Progression through a tea experience curve

first meeting a favorite tea friend in a favorite Chinatown shop

I wrote about how beginners might get into tea awhile back, about how themes like brewing, sourcing, and learning about types works out, here.  It's strange that was 9 years ago, now around half the time I've even been exposed to specialty tea.  I began exploring it more through writing this blog, starting 13 years ago.

The point here relates to seeing post after post--in Reddit now, since FB is kind of quiet in tea groups--about people just getting into tea.  It means different things to different people.  Usually someone posting there, in r/tea, will have only tried tea bag tea, or maybe beyond that mainstream, mass-produced options like Harney and Sons, or Twinings.  Ahmad and Fortnum and Mason wouldn't be so different, or loose leaf Ceylon from Dilmah (which is actually pretty good, within that range).

Already it could sound like I'm looking down on people at that level, that they will get around to exploring "real tea" only when they take the next step, and try out different kinds of sources, and learn about more tea types.  English Breakfast Blend is a tea type, in a sense, but I mean narrower origin, more original versions, like trying Tie Guan Yin oolong, or Longjing green tea, some absolute basics.  In part that works, just not the judgmental tone.  Someone could drink only Earl Grey and English Breakfast Tea forever and they would still be a tea drinker who is enjoying tea.  From my perspective that would be kind of a shame, because the really interesting scope starts right after that, or maybe two steps later, but it's their perspective that matters.

So this isn't intended as judgment.  I'll map out some types range and stages without this concluding that people making it to my exposure level and appreciation form have navigated a proper experience curve.  A lot of this is about types, about how people typically explore from one form and type of tea through a larger set, but I'll start with typical brewing and sourcing experience curves.

Brewing approach transition:  it usually goes from using a tea bag, on to using a range of Western approaches and devices, narrowed down to one favorite (often an infuser basket), then to Gongfu brewing, using a gaiwan or clay pot.  You can use other approaches, and what works best depends on the tea type, quality level, and form (broken leaf versus whole, etc.).  It's as well to just shift from tea bag to Western brewing, early on, and explore from there.

pour-over tea with ice cream.  it kind of makes sense, but also not really.

flavored Thai tea, brewed in a French press

Sourcing transition:  people start with whatever they run across or have on hand, so grocery store tea bag versions first, then any kind of loose tea, then onto loose tea versions that aren't random, that represent whatever is most available.  

Someone could stop at any one point; all of this is written as if it would be more natural to keep going.  They could only ever explore tea-bag versions, or only ever try out Western brewing.  Someone might never explore beyond Twinings, Ahmad, Harney and Sons, and Fortnum and Mason tin versions.  That wouldn't be terrible, but to many the more interesting range starts in later.  This extensive typical experience curve description following, related to types, covers how that often works out.

English Breakfast Tea and Earl Grey:  these could be tea bag versions, although loose leaf versions of almost exactly the same tea tend to be better, even from the same producer or vendor source.  Tea bag teas are so broken they're almost ground up material, because that extracts a lot of flavor from a small amount of tea (2 to 2 1/2 grams) in 4 or 5 minutes.  And astringency is increased, and more negative flavor range; that's the bad part.  Flavored teas are fine; I've liked Earl Grey versions I've tried in the past.  Better quality Earl Grey is nicer than what Twinings sells, loose or in tea bags, and that's harder to find.  

But moving on to the next step is the thing, to expand range, and try what is better.  Let's move back a step first though.

Flavored teas, blends:  there's nothing wrong with drinking Sleepytime from Celestial Seasonings or a popular cinnamon blend from Harney and Sons, whatever that's called.  I started on tisanes and these kinds of blends a long time ago, long before getting into real tea.  Tazo Zen was an early favorite, and it's probably still nice, if it exists.  But this is about the other kind of range, so let's consider what that even is.

this is pretty good; I just had it with breakfast, during editing

Tie Guan Yin, Longjing:  these are natural starting points for Chinese light rolled oolong and green tea.  Longjing is either an inexpensive copy of a fairly well established and high quality version, or that original form, which can also represent a developed end-point preference.  

I visited China relatively early in my exposure to tea, on business, about 18 years ago.  A local IT professional working in Bangkok, from China, mentioned that buying Longing in Chinatown is a good starting point.  He was right.  I tried a couple of quality level variations, and couldn't tell the difference, so I bought the next to most expensive one, and I was hooked.  Green tea turned out to not be my main natural preference, but I still like Longjing.

an old mall visit on my first trip to Shenzhen

comparison tasting Longjing cultivars

Light rolled oolong is just a good general tea range, easy to appreciate, easy to brew, good at varying quality levels.  Later people might well change oolong preferences, and like much better Taiwanese high mountain versions, that are more flavorful and refined, sometimes incorporating more oxidation and roast input.  Or Wuyi Yancha (Da Hong Pao, Rou Gui, etc.), or Dan Cong (Chaozhou, Guangdong oolong), that are either fruity or floral, versus Wuyi Yancha / Wuyishan, Fujian teas expressing earthier range roasted notes, and lots of rock mineral base.

To get to this stage you almost have to move past grocery stores as a tea source.  I see inexpensive Chinese Tie Guan Yin in specialty grocery stores in Bangkok, or sometimes sort of related local Thai Jin Xuan rolled oolong, but in general it's just not here either.  We need to go to a tea shop, or buy it online.  In a big city in the US a Chinatown market store should have some basic tins of teas, but it would usually have to be in the range of NYC size for that to come up.  And that's just to buy mixed quality level tea versions; it might be pretty good, or maybe pretty bad, just like in the specialty grocery stores in Bangkok.  So let's consider that next range.

Dian hong black tea, Keemun, Japanese and Vietnamese teas:  none of this is going to be in any grocery store (except maybe Japanese tea in a Japanese grocery store, which they have in Bangkok).  That first example is my favorite black tea category, Yunnan black tea.  You can buy pretty good versions that aren't expensive online, maybe for under $15 for 100 grams.  "Pretty good" is always relative.  In that 15 cent to 25 cent / gram low-medium price range value can become important, but it's not that much to be spending on tea.  People's budgets vary, and this content can't mostly be about that, or address it fully, so I'll be limiting that as a consideration here.  Beyond the Japanese teas range lots of types just mentioned might be closer to 10 cents a gram instead of 15, for pretty good versions.

Vietnamese black tea, essentially made in a Dian Hong style 

Keemun is an exception, relating to two different kinds of things now.  It's cheap, mass produced and sold Chinese black tea, just not as common as it probably was 15 years ago.  Or it's a higher quality range version from the same area and plant type (or types) that's fairly rare, something you wouldn't run across much.

I mention those other origins because it doesn't really work to assume that someone is going to explore only Chinese tea.  Japanese tea is often presented, approached, and consumed as higher end, limited character range, expensive tea versions, as better than average sencha, gyokuro, and so on.  That works, but those Japanese grocery store versions aren't exactly that.  I asked a local Japanese friend once what he drank, and he couldn't even name sencha as a main category description, and just responded "whatever the grocery store sells."

Vietnamese tea is so broad, and a subject so near to my heart, that it's problematic to even say why it's problematic as a category.  There are cheap teas from there.  Fishhook style green from Thai Nguyen (an area) is usually quite good for being so inexpensive, heavy on mineral base, vegetal, and intense.  But they make lots of tea there.  I've been drinking a lot of Vietnamese sheng (the same as sheng pu'er) for many years.  

Black teas from Vietnam can be great (or from lots of different places).  Both Thailand and Vietnam started copying Taiwanese oolong production back in the 1990s, I think, and Vietnam has moved on to making better versions than Thailand, at the higher end.  There are lots of local types and styles; it's a diverse subject.  So it would match to lots of what I'm going to go on to say about other Chinese tea range.

many tea types in a popular Moscow shop.  that guy was so nice.

Wuyi Yancha and Dan Cong oolongs:  I've mentioned that these are natural second levels to explore for Chinese oolong range.  Or at least that's how I see it.  Early on that might relate to Da Hong Pao (from Wuyishan, the Wuyi Yancha or rock oolong range).  That's also called Big Red Robe, relating to an old story about a tea plant being given a robe to wear, out of honor, related to saving the king's life, maybe that was.  Never mind about the myths; it's just colorful background, that doesn't mean much.  Probably the tea plants never actually wore a robe, since that doesn't make sense, or maybe they did.

