It’s time for my favorite new feature: Stuff We Like, a monthly round up of things that are fun, useful, fantastic, and giving us all the happy. This month: A Beginner’s Guide to all things Tea!
In the last Stuff We Like post, we had a comment from Olivia suggesting a tea post aimed at beginners:
I feel like there would be a ton of great suggestions. It’s really hard to decide where to start.
A few of you echoed Olivia’s idea, so here we go!
Of course I had to turn to Elyse and Carrie for information. As you may have already heard if you listen to the podcast, I’m not much of a tea drinker, so this is as educational for me as it is for y’all.
Please note: some of these links include affiliate codes which send a percentage of your purchase back to the site at no extra cost to you. Thank you!
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Elyse: I drink a lot of tea. A LOT. And I’m pretty snobby about my teas, generally speaking. My first suggestion for tea drinkers is that loose leaf tea is the way to go. Most bagged teas are of a lower quality than loose leaf. When the tea is all ground up and in a paper bag, you’re going to get a cup of tea that tastes like dirt.
Some brands offer tea in pyramid shaped sachets, and if you need bagged tea, that’s the way to go. I recommend Tea Forte or Harney and Sons for that.
Basically you want a nice, long, unbroken tea leaf. Here’s what I’m talking about. This is what a tea leaf should look like:
This is what you get in bagged tea:
So what’s the big deal? Believe it or not those top leaves provide a really nice flavor. The grounds at the bottom are literally the dust leftover after the better tea leaves are shipped. It’s like drinking your favorite coffee after grinding fresh beans versus drinking something that’s been sitting in the pot for two days.
So, first, get better leaves, either loose leaf or in a pyramid sachet.
There are six different types of tea: black, green, oolong, white, red and herbal.
I drink mostly black tea. Black tea contains the most caffeine and should be steeped in water that’s just at a boil.
There are three types of black tea: Assam, Ceylon and Darjeeling. Breakfast blends are usually a combination of a few of these. I prefer Assam: it’s a malty, strong tea. Ceylon is a little mellower. Darjeeling always has a musky taste to me.
Oolong tea is a blend of black and green and has the best tea names – “gunpowder” and “iron goddess of mercy,” to name a few. Steep oolong like black tea, with water just boiling.
White tea is the mildest tea–it’s even less processed than green. I personally can’t drink it because it has no flavor to me. You want to steep it at water under a boil until you get a very pale yellow color.
Those are the actual “tea” teas. Herbal and red/rooibos tea actually come from different plants.
Herbal tea comes in a bajillion varieties and are made up of different plant blends–camomile, peppermint, hibiscus, etc. It’s almost always caffeine free and really just a matter of personal taste.
Red tea comes from the rooibos plant and has a mild smoky flavor. It’s caffeine free and very high in antioxidants. It’s also good for allergies and is a natural bronchodilator. You steep it in boiling water and you get a nice red color. Like black tea it takes milk or cream well.
Okay, that’s a lot of info.
Here’s a shopping guide to get you started.
It’s a little pricey, but Tea Forte’s tasting chest will give you the opportunity to try all kinds of tea from black to herbal. You also get sachets so you don’t need an infuser:
To steep loose tea you need an infuser, and oh, darn, there are so many to choose from, including adorable and charming options:
So much adorable. A LOCH NESS TEA INFUSER!
And don’t forget – there are also adorable infusers on Etsy, too!
Okay, so what are my favorite teas?
Fava’s Winter Blend is my favorite black. It’s robust and has cinnamon, clove, orange and peppery flavors.
For a plain black I go with Golden Assam.
My favorite Oolong is Iron Goddess of Mercy and sometimes I shout at my staff while I’m drinking it, “Am I not merciful!?”
Like I said above, I go with a plain sencha for green tea. Green tea does come in all kinds of flavors though. Jasmine green is popular.
When I don’t want any caffeine I drink red tea. My husband who says tea tastes like “when my brother would push my face into the leaf pile while we were raking” actually likes red tea with honey.
Specifically, I like honey bush red.
CarrieS:
I also like The Mighty Leaf’s Rooibos Tea and Teavana’s Joy tea.
