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Hacker's Guide to Tea

294 points by tony584 16y ago

deleted 16y ago
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devmonk 16y ago
For those interested: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Theanine https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Theanine and there are supplements available if you don't want to give up coffee.
- tony584 16y ago
  I like to start each day with coffee and then move to tea. So I get the jolt in the morning, then the sustained tea high the rest of the day.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  L-Theanine is a surprisingly under-appreciated nootropic. If you buy it as a bulk powder, it's quite cheap. Good Japanese green tea (senchas, matcha, etc.) seem to be particularly high in theanine. It contributes quite a bit of flavor to the tea.
  - gwern 16y ago
    I'd agree with theanine being under-appreciated. I used to drink a ton of tea - no problems, nice stimulant. So when I decided to mix & cap all my supplements and drop the whole tea thing (more work than a pill and not especially portable), I simply bought a few hundred grams of caffeine. What could go wrong? Caffeine was what I was getting from the tea, right? Turns out caffeine alone makes me somewhat twitchy & anxious and is distinctly inferior to tea (caffeine+theanine). If I could cap them again, I'd definitely make sure to add in theanine.
mrkurt 16y ago
If you'd like to start drinking tea, I heartily recommend the Adagio IngenuiTEA and sample kit to get started. It's dead simple to use and clean, and their teas are really reasonably priced: http://www.adagio.com/gifts/holiday_ingenuiTEA.html?SID=094a8e6f6640eda7ad237ce0b678e4f4 http://www.adagio.com/gifts/holiday_ingenuiTEA.html?SID=094a... I'm a giant fan of their Spiced Green and Gunpowder green varieties. Incidentally, if you're anywhere near Chicago they have a retail store in Naperville where they'll brew up any of their teas for you to try. It's fun.
- tony584 16y ago
  IngenuiTEA is a great way to do it. or you can MacGyver it and just strain the leaves with a cheap strainer. Their Naperville shop is great.
- jakevoytko 16y ago
  I get most of my tea from Adagio, but I recommend Golden Moon Tea's starter set: http://www.goldenmoontea.com/gifts/tea-taster-s-sampler-with-l-tremain-steeper.html http://www.goldenmoontea.com/gifts/tea-taster-s-sampler-with... It has 31 single-serving sample teas, and a teacup with a strainer. The quality is reasonable, and the variety is spectacular. After finishing it, you'll know which teas you enjoy. I took notes to remind myself which teas I liked and didn't like, but it was worth it. Plus, I still use the teacup and strainer!
  - etm117 16y ago
    Another vote for Golden Moon here. I have been using them for about 2 years now. Good tea at reasonable prices. Plus when you buy the bigger sizes (once you find the flavors you like in the starter kit) the leftover tins work for random storage containers.
  - larrywright 16y ago
    That looks nice. Is the teacup/strainer good? I like that it's ceramic vs the plastic one from Adagio.
- acgourley 16y ago
  Seconded on the IngenuiTEA and also their hot water kettle (utiliTEA). My favorite tea there doesn't get a high rating but I've had a pound of it in the last year and still love it. Green Anji: http://www.adagio.com/green/green_anji.html?SID=531a749987021fafbb704c914068e60f http://www.adagio.com/green/green_anji.html?SID=531a74998702... Their masala chai and wuyi ensemble are also both really good.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  Adagio is a great tea shop in general, and tea is particularly well suited to mail order. Their tiny sample tins (usually ~1oz for ~$2) are a great way to try several varieties out. If you've got a good local tea shop, definitely give them a try though. They should be able to steer you towards varieties you'll really like. I particularly like lapsang souchong (smoked Chinese black tea), sencha (Japanese green), and Assam (Indian black).
KingOfB 16y ago
Neat article. For those like me that struggle getting 170 degree water for green tea, I found a good trick which is to just put an ice cube on top of the tea, and pour the hot water on top of that. That prevents singeing the leaves that can kill a nice cup of green tea. I find it a lot more reproducible than 'waiting longer than a minute'.
- prewett 16y ago
  Get a good meat thermometer. I found one at my grocery store that has a little needle and is accurate to within about a degree.
- akahn 16y ago
  A good trick is to listen to the water boiling. At around 180°F the water starts bubbling and dancing, gets a bit agitated and might make a resonant sound in your kettle. I suggest using a thermometer and getting to know how the water sounds at different temperatures. Best place to buy tea: http://uptontea.com/ http://uptontea.com/ Top notch quality, and they put out a really good paper catalog describing all their hundreds of teas quarterly.
  - eru 16y ago
    I heard that you should boil the water first, and then let it cool down. The listening method only works when you don't boil it, but go to the desired temperature without a detour.
  - silentbicycle 16y ago
    When I boil water in an open pot, I can usually recognize the different temperatures by the way the water shimmers, the size of the bubbles, etc. Do that a couple times with a thermometer, and you can probably eyeball it from there. I've heard the stages of boiling referred to as "dragon eyes", "fish eyes", etc. See e.g. http://www.veetea.com/site/articles/Water-Temperatures/ http://www.veetea.com/site/articles/Water-Temperatures/ . That said, my wife and I got an electric teakettle with a temperature setting as a wedding gift, and we love it. That's another option. (This one, or a similar model: http://www.amazon.com/Choice-SmartKettle-Cordless-4-Quart-Electric/dp/B001I1BH98/ http://www.amazon.com/Choice-SmartKettle-Cordless-4-Quart-El... )
arethuza 16y ago
This is a better guide to tea drinking, at least the British way of tea drinking: http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/ http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/
- tony584 16y ago
  yeah, I wasn't quite going towards the British way of tea. I was aiming for a bit further back in history to the basic Chinese and Japanese principles of tea - but that's a great guide too!
- rmc 16y ago
  Gotta have some milk in your tea. ☺
  - silentbicycle 16y ago
    Not in green tea! It really depends on the variety. Vanilla sugar can be nice, though, as is caramelizing sugar in a pot and then whisking hot milk into it, then mixing that with flavored/spiced black teas (masala chai, etc.).
    - 5teev 16y ago
      I absent-mindedly put a drop of cream in some green tea once, and found it an interesting variation and not bad at all!
      - gnubardt 16y ago
        yeah, green tea ice cream is great as well and contains lots of milk (and sugar).
  - Shooter 16y ago
    I read a study that said that adding milk negates essentially all of the antioxidant benefits of tea... (I'm not sure if it's true, and I don't add milk to my tea anyway...)
prewett 16y ago
I've been sampling a wide variety of teas over the past few years, and wrote up a page describing flavors and steeping time, which is a little more detailed (but not as broad) as the article: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~prewett/archive/tea/tea.html http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~prewett/archive/tea/tea.h...
docgnome 16y ago
For those in the US Den's Tea offers great Japanese teas. http://www.denstea.com http://www.denstea.com
deleted 16y ago
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mpotter 16y ago
Great resource for tea beginners and experts alike: http://steepster.com http://steepster.com Discover new teas, get recommendations, and keep a tasting journal. Disclosure: I'm a co-founder.
AmazonV 16y ago
A lot of information packed into a clear post for new to tea drinkers, thanks
BSousa 16y ago
http://www.hibiki-an.com http://www.hibiki-an.com is where I get most of my tea (Japanese green tea only). Shipping from Japan to Europe takes about a week to arrive. http://www.nbtea.co.uk http://www.nbtea.co.uk in the UK is also a good place for tea (various types from various locations) but I still thingk Hibiki-an's tea better quality.
jasonfried 16y ago
A wonderful place to get high quality greens: http://www.hibiki-an.com/ http://www.hibiki-an.com/ The best hot water kettle w/ temperature control I've found is: http://www.amazon.com/PINO-ST-8706-Digital-Kettle-Pro/dp/B001HC54O2 http://www.amazon.com/PINO-ST-8706-Digital-Kettle-Pro/dp/B00... I've tried every kettle and this one is the best. It's all stainless inside too - water never touches plastic.
- jasonjei 16y ago
