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

[Jemima Annabelle Clough]

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 adore Assam - it's full bodied, has malty flavours and is very invigorating. As it tends to go into mixes to give them some body, I'd say that's not too bad a description.

(And I know where the quote's from, but only cos I googled it, so won't say )

[Capt. Barley Wilkerson]

i could go either way with assam... if it's prepared right it can be very good, without being too "heavy" if you get my meaning...

does anyone else strongly dislike darjeeling? i've had some loose, with and without sugar, and still thought of sewage... had to dump it and make something else to get the taste out of my mouth! maybe it was just a bad batch, but wow, terrible...

now, with the dozen or so flavours of teas and herbals i currently have, i would recommend everyone try a loose lapsang souchong... tastes like a cup full of campfire, but in a good way... and if you can't get it loose, jackson's of piccadilly makes a good bag, too...

[Jemima Annabelle Clough]

does anyone else strongly dislike darjeeling? i've had some loose, with and without sugar, and still thought of sewage... had to dump it and make something else to get the taste out of my mouth! maybe it was just a bad batch, but wow, terrible...

I wouldn't say it's ever reminded me of sewage (not that I know what that tastes like, mind...), but I really don't like darjeeling either - it's too light, insubstantial and flowery for me.

[DandelionDream]

does anyone else strongly dislike darjeeling? i've had some loose, with and without sugar, and still thought of sewage... had to dump it and make something else to get the taste out of my mouth! maybe it was just a bad batch, but wow, terrible...

I love Darjeeling!
I had a bad batch before and it was terrible.

I need tea!

Dandelion

[Lady Penelope]

Plain old darjeeling is OK, but I don't think it's anything to write home about.  However, I like mine with a little bit of rosewater-flavored sugar, which plays up the "floweriness," but IMO in a good way.  I also like Earl Grey with Lavender quite a lot, although I like regular Earl Grey just as well.

I have discovered that I do not like Earl Gray with Splenda sweetener, though.  Give me sugar or honey any day, but for some odd reason the Splenda seemed to add as much bitterness as sweetness to my cup of tea.  Maybe it brought out some undertone of the bergamot flavor in a bad way?

[helios]

I enjoy a good cup of Pure Ceylon Tea. Nothing else will do, unless said something else is still Tea.

[Owen_Stagg]

When it comes to tea, I have a few favorites. My favorite hot tea is a traditional powdered green tea from Japan, but it is a touch expensive, and I don't have the money to replenish my stash at the moment. I also enjoy slightly steeped green tea (the Twinings Green is a passable substitute). I enjoy a good cup of black tea, as well, preferably any breakfast variety I can get my hands on.

Of course, being born and bred in the southern state of North Carolina, I am fairly sure that I could breathe sweet tea if I tried hard enough. That said, I do admit that the mere concept of drinking unsweetened iced tea is impalpable. Lemon is optional, and a little bit goes a VERY long way. In fact, my preferred method of adding lemon is simply dropping the slice in whole, and stirring very slightly with a straw.

[Capt. Barley Wilkerson]

splenda says right on the box, "cup for cup" but i think it is actually "sweeterer" than sugar... i always use too much if i use splenda and it always makes the tea taste "off" somehow... i only use it when i'm out of sugar...

does anyone have a night time tea? i would love to have a cup of tea before bed, but the caff would kill any hope of sleeping soundly... i also feel that having a decaf tea would be akin to sacrilege so that only leaves herbals... maybe i should try to acquire a taste for my egyptian chamomile? i bought it for the wife and she likes it...

[Flynn MacCallister]

Ugh, yes. Artificial sweeteners always have an unusual aftertase by themselves, and as a result, as commercial products they contain various flavour-masking agents. The only problem with that is that the flavour-masking agents efficacy and, of course, flavour is affected by the other flavours they are consumed with. I know exactly what you are talking about, having tried it out of curiosity once (I generally drink my tea unsweetened, but a bout of fascination with the chemistry of artificial sweeteners simply would not have resulted in a complete education without trying them for myself), and it really is quite... odd. Artificial sweetener in coffee is also not quite right, but it's nowhere near as wrong as for tea. This leads me to believe that the masking agents are optimised for use in coffee, and are not appropriate for tea at all. It is also possible that some form of reaction occurs with one of the multitude of flavour chemicals in the tea itself, leading to that, but I would be very surprised if this was the case.

Instead of Splenda, why not use honey, or even go without sweetener?




As for a non-caffeinated tea-like drink, I strongly recommend either lemongrass (dried lemongrass cut into half-inch lengths, either home-grown or purchased) or mint (even boiling water poured over a handful of fresh mint leaves is very pleasant).

