Tea

[cuppajoe_9]

The most highly underrated of all the hot caffinated beverages (in North-America, anyway). Discuss.

[AimusSage]

Earl Grey :D

[Scheherazade]

I love tea but properly brewed tea... Not the usual, dunk-a-tea-bag-in-a-cup-full-of-hot-water type tea. It has to be made in a tea pot, wait long enough to obtain the perfect colour and aroma...

*raises her cup*

"To life, to life, Le Chaim..."

[Idril]

... Not the usual, dunk-a-tea-bag-in-a-cup-full-of-hot-water type tea.

I've never had it any other way. :lol: :lol: I must really be missing out on something. :p

I never cared for tea until I moved to Boston and I couldn't take the coffee there, it was waaaaayyyy to strong so I started drinking tea and discovered how much I loved it. My favorite it licorice! :thumbs_up

[Logos]

I grew up on tea. It was always a very special thing to go to my grandmother's house for a typical English high tea with lots of her baked scones and pastries, clotted cream, cucumber sandwiches, the works. Now I only have tea a few times a month, just can't seem to get away from the caffeine demon coffee.. :lol:

[ShoutGrace]

I like the taste of coffee much more than tea. Coffee is heavenly . . . . :D

As far as tea goes, sweet tea is my favourite (Yes, it is a tea, it must be if it has 'tea' in the title). :D

[Logos]

I love tea but properly brewed tea... Not the usual, dunk-a-tea-bag-in-a-cup-full-of-hot-water type tea. It has to be made in a tea pot, wait long enough to obtain the perfect colour and aroma...

*raises her cup*

"To life, to life, Le Chaim..."
Oh and you must 'hot the pot' as my grandmother said! else it is too cold and doesn't taste the same. She had the biggest collection of trivots and tea cosies haha. I don't have a teapot so I'm one of 'those' who just let the bag steep in the mug, tsk tsk!
There is a huge selection of fair-trade tea at our market, I will look more closely next time I go.

[Logos]

I agree though that tea is underrated, that the more likely default is coffee in North America, probably because of Tim Horton's and Starbucks et al. :sick:

[Virgil]

I agree though that tea is underrated, that the more likely default is coffee in North America, probably because of Tim Horton's and Starbucks et al. :sick:

It was the default even prior to these coffee stores becoming popular. It 's really big in South America. Even continental Europe (at least from my impression) chooses coffee over tea. I know for certain in Italy. I think tea is most popular in Asia and the British Isles.

[Scheherazade]

Oh and you must 'hot the pot' as my grandmother said! else it is too cold and doesn't taste the same. Yes, yes, yes! The water needs to be freshly boiled and the pot (and the cup later on) warmed by a little hot water before brewing.
She had the biggest collection of trivots and tea cosies haha. I don't keep tea cosies (yet) but I am sure I will get there too!

Idril> You should give 'brewed' tea a try! It is divine.

And I don't add any milk/cream to my tea either. It is a shame to ruin, in my opinion, this lovely colour:

http://www.red-tea-rooibos.com/images/Tea-Glass.gif

[cuppajoe_9]

I don't have a teapot either. I currently use the 'loose-tea-in-a-six-dollar-tea-ball-method'.

[Shannanigan]

Tea:

My mother used to begin each morning with her toast and tea, and seeing as I didn't spend many mornings with my father, I grew up with the idea that tea and toast was what you ate when you graduated from Fruit Loops and Honey Nut Cheerios...

I remember my mother recieving a gift once of many assorted flavors of tea. She really only liked Lipton, but one day I was curious and was smelling the different packages in the box of assorted flavored teas and I found to my delight that there was an "Orange" tea. Well, orange was my favorite color and my favorite fruit, so I decided that I HAD to try this orange tea.

There were 5 orange tea bags...I finished them in 4 days.

My mother, always wanting to please me in what little ways she could with her limited budget, picked me up a whole pack of orange tea bags the next shopping trip. I drank orange tea for a good long time into my teen years...

When we moved to the Caribbean, it was waaaayyy too hot for hot beverages, and I rarely drank tea at all except for a few comforting cups of my mother's Lipton on sad afternoons....

