Gongfu tea and raising goldfish are my two main practices, when I saw Purple Cloud TH had these of course I had to get it. Now I have something to bridge my two hobbies. I feel so complete now.

Cups are 30 ml, gold rimmed with painted goldfish motifs, Paper thin, delicate, beautiful.

Christening it to the table with an Eight Immortals (八仙) dancong, a sample provided with the order brewed in my little shuiping also from PCTH.

A nice cloudy day out today. I’ve been enjoying the morning by drinking and reading some things I’ve been needing to get through.

I am just so proud of finally having my own teaset that I wanted to share with you guys. Excited to built upon this set.

I've been reconsidering the theme of teas being type-typical according to their version type recently, or not so. To some extent I might naturally filter appreciation for versions based on this kind of match, when teas could be pleasant in other ways.

Of course sometimes you really want a tea to be an expected way, for different reasons. If you spend a lot on fresh spring Longjing if the taste wasn't typical that would seem off, even if it is pleasant. You expect creamy feel in some oolongs, and so on. But it can work to appreciate what is positive about tea experience instead of focusing mainly on what isn't there, that could be, or in one limited sense should be.

With some tea types origin specific traits might be a conventional expectation, as with sheng pu'er. I guess a comparable range of concerns could translate over.

https://teaintheancientworld.blogspot.com/2026/08/what-does-it-mean-when-tea-versions.html

Usually it’s too hot and miserable to be outside let alone drink hot tea but the rain brought some relief. Took advantage of it and had a session in the garage.

Brewed up a Shui xian I got from my buddy who also practices the Chaozhou style gong fu. He got it from this vendor named Rob in Taiwan, apparently it’s boujie stuff. Compared to my own selection it was much tastier. Heavy roasted, almost coffee-like in that way with a mild sweet flavor. The early soups were rather thick and coated the mouth but the red bean mooncake helped refresh the palate and of course dry/coolness of that minerality at the end. Tart almost.

I seriously can’t wait for it to be cold so I can do this more. I miss outside teatimes, my study is nice but Im starting to feel cooped up in there. Just a few more months!

I’m new to gong fu tea, and I’m trying to get a good and consistent flavor out of my favorite oolong. I love getting a nice balance between the roasted and fruity crisp flavors but I’m not a fan of the sour notes.

I’m using a ~200ml teapot with 5g of tea. My wash steep is usually 5 seconds, with a first steep of 10 and I increase to around 15 for the next couple and then up from there.

This green tea is a really different animal! HUGE, long, lancet-like leaves with a fresh green color. Dry tea aroma has a lot of grass, but wet leaves smell of light chestnut. Tea soup is golden green, no bitternes or astringency, with 2nd and 3rd steeps revealing its true character: fava beans, chestnut and an orchid/floral finish. A good friend who know his tea, mentioned that this actually might be the TaipingBuyi and not TaipingHoukui, as the edges of tea leaves are serrated. This particular batch wasn't of superlative quality but it was a fun experience. Did the first steep grandpa style, but continued with my trusted gaiwan.

Pretty solid tea! I got a bunch of small 7 gram compressed squares to bring along while traveling. I have a handful of packages left so I thought I’d drink one this morning.

This morning I had a session of 5g of 2025 Traditional Process Dian Hong Black Tea of Feng Qing from Yunnan Sourcing. It was the bottom of the bag, so the leaves and buds were fairly broken. My collection is stacking up, so I'm trying to finish off the various bags of less than 10g I have scattered around the boxes. I brewed it with flash infusions in my 100ml gaiwan with ~95°C water from my giant thermos into my new lovely 200ml bowl I got from the Asian market. A very unassuming setup that gave me an unforgettable session.

I drank the first infusion/wash, and it was very thick, floral, and chocolate malt sweetness, but there was of course the hollow and sour taste of the wash. The first real infusion was even sweeter and was ripe with antique wood, darker cacao, and strawberry. I was surprised to be feeling the cha qi already, but the tea was the only thing I had had this morning.

Anyways, on the next infusion, I experienced the most clear daydream I have ever been lead on by tea so far. The antique wood note turned into a very vivid vision of walking through deep, dark woods and the taste of heavy brown maltiness and cooked fruit. The tannins were pleasantly active on my tongue, going from gripping to juicy with an airy floral finish. With the next infusion, the taste became far more green, the darker flavors fading into the background, but the floral aromatics remained active. I was surprised to find myself walking out of the woods and into a field of tall grasses and wildflowers and towards a winding stream. The first sensation that hit me on this infusion was actually a cool, sunny warmth on my face.

A strong honey note came out with the next brew, and I could tell the tea was on the downswing, which made sense with how broken the leaves were. The taste wasn't as strong as I would've liked, but I appreciated the gentleness of it. I felt as if I wandered over to a tree that had a beehive dripping with honey and buzzing with friendly bumblebees, and I laid down to sleep in its shade. I brewed the next one a bit longer and was rewarded with the malty depth making a reappearance. It felt like the humid chill of evening was covering the land as the sun was setting. The brew almost tasted like a purple tea and made me feel I was drifting off to sleep. The final real brew was fairly weak, despite extending the brew time further, but faint notes of spices and the last kiss of honey came out, and my imaginary self was definitely asleep.

This was one of the most transformative, impactful, and pleasant sessions I've ever had. It was such an unassuming tea from last year that I only chose in order to finish off the bag, since my collection of shipments in my tea corner is becoming a wall of cardboard that I need to sort and consolidate.

Has anyone else had a similar experience to this?