Dan Cong, left, and rolled Tie Guan Yin

Quality level of these teas varies a lot.  Someone would normally experience the lower level as an intro, keep exploring, and feel like the range of what "real tea" is only unfolds for them in the second half of that exploration.  Dan Cong usually comes after some Wuyi Yancha exposure; it can cost a little more, it's less common to run across, an better versions can be more refined (and of course more costly).

It's tempting to describe the difference between a cheap Chinatown shop Shui Xian or Da Hong Pao and a better tea version, but I wouldn't do that justice in words.  You need to try them, and you can appreciate the quality of the second better after exposure to the first.  That's why listening to a vendor describe a version as communicating the real tea experience can be problematic, beyond that being a typical red flag for over-hyping a product.  You might end up paying $1 a gram for a tea that you can't compare to anything else that you've been exposed to.  It could seem good, but it could be impossible to place that.  It's as well to try some basic teas first.

really inexpensive Shui Xian from a favorite Chinatown shop, sold in folded paper

Better quality versions tend to be more refined, in the sense of conveying a range of very positive aspects that integrate and balance well with each other.  Flavor is usually better, but mouthfeel and aftertaste expression also can be.  A liqueur or perfume-like aromatic character comes across in some versions (maybe the first more related to Wuyi Yancha, similar to cognac or brandy, with strong floral character in Dan Cong seeming more like perfume).

Hei cha, shou pu'er, white tea:  along the way in exploration you end up trying all sorts of varying types, with very different character.  This is a nice part of exploring tea; you can keep trying something new and pleasant, that doesn't necessarily cost that much, for years.  Looking back you might wonder why someone would keep drinking one tin after another of a few favorite Harney and Sons versions, since they're missing this kind of ongoing exploration pattern.  For the same cost, even, or this exploration of different tea types might even be cheaper.  

It's probably as well if I skip over what these are, for the most part, beyond adding a few short phrases.  White tea is the least processed version, in some examples not as flavorful as others, but versions can also be bright and fruity, or warm toned and somewhat complex, just perhaps not intense.  

golden flowers mold, jin hua, on Fu style hei cha (a positive and valued input, oddly)

Hei cha is a category of fermented teas, more or less, with shou pu'er often regarded as one example of this (or as a separate thing; it doesn't matter that people use category boundaries differently).  Shou pu'er is definitely post-fermented (wet piled) sheng pu'er, which is sort of like green tea, just a little different.  Liu Bao and Fu zhuan are examples of hei cha.  

Shou pu'er, Liu Bao, and Fu zhuan are all kind of earthy, but in different degrees and senses.  Liu Bao includes a slate-like mineral base layer, and can taste a bit like pine, or in aged versions, or versions that are more pre-fermented, more like peat.  Like actual dirt, right?  But in a good sense.  You really need to experience that to see if it's as horrible as it might sound, or great instead.

I'm not implying that someone would try Tie Guan Yin first, then a good Chinese black tea, then Vietnamese teas, then white, and so on.  Everyone's path would be different.  But it is common to run through more common and typical types earlier on, and then expand on that.  But then I've missed a couple, so let's circle back.

Assam and Ceylon:  black tea from India can be basic and pleasant or high in quality and exceptional, from different places.  I'm referring to Assam, or Darjeeling--another area--might also ring a bell.  Ceylon, black tea from Sri Lanka, is an unusual special case.  At one time it was one of the main teas produced, in high demand, regarded as one of the best tea ranges to be experienced.  It's still good, but now it might be regarded as more ordinary range tea instead.  

good orthodox Assam

Why?  It's complicated, how trends and themes go in broad tea preference.  Darjeeling was highly valued as a tea origin and general type as well, and now it's a bit passé.  Teas from there--both places--can still be fantastic, but tea trends come and go.  Nepal teas were really popular for a few years, a decade or so ago, and now they're not trendy, even though it's common for versions from there to be exceptional.  Aged white tea preference seemed to come and go.  It is what it is.

Natural end points for preference:  this might seem a little misleading, because there's no reason why someone would need to settle on one or more types to like best, later on.  They could just keep drinking a broad range, and exploring.  But often people will settle into liking a couple types best, and then mix it up from there.  For me that relates to sheng pu'er, mostly as drinkable younger versions (not aged), and Dian Hong style black teas.  That's a pretty conventional final preference set, but there are others.

Wawee origin Thai sheng "pu'er," a current favorite 

Some love Japanese green teas the most, which is understandable, if umami flavor that leans toward seaweed is regarded as positive.  Or Taiwanese oolongs, or Wuyi Yancha or Dan Cong.  It would seem odd to me for someone to land on loving hei cha or shou pu'er the most, but that does happen.  An older Chinese friend from Malaysia settled on Liu Bao preference, and in Russian culture / tea circles shou pu'er is a main favorite.

It's worth considering why sheng pu'er ends up being the most typical final preference (per my experience in "tea circles").  There's no one answer, but a few possible causes stand out.  It's really two different types of tea, as drinkable newer versions (what I like), and aged versions, so that's actually two possible final preferences.  Younger versions are intense, often sweet, strong in flavor, including substantial bitterness, strong in feel, and complex in character.  I think a natural tendency to prefer more all of the time, of any kind of exposure, leads in this direction.  

Aged versions can be refined and complex in a completely different way.  There's a lot to learning about types, sourcing, storage conditions input, optimum age range, and so on, so people who embrace a learning curve and like the idea of exclusivity have a lot to work with there.

2004 Dayi purple label sheng, in 2020.  it's pretty much ready now.

What is too much learning and exploration input?:  this seems to be what moderates level of exploration; people only want to put so much work into a drink preference.  It's understandable.  It's not even about expense, since that's already occurring for coffee or boba drinks, for many.  It's about reading a 1500 word blog post, watching videos, or placing the first half dozen orders from vendors from around the world.  It can all be a bit much.

So people find whatever balance works for them, for most relating to trying whatever is already on grocery store shelves.  That can be ok, but for tea enthusiasts that's essentially what comes up just prior to the gateway to better tea experience.

rustic "witch's broom" form Da Hong Pao and sheng pu'er; later exceptions keep coming up

Asking The Expert: Choosing Pu’er Tea (Michelin guide)

 

Someone commented this on a Quora post I added about a Vietnamese tea shop, some writing I did for Tea Journey magazine a year ago.  It's what the title says, a Michelin guide to pu'er from a pu'er expert.  

I'd expect some inconsistency and error in such a guide, even if written by a relative expert, and I wasn't disappointed.  Most of it was fine, but the exceptions stood out.  And what they didn't say also seemed odd; they referenced shou / shu / ripe pu'er processing, but never called it any of those names.

Since a lot of the content is good background information, and since selection of what to include or not include is a bit arbitrary, I don't want to be too negative about this source.  By highlighting what doesn't work I'll be implying that it's full of errors, and low in quality or accuracy, but it's really not.  It's just not 100% correct.  Since it also lacks clear framing, what range the ideas fall within relative to the rest of pu'er experience scope, to me it's a bit more deeply flawed, even though most of it is ok with that framing added back in.

Let's start with the intro to the author, which places it as likely to be completely reliable:

For newcomers to the tea-drinking culture, how should they select the right pu’er tea? Ann Sit from Fook Ming Tong gave us some valuable insights.

Sit is a tea sommelier and Fook Ming Tong’s general manager. She began learning about Chinese tea as a teenager, and her qualification in tea connoisseurship has been recognised by the government of Mainland China. At the moment, she dedicates her time scouring tea plantations around China to source the best teas for her customers.

Sounds good.  I don't know what Fook Ming Tong is, and that makes a lot of difference, but let's move on from that (after pointing out that the first Google search entry describes it as a Hong Kong tea shop).

What’s the distinguishing characteristic of pu’er? 

Tea leaves are mainly categorised by the degree of fermentation. The production process of pu’er involves procedures such as picking, withering, fixing, kneading, drying. In the end, it’s heaped up and stored before it gets fermented. In comparison to oolong, green tea, shoumei, tieguanyin and other tea varieties, pu’er is fermented the most. Industry professionals call it black tea or post fermented tea.

In fermentation, the stimuli in tea leaves like chlorophyll are decomposed. Pu’er is usually dark brown in colour. It tastes mild and smooth. Thanks to the long fermentation period, there’s also a deep fragrance to the tea.

At first read this is all wrong, but taken in the right way it works better.  Fermentation is a main input to pu'er, but it's not clear that she doesn't really mean oxidation here, or isn't mixing the two terms and inputs.  Pu'er isn't typically oxidized, but any background on pu'er should make it a bit clearer which process is being referenced, since fermentation is often used incorrectly to specify oxidation.

