I have never been much of a tea drinker and when I did drink it, it was full of sugar and milk (still like it this way occasionally), but this summer I tried fruit refrigerator tea (quart Mason jars with chopped or sliced fruit a tea bag and water sealed and stuck in the back of the fridge for one day) and I LOVE it. I’ve tried many different fruits but lime and mango are my favorites. As for the tea-- well Lipton is just fine. Also I really enjoy Numi Organic Aged Earl and White Rose.
So, in the spirit of If I like this artists, I’ll also like. . ., I ask what’s good in the world of tea?
Our everyday black tea is Twinings English Breakfast, brewed with loose tea. For days when I’m the only one drinking, I might brew a bag of Bigelow’s Constant Comment or Cinnamon Stick for a change.
Higher up the tea echelons, my favorite flavored black tea is Mariage Freres “Marco Polo”. In green teas, any jasmine pearls are nice–I get mine from Adagio.com. They have a wide selection and like to sell tiny sampler tins, so they’re a fun place to look around, when you don’t quite know what you like.
Herbal tea: I grow my own chamomile and mint. I’m also devoted to Twinings Camomile, Honey and Vanilla herbal tea, which I have to order from Amazon.
To piggyback off the above - Typhoo is the brand that is in every British military ration. IIRC it’s in several of the rations belonging to Commonwealth nations as well. That should tell you something.
Yorkshire Gold.. An import that’s available all over Brooklyn. The first tea I’ve been able to drink as a morning beverage without getting a tummy-ache from the tannic acid. My Welsh neighbor tells me that in the Old Country, everyone is loyal to either Yorkshire Gold or PG Tips. I’ve tried PG Tips and I don’t like.
Barry’s is good, too, also comes in Red and Gold like Yorkshire, but is imported from Ireland rather than England. Not quite as good as Yorkshire, in my opinion.
I brew my morning tea crazy black and strong, like an Irish or British navvy, at least five and up to ten minutes. Then I stir a couple spoonfuls of whole milk into it.
I’m not sure how much stock I put in military rations, where quality is concerned.
Me, I like just plain black tea, with no added flavors, and just a spoonful of honey or sugar. Of brands easily available in the States, my favorite is Stash English Breakfast, but Twinings English or Irish Breakfast is nearly as good.
It’s often overlooked, but the single most important thing to getting a good cup of tea is the quality of the tea itself. Lipton’s is… acceptable, I suppose, if there’s nothing else available, but you can do much better, even for the same or lower price. The cheapest tea you’ll find anywhere is Benning’s, sold at Aldi, and while it’s not as good as Stash or Twinings, it’s still actually pretty good.
And of course the hot water thing. Tea water should be boiling when you start steeping it. The time it takes to cool down to drinkable temperature is just about the same as the time it takes to steep properly.
Yeah but I drink refrigerator tea. Put a bag of tea in a jar of water, wait a day or more, then drink. Also, I put the fresh fruit in so I don’t usually get fruit flavored tea. I’m sure some teas taste better than others prepared this way. Also why loose tea won’t work.
Haven’t found an herbal tea that floats my boat yet. Lime goes really well with all the types of green teas I’ve tried. And I think what I like about Lipton’s is that it seeps real well in the fridge. I can drink it after only 12 hours and it’ll be fine. The organic teas need all 24 of them hours to get strong enough for me. But the smell is worth the wait.
My favorite herbals are mostly Celestial Seasonings. But then, what I like best from them is mostly the fruity ones, which might be redundant with the fruits you’re adding. Rooibos might go well with fruit, though.
As a basic tea, I’ll second the recommendations for English Breakfast. Oolong is also good (that’s the kind of tea you generally get in Chinese restaurants). Darjeeling and Orange Pekoe are also good (Orange Pekoe is the stuff that’s sold as generic tea). Bigelow and Twinings are both good brands you can find pretty much anywhere.
Another recommendation: check out the Adagio Tea website. They have this thing they call an IngenuiTea teapot. It’s designed so you can fill it with water, heat it in the microwave, and then add loose tea. Then you set the whole thing down on your mug and it filters out the tea leaves and drains all the tea into your mug. It’s easy to clean with a simple rinse. And they sell this teapot in a gift pack with enough tea samples to make around twenty-five cups - all for twenty-four dollars. And the quality of their tea is excellent.
I like Constant Comment (orange spice) and Earl Grey with lemon. Another excellent one is Zhena’s Sense of Peace, which is white tea with peppermint and rose. I also like Tazo lemon ginger green tea. I have several blends that feature hibiscus, Republic of Tea makes some really great ones.
Tea is a very personal choice, I’m not sure how I can recommend something that you might like. But I can discuss what I like, and why, so here goes:
I generally like black teas, and some pu’erh teas (pu’erh tea is fermented and can be rather earthy). I like regular black teas like Irish Breakfast (not English Breakfast for me, it’s too bland) and teas a bit stronger like Nepal Black, and the dark and smoky taste of Lapsang Souchong (this is often blended with other teas, I prefer it straight). I don’t like fruit flavored black teas, for some reason they don’t sit well on my stomach. I do like chocolate flavored black teas, and chocolate comes through especially well when mixed with pu’erh tea. I often buy two separate blends of tea (such as a Rooibos blend called Chocolate Mint, and a Pu’erh with chocolate called Hot Chocolate) and brew them together. I also love Jasmine Pearls as mentioned already in this thread
(Unpaid Commercial Endorsement) I get my tea from David’s Tea, they have a shop here in San Francisco and online, you can buy as little as 2 ounces if you want to try something, and they have a ton of varieties and blends including herbal, white and green teas, as well as black and pu’erh. It’s not cheap, however some of them are pretty reasonable.
Some of my favorites: Bagged Tea Typhoo – good quality, but very strong Taylors of Harrowgate has a Scottish Breakfast Tea that is delicious. PG Tips – good solid tea Stash White Christmas – a mint tea with ginger. Great if you have a stuffy nose or an edgy stomach.
Loose Tea Argo Tea Matte Latte – amazingly good with a little sugar and milk. Even better at the shops (Chicago area), but they do mail order. Saratoga Tea and Honey Sahara Dunes – a variation on Moroccan mint that’s just fine.
I’m not fond of black teas, but I do enjoy some green teas very much.
Ti kuan yin (tieguanyin, or sometimes called Iron Buddha tea) is very nice. But my usual go-to tea is a Japanese one: genmai cha. It’s a green tea with grains of toasted brown rice mixed in. Yummy!
Just before I had to give up tea (it bothers my stomach), I discovered Assam. It’s a black tea grown in India, and has a toasty, malty flavor which holds up well to drinking iced or in milk tea form. Of course, it’s also good hot. And now I can’t drink it anymore! Poop.
I like to sweeten tea with agave nectar; I think the caramel-ly flavor of the agave complements tea flavor very well.
Another vote for Yorkshire Gold…excellent flavor (especially for a bagged tea!), and I’ve never had a problem with it bothering my stomach. (I actually started drinking tea because other acceptable breakfast drinks – orange juice and coffee – give me absolutely horrific heartburn.)
Speaking of Taylor’s of Harrogate, I’ve found that they make outstanding bagged teas in general. I love their breakfast teas, and their flavored ones are good too. I got a box of their loose leaf Assam to give it a try; it’s strong!
For herbal tea, I usually stick with Celestial Seasonings, but I recently tried a Bigelow Peppermint Bark that is surprisingly tasty.