For instance, white tea is possibly the "weakest" tea, as in you almost need to use distilled water otherwise the flavor of the water overpowers the tea itself. It's still a very good tea, but the flavor is almost absurdly subtle.
I usually prefer more robust teas, though, like Lapsang Souchong, which is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Or Assam, but mostly in blends or single cultivar teas like Irish breakfast tea.
With Irish breakfast tea, though, I prefer brewing it to intensely bitter levels then all the cream and sugar it can take. That's about the only time I use cream and sugar in tea. Otherwise it is maybe a bit of milk to lighten it. Usually just black. (Or green which can sometimes use a bit of honey.)
Lately I've been enjoying Bigelow Green Tea with Pomegranate. I used to not like green tea, but I'd like to try more. I think I'll try the Lemon, Mango, and Turmeric ones.
I got some Earl Grey & Ginger green tea from the Cameron Highlands; The EG has a bold distinct flavor, but not too acidic and the Ginger is notable, but not overpowering, even better with honey. The tea is great, The Cameron Highlands themselves, not so much. Their roads are fucked with traffic and all the natural attractions are on what are essentially 4x4 trails going through hillside farms.
Tea arrived, unfortunately I can't just edit this post over and over again.
BE06# Small Golden Needle Yunnan Black Tea
Feels like a much more mature version of another golden needle tea I have. It's not as fruity, has almost no bitterness, and has a more complex flavor. The post-steep leaves also smell amazing.
I haven't tried the cheaper black teas to compare in terms of value, but at 17c/g you can probably find something else you'd like.
Note: The bubbles are a result of tea saponins which are natural surfactants. It's normal.
I also tried the Jasmine pearls (S01#) no pics but it's amazing. I'll also have to compare it to the cheaper one later but it's a real winner. Sweet, floral, natural jasmine flavor & scent. Tastes better than the stuff you get at Chinese restaurants. I'd definitely buy more.
Lately I've been enjoying Bigelow Green Tea with Pomegranate. I used to not like green tea, but I'd like to try more. I think I'll try the Lemon, Mango, and Turmeric ones.
I just finished my bag of trà sen, which is a Vietnamese lotus tea. I’ve had ones which are just lotus but this was a mixture of lotus and green tea. Pretty GOATED imo, kind of like an Asian equivalent of earl grey (if u think abt it).
Back to regular old Thai Nguyen GREEN TEA. Once I finish this bag I’m thinking of cracking into a cake of Chinese 普洱 (poo-er) tea but I’m a bit intimidated.
Something I’ve noticed drinking all this green tea is that it’s absolutely delicious. However, green tea in the bag tastes like ASS. I got a mate out of Chinese who admonishes me strictly to NEVER drink from a teabag as according to him it’s just dust and shit swept up from the factory floor. I’m not sure if it’s primarily the grade which makes green tea bags taste like ass, or if the green tea we get in the west is a different style to the Chinese and Vietnamese loose green teas I’m used to drinking.
I like lots of different teas, usually some special blends/mixes from one of the indie tea shops near me. Though will admit, the chinese black teas have a certain way about them.
Gunpowder and Iron Buddha are delights, with a bit of sugar (optional)
I just finished my bag of trà sen, which is a Vietnamese lotus tea. I’ve had ones which are just lotus but this was a mixture of lotus and green tea. Pretty GOATED imo, kind of like an Asian equivalent of earl grey (if u think abt it).
Back to regular old Thai Nguyen GREEN TEA. Once I finish this bag I’m thinking of cracking into a cake of Chinese 普洱 (poo-er) tea but I’m a bit intimidated.
Something I’ve noticed drinking all this green tea is that it’s absolutely delicious. However, green tea in the bag tastes like ASS. I got a mate out of Chinese who admonishes me strictly to NEVER drink from a teabag as according to him it’s just dust and shit swept up from the factory floor. I’m not sure if it’s primarily the grade which makes green tea bags taste like ass, or if the green tea we get in the west is a different style to the Chinese and Vietnamese loose green teas I’m used to drinking.
I haven't tried the green tea I ordered yet, it's a Bi Luo Chun from Yunnan, so I can't say how green tea is supposed to taste other than that Japanese green tea is generally very savory which I don't find appealing.