  Hibiki-an is good, but you really have to try Ippodo. Once you've had Ippodo tea, you really can't go back. They target mostly Japanese consumers, but lately, they have been trying to push for more overseas sales. They've been around since 1717 and were the personal tea purveyors to Prince Yamashita. Try the Tenka-ichi, their top Gyokuro. It's difficult to prepare but completely worth it. https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/ https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - jasonjei 16y ago
    This is what Gyokuro looks like: http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_index.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_index.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_02.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_02.html And famous matcha: http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/index.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/index.html It's like the La Maison du Chocolat of Japanese tea. Extremely high quality to be savored for moments that you have time.
- DrPhish 16y ago
  If you like a nice deep green tea, but want a really good bang for your buck, then try http://www.tealife.co.jp/drink/32.html http://www.tealife.co.jp/drink/32.html which is what a lot of Japanese inns use. $15 for 100 5g tea bags (yes, it's not for purists). Grown in Japan and 95% as good as a much more expensive loose tea. 1 tea bag is good for about a litre of tea. I've tried a lot of different brands and grades of tea, and while I can certainly appreciate the difference in some of the more expensive ones, I have not found any that are anywhere near the value proposition of this for a daily-drinking tea.
aplusbi 16y ago
>If you are drinking something that did not come from this plant (chamomile, mint, tulsi, rooibos, etc) it is not tea). I hear this every once in awhile and at best it's pedantic and at worst it's just wrong. What do you call chamomile tea? An infusion? Even if it is technically wrong everybody calls infusions "tea" and I think it's safe to argue that the word has evolved beyond the original meaning.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  "Tisane" is technically correct, though outside of a tea shop I don't think it matters that much. When it's not clear from context, I just say "herbal tea".
  - KingOfB 16y ago
    I say the same, but technically I'm not sure it's any better as tea is an herbal tea, but not all herbal tea's are teas... Ok, I'll stop. It's the same as people calling tomatoes vegetables - technically wrong and no one cares.
    - aplusbi 16y ago
      Tomatoes ARE vegetables. They are also fruits. The noun "vegetable" doesn't have a strict definition and tomatoes fall into that classification. Botanically speaking they are berries.
    - philwelch 16y ago
      "Vegetable" is a culinary distinction for plant matter eaten at dinner; tomatoes are vegetables. "Fruit" is a biological distinction for plant matter that contains seeds within an edible shell; tomatoes are fruits.
- gdl 16y ago
  Corruption of the English language aside, chamomile or mint infusions are no more "teas" than they are "coffees". They're all just plant stuff steeped in water, but the flavors and cultures involved vary dramatically. I'm normally pretty liberal about language but it bugs me to have to specify a latin species name, or "tea made from tea" to make it clear what I'm drinking. Although phrases like "green tea" or "black tea" are widely-understood and fairly unambiguous in situations where one can be more specific, there isn't a good way to refer to the entire class of beverages made from only that plant.
DanielBMarkham 16y ago
I'm off the tea habit now, but the best investment I made was getting a variable-temperature water kettle. Just set the temp and let it worry about getting it right. Plus it keeps the water at that temp all day long -- no screwing around with pots and kettles and such for your third cup. I also took a great liking to white tea: expensive but worth it (in my opinion). At first I really liked the heavier oxidized teas, but I found that my tastes went greener and greener the more I experimented. Drinking tea is a wonderful habit, and it's good for you too. I had to quit for a while because of the caffeine. While less than coffee, I found it still messed up my system.
- soyelmango 16y ago
  These kettles that keep water hot all day long seem very wasteful to me. That said, does anyone know if it takes more electricity to reheat water than to maintain it at a given temperature?
  - DanielBMarkham 16y ago
    I looked into it when I bought one, and if I remember correctly a modern highly-insulated kettle uses much less power keeping water warm for 8 hours than constantly heating cold water. Of course, part of that equation is how many cups of tea you drink. And how hot you keep your water. Since I'm a white tea drinker, I keep my kettle on a low setting. I get much better results with a lower setting and a longer steep. (Part of the fun here is trying different teas, temps, and steep times)
  - sbierwagen 16y ago
    That said, does anyone know if it takes more electricity to reheat water than to maintain it at a given temperature? How long is a piece of string? It depends on how quickly your kettle loses heat, how warm the room is, and how long the interval between pours is. I have a generic Japanese thermos kettle, with vacuum insulated walls, so it holds heat fairly well. It should be pretty easy to figure out precisely what the tradeoff point is with a datalogger and a thermocouple and some math, or a clamp ammeter and slightly less math.
  - 16y ago
deutronium 16y ago
If you ever go to Japan make sure to try Matcha, it consists of very finely ground green tea leaves. And seems to be very difficult to prepare! I brought some back to the UK, that I'll have to try out soon :) https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Matcha https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Matcha One other thing I found pretty cool, in a Cafe, they would bring a sand timer, to tell you when the tea in the teapot had brewed.
Throlkim 16y ago
Being in the UK, I typically enjoy a substantial amount of tea during the day. None of that poncy herbal tea though - stricly strong white tea. The British Armed Forces are supplied with a particular brand of tea from NAAFI (http://www.ringtons.co.uk/shop/tea/naafi-tea http://www.ringtons.co.uk/shop/tea/naafi-tea), which is now available to the public too. I had it described to me by an ex-forces friend that 'it's a tea to clean your gun with', but I actually find it to be one of the heartiest and warming drinks I've had.
- epo 16y ago
  Supposedly sell it in Spar too.
kesun421 16y ago
I always start my day with a hot cup of pu-erh or jiaogulan. It is said both has cleansing effect for the digestive system.
timinman 16y ago
Great article. We love the tea here in Northern Ireland, and our impression is that most off-the-shelf bagged tea here is of very high quality in comparison to the US. We're drinking lots of 'Punjana' these days.
- barrkel 16y ago
  The problems I, as an Irishman, have when visiting the US are (1) frequently a kettle isn't available, and instead, in offices, you often have a supply of "hot" water at perhaps 95C, which isn't hot enough for good tea, or you have to jerry-rig something out of a coffeemaker with similar issues only even more tepid; and (2) American tea bags average about 2g of tea leaves each compared with an average of 3.125g in UK / Irish tea bags. So these days, I bring a travel kettle with me, and usually my own supply of tea. If I must use tea bought locally, I use twice the regular amount to compensate.
  - zbyszek 16y ago
    When I moved to the US from the UK a decade ago, I went to the shops to kit out my apartment and fondly imagined that the country that put men on the moon and invented the internet would have some kind of amazing high-tech laser-powered robot super-kettle. I was disappointed when the only kettle I could get looked like something from the 1970's. Should have gone to Japan.
    - timinman 16y ago
      I could be wrong, but I think part of the reason electric kettles haven't caught on big in the US is the lower voltage. One of the first things that caught my attention over here (Northern Ireland) was that the kettles boil so fast. It's incredibly convient.
eduardoflores 16y ago
I would recommend The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo. It's a great introduction to eastern culture for westerners taking tea as link and guide. Despite it was published in 1906 it's interestingly both actual and dated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Tea
DanI-S 16y ago
Jing tea are great - http://jingtea.com/ http://jingtea.com/ Their 'tea explorer' set is a nice introduction to various types of tea from around the world.
akaalias 16y ago
