Do any of you guys drink real loose leaf tea from China?

[xymoriintus]

In recent months I've been very curious about real loose leaf tea from China. Do any of you guys drink real tea? Im mainly curious about raw and ripe puerh. I haven't pulled the trigger yet on purchasing anything yet but I do have a few places in mind.

Yunnansourcing
Crimsonlotus
Liquidproust
White2tea
Meileaf
Jessiesteahouse

[mivanqua]

Make sure it's a good one. They are amazing if they are the aged stuff in the little pellets. Gunpowder I believe it's called? The name is fitting, I'll just put it that way.

I don't know if it's taboo here or not, and it isnt easy to find either, but coca tea is where it's at. I got some off of Etsy on a whim from a dude called "Krazy" (long long gone) in the UK. Twice. Then I found other, better sources. Highly recommend the tea or the leaves.

Watch anything that is powdered.

But the ancient puerh(sp?) is amazing too. Usually comes wrapped in paper and is a circular pellet that you toss in the strainer. Another cool thing about it is that you can get two or three cups out of each pellet. It's more Ike a disk. You'll know it when you see it. My health food store has both of the varieties of tea I've mentioned and that's where I get them, and then my dear friend m aka boureka sent me this amazing teapot that I use almost every single day and a ton of other tea related items, so I've been trying it all. Those two are the bangers so far though. The ancient puerh and the gunpowder
.

Coca tea is like extra credit but it IS out there.

Also hey homie! I saw you wrote me but I can't delete messages!! Too many memories!!

[ivanquamay]

This is my other account


Both together is almost like a mix tape.

[MetalMamaRocks]

In recent months I've been very curious about real loose leaf tea from China. Do any of you guys drink real tea? Im mainly curious about raw and ripe puerh. I haven't pulled the trigger yet on purchasing anything yet but I do have a few places in mind.

Yunnansourcing
Crimsonlotus
Liquidproust
White2tea
Meileaf
Jessiesteahouse

I've recently started getting into loose leaf tea myself! I was drinking a lot of grocery store tea like celestial seasonings and Harney and Sons but started reading about microplastics in the tea bags. I still drink yogi ginger tea since it's bags are biodegradable.

Anyways, I haven't tried Yunnan yet but someone on Reddit recommended this sampler pack:
https://yunnansourcing.com/collections/ ... ea-sampler
It looks pretty good!

I have ordered from a place called The Tea Spot. They have $4.00 sample packs which is really convenient if you don't yet know what you like, like me. Right now I'm gravitating towards oolong and they have a good one called 8 Immortals. It has a lower caffeine content so I can drink it all day. I'll fix a cup in the morning and re-steep the leaves a couple more times. Their chocolate cherry bomb is also good! I want to try Jasmine, puerh, and a white tea next.

I'll make another post with some of the other online stores that have been recommended to me.

[MetalMamaRocks]

Make sure it's a good one. They are amazing if they are the aged stuff in the little pellets. Gunpowder I believe it's called? The name is fitting, I'll just put it that way.

I don't know if it's taboo here or not, and it isnt easy to find either, but coca tea is where it's at. I got some off of Etsy on a whim from a dude called "Krazy" (long long gone) in the UK. Twice. Then I found other, better sources. Highly recommend the tea or the leaves.

Watch anything that is powdered.

But the ancient puerh(sp?) is amazing too. Usually comes wrapped in paper and is a circular pellet that you toss in the strainer. Another cool thing about it is that you can get two or three cups out of each pellet. It's more Ike a disk. You'll know it when you see it. My health food store has both of the varieties of tea I've mentioned and that's where I get them, and then my dear friend m aka boureka sent me this amazing teapot that I use almost every single day and a ton of other tea related items, so I've been trying it all. Those two are the bangers so far though. The ancient puerh and the gunpowder
.

Coca tea is like extra credit but it IS out there.

Also hey homie! I saw you wrote me but I can't delete messages!! Too many memories!!

Hey Mivanqua! Did you get your old account back?

Cocoa tea sounds divine! Every tea website I go on i do a search for chocolate tea but it's all usually "natural flavorings" added. Hmm, I wonder if I can just add a teaspoon of cocoa to a black tea? Maybe a touch of vanilla flavoring?

