Originally Posted by
RAAAGE
ok so I recently really started liking green tea.
what kinds of tea do you guys think a person would benefit the most from drinking on a regular basis?
I'm not really a big fan of (japanese) green teas, but I've drunk a lot in the past. To me the best green tea is gyokuro, which is steamed shaded green tea. The particular variety I'm thinking of is first flush but I'm not sure that all gyokuro is. The flavor has a lot more depth than sencha (which tbh I don't really like, I've drunk a lot of senchas but never have I been impressed). If you like health benefits a lot, then I guess gyokuro is good because it has some nice amino acids and a lot of antioxidants (more than sencha I think).
Lower grade gyokuro is on par with sencha in terms of price I think, and it's not like mid grade is that expensive anyway (maybe 15c/g, so depending on your brewing technique it could cost as much as a dollar per brew, with the number of cups again depending you how you feel like brewing...)
Here's some pretty cheap stuff that tastes really nice IMO
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Gre...8AAOSwll1WzwgW
The same seller actually has a 7 tea sampler that is nice, but be aware none of the teas are top tier (the gyokuro genmaicha is pretty unique and tbh best genmaicha I've ever drunk).
Originally Posted by
Eleeleth
I want to start drinking better tea. What kind of hardware should I be looking at?
I typically drink green teas, with a tiny, tiny smattering of black. I have a variable temperature kettle that I've measured to be within 1 degree fahrenheit of accuracy on holds.
Disregard my advice if you are into the hardware side of tea (I get it, ceramics are nice, but it's not necessary to brew tea).
You don't need any special hardware mate, just throw some leaves in a cup (glass, mug, stein, whatever you have) and then add water. Either pour it off into another cup or drink straight from the cup with leaves (referred to as 'grandpa style' because apparently elderly chinese drink like that, constantly adding water until the brew is too weak, then toss it).
Probably 90% of what I drink now days is straight from cup (gaiwan or mug depending on how floaty the tea is, genmaicha for example has roast rice so it has floaty rice bubbles that you will accidently drink if you don't have a gaiwan, where as most puerh can be drunk from a mug since the leaves are large and heavy - though you may want to rinse any dust first).
I guess you know this already, but black is brewed at 100c, where as green typically 85 or less. Since you have a variable temp kettle it's not a big deal for you, so if you want to make the best of your kettle get a small pot (80ml?) and you will have a ton of control over your brew. Though really, it's not too important. Most tea is not very sensitive to minor temperature and timing changes (eg if you leave gyokuro in a cup it can overbrew and get bitter - though if you know this you can just brew at a lower temperature in which case it will be fine to leave).
So IMO, don't feel like you /need/ to get any special equipment to brew tea. You don't need a dozen woodfire yixing teapots and point temperature control with a teapot warmer and sharing pitcher and a handful of whatever kinds of cups. Just put some tea in a mug and drinkkkk
Originally Posted by
Lazors
If you're talking health benefits I have no idea. Gunpowder and sencha are good, standard, everyday cheap teas. This doesn't mean they're bad teas, they're just cheaper to produce and face more competition in the market.
Oolong and more expensive teas are more for special occasions.
I don't usually think of oolong as green, but I guess it's just oxidized green? Silver needle is pretty nice, but tastes nothing like most greens :P Then again, it's not like japanese and chinese greens taste similar either...