A newbie to TeaChat here as well, there seems to be a LOT of them in this thread
I'm a Kiwi, Bred and Born in New Zealand and with the usual kiwis itchy feet. Lived in Chongqing in P.R.C for 12 months and another month-ish in Fenghua near Ningbo, while there I got a liking for chinese greens.
How long have you been drinking tea?
Since I was around 10 or so, in the summer of '90/'91 (Southern Hemisphere here, so that was Nov-Jan) I remember drinking cup after cup after cup on the tour boat on Lake Manapouri. English black, first with milk and lots of sugar, later with less sugar, by the time I was 15 or so, no sugar.
I quite like Earl Grey, or a strong black like Kenya Bold from Bell Tea here in NZ.
What was your first Tea?
Bog standard supermarket english Black.
What is your favorite Tea currently?
Liu An Gua Pian. I usually brew up a 1.5L coffee plunger and let it sit and steep as I drink, it changes from the first cup until I pour the last liquid off the dregs. Often the leaves will stay in the plunger until morning, and the nights tea becomes the morning tea simply by adding hot water and letting it brew while making breakfast.
What is your next purchase?
I was browsing Aliexpress for a few knicknaks and saw a sidebar for tea, Hmm... Never tried PuErh, Ordered a brick of what they claimed as "1980's Ripe Puerh" Having found this site a few days later from a different direction (YiXing teaware, bidding on a pot and googling the stamp) and the Puer section, I suspect it will turn out to be QUITE ripe and probably compost given it was only $10 a 250gm brick.
Having been lead from here to YunnanSourcing, I suspect I will be getting a bunch of smaller size samples of several puers soon.
Where is your favorite spot to brew up?
Depends on what I am doing. I make billy brews when hunting, sitting on a hilltop with a tin can containing a spoon of tea, a pinch of salt and cold water slowly coming to the boil beside me as I watch for movement of deer.
Or sitting on the deck with a brew of green tea steeping on the table beside me as I read a book.
Or a nice Darjeeling or Earl Grey on a cafe sidewalk table watching the world go by in town. (through TBH I generally have coffee in cafes)