need help with tea!

taity · Post by **taity** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:35 am

aye thats was the same for me adults took it black kids got milk

Flyingcursor · Post by **Flyingcursor** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:27 am

emmline wrote:This has been an inspirational thread.
Actually, I'm always inspired by talk of tea. I like the word: tea

I love how it steeps, gradually transforming plain old water into something rich and new.

I like tea equipment. (Yes Steve, I may be into the twee. Perhaps I even prefer twee to tea. )

Antioxidants are a fine thing.

All in all, preparing tea can be a wonderful sensory experience.

But then I make a cup. And I drink about half before my mouth starts feeling kind of dried out, and I think you know, I don't like this as much as I'd hoped...

Maybe there are tea mouths and there are coffee mouths and I just happen to have the latter.

Same here, but the past two days I've actually really liked it. Put milk in it and made it real strong.

I still have my coffee mouth though.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:07 am

Cork wrote:Also in China, there is "white" tea, which basically is "green" tea, but has the distinction of being the very first such tea harvested in the spring, after which the next crop from the same plants is known as green tea. White tea is very good, but relatively rare, and expensive, if available.

You can get white tea in the States, but I imagine it's not universally available. It is indeed expensive - my own purchase made me nearly cry - but as to "good", I couldn't say, as the stuff I bought stubbornly refused to offer up any flavor worth the name no matter how strong I brewed it. I would have been just as well off heating the water and drinking just that. Darjeeling: now there's a go-to black tea. Smooth, rich, and perfumed.

Cork · Post by **Cork** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:29 pm

Nanohedron wrote:...You can get white tea in the States, but I imagine it's not universally available. It is indeed expensive - my own purchase made me nearly cry - but as to "good", I couldn't say, as the stuff I bought stubbornly refused to offer up any flavor worth the name no matter how strong I brewed it...

When it comes to white tea, it comes down to basics.

For instance, try a cup of hot water, with nothing else in it.

Then, try it again but while adding some white tea to the hot water.

That's about where the difference seems to lie, subtle, but very, very good.

China is a place where, every day, many people eat plain white rice as a regular part of their daily food.

Let it also be said that, long before communism existed, or was even known of, in China, white tea was a treasure of the nobility, exclusively of mandarin.

Such heavenly water!

Ro3b · Post by **Ro3b** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 5:20 am

I usually drink Trader Joe's Irish Breakfast, even though my local Giant supermarket started carrying Barry's Red Label a few months ago. The two are virtually indistinguishable to me, and TJ's is about half the cost of Barry's. Both are miles beyond Twining's.

We also have a fantastic local chain of tea shops: Teaism. They import excellent Chinese, Japanese, and Indian teas, including a really nice genmaicha (green tea with toasted rice; it's as good a pick-me-up as a Snicker's bar) and a delicious, rich, sencha that's one of my favorites. They do mail order.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 9:01 am

Cork wrote:...white tea was a treasure of the nobility, exclusively of mandarin.

Such heavenly water!

They can keep it. All the more for them.

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 10:00 am

If you like loose tea, check out www.uptontea.com. Huge variety, excellent quality, decent prices, and some fun information for aspiring tea snobs. Decent selection of herbals, too, including redbush and yerba matte, which I really like.

Seems to me that tea is a bit like music and lots of other things: Some people go in for the snobbery and ceremony because it helps them enjoy it. Others just enjoy the thing itself, and all the rules get in the way. Most of the rules originally had a practical purpose. Either way, the point is to enjoy it. There's no reason to tell someone else that their way is stupid. To me, the only thing that's stupid is not enjoying it.

Give me a couple teaspons of whole leaf assam, steeped in a pot or a nice big mug (the pot stays hot longer, allowing for a stronger brew), steeped for three to five minutes, then a good dose of sugar or honey and a healthy dash of milk--it does a body good. But I like green and white and oolong teas, too, if I'm in the right mood. Darjeeling has the snob factor, and a really good one can be amazing--smooth, sweet, beautiful color and smell, no need to add anything. Chai is good, but only the loose kind steeped in a saucepan of boiling milk, not that foo-foo crud they sell at coffee shops.

I don't care for the teabags available around here--twinings and lipton. Hard to get them strong enough, and I go through it way too fast using two bags per cup. But they're better than no tea at all.

Some of the Brit tea bags mentioned--PG tips and Typhoo especially, are pretty good. Tetley british blend is the only one around here that's decent.

Check out Upton imports, though. Trust me on this...

Tom

Cork · Post by **Cork** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:13 pm

Nanohedron wrote:
Cork wrote:...white tea was a treasure of the nobility, exclusively of mandarin.

Such heavenly water!
They can keep it. All the more for them. :wink:

Between extremes, perhaps there could be a middle ground.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:23 pm

Cork wrote:
Nanohedron wrote:
Cork wrote:...white tea was a treasure of the nobility, exclusively of mandarin.

