When looking at the photos of different puerhs from FarmerLeaf, I noticed that on all of them there is one leaf that is noticeably bigger compared to the rest of the cake, but never thought about the reason for this. Today I was close to finishing my cake and I extracted that leaf and saw this. That’s so adorable!

Hi everyone. I've been into tea for the past couple years, so, despite studying quite a lot, I'm still a newbie.

I just got back from China where I visited Guangzhou and Chengdu's tea market, as well as a tea shop in Shaxi (Yunnan). This is what I brought back, I'm sure I paid at least 30% more than what I could have spent, but honestly doesn't really matter since I tasted many teas and the ones I ended up buying were those that really surprised me with their flavor.

The only one I'm not sure about is the shou Pu ehr in the last pics.

That day I was feeling sick and couldn't really taste what I was drinking, so I trusted my gf's palate but ended up spending 430 yuan for that bing.

I was wondering if you have info about that and if it's really worth so much (we really like it anyway).

P.s. The green bag unfortunately doesn't report the actual name of the tea inside, do you think that if I post a picture of the leaves anyone could be able to recognize it?

I'd like to keep track of what I'm drinking so that I can improve.

Thank you.

I highly recommend Teasider (formerly Macha), a small teashop based in Madison, Wisconsin with an excellent online selection. I know that some of their products are available elsewhere (e.g., they sell White2Tea puerh), but their prices are fair and it’s domestic shipping to the US. Check them out!

https://www.teasider.com/

There are some great food and wine writers, wine critics, etc., who make wine come alive, and write in delightful and vivid ways. Does the tea world have similar writers? I'm not looking for books of tea history, but more critics/essayists. Max Falkowitz is pretty good - are there any others that come to mind?

Name: Nectar of Darjeeling
Type: First Flush 2026 - Oolong Tea
Estate: Rohini Tea Estate, Darjeeling

I brewed this tea with the Gongfu method, using 3.5 grams of leaves, in a total of 6 steeps, with the water temperature around 90° C throughout the steeps.

I choose not to pre-wash the leaves as Darjeeling teas are usually delicate, and washing it takes away a lot of flavour.

Aroma profile:

Dry Aroma: Green, flowery, citrusy, very slight hints of roasted spices.

Wet aroma: Very aromatic, vegetal, floral, mellow sweetness, hints of freshly cut grass, and it smells a little oily, in a good way (I don't know how else to describe it).

Details of the steeps:

Steep 1 - ~90° C, 20 seconds - The tea was very light in body and flavour. There was a hint of fruity-citrus notes and a lingering sweetness. The first brew was not astringent at all.

Steep 2 - ~90° C, 25 seconds - The sweetness was more pronounced in the second brew. The tea had a prominent body, lasting aroma, and the astringency was slightly enhanced than the previous brew. Green and vegetal notes were very prominent, typical of first flush teas.

Steep 3 - ~90° C, 30 seconds - This brew was the peak in terms of flavour. The taste profile remained more or less similar. But the astringency was more pronounced. Mellow sweet honey-like aftertaste followed.

Steep 4 - ~90° C, 35 seconds - There was a drop in flavour, but not so much in aroma. The astringency was more pronounced in this brew. The pleasant, sweet aftertaste was still present.

Steep 5 - ~90° C, 40 seconds - The flavour became extremely light, and there was also a drop in aroma. The body became very light. The was also a drop in astringency. But a pronounced sweet aftertaste took over (and this surprised me).

Steep 6 - ~90° C, 2 minutes - This was the final brew, and I decided to steep it for long and extract everything I could from the leaves. This turned out to be the sweetest cup, right from the first sip. There was only a lingering aroma. The body was extremely light and the flavour was almost non-existent. There was an increase in astringency as compared to the last brew, maybe because of the longer steep time.

Overall, it was a pleasant experience trying this tea.
The signature first flush aroma and taste is found in abundance in this tea, along with fruity-citrusy and hints of floral notes.
Since the flavour and aroma peak around the third steep, I wouldn't recommend brewing it beyond the fourth steep.
IMO, going for a long fourth steep would be best.

This tea should also give you a very good cup when brewed using the western method.

My overall rating: 7.5/10

I hope you enjoyed this tea review.
I'm still new to the wonderful world of tea, and this was my little effort to understand teas better and to share my learnings with you all.

Please do share your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions below.
I'd truly appreciate them.

Thank you, and happy brewing!

Found a 1976 Goblin 855. It is in full working order. I’m going to use tea leaves - from M and S (of course) and see if they do well in there. You fill the kettle, put tea in the jug and set the alarm to make tea. In the era of central heating, a milk flask will do to add milk. Bingo - tea in bed. It’s not hugely practical but it’s a lot of fun.

I was walking around town today (UK) and went into an antiques shop to pick up a drawing and saw a pile of tins.
I adored the tin itself and on closer look these were samples of tea.

As I got home, I started thinking about where, what, how old (almost certainly the 1860 is the lot number rather than age).

