# Some tea questions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075 "2010-06-30T15:34:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075/21 "2010-07-17T00:22:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > My tea palate must suck from drinking Sweet Tea all my life. I really can’t tell the difference in taste unless it has added flavors. Hot tea tastes like, well, hot tea. The only one I’ve tasted that is different is Earl Grey–which, incidentally, makes a really good iced tea. I’ve always joked that, in Star Trek, I’d order Tea. Earl-gray. Iced. I don’t think you’re really supposed to tell the difference unless it’s flavored. Earl Grey is flavored, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075/22 "2010-07-17T00:41:26Z")
I really like the Twinnings, mostly because I really like my tea with a splash of milk, even iced tea. The loose teas are tasty, my husband likes Irish breakfast and Lapsang Souchong, our son lives for the Earl Grey and I am addicted to the bagged stuff. My favorites are the mixed berry black tea, and the pure peppermint herbal teas. ---
**Author:** ![Staver808](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@Staver808](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staver808)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075/23 "2010-07-17T02:30:30Z")
Since no one’s mentioned it, my personal favorite is popcorn tea. I don’t know if that’s the official name. You can get it here in Chinatown asking for popcorn tea, and it’s a lightly flavored tea with a strong popcorn smell. It even has popped corn kernels in the tea mixture. I buy a big plastic bag and use a little ball strainer thing. I only do this because it’s not available as bags as far as I know. I love the smell of this tea as well as the taste. Other than that, I do like a black, oolong, green and other teas, though I haven’t really tried a lot of herbal teas. I know it’s not the proper way, but I just use my french press coffee maker to make tea. _Shrug_ it works for me and tastes fine. I don’t know about your area, but tea is getting to be really big here and there are a bunch or chic tea shops if you knwo where to look for them. Some have loose leaf teas, one had tea blossoms (I think that’s what they were called). They were expensive but I got them as a gift, it’s a little ball you place in hot water, and the ball opens up into a flower of some sort. Different flavors had different flowers. Pretty cool. And the tea was okay too. Definately fun to have visually if you have the a clear glass container for your tea. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075/24 "2010-07-17T02:41:00Z")
For winter sipping it’s earl grey, hot with honey. For summer gulping it’s ordinary jasmine iced tea. I buy a bag of loose jasmine in chinatown for a few dollars and it makes gallons and gallons. I make it strong so that i can dispense a small amount into a glass and then fill the rest up with cold water until it’s a pale yellow-green in color. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075/25 "2010-07-17T02:57:27Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think you’re really supposed to tell the difference unless it’s flavored. Earl Grey is flavored, by the way. You can tell. But basically it’s a matter of how strong the tea flavor is. ---
**Author:** ![TheTerribleTako](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@TheTerribleTako](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTerribleTako)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075/26 "2010-07-19T05:52:38Z")
> [@Staver808](#): > > Since no one’s mentioned it, my personal favorite is popcorn tea. I don’t know if that’s the official name. You can get it here in Chinatown asking for popcorn tea, and it’s a lightly flavored tea with a strong popcorn smell. It even has popped corn kernels in the tea mixture. Could it be [genmaicha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genmaicha)? Wiki notes that an alternate name for it is popcorn tea, although I’ve never heard that name before. Genmaicha is made with green tea and roasted rice though, not popcorn. You can get it in Japanese and other Asian markets in the loose leaf tea aisle quite easily in both loose leaf and bags. The brand I usually use is Yama Moto Yama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/some-tea-questions/545075.md?page=1)