Tea
 

I put this up to prevent the "Bye Bye Brownie" thread from being hijacked.

I drink loose and bagged tea. I have two teapots and a tea press that I am using.

I liked the Chantal Tea Steep for it's design, especially the locking infuser and lid, but the infuser had very large holes which required me to use a tea strainer.

I also have my Wagenfeld tea pot, but the glass work doesn't look very good when it's stained with tea, so if I use it I have to clean it each time.

My favorite loose tea is Ti Kuan Yin "Iron Goddess of Mercy". It has a unique earthy flavor.

I have a very, very cheap teapot. Not quite dollar store, but only a step above ... it's ceramic, has a proper teapot lid, and fits underneath my tea cozy, so teapot it is, even though it's not quite traditionally shaped, it does the job.

One of these days I'll get a proper English teapot.

When I'm being lazy I'll just load it up with five teabags (Stash Double Chai is a current favorite) and do a brew up. I do buy loose teas from the chinese grocer up the street, and will make Jasmine Tea when I'm feeling particularly floral. Rather than fussing about with a strainer or tea ball (I have one ceramic, one stainless) I put the leaves into a "tea sock." It looks rather like a windsock on a short wooden handle, and lets the leaves rest nicely in the water.I can also put this contraption into the top of my really big stainless steel thermos (I broke a glass vaccuum bottle through clumsiness before I even got to use it, so on my next trip to the store I went for "indestructable" as my primary criteria) and just pour hot water in and I can either take it to work with me, or carry it upstairs for consumption next to the computer.

Twinings Earl Grey. With honey.

I like Twinings. I try to keep a box of their Assortment on hand in the Tea Chest. (Irish Breakfast, English Breakfast, Earl Grey (which tradition demands I call Squirrel Grey) and there are two others in the set ... Lady Grey and Prince of Wales, possibly.)

Don't let on to the tea snobs, but I've been known to make a pot of Tetley's also.

Japanese green tea, all the way.

I can drink Red Rose, but Tetley's is too bitter.

Aren't you culturally required to drink only Swee Touch Nee, and to have a collection of those metal tea treasure chests?

I like Twinings--Irish Breakfast and Earl Grey are favorites. I've a proper English teapot, but, alas, no cozy. One of my very favorite treats is to go to the English teahouse we have in Oakwood (Central Perk--don't ask me how they got away with that one) and have High Tea or Elevensies. What fun! I even stick my little finger out while having my cuppa! :)

Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.

Numi Bushmen's Brew is one of my favorites along with various brands of Yerba Mate. I've heard that you're not supposed to boil the water -- just get it to a temp where it begins to steam. And it does seem to have a better flavour as I used to bring the water to a compleat boil. Any thoughts on the ideal steeping temperature?

:lol:

I like the Tazo Herbal Teas... Passion being my favorite. I have to try to avoid the caffiene as much as possible, so I prefer the herbal tea variety.

Tea? TEA? Don't mention tea. You can hardly see a minute pass in its entirety without the M-I-L plonking another cup in your hand. Remember a two week holiday in Spain a few years back, when she took a 360 bag box of PG Tips tea bags with her and we ran out after the tenth day. All right, there were four of us but that still works out at an average 9 cups a day each!

Tend to go for loose tea brewed in a good sized pot - standard tea-making procedure, Boil kettle, pot to kettle, warm pot with small amount of boiling water swirled around then discarded, two generous teaspoons per person plus a bit 'for the pot', pot back to kettle, top up pot to required level (you get to know this with practice), leave to stand under tea cosy for five minutes, prepare cups (milk in first) and pour through tea-strainer.

Some go for second cup top-up of pot with more water but quallity deteriorates and we make a fresh brew each serving.

We stick with standard breakfast tea - normally PG Tips. That's the Brits for you! Oh, and not to forget the irresistable pleasure of dunking biscuits !!!

Pissing Gnats????
:p

What is an M-I-L ?

Monst... err.. I mean Mother-In-Law

Sweet tea. A couple of quarts of water and a fistfull of whatever teabags are nearest the front of the cupboard (Lipton, Red Rose, Jasmine) and a couple of cups of sugar. Boil. Stir, remove from heat. Let steep while you get a big pitcher and put at least 4 or 5 or more trays of ice in it. Pour the tea over the ice, top off with cold water from the tap. Serve over ice in large plastic cups. Aaahhhhh!

PG Tips are a type of bagged tea... the tea bag is in a pyramid shape for maximum brewage I believe.

Some people's tea-making does tend to be described as 'gnat's piss' but luckily PGTips is something more palatable. The site tells you a bit about the name, but surprisingly doesn't mention that the 'tips' comes from the process of using the leaf tips which were originally discarded (I suppose the manufacturer would be worried about that being a negative selling point!)

right the first time!!

