Introduce Yourself

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debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Tue Jan 19, 2021 9:32 am

Welcome to TeaForum!

(Waving to the North from Los Angeles)
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chadao
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:23 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:07 pm

Hi Sheila! What part of BC are you from?
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Zera
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Jan 19, 2021 1:26 pm
Location: Hamburg, Germany

Tue Jan 19, 2021 2:11 pm

Hi i am Zera from Hamburg, Germany!
How long have you been drinking tea?
For the past 3-4 years i've started getting into tea. It started with me going to a local loose leaf tea shop where my current partner worked nearby where i would grab some tea whenever i drove with her to work (better transportation from where she lives). This sparked my interest for tea and i begun researching and looking around and found Mei Leaf whom introduced me to the Gongfu Cha side of things. Soon later i started buying from them and yunnansourcing and started my gongfu journey.
What kind of tea do you drink?
I drink all sorts of tea types but i prefer blacks, whites, sheng and shou puerhs aswell as oolongs.
How do you prepare your tea?
Gong fu style, sometimes i rinse them before hand but it depends on the tea, other times i brew them grandpa style, it really depends on mood, tea and what vessels i want to use.
What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
All sorts! i thirst for more tea knowledge from all sites. I've recently also developed a big interest in getting more teawares, specifically clay teapots such as jianshui zitao, yixing and others.
What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
Hard to say what sparked the interest in tea itself but i know that it is the very first hobby that has really grasped and interested me to such an extend and i hope that it stays that way since tea is one of the few things in life right now that truly makes me happy.
What is your location?
Hamburg, Germany.
smx
Posts: 14
Joined: Wed Dec 30, 2020 6:10 pm
Location: Germany

Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:10 pm

Hallo vom Süden in den Norden!
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phlardge
New user
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2020 10:44 pm
Location: USA

Fri Jan 22, 2021 11:33 am

How long have you been drinking tea?
Hey folks, phlardge here! I've only been drinking tea in a concentrated manner for a year and a half, so I'm quite unseasoned!
What kind of tea do you drink?
Primarily drink mid-aged sheng. Still in uni at this moment, so my budget isn't the highest, but trying desperately to scoop up 2000's stuff before prices continue to rise and leave me in the dust.
How do you prepare your tea?
One pot, one cup. I've got the blinders on for now, can't afford to fall further down the yixing rabbithole just yet!
What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
I'm still paying tuition in terms of tea experience for now. Just looking to drink more tea more often and get a more nuanced understanding of pu before I start swinging the hammer wildly. Whether that be terroir, processing, body-feel, or anything under the pu umbrella, there's a lot more for me to experience still. Definitely a lot of yixing wisdom here, and there's a lot of familiar faces (I'm reasonably active in the tea discord!)
What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
I thought tea would be a cheaper hobby than watches, and while I wasn't wrong, I also wasn't right either. As an ABC kid, I grew up drinking tea but never in a focused fashion, so it felt natural to bring out the metaphorical machete and jungle further down that path. For me, there is something Nietzsche-eque about rabbitholes, where the void gazes back and beckons. There's a certain rush from the endless free-fall journey that tea/teaware is, and I don't think I came with brakes.
What is your location?
USA. East coast for uni, west coast for home, unknown for the future!
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pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
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Fri Jan 22, 2021 12:17 pm

welcome! :mrgreen:
m2193
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Jan 23, 2021 10:31 pm
Location: Boston

Sat Jan 23, 2021 11:04 pm

How long have you been drinking tea?

Since I've been young, mostly jasmine and oolong, and I never ventured outside until a couple months back. My parents are big informal tea drinkers, but I didn't learn to gongfu brew until quarantine/early COVID times.

What kind of tea do you drink?

Oolongs mostly.

How do you prepare your tea?

Gongfu when I have time to spare, grandpa when I'm busy.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?

Tasting and notes! I've been trying a lot of different teas and I wish I could describe more notes or be able to note what others on Steepster are able to pick up on.

What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?

