ZOMG we don't have a general-purpose tea thread!
ITT we discuss our tastes in relation to this noble liquid! Personally I'm a tea bag person, but if someone wants to rant about tea bag = death, then feel free to.
Lipton Sun Tea is a spawn of Satan. Twinings - especially the Darjeeling kind - is lovely. I put in both sugar and honey and mix it with 1:1 with milk..I guess I have childish taste. ; )
My tastes in tea are simple and unrefined. We buy cheap Cain's iced tea in very large quantities.
My only real complaint is that my parents put too damn much sugar in it. Aside from being unhealthy, I kind of want to be able to actually TASTE the tea, instead of just brown-colored sugar water.
The idea of put milk in tea seems odd to me. Good, but odd.
げんまい茶
山本山
W I N
Enough said.
obligatory BENOIST~~!
I like green tea chai.... but usually I'm too lazy to make it up, so instead I just drink straight (unsweetened even) tea. Roobois is best for that.
is benoist real tea<question mark,stupid school comp cant write it<
ok i drink tea somthimes every day and somthimes onece in a while , i take my time and dont use a teabags , i just dont think that makes the same taste.
as of now i drink lady and earl grey. im looking for some japanese loose tea , but have not found it yet , anyone got a url.
I'm overly fond of vanilla flavoured green tea. Earl grey is a delicious classic, and lemon flavoured green tea is rather good.
tetley tea + sugar + condenced milk
..sometimes I mix tea and coffee together, too. Like 50/50
It sounds gross, but it's really good. It doesn't really taste like tea /or/ coffee..
Here's a short article about bergamot (used in x grey teas) which might me of interest:
I only rarely find Earl Grey tea to be drinkable. It being considered almost the standard tea always feels strange to me.
>>10
maybe you make it wrong , if you can get out that sweet taste like sugar and still have the bitter taste of tea , you are in for a good cup of tea.
O how i remember my first good cup of tea , after that i could never drink tea-bag tea.
Japanese teas are my preference. Although, I do drink the occasional Chinese tea.
Definitely have to go with loose tea though. Loose just has such wonderful flavor. You simply can't get the same flavor with tea bags, although, I have to admit there are some decent bag teas. Yamamotoyama, for one, had some decent bag tea. Still, I prefer loose tea though.
I still have some relatively high quality green tea left over from my trip to Japan, and that's what I usually drink. Every once in a while, though, I do like black tea with milk and sugar, English style.
Ever try the revolution brand teas? what do you think about it?
>>12 tea leaves definitely have the most flavor. the drawback though is you got to leave them in a pretty tight container with no temperature or humidity differences, or they lose or change flavor. I have a very big stock of both bag and loose form, but its not high enough quality to warrant that kind of protection... had this 90$/lb jasmine once, that tail went all the way down my throat and the flavor stayed for four hours. =D
>You simply can't get the same flavor with tea bags, although, I have to admit there are some decent bag teas.
This points to several reasons why I dislike people who outright say that all tea bags are bad. There are good and bad among tea bags too, but when some tea elitists seem to ignore bags lots of places have only Sun Tea or something (often without a single real, black tea!). This despite the fact that tea standards have risen noticeably recently at least here in Finland.
Earl Grey. I don't even always sweeten it.
I like the black teas in general. Bubble tea is also nice.
I had just started to like tea. I bought some different types to try them out. Then my doctor told me that caffeine is causing the problems that I've been having. I'm bummed that I didn't get to enjoy tea for very long.
that's too bad, what sort of problems have you been having? :(
also I would say that I like japanese teas and other more mellow teas myself, I have had very few black teas that I have enjoyed.
Does mallow tea really change from blue to pink?
>>19
Heart palpitations. I wasn't really worried about it except for a few times where I got scared. Then one day my heart really freaked out and started beating super fast for no good reason. Faster then if I had just ran a sprint. That scared me enough to go see a doctor about it. The doctors ran a bunch of tests and found nothing wrong with me. They told me to cut out caffeine if I want to stop the palpitations.
