Tea?
 

Who likes tea? I'm ordinarily a coffee drinker but every time I drink tea I wonder why I don't do so more often.

What's your favorite type? I love Earl Grey - Peet's Earl Grey is my favorite. I'm drinking PG Tips now, which is really good. It reminds me of the tea I have had in the UK. I hear Barry's is really good too.

Not I.

Sometimes though I wonder if I'm missing something by not drinking tea.

I love tea - in most forms, whether "builder's", a nice mug of Lapsang Souchong (it's like having your own personal bonfire) or one of those pots of Gunpowder Green that gives you a buzz you're not entirely sure is legal. Boiled-up Indian chai (none of your chemically imitations) is great, as is the elusive, cardamom-infused Pakistani green tea that is similarly ubiquitous in its home country.

But I also love coffee.

What's gutting, however, is having caffeine as a migraine trigger...

I think tea (only unsweetened) in general is great, and just like many other foods/beverages, don't need/want all sorts of flavors or adjectives added.

Granted, the US isn't known for its tea drinkers (save for the sweet tea in the Southeast), at the same time there are heaps of sweetened varieties available. Gross. Finding mostly (or sometimes only) sweetened drinks isn't limited to my home country, and that's another area where Japan got it right. What's de rigueur over there is enjoying the standard issue earthiness without "added anything," except maybe for Vitamin C.

When I was living in Indonesia and China, I drank tea everyday at restaurants, because A)it was good and 2)the water was boiled. Some Lanzhou lamian holes-in-the-wall in China would throw in random twigs and berries into the mix, which was...suspect, but welcomed. For Indonesia, ask for "teh tawar hangat" and you'll be good to go.

Tea?
 

Fortnum and Mason's Earl Grey

Tea?
 

For me.. Any Black tea is great. Instead of sugar..add a dusting of cinnamon . Great taste

does this include ice tea? If so I drink at least 3 glasses a day (unsweetened).

If not, the pleasure of drinking hot liquids is lost on me, never been a fan, not even hot chocolate, as a kid I'd make sure to put some ice cubes in it to cool it down.

The above said, I have enjoyed warm tea on occasion (especially in Istanbul) and like you wondered why I don't enjoy it more often, it couldn't be easier to make seeing as we have a hot water dispenser in the house.

Twining is based in our town. Twining Everyday Tea is what the Twining tea tasters drink as their everyday tea of choice, and is also our every day tea choice. When away, the closest is Twining English Breakfast.

I like Twining too. They were my favorite (excuse me, favourite) before I knew about Peet's.

I never drink black tea with sugar...just with a little milk. I only drink green tea in Chinese restaurants.

Iced tea is delicious, of course, but requires a little sugar.

Let's all remember George Orwell's delightful essay, A Nice Cup of Tea.

I am similar - I love a good cup of tea, but for some reason rarely actually bothering to make one. But when I do, I will often end up making 2 or 3 cups in the space of an hour!


I drink PG Tips or Yorkshire Gold as my every day teas, strong, tiny dash of milk, no sugar. I also like Earl Grey, again, dash of milk, no sugar. I have about a bazillion other teas in my cupboard, only a slight exaggeration! I rather like a British brand, whose name eludes me, herbal teas, they do a sleep one, a detox one, and a love one, all of which are delicious just as they are.

I love tea. A nice jasmine or rose, a simple Earl Grey, a spicy chai. In the evenings, a chamomile or lavender/chamomile (blue and yellow) infusion.

A nice afternoon tea on a Saturday, with some sandwiches and petit fours, and I am a happy camper.

I drink a pot of tea every morning. I like Taylor's of Harrogate English breakfast tea. I drink the tea black. When I am out during the day I drink iced tea. As long as it is not being served in an ice filled pitcher, I am happy. Surprising how many restaurants serve iced tea that way. Makes for very diluted tea. Only tea I dislike is the smokey flavored ones.

Tea
 

Rooibos is my favorite by far!

I used to be that way, only wanting cold tea and other drinks. Then, while teaching English in China, everyday someone would come around to teachers desks' and place warm yoghurt and every now and then, a lukewarm cup of water on the table. The A/C was never on cool. The inside of the airplane was never cool. Iced tea in a restaurant was a more foreign concept than well, a foreigner asking for iced tea.