Earlier this year, I was in a English Society conference in Portland. There was a bar next to the lobby of the hotel, and after a meeting, my classmate and I decided to hit the bar...her for coffee, and me, well, I was freezing as well, so I ordered my tea. They had Earl Grey, no orange, so I took the Earl Grey.

Now, this being a nice bar, they gave you everything you could want with tea: cream, milk, sugar, a lemon slice...I usually just took milk and sugar in mine, but I wondered if the lemon might give it that citrus taste I'd be missing from my orange tea...so in weny my sugar, milk, and a squeeze of lemon...

HUGE mistake. If you haven't tried it, do it at home, not at a nice bar in a Hilton hotel! I tried my best to hide the mess, but it was obvious that I wasn't drinking my tea...I just kind of pushed it aside and sighed for a while, lol...

Since then, I only have tea when I visit my mother and she's already made a cup of Lipton, with sugar and milk, for me :)

[cuppajoe_9]

Dude, it's a slice of lemon or milk and sugar for Earl Grey tea. It's really good with lemon, actually.

[Shalot]

I love iced tea with lemon.

As far as hot tea I like most of it, especially with orange and lemon added. But milk in my tea is never something I wanted to try. My husband had some chai tea prepared with steamed milk and he liked that, but I like milk in coffee only.

Lemons are for tea and milk is for coffee and that is that (for me).

And I don't do tea in the morning -- it has the tendancy to make me nauseated first thing in the morning and it doesn't matter if it's hot or cold. It always makes me nauseated.

[kathycf]

Chai tea and Thai tea are my two favorites but I also like Earl Grey and English Breakfast. Milk in all of them except the Thai tea and absolutely no sugar. And of course brewing it in the proper way...


...I usually just took milk and sugar in mine, but I wondered if the lemon might give it that citrus taste I'd be missing from my orange tea...so in weny my sugar, milk, and a squeeze of lemon...

HUGE mistake.

Nice cup of curdled tea, eh? ;)

[grace86]

Well haha I live in the states so shame on us for Starbucks (yuck yuck!)

I do love my tea, unfortunately it is the steeping of a bag in a mug! I like chamomile, chai, green tea, black tea and earl gray.

Hmm, never really thought about having true english tea and the such, that would be really nice.

[Pensive]

I am in debt to Tea as it has helped me quite a lot in my exams days. Whenever I drank tea, sleep hardly over-came me and I could study and be fresh. But then, I left drinking it, because I started having sleep problems.

[Madhuri]

Chai, is what we call tea in India. It is my favourite beverage, and I prepare it with water, tea leaves, milk and sugar, and during winters I also put some ginger in it, it tastes very well. I prefer it strong. I can have tea many times in a day, never liked tea made using tea bags.

I have many a times used it as a medication for treating common cold, again using some water, tea leaves, ginger, and tulsi leaves, make it a strong drink, and it helps a lot.

[thevintagepiper]

I grew up with tea, as I lived in Jordan for several years. Whenever we'd visit people they would serve strong tea with sugar. It had a flavor that I can't find here...maybe it was a local sort of leaf or something. They also put saffron in it sometimes.

Now I'm a coffee person :D I plan to work at Starbucks as soon as I'm old enough!!

[Petrarch's Love]

I'm a tea drinker like my mother and her mother before her and probably all the mothers before that. I have a cuppa most mornings when the weather's not too warm. I really like Earl Grey, but this morning I'm on to my second cup of a lovely Darjeeling. :)

[Koa]

I'm not too fond of tea, because I prefer cold drinks in general - I even drink my milk straight from the fridge... :S
Sometimes I feel like having tea when I'm cold - I used to drink a lot of it when I was living in Hungary, in the winter, and also when we went at bars because I dont drink coffee despite being Italian, and hot chocolate every night was too sweet and too expensive.

I prefer those with flavours, especially red fruits or mint...mmm mint...

I have a Chinese flatmate now and she offered me some Chinese tea, I must say I've enjoyed it :)

[Nightshade]

Well I get through nearly 2 litres of tea a day...whenIm working:nod:
Earl grey,lady grey, organic fair trade
breakfast
green
black- with lemon
milky
with suguar
hot/cold
tea is just great :nod:

[Dry_Snail]

TEA ..