Hm, I have to disagree with the steeping chart for green tea (after having been doing it that way for 12 years). Recently, I got some medium/high quality Sencha at my favorite place Ten Ren down in Chinatown. Lessons learned from their main man: 0. Never use boiling water, but instead around 80-85 degree Celsius (okay, that seems to be common sense) 1. If the quality of the tea is so-so, discharge the first steep after 1-2 seconds. High-grade tea needs no cleaning. This step gets rid of the dust and ensures a clear color. 2. First steeping for maximum 1 minute 30 seconds. 3. Second steeping for only about 40 (!) seconds. 4. Third steeping for about 50 seconds.
- sgoraya 16y ago
  > my favorite place Ten Ren down in Chinatown. Ten Ren is awesome - friendly folks who also educated me about how to prepare tea and let me know that you could steep it multiple times (which was news to me at the time since I only steeped once and then threw out the leaves). Having since moved to Southern CA, I visit their store in Monterrey Park. Good folks still, but I miss the charm of the Chinatown store.
  - akaalias 16y ago
    Yes, agreed. They're very friendly and humble. The quality of their teas speaks for itself. I didn't know they had one in CA! A good tea dealer is worth so much win.
- akaalias 16y ago
  Oh, for clarification: "after having been doing it that way for 12 years" means, I did it wrong for 12 years! The above described method has proven itself to be superior to what I was doing before.
samd 16y ago
Try adding a few crushed cardamom pods to a pot of black tea, they add a fantastic flavor. Milk is of course required.
- karthikv 16y ago
  Or a few mint leaves for a soothing flavor...
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  Also: cinnamon and peppercorns. And, heating the spices in the milk (perhaps an even mix of whole milk and water) infuses the flavors better. (Half-and-half or heavy cream, if you're making chai ice cream. :) ) Star anise and licorice root also make good herbal teas.
- matylda 16y ago
  Try a pinch of lavender for a refreshing variation.
kadavy 16y ago
If you're interested in the focusing-increasing benefits of L-Theanine, Gyokuro, Matcha, and Silver Needle are all good teas to drink. I get my Gyokuro & Matcha from http://hibiki-an.com/ http://hibiki-an.com/ Silver Needle I had a harder time finding, but I got them from http://chicagoteagarden.com/ http://chicagoteagarden.com/, the tea shop of the OP. Incidentally, they're both delicious.
jasonjei 16y ago
If you're a tea person like me and you've read Lu Yu's Tea Classics (茶經) before, you'll appreciate good tea. The one that I usually purchase is from Japan--and it is now orderable online, including to overseas addresses. The tea purveyor is IPPODO (一保堂) and their gyokuro (玉露) is some of the best. IPPODO has been around since 1717, so they are likely to have a good idea, especially since they have supplied tea to the Japanese king. Gyokuro is a pleasant tea because its flavors are so subtle that it's not like any green tea you've had. Theirs is very light yet sweet and full-bodied. IPPODO's gyokuro, in particularly their Below Heaven tea (天下一) or Tenka-ichi, has a savory flavor that almost tastes a bit like nori. https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/ https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/ http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/ http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/
- wyclif 16y ago
  Here's what a can of Tenka-ichi looks like: https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010217_a.jpg https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010217...
  - jasonjei 16y ago
    Beautiful. And if you have 70,000 yen or $840 US to burn: https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010294_a.jpg https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010294...
afterburner 16y ago
I didn't know about L-theanine; this goes a long way towards explaining why I feel like tea helps me "stay awake" for longer, compared to coffee which seems to fail me after about a half hour, despite it usually having more caffeine.
sgallant 16y ago
If you want to watch a great documentary about tea growing and making check out All in This Tea. http://www.netflix.ca/WiMovie/All-in-This-Tea/70095114 http://www.netflix.ca/WiMovie/All-in-This-Tea/70095114 http://www.lesblank.com/more/TeaFilm.html http://www.lesblank.com/more/TeaFilm.html
steveklabnik 16y ago
My group tends to drink yerba maté: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_maté http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_maté
- mhartl 16y ago
  You might be interested to know that the accent on maté is a hyperforeignism. In Spanish, the drink is just yerba mate. The (nonexistent) word maté would be pronounced "mah-TEH", whereas mate is pronounced "MAH-teh"; presumably the erroneous diacritic was added to keep people from rhyming it with fate.
  - mhartl 16y ago
    I just realized that maté does exist in Spanish: it means "I killed"—all the more reason to use mate instead. :-)
wazoox 16y ago
Not bad, but would be better with temperatures indicated in reasonable units :)
- eru 16y ago
  A reasonable unit of temperature begins at 0K and makes the numeric value of the Boltzmann constant 1.
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    If I did my math right, that would make the best temperature for steeping a green tea somewhere around 2.63E25 degrees.
    - eru 16y ago
      That'll be 26.3 yotta-degree.
sbierwagen 16y ago
Maybe it's just me, but maybe a "hacker's guide" to tea shouldn't contain wild speculation on the health benefits of matcha. And since everyone seems to be dropping recommendations for tea shops, then I'll say I get my tea from Marketspice in Seattle, though you have to fight your way through swarms of tourists to get there.
tjakab 16y ago
I mostly buy from Adagio, but have also found some great teas through Harney & Sons (http://www.harney.com http://www.harney.com) and Teas Etc. (http://www.teasetc.com http://www.teasetc.com).
pigbucket 16y ago
The true principles of tea-drinking were enumerated (there are eleven) and explicated in antiquity (defined as the golden time before my birth) by renowned tea expert George Orwell. I can personally attest to the veracity of Mr. Orwell's first principle; namely, that one ought to drink only Indian or Ceylonese tea, on the grounds that "one does not feel wiser, braver, or more optimistic after drinking" the Chinese variety. (It was after a nice cup of uplifting Indian tea that Orwell bravely and wisely wrote the optimistic 1984.) http://orwell.ru/library/articles/tea/english/e_tea http://orwell.ru/library/articles/tea/english/e_tea
davidj 16y ago
I loved drinking tea, but I recently stopped when I found out that green and black tea have a large amount of Fluoride, highly toxic to the human body. I drink just hot water, or one tea bag split between a whole tea pot, or coffee. Edited: Fluoride is NOT a heavy metal. and spelling
- krevis 16y ago
  Citation please. Assuming you meant Fluoride: it's neither heavy nor a metal.
  - davidj 16y ago
    Yeah I screwed up, Fluoride (the correct spelling), which is a form of the ELEMENT Fluorine IS NOT a heavy metal like I confusingly thought. But a simple google search will show you that Fluoride is highly concentrated in black and green tea.
- berntb 16y ago
  Ah, yes... come to the dark side (of coffee). We have cookies! :-) Coffee is also healthy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coffee Fluoride is mentioned on Wikipedia, but was new to me. No details. Is this new? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea#Effects_of_fluoride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea#Effects_o...
  - InclinedPlane 16y ago
    That wikipedia entry is useless, there's numbers but not the numbers anyone actually would need. This seems a little more useful: http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Fluoride+Content+in+Tea http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Fluoride+Content+in+T... Apparently tea can have up to ~10x as high a Fluoride concentration as municipal drinking water. Also, there seems to be a case of a woman who developed bone fluorosis after consuming several gallons of double strength instant tea a day for a considerable time. So potentially it could be a concern but in practical terms it's unlikely to be a problem. If you're concerned I'd study which teas have the highest Fluoride levels (it's dependent on region and type of tea), determine whether your municipal tap water is also Fluoridated, and crunch some numbers to make sure you're nowhere near unsafe Fluoride consumption levels.
Perceval 16y ago
Here's a good short piece on tea drinking from the Obsessives series by Chow.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zT5VZKHI0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zT5VZKHI0
oscilloscope 16y ago
