I’ve always wanted to get into bonsai, but the amount of patience needed for it is beyond me.
Also Japanese Tokoname Teapot by Shoryu I’ve fallen in love with a pot already. I’ve loved tenmoku style stuff since idk when and I want this so bad.
Tenmoku style is one of the greatest styles i agree. I know the pot doesn’t really make a difference and its probably all in my head but my Reiho pot has a thick patina from all the Bohea i drink and i swear it gets better with each cup
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Yeah I’m in the skeptical camp for improving flavors, but looks wise a well patinaed pot is a thing of beauty in and of itself and I’d love to own one.
Another thing that I used to be into but quit a number of years ago was pipe tobacco, and there a patina is something that’s usually sought after in meerchaum, and regular briar pipes for it’s look, and did affect flavor when built up on the inside as well.
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My biggest dilemma when sourcing teas is finding stuff that i trust wasn’t sprayed with stuff.
Its difficult to find the rarer good stuff that you know is also clean.
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Yup, I’m sometimes worried about pesticides in my tea, but at this point what hasn’t been sprayed that I’ve put in my mouth you know?
I’d love to find stuff produced in a more non hazardous chemical use method, idk if that would be considered organic since there’s no real legal definition when discussing tea.
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Actually, teavivre has the best bang for the buck longjing around! You gotta hit $1 a gram to beat it.
I have a sheng guy that I buy direct from that lives in Hong Kong. Youre gonna spend 3 digits on a cake though.
Perhaps in fall, we could split one. Im all into spring tea for now. Lishan should be here any day. Pretty bad harvest this year though. I still bought a jin 
Where do you get your dancong? I am convinced that no other tea is doped more often than dc. Ive heard of people straight up spraying perfume on it. I only get mine from tea habitat, as i know how well she curates her stuff.
As someone that did fall pretty far down the rabbit hole on yixing, i am now in the camp of gaiwan and done. I spend my money on the best leaf i can. I want to taste it, not a conglomerate of everything ive put in a pot.
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Dude YES, I drink 2 hot green teas with ginger daily.
My favorite. Bigelow. Old school. Straight forward.
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oof, I don’t know if I’ll have the money by then, no job currently. but a cake does sound tempting.
Currently most of my Dan cong I get from yunnan sourcing because I trust him to get the goods, and he does EU MRL testing for pesticides maximums. which is good enough for me.
I understand the sentiment of having one tool for the job, though I just want one yixing pot, that’s it. I don’t care to have one pot for each type of tea or anything like that, just would be cool to own one day. I did end up getting some gimmicky pot on aliexpress so lets hope I don’t get lead poisoning in the future fingers crossed
I really should try getting into grandpa style brewing I just don’t like the idea of tea leaves getting stuck in my mustach as I drink it.
God that sounds good right now, I’ve got some green teabags from stash, while not the highest quality it’s a quick good tasting green tea.
wish I had ginger though, later this week I’ll get some and try it out!
Also Bigelows lemon ginger plus is so good, it’s one of my favorites.
I’ll put that one on my list to try!
I’mma try to cold brew it cause I think it would be delicious Ice cold!
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I get assam tea from a local chain called sencha tea bar and make chai twice a day. I also enjoy a few different types of green tea
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I’ve always wanted to have the ingredients to make chai.
I usually have to go to the asian supermarkets to get some of the spices that a lot of the bigger chains don’t carry or at least don’t carry the fresh stuff which makes it so much better.
Masala chai is so good.
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Do you have any advice for someone that WANTS to be into tea?
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I wouldn’t say getting into teas is hard, but a lot of them can taste the same when you’re starting out which could lead you to getting bored or wondering what the hubbub is all about.
I would say start with flavored stuff, because usually you’ll find something you really like and it’s easier to taste and better on the palate rather than starting hard core on ti guan yin or dan cong, cause they’re very vegetal tasting and sometimes it just dominates your tastebuds.
something like a lapsang souchong, jasmine green tea, milk oolong at least those have distinctive flavors that are easy to get into.
I think other would have a different take and I’d love for them to chime in. @dizzo @Owlman @Sinister_Yoyos
I started off with flavored stuff and slowly starting getting into proper teas with samples, teavivre has a whole bunch of samples you can try out that are like a dollar which you can get plenty of without having to invest heavily on 200+grams of tea that you may not like.
White2Tea also does samples for aged and raw pu-erh so try them out.
And when you start looking for more well sourced teas I trust yunnan sourcing for a good amount of tea but that’s like if I’m ready to drop 100 or more since shipping is a cart killer.
You could start out with a simple gaiwan, and whichever cup you find interesting to look at because asthetic is also part of the enjoyment of gong fu tea. it’ll teach the difference in flavor based on how long or short you brew your tea for.
There’s grandpa style brewing which just relies on a tall glass that can handle heat which you just pour your tea and hot water and just sip out of it without needing to remove the leaves.
Then there’s your regular teapot for when you know how you like your tea strength and flavor which you just steep and remove all leaves at your preferrd time.
I think any tea is good tea, bagged or loose leaf as long as you enjoy it. I’ll never turn my nose at a good cup of yorkshire tea either.
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Ironic this post is on here. I just been getting into making tea the past week or so making a giant thermos everyday. I gotta read up on this thread. I don’t know much at all.
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Heck yeah, I got a 1 liter stanley thermos I just fill with tea and sip through out the day with.
That thing is a tank.
Favorite flavor to fill it with is earl gray.
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Thank you!! I’m going to give it a try!!!
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tbh a lot of people in Pakistan (where I’m from, and probably in other parts of south asia as well) just take plain black tea (like assam) and put a good ratio of milk in it, which is what I do. The spices aren’t necessary for it to be chai. There’s also a variation thats cooked in milk called doodh patti with no spices.
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https://nmteaco.com/ is my go to! Though I only drink green tea… absolutely love some of their stuff, recently been very into chai.
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