:yawnb:

:as-sleep:

[Madhuri]

My brother once had Irani chai, and said it was very good. I dont know how is it prepared?

[Pensive]

Has anybody ever tried Kahsmiri Pink Tea? I love it man! But sadly, it's hardly available and it's difficult to make.

[subterranean]

Jasmine green tea is my one and only cup of tea (not the extracted one!). I have it in the morning, before lunch, two hours after lunch, and in the evening before bed. In between those times, I have coffee as my love :).

[Pensive]

Jasmine green tea is my one and only cup of tea (not the extracted one!). I have it in the morning, before lunch, two hours after lunch, and in the evening before bed. In between those times, I have coffee as my love :).
It is called Jasmine Green Tea over here. I had it a few minutes ago. I like it a lot, as well. :)

[Nightshade]

sub that is a LOT of caffine :goof:

[cuppajoe_9]

Interesting fact gleaned from my (otherwise useless) morning newspaper: tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world behind water.

In other news: I have just purchased a new bag of Irish Breakfast and am developing a minor substance abuse problem.

[cuppajoe_9]

Now I'm a coffee person :D I plan to work at Starbucks as soon as I'm old enough!!

Do not, I repeat, do not work at Starbucks. Try for a job at a local coffee joint instead. Starbucks roasts their coffee in such a way that it tastes worse but is more addictive. A quality local coffee shop will teach you how to make a much tastier cappuccino than Starbucks will. The prevailing opinion in the world of serious coffee connoisseurs (it's a jittery world) is that the guys in Fight Club had the right idea.

I, personally, am stauchly opposed to cappuccinos on the grounds (that was not a play on words) that they are too sweet. In fact, they taste like coffee with all the coffee removed.

[Nightshade]

I, personally, am stauchly opposed to cappuccinos on the grounds (that was not a play on words) that they are too sweet. In fact, they taste like coffee with all the coffee removed.
:p
They do not! I hate coffe And I tell you cappuccinos still taste and smell of the vile stuff!:nod:

[Pendragon]

I love tea, Earl Grey, English Breakfast Tea, Darjeeling, Sassafras, Green Tea, and Ginger are some favorites. I will drink almost any tea except chamomile. It made me very ill.

I soured on coffee because one winter day during a deer hunt, my wife's cousin and I went to his mother's house to warm up, as it was a blizzard. She brought my cup of coffee and I will swear that it was black as paint and as thick as used motor oil. I am never rude, so I drank the stuff. She asked how it was, and I managed to croak out "Just fine!" But I'm not too fond of coffee since! :lol:

[cuppajoe_9]

I once drank coffee brewed by an on-call doctor and was jittery for 6 hours afterwords. That which doesn't kill us...

[kathycf]

Today, I brewed up pot of tea old school style.
A.) I set the water on to boil on the stove.
B.) I put some warm water in the teapot and nuked it for 90 seconds on high in the microwave to warm up the pot.

C.) After emptying the icky microwave water I put in the appropriate amount of tea and poured the now boiling water over.
D.) I let the tea steep for 3.5 minutes, and then removed it from the pot.
E.) I covered the pot with an old towel (in lieu of my teacozy which I could not find...;) )

One hour later and I am still enjoying a nice, fresh hot cup of tea. :thumbs_up

[AimusSage]

I think tea is wonderful if you get a free bottle of beer with it :D

[kathycf]

What about a fresh baked batch of turnip cookies? Mmmmmm.:p

[Pendragon]

Make that zucchini bread, and I'm in! :)

[subterranean]

Interesting fact gleaned from my (otherwise useless) morning newspaper: tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world behind water.


That's a good news. Not sure what would happen if coffee comes first (a truly caffeinated world, perhaps?)

[Bookworm89]

Ugh, I hate hot tea (and coffee)! Iced sweet tea is great though.

[Madhuri]

Although, I drink tea a lot, but I do like Iced Coffee.........never had Iced tea...

