New to tea and steepster
New here, and to this world of tea.
Background….. I was a coffee drinker for years. Good stuff 75% of the time (I had my Starbucks drip most mornings), local roasters, talented batista, etc. Not uncommon for me to have a quad cappuccino (small) in late morning and early afternoon. This habit obviously was a lot of caffeine and eventually messed with my training as I began longer distance endurance sports. I quit cold turkey and felt like a junkie for 3 days afterward! Never felt better after the 10 day mark though.
Fast forward to 2 years to 1.5 months ago and I am exploring tea. The caffeine hits me differently, not as jittery (sometimes unnoticeable) and the health benefits are abundant.
I am limited to what local shops here (Boston area) have in bags and loose leaf available. Limited even more by not having a kettle, pot, etc at home. I do know I like green, oolong, and some blacks. Rooibos and Yerba Mate are OK, lapsang souchong is out (maybe I had a bad cup?).
I prefer full bodied in general…. Beer (Belgian abbeys, stouts, porters), coffee (not the darkest roasts, but clean full bodied), cigars, etc
I have just purchased a Gaiwan, and will be brewing with it for the foreseeable future. Kettle coming soon.
As for “real tea” purchases I have a 3 variety Small qty purchase coming room tea trekker this week, and friends just returned from South China coast and brought me a 2009 Pu Erh cake and some Yunnan Black. I grabbed some monkey picked oolong this weekend at Teavanna (too light in flavor, I am going to try adding some leaf to it next time), other than that, what do you suggest?
I am not a hug pu’erh fan, but a lot of coffee drinkers like pu’erh.
If you like bold teas, I would suggest sticking with black teas such as keemun or assam. You may also like a dark/heavily roasted oolong vs a light roasted (Monkey picked oolong is generally a light roasted oolong).
Sounds like you might like some of the Yunnan teas that are rich, thick and filled with malty tones. Some of my favorites include Morning Sun and Golden Strand from Mandala Tea: http://shopmandalatea.com/black-tea.html
Verdant Tea and Adagio Tea also have very nice Yunnan teas. I would check out some of the reviews here on Steepster, then try a few to explore the variety of flavors.
I second the black tea recommendations. As a former coffee drinker, I’ve found that I generally prefer stronger black tea bases for that full-bodied experience. You might like some strong (“make your spoon stand up straight”) breakfast teas or flavorful Keemuns as Lala suggested. I am mooning over Scottish Morn by Harney and Sons currently for my morning cup and am trying to decide which Keemun I loved the most from Teavivre because they are all so good. Best of luck!
I forgot about Harney and Sons Scottish Morn… That is one bold and beautiful tea! I like their Scottish Afternoon tea as well, with the slightly wine like tone added by the Darjeeling in the blend. :)
WOW, thanks everyone!
I should say I am NOT into the caffeine at all, from what I can tell blacks have more caffeine….true? I could careless about having any, its the reason I quit coffee. I love the health benefits of tea, and obviously the flavor, especially health of green teas.
I had a fireside Oolong this weekend (just a cup brewed by Teavanna), not sure how much they used, water temp, or steep time though. It was really good! seems to be a bit of controversy on teas they brew in store?
Flavored teas have no spot in my kitchen. :)
Any green teas that would fit the bill?
From my understanding, tea has about half the caffeine of the same size cup of coffee. And yes, the caffeine is different than that in coffee. I have read multiple things from places I trust about the amounts in the types of tea. Most say that blacks have the most caffeine. However, lately I have seen some say that the newly picked teas like whites have more since they are less processed and more like what you get straight from the plant. /shrug I don’t know. I assume unless it is herbal and not really tea it has caffeine. :)
full-body? you should try matcha. It’s healthier than ten cups of tea since you’re also drinking the whole leaf. You could use a regular whisk instead of matcha bamboo whisk if you’re just going to try it but it will leave some clumps in your drink.
Package of samplers arrived today from tea trekker. Looked them up, could only nd 1 exact, 1 from another company, nothing on the 3rd.
Longjing Shi Feng, 2013 Yu Qian
Gyokuro Jade Drew, 2013 1st spring pluck
Tou Tian Xiang, 2013 Late Spring pluck
Too many choices now!
Black tea as mentioned is an obvious choice for a recovering coffee fan (some suggestions down that route include Butiki The Black Lotus—wonderfully complex and satisfying—as well as Andrews and Dunham Damn Fine Tea Double Knit Blend—nice and bold but smooth, handles milk and sugar fine but also great without, very all-purpose pick-me-up dark flavor), but I’d suggest another approach too involving looking at stuff that has “roasty” flavors. I’ve found Golden Moon Hojicha to be a nice replacement for after dinner coffee (and supposedly it has very little caffeine; it’s made from the twigs leftover from making green tea) because it has a smooth satisfying toastiness to it. It’s a bit out of left field but a decent Genmaicha (the infamous “popcorn smell tea”) might work too as it’s very toasty and satisfying, like a snack in a cup (I feel the same way about Harney and Sons Soba Buckwheat tea). People often describe darker oolongs as being roasty as well. Butiki 2003 Reserve Four Seasons Oolong has a very toasty flavor, and is surprisingly pitch black given it’s an oolong (bonus, it resteeps impressively a zillion times…1 teaspoon can get you through an entire day). Lupicia carries no-caf flavored Orzo (barley) tisanes that, while kind of unappetizing to look at in the cup—like runny pitch black diesel—have roasted strong notes similar to coffee.
And yeah given the notes you mention being interested in—beer, coffee, cigars—pu erh seems a potential winner. Mandala Special Dark is like an incredibly intense, complex tiny little cup of espresso paired with just as intense and tiny a square of strong chocolate.
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