I became a tea drinker when I was in England and found their coffee undrinkable. Then I happily discovered *good *tea! I search for it in the US, and in NY it is easily findable, both loose and in bags.
Black only–good tea is ruined by cream or sugar. And I like strong black Russian or China teas, none of that green cat-piss for me.
I’m a football/soccer fan, and a lot of times at halftime, the announcers will mention the players having a cup of tea in the locker room (dressing room). Are the players really having tea at that point? I can’t see it as being refreshing at all. I wouldn’t have coffee during a game of anything.
Also, I get that the water should be boiling hot while the tea steeps, but do Brits drink it boiling hot, too? Or is that just the best was to get the right flavor, and then they wait for it to cool a bit? I can’t drink piping hot coffee, so I usually have to wait 10 to 15 minutes (another reason I can’t imagine having tea at halftime).
See, it’s the opposite here in the US (in general). Only bargain house-brand tea bags come without individual wrappers, and Og knows how long those have been on the shelf gathering dust and going stale. Might as well use straw.
The exception would be high-end teas that come in actual tins, which helps keep them fresh.
Red Rose doesn’t come individually wrapped and neither does Lipton or Tetley, and all are perfectly good teas.
You can’t put boiling water in your mouth! Try it, and let us know when you get back from the hospital. 
Yes, it has to cool a bit. The milk helps cool it, so you don’t have to wait long. Under a minute, once milk’s been added.
What, your Lipton bags don’t have a paper wrapper around each bag? That’s not individually wrapped?
I’m not really familiar with the other two, so perhaps they aren’t wrapped after all. I do know unwrapped house brands (which Lipton’s, Red Rose, and Tetley’s aren’t) are typically stale by the time you buy them.
If asked how you like it IME they also mean how strong do you want it .
That’s the way Twinings is packaged here in the US, too.
It seems unlikely. The traditional half time refreshment used to be orange quarters (for the juice, I suppose) but these days I would guess the players drink “sports drink” type stuff.
I don’t often hear people answer in terms of strength. Sometimes they do, but only if their taste is unusually strong or weak.
Lipton–at least the crap they hand out in diners–is *not *“a perfectly good tea.” It is The Bitter Tea of General Yen.
OK. To each their own. My feeling about tea is the same as my feeling about coffee: I’m perfectly happy with the inexpensive standard stuff, and if I ever develop a taste for the finer, more expensive types, that will cost me a lot of money. So I will continue to be happy with the inexpensive standard stuff. Although actually I usually just have Red Rose around, because it tends to be on sale most often.
Half the problem with Lipton’s in diners is that the water isn’t hot enough to make tea. Use boiling water and it becomes quite a bit more acceptable.
If it is as horrible as Italian Twinings I feel sorry for you. I buy English Twinings which is much stronger, in a box of 50, no individual wrappers.
I drink my tea hot, I let it brew for about 5 minutes, add milk and start sipping immediately, can’t bear it tepid. As Candyman 74 said, the milk cools it down which is just as well.
If someone I don’ know well asks how I like my tea I’d reply “stewed, splash of milk, no sugar.” People ask because they expect specifics!
Aussie exiled in California here. Among my circle back home, we all drink Dilmah, which I can buy online here. Standard, but good quality, plain black tea. I get it in big boxes of tea bags (200?), and not individually wrapped.
Alas, I can’t drink it at work - the water here is so hard, it reacts with the tannins in the tea and forms a digusting film. I drink Genmai Cha (Japanese green tea with roast brown rice) instead, as it has much lower tannin levels, and is also yummy. Doesn’t stain my teeth, too.
From Chicago, I didn’t know I liked tea until I visited friends in England.
My usual is loose Twinings, which I buy in a big canister from the Indian shops on Devon. It’s decent, strong black tea. When I can’t get that, I default to Aldi’s house brand of tea bags. Like a lot of Aldi’s stuff, it is usually good quality and very cheap. I brew a pot then strain it into a vacuum carafe that keeps it hot enough to drink three cups. At night, I switch to decaf.
My wife, who I love, insists on stewing her tea to undrinkability. If you want strong tea, toss an extra teabag into the pot - don’t leave it in the pot for ten minutes or squeeze the bags!
Had to chime in here. Even though I am American I learned to drink tea from some British friends (they also introduced me to a proper G&T). I’ve come to really love a proper cuppa.
I just received a little gift from a friend yesterday - I have access to boiling water at work, but all of the tea I have is loose leaf so I haven’t been able to enjoy it while there. I’m temping so I don’t want to carry around stuff, or else I’d use my IngenuiTEA. I’ve had it for years and it works like a charm but I can’t really use it where I am.
My friend knows this so she gave me a box of disposable tea filters. This morning I loaded one up with an old favorite (Harney’s Queen Catherine) and I’ve been enjoying it all day now. The disposable bag is sturdy enough for re-steeping, so as long as the tea you have is up to that task you can drink 4-5 cups from one of the bags.
Why the hell am I being charged the same price as a cup of coffee for a tea bag and a pot of lukewarm water?
For all the worship of coffee in this country, why is it seemingly impossible to get a cup of brewed tea? Then again, I haven’t looked into any of these new tea chains like Argo. Do they actually have brewed tea, or is it just fancy packaging for a place that will hand me a cup of non-boiling water and a tea bag?
Obligatory link: George Orwell’s A Nice Cup of Tea.
This was of course in the pre- tea bag era.
Our break room is coffeecentric, but they’ve stocked it with a few “tea” bags. That is, Green Tea, Camomile & Earl Gray. I’d far prefer Plain Lipton’s to that nasty stuff. Of course, the only hot water is lukewarm, from the red spigot on the water cooler…
(This thread has convinced me to bring in a little electric kettle & some decent teabags for the afternoon. Coffee is great in the morning but not all day.)