You’ve got a nice starting kit there! Thank your friend for being so kind by inviting them to a tea session with you!

Here’s a few things that I wish I knew when I started trying high quality tea:

Get the water temp right for the type of tea and don’t oversteep. I thought all tea was just undrinkably bitter, but I was just steeping everything for too long in boiling water.

Write a few notes about what you think about the tea. For the first year, my notes consisted of “bitter” or “I like this”. I can’t remember what the teas tasted like, so I wish I wrote down more.

Then, I just advise that you experiment yourself to find what works for you.