The processing steps are fine.  Kneading should really be shaping, since it's more conventional to call a different leaf bruising step in black tea processing kneading, intended to break open the plant cells to allow air contact with the cell contents, and resulting oxidation.  Pu'er is made using the other steps, then after a pan-frying fixing step it's shaped into that twisted leaf form.  It's probably not so bad to call that shaping step kneading; the different use of terms is minor.

In the next sentence, about tea types, Tie Guan Yin is a type of oolong, and Shou Mei is white tea, so it mixes types and broad categories in an odd way, but that's still fine.  Saying that pu'er is a type of hei cha--black tea, or dark tea, from the Chinese categorization system that calls oxidized teas red instead of black--sort of works, and sort of doesn't.  Some people think it's a version of that, but it's more common in China to use hei cha to designate a range of other types, like Liu Bao, Fu brick teas, and so on.  Again this is sort of splitting hairs; plenty of people use this categorization that she mentions, it's just that others wouldn't see it that way.  In "the West" people argue if sheng pu'er is really hei cha, since it's only fermented after aging input, but they seem to miss some background too, as I see it.  We can just call pu'er pu'er, and leave the broad categories out of it.

The next part skips over that sheng pu'er exists, that not all pu'er is fermented in any way.  It circles back to including that, so it's just an odd initial framing choice, to get that mostly wrong.  Really you need to read those sentences a few times to sort out what she's really saying, and later it gets more confusing when sheng and shou descriptions are mixed together in different places.

How many types of pu’er are there?

Pu’er can be roughly divided into loose tea leaves and tea cake. After fermentation, tea cakes can be made using steam and machinery to flatten. Without shaping, it would be sold as loose leaves.

Some pu’er teas can be fermented longer than others. The dry room method puts leaves in an airy space for natural fermentation. Alternatively, some tea makers would ferment the tea manually by placing it in a room with high temperature and humidity. This step is called piling. The wet room method has the tea in a humidity-controlled space to speed up fermentation.

Loose leaves or tea cake can be further categorised into many more varieties. For example, raw (sheng) or green pu’er have a shorter post-fermenting period and would display a light green colour after brewing. As for tea cakes, there are many shapes available. Tea bricks are pressed into rectangular blocks, while tuo cha carries the form of mushroom caps.

This is all more right than wrong, but the degree of error included is puzzling.  Of course someone can see the distinction of loose and pressed pu'er as primary.  Most people would see the divide between sheng / raw and shou / shu / ripe / pre-fermented tea as more fundamental, but this part is still ok.  

The piling description of pre-fermentation of shu is too far off to accept in this way.  It's piled wet, with water added, not just stored in a humid room.

The reference to a "shorter post-fermenting period" really makes no sense.  You can sell sheng as completely unaged, as soon as you make it, not fermented through ordinary storage at all, so there is no period to reference.  Just referencing post-fermentation is misleading, as if there is some other treatment step.  You just hold onto the tea.  Within one year it's not really all that age / fermentation transitioned, regardless of storage climate, and after 25 to 30 years the process is relatively complete, with other changes happening in between.

Note that the light green reference is the wetted leaf color.  Sure, they're a bit green, where shou pu'er is brownish.  The brewed liquid color would be a pale yellow, and this isn't clear on which it's referencing.  Not much brewed tea liquid is actually green, but that can come up with Japanese green tea versions.

I like this reference to mushroom caps; tuos do look like that.  Usually they're referenced as bird's nest shaped, and I guess that also works.

the bottom is sort of cupped, so from the top it just looks like a ball

In the next section she says that people new to sheng should buy loose tea, which is fine, even though that's not how it usually tends to go in practice.  The she comments this, which doesn't work:

A tea cake costs at least $300. Some are even priced at several thousand dollars.

I wouldn't own a tea cake if it costs $300; that's way outside my budget.  That Xiaguan tuo shown (two different pictures of different versions) would often cost between $10 and $30-some for different versions of different ages, in online outlets.  They're not tea cakes though; those are 100 grams of tea, instead of a standard 357 grams for cakes (which varies).  I've just ran across mention that a famous Hong Kong shop, Yee On Tea, sells one of their aged Xiaguan tuos at the same age range (around 20 years old) for $60; that kind of thing would depend on different factors, like preferred storage input, and initial quality of the material.

I'd say the range of factory cakes, large-scale producer versions, is between $40 and 60, for new, moderate quality versions.  Those aren't ready to drink yet though, because that kind of tea requires aging.  Most Western boutique-oriented vendors sell their cake versions between $80 and $160, with fully aged versions falling into a higher level and broader range.  You can find high quality, limited production, high demand young (new) sheng cakes for $300 and up, but they are very much the exception.

What to look out for when buying loose leaves?

The most important element is that the leaves remain intact. There shouldn’t be too many broken leaf fragments, branches and petioles. You need to also give it a sniff. The leaves should smell fragrant instead of dull or sour. If you spot green mould, it means the leaves have gone bad and should not be bought. It would be ideal to taste the tea on the spot. The brewed tea has a rich and bright red colour. However dark the tea is, it should be clear enough for you to see the bottom of the cup.

If you spot any color of mold you shouldn't buy a tea.  Again this works ok for shou or aged sheng but for younger sheng the color range isn't right.  I just reviewed a Xiaguan tuocha from 2006 that's in a decent place for aging input, not fully through the process, but quite pleasant, and it's not "red" yet:

It's pretty far off the initial pale gold infusion color, but will seem closer to red in another decade, at 29 years old.  It might seem more desirable then, so maybe saying that at an optimum aged sheng should be darker works, but this isn't clarifying things for people who can't place those specifics.  Let's consider a 20 year old version stored in Malaysia that I reviewed a couple of years ago:

It's more fermented, redder, related to being stored in a humid place, but then the other 19 year old Xiaguan also was (stored in a different humid place, Bangkok instead of Malaysia).  Well-pressed tuochas seem to ferment a little slower, as hard-pressed iron cakes also do.  Oddly younger teas stored in the right way can darken (ferment quite a bit) even faster, as these 6 and 9 year old Dayi / Taetea 7542 sheng pu'er versions did:

Just brewing a tea light or strong will affect coloration quite a bit, so I don't mean to make too much of this tangent.  And loose stored sheng might well transition faster, making 20 year old versions more fermented and darker colored, as those two considerably younger cake versions--aged for less than a decade--just shown were.

Rating her content and input

Most of it is fine.  I don't think it works well as a general guide as it could, since so much is left out, and what it all means is only clear when you already know what it's saying.  The description of what shou pu'er is (a ripe or pre-fermented type) doesn't work at all here; it could hardly be less clearly explained.  The premise of it talking about higher quality range pu'er should be made clearer, which really doesn't work well for shou, since even better quality, higher demand versions aren't all that expensive, so it's a different theme.

Shou tends so much less expensive that finding any cake that costs significantly over $60 to 80 is a rarity, unless it has been extensively aged, which doesn't really help much with shou.  Of course there are plenty of outliers out there that cost over $100, but the average of what's on the market would be under 100, maybe even counting many aged versions.

The implication that she is mostly covering high quality tea range shifts things quite a bit.  I can go and buy good factory shou cakes for $40 to 50 in lots of places, but she's talking about other range, what is better yet.  Those same cakes would be kind of expensive in 15 to 20 years, so people see value in significant aging, even though it makes less and less difference past 3 or 4 years of early transition, for shou.  

Let's go back to the initial framing, the intro, and see what is implied:

Pu’er tea is arguably one of the most popular Chinese teas. Its pervasiveness across all social groups is reflected in the price difference of various options in the market.

Pu’er can be seen at any dim sum restaurant for ten dollars a pot, but the same tea can also be sighted in the form of a cake at auctions, with connoisseurs splashing hundreds of thousands dollars for it.

That last part seems high; spending thousands on a cake should be enough.  A desirable version from the 1930s might go for an outrageous price.

What does it tell us that the most basic range is ten dollars a pot?  That could be about right, for low-medium quality pu'er, sold at a medium cost scale restaurant.  

To discuss the quality range you are talking about you really need to specify what tea is selling for by cake, or as a price per gram, and from what kind of outlets.  That level of detail isn't brought up in this, beyond the vague claim that tea cakes might sell for $300 or more, in general, which again doesn't really work.  For higher demand, 20 or more year old cakes that's about right, or even some new material cakes from the more sought after origin areas, but for most of the market range that's way too high.  She was focused more on generalities related to pu'er, and the experience, not cost and buying issues, but to invoke the cost theme at all it's necessary to place whatever range you are describing.

