PlaneShift
Fan Area => The Hydlaa Plaza => Topic started by: Sharakaz on February 28, 2006, 04:22:50 pm
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So i\'ve run completely out of tea today, while i\'m having a nasty flu.
I noticed there\'s alot of Brits on this forum so i thought asking here would make a bit of sense :)
What teas would you recommend? I\'ve been stuck on one mega-package of camomille tea, which i like, but recently it started getting a tad boring taste. I\'ve tried a few tea with those fruit flavours like pepermint and strawberry which didn\'t fell in my taste. I\'ve tasted a few \"Prince of blabla\" which i like.
Now, tea-experts! What should i try next? :P
Please forgive me if i malpractice the tea-terminology
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Oay,
Tea, Peppermint teat with a hint of Tabasco... I like my hot foods ;)
or why not try coffee to give you the kcik you need for everyday life...
-Athien
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Well i actually try tea to get of the coffee habit :P
I started getting drousy and angry after drinking coffee
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Hi,
Most teas on sale in the UK are branded in a way that hides their origin. e.g. \"PG-tips\" or \"Yorkshire Tea\" (yes I know there\'s a place called Yorkshire and I know it\'s where the tea is blended but believe me, you won\'t grow much tea there).
You can get the \"Apple and lemon\", \"Cinamon and grape\", \"Cod and carpet\" type brews but the majority are blended mixes of tea and another tea.
My personal favorite at the moment is \"Yorkshire Gold\" by \"Taylors of Harrigate\". A spledid brew. I do occasionally flirt with such teas as \"Lady Grey\" which is quite nice but when push comes to shove and you just want a nice cuppa, Yorkshire gold every time.
Cheers.
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for an everyday tea I usually drink a blended brand called PG Tips but for the more special moment Stash Earl Grey or Taylors Afternoon Darjeeling and while not overly keen on false flavoured teas I do like the strawberry tea from Ahmad and Stash Apple & Cinnamon
Get your Tea here (http://www.teaworld.co.uk/index.php)
edit to add link
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if were talking servings then yes coffee containes more caffeine than tea, however in dry weight tea contains more.
just a useless fact i thought you might like to know.
my favorite? Mint and ginger
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Wooooo, I\'ll try to go easy on you for now and will try not to drown you in all the details, theory and so on for starters.
But you have to know some bare basics, in any case:
~ Green, Red, Black? ~
It\'s all the same plant, the only reason is how long and strong it was left to ferment. Green tea is almost unfermented, black is strongly fermented, red (a.k.a. Oolong) is somewhere in between. There is also white tea, which is green tea that\'s so light it doesn\'t even have that green tone.
The darker it is (you can also see it in the colour the tea shows in the cup), the stronger it is, basically.
Green (and white) teas should be left in water that is just short of starting to boil for 2-3 minutes. Oolongs for 2-5 (depending on the type). And black teas usually 3-5 in water that just started to boil.
note: Some (usually Indian) black teas like Darjeeling tend to have a ruby-red colour. Those are techincally black teas.
~ Got milk? ~
There\'s a simple rule: you can put milk into black teas. And even then not in all - Darjeeling (especially a first flush!), as an example, is mild in taste already and is too gentle to go well with milk.
But in the end, I\'ve seen people even drink white teas with milk - it looks wierd, but whatever rocks your boat...
~ Teabags? ~
Well, the best way is to let the loose tea leaves swim in the water and filter them out just before filling the tea into the teapot or cup.
Also it\'s common practice that what you get in teabags is broken tea or even dust (as a gradation of tea!) ...which are very finely ground tea leaves.
But for starters, teabags could serve you quite well.
~ Dust? Fannings? WTF? ~
Oh, well ...I asked for it, I guess...
This is the gradation of how finely the tea leaves are ground (intentionally or not!). The finer - the stronger/tippier (tippy is a tea word for what can be vaguelly described as bitter) the taste.
Dust - well ...the name says it all o_O
Broken - all the leaves are broken ...most common in teabags (you might know it from Broken Orange Pekoe)
Fannings - some leaves are broken, but cca. a half is left whole
Loose - all the tea leaves are whole :]
Gunpowder - whole leaves of green/white (hand)rolled into small ball shapes
...well, and in some cases of expensive green/white tea, you get them rolled into other shapes.
