Tea Drinkers of the World, Unite and Praise Wilgy

#1

I also saw some great conversations about tea brewing and drinking over in the random thread, and thought maybe a thread of it's own was warranted as I asked some questions and I can see this as a topic all in and of itself.

Lizzy and Matt - it may just be us at first, but easier to find stuff later in it's own thread I'd think.

**http://www.last.fm/user/nutella23** · #2

I like tea! Chai and English/Irish breakfast are my favorite black teas (w/ milk is good!)

#3

Oolong tea is surely the best thing mankind has invented.

#4

A Person wrote:Oolong tea is surely the best thing mankind has invented.

ture-er words have never been written k, although there should be a milk in there somewhere

Bea, before I can make suggestions for loose leaf, what kind of bagged tea do you prefer?

Also, HUZZAH TEA THREAD!

#5

I drink iced green tea (carefully steeped as to avoid bitterness) all day long. I usually start the day with Lady Grey and milk or sometimes Ceylon Tea and milk. Whenever I drink Ceylon Tea, I get the theme from BSG in my head

At night, I drink iced rooibos and then switch to Chamomile before bed.

#6

Iced green tea is good, I like making longjing tea that way.

#7

I've been drinking mostly herbal tea since I was pregnant at the time. Peppermint, chamomile, but mixed in chai when I felt crazy! A flavorful nice earl grey with milk is my favorite. I always overbrew green tea, so it's often bitter for me. Yuck! Haven't gotten into White tea so much.

Yay for a tea thread!

#8

Hedgeowl wrote:I've been drinking mostly herbal tea since I was pregnant at the time. Peppermint, chamomile, but mixed in chai when I felt crazy! A flavorful nice earl grey with milk is my favorite. I always overbrew green tea, so it's often bitter for me. Yuck! Haven't gotten into White tea so much.

Yay for a tea thread!

Have you ever had Lady Grey, Hedgie? Lavender and citrus undertones. Yum!

#9

I've wanted to try Lady Grey but I've not yet.

Lizzy just convinced me to put milk in my pu-erh, I didn't like it too much but it wasn't bad. Maybe it would work better for people who like milk in their tea.

#10

Yeah, I only like milk in a few types of tea. It's very hot where I live almost year-round, so I don't get to drink hot beverages that often. Sometimes I do Earl/Lady Grey in lieu of coffee.

#11

What kind of Pu-erh do you like, A Person?

Tonight I had this lovely Sugar Cookie tea with a splash of milk in it. Served hot because I was weirdly cool even though it was a billion degrees outside today. I had my Kool Blasterz on top and I was still hot when I got home (any Parks & Rec fans will get the term "Kool Blasterz")

#12

As far as packaged tea goes, I have a soft spot for Earl Grey if I'm drinking it early enough in the day to handle the caffeine. IDK that I've tried Lady Grey before, but I may now because of the recommendation. At night I like herbal berry flavored teas - raspberry, blueberry. Peppermint is nice when I'm not feeling good.

How do you go about making ice tea from the loose teas? Do you make it one cup at a time?

When I was young, my great-great Auntie Ruth and I would drink hot tea with just a splash of milk together when she took me out to dinner (like after church and stuff) but it was always restaurant Liption.

#13

I have an old fashioned teapot, and it's big enough to fit my tea strainer inside of, so I will just dole out extra tea. My teapot will brew about 2 large mugs, so I just put double the amount of tea in there.

I will put the teapot in the fridge overnight or pour over ice. We have an electric kettle, so I will often make several individual mugs of tea at once, and let the others goes cold.

These also work really well if you have a big ole tumbler full of ice.

#14

Oh I have not tried Lady Gray. Will have to look for it. I also love a good berry tea and any kind of zinger teas from Celestial Seasonings. Their Honey Vanilla Chamomile is alao great before bed. In fact...

#15

Mongoose wrote:What kind of Pu-erh do you like, A Person?

Whatever I get my hands on so far. I've not had the pleasure of ordering anything specific from the internet, just bagged stuff so far.

I make iced tea by steeping twice as much tea as normal and then pouring it over a cup of ice.

#16

Mongoosey, your iced green tea sounds quite delicious. I might try to make some when I get back, although I have to be careful not to get a sore throat.