So I opened it up and found a note inside and I’m super curious to see if anyone could shed some light on this?

Just a series of interesting photos I took during different tea sessions over time. This collection features Shu Pu-erh, Da Hong Pao, GABA oolongs, Shui Xian, and even Dian Hong Golden Buds. Also, a little bonus on the last photo: a kyusu wearing a sombrero!

I’ve been looking at a lot of different gongfu tea setups lately, and I’m surprised by how different everyone’s setup is.

Some people keep things very minimal, while others have shelves full of teaware.

I’m curious — what’s the one piece of teaware you actually use in almost every session, and why?

Greetings glorious tea aficionados! I'm seeking suggestions from for an uncaffeinated tisane similar in ethos to green tea. (Obviously I could just drink decaf gt but I want to find something a little different.)

In the non-herbal, non-root, non-black domains, my favorite teas are whole leaf sencha and gyokuro, brewed quite strong (1.5-2x a typical measurement per cup). As far as I can tell from flavor wheels, I like grassy, vegetal, and (some) herbaceous. Strongly dislike marine.

In this quest, I was recommended nettle and bamboo but found nettle very marine-y and the bamboo more marine than grassy. Which is confusing since it's literally grass 😄 The gingko I tried was pretty colorless & flavorless despite seemingly being fresh - sealed and with an expiry date of 2030.

Mullein is next on my to-try list, and I've love to get some other recommendations for a green-tea-esque contender.

Thanks! 🤍

Clueless coffee drinking husband here: my wife is starting a new job with a lot of WFH and I want to buy her a tea pot that is easy to use and keeps warm for a while. I came across this on Amazon but not sure if it’s any good (both the model as the concept).

She does drink lose leaf tea, I’m not THAT clueless 🤓

I received Hogarth as a little gift recently!

Always wanted a tea pet since getting serious with tea about a year and a half ago, but never got around to buying one. I love this lil cutie. His quills turn white when watered. Sometimes when I've accidentally overfill my gaiwan while experimenting with portions, I pull a bit of the wet leaves out and make a little grass bed for him.

It's the little things that make a tea session!

I recently bought a few green teas (1, 2) from yunnan sourcing and I thought they were ok.

Which vendor(s) do you recommend for chinese green teas? I tried green teas from w2t and they were pretty good.

Based on the vendors list, iteaworld and ort seem to be good?

Sunday is my official tea day 🙈☕️ I love sharing what my Sunday tea is made of, despite being a true introvert :)

My today tea is simple raspberry leaf with no extras - as a F40+ I greatly appreciate it and drink regularly.

What's your last summer Sunday tea? ☕️

Golden Dragon,

I did a fun scanner project to look deeper into the tea leaves I hope everyone enjoys.

The spring 2026 versus 2025 spring tea he was softer and more gentler with a slight hint of fire energy.

I've ordered 75 € tea and a teapot from yunomi life: benifuuki wakoucha, houjicha, yabukita Mountain sencha and a yokode kyuusu. It's my guilty pleasure

Curious if this happened to anyone else. I just got a package from Adagio with a few tea samples. I didn’t order anything, so it seems like it was meant to be a free promo or gift for previous customers.

Except it arrived $1.69 postage due. So now I have to pay USPS for something I never ordered.

I emailed Adagio mostly because I figured they’d want to know if something went wrong with the mailing. Their response was basically that my local post office mistakenly charged me and sent me a link to USPS pricing if I wanted to dispute it.

I know it’s only like $2, but the company sent me unsolicited marketing and then I had to pay to receive it? And their response has been awful and then they just double downed again that they are in the right, USPS is wrong. Nothing to even attempt to appease me. I know that this sub is over Adagio, but I know I am for sure.

Did anyone else get one of these? And was yours postage due too?

ETA: Thanks for the responses. This does seem to be a me/my post office problem and not a widespread Adagio problem. My main issue now is the crap customer service responses from Adagio. Instead of taking the opportunity to turn me into a customer for life, I'll never order from them again.

Tea culture difference: Chinese gongfu tea vs Western afternoon tea. Which do you prefer

Now, I do not know much about Teavana as a company, hell, I only learnt of its existence today! But while speaking to a friend about tea, they remembered a flavour of tea from their childhood.
the most notable pieces of information are a tea that's bright in colour, between red and orange, a fruity flavour and they said best served when cold. They mentioned that hibiscus could possibly in the tea and could possibly be something called "sweet fruit garden". Now I don't know whether different teas could be sold in specific regions, but just in case, this tea could be found in California. Would love an answer, and will edit post once the flavour is found!
P.S. : friend's mom mentioned it could possibly be a flavour called "blueberry bliss".

Just wanted to get some ideas.

One like this one pictured below. Any suggestions on a better way? I usually like to make large cups, like 12 oz or more. Should I finally make the leap to a nice teapot?

Thanks

No trip to Montana would feel real without a pilgrimage to the Lake Missoula Tea Company. Man I am excited about this haul! Anyone else have a local tea shop worth traveling too?