What's your favorite tea?

kcdrake

I've always enjoyed tea but never really drank it enough to appreciate any really differences in teas. I'm interested in incorporating more tea into my diet.

I've heard lots of good things about Green Tea and Oolong Tea and how they can help your general health. I also am specifically interested in teas that can help me get to sleep.

So, MFPers, hit me with your favorite types of tea and (more importantly) your favorite BRANDS of tea. :happy:

Toddrific

Stash is decent enough tea.

Tea for sleep would be like..Chamomile..which technically isn't tea, but a tincture.
Mojito Mint is a good one.
Mangosteen Green Tea is awesome.

enewsome2

I've always enjoyed tea but never really drank it enough to appreciate any really differences in teas. I'm interested in incorporating more tea into my diet.

I've heard lots of good things about Green Tea and Oolong Tea and how they can help your general health. I also am specifically interested in teas that can help me get to sleep.

So, MFPers, hit me with your favorite types of tea and (more importantly) your favorite BRANDS of tea. :happy:

I love all kinds of tea!

Green is definitely my "first love", but lately I've been obsessed with tazo passion tea. It's really delicious iced.

My favorite green of the moment is Coconut Chai, but I can't remember the brand.

Yogi has a good kava tea that helps me to sleep, but I'm not going to lie, it doesn't taste too wonderful.

As I type I am drinking Good Earth Chai Tea. Yum!

BIGJIMMYU

All I can tell you is that I drink three or four green teas a day and it seems to give me an energy shot. I prefer loose green tea leaves in a "tea berry" but the bags are fine. Green tea has a ton of antioxidants which combat free radicals which cause cancers. Make sure to make the water hot but do not boil it. Boiling water turns green tea bitter for some reason. I have no experience with Oolong teas. Black teas are also good.

RussetBrunnette

If you have a teavana near you can sample teas there and pick out the one you want

dlj1970

I drink tea all the time: black tea (loose leaf Ceylon or Darjeeling or Awake tea from Tazo), herbal teas (ginger tea from Yogi- they have lots of good combinations, too), rooibos, and Tulsi. i can't drink green tea, as it makes me feel nauseous. enjoy:drinker:

adriany9

I drink Tetleys green tea de-caf with a teaspoon of coconut oil added...delish.

LottieLou13

Green tea with honey
Roobos (red bush) tea
White tea with elderflower

....nom

:drinker:

mljungquist

My favorite tea for iced tea is the Tazo Green Tea (Zen). It's the same tea that you would get in Starbucks. I got the Mr. Coffee Ice tea maker, put 5 tea bags in and make my tea for the week. I love it!

nammer79

I like a peach flavored green tea

RaeLB

i drink tea for yumminess & caffeine
chai is my favourite but i don't think the flavour is strong enough so i double bag

USMCConditioning

I really like Tazo tea, passion/green tea. But if i want top quality tea, i buy TeaVana, which you can buy 2oz of the whole leaf/bloom from anywhere starting at 2.50 - 20+$ per 2oz. But! the higher quality tea's can be steeped 2-3 times, so it's well worth it.

I have 3 different tea's from teavana, Monkey Picked Oolong, Peach Momotaro, and Sakura Allure.

mattmoo33

green tea with pomegrante during the day and camomile with honey and vanilla before bed :drinker:

jenbunboo

Oh good god. I have a tea obsession. If I had to estimate, I probably have about 150 kinds of tea in my tea closet. Yes, I have a tea closet. Yes, tea does get old, and I know I have too much.

That said, I primarily drink green tea in the morning, keeping a variety in it. I love lightly flavored green teas as part of my variety in food. The flavors also keep me from missing the sugar I used to put into them, but recognized with the amount of tea I was drinking, I was adding about 50 calories on my day without noticing. I avoid caffeine after about 1pm, so I choose decaf teas then (go with a high quality tea if you're choosing decaf, lower quality tend to suffer on the taste). Or I chose a naturally decaffeinated tea like rooibos (red tea) or another herbal tea. If you just want less caffeine, pour your hot water over your tea, then discard that first steeping after about a minute and steep again. Most of the caffeine comes off in the early steep to my understanding.

