Tea for one

[kellinator]

I've always loved tea. I was raised drinking sweet tea pretty much all the time, to the point where when we went to Wisconsin for a trip when I was eight, I was confused when nobody was drinking iced tea. Hot tea was a habit I picked up in high school, now that I think about it, possibly because it seemed like something a mildly snooty Anglophile might do to protest living in small-town Tennessee. My family had the standard Hank Hill reaction: "The girl ain't right."

Lately I've been drinking a lot of tea and trying new teas, which is a lot of fun. I really like toasted mate, green and white teas, and I'm trying to develop a taste for rooibos (South African red tea). I love going to Teavana (http://store.yahoo.com/teavana/) for the Mate Carnival (toasted mate with chocolate notes -- called "the coffee lover's tea") and I'm dying to try some of the more exotic teas from the Republic of Tea (http://www.republicoftea.com/). I drink a lot of their Apple Blossom Green Tea.

Who else likes tea? Recommendations?

Comments

[ga-sunshine.livejournal.com]

I love Jasmine tea, green teas of many kinds (Jasmine-Green tea even), Chai (black tea), Peppermint tea, Lemon Zinger, Orange Zinger, English breakfast tea, Blackberry tea, good ole Southern sweet tea, Chamomile, Earl Grey tea, etc. etc. etc. You can basically say I am a tea slut.

[jennay138.livejournal.com]

is southern sweet tea a specific kind or just tea w/ a lot of sugar in it?

[deza.livejournal.com]

Southern sweet tea is an art form. ;)

A basic black tea blend (like Luzianne, Lipton or Tetley) is concentrate-brewed. Then hot water is mixed with a large amount of sugar (making sure the sugar completely dissolves), the concentrate is added to the sugar-water, and additional water is added. Tea is stored in the fridge and served over ice.

Ideally, there is enough sugar that small children will be hyper for days. And no, it doesn't taste the same to open a packet of sugar into a cold glass of unsweetened tea. ;)

[ga-sunshine.livejournal.com]

**what she said**

My husband always gets strange looks when waitresses when they say "no, we don't have sweet tea, but you can put sugar in it" and he responds "yeah, there's basic chemistry for you - put sugar into something ice cold and expect it to melt!"

Re:

[jennay138.livejournal.com]

well, then i think i shall have to invite myself down and ask you to make some for me:)

I Would Have To Agree ...

[faybee.livejournal.com]

I'm a tea slut too. Almost any tea by Celestial Seasonings is awesome and I've just realized that I love English Breakfast tea. My favorites are without a doubt the black teas, although Cranberry Apple herbal tea is nummy too. So yeah, I can't choose just one, I'm happy being a tea slut. And in a family that mainly drinks coffee pot coffee, I love being the one that they feel the need to say "Something just ain't right about her." about. 19 year old struggling with individuality complex. It happens. HeHe ... later all!

[deza.livejournal.com]

I'm addicted to Tazo Wild Sweet Orange tisane. :)

Tea!

[tikimama.livejournal.com]

melintur and I are avid tea drinkers. I used to have silme send me tea from the UK. However, I discovered the Most Perfect Tea on the Planet, our lovely local Peet's which convienently offers shipping from the Interweb! :)

Be sure to get loose tea, though. It makes an amazing difference. Follow your local god, Alton Brown's instructions for how to make it properly.

[dark-firefly.livejournal.com]

you have said the magic word! i am a tea-fanatic and i love teavana. i recently started a japanese teacup collection, and they've helped a lot.

i have mate carnival mixed with some chai. it reminds me of pumpkin pie. i'll have to let you know what it is when i'm home and can look.

if you want to try a rooibos, i suggest you try a rooibus oasis, which i got from teavana. it's yummy and kinda citrusy. if i'm not mistakes...it's got jasmine in it as well.

and if you LOVE jasmine like i LOVE jasmine, you'll have jasmine dragon phoenix pearls (the damn most expensive thing they sell) by themselves. oh...so good...and i can steep them about 3 times before i ahve to throw them out, so it's worth it.

hm, i recently got moroccan mint. good stuff, even iced.

let me know if you want any other tea advice! ^__^ you're doing something very good for you. lots of anti-oxidants, especially in green tea.

[sassyelf.livejournal.com]

Wow I love tea! It's all my Grandma's fault. When I went to Germany, my host-mom made fresh peppermint tea every morning for breakfast. I still drink peppermint tea every morning, it's just soo refreshing, no matter how groggy I am. It's also really soothing on those "girly" days. I just got an electric kettle for myself and my grandma. (all the fault of my friend Elli's mom in Britain) It's the best. It takes about 2 min to boil water. Love it, love it.

