Recently I've decided that I want to drink more tea as drinking just water, although good for you as well as tea, is getting a little bland. Anyway I'm sure many of you know what good tea is out there and before I buy some I would like to see what you like!
Now I've read that the best tasting and natural tea is made without the tea bags and with just the ingredients themselves so I'm looking for natural tea and tea that's not in the tea bags.
I'm kind of sensitive to caffeine so I was thinking of green tea rather than black tea but if I find a black tea I really like I wouldn't mind a cup of it either! Thanks in advance to anyone who responds! ^_^
I actually have a little box of lipton tea bags (lol) at my place... I only ever drink tea if I'm out and I get a free coffee... or at a chinese food restaurant... but I figured I'd have them in case someone else wanted tea (since there's no way in hell they are getting coffee here). One tea bag has been used since I got it months ago lol.
I quite enjoy a cup of the sweeter herbal teas like Watermelon, Lemon, Mint, etc. every now and then so be sure to check them out. Green tea is the favorite though. Oh, licorice too!
Get a little bit of tea paraphernalia cheap from an op-shop or garage sale and feel like a pro too.
Haha fun clip ^_^ Yeah my step-mom has some tea around here but they are artificial and full of sugar which I'm not a fan of, just looking for natural and healthy ^_^
On July 20 2011 16:24 Sealteam wrote: I quite enjoy a cup of the sweeter herbal teas like Watermelon, Lemon, Mint, etc. every now and then so be sure to check them out. Green tea is the favorite though. Oh, licorice too!
Get a little bit of tea paraphernalia cheap from an op-shop or garage sale and feel like a pro too.
Yeah I actually found out there is a nice tea shop about 30 minutes away that has a lot of tea so I'll probably stop there a few times soon and try some out! And I never thought of a garage sale but now that I think about I'm sure tea sets and tea related things would be a pretty common find, thanks! ^_^
On July 20 2011 16:30 Adaptation wrote: I love earl gray. To get good green tea, i find sometimes you have to shell out the $$$, while i find most earl gray are quite good.
Yeah I don't mind throwing out a little bit of extra money when it comes to something I'll be enjoying for a while, thanks for the suggestion! ^_^
Personally I really like Lapsang souchong (smoked tea) and it's about the only tea I really REALLY enjoy drinking. You can get it in several grades of strongness in most good tea shops.
As an Englishman I can't help but recommended good English Breakfast tea. I do enjoy Chai Tea also. With just a little bit of cinnamon it's like Christmas in the cup.
On July 20 2011 17:11 Gingerninja wrote: As an Englishman I can't help but recommended good English Breakfast tea. I do enjoy Chai Tea also. With just a little bit of cinnamon it's like Christmas in the cup.
As an Irishman I was about to suggest this, or Irish Breakfast tea, it's only lovely.
If you're looking for great Chinese tea, go to TeaSpring. If for nothing else they are super specific in their descriptions, so you should get a really good idea on what each tea tastes like. I go here and get my tea straight from the mainland, it's so awesome!
On to the Caffeine issue, part of the caffination of the tea has to do with how you brew it, so if you say, scald your green teas they will have more caffeine that if you used the correct water temperature. This pretty much describes everything you need to know about brewing the perfect cup.
Now if I were to pick my favorite teas, I'll go by category:
Not a huge fan of Black, but I like these two: Earl Grey, Darjeeling
I mainly drink Green tea, and mostly prefer Chinese to Japanese, probably because of the vegeteal taste that I get from Japanese teas (that's how I perceive it anyway). Anyway, here are the ones I prefer: Gunpowder, Bi Lo Chun, An Ji Bai Cha, En Shi Yu Lu, Jasmine Green (Jasmine tea is a mixture of Jasmine and some type of tea, most normally green tea or Oolong, make sure you know what tea base your getting if you get it).
Oolong is another that I sort of situationally like, Jasmine Oolong is darn good though, as well as Formosa Oolong. My favorite Oolong is a very light one and it's Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess).
White Teas are probably my favorites, the big one being Bai Hao Yin Zhen (Silver Needle). It's probably my favorite tea, next to Tie Guan Yin.
Honestly, these are only the ones that I've tried, there are just so many types of teas that I really have very limited knowledge of the different kinds of tea (I've tried only around 50 kinds of tea so far), I would strongly suggest just getting small samples of some that you might like, and see what your palette enjoys. For instance, I have tried a lot of tea such as Pu-erh, and Lapsang souchong, and very much dislike them.
Edit: Oh, if you're going to drink Chai, seriously, make it yourself. Use Darjeeling and the right combination of spices (for you, and whole spices ofc), it's so good.
Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. My brother pointed me to a site that sells a vast variety of tea and I'm going to be going to some tea shops hopefully and see if I can find any of your recommendations! ^_^ Thanks again!
On July 20 2011 17:11 Gingerninja wrote: As an Englishman I can't help but recommended good English Breakfast tea. I do enjoy Chai Tea also. With just a little bit of cinnamon it's like Christmas in the cup.
As an Irishman I was about to suggest this, or Irish Breakfast tea, it's only lovely.
Am I the only one who can't tell the difference between English/Irish Breakfast tea?
Earl Grey is my favorite but classic green tea's can be very nice and relaxing as well. I recently dropped coffee in favor of the less extreme tea choice, nice to see so many dig it as well around here. Oh and I see someone mention Irish Breakfast which I've had and is also very good. I haven't had a hot tea yet that I haven't liked, love it all. ♥
On July 20 2011 17:11 Gingerninja wrote: As an Englishman I can't help but recommended good English Breakfast tea. I do enjoy Chai Tea also. With just a little bit of cinnamon it's like Christmas in the cup.
As an Irishman I was about to suggest this, or Irish Breakfast tea, it's only lovely.
Am I the only one who can't tell the difference between English/Irish Breakfast tea?
I guess its for people in the US who are Irish sympathisers. I've never heard of Irish tea. Anyway, no tea is grown in either Ireland or the UK so you can call it whatever you like. Here in England, it's just called "tea".
Lapsang souchong is good, but i wouldn't want to drink it all the time. I find no discernable difference in most green teas, anyway most of them taste better when they are brewed weakly anyway.
There is no reason to pick loose leaf over stuff in tea bags, well not in terms of quality of tea produced anyway.
EPT
Oh and I see someone mention Irish Breakfast which I've had and is also very good. I haven't had a hot tea yet that I haven't liked, love it all. ♥
