What is your favorite tea?

[clasicks]

Lately I have been crushing Earl Grey like a champ.




What do you drink all day for your caffeine fix

[xondat]

My favorite tea is tea

[clasicks]

My favorite tea is tea

Do you use milk and sugar? just milk? just sugar?


GREEN TEA? BLACK TEA?

[tp4tissue]

[clasicks]

(Attachment Link)

this looks fancy, what is this

[xondat]

My favorite tea is tea

Do you use milk and sugar? just milk? just sugar?


GREEN TEA? BLACK TEA?

yeah soya milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar

it's just tea

[LightningXI]

Golden Assam and Matcha.

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[clasicks]

Golden Assam and Matcha.

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do those come in tea bags or do i need fancy strainer things

[tp4tissue]

Golden Assam and Matcha.

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Matcha is highly addicting..

The _premium_ iterations have high doses of caffeine.

They've specifically engineered / cultivated strains of tea for higher caffeine content to be made into matcha..

[clasicks]

Golden Assam and Matcha.

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Matcha is highly addicting..

The _premium_ iterations have high doses of caffeine.

They've specifically engineered / cultivated strains of tea for higher caffeine content to be made into matcha..

this sounds right up my alley, looks like it comes in a powder form only?

[tp4tissue]

this sounds right up my alley, looks like it comes in a powder form only?

Hahaha, yea that's matcha, it's literal tea leaves with the veins of the leaf removed, then powdered..

You're getting Most of the leaf, it's eating tea.. !!

[SpAmRaY]

Lipton

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[clasicks]

Lipton

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That is my usual go to after I have my earl grey cups.... consistent tea

[AMongoose]

Assam is pretty dope, I also enjoy english breakfast with a tiny dash of milk.

[noisyturtle]

A good strong oolong

[LightningXI]

Golden Assam and Matcha.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk

do those come in tea bags or do i need fancy strainer things

Can come in both, for Assam. Matcha is powder, so you can just mix it in with the hot water. If you do it the traditional way, there's a way to prepare it with a brush and different amounts of water.

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[clasicks]

Golden Assam and Matcha.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk

do those come in tea bags or do i need fancy strainer things

Can come in both, for Assam. Matcha is powder, so you can just mix it in with the hot water. If you do it the traditional way, there's a way to prepare it with a brush and different amounts of water.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk

Im gonna try this matcha stuff, seems even easier than tea bags... can i stir it with a spoon or does the brush make the magic happen

[LightningXI]

Golden Assam and Matcha.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk

do those come in tea bags or do i need fancy strainer things

Can come in both, for Assam. Matcha is powder, so you can just mix it in with the hot water. If you do it the traditional way, there's a way to prepare it with a brush and different amounts of water.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk

Im gonna try this matcha stuff, seems even easier than tea bags... can i stir it with a spoon or does the brush make the magic happen

The matcha powder doesn't mix too easily, so you need any sort of tool to whisk it. A small wire whisk would do the job. The brush was basically the equivalent of a whisk back in those days.

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[emenelopee]

What a thread!

I'm drinking a massive Matcha right now in my 1L Hofbrauhaus stein--I go ghetto and use a fork to whisk--which should last me a couple hours. Nothing fancy, just a Mighty Leaf.

- Lipton is terrible, I never take a Lipton even if I'm wanting tea. It's just about OK if you take tea with lemon, but there are many better options. It's huge in Europe, where they don't know tea, but not so in the UK, where they do know tea;
- Taylor's Yorkshire Tea is really tasty for a strong black tea. Milk, one sugar, lovely;
- Marks & Spencer Gold or Silver is great - it's their own brand tea, a more refined taste than standard builder's tea;
- For builder's tea, Tetley is the go-to. You can't go wrong with Tetley.
- Twinings has a nice solid Earl Grey.
- I never could get a taste for the Bigelow Earl Grey, but I think I put that down to the name.

As to those ostentatious teas in silk bags - way overpriced, wasteful, and weak, but I like the fancification and ceremony that comes with it. Tea in the US needs to be elevated on par with the fetishisation of coffee, so if silk bags and cotton strings is what's needed, I'm cool with that.

And as some neat information, there is an ISO for tea brewing. I have a copy, which I can't share sorry, but you can see some highlights in the wiki page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3103

"The protocol has been criticized for omitting any mention of prewarming the pot.[5] Ireland was the only country to object, and objected on technical grounds.[6]"

Cute.

