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My YS order came in, first time ever trying pu-erh!! 2024 "Pa Lian Wild" Ripe Pu-erh — being newer and ripe, it smells just like a horse barn and a tad fishy, which I completely expected. And tastes like it too, but – man, this tea high. I'm fortunate to get tea-high somewhat often, but usually it takes high quality tea and about twenty minutes — this went straight to my brain and body in less than 5 mins

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Another lazy morning drinking tea.

This time Huang Cha.

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thought I'd share photos of my phoenix and dragon chengxiang cup set 🍵 anyone else into tea culture ?

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My Favorite Teas 2024

I've been into a tea hobby for a year now! I'm not all that knowledgeable by any means and I'm very loose with my methods, and I'm really bad at remembering and describing taste, so don't listen to me. But here's my personal favorite loose leaf teas so far. All of these were tried with gaiwan-style brewing.

Yu Lu Yan Cha from Verdant Tea Just bought another 150 grams of this tea last night. This tea comes out a gorgeous red color and tastes just as rich. Honestly, since it was out of stock for a minute I haven't drank it in a while, and can't remember exactly what it tastes like — just that it's the best tea I've ever tasted. It's deep and a little dark. My favorite over all.

Keemun Osmanthus Qimen Black Tea from China Tea Spirit

I'm biased here because this was the first Chinese loose leaf tea I bought. I also didn't have the knowledge at the time to know that it's a bit pricey, but even now I think you can taste the quality. It's very sweet and a little floral, but also vegetal and dark. Smells wonderful.

China Tea Spirit is a vendor I see very rarely mentioned, but I had a good experience with them. They have a fantastic and quality teaware selection too.

Qing Xiang Wulong Revival from Verdant Tea

This tea tastes like moss, in the best way possible. Moss with a bit mineral-ness. What can I say, that's my favorite kind of taste.

Bainian Laoshu Hong Cha from Tangpin Tea

I love teaware, so a habit I've developed is buying random tea from whatever vendors I buy teaware from, since they tend to go hand-in-hand. That's how I discovered this tea. It's not mind-blowing but is just so nice for a casual drink. It's sweet and malty, and cheap.

Tangpin Tea is another vendor I don't see mentioned often but they're good. From what I remember, the shipping was surprisingly fast. Also have a MASSIVE teaware selection. Biggest downside is their site seems to be outdated and has little information, so I've chosen to not order from them during this tariff mess.

AOH Hibernian Blend from Harney & Sons

Yes, here's a Harney and Sons tea, and yes, I brewed it gaiwan style. It wouldn't be my first recommendation, as I've quickly discovered the woes of using too much chopped-up tea in a gaiwan [spoiler alert, it'll put hair on your chest], but — hell, when it goes right, it's tasty. Cheap and casual. Nice and red. Just be sparing with the amount you use in a brew, unless you're aiming to cover it all up with milk and sugar.

How lovely it's been to have tea by my side this year. Not to be dramatic, but tea seriously had a major hand in pulling me out of deep depression and into recovery. Last February, feeling so lost from myself and restless and agitated, spurred by the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dragon [I adore dragons...] I started spending my mornings with my tea, my gaiwan, and my journal, putting on my favorite Tuvan music, mindfully writing out my tasting experience and my wandering thoughts in-between. Nowadays I'm not so mindful, drinking tea casually alongside working on my computer, but tea is still a constant companion, something I look forward to each morning. And no hate, but seriously cutting down coffee, where I was drinking at least 2 large cups a day, has majorly improved my health both mental and physical — I still crave it often, and still have a cup here and there on my most tiring days, but my chest literally hurts just thinking about it! It wasn't good for me.

Looking forward, I've got my first pu-ehr samples coming in soon. I'm excited — I really hope I like it. I love the idea of something that can sit in the cabinet and improve with age. Though, I've kinda burnt myself out on both woody and smokey teas, and that maybe doesn't bode well, haha. We'll see. At the end of the day I can force myself to drink pretty much anything if I have to, unless I start throwing up, see below... Meanwhile, although when I first started this journey I figured green teas wouldn't really be for me, I've been craving them lately. You know when your body just starts strongly craving something green and healthy? It's like that. I enjoy the vegetal taste more than I ever thought I would. The biggest downside of green tea is a shorter shelf life, and of course you can only get your hands on 2024 green teas at the moment, but I can look past a little staleness.

