Here’s my favorite tea…
I’ve been exploring the world of tea for about 5 years and have tried just over 200 teas of nearly all tea types. There is one tea that I’ve consistently gone back to since I have discovered it. It is a sheng puer from Yunnan Sourcing. I have an interesting relationship with this tea. I have never thought of this tea as wildly complex or as an experience. Instead, it has balance with just the right amount of intrigue to work as a daily drinker. I’m always happy to drink this tea.
2020 Wu Liang Mountain (the pic of this post)
Tasting notes: Thick texture; mineral, wood, and sweet body; citrus and herb high notes; a bitter-to-sweet aftertaste transformation.
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This post makes me realize I’m just a tea newbie. I basically drink either English Breakfast tea or Jasmine with a dash or sugar and milk.
Don’t feel bad. If you enjoy your tea, then it’s a good tea!
Any recommendations for a newbie to start off with 😁?
That’s a tough question. It depends on how much you can spend and what you are looking for.
I recommend samples, that way you can try many types of tea without too much money or commitment. You can try a single tea from each tea type and explore from there.
Yunnan Sourcing website does many samples. That’s just my go to, but I know there are many other sites others would recommend. For more black tea blends, like your English breakfast, try Upton Tea Imports.
But if want even less of a commitment than that, try just spending more for your tea from the store than you usually do. Price does equal quality for most teas you’ll buy. Trying whole leaf tea will get you higher quality teas as well.
Good question I like all sorts of tea though my favourite is Melbourne breakfast. It is black tea with vanilla flavoring.
I haven’t tried much vanilla in tea. Where do you buy it from?
You can buy it here:
Looks like a very popular tea from T2Tea. Thanks for sharing!
Pueer aged is my go to
Expensive tastes 😋😅
So growing up we’ve always had pueer at dim sum. However my parents always brought their own. When I moved out, I went to David’s tea or something like that. And bought some pueer for myself. Brought back to my parents and asked them what was wrong with it hahah. Turns out I’ve been drinking 20+ year old tea. Didn’t realize I was a tea snob
😄 You were drinking the good stuff to start. Gotta balance tastes with your wallet now. 🥲
The Melange Russe and Lapsang Souchong Imperial both offered at Upton Tea Imports
I started my tea journey with Upton Tea. That first one sounds like a wild mix of flavors! Sounds like you enjoy bold flavors.
Any dan cong oolong, really. I also love Yunnan blacks, and a good keemun is something special. It’s been awhile since I’ve had a truly good keemun, though, I’m afraid it might be a casualty of climate change at this point.
I do enjoy the experience of a good Dan Cong. I just wish they resteeped more times, so the vivid taste experience doesn’t end so soon. 😋
I don’t know, I usually get 4-5 steeps out of them. Though they do end up closer to a nuttier oolong by the end, they taste distinctly dan cong for the first three.
Agreed. I wish those first 3 steeps kept going. But I do still enjoy the journey.
Japanese green: Gyokuro Gancho Chinese green: Long Jing XI Hu and Taiping Hou Kui Flavoured loose leaf: Harney and Sons Paris, Earl Grey Bagged Flavoured tea: Twinnings Lady Grey, Yorkshire Tea Malty Biscuit Bagged black: Yorkshire gold, Pg tips,
Gyokuro, Xi Hu Long Jing, & Taiping Hou Kui - I see you like fresh vegetal notes. These can be pricey. 🥲
Harney and Sons Paris - I haven’t tried too many flavored teas, but this sounds like an interesting blend of flavors!
I am in Canada and buy them here: https://shop.chayi.ca/
Owners are awesome at making recommendations based on what you like.
Not sure if this counts but matcha is my absolute favorite tea. My partner recently visited Japan and brought back multiple seasonal/Japan exclusives and I could multiple cups every day.
Been meaning to start trying some looseleaf teas though is yunnan sourcing a good place to just try out random quality teas?
Do you have a source/website of matcha that you would recommend? I have only tried matcha a couple times, of varying quality.
Yunnan Sourcing has low-to-mid price options and seems to have a reliable enough quality. They do have many types and styles available as samples, so I would recommend them for random sampling.
Ippodo is my current personal favorite. Prior to bringing it back straight from Japan, I just purchased it off Amazon. Ippodo also has their own website. They can be a bit expensive but I like ummon-no-mukashi ($51 for 40g on Amazon) for drinking it plain (usucha, unsweetened) and then for matcha lattes I like ikuyo (I’ll typically get the 100g bag just because I drink a ton of it, also around $50).
Edit: add link
Either jasmine green or black with cardamom.
One light and one with bite. 😋
Hunan Black Needle has been an absolute favorite of mine! Expensive enough to be a birthday gift every time, but so worth it.
Is this from Harney & Sons? Chinese golden black tea is always a tasty and fulfilling choice!
Indeed it is! I think with Harney & Sons, unfortunately, for me they’re either completely hit or completely miss. But they have some real gems hidden in there, Black Needle being one of them 🥰
My other recs from H&S are the Japanese Whiskey (I loooove barrel-aged & smokey teas), and the dark horse, East Frisian.
Now, with the East Frisian, I honestly couldn’t recommend it on its own, but I found it works SO well as a sort of “salt” to bring out the flavor of the “steak” of your preferred black tea 🤤☕
Thanks for the recs!
Interesting, so you add a little east Frisian to other blacks? I’ve had that feeling with some teas before. Blending on your own can be be fun.
Unsmoked lapsang souchong. The smoked variety is tea that tastes like liquid smoke, which is great, but if you drink it unsmoked, it’s like a smooth, malty cocoa.
I too enjoy the unsmoked ones. I don’t tolerate the smoke very well.
Depends on what I’m eating/doing, but my preferences swing between English Breakfast in the mornings or as an after-dinner tea and Golden Oolong for general drinking or with meals.
English breakfast is always a safe bet. Where do you buy the golden oolong? Is that tea in a bottle? That’s what I found when I searched.
Yeah, the Ito En Golden Oolong. I just love the full-bodied flavor without as much of the traditional bitterness of a normal green tea.
Interesting! I’ve only tried a few of the more widely available bottled teas, which I don’t care for, but this looks like something I’d like to give a try. Thanks for recommending!
I’d recommend chilling the bottle for the best experience. Drinking it warm is alright too, but there’s something about having it chilled with some sushi or a sandwich that really hits the spot.