Currently have Twinings Lady Grey and Traditional Afternoon. Usually a Dilmah drinker, but my local supermarket have helpfully stopped stocking almost all of the Dilmah range (and I'm not into plain Ceylon, which is the only Dilmah variety they still stock).
With milk, because that's how I was raised and it just seems wrong without it; two sugars, because I usually forget I have a cup brewing and by the time I drink it half an hour later, it's quite bitter.
>>18
I read somewhere that you can effectively decaffeinate tea by putting the teabag in cold water for 15 seconds or so before you actually use it. The theory is that caffeine is very water soluble, while the tea flavour won't be significantly lessened by such a short exposure (and to cold water at that). YMMV though; might wanna check with your doctor first.
I've been drinking a lot of tea lately, mostly as a substitution for my coffee addiction. Earl Grey quickly became my favorite, and Darjeeling is okay if you're careful about how you make it.
I recently got a box of PG Tips (which is now long gone), and I liked it a lot, but it was always bitter no matter if I let it steep for 3 or 20 minutes. Maybe it has something to do with my water? Tap water in this city, while quite clean, is very hard.
As a tourist in England, I got to stop by at the Bettys in Harrogate. A damned fine Earl Grey.
Best green tea is Longjing when harvested early. Quite Expensive.
I also like maccha. It's really bitter!
I. hate. you. ;)
You read the Comic Party dojin series from CPM too, huh?
>>27
Σ(ﾟДﾟ；)
Guilty as charged, orz, and hoping for an answer.
22&18
Actually the proper way to decaffeinate your tea is to put the tea bag in the cup with boiling water, leave it for a minute, then toss it out, refill the cup and put the bag back in. Nearly all of the caffeine is released in the first minute, but there is still plenty left over to brew a good cup after that.
No need to orz; those dojinshi manga were what really jacked ComiPa up for me and got me started fanficcing it. ^_^
"Malow tea" is a misspelling; whenever I googled the phrase, I got linked back to the ComiPa manga somehow. I went in under "'mallow tea' blue" and got some links back. A health food place sells the stuff but it didn't say anything about its color, just how great it is for realigning your chi and all its benefits and stuff. Some links to pages about traditional Chinese medicine, another about extracting dye from the tea. However, from Google's cache of http://www.city.yokosuka.kanagawa.jp/e/hananokuni/shop/01.html (The page itself didn't have any info), I found this:
"#
# Peppermint tea (the menthol aroma clears the head)
# Mallow tea (an enticing blue color that changes to pink when lemon is added)
# Lemon verbena tea (a faint citrus fragrance and nerve-soothing effect)"
I found another page that directly referenced the color change of mallow tea, http://homepage3.nifty.com/k_tomita~s/romarin/r-e/KOBO/tea.htm. Pics at the bottom are really nifty.
I may just order some and try it.
>>30
looks at photos ohhh ahh, malva :-D
I didn't know about tea made on it, but my mom's into herbals and mallow is supposed to be good stuff.
Does she have a place that sells it? I'm a cheap bastard and would rather not pay shipping.
This week i started drinking Twinnings Earl grey(loose tea ofcourse. I use 1teaspoon of tea per cup , i like it strong ;)) with milk in it , and i'm starting to like it.
I don't care what others say , but i follow the old way of TEA then milk. You can then better adjust the amount of milk needed.
All should try it out.
Not a big fan of Earl Grey; Prince of Wales done that way FTW
My boss also has some Harrod's No. 14 that he brought back from England. That's for special occasions.
Now if only we had real milk and not generic powdered creamer. :-(
Catnip and mint mixed with rosepetal/hibiscus tea!! FTW!!!111!!!!!!!!
is it me or is beniost really hard to come by?
benoist* rather
It's supposed to be a premium expensive tea, isn't it?
apparently. But there doesn't seem to be much info online about it. aside from some japanese site.
I am totally into green tea. Didn't drink much tea until half a year or so ago, but now I often do and almost exclusively green tea. Black tea is ok too, though.
I would never add sugar or milk to it, I like my tastes pure.
I drink all sorts of tea, but I tend to drink Hediard or Fauchon brand teas only.
