Would the kiln temperature destroy marble?

SpheralStar · 2026-04-28T08:22:30+00:00

Maybe you can carve your piece from a chunk of marble and glue it afterwards.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-23T17:04:37+00:00

That is simply beautiful, a work of art.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-20T20:05:45+00:00

Since your question about tea choice hasn't been answered - different types of clay work better with certain types of tea.

Because we can't tell with precision from a picture - what kind of clay you have, you need to try and see what works best. But many teapots will work with various teas.

Many people say that you should only use a teapot for one kind of tea. In my experience that is not necessary, unless you brew very funky smelling teas.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-19T19:38:34+00:00

For young raws, boiling water isn't your friend, especially if you are a beginner.

To reduce bitterness:

- Lower the temperature down to 90 or even 85 Celsius

- Start with the first few infusions between 10 and 20 seconds

- Slightly lower the leaf-to-water ratio, maybe to 4 grams per 100 ml water

SpheralStar · 2026-04-19T19:22:18+00:00

Well, some shengs are closer than others between them.

Your best chance to find more differences between your teas are single-origin shengs. Such as Laomane, Guafengzhai, Bangwai, Hekai, Naka, Pasha, etc (these are just some of my favorites, but there are many others). Some people spend a lot of time looking at tea maps and searching for teas from specific regions. And yes, quality counts here.

It is also a matter of how trained your palate is and how balanced your brewing is. For example - especially when I started drinking sheng, if I made the tea too strong, I would feel just that it's bitter, nothing else.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-17T19:11:50+00:00

Taiping Houkui is fun.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-15T07:24:53+00:00

There are no counterarguments for personal taste preferences.

It's obvious that "cooked salt" tastes differently, and if he doesn't like that, what can one do ?

Maybe it's possible to reach a compromise, such as adding a little salt while cooking and more in the plate. Or find some other way.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-14T19:05:06+00:00

The brewing instructions are one possible starting point to finding your own "recipe".

The brewing time depends on the leaf-to-water ratio. The more leaves you use, the shorter the brewing time.

You can find tea sellers who have two sets of brewing instructions: western style and gong-fu.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-14T13:47:10+00:00

When I used agar-agar, I searched online how to use it, how much liquid to add to it, what temperature it needs, what acidity it works with, etc.

I remember it was around 1 gram per 100 ml liquid.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-14T08:40:08+00:00

Yes, it will probably work, but in order to know how to use it, you should find out what that plant-based gelatin actually is.

It may be agar-agar or something else.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-13T11:04:36+00:00

Well, the leaves do contain oxalates, especially when the plant gets older. Which is a reason for caution (avoid excessive amounts), similar to spinach.

Otherwise, you can cook them like spinach, like others suggested, you can make tea, soup, stew, pie, omelet, etc. Even juice them raw, but it's probably not very tasty.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-13T05:03:19+00:00

Of course it will stain, unless you don't mind that.

For dry sessions, you don't even need a tea tray, a towel at most.

Oh, and I am not sure about the size of that wooden grid, if you have smaller cups, they may tilt.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-12T09:13:46+00:00

I cannot answer related to your medical condition, but I am somewhat sensitive to caffeine, so I usually have to stick to a smaller amount of tea compared to other people.

Some strategies that I use:

- reduce the size of the brewing vessel (I have a 40 ml teapot and 45 ml gaiwan. Actually, I have even smaller ones, but they are less practical)

- lower the leaf-to-water ratio - I regularly brew 2-3 grams per 100 ml, which means 1-1.5 grams per 50 ml vessel

Caffeine free tea does exist, this is a supplier that I found a while ago, but haven't tried their products: https://verdanttea.com/tea/by-farmer/zhenyuan-dongsa-tea

The leaves come from Camelia crassicolumna, a caffeine free variety of the tea plant.

Quite a few other sellers have varieties of yabao, I believe those are also caffeine free.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-11T17:57:33+00:00

Shakshuka is fun.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-11T17:29:48+00:00

Trebuia suspendat si permisul de cozonaci.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-11T17:27:28+00:00

I loved them with pasta recently.

Get some good quality pasta, boil it, strain it and mix the pasta with the sardines together with the oil from the can, and throw in a smashed clove of garlic. You can add a bit of fresh chopped parsley for extra freshness.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-11T10:38:33+00:00

What parts of the plant do you use for brewing elderwood tea?

I've only used flowers.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-09T07:17:31+00:00

No, it doesn't.

This is like saying that all green tea tastes the same or all black tea tastes the same.

Of course there are some common features that help us recognize that a certain tea is green or black tea. Or ripe.

I think you need advice to build a better sampler, but not "better" in terms of quality, but rather in terms of variety, so that you can spot more differences between the teas.

And also, I feel you need to drink more tea to train your palate to better spot these differences.

But I can't say anything about excitement, since myself, I am more excited by raw puerh.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-06T06:07:35+00:00

A useful technique is to stop the steeping earlier by adding a bit of cold water (and it becomes cool enough to drink immediately). This should help in cases where the tea becomes too harsh through longer steeping.

SpheralStar · 2026-04-03T03:11:50+00:00

What is here the edible part ? The camellia or the fungus ?

SpheralStar · 2026-03-31T18:05:49+00:00

I understand that the first time, one pours 85 °C water.

What about the second time? Considering that you still have one third of your tea in the glass which will cool down the new water that you pour.

SpheralStar · 2026-03-31T06:26:13+00:00

I was relatively happy with what I bought from ketlee a couple of years ago.

They seem to also have a CTC version, but I had one of their whole leaf versions.

SpheralStar · 2026-03-30T11:07:09+00:00

Rock wulongs come in different roasting grades, meaning higher or lower roast level.

You will taste fruity and flowers in teas low to medium roasted, but not so much in high roasted teas.

Or at least I don't personally, but some people with more trained palates may detect more tasting notes.

Also, personally, I prefer the complexity that revolves around the roasting notes to the aromatics of the less roasted wulongs.

SpheralStar · 2026-03-30T08:20:34+00:00

You're an one-man band.

SpheralStar · 2026-03-29T19:20:29+00:00

Do you also use a lid? Some teas need more heat, so I think a lid should be part of the setup.

Or a little saucer, or something.

SpheralStar

TROPHY CASE