Tea

Following on to the beverages thread, I have heard a lot of people talk about tea. Im not talking about P.G Tips teabag from a supermarket tea, but the other "proper" tea (no idea what its called)

The only tea I have ever tried is the type you get from the supermarket in a teabag, add hot water, milk and mabe some sugar, but im interested in this other stuff.

What other types of tea are there?
Where can you buy this tea from?
What sort of tea would be good to start with?
How do you make/prapair this tea?
Do you add milk or sugar to this type of tea?

I regularly drink Twinnings English Breakfast tea. I *do* buy it in bags from the grocery store. Nonetheless, it is excellent. I would heartily endorse it.

Do you just add the teabag to water and let it simmer? Do you add milk or sugar?

my sister in law is a huge tea drinker. There is a store called teavana close to were i live so i stopped there. They had over 50 teas that you can have. It is all loose so you need a diffuser. I guess white tea is suppose to be one of the best kinds of tea. As for myself i just drink lots of green tea.

I do not add milk or sugar to my tea.

milk + tea?, try make some chi mix.. then mostly rice or soy milk (i like Silk brand Unsweetened) with the mix. the mix is stable refrigerated, it is mostly cardomen, darjeeling tea + cinnamon but get the recipe off the internets.
cow's milk is 4children, better the soy milk and the brand above strikes trade off between american bland taste and the Asian soy milk.

from an Asian peep i got some interesting tea:
maybe from vietnam? "Danh Tra Tamehau" i mangled something here but the basic thought i have to bring is it is a rolled tea, not ground. the tea leaf is rolled into a small pit, put a few in the hot water it flattens out.

avid too hot water but depends of the cost of the tea
buy your tea online, googles for a proper site.

Spiced Chai is interesting, you can get it at many supermarkets these days.

I tried some green tea in a Japanese restaurant called Wagamama. It was a bit like drinking boiled grass & earth ...

rob.h said:

Spiced Chai is interesting.
I tried some green tea in a Japanese restaurant called Wagamama. It was a bit like drinking boiled grass & earth ...

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try making your own chai, easy enough and it keeps a few weeks so make it a few quarts at a time. the supermarket stuff is not pridefully made, workers spit/pee into the product.

avoid things that dont taste good. the "Danh Tra Tamehau?" is fine enough, mild, dont know if its expensive of junk tho.

sanity1082 said:

my sister in law is a huge tea drinker. There is a store called teavana close to were i live so i stopped there. They had over 50 teas that you can have. It is all loose so you need a diffuser. I guess white tea is suppose to be one of the best kinds of tea. As for myself i just drink lots of green tea.

I do not add milk or sugar to my tea.

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I go to Teavana all the time! I drink an African red tea called Rooibos. It is the only tea that naturally contains no caffeine, plus it has very low levels of tannin. It has a pretty strong flavor, but sometimes I will steep it with a little brown rock sugar right in the diffuser.

Sweet Tea= the best.

I use a tea maker called Tea Drop by Sunbeam to make my tea at work. I use two PG Tips pyramid tea bags, which are good for 3 cups of tea (6-oz teacup size). I have a teacup and saucer I use at work, which usually gets some comments. I haven't been able to use my tea maker this week because I broke the carafe and have to try to get a new one.

At home on weekends I use a teapot and loose tea. Again, I usually make enough for three cups of tea. I buy my tea online from an importer in Massachusetts called Upton Tea Imports (www.uptontea.com), my favorite being a black tea blend called Richmond Park Blend, a blend of Keemun (from China), Ceylon (from Sri Lanka), and Darjeeling (from India). I usually drink it with a bit of milk and sugar.

I also like chai, usually from Starbucks. Most of the time I try to be good and get it with nonfat milk.

imme said:

Do you just add the teabag to water and let it simmer? Do you add milk or sugar?

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I use one fresh teabag per cup of tea. I have a large tall and slender tea mug (the shape keeps the tea hot longer). I fill the mug with boiling water and slowly lower the tea bag into it, making sure that the air trapped in the bag escapes as the bag enters the water, thus letting it sink into the mug vs. floating on top.

Twinnings tea bags have a label on them which is attached by string, with one end of the string attached to the top of the tea bag and the other end to the label. I use this string to suspend the tea bag about half way down the inside of the cup, so that it is fully immersed, but not sitting on the bottom. I then let it steep for about 3 minutes.

After that, I remove tea bag and discard it, and add a generous amount of what is called "Half and Half" in this part of the world: not quite cream, but heavier than regular full fat milk. As my wife jokes, I like a little tea with my cream.

That's it. Stir and enjoy.

Why Twinnings English Breakfast tea? First of all Twinnings is a well respected vendor of teas, having been in the business for a very long time. Secondly, English Breakfast tea is a full bodied robust tea, bursting with flavor. So, a good vendor and a good blend of tea equals an excellent cup of tea!

I drink green and white teas. No milk, no sugar, just brew the teabag for a few minutes and drink.

I had many different types of tea when I lived in China: pretty much drank green tea with every meal. A couple of my favorites were chrysanthemum and jasmine teas. But it's been a long time since I had them. I remember one had a kind of natural sweetness that was very good. I have no idea where to get them here in the states. Any asian market would probably carry them

These days, other than typical supermarket tea and green tea, I really like chai tea. I usually get chai lattes when I go to Starbucks because I can't stand their coffee.

I prefer sweetened iced tea, regular supermarket stuff (Lipton). I never cared much for hot beverages, like coffee, tea or hot chocolate. Just don't like the burned tongue sensation. I will drink hot chocolate only if it's not too hot.