[Serenata]

My family drinks iced black tea all year. I make a gallon of it every other day. I prefer hot tea, though. I have this tea that has chammomile, peppermint, and valerian in it. I love it. Green tea with mint is great.
I love iced coffees. But the strange thing is that the caffeine in coffee and tea doesn't affect me at all. I can drink several cups of either and still fall asleep.

[mir]

i don't like iced tea. but i LOVE regular tea - i think it's called black; the basic brown stuff anyways. :D no green tea. but regular tea is the best thing in the world.

especially with chocolate! :D

[SummerSolstice]

As far as hot drinks go, I'm usually a hot chocolate junkie... hot chocolate with a big glop of peanut butter melted in, and whipped cream on top drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with peanut butter chips. If you don't do it right, it's not worth doin' at all. :D

First love, though, is tea. Can't stand coffee--not the taste, not the smell. The latter surprises people often, but I really don't like the smell! There's a coffee shop in the lobby of the university library and it stinks up the whole place. :sick:

I like earl gray fine, and I've got a box of this great strawberry-vanilla stuff, but it needs a good spoonful of sugar to bring out the strawberry taste. ^_^ Peppermint, though... ahhh, peppermint tea. Yeah, I know it's not "real", tea-leaf tea, but it's still... oooh. It's got a place in my twenty-years-from-now daydream about being a writer and waking up early on a cold morning to go to my writing studio and nurse a cup of peppermint tea, an old dog keeping my feet warm, while I write on my latest novel... *sighs* I do use tea bags, but I'm not a double-dipper--I make my tea so strong you can't get more than dirty looking water out of the bag the second time around!

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." ~C.S. Lewis

[Homyrrh]

With at least a somewhat multicultural influence present on the forum, I must ask, especially of our friends east across the Pond, what brands/types of tea you'd recommend?

I'm trying to go with something a bit healthier than coffee for going back to the office after lunch; get past that midday fatigue, eh? I've tried Bromley and Tetley, and they're both alright, but I like a really strong, black tea with a good, distinct flavor.

When I was at boarding school, we'd eat breakfast in the lodge every morning with a small cup of cheap, "Pocahontas"-brand Orange pekote (pekoe?) tea, which seemed to have potential...if it were three times stronger and more flavorful.

Earl Grey? Pekoe? Suggestions? Thanks.

[aabbcc]

Personally I like Irish Breakfast to cure that fatigue of the midst of the day. As I loose leaf rather than tea bags, I usually make it with double-triple of what they recommend as a dose (I also like black tea strong :D), without anything added (no milk, sugar, etc) - and it works wonders for me. Sometimes I also take Earl Gray (in tea bags), but it does not have that of an effect - Earl Gray is something I rather consume for joy, whilst Irish Breakfast is for "kick". :)

[Homyrrh]

Personally I like Irish Breakfast to cure that fatigue of the midst of the day. As I loose leaf rather than tea bags, I usually make it with double-triple of what they recommend as a dose (I also like black tea strong :D), without anything added (no milk, sugar, etc) - and it works wonders for me. Sometimes I also take Earl Gray (in tea bags), but it does not have that of an effect - Earl Gray is something I rather consume for joy, whilst Irish Breakfast is for "kick". :)

Any brand preference?

[livelaughlove]

I love coffee and tea; iced and hot. So delicious. As far as coffee goes, I like it pretty strong (it has to have a coffee flavor after all) but I have to have cream and sugar or else it's a no go.

My favorite cold coffee blend is mocha, otherwise I just like regular hot coffee (my mom prefers the flavored creamers... I think it's called International Cafe and I don't mind a little but usually prefer coffee without it). As far as tea... I used to only like iced tea and it is still a staple in my diet... but ever since I spent a month in Oxford this past summer, I have been into hot tea too - especially English Breakfast since they served it every morning with breakfast. It is yummy and I even brought some back with me.

Here's a question - do you prefer tea/coffee in the morning or at night? My mom usually has to have a cup of coffee in the morning. But I've tried and I just cannot find the taste for it in the mornings. However, in the evenings after a nice shower and pajamas, that is when I drink it the most. Caffeine has never had an effect on me so I don't have to worry about that part - I find hot tea is very calming, and soothing, and always makes me feel warm and snuggly. :)

[tractatus]

Tea is traditional in my country, a good middle east tea, of course 'brewed' is unique. Also it is a must in breakfasts.
I like coffee too, but a good tea is better than a good coffee. Personally.

