What do you eat?

[PLA]

Denial. Sweet, sugary denial. Mmm.

[PLA]

[Hong]

The more tea I drink, the stronger it needs to be. Even darker oolong needs to be increased in amount for it to provide the satisfaction I desire.

[Kimiko]

I like both black and green teas (and others), but I go through periods when I prefer one or the other kind. Currently I like both equally, before that it was green all the way, before that I preferred black ones. Just roll with it.

[Hong]

I am the same way, though my favouritism will go through green (many), oolong, white and Korean ginseng.

[PLA]

^ I'm bad at tea.

[Hong]

My advice for low levels is it is better to have too little than too much.

That is, try to keep teas weaker than you would like, initially. Every tea is different, as is the size of the vessel in which holds the fluids. As you level up, you can drink more teas and eventually, a stronger blend/longer steep.

Even if you reach max level, you will find some teas are always best kept light. If you brew Fujian jasmine in its purest form, you may find yourself feeling sick if you let it sit for longer than a minute. Especially after it gets too cold. White tea is about a middle ground, while sencha is more subtle overall.

[Kimiko]

I find that most tea brewing advice has steeping times way too long. One minute is plenty even for quality teas. Low quality teas (i.e. tea bags) shouldn't be steeped more than half a minute or so.

*tea otaku time*

To make a stronger brew, use more tea, don't let it steep longer. When tea is steeped, the flavor and color dissolve first. If you let it steep longer, the bitter flavor also dissolves. No amount of watering down can remove that, so do not let the tea steep too long. If you want more of the good flavor, just use more tea.

Tea quality means the coarseness/fineness of the tea leaf bits. Tea bags use very fine bits, almost dust. This means that the flavor dissolves quickly (conveniently), but the bitterness will also get out quickly, so tea bags should not be steeped long. Higher quality loose-leaf teas have larger leaf parts (really high quality will have almost whole leaves), which means the bitterness takes longer to enter the water. Hence the flavor gets more time to dissolve, and you get a more aromatic brew.

[Trifkin]

The best tea I ever had in my life was from fresh, whole leaves. I wish I could remember all the plants used. All I know is one of them was lemon basil. It was amazing.

[Kimiko]

So-called 'herbal teas' aren't real tea IMNSHO.

[Hong]

Whenever I call them "tonics", people get the wrong idea. :/

[negzee]

I just call them tea.

[PLA]

^ I call them soup. :3

[negzee]

All food and drink can be reduced to special cases of casserole.

[PLA]

^ Or Purée. :3