this guy likes it too
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 19:55 (1 year ago) Permalink
since i've gone tea i figure i only spend about 20 dollars a month on good stuff. feel like i must have spent more on coffee in a month. plus, i would buy store/shop coffee a bunch as well as make my own.
wait, i'm cheating, cuz i still will have a cup of coffee in the morning before the kids go to school. still feel like i've saved a lot of money. think its because of the one cup thing. instead of making a pot of coffee i just make one cup of tea when i want one. i guess that's why people like those coffee pods so much. and yes i know i could brew a cup of coffee but for some reason i never do...
― scott seward, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:16 (1 year ago) Permalink
my wife is a big loose leaf tea drinker. i was too for a while but went back to coffee. our favorite tea paraphenalia was called the Tea Tiger. I'm on my mobile right now or I'd try and find you a link.
― lag∞na beach: the real ∞range c∞unty (beachville), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
what made it good was how long it would keep the tea hot, i should mention.
― lag∞na beach: the real ∞range c∞unty (beachville), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
what makes pg tips tea good
― flagp∞st (dayo), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
WF's tea looks like ganja
― byan wein (cozen), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:50 (1 year ago) Permalink
Pyramid bags, cute monkeys - x-post
― wolf kabob (ENBB), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:52 (1 year ago) Permalink
Scott, there are a lot of good kick-assy cheap Jasmines at the Asian markets that don't taste too floral.
― aka vanilla bean (remy bean), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
I am fucking obsessed with tea.
Get some of this into you tea-lovers, I was in their shop in Paris recently and almost moved to tears. when I make a cup of this my entire room smells of tea. the teabags are made of cotton FFS and they have autumn/winter and spring/summer teas that change each year.
http://www.dammann.fr/
you can get it on amazon, it's not as expensive as it sounds.
― I'm going to allow this! (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:17 (1 year ago) Permalink
that does look pretty hardcore. want some. you gotta figure they know from bad-ass tea in nepal.
― scott seward, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:26 (1 year ago) Permalink
it is really amazing. also you find you sort of only have a cup or two a week cos it's quite a rich flavour, at least the oriental rooibos one i got is like that, maybe other ones differ.
― I'm going to allow this! (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
http://images.ethicalsuperstore.com/images/226587-dragonfly-rooibos-earl-grey-40-bags.jpg
this is my daily tea
oops
― I'm going to allow this! (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:30 (1 year ago) Permalink
Pyramid bags are great cos you get more strength out of a bag while the water's still hot in a mug (5 mins). That said I don't think PG Tips itself is any better than UK supermarket own-brands. My favourite bags are Clipper organic english breakfast, though I rarely buy them cos £££. For really good tea you need a thick, highly-insulating, pre-heated tea pot. Bags or loose doesn't make a difference in a pot imo. Always use freshly drawn water, poured immediately as it hits a rolling boil. I would never drink non-hippy tea without a slug of milk - and the the milk itself makes a huge difference. Semi (1.5%) scalds less easily than full milk, which is an advantage for tea making in a hurry. Here in Germany I think all milk is more heat-treated than it is in the UK, consequently, tea is shit here and I've given it up for black coffee.
― Vasco da Gama, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:34 (1 year ago) Permalink
been rocking lapsang & empress grey as my daily teas lately
tried, and didn't get on with, white tea. might pick up some of LG's daaaaaaaamn frere/WF's ganja tea next
― byan wein (cozen), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
what do you do when u run out of ganja
― desk calendar white out (Matt P), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
this my jam
― byan wein (cozen), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:38 (1 year ago) Permalink
Choice Tea has their processing plant in my neighborhood and are doing tours in early May. Very tempted to go; I drink so much of their loose leaf assam every day and green moroccan mint in the summer as iced tea and their ginger tea a few times a week in the evenings. They sponsor the PNW tea festival every year which is also a fun way to spend part of the weekend.
― Jaq, Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
are they caffeine-free cozen? my health is so fucked i basically die in a number of ways if i consume caffeine.
― I'm going to allow this! (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:41 (1 year ago) Permalink
don't think either lapsang or empress are caffeine free. is a big consideration def
― byan wein (cozen), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
PG Tips is the fucking BOMB. It's so awesome that it has become well-distributed in the northeast. Been pretty much my go-to for a couple of years now.
I quit coffee in late 2008, suffered horribly until I found Bewlay's Irish Afternoon Tea, then rejoiced when I found PG. I too like my tea strong, hot as fuck and with nothing in it but tea.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 22:07 (1 year ago) Permalink
This is good for brewing a single cup of loose leaf tea. It won't let any crumbs through:
http://www.amazon.com/Finum-63-421-50-00-Brewing-Basket/dp/B000I68NCS
― o. nate, Thursday, 15 March 2012 01:53 (1 year ago) Permalink
Oolong tea for me. I got a bag of Shui Hsien and a bag of Ti Kuan Yin at McNulty's in NYC. I brew it three times.
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 15 March 2012 02:02 (1 year ago) Permalink
ooh i like. i should actually check the ancient department store across the street from my store before buying online. they have a pretty decent kitchen section.
x-post
― scott seward, Thursday, 15 March 2012 02:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
― aka vanilla bean (remy bean), Thursday, 15 March 2012 02:21 (1 year ago) Permalink
official ad campaign right there
― an elk hunt (Ówen P.), Thursday, 15 March 2012 02:44 (1 year ago) Permalink
― I'm going to allow this! (LocalGarda), Wednesday, 14 March 2012 21:30 (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
LG i was gonna post this too. so good. like i think it is one of the great teas, & you would think that it was more esoteric, being some sub-genre of the dragonfly-brand. i am trying to kick caffeine on the head slightly & noticed that it was more hot drink than caffeinated hot drink that woke me up in the morning. the vanilla is real good also, & someone told me to try the ginseng along similar it-wakes-you-up lines.
re: brit-wise, i've been drinking this stuff, still 3-bagging it though, is 3-bagging it using three bags? for a cup? this is crazy to me, and i like strong tea (bag left in, &c) (which apparently is good for you?, like the antioxidants release towards the end or something).
twinings fucked up earl gray, by adding lemon extract, so i don't know what to recommend in terms of regular-black-teas. i get the clipper one in the black box.
