What is in your cup?

[aceflor]

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, ... I'm just so glad my bicycle is still in one piece. Stupid guy in front of me just started braking really hard all of the sudden. Ouch.

On the upside: just eight more hours at work and then I can enjoy my 1-week holiday

In my cup: Rooibos peach

Iridal, nice to hear from you !!! So sorry about your accident !!! Take good care of yourself, may I suggest a hot bad and Arnica in homeopatic grains ? They are very efficient with falls.

Are you going anywhere in your holiday ? (Bear with me, I am travelling by proxy these days )
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....

[GeoffC]

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, ... I'm just so glad my bicycle is still in one piece. Stupid guy in front of me just started braking really hard all of the sudden. Ouch.

Ouch indeed ... hope you are healing ....

Coffee #1

[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

[orlok]

Sorry to hear it Iridal - get well soon, lots of feet up and medicinal alcohol usually does the trick.

Kenco decaff in my mug.

[VydorScope]

Pumpkin Spice Coffee again, will chase it with Chocolate Doughnut Coffee I think....

[VydorScope]

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, ... I'm just so glad my bicycle is still in one piece. Stupid guy in front of me just started braking really hard all of the sudden. Ouch.

On the upside: just eight more hours at work and then I can enjoy my 1-week holiday

In my cup: Rooibos peach

Yuk! No fun, but focus on the holiday and forget the rest I say!

[Iridal]

Thanks guys I'm sure it's just sore muscles and I'll be back on my feet in not time! @Aceflor: I took a hot bath last night, I figured if it didn't help it wouldn't hurt either

In my cup: first cappuccino of the day. We were all out of coffee up until now, so that's why it's the first Just 4 more hours to go!

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Iridal

I took a hot bath last night, I figured if it didn't help it wouldn't hurt either

A 'Hot' bath can do more damage than none. 'Warm' is the way to go to increase circulation and heal the muscle damage. 'Hot' will reduce circulation as the body tries to keep itself cool.

I'm going to heal my body with juniper berries in liquid.


Stitchawl

[maianhvk]

I just got news from a friend. She's just got married. Oh. My. She was in the same high school, so practically she's 19...

Is it true that people tend to get married later than before? I myself believe so, but everyone around me insists on prooving the opposite! My sister was 24 and her husband was 26 when they got married, my cousin and his wife were 25, and then this friend of mine...

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, ... I'm just so glad my bicycle is still in one piece. Stupid guy in front of me just started braking really hard all of the sudden. Ouch.

They all appear out of nowhere, or stop immediately, don't they?

The last time I fell... Ugh. I hope you get better very soon!

[orlok]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I'm going to heal my body with juniper berries in liquid.

Might the liquid in question be an anagram of ign?

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by michaelryannh

I am from around the east coast of the United States, and I don't usually drink tea actually.

Except for the Lipton Cold Brew Teas, which I am aware.. is not actually tea.

Me <-- Complete newb to tea-drinking.

Mail order in the US -- I really like Peets. Their Pride of Port blend is a good general purpose blend. And they have reliable indvidual teas.

As others have said -- stay away from tea bags and focus on loose teas. You'll develop a preferred flavour profile over time and learn what works for you andm\ what doesn't.

[astra]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

I'll be interested to hear your comments about this Ceylon. So far, as much as I love their English Breakfast tea, it's been the only one from their line.

I didn't buy Ceylon.
After dissatisfaction with Taylors of Harrogate Pure Ceylon and Fortnum and Mason Piccadilly Blend Tea (Ceylon blend) I am reluctant to spend money on Ceylon.
But...
Due to Piccadilly Blend Tea disappointing experience I automatically banned Fortnum and Mason's another Ceylon blend - Afternoon Blend Tea. I few days ago I decided to give it a chance before it goes to rubbish bin. Surprise surprise! I liked it. In fact, I am going to make a cuppa right now.
Off I go.
*Astra saunters downstairs*

Back with cuppa #5
Fortnum and Mason's Afternoon Blend Tea.

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Sounds fantastic! Did you buy... Oops! Silly question! HOW MANY teas did you buy from her?

