A Nice Cup of Tea!

[rhadin]

Thanks, Andural, for the response. I currently buy my tea from The Republic of Tea and have been very happy with the quality of the green tea I buy. They also have premium teas, several of which I have tried, but I always come back to the basic green tea. I end up buying monthly from the company.

I may give Upton a try on my next purchase.

[astra]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Thanks, Andural, for the response. I currently buy my tea from The Republic of Tea and have been very happy with the quality of the green tea I buy. They also have premium teas, several of which I have tried, but I always come back to the basic green tea. I end up buying monthly from the company.

I may give Upton a try on my next purchase.

What green tea do you buy? How do you brew it?

[rhadin]

Astra, see message #34 in this thread.

I buy both loose and bag versions of the Daily Green Tea. I have tried several of their premium green teas but I do not like the smoky or nutty flavor that some have.

I use a Russell Sage tea pot with diffuser and water kettle system. I'm thinking of buying the SmartKettle Model 688 which maintains water temperature although I rather like the UtiliTEA Kettle and really am interested in the Breville Variable-Temperature Kettle.

I have found that I like to brew the tea for exactly 2 minutes 30 seconds and I use a timer for that purpose.

[lmarie]

Upton Tea is excellent! My son-in-law and I are tea fanatics -- we get together periodically to order from Upton and to try out new and interesting varieties. There are so many! They sell bulk tea in several packaging sizes and also sell "sampler" sets.

Upton also has a great catalog. In addition to the detailed descriptions of their extensive tea holdings, they publish a long-running series of historical articles called "Reversals of Fortune in the Tea Industry", currently up to episode 13. You can read the articles on their website if you don't take the catalog.

We are also big fans of Fortnum & Mason, which has some excellent teas, our standby favorite being Royal Blend.

About decaf: I drink Upton decaf in the afternoons (sigh, regular tea keeps me awake.) I have yet to find one I'm wild about, but they are okay if you don't make them too weak.

Yum, tea!

(PS I hate the word "infusion" for herbals -- sounds medical! Tisane is better.)

[Verencat]

Originally Posted by ahammer

you can get a good tea in the us.

my grocer used to have like diffrent 50 teas from stash tea. (now I just order from them online. http://www.stashtea.com/. that are based in Portland,Oregon)
but it must have only been me buying them becuse they stop having tea but
ice tea. also I think ice tea was started in the states if I recall right.

I'm late to this thread, but I just want to add that I love Stash for tisanes. I make my own mixes of medicinal herbs that I buy loose in an apothecary, but use their chamomile and mint because it's so much easier to carry around the sachet'd herbs, and they use good quality plants.

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Matcha ... wonderful ......

Powdered Green Tea

I was all glad and happy to share my recipe for green tea ice cream, then I remembered you don't eat dairy products.
Anyhow, for those who might be interested: let soften one small tub of vanilla ice cream, mix in two table spoons (or more) of matcha, then pop back in the freezer for 24 hours. It's to die for.

[jgray]

I guess I'm an odd American. I never acquired the coffee habit. I do like tea, but mostly drink it in the cooler months. I generally buy Twinings or Bigelow brand (bags). I don't like Earl Grey, even if it is Captain Picard's favorite. I do like English Breakfast Tea, though. No milk for me, thanks. Just a little sugar or honey. And I like it strong.

Edit: Instead of a coffee maker, I have a tea maker. It actually makes a very good cup of tea (or several).

[jgray]

Originally Posted by Verencat

I was all glad and happy to share my recipe for green tea ice cream, then I remembered you don't eat dairy products.
Anyhow, for those who might be interested: let soften one small tub of vanilla ice cream, mix in two table spoons (or more) of matcha, then pop back in the freezer for 24 hours. It's to die for.

We used to have a Japanese restaurant in town that served green tea ice cream. It was very good.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Verencat

I was all glad and happy to share my recipe for green tea ice cream, then I remembered you don't eat dairy products.
Anyhow, for those who might be interested: let soften one small tub of vanilla ice cream, mix in two table spoons (or more) of matcha, then pop back in the freezer for 24 hours. It's to die for.

let not that little issue bother you me lass, I make me own with soya milk and is equally as good as the (erm) 'real stuff'....I shall look forward to a home-made batch of green tea ice cream .....

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

let not that little issue bother you me lass, I make me own with soya milk and is equally as good as the (erm) 'real stuff'....I shall look forward to a home-made batch of green tea ice cream .....

Do you put soya milk in tea/coffee Geoff??
I tried it a couple of times but it 'curdles' on contact - looks horrible.

Wouldn't mind having a soya milk option for coffee, but I've never got it to work.

[HarryT]

That is one benefit of coffee - it tastes OK with "whitener" in it. Tea with artificial whitener in it is ghastly.

[JvdW]

Originally Posted by Halk

That was the shop I was looking for! Thanks a ton!

I've ordered some Orangajuli, which is what I believe I looked at previously. They have free delivery at the moment if you order over £20.

Just found the following site by chance:
http://www.mightyleafteas.co.uk/default.aspx

Joop

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

Do you put soya milk in tea/coffee Geoff??
I tried it a couple of times but it 'curdles' on contact - looks horrible.

Wouldn't mind having a soya milk option for coffee, but I've never got it to work.

er - no - drinking green tea we don't perceive the need and as for coffee we just take it black ....

i think you may have to add the soya milk after, rather than before - i've managed OK when we've had guests and they have black tea (rather than green)...

[astra]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Astra, see message #34 in this thread.

I buy both loose and bag versions of the Daily Green Tea. I have tried several of their premium green teas but I do not like the smoky or nutty flavor that some have.
I have found that I like to brew the tea for exactly 2 minutes 30 seconds and I use a timer for that purpose.

Thanks.
I wonder whether anyone know good quality Green tea bags?

[BearMountainBooks]

I have never found good quality green tea bags and I have tried. This is one product that I think you really have to find in a Japanese store. I didn't even like the green teas that I tried from the Asian market (mostly Chinese).

Good green tea is very hard to find. I think I posted earlier that Glandeves has a very good white peony tea that reminded me of some of the very good Japanese green teas. That's the closest I have come other than getting it from Japan. And it too is a loose tea.

[astra]

Originally Posted by rhadin

I use a Russell Sage tea pot with diffuser and water kettle system. I'm thinking of buying the SmartKettle Model 688 which maintains water temperature although I rather like the UtiliTEA Kettle and really am interested in the Breville Variable-Temperature Kettle.

I have found that I like to brew the tea for exactly 2 minutes 30 seconds and I use a timer for that purpose.

None of the kettles would suit me because I brew teas very differently.
I use some sort of japanese teapot. I put tea into a sieve which I put into teapot. I usually cool down water in a water jug and pour it into teapot when it is right temperature (I use water thermometer), brew it as long as a particular tea requires then remove sieve with tea, cover teapot with Tent Teapot Cozy and drink is slowly after that.