Darjeeling, Assam or .... ?

[Poulin]

Any tea drinkers here?

I enjoy a nice pot of Darjeeling or Nepalese First Flush FTGFOP in the afternoon or early evening. Assam Gold Tips TGFOP in the morning.

What's your fave cuppa? Where do you buy your leaves? What do you brew up in and drink out of?

[jrodriguez]

I'm not much of a tea drinker - I'm generally drinking coffee all day (Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company, or Stumptown out of Portland) but research once took me to Darjeeling. I happened to meet the owner of the Makaibari Tea Estate who gave me a cup of his first flush and some Yewu Green he'd gotten from China ... oh man that stuff was good!

[dloyd9999]

Yorkshire Red first thing in the am, Yorkshire gold in the midday, and I blend an Assam and Ceylon for evenings. I mean Ceylon too! I have 10 lbs of various vacuum-packed ceylon teas I bought when I was younger. I crack one open every now and then. :biggrin:

The whole family were/are tea drinkers... Except for the odd Tim Horton's coffee.

[ouch]

I've enjoyed tea for years, but have only recently gone completely over the edge with the discovery of puerh. I like green tea and I love oolong, but I don't see myself drinking much of them any more. Puerh is just so much better in every regard. :tongue_sm

Brewing? Yixing pots only.

[SepticTank]

Earl Grey for me all the way - not a perfumey one though (Twinings is like gargling with cheap aftershave) - my brand of preference is Bewley's of Ireland, or if I can't get that then Jenners of Edinburgh or Waitrose own label is acceptable...

Brew up in a cafetiere.... drink in a gallon mug....

[Poulin]

I've enjoyed tea for years, but have only recently gone completely over the edge with the discovery of puerh. I like green tea and I love oolong, but I don't see myself drinking much of them any more. Puerh is just so much better in every regard. :tongue_sm

Brewing? Yixing pots only.
Loose or cake? I keep some nice loose puerh around.

I also have some wonderful oolong.

I mainly drink Indian teas though.

[ouch]

Loose or cake? I keep some nice loose puerh around.

I also have some wonderful oolong.

I mainly drink Indian teas though.

No loose puerh for me. Anything good will be in a cake or brick form, or a few other traditional shapes.

I have a few mottos to which I'm certain people will take exception, but here goes-

Wine is a product made in France.
Tea is a product made in China.
:lol:

[Poulin]

No loose puerh for me. Anything good will be in a cake or brick form, or a few other traditional shapes.

I have a few mottos to which I'm certain people will take exception, but here goes-

Wine is a product made in France.
Tea is a product made in China.
:lol:

Well I can't say I agree with you entirely. I used to hang with with a sommelier who would have passionately argued that your statement was a bit narrow minded. And the tea merchant I deal with would say the same. However, your tastes are your own! YMMV, right? :001_smile

[Cheech]

Monkey Picked for a nice fermented tea, but I've recently discovered Mate. Mate is brutal at first but mellows quickly. Also gives a nice pick-me-up without the let-down of coffee.

[ouch]

I used to hang with with a sommelier who would have passionately argued that your statement was a bit narrow minded.

If he discussed the matter with me for an hour, he may have considered changing careers. :lol:

[ant4177]

I love Twinings Traditional Afternoon. A blend of Kenyan, Assam, and Ceylon teas. I have tried many teas and this is my favourite by far.

[ouch]

The only teas that don't agree with me are black. I can take a very heavily oxidized oolong, say a champagne formosa, but not a black.

With oolongs, I tend to enjoy the greener ones, such as the tung tings from Taiwan. There's such an amazing array of tea available, from sencha and gyukoro. pouchongs, pi lo chuns, etc. The list just goes on and on.

[Stauff]

Should be receiving a tin of Fortnum and Mason 'Breakfast Blend' (blend of pure Assam teas) next week. Otherwise it's Taylor's of Harrogate's pure Assam for me.

At work, I'll settle for PG tips bags (the Horror...) or gunpowder green.

[TimmyBoston]

Should be receiving a tin of Fortnum and Mason 'Breakfast Blend' (blend of pure Assam teas) next week. Otherwise it's Taylor's of Harrogate's pure Assam for me.

At work, I'll settle for PG tips bags (the Horror...) or gunpowder green.

