Saturday TeaDay 10/03/09 Recommended tea?

[Chip]

Good TeaDay everyone! I hope you will enjoy lots of tea today, and also share it with us here.

Yesterday we discussed advice we would give a friend interested in drinking tea. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Back to yesterday, the top answer was recommending tea(s) to try to your friend interested in starting a TeaJourney. So, what tea or teas would you recommend? Please be sure to share.

I am looking forward to sharing this TeaDay with everyone. Bottoms up.

[Maitre_Tea]

Establishing familiarity even when entering unknown waters is always good, and good loose-leaf Chinese blacks are a good stepping stone. A nice Bai Hao from Taiwan would also be a good stepping stone to introducing a person to the world of Oolong.

[Chip]

Remember, you can vote for 5 options today!

Yeah, definitely a Chinese black, likely a Keemun!
Chinese oolong, many possibilities.
Chinese green, most certainly a Long Jing, perhaps one or two others.
Japanese green, nothing too mind blowing.
Indian black, Darjeeling or similar. Maybe even a Ceylon to play it safe, hard to find anything wrong with most Ceylons.

Began the TD with Zencha Super Premium, which it certainly was as SweeTea can confirm, but Wulong, Gandalf, Precious, Pyrit, and the Fuji were just crowding the TeaTable this morning.

[brlarson]

Be conservative and build a foundation for them to use as a reference.
Chinese and possibly Indian blacks, Chinese oolong, Chinese green,Japanese green,and either Chinese white or yellow tea.

No tea yet today. Maybe none until this afternoon.

[ Kuradashi sencha and gyo just arrived! ]

[Dreamer]

Oh, such fun today! I can't wait to see LOTS of answers to this one!

Chinese Black...like the Yunnan Imperial from SpecialTeas that I'm sipping right now...great flavorful tea with a good aroma, but not mean. For me Yunnan's opened my eyes to the the vastly different flavor profiles to be found in black tea.
Japanese Green...Kabusecha would be a good start.
Taiwanese Oolong...FLT LiShan A 2008...mmmm an afternoon of fun right here!
Indian Black...Nilgiri Glendale from TeaSource (all gone for now )

Yep, this would be my recommended "starter pack"!

Happy SaTeaday, All,
Dreamer

[Chip]

No tea yet today. Maybe none until this afternoon.

[ Kuradashi sencha and gyo just arrived! ]

These two sentences do not go well together!!! One will have to be eliminated. So, break open that Kuradashi and I will be right over.

[Chip]

Oh, such fun today! I can't wait to see LOTS of answers to this one!

LOTS? Well, a slow start to that goal today.

[olivierco]

I would definitively suggest a Japanese green set with some Kaboku or another top asamushi sencha, a top gyokuro (Kame Jiri Shi for example) and maybe a karigane sencha. These teas are easy to brew. If they are too expensive, a beginner should start with best quality teas he can afford.

Tsuru Jiru shi gyokuro in a few minutes.

[Victoria]

I always recommend Taiwanese oolongs, sort of a given with me. And lately
Indian Blacks - specifically Darjeelings.

Started the day with Camellia Sinensis Shan Lin Shi.

[Drax]

Assuming the friend had no pre-disposition on the topic, I suppose I would go with a wide casting of options -- japanese greens, chinese/taiwan oolongs, maybe chinese or indian black. I probably wouldn't put pu'erh in the initial volley; if I did, it would be a cooked one, or a nicely aged raw one.

No tea this morning for me. It's been a busy day. Maybe this afternoon or evening when i get a chance to settle down.

[geeber1]

I would suggest Adagio's Black Sampler as a starter assortment of teas. It's a pretty well-rounded set with Indian, Chinese, and Ceylon teas, none of which are fussy or difficult to brew.

Hunan Black in my mug this morning, which doesn't really go that well with the movie "Rocky," which I'm watching right now.

[Trey Winston]

Again, it would depend on the friend in question, but I think I'd start with a Chinese black (for the strong taste), a sencha (variety, health, and taste), and a Taiwanese oolong (taste and smell). Then I would spring a Chinese white on him/her.

Having some sencha today.

[Ed]

Noobs must be properly hazed. Give 'em the nastiest puerh tuocha you can find and tell 'em to steep it 10 minutes at 212F.

[brlarson]

No tea yet today. Maybe none until this afternoon.

[ Kuradashi sencha and gyo just arrived! ]

These two sentences do not go well together!!! One will have to be eliminated. So, break open that Kuradashi and I will be right over.

Sadly, at the moment I have too much Japanese tea open (220 grams, a tencha, four types of sencha, and a gyo), so I won't be opening any of the kuradashi for at least a week.

I will be brewing my first tea of the day, some Hosen, in a minute. You are all welcome to join me

[Riene]

Noobs must be properly hazed. Give 'em the nastiest puerh tuocha you can find and tell 'em to steep it 10 minutes at 212F.

Oh, ack! You are just cruel! *laughing* Don't you want them to have any tastebuds left?

I'd go with the Adagio black teas assortment, as suggested above. Most North Americans aren't familiar with anything other than the standard Lipton's, so showing that that tea can be wonderfully flavorful AND have different flavors depending on the variety would be a good start.

*sighs* I want to be somewhere that serves afternoon tea. It's nearly 4:00 pm here, I'm tired, it's chilly outside, I want a cup of hot tea and something bad for me to eat. Like scones with jam and cream.