I miss the old group tea tastings

[cdh]

Are there enough people around here who drink tea and might want to revive the practice?  I've got a few teas interesting enough to discuss sitting around that I'd happily send 5 or 10 grams of to a couple of people who would participate in a tasting thread... chime in if you're interested.  Probably best to keep it within the USA, as sending baggies of vegetable matter through international mail is likely to result in delays and headaches. 

 

And for those who haven't been here long enough to remember this far back, here is an example of what I'm talking about. 

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by cdh (log)

[donk79]

Cdh,

I would have had no interest when the first thread was live.  However, tea is something I have begun to enjoy exploring the past couple of years.  My current challenge is finding good suppliers, without having to go into ridiculous expense.  I used to have a good tea shop about an hour away from me, but alas, it closed a year ago.  Now, my tea purchases primarily happen during the holidays, while visiting family.  My attempts at online purchasing have been more miss than hit.  Direction there would be very welcome!

[cdh]

Where to buy from really depends on what you like and what you know.  In Indian tea, knowing a plantation you like makes it easy to google for someplace that has the current crop from there... If you are limited to knowing and preferring particular limited availability blends from a known brand, you know where you're shopping.  There are merchants that specialize in, say Japanese greens, or Taiwan oolongs, or Yunnan puerhs, so if you want a deep dive into one of those, there is the opportunity to jump into the deep end. There are also merchants that do tea-of-the-month club sort of experiences, where they'll send you 3 or 4 varieties with enough to have a few good sessions with something new and different... so I have no idea where your taste buds and sense of adventure are at right now... Are you a black tea drinker, or a green tea aficionado, or an oolong appreciator or something else?  I don't want to flood you with stuff not relevant to your interests.

[donk79]

Oolong's are what have captured me so far.  I have sampled a few puerhs, but I have not been able to pick up any of better than commodity quality yet.  Green tea, well I am certain that there's more to be discovered than I have yet found.

[KennethT]

I'd love to get in on this, but my only issue is that I only really have time to devote to it on the weekends... at work I don't have the time nor the proper facilities.  Lately, I've been on a jasmine kick in the mornings, and a gong fu tikuanyin oolong in the afternoons...

[TdeV]

I recommend Upton Tea on the East Coast (US) here. I drink a lot of tea but it's mostly Assam, so I'm not sure I'd be a good candidate for the Tea Tasting. I like reading about it though!

[cdh]

Wow... go away for a weekend and now it looks like we might have a quorum.  

 

I've got a cake of aged white tea that is an interesting experience.  First 3 PMs to me with a mailing address will find a few grams of it in your mailbox sometime not too far away.  Brew it as you see fit, and report back. 

[donk79]

Thank you, CDH!  I will offer the same, though I need to figure out packaging.  I have a "Milky" Oolong that I would be curious to hear what others think of.  Supposedly the leaves are steamed over milk.

[KennethT]

If we're going to do this, I have a couple things I can contribute...   I have a TWG Tikuanyin Imperial that I brought back from Singapore...https://twgtea.com/teas/loose-leaf/ti-kuan-yin-imperial  This is a lightly oxidized oolong - lots of green notes.

 

I also have a pretty heavily oxidized Tikuanyin that I get regularly at a shop in NYC - https://mcnultys.com/collections/oolong-tea/products/tikuanyin  It has lots of roasted notes - I make this gong fu style on the weekends when I have time.