Hot Tea

[Harmonious Emptiness]

[Cameron]

Yes, The Forbidden City. It was my first visit there. I will go back many times I am sure.

 

It's a great place to watch the sunset. Then enjoy tea with friends.

[hagar]

Yes, The Forbidden City. It was my first visit there. I will go back many times I am sure.

 

It's a great place to watch the sunset. Then enjoy tea with friends.

 

Indeed.

It is also a place where you percieve the truth behind the notion of the "Middle kingdom".

 

h

[C T]

"The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrails but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration - all the 'wrongs' of life passes out through my pores. At the fifth cup i am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the Immortals! The seventh cup... ah, but i could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves. Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither." ( Lu Tung on 'tea drinking' )

[buscon]

I love chinese tea ceremony, the best tea for this is pu-erh tea.

Here you can find really precious tea, directly from china:

http://www.yunnansourcing.com

the prices are pretty good.

 

"The first cup moistens my lips and throat. The second cup breaks my loneliness. The third cup searches my barren entrails but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration - all the 'wrongs' of life passes out through my pores. At the fifth cup i am purified. The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the Immortals! The seventh cup... ah, but i could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves. Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither." ( Lu Tung on 'tea drinking' )

 

this reference is probably referring to the chinese ceremony, where you drink from little cups and you learn to sensitively taste the differente stages of brewing of your tea.

 

Who has no idea what I'm talking about, here's a video:

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Also, for those unfamiliar with it, if your buying a traditional tea set for high quality Chinese tea, I highly recommend getting one with 'smelling cups.' It's pretty amazing how floral quality tea smells with these. You'll see a demonstration of how to use them about 5:50 into this video:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4eDYmRSpZI&feature=related

[Cameron]

Had a great tea class this weekend.

 

Just getting into the Oolong. Gooooood, good, good, good, good, good.

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Awesome book. Highly, highly recommend it for tea lovers, Zen poetry lovers especially.

 

[mantis]

I just got my order for some Long Jing green tea today, they were nice enough to add in a little sample of some other tea, good stuff. I'm quite terrible at preparing tea and whatnot as I just started drinking it recently, although I go through quite a bit (3-5 cups a day).

[humbleone]

A slight departure from chinese tea. I like drinking Moroccan tea, always served in a thick glass. sweet green tea served with mint or sage. It is something about drinking tea in a glass, looking at the colors I find heart warming

[Trunk]

Health effects of tea. (wiki article)

[konchog uma]

Rehmannia

Dong Quai

Eleuthero

Fo Ti Tien

Pau D'Arco

Astragalus

Reishi Mushroom

Ginseng (Chinese)

 

boiled for 1 hr

 

I brew a gallon at a time and bottle it for the next 2 weeks. I'm going to add cordyceps and maybe some other mushrooms to it when i place my next order with mountainroseherbs.com... any of you have experience with different fungii? Any recommendations?? I am curious about chaga and cordyceps, but open to any advice about it

[zanshin]

Put some ginger root slices in your tea when you have a cold.

 

or honey and a nice shot of bourbon.

 

hmm...my head is feeling sort of stuffy now.

[thelerner]

or honey and a nice shot of bourbon.

 

hmm...my head is feeling sort of stuffy now.

This is more for taste then health, but I'll slick up a lime or lemon thinly, roll it in sugar then bag the slices and put'em in the freezer. Very good in tea, plus I don't like tea very hot, so it cools it down a bit.

[Pu-erh]

Well you can probably guess which kind of tea is my favorite

 

This fall I have been drinking Imperial Pu-erh every morning while I study Japanese. It is a high grade of loose-leaf pu-erh with a silky mouth feel and rich, smooth flavor, but not as earthy, smoky, or fishy as many other pu-erhs.

 

I used to work at a tea shop so I have some familiarity with different types of tea. Each one really is different in terms of the best tea ware to use, water temperature, brewing time, quantity of leaf per cup, etc. And there is a difference between gongfu cha and the way one would normally prepare the tea at home.

 

Some of my favorite teas are: Black River Mountain (pu-erh), Imperial Pu-erh, Lu Shan Clouds & Mist (green), Bai Hao Yinzhen (Silver Needle, the highest grade of white tea), Baochong (a light, floral oolong), and Uji Gyokuro (highest grade of Japanese green).

 

The benefits of tea really are profound. L-theanine reduces cortisol in the blood stream and even produces alpha waves in the brain, as well as being a powerful antiviral. And that amino acid is only one constituent in tea's amazing chemistry

[Protector]

[Trunk]

the adventure continues ...