I appreciate and respect the cultivation and craft that has gone into transforming basically a medicinal herb into something so complex and multifaceted. Gongfu brewing is also very calming. Cheesy as it sounds, I find trying different teas to be an experience, and there's something innately beautiful about it.

What is your location?

Grew up in the Midwest, but on the East Coast for college. Not sure what the future will bring, but would like to stay somewhere on EST and with cold winters.
Koume
New user
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:27 pm
Location: UK

Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:23 pm

How long have you been drinking tea?
All my life, but more seriously? about 4 years now

What kind of tea do you drink?
I drink Aged/Semi-Aged Sheng and Shou, Oolongs (Yancha, TW mostly) I care most about the storage, so my preferences are TW / Malaysian / HK stored, Guangdong

How do you prepare your tea?
My prefences are Gongfu brewing and variations of Gongfu brewing, depending on the material and age, If I'm planning on going out the next day, or I have work, I'll use the spent leaves from yesterday's session and put it into a thermos for grandpa, leaving it overnight.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
What's currently got my interest is the history of yixing proccessing / pots, I'm also interested in the different regions of harvesting / storing Puerh and why certain decisions are made

What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
Curiosity, and I suppose a dissatisfaction with English Tea bags, which lead me to coffee for a while. What keeps me here is that the subject of tea and it's brancing paths have been a continuing wealth of interest to me, drinking tea has become a signifcant and important part of my daily ritual, a day without tea is a day worse off. the community, I've been part of quite a few communities, but none so welcoming, helpful, kind and sharing. Tea at the begining can feel quite intimidating, lots of little anxieties, the community I have experienced has been paramount to my continuing enjoyment and exploration of tea.

What is your location?
UK
Last edited by Koume on Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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pedant
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Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
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Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:26 pm

welcome!
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Lucifigus
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:05 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:16 pm

I have been spending a few weeks trying to improve the quality of my tea drinking. I am learning about a number of teas and techniques that are new to me.

Yesterday I had my first taste of a ripe Puerh - a less than positive experience. Although it didn't taste fishy, there was a strong fishy smell from the wet leaves. After I gargled some bleach to get that fishy smell out of my nose and throat, I was OK :D. People who would drink that stuff would eat margarine!

On the other side of the coin, I have been enjoying a few different Oolongs as I await a number of sample packs coming in the mail. I am going to work my way through some new experiences and I am hoping to get some questions answered, both from searching and from asking.

Lucifigus
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pedant
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Posts: 1516
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Location: Chicago
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Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:51 pm

welcome, @Lucifigus!

if i had to guess, i don't think many people actually drink fishy tea. they probably either sell it or hold onto it hoping for eventual improvement. lol
i hope that doesn't turn you off to ripe puerh. there's plenty out there that doesn't taste like that (though i personally prefer raw puerh aka sheng).
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Lucifigus
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:05 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

Fri Jan 29, 2021 7:03 am

This is all part of figuring out what the varied constituents of the tea world are made of. I have also drank poor whiskey and it didn't keep me away. Frankly, if all I ever drank were good Oolongs, I could be happy, but I know there is more out there and I am determined to find it.

Lucifigus
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Yuyun_Tea
Vendor
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 5:22 am
Location: London, UK

Thu Feb 04, 2021 6:09 am

Hi there, I'm Michael from Yuyun. A startup tea company based in London, UK.

How long have you been drinking tea?
Over twelve years, culturally I grew up with tea. But I started getting into loose leaf tea about a year ago.

What kind of tea do you drink?
Right now I love Dianhong and just seeing what you can do with it, caramel and dried fruit notes, smooth with a slightly sweet aftertaste.
Like a nice Yunnan green tea, it's less popular then other greens, it's slightly grassy and light but if you can brew it just right it's truly delicious and not too bitter!

How do you prepare your tea?
Depends on the tea, but I generally go halfway between western and gongfu with infuser pots for one, a very convenient and consistent way to enjoy loose leaf tea by myself.
I love it hot in cold weather and love it cold in hot weather. Iced tea, yes, please.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
I'm really into the Yunnan area, so I'm sticking with that (Pu'er, Dianhong, Dianlv), I'm interested in exploring more of the history of the area, I love going through
old maps, and learning about the journies, for example, the ancient tea horse road!