I tried to start a tea shop/hacker space in SF which failed spectacularly a few months ago. Everyone, don't do retail! Finding decent tea can be a challenge. Here are a few places to start looking for tea online, and in SF: http://www.teaspring.com/ http://www.teaspring.com/ -- Chinese Tea. http://www.redblossomtea.com/ http://www.redblossomtea.com/ -- Chinese Tea from SF. Fantastic oolong and Dragonwell. Check out their location next time you're in Chinatown. http://www.runa.org/ http://www.runa.org/ -- Guayusa, related to Yerba Mate. The kids building this company are true hackers! http://www.omshantea.com/ http://www.omshantea.com/ -- A cool tea house in SF (mission). Learn about Pu-erh and Jiaogulan here. http://www.yunnansourcing.com http://www.yunnansourcing.com -- A place to try your luck and buy Pu-erh. http://www.itoen.com/estore/index.cfm http://www.itoen.com/estore/index.cfm -- Sencha, Gyokuru, Matcha. A solid selection of Japanese Greens. These places have great herb selections, and will make you realize how much you're overpaying for mid-grade tea: http://www.sfherb.com/ http://www.sfherb.com/ http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ I also love Korean tea, but don't have a good recommendation on where to get it.
- Groxx 16y ago
  I think the main problem is that retail can't (usually) move inventory quickly enough in such a coffee-centric nation. That, and tea is cheap to ship, so there are few downsides to buying online. I've used http://www.specialteas.com http://www.specialteas.com and have been quite happy :) Haven't shopped around much, though they've been fresh leaves every time, so I haven't felt the need.
- acgourley 16y ago
  Did you write up a post mortem anywhere? As a tea drinking hacker in SF it would be an interesting read at least.
  - oscilloscope 16y ago
    I took over the Aroma Tea Shop on Polk st for 3 months earlier this year. The biggest stumbling block was the landlord (a trust fund) dragged its feet and eventually denied my sublease application at the end of the 3 months. With a couple friends, we had been operating semi-discreetly during this time, but didn't redo the banner outside and didn't do much marketing. Since we left, it's been taken over by the boutique next door. They kept the paint job and sandwich board sign we made. That's about all I've got the energy to rehash-- but if you catch me in person I'll tell you all about the folly of Polk Tea. And here's some pics: http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea/page/2 http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea/page/2
RobertKohr 16y ago
http://www.harney.com/ http://www.harney.com/ Harney and Sons is my favorite. I love their english breakfast and their earl gray. Their chocolate tea: http://www.harney.com/Chocolate-Tea-Loose-tea-by-the-pound/productinfo/41613/ http://www.harney.com/Chocolate-Tea-Loose-tea-by-the-pound/p... Is is delicious, but man does it raise your heart rate!
rue 16y ago
I like Earl Grey with milk and honey. Does that make me a pragmatic…kettler?
- barrkel 16y ago
  I wouldn't drink Earl Grey with milk. Earl Grey has a strong perfumed aroma from the bergamot orange; I might add lemon to it, but not milk. Milk goes best with strongly steeped black tea because it takes an edge off the bitterness.
nborgo 16y ago
As if there aren't enough suggestions on where to buy tea, I get all mine through SevenCups (http://www.sevencups.com/ http://www.sevencups.com/) and TeaSpring (http://teaspring.com/ http://teaspring.com/). Both companies are excellent. SevenCups has a few very nice sampler packs. I've been kind of annoyed how long TeaSpring has been out of Bai Mu Dan, though. It's is incredible. They specialize in Chinese tea. So if that's your thing, check them out.
mmcdan 16y ago
It's technically true that tea is only made from the camellia sinensis plant, but you can get the same experience from other "hot, tea-like drinks" as well such as Herbal and Rooibos "teas". Please take a look at http://www.theteafinder.com http://www.theteafinder.com. It's a tea search engine that I made after getting motivated reading HN a few weeks ago! You can search for tea by flavor and health benefit. Would love feedback from other tea-drinking hackers.
- eru 16y ago
  > but you can get the same experience from other "hot, tea-like drinks" as well such as Herbal and Rooibos "teas". I wouldn't call it the same experience. Herbal teas and Rooibos are fine in their own rights, but not as substitutes for the camellia sinensis plant. Try stinging nettle. It's awesome.
  - sixspeed 16y ago
    Wonderful! We have a large lush growth of Stinging Nettle behind our barn every summer. I'm looking forward to brewing some up next year.
    - eru 16y ago
      The taste varies quite a lot between dried and fresh nettle. I like dried better, but you should try both. If you are into nettles, there's also the world nettle eating championships in Dorset.
ErrantX 16y ago
Does anyone know a good UK (or EU) based tea supplier?
- deleted 16y ago
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- drtse4 16y ago
  Have these in my bookmarks, haven't tried them yet http://jingtea.com/ http://jingtea.com/ http://www.cantonteaco.com http://www.cantonteaco.com
  - ErrantX 16y ago
    Brilliant, thanks. Jing Tea looks like a winner, I'll give them a try and let you know. :)
    - jroos1 16y ago
      I'll second both of those UK companies. Jing has great stuff (a little pricier) and I've personally worked with the people behind Canton Tea Co. BTW I'm also a founder of Steepster
latch 16y ago
Caffeine is very soluble. You can quickly decaffenate tea by "rinsing" it, or more accurately, throwing away the first, short, steeping. In other words, if you want to remove the caffeine, leave your teabag in 1/2 a cup of water for 30-60 seconds, dump out the water and then you are good to go.
- tony584 16y ago
  this is not 100% true: http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and...
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - silentbicycle 16y ago
    The first study measured at 5 minutes and extrapolated, which seems pretty dodgy when trying to disprove that a large proportion of the caffeine in tea extracts in the first 30 seconds of steeping. The second seems to have better methodology, and also states that different tea grades made little difference - I was wondering if the popular perception was more accurate for CTC ("Crush-tear-curl") teas, which are made to steep quickly.
fakelvis 16y ago
In 1980 the British Standards Group produced a document, Method for Preparation of a Liquor of Tea, setting out the British Standard method of tea brewing. This was BS 6008:1980. ISO Technical Committee 34 (Food products), Sub-Committee 8 (Tea) later created ISO 3103 from this. You can see the documented process at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS_6008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS_6008 It's an interesting read and won the Ig Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999.
vixen99 16y ago
'The more oxidized the tea leaves are, the hotter the water temperature should be when steeping'. The author assumes his readers do not know that white, green and other teas differ from each other thanks to their processing but assumes they do know the oxidation level of the tea they are about to brew.
taylorwc 16y ago
If you're interested in white tea (and you should be from a health benefits perspective), check out the teas at www.shangtea.com - they ship it and it's a family run business with a family farm in the mts in China. All organic and delightful.
bkudria 16y ago
See also: http://home.fazekas.hu/~nagydani/rth/Russian-tea-HOWTO-v2.html http://home.fazekas.hu/~nagydani/rth/Russian-tea-HOWTO-v2.ht...
matylda 16y ago
If you're ever in Boulder, the Celestial Seasonings factory tour is worth checking out: http://www.celestialseasonings.com/visit-us/free-tours.html http://www.celestialseasonings.com/visit-us/free-tours.html The Peppermint Room will clear your sinuses for a week. Anyone have other tea factory tours they'd recommend?
MikeCapone 16y ago
If you're in Canada, you might want to check out http://www.teaopia.ca/ http://www.teaopia.ca/ I just stumbled on their store in Ottawa, and it seems pretty great!
- MikeCapone 16y ago
  Also, if you're looking for the PINO Digital Pro kettle in Canada, this place has it: http://www.49thparallelroasters.com/storeAccessories.html http://www.49thparallelroasters.com/storeAccessories.html Amazon.com will ship here, but I'm not sure what kind of import duties that would mean...
- MikeCapone 16y ago
  Found another store for Canadians: http://www.davidstea.com/ http://www.davidstea.com/ They seem to carry a lot of varieties of high-grade stuff (though I haven't bought anything from there yet, so it's just my first impression).
- MikeCapone 16y ago
  If anyone's still reading this thread and looking for resources, I found another site from Japan that sells what seems to be quality green tea (haven't ordered from them yet, though): http://www.o-cha.com/ http://www.o-cha.com/