The most unusual tea I ever had was Tundra Tea, also known as Labrador Tea. When I lived in Alaska I lived on the tundra, and we all made tea out a local plant (we just called it the Tundra Tea plant). It looks like a mini pine tree. The needles are said to be medicinal, although I’ve also heard that in very large qualities they are toxic. All I know is that the tea was wonderful for respiratory bugs. It was a bit like eucalyptus. Sometimes I would mix it with Lipton Tea for a softer flavor. I haven’t had it in 20 years (and as far as I know it’s not a product one can buy) but I still recall it fondly.
True fact: My husband and I met because he sent a friend of mine a wedding gift of tea collection. He mailed me some gunpowder tea and I mailed him a baggie of Tundra Tea. Many cups of tea and episodes of The X-Files later we got married and are still drinking tea together seventeen years later!
My advice to new tea drinkers is to try a lot of things and love what you love. Try loose leaf tea, try bagged tea, try different flavors. Apologize for nothing. I love an electric tea kettle because it doesn’t burn down the house, and I spend 99% of my tea drinking time drinking bagged tea from enormous coffee cups while multi-tasking. On the other hand, nothing is more classy and relaxing than a “real tea kettle” and then pouring the hot water into a china teapot, and then steeping your loose leaf tea and sipping it from a delicate cup.
Sarah:
Amanda and I found some accessories to go with your tea-drinking, no matter what you’re doing. I mean, the fun part of new hobbies is the shopping, right?
The Sofia + Sam Multi Tasking Laptop Bed Tray is $40, and has room for a tablet, a phone, and a laptop up to 18 inches – Amanda is a little obsessed with this one.
And if you’re reading your paper books in the dark, this wedge light might be a huge help:
This handy-dandy tool is $13, and runs on 3 AAA size batteries.
And if you spike your tea with something a little stronger, may we suggest…
Drunk Crosswords by Francis Heaney and Brendan Emmett Quigley is a $5 spiral bound book – and the crossword fans in the reviews really liked it.
Or, if you’re a puzzle person, Amanda found ZELDA jigsaw puzzles!
There are a few different Zelda puzzles, too – this one is $12, and 550 pieces.
What about you? Are you a tea maven or a tea newbie? Any suggestions or ideas or questions? Please share in the comments!
I love tea, I’m not fancy about it, but give me a strong black tea with honey and cinnamon and I’m all yours.
Let me tell you, though, Tazo’s Passion “herbal infusion” of, like, rosehips, orange peels, citric acid and NO ACTUAL TEA dries my mouth out so bad. It tastes delicious at first, but an hour later it’s like I’ve drank nothing but sand for a month and that sensation lasts for two days at least. It is THE WORST.
So, if dry mouth is an issue for you, be careful out there, lol.
Oolong is my favorite, too, although I’d drink most teas if I had to. I don’t add sweetener nor dairy so anything with hibiscus or rosehips tend to be too sour.
A fun thing to do at a restaurant is to ask for a pot of hot water and a wine glass and steep a tea “flower” that will “bloom” prettily in the clear glass cup:
http://www.silkroadteas.com/green-peony-lu-mu-dan/
My favourites are Fortnum & Mason’s Royal Blend or Twinings Earl Grey or English Breakfast. My mother collected teapots, so I have a ridiculous number of them and enough fancy cups and saucers to host a tea party for about 60 people – something she used to do each year. She would invite all her lady friends over for a tea and serve scones, cream and the works. I also have dozens of hand embroidered napkins and tea cloths, etc.
Such a great post! I do love a good cup of tea! I gave up caffeinated tea over ten years ago and switched to herbal and red bush tea(aka rooibos). I think my favourite teas are chamomile and Rooibos. Loose chamomile is better, but tea bags are fine too.
As for Rooibos tea, I like to add a cinnamon stick(just a small one) to my cup. If I have time, I will use a tea pot and add cinnamon and cloves. Delicious! You can do that with breakfast varieties too.
Also, I love Rooibos tea with a bit of milk. I’m hardcore and don’t take any sugar or honey with my tea. 😉
I bought one of those tea infusers on amazon (the silicone one shaped like a leaf), but it wasn’t very good. Even when using intact chamomile tea, it still let lots of bits out. Maybe the one I received was faulty? Also it was not from the link above, so perhaps those ones are of better quality.
