Making tea.

contraband

zingers plssss

fruity girl teas, please

green too

Alistair Hutton

My advice is to ignore anyone who recommends Earl Grey unless, of course, you like the taste of dirty dishwater. My recommendation for a tea drinkers tea is some nice simple loose leaf Assam.

Cycophant

Alistair Hutton wrote:

My advice is to ignore anyone who recommends Earl Grey unless, of course, you like the taste of dirty dishwater.

One could make that arguement of almost any tea flavour, if you purchase low-quality tea or prepare it poorly.

I myself quite like Earl Grey; it's basically just regular black tea, but with a bit of Bergamot which I feel adds just a nice subtle sweetness to it. I drink it almost exclusively over regular black tea now, which I find almost bland in comparison. But hey, to each his own.

Pheezer

Alistair Hutton wrote:

My advice is to ignore anyone who recommends Earl Grey unless, of course, you like the taste of dirty dishwater. My recommendation for a tea drinkers tea is some nice simple loose leaf Assam.

Hi, you don't get to state your preferences as fact in H/A. There are a hundred better ways to have phrased your post, and the next time you post here, try to put some effort into that. Thanks.

I've found a loose tea called Creme de Earl Grey that I'm a big fan. It's Earl Grey but it has a creamy flavor to it. Really rich tasting.

Also, Market Spice, fantastic fucking tea with a hundred imitators who may or may not be nearly so good depending. What I really like though, is mixing Market Spice with loose green yerba mate in one to one by volume relationship, and steeping with that. It gives one SUCH a kick in the ass and it is tasty as all hell. The flavors complement each other astoundingly well.

Disco11

In the cold tundra winters we get up here I love to drink some strong loose mint tea. The smell just seems to go right to my head

drxand?

loose tea = win
republic of tea's offerings are delicious, you can make a killer iced tea with their peach, but all are grand hot

tazo is alright, i got their sampler and enjoyed it. their earl grey is flowery, i think theres bergemont in it.. not sure

theirs a brand called numi thats really really good they're all organic and have some great blends

also, anything that comes in a tea pyramid is usually tasty, liptons new line of them is supposedly good, i tried the mango/peach and it smells absolutely fantastic, really good scent

if you're looking for a caffeine kick, try some yerba mate - i havent tried it yet, going to have a blended version of it right now, but its supposedly gives you a real boost

JWFokker

I can heartily recommend the new Lipton pyramid tea bags. They don't use ground up tea stuff, but actual bits of leaves. Quite good.

Samuel

Alright, I'm going to chime in here because I work in a fancy tea house and spend several hours a week brewing and tasting various teas. Not that I'm saying my opinion is better than anyone elses, but, you know. It probably is.

Anarchy Rules! wrote:

Put the teabag in a mug, add a bit of milk, boil water and add it. Allow to stew for a few minutes then drink. How's that for a slice of fried gold?

Water first, milk after, when it's cooled down a bit.

Eliot Dubois wrote:

Electric Tea Kettles are the best invention ever. I needed one with a whistle to replace the old tyme feel. But here goes.

1.) Black Tea should brew for exactly five minutes in near boiling water.

2.) The water used should start cold, never warm or hot. Filtered is preferable, but not always necessary.

3.) Tea bags are nice, but loose tea is better. Get one of those awesome double sided spoons with little holes in them if you don't brew a pot.

4.) You need to heat the vessel the tea is going into (pot or cup) before serving. Need to.

Five minutes is too long, in my opinion. I mean, it is a fairly personal thing, but any more than three minutes and the flavour starts to get spoiled from being too bitter. I'm just mentioning this, because for people that are new to tea it's the bitterness that often makes them not give it a second chance.

Plus, I'm going to call bullshit on this thing about warming the cup up before the tea goes in. I challenge anyone in the entire world to taste the difference.

contraband wrote:

pussies, i use cold water, throw the tea bag in there, microwave for 2 minutes, wait until drinkable, and consume

This post gave me a stroke.


I'm going to throw a recommendation for rooibos tea in here too. It's from a different type of plant than most other teas, and it's really healthy. On its own, it's a little boring, but it blends much better with other flavours. Like, my gaff does rooibos gingerbread and orange, and rooibos strawberry and cream, both of which are motherfucking delicious and completely different to anything else.

JWFokker

Info on the aforementioned Rooibos Tea.

I saw Adagio Teas has this stuff. I'll have to give it a shot. How do you make gingerbread and orange, or strawberry and cream?[/url]

LavaKnight

JWFokker wrote:

Info on the aforementioned Rooibos Tea.

I saw Adagio Teas has this stuff. I'll have to give it a shot. How do you make gingerbread and orange, or strawberry and cream?[/url]

Wow, those are some intriguing rooibos flavors. The shop where you work at has them, you said Samuel?

I always describe rooibos as the green tea of red teas, but that it tastes a lot better in my opinion.

Celestial Seasonings has some good blends, too. I first tried rooibos from them, and I'm never going back.

Eliot Dubois

Samuel wrote:

Alright, I'm going to chime in here because I work in a fancy tea house and spend several hours a week brewing and tasting various teas. Not that I'm saying my opinion is better than anyone elses, but, you know. It probably is.

Eliot Dubois wrote:

Electric Tea Kettles are the best invention ever. I needed one with a whistle to replace the old tyme feel. But here goes.

1.) Black Tea should brew for exactly five minutes in near boiling water.

2.) The water used should start cold, never warm or hot. Filtered is preferable, but not always necessary.

3.) Tea bags are nice, but loose tea is better. Get one of those awesome double sided spoons with little holes in them if you don't brew a pot.

4.) You need to heat the vessel the tea is going into (pot or cup) before serving. Need to.

