So lovely! Everyone loves this seasonal, soothing refreshment. We wait for this time of year, just for that sweet, light chrysanthemum aroma and the one-of-a-kind flavour of the season.

I’m not posting this to sell anything, and I don’t sell these chrysanthemums. I just think they are part of the unique autumn scenery of Huangshan, China. They taste wonderful, and I love sharing great things with everyone.

I've been getting more into Shou the past few months and decided to give the Shulloween bag a try. It finally arrived yesterday along with a couple other samples I ordered. Had the Majordomo this morning and it was very tasty with chocolatey and a little bit of sticky rice flavors. Can't wait to try some more of these.

What is this tea?

Hey! I work at a bar in London and quite a while ago I had some lovely guests that gifted me some packets of this tea, they said they liked to visit bars and gift tea from their home to people they end up chatting with! I thought I'd lost it but it had ended up in one of our ingredients boxes at work! Luckily I've found it after very recently starting my own journey into tea and gongfu brewing. Any info or recommendations on this tea?

Either I will be celebrated as a Saint or banished from Ireland for life.

What a lovely tea and it perfectly aligns with Doyle's famous character - smoke and leather. The addition of cherry mellows it just enough to round it out - you can pick up the cherry on the end.

VERY NICE! I think out of this collection, this is one of my favorites. I didn't add anything to it because I wanted to give it an honest shake and it doesn't really need additives, it is mellow and layered with flavor - kind of sneaks up on ya....lol, see what I did there?

Because of this sub, any time lapsong souchong is involved, my hand reaches for the maple syrup - so you could add that and heighten the flavor profiles.

Teacup is from Norcrest and not sure of the maker of the teapot - the style is similar to Sadler.

I spotted a little teapot and couldn't help buying it. I'm going to use it to brew some high mountain oolong tea today.

Here's my tea corner at the office. I have a small clay pot and a gaiwan for when I have time to sit and brew gongfu style, but honestly, the thing I use most is the Starbucks double-wall ceramic tumbler with an infuser basket dropped in.

It's not traditional, but on busy days it means I actually drink good tea instead of skipping it. Curious if anyone else uses a "non-tea" tumbler like this at work.

Wonderful Miyamakaori cultivar refined as a Sencha. Second infusion, beautiful rich colour and aroma. Full warm body with lots of umami, the smell reminds me slightly of freshly plucked green tomatoes. Very clean, bright finish.

Does anyone have any advice on what to get? I plan on buying some loose leaf, but I don't know any "beginner" or "fancy" teas haha. I also plan on getting her one of those metal steepers. Any advice welcome.

Ok, folks, this was inevitable.
My wife can’t listen anymore to my tea babble (at least helps with photos) so I came here to share my experiences.
I started this tea obsession of mine with Fu Zhuan that my friend sent me as a present from China (my golden kilo brick on the left, first photo). I liked it so much that decided to buy more. After that I thought that it is a good idea to try every major representative of Hei Cha (mid-life crisis?).
I was slowly collecting specimens for over 3 months, then my friend just sent me a package with the rest of the list from China (still on the way).

For this challenge, I will brew each tea in the same lazy gongfu pot and try to stick to famous producers for the style.

Style - Fu Brick Tea, Fu Zhuan, 茯砖
My choice for Fu Zhuan style is
1953 Fu Cha Yupin (茯茶御品）2024, Baishaxi
Classic dark brick made from premium raw leaves, with golden flowers (jinhua, 金花） from famous producer in Anhua, Hunan, China.
Got it online with delivery from China.

Even if it is relatively young it has that distinct majestic aroma of Fu Zhuan.
First I split the brick carefully with a tea knife (had one as a gift with a brick). I go along the layers, try to split big chunks first. Then to smaller chunks roughly 4-6 g, so I can get exact weight needed with 1-2 pieces of brick for one session.
How I brew it: Lazy gongfu 200 ml, 8-9 g, 98 deg, rinse 10 sec, keep leaves under closed lid 1-2 mins, infusion seconds are 8-10-15-20-30-45, after that I take the leaves out, put them in small steel pot and brew it with 350 ml for 6 min, 200 ml for 7 min. All numbers are target only, I usually tune it on the way.

The result is dense brew, each infusion is slightly different. First strong smoke hits, charred wood, golden flowers with medium astringency and a slightly sweet, mineral aftertaste.
Then smoke goes down, flowers up, then flowers down, dried plum appears, then mostly wood etc. Hard to explain, you need to experience that.

I’m a fan of this style and got myself several bricks that will last me for several years hopefully.
Bonus is that they become better with age, much better. I have one 12 years aged and it is a magnificent thing.