Once upon a time, I was a Lipton’s chai tea drinker. Then one day, my best friend and I went past a Teavana store at the mall. It was a store I always went past and never thought anything of, but we stopped and I tried the Maharaja/Samurai chai blend. And after having that, Lipton’s had about as much flavor as water. I haven’t gone back since. I’ve tried other blends from Teavana but I haven’t found anything I like as much as that one.
I love this! I’ve become a tea drinker in my old age and learned that alas Lipton is NOT tea but more like warm dish water. Loose leaf has always intimidated me but after reading your handy dandy guide and seeing those super cute infusers(!) I might finally take the plunge.
I still drink bagged teas. I REGRET NOTHING!
It’s generally too much of a pita, for me, to deal with loose leaf and the options for loose leaf and pyramid baggies in the supermarket are way more limited and expensive. *shrug* It’s a trade off.
If you go through a lot of tea in a day and hate brewing a new cup every time, I’d suggest getting a good Thermos and brewing a large batch in the morning.
I use a Pyrex four cup measure for the actual brewing. (If you’re doing loose leaf, I’d guess a French press* might work.) For my liter Thermos, I used five tea bags (I mix in some filler green or black bags to extend the fancier stuff. YMMV.) and filled to just over the word Pyrex. (I also add the sweetener before the water, for maximum “I don’t have to do anything later”-ness.)
I now have a larger thing, which means I now brew another three cups afterward. (It has a nifty spout dispenser**, but getting the last cupful involves dismantling it and pouring very carefully, from something that wasn’t meant for pouring, into a funnel in my mug.)
*I think that’s the name. The glass coffee thingies with a plunger.
**I think the brand name version is called an Airpot. No idea how well they get the last dregs. Mine was about $12 from Aldi.
During the week, I need the extra kick of coffee, but relax with tea on the weekends. My son has made several trips to China and brought back all sorts of wonderful loose leaf teas and tea flowers. Along with a tea service to drink them. But my old reliable is Twinnings Irish Breakfast in a large mug with milk. Usually in bags, but sometimes I can find the loose leaf in a tin.
I drink only loose leaf organic teas. I love Red Rooibos (haven’t tried the Green yet) and I take it with no milk with a scant bit of raw honey. I love chamomile and Chai tea that I latte. I prefer black tea over green.
I agree with Elyse, loose leaf is the way to go. I keep all of my teas in the freezer and the fridge.
I use a snap mesh tea ball infuser like this one.
https://www.amazon.com/HIC-Infuser-Stainless-Steel-Carded/dp/B000I1ZZ24/ref=sr_1_10?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1489578619&sr=1-10&keywords=tea+infuser
A silicone cover that I love. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007XHTEC8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Allows my tea to steep and stay hot. I have a couple of the silicone shaped tea infusers (shark and manatee) while they are cute I don’t think they work as well as my regular infusers and strainers and never use them.
You can make your own teabags. https://www.bulkherbstore.com/tea-bags-press-brew which makes a nice gift. I mix my own teas, bag them using these and put them in gift baskets.
I personally recommend https://www.bulkherbstore.com I have ordered my teas with them for years.
I love Assam, and drink it a lot. I usually buy from TeaSource – stores in the Minneapolis area, and online since I no longer live there.
I have several infusers for decorative effect – scuba diver, rubber ducky, and manatee. May have to get Nessie and platypus next. When I brew tea, I use the Teavana strainer because it’s so easy and lets the tea leaves expand. I also love their Weight To Go tea.
Also, just have to mention Bingley’s Teas – they have a Jane Austen tea series.
Tea! I’m surprised that electric kettles don’t get a look in; I learned recently that they’re not ubiquitous in the US, apparently. For affordable and delicious loose leaf tea, my favorite supplier is Adagio Teas, though for a strong everyday Assam I just get an unbelievably cheap sack of Wagh Bakri from the local Indian grocery store.
This is awesome, thanks so much!!