To be honest we didn't buy many teas. a) I have too many teas at home. I have to finish many/most of them before any big purchases b) her teas are expensive and I bought online most of what I could afford.

However, a few teas sneaked past my self-miser-erected barriers.
First of all

Originally Posted by astra

Keemun.
Normally it is too expensive for me, £30/100gr but there was sale 30% off, plus when you have tea tasting event, you get another 10% off. So, the price dropped down to £18/100gr and I decided to give it a try.
Do I like it more or less than Fortnum&Mason or The East India Company? I don't know yet. The first two cups didn't impress me much. The third one that I am having right now is much better. It has sweetness to it. I am still playing with brewing time/tea amount

I had another cup of this Keemun today in the morning and its quality dropped again below Fortnum and Mason or The East India Company.
*shrug* Worth trying though

Because I realised that I was going to buy Keemun there was no point in drinking it during tea tasting and we decided to try an interesting white -- aged tea. Aged Shou Mei White Tea Spring 2002. Some info about it. I was not terribly impressed with it but my wife loved it. It comes in tea cakes, we bought half of it. Although it is a white tea it looks brownish. Pleasant flavour. Unlike any other white teas. I would never have guessed it was a white tea. Another oddity about it is its age. It is an Aged white tea.

I picked up two grades of Dragon Well I ordered a week ago but asked her not to post it because I could collect the tea in person.
I bought 100gr of a real Milk Olong. Not a Ti Kuan Yin steamed over milk but a real Ti Kuan Yin oolong grown up in a place where soil and weather conditions contribute to Ti Kuan Yin flavour what we call Milk Oolong. We, because Chinese don't call it Milk Oolong but milk is a familiar flavour to us, Westerners and it's closest to the flavour of this oolong which in reality is the same oolong as Ti Kuan Yin only grows in a different places and harvested at different time. She also explained why when I steeped milk oolong its opens so much. It has something to do with harvesting older and bigger leaves from tea tree.

We tried cooked and raw pu-erh but didn't buy any. For some reason the teas were not outstanding, let alone worth the exuberant prices, such as £80 for 357gr cake

Another tea I tasted during tea tasting was Lapsang Souchong. WOW! That was fantastic. Noone would call it "burned tyres". She explained why. Just like with Milk Oolong, one can enhance the flavour artificially. Thus the flavour becomes overpowering, i.e., burned tyres. If it is a natural flavour it is a notch above subtle. Obviously, smoky but with a hint of sweetness and very pleasant. I didn't buy it because it was too expensive but I won't re-order this tea in Tea House Emporium either. I have to try other sources. Predictably The East India Company and Fortnum and Mason Maybe sometime around Christmas

[astra]

Cuppa #6

Keemun

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, ... I'm just so glad my bicycle is still in one piece. Stupid guy in front of me just started braking really hard all of the sudden. Ouch.

Ouch indeed. Getl well!
You have an interesting bicycle.
I used to have a similar ages ago, back in Ukraine



However, after I tried one with gears I could never return to this type.
It is lot harder on leg muscles than bicycles with big wheels and gears.
I guess it is comfortable for ladies in skirts/dresses.

Originally Posted by maianhvk

I just got news from a friend. She's just got married. Oh. My. She was in the same high school, so practically she's 19...

Is it true that people tend to get married later than before? I myself believe so, but everyone around me insists on prooving the opposite! My sister was 24 and her husband was 26 when they got married, my cousin and his wife were 25, and then this friend of mine...

I understand your point of view about 19.
25 & 26? Are you sure that by that age you would not know yourself and be still immature to commit?
I don't know.
I married when I was 29. I was not ready 3 years before that. I am not sure I was mature enough even at 29 but my other half was more experienced and knew how to soften the rough edges. However, I know that I was an abnormality. My friends at 25 were more mature than I was at 29.

I guess it depends on one's life experience.

[orlok]

Originally Posted by astra

My friends at 25 were more mature than I was at 29.

Maturity is overrated. There's a fine line between maturity and just boring. I know which side of the maturity line I fall....

[astra]

Originally Posted by orlok

Maturity is overrated. There's a fine line between maturity and just boring. I know which side of the maturity line I fall....

I think I know where I reside...