What is your favorite kind of tea? I want to try some, but have no idea where to start. The idea at least of a warm cup of tea seems pleasant. I want see if there is something I would enjoy that I was not "allowed" to have before. I do realize that to most of you,it might be humorous or pathetic that tea could be a "rebellion."

Turns out I hate the taste of coffee, I'm not supposed to drink any alcohol because of a med I take, and I have no interest in smoking anything (I could where I live). Well, unless I developed a medical problem.

If tea isn't for me, I will be sufficiently happy with wearing normal underwear, a 10% raise, not going to 3 hours of church on Sunday, not having a calling, not always feeling inadequate, feeling free, my religion not contradicting my social and political views, and various joys of not belonging to a cult/high demand religion.

Tea can be a lot of fun. I too just don't like the taste of coffee, I'm sure if I had it made "right" it'd be better, but I've had people try to make it "right" for me and I just didn't like it. The thought of drinking half and half and sugar with a hint of coffee to try and build a taste just doesn't work for me.

Here are my thoughts for tea:

1. go with loose leaf. Bags of tea can be nice, but they just don't seem to have the flavor of a good cup of loose leaf tea. A simple steeping cup or filter isn't that expensive and you get a very nice flavor.

2. Find a local tea shop. You want one with a lot of canisters on the wall, with the ability to smell the tea's in question. They should have taste tests as well. We used to go to Tevana, they were a bit expensive, but had a good selection, now that they are part of Starbucks, they seem to be very different now, so we don't get them anymore. We go to a local place called "Fava Tea" Which is very good.

3. If you think a tea shop would be overwhelming, take a look at pretty much any grocery store, you should be able to find a section that carries loose leaf tea, sometimes in a health food section or near the coffee. Rishi tea is a good brand with a nice selection.

Some notes on teas:

- Follow the directions on the box, temp and steeping time can make the difference between a good cup of flavorful tea and a bitter mess. We invested in some inexpensive "Tea Makers" which is a large cup with a filter in the bottom, when the tea is done steeping you set the maker on your cup and the tea flushes out the bottom without the leaves.

- For a stronger flavor add more tea, do not steep longer, steeping longer will make the tea bitter.

- If you want to make the tea sweeter, use a raw sugar or honey, that will keep from changing the flavor of the tea like white sugar will.

- If you think you would like your tea with milk (with black teas this can cut some of the bitterness.) Steep the tea and pour the tea over the milk (opposed to adding the milk to tea in the cup), this helps keep the milk from curdling.

- Caffeine for tea goes as follows in order of no caffeine to most caffeine (the box and or store will often tell you how close to a cup of coffee you are)

1. Rooibos - Caffeine free - not strictly tea, as it doesn't include actual tea leaves, more like an herbal tea
2. White tea - low to no caffeine
3. Green tea - low caffeine
4. Oolong tea - mild caffeine
5. Black tea - 1/2 - 3/4 cup of coffee's worth of caffeine
6. Pu erh tea - Strong caffeine - often more than a cup of coffee

Tea is the most popular drink in the world... Take your time to research what you'd like, try different varieties, if one doesn't suite you, don't give up on all tea as another might be perfect.

Good luck!!!

Yes, very true, tea that is steeped for too long or at too high a temperature is bitter and horrible, but if the directions are followed then it is divine.

Don't assume that employees at a coffee shop are trained to prepare your tea properly. Most aren't, and generally haven't even bothered to taste the store's options. Unless I give them very clear directions, they ruin my jasmine green tea by pouring boiling water on it or else they put my orange pekoe tea at in the water before ringing up by my order at the till. Orange pekoe starts to get bitter after about 45 seconds in the water.

There is a HUGE variety in teas. You will almost certainly find something that you like. I don't care for coffee, but I'm glad I gave tea a chance.

There is this sandwich shop I go to often. They have wines and teas. Every day they have 3 different kinds of teas to try. Blueberry is one of my favorites. I prefer Black overall. The best part of sampling is you can dump it if you don't like it and there has been some I have dumped. Also it depends on what your drinking it with.

Tea's fun because it is mostly inexpensive to experiment with. Unless you get into the more expensive varieties or the Starbucks Teavana brands, then you can get into some big bucks. I leave the more expensive varieties for when I'm in a gourmet mood. There's a Teavana blend I buy in small quantities that I add a pinch of to my other bagged tea blends, (it's White Cherry Blossom,) and it sweetens a cup of white tea with a fruity fragrance that I found refreshing. But that was from experimenting that I discovered that combo.

My favorite teas at the moment are a good Japanese Sencha tea. It doesn't have to be expensive. The very best blend I've found that might cost bigger bucks somewhere else is by Harney & Sons I discovered at our local grocer's. There I can buy it for $3.99 for 20 tea bags. Here's a good deal on Amazon where you can get 50 tea bags for 8.99. Another deal on Amazon for 20 bags is $6.99. It may be at your local supermarket/s if you check around. But it is premium green tea, and better than most blends on the market.

http://www.amazon.com/Harney-Sons-Japanese-Sencha-Green/dp/B001714V1U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455669164&sr=8-1&keywords=harney+and+sons+sencha+tea

Another favorite of mine currently is Twinings Chai in the Keurig cup. It's sold by the tea bags also, and that's half the price of the Keurig price at the grocer's.