I would have objected as while it does focus on the brewing of tea in a pot, it makes no attempt to address tea bags which is the predominant method (I have no data) of taking tea. This is why you see these monsters who pour in the milk while the teabag is still steeping. For the love of god, let the tea steep, take the bag out, then add the milk.

I'm not a fan of Chais - too sweet and thick.

And as to an accompaniment, I am a fan of minty biscuits with my black tea. Surprisingly Mint Oreos are delicious with a milky black tea.

This is my favourite thread - great job!

[Rob27shred]

Damn there is some pretty cool looking teas out there! I'm from the US some my tea standards aren't too high at all, iced tea mostly & being honest Snapple Peach would be my favorite. I know that is not an opinion that will go over well here but just being honest. Gonna have to try some these ones you guys are recommending, the Matcha looks particularly interesting to me. I just wonder how easy/hard it would be to get over here in the US since we're not big on hot teas at all?

[emenelopee]

Damn there is some pretty cool looking teas out there! I'm from the US some my tea standards aren't too high at all, iced tea mostly & being honest Snapple Peach would be my favorite. I know that is not an opinion that will go over well here but just being honest. Gonna have to try some these ones you guys are recommending, the Matcha looks particularly interesting to me. I just wonder how easy/hard it would be to get over here in the US since we're not big on hot teas at all?

Snapple Peach is best Snapple!

I stock up on my teas whenever I go back to the UK. See Lipton above.

I only started on Matcha recently. It's great if you like warm seaweed water. Very easy to make it too strong which is why I use a massive vessel.

[noisyturtle]

anyone like pu'er tea? A lot of people think it tastes like dirt, but it's just really good aged black tea.

[clasicks]

Damn there is some pretty cool looking teas out there! I'm from the US some my tea standards aren't too high at all, iced tea mostly & being honest Snapple Peach would be my favorite. I know that is not an opinion that will go over well here but just being honest. Gonna have to try some these ones you guys are recommending, the Matcha looks particularly interesting to me. I just wonder how easy/hard it would be to get over here in the US since we're not big on hot teas at all?

Snapple Peach is best Snapple!

I stock up on my teas whenever I go back to the UK. See Lipton above.

I only started on Matcha recently. It's great if you like warm seaweed water. Very easy to make it too strong which is why I use a massive vessel.

Damn, nice posts, quoted the shorter one because of the warm seaweed water line.

Is that the taste of matcha? salty/briny? kinda the opposite of what i think about when thinking of tea, does it have a quality that is familiar with green teas or is it a different beast altogether

[tp4tissue]

Matcha works fine in a blender.. (some consider this over-oxygenation)

It also works shaken in a sports protein cup, (you may have to shake really hard depending on how high quality the powder is).

[tp4tissue]

anyone like pu'er tea? A lot of people think it tastes like dirt, but it's just really good aged black tea.

It's a cheese situation..

Overall , I don't find anything wrong with it,  all teas taste like dirt if you drink enough..

I recommend keeping an eye on steeping temperature for aged tea though..  Too hot makes it feel like soup..

Again nothing wrong with soup.. !!

[emenelopee]

Damn, nice posts, quoted the shorter one because of the warm seaweed water line.

Is that the taste of matcha? salty/briny? kinda the opposite of what i think about when thinking of tea, does it have a quality that is familiar with green teas or is it a different beast altogether

More like dirt, which is most teas as TP says, with a hint of brine in the nose. It has the texture and consistency with hot chocolate as it's a very fine powder (without the milky sweetness), and looks like swamp water or a bad case of the poops. It's somewhere between green tea and black tea, with an orthogonal divergence into a bitter funky health drink-esque blended grass.

From my description I have no idea why I drink it - it's one of these things like alcohol or avocado that adults like but kids would wonder wtf are you putting in your mouth. You learn to like it I guess.

[chyros]

Jasmine.

I'd probably also like nutmeg.

[emenelopee]

Chyros, you're a chemist, right? Can you pick out any salient information from this?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2820987/

I was trying to find whether black tea has any fat-soluble compounds, but my eyes crossed looking at all the big words.

EDIT: further on the debate, here is a decent amount of discussion on the milk addition. WALL OF TEXT WARNING:

More

As Joshua Engel notes, temperature is really the most salient point. Brewing tea at a lower temperature will change the flavor notes that emerge (because of different solubilities of different components at various temperatures). If adding milk lowers the brewing temperature, it will definitely change the flavor.

