Tea/Tisane

[ValleyStream]

As a person who takes a fancy to many different teas, i was wondering if anyone else enjoys the art of teas.

 

What is your favorite type of tea?

 

Fruit / herbal tisane?

 

Gong Fu ceremony or just casual?

 

Do you drink teas for health, social, meditation, or just for fun?

 

Tea...

[iain]

You know I smiled when I saw this thread; I have just taken to putting a hint of ginger in my black tea and am very pleased with the taste; gives it an edge which allows me to replace the coffee in the mornings.

Edited October 19, 2014 by iain

[GrandmasterP]

Yorkshire Tea.

Milk and one Sweetex please.

[Aetherous]

Casual gongfu ceremony. I like how the teas are generally steeped very short (less than a minute), so you just get the essence of the flavor, and not the bitterness. Oolongs, baby.

[ValleyStream]

Casual gongfu ceremony. I like how the teas are generally steeped very short (less than a minute), so you just get the essence of the flavor, and not the bitterness. Oolongs, baby.

 

I totally agree. The flavor evolves after each steep and you really get to "know" your tea. Oolongs are my second choice (escpecially Tieguanyin) behind puerh.

[C T]

My all-time favourite oolong tea.

 

http://www.tenrenusa.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=518&flypage=shop.flypage&pop=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=45&vmcchk=1&Itemid=45

[The Tao Of Alex]

Hi all. Usually regular black tea, but have recently discovered steamed Japanese green tea. Yum.

It's green tea taste, but smoother somehow. I have it as a treat once a day. :-)

Alex

[Aetherous]

My all-time favourite oolong tea.

 

http://www.tenrenusa.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=518&flypage=shop.flypage&pop=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=45&vmcchk=1&Itemid=45

 

Care to share your review of it? Maybe I'll check it out.

[ValleyStream]

Hi all. Usually regular black tea, but have recently discovered steamed Japanese green tea. Yum.

It's green tea taste, but smoother somehow. I have it as a treat once a day. :-)

Alex

 

Is it Matcha (powder) or leaves?

[The Tao Of Alex]

Is it Matcha (powder) or leaves?

Hi VS its leaves. Wasn't aware it came as a powder.

Alex

[ValleyStream]

Hi VS its leaves. Wasn't aware it came as a powder.

Alex

 

Matcha is great stuff. Check it out!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha

[The Tao Of Alex]

Matcha is great stuff. Check it out!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matcha

VS, thanks for the into on Matcha, very interesting, and it appears healthful. Will check out at my health food store. Thanks.

Alex

[C T]

Care to share your review of it? Maybe I'll check it out.

I like it mainly because it can be refreshed/rebrewed a few times and still retain most of its invigorating, clean flavours. If i make a pot in the early noon, i can refill the same all through the day, well into late evening.

 

It is a no bs tea, its crisp, pleasant to drink, and never leaves a bitter sort of aftertaste that lots of other teas do.

My restaurant customers, those who like teas, rave about how distinctly flavoursome it is compared to teas they get served in other places!

 

Do check your local Asian shops if they stock it. Seems a bit expensive online. I get mine directly from the Asian grocer.

 

cheers!

[Anoesjka]

My favorite is Snow Buds (Lu Xue Ya) green tea. Nice and light. I also drink Nilgiri green tea when I'm out of Snow buds.

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

right now in my gaiwan is some really high end baked ali shan wulong from my dude wu in taipei.

tomorrow I am going to drink some ancient tree bing dao pu'er and then in the afternoon, probably hit up a Taiwan Lishan wulong from the cuifeng side of the mountain range.

 

debating opening a new bag of qingxing shan, but thinking twice because i don't have much and its for sale....

 

 

recently my buddy got a matcha grinder, so we are going nuts with the tencha and other teas - making all kinds of wild ass matcha....\\\\

but wha thread on tea would be complete without tea accessories?

i've got my longchuan kiln gaiwan, and cool ass taiwan artists made gongdao bei going on these days, but might start drinking stuff out of yixing pots again in a week or so, just for a change.

