New members welcome thread.

235 Replies
Linda said

Hello, all! I’ve been drinking tea on and off for my adult life but it was from tea bags. I recently tried some loose leaf teas and my eyes and taste buds have been opened. I didn’t get the coffee gene so this is a nice change for me. I’m looking forward to tying the various varieties beyond what I’ve had so far!

Inkling said

Welcome, Linda! You’ll find that this site is a great resource to ask questions and learn more about tea as well as a super-friendly community of really nice people. :) Enjoy!

mrmopar said

Welcome!

Rasseru said

Do you mean that you like coffee but its too strong, or you just dont like the taste?

Linda said

@Rasseru, I don’t like the taste (or even the smell) of coffee.

Rasseru said

Oh, interesting.

So do you lean towards fruity & floral flavours? Those are my favourites..

I was also wondering if shou puerh or roasted yancha are nice tasting to you or not?

Linda said

My experience with tea is fairly limited so far. We have an english breakfast blend, a darjeeling and a jasmine green tea in the house. I’ve had green tea in restaurants. Of the three we have at home, the jasmine green tea has been my favorite, But I’ve been really enjoying the english breakfast as iced tea with a splash of fruit juice added to the glass. It’s been really refreshing on these hot summer afternoons.

Using wine and beer for comparison, I tend to prefer reds over whites and love the big, bold reds. For beers I tend to prefer ales and ipas over the stouts and porters. I don’t know if any of that says anything about what types of teas I’m likely to enjoy.

I haven’t had the chance to try a pu-erh yet and I must admit I’ve never heard of yancha (though I’d love to learn more!). Recommendations are welcome! So far I’ve been brewing western style but I’ve been reading about gong fu brewing and will likely pick up some tea ware to try that soon. I have a suspicion that I’d enjoy both the flavors and the process.

Rasseru said

You need to try some oolong, puerh, chinese red/gold/(black to us) tea.

We really need some sort of ‘tea:explained’ sticky at the top of the forum as once you start explaining things it quickly turns into an essay.

Oolong which is from fresh & green to dark & roasted, has flavours ranging from fresh green floral through fruity all the way to dark & roasted & nutty (yancha is often this type = rock oolong, roasted, mineral, chocolate, smoky)..

Puerh which can be fruity & bitter when young & raw (sheng) through to dried fruit flavours when aged (usually around the 10+ year mark) which is quite similar to red wine sometimes for me.. Also gets fermented to simulate the ageing process (shou) but this usually ends up like coffee, chocolate, tobacco, rich..

what I said is a very rough guide as somehow tea farmers manage to coax the most interesting flavours out of any type of tea.. really amazing when you taste something you never thought could be a tea leaf.

ask around here, join in the conversations, buy from vendors mentioned in forum threads before trying out ebay as the quality is generally better :)

Oh yes, get a gaiwan (around 100ml is fine) & some little cups, its so much fun

Linda said

Thanks for the info!

Welcome,
It’s nice to see that adults are joining, people have been looking for a baby sitter for some of the young tea drunks here :)

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I know 5 people from Reddit Just came ovee, don’t be shy we are friendly

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Lex said

Hello! I’m new. Stumbled across the site the other day.

I own a lot of tea (153 varieties, as of typing) and it’s a running joke among my friends that I have “way too much tea”.

Fond of:
Floral teas, especially rose or elderflower
Fruit flavours, especially citrus
Green tea
White tea

No thank you:
Bitter or sour
Fennel / aniseed
Smokey

The only pu’ehr I have is a blend from Adagio with raspberry. I haven’t tried it yet, as I’m currently drinking a different kind of tea every day with the help of a random number generator for my tea blog over on tumblr (and also because there are so many I’ve bought and not tried because I keep drinking the same ones)

MrQuackers said

Welcome. I’m sure that reading your tea reviews will be interesting.

I had a really nice rose tea once from David’s Tea. I would always drink a tea like that, if I could ever find it.

Lex said

Do you happen to remember what it was called? I’ve just ordered some things from there, although I won’t get it for a long time. They don’t ship internationally so I had it sent to a friend, and she’ll be sending it along at some point with some other stateside treats. I’m excited to try their stuff – I’ve heard great things! Should I get another delivery, I’ll keep the rose one in mind.

As for other stateside brands who do rose – Tea Forté makes a chocolate rose tea which is probably my favourite tea from my collection. Of course, if you don’t like chocolate it’s not for you. I just checked their site and it’s on sale for $10.50 (normally $15): https://www.teaforte.com/store/gourmet-tea/black-tea/chocolate-rose/

Lotus tea is normally also blended with rose petals and you can pick that up a bunch of places. That was my tea for yesterday (today’s is a green tea from Whittard blended with passionfruit and mango)

At the moment, I have 9 rose blends.