Bea, since you like the fruity flavoured bagged tea, I would suggest to start from there with the loose leaves as well. Go for the ones that have dried fruits and/or flowers: green, black, white, oolong. It's a great way to make a specific flavour your are not acquainted with more bearable at first. It's how I got into gunpowder: tried some that had dried sour cherries and almonds, pu-erh (which I was not a big fan of at first) with mango and papaya, flamingo oolong and so on. And while ordering from the internet might be the only way to acquire some types of tea, I would recommend going to the local tea shop and smelling the thing before purchasing it.

#17

I wish I had a local tea shop

#18

Some places like Teavana have a tea of the month club that you could try. (Mail order)

#19

Those seem kind of expensive, maybe i could get someone to do it as a gift or something. So far I've been lucky to have a very nice tea drinking friend who has given me tea <3

#20

My own tea budget has been slashed. I've found some good blends (teabags and loose) at Marshalls of all places. Not sure if they have those everywhere.

#21

When I lived in Virginia, there was a store down the road that sold health stuff/hobby stuff and they had some ok tea. I used to buy boxes of bagged oolong from there. In Michigan I live in the middle of nowhere, so any physical store costs $10 in gas to get to. I suppose the best thing to do would be to find a cheaper, well reviewed online retailer and try them out.

#22

Lizzy - thanks for the suggestions!

I have another question for those of you who imbibe the spirits.

Back when I was bartending, one idea I had to bring "new" drinks to my crowd was to start playing with tea and booze combinations. Obviously some of the stronger boozes would totally crush the light flavor of most teas. My question to you all is - what type of tea do you think would be most able to stand up to having booze added to it? It's just this odd stray thought that I contemplate sometimes when I'm feeling creative as I've never really got to do any experimenting with it. It's like a half wrote poem ya know?

#23

Black or oolong. Also Earl Grey with a nice lavender vodka (or a lavender-lemon vodka, if you can find it. I have one and it is lovely).

I think green tea, white tea, red tea and a lot of herbals are too delicate. You can also maybe infuse tea flavor into your vodkas. Take some medium shelf vodka and put like 8 black teabags in it and let it sit for a day. This is a good way to get green tea flavor into vodka. And then just enjoy it straight.

I've also infused basil into vodka and then used watermelon juice as the mixer.

I must sound like an alcoholic but I'm just a lawyer.

#24

hahahaha - na not at all. I saw a recipe back in the day for a "green tea martini" and it's what got me going with the thought. My thought was maybe a flavored tea matched with a similar or complimentary flavored vodka or cordial. Like a mint flavored herbal with just a splash of Chambord.

I hear that infusing your own vodka is super fun and makes for some wonderful flavored vodkas, I'm honestly not that patient most times. (Vodka never lives long in my home...

)

#25

bea wrote:Lizzy - thanks for the suggestions!

I have another question for those of you who imbibe the spirits.

Back when I was bartending, one idea I had to bring "new" drinks to my crowd was to start playing with tea and booze combinations. Obviously some of the stronger boozes would totally crush the light flavor of most teas. My question to you all is - what type of tea do you think would be most able to stand up to having booze added to it? It's just this odd stray thought that I contemplate sometimes when I'm feeling creative as I've never really got to do any experimenting with it. It's like a half wrote poem ya know?

I would really like to try this but i'd not know where to acquire the shochu

#26

That looks amazing. I wonder if you could sub sake for it?

#27

I have no idea how they compare since I've never had either. I've also read that iced oolong is supposed to mix well with gin but I've yet to find out.

#28

I have a local loose leaf shup, I tend to like fruity herbal blends with a green or white base. One blend is called Sailors Blend, it has a lot of citrus in it. Makes nice iced tea.

I look forward to learning here so i can branch out a bit at the tea shop. I don't like asking questions in shops, so advice is good

#29

S~V~S - See if they have any cherry varieties (either white or green). That's a good mix that makes an excellent iced tea if you brew it at the proper temp and time (but yeah use twice as much tea).

I think mango is a good bed companion of both white and green teas.

#30

I've had white tea with rose buds before and it was quite good tasting.

#31

A Person wrote:I've had white tea with rose buds before and it was quite good tasting.

I'm allergic to the following things, which can make tea-drinking somewhat precarious:

Roses, cinnamon, mint.

**http://www.last.fm/user/nutella23** · #32

I love the mango açai white tea flavor of Honest Tea. it's the best.

#33

Mongoose wrote:
A Person wrote:I've had white tea with rose buds before and it was quite good tasting.

I'm allergic to the following things, which can make tea-drinking somewhat precarious:

Roses, cinnamon, mint.