Republic of Tea has some WONDERFUL flavors, and are good quality. They seem expensive, but have 50 bags in their tins of bagged tea, so it isn't that much more than most other brands.

Zhena's Gypsy tea has some crazy and tasty flavors as well, and are on about the same price point as RoT.

If you have a Teavana at your local mall, they have some really out there teas, often with some amazing flavors, and their matevana is a staple in my house. Their teas are sold by the 2 oz measure, and range from under $5 for that to $25 for the rare stuff. 2 oz lasts me forever. All their teas are loose.

For less exotic teas, I still like Celestial Seasonings and Twinings, I make my iced tea out of Red Rose. The only brands I DON'T like are Bigelow and Lipton.

Tea really is an adventure, and adds a lot of no calorie options into your drink arsenal, just start trying some different kinds, it is a lot of fun! And remember, if you don't care for something hot, the flavor isn't as pronounced over ice. Pay attention to steeping temperatures, as steeping tea at too high a temperature can really bitter it in the case of green tea, and ruin the flavor of white tea. Herbals teas usually need the water up at a full boil to extract all the flavors and health properties (but not always!). Different people also like different amounts of steep time. Black teas can get bitter for me when steeped for too long, so when trying a new tea, I steep for about 2 minutes at the first go, and increase if necessary. Also, many teas can give you two good steepings out of the same leaves! Give it a try.

vara123

I normally go for a fruit/herbal tea when I've had too much black tea (Assam/Earl Grey blend is outrageously good) or coffee, so I like the stomach soothing peppermint or lemon and ginger. Anything with ginger is very good for your stomach and general health. Nom!

Allie_71

I'm a tea-who....uh. a tea-person-of-negotionable-affection. I don't like the fruity teas, but I'm all over any black tea. There is a website called teagschwendner which is my favourite place to get it. They describe everything really accurately and their tea is *unreal*. You'll never go wrong there.

I tend to like chai, assam, and really, any good, strong, semi-acidic black tea. Twinings will do in a pinch.

bruinstar

I tend to like the Tazo brand teas. I've tried the Black Tea (Awake) when I need a wake-up tea. I normally drink Chamomile when I have a cold or need to sleep. Also the Tazo Green Tea (Zen) is good with honey. And finally the Ginger Green tea or simply Ginger tea is good for upset stomachs I've heard so that's what I drink.

enewsome2

If you have a teavana near you can sample teas there and pick out the one you want

Mmmmm... teavana!

The employees are really helpful if you're new to tea, but like others have said, it is a bit pricier.

angrykitty13

I second the Teavana suggestion--I love their stores. My local Whole Foods has a great loose-leaf tea selection and I will buy new flavors in small amounts to sample. I also like Stash, and Foxfire Teas. Oh, and Yorkshire Gold when I feel like a black tea.

Cold-brewed iced tea is amazing in the summer and you can play around with any kind of tea leaf. I did a mix of a flavored green tea and white tea most of last summer. Or iced Stash chocolate mint tea as a dessert.

Picola1984

Vanilla redbush

My current green tea is verbena and orange which is lovely

briannelw

Any kind of green tea is good to me. But my all time favorite, favorite tea is just plain ol' peppermint tea. It's the best!

anima_gemella

ginger & lime

karinefitness

If you have a teavana near you can sample teas there and pick out the one you want

I've tried Teavana and they're great!

But I'm sold to David's Teas; especially the caramel popcorn one... and the cake flavored ones... Great when I have a sugar craving at night

They also have 'regular' teas; that aren't as flavored... They ship to Canada/USA online. I'm not sure how many stores they have in the USA, I know they have two in NYC.

jamiem1102

I love a good Mint or Peppermint Tea. I also like Green Tea when I'm not feeling well.

