What's in your cup/mug ? #6

A Japanese postdoc who recently left us sent me a gift of some tea and I'm here to RAVE about "Uji green tea". Anyone familiar with that/the region? Apparently it's tea heaven:

https://www.japanvisitor.com/stay-eat/uji-green-tea

I drink far more black tea and oolong (not to mention coffee) than green tea, but this makes me seriously question that preference.

Check out the video on preparing sencha on this page! What a great trick to pour hot water into the cups to cool before transferring it to the pot with leaves.

http://ujicha.kyoto/enpage/howto/

I've never heard of it. I've been grumpy lately that my favourite tea store has managed to discontinue or change all my favourite teas to the point where there's only one left. I'm going to have to find a new tea store.

That said, right now I've got some good old Red Rose in my cup, with some raw sugar and 2%. My sister and I still keep looking for a new staple tea for the house but so far Red Rose remains on top.

Uji is famous with tea, but it is also famous because of The Tale of Genji. The last 10 chapters were (partly) taken place in Uji, with three ladies who were raised in the area or has relation with the area.

Uji matcha is the best, in my opinion.

Oh yes to the Genji association! I should save the rest of the tea for a reread.

The second tea included is "Shizuoka green tea" (that's all the info in English on the lovely packages) which I see is also from a famed tea-growing region. However, I caught a bug of some sort and don't want to waste fine tea while I'm sensory-deprived.

Like >2 WeeTurtle:, it's Red Rose teabag days, stewed to death. ;)

Maybe with a handful of cloves to give it that medicinal tinge...

>>However, I caught a bug of some sort and don't want to waste fine tea while I'm sensory-deprived.

Uh…chóngshǐchá?

Just enjoyed a cup of Green Popcorn from Adagio. Very light, pleasant, and yep, popcorny!

>5 Yamanekotei:

I had to google that and omgggggg! I WOULD TOTALLY TRY THAT!

I already love Pu-Erh, so...

"Poo Poo Pu-Erh (really, not making that up) is a special type of tea from the Yunnan region of China made of droppings from insects eating tea leaves."

https://membracid.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/insect-poop-tea/

>6 gmathis:

Let me guess, is it something like genmaicha but with popped corn instead of rice?

>7 LolaWalser: Actually, it is genmaicha … just named seasonally, I think. Such an odd combination to the uninitiated, but so tasty!

>7 LolaWalser:. Droppings from insects eating tea leaves

Fascinating! Must try.

I’m on my fourth cup of Golden Monkey this Christmas day! Oh, it is sooo satisfying.

Drinking a chocolate pu-erh from Numi this afternoon. Very nice on a snowy day.

Darjeeling second flush. Just brewed a few minutes ago. Aaaahhh〜

An organic (because the regular was out) ginger and citrus pu'erh because my stomach is grumpy and it's good for that. Also my newly purchased tea leave basket fits nicely in my recently unearthed little tea pot. Alas, the leaves do tend to hold on to most of the water when I pull them out.

Some aged (but still viable) Bewley's Clipper Gold with a little honey. At my house, the lower the temps, the stronger the steeps, and it's bone cold today!

I have been drinking Ahmad Jasmine tea (black tea) in the afternoons. Very refreshing. I also like Twinings Jasmine Tea, the green. It tastes especially good with a Chinese meal, but it is also lovely as an afternoon pick me up.

What is the shelf life on tea? Leaves and boxed. Red Rose doesn't usually last long enough to wonder but I do have the occasional lingerer in my tea cubby.

And I've got Red Rose right now. Tired of ginger citrus pu'erh right now. It's starting to taste like medicine.

>12 Yamanekotei: I'm with you on that one. Margaret's Hope second flush.

Just finished clearing the snow from my driveway, and am settling in with a cup of Chestnut Black tea. It has a nice faint maple aroma to it and is one of my favorite breakfast teas.

With the snowstorm going on here today, I've made a large pot of Bewley's Dublin Morning Tea.

>16 WeeTurtle: Based on my experience, well-stored plain black and green teas can last several years--they may lose a little of their initial zing, but they don't go bad. I have some that are 6 or 7 years old and still have some life left in them.

Flavored teas are a different story--most of the time they don't spoil, but the flavoring definitely loses its strength.

>18 GerrysBookshelf: Is that chestnut tea from Adagio, by any chance? I tried a sample that was in their 2018 Advent Calendar and absolutely loved it.

>21 gmathis: I’m fortunate to have a local tea shop that carries a wide variety of loose teas as well as tins from well known companies. Not sure where the Chestnut Black came from. I tried it because it sounded different and it’s become a favorite of mine. There is also a Walnut Green tea I like that is good hot or as iced tea.

>20 gmathis: Good to know! A good chunk of my teas are probably several years old by now. I generally just smell them and see, especially if they are leave teas. The fruit blends or teas with oils I get a little suspicious with as I'm not sure how long the oils and fried fruit will last before starting to get rancid.

It's Murchie's Queen Victoria right now. I've taken quite a liking to smokey teas, and my sister gave me some gift bucks for a local nursery with a fellow that runs his own tea shop there. Hopefully, he still sells his wife's "Samovar" blend. I have a bag of Russian Earl Grey but I'm finding that the Bergamot in it has gone off or something as when I cracked it out last, it smelled like some manner of essential oil furniture cleaner. Kind of over sharp.

Good old Tim Horton's Steeped Tea in a paper cup because I'm in class right now. It's "roll up the rim" time so the cup is red with confetti. I haven't seen if I won anything yet. Still drinking my tea.

>24 WeeTurtle: Tim's steeped tea is actually pretty good. A Welsh acquaintance of mine says it's just like his old mum used to make :) Maybe I'll get one later, too!

>25 tardis: I like it. It's made like coffee somewhat, so it pretty much tastes the same each time and doesn't get over-steeped. Need to say "steeped" though, because they still have bags as well.

Brought back huckleberry black tea from my trip to Yellowstone (which I highly recommend as a vacation destination - amazingly beautiful!)

>27 Kek55: Interesting--the tea and the trip! I recently brought back a package of a very unusual blackberry & pine herbal tea (Pine Forest by name) from a gem of a little shop in Branson, MO. Contrary to what one would think, it doesn't taste like floor cleaner--very refreshing and soothing.

Queen Victoria tea from Murchie's. Blend of smoked and black, I think. I forget the exact ingredients. I tossed the box a while ago.

I'm being a little bit boring nowadays - at work I have a big box of Lipton's Rich Early Grey bags (I much prefer loose leaf tea but it's not really convenient at work, and the bags are fully compostable at least). At home I drink either a tea called Lust & Beauty (believe it or not, it's a psalm reference) which is a black tea flavoured with passion fruit and cream or a herbal one called Rooibos Bubbles which is rooibos flavoured with strawberries, vanilla and champagne (and now that I read that I realize how extravagant it seems). I'm definitely a fan of fruity teas.
I used to have a wider variety of teas, but I've still mostly drunk these three, so at the moment I don't buy any others. I probably will expand a bit again in the future, but that would require a kitchen with more tea storage space.

I was in Copenhagen a few weeks ago and visited the "Palais des Thés" shop.there and bought 100 g of each of their Darjeelings plus a few others. So it's Darjeeling all the day :-)

>31 bnielsen:

I've been to that shop, a few years ago now. They would mix teas for you, in my case "diluting" a very strong Earl Grey with a more normal tea.

I discovered the shop when I checked for interesting shops near where my oldest daughter lives. Otherwise I wouldn't have visited it, but it is by far the best tea shop I've seen in Copenhagen, so I'll come back when my bag of Darjeelings is gone.
For drinking tea in Copenhagen I'll go to Sing Tehus. (And both Palais and Sing are expensive, but since I'm not going there more than twice a year, I don't really care. :-)

Drinking cheap but bad tea is much worse than drinking expensive and good tea.
(And that reminded me of a bad decision: I drank some very good and expensive tea at Glyptoteket, but because it was a delicate tea I could taste the tap water :-(
Next time I'll just take coffee :-)

>31 bnielsen: Ooh, sounds like a lovely place. I would have gone there when I was in Copenhagen a couple of years ago, had I only known it existed.

>33 bnielsen: Glyptoteket is my favourite place in Copenhagen.

I discovered a new favorite tea recently. My fiance had a cup at one of his WWII events and asked me to get some. So so good. It's called Thompson's Irish Breakfast tea. They strong and pretty flavorful. Comes pretty close to Yorkshire Red Tea for me.

Just have some decaf Red Rose right now. I'm out of my Murchies Queen Victoria, so I'll have to see if I can make a trip to one and restock. I'm working away at their Cream Earl Grey right now.

