Same! I feel like I knew nothing about tea before these videos

Haha so true!! So the quick cup of Early Grey with some old ducks at the church fair…does not seem like the same thing AT ALL

Same! XD

Thank you : )

Thanks... both of you. He saved my tea, and you saved my time.

The 4th I think is incorrect as some teas scald at that temperature or don't develop at that temp. The last one is also iffy as some teas can't be resteeped, my white loose leaf tea tastes like water after 3 steeps and barely has flavor the second time

Me too!

You should listen to your grandmother

When you become an addict, you want the best of the best.

Oh, now I can fully understand it :) Don mentioned in one video, that you should remove the lid from the teapot after pouring out the liqueur for leaves not to get steamed. Well, I did not get it first time - most probably because of my level of an english language skills. Now I see :) No more cooking tea leaves :D

Dear sir, can you express brewing of shouson(BPS) one day , thank you.

You do realise when the raj took the English in. The Anglish was show how to drink tea the way they made the liquor for their toddlers. And they have been drinking baby tea with milk and sugar ever since.

Also when I drink it like that in the morning I don’t really care bout complex texture. I can then only make 1 cup. But anything else never with a tea bag haha

Exactly . .

somedudesmom tea storage for aging, as well as tea storage for keeping the daily drink tasteful. Yes please!

There is a video from Don about keeping leaves between steepings: they did experiments 3 way. Very good advice: I used the leaf-drying technique for those 15 infusion puerhs: works out every time. :)

It depends on the type of tea, most black teas can handle boiling water.

yeah I knew about temperature, but have just been eye balling it. I'd love a video on electric kettles. Which is the best to get? My Bodum only goes full boil with no temperature readings.

Yes ...a real Tea Prince....ahahah 🤴

What’s minerality? Explain your psychobabble?

Thanks, yes this was pushing things slightly!

That's what I'm still doing occasionally, I'm afraid to say :-) Sometimes I think that the producers of tea bags go out of their way to make their wares as unpalatable as possible by giving detrimental brewing instructions. Imagine hitting green tea bags with boiling water and then steeping it for up to 4 minutes!

My grandparents do this, think it's quite common with the older generation at least

And please set the record straight regarding sustainability / viability of the practice, like I wrote on your instagram post for session 6. I’m very confused whether the practice is 1. Legal 2. Even if legal under certain conditions, how does sustainable cropping get controlled (if at all), 3. Enviromental impacts on rare old trees that get industrially harvested for an ever growing and inflated demand. What I read about predatory harvesting practices on gushu and wild buds puts a damper on my enjoyment of both. Verdant recently put out a not too convincing video about the sustainable origin of their sourcing, but they are the only ones actively addressing this at the moment besides kunstdestees in Germany who glat out refused to stock what they see as criminal trafficking of contraband goods. Please give us your take/understanding of the situation as well. verdanttea.com/qianjiazhai-ailaoshan-crassicolumna-wild-tea-2-li-family-zhenyuan-dongsa-cooperative/ www.diekunstdestees.de/epages/63140717.mobile/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/63140717/Categories/Blog/W_tend_auf_Wild_Buds_aus_Yunnan&Locale=de_DE

Marianne Fleur that's a good point. It's hard to know if tea is from a source of people that truly respect the environment or just some robbing it "business seekers". I believe this topic interests many of us and in case of Ya Bao I'm sure it's very important that people picking the buds know how to do it in a way to not damage the precious trees.

Apollo 440 Agreed! I've been enjoying the good stuff for well over a decade and I only got my first dedicated gaiwan a few months ago. The journey hasn't been worse for having unofficial brewing wares. 👍

Great advice. Don't get intimidated, just start. I tend to bring good tea to friends and often use whatever coffee-ware is available. A sugar pot makes for a good improv-gaiwan and a milk can is a great fairness cup :D Cup and saucer on top also works as a gaiwan.

What you do is great, I see experience in your choices! Thanks to you more people know that Eastern Style Brewing is a choice anybody who has more than 1 cup and saucer can make, and not only the chosen ones with elaborate teaware collections.

