Tea!

Hey guys, I am a bit of a tea aficionado... I've had alot of experience on the topic and have been drinking teas in traditional chinese and japanese style for years... I just realized there was a kombucha area to this forum and got really excited! So if you have any questions about tea, send them this way and I'll do my best to answer them

Is there any tea that has viagra like effects?

digdan said:

Is there any tea that has viagra like effects?

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Nice.

digdan said:

Is there any tea that has viagra like effects?

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There are alot of vendors who'll claim to carry such teas, but all "tea" comes from the same plant (camellia sinensis) which has no such effect. I'm not claiming that there aren't herbal infusions that DO have that effect though.

mindonhiatus said:

all "tea" comes from the same plant (camellia sinensis)

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Well, yes. And then again, no. That's not how the word is used by people, so that's not what it actually means. While it might be enjoyably pedantic to tell my friend who's expounding how much she loves spearmint tea that since it contains neither the stems nor leaves of Camellia sinensis she's actually drinking a tisane, ptisan, or herbal infusion it's not a useful addition to the discourse and makes me look a bit of a wanker. Herbal teas exist; deal with it.

I am also a tea aficionado, in the sense that I appreciate a wide variety of teas, but I don't really have too much knowledge on the subject. My favorite teas right now are Ti Kuan Yin, Genmaicha, and I've tried one Pu-Ehr, which I like. Currently fermenting my first kombucha.

Here's a question I've wanted answered for a long time. This pu-ehr I bought claims to be from trees planted in 600 AD or thereabouts. It's billed as an "ancient tree" tea. Does that just mean that the plantation is old, or do tea trees live super long?

Ive visited many of the major tea farms in Yunnan and have heard much about the pu-ehr. Unfortunately most of the rarer varieties are counterfeit. There are some examples of collections that date to the 1600s but not as far as 600AD unless they come from the still un-excavated burial mounds that litter china. One of the locations I have visited have plants that are about 300 years old and still produce for specialty lots.

I wouldn't expect this to be counterfeit - It's not claiming to be a highly aged tea, just from ancient trees. I believe it's one of the more mass-market name brands, Rishi. It had good reviews for a beginner's pu-ehr. To me it tastes almost exactly like roasted yerba maté.

PintOfBitter said:

I am also a tea aficionado, in the sense that I appreciate a wide variety of teas, but I don't really have too much knowledge on the subject. My favorite teas right now are Ti Kuan Yin, Genmaicha, and I've tried one Pu-Ehr, which I like. Currently fermenting my first kombucha.

Here's a question I've wanted answered for a long time. This pu-ehr I bought claims to be from trees planted in 600 AD or thereabouts. It's billed as an "ancient tree" tea. Does that just mean that the plantation is old, or do tea trees live super long?

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I HIGHLY doubt there are any tea trees that are that old, rishi is known to sell "ancient tea tree teas" but they are usually 2nd, 3rd, even 4th and 5th generation stemmings taken from ancient tea trees that are estimated to be between a few hundred to 1000 years old.

The problem with this is that even though they are "technically" the same bush/tree, over hundreds of years the roots of the ancient tea trees go much deeper than the young ones and the plants take in different minerals, which gives the tea a more complex flavor than a younger bush would. You see this a lot with the famous "da hong pao" bushes in the wuyi region.

I've had true ancient tea tree teas (such as a single bush dancong from mt. pheonix) and the price is generally MUCH higher than anything rishi sells, not to mention the fact that teas of that quality are rarely if EVER sold in the US, most of it is consumed in china.

Cool info, thanks!