June drinks tea

Main blog is @juniper-song This is a side blog to ramble about tea and tea related things. Thanks for joining me on this journey. // tea_in_june on myteapal // they/them

[tea-in-june]

I made a tea blog! It's probably going to be filled with rants about tea ware, infofumps about the things I learn, and hopefully some pretty pictures and nice reviews of cool tea. Eventually I hope to turn it into a beginner's guide of sorts, but for now, it's a log of my own journey as a beginner.

[dankmemeuniversity]

[dectech]

preperations for the long journey ahead, friend

[tea-in-june]

So I got COVID and it's messing with my sense of taste. I know this blog has been half dead for a while, but I do have some posts planned. Unfortunately, some of that's gonna get put off until my taste is back. I've got a couple write-ups, mainly about travel setups, that I will share soon though!

[ippinka]

Spend a relaxing afternoon with a cup of delicious, high-quality and fragrant Uji Sencha Green Tea.

[aneacc]

It is, and you know it. 🫖

——————————

El té (o las "aguitas" como aquí le decimos) siempre son una buena repuesta, lo es, y lo saben.

[oh-teablog]

Мой первый шэн ))

[changan-moon]

the seal at the bottom of 瓷器 ciqi/chinese porcelain is handwritten

[dancinggrimm]

I can’t even comprehend this degree of delicacy, my own handwriting looks like I was holding the pen between my bum cheeks.

[atlinmerrick]

@dancinggrimm That was……that was perfect.

[exalteranima]

[catgirlwheels]

Maybe the video is just really old

[stabby-wabby]

Time to start working on my final papers, luckily I'm armed with tea and a temperature hold kettle. The tea is the 2018 Funding "Should Mei" white tea which I'm brewing in a semi gongfu style but instead of using a gaiwan I'm my favorite fancy teacup. Shout-out to @tea-in-june for teaching me how to make tea and sharing their tea with me :)

[madamlaydebug]

[l-g-b-tea]

Hey teablr! In honor of acing my state exam, I have finally decided on what to change my handle to!

I welcome you to @l-g-b-tea (previously baristatries)

[tea-in-june]

Tea on a plane‽

On Tuesday I took a flight to Florida to visit my mom. A recent interest (obsession) of mine has been making specialty tea and coffee an experience that can be enjoyed anywhere. A plane presents a number of challenges that I thought were worth exploring. My thoughts and pictures are below the cut.

The most obvious challenge about all this is water. You can't bring water or a water heating device through security, so acquiring good hot water is a bit tricky. If you're wanting to make tea while waiting at the gate, you can usually go to any cafe at the airport and ask for hot water. They charged me $1.50 for a large (20oz) cup of hot water, which actually worked out great (and I used to make coffee). On the actual plane, I found out you can just ask for hot water when they come by with drinks. I learned this from a coffee forum, where apparently some travelers like to use their aeropress on the plane. Unfortunately, you're a bit at the mercy of the airline when it comes to quantity, temperature, and water quality. The water I got tasted fine, but wasn't quite as hot or as much as I would have liked.

For tea, I went with a white (Everyman Bai Mu Dan from White2Tea). I figured that a white tea would be ideal because they hold up well to a range of temperatures. I measured my tea out in advance (about 2 grams for my 60ml gaiwan) and stored it in a pill bottle. This is a part of the process I'd definitely like to improve. It worked great on the plane, but getting a loose white Bai Mu Dan into a pill bottle was kind of a pain.

Actually brewing was surprisingly comfortable on the airplane tray table using my travel gong fu setup (I've made separate posts about this, and there will be more in the future). A bit more elbow room would have been nice, but I was able to brew from a middle seat without disturbing my neighbors (although my partner was to my right, so I had a bit of leeway).

The major challenge while brewing was thermal management. The water wasn't really quite as hot as I'd have liked from the start, and it was a pretty small quantity in a relatively uninsulated container. I used less water to preheat than I would have liked and worked quickly without rinsing my tea to try to mitigate heat loss. This worked okay. I think I got five steeps total, but my water was definitely a little too cool by the last one.

Overall, I think this experiment worked out, but there are definite improvements to be made. Namely, more and hotter water (no ideas yet how) and better tea storage (I think just a wider container). I hope this was interesting and helpful. Expect a post about my full travel tea and coffee setup soon!

[tea-in-june]

Should this blog branch into coffee?

Yes, more info about more drinks!

No, please stick to tea.

