I guess the functional argument for tetsubins is trace iron deposits, though I’m not sure if I buy it. But also value in ritual and all that, etc., maybe a feller has a nice yuzamashi he wants to use or get better at feeling it out body-style.
but yeah, seconded, I got a variable-temp kettle earlier this year and I will never look back
i’m listening 
i like ur style, hot dog 
i feel it, let us all live honestly together and without pretense 
u lost me i’m out 
math has no place in the dairy isle
do iiiit, pass the bombilla on the left hand side
i love yerba mate
Have y’all ever had Kava Kava tea? I’ve only had it from tea bags, but I got some pretty decent, pure Kava root ones from Celebration Herbals that seem like decent homemade approximations of what real legit kava drinks must be like.
It’s pretty great stuff! Imagine the gentle inverse of caffeine, a clearly felt psychoactive “buzz” that presents a slight calming and anxiety-reducing effect at about the same strength as caffeine’s upper effect. Plus it weirdly numbs your tongue and tastes weird but kinda good.
I really want to try legit traditional kava kava beverages, but there are no kava bars in my area. For whatever reason, there seem to be more kava bars in Florida than any other part of the US. When I visit Sarasota for the holidays, I’m going to check out the city’s first one, which just opened recently.
yerba mate is nice that’s all i drink really. i don’t fuck with those gourds and stuff although a bunch of people have tried to convince me into buying one.
wish i could do like my japanese friend-of-a-friend and make a habit of preparing a huge jar of tea every morning and drinking it while at home. seems like a pleasant habit and better for my teeth / stomach than drinking so much black coffee
tried mate out of curiosity got way into it
would go through a thermos worth of water on the dock each morning leeching everything out of the mulch in my gourd
surrounded by the kinds of twentysomethings that take seasonal jobs in Alaska, so: periodically some dock rep who’d backpacked in south america would want The Story re: how the scowling whitey had come to be sucking bombilla and were always disappointed when my explanation was “idle curiosity about all plant waters”
yeah it’s a good thing I decided not to do the pu-erh thing
“oh cool” logs back out
how’s lapsing souchong compare to russian caravan again? been a while since i had either
Lately I’ve been recreating japanese style royal milk tea. I make a bunch with a 2nd flush darjeeling, partially steeped in high-fat milk, and sweetened with agave syrup.
Tastes remarkably like I remember the real thing tasting, so.
Otherwise I drink a lot of a local blend they call “Stockholm blend” with is Earl Grey with mango and apricot. I normally shun fuity teas but this one is really tasty when you brew it at the right temperature.
russian caravan is a blend that has some lapsang in it
ohhhh tru
adagio utilitea!!!
love the temperature potentiometer and (imagined???) durability vs screens and buttons and but mine is definitely, definitely inaccurate so i just look how much steam is there when i pour and if i need it cooler i pour from really high (iow i decant hot water)
one day
I like the idea of these as gadgets and I think that if someone figured a way to make something similar, say, all out of glass or ceramic, they could make some money or maybe not but it would be neat
Went to the fancy grocery store this morning and in the bulk tea section they had some chamomile flowers. Tastes good though not markedly different from the stuff I was already drinking, but the baggy I got rang up for $.39 instead of $5 for a box of 10 bags or whatever. More generally: been brewing it lower @ ~175degF, pleasantly mild.
how does one ‘get into’ nice-ish tea
assuming one is also not flush on cash