Maybe this fails the most related to the implied purpose:  covering "Choosing Pu'er Tea."  The main advice this gives is to buy loose tea versions (called maocha, which is also a reference to semi-processed teas of other types), which sort of works, and also sort of doesn't.  Without it being clearer on the distinction between shou and sheng it couldn't possibly succeed.  You need to outline why brand new--unaged and unfermented--sheng might be a viable selection, and why plenty of other range is only consumed as well aged tea, back to the boutique versus factory tea theme.  It would help to treat the cost issue a bit, versus just saying that it all might be expensive.  Xiaguan tuochas selling for between $10 and 30 are not so costly; standard cakes priced between $80 and $120 are less affordable, even though the per-gram higher end range of both isn't so different, which brings up the sampling theme, that vendors often sell smaller quantities for people to try.

Maybe I should re-write a better version.  I've written sheng and shou basics posts before, (on exploring sheng pu'er, sheng pu'er aging exploration, but it's been years, so I could run back through that, with an eye towards how to source tea during the exploration phase.

I ran across this looking for another photo; the visits are a favorite memory of those tastings

Holding an open tea tasting in a Bangkok park

A little over a week ago a friend and I, Sasha Abramovich, held that trial run tasting in the Benjasiri park, and this week the open version. It worked out.  I was concerned about rain and too many people showing up and neither happened.  If anything the attendee count was a little low, with 8 people actually joining the tasting, and two more women sitting nearby trying a few rounds of tea along with us (one visiting from China, as chance had it).

The way it played out was a little chaotic, as more ceremonial and theme-specific tea tastings go.  We just kept trying different things, sort of in a lighter to heavier order initially, but even that much structure gave way later.  Noppadol Ariyakura, the vendor who sells those two Lamphang teas I reviewed (with the reviews here), helped bring tea versions and also prepare them (many thanks to him for that).  That worked well for adding more variety and one more layer of discussion, but it also led to a "tasting a lot of different teas" theme, which was fine given the purpose of the event.

A group that small allowed for some other discussion too, personal introductions and such.  To place that related to other tasting themes it will work to talk around that range first, and get back to event details, like what we tried, and how water supply issues worked out.

all but me, and I didn't get a good picture of the two other women

the park background, before the tasting

one of my favorite pictures, her there 4 years ago

Keo as a 5 year old, that same day at that park

Different tea tasting themes

in a Moscow bookstore with Alexander and Dasha (left), Laos Tea "staff"

There are a broad range of intended purposes and process themes a tea tasting might relate to.  I went to an event at a local tea shop that was sort of along this line, at Seven Suns (a local cafe), about trying a broad range of teas.  Another event in Moscow trying Laos Tea products was also about mixing types and casual discussion as much as critical tasting.  That was nice, and those two Laos Tea "staff" were interesting and pleasant to talk to.


One local vertical sheng tasting related to trying different Yiwu versions of different years was the opposite.  Not only was the selection theme tighter, and the brewing process adhered to, but together that led to a more limited and controlled discussion context. It was nice though, just closer to a ceremony in terms of formality than hanging out in a tea bar or a park.  Of course tea cafes vary.


It should work to descibe theme differences more clearly as different factors.


Narrower themes work better for more detailed tasting resolution.  I keep going on about this related to comparison review:  to taste teas most effectively, in the highest resolution, covering a much narrower range is better.  "Young sheng only" is still a bit broad; the closer the types are the easier it is to focus on minor differences versus just trying different things.  Directly comparing two or more very similar teas enables picking out subtle differences in flavor range, the mouth-feel of teas, or the length and character of aftertaste aspects.  Some aspects can serve as markers for quality level, and these might stand out better through such comparison.


Tighter control of parameters helps with more complete and detailed comparison.  Water temperature, brewing time, the water used, tasting timing, should all be very uniform, if closer review is a goal.  But it may not be.  Casual conversation about subjects other than tea isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just doesn't fit well in all event themes. 


Tasting more teas over a varied range works better for a broad introduction.  It just depends on the goals.  To get people introduced to a broad range of types you have to give up focus.  Optimized brewing may or may not be a relevant factor; if half of the point is to support other discussion and conversation de-emphasizing a controlled structure may work better.


The theme may or may not focus on brewing and other tea background as subject matter.  This doesn't necessarily naturally pair with the formal / informal and narrow / broad type divides I just covered.  It would probably mean different things in each context, focusing on much more general issues if the theme is an initial introduction versus narrow type exploration.  It's possible to hold an event that's all about how to prepare tea, investigating how minor differences affect outcome, or serving as a preparation tutorial, or ceremonial aspects. 

Or it would work to push all of that into the background and focus on other aspects of the experience, or even separate discussion.  Somewhere in the middle works too; to cover that as one part of the theme.  We didn't for this; I noted when the brewing wasn't right, if I'd made a mistake, or pointed out trying varied infusion strengths a little, but that was about it.

Sasha explaining something

This event details

We tried more teas than would typically make sense at a more standard tasting, across a broader range.  Before the event I was concerned that attendance level might be too high, due to mentioning the event in a few online groups, so I brought teas that would hold up well to a loose brewing approach, or even Western style brewing.  It seemed possible that it would be necessary to split the attendees into smaller groups.  Of course I expected moderate turn-out anyway; it's just how that sort of thing often goes.

Noppadol brought a number of different teas, so that expanded range.  I'll list out most of what we tried, roughly in order, but here more split between what I brought and teas that he did instead:


2008 shou mei (aged compressed white tea)

Thai Yunnan-style black tea (an old tea tree version from Tea Side)

Lampang area Thai version of sheng pu'er

Menghai shou pu'er (2008 version from Moychay; pretty good shou)

silver needle (Noppadol provided; I don't have details for the teas he supplied)

Lapsang Souchong, a Chinese unsmoked version of a Fujian black tea

Longjing, Chinese green tea


Those might've worked better re-organized in a different order that made more sense.  Noppadol and I didn't really coordinate what we were each going to bring and brew, or plan out the event order.  Once you give up the typical structure and pacing it sort of doesn't matter as much anyway; when slightly overwhelmed by variety being able to notice a finer level of details in the teas more or less drops out.  We really did end up trying a shou and a silver needle back to back, or nearly in direct comparison; that was kind of extreme, even given the chaotic running theme.

Noppadol pouring tea; a squirrel also checked out the tasting in the tree by us

One main concern I had was about a source of hot water, and that factor also threw off uniformity of the tasting.  I brought two small thermoses of hot water, in order to have those to use as a start.  The main plan for water source was for Noppadol to bring a small gas stove, and for us to bring well-suited bottled water, but it turned out that you can't bring a stove into that park (which was not a complete surprise).  Plan B was to use hot water from a vendor, which you get from a concession stand there, as we had in the trial run a week before.  I'm guessing that was unfiltered Bangkok tap water, not unsafe to drink when boiled, but pretty far from ideal, and I definitely wouldn't live on that as a water source.

Noppadol's wife joined us (not at the event; she's not in the pictures), and she heated one round of water out in the parking area, so we switched back and forth between "local water" and spring water.  It's probably as well that we were drinking teas that were flexible about inputs like that, for the most part.  I think as chance had it white teas weren't ever brewed with that park vendor water, which was as well since you could tell the difference it made using it.  I brought a kettle (a "plan C"), but the only power outlets being located in those concession areas would make using one a bit more complicated.

Meeting people; other parts of the event

It was interesting that one guy was from Singapore, another Sweden, and two locals from the US joined.  Sasha, my friend prior to the event, is from Israel last, and his wife and Noppadol are Thais.  A Thai woman sitting next to us tried a number of teas, and a Chinese visitor did as well.  Bangkok is actually like that; people can be from all over.  I had expected some French locals to join who didn't, and a British expat friend said he might drop by.  If a good bit more people had joined the feel would've been different; it wouldn't have worked well to keep it formatted as one group trying teas together.

It was nice keeping the event theme loose; bridging into chatting about background and such, and switching back into tangents about tea processing or types.  We covered so much ground I forgot that I brought a snack to go with the tea, McVitie's Digestives, a British type of cookie that's perfect for tea tasting, very neutral but tasty and nice.


