[Stitchawl]

Lovely day at the fair! Ate too much grilled squid! Now sitting down with a later afternoon cup of unbranded Keemun tea... and enjoying it immensely!

Originally Posted by michaelryannh

But I have no idea where to start with, there is so many different flavors to choose from..
Any tea enthusiasts have any good ideas of what tea I should look into?

We got another one!

If you like stronger, more robust flavors, look for the black teas; Assam, Keemun, Ceylon, etc., and blends made with those.
VERY IMPORTANT!: There is a VERY big difference in flavor when using commercially made tea bags and the same brand of tea packaged as loose leaf tea. VERY big difference! If you are just getting started, do yourself a favor and only purchase the loose leaf teas. For those, you will also need a large infuser of some sort, golf ball sized or larger. Don't use the tiny teaspoon type. The leaves won't have room to expand.

Then it's just a matter of experimentation to find the teas that YOU like. All 'Assam' teas do not taste the same, nor do all the 'Keemun' teas. Every brand is different. Personally, I've found that all of the teas sold by:
East India Company
Fortnum & Mason
Taylors of Harrogate
Jacksons of Piccadilly
are very good as straight teas or blends such as English Breakfast, Royal Breakfast, Royal Blend, etc.

Twinings makes some very nice tea, but not all of their line tastes good to me. I enjoy their Prince of Wales and English Breakfast teas... but again, only as loose leaf tea. The commercially bagged stuff doesn't cut it!

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Well. THAT didn't take long!!! (Your assimilation, I mean). Keurig has some neat cups for tea, though I'm not sure our tea connoisseurs would agree with me.

I agree with you, shel! I think those cup are very pretty. They just aren't very good for drinking tea... (too small for me!)

Originally Posted by aceflor

Twinning prince of wales. Not strong enough for me though. Tried to get their Darjeeling, but none there.

Ace, if you're gonna drink those teas from their commercial bags, you are never going to get the flavor you want... PLEASE... order some loose leaf and try it side by side with the commercial bags. I promise you will NEVER want to drink a bagged tea again afterwards! Prince of Wales is a very good blend, but it does need a larger amount of leaf in the cup than the English Breakfast tea, and both need to be made from loose teas.

Originally Posted by Iridal

Ouch. I fell with my bicycle (my brand new Brompton folding bike) yesterday, and I'm really feeling it today. My right arm hurts like hell and feels very heavy, my neck hurts, my knees

Sorry to hear about your aches and pains. Find yourself a good jacuzzi and soak for an hour!

Originally Posted by aceflor

I miss my bike. Too hilly here, so I left it in Germany, but I really miss going shopping with my basket and my bike....

Put a motor on it. Works for me!


Stitchawl