I did finally take the plunge and buy some loose leaf. I actually happened to go to a mall then walk by Teavana and remember. But man can I say STICKER SHOCK. I know you can get them cheaper online but I wanted to try some first just to get an idea of what I liked. Definitely a fan of Teavana’s Youthberry and Winterberry. So if anyone knows any that are like that but cheaper off the top of their head…:D
But I’m definitely going to bring some supplies to work. I need a new tea kettle, the one I use at home for my French press, the lid broke off, which is acceptable for home but probably not my work. So I think I’m going to go with the T-Fal adjustable temp kettle. I also have a glass Pyrex percolator I got at an estate sale couple years ago that should actually use for something.
Off to check out those tea sites now that I’ve got a better idea of what I might like!
This is such a delightful post to wake up and find! Sometimes I feel like the lone tea-drinking weirdo in the world. Electric kettles FTW!!!
I have made the acquaintance of loose-leaf tea and while I do appreciate the superior quality, convenience makes me a fan of grocery store Bigelows and Twinings and such. Constant Comment and Lady Grey, you are my true friends! I carry a stash around in my purse to guard against restaurants who only know about Lipton. And why do all restaurants want to bring me lemon and a honey bear with my tea when all I want is a couple scoops of sugar and some half-and-half? And is The Bitchy Waiter right? Do all waitstaff secretly hate me when I order hot tea? (Don’t care…I’m a 20% tipper, so I’m not going to stop ordering it.)
Funny story, though…was sitting at a local diner waiting for my tea one morning and I had just pulled a fistful of tea bags out of my purse to decide on. The hot water came and I proceeded to dunk my bag when the lady at the next table said really loudly, “Oh, they’re tea bags! I thought they were all fancy condoms!” Don’t know what kind of restaurants that lady frequents, but it did lead to a couple of good “Lemon Zinger Brand Condom” jokes.
My favorite is Teavana’s White Chocolate Peppermint Tea It is only available beginning November 1 until all the product is sold.
Hooray for tea! My current favorites are Harney & Sons’ Hot Cinnamon Spice and Paris. The Cinnamon is not actually “hot” but it’s warming enough to be perfect for winter. Paris is a black tea with lavender and bergamot and is perfectly indescribable.
I also have to recommend Blendbee, which has a tea-of-the-month club as well as a blend-your-own feature. I especially like that they let you blend in sample sizes, and the owner is a super nice woman.
@KateB: Tazo’s Passion tea is really best iced, and makes a nice fruity summer drink. I drink tons of it that way, but won’t touch it hot.
This is the best! We tea lovers are so often forgotten. I use loose leaf, sachet, and bagged tea, depending on my mood and how much time I have. Favorites are Stash Irish Breakfast and Earl Grey Double Bergamot (their Licorice is really interesting too!), Harney & Sons Green Tea with Coconut, Adagio Capricorn, SereneTeaz Irish Morning and Ginger Cider, I could go on and on. One of my favorite tea accessories is a travel mug that has an infuser in it.
Also, I think I need that table tray in my life.
Carrie – between the Alaskan tea and your tea enhanced courtship, this post cements my friend crush on you! (In a completely non stalkery, non creepy, I just think you’re (or your internet persona is) really cool ).
I love tea. I drink mostly green tea and lemon-ginger tea in the bag at work, although I also love loose teas for relaxing at home. I bought a larger, cup shaped diffuser a few years ago that revolutionized my loose tea drinking – not only did the tea taste better but it’s so much easier to clean.
This is similar to my beloved infuser – https://www.google.com/shopping/product/11345174167545607206?lsf=seller:7815,store:202392080060825391&prds=oid:14972180341185986472&q=tea+infuser&hl=en-us&ei=L1jJWP2SMOu-jwTF25_oCQ&lsft=gclid:CjwKEAjwzKPGBRCS55Oe46q9hCkSJAAMvVuMQXZlyFRZj82Y762BsFd8v_ke-twjxGl52WcVa_zYyRoCgTvw_wcB
Thanks for the awesome post! I was actually *just* thinking about how I want to learn to make a proper pot of tea – the delicious kind – just like they do in England. We were in London over the holidays, and I couldn’t get over how freaking delicious their breakfast tea is. I’m an equal opportunity tea and coffee drinker, but the tea I make at home tastes like pooh compared to the stuff I had in London. Thanks to the post, I know now that loose leaf is the way to go – but any tips/suggestions/links on how to actually brew a pot of tea, English-style, would be much appreciated. Thanks again ladies!
