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Hello everyone! I have been working in food and beverage industry for almost 10 years in different countries. I am looking forward to learn new things on this forum to expand my food and beverage knowledge as well as sharing my experiences that I gained in my journey! Have a good day! ☺️

China's favorite urinating “tea pet” is actually a thermometer.

I love lapsang souchong tea. And I am always on the look-out for a better brew. I know Zhi Tea makes a nice one. Does anyone else know of a really good one?

A lot of websites include, or are devoted to information about tea. I am not talking about sites that sell tea, just sites that deliver information about this wonderful subject. I like http://asiarecipe.com/china.html This site has a lot of info about chinese food and culture in general, but I love it for the tea stuff. So, what is your favorite site for tea info?

Hi everyone, I wanted to ask - does everyone here use a timer for brewing? and if so, do you have any recommendations for good, convenient timers? I always seem to get my tea bitter...

I am an everyday tea drinker. I came to the US 20 years ago, and gave up tea for coffeefor many years because it was too hard to find tea that didn't taste like vegetable water. My budget is basically very very low. I am laid off at the moment and trying to keep costs down. But here is what i drink, and my strategy for maximum tea, minimum budget. from the Indian Store: Brook Bond ( I think) Green Label. Green Label is Darjeeling. No flushes mentioned, but as long as it is made properly, makes a great cup of tea, for my taste. Tetley Massala Chai bags, decent but not fabulous. For real masala chai i get CTC tea, i like Taj Mahal, and boil it up with cardamom, ginger and pepper. from China Town: Keemun in a little orange tin oolong in a pretty tin (this is not good oolong, but it brews up fine for a quick cup of tea.) I also have some lychee tea in a lovely pink tin, its pretty disgusting, but it was $2 and the tin is cute. On Top of this i have the ends of a bag of Lapsang souchong, this si my favorite and I ration it out. When i get really broke i mix it with assam or something of that nature. I have a little bag of golden tippy assam also from the tea shop. its ok but not worth the money Also i have a box of barry's tea bag, irish brekfast and gold blend, because they taste like home. I always drink my tea with milk, so my choices reflect this. I only put sugar in Massala Chai, but i find that needs it. so there... there are my teas. Cheap and very basic.

Another matter to keep in mind when tea shopping: 4 ounces of loose tea will brew 40 to 50 cups on average (this is Western style, one infusion). Do the math; tea can cost considerably MORE per pound than coffee, but less per cup! From the TeaSource.com website: "Tea is the most affordable luxury in the world. But at first glance it may seem expensive. A tea that costs $100.00 per pound only costs 50 cents per cup when brewed. A pound of tea will typically yield 200 cups (vs. 40-50 cups from a pound of coffee). Also, many of the teas in our collection will yield as many as 4-6 infusions from the same leaves (particularly oolongs and greens). For many teas, those later infusions yield the most interesting flavors. Since most of the caffeine is released in the first infusion, this is also a way to reduce the caffeine content."

Recently a co-worker of mine and I got into a discussion about "cream tea" and "afternoon tea', and the types of teas that go best for each occasion. He thought that for cream tea, where the tea is usually accompanied by scones or cakes, a strong tea like Assam matched well and cut through the sweetness. Do you take afternoon tea, and what thoughts do you have on matching the food to the tea?

Any one else confused by all the grades of tea? My first question is... what is the difference between Orange Pekoe and CTC? The tea i am drinking now says it is orange pekoe, but it looks like the little balls i associate with CTC.

Why is 'Western' style brewing (of tea) so called? It seems likely that in the tea-producing countries (India, China, Sri Lanka.....), most people would use this method, rather than the labor- and equipment-intensive 'gong fu' style. A brief internet search was not enlightening.