LishaCole

I drink a lot of matcha (when I want a treat I will make a matcha latte in almond milk - yum!). I also enjoy other green and red teas aswell. I buy flavoured black teas in the summer for making homemade iced tea (double yum!) . I often buy my teas from "teaopia" or this little tea shop called "the naked leaf".

loadedwords

I love Trader Joe's Candy Cane Green Tea. It's decaf so I have some almost every evening. They only carry it during the holidays but it stores well. I bet peppermint green tea would be just as good.

Nichole23225

At night before bed I like Celestial Seasonings "Sleepy Time" tea.
My other any time favorite is Twinings Lady Jane decaf.
And thanks for mentioning Teavana - there website is awesome (a little overwhelming with the choices), but I discovered that there is a location at one of the local malls. I'll have to check it out!

wftiger

Stash (a lot of good ones)
Republic of Tea (Blackberry Sage, all the Superfruits)
http://www.marketspice.com/store/category/tea-/page-all (Cinnamon Orange on this site is incredible)
Mighty Leaf (their Earl Grey is really good)
PG Tips

Tea is so good once you get the good brands. Lipton, not so good. I stick to blacks or whites but I do try to get some greens in even though I do not care for the taste at all. I tend to "mix" a lot, especially when I make iced so I put in 3-4 bags green then 2 or so bags of black just to get a nice flavor with the benefits of the green tea.

5ladybugs

Tazo awake and chai teas
Numi mint tea
Mighty leaf earl grey.
I'm slowly drinking green tea, I don't love it but am trying to for the health benefits.

clbelles

Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice. It is sweet without adding any sweetner. I order it on line. I drink it hot and cold! Love it!!

jbdesign28

Oh good god. I have a tea obsession. If I had to estimate, I probably have about 150 kinds of tea in my tea closet. Yes, I have a tea closet. Yes, tea does get old, and I know I have too much.

That said, I primarily drink green tea in the morning, keeping a variety in it. I love lightly flavored green teas as part of my variety in food. The flavors also keep me from missing the sugar I used to put into them, but recognized with the amount of tea I was drinking, I was adding about 50 calories on my day without noticing. I avoid caffeine after about 1pm, so I choose decaf teas then (go with a high quality tea if you're choosing decaf, lower quality tend to suffer on the taste). Or I chose a naturally decaffeinated tea like rooibos (red tea) or another herbal tea. If you just want less caffeine, pour your hot water over your tea, then discard that first steeping after about a minute and steep again. Most of the caffeine comes off in the early steep to my understanding.

Republic of Tea has some WONDERFUL flavors, and are good quality. They seem expensive, but have 50 bags in their tins of bagged tea, so it isn't that much more than most other brands.

Zhena's Gypsy tea has some crazy and tasty flavors as well, and are on about the same price point as RoT.

If you have a Teavana at your local mall, they have some really out there teas, often with some amazing flavors, and their matevana is a staple in my house. Their teas are sold by the 2 oz measure, and range from under $5 for that to $25 for the rare stuff. 2 oz lasts me forever. All their teas are loose.

For less exotic teas, I still like Celestial Seasonings and Twinings, I make my iced tea out of Red Rose. The only brands I DON'T like are Bigelow and Lipton.

Tea really is an adventure, and adds a lot of no calorie options into your drink arsenal, just start trying some different kinds, it is a lot of fun! And remember, if you don't care for something hot, the flavor isn't as pronounced over ice. Pay attention to steeping temperatures, as steeping tea at too high a temperature can really bitter it in the case of green tea, and ruin the flavor of white tea. Herbals teas usually need the water up at a full boil to extract all the flavors and health properties (but not always!). Different people also like different amounts of steep time. Black teas can get bitter for me when steeped for too long, so when trying a new tea, I steep for about 2 minutes at the first go, and increase if necessary. Also, many teas can give you two good steepings out of the same leaves! Give it a try.

I second this post! There are so many amazing teas. Tazo (Green tea variety) is my go-to brand for bagged tea at work, but I really recommend loose leaf. You will get much fresher tasting and higher quality teas. I buy Davidson's White Tea from Amazon for everyday use. You can get it as a subscribe and save item which brings down the cost. And it stands up to a second steeping which most bagged teas don't.