Ginger flower and honey orchid fragrance Dan Cong

 

honey orchid left, in all photos

This reviews two more Dan Cong from an ITea World sample set, sent by them for review. The last two were exceptional (orchid and magnolia fragrance versions).

One is the most commonly sold Dan Cong type, Mi Lan Xiang, or honey orchid fragrance (or aroma).  The other version, ginger flower fragrance, I've probably never tried. Their site description of that set follows:

iTeaworld 2024 Christmas Gift Sampler: Fenghuang Dancong Oolong Tea  ($109.90 for 100 grams)

Fenghuang Dancong Oolong Tea:  Huang Zhi Fragrance, Orchid Fragrance, Honey Orchid Fragrance, Magnolia Fragrance, Ginger Flower Fragrance, Osmanthus Aroma, Cinnamon Fragrance, Almond Fragrance, Night-scented Stock, Jasmine Fragrance

I might add a note on their brewing advice, before touching on the subject of value.  They recommend using Gongfu brewing, of course, starting at 6 to 8 seconds, and moving to 10 to 15 seconds, for up to 10 infusions.  That's fine, but I would brew these quite a bit longer, and only get about 6 to 8 rounds out of them.  If I was using a proportion of 8 or 9 grams I'd probably roughly match their parameters, but to me 8 seconds isn't long enough at 5 grams to 100 ml.  That's about preference, not really an optimum.  I'm a sheng pu'er drinker; I can't be brewing teas really light like that, but it is one common form of preference.  It might even work slightly better to isolate flavor aspects, even though that's counter-intuitive.

Is just over a dollar a gram justified for these?  I tend to state over and over that I just won't buy tea at a dollar a gram.  I probably wouldn't buy these.  But for what they are, the quality of the four versions I've now tried, that's about right.  At least they offer sales that could cut that back a little, 20% off if you spend over $100, so it seems this would drop automatically, at least now.  If these really cost 80-some that's a pretty good value.

It feels odd saying that.  Who spends over 80 cents a gram on tea?  People who don't care what the cost is, or who get hooked on types and quality levels of teas that they just can't get for less.  It's better not to do that.  This is where I usually say that other range of similar tea, for this type, isn't as good, in a sense, but it's interesting and pleasant enough that it doesn't matter, it's fine.  With Dan Cong you kind of take a hit.

I will say this:  I just bought decent Dan Cong for a gift at $20 per 100 grams.  It won't be this good, and this range of different DC versions doesn't turn up.  I bought that in a Bangkok Chinatown, and you can't match value or that version offering on the internet, oddly.  I didn't try that exact version I bought, to be clear, but I've bought Dan Cong from that shop three times, I think it was, so you can kind of get a sense of what they sell from that kind of history.  Upper medium quality Dan Cong can be really nice, if you can find it.  Online sources wouldn't sell that for less than $40, but it's still 40 cents a gram instead of 80+.  Other Chinatown shops here would probably sell lower quality Dan Cong for more; it was an exception, even for here.

These might all be that little bit better, or at least the first 4 were.  Maybe the honey orchid, Mi Lan Xiang, wasn't quite on the level of the others, but they were all pretty far up there for quality.  So I guess if you really feel that you need to experience what pretty good Dan Cong is like this is reasonable (given the other versions are like the first four, and I expect that there could be some quality variation).

Review:

Honey orchid:  that's nice.  I didn't use an extended first round for these to bump infusion strength to a normal level, so I'll be trying them light for a first infusion.  Character is good; these aspects are nice.  Tone is a little warm; it seems that oxidation level is balanced really nicely, probably supported with very moderate roast input, that is hard to fully place.  It all integrates.  Flavor is floral, of course, hinting a bit towards ripe peach.  The warmth comes across as a touch of cinnamon, at least so far.  Astringency hasn't emerged yet, but being on the light side that would be moderate.  It's a great start.

One might wonder if this seems really familiar, for this being the name for Mi Lan Xiang, the most common form of Dan Cong.  I guess so.  Those still vary a good bit, and this is a novel and positive version of one.

Ginger flower fragrance:  I guess that tastes a lot like ginger flower?  There is a light spice edge to it; it's really interesting.  The general tone is sweet, like jasmine, not even all that far from jasmine.  Again the moderate warmth works really well for this.  Floral tones are plenty bright and intense, and then it's grounded by warmer floral range, and what could seem like a bit of spice.  

This is so fragrant that it's perfume-like.  No tea this good is artificial, I don't think; I mean that volatile compounds give it a positive effect, what I often call liqueur-like, when the flavor context is slightly different.  It'll be interesting trying both slightly stronger.

Honey orchid #2:  I brewed these for about 15 seconds, or just over, not a long infusion time, but plenty for this proportion, for "only" using 5 grams.  Flavor is great.  Intensity picks up a good bit, but it stays in a similar flavor range.  A richness picks up, a thicker feel.  Astringency also does, but it's not sharp or edgy, only tied to that fuller feel.  Flavor definitely includes a lot of warm floral tone and some peach, and again I read the warmer part as being like cinnamon, just not exactly that.  

Ordinarily I'd be brewing 8 or so grams of this, drawing out even more intensity, even for using slightly cut back infusion times.  As long as you keep infusion timing out around 20 seconds that intensity would still be there.  There is no sharp edge to worry about; may as well push this tea a little.  Refinement and balance are great.  There could be a little more depth, and a little more pop, with aftertaste carrying over a little more, so I'm not saying that this is an ideal version, but it's pretty good.  It's definitely in the right range.

Ginger flower:  that ginger edge really comes out; it actually tastes more like ginger this round.  Maybe I was expecting that to be less of a literal description, or maybe ginger flowers also smell like ginger toot.  The sweetness is again like jasmine, with more warmth.  Where the other includes warm tone that's towards cinnamon this is really aromatic incense spice range instead, a set that I don't have clear enough memory of to distinguish between (frankincense, sandalwood, etc.).  

Feel seems a little thicker, and aftertaste does carry over just a little more.  It seems natural to push these just a little harder next round, infusing them for just over 20 seconds, to see what comes of that.  There's nothing negative to work around, so it will be down to trading off maxing out intensity for having them brew less rounds.

Honey orchid #3:  it's funny how someone unfamiliar with this tea type range could be absolutely blown away by this tea version, the strong floral tone, touch of fruit, sweetness, richness, depth, overall intensity, the way it all balances, and so on, and then the other version amps a lot of that up just a little.  Good Dan Cong is really something. 

"Good" is so relative; above average quality versions just tend to be like this, but from how people describe even versions they take to be positive many aren't.  That characteristic astringency edge people describe needing to brew around is a quality issue.  I suspect that low elevation, monoculture grown versions are pushed too hard with chemical fertilizers, leading to that, but of course that's just a guess.