I'm trying to figure out what is a good, practical kit for traveling with my own tea. For me this means being able to make at least a pint of tea to carry with me in my backpack for drinking through the day when in meetings etc, where the teas provided, if any are at all, are usually exactly the sort of english breakfast teas I dislike. I love my little electric kettle that I use at work, but it's a one liter size, and I can't find any that are much smaller than that. I'd really like to have a one pint size, and I've seen some electric mugs but those mostly seem to heat rather than boil the water. I also have used an immersion heater coil plus a pyrex measuring cup, but the dedicated electric kettles are quicker and faster. I have a lovely inexpensive glass teapot with built-in strainer at the spout, so no need for an infuser. And a small tupperware or ziploc bag can hold a few days' worth of one tea. What I want is a small kit like a toiletries kit that will hold this stuff, protect the glass teapot from airport baggage gorillas, and live in the suitcase at all times, ready to add tea and go.

The Cultured Cup is providing 10 mg samples for another Tea Tasting Discussion. This time a tea blend they have developed for iced tea. Their Yin Yang blend incudes Japanese green tea, Chinese black tea, orange, pineapple, safflower & strawberries. The Cultured Cup has provided four samples of 10 grams each, and I will mail three of them to the eG Society members participating in this tasting. While the tasting is open to all members who have posted at least ten substantive posts in the Coffee and Tea forum, preference will be given until midnight (EDST) Friday, August 14th to those who have not yet participated in any of the last two tastings. As always, everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate in the discussion. So, please PM me now for details if you would like to receive one of the the free samples and participate in the tasting and discussion. As I have mentioned in other topics, I have known Kyle Stewart, co-owner of The Cultured Cup, for some time now, having bought tea from his shop for many years, at least 10 years I believe it is. And for the past three years or so Kyle has been instrumental to my tea education through the T-Bar Club at The Cultured Cup. Kyle attended the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas recently and completed his three years of training with the Speciality Tea Institute to become the first certified tea specialist in Texas. I have had many pleasant times with Kyle and his staff, trading teas and sharing new tea discoveries. More than just a tea merchant I happen to buy tea from, Kyle is a culinary friend as well as a tea friend - the wonderful tea pairings at Sharon Hage's York Street restaurant and a shared interest in Asian food.

I'm hoping someone here can direct me to a wholesale source for those metal tea caddies. The ones I'm thinking of seem very traditional to me - they're metal with both and outer and inner cap and sort of look like old metal milk vessels. Sorry if my description is lost in translation. I've searched Google for metal tea caddy but haven't had much luck. I'm looking for a source where I can buy a dozen of them. Thanks!

Allright, so I'm engaged in a couple of topics where teas are being tasted...click and click. In a fantastic gesture of both his time and expense, Richard Kilgore, one of our volunteer managers, has been acquiring and sending out samples of various high-end teas to members who respond (like I did) with the promise that they'll taste the teas and report back. The way these fancy teas are brewed requires a fair amount of work as well as a fair amount of equipment. Take a look at Richard's topic Show Us Your Teaware, and you'll see what I mean. No doubt tea can be brewed on a shoestring, as can coffee, and you'll still have a mighty fine cup. After all, tea got Bogey and Hepburn down the river, after she poured the Gordon's overboard. As far as my coffee ware goes, trust me, I'm obsessive - as can be seen in this topic started by Mr. Kinsey. Teaware - not so much. I have 2 of those little cute pots and they each hold about a cup of water when full - or, in tea terms, 250ml. To brew a great cup of coffee, I can put water on to boil, get my whole coffee rig set up, weigh out and grind my beans, and have a great 6 -8 oz. cuppa coffee in under 5 minutes 99.9% of the time. If I've preheated Silvia, I can have a great espresso 90% of the time in a minute. Of course, in both cases, excellent fresh coffee is of the utmost importance. But tea? What a pain. Constantly reheating the water (or heating fresh water even), taking it's temperature, timing things, swirling stuff - and all for like a 2 oz. sip of tea? That a lot of times doesn't even come out great. Additionally, it's about 1,000,000 degrees here the last couple of days (so I may be a little cranky) and who wants to spend the afternoon brewing shots of hot tea? I know, I know, people in hot countries drink tea because it cools them off. All over the world, they're drinking hot tea to cool off. Me, I just want air conditioning and an iced coffee. Shaken, frothy and so refreshing. Or a great iced tea. Am I the only one?

