As a coffee drinker I’ve only ever dunked a tea bag for a cup of the stuff, but I’ve had an amazing tea recently and wonder what leaves would give something special, without any bitterness, and how to make it.

Tea snobs step up now please!

had a rather nice brew round a friends once…..in a tea pot, 2 bags of earl grey and a (i think) 1 bag of Darjeeling, twas rather nice!

Click on the About Tea link for descriptions of types and how to brew.
There’s a lot of tea out there and you’ll need to try a few types, including blends, to find what you like. Assam and my local tea/coffe shops Breakfast Blend work for me.

My SIL may be able to help.

teapot tea gifts

CFH will be along shortly to recommend something overpriced

Get some Yorkshire down yer gob.

Ceylons are smoother than most, as are darjeelings.

Earl Grey. Teabag in the cup, water just off the boil. 3 minutes, remove teabag add 1/2 slice lemon. Enjoy.

Joking apart, good quality tea is more than worth it.

Where you reckon Yorkshire tea comes from Tom? 😉

Will try some different teas. How long should they steep for? Are any of the packs in supermarkets good or is online/speciality shop the only way to go?

http://www.t2tea.com/top-gifts/t2-essentials/
Tea like Coffee is a term for the plant family, there are hundreds of varieties out there.

To make good tea you need leaves, bags are out, if it says yorkshire it’s out. having a way to remove the leaves from the pot (pot not mug) means you can brew it for the right amount of time to avoid the bitterness or over flavouring.

Get a teapot.

Warm pot with boiling water.

Add one nice teabag and enough hot water for two cups.

Stir a bit, pour, add milk and sugar.

You’ll be amazed how less bitter it tastes. I was anyway.

Tried loose tea. Hardly any difference in taste IMO.

Get a teapot.
Warm pot with boiling water.
Add one nice teabag and enough hot water for two cups.
Stir a bit, pour, add milk and sugar.
You’ll be amazed how less bitter it tastes. I was anyway.
Tried loose tea. Hardly any difference in taste IMO.

Well once you add sugar to it you will defeat the object really….

glasgowdan – Member
Where you reckon Yorkshire tea comes from Tom?

It’s grown on the sunny slopes above Ilkley.

I’ll leave everyone else to debate types, blends and methods of brewing; the only thing I would add is that it should be drank out of the right vessel. A mug may be fine for your breakfast-blend-tea-bag but for a “great posh cup of tea” it needs to be poured into fine bone china 8)

Bone china cup.

EDIT: Beaten to it by 2 seconds!

Where you reckon Yorkshire tea comes from Tom?

I dunno, probably the scrapings of proper tea factory floors, but it tastes good.

I dunno, probably the scrapings of proper tea factory floors, but it tastes good.

Or maybe you like the taste, never really described it as good…

I do have a variety here, this morning was a nice Bergamot flavoured black breakfast tea, for a more lazy Sunday I normally go with a slightly vanilla flavoured one. For most mornings and afternoons I’m drinking a nice Orange Pekoe. I have to admit not once of them gets close to Yorkshire Tea..

warming the pot is the best thing you can ever do to make a cup of tea taste nice.

And don’t drink anything American.

mikewsmith – Member

Get a teapot.
Warm pot with boiling water.
Add one nice teabag and enough hot water for two cups.
Stir a bit, pour, add milk and sugar.
You’ll be amazed how less bitter it tastes. I was anyway.
Tried loose tea. Hardly any difference in taste IMO.

Well once you add sugar to it you will defeat the object really….

And what is the object? 😀

Adding sugar just takes away from the taste of the tea, if you want to drink nice tea, drink the tea not the sugar!

What if they like to drink nice tea with sugar?

How should we punish them?

Rusty Spanner – Member
What if they like to drink nice tea with sugar?

How should we punish them?
Remove their teeth?

With a pair of silver plated tongs? 😀

Rusty Spanner – Member

With a pair of silver plated tongs?

Or a titanium spork?

Must add, as a massive tea snob who has been to India and sampled the delights of fresh tea off the side of the mountain plantations, I’d vote for Clipper as the best supermarket tea bag.

A first flush Dargeeling, brewed proper in a pot. A little milk.

I hate tea, tastes like you’re drinking a bit of tree, which you are really.

TEA PIGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pricy but they are magical, all of them!!

Just visit a Whittards shop, buy a tea pot and strainer and some nice tea leaves.

Earl grey
English breakfast tea
Whittards original blend
Pure Ceylon.

Follow poncy instructions about just off the boil and warming the pot etc.

CFH will be along shortly to recommend something overpriced

Ho ho. You just made me spit out a little bit of my common as muck PG Tips.

The sugar’s for my wife, I’m sweet enough already.

common as muck PG Tips.

Makes a fantastic cuppa if you use a pot, better than many posh teabags.

I’ve done the warm pot/loose tea method and it makes a nice cup with not too much faff.

But every now and then I get a brilliant cup from a PG tips bag. Made some the other day, one for the wife and she tells me its horrible, swap mugs, yep mine tasted much fresher/cleaner. But there were made side by side.

She claimed coffee contamination which I refute (she can’t stand the stuff)

My method is boiling water on bag, don’t let it brew too long, then give it a good mashing before milk.

This picture was taken in New York after 3 minutes of fruitless dunking.
Sadly we couldn’t save the poor little fella.

Disappointed in all you log fireists – has to be Lapsang Souchong, like drinking a bonfire in the woods – mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. 🙂

EDIT: stop putting milk in it then you will be able to taste the subtle flavours and differences between types – enjoy!

2 tea bags, 1 cup.
Posh as ****.

I always double bag.

I quite like a Jasmine Earl Grey its in the tea bit in Tescos too. A loose leaf Earl is nice too no milk for me.

Switched to leaf tea some months ago, no milk. Tried some Taylor’s SOuth African which has been nice, currently on some Darjeeling.

Of boiling water in a pot, 3-4 minutes brewing. And relax.

For a variety of quality loose teas, try here:Ringtons Loose Teas

If you’re after teabags, my daily brew is the Extra Fresh from the same place. Lovely brew when you haven’t got the time/patience for loose tea

As Donald Pleasance said in The Great Escape, tea without milk is so uncivilised.