Aftertaste does seem to pick up a little, for adding just a little more infusion strength.  Feel is generally good, it just seems less noteworthy with the other being a little richer.  Maybe the flavor being relatively familiar does cost it a bit in terms of novelty, but it's not as if I'm drinking Mi Lan Xiang versions all the time.  It's been awhile.

Ginger flower:  that's as far as this should be pushed for infusion strength, or maybe this is tipped a little over a natural optimum.  You know when something is enough when it's too much.  The ginger type flavor is still novel and positive, and other floral range is nice, but that jasmine sort of floral note is a little too strong in this.  

Could that flavor have been bumped by contact with actual jasmine flowers?  Sure, it's possible.  I'd guess that's not an input, but the effect would be like this.  It wouldn't draw out that much ginger flavor though.  And the supporting incense spice range warmth is really interesting and pleasant.  This is just how good Dan Cong goes; it's a little surprising that tea can be like that.  If added flavoring could be this clean, balanced, and positive I'd probably drink flavored teas.  Good Wuyi Yancha can be a bit surprising too, but not as much across this floral and fruit range, typically.  That liqueur-like effect can be really strong in some types of those though.

Honey orchid #4:  the feel isn't necessarily thicker or richer, but somehow it picked up a syrupy effect; the texture changed.  That's nice.  Intensity and complexity are good, and depth, but somewhere in that set is the closest thing to a limitation this tea has.  It could hit harder.  I suppose it could be slightly more intense and complex, and could express a little more depth.  It feels like splitting hairs saying that.  Someone could buy a dozen Mi Lan Xiang versions and not get one this good.  But there's a magic that happens when it's all dialed way up, and this quite good, but maybe just short of magical.

This is part of why I feel like chasing quality level optimums is a bad thing, to be clear.  If you need every new and different next experience to be better than all the last you set yourself up for disappointment instead of enjoyment.  This is already so good.  I'm just trying to place it, for people who are really on that page, into Dan Cong.  It would make for a bad goal trying to top this tea, and an expensive one, probably requiring some hit and miss, but it would be possible.

Ginger flower:  at just the right infusion strength this gets pretty close to magical.  The way all those flavors I keep describing come together, with the rich feel, warmth, depth, aftertaste trailing on--it works.  I suppose that ginger and floral mix, not so far off jasmine range, may not appeal to everyone, or that incense spice undertone people might see as less positive than I do.  To me it all really integrates.  I don't think it was a happy accident that made this tea turn out this good; I suspect that whoever made it really knew what they were doing.

That reminds me, in the last meetup at my favorite Bangkok Chinatown shop the owner, Kittichai, was describing how oolong is harder to make than sheng pu'er (in his opinion).  He said that to make sheng the material plays a lot of the role, and if you get the simpler standard steps right it will turn out as well as the material allows.  But oolong is different; there are more steps, more inputs, and more judgment required.  That matches my understanding too, even though I have zero experience with processing tea myself.  The timing for every step needs to be carefully determined, not according to a recipe, but in relation to the material and the conditions, related to how compounds are changing just then.  It's the same for withering, bruising, and oxidation, on to fixing, then later roasting; variable after variable requires tea maker input.

It seems funny saying that since over and over I've said that South East Asian sheng is typically just a little off Yunnan versions, probably related to processing differences.  Some of that could be intentional; people seem to draw out withering or add a limited oxidation step to offset the final bitterness and astringency, the harshness.  In Yunnan if the material is a bit aggressive after processing it just is; you age it some to offset that, not change the processing inputs.  What do I know anyway; I'm just a tea drinker.

Fifth infusion:  in order to not repeat those same aspect lists I'll just combine thoughts in one note for this round, and end this note-taking.

The honey orchid version has levelled off related to changes, not necessarily fading, but maybe giving up a little intensity.  It's quite pleasant like this, and not changed, but a next round would need to be infused longer to get this far.

That ginger tone is always surprising in the other version, when you first taste it each round.  And it being supported by so much floral and spice range is really something.  I suppose the feel could be a little thicker, but there's so much novel and well-balanced range that it's really splitting hairs to point out where it's weakest.

Conclusions:

These are much better than the earlier tasting sets from ITea World.  If you go back and read the wild origin material posts I did those teas are positive, mostly, but they're not complex, intense, balanced, and refined like this, none of them.  Then again this is Dan Cong (and they also cost more); that would be like trying sheng pu'er and saying that other type range just doesn't match it for intensity.  Of course not.  Just across that one dimension these aren't as full-throttle intense as the ordinary range sheng pu'er versions I often have with breakfast.  But across almost every other dimension the aspects really stand out.  

I suppose that only applies if someone loves floral-oriented teas with some fruit and spice range to add depth.  If someone loves green tea or hei cha, and not that range, these may not work as well for them.  To me the appeal seems relatively universal in form, but in practice personal preference isn't exactly like that.  People like whatever they like.

2014 Shou Mei white tea, 1995 Shui Xian oolong

 

iTeaworld 2025 New Year Tea Gift Set (Year of the Snake Edition) - The Collection of 10 Aged Teas

1995 Shui Xian Oolong Tea

1998 Tie Guan Yin Oolong Tea

1995 Aged Phoenix Dan Cong

2003 Sheng Pu-erh Tea

2003 Shou Pu-erh Tea

2008 Double-Steamed Liu Bao Tea

2014 Shou Mei White Tea

2014 Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong Black Tea

1998 Jasmine Green Tea

1980s Fu Brick Tea

Listing for $75.90 for 100 grams, it's hard to determine relative value, given that this range is a bit rare.  It also depends on quality level; older teas aren't always pleasant, and didn't always hold up well to storage inputs.  These did; I'm including the product information after doing the review notes.  76 cents a gram is probably fine for good quality teas in this rare a type range.

Let's get right to the review then.

a slightly better look at the dry leaves

Review:

2014 Shou Mei:  this is nice.  It's not as intense as it will be for rounds after this, even though I brewed it for nearly 30 seconds, but it's started nicely.  A warm spice aspect stands out, and richness of feel, and depth.  Honey-like sweetness is pronounced.  Other warm tones might include pastry, like a danish tastes.  So far no dried fruit is standing out, but this includes most of the rest of the range aged white teas typically might.

1996 Shui Xian:  that's interesting.  On the one hand there's a much stronger age-related flavor than is typical in just about any tea version, aged books or furniture or whatever.  I've been drinking a lot of aged tea lately so that's familiar, in different forms.  Then other warm range is more like leather, or even towards coffee.  Only the long-faded remains of a probably initially high level of roast remains.  A dark caramel flavor aspect is promising; that might pick up.  Strong and dark mineral tones ground the rest.