Thanks sooo much for posting those tea sites! *runs off to play with her tea*

[ariedana.livejournal.com]

It's so strange that we grew up so close together in such a very uncosmopolitan place but got into the same weird things. I remember fixing hot tea and dry toast and trying to feel British as a teenager. And trying to order hot tea at Shoney's was a hoot.

I love darjeeling tea. Any variety you can find will probably be good. I also like Om tea (can't remember the brand, but it seems to be in coffeehouses a lot. I used to get it at Davis-Kidd in Nashville.)

[buckthorn.livejournal.com]

When I was in Athens, I got addicted to a tea called Russian Caravan at the Athens Coffee House. I've tried to find it since they closed, and I've found a tea called Russian Caravan, but I can't decide if it's the same tea or not. Teavana sells it, though, and it's very yummy... a nice smoky flavor, pretty robust.

And yes, loose tea is nice and you can feel like a tea snob. Bonus.

[ga-sunshine.livejournal.com]

Yeah, most of the coffee houses here in Athens now don't seem to have good teas, though the new Panera Bread thingy does have Chai and some of the others have added Chai.

[buckthorn.livejournal.com]

any city where you can get beer cheaper than tea is just... y'know... wrong. ;)

or right. I can't decide which now.

[shadowkatt.livejournal.com]

Peppermint tea (if you have cats they'll love it too because catnip is a kind of mint, and because I know from experience, my kitties love to try to eat/drink anything that smells minty).

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Hee. My kitties love to try to eat anything that I'm eating!!

[marieofroumania.livejournal.com]

I really like "Teaspace" in Little 5 Points over by the theater. Have you tried Bubble Tea? It takes some getting used to - but yum.

[astrophysicat.livejournal.com]

Rooibos!

I just discovered rooibos tea myself, through Numi's Red Mellow Bush tea ( random url where you could buy it .) I really really like that one, it's so soothing and relaxing, none of the bitter tones of blacker teas, none of the insane caffiene levels of the green teas. I desperately need to buy some for myself rather than continuing to pay through the nose for it at the coffee shop.

I also really like a good indian cardamom/cinnamon tea with milk and sugar. Not actually chai, that's usually too sweet and also frothy. But the tea house I used to always get it at was flooded a couple years ago in a hurricane and never reopened... (actually I should check that again).

My fallback is Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange Spice. Though I actually hate every other celestial seasonings tea I've ever had other than the unobjectionable chamomile.

What's funny is tea is extremely particular. I only like a very small percentage of teas, and not the same ones that other people I know really like. So, it's a tough one for suggestions. Though the Numi is an excellent rooibos. (not that I'm enough of a south african connoisseur to tell the difference)

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

I'm very fond of black teas myself. I went a little berserk a while ago, ordering tons and tons of tea from the UK--I got VERY spoiled when I was over there. The tea just tastes better. So anyway, Irish breakfast, English breakfast (if you're stuck, Twining's is actually quite good), Earl Grey if I'm sick. I also got fun tea, like the Mad Hatter's Afternoon Blend and Sherlock Holmes London Tea. Hey, they have cool tins--I couldn't resist!

[sujata.livejournal.com]

Alas, I can't help you. I enjoy tea, but who could improve upon the advice already given? :-)

[kimberly-a.livejournal.com]

I luuuuuuuurve tea! My favorite for the past several months has been Republic of Tea's "Tea of Inquiry (http://www.purcifuls-toys.com/teaofinrepof.html)," though I can't imagine how it would taste sweetened.

[indiepunkrock.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of cinnamon tea...but I really love cinnamon (even though I'm not sure I'm spelling it right, however I shall post anyway and be prepared to look like an idiot if it is, in fact, misspelled)

oh and chai. I love chai. Child's temp, organic chai. *drools*

[tygerlilly.livejournal.com]

I don't know if chai counts as tea. But....I *LOVE* russian tea too.

[gina.livejournal.com]

I love teas... I was so sad when Starbucks forsook their fabulous line of teas (remember Garden Berry, by any chance? It was GOD) for crappy-ass Tazo.

This is pretty common and cliche compared to the very schnazzy teas you mentioned, but I also like Celestial Seasonings herb teas, especially Chamomile, Sleepy Time, and Wild Berry Zinger.