I like tea too

[Boreal Birch]

I start the day with more than a few cups of coffee with a couple of coffee breaks and coffee with lunch, but the 1/4 English blood in my veins likes a spot of tea in the late afternoon. My current day in day out brand of is Typhoo Tea. It is a nice strong black tea without being bitter. Tea seems to refresh me better late in the day, not the full on jolt that coffee brings, just the nice steady push to carry on. I use tea bags for ease of making, but prefer loose tea and the traditional brewing methods. My favorite change of pace tea is Lapsang Souchong, with its smoky flavor reminds me of drinking tea brewed over a campfire.
What are some of the other forum members that drink a lot of tea favorite brand?

........Birchy

 

[Odyssey]

Good thread. Hot tea.
My Scottish grandma insisted on warming the pot first with a thorough swish and rinse of boiling water, and only then could you fill it with piping hot water and your choice of tea. I don't remember her choice of tea, but I do remember she wasn't too lady like about cups and saucers. (Unlike my very stuffy proper English m-i-l; and yes for the record, I brought down the "whole tone" of the family and utterly ruined her daughter's future.) My m-i-l demanded the milk go in the cup before the tea. "Proper" was a favourite word of hers. And only good china cups were proper. Having grown up with blue collar mugs, I'd never seen real dainty china till I dated my wife. (The one I ruined remember). Oh, and you're not supposed to touch the sides of your tea cup with your spoon when you stir it. (Elbows off the table Birchy.) Okay, are all of you up to speed and feeling more refined? Good. One more thing. No dunking. It's not proper. Unless of course your proper m-i-l dunks her biscuit first. (Although that sounds like a euphemism it isn't.)
When my wife and I lived in a farmhouse in Quebec we joined a hippy food co-op. We split large orders of flour, dry goods and such. That's when I "got into" herbs. Herbal tea that is. On a visit back to our Ontario parents we brought with us a big supply of dry goods; lentils, chickpeas and flour... One day in my mom's kitchen an older brother was rooting around for something and came across a suspicious looking plastic bag filled with dried weedy stuff. He pulled out the big bursting baggie and showed mom. I was summoned into the kitchen and made to explain. My wife burst out laughing "It's his stash! It's chamomile tea!!" I had to brew up a pot to prove it. I left little yellow flower buds floating in my fragrant cup to demonstrate.
I hope we're not complete proper snobs, but we do insist on hot water for tea. Some restaurants bring you water that is only lukewarm. Now that ain't proper. Ginger tea and Ginseng tea are both good with Asian food, otherwise we're pretty much stuck on black teas (orange pekoe types). But way back in that farmhouse on long winter nights I'd brew up a mug of my favourite Lapsang Suchong and take it outside. Just beyond the barn in the middle field below the dark forest was my favourite tea drinking spot, standing in my snowshoes listening and trying to hold my breath...waiting for answers to timeless questions. The stars smiled down and the trees spoke. A golden glow from the kitchen flowed out from the windows and spilled across the pillows of snow, followed through the cracked foggy window with the smell of baking. Aahh, she's making bread tonight. Soon with the little one tucked up in bed we can sit outside in this heaven, and spread melting butter on hot fresh bread all washed down with mugs of strong tea.

ps For some reason I vaguely remember there being the word Russian in the Lapsong label? I don't know. I searched for it years later with no success. It did taste like gunpowder. Wow. Very smokey and very strong.

 

[Canotrouge]

I too like tea, I don't have a favorite brand but there is a shop in town that caries over 100 different type/flavour loose leaf tea, from the classic English breakfast to many different rooibos, and so many green and white. I like green myself, in the flavour of chai. I'm not a big fan of the plain green or black... But add some spice to it and I usually like it! That said there is a few green tea that I like.

 

[Grandpa Paddler]

I three like tea. Don't drink a lot of hot tea during warmer months but enjoy it during cool damp or cold weather in late afternoon or evening. Nothing fancy, usually Red Rose or an herb/fruit flavor available on the supermarket shelf. Coffee is still my go to drink every morning.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

Not a drop of English blood running through my veins, as far as I know. But I, too, need to keep calm and carry on. We go through quite a bit of jasmine infused green tea such as:

https://www.amazon.com/Sunflower-Ja...d=1503222049&sr=1-4&keywords=jasmine+tea&th=1

 

[southcove]

Some of my best camp memories are built around the 2-3 time a day brew up...! Sometimes just holding the cup, getting the waft of the brew and the first sip will take me back to some favorite camp or experience that is enjoyable.
The boot that is delivered early mornings to my backside during a work week to rouse one for the day's labor, is almost never needed out in the trail, early bird and all that.

