Thread: Tea anyone ??!!

Apologies in advance for no actual tea pictures in this one.
I'm just back from a trip to northwest China, where I visited a village near (though not at) the origin of the Yellow River (pictured above, looking not at all yellow). While at the house of a friend of a friend, they brought out some green tea from Zhejiang (east China) which I proceeded to, well, guzzle. I live quite near the area where the tea was grown, actually, and so was impressed with how much better it tasted than any tea I'd had before. When I mentioned this, I was told that while the tea was very good quality, it was the quality of the water I was noticing.
I've heard many times that good water is important for tea; in China it's not uncommon to have tea houses built on top of natural springs (some of which I've drunk at), and I've seen some well-lauded tea-water springs at former samurai villas in Japan (none of which I have drunk from), but this is the first time I've really, really noticed the difference.
Just wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this, or what you all are doing about the water that you use to make your tea?

Originally Posted by ffourteen

Apologies in advance for no actual tea pictures in this one.
I'm just back from a trip to northwest China, where I visited a village near (though not at) the origin of the Yellow River (pictured above, looking not at all yellow). While at the house of a friend of a friend, they brought out some green tea from Zhejiang (east China) which I proceeded to, well, guzzle. I live quite near the area where the tea was grown, actually, and so was impressed with how much better it tasted than any tea I'd had before. When I mentioned this, I was told that while the tea was very good quality, it was the quality of the water I was noticing.
I've heard many times that good water is important for tea; in China it's not uncommon to have tea houses built on top of natural springs (some of which I've drunk at), and I've seen some well-lauded tea-water springs at former samurai villas in Japan (none of which I have drunk from), but this is the first time I've really, really noticed the difference.
Just wondering if anyone else has had any experience with this, or what you all are doing about the water that you use to make your tea?

You are right about the quality of water. It really does make a difference....unfortunately I am too lazy to use good bottled water and Denver tap is what I take my chances with heh.

Just fired up the Tea Pot......some decaf......it's late ...Tea season is coming ...for me anyway

I drank black tea yesterday afternoon and this afternoon, mixing a couple of black teas together.

I was in the city this weekend so I stopped by Teavanna when family wanted to go to the shopping mall. Teavanna is closing it's retail stores so I guess it's a good thing I stopped by when I did. I'm drinking Golden Monkey this afternoon that I picked up at a 50% discount. This first cup has a bit of chocolate and malt, a bit astringent. I will play around with steeping times to see what I come up with.

This afternoon I'm having some Golden Monkey black tea from Teavanna. I steeped this for about 45 seconds. Teavanna is having some big sales right now. I think they are closing all of their retail stores.

Today's tea is Jade Cloud green tea in my travel mug. I feel healthy!

first cuppa tea in a year...its cold out..so I fired up the tea pot....Nevah had this stuff before ...

got all these ..last Christmas....haven't got a clue what I got here ??...lol

Got..Long Jing...Grand Yunnan Imperial...Genmaicha....Senegal Ariake...Butterfly of Taiwan...Grand Himalaya...Darjeeling Margaret's Hope..Assam Hattiali..Saint James OP.....anyone evah hear of these ?