So I adapted. But back in the US, it's all about the ice.

Love love love tea. I can be rather obsessed and have been called a tea snob more than once. I have an entire cabinet in my kitchen dedicated to teas.

I am more of a purist in that I tend to like my teas without added flavors (fruit, flowers, essences), although there are exceptions. A good jasmine green tea, for example. And I can't get enough of a highly spiced black tea from a wonderful tea shop in, of all places, Des Moines.

My favorite teas right now are a puerh toucha and a remarkably smooth oolong called High Mountain Artisanal.

Are there any Lapsong Souchong fans out there?

Hate coffee, love tea ... hot, iced, lukewarm, pure or added flavors. It's all good.

Iced tea is my beverage of choice for just about any occasion.

I usually drink hot tea in the evening, so I try to stick to herbally, caffeine free or lightly caffinated tisanes.

Tichaa Ginger & White Mulberry is my current go-to.

I don't react well to coffee and try to avoid sugars and fake sugars in Coke, so tea is usually my caffeinated drink of choice.

I'm currently going through a stock of Tea Forte Earl Grey - fantastic stuff. I first started drinking it in the British Airways CCR in Heathrow Terminal 5, though their tea offering was "enhanced" to something much cheaper a long time ago.

Twining Ginger and Lemon tea is remarkably good, though quite a departure from traditional teas. Otherwise at the other end of the price spectrum the remarkable Ti Guan Yin served in CX F (and costing $800/lb when you can get it in the US).

+1. I only drink loose leaf tea and have 35+ different teas at home. I also maintain Excel spreadsheet to rank different teas I try.

While I understand why Americans dislike tea... how come they insist on drinking terrible coffee too? :D

Growing up I was a huge fan of black teas, but have lost a taste for them over last year. These days it's all about Oolongs.

Is there a good recipe for Lapsong Souchong? I've had it for a while at home and want to like it, but can't force myself to drink it.

I drink Harney & Sons Paris (from sachet) daily, black.

That is delicious tea.

Hot water dispensers make horrible tea. Even if your goal is iced tea, for full flavor the water needs to be freshly boiled, or just under boiling, depending on the type of tea.

Dedicated tea drinker here. Like BigRedBears I have a substantial collection of teas, but only proper Camellia Sinensis, none of that herbal muck.

Ceylon teas are my favorite. I always look around for tea shops, i.e. sellers of fine teas, when I travel as a packet of tea makes a nice lightweight souvenir.

It's a girl's tea. :D Of course there is nothing wrong with that.

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Harney and Sons sells some great teas. I have a number of them

1) Black teas:
I haven't had great luck with their black teas. I suspect I might have tried wrong ones :rolleyes: East Frisian black tea is the only exception and is perfect for cold winter mornings.

I do like Black Dragon Pearls, Keemun Mao Feng, and Yunnan Golden Halo from Sullivan Street Company (www.onsullivan.com). For those who live in NYC they have a shop in West Village... on Sullivan Street.

Söderblandning (Swedish mistake tea) is nice, you can buy at in many places online or your local Scandinavian culture house.

Back to Harney and Sons. I would avoid their cheap flavored black teas, e.g. black currant or chocolate.

2) Oolongs:
Harney and Sons shines here.

Li Shan (don't confuse with Ali San) is my favourite, but it can get expensive at $190/lb.
For a cheaper version, go for Pomegranate Oolong. They used premium Ti Quan Yin as a base tea and add slight flavoring.

Harney and Sons also sells Milk Oolong. They are one of the shops that don't add flavoring to it, which is rare and proper way to do it.

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Do not buy Teavana teas. They label them as organic, but there has been a huge scandal about amount of pesticides in their teas. Some exceed EU/US regulations by 1000%

Is that why they taste so nasty? :p

Lupicia always seemed fresher, but it's hard to get on the east coast.

Went out to breakfast today and was served a delicious tea. I asked the server if I could buy some of it and she said that they get huge boxes of loose tea and bag it at the restaurant. The brand is Republic of Tea.

you can get that in just about any grocery store, but I've found the best selection of Republic of Tea is at Cost Plus.