I put a literary citation about Tea, Coffee and Mate (kind of Paraguay tea?) here:
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showpost.php?p=537089&postcount=4

[aabbcc]

Any brand preference?

Not really 'preference', though there are some I consume more often than others - Twinnings (the Irish Breakfast I mentioned is theirs) and Ahmad of London (I love their English Afternoon); my parents, however, being tea connoisseurs, often get tea by some obscure I-have-never-heard-of brands, or directly by people who produce it (I have a huge collection of tea and tisanes given to us by somebody whose family is into producing it), even by other brands which one would not really classify as 'classy'. I have literally bits of everything. :D

I am personally not into brands much, but I do have one preference - that towards loose leaf rather than teabags. Though I drink those too.

[TheFifthElement]

P G Tips, or Yorkshire Tea are good strong teas (in UK anyway). I also enjoy White Tea, which is like green tea without the bitterness. It is very light and taken without milk. Lapsang Souchong is a very distinctive strong tea, kinda smoky but very flavoursome :p

[aabbcc]

Here's a question - do you prefer tea/coffee in the morning or at night?

I never got into coffee, I drink it maybe 10-ish times per year, almost exclusively when offerred to, and almost exclusively traditional Turkish/Greek coffee. I don't like 'variations on the theme' (macchiato, cappuccino, etc) - classical coffee only, though even that I am going to avoid. Just not accustomed to, I guess.

Tea, however, is another story... :D I love tea, it is almost the only thing I drink alongside water. I drink at least two (the habit of starting my day with green tea, and of taking some kind of black tea somewhere in the midst of the day, usually when I come home from school or in the pub after school), but sometimes even up to six or seven cups a day. There is always tea in our home, we have more tea in greater diversity than anyone I have ever met (not that I know many tea connoisseurs, though... this is coffee-drinking country predominately :D) because my parents drink it even more than myself.

In the morning I prefer green tea, in the middle of the day black, whilst I am all for tisanes or blends in the evening. That is mostly how I consume it. :)

[bouquin]

Do you have any favorite tea brand? I myself swear by Mariage Frères.

www.mariagefreres.com

I like their jasmine tea, orange pekoe, Marco Polo... and a bunch of others! My husband likes the Darjeeling first flush.

I used to not drink tea at all; I started appreciating it some 12 years ago, it was my mother-in-law who initiated me in to it. And now I'm hooked! 3 cups in the morning, 3 cups in the afternoon (equivalent of 1.5 liters/day). I have also started collecting teapots which I usually buy at pottery fairs.

[Amundsen]

I drink tea to breakfast and my favourite is Gyokuro kyoto (I hope that the spelling is right) Japanese green tea. But I also like good coffee.

[Sir Bartholomew]

I drink 2 cups of coffee and 2 mugs of tea (chamomile / peppermint / or lipton, it depends on my mood) everyday.

[bouquin]

Yes, yes, yes! The water needs to be freshly boiled and the pot (and the cup later on) warmed by a little hot water before brewing.I don't keep tea cosies (yet) but I am sure I will get there too!

Idril> You should give 'brewed' tea a try! It is divine.

And I don't add any milk/cream to my tea either. It is a shame to ruin, in my opinion, this lovely colour:

http://www.red-tea-rooibos.com/images/Tea-Glass.gif




Same here, no sugar, lemon, cream or milk with my tea. But I do love to eat something sweet with it :) .... a scone or a wedge of chocolate cake maybe. For breakfast I have it with a brioche or a croissant or some cereal.

My husband and I often have afternoon tea at this place:

www.clairplume.com

In the summertime we like to sit outside in the English-style garden, it's quite divine. The scones and cookies at this place are to die for!

[water-lily]

i like tea but i don't drink it everyday .. not like ma parents who always drink tea maybe 3-time-a Day :D

but also I like Turkish coffee and sure the Arabian ones it's delicious

thanx for the thread

lily

[bouquin]

I love tea, Earl Grey, English Breakfast Tea, Darjeeling, Sassafras, Green Tea, and Ginger are some favorites. I will drink almost any tea except chamomile. It made me very ill.