It doesn't integrate as well as it might, but then this is only an early round, and some aspects tend to "burn off" within a round or two.  It's not very musty.  One part of that aged furniture or books range includes a little funkiness, but it's moderate for this being a 30 year old tea, and this being the first round.  It's not sour either; that could easily creep in, depending on storage conditions (included dampness).  This was stored fairly well.  It will be interesting to see how it evolves.  Of course it's a bit "stronger" than the white tea, in terms of intensity, but the other version has greater depth.  All that could still shift though.

Shou Mei #2:  richer and deeper in flavor and feel.  Still, this conveys what is positive and limiting about aged white tea, even though it's a pretty good version of one, type-typical and pleasant.  Flavors are nice, and feel is rich.  It balances well.  Sweetness is good, and it's clean in effect.  Then it's also a bit limited in intensity, in a couple of senses.  There is no astringency edge to offset the rest, only a rich feel.  Flavor is positive but the range it spans is limited.  To me this would be a nice tea to drink a few times, maybe even a half dozen times, but I wouldn't want to have it once a week for months.  For me basic black teas and my favorite young sheng range I would appreciate over and over.

I drink aged white tea when I fast; along with shou pu'er it's gentle enough to be fine even if you haven't eaten for a few days.  In that context it's nice experiencing any flavor, and any eating related process, even just drinking a tea, or tisane.  

Related to changes maybe the bread range has expanded a little in this, tasting like a sourdough sticky bun.  That's good, but the rest of the range is still limited.

Shui Xian:  this picks up depth too, and "cleans up" a bit.  The aged effect is still present, but the mustier side of that--which was already limited--drops back.  A spice note stands out more, one that's hard to place.  It reminds me of different parts of a favorite Chinese bean and dried fruit desert, served with ice, mixed together, like Chinese date and candied lotus root.  

I just saw this in a local Japanese grocery store, the day I posted this

This is interesting, and pleasant.  It didn't seem to fade over those years, but I'm getting the sense that this won't last, that it's already hinting towards fading from being brewed, under one minute of infusion time in.  

This range of tea isn't really familiar to me.  I've tried aged Wuyi Yancha, but never over a decade old, as far as I remember.  This is holding up for intensity better than I would have expected, and the flavor range is clean and pleasant, complex in a novel way.  Caramel or toffee sweetness does hang in there, along with earthier range that's hard to place, warm mineral tones, and dried fruit depth.

Shou Mei #3:  about the same.  I brewed that a little longer, maybe 45 seconds instead of just under 30, since there are no concerns about too much intensity or harshness related to both.  Brewing it strong will drop the infusion count, but I'll probably stop taking notes here anyway.  It's not transitioning, not changing.  

In terms of interpretation of flavors if you think about dried fruit when you drink it, one more flavor that tends to emerge in aged white teas, it does taste a little like dried raisin or date.  Not much, and part of that is probably a bias in "looking for it," but it's a little like that.

Shui Xian:  this did transition; an interesting bark spice aspect picked up.  Cinnamon is the one bark spice we are familiar with, but there are others.  For nearly 20 years I was into tisanes, before exploring "real tea," and I tried a lot within that range over that time.  It's odd that I don't bring it up more here, but that was a long ago, and it didn't work to commit a lot of the flavors and experiences to memory.  When I moved to Thailand 17 years ago I tried out some herb teas here, but explore more coffee, and then tea.  

I could struggle more placing a flavor list for this tea at this stage, or describe it fading some over a few more rounds, but I'm not going to.  For pushing these teas, using such long infusion times, the infusion count will be low, maybe at only a half dozen, and they'll be a lot more faded than normal by the 5th and 6th round.  I'd have a chance to list a new flavor aspect for one or both, but the main story has been told already.

I will also mention that on the next round a brandy-like flavor aspect seemed to pick up, something that had been present before then, but that was clearer at that point, easier to put a label on.  Again the white tea changed less.

Conclusions:

Both of these are good.  I would've expected more storage issues, and limitations, but these didn't express those much.  These two styles are limited, in relation to each tea style having a different character, and only covering so much scope.  Young sheng pu'er expresses crazy intensity, and fully aged sheng pu'er trades that out for other flavor range and complexity.  These are interesting, and novel, and not similar to either of those ranges.  Neither is in a range I'd want to drink a lot of the time, but they're both very positive experiences.  The "daily drinker" theme is always separate from other exploration range anyway.

I can't really say that the Shui Xian is completely type-typical, related to not being that familiar with such aged Wuyi Yancha.  It's more intense than I expected, and complexity is good, with novel flavor range expressed, which I did expect.  I might've expected more flaws; it's nice to be wrong about that.

In one sense I think aged white tea can be over-rated, but then preferences do vary, so that only works in relation to my own preference.  The same applies to well-aged rolled oolong; it's interesting, and some people love it, but I don't really, since it usually just picks up warmer tones and tastes a little like plum.  

Until someone tries a type-typical version they wouldn't know what they like or don't like, which is the whole point of this kind of sample set.  In these two cases it achieved its intended outcome; these were interesting and pleasant versions of these types.

Teas from my favorite Bangkok Chinatown shop; about meetups

 

meeting the Jip Eu owner, Kittichai, with those friends today

Later today, at time of first writing a draft, I plan to visit my favorite Chinatown tea shop for the second week in a row, Jip Eu, meeting friends there.  Last week I met Huyen and Seth there, and it was just great, as always.  The owners feel like family, and we always drink lots of teas and talk about their background.  

Kittichai, the owner, has half a century of experience in vending and producing tea, since the family shop is something like 80 years old, and he's from a tea producing family in China.  That last time Seth could even talk to him in Mandarin, which seemed to work a little better than English, which also works.  We tried a black tea I brought then, Thai tea in a Dian Hong style, and from them Lapsang Souchong (a great, high quality unsmoked version), and an Anxi black tea, and maybe one more I'm forgetting.  We usually try a sheng pu'er, or some oolong, and probably did then.

Of course I'm not saying that everyone would typically have the same kind of experience there.  They wouldn't.  They're not set up to sit and try sample after sample of tea with visitors, as shops more oriented towards tourist visitors might be, like Sen Xing Fa.  Value is better for what they sell though; that staff support level and extra expense gets built back into pricing.  Everything always gets built back into pricing; if a vendor offers free shipping that's not exactly free, and if you see a lot of marketing for a vendor, or if packaging is elaborate, you're the one paying for that, in the end.  

In Jip Eu they would be happy to discuss teas and offer options, just not typically tasting tea after tea, instead whatever they have open.  Sen Xing Fa sells some of their teas from large jar storage, which is not really ideal, but it does help with keeping sample portions available.

Jip Eu specializes in low-medium quality Wuyi Yancha sales, Shui Xian blends, what people tend to call Da Hong Pao in other places.  Then they also carry really nice Wuyi Yancha, and lots of other range.  I bought pretty good jasmine pearl white tea the last time, a gift for monks I know.  I'd drink that too, but I'm more a sheng pu'er drinker, so I'd get to it slowly.  I have a tin of jasmine green tea at home that I'll finish within the next few years, at this rate.