The first and last ones do seem somewhat hard to avoid with tea blends.

#34

My MIL is allergic to strawberries and chocolate, so it makes desserts challenging for her.

I am about to enjoy a lovely Peppermint tea before bed. Harney and Sons tea is from Upstate NY and my husband's lives right there and introduced it to us. I consider a special treat.

Also, if anyone is in Boulder, CO at some point we loved the Celestial Seasoning tea tour. They also have a tasting bar where you can try any of their teas. It was so much fun we tried way too many. They give you a tiny cup and the whole tea bag so they were really strong. When we left I was shaking from all the caffeine!

#35

Hedgeowl wrote:My MIL is allergic to strawberries and chocolate, so it makes desserts challenging for her.

I am about to enjoy a lovely Peppermint tea before bed. Harney and Sons tea is from Upstate NY and my husband's lives right there and introduced it to us. I consider a special treat.

Also, if anyone is in Boulder, CO at some point we loved the Celestial Seasoning tea tour. They also have a tasting bar where you can try any of their teas. It was so much fun we tried way too many. They give you a tiny cup and the whole tea bag so they were really strong. When we left I was shaking from all the caffeine!

Wow, that sounds amazing! I'm hit or miss with CS teas, but I really love the Sugar Cookie one. I think it's seasonal though. The Zingers are good now and then too. I wish I could have a lot of their sleepytime teas (I love anything with a bear on it), but they contain ingredients I'm allergic to.

#36

I can't imagine being allergic to chocolate, I don't think I'd live very long if I were.

I see Celestial Seasoning tea boxes at the store all the time, but I've not tried any yet.

#37

A Person wrote:I can't imagine being allergic to chocolate, I don't think I'd live very long if I were.

I see Celestial Seasoning tea boxes at the store all the time, but I've not tried any yet.

I like their fruit teas. Like their blueberry and their raspberry. They are the ones I'd mentioned when I said I liked fruity herbal teas.

Celestrial Seasoning and Twinnings are honestly, my go to prepackaged tea choices. Twinning's Earl Grey is the best I've ever found.

#38

As far as bagged tea goes I've had Lipton pyramids the most. In general I've liked all the flavors I've tried, anyway. While I was in Virginia I tried a sample pack of various types of tea from Numi, and some of them were pretty good for bagged tea, but I don't think they're sold anywhere around here

#39

I had Twinings Earl Grey this morning actually. I usually have a detox tea first thing on Saturday, so I'll save that for tomorrow. I also made some delicious green dragonwell tea to turn into iced green tea. Green tea is such a tempestuous mistress. Can't oversteep, water can't be too hot, etc. I had a tiny amount of pomegranate juice left over from when some friends brought it over as a mixer last week so I added about a shout glass of that to the pitcher to naturally sweeten and flavor it.

#40

I made some iced gunpowder tea today. It's not as good as dragonwell is when it's iced, but it was still good. And the kind of gunpowder I have is strong enough that I can get two infusions, not as strong the second time, but still good in any case. Maybe it would work a little better if I used hotter water but I'm scared of making it too hot. My appreciation for green teas has greatly increased ever since I learned that the reason why they always tasted bad was because I used boiling water. I've yet to try using the biluochun for iced tea, I've not got much of it and it is pretty tasty.

Also, I just drank a cup of pu-erh and I'm now completely out of bagged tea and only have my gunpowder, longjing, and biluochun left. I like them all, but I don't like to drink green tea all the time and like to have some variety. I'm not sure what to try that i can get from a physical store nearby though.

#41

I got some Lord Nelson Morello Cherry pyramid tea bags from Greece. Very tasty, but it's miles away from the Wildkirsche from Julius Meinl.

I also had Twinings Earl Grey this morning, but I would have preferred Darjeeling Gold. Why is my life like this?

#42

A great way for us tea drinkers to enjoy booze this summer: http://www.purewow.com/ecs/6310.htm?sid=901215

#43

Mongoose wrote:A great way for us tea drinkers to enjoy booze this summer: http://www.purewow.com/ecs/6310.htm?sid=901215

I take no credit for this Owl's brew, but it looks tasty.

#44

A Person wrote:I made some iced gunpowder tea today. It's not as good as dragonwell is when it's iced, but it was still good. And the kind of gunpowder I have is strong enough that I can get two infusions, not as strong the second time, but still good in any case. Maybe it would work a little better if I used hotter water but I'm scared of making it too hot. My appreciation for green teas has greatly increased ever since I learned that the reason why they always tasted bad was because I used boiling water. I've yet to try using the biluochun for iced tea, I've not got much of it and it is pretty tasty.