>>33
Scientists came to the conclusion that tea in milk is better, because that way you're gradually diluting the milk and gradually chilling the tea, as opposed to boiling the milk molecules when you pour in the milk into the hot tea.
I say: Have your tea however you like it. Unless you're trying to mimic something official, like a tea ceremoni.
>>43
_、_ Let's find out.
（ ,_ﾉ` ）
ζ
［￣］'E
. ￣
I drink my tea without adding anything. Usually I don't take them in bags either. I do tend towards strong teas, often exacerbated by leaving the tea ball in the water longer than intended.
Favourites are:
Lapsang Souchong. I really like the smoky and somewhat tarry flavour. Unfortunately my friends don't like the aroma it gives off so it's something I drink in private.
Gunpowder Tea. It's about the only green tea I do enjoy.
Apple Cinnamon and Raisin flavoured black teas. For those occassions when I take my tea in a bag I usually go with this flavoured tea from Twinings.
Much scorn poured on the following teas:
Anything from Kenya. Could they actually make tea more boring than this? It tastes exactly how you would expect tea to taste, in the sense that there is nothing exciting about Kenyan tea.
Earl Grey. I'm so fed up with it because it seems that everybody has it in their cupboard and they always offer it to guests. It's become as boring as Kenyan tea.
Jasmine flavoured teas. Urk, they make your kitchen smell like a perfume factory and as a final insult they taste horrible.
A green tea based on a traditional Russian blend. It had a fishy aroma and left a fishy aftertaste. I can't help but wonder if the packagers have a fish processing plant as their neighbours.
Any of the caffeine free teas from Celestial Seasonings. Do Yanks actually think that oily sawdust tastes good?
I got my hands on a quarter of a package of a kind of loose tea. "Rotbusch Tee, Pfeffernuss-Orange". Why does it smell/taste so divine ;___; It's a christmas tea i've been told, and from Germany, where I am not ;___________;
Ingredient list: "Rotbusch Tee, geholbelte Mandeln, Pistazien, Orangenschalen, Coriander, Aroma, Rosa Pfeffer" i.e. redbush tea, almond flakes, pistachio, orange peels, koriander, aroma, rosé pepper.
looks like
www.teesorte.de/lshop,showdetail,2004g,e,,,21341,,,0.html
though I'm such a dork I'd rather get my hands on the exact brand again. I'll see what I can do about that.
I've been slightly obsessed with this tea lately, and just thought I should share/creep you guys out. All of the people who've given this tea a whiff/taste agrees with me about it smelling/tasting really good though, so I know I'm not crazy.
Did it contain large pieces of orange peel? I had one Christmas tea that I could only drink after removing the pieces of peel and mixing the remainder with something like a boring Kenyan tea (thus killing two birds with one stone).
A far more pleasant Christmas tea was one flavoured with nothing more than dried cranberries and toffee. Remarkably the taste was as delicious as the enticing aroma promised. Usually flavoured teas smell nice but the taste leaves something to be desired.
>>47
Depends on your definition of large. 5*5 mm^2 at most, was the size of them. Not really a problem for me though. And the flavour is pretty much as nice as the smell, and I quite prefer it without sugar. But that's just me, though.
And that christmas tea you had sounds rather lovely indeed o.o Where does one get ahold of such a tea?
>> 6
"im looking for some japanese loose tea , but have not found it yet , anyone got a url."
wins :)
Recently, I've been drinking Vanilla Chai, without any sugar or anything added. I also enjoy pretty much any flavored black tea. Green tea is alright occasionally, but I get sick of it quickly if I drink it too much.
Vanilla Chai, I can just imagine how heavenly it must taste.
>>48
Gomennasai, I went to the company site but no traces left of that tea in their catalogue. A more general internet search indicates nobody else has thought of something similar. Plenty of cranberry teas but not with toffee/caramel/whatnot for additional flavouring.
Mmm... Darjeeling tea, and korean black grape tea, ginseng tea, chamomile tea, german citrus tea, green tea, and white needle tea. I drink pretty much everytihng i find. I wanna try more kinds of tea i can find.
