Good Tea Sources?

[GlassEye]

:thumbsup:

 

[mpukas]

I got some mini fine mesh strainers from the Asian market the fit nicely into most cups & mugs. 2 minutes for first steep, 3-4 minutes for 2nd, and depending on the tea, up to 10 minutes for the last. After that it's pretty much done.

I've also used a french press - that works well because it gives the tea leaves plenty of room to float around, and when pressed it keeps the leaves from brewing further. I got a press that has a handle that you can spin and close off the mesh strainer at the bottom that insures no further brewing of coffee/tea. Bu ***'s too much bother compared to a simple mini strainer in a cup.

Plus the mini strainers are great to dusting deserts w/ cocoa, powder sugar, etc.

 

[Lucretia]

And my wife was trying to tell me Im the only person in the world who does this!

View attachment 20055

That looks familiar. See it at my house every morning!

 

[orangehero]

Upton Tea Company (uptontea.com) if you're in the northeast. Great prices, quality, and shipping time. Also you can get sample sizes of any selection. I haven't bothered with any other sources.

 

[quantumcloud509]

Ok lets keep this thread going some...whats a good top of the line Japanese green tea?

 

[seattle_lee]

http://www.taooftea.com/[/URL]

Seconded. Especially like their pseudo-Puerh brick teas.

My favorite source, though, is http://www.teasource.com/. Top notch tea at great prices.

 

[seattle_lee]

Good teas are far more expensive than coffee, and IMO tea is under-rated and under-estimated in our culture which has become dominated by good coffee. I love coffee too!

You really only need to buy 4-6 oz of good tea at a time, and you can get 3-5 good cups from teaspoonful. I steep my tea in a 20 mug (about a tablespoon) and usually get 3 mugfuls out of it. Depending on how long I steep each round, the last cup can be quite mild.

Yeah, tea is more expensive on a per pound basis, but on a per cup basis, I think it's the other way around. But it does depend on the tea -- I mostly like white/green/oolong, all of which are good for multiple infusions.

 

[seattle_lee]

Ok lets keep this thread going some...whats a good top of the line Japanese green tea?

It may not be top of the line, but I really like this tea . Need to order some more, in fact.

Top of the line would be gyokuro, but I haven't found a source that reliably produces one that I like; would welcome suggestions.

 

[orangehero]

After water, tea is the most consumed beverage around the world.

The fad in USA is green teas, but my favorite tea by far is Darjeeling, an Indian black tea. It's called the champagne of teas. Give a try if you haven't yet.

 

[Jim]

Two sources I like are http://www.jingteashop.com/ and http://yunnansourcing.com/.

 

[mpukas]

After water, tea is the most consumed beverage around the world.

The fad in USA is green teas, but my favorite tea by far is Darjeeling, an Indian black tea. It's called the champagne of teas. Give a try if you haven't yet.

I mainly drink green, jasmine and white teas, because that's what Iv'e been able to find in my local Asian markets of good/high quality - but I would really like to find some good Darjeeling and other Indian black teas.

Interesting tidbit - A client/friend of mine (whose British) has a local coffee roasting and tea company, and he's traveled around the world a bit sourcing tea and coffee, once told me of a study that found the main difference in the health benefits between green and black tea (green being much more healthy that black, apparently) isn't the roasting process that makes black tea black, but adding milk changes something about the chemical nature of the tea itself. Green tea is typically consumed with nothing added, while black tea is often consumed with milk.

 

[RoscoesChicken]

Hottest thing in tea in these parts
http://www.rishi-tea.com/?gclid=CLTsjOu2yLoCFa1aMgodvB4AYg

+1 for Rishi tea. I've had good experience with their range of greens, darjeeling, and their white needle.

 

[RGNY]

these folks have been good to me.

their 'Baroness Grey' is exceptional...

http://www.pittsburghcuppa.com/bagr1.html

 

[marcr]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/05/teavana-starbucks-brew-cuppa-tea

 

[quantumcloud509]

Im currently using a stove top OXO tea kettle and I want to gift my wife and I a new kettle for Christmas. Super torn between going traditional clay or cast iron vs http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003KYSLNQ/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 .

Any of you more hard core tea heads prefer one over the other?

 

[GlassEye]

I really like electric kettles, for speed and control; I need a new one with accurate temp control for coffee. I have yet to try a clay or iron pot yet, though I really would like to.

 

[quantumcloud509]

Ima go ahead and buy the electric and then get a clay in the near future so Ill boil in the electric and steep nice expensive leaves in the clay pot.

 

[orangehero]

I've been looking at this one for myself:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005YR0F40/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[GlassEye]

I've been looking at this one for myself:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005YR0F40/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

That looks like just what I have been wanting; may have to get one for myself for Christmas.

 

[Justin0505]

I've been looking at this one for myself:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005YR0F40/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I looked for a long time and suffered a lot of duds before ending up with one of those. Im pretty confident in saying its the best of whats currently available. Temp setting is very accurate and can be customized down to the degree.

 

[Bef]

I looked for a long time and suffered a lot of duds before ending up with one of those. Im pretty confident in saying its the best of whats currently available. Temp setting is very accurate and can be customized down to the degree.

I have received one of these as a Christmas gift last year. Used it every day at the office, and ended up buying another one for home.

It is a really nice product. The fit and finish, however, is not really impressive.

Bef

 

[quantumcloud509]

I had it in the cart at one point last night. For whatever reason went for the one I mentioned earlier. The buttons reminded me too much of a microwave or something...I like the Turkish style spout but the base didnt look too cool.

 

[tongas]

Very old thread buried for too long...time to see if some of you enjoy tea

If you do, 20% off due to new pig year, until 11th of February

https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/

Their teas are worth a try.

 

[GorillaGrunt]

Yunnan Sourcing and Dragon Tea House

 

[osakajoe]

The tea crane

https://www.the-tea-crane.com

 

[tongas]

https://www.yunnancraft.com/en/

 

[chinacats]

Glad to see this thread revived. I've been enjoying quite a few varietals from Harney and Sons...believe it's Harney.com

They offer most of their looseleafs in tins and more importantly they offer samples of most things on their menu...and free shipping!

https://www.harney.com/pages/oolong-teas

https://www.harney.com/pages/black-teas

They also offer a decent selection of white and green teas.

I've also bought from these people and enjoyed my purchases...

https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/catalog/teas/organic-black

 

[tongas]

Japan

http://www.thes-du-japon.com/index.php?main_page=index&language=en
(tea & teaware) one of my fav.

http://www.marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp/english/top.html
http://www.yuuki-cha.com/
http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/
https://www.zencha.net/

http://gokuchaninshop.cart.fc2.com/
in japanese

Taiwan
https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/ mostly Wulong, top notch

Yunnan Sourcing and Dragon Tea House as GorillaGrunt wrote large range of teas/teaware

China
https://www.yunnancraft.com/en/ small shop based in Kunming, Yunnan

 

[chinacats]

Very old thread buried for too long...time to see if some of you enjoy tea

If you do, 20% off due to new pig year, until 11th of February

https://www.taiwanteacrafts.com/

Their teas are worth a try.

This place looks awesome, thanks!

 

[hawkoath]

i would recomend going to a good teahouse where you try out a lot of teas first and figuring out what you like