If you liked Prince of Wales, you might like stuff black teas that are either pure Keemun, Yunan, Ceylon or Assam ...or blends made out of them. Yunan and Ceylon could be a bit much for a tea-noobie, but you never know. I\'d recomend you try something like Scottish Breakfast or Irish Breakfast (both from Taylors of Harrogate). Yorkshire Gold is also a great choice ...especially as cream tea :]
heh, I think I got a bit carried away, but this is still not half of what you still have to learn ;)
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The only tea I\'m crazy about is green tea, and I don\'t have a favourite brand. The Chinese ones tend to be better than the more Americanized ones.
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Thanks alot for all the advice. Specially to hook for explaining a bit of the theory :P I\'ll definately go and read a bit more up on it.
I\'ve only used teabags until now because the local shops have been phasing the tea trend out over the last few years. But we have a few specialiced shops around which i\'ll definately look into :)
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No problem ...if you need anything, just ask :]
My favourte green/white tea is Dragon Pearl ...it\'s a very delicate one handrolled into balls together with jasmine ...mmmmm :]
Black teas I drink more often, but don\'t have a definite favourte ...at the end of the day, I drink the blend that just feels the best at the moment.
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Hi there,
lately my favorite tea is a Chinese green tea called \"milk oolong.\" It is actually fed milk and has a buttery aroma and flavor. It may be a bit hard to find, but it is very tasty!
Apparently, to brew Chinese teas, one boils the water, then let it cool for about a minute. Then pour over tea and stir for about 30 seconds. Then remove the tea. Never add milk or sugar! ;)
If you ever visit Chinatown in San Francisco, go to a shop called the Vital Tealeaf (on Grant). You can sit down and sample teas for hours if you like while the staff chat it up woth you and teach you more than you could ever possibly remember about tea. Warning: too much tea can make you feel pretty odd!
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eggplantboy: Isn\'t an oolong black?
I am a green tea drinker mostly, try experimenting with sample packs from places like dragonwell tea and specialteas. Lots of wonderful types there. If you are new to non herbal teas (not chamomile) try something you know you will finish drinking, like a black or green, not a matcha or roasted, etc...
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I don\'t like tea. I prefer soda.
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Oolong is \"red\" tea ...neither green nor black, but something in between.
eggplantboy: could you take a look at that shop of yours if they hold Tarry Souchong? It\'s a brew, like Lapsang Souchong but even stronger smoked, that I want to try but cannot get my hands on it
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Howdy,
This oolong looks green... The definition of black vs. green is different though, huh. Something to do with fermentation? I forget. What is a red tea? I\'ve heard people call rooibos \"red tea.\" Are there true teas that are red?
Tarry Souchong it\'s called? I\'ll check it out. :)
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Yup, the difference in (white), green, red (oolong) and black is in the time/amount the leaves are left to ferment ...the darker the \"colour\" the more fermented they are.
Red a.k.a. oolong is more fermented then green and less then black. But you are correct - it is closer to stronger green teas then to black ones.
Roibos or Redbush tea is a plant of itself and has nothing to do with the teaplant itself, and even less so with Oolong.
Technically Roibos/Redbush is a herbal tea (in some places named \"infusion\") and that plant just happens to have similar attributes as (real) tea.
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Hello,
Cool. :) Thanks for the info. I was told something different about white tea, though. One of the guys at that shop said that white tea was made from mutated leaves from tea plants. According to him, white leaves occur occasionally on tea plants, and that the higher price for white tea is due to pickers having to search for (or sort out) the few white leaves on the plantation. Was he pulling my leg, making an excuse for the high price of white tea?
EDIT: I haven\'t been to Vital Tealeaf yet, but I\'ve tried to find Tarry Souchong on the internet (and Vital Tealeaf doesn\'t have a website yet). You\'re right, it\'s hard to find! So far the only company I\'ve found that carries it is a French one:
http://www.admirable-tea-boutique.com/acatalog/the_taiwan_the_fume_the_formose.html
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That\'s a first to me
...White tea is just made from the top two leaves and buds and is treated more carefully then green tea. It has nothing to do with any mutations at all ;)
You can check it on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_tea), if you don\'t believe me :P
White tea is quite expensive, because of two factors:
- they have to be handpicked, since no machine can pick only the two topmost leaves and buds
- the taste and whole production is more delicate (especially if they\'re then handrolled into ornamental shapes)
The most expensive tea is an white tea which was used to be drunk only by the Chinese emperor. Only virgins using golden gloves were alowed to pick the buds and the top two leaves on the special plantage and only at a certain time of year, if the conditions were right. ...and, no, I\'m not pulling your leg! I don\'t remember if it\'s already on the market, or is the only way to get it still as a gift from the emperor.
Thanks for the link :)