I'm not sure what works as a "lesson learned," or what I'd do differently.  Reining in the tea order or types theme to make more sense might not hurt.  It seems odd to ramp up marketing that sort of event to increase turn-out.  It didn't seem like Thais who saw the notice felt it related to them, but then based on the people I've worked with better loose tea interest isn't as common as it might be here.  Thai FB tea groups have lots of members; there must be lots of exceptions.


I'd like to try an event in a different place, and have a plan for where, but it will take until after this coming holiday weekend to check on that.  I added a survey to draw feedback about where to have a tasting in the International Tea Talk group that I'm an admin for.  It seemed like it might work to get a cafe to hold a related event (as Seven Suns once did), or even to get a few Chinatown shops involved, and set up an informal tasting tour.  At this rate I'd be helping expand tea awareness here bit by bit, but as long as the outings are pleasant and people enjoy them that's not so bad.

a nice space in the local Dusit Zoo that might also work

the animal prison theme is rough but we visit there more for open green spaces

Presenting an introduction to tea at a CultCheers event

I presented an introduction to tea at a recent CultCheers event, a pilot version of their function format.  It was really more of a small informal discussion, a very nice context, during which we tried some teas.

There isn't much more to add about the event premise.  It struck me as a cross between a meet - up function and a TED talk in the early discussion, and it worked out like that.  The idea was to have a subject expert discuss a topic, supported by a host arranging an informal meeting place (with a video explaining that here).  It's odd assuming the role of a tea expert but I have given the subject some thought.  In later forms of the events there would be some degree of expense sharing but in this pilot version it was free to participants.  I presented at a Random Thainess event last year (described here) that wasn't completely different, just with a main running theme focus (Thailand), and based on multiple short presentations, with events always in the same location. 

We tried a Yunnan black tea (a Farmerleaf sun dried Dian Hong), a 2008 shou mei cake, and a 2014 Tae Tea / Dayi 7542 sheng pu'er.  It seemed odd not including oolong but the idea was to try really novel teas, and rolled oolong is what they make in Thailand, already available in lots of places, and Wuyi Yancha or Dan Cong would be a little touchier about brewing parameters.  Those teas we did try could be prepared Western style, without close tracking of timing, except for the sheng, and that worked for demonstrating Gongfu style brewing instead at the end.

The questions and discussion were great.  The participants had varying backgrounds with tea but many raised some great points, which helped move the format off being more like a lecture, allowing for an organic form of jumping around within sub-topics.  For example,  someone asked if a short initial infusion really can decaffeinate tea.  The short version: no; the caffeine infuses at about the same rate that flavor does, with the specifics in a table in this post about caffeine in tea.

It makes it easier explaining tea background and specifics in person, related to questions and other people's prior experience. That could have went another hour.  Related to that I'll add some additional comments for points I might have expanded on a little more, after showing some event pictures here first.

the making tea part

a nice set-up

with the event host

Extending some of the discussion ideas

I won't try to explain what we discussed, but I will add a bit to some of the ideas here, about the next thing we didn't get to across a lot of the scope.

Tea storage:  we talked about how tea storage is important, how some teas are more sensitive to losing flavor (especially green tea), and why zip lock bags really aren't a good alternative.  Related to buying tea stored in large jars in a shop, I mentioned in this post about shopping for tea in NYC's Chinatown how I would gamble on whether some more durable types could hold up to that, especially rolled oolong, or even loose white tea.  Pu'er, other hei cha, and compressed white teas improve with age, so the time could help, and some air exposure should be fine.  Some black teas would fare better than others,  especially sun - dried blacks.  I don't really drink much jasmine green tea but the compressed ball shape could help those do better than loose green tea (dragon pearls, or whatever they call them).

probably never a good idea to buy this tea, but cost is low for gambling on it

one version of large-jar storage; not ideal, but maybe worth checking out

Other references:   there's a lot about tea out there, but as we discussed trying teas is the thing, not reading about them (it just helps knowing they're out there to find them). A section in a beginners guide post covers other references, and a post about direct sourcing covers some vendor contacts.


Oolong:  it's odd we didn't get to those, since to me oolongs are among the best options for people getting into better loose tea, and personal favorites.  Rolled oolongs, which are produced in Thailand, are easy to brew (or hard to screw up), generally inexpensive, and ok across a range of quality levels.  Oriental Beauty is a Taiwanese type that tastes like citrus, bergamot, or cinnamon spice, more oxidized so closer to a black tea than lighter oolongs, which also turn out well brewed in different ways.  Wuyi Yancha and Dan Cong are a little trickier to get the best out of, and I'd use Gongfu style brewing for those, but both have a really interesting flavor range (and feel and aftertaste; later on one tends to not only focus on taste). I wrote a Quora answer once about what different oolongs taste like, which is impossible to fully answer, but a couple of paragraphs does make a start on that.

Da Hong Pao dry leaves, a favorite oolong type

Cold brewing: I'd mentioned this, but maybe didn't clarify exactly how this could work for using the last of a tea in the rush.  All those teas we tried on that tasting day really weren't finished, and all of them could be put in lukewarm water, then in the refrigerator, for 8 hours to a day to make another infusion to drink later or the next day.  I would try to never leave teas even refrigerated for 2 days instead but you can.  There's not really a limit to how many times a tea can be brewed;  until the flavor is gone or is no longer pleasant.  I think only the sheng pu'er isn't well suited for cold brewing, but that's just a matter of preference.


Brewing temperature:  those teas we did try were selected to brew well at boiling point temperatures.  This subject gets complicated, because there is only universal agreement that green teas should be brewed at cooler than boiling point temperatures, and which ones at which temperature is contested for those too.  I just wrote a post summarizing a group discussion over whether oolong should be brewed at boiling point or not.  The short version:  brewing tables say no, to use 85-90 C water, but half of the discussion participants said yes, to use boiling point water.  It's probably as well to not go into why there is a difference of opinion; it's in that post.  It could work to experiment, and see which parameters you like, which might vary over time, or could even vary related to using different versions of the same teas.


Online tea group culture:  we definitely didn't into get to this subject.  I only mention it here as a warning that it's not that uncommon to have bad experiences in researching and discussing tea online.  An online friend just mentioned one version of that:  she started a new-to-tea theme blog a few years ago, and people in one of the main tea forums said that her opinion and experience sharing meant nothing because she was new to the subject.  I very much disagree.  After experiencing a learning curve background knowledge increases, and preferences tend to change, but the experiences of people new to tea are just as valid as those with depth of knowledge and experience. 

I helped co-found a Facebook tea group (this one, with an international theme) and we don't even need to show people the door for expressing that type of disdain for others because the group culture just isn't like that.  It works to remember that in general those people are only trying to share their own hard-won knowledge, to try and read comments as suggestions, but at some point leaving toxic discussion environments is the only real alternative.

my blog mascot as a Christmas nativity play cow; different

Conclusions

The event was a great experience!  I've done a bit with sharing tea experiences and ideas in real life in the past but I'll have to stay open to different forms of it in the future.

Advice to beginners about tea

This subject has been coming up more than usual lately, related to talking about tea in two different places online, in the Tea Drinker's group on Facebook and the Reddit tea subforum.

It occurs to me in editing this that I would consider someone who had been drinking tea-bag tea for 20 years (Lipton's, Red Rose, PG Tips, Twinings, Celestial Seasonings blends) as a beginner when it comes to better, loose-leaf tea, or maybe even not yet introduced.  Tisanes, also known as herb teas, aren't even essentially the same subject, almost as unrelated as coffee.  I have nothing against those; I drank tisanes for a very long time before getting into tea, and still do from time to time.

I never felt like I was the right person to map it all out, how someone might or should approach tea.  I'm all over the place myself, trying different things, combining brewing process elements between the two main approaches (using hybrid styles), adjusting steeping time from infusion to infusion, messing with water temperature.  It's not as if I'm even rigid on the basics, and vary all that within a narrow range to judge the effect, I kind of tend to wing it.  That is based on four to five years of drinking lots of teas, and research and discussion, and a few years of background with loose teas prior to that.  Related to just the point about brewing of course some types of teas more or less require a standard Gongfu approach on their own (sheng pu'er, wuyi yancha, or dan cong, for example).


All the same I've been mentioning some basics, and cover more here.  This runs long so I'll summarize it all to start.

-Answers to two social media group questions on tea basics, one an overview of issues related to tea (general types, brewing categories, etc.)

