Tea...a beverage that puts the "steam" in Steampunk.

[Luella Dobson]

dammit, you guys, every time I see this thread... *scurries off to make some tea*

[neon_suntan]

Assam - is normally excellent all round "cuppa" but the best advice  ontea and the correct forms and usage of biscuits is here

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Other refreshing tea variants I really enjoy are:-

Jasmine - can be refreshing but in a more indefineable way as it seems to have some kind of Homeopathic process in that the less added the tastier it gets...

Chai - As served by the street-vendors of India and elsewhere is a heady brew of black tea, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper cardamom etc... Celestial Seasonings "Bengal Spice" version is very good indeed for anyone wants a kick with their tea especially as it's normally taken with milk and honey.

[Doctor Z-kun]

Hmm, I've never heard of people adding fresh mint to iced tea before, but it sounds good. Must be a regional issue.

My favourite is oolong. I do like most teas and herbal infusions that I've tried, though. I suppose regular ol' black tea is actually my least favourite (at least, the sad excuse for it that's most common around here). Rooibos, peppermint, and raspberry are some of my favourites other than oolong. I also kind of like one holiday blend called "gingerbread spice" quite a bit. It's got a lot of cinnamon, but the taste isn't quite as spicy as regular chai blends. I'm also partial to a dandelion/chamomile blend. It's got a sweetness to it that plain chamomile doesn't have.

Actually, I should learn how to make "tea" from scratch from dandelion leaves; we've got TONS in the yard, and they're organic as we haven't treated our lawn for anything in forever. Plus, I read in a magazine dedicated to small pets that dandelion is great for either the kidneys or liver in small animals; don't recall which organ exactly it's supposedly good for....

I do want to get more of a kind called "Peacock Blend" that they sell at the local Renaissance Festival, but the tea house doesn't have a web site and I lost their e-mail address! Pity; it's the best iced tea I've ever had, and with the summers as hell hot as they are where I live, iced beverages are nice....

I used to take up to three scoops of sugar per pint of tea, but I've cut back to a single packet for some blends and none for others. If I don't have sugar in the tea, I might have a sweet on the side. Also, I try to use raw sugar when I can. If I have a cold/sore throat, I'll use honey instead.

No milk or cream for me. I haven't really tried it, to be honest, but we tend to only buy milk when we need it for a recipe. Sometimes I am randomly a little lactose intolerant, and having to go over a year without it when I was little due to pneumonia pretty much got me to where I don't drink it much except for the occasional chocolate milk streak.
I've tried it in some weird eggnog tea blend, but apparently I didn't use enough or something because it still didn't taste like eggnog. Tasted okay, but not at all like eggnog.

I've only had the pleasure of trying two loose-leaf hot teas; jasmine and oolong. The jasmine gets quite strong quite quickly, unfortunately (I find that strong jasmine tea tastes exactly like earwax, but I like mild jasmine). The oolong was the best I've had. ^^

I've also had the pleasure of trying powdered green tea, in a tea ceremony setting. Now that tea is strong!
Now I pretty much only like green tea if it's an Asian import, rather than an Americanized release (something gets lost along the way). Except for the Lipton Green with Honey when I'm sick, and I add extra honey to it. Feels good....

I don't like the Twinnings bags of oolong tea. Compared to a box imported from Asia (well, at least to the two brands I've tried), they have half the flavour for twice the cost. It makes me wonder just how lousy the other Twinnings teas I have are compared to other brands of teas. Granted, I'm talking about Twinnings for the American market; I wouldn't be surprised if the UK Twinnings is better. Some stuff gets "Americanized" when it gets brought over, and thus usually is not as good as the original.

I have a little Japanese plushie of a guy holding a jar of green tea. He watches over my tea bag collection. I haven't seen Prince of Tennis and have no idea what his name is, nor do I care (it should be easy to look up), so I just call him my tea-boy, and more recently, "Oolong."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

He's the one with blue-grey hair:

I like dipping those fried wanton chips that Chinese restaurants give you in whatever they're serving (typically oolong or green; sometimes Jasmine or black).

That is a hilarious tale, and I have had the same problem finding a non-electric kettle. I finally bought one of eBay from a ship, which is very cool Smiley

They have eBay shaped tea kettles?!

Oh, I tried the Lipton rooibos/strawberry/passion fruit blend. It was the most disgusting tea I've ever tried. I like rooibos, I like strawberry "tea," and I do believe I've enjoyed chilled drinks that had passion fruit in them, but this blend was just awful!
But it's Lipton, no surprise there....

[Lilith-Nighthawk]

i need a cup of chai, its really yummy.

[Katlyntje]

I love Oolong, Assam, and, especially, Chai. I do like Jasmine to a lesser extent but I have to be in the right mood to drink something that smells like perfume. I always take my Chai with milk and sugar though recently I've taken to leaving out the sugar and adding a packet of hot cocoa mix (now before you get out the pitchforks and torches and screaming "sacrilege!" go and try it, it's really quite good). I also only buy my teas fron the Stash Tea company.

