I love tea. I drink it hot no matter the season of the year. I actually need to get back to drinking more loose leaf.

Anyhow, I'm finally trying some Numi samples I got a while back, which are pretty decent. I had the Chocolate Pu-erh and Lemon Mate today. I also have a few samples from their savory tea line...Carrot Curry, Spinach Chive and Broccoli Cilantro.

I've always used about 65C water for gyokuro, per the recommendations of the tea seller. Did you use 55C just for that particular rolled variety, or is that your standard temp for gyokuro? Regardless, out of pure curiosity now I'll try 55C on the one gyokuro I have and see how that changes the profile.

Bummer you can't get that one any longer. It sounds beautiful.

There's a standard rule of thumb that the higher the quality of gyokuro the lower the temperature needed to steep it, but it really isn't as cut and dry or as simple as that. Nevertheless, some of the best gyokuro I've tried was brewed with water that seemed barely above blood temperature (pre-warmed cups are important) but I don't buy this sort of tea for home - frankly, my brewing techniques aren't good enough, I've wasted enough good tea in the past through incompetence so prefer to leave it to dedicated tea enthusiasts and enjoy their expertise whenever I can.

I would definitely play around with the gyokuro you have, try infusing it at 5C lower than you're used to next time, and perhaps go lower still the time after.

With sencha - which I take many more liberties with and experiment with far more - brewing at a lower temperature than the recommended can have dramatic results (so can changing the water you use - Volvic rather than Evian if you want to try it with mineral water).

I took to sun teas and cold brewing quite late on but that's another way to get different (sometimes surprising) results from teas you already have or are familiar with. It can also give a new lease of life to some forgotten leaves that are past their best, dried tea leaves that might taste stale and "off" when brewed with the correct hot water temperature might recover some of their pre-over-oxidised glory when left to brew overnight in cold water.

I am with you about flavoured teas (why bother when the tastes inherent within good teas can range from the flesh that clings to peach stones to cinnamon to muscatel to nutty biscuits) but there are a few I enjoy on occasion, one of the best I've tried is a tea flavoured with osmanthus. I mention this because a good jasmine tea can be beautiful, and very refreshing, when cold brewed - even in sparking water (drop a couple of teaspoons into a bottle of Perrier and invert the bottle once or twice over a 12 or 24 hour periods, then pour through a sieve)

Lapsong Souchong
 

I got some amazing peaty, smoking sexy LS from The Spice and Tea Exchange in Charleston, SC (whodathunkit?). I love single estate blacks and golden assams, but that was dang nice. For you folks out there who like peaty, single malt Scotch, this will put the starch back in your shirt in the morning.
Cheers.

I love tea, but do drink an espresso every morning.

Since last being in Singapore and Thailand I have fallen in love with TWG teas.

OMG :D. They are the best.

I purchased alot of tea to bring back home and I hope I don't run out until we go back again...

I drink darjeeling tea everyday and sometimes sencha or other green tea. I also enjoy milk tea or bubble tea:D

I've been drinking tea since I was 5 and we were stationed in Oxford. Mom would bring us tea in bed to warm us up in the morning because there was no heat upstairs. For me, just the smell makes me happy. I love Earl Grey or English Breakfast teas, but green tea with Jasmine or oolong teas are good too. Herbal teas are wonderful iced for the summer (instead of sugary sodas) or hot in the winter when you don't want any more caffeine.

Good luck with your tea exploration. If you ever get a chance, do a high tea somewhere. I've heard recently that the Marriott by Hyde Park has a wonderful high tea.

I've had tea at Harrod's a couple times. It's fun. Tried to go to the Savoy for tea but didn't realize they had a dress code. Oops.

I also had tea at the Peninsula in NYC a few years ago, which was fun.

I very much enjoy tea. In fact, one of the first ways I got close to my sister-in-law, a first generation Russian immigrant, was by her making me tea. The way she does it is almost an art form. I like any black tea with honey and maybe a little milk just to cool it down. Plus, if you've got a Biscoff for dunking it's even better.

I've tried tea (hot and iced) and I just don't like it. I don't like cheap coffee, either. It has to be Pilot if it's retail, maybe mcdoodies, and if I make it at home, I buy Seattle's Best or something similar, not Yuban or Folgers or Maxwell House.

I've never heard of Pilot or (hehehee) McDoodie's.

Seattle's Best hardly seems a paragon of fanciness either.

Folgers and Maxwell House are instant, aren't they? Starbucks Via is the only decent instant coffee I've tried.

But let's keep this on tea, not coffee.

I now drink tea regularly because I find its the only beverage that you can take without sugar that's actually pretty good for you.

I like to try different teas, but often default down to green tea. I can get the teas no problem at Chinese, Japanese, and Korean restaurants. Comes often hot and is a perfect beverage.

I wonder if McDoodie's sells tea? :D

Pilot is a truck stop chain. They sell tea there as well.

I drink instant coffee as often as tea, ie never. Seattle's Best ground coffee tastes great. Folgers and Maxwell House ground coffee is like the stuff they have at service stations or cheap motels. Almost undrinkable.

Keemun is my favourite but very hard to find in looseleaf form. Otherwise Lapsang Souchong in loose leaf form. But both those only at tea time. For breakfast I prefer builders tea and I'm happy with tea bags.