I love tea so much! I mosly drink loose-leaf tea, and I find that in large quantities, it actually comes out cheaper than bagged tea (I tend to drink several cups in a row, so I prefer to make whole teapots rather than use a new teabag every time). I actually discovered stovetop kettles in Canada, I’d never seen anyone use one for real before!
No particular recommendation for tea, aside from one tip: there are lots of myths about water, namely, don’t use tap water, don’t let it boil, blah blah blah. Don’t listen to them 🙂 There’s no such thing as water that has been ‘de-oxygenated’ by boiling (the oxygen leave long before the boiling point), and the chlorine in tap water also tends to evaporate as temperature rises, so you’re good. However, if you don’t own one of those fancy kettles that can be programmed to stop at certain temperatures, it’s still a good idea to let the water cool down a bit before using it, as some teas (especially green) can get an acrid flavour if seeped in boiling water. 80°C is good.
@Suze I was a waitress at a microbrewery in a college town and we had a good range of professors and students come in and we had enough people order tea that it was something we had, but not enough to make sure we had awesome tea options. I didn’t mind when people brought their own tea in, but when people complained to me (usually not kindly) that our tea options were too limited (a generic “Black Tea” bag and a generic “Green Tea” bag) I got super annoyed.
I thought I hated tea for soo so long, but I was always drinking it with lemon and honey because that’s what I always saw people do in restaurants and coffee shops. Then when I went to Scotland I ordered tea because I had to kill some time before I could check in to my hostel and that was the cheapest thing I could order and have a chance to sit down for a minute, and they brought me some black tea with milk and sugar and it was perfect.
I still don’t drink tea very often, but those super cute infusers and my need to cut back on Diet Coke consumption is inspiring me to pick up some loose leaf tea!
@Jessica: here’s what works best for me 🙂 Use loose-leaf tea, about 1 tbsp for a 1/2 litre teapot. Your infuser should be large enough to let the leaves expand properly, otherwise you won’t get all the flavour. Don’t pack leaves ino a tiny ball strainer, it won’t do any good! Then pour water (80°C, not boiling) and let it stand for a couple of minutes, depending on the sort of tea you’re using and how strong you like it. I don’t like leaving Darjeeling tea for more than 1 minute (too long, and it tastes like straw), and Assam, English Breakfast or Ceylon can become extremely strong, so beware! Yunnan or Oolong can stand longer seeping times. You can leave white tea in the pot almost indefinitely, it doesn’t really become bitter. Flavoured teas tend to lose their flavour after a while, too, so don’t leave them for more than 3 minutes.
Oh, and don’t use soap on the teapot after drinking your tea, just rinse with warm water. Soap will definitely leave a foul taste. If you didn’t drink all your tea and forgot to clean the pot, you may find that it will leave a bad smell. In that case, pour boiling water in the pot, leave it for a few minutes and then drain it. Repeat a couple of times if needed, and add a pinch of soda powder if the situation is really dire 😉 If you’re using an iron teapot, make sure it’s completely dry before storing or it could corrode.
That’s how I do it anyway 🙂
I love tea and one of the odd benefits of moving is finding teas that I’d packed away. I drink loose and bagged and if you want to try loose at better prices than Teavana, Adagio is great, they send you nice little tasting packets. Also they sell this amazing loose leaf teapot that’s great. I have a wonderful infuser that looks like an egg on the bottom and its the best I’ve found as its easy to clean and take care of. When I’m traveling, I always have a bag of tea bags with me so I can have my tea instead of something like Lipton. I’m finding though that more restaurants are getting that tea drinking is a thing and offering nice tea options. After I lived in New Zealand for three years where when you order hot tea, you get a charming little pot full of loose leaf tea, my tea expectations are different. Though since I came back in 2007, tea drinking has become bigger in the US and I’ve loved watching all the options appear.
I’m just finishing my morning tea of an older Celestial Seasonings called Morning Thunder. My normal caffeinated tea is Yorkshire Gold, an English black tea blend.
I’ve recently discovered a New England based tea store, David’s tea, what’s really dangerous is they have baked goods and candies made with tea.