Such heavenly water!
They can keep it. All the more for them.
Between extremes, perhaps there could be a middle ground.

Green, I imagine. Gyokura's good.

Ever had matcha? The kind whipped up from powdered leaves in the Japanese cha-no-yu ceremony? You can either get it "thin" (usucha) or thick (koicha - and thick it is). Either way you get a little buzz. Good stuff.

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 3:55 pm

Sounds fun!

"Honest, officer, it was just tea, I swear!"

Cork · Post by **Cork** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 4:42 pm

Nanohedron wrote:
Cork wrote:
Nanohedron wrote: They can keep it. All the more for them. :wink:
Between extremes, perhaps there could be a middle ground.
Green, I imagine. Gyokura's good.

Ever had matcha? The kind whipped up from powdered leaves in the Japanese cha-no-yu ceremony? You can either get it "thin" (usucha) or thick (koicha - and thick it is). Either way you get a little buzz. Good stuff.

Basically, perhaps we could agree, as apparently we both are way beyond such things as sugar and cream in any tea.

After all, perhaps tea could be no less than hot water and tea leaves.

;-)

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:09 pm

SteveShaw wrote:
Bloomfield wrote:I even have no issue with brewing tea in a mug, if the mug is sufficiently large, preheated, and looseleaf tea is used.
Luddite. The use of loose tea in a mug is just impractical unless you resort to the use of twee devices the likes of which even my prim and proper granny would have disdainfully eschewed. There is nothing wrong with a good, hearty teabag as long as the tea inside is sufficient in quantity and basic quality to produce a proper brew.

What I consider inferior is a Lipton teabag in a cold mug with barely boiling water poured over it.
Then invest in proper teabags. I recommend Taylor's Yorkshire Tea or PG Tips pyramids. We do have a choice. Liptons bags are for sissies.

Give me coffee instead. And I don't care if that means that I'll be the first against the wall
Give me coffee and I'll be the first against the wall all right, having a pee against it. That's what coffee does to one. Pointless, nasty, bitter stuff.

Yup. What Steve said, except the coffee bit. I don't mind coffee, but tea would kick coffee's arse in a fight any day.

[Flameproof undies]

No offence, like... but you foreign types (with the exception of Chinese and Indians) don't really get tea.

Americans seem to regard it as some exotic, fashionable, slightly novel drink. Almost every post by an American in this thread (and I just read back through) has this slightly self-conscious thing going on...

Tea is a bigger deal than you ex-colonials will ever grasp, but there's no need to make such a big deal out of it.

You'll never get it so long as you're talking the relative merits, or otherwise, of various brands. And as for loose leaf versus teabags... Oh, my goodness! What in the world? are you on about? Its simpler than that.

Yeah, I know Steve mentioned a couple of brands but they are simple basic starting points. Good solid options to set you on the right path. Nothing more.

Nah. I admit we don't understand coffee in any depth. But, Jesus, tea is just so alien to you, and you don't even realise it.

[/Flameproof undies]

Honestly, no offence intended, but feel free to take it if you choose.

It's just the way it is.

Lambchop · Post by **Lambchop** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:52 pm

buddhu wrote:[Flameproof undies]

No offence, like... but you foreign types (with the exception of Chinese and Indians) don't really get tea.

Americans seem to regard it as some exotic, fashionable, slightly novel drink. Almost every post by an American in this thread (and I just read back through) has this slightly self-conscious thing going on...

Tea is a bigger deal than you ex-colonials will ever grasp, but there's no need to make such a big deal out of it.

You'll never get it so long as you're talking the relative merits, or otherwise, of various brands. And as for loose leaf versus teabags... Oh, my goodness! What in the world? are you on about? Its simpler than that.

Yeah, I know Steve mentioned a couple of brands but they are simple basic starting points. Good solid options to set you on the right path. Nothing more.

Nah. I admit we don't understand coffee in any depth. But, Jesus, tea is just so alien to you, and you don't even realise it.

[/Flameproof undies]

Honestly, no offence intended, but feel free to take it if you choose.

It's just the way it is.

Of course it's alien to us! You're thinking "tea" and we're over here scrabbling around trying to find something that isn't crap.

Few Americans have had the opportunity to enjoy what you folks take for granted . . . decent tea.

The leaves that you can obtain at any store cannot be found here except in unusual circumstances. Oh, we have tea, but it's flavorless and dessicated sawdust. Even some of the brands mentioned here are nothing more than that same sawdust, liberally infused with some sort of flavoring.

Our focus on brands is based on the need to communicate which kinds are less crappy.

I don't think you have any concept of just how foul our tea is.

SteveShaw · Post by **SteveShaw** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:52 pm

Indeed, Yanks. Just consider tea to be just one of that plethora of things you simply can never understand, others being (1) proper football, (2) that national sport of yours that is basically the bat-and-ball game of pre-pubescent girls, and (3), the fact that you have no idea whatsoever of what "beer" is. I could go on, but cruelty doesn't really become me.