Yamamotoyama makes the BEST tea bags. I'm living on the stuff. My loose tea cache is dwindling down and those green tea bags are what's keeping me alive...
> A green tea based on a traditional Russian blend. It had a fishy aroma and left a fishy aftertaste. I can't help but wonder if the packagers have a fish processing plant as their neighbours.
CHINESE SUPERMARKET :O
___
On an unrelated note, I really like Stash Tea's peppermint herbal teabags. It's the only non-Asian tea I drink.
Is it true that brewing tea immediately after the water boils is bad?
It is if you bring it to a full boil. Tea usually brews best at about 195F for black tea and 175F for green tea. If you use an electric kettle, it usually shuts off between that area and full boil.
Hey a new tea lover here
(recently converted from coffee since I really shouldn't drink too much of that stuff and it seems to go with light snacks much better than coffee)
so far all I've tried is Jasmine, Oolong, Earl Grey,Black Lycihee tea, some other random black teas and green teas, hmm chinese hard to sound it out (sha xin), go fa, etc...
so far I seem to like the Jasmine and Oolong the best
but lately I've been hearing that Darjeeling is all the rage
so ya... hmm anyone actually tried Darjeeling first or second flush?
also does anyone know where to buy I can't seem to find it
I'm in Toronto Canada
the only brand that I've even heard of that sells that stuff is Benoist and Teekampagne
also could someone tell me a recentable price range for them?
in Cdn,USD, or Yen is fine^^
(I dream that SFTGFOP Teekampagne Darjeeling Tea probably taste godly? =P)
Thanks a lot.
That just reminded me. There's a nice teahouse in my area that I frequent. Last time I was there I had a second flush Darjeeling green (Darjeeling prepared in the Chinese traditional way). Very tippy and damn tasty.
hmm after much searching I actually found and tried darjeeling tea but it was only in bags
it was "Twinings" darjeeling bag I found these at the local food shop but I have yet to find the loose leaf for them
from what I tasted it seems pretty good not too strong sorta like a lighter verison of the jasmine I have at home
hmm does anyone know if Twining's darjeeling bags anywhere close to the loose leaf?
oh and when you say local hmm (are you in toronto? too? if you are tell me where to get that tea please =P thanks)
Twinings is hit or miss in terms of quality (their Grays and Breakfast teas are better than most of their others).
Loose darjeeling can be purchased at a tea shop. Check your local business directory or google.
In my opinion people shouldn't use sugar in tea. Unless it's one with cinamon and milk. Or with lemon. Anyway, they shouldn't use sugar if it's just tea. It's ruining the oryginal taste.
I argee a lot of time I just like plain tea by itself, for like jasmine. Espeically for lighter teas suger in some aspects takes away from the original flavour, but then I guess everyone has their own peference, also depends on mood I think. In the morning I like to have suger and milk, where if its in the afternoon or I'm pulling all nighters for studying I like plain tea just the way it is.
I drink tea every morning. I'm addicted to it. It gets me out of bed, beause if I don't have it soon enough, I'll get a raging headache. T^T I drink Irish Breakfast with sugar and milk, green tea, and this great stuff I found recently called "Kusmi". I also like to treat myself from time to time by shopping at Teavana; I enjoy their Rooibos blends.
I drink tea every morning. I'm addicted to it. It gets me out of bed, beause if I don't have it soon enough, I'll get a raging headache. T^T I drink Irish Breakfast with sugar and milk, green tea, and this great stuff I found recently called "Kusmi". I also like to treat myself from time to time by shopping at Teavana; I enjoy their Rooibos blends.
Kusmi I see, hmm I should try it one day, sigh there is like no tea shop nearby this suck lol
oh btw does anyone know which is better? 1st Flush or 2nd Flush tea?
also loose leaf verus CTC leaf bit, because all I've seen so far are tea bags and CTC, but I've not actually seen any leaflet for teas yet.
You may want to try using Rock Cane Sugar instead of standard table sugar. Rock Cane Sugar has a quite mild flavour - you notice a sweetness but not the taste of sugar.
