To the Tea Drinkers

[ITG]

Lady Day, next time you have a sore throat, I highly recommend a tea called Throat Coat (I have to buy it at the Health/Vitamin stores). It has slippery elm in it, which coats your throat so that you get some temporary relief. Really great stuff! Hope you're feeling better soon!

 

[Lady Day]

A friend had me try that stuff at her New Years party (thats the day is started). Ick, so I drank it with a straw so I didnt have to taste it. Kept my cough down for a time, but the taste...the taste...

Now its just a cough I cant shake. Throat is fine, phlegm is not

LD

 

[Emmababy]

proper tea drinkers only like one bog standard type of tea [/british huff]

 

[dnjan]

HMr. Dnjan -

Have you tasted First Flush Tea? I was given some as a gift, and it blew my purty heels off. The best of the best is first pick from China and dated with year and region, just like wine.

What teas do you drink?

VB

I have never been able to justify the cost of first-flush (I also rarely drink wine over $20/bottle), even though I know it would be good. The darjeeling I keep around is a second flush - quite good, and cheaper.

My standard tea (first thing in the morning) is a long-leaf ceylon (kenilworth estate). If I brew a second pot in the morning, it is most likely to be the darjeeling.

By afternoon, I am most likely to brew a pot of oolong (can't remember the name right now - comes rolled in pea-sized balls - name is something like foo-ting). (edit - finally got around to checking - it is FooJoy Tung Ting. a "Formosa" oolong)

A couple of years ago I lucked into a small amount of Dragon's Well (green) tea. The student of a colleague had gone home (china) over winter break, and had brought him back a 50-g packet of the tea. Since my colleague isn't a tea drinker, but knew that I was, he passed the tea on to me. That was wondeful!

I went through a period of China black teas a number of years ago, but decided that the Sri Lanken and Indian teas were more to my taste.

My biggest frustration is trying to drink tea that I haven't made myself. There are no true Tea houses that are easy to get to (by bus) from either my home or work, and nothing ruins tea like a coffee shop in Seattle. They don't understand what it means to boil water, they don't understand that you don't re-boil water to make tea, and they especially don't understand how the stench of coffee can ruin even the best cup of tea.

 

[Miss 1929]

I so agree

*yucky*

*yucky* *yucky* *yucky* *yucky* *yucky* *yucky* *yucky*

 

[Miss 1929]

More agreement!

but this thread has mentioned beverages that are proper teas (ceylon, keemum, darjeeling, etc), flavoured teas (Earl Grey, jasmine, etc.) and herbal infusions (the various "medicinal" blends, as well as other good-tasting herbal blends).
Tea is made from Camellia sinensis, generally leaves or preferably buds.
Good tea is not cheap, but offers flavour complexity to rival the best wines.
Herbal infusions can be good, but are not tea.

Yes, tea is tea and all that other stuff is nice, but not tea.

 

[Miss 1929]

Bulk tea!

I became addicted to a nice, strong whole-leaf Irish Breakfast blend by Peaberry's - unfortunately at about $7.00 the 1/4 pound, I was spending far too much! My brilliant husband found out that it was a local brand, found their warehouse store, and now we buy it for $7.00 for 2.5 pounds. Quite the markup!
So always see if you can locate the source, it pays.
As a non-coffe drinker (my only allergy,dammit), I have to have my tea! I like green teas and such for afternoon and night drinking, but nothing beats strong, black tea with milk in it. My most prevalent vice.
LD, did you check Whole Foods? I think they sell bulk chamomile. I know they do at Rainbow Grocery in the Mission in SF, if that's more convenient. So much cheaper, and usually much fresher.

 

[Smithy]

dnjan when I am next in the States I'm coming to your place for tea.

I can never get a good cup of tea when I am in the USA which is infuriating but always good coffee.

I'll bring the biscuits, gingernuts alright?

 

[dnjan]

Fine with me! Just don't expect me to pour milk in your tea. That is a taste I never acquired. (there will be some milk around, if you want to pour it yourself!).