Also, I just drank a cup of pu-erh and I'm now completely out of bagged tea and only have my gunpowder, longjing, and biluochun left. I like them all, but I don't like to drink green tea all the time and like to have some variety. I'm not sure what to try that i can get from a physical store nearby though.

Do you have a Teavana near you? They have all sorts of green, red, black, white and combo loose teas. I love to go in there.

#45

juliets wrote:
A Person wrote:I made some iced gunpowder tea today. It's not as good as dragonwell is when it's iced, but it was still good. And the kind of gunpowder I have is strong enough that I can get two infusions, not as strong the second time, but still good in any case. Maybe it would work a little better if I used hotter water but I'm scared of making it too hot. My appreciation for green teas has greatly increased ever since I learned that the reason why they always tasted bad was because I used boiling water. I've yet to try using the biluochun for iced tea, I've not got much of it and it is pretty tasty.

Also, I just drank a cup of pu-erh and I'm now completely out of bagged tea and only have my gunpowder, longjing, and biluochun left. I like them all, but I don't like to drink green tea all the time and like to have some variety. I'm not sure what to try that i can get from a physical store nearby though.
Do you have a Teavana near you? They have all sorts of green, red, black, white and combo loose teas. I love to go in there.

No, not near me. I don't think there is much of anything near me.

#46

A Person wrote:
juliets wrote:
A Person wrote:I made some iced gunpowder tea today. It's not as good as dragonwell is when it's iced, but it was still good. And the kind of gunpowder I have is strong enough that I can get two infusions, not as strong the second time, but still good in any case. Maybe it would work a little better if I used hotter water but I'm scared of making it too hot. My appreciation for green teas has greatly increased ever since I learned that the reason why they always tasted bad was because I used boiling water. I've yet to try using the biluochun for iced tea, I've not got much of it and it is pretty tasty.

Also, I just drank a cup of pu-erh and I'm now completely out of bagged tea and only have my gunpowder, longjing, and biluochun left. I like them all, but I don't like to drink green tea all the time and like to have some variety. I'm not sure what to try that i can get from a physical store nearby though.
Do you have a Teavana near you? They have all sorts of green, red, black, white and combo loose teas. I love to go in there.
No, not near me. I don't think there is much of anything near me.

I have a Teavana across the street from me! It's total disaster. I actually prefer this local tea shop more, which is called The Hooker Tea Company. It's mostly loose leaf tea and prepared tea like at Teavana, but on the weekends, they have tea infused breakfast items (pancakes, scones, waffles etc.)

#47

Mongoose wrote:
A Person wrote:
juliets wrote:
A Person wrote:I made some iced gunpowder tea today. It's not as good as dragonwell is when it's iced, but it was still good. And the kind of gunpowder I have is strong enough that I can get two infusions, not as strong the second time, but still good in any case. Maybe it would work a little better if I used hotter water but I'm scared of making it too hot. My appreciation for green teas has greatly increased ever since I learned that the reason why they always tasted bad was because I used boiling water. I've yet to try using the biluochun for iced tea, I've not got much of it and it is pretty tasty.

Also, I just drank a cup of pu-erh and I'm now completely out of bagged tea and only have my gunpowder, longjing, and biluochun left. I like them all, but I don't like to drink green tea all the time and like to have some variety. I'm not sure what to try that i can get from a physical store nearby though.
Do you have a Teavana near you? They have all sorts of green, red, black, white and combo loose teas. I love to go in there.
No, not near me. I don't think there is much of anything near me.
I have a Teavana across the street from me! It's total disaster. I actually prefer this local tea shop more, which is called The Hooker Tea Company. It's mostly loose leaf tea and prepared tea like at Teavana, but on the weekends, they have tea infused breakfast items (pancakes, scones, waffles etc.)

That sounds like a nice place to go. My problem is that I live in the middle of nowhere so there are no shops of any kind near me.

#48

Mongoose wrote:A great way for us tea drinkers to enjoy booze this summer: http://www.purewow.com/ecs/6310.htm?sid=901215

I'd be willing to try that

#49

those look awesome. I knew there'd be a market for my idea.

someone beat me to it!

#50

You can still make your own! I bet there is an untapped market on etsy for that, for instance.