294 points by tony584 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

For those interested: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Theanine https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Theanine and there are supplements available if you don't want to give up coffee.

tony584 16y ago
I like to start each day with coffee and then move to tea. So I get the jolt in the morning, then the sustained tea high the rest of the day.
silentbicycle 16y ago
L-Theanine is a surprisingly under-appreciated nootropic. If you buy it as a bulk powder, it's quite cheap. Good Japanese green tea (senchas, matcha, etc.) seem to be particularly high in theanine. It contributes quite a bit of flavor to the tea.
- gwern 16y ago
  I'd agree with theanine being under-appreciated. I used to drink a ton of tea - no problems, nice stimulant. So when I decided to mix & cap all my supplements and drop the whole tea thing (more work than a pill and not especially portable), I simply bought a few hundred grams of caffeine. What could go wrong? Caffeine was what I was getting from the tea, right? Turns out caffeine alone makes me somewhat twitchy & anxious and is distinctly inferior to tea (caffeine+theanine). If I could cap them again, I'd definitely make sure to add in theanine.

mrkurt 16y ago

If you'd like to start drinking tea, I heartily recommend the Adagio IngenuiTEA and sample kit to get started. It's dead simple to use and clean, and their teas are really reasonably priced: http://www.adagio.com/gifts/holiday_ingenuiTEA.html?SID=094a8e6f6640eda7ad237ce0b678e4f4 http://www.adagio.com/gifts/holiday_ingenuiTEA.html?SID=094a... I'm a giant fan of their Spiced Green and Gunpowder green varieties. Incidentally, if you're anywhere near Chicago they have a retail store in Naperville where they'll brew up any of their teas for you to try. It's fun.

tony584 16y ago
IngenuiTEA is a great way to do it. or you can MacGyver it and just strain the leaves with a cheap strainer. Their Naperville shop is great.
jakevoytko 16y ago
I get most of my tea from Adagio, but I recommend Golden Moon Tea's starter set: http://www.goldenmoontea.com/gifts/tea-taster-s-sampler-with-l-tremain-steeper.html http://www.goldenmoontea.com/gifts/tea-taster-s-sampler-with... It has 31 single-serving sample teas, and a teacup with a strainer. The quality is reasonable, and the variety is spectacular. After finishing it, you'll know which teas you enjoy. I took notes to remind myself which teas I liked and didn't like, but it was worth it. Plus, I still use the teacup and strainer!
- etm117 16y ago
  Another vote for Golden Moon here. I have been using them for about 2 years now. Good tea at reasonable prices. Plus when you buy the bigger sizes (once you find the flavors you like in the starter kit) the leftover tins work for random storage containers.
- larrywright 16y ago
  That looks nice. Is the teacup/strainer good? I like that it's ceramic vs the plastic one from Adagio.
acgourley 16y ago
Seconded on the IngenuiTEA and also their hot water kettle (utiliTEA). My favorite tea there doesn't get a high rating but I've had a pound of it in the last year and still love it. Green Anji: http://www.adagio.com/green/green_anji.html?SID=531a749987021fafbb704c914068e60f http://www.adagio.com/green/green_anji.html?SID=531a74998702... Their masala chai and wuyi ensemble are also both really good.
silentbicycle 16y ago
Adagio is a great tea shop in general, and tea is particularly well suited to mail order. Their tiny sample tins (usually ~1oz for ~$2) are a great way to try several varieties out. If you've got a good local tea shop, definitely give them a try though. They should be able to steer you towards varieties you'll really like. I particularly like lapsang souchong (smoked Chinese black tea), sencha (Japanese green), and Assam (Indian black).

KingOfB 16y ago

Neat article. For those like me that struggle getting 170 degree water for green tea, I found a good trick which is to just put an ice cube on top of the tea, and pour the hot water on top of that. That prevents singeing the leaves that can kill a nice cup of green tea. I find it a lot more reproducible than 'waiting longer than a minute'.

prewett 16y ago
Get a good meat thermometer. I found one at my grocery store that has a little needle and is accurate to within about a degree.
akahn 16y ago
A good trick is to listen to the water boiling. At around 180°F the water starts bubbling and dancing, gets a bit agitated and might make a resonant sound in your kettle. I suggest using a thermometer and getting to know how the water sounds at different temperatures. Best place to buy tea: http://uptontea.com/ http://uptontea.com/ Top notch quality, and they put out a really good paper catalog describing all their hundreds of teas quarterly.
- eru 16y ago
  I heard that you should boil the water first, and then let it cool down. The listening method only works when you don't boil it, but go to the desired temperature without a detour.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  When I boil water in an open pot, I can usually recognize the different temperatures by the way the water shimmers, the size of the bubbles, etc. Do that a couple times with a thermometer, and you can probably eyeball it from there. I've heard the stages of boiling referred to as "dragon eyes", "fish eyes", etc. See e.g. http://www.veetea.com/site/articles/Water-Temperatures/ http://www.veetea.com/site/articles/Water-Temperatures/ . That said, my wife and I got an electric teakettle with a temperature setting as a wedding gift, and we love it. That's another option. (This one, or a similar model: http://www.amazon.com/Choice-SmartKettle-Cordless-4-Quart-Electric/dp/B001I1BH98/ http://www.amazon.com/Choice-SmartKettle-Cordless-4-Quart-El... )

arethuza 16y ago

This is a better guide to tea drinking, at least the British way of tea drinking: http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/ http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/

tony584 16y ago
yeah, I wasn't quite going towards the British way of tea. I was aiming for a bit further back in history to the basic Chinese and Japanese principles of tea - but that's a great guide too!
rmc 16y ago
Gotta have some milk in your tea. ☺
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  Not in green tea! It really depends on the variety. Vanilla sugar can be nice, though, as is caramelizing sugar in a pot and then whisking hot milk into it, then mixing that with flavored/spiced black teas (masala chai, etc.).
  - 5teev 16y ago
    I absent-mindedly put a drop of cream in some green tea once, and found it an interesting variation and not bad at all!
    - gnubardt 16y ago
      yeah, green tea ice cream is great as well and contains lots of milk (and sugar).
- Shooter 16y ago
  I read a study that said that adding milk negates essentially all of the antioxidant benefits of tea... (I'm not sure if it's true, and I don't add milk to my tea anyway...)

prewett 16y ago

I've been sampling a wide variety of teas over the past few years, and wrote up a page describing flavors and steeping time, which is a little more detailed (but not as broad) as the article: http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~prewett/archive/tea/tea.html http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~prewett/archive/tea/tea.h...

docgnome 16y ago

For those in the US Den's Tea offers great Japanese teas. http://www.denstea.com http://www.denstea.com

deleted 16y ago

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mpotter 16y ago

Great resource for tea beginners and experts alike: http://steepster.com http://steepster.com Discover new teas, get recommendations, and keep a tasting journal. Disclosure: I'm a co-founder.

