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

[Aetheria]

Don't you find that each tea company's "orange pekoe" tastes different?

[hatchleader]

its a standard commonorgarden brand of normal tea bags

As a commonorgarden fella its my tipple of choice!

and rich tea biscuits for dunking, just have to be quick about it!

[Benzworth]

Sweet tea, mostly, when I drink it.  Born and raised south of the Mason-Dixon line, so it's to be expected, I guess.

[OswaldBastable]

its a standard commonorgarden brand of normal tea bags

As a commonorgarden fella its my tipple of choice!

and rich tea biscuits for dunking, just have to be quick about it!

nothing wrong with the chimp tea at all; rich tea biscuits are for building reflexes as you have a dunking window of 8/10ths of a second before they fall into your cup and start doing the backstroke

[Dr. makebot]

Scottish short bread is the biscit to dunk, as it absorbs just the right amount of moisture.
as for tea. one spoon of Assam, one of Darjeeling, a splash of milk and one cube of sugar.

[captain_minosa]

Scottish short bread is the biscit to dunk, as it absorbs just the right amount of moisture.
as for tea. one spoon of Assam, one of Darjeeling, a splash of milk and one cube of sugar.

Yes, I love a bit of Scottish Short bread when I can find it out here.

[Miss Emilly Ladybird]

I am totally addicted to Rose Pouchong, however very few places sell it -sigh. Maybe I should start importing it myself by the chestful....

[waif]

I found some tea bags in silk pouches. I could not believe how decadent it was.... the tea did taste amazing though!!

[OswaldBastable]

silk pouches! who makes these decadent items?

[Frozen_Gear]

I drink ridiculous amounts of goji berry green tea

[Mr. Ethan Grammatikidis]

 Definitely Earl Grey. I also have developed a taste for Lapsang Souchong by Twinings.

Twinings Lapsang Souchong is excellent stuff, I used to drink it whenever I wasn't drinking the livelier Chai from the same company. I like Chai as a breakfast tea and for cheering myself up. The smokey flavour of Lapsang Souchong is more conducive to serious thinking sessions.

Unfortunately I seem to do better overall with a very low intake of caffeine - 1 or 2 cups a day - and I usually need those one or two cups whenever my mother drags me out to coffee shops to amuse herself, so I don't get to enjoy the teas of my choice very often.

Speaking of tea bags, I let them stand for a minute or so and then agitate the bag with the spoon to make sure I've got the best flavour. am I the only one to do this? I am nearly always complemented on the quality of the tea when I make it like this.

[josiahrob]

I thought I may find such a thread, a most excellent idea and one that I feel compelled to contribute my personal tea drinking habits.

I drink mainly black teas (but with milk), these include:
Clipper Fairtrade Every Day Tea (A most excellent blend for when you do not wish extra flavor to the tea)
Clipper Fairtrade Earl Grey (I believe it to have a slightly stronger bergamot taste than twinings earl grey)
Twinings Chi Tea (probably the tea I drink the most however I have some Equal Exchange fairtrade tea to try once this box is done with)
Qi Fairtraid Golden Vanilla Tea
Yorkshire Gold

I also drink Dragonfly Fairtrade Rooibos and Dragonfly Rooibos Chai. Which are great for late in the evening or wishing for a different tasting tea.

I have also tried clipper green tea and clipper white tea (for those of you who are wandering white tea is not black tea with milk but rather tea made from young leaves and unopened buds from a tea plant)

As you can see many of the teas I drink are fairtrade, this helps in the prevention of slavery and ensures a fair wage for the workers on tea plantations. I encourage you to follow suite and do the same.

[josiahrob]

Speaking of tea bags, I let them stand for a minute or so and then agitate the bag with the spoon to make sure I've got the best flavour. am I the only one to do this? I am nearly always complemented on the quality of the tea when I make it like this.

I often do this, however if I leave the bag in too long I remove it without agitation to try and prevent making the tea over strong.

[Arceye]

Coffee at home, Assam down the workshop, in a mug that has not been really clean for many years.

[steamtastic]

Just changed my picture to a GIF of myself drinking tea!!! Thought it’s worth mentioning on the tea thread...