The spring tea harvest season is upon us in tea regions around the world. What teas are you looking forward to drinking this year? Are they your old standbys or are you exploring new ones?

This is the third tea tasting of 2009 thanks to eGullet Society member Greg Glancy of Norbutea.com. This time around we will be tasting and discussing a 2008 shu (ripe) pu-erh, a classic 7572 recipe from Menghai Tea Factory in China. The samples were taken from a 357 gram beeng. Greg has provided five samples of 10 grams each that I will mail to the five eG Society members participating in this tasting. While the tasting is open to all members who have posted at least five substantive posts in the Coffee and Tea forum, preference will be given until midnight next Tuesday to those who did not participate in either of the two previous tastings of TGY Oolong and Imperial Dian Hong. Everyone is welcome to participate in the discussion, of course. So, please PM me if you would like to receive one of the the free samples and participate in the tasting and discussion. Here is some background information on this Menghai shu pu-ehr from Norbutea.com. (Copyright Norbutea. Used with permission.)

Some of you may recall my plight a while back when my favorite orange pekoe was discontinued. Thanks to a number of eG'ers who were kind enough to pick up boxes for me, and with the help of Beth Wilson (an eG'er who lives up north) - the Ontario Provincial Police were dispatched to various small communities to fetch any last boxes remaining - I have been supplied until now. But a crisis looms - I'm down to my last 4 boxes! So I need help finding a new brand. I used to drink Tetley - but my favorite President's Choice brand was a cut above. I understand from reading on the Upton tea website that orange pekoe isn't actually a type of tea (like Darjeeling) - instead it is actually a measure of leaf size. So that makes my search even more difficult I expect. What I would like to find is a nice strong, but not bitter tea - the classic english cuppa - somewhat sweet and floral. I've tried Red Rose, PG Tips, the replacement President's Choice Orange pekoe - none of them do it for me. I'm willing to use loose tea if necessary - although I'd prefer sticking to bags if possible (that way a nice hot pot is waiting for me when I get home from work - not likely to happen with loose tea). Let's hear it - what is your favorite orange pekoe? Help me find an excellent replacement for my soon to be depleted President's Choice.

Although I started out learning gongfu style brewing with Yixing tea pots, I don't recommend that to my friends. If I knew then what I know now, I would have started with a Gaiwan - the traditional porcelain Chinese tea bowl with a saucer and a lid. The complexities of the effect of the many clays and shapes used for Yixing pots make things more difficult than they need to be for learning gongfu style, and have clear advantages in trying new teas. Since the porcelain does not absorb tea oils, it does not add anything from your previous teas into the one you are drinking now. Since you do not have to factor in whether it is a clay that absorbs aroma or not, you have a constant in your brewing rather than the complexities inheirent in using a Yixing clay teapot. And it is much easier to see what the tea leaves are doing and what the tea liquor looks like during the process. I think that for a first gaiwan, one in the 100 - 120 ml size is about right for one or two people. There are some subtle (and not so subtle) differences in design and material, but any inexpensive gaiwan in that size range is a good start. Have you tried using a gaiwan? If so, what has your experience been?

I have been drinking a ti kwan yin for a while and started brewing it in a pot heated with hot water, etc, and then went to a large mug/cup also heated beforehand..and then transfering to my drinking cup.. .While rooting around in the kitchen I found a mug that was about 20 0z. It is a stainless steel"thermos" style thing. I found that I could pour the hot water over the TKY, in the mug, and let it brew for the alotted time with almost no temp change, and then put a mesh basket in the top of it and pour the resulting liquid into my drinking cup...The leaves stayed in the "thermos" thing and were re steeped as needed... This saved much time heating the pot or cup to maintain temps... Just thought I would mention this in case someone else had one of these "thermos type mugs around.... Bud

http://teamasters.blogspot.com/ Stéphane Erler the pics r beautiful- i have not ordered any tea from him as yet jpr54_ aka joanne r.

