#hongcha

“Reality is dull but memories are vivid”

It took me one full year but I finally finished this wip. \(TT )✨

Hongcha: I thought that was obvious. I mean... why wouldn’t the city be red?

Hongcha: Besides, I don’t lose bets. That’s silly.

How do you rate your teas?:

I use a five star system to rate each tea I try. This is more for me to look at than for you. The different ratings mean:

5 stars: want to buy a full cake of.

4 stars: want to buy more of but perhaps not spend too much.

3 stars: I enjoyed it but probably won’t repurchase.

2 stars: not really my vibe.

1 star: :(

Who are you…?

I’m an artist and Taoist who drinks a lot of tea. My art blog is @apoostrophe ! I can be found under that username in other spots online. Aged traditional sheng puerh is my favorite tea.

How do you brew your tea?

Mostly gongfu style which you can find a tutorial of online if you google it. I might make my own tutorial soon. Rest of the time I brew grandpa style and try not to eat too many leaves while doing it.

Where do get your tea? (I will update this list)

Teas shipping from America:

- yunnansourcing.us (massive catalogue, good beginner teaware, can be a bit overwhelming at first).

- liquidproust.com (great selection of stuff that’s hard to find).

- puerhjunky.com

- softerdrink.ca (Canadian supplier of Kuura).

- mandalatea.com (I recommend their oolongs).

- crimsonlotustea.com (some of their stock ships from China).

Teas shipping from China:

- yunnansourcing.com (big selection of everything).

- yeeonteaco.com (very traditional Hong Kong storage).

- white2tea.com

- bitterleafteas.com

- kingteamall.com

- farmer-leaf.com

Other:

- teaswelike.com (Taiwan, good raw puerh).

- kuura.co (Australian, good smaller selection very curated).

Any beginner advice?

If you haven’t already - switching to loose leaf tea is a big deal. Once you quit the bagged stuff the whole world opens up to you. Watch a lot of tutorials on YouTube and don’t drop a heck ton of money right away on tea you’re unsure about. Buy a ton of samples and build up your palette before you buy anything serious. Make sure to write down your tasting notes somewhere! If you want to get into gongfu, don’t worry so much about teaware. A simple cheap porcelain gaiwan is all you need; good teaware won’t make your cheap tea taste better, but good tea always tastes good. My DMs are always open.

Thanks for reading!