[neon_suntan]

Hmmm Chai with cocoa?

Full fat milk and organic honey normaly do the trick for me... but I can see where you're coming from. There's a company who make  powdered drink called Chai that's a lot thicker but has a lot more shicker and whey powder in it...

[Katlyntje]

Well, I was having a bit of a chocolate craving but I wanted the spicyness of Chai as well so I brewed up my favorite variety (Stash's Kashmiri Chai, has a touch of almond in it) and added the cocoa and milk. Instant bliss. Goes very well with chocolate chip or mollasses cookies 

[Captain Mitarwan]

For me, it has to be Twinings Earl Grey in my glass tea mug (preferably with some Jaffa Cakes, when I can scare them up here in BFE).

When it's iced tea, whatever the cheapest tea I can find. I used to put mint in mine when we had a yard lifting with it in Texas.

[Haizea]

PG Tips. No sugar, on the milky side.
...I'm fairly straightforward when it comes to tea, really. I did try flavoured teas (like apple, etc) but I found that a) you need quite a bit of sugar to make them taste good and b) I always seem to get stomachache afterwards. So I just stick with what works.

[The Kernel]

"PG Tips" is my favourite but has to be made strong and milky with soft (or filtred water).
"Yorkshire Tea" is the only type that tastes OK in a hard water area.
My method of brewing (mashing if you're from Yorkshire) has been incorrectly refered to as "Sergeant Major's Tea" but that has to be made with condenced milk and so strong it perminantly colours any utensil or container.
Of course the tea served to the good old British Squaddie is reffered to as "liquid universal brown" and looks or tastes identical whether it comes out of an urn labelled "TEA" or "COFFEE"

[Hester]

Drinking decaf green tea at the moment.

[Der Tinkermann]

When I was traveling in India I got kind of addicted to their Chai Masala...At home I usually drink my tea black(with sugar or honey).As for flavoured tea's:the only ones I like are mint tea(but made with fresh mint from my garden),or Rooibos.

[tea and dandelions]

i dont drink tea!

just kidding.

I dont have a favorite,I'm indecisive, LOL,but I do love a good ginger tea,or darjeeling black ,
and I do love chai tea.

here is a good tea video,more or less.

"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA

"

Tea anyone?

[Mlle A. Aurantia]

I prefer Lapsang Souchong, and I hope that I spelled that right. I adore the woodsmoke flavor, it reminds me of old campouts at the French/Indian War reenactments. I have also discovered that steamed soybeans have the same flavor, and therefore are good snacks.

[smithcrafter]

I'm a tea fanatic. I go through 8-10 cups a day. I love a good Darjeeling, Assam Orange Pekoe, Typhoo, Kenya-Marinyan, Blue Mountain Tiger Hilltop, .... basically any good quality, strongly flavored black tea. Occasionally I like a good oolong (cheap oolong tastes like dishwater...literally). No blended teas or spice teas, please. Just good old Camellia senensis for me. The only grocery store tea I really recommend (I'm in the central USA) would be Twinings brand. Their Irish Breakfast Tea and Ceylon Orange Pekoe are excellent, even in teabags, and even compared to specialty store loose teas. Any of their teas are pretty good, if you like that particular variety.

[Dr. Oliver Cross]

In my case, it depends entirely on what kind of tea I'm drinking how I drink it.  If I'm drinking clasical Victorian brick tea, (a supplier of which I can direct any of you fine folk to should you desire such), I find myself drinking more sweetener and milk than I do tea.  Doubly so should I find myself consuming a tisane, or what is more commonly known as herbal tea.  However, should I find myself drinking a classical Chinese tea, usually a pu'ehr of some variety or other, I drink it straight, and in the traditional manner.

[Xombiegrinn]

I drink tea pretty much as often as I drink water...Faves are Definitely Chai and Mango black tea made by trader joes...=p
And as for how I like it...ALWAYS with some sugar and cream, hot when its a bit cooler out and on ice when its a bit warmer. I lie lots of other teas to but I don't really want to list everything so I'll just stop now.

[Capt. Barley Wilkerson]

Salutations all...

I am new to this charming place, a place that smacks of home, and of the thoughts of minds so very like my own, and would like to introduce myself...

     My name is Captain Wilkerson... Barley Wilkerson, or Barley if you please. This is my first correspondence and i am saddened to say that it is not without small pain that i post here this evening... I have perused these many pages of conversation on the topic of Tea, and have not seen any mention of my most favored and esteemed supplier of the aforementioned libation... (I will not fret over the little brewing of loose tea here, but I am confounded by the majority of 'baggers!)
     Ahem! Well, to the point then, anyway... In this man's humble opinion, and in his experience as well, the finest teas I have tasted so far are several loose teas from Dragonwater. My staples are Earl Grey de la Creme, and Ti Quan Yin, which i often blend together for a very satisfying cup... Either of these teas are best brewed from water just at the start of a boil, and steeped for less than ten minutes... However, the second and third cups of Ti Quan Yin are by far the greater... A lovely Wu Long tea, the Iron Goddess of Mercy!
     Please, do well for yourselves and voyage to the nearest Victualer or Purveyor of Fine Goods and sample for yourselves some of the delectable flavours that are available!