Now if only you could tell me where to find affordable beer the next time I am in Norway.

 

[Smithy]

Now if only you could tell me where to find affordable beer the next time I am in Norway.

Oh that's easy...

Denmark!

 

[sweetfrancaise]

My kind of tea drinker

LD

Let me know when you get better and we could go to a tea room!

 

[Fancy Mouse]

It's not very powerful (I was up another hour last night!)- a little more soothing, I think, and my wife and I agree both types taste identical. The 'extra' can't hurt!

You could also buy Valerian extract and put a few drops into any tea or other drink. I tried this many years ago when I couldn't sleep and it worked for awhile (I think I built up an tolerance, and had to keep adding more)

Thanks, I'll definitely look into Valerian next time the sleeplessness gets bad.

 

[Tango Yankee]

I'm not really a tea purist; I didn't start drinking tea with any regularity until I was stationed in England 10 years(!) ago and was introduced to the concept of milk in tea. I drink black teas, generally prefer Twinings English Breakfast Tea or Irish Breakfast Tea, either of which can be difficult to find around here. I also have a stock of Red Rose.

When I first came back to the states I had a hard time finding an electric kettle for my kitchen. Finally found one, and I see they're getting easier to locate these days.

I do not, however, ask for tea when eating out unless I happen to be in an actual tea room. Most places cannot grasp the idea of serving milk with tea (and their tea isn't all that great anyway--Liptons, usually) so if you want milk you have to buy a glass of it and try to transfer some to your cup without spilling it everywhere. Not worth the hassle.

Speaking of putting milk in with your tea, if you do so do you prefer to add the milk to the tea or pour the tea onto the milk? I've had friends who have definite preferences in that regard!

I never did learn to like or to drink coffee. Had to get a waiver to become an NCO because of that!lol

But getting back to Lady Day's point: I have to agree. There I was, in the alleged tea section of the store, and darned if I could find anything that was actually tea without a lot of careful searching!

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Undertow]

I prefer loose leaf teas. I drink whatever tastes good. I'm a VIP at my local coffee shop and I receive hints from the employees. My favorite thus far was Russian Caravan which had hints of gunsmoke. Excellent stuff!

 

[dnjan]

I beleive that Russian Caravan blends typically contain some Lapsang Souchong, which accounts for the smokiness.

If you like that flavour, try Mark T. Wendell's HU-KWA tea. One of the better lapsang souchong's available.

http://www.marktwendell.com/Hukwa.htm

I used to bring that tea along when I went camping, for the campfire overtones.

 

[HamletJSD]

My favorite recently are green Jasmine teas. I wish I could find a local tea shop. I had just located one in Orlando about a month before moving!!!

There is one "mall" store, but on the whole the prices are crazy. Especially when you'd drink tea in the quantity and frequency that most people have morning coffee.

 

[dnjan]

Jasmine teas

Take a look at:
http://www.svtea.com/foundations/store/scresults.asp?nav=6,48,230

 

[Haversack]

For tea, the two blends I prefer are the Irish Breakfast and the Best Darjeeling from Murchies up in Vancouver, BC. I also keep dried Chamomile, Rose Hips, and Peppermint on hand to relieve various forms of "feeling poorly" The bulk food section of a good "health food store" is where I get these. The Kiva when I was in Eugene, Rainbow in San Francisco. The boxed blends of herb infusions are pre-packaed convenience food. As a value-added product, they are also more profitable than the plain dried herbs. This gives them more self space.

Haversack.

 

[Undertow]

I beleive that Russian Caravan blends typically contain some Lapsang Souchong, which accounts for the smokiness.

If you like that flavour, try Mark T. Wendell's HU-KWA tea. One of the better lapsang souchong's available.

http://www.marktwendell.com/Hukwa.htm

I used to bring that tea along when I went camping, for the campfire overtones.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep my eyes peeled!

 

[pgoat]

Thanks, I'll definitely look into Valerian next time the sleeplessness gets bad.

Any health food store should have it, or maybe a vitamin shop. As long as you don't use it every night it should help.