Monday TeaDay 3/15/10 DisposalTea?

[Chip]

Yesterday we discussed tea storage containers. You can still vote and discuss yesterday's topic.

Welcome everyone to TeaDay. You are all invited to share what is in your cup through out the day. Half the fun is seeing what is in everyone else's cup as well. If you need to, you can reflect back on your TeaDay as well.

Today's TeaPoll and discussion topic. Have you ever thrown out tea that was soooo bad...so bad that you did not want to even give it to someone else. Share your experience with really bad tea that was not fit for human consumption...yikes, and what was it?

I am looking forward to seeing everyone on TeaDay!

[Seeker]

The one I remember tossing was Teavana matcha - yuck.
I'm sure there have been others, but don't remember them (forgettable).
I do have one that I really didn't like, and I think I still have it even tho it's probably 2 yrs old now - it's a gyokuro I got from White Crane (which I think is gone now sadly) - reputed to be very high in "qi" - it was just too much for me, and very seaweedy (I know some folks really relish the seaweed flavors and aromas in their tea, but I do not -- which is why the kabusecha I got will be used exclusively for blending heh heh).

Finishing my green blend from this morning.

[Chip]

In 11 years, I can remember only one I thought was sooooo bad I had to toss it and I did it immediately ... and this was a few days ago.

It was a Gyokuro and it had the most disgusting aroma, reminded me of manure yet worse. It was not even good enough for the TeaBath reserve where most bad teas go ... who would want to take a bath in manure water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have gotten a LOT in Chinese tins (these did not make yesterday's TD) from Chinatown that is generally not really drinkable, but it is still in the tins after ... ummm, 5-10 years.

Sipping the remains of the day in a SeaCuke Hagi-Wan ...

Look for SkyWarrior's post today.

[Ebtoulson]

O yes...remind me of my tea noob experiences . Back when I started drinking tea on a daily basis I purchased about 3 ounces of wuyi oolong with goji berries. I can't really remember the tastes except that is was undrinkable and definitely didn't taste like goji berries. Now thinking back it smelled like prunes. After a month or so of trying to drink it, I gave up and threw it out.

Back at home on spring break so my tea supply is very limited, adagios oolong #8 currently in my cup.

[IPT]

I throw away a LOT of tea. Businessmen and officials give it to me. Many times it is pure garbage. Generally what happens is someone gives someone tea and they in turn give it to someone else who gives it to someone else, and so on, and so on. So by the time it reaches me, it's ancient and stale. I tend to throw a lot of tea away. In my shop when my teas start to fade I throw them out also. I refuse to sell old teas, so I probably throw away more tea than many people drink.

[Geekgirl]

OH gosh yes. I"ve tossed MANY teas. Teabags, greens, matchas, this truly horrid ginseng sample that a vendor sent with my tea beast...Teas that have gone totally stale, a low quality oolong that I tried to roast - yeah that was a HUGE failure. LOTS of rooibos what was I thinking! Hehe.

I have NO trouble throwing out tea that I think is undrinkable. I will pass it along if I think it's perfectly good, but just not for me. But if it's just yucko, then out it goes.

[skywarrior]

I tried several puerh, but couldn't stand them. Still have them, but I won't drink them. My sister gave me some awful bagged green tea that I still have. The unopened box went to the food bank.

I am drinking black dragon pearls tonight. Yum! And for those who know me (and don't), I am a professional author by trade with more than 30 books published and hundreds of articles and short stories. I've put several of my published fiction into ebook formats now and I'm offering a totally free copy of my first novel (published in 2005) called Prophecy of Swords for you to read and enjoy on Smashwords. Absolutely no catch and nothing to buy. It's in multiple formats for various book readers and for reading on iPhone, iTouch, and the like, as well as letting you read off your computer if you don't have any of those fancy gizmos.

Here is the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10991

And to make this teachat worthy, drink your favorite tea while reading my book. And contact me and let me know if you enjoyed it (the book and the tea).

[skywarrior]

I have gotten a LOT in Chinese tins (these did not make yesterday's TD) from Chinatown that is generally not really drinkable, but it is still in the tins after ... ummm, 5-10 years.

Sipping the remains of the day in a SeaCuke Hagi-Wan ...