[OswaldBastable]

you look very thirsty

[Mr Quartermaine]

I can never go past a cup of billy tea its an Australian brand. A good strong cup of that in the morning does wonders. Best tea by far though has to be billy tea boiled in a billy can over a camp fire.

[dragonfyredawn]

I am not too particular about the type of tea I drink.  In fact, I am prone to going "ooh, I haven't seen that one before!  I have to try it!" and thus have a rather large collection...  I've only found a couple brands that I don't care for at all.  Regardless of the tea, if I'm drinking it hot I like to sweeten it with a bit of honey, though. 

[Heliomance]

I've recently discovered chai, and I'm very fond of it. Defenitely the best tea I've had.

[Galina]

I tasted my first chai in a yurt at the Newcastle Green Festival in 2006. It was being cooked up in an ever-simmering pan over a stove in the back of the tent and was heavenly. No doubt the music and incense helped matters.

I've never quite succeeded in making it properly though. The best result was actually from forgetting about the pan for 10 mins, at which point I came back to find boiling milk everywhere, and underneath the rolling bubbles, a passably good chai remained. Well, half-a-mugful.

I do have a chai rack though A selection of corked glass bottles containing peppercorns, black tea, cloves and cardamom pods. And a couple of cinnamon sticks. The rack has been far more successful than my attempts at chai have ever been.

Edited for spelling.

[josiahrob]

I tasted my first chai in a yurt at the Newcastle Green Festival in 2006. It was being cooked up in an ever-simmering pan over a stove in the back of the tent and was heavenly. No doubt the music and incense helped matters.

I've never quite succeeded in making it properly though. The best result was actually from forgetting about the pan for 10 mins, at which point I came back to find boiling milk everywhere, and underneath the rolling bubbles, a passably good chai remained. Well, half-a-mugful.

I do have a chai rack though A selection of corked glass bottles containing peppercorns, black tea, cloves and cardamom pods. And a couple of cinnamon sticks. The rack has been far more successful than my attempts at chai have ever been.

Edited for spelling.

No idea what the chai you tried at Newcastle Green Festival, however it may be worth trying chai tea bags, alternatively if it was very milky (which the bit about boiling milk implys it was) you can get a syrup and add it to steamed milk.

[Mrs Van Horne]

consuming rather too much rooibos at the moment - have a bit of an addiction going!

[kurohone]

One of the troubles with living on the Frontier is that truly good tea is hard to come by.  The North-West Company evidently does not find it worth their profit ledger to import anything more than the most common varieties of Orange Pekoe.

The kindness of relatives has, however, procured me some Wu-Yi tea from Manchuria, which, while somewhat weak in flavour compared to the teas I drank during my time in that hemisphere, at least offers a break from the monotony that is Red Rose...

[Oniichan]

I'm terribly fond of Teavana's teas, and lately their mate vana has been one of my absolute favorites.  The smell alone is enough to cheer me up.  I also really like their rooibos chai...

When I go for teabags, I generally pick Tazo - they have one, I think it's the Zen, that's green tea with hints of spearmint, and it's wonderful. 

Oftentimes in winter my tea consumption will go through the roof, and I have 5-6 cups of peppermint tea a day, with some honey in.  (and yes, 5-6 cups/day is a lot of tea for me!)

 

[Captain Quinlin Hopkins]

Actually haven't had tea in quite some time.  I had a bit of a disagreement with a chap named Noah.  We felt differently about what I might bring aboard his boat.  Unfortunately there was a bit of rain and I could not linger to add more to my points.  I've not yet taken the time to replace my teaware.  

I had and infuser similar to this one which I miss dearly

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Tea from bags does not have the proper flavor.  I believe something to do with the material trapping some of the essential oils from the leaves.  It'll do in a pinch, but I can definitely taste the difference.  

I prefer Earl Grey or Darjeeling, with a dash of honey when something sweeter is desired.  I'll add a bit of lavender if I have some growing wherever I might be from time to time.  

Thanks for this thread.  I'd forgotten how much I enjoy a proper tea.