Introduce Yourself

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Dresden
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2019 11:31 pm
Location: Bayou Self, Louisiana

Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:52 pm

Ubacat wrote:
Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:59 pm
Hi , I'm Ubacat and have been lurking for awhile.
Welcome @Ubacat! .... I thought I saw something moving around in the shadows :D
Nice to have you here!
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mrmopu
Posts: 269
Joined: Wed Dec 06, 2017 5:48 am
Location: Blacksburg Va.
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Mon Jun 03, 2019 8:57 pm

Ubacat wrote:
Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:59 pm
Hi , I'm Ubacat and have been lurking for awhile.

How long have you been drinking tea?
As long as I can remember. I grew up drinking black tea but branched out into other teas later.


What kind of tea do you drink?
Mostly green (Chinese & Japanese) but also enjoy white, light oolong, straight herbal, & a small amount of Chinese blacks & raw Pu-erh.

How do you prepare your tea?
Western & gongfu.


What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
I've always wanted to try out all the green teas of China. I never thought that would have been possible a long time ago, but now there are so many online vendors selling direct, it's a dream come true.

What is your location?
I'm in Southern Ontario, Canada.
I know you! Good to see you.
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Ubacat
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:23 am
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada

Tue Jun 04, 2019 6:35 am

Dresden wrote:
Mon Jun 03, 2019 6:52 pm
Ubacat wrote:
Mon Jun 03, 2019 5:59 pm
Hi , I'm Ubacat and have been lurking for awhile.
Welcome Ubacat! .... I thought I saw something moving around in the shadows :D
Nice to have you here!
Thank-you Dresden! I'm from Steepster and was still holding on to the dream it will be revived but the discussions here are a lot more active.
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Ubacat
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:23 am
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada

Tue Jun 04, 2019 6:39 am

mrmopu! Good to see you too.
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Jo
Mrs. Chip
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:48 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Tue Jun 04, 2019 11:34 am

Welcome to the forum Ubacat, looking forward to your posts.
carlosk
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:03 am
Location: Ireland

Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:46 am

Hi all,

My name is Carl, I am from Ireland.

How long have you been drinking tea?
I have been drinking tea for as long as I can remember. My first introduction was when my older brothers had tea for breakfast before running off to work. I remember I used to finish what was left behind and have been drinking it ever since.

What kind of tea do you drink?

Up to now, I have only ever drank supermarket / grocery store tea. Mainly black tea (adding milk and sugar). I've tried green tea as well as other fruit teas but have never been satisfied with what I've found.

How do you prepare your tea?

The wrong way I'm sure - Tea bag and sugar into cup, followed by hot water, bag removed after about 10 sec, milk added, stirred and drank. The generic household way for preparing tea from a teabag.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?

I want to learn as much as I can without being overwhelmed right from the off. I am a complete newbie so the whole tea world has opened up to me.

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

I love drinking tea, yet find myself growing tired of the same old story. I'm much more health conscious now and want to eliminate sugar and other unnecessary processed foods from my diet. I found I am unable to drink "tea bag" tea without milk and sugar. I find it is far too bitter and have no desire to return for more. I have always found that with milk and sugar, "tea bag" tea makes me feel heavy and lethargic. I'm not sure why i return... maybe its routine? maybe its the caffeine? I don't really know.

A friend of mine recommended I try Pai Mu Tan (I'm sure I have this incorrect) or Silver Needle white teas to get started in drinking "real tea". I Googled it to find a supplier (as is the way of modern society) and the tea world opened its doors to me. I've never considered that there might be something bigger and better out there. As is with daily routine, I got on with my daily tasks and thought nothing of the tea I repeatedly consumed for years. Now I'm think I'm being over analytic and have been bamboozled by the amount of information out there. I want to take it slow, but there's so much information online.

I want to explore Gong Fu style brewing and I aim to find a selection of teas suitable for my pallet. I can already sense that this may be the beginning of an addiction (or thirst for knowledge - excuse the pun). I am not quite sure where I want to go, but on recommendation I will try Pai Mu Tan or Silver Needle to kick start the adventure. I am looking for teas that are good for health, that are light, refreshing and enjoyable to drink.

What is your location?

I am located in Ireland... here we consume ridiculous amounts of what I will call "tea bag" tea from now on. Here every problem is solved over a cup of tea - every celebration, meal ending and friendly chat is accompanied by a cup of tea.

I hope I haven't gone on too much. Looking forward to learning from you folk in the coming months and years.

Many thanks - I hope I can contribute along the way.
Carl
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Victoria
Admin
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Location: Santa Monica, CA
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Thu Jun 06, 2019 1:30 pm

Welcome to TeaForum, @Ubacat and @carlosk :) .
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Mrs. Chip
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:48 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Thu Jun 06, 2019 3:25 pm

Welcome to our TeaForum, carlosk :mrgreen: Looking forward to you sharing your tea journey with us.
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Dresden
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2019 11:31 pm
Location: Bayou Self, Louisiana

Thu Jun 06, 2019 11:00 pm

Welcome @carlosk... Good to have you on board!
carlosk
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2019 10:03 am
Location: Ireland

Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:01 am

Thanks for the welcome folks... looking forward to getting started.