AmazonV 16y ago

A lot of information packed into a clear post for new to tea drinkers, thanks

BSousa 16y ago

http://www.hibiki-an.com http://www.hibiki-an.com is where I get most of my tea (Japanese green tea only). Shipping from Japan to Europe takes about a week to arrive. http://www.nbtea.co.uk http://www.nbtea.co.uk in the UK is also a good place for tea (various types from various locations) but I still thingk Hibiki-an's tea better quality.

jasonfried 16y ago

A wonderful place to get high quality greens: http://www.hibiki-an.com/ http://www.hibiki-an.com/ The best hot water kettle w/ temperature control I've found is: http://www.amazon.com/PINO-ST-8706-Digital-Kettle-Pro/dp/B001HC54O2 http://www.amazon.com/PINO-ST-8706-Digital-Kettle-Pro/dp/B00... I've tried every kettle and this one is the best. It's all stainless inside too - water never touches plastic.

jasonjei 16y ago
Hibiki-an is good, but you really have to try Ippodo. Once you've had Ippodo tea, you really can't go back. They target mostly Japanese consumers, but lately, they have been trying to push for more overseas sales. They've been around since 1717 and were the personal tea purveyors to Prince Yamashita. Try the Tenka-ichi, their top Gyokuro. It's difficult to prepare but completely worth it. https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/ https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- jasonjei 16y ago
  This is what Gyokuro looks like: http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_index.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_index.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_02.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/gyokuro_02.html And famous matcha: http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/index.html http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/tea/index.html It's like the La Maison du Chocolat of Japanese tea. Extremely high quality to be savored for moments that you have time.
DrPhish 16y ago
If you like a nice deep green tea, but want a really good bang for your buck, then try http://www.tealife.co.jp/drink/32.html http://www.tealife.co.jp/drink/32.html which is what a lot of Japanese inns use. $15 for 100 5g tea bags (yes, it's not for purists). Grown in Japan and 95% as good as a much more expensive loose tea. 1 tea bag is good for about a litre of tea. I've tried a lot of different brands and grades of tea, and while I can certainly appreciate the difference in some of the more expensive ones, I have not found any that are anywhere near the value proposition of this for a daily-drinking tea.

aplusbi 16y ago

>If you are drinking something that did not come from this plant (chamomile, mint, tulsi, rooibos, etc) it is not tea). I hear this every once in awhile and at best it's pedantic and at worst it's just wrong. What do you call chamomile tea? An infusion? Even if it is technically wrong everybody calls infusions "tea" and I think it's safe to argue that the word has evolved beyond the original meaning.

silentbicycle 16y ago
"Tisane" is technically correct, though outside of a tea shop I don't think it matters that much. When it's not clear from context, I just say "herbal tea".
- KingOfB 16y ago
  I say the same, but technically I'm not sure it's any better as tea is an herbal tea, but not all herbal tea's are teas... Ok, I'll stop. It's the same as people calling tomatoes vegetables - technically wrong and no one cares.
  - aplusbi 16y ago
    Tomatoes ARE vegetables. They are also fruits. The noun "vegetable" doesn't have a strict definition and tomatoes fall into that classification. Botanically speaking they are berries.
  - philwelch 16y ago
    "Vegetable" is a culinary distinction for plant matter eaten at dinner; tomatoes are vegetables. "Fruit" is a biological distinction for plant matter that contains seeds within an edible shell; tomatoes are fruits.
gdl 16y ago
Corruption of the English language aside, chamomile or mint infusions are no more "teas" than they are "coffees". They're all just plant stuff steeped in water, but the flavors and cultures involved vary dramatically. I'm normally pretty liberal about language but it bugs me to have to specify a latin species name, or "tea made from tea" to make it clear what I'm drinking. Although phrases like "green tea" or "black tea" are widely-understood and fairly unambiguous in situations where one can be more specific, there isn't a good way to refer to the entire class of beverages made from only that plant.

DanielBMarkham 16y ago

I'm off the tea habit now, but the best investment I made was getting a variable-temperature water kettle. Just set the temp and let it worry about getting it right. Plus it keeps the water at that temp all day long -- no screwing around with pots and kettles and such for your third cup. I also took a great liking to white tea: expensive but worth it (in my opinion). At first I really liked the heavier oxidized teas, but I found that my tastes went greener and greener the more I experimented. Drinking tea is a wonderful habit, and it's good for you too. I had to quit for a while because of the caffeine. While less than coffee, I found it still messed up my system.

soyelmango 16y ago
These kettles that keep water hot all day long seem very wasteful to me. That said, does anyone know if it takes more electricity to reheat water than to maintain it at a given temperature?
- DanielBMarkham 16y ago
  I looked into it when I bought one, and if I remember correctly a modern highly-insulated kettle uses much less power keeping water warm for 8 hours than constantly heating cold water. Of course, part of that equation is how many cups of tea you drink. And how hot you keep your water. Since I'm a white tea drinker, I keep my kettle on a low setting. I get much better results with a lower setting and a longer steep. (Part of the fun here is trying different teas, temps, and steep times)
- sbierwagen 16y ago
  That said, does anyone know if it takes more electricity to reheat water than to maintain it at a given temperature? How long is a piece of string? It depends on how quickly your kettle loses heat, how warm the room is, and how long the interval between pours is. I have a generic Japanese thermos kettle, with vacuum insulated walls, so it holds heat fairly well. It should be pretty easy to figure out precisely what the tradeoff point is with a datalogger and a thermocouple and some math, or a clamp ammeter and slightly less math.
- 16y ago

deutronium 16y ago

If you ever go to Japan make sure to try Matcha, it consists of very finely ground green tea leaves. And seems to be very difficult to prepare! I brought some back to the UK, that I'll have to try out soon :) https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Matcha https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Matcha One other thing I found pretty cool, in a Cafe, they would bring a sand timer, to tell you when the tea in the teapot had brewed.

Throlkim 16y ago

Being in the UK, I typically enjoy a substantial amount of tea during the day. None of that poncy herbal tea though - stricly strong white tea. The British Armed Forces are supplied with a particular brand of tea from NAAFI (http://www.ringtons.co.uk/shop/tea/naafi-tea http://www.ringtons.co.uk/shop/tea/naafi-tea), which is now available to the public too. I had it described to me by an ex-forces friend that 'it's a tea to clean your gun with', but I actually find it to be one of the heartiest and warming drinks I've had.

epo 16y ago
Supposedly sell it in Spar too.

kesun421 16y ago

I always start my day with a hot cup of pu-erh or jiaogulan. It is said both has cleansing effect for the digestive system.

timinman 16y ago

Great article. We love the tea here in Northern Ireland, and our impression is that most off-the-shelf bagged tea here is of very high quality in comparison to the US. We're drinking lots of 'Punjana' these days.

barrkel 16y ago
The problems I, as an Irishman, have when visiting the US are (1) frequently a kettle isn't available, and instead, in offices, you often have a supply of "hot" water at perhaps 95C, which isn't hot enough for good tea, or you have to jerry-rig something out of a coffeemaker with similar issues only even more tepid; and (2) American tea bags average about 2g of tea leaves each compared with an average of 3.125g in UK / Irish tea bags. So these days, I bring a travel kettle with me, and usually my own supply of tea. If I must use tea bought locally, I use twice the regular amount to compensate.
- zbyszek 16y ago
  When I moved to the US from the UK a decade ago, I went to the shops to kit out my apartment and fondly imagined that the country that put men on the moon and invented the internet would have some kind of amazing high-tech laser-powered robot super-kettle. I was disappointed when the only kettle I could get looked like something from the 1970's. Should have gone to Japan.
  - timinman 16y ago
    I could be wrong, but I think part of the reason electric kettles haven't caught on big in the US is the lower voltage. One of the first things that caught my attention over here (Northern Ireland) was that the kettles boil so fast. It's incredibly convient.

eduardoflores 16y ago

I would recommend The Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo. It's a great introduction to eastern culture for westerners taking tea as link and guide. Despite it was published in 1906 it's interestingly both actual and dated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Tea

DanI-S 16y ago

Jing tea are great - http://jingtea.com/ http://jingtea.com/ Their 'tea explorer' set is a nice introduction to various types of tea from around the world.

akaalias 16y ago

Hm, I have to disagree with the steeping chart for green tea (after having been doing it that way for 12 years). Recently, I got some medium/high quality Sencha at my favorite place Ten Ren down in Chinatown. Lessons learned from their main man: 0. Never use boiling water, but instead around 80-85 degree Celsius (okay, that seems to be common sense) 1. If the quality of the tea is so-so, discharge the first steep after 1-2 seconds. High-grade tea needs no cleaning. This step gets rid of the dust and ensures a clear color. 2. First steeping for maximum 1 minute 30 seconds. 3. Second steeping for only about 40 (!) seconds. 4. Third steeping for about 50 seconds.

