Tea thread

Have I fucked up by drinking Bigelow all this time? I never see it mentioned so I wonder if I need to upgrade my taste.

I've always thought it tastes like drinking perfume.

probably Chinese green tea or a discount roasted oolong, like a shui xian. check out the sea dyke brand of that oolong, found at most Asian markets.

it's not bad but your definitely limiting yourself. it's like only drinking PBR your whole life and thinking that's the extent or beer flavors.

Well, what tea are you brewing and how exactly are you brewing it?
A lot of teas are very subtle in flavor especially when compared to a black tea bag. But also you just might not be using enough leaf or something. Or you could have old-ass stale tea.

The default for Chinese restaurants (in the USA) is usually jasmine tea. Some good Chinese places will offer a variety though.

Chinese teas are generally a more subtle flavors from more seninsis dominant leaves where as twinnings are a much more assam dominant hybrid. That being said I've run into this A LOT especially in american tea shops. The most likely cause is old as fuck tea. Tea especially good tea has a shelf life of about 1 year depending on exposure and containment (pu-erh can last longer if it's still bricked). A lot of these tea shops will never replace their tea until they've sold all of it. And their main clientele is not tea drinkers it's grandmas and women who will buy every floral smelling faux tea on the shelf before they touch the simple majesty of gunpowder green or a complex oolong. But of course they'll open every tea container take a whiff and further oxidize them all before moving on. Another thing is that a lot of these tea pop ups will buy shitty grade teas since americans can't seem to tell the difference. Leaving the affluent tea drinkers a minority within a minority and an insignificant consumer group. This is ironically where a lot of english teas and bagged teas tend to shine. Since they're likely less old and better preserved than the tea in the loose leaf tea bins in your local granny cafe and probably of a medium quality. Because they're not made for americans they're made for regular tea drinkers who have choices and market presence albeit in other countries.

>discount roasted oolong, like a shui xian
yeah literally had a tin that said "refined chinese tea" tasted like oolong but the leaves were dark black and dense. It's not bad, can't expect them to break out the good stuff for people who probably just get "hot tea" as novelty. Also seen jasmine a lot
contrary popular opinion I like bigelow a lot for a low-medium tea as long as it's not one of their infusions. It's the foil pouches they have the bags in I think it keeps their tea so vibrant. Freshness helps but it's not making their the grade of tea higher.

go to a place like David's Tea and get yourself some proper, fresh, flavorful loose leaf's.

stop ordering your tea from dustychinesehippy's.com, those kinds of people get off on their tea being 10 years old, when that only means it's fucking stale and flavorless

This is what I suspected, thanks for the insight.

twinnings loose leaf is decent for the price. The best loose leaf is from specialty stores but STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM TEAVANA unless you want hot brown kool aid

I'm looking at David's Tea and I'm confused as to why you called it proper tea. It's all very Teavana tier looking, mate.

seconded they're basically the same I would even wager their stock is probably fresher than your average "tea and spice" bulk store or worse yet the bulk section of your local co-op. Although I would not touch them because they're mostly about branding which generally means they don't have a product that can really bare scrutiny. If they don't list a grade, a date, and a region of production you can almost guarantee it's shit. Bulk teas of all qualities are still auctioned in a lot of places (that's land is all not owned by a conglomerate) which means they should have paperwork. If they're not showing it they're not proud of it or don't care about the product enough to pass it on.

what snacks should i eat with my pu'er

Am I wrong in thinking that David's Tea is absolute shit? Can't say I'm super knowledgeable about tea but I walked past one of them yesterday and it smelled foul, the same kind of sickly sweet as Lush or something (seems like the same demographic too desu). In contrast I remember walking into Harney and Sons in NYC which smelled goddamn incredible, though I haven't tried any of their stuff

So for white tea, what color should I be aiming for? If it becomes too dark brown, I notice that it's way too strong and causes issues with my throat, while at yellow it's pretty bland.

It's not hard to stay away from Teavana since Starbucks is going to close all the stores.

>it tastes incredibly bland compared to a simple Twinnings tea bag.

Twinnings bags taste like fucking soap when they taste like anything at all, what the h*ck?

I'd go with pretzels. I recently had some blueberry pretzel sticks with W2T's "You 2 Can Help" and it was a strangely delicious combo. The tea itself already has a nice buttery mouthfeel in the mid-steepings, but the pretzels somehow augmented it even further. It was one of my most memorable tea sessions this year.

I actually like most white teas at a darker color, some can get a bit aggressive though. Personally, most white teas I've had (bai mudan) taste great at both sides of the spectrum. I tend to get less flavor out of the few shoumei and silver needle that I have when brewed at a lighter color.

What's the lazy method where you poor loose tea leaves directly into the cup/mug then refill with water when you get low? What should the ratio of leaves to water be for this method?

that's not really a method of brewing tea in any country I've ever heard of. The tea leaves in the cup meme is from putting tea in a pot which in the yesteryears didn't have screens so you'd get leaf fragments passed from the pot to the cup. This would never be a problem with whole leaf teas. Anyways the ratio of tea to cup is a teaspoon and yes that's why it's called a teaspoon.

Grandpa style. Ratio is "a lot of leaves."

what's a reasonable quality green tea likely carried by regular grocery stores? Or is that a contradiction in terms? I've just been drinking lipton out of bags.

lads, how do I get into tea? I enjoy a cup of tea every now and again, but in general I think it tastes kind of bland compared to coffee. Granted, I did have an excellent tea at one point, but I forgot the name of it, so I know it's not all bland. What am I doing wrong?

