Oh man, I am so sorry, I came back to Flight Rising forum posting way later than intended, I would've loved to answer your question @
Taemmie, Birdarang did a good job explaining what different teas there are by category, but if you want some specifics, I can try helping you out!
It depends first, on what you like in terms of flavor. You said you don't like anything too bitter, so I'd steer clear of black teas and
shou or ripe puh ers, as they tend to be bitter or have a strong flavor. Keep in mind that any tea with caffeine will get bitter on you due to the presence of tannins, so you want to be careful about steeping them.
It also depends on what your budget is, what's available and what you're willing to wait for (versus what you want to get now), and how familiar you are with equipment/what equipment you have.
If you've just got a mug and you're looking for bagged teas, I am often told Harney & Sons is a good bagged brand, and they have a lot of blends that will suit the palate of anyone. I personally don't get them, just because I don't drink a lot of bagged tea anymore, nothing wrong with it, I've just become somewhat of a snob. I will say, don't get Lipton. Lipton sucks (unless you're making sweet tea, but even then once you have nice bagged tea/loose leaf, you won't want to try Lipton again. Shoutouts to Lipton lovers, I salute you all).
Second, if you want to get into drinking your tea loose leaf, consider not getting a small silicone tea strainer. Loose leaf tea (or, good ones) tend to be whole leaves that are meant to open up while steeping, and in my experience, they just don't open up like they're supposed to in a small silicone tea strainer, so you don't really get good flavor from it. Instead, get like a mesh strainer or a tea pot you can brew tea in outside of the mug (or a mug with a metal/mesh strainer!)
The following list here is loose leaf teas, my girlfriend and I usually get teas from YunnanSourcing, West China Tea, or White2Tea (a newer one we looked into). There are many more sources to go to, but these are the ones we use. No particular reason, they're just priced well. You might see the prices and wince, they
are more in terms of out of pocket, but the price to tea steep ratio is really good if you steep gong fu style (even if you steep Western style you can usually get 2-5 steeps out of a tea, which goes up to 10-30 gong fu, depending on the tea!)
In terms of equipment, like I said, you don't want a silicone strainer. I mentioned gong fu, what the heck do I mean by that? Gong fu is a style of tea brewing typically meant for a party of 2-5 (though you can very reasonably have gong fu by yourself!), wherein you have a
gaiwan (a small vessel consisting of a cup and a lid, no handle!) which holds a relatively large tea of water ratio. In these vessels you are meant to steep tea for incredibly short periods of time, no more than 10-15 seconds on the first steep upwards of 30-45 maaaaybe a minute if you're trying to milk the tea for all its flavor and you're upwards of 25-30 steeps. With this style you can get a lot of steeps out of the tea. You also need a
gong dao bei, which translates to fairness cup. It's where you pour the tea from the gaiwan so you can serve it into the (very small!) cups, it makes it easy to evenly distribute tea across the multiple cups as well as making sure you don't oversteep the tea (super easy to do accidentally this way).
I am going to offer you many things, not just tea (of the Camellia genus) but also some tisanes (think herbals)
If you like mild, fruit-like, teas, go with a
green or a
white tea. I'm not a huge fan of greens, they're just okay to me, but my girlfriend loves them. The green and white teas are in their own words, lol. Warning: Japanese teas are prone to getting bitter, you want very fast steeps in a western style brewing so nothing longer than 2 minutes!
GREENS
- Kukicha
They like kukicha, a Japanese green tea that tastes bright, without a lot of the umami-ness that tends to be present in most Japanese green teas.
- Longjing
Dragonwell (or Longjing) is one of my favorites among green teas, it's bright, but more full-bodied. It's not brothy, but it's more heady with more oomph.
WHITES
- Baimudan / Pai Mu Tan
A very classic, easy to find white tea. Many say it tastes peachy. The more full flavored of white teas that don't have additives in them.
- Ya bao
My favoritetest white tea, my specialest little guy. These don't have caffeine and are not leaves, they're actually the little shoots! It has a really nice flavor, think lime and pure sugar. It numbs the tongue and the back of the throat a little, but I think that adds to its pleasant-ness.
BLACKS/REDS (these are interchangeable terms, black teas here are known as red teas in China) Take this next bit with a grain of salt, since you mentioned not really liking bitter flavors, I will only suggest sweeter black teas (which there are tons of, actually! Irish/English breakfast tends to be the worst of the bunch imo. I will also not suggest you any
shou or ripe puh ers but I *will* suggest a few
oolongs and [sheng or raw puh ers[/b], since those come in a ton of flavors.
- Lapsang Souchong
I am trying so hard to put people onto lapsangs. In truth, it's a catch-all term for teas (of any variety) that are pine smoked after oxidizing. Typically these are black teas only because white teas (and other similarly less oxidized teas) are brittle upon smoking. The dry leaf smells like a bonfire, and when you brew it it's like someone set a fire in the house. It's very strong in smell, and that follows in the taste, but usually it dissipates fast (the taste, not the smell!) and rather than the initial smoky notes that hit you it dissolves into sweetness you'd expect from an Assam (which is malty and nice, imo)
- Assam or Darjeeling
Not the same tea, but I suggest them for the same reason, pretty sweet with some honey notes. If you go to West China Tea there's one called Gamma Ray Oh man. What a tea. Very honey like from the outset that turns into a stone fruit flavor the more you steep it (we made it gong fu, so I don't know how it'd taste western style)
OOLONGS / SHENG PUH ERS (NOT THE SAME TEA, LOL THIS IS JUST A REALLY LONG POST AND I DON'T WANT TO SCARE YOU.
Oolongs sit right between greens and blacks in terms of oxidation levels. There is a ton of variation in terms of flavor. Taiwanese oolongs are soooooo nice
Sheng or raw puh ers are nothing like their shou or ripe counterparts. Where shous taste kind of dirt and leather and wood-like, shengs have a whole lot of different flavors. Puh ers in general are kind of pricey though, oolongs usually aren't, comparatively, but some will cost a pretty penny. I'll put a
O for Oolongs and
P for Sheng puh er.
- Ya Shi Xiang Dan Cong (mods will get me if I translate this one) O
It gets its rude name from a very funny story. The tea was apparently so good, farmers didn't want anyone stealing it, so they gave it a gross name to discourage theft. People love this oolong a lot, it's savory, a little sweet, but mostly heady. It's okay to me, girlfriend approves of it heavily, though.
- Ruby Oolong O
Very lovely oolong! It's cherry like and super tasty, beautiful flavors abound from this guy and it takes a lot of steeps before it dies out, so I can't suggest it enough.
- Secret Zone Aroma I'm realizing I don't have the exact Chinese name for it. It might be Yang Mei? Unsure, but at the tea house I frequent it's called Secret Zone Aroma and the tea house sources from West China Tea, so it's probably on their webstie P
Lovely tea, just the best. It's like taking a bite of green apple flavored candy, and it stays that way for a very very long time.
- Sticky Rice Sheng P
Like its name suggests, this tea smells exactly like a nice, fresh bowl of cooked white rice. How they did it, I don't know, but it's great. The tea itself has the umami flavor of white rice, and is so warm. It's a little stronger than other shengs, but it's a good one, I like it a lot.
Okay I have to control myself, this list is getting long, but I hope it's sort of helpful! If not, I hope it helps someone else. Lmk if there's anything else you might want to know! I may update this in the future!