Unfortunately, looking into the future with tea as someone in the US carries the burden of current politics...

Disclaimer, I am not well-versed in economics or politics. Of course Trump's on-and-off tariff threats are a concern for all US Chinese tea drinkers. When discussions of this started springing up in r/tea in December, there were plenty assuring that fears were exaggerated and buying up tea in bulk was an overreaction, and I listened to them. I regret that now. This situation is changing by the day, to much confusion, but at the moment the 'de minimis' exception is back, so, as I understand it, there won't be extra charges from customs for personal orders under $800. This is of course subject to change without warning under this volatile administration. I don't want to fearmonger either, but now may be the best time to stock on tea, especially if you wish to get it shipped straight from China. Tea with a long shelf life may be the best consideration; and, maybe this is the time to get into non-Chinese teas. In the longterm I would guess that the price of tea will go up quite a bit even from US shippers as they have to compensate for these oncoming tariffs.

BONUS my disliked teas:

DISCLAIMER: again, I really barely know what the hell I'm talking about. I may have gotten bad batches, or brewed improperly, or just have a really odd sense of taste [I do!]. So these are just, very much, I personal experiences, and I don't intend for this reflect poorly on the vendors or even the tea itself. That being said:

Victorian London Fog by Harney & Sons

This is a highly recommended tea. An online friend recommended it. I've seen oodles of praise for it everywhere.

I tried it several times, felt like it was way too strong and perfumey every time, tried it with milk, tried it without, tried it super light and it still tasted overbrewed — and then it made me throw up. So yeah, that one's been banished to the back of the cabinet. I'm not so willing to try again. But surely it must just be me, everyone else seems to love it. Hopefully I'll come across someone to gift it to some day.

Laoshan Bilochun Green Tea from Verdant Tea

I'm drinking the last of this as I type. The thing about this tea is that it smells absolutely incredible. Just amazing. It has this rich nutty and vegetal smell that's so good it's hard to describe. It's divine. I would almost keep buying this tea for the brewed smell alone.

However, to me, it tastes like medicine. The bitterness overtakes any flavor that the wonderful smell indicates, and I have to force myself to keep drinking it. Shame. But if you like very green green teas, you might like it.

Wood Dragon from In Pursuit of Tea

This might be a 'what did you expect?' situation. This tea is just too woody for me. It has literal twigs in it — and it's so woody, that it's bland for me on all other fronts. Just wood soup. I kinda got burnt out on 'woody' forest-floor-tasting teas this year so that doesn't help.

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Perfect Tea weather today!

A beautiful late summer storm rages this afternoon, perfect for some wonderfully floral Wulong tea :D

My absolute favorite purchase of the year, this beautiful koi gongfu tea set. I don't have a tea tray just yet so I'm using a small plate, the flow of the tea from the spout is awful and it dribbles everywhere, but I'm emotionally attached to my only little tea set. That an my goodwill kettle make for quite the budget friendly little set up.

Love and kisses to every tea enjoyer <3

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fighting art block with silly little projects like this Teapot Animal, sipping from your cup. i finally got to experiment with gold leaf on a bjd & that was a lot of fun.

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So am I the only freak in the world that genuinely enjoys eating their tea leaves after a few brews

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Okay note to self. Verdant Tea's Yu Lu Yan Chan may be the best thing I've ever tasted

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Finally got those tea stickers made! They are made of vinyl and are very bright and colorful.

Check them out here on Etsy.

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Dream to have a nice enough house where I can have a nice little tea cabinet

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May the new year bring you good health and prosperity!

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I'm finding that ripping the tea out of Bigelow's Chamomile tea and letting it steep loose brings out this wonderful sweetness from it.

However. While I typically don't mind drinking loose leaf tea, the ground chamomile floats, and the experience of constantly swallowing down so much tiny scratchy flowers.. Terrible. I'll need a strainer next time.

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this is my tea set do u like it

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Tea House Bunk 🍵🪷