-Thoughts on perspective evolution in tea, how the experience curve tends to go

-Tea references:  a summary of some favorite online tea references

-Tea sourcing:  some thoughts on sourcing issues (vendors), with more specifics on direct sourcing options


I might say a little about my background with tea, not along the lines of bragging about depth of experience, but as an example of one more random path into it.  Around seven years ago we visited a small coffee grower in Laos, and I bought tea there, not at all appreciating seeing those plants grow since I was more into coffee then.  Since I live in Bangkok tea is around here, but not as popular as one might expect (beyond the matcha, bubble-tea, and such).  A work trip to China five years ago really got it started, seeing a Huawei company presentation of Gongfu tea preparation, and later picking up some tea at a shop while I waited on others in a market / mall area.


That brewing presentation seemed a bit much, complete with a lot about pouring tea over small "tea pets" to enable making wishes, and drinking wispy-thin light-brewed tea I wasn't accustomed to appreciate.  Tea can be about what you want it to be about though, relating to ceremony, or religion, collecting teaware as a form of art, or just about drinking something healthy and interesting in the morning.

a Huawei tea presentation (not the one I was at, photo credit)

Reddit tea sub-forum question:  How can I step up my tea drinking?

I'll let an edited version of the question serve as the introduction:


I bought 4 different green teas from Tee Gschwendner in Germany. They are called "Japan Sencha", "China Gunpowder", "Südindien [=South India] Singampatti Spring", "Nepal Ilam Mao Feng". I was told they are all pure green tea leaves (no additives). Did I get some good teas for a start? Anyways, I love them and I am starting to get better and better to distinguish the differents between those teas.

At the moment I brew my water in a normal electric kettle, wait an estimated time and put the tea in. I put the tea leaves into something we call a Tee Ei (in english: Tea egg) [editor's note:  seems to be an infuser ball]... 

My question now is, how I can improve the tea drinking? I see you people post a lot of pictures of different 'cups','kettles' and all that stuff, but for a new tea drinker this is an overwhelming amount of information.


That's already a much better start than one might expect; a clear description of a starting point, clarifying some background issues, getting a little specific about trials and process, pointing towards brewing device issues as a particular interest--just great.

Initial comments went in different directions, as one might expect.  One main split seemed to be that two people recommended using a gaiwan and yixing clay pot and others weren't clear that made sense initially (to move into Gongfu style brewing versus Western style).  Instead of picking a couple of specifics I tried to map out a range of general subjects, the basic themes that come up.  I sort of regretted that by the time I was half finished, since the whole general scope of what tea is all about is too broad to summarize.  Here is is though:


It is funny how fast the input diversifies, isn't it? Any one of these ideas is fine but taken together it all includes some contradictions. You need to sort out a landscape of some basics, to get a feel for how many different sub-themes and branches within those you are up against. Related to the tea itself you've got a start on green, and black tea and oolong would make sense to explore next. White and pu'er are the other main categories, and those can wait.

Black tea branches into CTC (ground up, more machine processed) and orthodox, and there's nothing wrong with CTC tea except that it's more astringent (it's what is in tea bags), and you'll probably move past that quickly. Oolong splits into rolled styles, which are then either lighter / greener or roasted, and twisted styles, generally roasted. You might try a rolled style lighter oolong first then go from there (a Chinese Anxi area Tie Kuan Yin or something such; Taiwanese oolongs often fall in this category, or roasted versions of those are also nice).

Picking out one style / type of black tea is harder than it might seem at first, although they're not as complicated as they seem (a bit of a contradiction). If you pick them randomly from lower end sources you could be at it awhile before you find one that suits you, but decent versions aren't necessarily that expensive. I don't mean this as a purchasing suggestion but I like Dian Hong, Yunnan (Chinese region) black tea, with some listed here (and pu'er; you'll get to that): https://www.farmer-leaf.com/collections/yunnan-black-tea.

Western-style infuser basket based device (lid doubles as basket saucer)

On to brewing: there are two branches, Western style and Gongfu style. You are using Western (a low proportion of leaves to water, in a teapot, or infuser device, or even a french press / plunger would work, at something like a teaspoon of tea to a cup ratio). 


Gongfu uses a higher proportion of tea to water, multiple infusions (a lot, versus only 2 or 3 for Western brewing), and different devices (a gaiwan or clay pot, of which "yixing" is a type). Western works ok for black and green tea, pu'er is touchier, not as suitable for that. Oolongs vary some by types but in general rolled styles would work fine brewed Western style, maybe some a little better Gongfu style later.

black tea infusing in gaiwan (Gongfu style brewing)

Reddit tea subforum temperature guideline

Besides proportion (which ties to the two types of equipment) temperature and timing are the other main factors. Green teas brew better in cooler water, maybe around 75 C / 170 F, but it's never that simple, the ideal varies by tea type and preference.  There's no need to overdo it with optimizing brewing, getting the proportion, timing, and temperature perfect, just get it all to work and adjust from there. Preparing oolongs and black tea at boiling point would work, or often a little under for both, maybe 90 C or so (again varying by tea type and personal preference).



No matter what you do don't try to drink the ocean. It's nice to botch brewing and try so-so teas at first because it helps support a path of continually drinking better tea for a long time. Those Mei Leaf introductory youtube videos [that another comment mentioned] are fine but a physical shop is good if you can find one for purchasing. Then you can talk to a human about teas and brewing tea, and once you narrow things down just a little more buy teas online. If things feel strange related to buying a tea just back off or only buy a small amount, or even samples if that works (even 15 grams would let you try a tea more than once).  Sources vary a lot in terms of price and value, and match to preference is always an issue, and you don't want to stockpile tea you don't like.


A next comment rejected part of that input as valid, claiming that person wasn't a fan of the Tee Gschwendner shops or other local German shop options (which of course I have no opinion about; I'm an American living in Bangkok).  I did agree that online sources of both information and tea may be superior.  That brings up a funny point, doesn't it, related to what different people might be looking for in teas.  For some value is a main concern; for others it's not really an issue at all, and quality is the main focus.  People tend to experience a preference and experience curve related to tea, and it probably doesn't work to say that tea quality is experienced in the same ways by everyone, or that it should be.

at a Bangkok Chinatown shop (Jip Eu) with the owners and a local tea celebrity

One reason online advice could be really hard to gauge is that every statement and idea could be clearly right in one context and wrong in another.  It's quite possible that visiting a shop is one of the best ways to discuss tea with someone who is knowledgeable about the subject, and to try teas, and also that all the shops in a certain area could be very poorly suited for that.  There isn't much scope for discussion where the same kind of problem can't turn up, a direct contradiction in a most likely best approach.

that Bai Ye "dan cong" black tea

As an example related to brewing, I just said in that comment advice that black tea is typically fine prepared Western style, not so different than prepared using a Gongfu approach.  I last reviewed two completely different black teas that isn't true for, a "dan cong" Bai Ye black from the Guangdong province in China, and a "honey black" tea from Taiwan.  I had prepared the Taiwanese tea a few times using Western brewing and was surprised how much better it turned out using a Gongfu brewing approach instead, and at a guess the same result would apply to the Chinese "Bai Ye" tea as well.


As a general rule the better the black tea the more it might make sense to use Gongfu brewing instead, but there would probably be counter-examples to that as well.  Trying different approaches tells the story.  Before going too far with those lines of thought, lets switch back to the original subject of tea types, related to comments and discussion somewhere else online.

Tea Drinkers FB group discussion of black teas, and exploring tea in general

Someone asked about others' favorite types of black teas in post, saying that theirs is Earl Grey (bergamot orange oil flavored black tea).  In a lot of tea enthusiast groups, or the Tea Chat forum, or to some extent on the Reddit subforum, that would lead straight to discussion of the types of teas I've been reviewing (if not the specific examples).  These would include Darjeeling, Dian Hong (Yunnan China black teas), Lapsang Souchong and Jin Jun Mei (Fujian China black teas), and similar range Taiwanese types.  I've been reviewing Assam lately; that wouldn't be as common, in either beginner oriented groups or those closer to the opposite of that.  In that discussion most answers were closer to the Earl Grey starting point, about breakfast blends, flavored teas, suppliers of blended black tea types, and from there onto Darjeeling, Ceylon and such.  Someone even mentioned Lipton; that is an option.