I am a diehard tea fanatic. Seriously. This post is awesome. I have a tea collection that is almost embarrassing. Like Elyse, I mostly drink loose-leaf black tea. Actually, I drink a lot of flavored loose-leaf black tea. I love chai tea, and especially love the Holiday Chai from Stash, but also the Chestnut chai from Adagio tea, and this random Indian teabag tea my mother can only find in her local grocery store. Mmm, spicy.
One tea that hasn’t been mentioned specifically is mate tea. It’s one of those rare herbals that has caffeine. I drank it from Teavana – Matevana – every morning in my last job because it doesn’t need any milk or sweetner. http://www.teavana.com/us/en/search?navid=search&q=matevana
Recently, I’ve attended several afternoon teas at our local History Museum and discovered the joy of Barry’s Irish Gold, which is bagged tea (dust) and I should hate it, given my snobby tea preferences, but it’s gotten so it’s replaced my beloved English Breakfast tea (even my ginger English breakfast tea from Stash). Serious amounts of milk and sugar are needed, but it’s amazing. I buy the box of 80 count at World Market.
Other favorite companies: Mighty Leaf, which has the tea pyramid bags and Harney & Sons, which is the best American company out there. Their Cranberry Autumn and Fruits d’Alscace are yummy. BTW, just for Elyse, there’s is “Elyse’s blend”, which is named after the mother/daughter of the current owners. They “blend Tippy Assam and Kenyan teas with smooth Kenilworth Ceylon, then sweeten them slightly with honey flavors.” https://www.harney.com/collections/flavored-black-tea/products/elyse-s-blend
I’ve tried the cute tea infusers, but they don’t work well. I recently tried the “kit-tea” infuser shaped like a cat, but the tea hardly infused the water. Stash has a lot of great tea accouterments, especially the Finium stainless steel mesh tea infusers: https://www.stashtea.com/products/finum-brew-baskets-set-of-two
I have a tea wallet that I keep in my purse for when I’m at a restaurant that doesn’t have tea – or only Lipton bags, which ugh. I always try and buy it there first, but if not, out comes the Paris tea wallet: https://www.stashtea.com/products/paris-tea-wallet
Given that I travel everywhere with tea and have some by my computer when I work (i.e., ALL the time), I like having a drinkable thermos that keeps it hot. Right now the best one I’ve found is the Contigo brand b/c it works, but it’s also SO easy to clean. Others work well, but the lids are harder to maintain: https://www.amazon.com/Contigo-SnapSeal-Vacuum-Insulated-Stainless-16-Ounce/dp/B01FVQHTTW/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1489592275&sr=8-6&keywords=contigo+tea+infuser
However, for those times when I *really* want to use one of my teapots and teacups I collect (every time I go on a vacation, I get one as a souvenir; something I actually use and sigh with wonderful memories every time I do so), I use my electric beverage warmer. I have one that Brookstone apparently no longer sells, but this one looks comparable: https://www.amazon.com/Norpro-5569-Decorative-Cup-Warmer/dp/B000E3DTG0/ref=pd_lpo_79_tr_t_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=NNB1ZTJDYYFZ1SC5E5WY
Oh, and while I love having my old fashioned tea kettle, I’ve become a convert for the electric teakettles. They’re just so quick. If you want to be *really* fancy, Adagio Teas sells a kettle that has settings for the appropriate temperatures for each type of tea so that you don’t “burn” your green, oolong, or white teas especially, with too high a heat: http://www.adagio.com/teaware/varieTEA_kettle.html It’s expensive, so I don’t have it (but I wants it, precious). You can get perfectly nice ones that cost ~ $25.
So did I mention I was a tea fanatic?
Drinking my ginger peach Assam mixed with hot lemonade these days trying to dislodge the last of a chest cold. I guess that would be a hot Arnold Palmer…
My favorite thing, though, is brewing up a pot of Earl Grey for company using the black and white teapot that was given to my parents as a wedding gift. My mom only ever pulled it out for company, so, while I give it pride of place on a display shelf, I only use it when there are guests. And have been known to call it Mrs. Potts. A left over from when I had my goddaughter half convinced it came to life while we slept.