Thanks for the info. They brewed it and it was very strong. Just the way I like it. Also makes for good iced tea. Have to get some. Amazon has it. Just ordered some. Thanks again.

I'm in the same boat. I bought some, intrigued by the scent, and have tried several times to enjoy it brewed, but it just doesn't suit my tastes. I tossed out that question to see whether I was alone as a tea lover who doesn't quite enjoy Lapsong Souchong. Guess not. :p

Anyway, regarding recipes, I've been thinking about using it to make tea eggs. The smokiness would lend itself well to the egg. I've run across recipes for tea-crusted chicken/salmon/whatever. Might work well for that too.

I've seen steak/chicken recipes which call for Lapsang Souchong. Maybe it is just like cooking chocolate - never intended to enjoy in pure form.

Take one large bucket.

Fill with warm water, dump in all Lapsong Souchong.

Allow to steep 48 hours.

Pour a dose on all African violets, ferns and roses bushes that you might happen to have. They'll enjoy it.

+1. Peets has a pretty nice selection of Jasmine.

I'm probably way too picky about my tea so I always pack a lot of tea bags when I travel (for convenience, at home is loose tea). Because I'd rather run out of clean clothes before I run out of tea.

I count myself lucky to have a TenRen Tea shop nearby. Their tea turnover is high so I don't usually run into stale tea like some shops found in the mall. Who else asks to smell the tea bin before purchasing ;)?

Always.

Interesting how smell and taste don't always correlate. A high grown Ceylon often smells like fresh lawn clippings in the bin but both smell and taste mutate into something completely different in the pot. Hard to describe the taste, but it no longer smells like I just mowed the lawn.

English Breakfast - or PG Tips if in England. With milk -AN ABSOLUTE MUST.

Edit - I generally bring teabags back from the UK when I make a trip.

I can't have caffeine after about 3pm, or I won't sleep that night. But it's a requirement in the morning! :)

A great thing about many teas (loose leaf) is that they can be steeped more than once. Because caffeine is water-soluble, most of the caffeine is gone after the first steep, so subsequent steeps are virtually free of caffeine. So go ahead and have some re-steeped tea after 3pm and have a restful night sleep too! :)

Pu-erh is particularly good for this. A good quality pu-erh can be steeped 10 times or more. So long as you are taking the initial cups early in the day you can keep drinking it way past your 3pm deadline.
Worth investing in, seems expensive but the re-steeping qualities make it very economical. Also, unlike with other high grade loose teas - which take concentration and experience to get right consistently - pu-erh is relatively idiot proof, over steeping and using the wrong temperature rarely makes the brew (and subsequent re-brews) unpalatable.

Also, you get what you pay for, a low quality pu-erh can be rank, a good one... Hard to describe, like the scent of a old leather chair whilst having a fine cigar (and I am not a smoker).

Otherwise, plenty of low grade Japanese teas that are low in caffeine - levels of caffeine in bancha can be very low. I don't go for artificially de-caffeinated options but from the range of natural caffeine free beverages/tisanes I would recommend Barley tea (called mugi cha in Japan) or an infusion from dried mulberry leaves which tastes very similar to some green teas. There's also buckwheat tea and roasted black soy bean tea, both of which can be excellent.

Ah yes, good point. I have (most of) a wheel of pu'er green tea at home, and the leaves just keep going and going. I actually find a cafetiere works rather well to keep them going - I never did master the technique of drinking tea with the leaves still floating in.

My favorite is Kaufland-brand Rooibos Vanilla (I bought boxes of it before we left Germany at 1euro per box)

Which flavor?

I should try that myself.
If I'm not using a gaiwan then we have some Japanese tea pots with meshes that stop leaves going into the spout (gaiwan is easier to clean).
Only tea I ever drank with the leaves still present was a particular kind of gyokuro which was rolled in a way so that it form bunched cloud like formations in the cup. Since the water used was very cool (no more than 55C) and the quality of the leaves was high it was possible to rebrew it a few times just by topping up the cup with water. Like pu-erh it was one of the few fine teas I could make for myself at work without ruining it (so long as I had a thermometer). Can't get hold of that gyokuro anymore :(