ErraticFragrance tea don't really expire but it changes over time and accordingly to the conditions it is stored in. Some tea kinds people like drinking as fresh as possible but honestly all tea kinds can be aged - therefore can be stored for decades. Nevertheless a video about proper storing tea and also aging it would be great :)

just4fit yes, storage for keeping and storage for aging is mentioned a lot!

What’s known as being a ‘tea Jenny’

Shh

Roasted Oolong and Sheng Puerh as far as i know. Green and black don't stand the test of time well.

Don, I agree with the sound comment. I’ve binged and rebinged your videos. Since a while now, I’ve been noticing that the newer videos were not as conversational/smooth/friendly/casual as the older ones from 6-12 months ago. You speak louder, more metalic/dynamic/faster. With more energetic/aggressive gesticulations. In the kettle video, your banging of teaware was almost extreme. I usually drink tea with my husband while watching. The older videos where you had longer hair, slightly more sweet baby fat, and talked slower, quieter, and more evenly, with some native shyness felt more natural - as if you were there in our living room, having tea and an eye to eye conversation, with None or at most casual commercial interest. We love those videos. Since Celine and you have cut your hairs, started wearing professional make up, and become more dynamic and assertive in the more recent videos, the native charm has been sacrificed for a more “trained” and run of the mill approach. I think the key is to find a middle road. Enjoy your tea, take the youtube pressure off, stay a friend, don’t become a showman jumping ridiculous loops - there are enough of those on boring old TV. You have enough knowledge, personality, and charisma to carry you through even your 60 min documentaries, and that week after week. Don’t get trapped in believing you need to add the professional dosis from communication trainings that kill the authenticity that makes you unique. Getting more professional, assertive, “perfect” is ok, but on youtube, authenticity and real personality counts more. That’s why we watch youtube and not some TV production that besides all trick of the trade, fall flat because they don’t have what you have: knowledge, personality, and a mission to spread the enjoyment and experience of many years. Please stay real, we teaheads love you anyway. Take the pressure off, it’s superfluous. :)

i feel out of breath after his videos in general

The intensity portrays serious passion and it becomes somewhat enthralling. Keeps me interested well past my usual attention span. 24mins... on youtube, that is a lifetime. Different teas for different folks.

They call that a lapel/lavalier mic, and he uses it sometimes.

We are doing a warehouse count this week to confirm if there are any others available. It would be a handful if they are available so I have to say that you would have to pretty quick at ordering as I know that many others are waiting but click on the out of stock reminder button on the product page and you will get an email if we put any online.

Mei Leaf very well lol I have already done this and if I can’t it’s alright but thank you for your time and reply have a great morning and day!

I imagine timing yes if you’re used to western it would be a lot quicker brew than your use to I use Alexa the Amazon device to time brews I.e 30 sec timer I’m not sure what the timing would be for 200ml of water and if we’d use normal gongfu amount of tea or double it for double the water, gongfu is normally 100ml of water.Definitely need tea strainer. I’d imagine temperature would stay the same so 80 to 85 degrees for green tea and 100 degrees for black tea (British degrees Celsius)

I like tea bags for teas that don't involve the tea plant.

Then what you like is not a t-bag, just a t-bag sized bag. Btw did you know, that they were once made of silk? Or so I've heard...

Yup. Don mentioned that in one vid, but I can't recall in which one (watched too many lately :-) ). They were ment as samples but have been brewed leaving the tea inside the silkbag and prob started the whole teabag thing.

I think tea was transported in silk bags, and somehow went underwater and probably somebody tried to drink the liquor, that came dripping out of the bag. And that is the dreaded day of the t-bag rising. A day Mister Don from Mei Leaf sees in his worst nightmares.

searched and found what Don said about that toppic (Silkbag, Teabag, how and why): kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ptucl9R4072dgGQ.html [edit: not saying Don knows the whole truth, the only truth, ... but for my part I wont do any more research on that one ;-) ]

do try But don't go for the most expensive, nor the cheapest one (as I did), loose tea can be worse than teabags (I tried cheap ripe pu-erh mini tuos... they are in the trash now, while I still drink TaeTea jasmine bags). Around my place local teashops are only of 2 kinds : not helpful, or too expensive. So I study tea by myself ! I'm only 2 months in, Pu Erh mainly, and having a lot of fun with samples from Yunnan Sourcing and Chawang Shop, despite being a coffee only person until 3 months ago.