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mbanu
Posts: 962
Joined: Fri May 03, 2019 3:45 pm

Sat Jan 09, 2021 1:33 pm

debunix wrote:
Fri Jan 08, 2021 10:38 am
a strong bias in English-language tea forums towards teas from China, Taiwan, Japan, does not surprise me at all.
Taiwan is the big surprise for me. China makes sense, as there was a 20-year trade embargo and by the time it was over the Chinese tea industry had changed so radically that even if someone had been a regular tea-drinker in the 1940s it wouldn't have made much difference. Japan sort of makes sense, in that although there was never a formal embargo, a generation of Americans fell out-of-love with Japanese teas at a time when it had no other export markets and was in a chaotic postwar state. By the time that generation's children became interested in Japanese tea, twice-fired American-export sencha didn't exist anymore, so it wasn't a continuing of the old tradition but the start of a new one revolving around bancha and the Macrobiotics "Zen Diet", or later, around Japanese-style sencha newly available fresh through improvements in green tea packaging.

However, as far as I am aware, Taiwan and America never had any kind of conflict. The Taiwanese oolong industry was created in part to satisfy America's huge thirst for oolong tea, and then when the trade embargo with China started, it supplied the Lapsang Souchong, the Keemun, and the other popular Chinese teas in substitute form; some of them holding their own even today, like Taiwanese lapsang souchong. So I struggle to understand what happened here. Formosa oolong used to be so widespread that Lipton carried it alongside its Ceylon teas, and it is still offered (in a very stemmy form) today by many older tea vendors. But why so stemmy? And why is the general awareness of Formosa oolong so low when there was never any big event like the Chinese trade embargo or World War II to disrupt it?

That is on my tea-list of things I hope to discover one day. :)
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TankCla
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jan 09, 2021 3:07 pm
Location: Stoney Creek, Canada

Sat Jan 09, 2021 3:50 pm

Hello

How long have you been drinking tea? - 15 years

What kind of tea do you drink? - I am currently discovering Japanese tea

How do you prepare your tea? - 1 scoop full of tea leafs, 70C / 160F water and my favourite Tokoname Kyusu

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now? - brewing techniques

What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there? - I fell in love with tea, from my first sip and the flavour and aroma of different tipes of tea processing is fueling the flame of love

What is your location? - Stoney Creek, Canada

_______________

All the best,
Claus
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pedant
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Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:11 pm

welcome, @TankCla!
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Victoria
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Location: Santa Monica, CA
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Sat Jan 09, 2021 5:20 pm

Welcome to TeaForum @TankCla and @Emilpalm 🍃
WChee
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Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2020 2:34 pm

Sat Jan 09, 2021 10:44 pm

I am a novice tea drinker. I've been drinking for about a year (minus the summer) and some of my favorite teas are the autumn 2020 AA Tie Guan Yin from YS, spring 2020's of Laoshu Dian Hong from SC and Yunnan "Purple Beauty" Green from YS.

I doubt that it will be permanent, and I didn't start with that intention, but I quit drinking 5 days ago and tea has helped tremendously. I am used to drinking lots of liquid and tea helps fill the void. I also realize that if I quit or significantly cut back drinking I can buy better tea. :D
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pedant
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Sun Jan 10, 2021 3:12 am

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

Sun Jan 10, 2021 1:11 pm

WChee wrote:
Sat Jan 09, 2021 10:44 pm
I can buy better tea.
Welcome!

And fine tea goes a LONG way in terms of dollars per ounce of what you're actually drinking.....depending on how strong you like your infusions. A tea costing a dollar per gram sounds very expensive, but with the right dollar per gram tea, I can put a few grams into a teapot and keep infusing until I've prepared a lot of tea. This morning's gyokuro used maybe 4 grams of leaf, in a 5 ounce teapot, cost about 40 cents per gram, and I've enjoyed 5 infusons already and I'm going to get one more in a few hours. So for $2 worth of leaf, I'm getting nearly a liter of fine quality tea.
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Peter
New user
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 13, 2021 12:10 pm
Location: Moscow, Russia

Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:16 pm

Hi there!

How long have you been drinking tea?
I've been drinking whole leaf tea for five years or so.

What kind of tea do you drink?
Really I'll try anything but puerh is my favorite.

How do you prepare your tea?
Usually Gongfu style. Teapot or gaiwan.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
All about puerh.

What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
Variations of tastes and fragrances, a sense of exploration.