Nice to see you around these parts Frederik...How are things?

[Stauff]

Thanks for asking, Tim. Doing much better than of late actually, and hoping to sort of 'come back' to B&B. Still love this place. :smile:
All the best and see you soon on these pages.

[dloyd9999]

Office Tea: King Cole. The only canadian tea left still packaged in cotton gauze. I can't stand the dusty paper thingies.

[GarageBoy]

I'm a sucker for Shou-Mei
Nice, light and crisp

[Magicpixie]

Ceylon or Kenyan anytime; Assam for extra flavour and Rooboos in the evening.

[kestrel]

Lipton's Yellow Label - plain black Indian tea of excellent quality, for every day.

Lapsang souchong - smoky and delicious, as an occasional treat!

Best Regards

Graham

[pezspencer]

Genmai Cha...

I like the roasted rice goodness in my green tea....

[Presently42]

From Earl Grey to Yerba Maté, tea to me is like bread to cheese.

Of course, of pure teas, a good Darjeeling is the king, with Assam the prince.

Oolong, sought after for many years after an initial degustation at a restaurant at New York, is a tea that I love and have been craving of late; I must get some more, as I drank all of my large tin in a few months.

Lipton does a tea in France alone called Saveurs de Soir. My uncle, a Belgian by birth, would pop over there every now and again; when he came back, he would bring me some of their réglise et menthe. Now THAT was a goodly tea. They also do an Infusion des Grands îles (I think) which is also tasty, though not as much as the former.

Wedgwood (yes, the same fine china makers) do an Earl Grey called Earl Grey Flowers, the petals being of a marigold. Possibly my favourite tea. We Montrealers are fortunate to find some at Winners every now and again. I once e-mailed Wedgwood, enquiring if they might send me some. Certainly, they would send me two tins — for $64.00 CAD! Thank you, messieurs, I'll wait for it to appear at Winners.

A similar tea to this can be had from Whittard of Chelsea, at much less of a price to get it here. I must do that....

Finally, I can't but highly recommend the teas of Taylor's of Harrogate and Kousmichoff. Much of their respective lines are carried at The Old Europe, a boon to we of the City of the Royal Mountain.

Long winded and personal; typical. Some day, one of the mods will ask me to be silent and a triumphant cheer will arise amongst the ranks of B&Bers.

[R-James]

I drink a few from taylors of harrogate and a local tea supplier near me, mainly green and white teas, but occasionally I go for something nice nd smoked.

Good old hobbes who was a member here, but hasn't posted in a long time, was a fountain of tea knowledge, and even has a blog about it out there on the net.

[ouch]

they would send me two tins — for $64.00 CAD!

This will make you feel better about the price-

http://www.houdeasianart.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_38&products_id=759

$355 for ten grams. :eek:

[Suzuki]

I used to drink a fair bit of black tea - earl grey, smokey russian blends with lapsang souchong, assams, darjeerlings, but some time on the tea threads here and a visit to my local Ten Ren with a staffer who was prepared to sit down and educate a round-eye has caused me to shift entirely away from black teas.

I now exclusively drink some pretty nice oolong, green (I especially like a nice jasmine) and pu-erh. I just found these teas more refreshing than the black teas I was drinking - also, these are all self-drinking teas so no need for milk or sugar.

In fact, I am down to one cup of coffee a day and generally sip on tea more or less continuously throughout the day.

Ouch - any good pu-erh recommendations? Do you prefer the raw or the cooked versions?

I was at the Pacific Mall the other day and there was a shop selling cakes of pu-erh - I went in and after convincing the owners that I knew what pu-erh tea was and that I was looking for something good, the vendor proceeded to crack out cakes with starting prices in excess of a couple of hundred dollars :eek:

[ouch]

One of the leading English speaking authorities on puerh is a member of this site, but he hasn't posted in four months. :frown:

The uncooked puerhs are where it's at, but I'm a sucker for the cooked, as well.

Speaking of tea, you may find this article amusing.
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/that-costs-what/

[Suzuki]

One of the leading English speaking authorities on puerh is a member of this site, but he hasn't posted in four months. :frown:

The uncooked puerhs are where it's at, but I'm a sucker for the cooked, as well.

