Good Quality Tea

Anyone know anything about good quality tea?

I’m a Typhoo junkie from a bag.
I drink so much that I think I should look into a better quality brew for enjoyment.

Is the standard British tea generally black tea/English breakfast?

Any Suggestions on what I should buy and from where.
Any pot ideas? My girlfriend likes the FORLIFE teapots.

Cheers,

Stuart

Clipper is very lovely and no need to arse about with teapots.

(That said, teapotted tea is nice, but not something I practice)

MrsT likes her Twinnings.
http://www.twinings.co.uk/teaware/teapots

I’m more of a Scottish Blend

Tea Bags these take some beating.

Get a taster/sampler from here and enjoy a range of teas you never knew existed: https://jingtea.com

The tea from Aldi tastes much better than Twinings breakfast which I used to drink. And it’s won many awards as well as being a quarter if the price of other teas

Twinings English Breakfast Teabags.
No need to ponce about with tea pots or funny little fingers.

Waitrose’s Assam and Ceylon teas are the best IMO. Better than those branded stuff.

I think I have tried all of them as I was going to benchmark the best UK tea to some that I was buying from abroad.

I prefer loose tea.

😀

Yorkshire Gold

Mmm thirsty

*puts kettle on*

Brodies of Edinburgh loose leaf scottish breakfast tea, a mixture of assam and kenyan, nice n’ strong.

Ceylon tea is my favourite, lighter than Assam and a little more delicate. Sainsbury’s used to do a Kenyan black yes which was nice, not sure if they sell it any longer though.

When I started drinking tea properly years ago I was told always to boil fresh water – never mix boiled and fresh or reboil water. And to pour the water on the leaves whilst it’s still boiling. It does make a difference. But then so does the type of water you get out of your tap, filtered water makes a difference too.

Doesn’t matter if you drink Typhoo if you enjoy it.

Thompsons Punjana FTW.
Makes a lovely cup of tea that tastes like loose tea despite being in a bag. You will never go back to Tetley floor sweepings .

http://www.djmiles.co.uk/ ain’t bad, but I realised I was in withdrawl after spending all day drinking only their tea, and had to go back to Typhoo (& save the Miles for best). They also sell decent tea pots, with built in strainer, as those “FORLIFE teapots”, look like they’ll dribble to me

Cougar – Moderator

Plastic infuser with hot / boiling water … never. How’s the plastic taste like? Stainless steel is fine.

Always something, isn’t there.

+1 for Clipper tea bags here.

Treat yourself to a sampler from the rare tea co.[/url]

Their RAF & lost Malawi are my favourites. RAF for breakfast and lost Malawi without milk in the afternoons. Although Braithwaites (Dundee) broken orange pekoe is my current brew and is also excellent.

Cougar – Moderator

Always something, isn’t there.

Yep, we talking about drinking tea and nothing can be more serious then drinking a cup of tea … or coffee.

Burn him!

😆

Yorkshire Tea

Yorkshire Gold

+ 1

Just spent an awesome afternoon of anorakness at 216 Stand tasting all manner of MrTwinings best.
Came away with a bag of Lapsang Souchong, 2nd Flush Assam and Russian Caravan – if you can drink it without milk or sugar it’s a whole world of tastes to explore and another level of geeky obsession to add to the list. 😀

Similar to Drac but the Ringtons Extra Fresh are my bag of choice, always brewed in a teapot and served in a bone china cup (it makes a difference).

Booths. Loose leaf. In a “Stump Pot” :-O

Yorkshire gold for when I CBA with going loose leaf.

A decent, TGFOP Assam loose for everyday drinking.

H.R Higgins and sons Japanese cherry green tea for something fragrant.

Silver Needles white tea for something delicate in the evening.

Fortnums Irish Breakfast for when I need to WAKE UP…. NOW!

I love my tea me.

I’d recommend something like a Yunnan Gold as a good starting point, should be familiar enough for you to enjoy, but different enough to spark an interest.

This one is my fave, and not bad value
http://nbtea.co.uk/store/black-tea/9-tippy-yunnan.html

Yorkshire tea is grim

http://www.t2tea.com/
This lot for a good selection

Waitrose’s Assam and Ceylon teas are the best IMO. Better than those branded stuff.

This is bad. I find myself agreeing with chewkw again.

I prefer loose tea.

And again. Aagh.

A first flush darjeeling is absolutely fantastic, very different to your run of the mill tea, but you pay for it. Only bought it in India but a reputable tea merchant will be able to supply.

Drac – you need the proper water for Ringtons to work. My folks brought some down from Tyneside when I was living in Lincolnshire and the tea was awful when made there.
It doesn’t travel well.

And to expand a little
For breakfast (currently now)

http://www.t2tea.com/shop/tea-2/flavoured-scented-black-tea/sydney-breakfast/
In the afternoons it’s somewhere between

http://www.t2tea.com/shop/tea-2/flavoured-scented-black-tea/melbourne-breakfast/
and

http://www.t2tea.com/shop/tea-2/black-tea/orange-pekoe/

But occasionally I’ll throw something exotic into the mix like

http://www.t2tea.com/shop/tea-2/white-tea/silver-needles/

slowoldman – Member

Waitrose’s Assam and Ceylon teas are the best IMO. Better than those branded stuff.

This is bad. I find myself agreeing with chewkw again.

I prefer loose tea.

And again. Aagh. [/quote]
Look into my eyes … look into my eyes …
Pleeaassee givvee meee yourr crreeddiitt carrrddd dettailllss … 😆

mefty – Member

A first flush darjeeling …

Darjeeling tea is nice but not suitable for those that prefer strong tea.

TooTall – Member

Drac – you need the proper water for Ringtons to work.

I found Ringtons average but certainly better than Yorkshite tea but not as good as Twinning.

The best Twinning is their Coronation tea which they stop producing. The tea comes in big black tin and after I tasted two cups of it I bought another tin but they stopped producing it … so I stopped drinking Twinning. Other brands are so so either average or below average.

😀

ive recently downgraded from pg tips to morrisons red label teabags.

austerity or just bad taste, who can say.

Russian Caravan is lovely. The Whittards version is not too spendy.

Other brands are so so either average or below average.
Try the ones I linked to, much better than most and a huge variety.

Look up Bristol Tea.

soobalias – Member

ive recently downgraded from pg tips to morrisons red label teabags.

austerity or just bad taste, who can say.

EEeeewww red label tea … I bought some and they taste as if they were produced in London slum city plantation. I would use it as compose to be honest. Yuck!

Do yourself a favour, if you have Waitrose, get some Waitrose Assam loose tea or tea bag (£1.50 per 227 grams). At least you will not have after taste in your mouth after drinking red label.

The ONLY red label tea you want is the Madagascar red label vanilla black tea. This is very good.

😀

mikewsmith – Member

Other brands are so so either average or below average.

Try the ones I linked to, much better than most and a huge variety. [/quote]

Very expensive … 😯

Too expensive for normal person like me. I have tasted some very good tea but normally they are marginally better IMO (price can double or more) or perhaps my smoker taste buds are dead I don’t know.

Also if they are flavoured tea from China I would not touch it with a bargepole …

I use a Morrison’s On-The-Go travel flask all through the week, with Twinings Green Tea bags. Much nicer than regular teabags, as it stays hot for around six hours I don’t like it tasting stewed. The Green tea is just right for me.

or perhaps my smoker taste buds are dead I don’t know.

pointless then

mikewsmith – Member
pointless then

Price is the killer there.

😮