What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
My partner introduced me to loose leaf tea, and now I'm not sure I can function without it.

What is your location?
Based in London, United Kingdom.
When it rains, I pour.
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thoroughburro
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2021 9:34 am
Location: Kentucky, USA

Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:28 am

Hello teafolk,

My first goal when starting a new hobby is to find its forum community of note. Increasingly, there isn't a traditional forum to be found, which is unfortunate; the Reddits, Twitters, and Instagrams of the world are fun, but the level of discourse tends to be shallow. I was very relieved to find the TeaForum community, with its mixture of casual chatter, deep discussion, enthusiastic beginners, and subject matter experts.

I was raised in a tiny mountain town in southern California and settled in a small university town in western Kentucky. I've been an inveterate hobbyist since childhood; some hobbies cycle in and out, others become a daily constant, but I seem to add a new one at least yearly. Tea has been my focus for a few months now, and I can tell it's going to be a daily constant.

My introduction to tea was about 10 years ago, when I finally gave up on coffee. I never liked it, but felt strongly that I should, somehow. I dabbled in it as a hobby, up to sourcing green beans, roasting them at home, and practicing espresso and pourover. Throughout, even though my coffee friends verified I was making good stuff, it never actually tasted good to me.

Eventually, I sold off my coffee gear and adopted loose leaf, British-style breakfast blends as my morning cup. I make a large, strong cup of Adagio's Irish breakfast blend ("builder's style", with milk and sugar) every morning for my partner and myself. I love it, it tastes like waking up, and I doubt it will ever change. However, my Adagio reward points built up over time, and last year I finally used them to sample a bunch of their oolongs. Wow! They were a revelation. Floral on top, deepening into earthy minerals, and a long finish that would make fine wine envious. I happily brewed and drank them western style, and made a mental note to explore further.

A few months ago I did, and I discovered in eastern tea culture such a depth of history, nuance of practice, and variance of geography as to make any hobbyist weep with happiness. And the stuff tastes so dang good, to boot!

I intend to explore all areas and styles of tea, but the early hits have been Chinese white, green, and sheng puer. In particular, the deep, honey-steeped dried fruits of white; the savory, bean-soup broths of green; and the bitter-sweet, liquid rubber latex of sheng. I need to explore sheng more, as I've had as many I didn't like as I did, and only seldom struck the "liquid latex, rubber balloon" notes that I latched onto early. Maybe it's only a subset of sheng that I like.

That's my story so far. I'm looking forward to deepening my knowledge amongst you all.
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pedant
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Location: Chicago
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Thu Feb 04, 2021 12:10 pm

welcome, @Yuyun_Tea and @thoroughburro :mrgreen:
thoroughburro wrote:
Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:28 am
My introduction to tea was about 10 years ago, when I finally gave up on coffee. I never liked it, but felt strongly that I should, somehow. I dabbled in it as a hobby, up to sourcing green beans, roasting them at home, and practicing espresso and pourover. Throughout, even though my coffee friends verified I was making good stuff, it never actually tasted good to me.
i also find coffee much harder to appreciate. even with great effort and expense, i only occasionally manage to make coffee that i think tastes really good. always chasing these darn "god shots". tea is so much more reliably enjoyable, and the equipment costs a lot less ;)
thoroughburro wrote:
Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:28 am
I intend to explore all areas and styles of tea, but the early hits have been Chinese white, green, and sheng puer. In particular, the deep, honey-steeped dried fruits of white; the savory, bean-soup broths of green; and the bitter-sweet, liquid rubber latex of sheng. I need to explore sheng more, as I've had as many I didn't like as I did, and only seldom struck the "liquid latex, rubber balloon" notes that I latched onto early. Maybe it's only a subset of sheng that I like.
rubber notes in sheng, hm. not sure i've heard it described like that before.

yes, there's tons to explore in tea. some people "visit the zoo" first and sample widely and then eventually start hyper focusing on specific styles one at a time. there's no right or wrong way. it takes time to learn what you like.
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