It's just plain black tea with cinnamon, and clove spices added. It's really refreshing. My secret to enjoying any teas or coffee is I add non fat half and half with no calorie sweetener.

Enjoy! Experimenting is perhaps the best way to discovering what works best for you.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2016 01:35PM by Amyjo.

Chai <3

Yes, and it's delicious!

- Irish tea with milk and sugar.
-Mint tea Hot or iced with sugar - very refreshing!!!

Another vote for Chai..it is really good.

For Valentine's Day I took DW out for lunch and then David's Tea (based in Montreal). Perhaps there's a store in your area? The salesmen were extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic about their offerings, and let us take out time as we sniffed from a huge variety of offerings. We ended up buying about twice what we intended to.

I'm more of the coffee hound, but enjoy tea also. DW has an inventory of about 40 or so teas, half herbal, the other various authentic teas.

Your best bet, as Finally Free pointed out above, is a local tea shop with a large assortment of canisters so you can sniff things out. Buy several, but small, amounts, a simple ceramic tea pot (with a gooseneck spout = better control when pouring), and a few different strainers and defusers.

Don't be embarrassed if you like a bit of sugar or honey with it, either. Some tea drinkers are a bit snobbish (no offense intended or implied to any other party on this thread!).

I also like chai tea, and it's especially refreshing when made as iced tea. The other varieties I like are Earl Grey, English Breakfast, and green tea. I especially love to buy a tin of green tea from Chinatown whenever I'm in San Francisco. For herbal, I like chamomile and mint. Sometimes, I do like honey in hot tea, especially when I have a cold.

One thing is that I've lost weight when I started drinking more tea and coffee and cutting way back on soda consumption.

Darjeeling, with honey. Or Earl Grey, with honey and some milk.

Earl grey has a light citrus flavour (bergamot) and is one of the most popular teas in the world.

It is also readily available and cheap

my current favourite is a simple, cheap teabag blend - green tea with vanilla.

tea is like wine - it's very easy to find tea-snobs who will recommend all sorts of silly rules and expensive varieties.
but, you should find out if you enjoy tea first with a cheap, easy teabag blend - and move on to the snobbery later.

the only rules you should take notice of, at this stage are:
1) use fully boiling water
2) dont leave the tea-leaves or bag in the water too long, as you start to release tannins from the tea leaves, which are bitter. How long is too long? well, it varies and its a matter of experience..... and the joy of using a cheap tea is you can experiment

Harney & Sons Winter White Earl Grey - Beautiful, mellow flavor

Bigelow Constant Comment Black. Just a good solid good tasting tea. Great iced also.

I use Lipton Iced Tea Bags in my iced tea maker, and then I experiment with what else I put in it. I have used lemon, lime, oranges, blood oranges, fresh peppermint (grown on my patio), pumpkin spice, cardamom, etc.

My favorite hot tea is Caykur Çay (chai), which is from Turkey. I found it on Amazon.

Çay is said chai. As you travel around the world the are only two words for tea. Tea and Chai. They mean the same thing. (BTW I know a guy who's name is Çan. It's pronounced Jon).

Chai tea in the U.S. is a blended of black tea, cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice, and cardamom. In most places it is the word for any type of tea.

LOL Caykur is a brand name for many different tea flavors in Turkey. What flavor did you get?

I've traveled to Turkey too many times for me to remember. This is what you get just about everywhere. Black tea in a fun little glass. You add in a lump or two of sugar and stir with a cute little spoon.

http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/10648587/3/stock-photo-10648587-turkish-tea.jpg

It is very traditional to have a cup of chai at the beginning of a business meeting. If you are traveling around visiting multiple people you can get quite jittery. I once had 10 cups in a day before. Turkish coffee is served after dinner and is a great way to not be able to sleep at all.

I love green tea. So far it is my favorite.

I haven't tried many teas. I hope to try Jasmine, earl grey, english breakfast, and many others. I will get there in time. I am just enjoying learning how to make it, and drinking them.

I like stronger black so my favorites are Irish and English breakfast. For a treat I get Chai Latte.

Iced Chai Latte in the summer is the best treat.

I don't like mate or roobios (sp?). I prefer uncaffinated tea. These days, I've found a concern here in Georgia that does wonderful things with ginger, and I bought a tin of its ginger mint tea. It makes for wonderful ice tea and hot tea. Otherwise, I go with the fruity-flavored teas. I may have to check out white teas.

You could check a place (if it's near you) called Teavana or the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, It's been a long while since I've gone there.