>that's not really a method of brewing tea in any country I've ever heard of.
A lot of people get lazy with gaiwans and just sip from it directly, using the lid to filter the leaves.

Bagged tea? Shit's going to be pretty weak and bland compared to a strong cuppa joe.
You might want to try stronger teas to start with, blacks or puerhs or something.

that did come to mind but I disregarded it because I've always regarded it as more of a bowl than a cup (not that the distinction is more than a matter of size and purpose in a lot of instances) also the lacking mention of a lid.
yeah I can't think of anything that fits the bill besides PG Tips, Lipton, Bushells, (unilever) they separate the teas by grade and give each sort of product grade a brand. I don't know what order they're in though. Tazo sources pretty good green teas but I almost never see a box of just green tea they always have to add an infusion of something else. Of those I would say "zen" is pretty good. (a lighter green tea, spearmint, and lemongrass) It won't help you really get a pallet for teas though.

Twinning's loose teas are also tolerable, and widely available.

get a marrocan mint plant or a regular one and buy black tea and make tchai on coals

you should see my pile of those tins. That being said it's not what comes to mind when someone asks for a "green tea" just like lapsang souchong is not what most people want when they ask for a black tea. I feel like it's a special sort of distinction.

America is probably the worst thing to ever have happened to tea. The American culture not only neglected and rejected tea because of the British ruling across the sea, but Americans are the ones who introduced tea bags which further created the fall of tea.

Luckily it seems like loose tea is finally making a comeback, but it's a very slow process as most Americans around me are fat, lazy, and incredibly stupid to try anything beyond toxic energy drinks and sugar filled cotton candy flavored coffee.

>Teavana closing

Such a shame, that was the only business to reach the masses and educate them on loose bulk tea. Even though Teavana had shady business practices, and their teas contained pestisides that are illegal in many 1st world nations, but it was also way overpriced.

But it taught people that there is a world of tea beyond stupid shitty bags.

Actually, I'd argue Teavana did more damage to the reputation of loose leaf tea by making theirs super expensive for what really wasn't that good and had loads of non-tea filler. Part of getting more people to like loose leaf tea is showing them that buying decent-to-good quality loose leaf tea in bulk ends up not only better than tea bags, but also as cheap as or cheaper than tea bags.

The current perception of loose leaf tea is that it's a hassle to make and expensive compared to tea bags.

They actually fucked it up pretty bad, they sugar and flavour their teas, so when people try tea from elsewhere, they think it's bitter

> Not going to an asian market for teas

I never liked teavana, their teas are overpriced for their "quality", and it's mostly hype.

this. there's a lot of good resources out there on it.

what's a good Dan Cong Oolong store?

reminder that if you put milk or sugar in your tea you are negating the effects that tea has on your voice

>Dan Cong Oolong store
just googled it and got "yunnan sourcing" looks like they take their shit pretty seriously. I detect a slight amount pretension but I think it's more for the customers.

>effects that tea has on your voice

Wut?

Tea is good for your voice, if you're a singer. the heat from the water expands your vocal chords, which helps your vocal range. Milk on the other hand produces mucus, which clings to your vocal chords and makes you sound worse. not sure about sugar but i've been told that it's bad.

Actually, right now is the best time to go to teavana. All their green tea is on sale because they don't expect anyone to drink it, the same with their few traditional teas.

FYI, if they don't sell their tea next year when they close down, they HAVE to throw it away. They even have to do inventory beforehand so there's no tea they can't account for. It's all going in the trash.

that landfill is going to smell insane when it rains

>Milk on the other hand produces mucus
user, that's a common myth.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2154152

their tea is really bad . even for novelty flavored teas which i enjoy sometimes, they are really wacky tasting and the cost does not match the quality at all

haha thanks user. I'm a YS fan but wanted to see if there was something else.

How on earth do I recognize good quality tea? What do I look for? Also, any recommended resources to learn more about tea?

So I'm gonna get loose leaf tea from a shop near me, I have a filter already wat kind should I get if I want to do iced tea?

ATM I've been using a red tea I got while in chinkland and adding 2 tea spoon of sugar and some honey per bottle, if I make just want hot tea I just drink hot tea

I'd add some lemon or lime juice and ginger for iced tea. Some fresh mint if you are going for that summer feeling

In my opinion iced tea is the best time to get flavored tea. Any black or white tea flavored with vanilla or jasmine makes amazing iced tea. Also instead of just adding 2 teaspoons of sugar make some simple syrup. Basically just throw some sugar in a pot and add just enough water to cover the sugar and then heat until it is completely transparent. That way your sugar mixes in properly and you don't get granuals on the bottom of the tea.

I'll take that into consideration when i make my next batch

time to buy some lemons and ginger, not a fan of mint flavors in my tea though.

As Teavana falls off the face of the Earth, I wonder if it'll create a vacuum in the market. Will other companies fill their spot? Will smaller family owned companies start popping up? The demand for tea didn't fade, every year the sales increase globally.

Teavana were fools to gravitate their business in malls... Such fools.

Idk I have a feeling it'll be a weird sort of time where a lot of pop-ups with low quality teas will try. I don't think the american tea culture has high enough demands to really bolster any sort of quality increase.

Such a shame, but I shouldn't be surprised, my fellow Americans have some of the lowest standards of quality food in the world. America needs to seriously die off and collapse, we need to rebuild this piece of shit from the ground up. The culture here is just too far gone

Poke around World of Tea for general tea info or Marshaln's blog for a focus on wulong/puer.