Thread: Tea?

Up until last few years there has been not much different tea blends available here. Nowadays it is different but i'll stick with Earl Grey. Add 1-2 drops of lemon and little natural honey and that is my choice.

I'm a big fan of Stash Teas Dragon Phoenix Pearl Jasmine...makes an excellent iced tea in the summer, and hot tea in winter .

Originally Posted by jplamarre

I drink japanese green tea practically as water. I usually order first-harvest green tea directly from Japan in a website called o-cha. I'm the official pusher of my office floor. I had the chance to be taught the traditionnal tea ceremony two times when i went to Korea. I'm so into good fresh green tea. The traditionnal way to do it actually requires res lot of skills which i'm humbly trying to reproduce. Kind of linked to the same spirit of shaving with a straight razor.

I also had the incredible chance to received some naturally grown black tea from a stay in a recluded buddist temple in Korea's backcountry. It was the best tea experience of my life for sure.

There is also a particular tea i really enjoy called "Labrador Tea". I come from up the 50th parallel in Canada and the climate here is sub-artic. There's is a naturally grown tea everywhere in the forest. It was traditionnaly used by natives here, especially by pregnant women since it's a really effective pain killer. It is also said to have over a dozen of benefic effects on health. Really tasty, sweet like honey. Probably the forgotten natural miraculous universal remedy for any mankind's health concerns :P

J-P

I too am a fan of O-cha. I got myself one of their tea pots as well and I am with you on the fact that brewing it takes skill. IMO you cannot get real green tea anywhere in the west but at a good tea house or if you order straight from Japan or China. What I love about the tea from O-cha is that its actually GREEN, not brown!

Originally Posted by LeBuzz

IMO you cannot get real green tea anywhere in the west but at a good tea house or if you order straight from Japan or China.

Yes Sir! In fact, the first thing that matters with tea is freshness and the second is harvest. O-Cha is the only place i found that i have a production date and what harvest was that tea. There's about 40 harvests of tea in the season. The first one is the best quality because it's in this one that you get the maximum benefits from green tea (i.e. concentration of antioxidant (sorry its french word maybe)) In O-Cha i can have a first harvest fresh green tea for less than 20$ a 100g. I havent seen a local tea house that can beat that!! J-P

Though not fancy I like a cup of Good Earth Energizing Black Tea, Mate And Citrus. Its a good balance, and the Mate brings a boldness.

i love a great cup of strong lipton instant ice tea lol im not much for brewed tea fun fact america is the only country in the world that the majority of tea drinkers like their tea cold (85%)

Originally Posted by AnarchoPhil

The Iraqis started me drinking tea. They drink these little shot glasses of hot tea every time they get a chance.

I love Iraqi tea... It took sometime to get use to it, but once you do... The best stuff ever...

Depending on who is brewing it, it can be light or quite dark and bitter. I noticed that the older men liked the dark stuff...

The other secret to Iraqi tea is the sugar they use... They will fill the cup 1/4 full with large grain sugar that never really ever melts... So much better than our refined suagr...

Oh... Earl Gray is my choice...

I never used to drink tea, but as of late it's almost all i drink. i prefer black tea, preferably assam, and most anything Harney & Sons put out (try the spiced plum!)

Though not exotic, a good, hot cup of Earl Grey picks me up in the morning and helps me relax later on. I never had a taste for coffee, actually I hate the stuff.

Yesterday I returned home to Bangkok after a few days in Chiang Mai. At the airport on the way home I found a shop selling tea grown and processed in Thailand. I had a taste of a couple of different types of Oolongs, but I had already spent most of my money. I did however come home with a gong fu tasting set.

The Thai Oolongs were a lightly oxidised Oolong similar to Taiwanese Oolongs, but had a destinctive creamy smell. I'm looking forward to finding some more of this tea.