Search found 962 matches

by mbanu
Tue Mar 05, 2024 10:35 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: importance of $/g ?
Replies: 10
Views: 962

Re: importance of $/g ?

Price-per-gram helps for commodity pricing. This is based on the assumption that every gram of the substance is equivalent to every other gram, sort of like calculating the price-per-gram of silver. This is a bit odd for tea because not all grams of tea are the same. They taste different, have diffe...
by mbanu
Thu Jan 25, 2024 5:20 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: What Pu'er Are You Drinking
Replies: 2051
Views: 920494

Re: What Pu'er Are You Drinking

These appear to be that rare exception. I do not read Chinese, and the OCR translation app on my phone only does one ideogram at a time. Since I will be sharing samples with several other people, and also for my own education, I'd like to know what I have here. Box and cake labels and nei fei attac...
by mbanu
Sun Jan 21, 2024 5:13 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: What Pu'er Are You Drinking
Replies: 2051
Views: 920494

Re: What Pu'er Are You Drinking

More tinned Nor Sun; did the Hong Kong blender go out of business? The supply seems to have evaporated... fortunately I had a habit of buying extra tins when they were easy to find, so I still have a bit left. :D
by mbanu
Tue Jan 16, 2024 6:59 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Boiled tea flavour
Replies: 10
Views: 1173

Re: Boiled tea flavour

Supposedly this is related to the boiling of the water. When water is boiled a long time, it loses its aeration, which changes the taste of tea made with it. Thus, in many tea traditions where boiling tea is common, there is an aeration step before serving, such as the repeated pouring of the tea in...
by mbanu
Tue Dec 26, 2023 6:10 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Your day in tea
Replies: 474
Views: 193043

Re: Your day in tea

Green oolong is also a lot more forgiving than black tea. Agreed, green oolong is more forgiving. Is this related to Chinese tea vs. Indian tea? I haven't had very many Assamica oolongs, but Indian black teas are definitely unforgiving if you ignore the 5-minute steep warning, while a Keemun is hap...
by mbanu
Sun Dec 24, 2023 2:57 pm
Forum: Black Tea
Topic: Hong Kong style milk-tea (絲襪奶茶)
Replies: 27
Views: 13061

Re: Hong Kong style milk-tea (絲襪奶茶)

I've given up on Yuenyeung -- either too advanced for me, or I just don't like instant coffee. :lol: Gave this another go -- It's still not quite right, but I think I'm getting closer. :D Maybe using the wrong instant coffee? I think maybe I was using an instant coffee that was too nice. :lol: Swit...
by mbanu
Wed Nov 15, 2023 4:32 am
Forum: News, Publications, & Research
Topic: Tea commercials
Replies: 42
Views: 25846

Re: Tea commercials

Or Brooke Bond Super Dust, a name that would have seemed very odd outside of India, but that worked quite well inside for describing a fresh dust-grade tea liked by a variety of tea-drinkers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUsALWcsI2A A Brooke Bond India from today, for comparison: https://www.you...
by mbanu
Sat Oct 14, 2023 3:33 am
Forum: Fermented Tea
Topic: What's the story behind "Nor Sun Pu-erh Tea"?
Replies: 9
Views: 4893

Re: What's the story behind "Nor Sun Pu-erh Tea"?

I didn't think they were from the same supplier, but I've never done a side-by-side test. Maybe more important now that Nor Sun is getting harder to find -- did the company discontinue the brand?
by mbanu
Sun Aug 06, 2023 8:47 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Does anyone believe anyone any more?
Replies: 9
Views: 2043

Re: Does anyone believe anyone any more?

If you had been the first, then later people would have had the reverse problem, brewing strong gunpowder and suggesting sugar, only to receive, "Green tea doesn't need sugar!" :D
by mbanu
Sat Jun 17, 2023 12:38 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Not Tea, but Related
Replies: 3
Views: 1374

Re: Not Tea, but Related

With crumpets, I think it is economy of scale -- in the U.S., the English Muffin won out in the premade crumpet wars, so if a company offers a line of crumpets they have to price them with the idea that they won't sell as many of them, even though the fixed costs for baking them remain the same. Not...
by mbanu
Sat Jun 17, 2023 12:11 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: American "bed & breakfast" tea-culture
Replies: 23
Views: 10273

Re: American "bed & breakfast" tea-culture

It seems like the U.S. struggles to support formal tearooms outside of unique markets, but there is a widespread "bed & breakfast" culture that has adopted tea as part of the package, which I find fascinating. I picked up a copy of a new-to-me book recently, Jan Whitaker's Tea at the Blue Lantern I...
by mbanu
Wed Jun 14, 2023 10:44 am
Forum: Miscellaneous
Topic: "Neutral" Clays
Replies: 29
Views: 6252

Re: "Neutral" Clays

The effect of most high fired clays is in my experience relatively small compared to the effect of water, to the point I'd have a difficulty telling what effect does which of my pots have (however I have neither the most sensitive palate nor a great sense of smell). And there is no neutral water, u...
by mbanu
Sat Jun 10, 2023 9:01 am
Forum: Black Tea
Topic: Georgean tea
Replies: 5
Views: 1816

Re: Georgean tea

Our debt to the Georgian tea industry is that they went through the very unprofitable process of breeding cold-resistant tea. If it had not been part of a planned economy process, I'm not sure it could have happened, as from what I hear, they just kept planting tea bushes and taking seeds from the h...
by mbanu
Fri Jun 02, 2023 12:47 pm
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Meaningless tea subscriptions ?
Replies: 7
Views: 1969

Re: Meaningless tea subscriptions ?

I understand the potential of expanding the clientele's horizon of understanding tea taste ( by actually give them try targeted samples ) but not sure about the boosting sales ( as mostly sampling people stay with sampling ) let alone the idea of making more money by doing so ( chipping off the sam...
by mbanu
Sun May 28, 2023 10:59 am
Forum: General Discussion
Topic: Your day in tea
Replies: 474
Views: 193043

Re: Your day in tea

I feel like maybe my unglazed teapot needs a tea-bath to clean up from all the tea-baths. :lol: The lid is now a distinctly different color than the body, and the bottom half is darker than the top half, only with more of a high-water-mark-from-the-flood effect than a cool fade, I'm guessing because...