Teas of all kinds

[nagev]

So I enjoy tea and tisanes. I get into green and black teas for awhile. There are a few I really enjoy and I often have them in the morning. Unfortunately I'm really sensitive to caffeine, and so after not so long of morning tea, I decide not to have actual tea or don't make it for a variety of reasons, I feel groggy in the morning. Then I realize I'm a bit addicted so I stop. It takes a few days for it to wear off. I stopped earlier this week after a month or so of Jasmine, English Breakfast, or Earl Grey. Today I made Rooibos and decided to toss some fresh Moroccan Mint. It wasn't what I expected, but it's tasty. :)

Anyways, I just wanted a tea thread.

[Gliondrach]

I like Earl Grey and jasmine. Never had English Breakfast. I like Rooibos.

Have you tried lapsang souchong, keemun or lychee congou? They are all nice. But the Lapsang might take a bit of getting used to, due to its smoky flavour.

Can you get decaffeinated tea? Or do you not like the proccessing it has to undergo?

[nagev]

I don't recall ever having tried lapsang souchong, keemun or lychee congou. I'll try to see if I can find some around here. Thanks.

There are some decaffeinated teas that I can get, but I guess I hadn't put that much thought into it. :)

They seem to taste a bit different so I just tend to avoid them. I actually just read how they decaffeinate teas (and coffee), so I'm not sure how I feel about all that now. :)

I shop mostly at the local Co-Op/healthfood store here, so I just buy what they have in bulk, but I'll check out those other ones.

As for herbal teas, I like mint, chamomile, lemon balm, and blends. Sometimes I'm a bit of an insomniac so I try lavender, chamomile, and valerian root. I also have rose hips, hibiscus, and a bunch of other random things for herbal teas. Sometimes their just one thing, other times, I just mix in what sounds good at the moment.

[Gliondrach]

The only herbal tea I drink, apart from rooibos, is chamomile. But I put milk in it. I sometimes have nettle but also put milk in it.

[nagev]

Oh yeah, I forgot nettle tea. I drink it more in the summer (I guess it's supposed to help with allergies).

What kind of milk do you use?

[Gliondrach]

Unsweetened soya.

[Bowwowmeow]

My grandparnts were tea drinkers, so I grew up drinking tea. Never developed a taste for coffee. I do have an ongoing battle with caffeine though, from drinking colas.

We used to get Twinings from an import store when I was little. Now you can get it in some regular grocery stores. My favorite always was and most likely always will be Jasmine Green. Earl Grey is nice too. And Black Currant.

Lapsang Souchong is an acquired taste I think. They smoke the tea leaves, which gives this tea a strong smoky flavor.

I have had Lapsang Souchong, Assam, Darjeeling, Formosa Oolong, Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Gunpowder Green, Jasmine Green, English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Black Currant, and Orange Pekoe. I've also had Red Rose, Lipton, and Typhoo.

I've had lots of the Celestial Seasonings herbal blends of tisanes, which is the proper but nearly unused term for an infusion in hot water of anything other than the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant (tea). :p We used to have Sleepytime in front of a roaring fire, and we would all fall asleep in the living room, and then laugh at one another when we woke up. Sleepytime was a family favorite, due almost as much to the illustration on the box of the bear in his nightcap in a cosy little room with a fire in the fireplace as the drink itself! Right now I have a dispenser in the fridge filled with a gallon of Celestial Seasonings' Green Tea with grapefruit essence.

They also make some nice Rooibos blends. Also called bush tea. I've had lots of different flavors of bush tea, and I love them all. I prefer to call it bush tea since I became enamored of Alexander McCall Smith's series of "The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" mysteries, set in Botswana. Mma. Ramotswe is always finding an excuse for one more pot of bush tea, when she's got a particularly disturbing mystery to solve. :p

Numi makes a lot of nice teas and tisanes too, though they are quite pricy. I was excited to try a new bottled tea they came out with, Jasmine and Magnolia Green Tea, til I read the label, as it is sweetened with sugar, agave nectar, and... honey. Why on Earth does anyone need honey if they have already put in agave nectar? :disbelief: I don't favor bottled teas as a rule, though I have enjoyed Tazo's blends, and they are nice when you are thirsty while shopping, but don't want soda or water.

I'm not fussy about temperature; I like hot or iced tea equally well, usually plain, if I make it myself. I do enjoy Celestial Seasonings' Gingerbread Spice with some sweetened Mimiccreme in the winter though. I never got in the habit of putting milk in tea as a child. Our family always drank it black. I do like a strong black tea iced, with lemon and sugar though.

[Gliondrach]

When I were a lad, we only drank Brooke Bond PG Tips. And I used to collect the cards that came with the packets. Some of those collections would be worth a small fortune now.

[nagev]

Yeah, I knew about the tisane for herbal infusions other than tea, but most people I say that too give me a blank look and ask me what that is or often when I write people just call it tea, so I gave up. :)

My wife is a big fan of "The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". She listens to the audio books though (she's a book addict). She recently learned there is a TV show about it and was excited about that too. :)

I used to have more box teas, like Celestial Seasonings, but I started to feel guilty about all the packaging, so now I'm trying to use more bulk teas (and tisanes ;)) and really limit my box products.

I sometimes make a chai tea or a chai bush tea and I put milk in that, but other than that I don't use milk.

I've been making sun tea lately too, and even though I keep hearing about how that's really bad by people lately, I still do it and I haven't died from it yet. :p


I didn't grow up drinking much tea other than the cheapest boxed tea my mother would get. She'd do sun tea sometimes and the only other time I'd get tea was when I was ill. Tea and toast. :) I still like it when I don't feel good.

My grandmother was a big tea drinker, she had tea pots and all, but that was before I got into it.

[nagev]

Oh, and I have Darjeeling and Gunpowder green. I'm not a big fan of Gunpowder. Sometimes it tastes good to me but sometimes it tastes the way I think an ash tray steeped in water would taste and I don't like that so much. :no:

[Gliondrach]

The Number One Ladies' Detective Agency has been shown on UK television. I haven't watched it.

It is well known that tea and toast can cure many diseases.

[nagev]

I think tea and toast do cure some of my ills. :)

[Bowwowmeow]

I make sun tea too, been making it for years. I've also recently heard it'll make you sick. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger I guess. I consider it free inoculations if it is as full of bacteria as people think. I must be a Typhoid Mary by now, considering all the no-no's I commit when it comes to bacteria. :dizzy:

I also "brew" iced tea right in the fridge. Put enough tea in and overnight it'll make a very nice beverage, no boiling required. Something interesting I noticed when I filled a clear bottle from my iced tea dispenser. I put it on my dashboard to drink later, and the sun made the color darken. There were no leaves in it, just green tea. It richened up the flavor a bit too.

[nagev]

That's a good idea about the refrigerator tea, I haven't done that. Maybe I'll try it with my next round. :)

[Amethyst]

I love herbal tea!! My favourite ones are White Tea, Jasmine Tea and Dandelion Tea! I have a cup in the morning when I get up...makes me feel all healthy lol