What is a nice tea to drink?

[Doodski]

Most other teas become bitter with boiling water and you are getting no where near the best taste.

Yes, I noticed this. I tasted the brew a mate made and it was light, delicious, required no sugar and left a great palate on ones taste buds. He said he has experimented with brewing tea and found the best way for the I think it was earl gray tea that he was making and that included a short brewing time and a lower temp. I agree he found the best.

 

[Doodski]

I will microwave during the day as I want more tea.

It has been proven that microwaves damage the flavor oils in brewed coffee. I can't say I've seen oil floating on my tea like I have with coffee but microwaves may damage the tea too. Some foods taste different when nuked as compared to stovetop or oven cooking. I suppose not over heating the tea is a important thing but some microwave ovens have hot spots.

 

[Ken1951]

I drink nothing hot. Period. My far better half drinks tea daily and rotates through English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey, and Constant Comment. And never with anything added. No sweetener or milk - ever. We both drink iced tea almost every day - I know it's likely anathema to many folks - we brew it with one black tea , one Constant Comment, and one Lemon Zinger. Served with lots of ice, with lemon & lime. And, much to the dismay of many around our area, we also use no sweetener in our iced tea!

 

[audio2design]

It has been proven that microwaves damage the flavor oils in brewed coffee. I can't say I've seen oil floating on my tea like I have with coffee but microwaves may damage the tea too. Some foods taste different when nuked as compared to stovetop or oven cooking. I suppose not over heating the tea is a important thing but some microwave ovens have hot spots.

You will find oils on the top of tea too, but remember, you are not boiling it initially and not raising it to that temperature during heating except for black tea which I don't do this with. Water at elevated temps naturally diffuses.

 

[JeffS7444]

Of course "best" is totally subjective in the world of tea and in Chinese teas in particular cover an amazing range of flavors! From thick earthy umami funk of puehr, to black and oolong teas with distinct ripe-pineapple or muscat notes, and even ones with a hint of cool menthol. But I think the more extraordinary flavors are luck of the draw, maybe just the right happenstance of growing conditions and processing. I haven't particularly liked every pricey tea that I've tried, but the more extraordinary ones have tended to be not-cheap.

Most bagged tea, on the other hand, is a blend of commodity-grade teas, and the goal there is to provide a consistent flavor from batch to batch. So if I buy another box of PG Tips Gold a year from now, I can reasonably expect that it will taste very much the same as the one I just finished. Rather than whole leaves, you're more likely to find cut-tear-curl processed tea designed to release maximum flavor quickly. Whereas with loose leaf teas, you might get several steepings, and the first is not necessarily the best.

 

[Doodski]

Whereas with loose leaf teas, you might get several steepings, and the first is not necessarily the best.

Yes, I read that in a previous post. That helps with stomaching the purchase of the $20+/50g fancy tea stuff.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yes, I read that in a previous post. That helps with stomaching the purchase of the $20+/50g fancy tea stuff.

At those prices, tea in the parlance of the Beatles is really cheaper than tea.

 

[Midwest Blade]

Twinning's tea is what we normally buy in several flavors:
Irish Breakfast, Lady Grey, English Afternoon, Prince of Wales and Chai as well as Peppermint and Lemon Ginger herbal. We drink tea in the morning, aftenoon and usually after dinner. I usually always take it with milk, wife is always without, we do not use sugar or sweetener.
Usually have a shot of espresso mid morning and after lunch. Cut down my coffee a few years ago.
We did a run with Turkish tea after visiting Istanbul about 6 years ago, we bought a kettle/tea pot as well as the tea glasses but eventually drifted back to good old English tea.

 

[hex168]

I recommend Marks and Spencer Kenyan black tea. Since I had to give up caffeine I miss it as much as Ethiopian Harrar coffee.

Recommendations for a good decaf tea or coffee accepted gratefully.

 

[Doodski]

Recommendations for a good decaf tea or coffee accepted gratefully.

Hazelnut cream coffee is nice. I also enjoy Starbuck's dark roast in a vente size. It is a major kick of caffeine so it might not be your thing.