What is your location?
Moscow, Russia
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debunix
Posts: 1812
Joined: Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:27 am
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Thu Jan 14, 2021 9:51 am

Welcome!
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Gin
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Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jan 15, 2021 10:36 pm

Sat Jan 16, 2021 1:32 pm

Greeting. I like tea since I was a child (fresh, unprocessed tea leaves; green tea) , but only after drinking cold brew Assam (India tea brand), that I started to take interest in other types of tea.
I just bought Solstice tea's 12 favorite teas set box, but it seems that they are pretty weak teas. It seems to me that I value the fragrance of tea more than the taste - my daily teas are Teazone brand's black vintage tea and green tea, even though the tastes are so weak because I like their fragrance, and Sunflower's jasmine tea. Sometimes, I put jasmine essence and pomelo flower essence (food grade) into my teas (apparently adding liquid hickory smoke into Assam make it tastes like boiled cabbage, but adding it to Thai Nguyen Tan Cuong yields a pretty deep nice herbal note that is similar to Chinese herbal medicine ). I know that high quality teas have both essence and taste, but I plan to wait until I get salary to invest in good quality teas (just apply for my job and waiting for response)
Last edited by Gin on Sat Jan 16, 2021 7:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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pedant
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Sat Jan 16, 2021 3:30 pm

welcome, peter and gin!
zpcqcn
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2021 1:07 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

Sun Jan 17, 2021 2:35 pm

Hi all!

I am from the US (IL) and have been interested in tea for approx 10 years. It hasn't been until recently that I have become more interested in learning as much as I can about tea, teaware, and the brewing process. I am to the point where I feel that being part of this community would be helpful to my journey, and want to thank you all in advance for the help and conversation to come.
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pedant
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Sun Jan 17, 2021 6:53 pm

welcome, @zpcqcn! nice to see another IL person.
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chadao
Posts: 32
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2021 8:23 pm
Location: Vancouver, Canada

Sun Jan 17, 2021 11:17 pm

Hi everyone!

My name is Kevin. I'm new to the forum and thought that I should introduce myself.

Love the intro questions:

How long have you been drinking tea?

Quite a while - though I haven't always liked it. I started drinking a fair bit of tea in my graduate school days after someone kindly gifted me a strainer mug that was purchased in Beijing. I still treasure that mug, and I wandered all over Toronto to find tea that suited it.

I had some bad experiences with green teas at first - like most people do - though I slowly overcame it.

Most recently, I've started to really appreciate classical teas from China, Japan, Korea, and some Russian teas. It still took me quite some time to get to like green teas, though there are times I absolutely love a good longjing tea.

What kind of tea do you drink?

All of them - though I do still avoid really overly astringent greens.

My absolute favourites are a good dancong (orchid or gardenia flavours are my tops, right now). A few years ago I encountered a stunning rou gui in Shanghai and will never forget it. Starting to really build an appreciation of solid puers.

How do you prepare your tea?

Most of the time, gong fu style. I have a tea table, multiple yixing, and everything ;) Sometimes some teas demand another approach - like Kransodarian red teas, which want to be steeped.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?

Happy to jump in and learn and contribute where i can.

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

Maybe it's kind of weird - but I appreciate the opportunity to contemplate with tea. Yes, I can brew a cup of tea and rapidly gun it down if I want to do so or need to do so, but there's something I deeply appreciate with being able to pause for ten or thirty seconds waiting for the leaves to release their essence, and then to sit and enjoy the magic for some short amount of time. I've spend hours in tea houses in China just writing in a notebook and re-steeping some dahongpao, even though it's Spring Festival and almost snowing!

What is your location?

Vancouver (Richmond), Canada and, when the borders are open, Shanghai, China and Hong Kong.
sheila1011
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Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 5:26 pm
Location: British Columbia, Canada

Mon Jan 18, 2021 4:37 pm

Hello Everyone! My name is Sheila. Happy to be a part of this forum!

How long have you been drinking tea?
I am a novice tea drinker and don't know much about tea but extremely curious to learn.

What kind of tea do you drink?
Various kinds of tea, Green teas are my favorite and I also have a love for chamomile blends.

How do you prepare your tea?
I typically use tea bags and recently researching loose leaf blends.

What tea knowledge are you interested in exploring right now?
Everything about tea that I can learn!

What factors lead you to delve into the world of tea, and what is keeping you there?
My partner maybe looking at opening a small tea shop in the near future, I would love to learn as much as I can to be a part of this journey.

What is your location?
I live in beautiful British Columbia, Canada
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