That's probably the source of the common belief that adding milk during steeping will decrease astringency of tea. In that case, it's likely that simply the lowering of the steeping temperature is actually causing the decrease in astringent tea compounds, which are less soluble at lower temperatures. (This decrease in astringency -- which is a common flavor feature of many teas -- is probably also the source of the belief among some that adding milk during steeping will decrease flavor overall.)

But that's not the only issue. As noted here:

the presence of other components in the brewing water, such as minerals and proteins from milk, affect the rate of extraction, and therefore the flavor.

However, that link goes on to note, "For most people this isn’t a concern, though, because they judge the strength of the brewed tea based on its color and pour in the milk after removing the bag." And if you're the sort of person who just dunks a tea bag in water until it's "the right color," when you add the milk isn't likely to be a major concern in flavor. If you're more careful about steeping, e.g., measuring the amount of tea precisely, measuring steep time, ensuring a consistent brew temperature, etc., then you might be more likely to notice a minor difference even if the milk is heated and added earlier.

And sometimes the difference in flavor can be quite noticeable, depending on the type of milk and the precise flavor compounds in the tea (which may be more or less soluble in milk). For example, see this informal experiment with ginger "tea." (I put "tea" in quotation marks because the "tea" in question contained no tea leaves. Some people consider "herbal infusions" to be "tea"; others don't use that term. The question is ambiguous, so I'm assuming a broad definition here.)

While it's hardly a rigorous experimental method, it seems that the blind taster here found that the ginger flavor was enhanced by adding milk during brewing. Moreover, the higher the fat content of the milk, the greater this effect (most likely due to fat-soluble compounds), with half-and-half producing an even more significant effect than plain milk.

Other spiced teas (including spiced black teas, rather than simply herbal infusions) also frequently make use of this effect. Chai tea is one of the more traditional examples, where the "one pot method" generally involves steeping at least part of the time with the added milk.

More generally, adding milk during brewing is therefore likely to affect the flavor balance in some way, but the particular impact will likely vary depending on the type of tea and its particular flavor components. As with most things, the best advice is probably just to try brewing it both ways for your favorite teas, and see which you like better.

Additional notes:

I did a brief search for examples of more rigorous scientific studies on the issue of milk and tea component solubility, but I didn't find anything quickly. (I'm not saying there isn't anything out there, but nothing came up in top hits for a couple searches.) Instead, the most common debate about milk and tea seems to be about whether adding it impacts its health effects (see here for a recent review of the literature). Adding milk does change the tea chemistry in various ways, as noted there, but there doesn't seem to be much research on brewing in milk.

One final issue that may impact this question is denaturing of milk proteins, which can happen when they are overheated. This mostly comes up in the perennial debate about whether to add milk to the cup before or after tea. The Royal Society of Chemistry gave a ruling on this point long ago, claiming that putting milk in the cup first allowed a more even heating of the milk and thereby decreased possibilities of "clumping," "skin," and other marks of milk degradation when heated. I bring this last point up because obviously brewing the tea along with the milk will also have an impact on this issue. And if you're brewing tea with a bag in a mug (rather than a separate pot for brewing), adding the milk before brewing would be the only way to follow this advice. (In any event, the impact on the milk is probably not even noticeable to many; hence the debate on when to add the milk in general.)

[Computer-Lab in Basement]

tea, earl grey, hot

or if it's bedtime, chamomile

[emenelopee]

"please and thank you, food vending hole"

[chyros]

Chyros, you're a chemist, right? Can you pick out any salient information from this?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2820987/

I was trying to find whether black tea has any fat-soluble compounds, but my eyes crossed looking at all the big words.

EDIT: further on the debate, here is a decent amount of discussion on the milk addition. WALL OF TEXT WARNING:

More

As Joshua Engel notes, temperature is really the most salient point. Brewing tea at a lower temperature will change the flavor notes that emerge (because of different solubilities of different components at various temperatures). If adding milk lowers the brewing temperature, it will definitely change the flavor.

That's probably the source of the common belief that adding milk during steeping will decrease astringency of tea. In that case, it's likely that simply the lowering of the steeping temperature is actually causing the decrease in astringent tea compounds, which are less soluble at lower temperatures. (This decrease in astringency -- which is a common flavor feature of many teas -- is probably also the source of the belief among some that adding milk during steeping will decrease flavor overall.)

But that's not the only issue. As noted here:

the presence of other components in the brewing water, such as minerals and proteins from milk, affect the rate of extraction, and therefore the flavor.