As I see it two distinct levels of tea experiences and preferences emerge, two extremes, really, with most people grouped closer to one end or the other.  Closer to the range of Lipton commercial versions and blends tend to be more widely available, many in grocery stores.  These are perhaps more suitable for people starting to explore the subject, but of course it would be possible to drink these types of teas all your life.  There seems to be a relatively distinct other approach to tea, related to trying to explore the original, foreign tea drinking traditions, and to pursue experiencing other types of teas.  I mentioned that in response to a recent question about exploring types of teas further (not so different than the Reddit thread idea):


One thing that might seem strange is that if you look at the responses recommending types of black teas (for example, since someone just asked here) in this group and in another one the answers will be completely different. I don't want to say that tea drinkers are on different levels but the perspective on tea can vary a lot. In a lot of circles "tea enthusiasts" tend to only drink plain, single source, orthodox, better quality teas and this group is more inclined towards people that drink commercial products (grocery store versions versus specialty vendor versions), blends of teas, more CTC versus orthodox, more blends of teas (with other teas or herbs) or flavored teas versus "plain" versions. 


It might seem natural for me to try to move this background observation towards some conclusion, but that's not the point here. After enough exposure someone would probably prefer single-type teas, and not drink versions from grocery stores or flavored teas at all, or much in the way of blends, but in one sense they're not better (although in a different sense they sort of are). I guess all of this is by way of explaining that "which loose teas are the best?" isn't really as simple a question as it first seems; one possible answer is that whichever tea you like best is best for you.

Farmerleaf vendor black matai (Dian Hong, Yunnan black tea)

Perspective evolution:  where the subject leads from there

So two different themes are coming up:  people are in different places related to types of tea, prior exposure, and current preferences.  The same sets of concerns apply for people with different interests or levels of exposure (where they are in a preference development curve), but the details vary a lot. 

Not only simply related to tea quality expectations, two natural ranges of perspective seem to emerge:  

1.  tea should be a simple thing, being only a beverage.  Although experiencing a lot and preferences changing is normal--and positive--the "more is better" approach isn't justified, and the tea-master related themes are off-putting.  Some people want to find and brew better tea but they don't necessarily want to embrace foreign tea cultures or move on to collecting anything, or take up a study habit.

2.  tea is a positive thing, the more positive the more you experience of it.  Going further with knowledge and exposure is better, and much further is much better.  Based on this starting point perspective it would make sense for a complete beginner to use a gaiwan or to begin to collect yixing clay teapots, or to try to buy the best teas they could possibly find, even if limited awareness makes understanding types, sourcing them, and optimizing brewing problematic.


Of course some people are in the middle, embracing a limited range of complexity instead, not just going with the all-in "more is better" approach.  There are people moving beyond grocery store teas and blends into plain tea types that aren't necessarily reading tea blogs or taking up aspects of Taoism.  I do recommend reading the Tao Te Ching but it's sort of a different subject.  Expense comes up as one potential limitation, at some point, and shelves of art-quality gear or aging pu'er really do represent investment-level commitment.  The divide comes up well before that, but a tangent helps put it in perspective.

The $5-7 a cup of coffee might cost--here in Thailand too; Starbucks is now a global standard for that--goes pretty far towards dry loose tea.  To be more specific, most medium quality loose tea costs in the range of $8 - $14 per 50 grams, or even lower, so that cup of coffee expense equates to 25 grams of medium quality loose tea.  It's not as simple as it might seem to say how many grams of dry tea equate to one cup but roughly speaking it would prepare at least a dozen cups of tea.  Move down to the lower cost end of that loose tea range and the cost is more equivalent to that of soda, or even much less than soda bought from a vending machine.  But of course it's not just about expense, or not even mostly about that.

shou mei compressed white tea cake (so many types to try)

I can relate to both takes.  Since this is a tea blog and I review somewhat uncommon types of teas every week I've broken towards embracing the complexity, but even for me there are limitations to that.  I don't have shelves of tea gear at home; I tend to use the same half dozen devices all the time, and I didn't spend a lot on those.  When people talk about how many pounds or kilograms their tea stash might amount to I can't really relate.  In some of those cases people are discussing owning significant quantities of types they are no longer so interested in, not just about holding onto teas that improve with age.

I try to keep it simple, and keep drinking what I have, roughly as fast as I buy tea (or at least give some away to balance that part back out).  I would have a couple of kilograms worth of pu'er, shou mei and other compressed white tea, hei cha, etc. around for longer term storage but not much at all as pu'er enthusiasts go.  I've been meaning to ramp that up for awhile.

Trying teas and hoarding are only part of the landscape of ideas, though, with the early learning curve more about other basics, gear, and how to brew it.  Is it ok for that guy to stick with using a tea-ball infuser, or not?  It's up to him, of course, and again the answer depends on perspective.  I suppose even an English-style ceramic teapot may prepare slightly better tea than an infuser ball, related to giving the leaves more space to mix freely with the water.  Or an infuser basket, or French press, or any other equivalent device should work better.  Really it seems equivalent to use a coffee mug with a saucer placed on it (to prevent volatile compounds from evaporating off), strained into a second mug, but you never hear anyone admit that.

I guess I'm saying people should be fine with where they are for preference, and perhaps be aware if there are options just beyond that range that might suit them well.  Drinking tea-bag tea is pushing it; producers put low quality tea dust in those things, and dust doesn't brew well for a set of different reasons.  It gets to be a long story but the health claims people make about tea--which can also be problematic--probably apply less to the lowest cost, lowest quality commercial versions.


From here I'm going to move past this type of general perspective and offer suggestions on references, and after that touch on the subject of tea sourcing, which I won't get far with.

Tea references

There are many!  I'm not going to try to establish a comprehensive list, just to sketch out some ideas, with focus here on my own favorites.  Really it's not necessary to study the subject of tea to enjoy drinking tea.  It does help to know how to brew it, and trying less familiar types requires some degree of knowledge of what those are.  For me the study is almost like a separate interest than the tea drinking experience.  Discussing tea online could be viewed as a third interest, and the reviewing and writing is a fourth (although I really break it into liking the experience of tea and also all the rest).

This would probably be most helpful separated into what a beginner should know first, related to basics about brewing and types, and then on from there.  This section mentions what sources cover what but it's not divided up in experience-level sub-divisions in that way.

Of course the discussion groups I've been mentioning are references of a sort; someone could ask questions or take part in tea-themed discussion there.  Facebook tea groups and a Reddit sub-forum already came up, and I helped found and admin for one Facebook tea group, International Tea Talk.  Tea Drinkers works as an example of a good beginner-oriented FB group, and Gong Fu Cha represents the opposite end of that spectrum well, for people already well-introduced to the subject.

Steepster site tea review listing

Some other favorite reference sites include Steepster and Tea Chat.  The first is primarily a site designed to retain, organize, and share tea reviews, also with a discussion section.  Tea Chat is a subject themed forum site, the standard version with individual threads grouped by section.  Both are searchable, so both work a lot better for subject reference than Facebook tea groups.  There is a search-function bar in Facebook groups but of course the topics scroll down related to when each was last posted or commented on, without any subject sub-divisions.

Blogs are another type of reference.  These are typically related to individual tea reviews, but themes for them vary.  One of my favorites, Steep Stories, does reviews, but also introduces novel tea origin sources and tells stories.  Tea Geek and World of Tea are reference blogs instead (both well worth a look).  Tea for Me Please is a blog review site that also includes a lot of introduction reference, review of types, brewing coverage, etc.  I also contribute to TChing; that's an unusual type of tea blog, a multiple contributor site set up more like a news page than a personal blog, except the posts vary, and most aren't news.  "Classic" blogs are a personal favorite type of mine, perspective references that have been around more than a few years.  Tea Addict's Journal is a good example, also a good subject theme reference that's set up to be searchable, with that one more focused on commentary than tea review (and more inclined towards pu'er).

Sometimes vendor blog pages include a lot of good information, or sometimes those are just marketing content.  The Mei Leaf / China Life introduction videos, already mentioned, are a good example (a mix of both themes, I suppose, but the basic information content there is good).  There are lots of others.  If someone really likes one they might follow that as with personal blogs or news-page sites, but these also tend to come up in Google subject searches if a reference is particularly good.  Hojo's content seems better than average, to cite an example, although in some cases that tends to adopt minority positions on some finer points.  Farmer Leaf's Youtube videos are a good example of intermediate content, more related to pu'er background.

There are other types of references but not that many exceptional examples that require a long list to cover.

Global Tea Hut (long story what that is) publishes a magazine that's quite good, but I'm not familiar with an index or search function that helps organize that.  It's really designed to be a part of a subscription program, so something like a typical magazine subscription but along with tea.

Tea Journey is a by-subscription tea magazine, with some free content available.

World Tea News is a tea news site, associated with training services and the main annual tea expo event.

Teapedia is a tea themed wiki site.  I've seen at least one other one before but as I recall that didn't stay active.