First one in the early am and then one around late afternoon, usually accompanied by a small fire, seat time, lake watching, banter w fellow campers and anticipation of some food on the plate.

Love the smell of coffee, but have always been a tea drinker. For years the two that were always in the camp box were Tazo Earl Gray and Tazo Awake, both full bodied black teas. The Earl Gray I believe now is a shadow of it's former glory...I will also try out various blends from a local shop that sometimes are successful, other times not so much.

I usually do about 16oz of boiling water, let it steep for 5+ minutes in an old Nissan vac bottle and then with a bit of sugar put it in an insulated mug to sip. That is pretty much what I do at home too.

Not sure about any English blood, but one uncle always claimed a good Scots heritage somewhere back in the age of sail.

 

[Magnus919]

I like tea, perhaps too much. I'd drink more of it if I weren't such a coffee addict.

I enjoy almost any black tea as well as many of the herbal infusions. Green tea? Eh, I've not quiet acquired the taste for the stuff yet, though do suffer it on occasion anyway.

One of my favorite herbal infusions is one I take advantage of whenever patronizing a Lebanese restaurant or hookah lounge that offers the stuff: zhourat. It's a blend of flowers, herbs, fruits, and who knows what else. I typically go through two or more big pots of the stuff while puffing on a hookah with a small group of friends.

 

[lowangle al]

Tea is OK, it's the honey in it that I'm after.

 

[Guest]

I love coffee, hot or iced, or a warming coffee & cocoa with a shot of whisky campfire toddy. heck, I can happily drink lukewarm coffee, or even bad coffee if I add creamer. Sugar in coffee though, ylech.

But the only way I like tea is strong, unsweetened and iced. Lemon slice a bonus. Summertime we usually have a gallon dispenser jug of sun tea in the refrigerator at the ready or brewing on the back porch.

I can at drink hot tea, but it’s just not my cuppa. . . .you know. Luke warm tea is somehow dishwater dreadful; the only thing worse is the southern “treat” of (over) sweetened ice tea. I am willing to endure the waitress dang Yankee look when I ask for “Iced tea, unsweetened” in a southern diner.

 

[Iskweo]

Cripes yes, I loves my tea. I am a coffee person until noon, after that it is tea. Especially if its cold or wet out. I currently have a dozen or so different varieties in the cupboard but my fave is a single source tea from Dilmah. No bitter aftertaste. Earl Grey, Souchong, or any of the Ceylon varieties are good. I am not reall big on herbals but sometimes it is ok.
I often take Begal Spice with me on my fall solo.

Mike...brewed ice tea, unsweetened, is the best ever.

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I've been a tea drinker since my mother allowed me to drink cambric tea as a boy. And tea with lemon and honey was a common home remedy for various maladies.

Coffee, of course, is odious -- a vile, oily, bitter concoction that looks, smells and tastes like polecat diarrhea. ((ugh, retch)) Tea is light, delicate and airy, tickling your tongue like a fairy.

I drink two 34 oz. cups of tea a day, each made with three teabags, which stay in the cup for two fill-ups. Usually I mix a cheap black tea bag, a green tea bag and some sort of wild card third tea bag, which could be almost anything, though I'm fond of hibiscus for blood pressure. I like lemon, mint, ginger and chamomile teas for gastric issues and night time sipping both at home and when camping.

I know caffeine is bad for my particular cardiovascular and neurological systems, so almost all my teas are decaffeinated. Occasionally, I'll toss in one caffeinated black tea bag if I'm feeling particularly narcoleptic.

I like my tea sweet, although some herbals are okay unsweetened. I've been a Splenda addict for decades, but have recently been experimenting with stevia.

Most every beverage I drink at home is, or ends up, at room temperature, so that could mean anything from 55° to 95°, depending on the season. That's all just fine for tea, which is equally good at any temperature -- hot, cold or in between. When canoeing in direct sun in hot climes my water bottle can reach well over 100°, so a sweetened tea therein is much more palatable than plain water.