For a great variety of teas I’d reccomend UPTON TEA IMPORTS a terrific online only source of loose tea. They have wonderful single estate Assams and Darjeeling teas, terrific European blends, tisanes etc. Everything is shipped in utilitarian packaging that keeps the tea fresh. Tons of educational articles online about the characteristics of different tea producing regions and how to brew a great cup. The online consumer reviews of teas tell me that some people are way serious about their tea. And their pricing gives me wiggle room in my budget for more books.
I love a good strong black breakfast tea and Twinings Earl Grey (drop of milk, no sugar), and when I’m having sushi I’m always thrilled if they have genmaicha (green tea with a little toasted brown rice–sounds weird but it’s got the most wonderful smoky/savory flavor).
I’ve also always loved Bigelow’s Constant Comment tea, and it made me cry all over again after Leonard Cohen’s death when I read that he was referring to CC in “Suzanne” (tea and oranges that come all the way from China). Even better, a friend came over recently and brought a flask of Cognac (as you do ;)) and we tipped a little bit in our Constant Comment. Really nice combination.
P.S. Minor tea-drinker pet peeve: when you go to a restaurant, order tea, and they bring you a pot of hot water AND a cup FULL OF HOT WATER (with the teabag already in it). FAIL. Yeah, maybe you can get two brews out of the teabag (feh!) but not at the usually tepid temperature at which restaurant hot water is served. *grumblegrumble*
I love tea and a great fan of Harney & Sons. I drink mostly black teas and black tea blends. I drink the occasional tisane.
@ Lucy: I couldn’t live without my electric kettle. The kettle and I, we have a special bond. 😉
Here’s a tip on descaling your kettles: fill up the kettle with vinegar and leave overnight. Just don’t forget to rinse it out in the morning!
@Suze: I will never look at tea bags the same way again! LOL!
@Molly: that is annoying!
What an awesome post! I’m a Southerner, so I grew up drinking sweet iced tea. In many of my favorite books, I learned about the English way of making and drinking hot tea and now I love that, too.
I mostly drink black teas. For a quick morning cuppa, I use tea bags: usually Twinings English Breakfast or Earl Grey, with just a bit of sugar and splash of milk or cream. On weekends when I have more time to indulge, I use loose tea and make it in a teapot the proper British way (warming the teapot, etc.). I like Assam.
Another of my favorite teas is Lapsang Souchang. It’s a black tea; the leaves have been smoked over an open fire. It is SO good.
A few people have mentioned Adagio – they’re my go-to! and often have really good deals – but haven’t mentioned the best part: paper back infusers. So you can pre-make teabags for work with looseleaf (for a single cup or a whole pot!) without having to worry about cleaning out a mesh infuser in the office kitchen. Plus they’re 100 for $5 and biodegradable. The ones I see at the grocery store come in boxes of 40, which barely lasts a month.
Of course, the samples that Adagio offers are great. You can get sample packs, which is how I tried out different black or oolong or green or whatever teas, to see what I like, and they have a billion different flavor options. (Caveat emptor: i tend to mix a flavor tea with plain ceylon in a 1:3 ratio because the flavors can be STRONG)
With a lot of teas, you can get 2+ steepings out of them. Darjeeling is my favorite but also tends to be more expensive. So I steep it twice before tossing the leaves. A third steep tends to be too weak/muddy, but if I’m desperate, it’ll do. I love the way Darjeeling has a delicate sort of flavor. A spring version will be more delicate and summer or fall will be stronger with a more pronounced earthy/grassy note. Twinings has this “two season Darjeeling” that is expensive as heck but suuuuper good if you want the delicate astringency.
I grew up on southern sweet tea. That is, a ton of Lipton steeped in simple syrup, then poured over ice. I’ve been drinking “real” tea for 10 years but haven’t yet been able to get used to some of the more bitter parts of it. So I understeep – no more than 3 minutes for black, while a lot of places recommend 4, and add sugar cubes. (The cubes seem to dissolve better than loose sugar? plus they’re fun to watch) Milk only goes in the strong builder teas for me – the ones with the Assam base.
Lately I’ve been drinking a blend of summer darjeeling and “candy cane tea” from Adagio. The candy cane flavor is a vanilla-peppermint and it’s brisk and delightful in the morning at work. Just a little bit with the darjeeling, yum!