Look for SkyWarrior's post today.

Thanks for letting folks know.

A friend of mine had me buy tea in Chinatown several years ago when I visited NYC. If you buy black and oolong, they're drinkable, except the Keemun is truly hit or miss. The Ti Kuan Yin is okay -- I've had better, but for what it is, it is not sweepings, thankfully.

My thought is that they're a step up from the bagged stuff. They need to be rinsed and you get some very pretty tins out of them.

I'm using my Ice Hagi-Wan. A comment from my husband: "What? They couldn't put handles on them?"

[Victoria]

Thanks SkyWarrior for your generous offer!!

Yes, I have thrown out many bad teas. Life is too short too drink bad tea, is my motto. Most were herbal or roiboos and a few stale and one TGY.

As it so happens one was also this morning. In a partial morning fog I grabbed a sample packet from Imperial Teas, began brewing it, took a big taste ---- YUCK!!! It was some hydrangea herbal thing I wanted to try. So sweet it shot though my caffeine deprived head like an ice pick. Holy cow I dumped it so fast and I stood there in shock waiting for more water to boil. Hurry, hurry, hurry please. Oy.

[debunix]

I have fed unused tea leaves to the same worms that happily compost my used leaves.

Basically, if I don't like a tea, I won't foist it off on someone else, unless there are extenuating circumstances. So when I tried a couple of high-grade darjeelings and found that I liked them no more than bagged darjeelings I'd encountered at buffet tables, I gave those away to a friend who loves darjeeling. But some green teas that I couldn't brew without bitterness, and bought too much of before I figured that out, and some not-so-wonderful tea gifts, and some bagged and loose tea that got forgotten about and became undrinkably stale, all those have fed the worms.

This tea day started green (sencha, Dragon Well, and a tasting of several green teas) and ended with a nice shu puerh.

So sad to hear that the hydrangea was not so well received, though. It worked well for me yesterday as the sweet part of a mixed herb tea.

[Victoria]

So sad to hear that the hydrangea was not so well received, though. It worked well for me yesterday as the sweet part of a mixed herb tea.

Well this may not be the same as what Hankook is offering. It is called Amacha Sweet Buddha Tea and says it is a relative of the hydrangea plant. I still plan to try Hankook's version.

Signs of Spring abound - my neighbor's tree is just
breathtaking! Not sure what type it is. And my dwarf
apple is budding:

[pimli]

I usually feel no remorse in tossing out cheap tea (blegh Twinings bagged Darjeeling), but I once held on to a bag of crappy supermarket oolong the boyfriend got me from a trip home. Besides chrysanthemum he has only ever bought bagged tea, so I appreciate his foray into picking out something "fancy" (loose leaf).

I tried playing around with it for a while-- at least I got to practice the motions of using a gaiwan -- but finally threw it out the other day. It was just so awful.

Hot hibiscus tea screwing up my mouth today. Suspect it will probably be iced and heavily sugared.

[AdamMY]

I am sorry that I had to answer yes... It was a yancha that basically looked like the package had been sat on a few times, becuase basically the whole bag was full off tiny leaf bits, and it was so broken up that I could not figure out how to brew it properly. I did get through over half the bag though of the larger pieces, but those last tiny bits only offered super strong early cups and hardly anything in later infusions. I should have kept them for iced tea but you live and learn.

[geeber1]

Yes ... "bagged" green tea, ginseng and jasmine oolong, and something horribly, horribly black.

Adagio's Fujian Baroque in my cup this morning.

Thanks for sharing your e-book Skywarrior - it looks like it will be a great read!

[Amaikokonut]

I try to avoid throwing away tea if possible, but then, while I have found some teas of sub-par quality, I have yet to run into anything truly undrinkable. But then, I'm still a hatchling in the tea-world. I could change my mind as I experience more.

I have an extremely not-picky friend who will drink just about anything, and was more than happy to take most of my bagged tea off my hands when I made the switch to loose-leaf. I'd probably run anything I didn't like by her first before considering tossing it.

Ooh, I just remembered-- there was one tea I did throw away, years ago when I knew nothing of the world outside the teabag; it was Lipton's mandarin orange green tea or something; one of those fancy sorts with the pyramid teabags and all. Oddly I thought it was worse than the normal teabags.