I like tea too

[coldfeet]

I like tea, no brand favorite but I enjoy those cheap assorted ones with different flavors. When the autumn arrives I like those seasonal pumpkin ones. I don't really taste the difference, think my taste buds are ruined, but the sensors in my nose pick up the yummy scents. I usually drink one small cup in the am and then pm.
I like the smell of coffee but my stomach some how doesn't like it. Think it was in the 1980's on Wall Street that I started to drink coffee and get bellyaches.
I used to like hot chocolate but the amount of sugar in it now just gives me the shakes.
I remember the little white candy my mom used to let me drop into my tea as a kid. Sacarin? Eek!

 

[deerfly]

F/T so true, lol.

I'm not a fan of tea to the extent I would pack it in on my trips, but once in a while I do make natural tea from pine needles, sour orange leaves and tamarind pods. More of a naturalist exercise though than salivating for the tastes. Otherwise its always coffee...

 

[Canotrouge]

On trips I sometime brew some labrador tea... but you need to be some what carful of how you do it and not drink too much of it!

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

Tea drinking can be traced back 4,749 years to the Chinese emperor Shen Nung in 2,732 B.C. Coffee drinking is first reported in Yemen in the 15th century A.D.

tea is for sissy's...

Perhaps you'd like to explain that to Sun Tzu, Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Attila the Hun, all the samurai shoguns, Ivan the Terrible, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Field Marshall Montgomery and Lady Gaga.

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

"Tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country." -- — George Orwell

"Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea." -- — Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Under certain circumstances there are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea." --” — Henry James

"It ought to be illegal for an artist to marry. If the artist must marry let him find someone more interested in art, or his art, or the artist part of him, than in him. After which let them take tea together three times a week." -- — Ezra Pound

 

[Boreal Birch]

I'm glad that Dearfly put a smiley face at the end of his post, cause some of us sissy's might have taken offense. I'm pretty sure the folks that explored most of northern North America by canoe were tea drinkers and I doubt that anyone called them sissys. I don't think of myself as a sissy, just old and I do live in a state that isn't known for being sissified, like some places that i have read about.

 

[deerfly]

lol, I did it for just the reason I'm getting the reaction, although I wasn't expecting anyone to take that seriously...

 

[southcove]

I'm glad that Dearfly put a smiley face at the end of his post, cause some of us sissy's might have taken offense. I'm pretty sure the folks that explored most of northern North America by canoe were tea drinkers and I doubt that anyone called them sissys. I don't think of myself as a sissy, just old and I do live in a state that isn't known for being sissified, like some places that i have read about.

Touche!

Most of the Europeans who made the heroic months long sufferfest trips that opened Canada up to Hudson Bay's trading endeavors were tea drinkers. Coffee, coming to Europe far later, was known as "the bitter invention of Satan".

Latter day explorers of note like PD Downes traveled the same way, with frequent brewups.

BB - I would be pleased to share a cup of sissy drink with you next time I am near Salcha...

 

[sweeper]

I'm from the Boston area (relatively) we make our tea in larger batches, with sea water.

 

[Odyssey]

I'm from the Boston area (relatively) we make our tea in larger batches, with sea water.

So you're a party animal?

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

I'm from the Boston area (relatively) we make our tea in larger batches, with sea water.

Indeed, the American sissies who fought in the most famous Revolutionary War in history did so because of a taxation without representation on beloved tea. This was in the context of the monopoly on tea given to the East India Company, which had helped spread the British Empire around the world.

The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company ("A&P'), founded in 1859, was the largest food/grocery retailer in the United States between 1915 and 1975, and until 1965 was the largest U.S. retailer of any kind. It was Walmart before Walmart, Google before Google, and its name was taken from its most important historical product.

Meanwhile, yes, the Spanish who were stumbling around in drugged-out South America were becoming addicted to "the bitter invention of Satan."

We won't call them sissies, but the Satanists ended up with all sorts of cutesy-poo machines to grind and press and squeeze and bubble the bitter beans. And then they began to flock to trendy parlors to pay wildly inflated prices for the unpalatable polecat secretion to be infused with forced air and creams and frippy-frappe sugars and confections, so as to create liquid pastries to be sucked with straws.

Real cowboys just rip the nearest vegetation out of the ground with their bare hands, boil it into a tea, toss it down their throats, and then use the remainder to scrub fungus off their canoe hulls.

Finally, Alice would never have made it through Wonderland if the Mad Hatter hadn't had one of the many famous tea parties in world history (there being no famous coffee parties):

 

[Odyssey]

The travels of tea and coffee are interesting, much of it influenced by colonialism and trade. I'm just glad they made it to my kitchen.

