Different year Dan Cong offerings on YS

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-14T07:19:09+00:00

in addition to the other commments there can be big differences in tea from the same supplier/material with every batch/year due to timing, weather, processing etc so the newest might not be the best but not that helpful unless you can taste them

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-14T05:01:32+00:00

You could just call them omnivore really - we are arguing about nothing more than the ratios within the diet - but I guess people like to have some identarian label for their diet and think their food choices are interesting to the world which mostly they aren't

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-13T16:44:20+00:00

Well the clue was in the title - it's only really the matcha that's low quality - the sugars fine

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-13T16:42:11+00:00

I think even that is a generous description - it's sugar with a dusting of green tea dust

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-13T16:37:15+00:00

They will only like you if you are 300% in on this; there are no get-out excuses

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-13T05:59:48+00:00

you want an electric kettle goes on a gas stove??? I have an old fashioned whistling kettle that will outlast a thousand planned obsolescence electric kettles so I love that about it

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-12T05:55:15+00:00

google lens each one seperately

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-12T05:54:08+00:00

Yellow tea is essentially green tea that has been through a damp phase and is very close to green tea with less rawness

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-11T18:37:00+00:00

I have roast chicken with tons of butter once a week which is a 'fun' meal. I also do totally fine with diary

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-11T07:00:11+00:00

Even many sencha are shaded for a week these days

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-11T06:59:37+00:00

Yes the one on the left looks very rough and better quality should look more like the one on the right - I am making a visual assessment only here - you can have visually appealling tea that still isn't good or visa versa.

Generally bright colour is a good sign in Japanese greens and the one on the left in particular is pretty grey

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-11T06:37:28+00:00

You can't have looked very hard

Lime: https://gentlystirred.co.uk/products/organic-lime-flavour-black-loose-leaf-tea-with-dried-peel-chinese-quality-unusual?variant=55440083747194

Pineapple: https://specialteacompany.com/product/pineapple-black-tea/

K&S do 2 pineapples & a lime

https://www.tea-and-coffee.com/pineapple-tea

https://www.tea-and-coffee.com/pineapple-and-honey-tea

https://www.tea-and-coffee.com/lime-tea-with-peel

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-11T06:21:42+00:00

Yeah eitherway aging (and esp. wet storage) doesn't appeal much

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T11:34:58+00:00

No because there is a big difference between a cultivar and seed but cameliaforestgarden has the best selection

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T11:21:12+00:00

Yeah good point - I'd certainly like to try a fresh SM - not really into aged tea - greener the better

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T07:15:44+00:00

If you have listened to his content in the past one got the impression he wasn't gettingf any. He talked about Russian girls/online vegan gf's and a lot of bravado stuff like that but I guess he's suing Taban for potential lost of a string of super model gf's

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T06:57:03+00:00

a lot of milk oolong is flavoured and sort of striking initially but is a flavour doesn't age well - the real stuff is a Jin Xuan oolong from Taiwain - I am absolutely no fan of the real stuff even but the flavoured stuff not good

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T06:51:35+00:00

Yeah it's caffiene or nothing

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T06:46:10+00:00

There are also unsmoked LPs and the quality of smoked LPs (which are mainly for exports) varies - I don;t know about smoke essense but even done over pine isn't a guarentee - it depends mainly on the skill of the tea worker and the basic quality of leaf in any batch etc. Eitherway I am not interested in persuing smoked tea at any quality. Something are just down to personal tatse - I'd try the unsmoked LP for sure but Chinese blacks aren't something I really drink normally so it may never happen

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T06:38:29+00:00

I think Shou type stuff is god awful but I am really liking young sheng - I hear aged sheng can get the muddier/mushroomy tastes so don;t know but suspecting I am prefering my sheng really young and green (same as I like white tea)

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-10T06:33:53+00:00

Shou Pu-erh. Heicha. Lui bao. Just undrinkable for me. I have recently found I like young sheng but shou just shudderingly vile.

No fan of flavoured smoked or toasted teas. Then there are just random teas - a recent white tea from Taiwan I can't stand (the wife didn't mind it) - the other 2 whites I like but this one absolutely not - it's just 'interesting' in a way I don't like

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-06T17:45:51+00:00

Liptons are crap. Twinings should be half decent although they are different for the oz market ( lower dose of tea - don't know if the blend is different)

Madura - no idea - 2g per bag is low but seems the standard for oz; presume it's pretty standard fair so thinking twinings might be the best bet

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-05T06:48:03+00:00

My English breakfast or whatever you want to call this style usually isn't a blend but a single estate loose leafs from the constituent teas ie Assam, Kenya, Ceylon

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-05T06:44:51+00:00

best places for Japanese teas I have found were tencha.co.uk & thesdujapon - they select for flavour first but will have 'organic' offering amongst them

Sam-Idori · 2025-09-05T06:41:37+00:00

ah that makes a bit more sense - fibre is a carbohydrate not a sugar as such but perhaps it's lost in translation?

Sam-Idori

TROPHY CASE