 

~ edit ~

Well you can probably guess which kind of tea is my favorite

You inspired a purchase!

 

I'm looking to get some white tea next time, as I recall it had been mentioned. All there at the asian market, so inexpensive. (The Ti Kwan Yin was $3 and it's $14 from Pete's Tea.)

 

Love the roasted brown rice, and I remember the ban cha is a happy standard in some diet I've forgotten the name of.

[thelerner]

the adventure continues ...

That Genmai Cha from Hime. So cheap and soo good. $3 or $4 bucks for a big bag of it at a local Japanese grocery. The puffed rice make it hearty and a little sweet, yum.

[konchog uma]

a recommendation of some Awesome pu'ehr tea i found recently on (where else) http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/

 

Pu'erh Tea

Origin- China

Fair Trade Certified- Yes

Learn More

 

The Black Pu-erh tea we offer is hand harvested from wild and semi-wild broad leaf antique tea trees located in the Yunnan province of China. Black Pu-erh is often referred to as "cooked" due to the fact that sun-dried green tea leaves are transformed through natural fermentation from a greenish-golden color to a blackish-red tone. Over the years Pu-erh has garnered a committed following amongst tea connoisseurs who regard it as a sacred relic leftover from ancient tea cultures and traditions. The Black Pu-erh we offer brews up a deep ochre red and has a rich earthy taste with notes of smoke and moss. Certified Organic and Fair Trade. Contains caffeine.

 

from http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/tea_bev/tea_black.php#t_gw_t_pu

 

4oz for 6.75... it is SO creamy.. completely wonderful tea, i am gonna burn through 4oz so fast! It makes the pu-ehr from the asian market taste um lesser.

 

my girlfriend loves lapsang souchang, and tried mountain rose herbs variety, and said it also was "super nice, really good, full flavored".. i haven't tried it yet but i look forward to it soon

[konchog uma]

@anamatva -- I'll be ordering from MRHerbs this week. Any tea recommendations you have would be welcome. Happy New Year!

 

thats all i've got! we just ordered the pu'ehr and the lapsang!

 

try some pu'ehr its one of the best i've had

 

and thanks! happy new year to you too!

Edited January 8, 2012 by anamatva

[konchog uma]

Thanks. I'll consider it!

 

MRH teas/tisanes I have enjoyed: chai, hibiscus high, women's balancing blend, peppermint, chamomile, vanilla rooibos, dao ren green tea, gunpowder green, and white silver needle.

 

thanks! i love mixing chamomile and peppermint. When i drank coffee that would be my drink if i had had too much coffee...

 

i think i'll try the dao ren green tea next time i order. thanks for the tip!

[humbleone]

Inspired by this thread, I took a walk last week to our local chinatown.

 

I usually go to TenRen, they have a small tea bar setup in one corner of their tea store. The guy behind the counter recommended I try King's Tea(see below). It sure tasted good.

 

May take a walk again today, thanks for the Pu-erh and Ti Kwan yin recommendation.

 

What I found amusing was that my wife and I were the only ones drinking hot tea. The place was filled with 20 something mostly chinese, all drinking some funky bubble tea

 

http://www.tentea.com/kingstea.html

 

King's Tea, a TenRen exclusive, is made of high quality oolong tea blended with a touch of ginseng to create an incredible aftertaste. The tea has the rich smooth taste of oolong with an aftertaste which is sweeter and longer lasting than the traditional oolong tea. The bitter tartness associated with ginseng can not be tasted in this tea. King's Tea is offered in two varieties, Green and Dark, each in several different grades. The Green and Dark King's Teas are determined by how long the base oolong is baked, with Dark ones baked longer than Green ones. The different grades depend on the quality of the oolong leaves.

[mYTHmAKER]

Inspired by this thread, I took a walk last week to our local chinatown.

I usually go to TenRen, they have a small tea bar setup in one corner of their tea store. The guy behind the counter recommended I try King's Tea(see below). It sure tasted good.

 

If you are in NYC try Sun's Organic Tea Shop 79 Bayard Street

[humbleone]

If you are in NYC try Sun's Organic Tea Shop 79 Bayard Street

 

Thanks for the heads up, I read some of the yelp reviews. Suns Tea Shop sure looks good.

 

there is nothing like a good pot of tea after a Zhan zhuang session

[mYTHmAKER]

Thanks for the heads up, I read some of the yelp reviews. Suns Tea Shop sure looks good.

 

there is nothing like a good pot of tea after a Zhan zhuang session

 

I am usually in Columbus Park up in the pavilion - Saturdays from about 1:30 until about 4 in winter

Saturday and Sunday the rest of the year.