I bought decent Dan Cong today, again for monks I know.  They can't buy tea for themselves, and no one else knows about the theme to include it with offerings, so I'll periodically give them some tea.  One monk just helped us organize a memorial service for a cousin who passed on a few months ago, and another taught Keoni and Kalani meditation last summer when they were here; they play an active role in our lives.

The sheng range in Jip Eu is limited but it's a great place to pick up a Xiaguan tuo, or even a well-aged Xiaguan cake.  I try different teas every time I'm in there so it's hard to keep track of all that they sell, maybe even for them.  These teas I'm reviewing aren't necessarily indicative of that range, beyond the likelihood that quality level and character is a bit random.  Some of what they sell is quite good, and a good value, but since it all varies it helps to be careful and selective there.  I've tried their 100 gram folded paper packs of Shui Xian that were great before, well above average, and bought lots for gifts just then, but the last versions I bought were back in the range one would expect, pretty decent, but not unusually good.

I'll include a review of two of their teas, samples, and then add a section about the outings there at the end, framed around photos.  The owner mentioned that they sell online through Shoppee now, of course with product range much more limited on that online shop.  Something like the Dan Cong version I bought would be on there (the one in the hexagonal shaped box).  I've bought a couple of tins of their Dan Cong before, when I was doing more with oolong, so I'm confident that it's quite good as tea sold in that way goes.

Review:

Jin Guan Yin rock tea:  interesting!  We just tried a well-roasted, fall harvest, Taiwanese rolled oolong at a gathering with friends a few days ago, and this is pretty similar.  Roast level comes across first, but that's a much different experience than with Wuyi Yancha, where well-roasted tea tastes a bit charred.  This integrates.  It has vegetal undertones too; this isn't highly oxidized oolong, still at a moderate level.  

The final effect is pleasant; it balances.  There's a nutty sort of range, which I'll probably describe differently as rounds pass.  It could also be interpreted as bread-like, towards fresh sourdough or homemade bread.

Tie Guan Yin (I'm pretty sure it was that):  it's interesting how that general style theme, low-medium oxidation and high-medium roast, come together for a similar style but different result.  There's more floral range in this, but it's possible that the oxidation level is slightly higher, since part of the tone is warmer.  

The other version must express some floral range, it's just not evolving clearly early on.  In this it really comes across.  Thickness and fullness is also nice, especially for this being a fast early round.  This should have pretty good intensity and balance, I'd expect.

JGY #2:  even more intense roasted oriented aspects emerge.  Then it's a little odd how that contrasts with a "greener" base of flavors, but this is one typical style of roasted oolong that comes up.  I might like versions that balance higher oxidation input better, but that's preference oriented, not objectively better.  Maybe that would be a common preference.  

Some spice range seems to emerge, it's just hard to identify.  I think underlying floral tone is a part of this too, and mineral base.  There's a good bit going on.  Balance is fine, it could just integrate slightly better, related to that opposition between oxidation and roast level I mentioned, only an opposition if someone sees it that way.  That Taiwanese oolong example was pretty similar (the one we had tried at a recent tasting); again this is one conventional style.

TGY:  richer, creamier, fuller, more balanced, and more floral.  I'd imagine a lot of people would like this more, and I do.  It's interesting how creamy this is; that tends to be associated with Jin Xuan (a cultivar and oolong type).  It's both a flavor and feel input.  It includes some of the same warm roast range as the other version, but it balances better with the rest.  Tones are slightly warmer, even though that's not clear from the aspect labels I've mentioned (floral, versus spice range / towards fresh bread).  

JGY #3:  I'm going to cut this short, since I'm running late for an appointment to meet friends.  They are part of that new set of friends from a meetup with Seth and Huyen.  I brewed this round much stronger, distracted by a phone call, but that can help with identifying some parts of the character.

It's still pleasant brewed on the strong side.  Roast input really hits, and the rest picks up a lot of thickness, a much fuller feel.  Mineral is quite intense but not unpleasant.  There are no flaws that make this objectionable.  People may not like this character form, the way these aspects balance, but that's not the same thing.  An inky flavor emerges from the strong roast, towards mineral, also towards the char that can come up in Wuyi Yancha.  But it stops short of tasting like char; this is an upper-medium level roast, for sure, but not really high level.  

It's pretty good tea; the quality level and expressed character is fine.  It's just that people would divide over how they take this style.  That's true of every tea type, but maybe all the more so for this.

TGY:  this is also pleasant brewed strong.  It's nice how oolongs give you that leeway, that you can brew them quite light or quite strong, and it's down to your preference which is better, but they don't become harsh.  Shou pu'er is like that.  Sheng pu'er isn't; if you brewed any remotely young version this strong you'd have to dilute it.  I tend to do that by brewing a flash infusion and mixing them, not adding water, but it's not so different.

The balance is nice in this.  That roast input connects better with other warmer tone range, and the floral input, and mineral depth.  Greater thickness of feel shifts the overall experience, it's just not related to flavor balance.  Somehow the inky sort of flavor, between mineral and char, doesn't apply to this, even though the roast level is similar.  I think that's from how light vegetal flavor is offset by incrementally higher roast level in the other (both are upper-medium, but that level is a little higher).

JGY, #4:  brewed lighter, to see how that changes things, in the middle of a transition curve.  It comes across as much sweeter; it's better.  It's still intense and full, so it just balances better.  That slightly aggressive roast level is tapering off, letting the rest fall into a more natural balance.  It wasn't completely out of balance before, but this is better.  This matches what Tea Mania had sought out as a relatively good version of Taiwanese roasted oolong (the one I tried with friends); it's pretty good, as quality level goes.  Some of my reservations about style are resolved as well, as this transitions to be better balanced.

TGY:  also sweeter and lighter, but that roast edge still comes across clearly.  Overall effect is quite pleasant.  The aspects I keep describing work well together.  This is a little better than Thai versions of rolled oolongs ever tend to be, although surely some are this good now.  It's clean, well balanced, rich in feel, with good sweetness, and a positive flavor balance.  Warm floral range stands out most, then mineral base, and warm tones, towards spice, but not like Rou Gui or Oriental Beauty expressing oolong.  It's more an incense spice, like sandalwood.  It's nice.

These are far from finished but I'm off to meet people in Chinatown now, in this shop.

Recent meetups:

So many!  I'll skip the two I've already covered in posts, meeting Huyen and Seth at their tea tasting, and at a local Central World mall tea sales pop-up market, and touch on the rest, by commenting on photos.  The point will be the experience, aspects that make them interesting, in ways others could also explore, but of course the personal connections were the best part.  

