Tea Party

№56

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My gaiwan set finally arrived, so this morning I decided to do a trial run of gongfu-style brewing with some lapsang souchong. The basic idea is to do multiple short infusions with a high tea/water ratio, as opposed to one long infusion with a low tea/water ratio (western-style brewing.) The gaiwan itself is just a cup with a lid, you let the leaves steep for a couple seconds with the lid on and then pour out the tea into a pitcher while holding the lid slightly open to act as a strainer. It took me a couple tries before I could get the motion right.
The experiment was a partial success. My first infusion was way too long (20 rather than 10 seconds, you have to move quick) and tasted terrible. The next couple infusions were much better, and I managed to do about five before the leaves started to lose their flavor. The tea didn't taste all that different from what I was used to making in my teapot. I think that the real difference between gongfu and western-style brewing is the amount of control you have over how long the leaves steep. It probably works really well with more delicate oolong or green teas. Pu-erh is also popular with gaiwan fans, but I don't know much about it.
I would recommend anyone interested in trying this out to get a gaiwan by itself instead of a set, and to buy from a physical store if possible. The lid on mine doesn't fit perfectly, and while the pitcher is handy, the cups are way too small. Drinking tea out of a shot glass might be a real aesthetic experience if you're an enlightened 君子, but being a pleb I prefer a regular-sized teacup. Having a saucer, tea tray, and scale to weigh out the leaves beforehand (you're supposed to go by weight, not by teaspoon) would have also helped a lot.
I'm looking forward to trying this again, but for the time being I think I'm going to stick with western-style brewing. I bought some "blue elephant" тот самый (any Russian agorites know the story behind that name?) recently based on this thread and am curious to see what it's like.
 
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I'm terrible at estimating quantities, so I'd like to ask more experienced tea aficionados here: how long should an ounce of tea last if I drink two or three cups per day? A store near me sells some teas that look (or smell, rather) good, and I do quite enjoy tea, but I wasn't sure if $6 per ounce would end up being very expensive given the frequency of my habit. I'm fairly poor, so I have to be economical with my luxuries, unfortunately.
 
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Taleisin

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I'm terrible at estimating quantities, so I'd like to ask more experienced tea aficionados here: how long should an ounce of tea last if I drink two or three cups per day? A store near me sells some teas that look (or smell, rather) good, and I do quite enjoy tea, but I wasn't sure if $6 per ounce would end up being very expensive given the frequency of my habit. I'm fairly poor, so I have to be economical with my luxuries, unfortunately.
1 oz is probably about 8-10 cups of tea depending on the tea
 
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№56

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I'm terrible at estimating quantities, so I'd like to ask more experienced tea aficionados here: how long should an ounce of tea last if I drink two or three cups per day? A store near me sells some teas that look (or smell, rather) good, and I do quite enjoy tea, but I wasn't sure if $6 per ounce would end up being very expensive given the frequency of my habit. I'm fairly poor, so I have to be economical with my luxuries, unfortunately.
$6/oz seems kind of pricey to me, the store that I buy from most frequently (and that I suspect might be overpriced) averages at $3-$4/oz.
I'm used to measuring tea by volume, not weight. The rule of thumb for black tea seems to be 1 tsp of tea for every cup of water, steeped for 4-5 minutes. Green tea needs cooler water (not quite boiling), and steeps for 2-3 minutes. Most tea can handle being steeped at least twice. With this in mind, I'd say that 8-10 cups per ounce sounds accurate if you're willing to reuse the leaves.
 
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$6/oz seems kind of pricey to me, the store that I buy from most frequently (and that I suspect might be overpriced) averages at $3-$4/oz.
I'm used to measuring tea by volume, not weight. The rule of thumb for black tea seems to be 1 tsp of tea for every cup of water, steeped for 4-5 minutes. Green tea needs cooler water (not quite boiling), and steeps for 2-3 minutes. Most tea can handle being steeped at least twice. With this in mind, I'd say that 8-10 cups per ounce sounds accurate if you're willing to reuse the leaves.

Thanks. Yeah, unfortunately the place I live is a mix of very poor people and some very comfortable people living in the outskirts. We don't really have much besides Walmart except for some overpriced places further away from the center of town that cater to the latter group. So I don't think I have many other choices for tea here. I might have to ask family to ship me some from where they live, lol.
 
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bees

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You speak my language and live in a nation that was founded on English morals and ideals. Stay in line, American, especially when your nation is a crime-ridden, opioid obsessed shithole with a falling literacy rate and that lies to itself that it's free while those who stand up for your constitution get suicided by the tyrants your people keep carrying on electing.
Actually the country was founded on masonic morals and ideals, don't forget to bin that knoife.
 