I have a dilemma in that my personal teapot is of an Asian style and has the handle coming out of the top and not the side, so I have no cozy that fits properly. Right now I just wrap the thing in a kitchen towel while it's steeping.

Had a lovely pot of Smokey Siberian blend from Simpson and Vail this morning. The whole pot. All by myself. :=)

At the moment, we just have a wake-up cup of a decent unbranded loose leaf Assam from a local indie grocery. However, I am dreaming of a rich Orange Chocolate tea that tastes just like those chocolate-dipped orange jelly sticks you can find around Christmas...that one is just too good to waste on a hurried-up workday morning.

(The orange chocolate is from a little shop called TeaMaze...I mentioned it earlier in this string. They have a website that's fun to browse.)

I found my old pamphlets from a tea festival I went to a few years back. Time to do some research and see what's around and what some of these tea houses are like.

>40 WeeTurtle: Tea festival? Sounds magical.

I had a very nice Lychee Congu from Simpson and Vail this morning. It paired well with the apricot/orange marmalade on my waffles.

>41 PawsforThought: so much tea! And very crowded. This was a few years back. Not sure if they've kept it up and more space was a needed thing. Also, these fellows were there:



My mom and I got tickets to see their show later in the week.

Primula thé vert. It's surprisingly robust.

This morning I'm drinking Yorkshire Red. Lovely.

Yesterday in the mail I got a catalog from Republic of Tea. It came with a sample for Peppermint Chocolate Rooibos.

>45 toast_and_tea: Rooibos pairs well with chocolate and vanilla and all those creamy flavors ... don't think I've ever tried it with mint.

I find tea with dark chocolate isn't bad. White hasn't gone over well with me but it's not really cocoa so there's that.

Murchie's Paris Afternoon tea right now. Still haven't gotten a refill on my Queen Victoria, and I'm running low on my lapsang suchong.

Barooti Assam (loose) from Ahmad Tea, as a first time try of this brand. Milder than I expected, even after a long steep. Which may not be all bad... Nice little flavour, but not a wow. Still, since it was cheap, it could be great value for someone.

Any fans of Ahmad Tea around, with recommendations?

>46 gmathis:. Should it go well with milk, sugar, or both?

>49 toast_and_tea: I don't usually sweeten tea, but I have had rooibos with milk and liked it just fine. (I don't think I'd do it with fruity flavors.)

>45 toast_and_tea: I have fond memories of Republic of Tea and their Rare Tea department. Maybe it's time to order a new batch?
>48 LolaWalser: I go for their Darjeeling when I come across it. As you've noted their Assam is also good. Their ceylon tea is dangerous stuff if you make it too strong. But that goes for most of the ceylon teas you find in a supermarket. The Britains have their Ty-phoo stuff which I tend to avoid since I don't often drink tea with milk and without milk I find Ty-phoo hard to consume :-)

>51 bnielsen: rare tea you say?

Yes, like this one: https://www.republicoftea.com/wuyi-oolong-full-leaf/p/v00692/#V00692 or this one
https://www.republicoftea.com/milk-oolong-full-leaf-loose-oolong-tea/p/v09996/ or this one
https://www.republicoftea.com/silver-rain-white-tea-full-leaf/p/v00734/#V00734

Special colored lid, so it must be rare :-)

>53 bnielsen: I can't imagine paying $15 for a tin of tea!

Ah, you don't want the tin. Here's one for you :-)

https://todd-holland.com/collections/darjeelings/products/rohini-estate-white?va...

But remember to check the quantity before you order :-)

Have my local organic ginger tea because my stomach is being annoying right now. It's a bit much but my favourite stomach tea is no longer being made. I lament it constantly.

>51 bnielsen:

Thanks for the tip, I'll go for the Ceylon next time.

In my cup, King Cole with a couple of cloves.

Red Rose again. The always adequate cup of tea!

Barry's Tea for me this evening, the classic blend.

Darjeeling Mahalderam Wonder Muscatel FF for me this evening. Very good!

Either I scared everybody from saying anything or you're all busy preparing Xmas :-)
I'm currently drinking a white tea: Thé blance Nepal Shangri-La pointes Argent.

>61 bnielsen:

You so fancy! :)

I'm finishing David's Tea organic Earl Grey they seem to call "Earl Grey Above & Beyond"--I've never had David's Tea before despite the city being littered with their shops, they look very yuppie to me, like a tea Starbucks. A promotional discount got me to buy a tin (80g only).

I must admit this was a hell of a decent Earl Grey, possibly the best I've had. Very good base and assertive but fine bergamot flavour, not the overpowering oily mess it can turn out to be even with the good brands.

>62 LolaWalser: I haven't heard that one before, but the names do tend to get a little crazy. I'm still annoyed at the for either discontinuing or changing my favourite teas. They still have stuff I like but I find myself rarely going there. They have crazy flavours, like muffins or dessert themes, but I find they ever taste as good as they smell. I love their advent calendars though. It's the best way to try their stuff, in my opinion. Starbucks of tea is a good way to put them, I think.

Just regular red rose again for me. I could post more but it would pretty much be more of the same. I did have some organic citrus ginger stuff recently, and yesterday I tried an oolong I tried the "Himalayan Jade Oolong" I got from David's Tea.

>63 WeeTurtle:

If you like flavoured teas, have you tried putting in a bag of one of those with the Red Rose? I buy flavoured tea in Chinatown--rose, lychee, mango etc.--and sometimes have one of those (or two, depending on strength) with the plain sort.

It's cheaper than brand flavoured tea.

Oh, I had a new oolong recently, a sample a colleague gave me, something called, hmm, Wuyi Rock tea I think--OK, google sez it's from Wuyi mountains and has a "rocky taste"--can't say I noticed particularly, but it was nice enough. Infused it twice--I still have the leaves for another 2-3 gos.

You all have such interesting-sounding teas and such a variety. I'm still as boring as I mentioned in >30 PawsforThought:. Lipton's Earl Grey at work (can't fiddle with loose tea at work so have to use tea bags, but these ones can go in the compost bin, plus the tea is nice so) and Rooibos Bubbles at home. Or occasionally Pukka's Three Mint tea, if I have a headache.

>65 PawsforThought: You could make your own tea bags if the ones at work are boring or taste bad. Just put tea enough for one cup in a paper tea filter (probably available at the local supermarket).

>64 LolaWalser: I haven't been to any Chinatown actually, though I'd like to make a visit. I do need more smokey tea, and that I can get a most places that sell tea leaves. I like some of the flavoured teas at David's but part of the time they seem more commercial to me and not worth it for what they are. Muffin tea is neat, but I'd sooner have tea and an actual muffin. I do like the spiced teas though, and dark chocolate. And I need to put a sign on my tea leaves. Everytime I go back to use them someone has 'helpfully' emptied my strainer. Oolong is pricey!

There is a little family tea store that I used to go to when I lived near by. It was the only other place I could get Assam tea besides the Fairmont Hotel since David's made their's into a blend. They would also sell packs of spices and herbs to blend into their leaf tea, so I picked up some ginger, spearmint, and sambuca to try for my digestive issues.

I've lately taken to adding the odd bit of booze in my tea. The new cherry chocolate Bailey's goes well, and I started using a little bit of Goldschlager to make up for my discontinued cinnamon heart pu'ehr.

Last I looked, Lipton's Tea in North America is still a sad, sad thing. I used to pocket extra tea bags when I was at hostels in Europe because I'd never seen that sort of Lipton's before. The local Brit shoppe carries mostly Yorkshire. Still Red Rose for me. (Until I can locate that mystery tea that a friend accidentally bought, thinking it was ground coffee and it was really good. In a clear, plastic container and bought at a Walmart.) Decaf though, given the time. Trying to cut back on the strong black tea, just a little.

>67 WeeTurtle: cherry chocolate Baileys? Heading out to the package store now.

>66 bnielsen: They're not boring or taste bad. They're fine. But the reason I use tea bags (I buy them myself, it's not provided) is because I can't fiddle with loose leaf tea at work - I walk quite a long way from my workplace (where I keep the tea) to the break room and having loose leaf tea with me on that walk isn't an option.

>69 PawsforThought:. There are thankfully some really excellent bagged read available now for using at work. My employer doesn't stock them, mind you, but I bring my own. Particularly favor Two Leaves and a Bud, but there are some great ones by Numi, Mighty Leaf, Teavana, etc. And I never turn down good old Red Rose, particularly if it's Canadian.