As an FYI, if you don't like caffeine, Rooibos is something you should look into. It doesn't have caffeine to start with, so it's naturally caffeine free. It's not made from the actual tea plant, it's made from the leaves of a "bush" plant, an African bush with needles like a pine tree would have (which is why it's sometimes called "bush tea" or "redbush" tea).

It has a lot of the same properties as tea from a tea plant does, most find it invigorating and has anti-oxidants etc.

The tea shop I go to has a lot of herbal mixes with this as a base, it's a good place to start if you're worried about caffeine.

(If you haven't noticed, I'm one of those tea snobs that other people have warned about in the thread)

Not worried about caffeine, I'm trying to replace a can or two with Dr. Pepper (because regular or diet soda is horrible for you- not due to caffeine).

I appreciate the recommendations of all degrees of tea snobbery or not!

Finally Free! partially Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> As an FYI, if you don't like caffeine, Rooibos is something you should look into. It doesn't have caffeine to start with, so it's naturally caffeine free. It's not made from the actual tea plant, it's made from the leaves of a "bush" plant, an African bush with needles like a pine tree would have (which is why it's sometimes called "bush tea" or "redbush" tea).

I tried it. I didn't like it. Just my opinion.

English breakfast tea. Used distilled water, not tap, full boil. One cube sugar, hint of milk, then pour the tea into a lovely china cup.

I was looking in a seed/plant catalog last week and saw that they are selling tea bushes. They make a very attractive bush.

Apparently some of the varieties are hardy down to -10F. I am very tempted to purchase one and try my hand at processing my own tea just for fun.

My wife will be measuring a padded cell for me.

Why not? If you have a yard it could be fun.

Thank you for all the wonderful recommendations! I'm excited to start experimenting with teas. I live in a major metro area so there are tea shops around I can go to. I appreciate the descriptions. I love anything spiced or with citrus, so it sounds like there are many teas that incorporate this.

I do have a question. Why would you boil the water and then pour it into the tea cup or mug? Is there some reason you can't just microwave the cup and then add the tea if it is just for one? Although, tea kettles are cool.

I dont think there's any problem with that, as long as you're not microwaving the tea/bag.

I don't think there's a real problem with that, it might be harder to get water temp control that way...

Just make sure you put a wooden spoon, chopstick or some other microwave safe thing in the cup. Some cups have a very smooth interior which might not provide a surface for water vapor bubbles to form. This can cause the water to heat to boiling temps but not actually "boil" until it's agitated. Like when you pick it up, which causes it to boil all at once in an explosion of very hot water.

Bigelow American breakfast. All day. Nothing added. I leave the bag in. I like it bitter.

This conversation seems so, I don't know, civilized.

Another vote for Earl Gray!

Sterling

OK, so I work in the coffee and tea import business (LOL, how ex-Mo in a job can you be), so here's my recommendation:

1. Ahmad = British tea, lots of flavors, even some decaf available. Absolutely tops in flavor. I love the afternoon, with cardamom.

2. Yogi tea - ok, this is mostly herbal, but the ayurvedic blends are tasty, and supposedly medicinal

3. Nuvi - high-end, lots of coffee shops sell it

4. Mighty Leaf - nice blends

5. Oregon Chai - if you like chai, this is marvelous. You might want to try a chai tea latte. Available in sugar free, mix 1/2 and 1/2 with whole milk at home. Available online and in grocery stores.

Stay away from commercial (Tetly, Lipton, etc) blends. They're raised using pesticides, and are mostly stems and stalks, and tend to be rather old and weak, very predictable.

Tevana is a nice chain - owned by Starbucks.

Try growing your own herbs for tea. Chamomile is lovely, makes a great tea, easy to grow, and cheap seeds. Try getting the seeds from Territorial Seeds in Cottage Grove, OR.

Invest in a good tea kettle at home. Electric is great, the Brits love them. I prefer a good stove top kettle.

Enjoy the ritual of tea. Making, relaxing with it. The Japanese have turned it into an art.

And, if you want to do it right, never, ever use anything other than boiling water for your tea. Allow it to steep for 5 mins before adding anything - lemon, etc.

Happy tea drinking!

I love your exmo job. I actually do get seeds from Territorial for my garden plot, so I can throw in chamomile. I used to live around there in Oregon. Great recommendations!

Love tea!
In the beginning it's overwhelming, there are so many possibilities. I had help from Sister-in-law who sent a tea care package with many varieties. Some of my favorites:
Loose Tea:
Citron Oolong
White tea with wild rose (petals open as it steeps)
Jasmine Pearl (also petals open)
Maghreb Mint (Green with cardamom, peppermint, licorice root, ginger, fennel clove and black pepper)
Jasmine green loose leaf my go-to
Oolong close second
Packaged:
Bigelow's Plantation Mint (sometimes add a little chocolate)
Celestial Seasonings Tension Tamer, nice on stressful afternoon or evening relaxor)
CS Decaf Green with white tea
CS Sleepytime - steeping more than 4 minutes makes me groggy next day
Enjoy! Keep those great ideas coming!