Five minutes is too long, in my opinion. I mean, it is a fairly personal thing, but any more than three minutes and the flavour starts to get spoiled from being too bitter. I'm just mentioning this, because for people that are new to tea it's the bitterness that often makes them not give it a second chance.

Plus, I'm going to call bullshit on this thing about warming the cup up before the tea goes in. I challenge anyone in the entire world to taste the difference.

I was pretty much raised on tea, so five minutes, no milk, and no sugar is pretty much perfect for me. Also, like coffee, one of the major problems that leads to tea being bitter isn't overbrewing (that will do it, don't get me wrong) but not adding enough tea.

About the cup warming thing, you are probably right. I don't often make tea just for me, however, and when I do I warm the cup out of habit. My mother or my nana can tell every time if the pot hasn't been warmed. EVERY SINGLE TIME. It makes a difference.

Mad Jazz

pheezer FD wrote:

I've found a loose tea called Creme de Earl Grey that I'm a big fan. It's Earl Grey but it has a creamy flavor to it. Really rich tasting.

Not even possible to lime this hard enough. This is some of the most delicious tea I've ever had (behind some looseleaf stuff from Kenya which is pretty fantastic).

As far as tea emporiums, my roommate gets all his stuff at Teavana.

japan

I get my loose green tea from Chinese supermarkets, and my loose black tea from the Indian cash and carrys. Beats anything sold domestically hands down, with the possible exception of Twinings Earl Grey.

I'd recommend brands, but I can't read Chinese or Punjabi.

Cycophant

Mad Jazz wrote:

pheezer FD wrote:

I've found a loose tea called Creme de Earl Grey that I'm a big fan. It's Earl Grey but it has a creamy flavor to it. Really rich tasting.

Not even possible to lime this hard enough. This is some of the most delicious tea I've ever had (behind some looseleaf stuff from Kenya which is pretty fantastic).

Anyone know where I might find this? It sounds intriguing.

nexuscrawler

filters are for pansies. reall men just dump loose leaves in the pot

JWFokker

Mad Jazz wrote:

As far as tea emporiums, my roommate gets all his stuff at Teavana.

Teavana does look good. I like how they have a picture of it brewed and in the cup. I know it should be all about flavor, but I like that there's some visual context. It's interesting to see the variations in pigment. Some of those green teas look like Ecto Cooler.

Casual Eddy

I have one of those teapots with the filter basket built in, and I love it. I'm in college, so it's a godsend to have a hot pot of tea on those late, late studying nights. It holds 3-4 cups of tea. I also have an electric kettle in my room, also magnificent.

I drink two teas mostly, one of them a masala chai black tea. This isn't that milk stuff with spices in it (which is pretty damn tasty), it's black, loose leaf tea flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. I love it. I drink it with milk and sugar.

The second tea I drink is a jasmine green tea. I love this stuff. It has very little caffiene and is a little bitter, but it never fails to relax me. You don't need much in the pot as it gets bitter quickly. I drink it straight, no chaser. Apparently drinking 4 or so cups of this stuff a day is good for the heart, according to some study somewhere.

All of my tea is loose leaf, and my family gets it at a place called 'southern seasons.' It has a massive selection.

Tea is generally pretty hard to get in restaurants. Generally it seems like you'll get a sad bag of lipton in some warm water in a styrofoam cup with cream and sweetner. Horrifying. Small coffee shops seem to have good tea collections, with mini french press pots for loose leaf. You could go there and see what you like.

JWFokker

So is loose leaf tea generally more economical than teabags? It costs more per container, but the total number of cups that can be brewed is also greater. Is the cost per cup higher or lower?

Mad Jazz

I would estimate that the cost per cup is slightly lower for looseleaf vs. pre-bagged, but I don't know for sure. What I do know is that looseleaf tastes one hell of a lot better.

Weighing in on the mug warming debate...I tried a cup of tea after heating my mug with boiling water, and it makes a difference. The difference in taste is very slight, but you can most definitely tell that the tea stays warmer longer (which could lead to a better tasting cup of tea in the long run). I never used to warm the mug, btw, but I will be from now on.

ddahcmai

I was just going to recommend Rooibos, but I guess it's already been done. That said, chalk up another vote for Rooibos.

JWFokker

Pertinent to the discussion at hand:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3951003.stm

Szechuanosaurus

JWFokker wrote:

So is loose leaf tea generally more economical than teabags? It costs more per container, but the total number of cups that can be brewed is also greater. Is the cost per cup higher or lower?

I would imagine it depends on what sort of loose leaf and teabags you are comparing. As it is marketed to appeal to the connoisseur, loose leaf tea is likely to be substantially better quality than your average supermarket teabag so will probably still end up being more expensive. When you get to comparing a box of Twinings teabags with a box of loose leaf green tea from a Chinese supermarket, however, things probably get more complicated.

Bouncing_Soul

Szechuanosaurus wrote:

JWFokker wrote:

So is loose leaf tea generally more economical than teabags? It costs more per container, but the total number of cups that can be brewed is also greater. Is the cost per cup higher or lower?

I would imagine it depends on what sort of loose leaf and teabags you are comparing. As it is marketed to appeal to the connoisseur, loose leaf tea is likely to be substantially better quality than your average supermarket teabag so will probably still end up being more expensive. When you get to comparing a box of Twinings teabags with a box of loose leaf green tea from a Chinese supermarket, however, things probably get more complicated.

Well, with the loose tea I have I can make a few cups with one or two tablespoons of it.

For example, with the white peach that I get from Teavana, I put like twoish tablespoons into the tea maker mug thing (which holds two cups of water), and I can make at least two batches of tea (four cups) from that, usually three. I don't think that really works with a tea bag.