I’m not sure at all about the temperature of water from his microwave. We have a dinky little microwave here at the office, and I’m still able to get water boiling in it. Admittedly, I do put it in for longer when I’m making black tea (which should be boiling) than when I’m making cocoa or herbal tea (which need only be hot).
Snapple has some nice bottled variations that I can find in my grocery, although most of their stuff is way too sweet for me.
I like their iced black tea…it comes in English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Orange Pekoe varieties. They are very lightly sweetened and weigh in at about 70-80 calories for the whole 16 ounce bottle.
They also make some nice “not too sweet” fruit flavored red teas,…a peach, berry and orange IIRC, with about the same calorie count.
Bottled tea always tastes sour to me. I assume it’s the citric acid.
So far I’ve tried 5 varieties of Twinnings (hot) tea - English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey, Lady Grey, and Darjeeling.
So far, Darjeeling is the best. Really good stuff. I also like the flavor of Lady Grey, with orange and lemon peels used for flavoring.
Where should I go from here? What’s the deal with herbal tea?
WARNING: Sun tea is no longer recommended, because it can cause dangerous levels of bacteriato grow in your refreshing beverage.
I really like the alternative of brewing overnight in the the refrigerator. This is especially good when using grocery store tea bags, which can taste just fine, but also are very susceptible to overbrewing and getting unbearably tannic. Just follow the instructions in the link.
If you like Darjeeling, may I recommend my favorite snobby tea: Orthodox Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe Darjeeling. You can get a sample that will brew several cups of tea for $1.00. You will need a brewing device or strainer to use loose tea - I like a cup-sized basket, but a tea sock or ball would be OK to see if you like it, or you can brew in one vessel and strain through a kitchen seive into another.
(Hereis a glossary of weird tea classification terms)
You can go on to a Darjeeling sampler. I’ve ordered from this site before and love their teas. I ordered an Assam sampler from them that I loved.
Or you can try a Black Tea Sampler from my favorite tea site online.
To me, herbal “tea” is insipid. I like the punch of black tea, and herbals don’t have any part of the tea leaf in them.
That’s about how I do it, But instead of Peppermint I use a bag of Raspberry Zinger or one of the berries. Great taste with no calories.
Anyone have one of those kettles with the electronic heater built in? Does it work well? I’m looking to start making proper tea, and I’m wondering if it would be more efficient and/or faster (compared to a gas stove) just to use one of those, especially since I’m only making one cup worth at a time.
I have a T-Fal Vitesses, and I LOVE it. I use it several times a day. One cup’s-worth of water boils in about a minute, and I do think it tastes better than microwaved water for tea, somehow.