Voting ended onMar 14, 2023

[tea-in-june]

Tomorrow I'm getting on a plane to visit my mom in Florida. I'm bringing my tea things, and I'd like to do an in flight tea session if they'll give me just hot water as a drink (maybe I ask for tea and then just don't use the tea bag). Either way, I'll be sure to post pictures and tell about my results. On the way back I'm going to do aeropress coffee the same way.

[shennong]

Visit Original Link

[tea-in-june]

Hi juniper!! Glad to see your tea blog is still kicking. Whats the tea situation like? Have you had anything nice recently? :3

Thanks so much for sending this ask. Unfortunately, the tea situation right now is that I've worked through almost all the tea I had and I really need to order more. Fortunately, I've been saving up and this means that I get to order a whole bunch more tea now (recommendations are welcome).

I will say that I've finally managed to understand shou pu'erh. It took until I compared a nicer tea (a 2015 something iirc. I will check tomorrow) to a more affordable (yet still very drinkable) option (Golden Needle "Year of the Tiger" from Yunnan sourcing) to truly understand the complexity and depth that could be found. I can't believe what I was missing! Huge thanks to @moshintheteagaiwan who sent me both those samples a while back.

I also took a bit of a wander into the world of specialty coffee. It certainly doesn't replace tea, which I still love, but may be something that this blog sees more of, if there is interest.

To tell the truth, I've been a bit unsure what to do with this blog as of late. Tea reviews are something I enjoy writing when moved to, but can often feel like a bit of a chore. Technique/science/education posts are my favorite, but it's not something I can post consistently. I do have some plans to perform some experiments and try to gain a deeper technical, scientific understanding of tea brewing, and hopefully I'll be able to add some cultural and historical information along the way. I've also been getting very into the idea of compact travel tea setups (expect a post soon) and I'm hoping to start doing tea sessions in more odd and interesting places and documenting it here.

Is there anything y'all want to see from this blog? I know it's been semi inactive for a bit, and it's never been particularly well organized, but I'd love to do more with it and hear from anybody who's still following along.

Anyway, sorry for the long ramble, thanks so much for the ask! I hope your tea situation has also been good, and I'd love to hear about it.

[microtonal]

what’s the best tea? 🫖

green tea (matcha, sencha, gunpowder, etc.)

black tea (earl grey, english breakfast, darjeeling, etc.)

other “tea plant” teas (white, oolong, pu-erh, etc.)

chai

herbal (chamomile, rooibos, peppermint, etc.)

floral (hibiscus, jasmine, rosehip, etc.)

fruit tea

tea blend (black fruit tea, herbal green tea, etc.)

other (feel free to share)

Voting ended onFeb 18, 2023

[moshintheteagaiwan]

It’s 2023 And I’m Back At It!

Wow – it’s been a while hasn’t it!

I think the last time I was active on my blog was around October of last year. I stopped posting for a time after I got Covid and lost my sense of taste and smell. I’m happy to report that it has since returned and I am back to normal. I lost my senses for almost a month give or a take. However, by the time I had regained my senses the Christmas season was beginning to get in gear which ended up taking up a lot of mine time. Little known fact about me is that during the Christmas season, which in our house starts the first weekend after Halloween because we love Christmas, I stop drinking all tea except for my special Twinings Christmas Blend. No gongfu sessions, no Puerh, no Oolongs, just Twinings Christmas Blend. I fell in love with that blend years ago. It’s the most perfectly warm and bold black tea with just the right amount of spice. I drink it all the way through to new year’s. Then once the new year starts I switch back to my normal tea routine. I find it really helps my taste buds settle down and take a break from vigorous tastings in preparation for the countless number of new teas to come in the new year.

With that being said, I have indeed begun tastings again. In fact, I have tasted 30 new teas this year already! I’ve been working away at the batch I got from Yunnan Sourcing last fall before I got Covid. The batch has had a few real winners so far and I will likely mainly blog about them in the near future. For the new year though I really want to be a bit more adventurous and dive into teas from other parts of the world that you don’t commonly hear about. Right now I have a few baskets lined up from online retailers for teas grown in Thailand and Vietnam, which I’m really excited for. I’ll also be posting a bit on some new Dark teas I got from the Vancouver based O5 Tea Bar. I recently discovered their shop and it’s on my hit list of tea shops to stop in and visit when I get around to traveling around Canada a bit more.

If you’ve been following me for a while now and are still here, thank you, glad you’ve stuck around!