I mentioned visiting that shop today, but I didn't mention what we tried:  an old Mengku sheng pu'er, a younger Xigui version (which I had reviewed here), Rou Gui (rock oolong / Wuyi Yancha), a medium roast level Anxi Tie Guan Yin oolong, and Thai and Vietnamese sheng versions I brought for comparison.  I was a little underwhelmed by the Thai and Vietnamese teas; the Thai version had a green tea edge, and the Vietnamese one was ok, more like sheng, but not as catchy as it might be in relation to expressing positive flavor aspects.  It was good, but not great, and not overly interesting.

I had mentioned this shop visit before, with Huyen and Seth

tea meetup at home

I might add a little about what we tried at home, in that more medium sized gathering.  We started with two of my favorite teas from Aphiwat, a Thai producer, a Thai version of sheng and Dian Hong style tea.  That was about sharing my favorites, and it matched a staggered start time, letting people running earlier try those.  We later also tried a Hong Tai Chang sheng from 2005 or so, that Thai producer that related to Chinese producers making tea here (but that back-story might include some mythology at this point).  And a Taiwanese more-roasted but lightly oxidized oolong, the one I compared these teas to.  We also tried a benchmark version of Xiaguan cake, maybe from 2006, and finally a Lao Ban Zhang sheng pu'er version, something I don't re-try very often.

It's never enough, until it's too much, and we didn't quite there in the time we had.  It can be nice trying teas in a mapped-out way that makes sense, working from lighter to heavier, exploring styles in a planned way, maybe moving from more basic to more refined range, but just trying what people find interesting in no particular order can be nice too.

There isn't much for "lessons learned" related to having friends over, or visiting that Chinatown shop.  It's asking a lot of shop owners to just host a tasting, basically, but if you know them they're often pretty flexible about that.  Of course it's only reasonable to buy some tea at the end.  Beyond giving tea to monks I can always stock up on an extra Xiaguan tuo, or the like.

It was interesting brewing tea for 8 people, all those versions, in the one gathering.  I used a larger sized gaiwan, 200 ml, maybe, and combined or "stacked" multiple infusions to pour decent sized cups.  It's nice having small, comfortable cups for that purpose, like these:

I'll probably take it easy with the tea meetups for a week or two; it's been hectic.  The current air pollution problem in Bangkok has caused our cat to lose her voice, so I've added a trip to the vet to these tea meetups, and a memorial service outing.  That was visually interesting too:

another temple area; there is so much to see there, in Wat Pho

a nice teaware display in that temple

Tea booth event in a Bangkok mall

 

it has been great seeing more of Huyen and Seth

Last year I wrote about attending what seemed to be the first dedicated tea convention / expo event in Bangkok, a Tea Atlas event (the branding name), held in Central Embassy.  It was packed with a good representation of everything related to specialty tea in Bangkok.  Not every vendor, cafe, or shop, but an extensive representative set of them.

Then the next couple Taste of Tea events, seemingly connected to an earlier tea shop brand, were kind of different.  These were just booths set up in a mall, with focus more on bubble tea and matcha drink sales.  That's fine, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's not the same thing, not really a move towards higher quality tea awareness and acceptance.

This event was a bit in the middle, limited in size, and covering both scopes.  A vendor we had just met in that recent Vietnamese tasting was there, the Qing Fu Cha owner, Charlie (I think; he might have more than one nickname, maybe also Yee?).  Thais always have a formal name and a nickname, so the multiple names theme is universal here.  

It was nice checking out the first day of that event, in the Central World Mall, more or less the main mall in Bangkok, and visiting that vendor's booth to try some of his tea.  We tried a Jing Mai pu'er and a Thai version of Oriental Beauty oolong; both were nice, type-typical and pretty good.  It was also nice meeting a few people from that tea tasting.

From there other vendors sold interesting versions of different forms of tea.  Araksa Tea Room (cafe) had a booth, which I didn't spend much time at, but that name comes up as providing a nice cafe space.  Two others sold novelty iced or tea and milk blends, based on better quality original style teas, which isn't normal for that theme.  Bubble tea is usually just ordinary black tea, as a base.  Some of the drinks were clearly distinctive; a Da Hong Pao and a Taiwanese oolong example stood out, from two different booths.

What does this mean?  I really don't know.  Maybe that kind of theme will catch on, or maybe it won't.  Maybe they'll diversify back into a more original form of those teas, or maybe they'll shift product form and sell novel flavored versions instead.  I suppose it's still interesting to see, instead of just matcha, bubble tea, and "Thai tea," the orange colored, flavored version.

It might seem like there should be another couple of points to touch on, about what else was there, and other possible directions local tea themes could take.  Really joining that event was more for seeing Huyen, Seth, and the others I'd just met, more than about those teas.  

I'm not sure what could've been there that would have been so personally interesting for me.  Even if the types matched what I love most in teas, like distinctive and intense Thai sheng, or rich and complex Thai versions of Dian Hong style black tea, I'm not sure if it would've changed much.  I have that tea at home, in lots of versions, especially if you count stocking up on somewhat related Vietnamese versions.

If this is what Taste of Tea is and will be it's ok.  It would be nice to see a real tea expo instead, producers gathering to share what they've been working on, and importers or foreign producers there covering what neighboring countries are up to, Laos and Myanmar tea and such.  Short of that this is good, trying some novel iced teas.  I think it's worth swinging by to check it out.  Matcha and Japanese teas tend to get better representation, but since I'm not into that I tend to not notice it as much.

For where I am in tea experience now meeting others into tea is more interesting than the actual tea.  In one sense, to me, that relates to burning out on over a decade of tea types and quality level exploration.  It's a little tiresome.  But that doesn't make it any less interesting or relevant for others who are new to it, or only a few years in.  Part of what I'm expressing is that it would be nice for them to have easier access to the rest of the range too.

I can be clearer.  Nearly a decade ago I went to a Seven Suns tea tasting, highlighting a broad range of tea types, mostly Chinese, or maybe all Chinese, in a shop in Ekamai that's now gone.  It was 8 years ago; I looked it up.  That business founder was trying to set up something that didn't exist yet, true specialty tea awareness and appreciation in Bangkok.  He was a nice guy, and I'm sure still is.  I'm not sure we can conclude that he failed; that business morphed into focus on sales of matcha, which was practical, and in demand.  Specialty tea awareness and demand has gradually expanded here; it just took time. 

Then it's odd to expect that lots of other vendors should keep repeating that pattern, making it stick where it didn't work out for them.  But there are Thai teas at a high quality level out there, that could support an even more interesting experience than that one; I've tried them.  And surely I've only tried a fraction of what exists.  There are online Thai tea groups with thousands of members, tea cafes and shops have a following, and these tea events I'm writing about draw visitors.