Speaking of tea, you may find this article amusing.
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/that-costs-what/

I know of who you speak - he sent me several samples gratis of some excellent teas - I just need to figure out where to get them.

That article is hillarious - makes what I spend on tea seem like a joke.

The most I've ever spent on tea is $40 for 150 grams for some really amazing oolong.

I need to get a source for some good pu-erh.

[Proinsias]

I'm a fully fledged tea addict, just starting out in the shaving game.

Today I've had some cooked loose pu-erh, some tai ping hou kui green tea and some lovely dan cong oolong. My friend also just dropped me off a sample of some Japanese sencha from Paris which is looking good for tomorrow.

To answer the first post regarding vendors, if you like Darjeeling and Nepalese teas then Lochan Tea (http://www.lochantea.com) has some of the best I've ever tried.

For other teas Tea Spring (http://www.teaspring.com), Jing Tea Shop (http://www.jingteashop.com), Hou De Asian Art (http://www.houdeasianart.com), Hibiki-an (http://www.hibiki-an.com) and O-Cha (http://www.o-cha.com/) can't really be faulted.


One of the leading English speaking authorities on puerh is a member of this site, but he hasn't posted in four months.

Going by the name of Hobbes or something similar?

[ouch]

My only problem with tea is the nonsensical tonguetwister names. To me, they all sound like Du Wi Chi Dim Ahn Hao. :001_rolle

[Suzuki]

My only problem with tea is the nonsensical tonguetwister names. To me, they all sound like Du Wi Chi Tam Ahn Hao. :001_rolle

I like the English translations - Iron Monkey Godess of the Valley Rock Strong 1000 Year-Old Royal King's Sweat tea

[Hobbesoxon]

Afternoon all,

It's been a while! What better thread to get back into the swing of things? :)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'd recommend pu'er as being the most rewarding of teas, but it takes a little exposure to appreciate. Perhaps most good things are that way. I mean it with no snobbery or whatnot - it's just not the most accessible tea to get into, and I've got people all excited about pu'er drinking in the past, and then they've found it's really unpalatable. As ever, YMM, in a very real sense, V.

Fun, accessible, rewarding teas with which I like to woo people into drinking "proper tea" include a good Taiwanese wulong, or something light in that style (e.g., tieguanyin).

Once you're hooked, I move my hapless victims ever-closer to the ultimate destination: shengpu. :chinese:

There's a lot of rubbish out there, so always get recommendations from folk you trust. And never, ever shop at Whittards.

Ah, it's good to be back!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

[ouch]

Afternoon all,

It's been a while! What better thread to get back into the swing of things? :)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'd recommend pu'er as being the most rewarding of teas, but it takes a little exposure to appreciate. Perhaps most good things are that way. I mean it with no snobbery or whatnot - it's just not the most accessible tea to get into, and I've got people all excited about pu'er drinking in the past, and then they've found it's really unpalatable. As ever, YMM, in a very real sense, V.

Fun, accessible, rewarding teas with which I like to woo people into drinking "proper tea" include a good Taiwanese wulong, or something light in that style (e.g., tieguanyin).

Once you're hooked, I move my hapless victims ever-closer to the ultimate destination: shengpu. :chinese:

There's a lot of rubbish out there, so always get recommendations from folk you trust. And never, ever shop at Whittards.

Ah, it's good to be back!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Hobbes!!!!!!!

Forgive my YSLLC-like use of the exclamation mark, but it's a pleasure to see you here. Your ears must have been burning, as I just mentioned your name this very morning at tea chat.

Since your last visit, you've made at least one rabid convert to the world of puerh (expect a bill in the mail). I've had to hire a full time masseuse to divert my wife's attention from the endless stream of packages I've been sneaking in. What a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable hobby.

To think of all the money I squandered all these years on first growth Bordeaux.....


Great to have you back, and good luck in school.

[Hobbesoxon]

Howdy, sir - thank'ee kindly.

You know, I just put two and two together and noticed that your avatar is the same as someone who posts regularly at Adagio's TeaChat forum!

Another six weeks or so on the thesis and I'm a free man... ;)


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

[Spacegeezer]

I like a cuppa Dian Hong -- Yun Nan Gold usually -- going to spring for the pure gold next time - which better be soon! I ran out on Thursday! Yun Nan gold is pretty cheap and I'd say a good tea for switching someone that drinks bagged black teas onto looseleafs.