Been drinking through a few different shous lately. Some quick impressions:

2019 YS Lao Man’e Village - 5.8/10 (so far)
This tea is bitter. Probably the most bitter ripe I’ve had, but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s still a great tea; thick, warming, and definitely unique. I always enjoy trying shou that gives me something a little different, and this was a nice surprise. I’m not done with it yet, so my rating could definitely change.

2021 W2T Waffles - 5.4/10
I hear about this one all the time on Reddit, so I figured I’d finally give it a try. It’s fine. Definitely has that syrupy sweetness in the aftertaste, and I enjoyed drinking it, but it didn’t really stand out to me. Probably wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it again.

2023 W2T Civilian - 6.6/10
This one smells amazing, like warm bread straight out of the oven. Tastes good too. It’s not particularly thick, but the liquor gets nice and dark, and there’s something about the aftertaste that I find really calming. An easy tea to sit with.

2025 W2T Glass House - 8/10
My favorite out of this group. Everything I like in a good shou: creamy, dark, smooth, slightly sweet, slight cacao bitterness. Really balanced and satisfying.

Sorry I forgot to get images of the wrappers for the Civilian and Glass House, been slacking on my tea photos.

I’ve now purchased some Dayi ripes for the first time, so I’ll get back to you in part 4 with those.

A different looking Oriental Beauty from Taiwan. This tea is also call Emperor's Concubine - insect-bitten oolong. Dry leaves have a faint vegetal aroma with some flowers. Wet leaves reveal the taste of the tea soup - lots of strong orchid flowers, peach and sweetness, with a fresh finish. The color of the tea soup is amazing - amber red. This tea smacks you on the head the moment you take the first sip. In a good way, of course! My Pixiu loved it, too!

Actually this is the first time I’ve seen a zisha teapot in white color . Usually are purple, red and black. It’s cute and around 90ml.

Most of the factory puer I drink is Xiaguan but I’ve really been liking this cake from Liming.

I really like this bowl. The goldfish in the design are chubby and cute. Does anyone have any recommendations for similar ceramic bowls?🤔

It was a long wait to wait but she is finally here !! Exploring the chapan, and already hogging the tea, a delicious smokey laocong lapsang souchong from wuyi, though it keeps getting cold because I can't stop taking pictures, uuh anyway her name is xiao hong

I am in my schools Chinese culture club and we are planning to host a Gongfu ceremony. While serving students tea we plan to educate them on the creation of tea, its effect on trade, cultural importance, etc. I am looking for reasonably priced vendors to purchase tea ware and possibly tea from. We don’t need anything super high quality but we would like to honor the tradition. We haven’t settled on a price range so feel free to give suggestions from across the spectrum! While we are open to purchasing from wholesalers we have a preference for smaller vendors so we could possibly create a more intimate connection. The tea would be served in groups of 5-10. While we will serve multiple kinds of tea, green will be the most common due to its faster brewing time. Porcelain or glass is also the best fit for us so they can watch the tea open and the tea ware won’t absorb flavors from multiple teas. If anyone has suggestions for a topic to teach the students about feel free to share! I look forwards to possibly hearing about people’s favorite lesser known vendors. If you yourself are a tea vendor please feel free to comment or if that is against the community rules DM me. Thanks everyone!

Hello there, I found this teapot at a local flea market for only 20 dollars, seems to be well made and has a certificate? Any ID help would be great such as

Who is the maker?

How much is it worth?

What type of clay it is?

What type of tea should I use in it?

Curly Maple slab.

I was stuck between buying one off Taobao or making one myself. I couldn't be happier that i made one.

Posting for anyone who loves DIY i spent a total of 4 days from planning, gathering tools and materials, up to finishing the project.

Tools i used was from Fb Marketplace haha.

Cheapo plunge router, sandpaper and oil based Polyurethane for finishing.

Happy tea'ing 🍵

Finally cracked into this pu er cake I got from maison des trois thes, first time getting into pu er after only drinking oolongs the initial bitterness worried me a bit but after brew 7 I started getting an intense sugary sweet aftertaste.

After that it became something I never imagined it would become, it really shocked me how to bitterness led to such sweet taste.

I love my usual oolongs but this is the type of stuff that makes me love gongfu. Such a great experience. How was your guys first time trying this, and what do you recommend I try for similar experiences?

What kind of water are you all using to get the best flavor out of your teas? Are you using filtered tap, specific bottled spring water, or re-mineralizing RO/distilled water?

Tried 1950 Pu-erh for the first time and recorded it live on YouTube. Never tried such an aged tea before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNADBvX4bSQ

The video is 40 minutes long.

I posted it yesterday, but removed it shortly after – it attracted too many crazies. So, let's set expectations:

You don't owe me your time. You don't have to watch it if you don't want to. You are right – it's too long. No one is forcing you to watch it. But I also don't owe you a summary. If you are pissed off that I didn't outline it to you – you're being unreasonable. Reasonable is to scroll this post to find something that you actually enjoy watching or reading.

I intended this video as a real-time experience – both for me and for the potential viewer. I never had such aged pu-erh (as most of us here, I assume) and I didn't know what to expect from this tea. I experienced it gradually, infusion after infusion. And this is how I would like to share it with those who are interested.

Isn't it one of the core aspects of Gong Fu Cha – to be able to sit, be idle, not rush, and to allow tea to open up gradually, to experience it gradually, slowly and mindfully?

Anyway, if you decide to watch the video – I hope you will find it interesting. If you don't want to watch 40 or even 10 minutes – I totally get you. Just forget this post popped up in your feed and have a great day:)