It would be sad if it takes another ten years for what I'm describing to come about, a variation of Taste of Tea focused not only on what is readily available, vendors already interested in this form of promotion, but instead on the best of what exists.  The Tea Atlas function was a little closer; maybe it will repeat again this summer.  To be clear two of these vendors were really breaking new ground with high quality cold tea drinks, based on traditional styles, and Qing Fu Cha is a solid vendor option, so I'm expressing that the overall volume and range was limited instead.  No producers were represented, for example, there was no Taetea booth, and so on.

I've heard the point made that low tea demand benefits us tea consumers, because it keeps pricing in check, and availability open.  I'm not so sure.  When demand increases quickly that does lead to rapid pricing expansion, but it also seems like gradual shifts in demand could see the production side respond.  Pu'er cake prices doubled in the last half dozen years; maybe that's a good example of the first case.  And limited Japanese tea production leads to that tea pricing staying high.  

Then again maybe it's easier to argue for the opposite of the point I'm trying to make here; economics is a strange theme.  Anyway, I'd like for more others to have access to interesting tea experiences, even if it relates to me shifting what I focus on and buy, as has occurred continually over my past anyway.  

This Taste of Tea event runs through the 30th; maybe stopping by there is a good starting point for that.  Even when searching I don't see an event notice on social media for this; strange.  This is Qing Fu Cha's event notice version, but there's not much to know; information booths in Central World know where it is in there, and everyone knows where Central World is.

Thai Oriental Beauty is not bad, but then it's all relative

New to the tea world! Any suggestions?

 

This title is taken from a Reddit post title, which states an obvious, repeating request, that turns up there a few times a week on r/tea.  They could just program a bot to respond that this is asked multiple times a week, so scrolling back through posts, even without searching, would turn up another half-dozen related threads.

I've been considering writing a basic, thousand word length answer to this question, so why not.  Years ago I wrote about this same post theme already, here, but that might've been based on a less "starting from scratch" perspective, more about moving from owning a dozen boxes of tea-bag teas into better loose tea.

that person's starting exposure (from the Reddit post; they said this):

I got myself one of those tea/fruit infuser bottles. I know loose leaf is probably the best way to go but I seen videos where it seems like you have to brew like 3 times over for that cup of tea. So I’m wanting to get more info and maybe places to look to get a good sampler to expand my pallet. But again besides tea bags that’s all my knowledge I have.  (For context celestial brand of green tea peach, hibiscus tea seems like the only ones I have gotten and often drink),

So they're kind of starting from only having tried Lipton before, and that herb tea / tisane; that comes up a lot.  This won't get too far into explaining what Celestial Seasonings herb blends and tea and herb blends are all about (both highly processed material in tea bags, essentially flavored tea).  That's a decent range to start on, but it's not "real tea."  

It's a really minor point but it's palate, not pallet; one is your sense of taste, the other is a wooden frame structure used in shipping and warehousing, and a pallete is an artist's range of paint colors that they're working with.

Real tea is any processed variation of a Camellia Sinensis plant, of variety Sinensis or Assamica.  It's generally in these broad type ranges:  black tea, green, oolong, white, and hei cha, with pu'er either a type of hei cha or related to it.  People tend to include yellow tea but you can skip over that; it's just partly fermented green tea, steamed and left to change some.  There's also no need to worry about oxidation levels or roast inputs early on; later you can sort all of that out more.  Drinking flavored teas or teas mixed with herbs is fine, but I'm not covering that here.

a current favorite Thai black tea; not all that similar to Lipton

initial types to explore:  people in discussion threads always suggest what they are into, so there probably is no clear answer to this.  Different answers work for different reasons.  One response is to get into better quality tin teas, like Harney and Sons (for blends and flavored teas, or some plain teas), or Ahmad (for Indian teas).  

I usually suggest flavorful, easy to brew, broadly appealing types, like light rolled oolong (like Tie Guan Yin), or Dian Hong (Yunnan black tea).  For some people shu pu'er is easy to approach and appealing, and for others it's way too earthy.  That and well-roasted Wuyi Yancha (Fujian oolong, like Da Hong Pao or Shui Xian) both make for a good cross-over from coffee experience, matching parts of the flavor.  Shu pu'er is earthy and has depth and rich feel like coffee, it's just not the same, and highly roasted "rock oolong," Wuyi Yancha, matches up with that roasted effect in coffee versions like French roast.

Then others recommend almost anything, white teas, green versions, other oolong, Darjeeling; whatever they're into.  Sheng pu'er is not a good place to start, a little too intense, bitter, astringent, and varied in character to pick up quickly.  But most of the rest of the range could work.  In general more whole leaf teas are better, representing a higher quality level, and those will be lower in astringency level (less rough in feel, which seems like bitterness to people who aren't clear on the distinction).  But early on seeking out high quality examples doesn't matter as much as trying out different types range, and exploring from there.

2006 Xiaguan tuocha (sheng pu'er); about a decade away from being age-transitioned enough

brewing advice:  there are two types of brewing, Western and Gongfu, and it probably makes the most sense to start using a Western approach.  The limitation with that is that some tea types don't work out as well prepared that way, especially sheng pu'er (the one I said to avoid initially), and high quality twisted style oolong (Wuyi Yancha, Dan Cong).  Really any very broken leaf or flavored tea is better prepared Western style, and a lot of other range works out better Gongfu brewed, but it matters less for some types, and for lower quality teas.

What are the differences in the two processes?  I skipped over that part.  Western brewing is the one teaspoon per cup method (or using about 3 grams per 250 ml, put another way), and Gongfu brewing uses a higher proportion and many short infusions.  People typically brew 6 to 8 grams of tea in a 90 or 100 ml device, using short infusion times (10 to 20 seconds, versus 3 to 5 minutes for Western brewing), and brew a dozen rounds or more.  Or less, if they use a lower proportion; the proportion and timing balance with each other.

a gaiwan and some cups, in a Japanese small bowl style, but Chinese cups can be similar

For someone very early in moving past tea bags just exploring Western brewing would be enough, but if someone, even in that situation, wanted to delve into the whole experience range they could explore both brewing approaches.  That leads to the next topic.

what gear is required?:  you need some way to heat water, and using an electric kettle is standard.  But putting a pan on the stove also works, and for more aesthetic, ceremonial Gongfu brewing people tend to use charcoal and a cast iron kettle device, even indoors, even though that sounds crazy.

a favorite tea friend and her family, with a lot of very aesthetic teaware around

Next you need a brewing device, a teapot, or the equivalent.  Old-style ceramic teapots, like someone's grandmother or aunt would use back in the 20th century, would still work well.  Or glass versions are equivalent, or there are lots of other options for Western brewing.  I use a single-serving, for-purpose ceramic cup and basket device, with a saucer that doubles as a lid.  But I used a French press at work for years, and those work well, and own a glass teapot and tea bottle that are also fine.

basket style Western infuser devices; one I used from a glass teapot's basket insert

For Gongfu brewing there are three main options:  a gaiwan (lidded cup), clay pot (yixing is one well-known clay type), and the Japanese version of a small teapot, a kyusu.  A friend used a small glass teapot, shaped like the traditional Chinese clay versions, that worked just as well, for brewing 100 ml or so at a time.  A gaiwan is a nice option to start with, especially because a basic, fully functional, 100 ml, white porcelain version typically costs about $10 through Western online outlets.  They take practice to use, since you can pour it across your fingertips before you get it, but not very much, and there are lots of online video references about that.

