A Nice Cup of Tea!

[LDBoblo]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I have never found good quality green tea bags and I have tried. This is one product that I think you really have to find in a Japanese store. I didn't even like the green teas that I tried from the Asian market (mostly Chinese).

Good green tea is very hard to find. I think I posted earlier that Glandeves has a very good white peony tea that reminded me of some of the very good Japanese green teas. That's the closest I have come other than getting it from Japan. And it too is a loose tea.

Green tea is exceptionally vague, especially if you're comparing it with a white peony, which is a white tea. You can get greens that have all the grassy ("vegetal" in the circles) nature of a weak wulong, and you can get greens that have the flatter, rounder taste of white teas. You can get stuff with all sorts of different character too, depending on the cultivation method and location. Brewing method is variable too and has quite an impact on the result, as does the water. As a result, few people can give a very good assessment of green tea quality overall, but rather their preferences given their abilities at brewing different varieties. I know people who were unwilling to try tamaryoku after disliking gyokuro, thinking that the more expensive gyokuro must be "superior". Even general "sencha" is incredibly varied, not just on a linear scale of quality.

[BearMountainBooks]

Oh I agree, that "Green Tea" is general. Getting it from a single estate worked well for me--but again, I have friends that sent it. "Sencha" in Japan, so far as I tasted, versus sencha here--not the same tea. I'm not familiar with all the ones you've named and it is true that one likes what one likes.

I didn't mean to imply I was an expert. But I still haven't found a green tea of good quality taste in a bag.

[pdurrant]

You have to let the coffee cool down a bit before adding the soya milk - the high temperature is what causes the soya milk to curdle. (Or you could add a little cold water instead of waiting - if your coffee is a little strong to start with!)

I've never had this problem with tea - although the water to make tea must be boiling, by the time it's brewed and poured I find the temperature is down enough to not curdle the soya milk without having to make any special effort.

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Do you put soya milk in tea/coffee Geoff??
I tried it a couple of times but it 'curdles' on contact - looks horrible.

Wouldn't mind having a soya milk option for coffee, but I've never got it to work.

[Halk]

Well, my tea arrived on Friday morning at 7am - Friday is my day off, so that disposed of that lie in!

I wasn't quite aware of how much half a kilo of tea is. For people more used to imperial measures it's a little over a pound. I had ordered a caddy from them too, which is not small. Roughly one quarter of the tea fits into the caddy. I've bought what would appear to be many months supply of tea...

As for the tea itself, it's not quite what I had hoped. I like very strong tea. When I brew a cup of tea and it is entirely opaque then I'm happy. My tea looks like coffee if I get the chance. This Orangajuli doesn't do that sadly. It seems to be more "planty" than the tea I'm used to. Perhaps it's fresher, or better handled. Maybe it's less oxidised (I understand that's what makes black tea black tea). In any case my first few cups were sadly a disappointment.

However subsequent to that I left the caddy lid off over night, and have started slightly crushing the tea in the infuser before it goes into the mug. Perhaps a combination of that and getting used to the new tea has had an effect, and I now very much enjoy it. I tried a mug of Twinnings earlier today and it surprisingly didn't feel like any kind of relief. So it took a few days but I'm now hooked on this new tea.

I do regret ordering quite so much of the stuff. It'll take a very long time to get through it all, and I'm inclined to try many many different types of tea to find the "perfect" tea for me. If I go and do that then all I'll do is end up with a huge bag of tea that I'll never drink..... I have some ceylon tea that's been sat in a cupboard for a year, I doubt that'll ever get drunk. I used to mix it with some rather strong (but rough tasting) Kenyan stuff and it made a passable drink.

As for the scissor type infuser I bought I'm not yet convinved about it. It's certainly easier to brew the tea, and it does an admirable job of keeping the leaves separate... But it completely prevents me squeezing the leaves, which I do when I'm brewing tea, which has the effect of reduced strength. I can wave it around in the mug or pot, but that does very little if anything. When i'm brewing tea without an infuser I have two different kind of seives I can use. Because of this I can get a spoon into the teapot and really disturb the leaves to get the goodness out.

I suspect I'll order some of the little samples from one of the places mentioned in a previous post. I think they were 60p each and there was no separate postage cost.

The most difficult part is that I know virtually nothing about tea, nor do I know of a place to learn about it. I understand that different plant varieties grow in different locations, and I'm sure the soil affects that too. Also that there's different ways of the tea leaves being treated which will have an impact, but I don't know of a resource to learn about it. Thus I'm pretty much stabbing in the dark. All I know is I like strong tea without any complimentary flavours like ginger, citrus etc.

Thankfully this little hobby is relatively inexpensive!

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by Halk

However subsequent to that I left the caddy lid off over night, and have started slightly crushing the tea in the infuser before it goes into the mug. Perhaps a combination of that and getting used to the new tea has had an effect, and I now very much enjoy it. I tried a mug of Twinnings earlier today and it surprisingly didn't feel like any kind of relief. So it took a few days but I'm now hooked on this new tea.

Glad you've come to like the Orangajuli It might also be worth putting a teaspoon more in the pot than you would do normally

[RolandD]

I know I'm reviving an old thread, but there is so much good information I thought I'd bump it and add my own 2 cents.

I only buy Earl Grey loose tea. My wife likes variety and so I end up drinking Lipton and Yorkshire, also. I buy my tea online here, Coffee Bean Direct, a kilo at a time. I find it to be very good, on par with Yorkshire and Twinings.

When brewing, I've found the most important thing for me is to set a timer at four minutes so my brew doesn't get bitter. No milk, but I do like my sugar, and this is where I'll be burned as a heretic, I make Earl Grey iced tea. It's the best.

[cromag]

I'm a tea drinker, too, but fortunate to have an Asian market (well, a couple of them, really) nearby. I like black or oolong tea. I usually let it brew too long for most people's tastes.

[Tarana]

I did it again. I posted to an old thread. Beat me with a wet teabag someone!

[cromag]

Well, as long as you brought enough pie for everyone, it'll be alright.

[mongonia]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Ah, a tea-egg, tea-ball or tea-infuser. I got one from a local market.

Here's some cheap-ish ones:
http://www.vitaminlifehealth.com/710...B000UZUA32.htm
http://www.greenlife.co.uk/greenlife...tea-egg/41447/
https://www.umiteasets.com/tea-leaves/white-tea.html

There's an expensive one here andhere


I have a spare cheap one, which I fill with herbs and a couple of peppercorns for a bouquet garni, when making stock.

Are these teas are good for reading at night, i love reading and tea, but i always get tried when i read book at night, a cup of tea may improve with it.