What is in your cup?

[Stitchawl]

And now on to a large mug of Fortnum & Mason's English Breakfast tea!


Stitchawl

[poohbear_nc]

I think visiting this thread gives me the greatest realization of the vastly different time zones everyone is posting from - in concrete, if liquid, form.

[bjones6416]

And this thread makes me realize how much you guys are probably snickering at me, sitting here enjoying my Celestial Seasonings conglomerations.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

And this thread makes me realize how much you guys are probably snickering at me, sitting here enjoying my Celestial Seasonings conglomerations.

I have to admit to snickering and eye rolling. When you are ready to dive into loose leaf you will. And as soon as you do you will understand why we were snickering and rolling our eyes.

Seriously, I had no clue what I was missing out on with bagged tea until I tried loose leaf on a whim. Just using loose leaf Twinnings showed me how much better loose leaf was. Then I went looking for better tea and have been enjoying exploring the world of tea ever since.

I got 6 teas from him.
Keemun
GunPowder (the one I have is too old, why not start anew, I like green tea anyhow, it is the tea that I have been drinking lately: he wrote Verde = Green on the bag)
Lapsang (That is what he wrote. I had it once at the house of old diplomats that had served in China, and I remember that I liked it very much and how it surprised me, and then lately green bony chicken mentioned it and Am also so I put it in my list)
Sencha (I asked for a large leaf green chinese, he said Japan and gave me that, and that's it)
White tea (he was pleased, I have Olong already)
Ceylon (He wanted me to have a medium tea good in the morning and afternoon. I asked him about Assam that I have already and he told me that it is the strongest and than advised me with the Ceylon. I did not tell him of the Tanzania that I have, that is quite strong and that I will compare with the Assam that I bought the other day).

He told me that with loose leafs teas I am much better off, but by a wide margin better off than from confectioned packages. So, that's the way I am starting this exploration. Now I will slowly and gently go through these teas and make notes, and try to build a sensitivity and a taste.

I got the info from wikipedia about temperatures, steeping times, multiple steeping and all that. I will see about other details on the way if I develop interest and enjoyment.
__________________

Yeah! Enjoy. Sencha is one of my favorite teas. The key is using the right temperature water and steeping times. So many times people have had bad tea because it was made with boiling water for five minutes and way over cook their tea.

Please post your experiences. There will be some good and some bad and some disastrous (one friend I know tried a tea she could only describe as foot tea in the end) but that is half the fun.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

And this thread makes me realize how much you guys are probably snickering at me, sitting here enjoying my Celestial Seasonings conglomerations.

You don't know the half of it. 'Snickering' isn't nearly hard enough.

I remember when Celestial Seasonings first entered the market, and all us hippies began drinking Red Zinger tea when it came out in 1970. I tried to tell myself that I liked it. I tried. Honest, I tried. But when the 'EarthMother' of our commune insisted that we drink Chamomile at night I drew the line.

Black or green, with no flowers or flavors added to it.
(I'll only admit to Jasmine tea with my Chinese food. .)

Today, Celestial Seasonings accounts for over 100 million dollars in Herbal and green tea sales in the US alone, and they are VERY prominent in International sales as well. There must be something to it, as no one spends that much on the Emperor's New Clothes. Sometimes I'm envious of those who enjoy herbal teas. The names sound so inviting.

Stitchawl

[bjones6416]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

You don't know the half of it. 'Snickering' isn't nearly hard enough.

Stitchawl

I can't BELIEVE you guys are laughing at me!!!

But hey, knock yourself out, because I order beer over any other alcoholic beverage, too. And not designer beer, either.

Some of us just got no taste at all.

[beppe]

Originally Posted by astra

Please post here your experience

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

To that end, Beppe, a word of caution; Always drink from the front side of the cup!

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Please post your experiences. There will be some good and some bad and some disastrous (one friend I know tried a tea she could only describe as foot tea in the end) but that is half the fun.

Thank you guys! Now that I got all that stashed away I'll make myself a nice Nespresso. All those preliminaries sort of gave me a block , the usual block. But when the block is unblocked ...

A good day to everybody, especially to the time zones conscious one, that I hope will dress up soon.

[kindlekitten]

red zinger was the drink of choice when I was in high school. parents should have been happy then; "where's Johnny?" "well he's out behind the gym with a pot of Zinger!" actually and the company was pretty much literally across the street from my Dad's office in high school, and then when my folks moved to New Mexcio from Colorado, one of my high school friends was working there and gave them a bunch of those heavy duty shipping barrels to pack their stuff in. everything smelled divine for years!

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by bjones6416

I can't BELIEVE you guys are laughing at me!!!

Only me, Betty.

Everybody else drinks Celestial Seasonings teas. They got no taste either.
And Celestial Seasonings is laughing all the way to the bank!


Stitchawl

[astra]

Second cup of the day.
Mate coconut milk.

Goooood morning everybody

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

So many times people have had bad tea because it was made with boiling water for five minutes and way over cook their tea.

Very true - I wouldn't drink green tea for years after having over-brewed a cup and used boiling water.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Sometimes I'm envious of those who enjoy herbal teas. The names sound so inviting.

Stitchawl

I love the smells of some of them (not quite so much as green tea with jasmine though), but the taste

I did try Celestial Seasonings India Spice Chai once, but it was too insipid for my tastes (I now mix my own if I want masala chai)

And right now I've just finished a rather nice hot chocolate

[bjones6416]

Black coffee.

(Yep, just black coffee, from my keurig coffeemaker. I didn't grind the beans, or chant incantations over it, or put the cup through the autoclave. It's just coffee. In a regular old cup. Which I rinsed briefly. )

[astra]

Jade Ring

[astra]

Rooibos baked apple

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by ShortNCuddlyAm

I love the smells of some of them (not quite so much as green tea with jasmine though), but the taste

I love the smell of freshly ground coffee. .As a child I used to beg my mother to let me twist the key to open the large can of Maxwellhouse, just so I could hear it go 'whoosh' and smell the fresh aroma. As an older child accompanying my mother to the supermarket, I would gravitate to the isle with the coffee grinder and stand there with my nose down in the hopper, breathing happily.
Teas don't come close to smelling so good as coffee, but...

I absolutely can NOT stand the taste of coffee in any form; drink, ice cream, candy, cake, nothing!
I simply abhor the taste, and nothing done, not cream, not sugar, not bourbon, nothing, nothing at all will make it palatable to me. And I can and do drink several liters of tea every day. Without it, my day feels incomplete.

Stitchawl