sgoraya 16y ago
> my favorite place Ten Ren down in Chinatown. Ten Ren is awesome - friendly folks who also educated me about how to prepare tea and let me know that you could steep it multiple times (which was news to me at the time since I only steeped once and then threw out the leaves). Having since moved to Southern CA, I visit their store in Monterrey Park. Good folks still, but I miss the charm of the Chinatown store.
- akaalias 16y ago
  Yes, agreed. They're very friendly and humble. The quality of their teas speaks for itself. I didn't know they had one in CA! A good tea dealer is worth so much win.
akaalias 16y ago
Oh, for clarification: "after having been doing it that way for 12 years" means, I did it wrong for 12 years! The above described method has proven itself to be superior to what I was doing before.

samd 16y ago

Try adding a few crushed cardamom pods to a pot of black tea, they add a fantastic flavor. Milk is of course required.

karthikv 16y ago
Or a few mint leaves for a soothing flavor...
silentbicycle 16y ago
Also: cinnamon and peppercorns. And, heating the spices in the milk (perhaps an even mix of whole milk and water) infuses the flavors better. (Half-and-half or heavy cream, if you're making chai ice cream. :) ) Star anise and licorice root also make good herbal teas.
matylda 16y ago
Try a pinch of lavender for a refreshing variation.

kadavy 16y ago

If you're interested in the focusing-increasing benefits of L-Theanine, Gyokuro, Matcha, and Silver Needle are all good teas to drink. I get my Gyokuro & Matcha from http://hibiki-an.com/ http://hibiki-an.com/ Silver Needle I had a harder time finding, but I got them from http://chicagoteagarden.com/ http://chicagoteagarden.com/, the tea shop of the OP. Incidentally, they're both delicious.

jasonjei 16y ago

If you're a tea person like me and you've read Lu Yu's Tea Classics (茶經) before, you'll appreciate good tea. The one that I usually purchase is from Japan--and it is now orderable online, including to overseas addresses. The tea purveyor is IPPODO (一保堂) and their gyokuro (玉露) is some of the best. IPPODO has been around since 1717, so they are likely to have a good idea, especially since they have supplied tea to the Japanese king. Gyokuro is a pleasant tea because its flavors are so subtle that it's not like any green tea you've had. Theirs is very light yet sweet and full-bodied. IPPODO's gyokuro, in particularly their Below Heaven tea (天下一) or Tenka-ichi, has a savory flavor that almost tastes a bit like nori. https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/ https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/ http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/ http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/

wyclif 16y ago
Here's what a can of Tenka-ichi looks like: https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010217_a.jpg https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010217...
- jasonjei 16y ago
  Beautiful. And if you have 70,000 yen or $840 US to burn: https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010294_a.jpg https://shop.ippodo-tea.co.jp/shop/en/images/goods/g00010294...

afterburner 16y ago

I didn't know about L-theanine; this goes a long way towards explaining why I feel like tea helps me "stay awake" for longer, compared to coffee which seems to fail me after about a half hour, despite it usually having more caffeine.

sgallant 16y ago

If you want to watch a great documentary about tea growing and making check out All in This Tea. http://www.netflix.ca/WiMovie/All-in-This-Tea/70095114 http://www.netflix.ca/WiMovie/All-in-This-Tea/70095114 http://www.lesblank.com/more/TeaFilm.html http://www.lesblank.com/more/TeaFilm.html

steveklabnik 16y ago

My group tends to drink yerba maté: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_maté http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_maté

mhartl 16y ago
You might be interested to know that the accent on maté is a hyperforeignism. In Spanish, the drink is just yerba mate. The (nonexistent) word maté would be pronounced "mah-TEH", whereas mate is pronounced "MAH-teh"; presumably the erroneous diacritic was added to keep people from rhyming it with fate.
- mhartl 16y ago
  I just realized that maté does exist in Spanish: it means "I killed"—all the more reason to use mate instead. :-)

wazoox 16y ago

Not bad, but would be better with temperatures indicated in reasonable units :)

eru 16y ago
A reasonable unit of temperature begins at 0K and makes the numeric value of the Boltzmann constant 1.
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  If I did my math right, that would make the best temperature for steeping a green tea somewhere around 2.63E25 degrees.
  - eru 16y ago
    That'll be 26.3 yotta-degree.

sbierwagen 16y ago

Maybe it's just me, but maybe a "hacker's guide" to tea shouldn't contain wild speculation on the health benefits of matcha. And since everyone seems to be dropping recommendations for tea shops, then I'll say I get my tea from Marketspice in Seattle, though you have to fight your way through swarms of tourists to get there.

tjakab 16y ago

I mostly buy from Adagio, but have also found some great teas through Harney & Sons (http://www.harney.com http://www.harney.com) and Teas Etc. (http://www.teasetc.com http://www.teasetc.com).

pigbucket 16y ago

The true principles of tea-drinking were enumerated (there are eleven) and explicated in antiquity (defined as the golden time before my birth) by renowned tea expert George Orwell. I can personally attest to the veracity of Mr. Orwell's first principle; namely, that one ought to drink only Indian or Ceylonese tea, on the grounds that "one does not feel wiser, braver, or more optimistic after drinking" the Chinese variety. (It was after a nice cup of uplifting Indian tea that Orwell bravely and wisely wrote the optimistic 1984.) http://orwell.ru/library/articles/tea/english/e_tea http://orwell.ru/library/articles/tea/english/e_tea

davidj 16y ago

I loved drinking tea, but I recently stopped when I found out that green and black tea have a large amount of Fluoride, highly toxic to the human body. I drink just hot water, or one tea bag split between a whole tea pot, or coffee. Edited: Fluoride is NOT a heavy metal. and spelling

krevis 16y ago
Citation please. Assuming you meant Fluoride: it's neither heavy nor a metal.
- davidj 16y ago
  Yeah I screwed up, Fluoride (the correct spelling), which is a form of the ELEMENT Fluorine IS NOT a heavy metal like I confusingly thought. But a simple google search will show you that Fluoride is highly concentrated in black and green tea.
berntb 16y ago
Ah, yes... come to the dark side (of coffee). We have cookies! :-) Coffee is also healthy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_coffee Fluoride is mentioned on Wikipedia, but was new to me. No details. Is this new? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea#Effects_of_fluoride http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_tea#Effects_o...
- InclinedPlane 16y ago
  That wikipedia entry is useless, there's numbers but not the numbers anyone actually would need. This seems a little more useful: http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Fluoride+Content+in+Tea http://toxipedia.org/display/toxipedia/Fluoride+Content+in+T... Apparently tea can have up to ~10x as high a Fluoride concentration as municipal drinking water. Also, there seems to be a case of a woman who developed bone fluorosis after consuming several gallons of double strength instant tea a day for a considerable time. So potentially it could be a concern but in practical terms it's unlikely to be a problem. If you're concerned I'd study which teas have the highest Fluoride levels (it's dependent on region and type of tea), determine whether your municipal tap water is also Fluoridated, and crunch some numbers to make sure you're nowhere near unsafe Fluoride consumption levels.

Perceval 16y ago

Here's a good short piece on tea drinking from the Obsessives series by Chow.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zT5VZKHI0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9zT5VZKHI0

oscilloscope 16y ago

I tried to start a tea shop/hacker space in SF which failed spectacularly a few months ago. Everyone, don't do retail! Finding decent tea can be a challenge. Here are a few places to start looking for tea online, and in SF: http://www.teaspring.com/ http://www.teaspring.com/ -- Chinese Tea. http://www.redblossomtea.com/ http://www.redblossomtea.com/ -- Chinese Tea from SF. Fantastic oolong and Dragonwell. Check out their location next time you're in Chinatown. http://www.runa.org/ http://www.runa.org/ -- Guayusa, related to Yerba Mate. The kids building this company are true hackers! http://www.omshantea.com/ http://www.omshantea.com/ -- A cool tea house in SF (mission). Learn about Pu-erh and Jiaogulan here. http://www.yunnansourcing.com http://www.yunnansourcing.com -- A place to try your luck and buy Pu-erh. http://www.itoen.com/estore/index.cfm http://www.itoen.com/estore/index.cfm -- Sencha, Gyokuru, Matcha. A solid selection of Japanese Greens. These places have great herb selections, and will make you realize how much you're overpaying for mid-grade tea: http://www.sfherb.com/ http://www.sfherb.com/ http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/ I also love Korean tea, but don't have a good recommendation on where to get it.

