A few weeks ago, wasn’t feeling 100% when I visited our local book shop/tea house for our little writers’ meet-up.
Here, have some tea, she said. (She serves loose leaf tea in a bunch of flavors.)
I can’t even stand the smell of coffee and have never really enjoyed tea, but this hit the spot.
Ditto the tea I had soon after at the Chinese restaurant. And at the coffee shop during this weekend’s photo walk.
Tonight with Chinese? Again, some tea.
Does this mean I’m becoming a tea drinker?
Tea (in a cup) is far away from "American Sweet Tea."
If you slow down a bit, actually hot tea in a cup can be so rewarding. The smell, the hot touch of the cup, the taste, the pause in your daily life. I've gone though several intervals of tea in my life. It boils (to make a pun) down to I'm too lazy to do this. If someone would magically hand me a cup of matcha I would pause and contemplate. Plus Chai, which is awesome, and that Vietnamese tea that has to drip into the glass for 5 minutes.
Tea is awesome.
Yes, we’re talking hot tea. Ice tea is not for me.
Also, yes, it’s gotta be in a mug. At the coffee shop, it came in a paper cup with a plastic lid. Not the same experience.
I'm a major tea drinker.. I don't do coffee, but I'll have 4 cups of tea some days.
I prefer Barry's Irish breakfast and Gold teas, although some Twinings Earl Grey is a nice treat. I normally have a cuppa of Prince of Wales before bed.
Embrace it :). Come to the dark side, we have cookies... Or is it biscuits?
Earl Gray is my go-to mid-day.
Chai for weekends and rainy afternoons.
I've been doing a hot Twinings English Breakfast every morning for probably 20 years.
I just replenished my supply of a couple of the teas I keep in regular rotation. I'm very fortunate to be fairly close to Harney & Sons, which has a tasting room and a little cafe, in addition to the sales room, so I'm spoiled for choice. If you want to start brewing your own, get an electric kettle that you can set for specific temperatures, and a timer for steeping. Loose leaf is the way to go.
It's a hell of a rabbit hole.
Oh, free plug for our local shop: Novel Tea Book Shop.
I am a coffee drinker but every once in a while I like to mix it up and go for an English breakfast tea. It really hits the spot and gives me about the same caffeine kick as coffee.
In reply to 02Pilot :
I'm another big fan of Harney and Sons. I really like Brigitte's Blend.
Earl Grey for me. Orange pekoe for the wife.
Lipton is not proper tea.
Oolong for me. Been drinking that instead of coffee the past few weeks.
Twinning's Lady Grey is the bomb! It's like Earl Grey with some of the edge removed and I like to steep it longer.
For a green tea with a bit more body to it, I really like this stuff;
I drink 2-3 cups a day and tend to just order huge boxes of one kind. For a long time it's been Yorkshire Red. Yorkshire Gold was too bitter for me, though I managed to adjust to it through the 200 bag box I bought to "try" it.
A good kettle is necessary. Microwaved tea water is not good.
In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :
I know I've tried Brigitte's Blend, but it must have been a while ago, as I can't recall it specifically. I'll have to retaste it next time I'm up there.
I've settled on keeping three unflavored black teas as my regular options (from light to dark): Russian Country, East Frisian, and Scottish Afternoon.
Harney also has a good information page for anyone interested in learning more about tea: Black Tea 101.
Twinings English Breakfast is my preferred tea. I drink it straight; never add anything no matter the flavor. I spent a lot of time trying to get the sugar add level correct, never could, and finally said berkeley it and just started drinking straight tea. Grew to love it that way.
I've never been able to acquire a taste for coffee. Love the smell, but hate the taste.
ddavidv said:I've never been able to acquire a taste for coffee. Love the smell, but hate the taste.
That's the way I am about coffee. I love going into a roasting house/coffee shop... But never liked drinking it!
I never really seemed to get into tea, but maybe I just haven't found the right one for me yet.
I have been dabbling in Mate, and while it's undoubtedly an acquired taste, I do enjoy the process of making it when I have the time to do so.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Colin, I have tons of tea I can give you to try. I drink tea so much, and with the weather being a bit icky the past few days, tea just seems to hit the spot.
Tea grosses me out but my wife is an absolute fiend. Like, she has an entire cabinet that looks like it belongs to a wizard or a hobbit or something with jars and baggies and weird looking silver tools and all sorts of crazy smells. I don't know if she's making tea or trying to create a werewolf. So while I certainly have zero taste for the stuff I certainly understand the appeal and realize it can build some devoted fans.
I've also realized that my taste in coffee is not exactly sophisticated. i don't like coffee so much as I like milk with the vague flavor of overroasted dirt in it. So I go to Sevenbucks once a week and get a cold brew or a mocha and load it up with almond and cow milk and that satisfies my jones for over-burnt beans for a while.
I'm a coffee drinker. From the smell when you open the bag of beans, to the aroma of the grind and pour, to the taste and warmth of drinking it. I love everything about coffee.
I keep some Twinings Breakfast Tea on the shelf next to the coffee. I don't drink it often but it's a nice change on occasion. While I was spell-checking Twinings I noticed they have an evening tea that looks appealing. I'll have to order some to try.
I never got into the Matcha/Green Tea/Mushroom Tea hubbub, but give me a well-steeped cup of Earl Grey, English Breakfast, or Herbal tea and I'm a happy guy. There is a small tea shop a couple hours away from me that sells a black tea with almond and vanilla that is just heaven.
If you haven't had a London Fog, get one next time you see one on a menu. It's Earl Gray, steamed milk, a touch of honey, lavender, and optionally a drop of vanilla extract. Heaven.
In order to moderate caffeine, I do one cup of coffee in the morning and then switch to tea. Bigelow Earl Gray is my go-to.
The biggest thing is to steep it for the appropriate length of time. Over steeped tea becomes astringent.
Herbal "tea" is an exception, because it is not actually tea leaves.
When i was in Jordan recently, I got hooked on the tea they do there. Black tea with some cardamom in it, usually boiled over a fire with an obscene amount of sugar.
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