[lifeforce]

Taiwanese Oolong is my favourite. A lovely clear, clean, beautiful tasting tea. No bitter aftertaste or sharpness on the tongue.

I'm also partial to a bit of Pu Erh, Genmaicha, Sencha and Silver Needle White Tea.

[Rara]

Jasmine green has become a staple for me but I do like the odd novelty:

 

Smokey teas (Lapsang or there is a Shri Lankan one that I forgot the name of)

Oolong

Dried fruit teas

Earl grey

 

I always have peppermint in the house too in case of digestion troubles.

[Rara]

Yorkshire Tea.Milk and one Sweetex please.

Haha, everyone in England agrees that Yorkshire do the best tea. Even my parents down in London have it!

 

There is such a thing as Lancashire tea you know?

 

*tumbleweed*

[Rara]

right now in my gaiwan is some really high end baked ali shan wulong from my dude wu in taipei.

tomorrow I am going to drink some ancient tree bing dao pu'er and then in the afternoon, probably hit up a Taiwan Lishan wulong from the cuifeng side of the mountain range.

 

debating opening a new bag of qingxing shan, but thinking twice because i don't have much and its for sale....

 

 

recently my buddy got a matcha grinder, so we are going nuts with the tencha and other teas - making all kinds of wild ass matcha....\\\\

but wha thread on tea would be complete without tea accessories?

i've got my longchuan kiln gaiwan, and cool ass taiwan artists made gongdao bei going on these days, but might start drinking stuff out of yixing pots again in a week or so, just for a change.

Now this is cool.

[sillybearhappyhoneyeater]

things often work out just as you want,

and right now, I am settling in over a very good cup of roasted ali shan wulong.

also working on a tea preserve to put on for a few months and try it out as congeled tea jelly later in the year.

[CloudHands]

I enjoy liquorice mint very much to close my day. Otherwise I'm not a gourmet I appreciate simple green or black tea light or strongly infused, depends on the needs and moods.

 

Something I don't do very often but I'm going to do it right now is called desert tea, it's the Tuareg tea. Take a lot of gunpowder green tea, make it burn in boiled water for 10-15 minutes, add a lot of sugar to make it drinkable. Add some air in the tea by pouring from high above your small glass. Drink it, 3 glasses a person.

 

A Moroccan friend taught me how to prepare the morroccan mint tea, interesting anecdote : like wine, you never fill more than half of the glass up.

[i am]

Taiwan oolongs really are great...I do 99% of my tea shopping from a Chinese tea store, but I buy from one other shop, here and there, just to get an oolong from Taiwan. Much smoother and sweeter. The Chinese oolongs are their own thing, and really good in their own right. But there's just something about the ones from Taiwan...

 

I've been drinking black teas lately, which I had never done before. I don't like them as much as green or oolong...but they're still pretty good.

 

Tea is dangerous for me...I can easily drain my bank account shopping around.

 

I used to just put the leaves in a glass, pour water over them, and keep pouring more water whenever the level got down to about 1/4. But lately I've been using a gaiwan much more. The yixing pot comes out usually in the fall with the oolongs.

[GreytoWhite]

Yerba mate, smoke cured and aged for two years.

[i am]

I may try some other types of mate at some point...

 

Long before I got into tea, I drank mate. Whatever the most common commercial company is. Can't remember the name. I remembered liking it. So after a few years of drinking green tea, I remembered mate, and figured I'd buy some, to have some variety. I hadn't had any in probably 7 years.

 

Now, mate tastes to me like it's been dried with cigarette butts. Gross. I really don't like it anymore. Not sure if it's just the one company, or all mate, but I think I don't like it anymore.

 

But then if I only tried green tea from store bought tea bags, I wouldn't like it, either.

[i am]

I've been drinking some gynostemma as a no caffeine, change-things-up tea in the afternoon. I also have a mix with mate, alfalfa, ginseng, gingko, holy basil, licorice and ginger. Not caffeine free though, obviously.

 

Last winter I actually really liked having Sleepytime tea at night...