     Thank you and Good Brewing!

               Capt. B. Wilkerson

P.S.
Visit here for more info... http://www.dragonwater.com/   

[Ms.Nelle]

My tea pot brews both ways.  It all depends on how lazy I am (my tea strainer a pain to clean) and what I have on hand. I will say I proudly enjoy Trader Joe's Mango Tea as it is rather tasty. My favorite tea is Paris and only comes in the silk triangle bags. I could cut it open and pour it into the strainer/filter thing to brew, but again I am lazy and don't really see the point. I also love loose tea too my favorites are Blue Lady and Gold Rush. 

Thank you Capt. Barley for the idea of mixing and blending teas. Thats sounds like a great way to play mad scientist in the kitchen. I think I shall go off to my lab to create a super tea with more caffine and antioxidents than humanly drinkable, or just maybe some Earl Grey and Paris.

[tea and dandelions]

I just remembered, Revolution tea had a good Lavender Earl Grey,thay also have a nice Sweet Ginger Peach Decaf tea that I like.
Snapple HAS A BOXED TEA Honey of an Apple Black Tea that I like iced, it has a nice floral taste.

A friend had the Trader Joe's mango tea iced and it was so nice.
I Love Tea.

would anyone care for tea?

[Inertia]

How pleasant, to find such a great number of fellow tea-fanciers!  Like many among you, I am a veritable maniac of tea, and drink it for most, if not all, of the day.  Must have tea first thing in the morning, when I go out walking before sunrise, and I generally have a mug of it by my side at work all day as well.  Though I like Japanese sencha very much, my favourite teas are black, and especially orange pekoe grown in Kenya.  I am also partial to autumnal darjeeling, and assam, and early in the day I find it hard to beat a really good Scottish breakfast blend.  I buy my tea, loose, at various tea shops; and there is a brand of tea sold in Newfoundland called "Purity" that I find really delicious.  I wish it were available all over the country... all over everyone's country, in fact.

<warning:rant:>  Which leads me to state that there is no restaurant in all of my nation (that I've come across, anyway) where they make black tea properly, ie. with water that has come to an actual rolling boil.  Tea brewed with relatively-warm water, or fairly-hot water, or really-it's-steaming-honest water, tastes like the bitter dregs of a manure-collector's least successful love-affair; and tea made by throwing a tea-bag and some cold water into a styrofoam cup and then heating it up in a microwave tastes like the end of civilization as we know it, with scum on top.  Boiling water, or nothing (unless it's sencha, in which case the water needs to have been boiled, and taken off the boil).  (Okay, I'll shut up now.  :-)     <end rant>

[Raydon]

I may well drink as much tea as water.  Definitely much more tea and water than anything else.  My tea cabinet is always a bit variable, but always stocked with one or more breakfast blends, one or more Earl Greys, some oolongs, lapsang souchong and an assortment of others.  I have some lovely Japanese sencha's that are just the ticket some evenings when I get home and out of the shower.

My primary supplier is Upton Tea, www.uptontea.com.  I can't say enough good about them.  Been getting my teas from them for many years now. 

To brew large amounts to get me through the morning at the office, I brew up large pots of breakfast blends in the coffee maker.  It works.  Its not ideal.  Ideal is for the Chatsford pot at home.  A friend is sending a lovely new terracotta pot my way too.  I'm saving a new selection of oolongs just for that pot.  I hope it gets here soon.  The urge to crack the tins open is growing daily. 

I do believe a large pot of Earl Grey will be in order to get through this afternoon. 

Happy tea sipping to all!!

[Bendacta Roberta Wilson]

Just a question, but has anyone ever drunk Assam tea? It was once described (points to whomever knows where this is from) as 'the upper-class version of a "cup of joe"'. I'd like to know if anyone concurs, disagrees, or just your general opinion on Assam tea.

[tea and dandelions]

Never tried Assam,but thay say its lovely.

[Raydon]

Just a question, but has anyone ever drunk Assam tea? It was once described (points to whomever knows where this is from) as 'the upper-class version of a "cup of joe"'. I'd like to know if anyone concurs, disagrees, or just your general opinion on Assam tea.

I could generally go along with that description.  But then, there is as much variation in Assam's as there is in coffee.  My favorite breakfast tea is Assam based and makes a nice robust cup for first thing in the morning.  But I also have Assam's that are great for a nice afternoon pick-me-up and can be dressed up how ever you like it, sugar, cream, etc...

Raydon