To be clear you can use anything as a brewing device.  You could heat water in a pan, then put the tea in the pan, or brew in one mug and strain it into another.  Other options would probably seem appealing even early on, but the differences are minor.  Later subtle differences do tend to matter, factors like heat retention.

Cups are a complicated subject.  You can use a coffee mug, or small British style teacup, or something plainer and a bit rounder, but it's natural to shift to small Chinese or Japanese style bowl themed cups before very long.  At first setting this aside would work.

sources (where to buy tea):  this is really complicated.  At a local loose-leaf, specialty tea shop, or Chinatown shop works well, but for most people there isn't one nearby.  So it's on to the long list of online vendors different people see as natural starting points.  Yunnan Sourcing is one; a market-style Chinese tea outlet.  Rishi and Adagio are American plain and flavored tea outlets.  Commercial tins or boxed of tea are ok; Ahmad really is decent, or Dilmah is for Ceylon.  

market-style sites can be a bit much; Yunnan Sourcing sells thousands of tea versions

To me buying good quality tea at a good value makes the most sense, and overseas outlets can work even better for good value.  Hatvala and Viet Sun are good Vietnamese options; something like that.  Or Yunnan Sourcing's competitors can work out; King Tea Mall, or Chawang Shop, or White2Tea for pu'er.  Years ago I wrote about producer-direct sourcing options, here, and Wuyi Origin (for Wuyishan rock oolong) is the main option not mentioned in this yet.  It's better to start with more basic versions of teas than they sell.  For people seeking out good quality Wuyi Yancha and Wuyishan area (Fujian) black teas that's the place.

At the next level a lot of different kinds of curator vendors or type-specialists make sense.  Seven Cups is well regarded (a generalist source in the US), or Essence of Tea or Tea Encounter in the UK, again leaning towards pu'er specialization.  Pu'er is a common final-stage type preference, but again I'd try out oolong and black teas first, and maybe dabble in white and green before moving on to that.  Shu pu'er, the pre-fermented type, versus sheng / raw, is approachable--not bitter and astringent--but also quite earthy.

Then the list of decent sources never ends.  I think Liquid Proust is worth checking out (with some emphasis on pu'er; that never drops out).  In the EU Tea Mania is a good small outlet, based in Switzerland, and Moychay based out of the Netherlands is a good Russian market-style vendor.  

To jump ahead to high quality range the Trident Cafe and Bookseller is a great curator option, but again I'd avoid starting out at the top, even if budget isn't a concern.  There's no going up from there, and there's no harm in exploring teas with some quality limitations earlier on, to see how the whole range works out.  If you start out with Wuyi Origin Wuyi Yancha you are ruined for drinking Chinatown shop Da Hong Pao or Shui Xian, it just won't be good enough, and that's an interesting exploration phase to go through.  Learning about typical flaws is part of your experience curve; you lose something giving that up.  Not just something abstract either; it can help you place limitations in other tea types later on.

Chinese online sales is a strange range.  Teasenz is a good example of a Western-style outlet based out of China.  ITea World and Oriental Leaf are newer forms of outlets, focusing a lot on sample sets to get people new to tea introduced (or hooked, more pejoratively).  Farmerleaf is a popular option (based in China), again focused mainly on pu'er, but you can buy great black and white tea from such a source, usually.

teas from different production areas, and related sources:  I've not mentioned Japanese tea; in any list of source references, or any type discussion, most of the range has to drop out, or the discussion runs so long.  Yunomi is a popular Western facing option, and Ippodo is a Japan based larger distributor that's well regarded.

I live in Thailand most of the time (and in Honolulu the rest), and there are good Thai teas, and good Thai sources.  Tea Side is the main Western facing, higher end option, and 101 Plantation works as a way to check out what large scale producers selling directly are like.

And I've glossed over Indian teas.  Golden Tips might be a good generalist source, Gopaldhara is my favorite Darjeeling producer, and you can try Assam directly from a producer from Halmari.  Of course options keep going; there are countless small Indian tea vendors.  Herbs and Kettles is a US based on ran by an online friend.  I would check India-based options before doing too much with US sources though; you can buy teas at volume for not so much if you work around a large shipping cost addition.  Whenever you buy from abroad you just need to buy a bit more to get the lower per-volume rate to be more of an input than shipping, which is why most set minimums for "free" shipping around $100 or so.

Good tea comes from other places, from Nepal, Indonesia, Georgia (the country); the list keeps going.  Of course no one is going to start there, so it's all out of this discussion scope.  What-Cha is probably a good vendor option for checking what else is out there, if they're still around.

Tea is made in the US but I'd set that aside until later too.  Not much is, so that only relates to some quite ordinary mass-produced range from South Carolina, one specialty tea vendor in Mississippi (the Great Mississippi Tea Company; their tea is good), and tea from Hawaii, which is really expensive.  Of course every absolute generality I express here is partly wrong, as that one was; lots of people are growing just a little tea in the US, mostly in the South, and nothing stops them from selling some.

learning, mastering brewing technique:  this just takes practice.  If you want to take up learning background information as a secondary interest that's fine too though; it can complement your own direct experience, which is by far the main input.  I've written about tea reference sources here , covering some of what changed over the years after that first sources post, one part of what was covered in that beginner's guide.

Watching Youtube videos can help with parts you really need to get down quickly (eg. burning your fingers using a gaiwan), or they might shed light on brewing temperature issues.  For Gongfu brewing most people just use boiling point water, all the time, maybe except for green tea, but it's more common to use a range of different temperatures for different tea types when brewing Western style.

varying approaches to tea:  this is a higher level sort of theme; people approach tea in vastly different ways.  Early on many people want to try a good selection of all of the range, and to master basic brewing forms, and learn about storage issues, etc.  That's fine, but it can be like trying to drink the ocean.  You see lists of the ten basic or most famous traditional Chinese teas, so it sounds like just trying 10 versions is a clearly defined milestone, but no two lists identify all the same teas.  Almost no vendor would sell all ten, of any given set, and quality level varies a lot, and so on.  

