Do you have any varieties you would recommend? I've tried tea a few times, but mostly disliked it because it tasted like water that had been steeped in grass

>>92793
The Jade Dragon I mentioned in the OP is the first time I've tasted pure green tea that relaxes me while having a nice taste. Though I think the brewing time and temp probably matter a bit too, but I just use an electric kettle for that now.

I just get sencha teabags from the local international market. I don't think I have the patience to brew "proper" tea but I would like to try some one day.

for several years i was very meticulous and careful with proper brewing of high quality loose leaf tea from many countries in asia and east africa

nowadays i just drink yorkshire gold in boiling tapwater.

>>92804
>yorkshire gold
yup

>>92804
>boiling tapwater
Still not as bad as microwaved water.

I remember some guy on 4/qa/ (or maybe it was here, it was a long time ago now) would links a specific brand of it on Amazon once in a while. I'd like to try drinking green tea and other healthy stuff soon, but maybe I should just try growing it? Maybe the tea bushes take a long time to become established or there's a special technique to doing it.

Japanese Sencha and Bancha are really good, you generally brew them in ~80C, I also drank some really good chineese green tea, but I can't remember what it was called :|
Also be sure to try jasmine oolong, it's really good (you should brew oolong in ~90C, or so I was told)

I would like to get into green tea but I've found it really difficult to know what to buy. The only tea specialty store I've been too locally isn't very friendly, and the problem is you can't really sample the different types. You have to blind buy a 50 or 100 gram bag and hope that it's nice. I've tried having matcha from a bubble tea store in Singapore and physically couldn't finish it even with all the sugar and milk.

>>92818
Yeah I doubt many stores would offer free samples or anything, one online store where I buy yerbamate throws in some samples when I make larger order.
On the bright side, unless you're some velvet-tongue gourmet, most of the tea groups taste similar, so green tea usually tastes like a grean tea, with slight differences between the specific kinds.
If you're worried about intense flavour I'd suggest buying white tea, you brew it in ~70C and it's generally rather mild.

Bought a bag of green tea, thinking I'd drink it every morning. Haven't used it once... Boiling water is too mendokusai.

>>92792
Not very much, I prefer oolong and white tea.

>>92821
Buy an electric kettle, they're too useful to live without.

>>92828
Do foreigners really not have electric kettles in their homes?

>>92829
I don't, I like boiling water in classic kettle, beige and painted in weeds and flowers.

>>92829
I don't drink tea because I don't want to have a trade deficit with China.

>>92792
I don't care for gween pee or pee in general
but cawfee ok!

I've got like a dozen fancy teas of all sorts of varieties and of all color profiles, green tea is generally my favorite. 4chan actually has a tea general in /ck/, probably the only good thread there and they've got a decent info page for this stuff
Japanese green tea can seem expensive but it lasts a very long time, I got like 4 or 5 packets of 100 grams from like before 2022 at least and I've still got some lying around (though I don't drink it every day)
You're heavily recommended to get a kyusu for sencha though, since you need to use a pretty close water to leaf ratio (like 1.5 tea spoons for one cup). On average I get to steep my tea like 4 to 6 times before the flavor starts getting notably watery, and I usually brew it twice to fill a full mug of 500 ml.
I think that if you like one variety of sencha, you'll enjoy most others so really its a matter of tasting one. Think jasmine green tea but lighter and "grassier", fresher so to speak.
People also overlook tisanes (teas made of stuff that isnt tea), but I got a sample of rose tea and that was surprisingly good.
Pic related is a 327 year old dude who's been selling puer tea, the weirdest variety which I'm still too inexperienced to get into. That's like post-endgame tea.

>>92792
In the past I always had variety of teas and time to enjoy them. I like green tea, but I don't drink it too much even as I have some high-quality ones (a gift from a friend of mine). My favorite is black tea, specially Yixing Hong Cha (Yixing Black Tea, "Red" in chinese), wich is very refined but also strong. I have a traditional, artisan made Yixing Teapot... but out of laziness and impatience I tend to simply hot water in a pot and brew there. If you like very strong flavours but also want to stay "pure" (not mixing) I would recommend Lapsang Souchong, a black tea smoked with special wood that gives it a "bonfire" aroma (for real).

I need to confess that I am gradually drinking less and less tea, the speed and mental agitation of life punch me towards the faster and easier cafeine peaks of coffee.

>>93729
Hmm... this seems pretty informative.
Do any of you tea drinkers add other stuff to it, like chamomile or lemon balm and other cliche things? I'm kind of thinking of growing a mini tea garden thing, but I wonder how good that stuff actually is or if it's really annoying to use.

>>93897
if its black tea, I occasionally drop in slices of lemon or ginger, maybe even frozen berries. I always wanted to try adding jam as well but for some reason i never get around to it, but its viable as a sweetener that isn't just boring sugar. Chamomile is usually sold premixed with black teas so that works (though I hate the taste myself)
Japanese green tea has a pretty delicate flavor so adding stuff to it is heavily experimental and will likely just make it taste weird if not outright bad, but western green tea (the kind that's called green but when you steep it its brown, jasmine for instance) is robust enough to work decently with wacky additions, even straight up sliced fruit if you're feeling adventurous.
Is it worth it? It'll feel kinda gimmicky after a couple times. I keep pre-sliced ginger and frozen berries in my freezer anyway so its no big deal for me, usually I only add them just for a change of pace. If I'm doing something special with tea then its usually more about the accompanying snacks like scones and finger sandwiches, matching the tea of course.