I'll leave it at that; those would represent the main tea sites I would end up visiting regularly.  Google + groups had a lot of potential before that whole social media platform essentially went dormant.  Of course tea themes come up in places like Instagram and Twitter, not usually related to groups or reference sites.

Vendor sources

It's a bit odd to talk about sources without doing more with discussing types, regional origins and other broad categories (black, green, oolong, white, hei cha), and what doesn't fit well into those categories, or the main specific types of teas (Longjing, a Chinese green tea, Taiwanese high mountain oolong, etc.).  All that is just too much, so I'll not include it.

I'll keep this general, related to discussing source, because otherwise I'd list out my own favorites, and that biases heavily towards vendors who send samples for review.  Along that line it's important to keep biases in mind when considering references to vendors; some of those wouldn't tend to lead to bad recommendations but that could come up.  I will drift into more specifics here related to discussing a subject of particular interest to me:  more direct sourcing.  In some limited cases it's possible to buy tea from vendors that are the tea producer or one step away from the production, versus through longer supply chain based sources.  Specific recommendations here are meant to represent potential general channels as much as endorsing these sources, but based on my own experience the vendors I do mention are all good options, within the range of types they sell.


Per the other earlier discussion I think local physical shops make for one main starting point.  Searching those isn't as simple as it might be.  Adagio (a vendor) included a Tea Map section along with that Tea Chat discussion forum but it seemed focused on the US, and doesn't seem to be completely up to date (Steepster's version also seems a bit limited, based on checking Bangkok listings there, or maybe it just doesn't work as a reference in Thailand).  Google search or even Google Map search are a bit rough but those would work.

Google Maps "tea" search in Bangkok

It's repetitive for people to keep asking for shop leads in different groups but that is another path to take.  Local Facebook tea interest groups make for an interesting alternative; if you live in NYC or LA groups based out of those places would be a more natural place to ask around, or there is one for Colorado.  Those kind of groups tend to be smaller (very small, really), and less active, but you would really only need input from one good contact to find out about shops.

Pittsburgh Tea Association map (credit their site; I guess Google might mention such group leads)

There are literally countless online tea vendors.  Sometimes for a specific subject or type a couple tend to emerge as more standard options (as for Yunnan Sourcing--now with a US branch--and White2Tea for pu'er, both of which I'm not going into further detail about here), but more typically that doesn't happen.  Teavana and David's Tea would stand out as larger corporate options for purchasing blends, both associated with physical shop chains, but per relatively widespread recent news Teavana is closing up shop.



From there less standard, larger scale options emerge than one might expect.  There are few cases where online discussion of well-established, major sources doesn't lead to positive comments and also claims the teas are generally low quality, a poor value, and deceptively marketed.  It seems better to try and compare alternative sources and sort things out that way, and to not get locked into using only one supplier since it may turn out that better teas are available elsewhere for less.


More direct sourcing is a particularly interesting subject theme, to me.  Of course it's hard to find any vendor that doesn't make claims related to them being a relatively more direct source, supporting ethical and sustainable production, etc., etc.  But it's very rare that a tea producer would actually sell tea.  I'll mention some exceptions, which would serve as good leads, also intended here as an indication that other exceptions do exist.


A general word of warning first:  if someone claims to be a foreign tea farmer in a social media group there's a good chance that they're not one.  Why does that matter?  If you are buying tea directly from a farmer they know under what conditions it was grown.  Perhaps even more relevant, if someone is buying tea through a typical wholesale distribution channel (from a local market or wholesale vendor, for example) that tea may have been bought and sold a few times already, with each step adding cost.  And it's less likely to be higher quality tea, because those sorts of outlets will sell low to medium quality level versions for a lot less, enabling a better mark-up.

one way to be sure there are no false claims:  don't make any (White2Tea)

If a vendor isn't who they say they are it also becomes a lot more likely that online contact or a reseller at a prior step is buying tea that's one thing and selling it as another, or that any one vendor in the chain may not even know exactly what it is (where it was really grown, for example, or what year it was produced in).  It's relatively common knowledge that more tea is sold as products from Taiwan and Japan than those countries actually produce.


Just because a tea has definitely only been bought and re-sold once before you buy it, or even if you happen to really come in contact with a farmer, that is no guarantee that the tea is better, or that the description of it is accurate.  I guess this is sort of where knowing more about tea than is really necessary can come into play; the more you know and have already experienced the more you can watch out for.


On to mentioning some relatively direct-source examples.

Cindy with tea

Wuyi Origin:  an online friend, Cindy Chen, is a tea farmer in Wuyishan who now sells teas directly.  They're not just any teas, but local award winning quality teas, much better versions than tend to turn up in tea shops, at least per my own experience.  There must be other examples of a real tea farmer setting up a direct sales site, but I'm not aware of any.


If Wuyi Yancha (roasted twisted oolong) or Fujian black teas aren't familiar her site is a good introduction to what they are.  They also sell Dan Cong due to her husband's family producing tea there.  That relates to another good way to identify if a vendor is who they say they are:  someone carrying lots of types of teas from lots of source areas is almost certainly not closely linked to all the producers of those teas (although there are exceptions to every generality).  If someone has never tried any Wuyi Yancha (a general oolong category from there) it wouldn't be right to start with Wuyi Origin teas, much better to try a few in a normal range to get a feel for what some typical flaws are like before trying a better version.


Farmerleaf:  this is more typical of how relatively more direct sales would go; a French tea enthusiast moved to Yunnan and married a local woman involved in the tea industry there and started a resale business, with some pu'er processing input of their own.  That last point relates to an intermediate step other vendors take in production:  commissioned production of tea, particularly pu'er cakes.  In that limited sense lots of vendors are now tea producers, hopefully with sufficient control and oversight in place so that what they describe is actually what they are selling.  In some cases it's obviously not; rejecting unrealistic tea-tree age claims is a favorite recurring theme in tea groups.  I've tried and reviewed some of their teas (which also leads back to the bias I'd mentioned) and their black teas (Dian Hong) are worth a look, and pu'er seemed good for the value-oriented pricing.


Hatvala:  this vendor represents another variation of direct sales, as a Vietnam based reseller of local small-producer tea sources.  It's not direct sales, in the sense that farmers aren't selling the tea, but teas are not passing through a multi-level aggregator and wholesale vendor supply chain.  It's a bit subjective but per my take their teas are great.


They also commission production of some truly unique versions of flavored teas:  jasmine flower infused tea (the real versions, including a black tea type I've only seen commonly consumed in Indonesia), Earl Grey, and lotus flower infused teas.  To me it wouldn't make sense to buy only 100-200 grams of tea from them, although an online contact here in Thailand just did exactly that, but since that link is a sales site it's easy to click through and see how lower tea pricing and higher tea shipping costs work out in the end.



Gopaldhara and Toba Wangi are two other direct producers (in Darjeeling and Indonesia, respectively) that represent both options and limitations in buying tea directly.  Gopaldhara sells tea directly in India, and through other supporting external suppliers in all other locations, through various supply chains.  It's worth noting that large plantations anywhere will produce and sell a variety of different teas, related to different small growing areas experiencing different micro-climates, to growing different tea plant types, etc.  Toba Wangi is a smaller producer in Indonesia that does sell teas directly (good teas, I might add), but mainly relies on other vendors and other types of supply outlets to sell their teas, few of which probably make it out of Asia.


101 tea plantation is an example of a main Thai producer that also sells tea directly.  Per my understanding there are only a half dozen main tea producers in Thailand, and although end customers wouldn't typically know it small online vendors are mostly selling comparable products from those few sources.  Someone could click on that site link and buy tea, a couple hundred grams or 100 kilograms, I'd expect, but the names of such sources tend to just not come up.  The same type of thing happens here in Bangkok:  tea is resold without the source being cited, but more frequently through tea-booth sales (physical outlets) instead of websites, or Aliexpress (Amazon/ Ebay-like shops), etc.

there are lots of online sources for fake pu'er

Conclusion

That's a lot to cover; I hope some of it is helpful.  This blog serves a number of different purposes (eg. a way for me to keep track of reviews of teas, or references), but helping others with their own exploration is a part of the hobby.


I could address other specific questions through message through a FB page for this blog, or in comments here.  Or routing a more public version through Quora might be interesting (my profile there), and then others could answer it too (or in that International themed FB group).  I've already talked a little about basic tea issues there in Quora, and caffeine and fluoride, two subjects I researched related to other posts here.

Good luck with your own exploration.