>70 tealadytoo: Those are either not available over here or are too expensive ones for my mid-morning tea break, I'm afraid.

I don't mean to sound as if I'm complaining about my tea. I wouldn't drink it if I didn't think it was good. It's not exciting or life-affirming or anything, but it's good enough to drink muliple cups of every day and it's inexpensive enough that I can buy a 100-pack every month or so.

>71 PawsforThought:. I hear you. They are definitely pricey. :=( I try to minimize the pain by buying the 100 bag bulk boxes on Amazon. It's an addiction.

>72 tealadytoo: I save the more expensive teas for when I'm drinking at home, where I can enjoy them better.

A work friend has opened up her tin of Harney & Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice to holiday visitors :) It's a good one that will withstand sloppy steeping and work water.

At home, I have been joyfully revisiting an old packet of Mariage Freres Prince Bhodi Dharma, which is a Darjeeling and Yunnan blend..dark, and somewhat sweet/nutty. Absolutely delicious.

At the moment, I'm drinking Oolong Orange Blossom, which is a fragrant, slightly flowery tea. We still drink a lot of Red Rose, because it's a good basic tea, but I've been drinking a lot of loose tea lately, trying to use up some that's been in my cupboard for a long time. I also signed up for a tea subscription box, so every 3 months I get a parcel with four small packets of loose black teas. One can get the subscription on a more frequent basis, but I decided that with all the tea I've got already, quarterly would be plenty, and so far, it is.

Red Rose again, the ever-persisting staple tea.

It never occurred to me to look at Amazon for tea. I never think to get food from there at all but some stuff really is cheaper. I like to shop in store when I can, but it's not always an option. I must get to a Murchies!

I've largely been off loose leaf tea at the moment because I haven't felt like dealing with the tea bags and I'm so reflexive with Red Rose that I'll often have the tea bag in the (large) cup before I've actually determined if that's what I want. I've often started the kettle going before even deciding that I wanted tea in the first place.

>69 PawsforThought: I drink coffee at work, so tea-bags are fine with me :-)

I'm on vacation now, so all that's available is bags. I will say that most of the hotels/restaurants around here carry the better bags, and I carry some too, but I can't wait to get home and brew a nice pot of loose leaf lapsang souchong!

Jumpy Monkey tea from David's. It's a mate tea with coffee beans. Nice when you're up for it, but after I point I find I'm just "all done!" and have to ditch the rest.

Back to Red Rose!

Hmmm--I like zany experiments in some things--say Ben & Jerry's ice cream (forever sad we only get a small selection of their concoctions in Canada)--but in my tea... not really.

Today I had King Cole again with a bag of Celestial Seasonings' Bengal Spice.

I find this conversation about so many different name brands as well as flavours of tea interesting. I am an avid tea drinker (well, I'm from that generation of Britons) but my idea of tea is basically bog standard "builder's tea" (or "railwayman's tea"), hot, strong, milky, in a large mug and, until fairly recently when I reluctantly had to give up sugar, with two or three teaspoons of sugar in it. I don't drink herbal teas at all (and indeed I don't even dignify them with the term "tea") and my only concession to flavoured teas are Earl Grey and Lapsang Souchong, both of which I enjoy, Earl Grey any time, Lapsang Souchong occasionally.

For teabags I just buy whichever is the cheapest Kenyan tea. I don't buy Kenyan loose tea because it is very fine and dusty, although my wife buys it to make chai, which here is not something expensive and exotic as it is in fancy coffee shops in the Global North but is the common Kenyan way of drinking tea, where the tea leaves are boiled with the milk and water and often flavoured with spices such as ginger or masala. Chai is simply the Kiswahili word for tea (and also some other languages - in Arabic it is shai). I had a cup of it in a small local cafe the other day and it cost me the equivalent of fifty US cents. I buy loose tea whenever I make it to UK and bring a stash back with me. Usually I buy loose tea from UK supermarkets (I have some Morrisons at the moment), but I also pop into specialist shops like Whittards if I get the chance.

The other type of tea I drink quite regularly is in Sudan and South Sudan. Hot, strong black tea, flavoured with various spices which can include ginger, cardamom, cloves and the tiny fresh newly-sprouted leaves from a lime tree, and with lots of sugar, up to six spoons, served in a small glass. Very refreshing on a hot dusty day.

Around this time last year I was on a Kenyan friend's tea plantation, and he was scoffing at the fancy names of many tea brands that he sees on his visits to UK. "It's Kenyan tea!" he asserted (and no doubt an Indian or Sri Lankan or someone else from one of the countries that actually grows tea would have said the same of their product).

Well, the tea sellers come up with different names to claim their patch on the market, but there's nothing weird about variety in tea per se. Different countries, different regions, different seasons, types of picking, processing, mixing, flavouring--why shouldn't this be noted.

I've had some Kenyan tea, from the Upton Tea Company. As far as I remember (this would be almost 20 years ago), I liked it a lot. Nice strong tea for a great price.

Is Kenyon tea a brand or tea from Kenya? I ask because I have some chai from a brand called "Tea India."

How many Ben & Jerry's flavours are there? I'm big on Million Flavours and my sister is a Tonight Dough and Cherry Garcia type.

Speaking of chai, I have something here called "Muskoka Chai" by Pluck, which is Canadian apparently. Ingredients are chai staples and something called muksoka cranberries. Not sure how or if those differ from regular cranberries. Nothing beats that old Bollywood Chai, or chai made in milk. I think I downed half a carafe of the stuff when a friend and I went to an Indian buffet. There was a pot that looked and smelled like coffee and a pot that looked and smelled like chai. No labels. Good stuff!

>81 John5918: I love builder's tea, especially on winter mornings when I need to get my eyes open for work. PG Tips is my favorite in that category, though I prefer it looseleaf rather than bagged, and that's a little hard to find in the U.S. Midwest. A friend send me a tin of Bewley's Gold, which is very similar.

I had an interesting herbal blend last night: Stash's Christmas in Paris--peppermint, cocoa, and lavender. An odd trio, but they harmonize rather nicely. The lavender is definitely a background flavor; it doesn't taste like floor cleaner.

>83 WeeTurtle:

Tea from Kenya. IIRC it was Assam--I may still have a sticker from the baggie in my diaries somewhere...

Does anyone else do that, keep the labels off the packages? Upton Tea used these small peelable stickers that begged to be preserved in an album or something.

>85 LolaWalser: I kept the labels off my last bags of Bollywood Chai and Garcinia Goodness so I can hopefully make something similar since the are discontinued.

I thought Assam tea was from India, in regions around the assam river. Anyway, I was at David's since there are no other tea stores that I know of that have specialty things. I got some Kenyan(!) Tindaret, which certainly looks and smells like the Assam teas I know, as well as some leave Pu'ehr of a sort I hadn't seen before. She stuffed the bag full and it only came to 18 grams. I also had a cup of their new "Glitter Chai" which features caramel. Tasty but nothing particularly special I found. I have enough other chai at home here.

When I was abroad though, I did save some things and I have a label from a Swedish cider and the bag from one Lipton Russian Earl Grey since it was the first time I had seen it.

>86 WeeTurtle:

You're right, of course--it may have been described as similar to Assam or something and that stuck... unfortunately I don't have their catalogues any more (they used to publish four per year)... I dug out one diary with tea labels from that period but this was just some of the samplers. There's a label for "Milima Estate Special KENYA GFOP"--not the one I ended ordering more of, I think.

Wow, I used to order SO MUCH TEA. Look at all the Darjeelings...

The Estate Name Song

Risheehat Balasun Poobong
Kadambini and Puttabong
Namring Milima and Chamong
Sechuan Panyang and Kanyam

I offer Golden Needles in
Imperial Grade Celestial Tribute
to China, Nepal, Japan, Formosa
Mother Africa Mother India

Tea and wordplay...gold stars for both!

:)

I'm nowt of a powt...

So today it was Tim Horton's "Eggnog Tea Latte" which was basically their chai teabag with some kind of flavour goo and milk froth. Not bad. I find eggnog in chai is lovely! They accidentally made two (not hearing that my mom wanted the eggnog latte with coffee, so I started just topping up and found all the flavour goo in the bottom. My "tea" got a bit sugary strong after that.

>88 LolaWalser: Very nice. The Assam/Kenyan reminded me of the "Kak" tea we used to drink years ago. The joke was that the tea would change from time to time since it was whatever tea we had in a Russian tea caddy with the words "Как заваривать чай" on the lid :-)

My cup now is Red Rose again, but with some dried ginger root for my grumpy stomach, that I only remembered I had after it came up in this thread! It's good.