Groxx 16y ago
I think the main problem is that retail can't (usually) move inventory quickly enough in such a coffee-centric nation. That, and tea is cheap to ship, so there are few downsides to buying online. I've used http://www.specialteas.com http://www.specialteas.com and have been quite happy :) Haven't shopped around much, though they've been fresh leaves every time, so I haven't felt the need.
acgourley 16y ago
Did you write up a post mortem anywhere? As a tea drinking hacker in SF it would be an interesting read at least.
- oscilloscope 16y ago
  I took over the Aroma Tea Shop on Polk st for 3 months earlier this year. The biggest stumbling block was the landlord (a trust fund) dragged its feet and eventually denied my sublease application at the end of the 3 months. With a couple friends, we had been operating semi-discreetly during this time, but didn't redo the banner outside and didn't do much marketing. Since we left, it's been taken over by the boutique next door. They kept the paint job and sandwich board sign we made. That's about all I've got the energy to rehash-- but if you catch me in person I'll tell you all about the folly of Polk Tea. And here's some pics: http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea/page/2 http://kaimary.tumblr.com/tagged/tea/page/2

RobertKohr 16y ago

http://www.harney.com/ http://www.harney.com/ Harney and Sons is my favorite. I love their english breakfast and their earl gray. Their chocolate tea: http://www.harney.com/Chocolate-Tea-Loose-tea-by-the-pound/productinfo/41613/ http://www.harney.com/Chocolate-Tea-Loose-tea-by-the-pound/p... Is is delicious, but man does it raise your heart rate!

rue 16y ago

I like Earl Grey with milk and honey. Does that make me a pragmatic…kettler?

barrkel 16y ago
I wouldn't drink Earl Grey with milk. Earl Grey has a strong perfumed aroma from the bergamot orange; I might add lemon to it, but not milk. Milk goes best with strongly steeped black tea because it takes an edge off the bitterness.

nborgo 16y ago

As if there aren't enough suggestions on where to buy tea, I get all mine through SevenCups (http://www.sevencups.com/ http://www.sevencups.com/) and TeaSpring (http://teaspring.com/ http://teaspring.com/). Both companies are excellent. SevenCups has a few very nice sampler packs. I've been kind of annoyed how long TeaSpring has been out of Bai Mu Dan, though. It's is incredible. They specialize in Chinese tea. So if that's your thing, check them out.

mmcdan 16y ago

It's technically true that tea is only made from the camellia sinensis plant, but you can get the same experience from other "hot, tea-like drinks" as well such as Herbal and Rooibos "teas". Please take a look at http://www.theteafinder.com http://www.theteafinder.com. It's a tea search engine that I made after getting motivated reading HN a few weeks ago! You can search for tea by flavor and health benefit. Would love feedback from other tea-drinking hackers.

eru 16y ago
> but you can get the same experience from other "hot, tea-like drinks" as well such as Herbal and Rooibos "teas". I wouldn't call it the same experience. Herbal teas and Rooibos are fine in their own rights, but not as substitutes for the camellia sinensis plant. Try stinging nettle. It's awesome.
- sixspeed 16y ago
  Wonderful! We have a large lush growth of Stinging Nettle behind our barn every summer. I'm looking forward to brewing some up next year.
  - eru 16y ago
    The taste varies quite a lot between dried and fresh nettle. I like dried better, but you should try both. If you are into nettles, there's also the world nettle eating championships in Dorset.

ErrantX 16y ago

Does anyone know a good UK (or EU) based tea supplier?

deleted 16y ago
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drtse4 16y ago
Have these in my bookmarks, haven't tried them yet http://jingtea.com/ http://jingtea.com/ http://www.cantonteaco.com http://www.cantonteaco.com
- ErrantX 16y ago
  Brilliant, thanks. Jing Tea looks like a winner, I'll give them a try and let you know. :)
  - jroos1 16y ago
    I'll second both of those UK companies. Jing has great stuff (a little pricier) and I've personally worked with the people behind Canton Tea Co. BTW I'm also a founder of Steepster

latch 16y ago

Caffeine is very soluble. You can quickly decaffenate tea by "rinsing" it, or more accurately, throwing away the first, short, steeping. In other words, if you want to remove the caffeine, leave your teabag in 1/2 a cup of water for 30-60 seconds, dump out the water and then you are good to go.

tony584 16y ago
this is not 100% true: http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and-reality.html http://chadao.blogspot.com/2008/02/caffeine-and-tea-myth-and...
- deleted 16y ago
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- silentbicycle 16y ago
  The first study measured at 5 minutes and extrapolated, which seems pretty dodgy when trying to disprove that a large proportion of the caffeine in tea extracts in the first 30 seconds of steeping. The second seems to have better methodology, and also states that different tea grades made little difference - I was wondering if the popular perception was more accurate for CTC ("Crush-tear-curl") teas, which are made to steep quickly.

fakelvis 16y ago

In 1980 the British Standards Group produced a document, Method for Preparation of a Liquor of Tea, setting out the British Standard method of tea brewing. This was BS 6008:1980. ISO Technical Committee 34 (Food products), Sub-Committee 8 (Tea) later created ISO 3103 from this. You can see the documented process at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS_6008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BS_6008 It's an interesting read and won the Ig Nobel Prize for Literature in 1999.

vixen99 16y ago

'The more oxidized the tea leaves are, the hotter the water temperature should be when steeping'. The author assumes his readers do not know that white, green and other teas differ from each other thanks to their processing but assumes they do know the oxidation level of the tea they are about to brew.

taylorwc 16y ago

If you're interested in white tea (and you should be from a health benefits perspective), check out the teas at www.shangtea.com - they ship it and it's a family run business with a family farm in the mts in China. All organic and delightful.

bkudria 16y ago

See also: http://home.fazekas.hu/~nagydani/rth/Russian-tea-HOWTO-v2.html http://home.fazekas.hu/~nagydani/rth/Russian-tea-HOWTO-v2.ht...

matylda 16y ago

If you're ever in Boulder, the Celestial Seasonings factory tour is worth checking out: http://www.celestialseasonings.com/visit-us/free-tours.html http://www.celestialseasonings.com/visit-us/free-tours.html The Peppermint Room will clear your sinuses for a week. Anyone have other tea factory tours they'd recommend?

MikeCapone 16y ago

If you're in Canada, you might want to check out http://www.teaopia.ca/ http://www.teaopia.ca/ I just stumbled on their store in Ottawa, and it seems pretty great!

MikeCapone 16y ago
Also, if you're looking for the PINO Digital Pro kettle in Canada, this place has it: http://www.49thparallelroasters.com/storeAccessories.html http://www.49thparallelroasters.com/storeAccessories.html Amazon.com will ship here, but I'm not sure what kind of import duties that would mean...
MikeCapone 16y ago
Found another store for Canadians: http://www.davidstea.com/ http://www.davidstea.com/ They seem to carry a lot of varieties of high-grade stuff (though I haven't bought anything from there yet, so it's just my first impression).
MikeCapone 16y ago
If anyone's still reading this thread and looking for resources, I found another site from Japan that sells what seems to be quality green tea (haven't ordered from them yet, though): http://www.o-cha.com/ http://www.o-cha.com/