[John Tea]

Greetings! I'm new to this forum, looking into a source for a blog article on plant breeding that's slow to get going, but I'm also into tea, the drink, and I thought I'd check on if anyone else here is.

To start, loose tea is nothing like Lipton tea bags. That is tea, sort of, but it's bad, low quality, poorly preserved tea dust, and black tea is only one of several types. The green tea in tea bag versions is just as bad, a nightmare compared to decent green tea, and I like oolongs much better anyway. Since this is intended as an intro I'll go on for a bit and see what anyone else has to add, by category.

black tea: there are two main kinds; Chinese black tea is from a variety Sinensis plant (Camellia Sinensis var. Sinensis), and it's sweeter and more floral. Assamica tea is earthier, typically a bit more astringent, commonly produced in Assam (India) and Sri Lanka (Ceylon is the old British colony name for there). Darjeeling (also India) is in the middle, different, and from hybrid types. Blended (mixed type) black tea was more common in the past (English Breakfast, etc.) but now people into tea tend to like one plain type best. Mixes of different things applying more as gateways to tea (nothing against flowers in tea or whatever; to each their own, and I do drink tisanes, the way to say herb tea without using the word tea).

green tea: any tea made from tea dust (tea bags) will be astringent (bitter, more or less, but really bitterness is a taste and astringency is a feeling, but close enough), and green tea should be prepared with cooler water (175 F maybe), so green tea from tea bags never stood a chance. My favorite is Longjing, or Dragonwell, a smooth, nutty, toasted-rice tasting flattened leaf Chinese tea, with Japanese green teas tasting more like seaweed because they're steamed instead of fried.

oolong: the way to go. There are two main types (roughly speaking), lighter oolongs, close to green teas but milder, typically prepared as rolled balls, types like Tie Kuan Yin. Dark oolongs are slightly more oxidized (same process as paper turning brown, I think, or burning for that matter), often prepared as twisted leaves, types like Da Hong Pao. All of that is a bit simplified; Tie Kuan Yin could be oxidized more (that's a plant type), and it is roasted more in one version, and there is a mid-range out there. China makes lots of interesting oolong types but Taiwan is also into it, and countries like Thailand (where I live now) and Vietnam.

white tea: different, more subtle, this type covers two main variations, buds only silver needle style and buds and leaves Bai Mu Dan / Peony style. These teas cover a lot of range but they're probably not an obvious starting point since their more subtle nature makes them harder to appreciate at first.

pu'er: compressed tea (typically--not all is, just most), either coming in a "green" sheng version or a pre-fermented "cooked" shou version. Also not a normal beginner tea because pu'er is funky, strange, either a bit bitter on the new and green side or earthy and weird on the cooked side. One twist with pu'er is that it's supposed to age, or ages well, however one looks at that or takes it, so a sheng (green, roughly) pu'er mellows and changes over a decade or two. One drawback: not all pu'er ages really well, and it can be costly, and waiting a decade takes some commitment, and pre-aged tea can cost a lot. There is a learning curve to pu'er, in a few senses, getting used to the flavors, figuring out regions, sourcing tea that doesn't suck or isn't "fake" (long story; I mean sold as something it's not).

If I can help with any more discussion let me know; I'm into tea and also talking about tea, and even write a blog about it (but it seems spammy to include that here; if this moves on to discussion I'll mention which).

[shithawk420]

i love tea but dont drink enough.i got a iced tea maker but its pretty much a coffee maker.i usually just toss a bunch of different kinds of bags in there.mostly herbal teas

[noyd666]

we drink a lot of tea here, but all teabag gear lol. yep I agree its dust but some not to bad. got around 6 types, twinings camomile honey and vanilla.
green tea & mint.
peppermint & liquorice.
cranberry & pomegranate.
strawberry, raspberry & loganberry. wife brings it home so I tried it out, nice and cooling. new jug has all dif heat settings on it, which seems to have bought out tea & coffee flavours better.

I had some first flush |Earl Grey and a first flush Darjeeling, ludicrously expensive, more so than weed, but truly amazing.
We drink a lot of tea, but special orders have to be made for loose leaf here, nation of coffe drinkers unfortunately.
The Lipton Yellow label is the most available thing here and it is absolutely disgusting, I'd sooner go without rather than drink that filth.
Every so oftern, the boss lets me do a big tea order from the UK, there's somoe nice stuff there from the likes of Whittards.

[Weird]

yep love me some tea

[shithawk420]

ive gotta box of darjeeling in the cupboard.been meaning to drink it.and screw lipton.gotta be the worst tea out there

[Weird]

lipton fucks up my stomach

[John Tea]

If I can help in any way with sorting out tea let me know. I go way, way overboard with the subject, in part because I need some hobby to keep me busy, of course in part just because I like tea.

As for Darjeeling, I just tried some samples from Gopaldhara, one of the main Darjeeling plantations, decent stuff. Being a blogger people tend to pass on samples for review, a marketing vehicle on their end, so I've tried Darjeeling from most of the plantations, I'm just not a Darjeeling expert, not something I focus on. Wuyi Yancha is my favorite category, Dahongpao and Rou Gui and such, more roasted oolongs from Wuyishan, Fujian (China, of course).

This past half year I've been on Indonesian teas a lot. We went to Java and Bali last December and nothing too interesting turned up but I've connected with some since. I did another cycle like that with Vietnamese teas a year or so prior. Vietnamese people usually drink really mineral-intensive green teas, nice if prepared properly, but they drink it made with boiling water, brewed for indeterminate time in a teapot, so bitter as could be. Thailand makes light oolongs, and local black teas, nothing special about most versions of those, with the oolongs basically a medium level version of what Taiwan makes. I live in Bangkok now (from the US though) so tea sort of went along with being here, but Thais don't drink much tea, or know much about it, at least not so much beyond bubble tea or powdered flavored teas, funny how all that worked out.

This is a pretty good vendor for seeing what teas are like in different places, sort of their specialty: https://what-cha.com/?setCurrencyId=3

I will mention my blog name, even though no one asked, kind of force of habit to self-promote (but I don't sell anything, or post any ads in it, so it's not like that):

https://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.com/

[Lung.Butter]

being english i pretty much drink tea all day everyday.

[noyd666]

coffee & tea all day, gotta say the tea makes me piss more.