>94 supercell: I have a local blend tea called "Samovar" which I understand is some manner of Russian or Eastern European tea thing? Is it a different name for a pot or is it a specialty thing on it's own?

>95 WeeTurtle: It's a specific type of kettle (which can be coal or electricity-powered) that you place a tea pot on top of.

>96 PawsforThought: Ah. I remember looking them up once. Odd sorts of things.

And there goes the last of my David's Irish Breakfast Tea.

>97 WeeTurtle: Odd, but often absolutely gorgeous. I'd buy one in a second, but they're a abit too big for me to feel comfortable having one just for decorative purposes, and they're not really a useful item as electric kettles are a thing.

>98 PawsforThought: You can get them with an electric heater inside, but yes an electric kettle wins hands down. (The samovar idea is that you brew some very strong tea and keep it in the tea pot on top of the samovar and then dilute it with hot water from the samovar when you need a cup of tea).
I don't like the idea of having the coal fired version inside my house while I'm there :-)

I've just bought 3 tins of tea in the local supermarket, Darjeeling, Ceylon and English Cream Tea. The last one sounds a bit weird but contains "Natural Aroma". At least it was cheap. About $3 for 200 g.

>99 bnielsen: Yeah, even an electric samovar is more cumbersome than an electric kettle. Though, as I said, prettier.

>100 PawsforThought: I completely agree. Also I've seen some of the older Russian ones and I'm not quite sure if the electric or the coal-fired is the most dangerous :-)

>99 bnielsen: Sounds like a decent method, but yeah, a little much for the general lack of countertops around here. It sounds like something I'd put in my art studio I don't have yet to have running while I'm working on a painting or something and can't be bothered to keep making new cups of tea. Though I do have a "Mrs. Tea" steeping machine for that.

Tea India Chai right now. It's passable but not my favourite. I have it though, and it's not too laborious to get through, especially when I don't feel like dealing with leaves.

>99 bnielsen: an electric kettle wins hands down

We're off grid and use solar power, so we avoid using anything electrical that produces heat, including electric kettles. So I boil water for tea in an old-fashioned whistling kettle on a gas cooker, and my wife cooks Kenyan chai in a saucepan on the gas cooker.

>103 John5918: Thinking back.... It must be like 35 years since I've used a whistling kettle regularly myself, but my fathers sister had one until recently.

Tea cooking is one of the few things mobile phones haven't replaced yet :-)

Hmm, it's not even on Randalls list:
https://xkcd.com/2212/

My mum uses an electric kettle and I appreciate its speed but I never owned one. Part of it is that I have an aversion to plastic, especially "kitchen things" made of plastic. But also the mineral gunk that has to be cleaned off the coils. It's exactly the sort of thing to haunt me with fears I can never make it clean enough.

I boil water in a steel teapot or any old pot. The nice thing about an open pot is picking out visually the moment when the water is heated to the point I need--when the first air bubbles appear on the bottom, start to rise, right before the boil, rolling boil, steam expanding--who needs action movies.

Am still drinking that Barooti Assam from Ahmad Tea.

>105 LolaWalser: I love my electric kettle. Mine is made of steel rather than plastic. The coils are not exposed, so I just have to clean the hard water deposits off the kettle itself occasionally.

>106 tealadytoo:

Interesting, I might look into something like that.

Today's tea is a gift from a colleague, a brand I hadn't had before, Harney & Sons, and they call it... um, "Paris", just "Paris" I guess... it's a black tea flavoured with something but they don't say what--something familiar I can't recall (a bit maddening, that). If anyone knows, please do tell. (Would this be a... taste-worm, in analogy to earworm?)

Wouldn't recommend this brand though, this came in those plastic sachets that were recently shown to release plastic particles into the brew--whose brilliant idea was it to mix plastic and tea anyway?

It's a good quality tea, with proper leaves, so I simply cut and discarded the sachets and infused the leaves.

>107 LolaWalser:. You can get it loose, if you enjoy it. :=)
https://www.harney.com/products/paris-tea

"Mike Harney has enjoyed many a pot of tea in the famous Parisian tea shops. In homage to the city, he created what's become one of Harney & Sons' most popular and beloved blends worldwide. Paris is a fruity black tea with vanilla and caramel flavors, and a hint of lemony Bergamot. The aroma is delightful!

Ingredients:
Black tea, oolong tea, black currant flavor, vanilla flavor, bergamot oil, caramel flavor."

>108 tealadytoo:

Hey, thanks--I thought that if they don't bother listing the ingredients on the tin, they wouldn't do so elsewhere. Vanilla & caramel--that's it, that's where the sweetness comes from, it's a caramel note. No wonder I couldn't place it, I rarely have caramel anything. Alas, I don't enjoy that in tea at all... but I don't mind a brief break from my routine.

>108 tealadytoo: I think that's the stuff that they serves at the local Waves Coffeehouse. Looks familiar, and I know they have Paris tea. They have a hot cinnamon as well that I've actually found too hot.

Not even sure what's in my cup right now, as it's just tea in canister. I suspect my sister in law sent it to my mom and I to consume as it was likely getting old and I'm not (that) picky if I'm not paying for it. Probably Red Rose as the bags are still square and I'm not sure what else we would have that's not labelled. I think Typhoo bags are round.

Can anyone tell me if there's a significant difference between the different Yorkshire teas? Like the red, gold, super strong, etc?

>110 WeeTurtle: It's been a while since I've done a side-by-side with Yorkshire teas, but I believe I liked the regular (red band) better than the gold. I'm an Assam fan, and the smoother, bready personality of the Assam was more evident to me with the standard variety. The gold, as I remember it, was a little sharper and stronger.

I'm a PG tips fan myself … loose leaf variety is hard to find in my part of the world, but I got a 3-pack for Christmas. Have had so much over Christmas break I slosh when I walk.

However, decaf is the order of the evening -- trying to use up the last of Mrs. Patmore's Blueberry Scone Tea (a Republic of Tea novelty). Pleasant and not a bit tart.

>111 gmathis: I think I remember seeing PG Tips somewhere but I'm not sure. White box with a little branch with a leaf? Or is it a specialty store? It sounds familiar. I like Assam so maybe I'll give Yorkshire another try. It's pretty standard around here, one of those things that may or may not be in the imported food sections.

If I do manage to get myself out of bed before dark, I'll head to Murchies for a needed tea-fill. I forgot all about that.

>112 WeeTurtle: Yes, although I think older packaging may have had a blue sky/cloud background. Green P, Red G, and two little tea leaves.

>113 gmathis: Ah. I recognize that! But I suspect it was actually from when I was in London and needed tea and was perplexedly looking at the various boxes with no idea what any of them were. I think I may have grabbed Yorkshire.

Right now I've got Red Rose's "Canadian Breakfast." It seems a little bit smoother and maybe a little sweeter than normal, but could also be that I have a cube of Turbinado sugar instead of Roger's raw. I decided to try the tea because whenever I see something that calls itself "Canadian" I'm curious why.

I'm having a pot of Ontario Breakfast this Sunday morning.

Someone at the office has been brewing caramel coffee, and it smells so good, I've taken half a cup and sugared it. Now the residue taste is enhancing my regular Red Rose staple. Life is good.

This morning's pot was the Morgan Blend from Simpson and Vail. Very nice.

One of Mr. Vail's 15 original tea blends.

Correspondence at the Morgan Library in New York City shows the association between J.P. Morgan and Mr. Vail. Back in the early years of the company, these esteemed gentlemen created a most distinctive tea blend. The original formula of Mr. Vail and J.P. Morgan is still used today in creating their unique blend of our Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong and other hugger-mugger teas. The mellow smokiness of this Morgan Blend is definitely an acquired taste but, if you enjoy smoky teas, there's nothing better than a cup of this on a cold dreary day to pick up your spirits!

Ingredients: Black teas, lapsang tea and bergamot oil.

>118 tealadytoo: That sounds good! I've had smokey blends before, they're nice.

>116 rabbitprincess: Who makes Ontario Breakfast?

And same old for me. ;). Though I should make a new one. *This* one has been microwaved! ack!

>119 WeeTurtle: I think this is them, although I get it loose leaf rather than in bags: https://www.metrotea.com/products/bulk-tea-bags-pyramid/specialty-blends/ontario...

Presently enjoying a cup of TianMuHuBaiCha (天目湖白茶 TianMu Lake white tea).
I was given a presentation box of four tins by dear friends when in Shanghai in September. Somewhat foolishly, I gave two tins away when I arrived back home.
It's deliciously refreshing and light.
I'll be in Shanghai twice this year, but as this tea is only harvested once a year, in Spring, will have to wait for my second visit to buy more.