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№56

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Round two with the gaiwan: this time I've got a scale to properly measure out the leaves and a package of Ye Sheng "Purple Tea" that just arrived in the mail. I had never heard of this stuff before, evidently the name is a generic term for leaves harvested from naturally occurring and non-hybridized tea trees, some of which have a purplish color. The tea itself is unfortunately not purple. Yunnan Sourcing (the site I bought it from, this is my first time using them but the price and shipping time were both good, would recommend) describes the taste as having "a hint of fruit, chocolate and barrel aged rum," which is surprisingly accurate, especially the rum part. It was very flavorful and lasted for about nine infusions. One thing I noticed was how long the leaves were, about an inch on average. This is normal for Chinese tea, but they seemed gigantic compared to the crumbled-up loose leaf tea I'm used to drinking in the US.
All in all, a very pleasant experience. One thing I've noticed about the gaiwan is how much attention it requires compared to the traditional western teapot. It's harder to do something else while drinking your tea because you have to re-steep the leaves every couple minutes and keep track of how many infusions you're on. The results are worth it, but it's definitely something that demands a change of mindset. Typing that out makes me feel like Ken-sama, but it's true.
 
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Taleisin

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Finishing my evening with a big mug of rooibos and some good weed.
 
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Auroraborialis64

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Today I went to my local tea shop and re-upped on some loose leaf teas. Its a pleasant surprise I happen to have found this thread. I bough some masala chai, a bunch of this black tea that has blueberries and schisandra berries thats called purple haze, and another big batch of white tea called blueberry sorbet and it has lavender, spearmint and blueberries in it.
I bought some small samples of other teas that Im trying out. I am american but I consider myself a total tea snob and I never buy tea bags only (loose leaf ftw) or even touch that diabetic sugar water that they drink in the south.
 
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Taleisin

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Anyone have any teas that they want to try? I'm thinking of getting some Kuding Cha (Camellia var. Kucha).

It contains low levels of caffeine, but higher levels of theacrine and theobromine. Theacrine is a structural analogue of caffeine that has a calming/ sleep promoting effect at lower doses, and a long-lasting energy giving effect at higher doses. When I've used isolated theacrine as a supplement, it feels like caffeine but more subtle, much smoother, more motivating and lasting all day from one dose. It also has pain relieving and anti-inflammatory properties.

The tea is apparently very bitter (Ku meaning bitter), but I was thinking of making a Kucha/ginseng/ginger mix for use as a health tea.

 
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№56

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Can't wait to style on the Starbucks-sipping plebs with this bad boy.
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Update: I ordered a package of this stuff a couple months ago and have brewed it several times since then. I don't usually like oolong tea, but this one is really good. It has a lot of flavor and tastes a bit like buttered popcorn. I had a cup the other day while working from home and it was like taking a muscle relaxant. All the tension I had built up over the course of the day disappeared.
At some point I want to try making Pu-Erh from a compressed tea cake, partly because I've had it once before and liked the flavor and partly because I like the art they wrap the cakes in.
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№56

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Anyone have any teas that they want to try? I'm thinking of getting some Kuding Cha (Camellia var. Kucha).

It contains low levels of caffeine, but higher levels of theacrine and theobromine. Theacrine is a structural analogue of caffeine that has a calming/ sleep promoting effect at lower doses, and a long-lasting energy giving effect at higher doses. When I've used isolated theacrine as a supplement, it feels like caffeine but more subtle, much smoother, more motivating and lasting all day from one dose. It also has pain relieving and anti-inflammatory properties.

The tea is apparently very bitter (Ku meaning bitter), but I was thinking of making a Kucha/ginseng/ginger mix for use as a health tea.

IMG_20221105_090902714.jpg

I ordered some thanks to this post and can confirm it's one of the most bitter things I've ever drank. The taste is more acidic than bad coffee or oversteeped tea and has a burning aftertaste that reminds me of chewing on my pencils as a kid. It didn't feel any more energizing than the same amount of black tea would, but I might not have drank enough to get any effect from the theacrine.
The good news is that mixing a single "stick" of Kucha in with a regular western-style pot of black tea tastes great. I tried it with some Lapsang Souchong and really liked the result. The single leaf was enough to add a noticeable bitterness and slight burning sensation that made the tea taste almost whiskey-like. I think it would go great with ginseng and ginger, as long as you don't add too much.
 
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