First job is to pick up a nice gaiwan, drinking cups and perhaps a small selection of teas to taste test.
Iheartea
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2019 2:50 am

Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:09 am

Greetings!

I have been drinking tea since childhood. My grandmother would receive care packages from Japan or gifts when friends or family visit there. These gifts would invariably include loose green tea in a tin. Green tea was usually a staple on our dinner table.

Fast forward till today and I am still enjoying green, usually sencha and matcha. I’ve added other teas to my list of favorites, which include black and oolong. When I began my travels through Europe, I learned to enjoy black teas with cream and sugar. And, of course, I’ll enjoy oolong or jasmine teas with my meal at Chinese restaurants. In the past few years, an occasional sweet treat would be boba milk tea.
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Hachachacha
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jun 05, 2019 10:37 am
Location: Charlotte, NC

Sun Jun 23, 2019 8:30 am

Hello. I've been enjoying reviewing your past and recent posts here on teaforum, and thought I would introduce myself. I really like forums, because unlike Instagram and some other forms of social media/chat/messaging, a forum becomes a great knowledge-base and resource over time that can help others. I've already learned a lot from things you've shared. I'm also older and cut my teeth with forums and BBS and developed lifelong friendships from them.

I've posted some on Steepster, lurked on Teachat, lurked on Reddit. I wanted an Instagram account to match, but it was taken, so I'm @birdeggtea on Instagram. It's a new account I just setup, so nothing to see there, yet. I'm Hachachacha on Steepster. My real name is John.


How long have you been drinking tea?
Like most Southerners, I grew up drinking sweet iced tea, so from that perspective, 50 years. When I was in my teens, I asked a Chinese friend why the iced tea in her family's restaurant tasted different. She told me it was oolong and even gave me some loose leaf tea leaves to try. What a missed opportunity! I didn't know what I had been given. I tried to brew it, didn't have much luck, and went on my way. There was no widely available internet back then, so it was harder to learn new things. Fast forward to around 2014, and I once again had some oolong in a Chinese restaurant and I remembered the tea I had been given many years before. I did some searching, and began drinking loose leaf oolongs about that time. Then sometime around 2016, curiosity about other teas had me placing orders with various vendors for green tea, oolongs, ripe and raw puerhs, black teas, white teas, and purple teas. I wanted to try it all. I found oolongs to be my favorite and mostly settled into oolongs until 2019. Then, I began trying more raw puerh tea. That has been my focus this year, and from all indications, it looks like I'm on a deep dive now. In 2019, I've gone from a couple of cakes I purchased in 2017 and 50+ samples to 20+ cakes.

What kind of tea do you drink?
Oolongs and raw puerh primarily. All other types occasionally.

How do you prepare your tea?
For oolongs and puerhs, almost exclusively gongfu style. Until this year, I had always just used a bowl or the sink, but I finally bought a tea tray. Wow, I had been missing out. They make sessions so much more enjoyable. I also found an extra base for my electric kettle, so I can have one in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. I often do gongfu tea in bed with the tea tray. For green teas, I will also do cold brew.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
How much time do you have? :) I'm mainly interested in learning more about raw puerh teas. I am trying to get my mind around all of the different regions, different storage and how that affects the tea, different producers, different formulas, etc. I'm interested in storage. I have a mini fridge pumidor I just started (THANKS for all your posts on making humidity packs and the cool tech). I am really interested in learning more about how to navigate Taobao, learning which vendors I can trust and those I should avoid. I'm about to place my first order using an agent. Babelcarp has been a big help. I would like to learn some Chinese. I am also enjoying getting to know those in the tea community, getting involved with more intimate group buys, and sharing knowledge and history.

What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
Answered above, but I wanted to know why Chinese oolong tasted so different from my Luzianne tea. That was the original spark. Now, I find the extraordinary diversity of tea interesting and want to become more knowledgable about it. I also enjoy the camaraderie in the still small tea community. The aspect of collecting aged teas and finding bargain treasures also appeals to me. I am involved in some other niche hobbies from bygone eras, and it is always fun collecting. And the idea of aging my own tea, though I wish I had gotten an earlier start, appeals to me.

What is your location?
I'm surrounded by 360 degrees of trees on a little patch of land that most would still call "the country" about 10 miles from Charlotte, NC. We are not in any city or town limits. Our area is experiencing massive growth, and I imagine in the coming years, we will hardly recognize the area, but I'll still have my sanctuary as long as I can afford the property taxes.

I look forward to getting to know everyone. I want to give a special shoutout to MrMopar/MrMopu. You couldn't ask for a nicer friend in the tea community, and he has helped me so much. I look forward to meeting him face to face. I wish you all the best on your tea journeys.

John
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Bok
Vendor
Posts: 5782
Joined: Wed Oct 04, 2017 8:55 am
Location: Taiwan

Sun Jun 23, 2019 9:03 am

Welcome!
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Mrs. Chip
Posts: 268
Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2017 6:48 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Sun Jun 23, 2019 9:04 am

Welcome Hachachacha, John.

Glad you joined us :mrgreen:
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pedant
Admin
Posts: 1516
Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2017 4:35 am
Location: Chicago
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Sun Jun 23, 2019 11:36 am

welcome, @Hachachacha!

great intro post. very happy to see you here.
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