However, that link goes on to note, "For most people this isn’t a concern, though, because they judge the strength of the brewed tea based on its color and pour in the milk after removing the bag." And if you're the sort of person who just dunks a tea bag in water until it's "the right color," when you add the milk isn't likely to be a major concern in flavor. If you're more careful about steeping, e.g., measuring the amount of tea precisely, measuring steep time, ensuring a consistent brew temperature, etc., then you might be more likely to notice a minor difference even if the milk is heated and added earlier.

And sometimes the difference in flavor can be quite noticeable, depending on the type of milk and the precise flavor compounds in the tea (which may be more or less soluble in milk). For example, see this informal experiment with ginger "tea." (I put "tea" in quotation marks because the "tea" in question contained no tea leaves. Some people consider "herbal infusions" to be "tea"; others don't use that term. The question is ambiguous, so I'm assuming a broad definition here.)

While it's hardly a rigorous experimental method, it seems that the blind taster here found that the ginger flavor was enhanced by adding milk during brewing. Moreover, the higher the fat content of the milk, the greater this effect (most likely due to fat-soluble compounds), with half-and-half producing an even more significant effect than plain milk.

Other spiced teas (including spiced black teas, rather than simply herbal infusions) also frequently make use of this effect. Chai tea is one of the more traditional examples, where the "one pot method" generally involves steeping at least part of the time with the added milk.

More generally, adding milk during brewing is therefore likely to affect the flavor balance in some way, but the particular impact will likely vary depending on the type of tea and its particular flavor components. As with most things, the best advice is probably just to try brewing it both ways for your favorite teas, and see which you like better.

Additional notes:

I did a brief search for examples of more rigorous scientific studies on the issue of milk and tea component solubility, but I didn't find anything quickly. (I'm not saying there isn't anything out there, but nothing came up in top hits for a couple searches.) Instead, the most common debate about milk and tea seems to be about whether adding it impacts its health effects (see here for a recent review of the literature). Adding milk does change the tea chemistry in various ways, as noted there, but there doesn't seem to be much research on brewing in milk.

One final issue that may impact this question is denaturing of milk proteins, which can happen when they are overheated. This mostly comes up in the perennial debate about whether to add milk to the cup before or after tea. The Royal Society of Chemistry gave a ruling on this point long ago, claiming that putting milk in the cup first allowed a more even heating of the milk and thereby decreased possibilities of "clumping," "skin," and other marks of milk degradation when heated. I bring this last point up because obviously brewing the tea along with the milk will also have an impact on this issue. And if you're brewing tea with a bag in a mug (rather than a separate pot for brewing), adding the milk before brewing would be the only way to follow this advice. (In any event, the impact on the milk is probably not even noticeable to many; hence the debate on when to add the milk in general.)

yes, black tea has many fat-soluble compounds (more soluble in fat than in water at least). Same goes for coffee. If memory serves, coffee is decaffeinated by extraction over ether or hexane.

[rowdy]

Tea.

Earl Grey.

Hot.

Black.

2 sugars.

[futurecrime]

My favorite tea is tea

Do you use milk and sugar? just milk? just sugar?


GREEN TEA? BLACK TEA?

yeah soya milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar

it's just tea

Spot the English guy. 'It's just tea' 

I haven't adapted to tea with soya milk, never been much of a tea drinker anyway, so I just drink Vanilla Rooibus now, in the evenings.

[tp4tissue]

My favorite tea is tea

Do you use milk and sugar? just milk? just sugar?


GREEN TEA? BLACK TEA?

yeah soya milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar

it's just tea

Spot the English guy. 'It's just tea' 

I haven't adapted to tea with soya milk, never been much of a tea drinker anyway, so I just drink Vanilla Rooibus now, in the evenings.

/Mumble
/Cough..  GMO soy.. !!
/Mumble
/Cough

[LightningXI]

anyone like pu'er tea? A lot of people think it tastes like dirt, but it's just really good aged black tea.

Love pu'er. I also enjoy a good chrysanthemum tea.

Sent from my mobile using Tapatalk

[yuppie]

[Carcharocles]

Bigelow brand anything usually isn't bad, but from what I gather it's hardly top notch. Sadly, it's all I can afford.

Both of their Earl Greys (black and green tea) make good iced teas (without sugar, that is). Constant Comment is a good night-time hot tea, since it can knock you out despite the caffeine (think Earl Grey, but with spices and a more prominent orange flavor). My favorite however has got to be their Oolong tea. Ever had Oolong tea at a Chinese restaurant in the US? If so, you've probably had Bigelow brand Oolong. It makes a very strong iced tea too, which I love, but may not sit well with most tea fans' tastes.