Actually this is a better part of the site as you can see the ads with the chimpanzees and the newer Aardman (Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts, Chicken Run makers) ones

Cute. "Couldn't fit into the dressing room." hahehehehh. Pretty good. Say, Cyclefrance, that wasn't you getting up from behind the little Renault in the 1970s Tour de France ad, was it?

Bigelow Plantation Mint, Stash Chai, Good Earth Jasmine, Good Earth Ginseng (I don't really "believe" in the herbal crap, I just like the way it tastes... Although a friend of mine told me that it'll "balance my male equilibrium." Snort.)

I'm not a huge tea fan, but sometimes I really like to have a cup of Celestial Seasoning's Sleepytime Tea (it's chamomile) before bed.

I strongly believe that tea can only properly be made with the leaves of the tea plant, Camellia sinensis.

And that the water should be freshly boiled and poured over loose leaves that have either been fermented (i.e., black) or partially fermented (i.e., oolongs). I do not prefer the unfermented or "green" tea.

I prefer a large mug :coffee: and half-n-half and sugar.

Non, eet woss jerst a distont relatif...

Beware:

'Take a bedtime cup of tea - :coffee:
Need an early morning wee!' :Flush:

Well, technically, an 'herbal' tea is a tisane.

I was going to say that but I figured I was deep enough into Clavin territory.

I like Passion too, but it stained my teeth purple :blush:. I also have to avoid caffiene, and prefer to avoid the fluoride in tea. I mentioned in the other thread that my favorite tisanes are honeybush (Bushman's brew) and rooibos.

Rooibos is excellent... I love its color too.

I just picked up some of Republic of Tea's Good Hope Vanilla Rooibos from Cost Plus World Market.

The vanilla is nice, but they have an artificial cream flavor mixed in. To me this tastes like what you get when you drink water out of a glass that just had milk in it.

So far, the Trader Joes Rooibos is the best version I have tried.

It was $7.99 instead of the $8.75 list price. This was a lot better than the $10.99 another store wanted.

Nice container, though.

Just can't beat a cup of "Yorkshire Tea"

DanaC--what's that?

I have been becoming a tea addict over the last several months; it's flavorful, but has less of a caffeine kick (low to no, depending on type) than coffee and isn't loaded with sugar and carbonation like soda, so I can drink a lot of it without disturbing my acid reflux if I don't overbrew it. I drink mostly green, herbal and rooibos, but have some black blends I like and have been fiddling around with oolong lately (and have a friend who's looking for a really good oolong like what they have at a local Chinese restaurant).

I was at "Sugarplums and Tea" yesterday, a tea shop/tea room tucked away in the Rockvale Square outlets in Lancaster, and picked up a few ounces of loose-tea blends that turned out to be very nice (they had a good variety of available flavors). However, that's a bit of a drive for me on a regular basis.

So if I was here in the southwest Philly burbs and wanted to buy a variety of loose tea blends by the ounce -- not in bags, not on grocery shelves, not prepared in a tea room with scones and sandwiches, but small quantities of large numbers of teas for experimentation purposes -- where should I go?

King of Prussia: the mall (plaza side) now has a place selling only loose tea and tea-related items. Prices for loose tea are in 2oz increments. I tell you this so you don't crap yourself like I did when your order of "a half pounda this, quarter pounda that" comes to $57.

Downtown: if it's still open, The House of Tea. Just south of South street, a selection that is awe-inspiring. I have not been there in 6 years or something.

http://www.houseoftea.com/

Oh yeah, and there's GOTTA be a place in Chinatown, although I've been all through Chinatown and I don't remember one.

The place in the Reading terminal that sells [real] Jamaican Blue Mtn coffee also has an impressive tea assortment.

Having looked over the house of tea website, it does appear that they are still open. The prices there are half what they are in King of Prussia. I'm going soon!

This weekend we went to the Constitution Center and afterwards had dinner in Chinatown.

As usual, I visited the Chung May market on Race Street and picked up a box of 100 individually wrapped tea bags.

A lot of Asian markets have the inexpensive green and black teas in the 100 count boxes. Chung May is the only one I have found in the area that sells Kuan Yin oolong in the 100 count box.

I visited House of Tea about 8 or 9 years ago. If I remember correctly, I wasn't carrying a lot of cash and he offered to sell to me on credit.

The shop looks like something from the 19th century.

http://cellar.org/2006/store_counter_lg1.jpg

If I go I will report back. When I go.

Consider getting the Rooibos Cinnamon & Orange Spice, I have the same flavor in tea bags from Trader Joes and it's great. It's also an 'herbal tea'.