A year ago I was saddened to discover that my favourite tea shop in Shanghai had disappeared & in its place a coffee shop had sprung up. Now, it's a lovely little coffee shop, but I miss easy access to a variety of teas, as well as a beautiful little upstairs room in which to enjoy them.

I still haven't made it to a Murchies with all the weather out here. I did get to a Starbucks today and had a free drink so I got the biggest chai latte they had, which may not have been the smartest idea what with the sweetness. I'm still going at it. Transferred the remainder to a thin sided china mug and added some hot water because OMG sugar.

>122 WeeTurtle: Yeah, some of these chai latte blends are really 90+ % of sugar. Much better to mix some tea and spices yourself. A bit of sugar is nice, but not the amounts used by Starbucks and other coffee shops.

>122 WeeTurtle: >123 bnielsen: I like to think of Starbucks chais as inferior cups of tea, but superior milkshakes. 😊

I'm drinking a large mug of bog standard builder's tea made from Aberdare teabags, nothing fancy, just a strong traditional tea taste. The Aberdares is one of the tea-growing areas of Kenya.

>125 John5918: That reminds me that I have some teabags like that somewhere. Maybe with a bit of milk and sugar later this evening? So thanks for reminding me.

I found an ancient jar of Morning Thunder yesterday, so used it to make my daily pot. It was just okay, slightly insipid. I was glad to return to my robust Red Rose today. I may just compost the rest of the MT.

That reminds me I've wanted to ask a question. I'll start a thread on it.

>127 2wonderY: The Celestial Seasonings Morning Thunder? That I used to have all the time when I learned Mate was a thing. Not my thing any more though.

>124 tealadytoo: Heh. I never go to Starbucks for chai, only for that specific chair, or that specific London Fog. ;)

What *was* in my cup was the second to last bit of my For Tea's Sake Zen Master tea. Crummy brand, really, not strong enough, but good ideas. I think I'll ditch the last bit. I could use the tin.

New member here... Currently drinking my (very large) regular morning cup of Harney's Royal English Breakfast tea (which comes in those plastic teabags, so I cut them open and use a tea ball instead) with lots of milk/no sugar. It's stronger and more flavorful than their regular English Breakfast. I also like Typhoo Extra Strong, and Trader Joe's Spiced Chai...and Republic of Tea's Strawberry Chocolate as an occasional dessert treat.

We have a Cuisinart electric kettle that is all steel, no exposed coils, and has six temperature settings. It was initially a bit pricey, but it's a total workhorse and still going strong after six years of daily use.

I had a sample of Simpson and Vail Pumpkin Spice tea hanging around for awhile, and I decided to try it this morning. Not good, alas. I am about to fix a cup of "Two Leaves and a Bud" cup of Organic Earl Gray, which will make me much happier.

I ran out of all the black tea AND coffee so for the past few days I've been having jasmine tea, a loose leaf Vietnamese blend very cheaply bought in Chinatown but to me quite delicious. Trà Hoa Lài--guessing that means simply "jasmine tea", going by the images...

Re Earl Gray... the first semester of my freshman year of college, I pulled an all-nighter to finish typing a long paper (this was before word processors, you see), and drank cup after cup of Earl Gray as I feverishly pounded away on my typewriter. I went to class at nine, turned in my paper, and after class went back to my dorm to nap...and lay there, shaking, as the caffeine load hit. I haven't been able to drink a drop of Earl Gray in the nearly forty years since that day. :)

I have a Tim Horton's mug with a Samovar blend from the a local tea place that used to be a botanical garden. Sadly, they couldn't keep the garden but the shop and tea place are still there.

And I must vent! I spied some tea with "brittle" in it. I'm not sure what sort, but I can't imagine making a brittle flavoured tea, in part because it probably wouldn't be much different from a manner of caramel or toffee thing, but also it kind of defeats the point of brittle in the first place.

>133 WeeTurtle:

Word! (as we used to say in the last century)

I've been cunningly programmed by this group to buy Red Rose, 216 teabags worth of.

So that's what I'll be drinking most days in the foreseeable future, with or without additions of cloves or fresh mint or Bengal Spice... while I ponder the next loose leaf purchase.

I have Red Rose again, same mug. I did see some PG Tips at Walmart, but it was Walmart and I prefer to buy things elsewhere when I can. I'll make another trip to the Dickens Sweet Shoppe instead. Yay, local business!

PG Tips Extra Strong with milk! Needed for the seasonal mugwumps.

>136 gmathis: mugwumps?

>136 gmathis: Inaccurate usage of an archaic political term to capsulize, "It's January, I'm grumpy, I'm cold, I want my blankie; go away." )

mug·wump
/ˈməɡˌwəmp/

nounNORTH AMERICAN
plural noun: mugwumps
a person who remains aloof or independent, especially from party politics.

A nice pot of smoky Russian Caravan is this morning's brew. Very good on a very cold day.

Decaf Red Rose (it's later in my day) in another of the same Tim Horton's china mug.

>138 gmathis: (If LibraryThing had emojis there would be a *thumbs up* here.)

>140 WeeTurtle: When you need a word and can't find the precise one, improvise!

Woke up craving Chocolate Orange from TeaMaze, a new favorite little shop in Branson MO. Remember those little orange jelly sticks covered with chocolate? Yep, those! In a cup!

A vanilla lemon Pu'erh from a local place and it's lovely!

A Tumsong Darjeeling. Nice for a windy day (Dennis has reached DK after visiting UK for a day or two).

Yorkshire Tea 'shocked' by backlash over Rishi Sunak photo (BBC)

Yorkshire Tea has urged social media users to "try to be kind" after the popular brand became embroiled in a row involving a leading Tory politician. Chancellor Rishi Sunak posted a picture on Friday of him appearing to make a huge tea round for his Treasury staff...

Well, at least we all know what is in the British Chancellor of the Exchequer's mug.

>144 John5918: Real Yorkshire men appears to drink wine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ue7wM0QC5LE

>144 John5918:

Ah, the Four Yorkshiremen sketch. I can't remember how many times I've seen it, but it's still just as funny. Thanks.

>144 John5918: I needed a chuckle today. Thanks!

I just bought a pound of my favorite, Golden Monkey, and 3 ounces of Brigadoon Breakfast from Adagio. The Golden Monkey isn’t quite as robust as batches that I’ve bought in the past (maybe it was the end of last year’s pickings?) and the Brigadoon was a total disappointment- no taste at all, just a slightly astringent cup of hot water. Oh, well, at least I have some of my favorite to last until my next splurge.

— 3 months later —
I’m just finishing up the last of my Golden Monkey and am surprised (and happy) to note that the robust malty flavor with just a touch of smoke is back! Quite odd, since I thought this batch was quite bland when I first received it! I wonder if I had actually been infected with an early case of covid-19 and had lost my sense of taste? I did have what I thought was a bad cold around that same time. Oh well, now I have to order some more.

Saigon Chai from David's. Will probably drag out the apple cider vinegar later. Have the remnants of a cold I'm trying to get rid of. Ugh.

Earl Grey Intense from Kusmi Tea. Good one.

Finished my Aberdare teabags and now drinking Ketepa Pride, another bog standard Kenyan tea available at almost any supermarket or grocery shop.

A variety of Keemun Hao Ya from Teavivre; steeped strong, it has notes of dark, bitter cherry. Good for a rainy a.m. when the eyes just aren't opening!

Whittard's Chelsea Breakfast

>152 gmathis:

Ooh, Hao Ya Keemun, how I miss it... black tea fave, no question.

Waiting for my Tea India chai to finish steeping. Still have some clingons from this cold.

>154 LolaWalser: Our little indie grocery store used to carry a Keemun that smelled and tasted like the burlap grain sacks in my grandma's barn (that's a GOOD thing) ... sold in bulk by the ounce, so I am not sure about the brand, but I miss it!

>156 gmathis:
"a Keemun that smelled and tasted like the burlap grain sacks in my grandma's barn (that's a GOOD thing)"

Love that evocation. I too have a vivid memory of the scent of my Nana's house. Not reproducible.

Drinking a nice strong Assam. It's a damp, chilly day, and it certainly hits the spot.

And back to red rose. We picked up a massive box before this self quarantine began. We're good for tea!

A cuppa entitled Nepal Gold Meadow. Perfectly accurate name: tastes and smells like sweet hay. (Can you tell I have farm blood? :)

I had a lovely Rose Congu from Simpson & Vail this morning.