>>93822
>the speed and mental agitation of life punch me towards the faster and easier cafeine peaks of coffee
Sort of opposite for me. I really like the relaxed focus tea offers (all that l-theanine) compared to coffee's pure alertness, and depending on the situation it really makes a difference.
Also Lapsang Souchong is great, but everyone I show it to says it smells and tastes like medicine.

>>93966
>Chamomile is usually sold premixed with black teas
Is this a pure powder or is it a bunch of leaves?
I wonder which kind of easier to start with, probably the Western kind that comes in bags? But I don't really want to drink it unless it has health benefits, so does the British kind (black tea?) still have anything going for it like green tea?
I never knew this stuff was so complicated.

>>95014
As with everything consumable, black tea has health benefits along with demerits. It's really mostly just caffeine though, less than coffee however. Green tea has less caffeine than black tea (in most cases at least) so if you're hunting for healthy teas go for green. In shops I tend to see chamomile mixed with black tea, though I bet there are green tea variants as well.
Unless its some sort of freak creation, all tea is made of leaves (and maybe pieces of fruit or vegetable). The powder you see in the cheap sachets is still leaves, just crushed into what looks like powder. Larger leaves are higher quality stuff (certain chemicals get extracted better from larger leaves, while powdered teas get more bitter stuff out rather than the good), but very broadly speaking its all the same.
You could probably find pure chamomile in random stores around you since its a relatively popular health product of sorts, this really depends on what stores around you stock. If not, it should still be pretty cheap and quick to order.
I'm guessing you're new to tea, so I suggest that the next time you end up in a sizable shop or supermarket of sorts, check the sections with tea or healthy food sections before getting into ordering more specialized stuff and pick whatever up whatever catches your eye, be it green tea or black tea. The more complicated varieties tend to be only in specialty stores or online only so you won't likely lead yourself into a mess.
so basically
>check your local shops and try those
>after getting your feet wet, try ordering specialized stuff online or see if you're lucky and have a store nearby for more niche stuff, pure chamomile included
>if you end up enjoying green tea enough, later down the line try ordering green tea from japan

Also, you don't need a whole teapot for western teas. See around if you can find pic related, 9 out of 10 western teas you only need 2 or 3 teaspoons per cup. If you're intimidated you should just start with the sachets, but using leaves is just a single step complication of putting the tea into a strainer yourself and then pulling it out.

Anything other than bottled tea takes too much time. What do tea connoisseurs consider to be some of the least bad bottled teas?

Turkish black tea and local herbals for the win.
You niggas have nothing on me.

>>95023
Unsweetened ones at the very least.
You could try cold brewing a large batch of green tea as well, get a clean bottle and some green tea, dump in and leave it in the fridge for a day. Results can vary pretty wildly though so it's a pretty niche thing.

>>95025
Where are you that people grow local herbals? I’m jealous

>>95025
Honey ginger English breakfast with a few drops of bottled lemon juice.

ssssssssip

>>95031
It's mostly linden and sage and shit. Just go to your local bazaar/farmer's market; I'm sure you can find the good shit there for very good prices.
>>95034
That's rad bro, I'm sure your immune system is untouchable.

>>95034
That's one hell of a combo you've got going on there, the most I do is mix with honey.

What do you do when you get tea cravings late at night? I know there are caffeine-free herbal teas like chamomille, but I could really go for some black tea right now.

>>95232
How do you get affected by tea caffeine? I'm I too much of a coffee junkie to notice?

>>95232
I'm unaffected by tea caffeine as well so I just have some.

how do I know if I'm affected by caffeine? I only know when I don't have enough of it.

>>95021
Ohh, caffeine. I forgot about that stuff. Yeah, that's something it's probably best for me to avoid. I guess I'd avoid black tea. I've got chamomile growing in the backyard right now so that's not an issue, it's an extremely prolific plant that's more like a weed.

>I'm guessing you're new to tea
Completely! Thanks for all the info. I guess I'll look around next time I'm out. I normally drink water, or milk with some meals, so I think I'm compatible with tea in regards to simple healthy things.

>>95252
If its mostly caffeine that you want to avoid, or generally you're just aiming for whatever is healthiest that isn't plain water, you might wanna look into tisanes/herbal teas. It's a field I dabbled in a bit less, but they're typically* caffeine free. I've particularly really enjoyed rose tea, but be on the look out for whether those are blended with other stuff.
There's a whole world of drinks out there that don't come in cans and bottles and even I, someone who has more tea than I know what to do with haven't tried it all yet.

>>95305
Yeah, herbal tea is probably what I'm after, although it doesn't sound very exciting. That's a shame about the caffeine thing, but I really don't want to mess with that stuff. I'm pretty sensitive to it.
I guess it could be fun to grow some herbs indoors to combine a gardening hobby with a potential tea growing hobby.

>>95593
Grow peppermint and make tea out of it.
Shit grows like a plague.

>>95595
Yeah I noticed that myself and had to remove it from outside. Definitely a plant you should only grow in containers.

>>92807
I microwaved water for years.
I had no issues with it but then I got a filipino room mate and he made fun of me. I went out and bought an electric kettle after that.

What does pure Camomile count as? Green, herbal, black? I've been enjoying that most recently with a bit of plum blossom honey for my afternoon tea.

>>96288
You should try camomille with dried figs on the side.

>>95681
he flipped you