I soured on coffee because one winter day during a deer hunt, my wife's cousin and I went to his mother's house to warm up, as it was a blizzard. She brought my cup of coffee and I will swear that it was black as paint and as thick as used motor oil. I am never rude, so I drank the stuff. She asked how it was, and I managed to croak out "Just fine!" But I'm not too fond of coffee since! :lol:



Chamomile is actually not tea, it's a tisane or herbal infusion. Tea comes only from the plant Camellia sinensis; chamomile is of the sunflower family.

For his coffee, my husband drinks only espresso. Whenever we're traveling abroad it is often a problem finding one that would meet his standards. In the States he usually contents himself with a 'double shot' (I think that's how it's called) at Starbucks. It's far from the real thing, he says, but at least it is fit for consumption. It's funny because everytime - and I mean without exception - he orders a 'double shot' the Starbucks employee would right away issue a warning that that would be very strong stuff. I always get the impression that a 'double shot' is an exceptional thing, that they don't get many customers who ask for it. Little do they know about the full-bodied stuff in the tiny cups that my husband is used to at home. And more often than not, a couple of minutes after ordering his 'double shot' my husband would be back at the counter for another one! You should see the Starbucks employee's face then!

[sprinks]

I've tried and loved many of the teas that most of you all have mentioned, like jasmine, green tea, chai, etc. but there is one tea that was suggested to me by the ancient Chinese medicine doctor I used to see, and that is chrysanthemum tea. It's a wonderful thing and certainly one of THE BEST stress relief things I have ever tried. It's flower-based tisane made from the chrysanthemum flowers, and i didn't like it at first, but now I'm drinking 3 cups of it a day on average!

(thanks bouquin for that bit of information about the differences between actual tea and tisanes and infusions! I wasn't aware of that until now!:D )

oh but the one thing I DON'T like about it is the colour, it's YELLOW! so that's fun explaining to other people when they see me drinking it! :p

[bouquin]

You're welcome, sprinks. :)

I have never tried chrysanthemum infusion. I have a friend who supplies me with lime tisane, the tree is in her garden and she harvests and dries the blossoms herself. Lime blossom infusion is believed to bring on a good night's sleep.


_________________________
It's the way people speak that gives them away, not what they say.
~ from The Collector (by John Fowles)

[sprinks]

Just like I never would have thought of chrysanthemum before it was suggested to me, I also never would have thought to try lime! :idea:
Sounds like it might be worth a try though, I have a tendency to not be able to get to sleep so I'm willing to try ideas that might help, so thanks for that, I'll look into it and see what happens! :D

[LadyW]

:D Tea is wonderful...
PG tips, milk, and very rarely - one sugar.
I have one every morning; it sets me up for the day.

[livelaughlove]

I drink PG Tips too... :) Delicious.

[dramasnot6]

I could REALLY go for some Jasmine tea right now...mmmmmmmm

[bouquin]

With at least a somewhat multicultural influence present on the forum, I must ask, especially of our friends east across the Pond, what brands/types of tea you'd recommend?

I'm trying to go with something a bit healthier than coffee for going back to the office after lunch; get past that midday fatigue, eh? I've tried Bromley and Tetley, and they're both alright, but I like a really strong, black tea with a good, distinct flavor.

When I was at boarding school, we'd eat breakfast in the lodge every morning with a small cup of cheap, "Pocahontas"-brand Orange pekote (pekoe?) tea, which seemed to have potential...if it were three times stronger and more flavorful.

Earl Grey? Pekoe? Suggestions? Thanks.


Again, I would highly recommend the French brand Mariage Frères. The quality of their tea is really excellent. Check it out, I think you can buy online.

If you're looking for a real pick-upper then you might want to go for green tea. It is stronger than its black counterpart, I have been told. My favorite kind of green tea is jasmine tea.

The orange pekoe from Mariage Frères is delicious, it is one of my all time favorites. Orange pekoe is black and I find it to be a mild tea, I like to have it in the afternoon. Earl Grey is black too but I find it to be stronger than orange pekoe.