 

[Raindog123]

Twinings Earl Grey. Again.

 

[JaccoW]

I'm a big fan of loose leaf tea and especially oolong tea. Dong Ding, Milky Oolong or Tie guan yin are always in my house. Ya Bao Silver Buds is another tasty tea that many won't have tried.

Just find a good tea place and order a sampler to see what you like. Or check out /r/Tea

I usually order from one of these places but many of them are located in France or other parts of Europe.

• Palais des thés
• Mariage Frères
• Dammann Frères

 

[JeffS7444]

Alas, most of mine are empty containers:

But not all of them:

 

[mhardy6647]

my favorite tea pushers purveyors, FWIW.

Upton Tea Imports | Online Loose Leaf Tea Shop

Buy loose leaf tea from around the world at Upton Tea Imports. Over 400 high-quality loose leaf teas at great prices with exceptional service since 1989.

www.uptontea.com

FWIW, I like Assams and some Chinese black teas, as well as black teas from Ceylon and British, Scottish, and Irish-style
breakfast tea blends. These are all more or less potent; way less nuance than a first flush Darjeeling. I like to drink black tea with milk and Demerara sugar, though, so the more subtle teas are sort of out-of-scope.
That said, I also like the more oxidized oolongs (although Mrs. H does not) and some flavored teas.

The spectrum of fine white, yellow, green, oolong, and black teas is immense.
My advice (FWIW): Get a small Chatsworth-style teapot (or a single-cup tea infuser) and try some sample packets from Upton.

 

[Raindog123]

What do you guys think about nice hibiscus tea?

 

[Phorize]

I drink nothing hot. Period. My far better half drinks tea daily and rotates through English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast, Earl Grey, and Constant Comment. And never with anything added. No sweetener or milk - ever. We both drink iced tea almost every day - I know it's likely anathema to many folks - we brew it with one black tea , one Constant Comment, and one Lemon Zinger. Served with lots of ice, with lemon & lime. And, much to the dismay of many around our area, we also use no sweetener in our iced tea!

Irish breakfast tea sounds interesting. I’m inclined to try it against an English breakfast tea which I drink often. As with beer styles such as Porter/stout some tea blend definitions seem very loose, although Assam seems to feature highly in many Irish breakfast teas.

 

[thefsb]

We drink Kenilworth Estate OP which is from Sri Lanka. We get it from Upton Tea, which is where the Boston Marathon comes from. We brew it fairly weak and for only 2 minutes since we have it without milk. In the summer I sometimes brew with room temperature water for about 24 hours and then chill it.

I've had some very good tea from Nilgiri, which is in India. I'm not so keen on tea from China.

For an uncaffeinated hot drink we sometimes brew South-African red bush. It's the basis for a lot of flavored blends but we like it plain.

Earl Grey should have been locked up before his horrible yucky idea got out.

 

[thefsb]

Irish breakfast tea sounds interesting. I’m inclined to try it against an English breakfast tea which I drink often. As with beer styles such as Porter/stout some tea blend definitions seem very lose, although Assam seems to feature highly in many Irish breakfast teas.

As with beer, the most important identifying feature with those imperial breakfast blends is the brand, not the region it comes from. Tea from Assam and Sri Lanka are the most common in them. I can't tell the difference between English and Irish breakfast tea. They are all pretty rough and need plenty of milk.

 

[thefsb]

This is proper tea:

Tea bags?

 

[Pretorious]

For a different kind of tea go with Lapsang Souchong. The leaves are cured over a pinewood fire and so the tea has a campfire taste. It's very comforting after the acclimation period.

Related is Russian Caravan tea, which is the above blended with some black teas. This results in a smoother taste imparted to the smokiness. Very good; very interesting. This is the one I am drinking now and can recommend it: Simple Loose Leaf Russian Caravan

Along the lines of other English style teas give Scottish Breakfast a try. Taylor's Scottish Breakfast is undoubtedly one of my favorites. Good and strong; malty and flavorful. Can't go wrong for a mass-produced tea.