Anyways, hope you're doing well!

[herbalhippie]

I lost my taste for black teas at some point and only drink Japanese green teas now, I find the Chinese green teas
that I've tried a little bitter or something. I used to love Darjeeling tea, Constant Comment, Earl Grey.

I was drinking nothing but an organic genmaicha (green tea with toasted brown rice) for a few years and have since switched to the
Japanese green tea from Costco. It's under their Kirkland brand but it's Ito En green tea. A friend who lived in Japan for many years
says it's a pretty good tea company. Occasionally I'll get loose leaf tea but I'm lazy so teabags it is.

[MetalMamaRocks]

I love green tea too! Today I'm drinking decaf lemon ginger. It's decaf green tea, ginger root, lemon peel, and lemon verbena. Really good!

Here's some more online stores I've been looking at:

https://www.wangfamilytea.com
https://verdanttea.com
https://www.teasource.com
https://redblossomtea.com
https://fullleafteacompany.com
https://www.uptontea.com
https://www.theteasmith.com
https://teaandwhisk.com
https://www.tangpintea.com

I love perusing the tea ware on these sites. I could see myself getting knee deep in tea pots and pretty tea cups!

[ivanquamay]

that I've tried a little bitter or something

hippie GENERALLY that means that the water is too hot and the tanins are released too quickly, try cooling down the water a little, that may work. Tea can be pesky in that each requires a different amount, different temp, and different steep time. It's super neat stuff, but I'm noticing that the older I get, the more I appreciate the little things.

MMR that was coca tea, not cocoa. It's been demonized here in the US (for many reasons that I can figure) but it is estimated that one in three Central Americans chews coca leaves and even more drink tea. It truly is divine and like kratom, has a usage cap. One cup, MAYBE two per day and that's it, beyond that you're wasting it. Like they say in Peru (and I wholeheartedly agree) la hora de coca no es droga, or the coca leaf is not a drug. I know it's "illegal" but for a kick you should look up WHY it's illegal, and then look up how much coca it takes to make a kilo of you know what (~a ton.) When I did that, I was left wondering what my cup of coca tea had to do with "manufacturing cocaine." There is no actual reason it's illegal that I personally can find, and I've looked extensively. It most certainly isn't dangerous, sharing the same "zero deaths ever" status as pot and plain leaf kratom.

It's not addictive (it's been studied extensively even though there "isn't enough clear evidence to assume it's safe," .except THOUSANDS of years of indigenous use.) and sometimes it hits the spot.

I'm a fan. I got some off of Etsy this week (nobody sells large amounts and it's frowned upon to buy the whole stash for yourself.) If anyone is interested, I can let you know when and where it's available, which is almost nowhere and it's super rare. And expensive. What I just bought was 38. for 40 1 gram bags, but its my favorite Peruvian brand, Sunka.

Take it for what it's worth.

[herbalhippie]

that I've tried a little bitter or something

hippie GENERALLY that means that the water is too hot and the tanins are released too quickly, try cooling down the water a little, that may work. Tea can be pesky in that each requires a different amount, different temp, and different steep time. It's super neat stuff, but I'm noticing that the older I get, the more I appreciate the little things.

That makes sense, especially since I used to get my water a lot hotter for tea than I do now.

Coca tea sounds interesting! Does it have a good taste?

[StringThing]

I enjoy a good oolong or gunpowder loose leaf, but it is from all over.

[IndelibleDotInk]

My mom's friend does work with botanicals and other plant life; sometimes he goes to China and brings my mom back exotic or prized tea. They come in twists and I have not yet tried them.

I drink guayusa tea, and love Korean roasted barley tea, mugicha.

Formerly addicted to ito en green tea, but found drinking them daily made my days less energetic and happy. I still love them, but consume less and my days are wonderful. Hippie, have you tried matcha?

I'm experimenting with kratom tea via aeropress, and lessening my kratom dose. I was in the hospital for a week and had no problem with withdrawal at all, no painkilling drugs that would mask symptoms either.

