Hey Tea Lovers

It might well be more potent. Assuming you can put up with the rather unpleasant smell.

 

I love the smoky aromas of Darjeeling. Not for me the bland & insipid, fashionable green tea!
After 8pm I opt for Rooibos (aka Red Bush).

 

I've found some interesting green tea lately. Green tea and grapefruit flavoring and also green tea with orange and lotus flower extracts. Beautiful.

 

I don't drink alot of tea but when I do, I drink this one.

 

I love tea! Although I only drink one or two cups a day. I can drink a wide variety of different tea, however I hate tea with mint yuck!

 

I'm an earl gray kinda guy, but I'm also real fond of chai and mint. I saw someone mentioned oolong... I wanted so much to like it, because I loved the smell, but when I tried it I just... didn't like it

 

Green teas can be wonderful in summer. I love sencha bought from a seller in Japan and long jing although this is becoming expensive.

 

connoisseur of teas over here aha My favourite tea is anything with a bit of a kick to it. (chai/gingerbread/etc.)

 

I can't stand Arizona Tea or Peace Tea now that I make my own in the morning. I more consider Peace and Arizona Tea more of a soft drink, since most anything you'll find in a bottle or can (or fountain drink) is packed with an insane amount of sugar. I stay away from all that stuff unless I'm drinking. Which, now I even try to drink juice with alcohol rather than "highballs" (soda and liquor). But, y'know... most places buy cheap juice anyways to save themselves some cash, so any which way you turn... you're ****ed!! haha!

As for tea though, I've recently become a big fan of Stash tea company. It's hard to find some of their different varieties (hence the name 'Stash' I suppose lol) but I think they're great! I remember in junior high when we had a Japanese exchange student, she sat the class down and had us enjoy some green tea she brought with her from home. Honestly, probably because I was so young and was more into soda and junk food back then, I thought it smelled and tasted like sewer water! So, from that experience, I gathered that if it's good green tea, that's what it will smell like! Sort of an acquired taste really.

I love all sorts of tea, but have this strange fear of trying things that sound too out of the ordinary for some reason. I love Green Tea, English Breakfast, Green/Black Chai Tea, Chamomile's nice sometimes, makes you feel a bit stoned between relaxing and drying out your eyeballs. I've recently become a fan of adding milk and cream to black tea and chai varieties. Usually milk, cream and a bit of sugar with chai. Oddly enough, milk or cream is amazing in black tea as well! Makes me feel more like I'm drinking coffee even!


Here's another strange story regarding caffeinated beverages... For quite a while I was unable to drink regular coffee. When I did, I'd end up getting these twitches in random places on my face that would last for ~3 days. It was the weirdest thing. Later on, after continuing to drink it even with the twitches and all, I found that once I would drink a cup of decaf, they would just vanish! Maybe it was some sort of accumulation of caffeine in my body over the years? As I used to drink a lot of energy drinks and things of that sort... which are HORRIBLE for you!! I don't know why I drank that crap. Thankfully, I don't have a problem drinking regular coffee anymore, as I switched to tea for my energy, then to fruit, then nothing at all, back to tea and coffee occassionally. I wonder if anyone else has ever experienced anything like this...

Needless to say though... I love me some tea!! <3

 

My therapist adds milk and cream to earl gray... he's where I picked up my affinity for it, because he usually offers me some. I can't have milk or cream, so whenever he makes a cup and gets it in his head to put the sugar in for me, well... it's probably worse than drinking an Arizona/Peace tea! It's like sugar water I prefer Twinings, personally

Um, as to your coffee thing, I don't drink coffee. I used to be big on soda, but not anymore. Anything with more caffeine than black tea in it is usually enough to trigger a migraine for me, never mind what aspartame does to me.

 

Chai is the thing.

I work on and off for a festival venue/cafe. I have been complimented on my chai brew many times. So here it is. I advise you to try this in one of it's versions.

So - what you might need: The ratios are per cup.

Pure water
6 peppercorns
4 cardamon pods
6 whole cloves
2 inches of whole cinnamon stick
Slice of fresh root ginger

Grind the spices in a mortar and pestle. Add to 2 cups water, add ginger, boil and then simmer for 15 mins, add another cup of water if necessary.

You can serve this with honey hot or chilled and it is delicious and refreshing - or proceed to stage 2 - vegans use soya milk and soya cream.

Stage 2.

Add two heaped spoonfulls per cup of black Indian tea such as Assam.Bring back to the boil. add 1/8 pint milk/cream 50/50 mix and simmer 10-15 mins. Strain, serve, enjoy.

Edit:
Don't do this late at night as it has a high caffeine content due to boiling of the tea, something we don't do much in the west, but is common in India.

 

Yogi brand teas are my personal favorite.

 

It just doesn't seem like I found this 18 months ago.

 

I'm a longtime tea drinker, but only recently began getting into the processes and varieties with a passion. My favorite tea at the moment is any dianhong variety, steeped gongfu style. Dianhongs are really sweet and malty, and I have one that even tastes surprisingly like cocoa (and no, it is not flavored; just pure tea). I suggest Steepster as a community and review source for a lot of teas and tea stuff. I'm a member there. ^^

Does anyone else prefer gongfu over western-style steeping? I'm new to gongfu since I just got a gaiwan this past Christmas and I'm slowly working out methods that work for me. I usually brew a little too strong on the second infusion. But this way of steeping yields less tea than our massive 8oz cups, so you can infuse it several times and not get full after the first or second cup. My gaiwan is very thinly-walled Chinese porcelain, 150ml total. So very fragile, but very precious and a great help in making tea.

Does anyone like maccha here either? I want to be able to make maccha as it was meant to be made, but haven't gotten around to choosing a whisk yet. I think the preparation is really important.

Some people have scoffed at me for putting so much effort into making tea, but it's really worth it. I seek to unlock the most potential my leaves have, and it brings me joy to put so much care into it. Is there anyone else like that? I'm not too familiar with green teas, but I think they're best steeped in water around 175F, and black teas are best around 205F (NOT BOILING!).

I am really only familiar with black teas, especially Chinese black teas. I am fearful of Chinese green teas after some unfortunate encounters, but the light and tasty Japanese green teas are always really good. It may have come as a surprise, but I have never had oolong or any form of puerh. I'm curious about them though. Herbal teas are alright, and white teas are really nice. I like rooibos too. I don't experiment very much with blends (especially herbal blends) but I do know that some (such as Whispering Pines' "Golden Orchid" (I think it's a blend?)) are really, really breathtaking (I've been trying to get ahold of Golden Orchid for a little over a year so I can see for myself).

Mostly pure black tea for me.

 

I love English style breakfast tea with milk more than coffee, most mornings. Green and white teas are good for my throat if its sore or to prep for a preformance, especially with lemon and honey
Plain old black Southern Sweet Tea is my typical daily beverage staple

 

Lately for me it's been lots of fresh and dried nettles I've picked this spring. Also dandelion root, and echinacea.

 

Anyone drink the Yogi teas?

 

I mostly drink the black stuff and within that group I add nothing. The major exception to the rule is chai in Indian restaurants.

 

Not to long ago I purchased some Passion Flower tea. It's very relaxing and calming, I love it!

I'm planning on buying more of it soon.