― john-claude van donne (schlump), Thursday, 15 March 2012 12:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've been trying to wean myself off of caffeine and coffee so I've been drinking chamomile tea almost exclusively. It's nice, but it's no coffee.
― Respectfully, Tyrese Gibson (Nicole), Thursday, 15 March 2012 12:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
my current favorite: http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=12878
― aka vanilla bean (remy bean), Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
yes, 3 tea bags. i guess i'm crazy. but i like strong coffee and i drink coffee black, so i like really strong tea. i am not very macho otherwise.
― scott seward, Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:37 (1 year ago) Permalink
I drink coffee black too, it is torture switching to non-caffeinated drinks.
― Respectfully, Tyrese Gibson (Nicole), Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:42 (1 year ago) Permalink
I like strong tea but I tend to be a heathen and drink it in the form of LOTS OF ICED TEA.
I'm really into this Marrakech-themed blend I have at home that has green tea with mint and bergamot.
I bought some of that Egyptian liquorice Yogi tea that several ilxors were on about and it's pretty interesting but I made the mistake of drinking it in my mug that has a silicone lid and the smell of cinnamon/liquorice would not wash out of the lid for days
― mh, Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
@ schlump: Twinings went back to OG recipe, no?
― mom in the woods (Ówen P.), Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:45 (1 year ago) Permalink
I don't go so far as multiple bags in one cup, but I do leave my PG Tips bag soaking in there until I'm done drinking it.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 15 March 2012 16:14 (1 year ago) Permalink
I keep seeing this thread title as a single croatian word: Kickastea. Like Dragostea.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 15 March 2012 16:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
― scott seward, Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:37 (2 hours ago) Permalink
yeah i drink tea black, too. three bags though, wow. it's funny that you're talking about uk teas: i grew up drinking tea with milk, & changed at some point, & it meant recalculating the hierarchy of domestically availble teas to factor in which ones were best black. like i think tetley's nicer than pg tips, black, irrespective of pg tips being maybe more popular as it's probably usually served w/milk. but that might just be me.
― mom in the woods (Ówen P.), Thursday, 15 March 2012 13:45 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
oh wow, ty so much for this. i knew the slightly-more-active-sect of outraged-internet-commenters would be good to rally around (i just searched, for fear of repeating myself, & found that i have previously trash talked about twinings on 77). i think regular earl grey is now this:
& the freaky generation-x remix can be avoided by looking for this:
tea is kinda just barely noticeable liquid intake to me at this point, but then one in ten times it's super satisfying.
― john-claude van donne (schlump), Thursday, 15 March 2012 16:31 (1 year ago) Permalink
( <- O.G. E.G., in case that image didn't show)
― john-claude van donne (schlump), Thursday, 15 March 2012 16:32 (1 year ago) Permalink
I keep a box of that in my schoolbag. Just in case.
― tanuki, Thursday, 15 March 2012 19:43 (1 year ago) Permalink
twinings decaff earl grey is pretty damn good too...
― I'm going to allow this! (LocalGarda), Thursday, 15 March 2012 20:29 (1 year ago) Permalink
I used to love Earl Grey so much. And then at some point I went off it completely and utterly. I can't imagine wanting a cup now. Can your taste buds change between your mid-20s and your early 40s?
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 15 March 2012 20:58 (1 year ago) Permalink
on account of the caffeine thing i migrated to mainly rooibos tea, & i went somewhere (a zoo) recently where they only had decaf tea, just regular tea but decaf, it was like the sad ghost of every bad cup of tea i've ever had.
― john-claude van donne (schlump), Friday, 16 March 2012 11:47 (1 year ago) Permalink
OTM, decaf black teas are the death flavor-wise. Swee-Touch-Ny (sp?) decaf is the closest to okay.
― Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Friday, 16 March 2012 15:33 (1 year ago) Permalink
I've been mad on oolong and green tea for the past four months. Chinese greens are hard to get right, sencha is easy enough to acquire but the fancy Chinese and greens have been somewhat mysterious... most of the tea vendors I've visited haven't had enough of a demand for 'em, so they've had them sitting on their shelves for too long.
Then I was blown away but the quality and selection at Théréal in Montréal. The place is unassuming but their greens are fresh and brilliant and their oolongs are exceptional. After I splurged on a few different kinds, the owner was kind enough to let me sample a cup of this year's first-pick Anxi Baicha and it was, well, it was perfect.
― poxen, Thursday, 10 May 2012 01:40 (1 year ago) Permalink
how crucial is brewing temp/times for green tea? the bags say one thing; people say another.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 10 May 2012 02:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
Entirely a matter of taste. Pour boiling water over the tea and wait 5 minutes and it's gonna taste like assholes. Let the water cool to 70 C and let it steep 2 minutes and you'll think you were drinking hot water.
For Japanese teas i.e. gyokuro you have to be precise with your 60 C water and steeping times. For Chinese greens, they're less processed (traditionally) and can be treated according to taste. I typically brew 4 minutes at 80-85C for a fresh green.
.. This might sound didactic for a message board I suppose but like the bags of black tea sweepings we all grew up with are a touch more forgiving. If we were talking about cooking a nice piece of fish these deviations in temperature/time would be a little more yeah
― poxen, Thursday, 10 May 2012 06:19 (1 year ago) Permalink