Who else loves tea?

[thefed]

I LOVE my tea...hot tea specifically. I drink about 2 cups/day...more in the winter (I drink about 2 gallons of iced tea weekly in the summer).

I order from a few sites that offer all of the teas of the world...and I enjoy them all.


Sometimes though, I like the cheap, normal stuff. Right now, I'm sipping on a blend of generic grocery store tea (100 bags for a buck) and a Wizzotzky Vanilla Tea I got in a QVC gift set.

Share your favorite hot teas!!


PS- Im also learning to like Yerba Mate...but that's a whole different ball of wax...

 

[thefed]

Wow...that last cup was so good I found myself guzzling/chugging it like water on a hot day.

I'll give that combo an A++++

 

[mh]

i like darjeeling gielle (estate) tea. great stuff. not to easy to find
except via the web. (or if you're in england/india it's easier to get)\

if you want better quality, it usually not going to be found in tea bag form.
having said that, i don't mind drinking a lot of the english bagged tea brands
though

 

[thefed]

i like darjeeling gielle (estate) tea. great stuff. not to easy to find
except via the web. (or if you're in england/india it's easier to get)\

if you want better quality, it usually not going to be found in tea bag form.
having said that, i don't mind drinking a lot of the english bagged tea brands
though

agreed...all of my favorites are bought by the pound or ounce. specialteas dot com is a good place to learn and try some smaller samples

 

[calmloki]

I've been trying the latest Costco branded green tea. It's ok, but is remarkable mostly for it's plastic sealed individual bizarro nylon bags. They take on water and sink quickly.

 

[pfpelican]

Neighbor grows her own green tea. Gave some to DW and a shoot to start our own. Showed her how she fixes it. Dee-licious.

 

[justin]

I suppose I'm an anti-connoisseur of fine teas, but I think the Lipton's Green Tea tastes really good. Especially the "Honey" flavor. I get mine at walmart for something like $1-2 for 20 bags. I drink it hot (or sometimes luke warm if it sits for a while), but I think it would taste really good cold or iced.

I was amazed when I went to the local asian supermarket and they had probably 50-100 varieties of tea (mostly green). Some of their tea was dirt cheap - $2-3 for 100 bags. No idea if it was any good. I also saw some kind of tea that was $60 for 250 grams. After a close inspection of the box, I saw that is was marketed by a Hong Kong based company and the box bragged of "the finest tea leaves and ginseng grown in Wisconsin, USA". So they bagged up some tea and ginseng from Wisconsin, shipped it to somewhere in Asia, branded it through a Hong Kong company, then re-imported it for huge bucks. The box was green and had mostly chinese writing, but I'm guessing it gives you supernatural strength and vigor, or at the least it's a good viagra substitute...

 

[pfpelican]

I suppose I'm an anti-connoisseur of fine teas, but I think the Lipton's Green Tea tastes really good. Especially the "Honey" flavor. I drink it hot (or sometimes luke warm if it sits for a while), but I think it would taste really good cold or iced.

Me too.

 

[yakers]

I like all kind of teas from cheap British stuff, Lipton to exotic herbals and Passion Fruit Ice Tea when it is hot outside. Recently had some Jasmine pearls, most expensive tea I ever bought but just remarkable, hard to believe a tea can be so fragrant and taste so good, but costs about 8X Lipton.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Having been in the business (Dad started the only tea plantation in America--it is still in business, sold to Bigelow Tea) -I can attest that some of the finest teas available in the States are from Harney and Sons.

The key to the best tasting tea will be freshness--if you buy from a supplier that has a lot of turnover, you have a much better chance of getting a good, fresh product. Tea does not improve with age--this is even more so with more delicate green teas than black (or fully oxidized) tea.

Having said all that--I am a Southerner, and drink black tea, iced and sweetened!
Sarah

 

[Life_is_Good]

Hansen's green tea

I used to only drink unsweatened iced teas. Then I tasted Hansen's peach flavored green tea. I really like it and it has EGCG which is supposed to be a healthy antioxidant. Yummm - good stuff!

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm not but my wife and dad are tea drinkers.

Cooks Illustrated did a tea taste off and found some interesting things.

The new 'pyramid' shaped bags produces a better cup of tea vs the old fashioned bags, with the same tea in them.

Some teas taste better black, but when you add milk, some of the stronger teas that rated low straight up rose to the top.