Sampling works as a good approach early on, but most often those large market-style vendors offer samples to purchase, and buying a set is much easier than sorting through 2500 versions to identify where to start.  That's why using a region-specific vendor like Hatvala early on works out well; you could buy a half dozen of 30 or 40 Vietnamese tea types they carry, and that set would represent some of the rest.  It could include black tea, green, oolong, pu'er, or whatever you like, and you'd see what you had left behind, you could scan their whole product list.  The other curator site I'd mentioned, Trident Bookseller and Cafe, works for viewing a lot of tea range in a half dozen web pages, but their typical cost range would be around 50 cents per gram, instead of 10 to 20 for more intro-oriented, moderate quality level range.

cost as a factor:  I can't really help clarify how this works, because there are really dozens of types of vending outlets, and thousands of types of tea versions and products.  In general higher quality level teas will cost more, but value--quality in relation to price--varies by vendor.  In physical shops you tend to pay a little more for the extra service level, and to cover the extra overhead.  Some online sources represent a great value, and others terrible value; they can set the mark-up however they want, or they can even lie about what a tea actually is.  With quality levels also varying so much you can't get any feel for value within the first year or so of exploring tea.  You can accept others' input about this, and later confirm or reject their input based on your own experience.

It's a lot cheaper to buy more volume of tea at one time; that stays the same across most vendor types.  Then I also just said that sampling is a good approach to try a lot early on, buying tiny amounts, maybe 10 or 15 grams at a time.  There's no contradiction there, if there seems to be.  You end up paying a little more to try more range earlier on, usually.

You can buy really cheap tea at high volume from atypical types of sources (at a Chinese or Indian market, direct from producers, from some market-style vendors, through online auctions, whatever it is).  I've bought a kilogram or more of a tea for each of the last two years, basic black teas from Thailand and Vietnam.  I don't necessarily recommend this.  Until you know what kinds of tea you like, and how to evaluate sources, you might just buy awful tea, or decent tea in a style that you don't like.  If you are spending $20 on a kilogram it's only so much money wasted, but if it's the absolute lowest quality tea on the market there may be health issues to be concerned about, eg. pesticide contamination.  The highest exposure risk occurs when you drink a lot of one unsafe kind of tea, just that set of circumstances.

So this part everyone needs to sort out for themselves.  People tend to explore organically, to try a couple of types of tea and keep going from there.  Some people never move beyond Harney and Sons flavored versions of tea sold in tins, and that's ok.  Most British people aren't aware that not all tea comes in tea bags, which is fine.  It's a shame to never try better black teas, and oolongs, but it's just a drink choice, just one that a lot of people value quite a bit, and explore at great length.

rolled Tie Guan Yin and twisted Dan Cong oolong, both very much worth trying

what I'm not mentioning:  most of the other related factors, most of what a tea enthusiast would learn over the first two years or so.  This hasn't touched on tea storage issues yet, concerns related to using water with a low or high mineral content, how long you can leave damp leaves sit around (for half a day is ok), and many other things.  Cold-brewing is a nice option, and thermos brewing can work, or even simmering some versions of tea, but I'd advise against starting there.  Masala chai is nice, spiced black tea, similar to the "pumpkin spice" theme, which usually is simmered, and you can make that at home, but again it's no place to start.  Versions of hei cha could work out even as a starting point, but someone might as well try basic black teas and oolongs first, or move on to green and white versions.

I'll mention a few other issues in relation to photos that are handy, but in general the idea here is to support getting started.  The rest will come.

In a Chinatown shop, or anywhere else I guess, one might wonder if large-jar storage is ok.  It's not ideal, but it's still ok, especially for buying mid-range quality tea.  For early in exploration quality issues are a lot more of a concern than storage form.  Better tea tends to not be sold like this, but then you don't need to focus on high quality tea early on anyway.  

I'd go for it, exploring through this form of purchasing, even though I've had some really bad experiences doing so (especially related to the shop pictured; a Lapsang Souchong was made with fake smoke scent added, that was so strong and foul that it threw off the smell of all my luggage).  That's part of it too; the learning curve involves trying bad tea too, and other directions that don't work out.  A lesson learned from that experience:  even if you are in a hurry, and trying inexpensive random things, and a bit thrown off by walking around NYC in a snowstorm, you should take a whiff of the large jar, to make sure nothing is really wrong with the tea you are buying.

This shows how I brew tea, using a gaiwan, a cup, and a thermos (along with our cat and my daughter).  That's all you need, and for Western brewing a single stainless steel basket and a mug is enough.  There's no need to worry about using a scale, strainer, thermometer, brewing tray, tongs, sharing pitcher (gong dao bei), or any of the rest.  

Comparison tasting, trying two teas together, is a nice learning tool for later on, but it will make more sense once the basics are clearer, what types are, how to brew, and what some basic versions should taste like.

There are countless other brewing devices, gravity feed versions, simple pitchers (like this), tea bottle based; it never ends.  You can use any of them you like.  The small stainless steel ball version isn't ideal because tea leaves can't expand, and you can't put longer, whole leaves in them, because they won't fit, but most other forms are similar in effectiveness.

Loose, whole leaf black tea.  This style is similar to Dian Hong, Yunnan black tea, but this version is from Thailand.  Teas like this can be entirely different than tin-based ground up material versions, and are generally much better.

that one friend again; she visits Bangkok this week, and this is my favorite Chinatown shop

If you go in a Chinatown shop, or any shop, they'll first ask what kind of tea type you like.  If you don't have an answer for that things can get a bit stuck.  Just make of any given situation whatever you can, and more helpful vendors will be happy to help you sort through some basics early on, mapping roughly what sounds good to what they sell.  

In general you don't need to buy anything at any shop, regardless of how much tea you've tasted, but out of consideration I'll always buy a little if I've tasted more than one tea version.  If I try something and it's not good and staff isn't helpful I might just walk back out instead, buying nothing.

Some teas take different pressed forms, or can appear different in other ways, ground up, or varying in color.  This is sheng pu'er, the version I've been saying people shouldn't try right away, since oolong and black tea are more natural places to start (to me).  People shouldn't be put off or afraid to try anything, though, if they feel interested.  White tea cakes look similar to this, most often shou mei, and those are very approachable, another nice starting point.

The only storage form that you should absolutely avoid buying tea in relation to is when it's sitting out in open bins.  This degree of air contact is way too much; this tea will go dead fast.  For your own storage at home that doesn't matter too much, as long as the tea is well sealed, but the ziplock style bag form of plastic (also in this picture, in the lower right) isn't as good as it might seem, since that can "breathe," even the freezer-use versions.  Mylar or multi-layer bags are good.

There is no natural place to end this; I could reference another 20 photos and the part of the story they tell about tea experience.  I'll end by sharing a picture of the one thing I most typically leave out:  me, sharing tea with a favorite friend.  It's even the friend you've seen twice here, while visiting from Vietnam last year.