 

[Boreal Birch]

As I was having my morning cups of coffee, it occurred to me that I have never tasted polecat diarrhea!
........BB

 

[yellowcanoe]

I've been cold and wet a lot lately. The only notcokd and wet is interior Alaska and the Yukon

I'm liking my ginger tea. The highest temp its been is 10 and we need not worry about the solar eclipse.
Beer not So much how when it's raw and rainy.
Good thread . There is a tea store in Portland but I'm so overwhelmed q

 

[jm0278]

Upton Tea's Ceylon Blend is my favorite hot. I've tried a lot of the single sourced teas but keep coming back to the blend. For making "sun tea", I use the Darjeeling-Ceylon Iced Tea Blend. For those who may know it by a different name, our "sun tea" is a clear glass jar, one quart/liter in size, filled with cold water and two DIY tea bags (also purchased from Upton.com). Put the jar in bright direct sun for at least two but not more than six hours, remove the tea bags, refrigerate, and enjoy.

Strangely enough, I've yet to find a green tea I like better than the Lipton tea bags sold in the grocery stores. It's probably made from the worst of the fannings, but that's my favorite tasting green.

Once or twice a year, I'll order one of Upton's "sampler collections" or just a handful of random small tins I want to try. Most of the time, the results are unremarkable and I keep coming back to the Ceylon Blend. But I have found that I liked each of the samples in the Darjeeling sampler.

But for the past couple of years, I've been off tea and am really going overboard on coffee. I just this morning dialed in the grind for my first try at Starbuck's Pike Place and I think I nailed it -- couldn't tell the difference between home-brewed and what you get in the store. But mostly, I've been enjoying Americano's made with Lavazza Gran Crema or Gran Aroma Bar.

Jim

 

[frozentripper]

It might not be polecat droppings that are flavoring the coffee, at least not the best kinds of coffee... civets are another smelly creature and it seems they can add some exotic notes to the taste and fragrance. I really need to cross this off the gotta-have life list before it's too late.

It’s the world’s most expensive coffee, and it’s made from poop. Or rather, it’s made from coffee beans that are partially digested and then pooped out by the civet, a catlike creature. A cup of kopi luwak, as it’s known, can sell for as much as $80 in the United States.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160429-kopi-luwak-captive-civet-coffee-Indonesia/

 

[Odyssey]

A fellow I met a few years ago told me of his first Chai tea encounter. He said he always saved up enough holiday time from work to go on exotic trips every couple of years or so; the last had been to India. While there he smelled something delicious and fragrant coming from a nearby tea stall on the banks of the Ganges, and so decided to try whatever it was. Chai. The tea maker leaned back and scooped a ladle full of water from the river and added it to a pot sitting on a bed of coals. This traveller was horrified to see all kinds of shocking carnage and putrid wreck drifting by. I asked him why he didn't just walk away from his brewing pot of tea? He replied he didn't want to offend the man. The tea was then artfully held aloft and poured back and forth with what looked like milk and what smelled like spices, something sweet must've found it's way into the mix too, the tea maker not spilling a drop. I asked if he really drank this strange brew, which of course he did, still not wanting to offend. He told me it had been incredibly satisfying and invigorating to drink. He'd not smelled nor tasted anything like it ever. Whenever I occasionally drink a chai I think of him and his chai experience.

 

[lowangle al]

A fellow I met a few years ago told me of his first Chai tea encounter. He said he always saved up enough holiday time from work to go on exotic trips every couple of years or so; the last had been to India. While there he smelled something delicious and fragrant coming from a nearby tea stall on the banks of the Ganges, and so decided to try whatever it was. Chai. The tea maker leaned back and scooped a ladle full of water from the river and added it to a pot sitting on a bed of coals. This traveller was horrified to see all kinds of shocking carnage and putrid wreck drifting by. I asked him why he didn't just walk away from his brewing pot of tea? He replied he didn't want to offend the man. The tea was then artfully held aloft and poured back and forth with what looked like milk and what smelled like spices, something sweet must've found it's way into the mix too, the tea maker not spilling a drop. I asked if he really drank this strange brew, which of course he did, still not wanting to offend. He told me it had been incredibly satisfying and invigorating to drink. He'd not smelled nor tasted anything like it ever. Whenever I occasionally drink a chai I think of him and his chai experience.

I'm surprised he didn't have a problem, I think everyone I know who went to India almost crapped their pants at least once.

 

[Odyssey]

Yeah, I know eh. Makes me feel ill just thinking about it. I didn't ask how the rest of his trip went.
I have a pretty hardy constitution but I wouldn't push my luck.

 

[deerfly]

Spent a week in India on business last year... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, gastrointestinal fortitude is a virtue... oh and tea is for sissy's...

 

[frozentripper]

...what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...

True, but there can be complications with consuming large quantities of coffee or tea, like caffeine withdrawal symptoms...