On thing though. I just looked at the IPIX and when I zoomed in on the antique scale, I didn't see an inspection sticker.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf's Lemon Jasmine Green Tea -- this is particularly good done like a chai, with milk and sweetening to taste. Do follow the directions on the canister; they mean it when they say don't steep this tea more than 3 to 4 minutes -- it will go quite bitter.

Try seeking out a double-strength Earl Grey with twice the bergamot. Celestial Seasonings used to market one under the name Earl Greyest. Zowie.

Our tea-cozy sees particular use in brewing Rooibos red tea, which takes long stewing: Rooibos in the Melita 6-cup drip-pot, boiling water in, lid on, pop the cozy on, leave for twenty minutes and more.

MIL's also a Russian helicopter design bureau.

Stash Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea is excellent. I make it by the pot. With just a little sugar, the aroma and the bite make a for unique taste experience.

For the bergamot junkies in the room, I recommend Double Bergamot Earl Grey Tea. Needs less (or no) sugar--highly aromatic and very indulgent. Yum!

Noted with thanks, BigV.

:tips cap:

You're welcome.

The Spice Smuggler in Lansdale has a reasonably decent selection of teas. There has recently been an explosion in tea houses lately ... tons of them cropping up, offering you too little food for too much money, but a proper high tea with all the trimmings.

I got a gift certificate to one of these places for Yule. I will report back.

To quote Wolf, "I didn't need to see that". I followed your link to the Stash website and ordered a catalog.

I'm really tempted by the tea chests. My desk at work has a pile of loose tea canisters and tea boxes. A tea chest would at least take care of the boxes.

Found in Paoli: <a href="http://www.enjoyteamoments.com">Tea Moments</a> tea room and gift shop.

Enjoying Honey Mint Rooibos now, with Lemon Rooibos and Jade Ti Kwan Yin Oolong for later. (I must refrain from calling it Ti Kwan Leep.)

My current SO and I pretty much based our relationsip on tea culture. We saw the brewing, the smelling, the selection, the peaceful cup of tea and a biscuit scene etc all something that we were ready for. We saw our young, hooligan life getting older, and saw each other as our "tea partners". It was nice, even on my 21st Birthday card in 2004 he wrote "ps. i'll go put the kettle on now". So tea has a special place in my heart.

We got into Hazelnut and cookies & cream transfusions. I very much enjoy Chai tea and also Chai Tea Lattes. But my favourite is Vanilla Tea, even as soon as i can smell the steam coming off a nice freshly brewed pot it reminds me of cuddles and daisies and soft kisses and picnics in the mountains. ahhhhhh

I just remembered, we used to get these aweome teas in Sydney when we lived there in 2004.. i think they were called Pearl Teas. asian variety.

They were like a milky tea, with flavoured tapioca pearls in the bottom that were squishy and tasty to much on as you sucked them up your straw with the tea. I enjoyed combinations like hazelnut tea with peach pearls, or green tea with kiwi fruit pearls etc etc. I forget the name of the company though. damn i wish i had never of thought of them now i'll be cravin for days!

Found :
http://www.whatscookingamerica.net/BubbleTea.htm

Seriously if you ever get the chance, have some. YUM!

Bubble tea is very popular in the Philadelphia Chinatown area. I've had one and it was interesting. The straw is made extra large to accomodate the tapioca pearls. Still, having chewy bits in your drink requires a bit of adjustment.

For me it was the color. I had imagined the tapioca pearls to look like the tiny clear versions found in tapioca pudding. The place I used to get my bubble tea had opaque cups and straws, so it was months before I discovered that they were actually dark brown. Yuck. But I eventually got over it.

Ain't that a kick in the head? :rolleyes:

Bubble teas are around here too; the usual venues are oriental and Philipino places. Drunk through these twelve-bore straws that conveniently pass the tapioca pearls through.

Why doesn't McDonalds offer those straws with their extra thick shakes?

Because 20-gauge is enough for a McDonald's shake. ;)

Trip report: Checked out the Teavana at KoP Court with friends, while recovering from the bad Bahama Breeze experience in my other thread. High prices, but good blends, and I took home a few ounces of this and that and their 32-ounce <a href="http://store.teavana.com/brewandtouch.html">Perfect Tea Maker</a> gadget. (I had a 16-oz one already under the IngenuiTea brand name, but hadn't seen a 32-oz one before, and that's more convenient for brewing for my wife and myself simultaneously.)

Brandywine Gourmet on Gay Street in West Chester has some good looseleaf brands, as does the <a href="http://www.teamap.com/tearooms/special_teas_tea_room_499.html">Special Teas tea room</a> in Chadds Ford.