What I don't understand is why tea bags taste so poor in the USA. My local store sells both PG Tips (in the specialty section!) and Taylors of Harrogate: both claim to be imported from the UK but both do not taste right at all.

People keep mentioning "builders tea". What is it?

Fairly standard black tea (low-grade English breakfast, usually), from a tea bag, stewed and squeezed, with milk and, if preferred, sugar.

It's what a builder, in the UK, will drink on very regular breaks.

I'm definitely a tea person, with different teas for different time of day: English breakfast in the morning, green Jasmine flavoured after lunch (I prefer Newby brand) and Twinings' Prince of Wales after dinner. I tolerate teabags, but prefer loose tea.

I strongly prefer tea to coffee. Not much of a tea snob, although i do enjoy a good cup of earl grey, green (sencha is good, matcha is great), jasmine, certain chais.

I also enjoy herbal "teas" like mint, ginseng, and solomon's seal. I've taken different types of Asian (mostly Chinese and Korean) herbal remedies, also (which sometimes can taste pretty nasty). Never understood chamomile, though. Yuck.

Tea bags are fine, loose teas preferred, blooming teas for the sheer cool factor ;)

Try using a bottled mineral water - something more like Volvic rather than the 'softer' Evian (not so good for tea)

Anyone had teh tarik or "pulled tea" here? I would really like to try it! I heard its similar to Hong Kong style Milk tea which I like! :D

Funny you should put it that way. When we have gone to Italy and South America, the spousal unit always gets a bit confused the first couple of days when I ask for his espresso and my "infusione" or "infusion" in the evening. I have to remind him that in most of the world, tea is black, green, or white tea. Herbal infusions are, in fact, not teas at all, but boiled infusions of other types of herbs (sometimes medicinal, sometimes aromatic), and are therefore not referred to as herbal "teas".

Camomile goes down nice and smooth. I'll pick this once in awhile for its detoxifying properties. Green tea seems the most healthy across the board.

I like chamomile, as long as it has a spoonful of honey in it. It's the honey makes the difference, says I.

Time to point out (as ysolde just tried to) that chamomile tea isn't tea.

Here's a thread already made up to discuss your love for infusions and tisanes:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/dinin...d-tisanes.html

Nice thread. Funny, I'm Korean and boricha, oksusu cha (roasted corn) and hyeonmi cha (roasted brown rice) are so common, I kinda forgot about them. They're good, though. Nice on a cold day.

Tea? YES.

Twinings is my go-to simply because it is so widely available.

Otherwise, whenever I can, I buy as much TWG (Singaporean) as I can lay my hands on. TWG link

Traditional Jasmine tea (cha) is a staple of mine at any Asian restaurant. I try to go through most of the pot before meal's end.

As a child, I liked Chrysanthemum tea.. my favorite tea back then.^

I simply love Tea
 

Tea is something I actually couldn't live without. I drink about 1,5 liters a day seriously I love my tea. I have a special teamaker machine at home and my favorite are the Christmas blends with lots of spices.

Please can you enlighten me, and probably some others, as to what a tea maker machine is? I simply use an electric kettle which seems simple enough to me.

Not going to argue with that, but I still like it. The double espresso that I have before my tea reaffirms my alpha-male status :D

Welcome to your first post on FT!

Yes, I'm curious what a specialty tea machine does? Perhaps post a link if you can of a picture, and a list of its function. Inquiring minds would like to know.:)

English Breakfast is my favorite. Jasmine and Oolong tied for second. When desperate, Lipton, if steeped for a few seconds in boiling water (I use the microwave) that seems to release a robust floral scent, then I add some cool water to tame some of the heaviness. I never add anything to my tea.

I practically need an extra bag for all the tea I bring back. If you looked in my kitchen cabinet, you'd barely know you're in a NYC apartment, it's full of tea from Fortnum and Mason, Harrods and Waitrose.

Never acquired a taste for coffee - to me, it's nasty and bitter - but I love tea.

Good coffee is smooth and not at all bitter.

Staying on topic, my mug at work is so big it needs two Twinnings English Breakfast tea bags to get a strong enough cup of tea. It is my preferred tea however, I am not a tea snob and will drink anything except the cheapest and poorest quality supermarket teabags.

I'm currently in love with World Market's pomegranate white tea. I'm also going through mint green tea, jasmine tea, and have some chocolate mint tea that I'm not a huge fan of.

Staying off topic for just a moment longer, I'm generally not a big coffee fan, although (in my limited coffee-drinking experience), I do enjoy the smoothness and richness of pure Kona coffee. Not at all bitter with great flavor.

I usually drink iced Jasmine tea (unsweetened) alongside meals at restaurants, but my favourite (for a snack) is Starbucks's soy green tea frap! :D

Decaf Black Tea
 

Any (widely-available) one worth drinking? Most I've had are so bleh.

Decaf Black Tea - reply
 

No.

You're lucky if "bleh" is the worst you encountered.

Twinings English breakfast decaf isn't too hard to find, and is fairly passable. Twinings irish breakfast is also not bad, though a little too robust for my taste, and a littel harder to source.