[pr0ximity]

Twinings Lady Grey

Or any halfway decent green

[PollandAkuma]

WhatCha, a tea store in the UK managed by this guy called Alistair, has a nice selection of teas. One of the favourites out of all I have tried is the Thailand Sticky Rice tea, I just can't get enough of the taste. I also like the Indian Masala Chai (you see a trend here? Sucker for flavoured tea...).

Right now, I also love English Breakfast, I usually take it plain. I'd love to try some matcha!

What's your favourite English Brekky tea brands? I gotta try them all.

[tp4tissue]

WhatCha, a tea store in the UK managed by this guy called Alistair, has a nice selection of teas. One of the favourites out of all I have tried is the Thailand Sticky Rice tea, I just can't get enough of the taste. I also like the Indian Masala Chai (you see a trend here? Sucker for flavoured tea...).

Right now, I also love English Breakfast, I usually take it plain. I'd love to try some matcha!

What's your favourite English Brekky tea brands? I gotta try them all.

Sticky Rice Tea is a literal translation.

But the Sticky Rice of Sticky Rice Tea  NuoMiXiang is a plant completely separate from -sticky rice/ sweet rice-   Despite sharing the same characters.

You probably already know this..

i'm jus xplaining for the n0vices

[Coreda]

Alwazah Tea - Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe. Drunk black.



Originally I postponed trying it (someone gifted me a container of theirs) due to the rather plain, almost generic Arabic-store-looking packaging, but glad I did try it.

Delicately and distinctly flavorsome but not weak (in that it doesn't require prolonged brewing to become flavorsome but isn't some 'blunt' strong flavor either), and with no aftertaste that changes the initial impression. Was something I hadn't experienced in the black tea I'd had previously, either bagged or loose. Every time I have other tea now I'm reminded how much I enjoy the Alwazah.

Possibly if drunk with milk or sugar the taste would be more masked, though I have heard comments from those who've tried it white and they still can appreciate its taste.

[kiwi99]

If its hot Pu'er, Oolong or a nice Lavender Earl Grey.

In the summer iced Rooibos with a little fruit juice is awesome, Its good warm too its just one of my favourite iced tea beverages.

and I guess I drink a good amount of Kombucha these days which is tea... (?)

[tp4tissue]

If its hot Pu'er, Oolong or a nice Lavender Earl Grey.

In the summer iced Rooibos with a little fruit juice is awesome, Its good warm too its just one of my favourite iced tea beverages.

and I guess I drink a good amount of Kombucha these days which is tea... (?)

I googled -Rooibos - hoping it had something to do with kangaroos.. sigh...

[kiwi99]

If its hot Pu'er, Oolong or a nice Lavender Earl Grey.

In the summer iced Rooibos with a little fruit juice is awesome, Its good warm too its just one of my favourite iced tea beverages.

and I guess I drink a good amount of Kombucha these days which is tea... (?)

I googled -Rooibos - hoping it had something to do with kangaroos.. sigh...

Are kangaroos delicious?... well have to do some testing, not you of course you can't eat animals 

[Shapey Fiend]

In Ireland we drink more tea per capita than anybody else. I'm a Barry's man myself if you see some pick it up far superior to English tea IMO.

[DALExSNAIL]

If you aren't drinking carolina sweet tea, you're a filthy yankee.

[jdcarpe]

My favorite tea is made from the roasted seeds of the beans of the Coffea plant.

[chyros]

Show Image

If you aren't drinking carolina sweet tea, you're a filthy yankee.

That barely even looks like tea xD .

[tp4tissue]

Show Image

If you aren't drinking carolina sweet tea, you're a filthy yankee.

That barely even looks like tea xD .

Ice tea is the primary tea consumed in the United States..

Black Tea w/ lots of sugar/sweetener..

Basically the Mountain-Dew of Teas..

And there's really nothing m0ar 'murican , than Mountain Dew..

[chyros]

Show Image

If you aren't drinking carolina sweet tea, you're a filthy yankee.

That barely even looks like tea xD .

Ice tea is the primary tea consumed in the United States..

Black Tea w/ lots of sugar/sweetener..

Basically the Mountain-Dew of Teas..

And there's really nothing m0ar 'murican , than Mountain Dew..

Tbh I drink a lot of ice tea zero, I try to substitute 1 litre of my daily milk consumption this way just to decrease the milk intake a bit (which is pretty high, 3 litres normally). I prefer the non-carbonated version, but I haven't been able to find that one in zero-calorie yet.