But, tea bags, made primarily of nylon and other plastics have a small enough mesh size that tea dust and fannings don't escape while steeping. I'm not entirely sure if breaking tea leaves up inherently causes more tannins to leech out per unit of time, but it does cause the tea to infuse faster so you can end up over-steeping. I haven't used a tea bag in a long time, but if dust falls through the bags and into the tea that can cause your tea to become even more bitter over time as the dust continues leeching tannins into the tea. Green tea you get in the west is probably sourced from China still. It's just from cheap areas that produce less desirable tea due to less care taken when processing and worse conditions for producing tea or whatever.
tl;dr I'm not sure if breaking tea leaves up makes the tea worse, but it does change the conditions for steeping it.
tl;dr Tea bags are bad, microplastics and the glue used isn't healthy either
tl;dr Tannins make your body less capable of absorbing iron, stay healthy.
I've since tried 2 more teas since my order
A Primarily, great value for a raw pu-erh that's been aged this long. A normie would feel safe drinking this tea, in spite of it having some complexity and unfamiliar flavors.
B- Good, no off flavors. Slight bitterness that can be rectified with the tiniest amount of sweetener. Given the price of shipping though, it doesn't compete with the more expensive Jasmine I got.
I figured I'd create a Google document to save my tea on so I can remember what I like and don't like. I'm pretty sure I won't pwn myself by posting the published web page version.
The only cool thing really is showing how shipping really eats into the pricing differences of tea, at least on the low-end where I tend to shop.
Also the letter grades are mostly relative to pricing, or at least the current order.
I'm not entirely sure if breaking tea leaves up inherently causes more tannins to leech out per unit of time, but it does cause the tea to infuse faster so you can end up over-steeping.
I don’t think it’s oversteeping as such because it just tastes different. A lot of the green tea I make myself is oversteeped because I’m just eyeballing the amount of tea (sometimes it’s too much) not so controlled about the water temperature and I don’t decant out of the teapot, it’s just continuing to steep until I drink the whole pot. Yeah it can be bitter if oversteeped. OTOH the green tea tea bags, to me, taste earthy and shit.
There are ball-shaped infusers for single cups if you don't want to bust out an entire teapot. Unfortunately the smaller ones won't let the tea leaves unfurl completely, so they get a bit compacted.
I guess it's a matter of preference. I find teabags to be a pain in the ass, personally; I have a teabag tea that I cut open and steep loose leaf because the plastic sachet makes it infuse poorly.
Feels like a much more mature version of another golden needle tea I have. It's not as fruity, has almost no bitterness, and has a more complex flavor. The post-steep leaves also smell amazing.
There are ball-shaped infusers for single cups if you don't want to bust out an entire teapot. Unfortunately the smaller ones won't let the tea leaves unfurl completely, so they get a bit compacted.
I guess it's a matter of preference. I find teabags to be a pain in the ass, personally; I have a teabag tea that I cut open and steep loose leaf because the plastic sachet makes it infuse poorly.
I meant that it's easier to preload a dozen tea bags when you're travelling; you have your thermos of hot water, you have your tea bag and a packet of biscuits, you don't need to go to a service station or Maccas, you can just pull over and have a cuppa witha minimum of fuss.
Also, try the paper satchels, they are so much better than the nylon ones.
For posterity, even if none of them are spectacular.
Letter Grade: C+
Smells a tiny bit like a ripe pu-erh. Reminds me of an extremely generic black tea you would find in a tea bag. $4 brick that cost $5.25 in shipping. It's cheap tea with little to offer.
Letter Grade: D
The smell is alright, but the leaves are kinda broken up and the taste isn't there whatsoever. Fullchea has a silver needle cake that's cheaper (per gram) and better. It's not undrinkable but there's no reason to buy this.
Letter Grade: B-
Maybe I should've taken more care to break it apart, but for an ultra-value white tea, It's about as basic as it gets. It's inoffensive and comes in 50g mini-bricks pressed into six pieces.
The value proposition is carrying the grade here.
Oi, I'm about to do my various shoppin' today and would love a recommendations of something spicy. I like black pepper, ginger, etc. and had tried a loose leaf roybus before and enjoyed it. IDK if Roybus means anything to anyone tea is not my usual wheel house.
Have you (or other posters) tried these tea bottles which seem popular with Chinese fobs? I’ve seen old Chinese guys with some robust looking ones but the ones I see for sale all look like they’re marketed towards 20 year old women (with matching flower decals). I also wonder about the tea they use given it just steeps indefinitely.
I like black pepper, ginger, etc. and had tried a loose leaf roybus before and enjoyed it. IDK if Roybus means anything to anyone tea is not my usual wheel house