I'm very interested in Indian tea but haven't researched it yet. Also, I know several excellent Chinese tea shops around metro Vancouver but haven't noticed (haven't opened my eyes for 'em, either) a good Indian tea shop.

[Stauff]

Afternoon all,

It's been a while! What better thread to get back into the swing of things? :)

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I'd recommend pu'er as being the most rewarding of teas, but it takes a little exposure to appreciate. Perhaps most good things are that way. I mean it with no snobbery or whatnot - it's just not the most accessible tea to get into, and I've got people all excited about pu'er drinking in the past, and then they've found it's really unpalatable. As ever, YMM, in a very real sense, V.

Fun, accessible, rewarding teas with which I like to woo people into drinking "proper tea" include a good Taiwanese wulong, or something light in that style (e.g., tieguanyin).

Once you're hooked, I move my hapless victims ever-closer to the ultimate destination: shengpu. :chinese:

There's a lot of rubbish out there, so always get recommendations from folk you trust. And never, ever shop at Whittards.

Ah, it's good to be back!


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Mr. Hobbes, I will NOT shop at whittards, but how would you rate Taylors of Harrogate's loose leaf teas?

[ouch]

Howdy, sir - thank'ee kindly.

You know, I just put two and two together and noticed that your avatar is the same as someone who posts regularly at Adagio's TeaChat forum!

Another six weeks or so on the thesis and I'm a free man... ;)


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

Great news. I hope that translates into increased visits here.

I know you're a puerh guy, but do you have any thoughts on liu an or liu bao that you could share?

As far that somewhat befuddled chap on tea chat is concerned, I have a lot of impersonators. :001_rolle

[Hobbesoxon]

...how would you rate Taylors of Harrogate's loose leaf teas?

Above average! You can get better via the Internet, though. For a British vendor selling British-style teas of quality, try jingtea.com (i.e., not jingteashop.com, which is another company based in Guangzhou - though a decent one at that).


I know you're a puerh guy, but do you have any thoughts on liu an or liu bao that you could share?

Well, it's all down to personal taste, of course, but post-fermented teas never really did it for me. I've got mountains of shupu (my dear wife's) that I just can't appreciate to any advanced extent, even the V93. Liuan and liubao definitely fall in that category for me, as do all the "chatou" things. They can be nice: dusty, rich, bookish - but they're a limited genre, to my tastes at least. I've never found a liuan or liubao I would recommend to someone else, for example.

I bet MarshalN or the chaps at Chadao.blogspot.com would be able to recommend a good liuan, as I know they're into post-fermentation. I fear that the best you're going to find is Houde or Yunnan Sourcing...


Toodlepip,

Hobbes

[Suzuki]

Here's a duplicate of the post I made in the speakeasy scores thread - thought it would be of interest here.

I just got my first order from Scott at Yunnan Sourcing - great prices, great service. Here's a crappy picture (phone camera):

29981

I got the following:

2005 Yong Pin Hao Yi Wu Mountain Cake

2007 Guoyan Yi Wu Zheng Shan Wild Arbor

2002 CNNP Bing Dao of Menku

2008 Yi Wu Mountain Bamboo-Pressed

2008 Wild Trea of Dehong

The last two are Yunnan Sourcing "exclusives" the bamboo tea is pressed into lengths of bamboo and lightly cooked - according to Scott this adds different flavour elements/makes for a heavier tea. My sense is that its somewhere between a raw and cooked pu-erh. The scent is very different from the mushroomy, earthy scents you often get with a cooked pu-erh - this one smells lightly of citrus and slightly sweet (brown sugar, carmel), which is what I would expect stoving in green bamboo would add.

Scott was very helpful in making good suggestions to a pu-erh newbie and these were all picked from the list of good newbie teas/teas that represented good price:value. The teas I picked ranged from around 5 cents per gram (the bamboo tea) to 8 cents per gram (the 2002 CNNP). Scotts prices are often 25% to 50% less than what the same teas sell for Stateside.

Scott's prices are very competitive and his range is amazing.

[Hobbesoxon]

Niiiiice!