Your day in tea

[DailyTX]

Gloomy weather all day, I am sipping some HK storage 8582.

[Andrew S]

Old cooked puer on the weekend, and some teas since then; ending today with an aged, roasted LiShan, where the roast and the age seem to have brought out the fruitiness, but kept it pleasantly balanced by a 'fruity acidity'.

Andrew

[Baiyun]

I recently had good Dayuling and Baozhong from a vendor on this site. If you're looking for more recommendations from Wang, the Fushoushan, Da Yu Ling, and Alishan Osmanthus are all very good. I've liked most of their oolongs, but these, along with the SLX Wild Garden, are the best that I've tried. I also had a nice winter 2022 SLX from Floating Leaves, which made up for a rather less enjoyable harvest I had a while ago. What green oolongs have you enjoyed lately?

Hey thanks, apologies it took me a while to get back online I had a high stakes period of time going on. I think I'll place another Wang order so I'll include these because they were not part of my last order. Floating Leaves used to be my favourite supplier but they won't ship internationally anymore. I did not have a lot of luck with green oolongs most recently, just some disappointments from an Australian supplier, and before that it was the reserve teas from FL, which I thought were well worth exploring.

Definitely running low on tea right now, so with my head cleared up, it is time to order across a few types and stores

[GaoShan]

I recently had good Dayuling and Baozhong from a vendor on this site. If you're looking for more recommendations from Wang, the Fushoushan, Da Yu Ling, and Alishan Osmanthus are all very good. I've liked most of their oolongs, but these, along with the SLX Wild Garden, are the best that I've tried. I also had a nice winter 2022 SLX from Floating Leaves, which made up for a rather less enjoyable harvest I had a while ago. What green oolongs have you enjoyed lately?

Hey thanks, apologies it took me a while to get back online I had a high stakes period of time going on. I think I'll place another Wang order so I'll include these because they were not part of my last order. Floating Leaves used to be my favourite supplier but they won't ship internationally anymore. I did not have a lot of luck with green oolongs most recently, just some disappointments from an Australian supplier, and before that it was the reserve teas from FL, which I thought were well worth exploring.

Definitely running low on tea right now, so with my head cleared up, it is time to order across a few types and stores

I was also disappointed when Floating Leaves stopped shipping internationally. With that and Tillerman closing, there are very few good oolong vendors around. I can't remember if you were the one who had Ethan ship his teas to Australia, but if not, that might be a good option. Otherwise, there's Hojo and Tea Masters, both of which are expensive and neither of which I've tried (though that might change in the future). If you're looking for various tea types, What-Cha has a surprisingly good Taiwanese hongcha selection and their Lishan is pretty good. I can't vouch for their other green oolongs since I haven't tried them, but I've generally been happy with what they sell.

I have a superabundance of tea at the moment, and kind of envy you the opportunity to shop around. Let us know if you find any good gaoshan!

[Andrew S]

I can't remember if you were the one who had Ethan ship his teas to Australia, but if not, that might be a good option.

I've ordered from Ethan before, and will do so again soon in preparation for Summer. The cost of shipping to Australia is not low, but his teas are nice and well-priced, I think. He's also offering a significant discount at the moment.

Andrew

[Teafortea]

It's fall season officially and harvest season for us at the farm. We have this humble fig tree that keeps giving so usually jam making day requires energy and patience, and lot's of tea session here and there. I've been finding lately that sencha and fig jam and fresh goat cheese is a match of perfection. After the long saturday of working I finally got to sit down and enjoy the work.

[Ethan Kurland]

..... fig jam and fresh goat cheese is a match of perfection.....

Yummy!

[Victoria]

..... fig jam and fresh goat cheese is a match of perfection.....

Yummy!

Yes, sound perfecto @Teafortea and beautiful fig jam

[Teafortea]

[LeoFox]

I don't have much experience serving tea to other people. Recently, I invited a family to my house for a play date for our kids. The dad is bit serious about espressos, and when he realized I was into tea, he wanted to try some of my stuff. So I brought out something good - a rare and expensive light roast oolong from Taiwan- and also an antique pot. What happened is that I got constantly distracted by the kids- the first brew was too light and the subsequent brews seemed flavorless and slightly bitter. He probably got a horrible impression of tea from me.

The next day, I brewed the same tea for myself - and it was once again a remarkably good tea.

[Balthazar]

@LeoFox this is very relatable to me.

On the rare occasions when I serve tea to people who aren't already deep into the rabbit hole, I will reach for something that's almost impossible to brew in an unpleasant way, and typically brew it relatively light in a large vessel. A dianhong, dongding or a clean-but-simple fuzhuan has worked well.

My anecdotal experience suggests that most people won't be able to pick up the finer nuances* of the better stuff anyways, even if they are really into something similar enough that you'd think they would get it. Coffee is a good example.

*To say nothing of energy/"qi"/somatic effects etc.

[DailyTX]

It feels like autumn weather in the west, and the leaves outside reminded me of Oriental Beauty. Today's brew is a vintage Oriental Beauty, one pot and one bowl

[LeoFox]

Joining in with a 2022 OB

[GaoShan]

I also had a 2022 Bai Hao this morning after not having any for months. What a coincidence!

[debunix]

LeoFox this is very relatable to me.

On the rare occasions when I serve tea to people who aren't already deep into the rabbit hole, I will reach for something that's almost impossible to brew in an unpleasant way, and typically brew it relatively light in a large vessel. A dianhong, dongding or a clean-but-simple fuzhuan has worked well.

My anecdotal experience suggests that most people won't be able to pick up the finer nuances* of the better stuff anyways, even if they are really into something similar enough that you'd think they would get it. Coffee is a good example.

*To say nothing of energy/"qi"/somatic effects etc.

Yes to all of this. I start with really friendly things like Jin Xuan or milk oolong, or a nice red oolong that is basically never offensive no matter how distracted I get, or a simple and earthy and plummy shou Puer.