Ok, I’m rambling. Questions? Tips?

Dark Tea Challenge - Fu Zhuan - Completed

What are the best shops to buy aged oolong like yancha, tgy etc.?

I have a French press I use to brew green tea. I’m trying to figure out how much loose leaf tea to put into my press so I can get three regular size coffee mugs out of it over the day. I figure I would need to lengthen the brew time a bit more for the second and third cup, correct? But how much tea would I use for this? 2 teaspoons? At home I’m using a Keurig for the hot water, BTW. Thanks!!!

Im getting into gongfu and tea overall. I chose gongfu even tho its harder than normal brewing because i think its cooler and makes me want to drink tea even more. Also i love chinese culture. Anyways my main concern is that i usually drink tea with breakfast before school, i usually have like 30 minutes max for breakfast in the school days. That is too short for a full gongfu session to use the leaves to their maximum potential so i wonder, how can i store the leaves to use them after im back? Is just covering the gaiwan enough to keep them fresh? Should i do more infusions than what im able to drink and pour it all into one container for a cold tea? Whats the method? Or maybe i just should brew tea the default way in the mornings and do gongfu when im back?

What estates should I visit, and any advice on getting a good deal on some high quality Darjeeling?

I really like 2nd flushes, not very familiar with 1st. I also love Nepali tea.

I've been recently into make cold-brew milk tea and have started with tea bags. I've made jasmine milk tea with a cup of cold water and two tea bags and added about a cup of milk to it and some simple syrup and it tastes lovely. I recently did the same thing with the vanilla comoro from Harney and Sons as well.

My only issue is that the color of it is a little faint? Once I mix it with milk it's basically an off-white instead of that nice light brown color. I've been cold-brewing it for basically 24 hours, but is the issue that I've been using tea bags instead of loose-leaf? The tea bags that I've been using are sachets that have loose leaf in them though....

Pinglin is a small town in New Taipei City where ~80% of the people make their living from tea. Baochung is the main tea here by far and is harvested five times a year and oxidised/fermented (locals will call oxidation fermentation) about 15%. It’s very light and I found it to be the most similar Taiwanese tea to some Japanese greens.

Baochung from Pinglin has dominated Taiwanese tea competitions for the past 15 years, so the town decided to set up their own internal competitions held twice a year. During the last competition, 1,800 farmers entered. The tea tasting pictured in the last photo is at the winner’s tea shop.

High quality Baochung is difficult to export due to high domestic demand, low oxidation level (higher risk of unintended oxidation during the shipping process), and it is rolled more loosely than other oolongs. As a result, it takes up more space and growers can fit less leaves in the packaging than, say, honey scented black tea or Oriental Beauty.

The tea master showed me how to make sure the fragrance of Baochung coats all nessecary parts of your tongue: take jyst a drop or two in front of your bottom teeth and suck inward very quickly. It should make a sharp slurping sound, and the liquid will be sprayed into your mouth. He said that is how Baochung is judged - no sipping slowly!

I found out that Harney & Sons is just over an hour away from me so we are going to go and see what is the what over there....

Am having Paris this morning after it was mentioned in yesterday's post and I thought....y'know? That sounds lovely!!

I also have to admit...I really do like the kluntje over the rock sugar I was using previously - this is some serious sugar!

All this to say that Paris in a purple cup (Paragon) is a perfect combination and a right way to start the day

Teapot is a Sadler - they call it "candy swirl" and it's one of my oldest pots

I saw a Chinese tea pairing chart at a tea house. Black tea with lemon is pretty common, but several of the other pairings caught my curiosity:

• Green tea + jasmine

• White tea + chenpi (aged dried tangerine peel)

• Longjing (Dragon Well) + honeysuckle

• Oolong + osmanthus

• Biluochun + mint

• Tieguanyin + dried red dates (jujubes)

• Hei cha (Chinese dark tea) + goji berries

I’d start with oolong and osmanthus. I’m more curious about Biluochun and mint, though. Does a little mint bring out the tea’s aroma, or does it take over the cup?

here are all the loose leaf teas(herbal and true) that i have:
roasted green tea.
black tea
rosemary
thyme
hibiscus
tulsi blend(idk if it is local blend or a standardized one)
i know of some great local store that have huge variety, if i can improve by adding something, do recommend please

have a wonderful time my tea friends

🌿 Welcome to our ecological tea garden!
Here, you may find tea leaves with signs of insect feeding.
We believe a healthy tea garden is about respecting nature and maintaining ecological balance.
Not every leaf needs to look perfect. What matters is the natural environment behind every cup of tea.