______________________
The only thing that really matters is feeling and living what you believe in - so long as it's something more than belief in your own comfort.
~ from The Collector (by John Fowles)

[simon]

I suppose I am a staunch observer of a cup of hot chocolate every morning, and it has taken persons of... well... more than just a friendly interest in me to bring me round to such things as a cup of hot water with a little spice.

[islandclimber]

I do like the flavored lattes and the frappuccinos, but I try to stick mostly to high quality green tea for the health benefits. Jasmine flavored green tea is my favorite.

jasmine green tea is so good... I love rosehip green tea as well... and then straight herbal teas are so amazing... say something like mint-chamomille,
or jasmine rosehip... or straight flavours... mmmmmm love tea... maybe burn an incense stick at the same time... the combination is amazing!:thumbs_up

[applepie]

I could REALLY go for some Jasmine tea right now...mmmmmmmm

I enjoyed a cup at work today myself. I've been buying a Numi brand lately, and I really like most all that I've tried. I was so glad to see that there is a whole thread devoted to my favorite beverage:)

[bouquin]

Tea is traditional in my country, a good middle east tea, of course 'brewed' is unique. Also it is a must in breakfasts.
I like coffee too, but a good tea is better than a good coffee. Personally.

I put a literary citation about Tea, Coffee and Mate (kind of Paraguay tea?) here:
http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showpost.php?p=537089&postcount=4




Is mint tea also a tradition in Turkey? I had my first taste of real traditional mint tea while on a trip to Morocco. Can't begin to describe here how delicious it was! And they have such a lovely way of serving it, with the teapot lifted way way up and then - never spilling, never missing! - the tea is poured into tiny glasses. Traditional mint tea is prepared with tons of sugar though.... so I had to watch out!.... not good for the hips!! :D

______________________
People today always want to get things, they no sooner think of it they want to get it in their hands...
~ from The Collector (by John Fowles)

[bouquin]

Not really 'preference', though there are some I consume more often than others - Twinnings (the Irish Breakfast I mentioned is theirs) and Ahmad of London (I love their English Afternoon); my parents, however, being tea connoisseurs, often get tea by some obscure I-have-never-heard-of brands, or directly by people who produce it (I have a huge collection of tea and tisanes given to us by somebody whose family is into producing it), even by other brands which one would not really classify as 'classy'. I have literally bits of everything. :D

I am personally not into brands much, but I do have one preference - that towards loose leaf rather than teabags. Though I drink those too.




Loose leaf is unquestionably the better option. The tea that's in teabags are nothing but the crumbs and dust that's left at the bottom of the barrels (or whatever vessel tea is kept in) at the factory; you won't get the best quality there.

I myself drink tea only in loose leaf preparation. But sometimes it can't be helped, one finds oneself at the airport or train station or even at a friend's who serves tea only in teabags. When I travel I almost always bring my own supply of tea!

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...if you get to the heart of things you find sadness for ever and ever, everywhere; but a beautiful silver sadness...
~ from The Collector (by John Fowles)

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Is mint tea also a tradition in Turkey? I had my first taste of real traditional mint tea while on a trip to Morocco. Can't begin to describe here how delicious it was! And they have such a lovely way of serving it, with the teapot lifted way way up and then - never spilling, never missing! - the tea is poured into tiny glasses. Traditional mint tea is prepared with tons of sugar though.... so I had to watch out!.... not good for the hips!! :D



No it is not. Mostly common in North African side as i know. It is known
in Turkey only in some small regions/minorities. Not national wide.

Most popular ones in Turkey; tea itself, lime tea is second by far.

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When I travel I almost always bring my own supply of tea!
:D I know how you feel because I am exactly the same - when I travel, my main concern is how am I going to get my daily dose of my drug, tea, there where I am off to. I always bring my own supply with myself, but sometimes you are just in situations when you cannot make it... So I find myself having to live on two cups a day of generally bad tea (of course in bags), say one in the morning in hotel, the other one somewhere in some caffe... And it is so refreshing to come back home after that, home to your own, "proper" tea.