I'm a tea drinker and I like Twinnings Earl Grey. I do buy a box of teabags as it's quicker to make.

I put teabag into cup then pour boiling water in, then I emove teabag, I don't leave it in too long. I don't have milk or sugar with any tea.

lots of recommendations for twinnings. I will have to try some.

imme said:

What other types of tea are there?
Where can you buy this tea from?
What sort of tea would be good to start with?
How do you make/prapair this tea?
Do you add milk or sugar to this type of tea?

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Well besides "Tea bags" tea there is Packed leaf tea (that's how I think it is called). There is also Mate tea.
In Moscow we have special tea shops where you can by any sort of tea by grams. I mean It is not a solid pack they have scales and pour tea into packs.
Start with any you like. I recommend you to get different sorts to find out which of them you like the most. I prefer Earl Grey tea.
How to prepare packed leaf tea: get small tea, wash it with boiled water, put about 2 spoons of tea there, fill it with boiled water and give it 5 minutes to brew. It is a piece of cake!
I prefer tea without any additions to taste the pure tea flavour.

I have a question. Why do English people drink tea with milk??? Is it a tradition or what? I tasted it. Nothing special.

chalk up another english breakfast tea.

usually twinings, usually bagged.

though ideally loose in bulk.

always with plenty of sugar, only very occasionally with a bit of milk.

i also drink iced tea a lot when i'm out - then i'm at the whim of the place that makes it.

To reply to the original poster:

What other types of tea are there?
Just have a look at the tea isle of your local supermarket. Well here there is quite a rage of different teas to choose from. But for the exotic stuff you need to go to a specialty tea store. But in saying that my local supermarket does have teas from every continent of the world.

Where can you buy this tea from?
Read above.

What sort of tea would be good to start with?
Depends on what your after. English breakfast is a nice starter to try as it's a strongish tea and quite popular well here anyways. And for a herbal tea, just have a look and pick a flavour you like.

How do you make/prapair this tea?
For most teas, there is a few options:
Without or without milk
With or without a squeeze of lemon
With or without sugar.

In saying that, the english prefer with milk and no sugar and milk
And some Europeans have it no milk but with sugar and lemon.
And I have it none of all 3.

But there is always exceptions. And there is 4.

Herbal Teas - just water and the tea. That's it. But they are naturally sweet so you don't need the rest most times but a tiny bit of sugar in some is ok if you so want it. But the no milk is a must as it ruins the tea. Well technically it there are no tea leaves in some of them. But you drink them in a similar way hence the name.

Green Tea - Many Asians like this. As above, No milk. But lemon and sugar is optional. This is green tea leaves as apposed to the black ones in standard tea. The only difference is green leaves is the young plant and the black ones is the more mature plant.

Chai Tea - This is black tea leaves spiced up with cinnamon and other spices. Supposedly this originated around the India region of the world. And there are a few ways to drink this:

Just as normal black tea. Milk and sugar optional. But I'd hold back on the lemon as it's a little too strong and will overpower the delicate flavour of the spices.
But there is a 2nd way. You can buy this as many places like starbucks. They take the tea. Add the hot water, then froth up some with with a cinnamon stick and sometimes a little vanilla. This frothed milk as the same consistency as the frothed milk used for something like a cappuccino. Then you remove the cinnamon cause all you want is it's flavours infused into the milk. Then you add this milk mix into the tea as you would any coffee. And put a little sweet spice or whatever on top as a garnish. Then you drink it. The end result is a rather sweet latte/cappuccino styled drink. I quite like it. But I always ask for no added sugar as that would make it too sweet for my liking.

Iced Tea: This is the standard teas with other flavours added and then chilled. This is the only tea drunk cold. All the rest are hot drinks. Having Ice in this tea is optional. I'm not a fan of this tea. But some people find it refreshing on a hot day. And in the supermarket you will not find it in the tea isle. It'll be in the cold drinks isle or fridge.

Lastly there is the issue with the strength of tea. And this is totally up to the person. Some people like it strong, and others like it weaker. You'll only know when you drink it. And it is possible to like one tea strong and another weak.

But for using tea leaves in a pot, the usual rule is you get the number of people you want to serve and get the required amount of water and add the same number of tea bags or teaspoons of tea leaves as there are people. Then you add one more bag or teaspoon in. This is called the one for the pot. I remember it as one per person and one for the pot.

Do you add milk or sugar to this type of tea?
Read above.

Brands: Yes what brand of tea you buy does make all the difference as is how you store it, just like coffee.

For me I like Dilmah for straight black tea and Twinings for everything else. But this again is up to your personal tastes. Just pick a brand that is in your price range and suits your taste. And you must store it in an airtight container. So the aromas from the tea stay and don't float away in the air.

And lastly my favourite teas (and how I drink them) are:

Chai Tea - Drunk just with tea and water. But sometimes I'll get a Chai latte (with the whole frothed milk thingy) from starbucks when I'm out.

Earl Grey: A weak flavoured tea. Nice with milk or without. But mostly I have it really strong and milkless. I believe this tea has to be drunk strong. Cause if it's weak there is almost no flavour as this is a really mild strength tea.

Lemon and Ginger: A mid strength herbal tea. I like it just with water but I think a tinsey drop (1/4-1/2 a teapoon) of sugar per cup would be ok too and take away from the sourness of the lemon and make it a nice sweet sour blend.

Who would have thought that we could have such a detailed discussion around the topic of tea! Amazing!