinking we're strange.

If someone were obsessed with cars that'd be considered normal, actually it's highly looked up upon.

I work at a warehouse distribution center where guys are smoking cigs and chugging energy drinks all the time, I feel like the black sheep here.

That's what I'd like to find, too.

I don't give a shit about what others will think about me being serious about tea, I just want to know how do I get good at it.

youtube.com/watch?v=5Z9dFef_VGQ

Or just drink tea like a normal person.

I refuse to.

It's not about "getting good". It's about becoming more knowledgeable. Things like which tea is good for what problems, or which tea produces what effect on your body. Then it's also about taste and figuring out which tea you prefer. If you buy loose tea, there are thousands of options.. And you'll come to know which you like best. You'll go to China and buy tea flattened and packaged in a sort of cake and so on.. You don't "get good" at tea. You just make it an area of interest / expertise.

Then you can always become a weirdo tea snob and import cakes from China

youtube.com/watch?v=MtWVkv_dw_c

Becoming good at drinking tea is the most autistic thing ive read in a while, find a good store and dive into whatever kind of tea you like most, but generally spoken, if you cant enjoy and discern medium/bad quality tea you cant appreciate and notice the increased quality of toptier teas

This is what I'm looking for, how do I get more knowledgable about the topic? Should I just read tons of articles or whatever on internet, some books etc. or?

This is bull start to finish, tea having health benefits is an unproven claim, you drink tea for enjoyment, with the only benefit being it making you feel good, also tea is very specific and doesnt include herbal infusions of any sort.

Test different tea types and learn which ones you like. There is no subjectively best tea.
You can't learn taste from reading.

Aight, thanks user.

books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=YfmOqLrTLJAC&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=Tea health &ots=5sNtrpICYR&sig=Yad5qMoXvogDtTPea9KvsR_DzAI

books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qYwbBxD6jh0C&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Tea health &ots=gsEAZP3srg&sig=QUKC9ahFSdVJRl4hvsQlCq9IAAo

tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10408690390826464

books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=ZEG8ctPmiWMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=Tea health &ots=hxksofES3s&sig=ab9J_iIvXht5LoeWrQrqN94yDck

>how do I git gud?
Depends a bit on what teas you are interested in
Chinese teas? Get a ~100ml gaiwan and sample a lot of the main varieties and subvarieties and drink gongfu style
On jap and indian teas Im not super knowledgeable but they're usually drunk closer to western style.

With time and experience you'll see what kinds of tea you like more and find more interesting.

As for sources of info the western internet is kinda scarce but teachat is a nice community, teadb.org has some info mainly on puer and yancha the rest of it is mainly blogs, i follow mainly pu related blogs because thats my thing, marshaln, 2dog's blog, oolongdrunk, oolong owl, cwyndeathbytea

Thanks, user!

There's also the pastebin from the threads, it really needs some work, when I wrote the part I wrote I was still beginning, but there is still some useful info in there
pastebin.com/SWNA0rLX

youtube.com/user/chinalifeteabar/videos

Watch Don's videos, he knows his shit.

That's TEA-a-TIM-eh

well taste is not the only thing i enjoy about drinking tea
the whole charade is relaxing and requires attention thats what i like the most about drinking tea
gongfu of course
also how the tea makes you feel is very important

you start tasting different teas and you will develop a certain taste

in the beginning i drank stuff which was pretty shitty when i look back
so don't sweat it

watch some of his videos
great content youtube.com/user/chinalifeteabar/videos

how long does whatcha take to ship to the states?

The bad tea will have a evil mustache on it.

I posted that literally four posts above you.

I think any tea can be brewed gongfu style. Or any style for that matter. Taste will vary of course, but that's the magic of it.

I know that, but teas with a lot of broken leaf ie. indian teas tend to give out in only a couple infusions before they become kind of unpalatable or too weak so I prefer doing it closer to western

Fuck this is aggravating.

How important is giving the leaves room to expand in western style brewing? I'd imagine that being in the water for longer would make it less of an issue as with the shorter steep time of gong fu.