So I’m reading about tea and really enjoying the post. Then I see the lighted, book reader thingy and a compulsion to buy that thingy right now happens. Faster than you can say ‘bob’s your uncle” it is claimed from amazon and on it’s way to my hot little hands. Oh, little hands. Not as funny anymore.
Now back to the post.
Love this post! I’ve been a tea drinker nearly all my life (my great-grandma drank tea instead of coffee, and it made me feel so “grown-up” to drink well-milked tea in a china cup like my Fuddy). I would recommend warming your cup (and pot, if using) with hot water before making tea – it keeps the tea warmer, longer. It also works with coffee cups (or so I’ve been told).
SECRET TIP for the uninitiated:
1. Get your cup of hot black tea.
2. Find a small piece of dark chocolate. (Dove Promises are good, but bite just a little bit off.)
3. Put the chocolate on the tip of your tongue while you sip at the tea.
4. Enjoy as the chocolate melts and the slightly bitter flavors mingle and accentuate each other.
I can’t properly enjoy milk chocolate since I discovered this magic, but that might just be me. (No, actually, my stepmom too – I mentioned it to her, and she was like “ooh, you discovered the secret!” and she also won’t eat milk chocolate if dark is available. apparently a lot of people know this?? but don’t share even though it’s amazing?????)
I love going to the tea shop here in Berne, Switzerland! They are family owned and buy directly in China. The shop is very old fashioned and they offer not only a huge selection of teas but also of accessories and gifts. And the best thing: upstairs is a little tea room for having breakfast on Saturdays and real Afternoon teas (in the afternoon, of course). And another room for real life tea ceremonies!
If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be a daily tea drinker and forsake my coffee guzzling (except for French press on the weekends), I’d have told them they were a few crayons short of a box.
But here I am, drinking tea on the daily. I’m a habitual mixer and my selections revolve around matcha (powdered green tea) that I get from Steeped Tea (think the tea-selling version of Avon).
I’m a big peppermint fan because the smell helps me calm down and is really relaxing for my migraine-prone noggin. I’ll brew loose leaf cocoa mint black tea and then pour it over my peppermint matcha with some coconut or almond milk mixed in to make it a latte.
I’ve also recently started brewing a mango-based fruit tea with a pineapple matcha and it is DIVINE. And all of the accoutrements? It’s an obsession with the mugs and the electric kettles and steepers and milk frothers and and and. <3
I can’t think straight without my Darjeeling in the morning. I also like Twinings’ Lady Grey tea–milder than the Earl.
Not a fan of most herbal and fruit teas, except for mint. Republic of Tea has a ginseng peppermint tea that I used to drink all the time.
I use bags because of the convenience, but I prefer loose leaf, which is harder to find. I have a variety of tea pots and infusers, which I hardly ever use because I am always on the run.
I’m a tea drinker and have been for years. I can be both snobby about my tea and not at all snobby. I love loose leaf tea but because I also don’t drink caffeine and I’m not a huge fan of floral teas, sometimes bagged tea is a better option for me. My current favorite is Stash Lemon and Ginger tea. I love a good ginger tea (comparatively, the Twinnings version of this flavor combo tastes like nothing and needs two tea bags to a cup to get any flavor).
I’m a huge fan of Teavana flavors but not so much their pricing. I also love David’s tea, especially their 911 Cold mix of peppermint and Eucalyptus. And I have many loose teas from different companies. Basically, there is an entire cupboard in my house dedicated to my tea collection.
The hardest thing about being a tea drinker, in my opinion, is being a tea drinker who travels. It’s impossible to get hot water in a hotel that doesn’t taste like weak coffee water. Or on airplane. Exhibit A from my flight back from Hawaii earlier this week: https://www.instagram.com/p/BRlhOe7FQQc/
So if I had one wish as a tea drinker it would be that hotels/airports/restaurants would embrace us and give us a dedicated hot water carafe! And more choices than Lipton. Because yuck.
Oh, and I actually own this extra fancy Breville tea maker: https://www.amazon.com/Breville-BTM800XL-One-Touch-Tea-Maker/dp/B003LNOPSG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1489602263&sr=8-2&keywords=breville+tea+maker but it’s currently sitting unused in my basement while I just use an electric kettle and either tea bags or a tea infuser.