Stash Christmas Morning tea. A blend of black and jasmine green teas. I don't know what says Christmas about that, but it's a decent (if not terribly exciting) tea. I'm trying to use it up.

>159 WeeTurtle: I had an unopened box of tea (80 bags' worth) in the cupboard but got my other half to buy an extra box of tea anyway, because "you never know!"

Today I was drinking some loose leaf vanilla black tea from The Tea Store, in the Byward Market. Glad I was able to stock up a bit there before everything shut down.

Drove twenty miles to the nearest town yesterday for groceries and fuel, and bought 200 Ketepa Pride teabags. Should keep us going during the current movement restrictions.

Just Red Rose right now. My sister made a supply run to town so I now have decaf but I'm gradually making my way through my tea stash while I'm not allowed to leave the house. My local "Samovar" blend is getting down and I'm almost through my David's Kenyon Tindaret.

Yeah, I'm sorting various jars and bags. A co-worker gave me baggies of whatever loose teas. I brew a pot, taste it and dump it. The rest of the contents go in the compost. I've got plenty of Red Rose.

A new one to me: Vadham Assam Exotic. Very smooth and somewhat fruity-sweet for an unflavored Assam.

That sounds nice. Haven't heard of it but I like Assam teas, and I'm gradually turning my sister to them when we can find them.

In the meantime though, Red Rose. ;)

Last night it was David's Dark Chocolate Delight. One of the remaining teas they haven't messed up for me yet but I'm not about to go out of my way for it.

You know, there are times when you don't care about the fancy pants stuff and Just Need Tea. Red Rose absolutely qualifies.

>169 gmathis: Yes, what you said. I'm trying desperately to downsize and simplify after a lifetime of accumulation. It's time to clear my tea shelf of stuff I no longer care for. Made a pot of Orange & Spice (admittedly not Constant Comment brand) yesterday, and really didn't enjoy it. Time to toss that jar.

But I do plan on steeping some sassafras later today as a spring ritual.

Two tea packets left in the dark on a shelf do tend to mate and multiply. I need to begin my "a time to throw away" season, but I'm still working a regular schedule (business support/school operations) and haven't been able to find the necessary time. (Isn't it funny that throwing away takes more time than accumulating?)

Bigelow Spiced Chai. Mild and soothing.

Typhoo. Was on sale so I got a couple boxes. Sorry, Red Rose lovers, but the recent lengthy exposure to the brand made me realise it's too bland for my no doubt over-tannined insides...

Whether on its own merits or simply in comparison, Typhoo seems quite a bit better, stronger.

No match for loose leaf teas but I have no appetite for waiting for mail orders nowadays, everything seems to take a minimum of a month.

For years, I have searched for the be-all and end-all of decaffeinated black teas … one that will actually fool you into thinking you're drinking straight-up builders' tea. I have not yet found it, but Typhoo decaf is the closest I have come so far.

>173 LolaWalser: Typhoo Extra Strong is my go-to morning cup these days.

More rummaging, found an old jar of Morning Thunder. Pronounced gunpowder/mineral taste. Into the compost bin, I think.

The second cup was better with a few raisins steeped for sweetness.

>175 Marissa_Doyle:

Oh, I didn't now it came in grades. We get just the one kind here, at least in the grocery. Plus >174 gmathis: decaf, but I never get anything decaf...

>176 2wonderY:

Hmm, raisins in tea, innnteresting.

PG Tips also has an Extra Strong version, very helpful some mornings!

Green pomegranate. Such a delicate tea I had to brew it in my Primulus glass pot and pour it into fine china cups.

This rainy afternoon it's Celestial Seasonings Organic Cinnamon Cardamom. Very nice with a half-teaspoon of honey.

My go-to cuppa, Organic Assam TGFOP.

I bought a couple of identical tins at a second-hand store. And each held an unopened package of Chinese green tea, that is very delicious. So that's it for today!

Lordy, the internet is slow today.

Found an old jar of Cinnamon Orange; no idea from where or how old. But it's not bad. Anything for the novelty nowadays, eh?

My Sunday tea (Ty-phoo decaf again) was not as interesting as what I put in it--several crushed leaves of lemon mint from my back porch container garden. Was quite tasty!

>183 2wonderY: Tell me more about this Cinnamon Orange you speak of!

>183 2wonderY: No, really, I have no idea or clues.



But I could send you a baggie for a taste test.

>186 2wonderY: Huh. Looks like it could be MarketSpice.

It was probably bought from a bulk bin at the natural food store, but too long ago to remember for sure. It's still nice. One of the other collections I'm sorting and "re-tasting" is my music CDs. Haven't ventured into the cassettes yet, but that's next!

Second pot today is Bigelow Fruit & Almond Herb Tea. Not nearly as robust or flavorful as I'd like. I will try two bags in the pot next time.

I've been lurking here for a while, but I thought it was worth asking whether any of you use Steepster.com which something like an LT site for tea. I mention it because I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of a tea that I very much enjoyed last summer so that I could order some, and I went back to Steepster and found it right away.

>190 vwinsloe: Steepster veteran here. Recommended. You learn lots and the the contributors are helpful, friendly, and interesting.

>191 gmathis:. Hello! Agreed.

>190 vwinsloe: Thanks for the tip about Steepster!

>193 bnielsen:. You're welcome!

In my cup these warmer afternoons is Peachy Oolong from Tavalon.

And I have some nice (although not awesome) Darjeeling from a local provider.

Had my first cup of St. Dalfour Cinnamon Apple green tea yesterday. Really nice balance of flavors without tasting like heavy spiced chai.

Had a pot of Morgan Blend from Simpson & Vail this morning. Very nice. Robust and a bit smoky.

You can tell I'm wanting variation in the daily routine.

Primula white tea. It must have come with my teapot. Too delicate, almost no taste. Will plan to use it for parties with the grandchild, as I doubt her mother will want her drinking even little bits of regular tea.

>198 2wonderY: I doubt her mother will want her drinking even little bits of regular tea.

I find that really strange, so different from the way I was brought up. We drank tea from first thing in the morning until last thing at night, all day, every day, from my earliest memories - and so did everyone I knew in 1950s Britain. If the tea was too hot for the child it was poured into the saucer and you'd sip it from there.

She's got a quirky list of dos and don'ts. At Christmas, we settled for just water in the little cups I brought. That was just to get the 16 month old acclimated to the concept. I've since donated a little table and chairs, but tea party opportunities have been scarce.
My other grands love tea parties. They used to squabble over whose turn it was to "spill." So grandma gathered up enough little teapots so they each had their own.

I might have mis-judged the white tea. Didn't give it enough time to brew. The bottom of the pot has much more substance today. Smoky.

I have never had much luck getting anything but "hot leaf juice" from white teas. Probably because I have long since burned off my tastebuds with heavy, unleaded builders tea.

>202 gmathis: I have long since burned off my tastebuds with heavy, unleaded builders tea.

I'll vote for that.

I've brewed some ceylon tea for a change: New Vithanakande, F.B.O.P.F.E.X.S. The leaves have a nice look (That's most of the Upper Case Letters) and the brew is fine, but I'll buy a Darjeeling next time around anyway :-)

Unmarked loose tea from an old glass bottle. Perhaps I was heavy on the measure, as the first cup was fine, but the second cup was bitter. Tossed the rest of the pot and soothed myself with Green Pomegranate, which is a mix of green and white teas with dried pomegranate pieces.

Whittard is having free international shipping right now, so I stocked up on their Chelsea Breakfast and Darjeeling and tried a few other fruit tea/infusions for afternoon sipping.

>206 Marissa_Doyle: Do you have a link for information about the free international shipping?

https://www.whittard.co.uk/delivery-returns.html seems to disagree.

Ah, maybe some kind of coupon offer? (I think of that as a very British thing :-)

>208 supercell: Nice. I subscribed to their newsletter just now, so let's see what happens. ...

Ah, the offer is visible on the main page! Probably been there all the time, so I should just have stayed away from the https://www.whittard.co.uk/delivery-returns.html page :-)

I just ordered some tea from them and it summed up to £69.50 which gave free international shipping as promised (the limit is £60). So now I'll just wait and see.

>206 Marissa_Doyle: Thanks for telling me about this. I fear it'll be quite a while before I come across one of their shops again.