eG Society member Kyle Stewart at The Cultured Cup is contributing three Japanese green teas for tastings here in the Coffee & Tea forum. This, the second one, is a Houjicha Select. Kyle has provided four samples of 10 grams each, and I will mail three of them to the eG Society members participating in this tasting. While the tasting is open to all members who have posted at least ten substantive posts in the Coffee and Tea forum, preference will be given until midnight (EDST) Wednesday, June 24th to those who have not yet participated in any of the last three tastings. As always, everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate in the discussion. So, please PM me now for details if you would like to receive one of the the free samples and participate in the tasting and discussion. Here is a little information on Houjicha from The Cultured Cup: As I have mentioned in other topics, I have known Kyle Stewart for some time now, having bought tea from his shop for many years, at least 10 years I believe it is. And for the past three years or so Kyle has been instrumental to my tea education through the T-Bar Club at The Cultured Cup. Kyle attended the World Tea Expo in Las Vegas recently and completed his three years of training with the Speciality Tea Institute to become the first certified tea specialist in Texas. I have had many pleasant times with Kyle and his staff, trading teas and sharing new tea discoveries. More than just a tea merchant I happen to buy tea from, Kyle is a culinary friend as well as a tea friend - the wonderful tea pairings at Sharon Hage's York Street restaurant and a shared interest in Asian food.

I'm just curious. Have you made any changes in your tea brewing and drinking this year? Teas that are new to you? New brewing equipment? New tea cups? New brewing techniques? Pictures welcome!

Bill Waddington at Tea Source has contributed an Okayati Estate Darjeeling 1st Flush for this Tea Tasting discussion. He provided 10 gram samples for me and three more eG Society members. Each sample is enough to make about four cups of first infusion tea. The three free samples are available to members who 1) will do at least two brewing sessions from the sample, 2) will report on their experience and participate in the discussion, and 3) who have previously posted at least ten (10) substantive posts (questions, answers, comments that add to discussions) in the Coffee and Tea forum. Preference will be given until midnight (EDST) Tuesday August 11, 2009 to those who have not participated in the last two tastings. As always, everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate in the discussion, whether or not you receive a sample. So, please PM me now if you would like to receive one of the the free samples and participate in the tasting and discussion.

futanashi kyusu futa = lid nashi = without/with no kyusu = teapot Dan at Yuuki-cha.com thinks I may have the first lidless kyusu in North America, and maybe outside of Japan. I had emailed Dan about a nice, inexpensive kyusu (side-handle) teapot, asking for some detail on it, which he provided. Then I explained that I was looking for a teapot to use for roasty Japanese green teas like hojicha, so that the flavor did not create a problem for the unglazed pots I use for sencha. He thought that was a good idea, but said that he uses a lidless kyusu for hojicha and genmaicha. I had never heard or seen such a tea pot, so he trudged through a long series of somewhat skeptical emails from me. He had received one of these a while ago as a sample, but could not figure out what to do with it. The manufacturer apparently presents them as good for Japanese green teas in general, which seemed doubtful. Then one day he brewed genmaicha in it, and it filled the air with the aroma. Now it's all he uses for hojicha and genmaicha. It's not on the Yuuki-cha website yet, so he sent photos, and I had more questions and he sent another photo clarifying the appearance. Since the futanashi kyusu was even cheaper than the one I was originally interested in, and a sale was going on, I had Dan ship one with another kyusu I had ordered. When the open kyusu arrived he had included a complimentary bag of a very aromatic organic hojicha for it's first brew, so I tried it out that evening. Standing in front of the kyusu while the tea was brewing was a different experience...the aroma filled the air. I had brewed another aromatic hojicha in a glazed kyusu with the lid off a couple of times after Dan told me about this open, lidless design, but it trapped the aroma largely. I had to stick my nose within two inches of the lid opening to get much aroma. But the open kyusu design lets the aroma waft into the saurrounding air. Dan says in smaller Japanese rooms the aroma literally fills the room. Here are links to the photos of this kyusu, used with permission. Several views of the open kyusu. And since those photos really did not show the complexity of the glaze well, here's the follow up photo Dan sent in order to clarify the unusual drip glaze with a smooth surface on top and a rougher texture about halfway down the body. Now to try some genmaicha in it soon.

Just curious...do you have a favorite teapot? What makes it special?