Here in our kitchen we're still searching for interesting flavoured teas and coffee. Learning quickly what we don't like, which ones we do. We both fell in love with strong coffees from little cafes of Montreal and Paris. Teas are more varied and unusual. So far though English Breakfast, Irish Breakfast and Scottish Breakfast are our "go to" choices. Might be a blend trend there. I found one called "Canadian Breakfast". It was good too. I wonder how strongly we identify with labels and not so much with flavour? I'm not afraid to reject a popular one. Like Earl Grey. Yuck. But I never turn down a cup if it's offered.
We have a small tea shop in our city. A little older lady runs it. I spoke with her once when I was shopping for a selection for my wife's Christmas stocking. She pointed out all the unusual and newer varieties. The glass jars were a little intimidating to lift off the shelves and take a sniff.
Unlike a tea franchise in Paris where you're encouraged to do so, the loose leaf teas in smaller boxes with easy open lids and scoops to help yourself. https://www.mariagefreres.com/UK/welcome.html
I stepped in the back (there was no door after-all) and found the motherlode; large sacks of loose leaf tea and an attendant filling little sachets of custom orders. He explained to me he could blend whatever I chose in any amounts. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. We left with a set of cups and saucers and two tea varieties. Can't remember mine but my wife chose a "chocolate" tea.
Okay, now I see where you might get the "sissified" idea from. But it was a little hard to pretend we were rugged voyageurs whilst sitting on our balcony with our cups and saucers of tea overlooking Parisian rooftops. I do slurp though.

 

[Odyssey]

And then there's this: http://therealargentina.com/en/yerba-mate-tea-love-it-hate-it-drink-it/

 

[Boreal Birch]

I just found a new too me, favorite tea. BUILDERS, the full flavored British Cuppa. distributed in the USA by BWi, Inc. (www.bwi-imports.com) or by email at info@makemineabuilders.com
This is just a great tea, that is just what I like, strong, not bitter, & smooth. My inter-workings call out for a mug, lately I have brewed it in the morning in place of coffee (I'm addicted to coffee, so you know this is good stuff).
When I saw the box on the shelf in the store I thought, don' t buy it you will be disappointed. I then saw on the side of the box "Britanin wasn't built on camomile", I went through the first box in less than a week, went back and bought all that was on the shelf, it was that good (I gave a box each to my two sons).
I am awaiting the arrival of the Arctic grayling to the little stream by my home & my MKettle in the mail, so I can have a proper mug-up while out fly fishing later this week.

 

[southcove]

Boreal - Apparently your zeal to buy every box has had lower 48 states ramifications...neither Wal Mart or Amazon have it in stock or available anymore.

My mind is all made up then, I am going to come your way for a visit; you might have to spill your best fishing hole location with me at that point...put the water on!

 

[Odyssey]

Thanks Birchy, I'll check the local British food shop just up the street. We're always trying different cuppa's. Yorkshire Gold and Bewley's are good. Lately though I've been tippling the nasty herbal stuff on account of a lingering cough. Both ginger tea and chamomile tea are amazing for quelling the cough.

 

[Boreal Birch]

southcove.....
I would call BWI at (818) 991-6644, to ask who in your area carries Builders tea, that is what I am planning to do if Fred Meyer up here does not restock it.
The kettle is always on, some of my favorite fishing holes are in Northeastren MN. My favorite Arctic grayling holw is about a twenty minute walk for my home. To bad you Visit AK when I am out seeing the rest of the world. I do hope we can share a good pot of tea though.

 

[sweeper]

https://www.britishcornershop.co.uk/...QaAos2EALw_wcB


edit: While searching I came across this link.

https://www.goodlifetea.com/blogs/news/english-tea-history-culture-and-builders-tea

 

[yellowcanoe]

I am fortunate that in a neighboring town we have a Tea House. They serve in the English Tradition.. on china. They have a selection of 150 loose teas. They have little sniffing jars so you get an idea of the aroma.
High tea is a favorite and so is a regular lunch.. Scones are super and soups flavorful.. Who said the Brits can't cook? The tea menu however runs some 20 pages. The lunch menu; one
The Victorian decor is replete with images and prints from the UK.
Next month a Parisian Tea.. have to go to that to find out what it is all about
https://www.clippermerchant.com/

Can you help me decide what my next tea should be? I like robust ones but also green teas
https://www.clippermerchant.com/about-tea.html

 

[Odyssey]

Oooh they all sound good. Go for the Lapsang Zhivago. I'm still rationing out my Russian Caravan.
But mornings in this household mean only one thing. Strong cappuccinos. My wife took to spoiling the cat with dollops of milk froth in a dish, leftover from our perfect coffees. The cat now has a serious addiction to this froo froo froth, might even be worse than my own coffee needs. At the sound of whirring beans in the grinder and purring milk in the frother the cat slinks up to the kitchen counter and sits patiently, like a regular patron at a cafe. Hey Giuseppe, buongiorno! Where's my milk?!
I take care to avoid any coffee spillage into the cat's dish. Wouldn't want a caffeinated cat in a small house.

And speaking of Parisian tea time... https://bonjourparis.com/food-and-drink/cafes-will-feline-fans-purring/
Not my cup of tea.

 

[gumpus]

I enjoy a mug of green tea (with a little honey) in the afternoon. It seems to have a calming effect. I've been lucky to get my tea from Chinese co-workers in the past and now that I'm retired I'm not sure what I'll do when I run out. I hope the stuff in the fancy tea shops is similar!