And while ordering from Whittard I drank some "Mao Cha sauvage de Phongsaly". I think I hit the perfect amount of tea leaves this time. It was a bit difficult since these leaves are about 3 cm long and thin so a spoonfull = 1 leaf :-)

I'm in love with TeaPigs Lemon & Ginger. I drop 3-4 bags into my 12-cup carafe, run the brew cycle on the coffee pot and have tea for the day or maybe even the next morning, too. I bought a sampler from them at the same time I bought a 50-bag thing of Lemon & Ginger. I'm working up the nerve to try the popcorn tea. Their chai is good. So is the Chocolate & Orange and Glühwein. I found TeaPigs through sipsby -- a subscription box for teas. I only did a 3 month subscription to sipsby; but I was pleased TeaPigs was one of the samples I got!

Ahead of a lo-o-o-o-ng day of training, I'm fortifying myself with Vadham Assam Exotic -- it't not as malty as my favorite Assams, more of a little mahogany and fruit thing going on there, but quite pleasant.

Huh. I had Vadham Assam Enigma this morning. It was quite malty and very nice.

Clearly, I need to investigate further! (Drat!)

The usual Red Rose, though yesterday I got out my remains of Assam Banaspaty, which I need to find a new source of. I've actually been spoiling myself on leave tea that Red Rose just wasn't cutting it for a time. I'm still debating where to get tea online though. I'm low on a few staples; Lapsang Suschong, Queen Victoria blend (murchies, but they don't have many Assam teas), and a good black. I think I'm out of both my Nepal Black and Kenyan Tindaret from David's, and I'm not too keen on bothering with them anymore.

>216 WeeTurtle: WeeTurtle, have you tried Upton Tea Imports for your Assam variety? I haven't ordered it from them for a while, but they have umpteen varieties. I read their catalogs smacking my lips, like I used to read (dating myself here) the Sears Christmas Wish Books when I was a kid.

>216 WeeTurtle: I saw this when I was reading The Kingdom of the Blind this week. The speaker is a Quebecois police inspector.

"The Anglos in Three Pines were always pressing tea on each other in times of stress. . . . He'd thought it vile at first. The tea. But then, somewhere along the line, he found he looked for it. Hoped they'd offer it. And drank it with pleasure, though he didn't show it. He found now that just the aroma of Red Rose calmed him. He didn't even have to drink it."

>218 tealadytoo: Oh, please do add it to this thread:

tea in fiction

>219 2wonderY: Done!

>217 gmathis:

Sadly, Upton's shipping to Canada has gone up so much it's no longer sensible for us to order from them. It used to be possible to get a kilo or two of tea for under 20-30 dollars, therefore under the threshold for customs fees, and I didn't mind if, in addition, shipping came to about half that. But when shipping is more than tea itself... buying more tea is also not a solution as then the customs fees come into play and these can be hefty.

>216 WeeTurtle:

Depends on whether you like their teas and don't mind the price, but Kusmi Tea has free delivery for orders over 50 CAD. They have a sale on at the moment (but not on black teas, dang it):

https://www.kusmitea.com/en-ca/special-offers

https://assamteacompany.ca maybe?

>222 bnielsen:

I'll check them out, thanks!

>223 LolaWalser: I started looking at TenRen and Republic of Tea, but couldn't find any "shipping to Canada" prices so I looked for Canadian companies. Here in Denmark I often look in Turkish owned stores for cheap but drinkable Ceylon teas and once in a while I can even find cheap drinkable Darjeelings there. Alas the Darjeelings are often something they only have once in a blue moon, so it's not a reliable source. My current stock of cheap Darjeeling is from February where the German owned chain store Aldi for some reason sold 200g tins for something like 3 Euros. But no Assams.

>224 bnielsen: Unfortunately, there isn't really a local tea place here. There's a store a city over that is run by a family from Iran I think, that has good stuff. II'm leaning Murchies though, since they are local and have tea I know I want. I think they might have one Assam and one Pu'ehr, which kinda sucks but isn't unusual. Pu'ehr is annoyingly hard to find. Oh! I just remembered a local place, the tea shop at the nursery that a husband and wife both run. They blend teas themselves but import from Germany.

I know I did have a tea in Denmark but I'm not sure what it was. I have the receipt somewhere. A place in Copenhagen that the hostel hostess recommended for tea and cake.

Also Red Rose right now. ;)

There's a lot of decent places for tea and cake in Copenhagen, so it's hard to guess :-) Denmark also have a few good tea shops, but if you go a bit south of the border to Germany there's a lot more and a lot better tea in supermarkets and shops.

Coffee! Ha! But only because I'm up way early and am burning out my good tea. Extra sugar because it's coffee and not tea.

Though I had an herbal peach tea the other day and decided it was lovely. David's is not totally redeemed in my head yet though.

>227 WeeTurtle:

And I have to confess I've just had a cup of Ovaltine. That brings back childhood memories. I've run out of Horlicks, otherwise that would have been the first choice before Ovaltine.

But several cups of good strong builder's tea is still the main staple of the day.

>228 John5918: A cup of Ovaltine from the UK is a lovely thing (not the stuff sold in the US, which is called Ovaltine but is a travesty.) Perhaps I should try Horlicks...

>229 Marissa_Doyle: Oh that's interesting to know. My grandmother was always trying to sell me on Ovaltine but I don't recall what it was (except I liked it as a kid, apparently). My brother is a Horlicks guy, especially when he can't sleep. I could try it, perhaps if they have some at the British "Sweet Shoppe." I'll be in town later today.

(90% of the time, I remain a heavy black tea with milk and sugar person.)

EDIT: Dickens Sweets and British Museum! (looks like they changed the name a bit). Fun little place. The walls of the tea room are pretty much Plexiglas shelving stuff with British things.
http://www.dickenssweets.com/

It takes a lot to get me not to drink hot tea, but it is so darned hot and muggy today I have temporarily switched to iced tea. Pure Leaf Unsweetened, to be precise.

https://www.pureleaf.com/us/products/unsweetened-black-iced-tea?repeat=w3tc

It's amazing that we can now get REAL iced tea, bottled, instead of the powdered overly sweetened swill of my youth.

>229 Marissa_Doyle: I don't know what Horlicks is but it sounds too much like Horcrux :-)

>232 bnielsen: Maybe Voldemort drinks Horcruxes before bed. ;) Horlicks (and Ovaltine) are a malted milk drink--less sweet than hot chocolate, but it occupies the same space, so to speak--a comforting warm drink.

>233 Marissa_Doyle: Thanks. Sounds like I should buy some and store safely (together with my glass of Marmite) i case I'll need it some day :-)

>234 bnielsen:

Definitely, and don't forget the HP sauce!

Interesting comment on Assam tea.

As human rights crisis brews in Assam's tea plantations, businesses must step up to end cycle of deprivation (Firstpost)

Civil society organisations working to improve the situation have reported hazardous working conditions, poor healthcare facilities, gender-based discrimination, and dilapidated housing facilities. The lack of a strong labour union also results in workers getting paid lower wages than the national average. Their identity as tribal migrants and non-native Assamese leaves these workers without much agency to negotiate their terms of employment. Although the Plantation Labour Act of 1951 seeks to ensure fair treatment and socio-economic security, workers continue to be exploited because implementation is not systematic...

The tea I ordered in >209 bnielsen: has just arrived, so I'm drinking some Formosa Jade Oolong No 244. Very nice and mellow taste.

I just ordered some tea from the Biltmore - passionfruit peach. I'm excited to try it but I worry that fruity teas tend to taste a bit metallic and wonder how this one will go.

Also I got Earl Grey. I usually drink this type but I am very, very picky about the brands. I've tried so many and I have found the biggest difference to me is whether they use bergamot oil or peel. Oil just tastes blech. So I am interested in seeing which this is.

They're both loose leaf and my little strainer tends to make the teas not as strong as a bagged tea. Any ideas how to get around this other than just using more?

I have Red Rose Bold tea in a Tim Horton's mug. How dare I!

>237 bnielsen: Looking at the results of my purchase I tend to think that I'll bought an awful lot of boxing and cardboard and not so much tea. I looked at the website again but I fail to see anywhere I can purchase larger amounts of tea without having to order N times a 50 g or 100 g portion. Is that correct? (I ask since I overlooked the "free international shipping" until pointed in the right direction).

>241 supercell: Thanks. I'm glad I didn't miss then "250 g" option somewhere. I bought some Milky Oolong in a caddy and I think the caddy could easily hold a fivefold portion.
My normal supplier for that is https://www.denfransketehandel.dk and they'll put it in a 200 g bag if I order 2 x 100 g. But it was great fun to order some tea from the British empire :-)

>242 bnielsen:

Talking of British tea, #Solidaritea: Yorkshire Tea and PG Tips join brands in backing BLM (Guardian)

Now Britain’s homegrown brand behemoths are jumping on the bandwagon – with PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea uniting under the hashtag #solidaritea. The two rivals, the second- and third-biggest tea sellers in the UK, became the latest businesses to declare their support for the BLM protests that have broken out around the world since the death of George Floyd...

