The brother-in-Law bought me 15 nice tea bags and I've realised that there is more to life than PG Tips / Yorkshire Tea.
Any recommendations? I'm thinking I'll put aside a few quid a week for some nice tea.
go [url= http://www.theteapot.co.uk/ ]here[/url] and get some of the good stuff. I'd suggest starting with one of their selection boxes.
darjeeling.
don't use boiling water.
don't use milk.
don't over-brew it.
beautiful stuff.
or...
lapsang souchong if you're prepared to try something completely mental.
(it's like drinking wood smoke)
Whatever you try, it really has to be server Whoopi. (as In Whoopi Goldberg - Black Nun)
lapsang souchong +1
We freaking love that in our house. Super tea!
Much as I love mr Scruff, his tea is very coarse stuff.
What's wrong with red label?
Your probably right I think I probably just like it for the mr scruff'ness.
You won't go far wrong with:
[url] http://www.imperialteas.co.uk/ [/url]
Real tea geeks, nice people, lovely real shop, splendid teas.
We like pure Ceylon. Most supermarkets do their version but the stuff that looks like its made of twigs as opposed to dust, is awesome.
Worth it if you like normal (black) tea. Tea bags of Ceylon aren't a patch on proper tea (looked like twigs) we had there 10 years ago though. (Sri Lanka)
I love green tea. Drink lots of different varieties of it, as does my father now. He is a bit eccentric and buys fancy ones from all over the world.
I know one of his cost around something like 25 pounds for 25 grams, can't remember if it was any good or not.
Where to start! There are so many different types of tea it's hard to know what someone will like.
At one end of the scale you have White Tea with it's sweet and fresh flavours and at the other end you have Puerh which has a very strong taste and complex flavours, but improves and mellows with age - much like a good whisky does.
My suggestion is to get a load of samples and see what floats your boat, and to steer clear of the flavoured / novelty teas and ALL of the stuff you see in supermarkets.
If you can get it look out for one called Tippy Yunnan or Yunnan Gold - it's a great tea to start out with as it's not too different from regular assam/ceylon/dargeeling teas, but has a such a nice flavour you'll be hooked.
Outside of importing tea directly from Japan, the best quality I've had is from Jing: http://jingtea.com/
And on the cheaper end of the scale Nothing But Tea are hard to beat in terms of value for money and choice: http://www.nbtea.co.uk/
Teapigs are also worth a look - their Mao-Feng Green Tea is superb and they are starting to pop up in specialist food shops all over the place: http://www.teapigs.co.uk/
Oolong, or Black Dragon, is lovely, delicate flavour and a scent of peaches. My favourite.
+1 for imperial teas. really know their stuff. fantastic for coffee too, they roast it themselves.
Imperial Teas:
[url= http://www.imperialteas.co.uk/accessories/coffee-equipment/cafetieres/syphon-coffee-maker?zenid=c4fd0e24e457bf7e5bd533cc68f25fe2 ]I'm not 100% sure how this works from the photo, but I want one.[/url]
another vote for lapsang - very different though, strong woody smokey taste, not everyone's taste and something you really need to try for yourself - after all what does it cost to try?
also green tea - but remember it's not like black tea. i'd tried it a couple of times and never liked it, then listened to someone talking about it on the radio. brew it, chuck out the first infusion but keep the tea leaves and reuse them. the second infusion is the first to drink. but here's the secret part, make a third then fourth infusion. the fourth is the best. i could never drink al that n one go, but certain the second and third were way better than the first.
I wouldnt recommend chucking out your first infusion with green tea, you may only get 2 out of the leaves.
You may be getting confused with pu-erh tea though where you can get up to 10 infusions and they mellow the more you use them
Earl Grey bang on cuppa
I drink Twinings English Breakfast in the morning and Twinings Earl Grey, Lady Grey or (currently) Earl Grey with some orange infusion thing in the afternoon.
Presume you're using a teapot, if not go and buy one. One bag will make a perfect cup for two people.
🙂
My favourite
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Earl Grey or Lady Grey - no milk of course.