>>65
hmm thanks,when you say rock cane sugar you mean that big hard yellow lump thing? I've heard of it being used for asian cooking but never thought about using it in tea hmm I'll try^^
It is indeed hard and yellow and lumpy, but if you buy it from a tea store, it will be broken into pieces small enough to dissolve with a few stirs.
There's no real difference in quality between first and second flush teas. It's a difference in taste. First flush leaves are younger, giving the tea a lighter, flowery taste, while second flushes are usually bolder and a bit bitter.
what kind of tea tastes better?
(green, black, chamomile..)
They all taste quite different. First, chamomile is a flower, and not an actual type of tea. Second, green tea and black tea are the same plant, but black tea has been fermented.
I like them all and keep some type of each of them in my kitchen. However, I drink black tea most frequently.
After finally trying darjeeling I switched from jasmine to darjeeling, I find green tea better suited for me in the summer, but both is nice.
Does green tea still taste good after a few hours in thermos bottle?
Hmm I tried it seems pretty ok to me still,
Just not as good as if freshly made of course
(unless you go for iced tea which in that case thermos bottle to keep it cool seems to do quite well)
I've had more tea again recently after a "lull"..
I bought some new honey, and noticed that the quality of the honey is VERY IMPORTANT. Therefore, anyone who tries to sweeten tea with honey for the first time should make sure they like the honey itself. I'm now buying the most expensive brand available and it's totally worth it.
Honey? hmm does that actually work well?
I never tried
Hmm.. can you recommend any type of honey?
(I know there is like orange honey + a lot of other depending on what type of pollen the honey was made from)
but which one is good to sweeten tea without taking away from the flavour of the tea too much?
>(I know there is like orange honey + a lot of other depending on what type of pollen the honey was made from)
I've never even heard of "orange honey" here, so I think you'll just have to try whatever stuff is available there. I use non-transparent honey instead of liquid honey, but that really just means that I use Finnish honey, which isn't available in liquid form (not very helpful!).
>but which one is good to sweeten tea without taking away from the flavour of the tea too much?
I think tea doesn't taste enough without honey. ; ) Anyway, honey is mostly a tastier sugar substitute here.. if you don't use sugar there might be no point. On the other hand, some people only drink tea when there is a honey option.
I'm not sure how it is in other areas, but here honeys are named after the type of flower the bees get nectar from. Orange blossoms and clover leaf are the most common. Personally, I've got a thing for berry and watermelon honeys (which are rarer, but have a nice fruity taste on the edge).
Saging for advertising; to answer any questions about "WHERE DO I BOUGHT TEA LOLZ" I can't go without recommending Upton Tea Company. www.uptontea.com
They've got some really great selections of black, green, white, rooibos, herbal, decaf, etc. of everything from basic, good stuff to rare and imperial-grade teas. Blends, straight types, you name it. Plus they pack and ship really quick; USPS Priority Mail is always a bargain. They pack and seal the bags with the date and time it was done and your name, and it's only $2 more per order (usually) for a handsome reusable tin. It's really one of the best, if not the best, online tea companies out there.
>>79 fails at sageing. orz
Lately I've taken to drinking barley tea. It's really nice, and different from black and green teas.
>>81
Quite! I miss that. =(
Though lately I've been drinking a lot of thyme tea with honey in it, by some odd reason. Quite nice.
ive recently become a tea person. it used to be coffee for me...but now i like milk tea with 2.5sugars, but im sure id take honey if we had any haha.
otherwise it is chinese tea which gets made at home...donno what kind, it aint sweet but i still like it...
Actually, there's a really wierd recipe for some really tasty tea my friend made up...
A quick splash of French Vanilla creamer, orange juice, and a tablespoon of honey in Earl Grey tea is really yummy.<3 Not for people who dislike sweet things, though.
Personally, I like black tea with honey and lemon. Also, green tea I drink in bulk, like coffee.x.x
I visited my mum yesterday. She was drinking ginger tea. Just chop up a whole ginger into small bits then boil it in a pot of water. It really warmed me up and did wonders for my throat.