If I were in UK this would cerainly be an incentive to buy PG Tips and Yorkshire Tea, on top of the existing incentive that they both make bloody good builder's tea.

Just found a packet of Morrison's Everyday Loose Tea. Expiry date was four months ago, but I've drunk far older tea before and it doesn't seem to make much difference.

Had a pot of Cream Earl Grey from Simpson & Vail at breakfast. Not my usual choice, but good if I'm in the right mood, as I was today. S&V has a nice one. Not too overpoweringly sweet.

My boss went to our office yesterday to pick up some equipment for her work-from-home setup (we've all been working at home for three months now, and it looks like we'll be at home for another three months at least), so while she was there she rescued some of my things, including my stash of tea. Among the stash was Yorkshire Gold, which I had this morning.

Nice! I have been adding a variety to my morning cup of tea. When family working from home as well, we made one of three loose teas every morning. For a few months. So it is nice to get back to a mix (Although I do miss the company!).

This morning I am drinking Murchie's bagged tea: 'Baker Street' which is a green/back mix: Smoke and gunpowder, lingering scents of exotic Jasmine and Bergamot. Its elementary'.

Always open to an interesting flavoured gunpowder tea recommendation!

That sounds neat! I'm looking for an excuse to order more than just the one tea from Murchies.

Red Rose again today. For the last while I was alternating between Tim Hortons orange pekoe (milder than RR) and RR Canadian Breakfast, which I actually liked. Not sure if our current batch of regular RR is off or something, but I liked the Canadian Breakfast better. (These are teas at my mom's place).

Ran out of Earl Grey some time ago, but down in the cellar I just found a packet of Earl of Brunswick loose tea from Chi. "Our take on Earl Grey, featuring dried Thai lemongrass, sun ripened Spanish orange peel on a bergamot and Ceylon base." "Pretentious, moi?", as they might say in Fawlty Towers. The "best before" date is April 2017, but it tastes fine, especially as the Hobnob famine in Nairobi appears to be over and we managed to find a couple of packets of these excellent biscuits yesterday. Posh tea and Hobnobs, perfect on a Sunday afternoon.

Any particular kind of Hobnobs? We get a few over here.

EDIT: Tea is...need to think a minute...Murchies Paris Afternoon. Wasn't my favourite but better if I leave out the sugar. It's pretty sweet as it is. A friend gave it to me so I guess it wasn't her favourite either.

>250 WeeTurtle:

We only get two varieties of Hobnobs here. One is the standard variety, plain oat biscuits in an orange packet, and the other is chocolate Hobnobs, the same but with a layer of milk chocolate on them. I prefer the former, as the latter are a bit too sweet and sickly for me. They are imported, so we get regular "famines" when you can't find them anywhere in Nairobi, then suddenly they are available in all the more up-market supermarkets. Our theory (admittedly without any evidence) is that there is only one importer who brings them in by the container-load, but doesn't re-order until all existing stocks are finished, leading to a wait of several weeks for the next shipment to arrive and clear through customs. Same happens with other little luxuries, notably HP Sauce. Horlicks hasn't been seen in years - I have to bring my own stock back with me whenever I travel to UK.

Yesterday we found a big plastic tupperware container where we had put sachets of sugar, salt, coffee, tea, etc which we had half-inched from various hotels, airlines and cafes over the years, so this morning I had a Kericho Gold tea bag for my morning cuppa. Kericho is the epicentre of Kenyan tea growing.

>252 John5918: I think most African tea ends up in tea bags and I seldom use bags but prefer loose tea given the choice.

Hmm, I found a "Kenya Kirinyaga" loose tea that'll be on my shopping list next time. Thanks for making me look for Kenyan teas. Nice to know that not all of the tea is processed as CTC.

Currently sipping the last of my Whittard of Chelsea No 244: Formosa Jade Oolong. Nice for a slow start in the morning. Summer temperatures here up to 30 degrees C later in the day.

>253 bnielsen: I think most African tea ends up in tea bags

I don't know. I've never seen any statistics, but if you go into a supermarket here generally the shelves of loose tea leaves outnumber those of tea bags, and in small rural shops you'll likely only find tea leaves, not tea bags. In Africa I would say that tea is still widely made by boiling the tea, milk, water, spices and often the sugar all together in a pan. Tea bags don't work well for that. My wife always makes tea that way, whereas I make it the British way either with a tea pot and loose leaves or a tea bag in a cup. I've never mastered the art of cooking tea the African way - whenever I try to do it that way it never seems to turn out quite right.

But I'm glad you've discovered African teas. Enjoy them!

>254 John5918: Thanks!

Just found something I'd not seen before (probably my fault): Ceylon Green Tea. I found it in a local shop, but here's a link, so you can see the tin:

https://www.gogetdelivery.com/green-tea-100-pure-ceylon.html

It has a very mild taste. "Mostly harmless" is the verdict so far :-)

Does anyone have a source for a black tea with roasted cedar tips? I got a tea online called "Rivendell" from a guy out in Michigan who calls himself "Whispering Pines Tea Company." He hasn't had it in ages, and I found one locally with cedar tips in it but it also has juniper berries in it which are not my favorite.

My grands have been celebrating summer with gallons upon gallons of spearmint tea. Good stuff!

>258 2wonderY:. Sounds refreshing! I've been dealing with our unusually hot summer with pitchers of iced tea made with 5 bags of Red Rose and one bag of Bigelow peppermint.

>259 tealadytoo:. I have a large bed of it at my cabin; so they associate it with me. When they come to my place, we make it from fresh stems just picked. Imported to their house, they have to learn to make it from dried leaf. We’re working on setting them up to grow their own without allowing the plant loose in the neighborhood.

>257 vwinsloe: No leads, sorry, but I've tried some Whispering Pines varieties that were fabulous!

>261 gmathis:. Yes, really fine teas.

Just decaf Red Rose right now, but I have very much been enjoying my Golden Jubilee Tea from Murchies. I got mad at David's and have switched to online orders from Murchies now. It came super fast, even for local deliveries.

Actually, it was in my cup yesterday, but so tasty, I'm still thinking about it: French Macaron from a little tea shop in Branson MO (TeaMaze). It smells like creamy almond pastries both in the packet and in your cup. Liquid dessert.

>264 gmathis: That sounds amazing!

On cold afternoons, I've been making myself a chai, Black Masala, from Tea Runners. I found an old milk frother in the cupboard, so I've been having it nice and milky, with just a touch of honey for sweetening. I'm not a regular chai drinker at home because usually it's too overwhelming, but this is nice and I make just one cup at a time so I don't feel like I'm wasting a whole pot :)

I just got a new subscription box from Tea Runners today and it has a different chai, Kathmandu Cosmos, so it will be interesting to compare.

I love chais but it's been hit or miss. I tried a "Muskoka" one with cranberries, themed for Northern Ontario. Wasn't fond of it (I think it lacked cloves or such) so I ultimately tossed what was left. Though, it might have gone well with egg nog.

Right now I have Cinnamon Heart! It's old, and not quite as tasty as it would normally be, but I don't care. It's one of the David's discontinues that plagued all my favourites and I'm just happy to have it. :)

>265 rabbitprincess: Website for the shop is teamazeshop.com

Today's cuppa isn't quite as elegant, but equally good. Peppermint Orange--part of one of those little "giftable" assortments you can find at outlet stores (mine came from Tuesday Morning). The brand is Tea of Life, and although it was only $3.99 for 30 little packets, they have all been suprisingly tasty.

>268 gmathis: I wouldn't think to combine peppermint and orange. It is well balanced or more one flavor than the other?

>269 lesmel: Orange first, with a little mint uptick at the end of each sip. The ingredient list also mentions chai spices, but they aren't very noticeable.

I think I need a new tea in my cup. I have this monstrosity in a cup that's trying to be some manner of holiday thing. It actually has no tea in it thus far. Some kinda pre-made nog-cocoa-seasoned milk think. With a bit of flavoured Baileys. Done with it now.

>271 WeeTurtle: Bigelow Tea makes a good seasonal tea called Eggnogg'n that captures the flavor well; milk optional.

>272 gmathis: Well that sounds nifty! Not sure how easy Bigelow is to find here. I'll have to poke around.

In the mean time, I have Tim Horton's Orange Pekoe bag tea. It's a bit milder than Red Rose I think. I like it when I feel like something that isn't Red Rose but not one of my leaf teas either.