Newbie Looking for reccomendations

I've been drinking tea off and on for years, but only in the last few
months started to branch out and get decent stuff. I would be
interested to get some reccomendations based on other things I have
tried and liked (or not liked so much).

Assam- right now, I have some CTC assam, and it isn't bad, but a little
one dimensional. Are there any must tries in this vein that offer the
strength but a more complexity?

Greens- I really enjoy Temple of Heaven Special Grade (actually been
drinking this for years from the local asian market). Anything similar
worth trying?

White- I have some "white peony" that is perhaps too delicate and
subtle. Are there bolder whites out there, or is this just par for the
course?

Thanks for any suggestions

Buy as much different commercial brands of Assam as you can. The taste
will be different enough to notice so you can get a better appreciation
of the malty taste profile. I think TOH is a Pinhead gunpowder. Try
the other type Imperial gunpowder. If you want to branch out in the
greens to a similar astringent taste I would recommend Young Hyson or
Chunmee. The only way to learn the taste of White tea is buy cheap
SowMee(leaf) and brew it as a slush ie lots and lots of leaf and I dare
say more than one infusion. It will be strong but still taste
delicate. It will give you a benchmark for the delicate taste of
BaiMuDan(leaf,bud) and even more ephemeral Yinzhen(bud). I like white
teas when I am in a really good mood.

Jim

Justin Holmes wrote:
> I've been drinking tea off and on for years, but only in the last few
> months started to branch out and get decent stuff. I would be
> interested to get some reccomendations based on other things I have
> tried and liked (or not liked so much).
>
> Assam- right now, I have some CTC assam, and it isn't bad, but a little
> one dimensional. Are there any must tries in this vein that offer the
> strength but a more complexity?
>
> Greens- I really enjoy Temple of Heaven Special Grade (actually been
> drinking this for years from the local asian market). Anything similar
> worth trying?
>
> White- I have some "white peony" that is perhaps too delicate and
> subtle. Are there bolder whites out there, or is this just par for the
> course?
>
> Thanks for any suggestions

Thanks for the advice. Will look into as many of these as I can. TOH is
indeed a very tight gunpowder.

White Peony, as far as I know, is as bold as it gets, although I've
tasted some Sow Mee (shou mei?) tea that could compete with it for
strength. The latter tends to be cheaper, too. I like brewing the peony
at higher temperatures to make it stronger and more malty.

There also innumerable types of Assam and Green teas that you might
like. Temple of Heaven is a gunpowder, I think, and there are some
other strong greens out there. I couldn't recommend any, as I prefer my
green teas a little more subtle. Perhaps Bi Lo Chun (pi lo chun), which
has a strong distinct flavor, might be good to try.

In general, I suggest getting a number of small samples offered on
vendor sites. If you're in Los Angeles, I always recommend Wing Hop
Fung, because you can buy loose leaf tea quantities by dollar amounts
($2 of that tea, please!).

Anyway, best of luck, and post a follow up when you find something good!

Oops, looks like you already got a Sow Mee recommendation. so...yeah...

Jason F in Los Angeles wrote:
> White Peony, as far as I know, is as bold as it gets, although I've
> tasted some Sow Mee (shou mei?) tea that could compete with it for
> strength. The latter tends to be cheaper, too. I like brewing the peony
> at higher temperatures to make it stronger and more malty.
>

Thanks. I just brewed a cup and used way more than I normally would,
and let it steep for about 8 minutes, and it was much more enjoyable.
This is a much bigger leaf tea than the others I drink, so I guess I
need to get a better approximation of the right weight rather than
using an equal volume

Thanks, I might give that a try too.