[The Kernel]

does anyone have a night time tea? i would love to have a cup of tea before bed, but the caff would kill any hope of sleeping soundly... i also feel that having a decaf tea would be akin to sacrilege so that only leaves herbals... maybe i should try to acquire a taste for my egyptian chamomile? i bought it for the wife and she likes it...

I used to drink chamomile tea before bed as decaff tea tastes awful.
I've since changed to orange-juice (only bad for your teeth if you don't brush)
(Pimm's keeps me awake too for some reason, as does whisky - If its alcoholic I prefer sherry or red wine nowadays)

[deps]

I've since changed to orange-juice (only bad for your teeth if you don't brush)

Just remember to wait 20 minutes or more between the juice and the brushing, or you will damage them. The acid in the juice makes the enamel* softer.


_{* at least I think it's the enamel. Never heard the english word before. Had to look it up.}

[Flynn MacCallister]

I've since changed to orange-juice (only bad for your teeth if you don't brush)

Just remember to wait 20 minutes or more between the juice and the brushing, or you will damage them. The acid in the juice makes the enamel* softer.


_{* at least I think it's the enamel. Never heard the english word before. Had to look it up.}

(Enamel is the right word.)

[Dr. Munro]

I drink a glass of warm milk before bed

[helios]

I enjoy a cup of tea before bed. I do, however, make it rather milky. And as for sweetener, suger is best, I find. It sweetens best, without flavouring. Although, with certain herbal teas, honey is rather nice...

[Owen_Stagg]

I occasionally put honey in chamomile, but other than that, I generally don't sweeten my hot teas.

[Angus McCarthy]

Darjeeling. Multiple cups daily.

[teucer]

I like sweet iced tea.

But not the way crappy chain restaurants with dispensers full of Luzianne do it. You see, to be done properly it has to be colder than you normally want a coke or similar, which means lots of ice. That waters down the tea, so you have to brew it noticeably stronger than you intend to drink it. (In fact I brew mine at twice the strength I'm hoping to drink.) And since it's sweeter, the tea flavor needs to be more assertive - so the final strength that the melting ice dilutes it to has to be a little stronger than how you would brew hot tea. (But only a little, since it shouldn't be too sweet. I like the equivalent of three teaspoons of sugar to the cup.)

Personally I prefer teas with a bit of body to them. When making iced tea I blend cheap grocery-store orange pekoe of the kind usually sold to make iced tea (generally blended largely to minimize cloudiness when chilled) with an assam that doesn't have to much malty flavor or some other full-bodied Indian black tea.

Hot, I like a nice assertive assam or nilgiri. I take just a little bit of honey in my hot tea.

[orangealert]

Nerada, it's an Australian grown tea, harvested by a very large machine, supposedly making it one of the least touched teas in the world.

I drink it black, with a tiny about of milk so it's a dark rusty colour.

[Lazaras]

I generally go with store bought tea, mainly because the prices for specialty teas tend to boarder on the unreasonable. I take mine just warm enough to have vapor coming off of it, and strong, as i preffer a nice full bodied experience.

[MhicWombat]

I grew up in a tea-drinking family, due to my grandfather (a refugee from North Uist...).

My favourite basic tea is probably keemun.  Black.  No sweetener. 

I like a lot of other teas (Pinhead Gunpowder, Lapsong Souchang, Sencha, "Scottish Breakfast", "English Breakfast", the rare Earl Grey), but I rarely order it when I am out for a meal (or a coffee break).  The reason?  Almost no one makes it to my tastes -- the water is rarely up to boiling, so why bother?  I keep a tin of tea on my office desk, along with an infuser (as I almost always use loose leaf tea) and ceramic mug.  I usually confuse my fellow workers when I first come into an office with this paraphernalia, but after a while I become the Office Eccentric and make converts away from coffee to tea. 

Hmm, I think it is time for a cuppa...

[Capt. Barley Wilkerson]

same here with the tea tin and infuser... my coworkers are slovenly pigs with the grace of a dumpster and as much culture as a dead rat, so i am way out there in their minds! and it's nice to see so much variety in your taste and collection, and it's VERY nice to see another anti-bagger...

[Jemima Annabelle Clough]

My team consists of 4 people, three of whom (myself included) all have various tea making paraphanalia on or in our desks (infusers, teapots and so on). Admittedly this is the first place I've worked where that is the case.

[Flynn MacCallister]

Yes, but the difference is that you are from the UK. >_o

[The Kernel]

Are we so different?

Well yes probably

I used to have a coffee/tea brewing device on my desk as well but "Elf'n'Safety" suggested it go!
(after they re-classified my office as a "clinical area"  )

[Flynn MacCallister]

Why on earth is your office a clinical area?