My mom does that when I'm sick, too. She adds honey, lemon, and ginger to tea. It's really yummy.^_^
So not my thing. I can handle small amounts of ginger when it's in gingersnap cookies or in a tea blend (ie Tazo's Green/Ginger), but when it's that much at once....no.
As for sore throats, Throat Koat and Stash Licorice Spice are your friends, though they do have the supersweet aftertaste of doom to go with them.
I like to chop up apple mint and put it in a tea ball for my tea ^_^
I actually know very little about tea, but I love the few kinds I have tried.
Tea ball? Gah, wierd thoughts are coming out of my head!
I like green tea, lemon tea, and I really love iced tea! （゜ワ゜）
Only barbarians pollute tea with milk.
Luckily, most of these barbarians live in Taiwan and have copious supplies of little round tapioca balls and freakishly oversized straws too.
yay >>94!
I like bubble tea ):
I like beverages with a hint of tea in them, rather than tea with a hint of a different beverage
Russian Earl Grey tea with akacia honey is really good...
HI, I'm french and found of tea ^^
Do you know if there is a shop which could send me Benoist Tea in France? I desparately search but couldn't find a clue about it !
BENOIST~~~~
100GET since I have just discovered the love that is, Earl Grey.
I have a Southern friend who loves "sweet tea". Now, I'm a Chinese-American guy so I try not to say anything, but...
LOL LIPTON RED TEA WITH SUGAR LOLOL
I acctually really like Red Rose brand tea. I know a lot of people say that stuff "isn't really tea", but I love it. It's the only tea I can drink black.
Well, I like the tea Indonesians usually use with sugar. :P Green tea for me usually though, and bubble tea. XD
Actually, you CAN get Finnish liquid honey, but that's really rare. The year 2006 six was an exceptional one and almost pure fireweed honey and honeydew (really rare in Finland!) honey were gathered, both liquid honeys.
But you're somewhat right there - usual Finnish honeys are non-liquid.
>>104 Indonesians drink all theor tea with sugar whether it's earl grey, black tea, chamomile but the most common tea they drink is jasmine
Oooh, jasmine tea.. I should make some now. Thanks for reminding me, >>106 !
Benoist!
I really mean it. Its very good. You should try some of it when you're here in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoist_(tea)
lololol:
"The drama claimed that Benoist is the only tea company to hold a set of three Royal Warrants, specifically by Her Marjesty the Queen, HRH The Prince of Wales, and HM the Queen Mother. However there is no evidence to support this claim, and a search of the Royal Warrant Holders Association website reveals this to actually be true of R. Twining & Co."
>>109 that has no bearing on whether or not its a good tea, just shady marketing.2
Tea that's green tea leaves mixed with rosted rice and ma[t/c]cha powder is surprisingly good.
Oh those whacky Japanese, what won't they make. I might want to buy more of this stuff.
南平SEO
http://www.npseo.cn
莆田SEO
http://www.ptseo.cn
莆田SEM
http://www.0594sem.org.cn
莆田SEM
http://www.0594sem.com.cn
莆田SEO
http://www.0594seo.com.cn
莆田SEM搜索引擎优化营销
http://www.ptsem.org.cn
facepalm
Anyone else rich enough for white tea? Also, I need to buy tea that's I guess okay for pricing, yet the balance of the strength in the tea that is subtle yet revitalizing... Any suggestions?
I tried white tea once and for some reason I got really tired and woke up on my couch.
Earl Gray's okay.
Seriously? How come? What I read was that is has mood relaxing properties. Explains 118's drowsiness.
Nice, cold, green tea!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!!!
For cold teas, I recommend Barley tea or Corn tea. (though technically they're a tisane...)
I like camomile tea too... (also technically a tisane)
twohillstea.com has some awesome tea, i like their eybrow green tea
I love Twinning's Chai and Vanilla. Down to my last teabag - ACK. Hot, steaming masala chai with milk and sugar. ^~^
>>119
You know, when you say something like that, you should have some sort of a basis. Isn't white tea supposed to have the most anti-oxidants?
I drink jasmine green tea with leaves.
Tea-bags are good eye masks apparently.
Earl Grey. All day, all night. Fun times.
What the hell is a tisane?