MrQuackers said

Probably something like a Rose Congou.

There are at least three Davids Teas within walking distance here. Teavana too. Lol

By the way, please don’t offended, but I can’t stand Ancient Egypt or their artifacts. I suppose it’s like someone saying they hate math.

Lex said

I’m jealous! But then, I’m in walking distance of Whittard so you win some, you lose some.

They don’t seem to have any specific rose-based blends right now (several with rose petals in that look interesting, but not as the main flavour)

I only wish David’s would start shipping internationally. Or not. I spend enough on tea as it is. Probably a good thing they don’t!

MrQuackers said

Way way too much tea :)

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wildfinch said

Hello! I made this account a few months ago but haven’t really used the site much. I definitely want to start doing so more- I don’t have any irl tea friends, so I’d love to meet some internet ones!

I’ve been drinking loose leaf pretty seriously for a few years now. I almost exclusively drink black tea, my favourites are yunnan blacks, especially wild tree purples. I have a few greens and oolongs in my cupboard as well. As much as I love my black tea, I think I’d like to start branching out more into oolongs and maayyyybe puerh.

I also work at a shall-remain-unnamed large tea retailer. We sell a few decent teas, but mostly flavoured garbage. But those bills gotta get paid, ya know?

mrmopar said

If you hang around here Oolongs and Puerhs may be in the future! Welcome in!

wildfinch said

Thanks!

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oasis said

Hello everyone!

I found this site during a search, read a little and decided to join.

Although I’ve been drinking tea for years, my loose leaf tea journey has just begun. The tea I’ve been drinking is Twinings Darjeeling tea bags. They have become very hard to find even online. Tired of spending time and energy to buy something so simple I decided to give loose leaf tea a try.

I went to a local outlet of a tea retail chain was was told they discontinued their Darjeeling. I purchased two samples of other teas the SA recommended, an oolong and a wild black yunnan. I also purchased Darjeeling samples from an online retailer. Some have been hits, other misses.

What do people do with samples they receive from retailers and have no interest in trying? My friends aren’t into tea and I’d hate to throw them out.

AllanK said

Welcome, I think you will find most loose leaf tea to be better quality than Twinnings anyway. There are a lot of good sources for Darjeelings online too. One of my favorite sources for loose leaf teas is Simpson and Vail at www.svtea.com. They have excellent prices and good quality and I believe they sell some Darjeeling. There are people on this site who are more into Darjeeling than I am however and can probably suggest sites direct from India too.

mrmopar said

Welcome in there are always swaps going on in here.

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Hinagiku said

Hi! I’m here since january, but I’m not so much active.
I’m a begginer yet and I don’t speak english perfectly; I prefer reading reviews and discussions, and I always found new interesting things.
I like so much this site and the comunity, it’s very helpful to learn and improve.

I thought that green tea was absolutly my preferite type of tea (except chinese green teas with smoky notes), but after new tastings I don’t know how to reorder my classification.
In particular from this year I started drinking puerh (loose leaf, cake, puerh in tangerine) and I fall in love with it.

mrmopar said

Welcome in! You will be in good company here.

MrQuackers said

Ohio Gozaimasu, Hinagiku. :)

Hinagiku said

:D Thank you!

Welcome to the Steepster community!

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Hello all! I just joined this morning!

After a recent stop at Harney and Sons in Millerton, MA (I bought Earl Grey Supreme and the Millerton blend), I went to their Soho store and purchased some Scottish Morn.

I’m a professional musician who’s lived in New York City a very long time, and spent a couple of years living in London. Fell in love with tea while in college there.

Looking forward to posting and reading threads!

Tea on!

C.W.

Welcome to Steepster!

mrmopar said

Welcome in!

MrQuackers said

Hi there.

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Catlovetea said

Hi everyone! I am new to here, but not new to tea. I have been drink tea for almost 20 years. My favorite tea is Taiwan high mountain oolong. Even though all tea has their own great flavor!

Happy drinking!

mrmopar said

Welcome in!

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DecafDram said

Hello,

First time posting in this forum. I quit coffee/espresso concoctions 18 years ago and switched to tea. My favorite tea to sip on is Pu-erh. Although limit my caffeine intake and mainly have various decaf tea or herbal.

Have a nice day!

MrQuackers said

Lots of purhr drinkers here (though not me). Have a good one :)

DecafDram said

Thanks MrQuackers

mrmopar said

You will be a welcome addition! They say us Pu heads are taking over..

DecafDram said

Thanks mrmopar, there is nothing like a hot cup of Pu in the morning to start my day.

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Hello all,

I’m pretty new to the site. I’ve been into oriental teas for a long time – to the point of writing a tea timer app :)

On the whole, I prefer oolongs, but am always open to a cup of good white/green/pu-erh..

mrmopar said

You will be in fine company here.

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