Their "best teas plain":
Twinings English Breakfast
PG Tips
Bigelow Novus Kelinworth Ceylon
Lipton Black Pearl
Stash English Breakfast

Best "teas with milk":
Tazo Awake
Tetley Specialty Tea English Breakfast
Red Rose
Lipton Tea

The PG Tips, Red Rose and Lipton are all extremely inexpensive compared to the competition. For example, Twinings@ $1.41/oz, Tazo@ $1.23/oz vs PG Tips at .47c/oz and Red Rose at .38c/oz.

They also tested against expensive high end loose teas and found that "Mighty Leaf Organic English Breakfast" without milk and "Harney and Sons English Breakfast" with milk were huge winners, but that their top couple of picks from the regular supermaket products performed admirably in comparison.

 

[CuppaJoe]

I drink ice tea at lunch. Where I work that is the politically correct thing, ice tea not coffee or wine at a routine lunch; however wine is required at the holiday lunch with java optional after.

 

[bright eyed]

i like my tea with milk/cream and sugar/honey...also w/ tapioca - the large ones...anyone tried these yet? they are fun! any area w/ a large asian population should have a few boba spots popping up...although some of them use low quality tea and/or premixed things and powdered cream (ek), but ten ren is a real tea house that makes the boba w/ great tea and you can taste the difference.

 

[justin]

Those who put milk in tea - what percentage of the milk/tea mixture is milk? Is milk used like cream in coffee (ie - 5% cream, 95% coffee) or is it more like 1/2 milk and 1/2 coffee?

 

[thefed]

Those who put milk in tea - what percentage of the milk/tea mixture is milk? Is milk used like cream in coffee (ie - 5% cream, 95% coffee) or is it more like 1/2 milk and 1/2 coffee?

i always used about 5/95...but who knows if that's 'right'?? sometimes i even use those fancy flavored SWEET creamers...but that ruins the whole 'tea' experience


after my wonderful vanilla experience last night (actual vanilla bean in the tea baG), i opened up my old favorite chocolate tea (cocoa plant in the tea)...mmm mmmm gooood

 

[Arif]

I love tea. Southern sweet tea (lipton, etc.), hot cammomeal(sp) tea at night. On cold mornings I love tea with a bit of milk but it doesn't get cold enough in Panama to enjoy it. I just break out in a sweat.
I haven't had it a whole lot here in Panama but when I head to Georgia I always have to be careful and not drink it after 8pm or I'll be staring at the ceiling all night.

 

[bright eyed]

Those who put milk in tea - what percentage of the milk/tea mixture is milk? Is milk used like cream in coffee (ie - 5% cream, 95% coffee) or is it more like 1/2 milk and 1/2 coffee?

as you would for coffee... but i use less sugar in tea than coffee, since coffee is so much stronger...

 

[Khan]

Two cups of tea (from one teabag) in the morning. I alternate black and green, no sugar or milk.

Right now, the black is Twinings English Breakfast and the green is Stash Premium Green, both from the local grocery store.

 

[Meadbh]

Ireland has the world's highest consumption per capita of tea at an average of 4 cups per person per day. The best Irish tea is Barry's.

Barry's Tea, Ireland's favourite tea company, bringing teas like Gold Blend from Cork to your local supermarket or grocery store so you can enjoy your own golden moments

Do check out the soda bread recipe!

 

[OldAgePensioner]

My favorite.
Go to Sainsbury's and get a packet of Taylor's of Harrogate.

A nice reddish green tea. Of this variety:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia

And mentioned here:

'So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle
Gently entwist.'​

Midsummer Night’s Dream, iv. 1.
​

A most remarkable English tea. Ceylon leaves of course.

 

[Bigritchie]

I like tea, but I get chronic kidney stones, so now I sadly tend to avoid it.

 

[VoyT]

I like Celestial Seasonings -- the Blueberry Breeze green tea is a favorite (very good iced.) I also like Lipton. Another favorite is their lemon herbal, brewed with a sprig or 2 of fresh mint, then chilled.

Oh, and if you go to Boulder, Colo., -- Celestial Seasonings offers a free tour of the plant, which includes a chance to taste any tea that they make.

 

[Gumby]

Lapsang Souchong is my favorite. It has a smoky taste, almost like gunpowder.

 

[two4theroad]

My favorite is Lipton or Tetley, iced, but I am growing a mint plant and put a sprig in while it is still hot and let it steep. No sugar. The mint affords quite an enjoyable cooling sensation.