Gong Fu Cha Beginner

I actually visited Seattle and Portland. I’m currently living in New Mexico and there are no good tea shops around here. Thanks to everyone giving me a warm welcome!! I can’t wait to swap at some point

Well shoot, the tea world is certainly getting smaller! :D Welcome to Steepster!

Did you fly back from the West Coast? If so, the tea may need to rest. What kind of water are you using, and how much leaf/water are you using? There’s a lot to consider when gongfu brewing.

I’m using filtered water….I live in New Mexico and the water is really hard here, so we use filtered. I drove up the west coast and then back down. I used 5g of Silver needle to 150ml of water

How hot is your water? You might try upping the quantity of leaf to around 8g. How long is each infusion?

It’s also possible it’s crap tea, but try boiling water first ;)

I’m not sure of brands but the nicest silver needle I have had was a decent green colour, nice sized leaf (all the same size too) with lots of fluffy white hairs. Ive had some not-so-good which was hairless, more yellow & smaller leaf, all different sizes.

Now, I dont know if that should be a direct comparison to good vs bad (haired large vs non-haired small or whatever) BUT a tea farmer who takes the time to do things like make sure all the leaf are the same size & a nice colour will more likely have good tasting tea (but also more expensive)