Any tea drinkers?

I love most of the Twinings infusions and classics! English Breakfast, Chamomile and Peppermint, plain Peppermint, Raspberry (and some other red berry? Was it Cranberry? Maybe.)... And Lipton Forest Fruits

I discovered tea drinking when my boyfriend was sick and wanted a cup of Earl Gray. He fell asleep and I didn't taste it then but the smell was amazing. Green tea with honey is a favorite of mine. I like peppermint tea, Celestial Seasoning's Sleepytime tea, Earl Gray, vanilla chai, and am always looking for a new one to try, even though I have a cabinet full right now

I love the Bigelow Vanilla Chai tea. It's inexpensive and available at most grocery stores. The Celestial Seasonings Sweet Harvest Pumpkin and the Cinnamon Apple Spice (this one has no caffeine) teas are great too. I can drink all of these easily without sugar or sweeteners as well.

Trader Joe's also has a Candy Cane tea that is excellent but I think it's seasonal only.

Tazo makes some great teas and has samplers!

I love Republic of Tea and Bigelow. I like stronger black teas and herbal teas, and I put a little fiber powder in each cup too.
My favorite RoT varieties are: Earl Greyer, Green, Blackberry Sage, Get it Going, Get some Zzzzs(great for nighttime).
As for Bigelow: Earl Grey, Green, Mint Medley and Plantation Mint.
If you sign up for the RoT catalog, they send you a sample bag with every one.

Edit: most of these regular varieties also come in decaf versions

Twinings Irish Breakfast - every morning with a splash of milk
Republic of Tea blackberry sage - I drink it straight at the start of every night shift.

digginDeep wrote: »

Just this. Great on the front porch watching the kids at the bus stop. "Get off my lawn!" sounds a lot better slurred.

This is outstanding, thanks for the laugh!

Disclaimer: I'm seriously passionate about my tea. Like, variable temperature kettles, gram measurements, multiple types of brewing vessel (gaiwan, kyusu, ceramic pots, gravity infusers, cold steep implements, yixing pots -- that kind of thing). I legitimately have a tea spreadsheet. Anyone who knows me knows it's kind of my thing, and my friends like addressing our apartment as 'where the tea lives'.

My favorite shops are Verdant Tea, Teavivre, and Thunderbolt Tea (with some American Tea Room mixed in), and I'm pretty adamant on loose leaf yielding the best experience by far.

My best advice is to go to town trying everything. You won't know what you like until you start trying everything! Adagio is a good place to start if you're looking to get into loose leaf. They have reasonably priced sampler backs and their unflavored teas are average-ish. If you go this route, in spite of what the package says the best steeping parameters for their black blends is 205F/2.5 min. Unless you like bitter tea.

Verdant offers a 5 for 5 promo for their new customers from time to time, as well. It's five sample sized packages of five of their most popular teas. They have amazing unflavored teas and the Laoshan Black is so so sooooo tasty.

But yeah! Dig in! It's a biiiiiiiiiiig world of tea out there.

I like strong teas in the morning, like lapsang souchong (a smoked tea, acquired taste) or rose melange (black tea with rose hips)...basically a good black or oolong tea. Later in the day, greens and whites are nice because of their lower caffeine content. At night, any herbal is nice, especially chamomile or jasmine or yarrow.

My best advice is to look at the online tea shops which allow you to order by the ounce, and get a small selection of various teas to try. Tao of Tea is a good one. Also, see if there are tea shops in your area like Teavana which have samples brewed in the store to try.

Go for loose leaf over bagged, as the quality which be much higher. Basically, the small dregs are swept up for tea bags, while the whole, unbruised and undamaged leaves are used for loose leaf sales.

If you can find one, get an electric kettle which allows you to set different temperatures. They can be pretty pricey, but you can usually find them on Amazon if nothing else. I found one at Target for $30 for my ex, but they don't have them any more at the local one. Sad clowns. If you don't have an adjustable kettle, get a food thermometer. The reason for this is that some teas are more delicate than others, and will get very bitter if brewed at too high a temperature, or for too long. Basically the lighter the tea, the more temperamental it usually is. Blacks can usually be brewed hotter and longer, oolongs are somewhat forgiving, but greens and whites can get bitter. Properly brewed, you shouldn't need any sweetener at all.