What are some good teas?

[wacki]

I'm starting to get into Tea, so far I like Green Tea, and Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime.

I used to be friends with some people from England that always had the best tea but I can't remember what they drank. I just remember the tea was in round bags that you put in a coffee maker. It was good stuff.

[nothumb]

I tend to like mint teas, I buy most of my tea from Helsinki Tea Company here in Great Barrington MA, so I can't speak much to brand name teas...

I know around here some of the best ones you can buy for green and fruit teas are Honest Tea. They are starting to put out some bottled tea too.

NT

[cnfuzzd]

psilocybin mushroom tea i pretty good...

As is texas tea.


Tea used to be a slang for weed, which is a slang for marijuana, which is a term for cannabic sativa or indica,

I usually just hit the tee when im golfing.

A golfball has never reminded me of a mushroom.


peace

john nickle

[ilya]

I like Harvey Nic's loose leaf teas, plus the cans are stylish.

[Blarg]

I like celestial seasons sleepytime too! Always been a big favorite of mine.

I also like mint teas and green tea, but both tend to be pretty weak when you get them from the supermarket. I like stronger teas for the flavor, but when it comes to health, also for the nutrients.

Here's a link on green tea that I bought -- nice and strong and flavorful. More flavor, more health, too, so it's the best of all worlds.

http://search.lef.org/src-cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=66&EXTRA_ARG=&CFGNAME=MssFind%2E cfg&host_id=42&page_id=9896960&query=green+tea&hiw ord=green+tea+

[InchoateHand]

If you want a good solid black tea, I nominate simplicity---none of those "Breakfast" teas, no added "oil of bergemot," just plain old Broken Orange Pekoe, preferably highland grown in Sri Lanka. You'll find it loose at any good tea distributor, just buy a little tea ball (or better yet, a mug sized strainer) and brew away.

If you want a more delicate evening tea, again to Sri Lanka: get silvertip tea, which is crafted from the tips of the tea blossoms.

[Allan]

Maybe try a starter set or something form here....

Upton Tea (http://www.uptontea.com/)

After drinking some better quality loose leaf teas you'll probably think Celestial Seasonings tastes like dust.

Have fun,

Allan

[Toro]

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe try a starter set or something form here....

Upton Tea (http://www.uptontea.com/)

After drinking some better quality loose leaf teas you'll probably think Celestial Seasonings tastes like dust.

Have fun,

Allan

[/ QUOTE ]

I work 10 minutes from this place and get all my tea there. They have hundreds of different teas from all over the world. I highly recommend getting their catalogue and trying some samplers to see what you like.

[Blarg]

Hmm this looks like interesting stuff. I used to have one of those tea-balls, but lost it a long time ago.

Do you(or other respondents to this thread) have any recommendations on the best way to brew tea for someone just sipping away at a couple or few cups for a while on his own(not a big bunch of people, in other words -- just something for the single bum on his own)?

I was also thinking about getting one of those electronic cup warmers so I don't feel like I have to either gulp my drink down fast or drink it cold, but don't know the best one to get or best place to get it.

[theBruiser500]

Maybe someone can help me out here. I took a chinese class in college and in one class the teacher gave us real chinese tea (it wasn't tea bags). That tea had a lot of flavor to it, it's the only tea I've ever had that I've liked really (I think most tea I have is bland). Any ideas on what that tea was or suggestions on tea I should try?

[Allan]

I usually have only one cup at a time and I'm not into the whole brewing process like some people I know are. I don't have a water thermometer or timer and I usually use water out of the tap. So here's what I do:

1) I heat up the water. If its green tea I pull the kettle off just before boiling. If it's black tea I just let it boil.

2) I pour some hot water into the mug prior to brewing to get the mug hot then toss that water out.

3) I brew with one of these: tea strainer (http://store1.yimg.com/I/harneyteas_1822_1074686) those tea-balls are a pain to use and clean and don't allow the leaves to expand as much as a strainer does.



If you like having more than one mug then a small tea pot might be the way to go.

Allan

[Toro]

They have these ceramic tea pots with a strainer. That's what I use.

[jdl22]

I like Mariage Frere. It's a French tea company with some good black teas. I really like the pleine lune and the chocolate mint, my fiance likes the wedding imperial.

[Allan]

That really is some great tea.

Allan

[sfer]

It's best just to find a tea merchant and to try some to see what you like. It's true of tea, coffee, wine, scotch, etc etc etc.

Standard supermarket tea in England tends to be quite good compared to your standard Liptons. A friend who used to live in England made me get her a big box of PG Tips when I was in London last, and I got one for myself too. It's a good, unfussy tea.

[scrub]

Tealuxe.com (http://www.tealuxe.com) is a tea retailer with a great online site. I've gotten great customer service and fast shipping.

Mariage's Princeton Darjeeling is good stuff.

Dean and Deluca (http://www.deandeluca.com/) also sells high end teas. They carry some Mariage teas.

Most tea in bags sucks. Scrubette really likes Mighty Leaf (http://www.mightyleaf.com/) tea, though.

scrub

[Rick Nebiolo]

Great thread. I'm more of a coffee drinker in the morning but I love hot herbal tea in the evenings before bed (except in summer). I have two of those one cup tea stainers (or something like it) but I don't live close enough to a good supply of loose tea that tastes better than the Bigelow teas in a bag (such as Sweet Dreams and the variations of Chamomile).

Made a folder of links to the various sources in this thread. I can't afford a real good new car but I might as well drink decent tea (and martinis) /images/graemlins/grin.gif.

~ Rick

[PoBoy321]

I come from a very, VERY Irish family, so tea has always been something near and dear to my heart, so this thread strikes a special chord.

I had a great aunt who every year around christmas time would give us a big gift basket full of Bewley's Irish Tea (http://www.bewleys.com/homepage/html/index.asp). It was some of the greatest stuff I've ever tasted. I'd nearly forgotten about it until you put up this post, but I looked around, found the website and remembered that some of my favorite childhood memories were sitting around on a cold morning drinking Irish Breakfast tea. She passed away a few years ago so I haven't had the stuff since, but you just gave me a great idea for what to get my parents for christmas.

[nothumb]

You've been silent so long and you come back with some crap like this. Little expat bastard.

NT

[Allan]

Rick if you like cofee you may wanna try something like Lapsang Souchong. It's got a very rich flavor with a lot of smoke to it.

Allan

[Rick Nebiolo]

[ QUOTE ]
Rick if you like cofee you may wanna try something like Lapsang Souchong. It's got a very rich flavor with a lot of smoke to it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been grinding my own beans with a little ten dollar Braun grinder and generally get what's available (Starbucks, Diedrich) or some decent priced beans when I get cigars from JR's. Last time at Diedrich I bought a little bit ($12 for a quarter pound!) of those Blue Mountain Beans and thought they were way overrated.

Anyway, just Googled Lapsang Souchong (was worried I might get links to Thai sex clubs) and found out it is tea, not coffee. I'll look into some regular tea like this after the Christmas rush /images/graemlins/grin.gif

~ Rick