We had a tea store at the mall for ages, rows of jarsss filled with tea from all over, bright and shiny; I'm not sure if it's still there, over the last ten years, we moved out of town (downtown Honolulu) to around the island, then to Ewa Beach, and the old mall has grown to a sleek, futurinsssstic mind-bogggling ssize since I used to hang out there as a kid. dunno if the tea shop is still there.

[mivanqua]

that I've tried a little bitter or something

hippie GENERALLY that means that the water is too hot and the tanins are released too quickly, try cooling down the water a little, that may work. Tea can be pesky in that each requires a different amount, different temp, and different steep time. It's super neat stuff, but I'm noticing that the older I get, the more I appreciate the little things.

That makes sense, especially since I used to get my water a lot hotter for tea than I do now.

Coca tea sounds interesting! Does it have a good taste?

It tastes a lot like sea water. Haha!

Like I tell folks just trying it, it's not so much about the taste, although personally I really enjoy the taste. The Peruvian is a little more euph(etc.) and the Bolivian is like rocket fuel. It's really weird to me that something is only chemically different in very minor ways, but those little tiny things influence the whole experience. Reminds me of another really complex and interesting plant that we all may enjoy for as long as is legally possible, right boys?

I'm back and all it took was a brand new phone and probably massive amounts of luck.

[herbalhippie]

hippie GENERALLY that means that the water is too hot and the tanins are released too quickly, try cooling down the water a little, that may work. Tea can be pesky in that each requires a different amount, different temp, and different steep time. It's super neat stuff, but I'm noticing that the older I get, the more I appreciate the little things.

That makes sense, especially since I used to get my water a lot hotter for tea than I do now.

Coca tea sounds interesting! Does it have a good taste?

It tastes a lot like sea water. Haha!

Like I tell folks just trying it, it's not so much about the taste, although personally I really enjoy the taste. The Peruvian is a little more euph(etc.) and the Bolivian is like rocket fuel. It's really weird to me that something is only chemically different in very minor ways, but those little tiny things influence the whole experience. Reminds me of another really complex and interesting plant that we all may enjoy for as long as is legally possible, right boys?

I'm back and all it took was a brand new phone and probably massive amounts of luck.

There you are!!

Seems like I read long ago that for the alkaloids in coca to be released there has to be something involved. Lime or something. (not the citrus fruit)

[mivanqua]

Llipta it's called
I use baking soda, but there are a few different things that draw out the goodies.

I don't have any right now, it's the rare time. Around spring it'll all be back.

Just a little something for fun.

And hey!

[IndelibleDotInk]

Llipta it's called
I use baking soda, but there are a few different things that draw out the goodies.

I don't have any right now, it's the rare time. Around spring it'll all be back.

Just a little something for fun.

And hey!

Aren't the coca leaves you can buy in the US de-cocainized? I know the leaves CocaCola uses for flavor in soda (coca has been a major flavor component in CocaCola since invented) have been de-cocainized since cocaine was made illegal here.

[mivanqua]

I don't think they can decocainize the leaves without turning them all gross and brown. This is just a theory because I've looked it up, and there is very little info about this process.
What i DO know is that simply using water and baking soda will remove 90% + over ten minutes, but it's full spectrum, not just the one big money alkaloid.
I think the processing is just for the "snow" appearance.

Anyway, decocainized Coca is even more expensive than the unprocessed leaves, and when it's decocainized, it's a muddy brown. Like Coca Cola.

The Bolivian leaves I get are straight from the jungle, they are sold there by street vendors and then they are sent to my guy and then I buy them and eat them until they are gone, which doesn't take long b cause the euphoria (especially with a tad of kratom extract) is perfect.

The tea isn't just tea in those countries, it's almost part of every part of the culture. Lots of people are out there exporting to America because it is absurdly profitable. I only have a couple of real sources for the stuff and they both come (somehow) directly from their country of origin in their natural state. The other source only brings a few boxes back with her from Peru every month and she sells those.

Definitely the real deal, both of those.

[Jking]

Alright so I’m a big tea fan. Love oolong, and green tea from china. It’s hard to go wrong with a good jasmine infused green tea, or a high quality oolong tea of like milk oolong. I personally use adagio for tea because they have a great selection of teas from all over including china.