Honestly. I am so glad I posed this topic, I have learned so much.
I went out today and bought my first infuser and getting ready to steep some gunpowder green tea.
To me tea is medicine and as a big fan of coffee I had never thought of it as a medicine, just as jolt of energy.
I do like Barry’s though. Lots of good tea to be had in bags. Bagged doesn’t automatically mean not good, it just means it’s needs to be scrutinized a bit more.
Posted while sipping on Tevana brand Jasmine Oolong. I don’t like a lot that Tevana makes, but I do like this.
I drink tea most days, I make it in a metal pot which goes on the electric hob to stay warm. I usually drink Twinings loose English Breakfast tea, and use a strainer when pouring it into a cup. With tea you should use boiling water, as hot as possible, to allow the leaves to open and let the flavour flood out. Don’t agitate the leaves too much, or squeeze a teabag too tightly, as this will cause the more bitter flavours to be released into your tea.
Unless you’re drinking white or green teas, which should brew at a lower temperature. White tea in particular turns bitter if it’s brewed too hot.
BTW, I drink black tea, fairly light, sugar and maybe lemon. No milk. I also like rooibos tea with spices, a few white-and-fruit tea blends, and some herbal teas.
My wife and I are big fans of David’s Tea, a Canadian company making inroads here in the Northeast US. Their collection of teas is large, with classics, variations on classics, and fun concoctions (e.g. birthday cake, gingerbread cookie). Unlike most tea shops, which tend toward recreating a cramped and stuffy 1783 British shop feel, their stores are bright and cheery, their tea bins are color coded so you know if you’re getting green or herbal or black, etc., and the staff is super friendly and helpful.
They also do a tea advent calendar every year, which is a fun way of trying new flavors.
Allow me to retort.
I’ve drank a lot of tea over the years and Lapsang Souchong is the worst tea I’ve ever had. It tastes like somebody brewed a cup of tea and added a used cigarette to it. If I was having tea at a place that only served Lapsong Sounchong, I would ask them to skip the tea and just bring me a cup of boiled water instead.
Popped in to agree with this. Barry’s is my favorite teabag. The red box and also the green box (Irish). Don’t care for PG Tips, Yorkshire Gold, Twinings, Typhoo…I’ve tried them all. For MY taste and MY palate, Barry’s has the brightest flavor. (YMMV.)
It rainy and drizzly here…in the 40’s…my feet are cold…I’m watching Broadchurch, season 2. This calls for a cup of Barry’s tea! 
BTW, a splash (< half an ounce) of Crème de cassis in a cup of any black tea is really yummy.
De gustibus non disputandum.
I, on the other hand, love this tea. Not every day, but when that’s what I want, that’s what I really want.
If you haven’t tried it already I highly recommend their Chocolate Chili Chai. A nice black tea with a note of Chai spices, a hint of chocolate (more aroma than taste) and a pleasant hum from the chilis.
or as it’s more commonly known as, warm water (I kid).
I prefer the black teas. They’re more robust and I don’t feel like such a heathen putting sugar in it.
I drink Tetley at work because it’s about the best I can get without a sherpa. My comfort tea is the smoked lapsang souchong but I have to drive to a real grocery store to get it. There are 3 stores in my area and 2 of them are one-owner stores.
And here’s my major complaint. I’ll go into a grocery store with a huge section of tea on display (not to be confused with a huge selection) and see 5 different brands of Earl Grey along with 50 foo foo teas made from out-of-date potpourri. Og forbid they carry one complete line of teas that real tea drinkers would want. Just pick a brand and put their entire selection on the shelf. It doesn’t take up that much space.
My rant has a 2nd verse. There should be a law that items made from tea leaves get to use the word “TEA” on their package and the rest of the items carry the label “new-age-flavored-WTF”. I’m not a tea snob but it truly grinds my gears to look at 30 linear feet of teas in a grocery aisle almost completely devoid of actual tea. Create a new section in the store called "holistic healing crape’ " and fill it to the ceiling with your water infused rust inhibitors.
Rant mode off. One thing I do when not using loose leaf in a pot is to skim off anything that floats to the top of my cup. I don’t know if it’s impurities in the water or natural chemicals in the tea but it makes a difference. Whatever it is seems to be bitter and I think that’s why it tastes better out of a tea pot. The stem on a tea pot pulls the liquid from the bottom and thus keeps out the impurities that float to the top.
I’ve seen that sheen. Thought it was just oil from the leaf dunno. Also did not know about tea pots pulling off the bottom.
My next purchase is a nice tea kettle
Get yourself a nice trivet and a tea cosy too.
FYI, these are what Russians traditionally use to drink tea:
Drinking it out of just a glass the way Arnie did in Red Heat will burn your fingers. Ow!
(Nowadays, they usually drink it out of a cup, like everybody else.)
Link no worky for me but I will look into that. Thanks
Try this one:
I believe the correct word is “tisane”, which refers to all those other infusions of herbs in water that aren’t tea or coffee.
Personally, I’d be okay if they separated out the “herbal tea” section clearly from the “tea” section, but I don’t even get that. Of course, I now buy most of my tea on-line (Simpson and Vail) which nicely separates their wares into black, green, white, oolong, flavored tea (all based on actual “tea”, with the adulterated stuff clearly labeled) as well as a section for:
Herbal “Tea” (Roibos, Lemon Myrtle, …
So I’m good there.
I got some of those Russian tea glasses from amazon. (I think you can get a kidney transplant through amazon. Two-day free delivery if you have Prime.)
I got the kid, but want to point out that green tea comes in all shapes and sizes. I’m a no-fuss kind of guy who couldn’t care less about the tea ritual / wankery / whathaveyou. Still, I’ve learned that small things make a difference here, and developed my own preferences.
I only drink green tea, as my stomach can’t take black tea or coffee, and I like the suggested health benefits of green tea. I’ve come to favor pure unflavored green tea leaves steeped in freshly heated (not boiled! Around 80 C) water for several minutes, no less, no more. I drink around 1 liter of green tea per day - it has gradually become an important part of my day (caffeine at work here, but not only that).
To me, there’s a huge difference between bags of, say Twinings Pure Green Tea and the loose leaf green teas by Clipper, Pukka and other companies. The difference is not just the packaging, as it is evident the bagged tea is ground much smaller, is more “hay-like” in appearance, and is, I strongly suspect, made from inferior raw materials. Wouldn’t care about that, if the teabag tea didn’t taste weak, flat and “dry” in comparison. The taste has no character and it doesn’t build in the mouth as it does with the loose leaf tea. Between those, there are stark differences in taste. I have my favorites, and switch between them for variety. No need for added flavoring, sweeteners etc.
Using an electric kettle, I can heat up a half-liter of water in mere seconds - when the first small bubbles start to gather at the bottom and then rise, the water’s ready to pour. This is the fastest way to make green tea, as well. Using boiled water, or steeping for longer than around 4 minutes, makes for a low-quality drink, IME.
A friend just bought me a 34oz bodum glass tea pot that has a press built into it. Very nice and works very well. She also included an oz of jasmine tea and some Chunmee Green which is pretty darned good.
Guess I’m a legit tea drinker now:D
Oh yes, I am a fan!