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I love my Jingdezhen gaiwans from Red Blossom Tea Company (US). Very thin, lovely, and durable. I pour boiling water into them cold, and I’ve had no issues after over a year of use. They also seem amazingly shatter-resistant. I’ve accidentally knocked pieces into one another and dropped them on carp...

Thank you all! I will check out all of your recommendations (self-promotion included). With regard to other options: Unfortunately, the shipping speed really is important to me. I know a more patient, wise person would not care, but I must be honest with myself. At the end of the day, tea is a treat...

Hi everyone! May I have tea vendor recommendations? I'm looking for quality tea vendors that are based in the US or ship to the US within 2 weeks. So far, I know of: -Floating Leaves Tea (US/Seattle Inventory): very excited about this one. They seem like they put thought into sourcing particular tea...

That’s often the best ones! Sounds like you did a fabulous job, any pictures to share? Thank you! These cannot compare to the beautiful photography on this thread, but I am proud of the 'tray' itself as a practical item. ETA: I could probably make it look nicer by replacing the baker's twine at the...

Update: What I ended up doing was a mix of DIY and vintage repurposing. I found an urushi lacquer tray/shallow bowl (9-inch diameter, 2-inch raised edges). I bought a bamboo mat intended for rolling sushi and sewed a couple rods into it, perpendicular to the direction of the rods that make up the ba...

This is so interesting. I have never noticed such an effect, but I wonder if: a) There is some deposit on the glaze that is water-soluble b) The glaze is contaminated, as others have speculated. I'm thinking of the effects of silver and other metals on taste. c) The shape of the container funnels ar...

JournalerMarie, my pleasure. These Japanese oolongs are not vegetal but they are different from Taiwanese and mainland oolongs. This is one of the reasons why I think Florent calls them “wulongs”. The Japanese did a lot of research on varietals, vegetative selection, and hybrids at the beginning of...

I’m fond of their kama-iri, “wulong”, and sencha teas. They specialize in single estate and single varietal teas. My favorite varietals so far have been Shizu-7132, Gokô, Sofu, and Yamakai. The flavors are more unique, varied, and surprising to me than what I’ve found naturally occurring in oolongs...

I feel like Mei Leaf get a lot of hate for being brave enough to try to be descriptive. In my experience, Thés du Japon sets the standard for the description of their teas. The parameters are always spot on, too. If Florent says there is an aroma, flavor, or certain texture in a tea, by golly it is...

Hello everyone, I'm Paulo from sunny Lisbon, Portugal. [...] What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there? I'd say that the main factor is how tea helps me focus on whatever work or task I'm doing, and how it lightens my mood. Besides that, I find that focusin...

Mei Leaf is all about social media engagement and social media marketing. They are very strong at that and arguably the (tea)worlds No 1. Since I live in Europe, the shipping from London to Zürich is way quicker than from Kunming to Zürich. And although Meil Leaf is insultingly overpriced, I quite ...

Nice experience! A good reminder that some teas we don’t like have only been brewed in a less optimal vessel to hit our taste preferences. Of course it gets more complicated than that further down the road, as this only means that that particular tea worked with that particular pot for you :) on th...

If only it had been a terrible match; you could have saved yourself so much money on teapots and yancha... Andrew Oh, it's so kind of you to assume that this would stop me. I am so far down the rabbit hole that I would probably just try different teas, or a different teapot vendor. (Three of my tea...

https://www.teaforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=318 Yes, this guide and the discussion topic is so helpful! It helped me pick out tea/teapot pairings. It also helped ruin my budget, because I bought a duanni pot based on the fact that I like shu pu-erh, and I bought some lightly-aged sheng pu-erh bas...

I bought a rock oolong out of curiosity and was initially convinced that it wasn't for me. I tried it first in a porcelain gaiwan and found it both too much (chocolate! cinnamon! fruity/raisiny! all at once) and somewhat underwhelming because of the lack of cohesion. Kind of like I had mixed some ho...