Recipe Tea: What are you steeping these days?

Post a pic of the Japanese green if you can. I'm sure it's something massmarket, but I'm curious. I drink a lot of Kirkland Signature green, which is actually just Itoen. I prefer Japanese greens over Chinese greens for their grassiness and that slight mineral hint of salinity. My husband hates them. He drinks Chinese green.

Kukicha is good--I like that it has less caffeine.

 

Irish breakfast tea...because I can't resist it.

Though I'm coming off of a good oolong run.

I got a bunch of green tea for Christmas, so I need to get into that.

 

I have not had the time to sit back and enjoy a good cuppa. I need to find my teapot. I reorganized my teas in November. I transferred them all into glass jars. Yes, light gets into the jars, but they're in a dark, cool cupboard most of the time unless I'm measuring out what I need, so I'm sure it's fine.

 

Thanks to both @snowy and @cynthetiq I have recently purchased some Assam and Darjeeling tea.

The first is tea from the Banaspaty Estate, though I'm not sure of the grade.

The second is the FTGFOP1 grade stuff I'm sure I've mentioned before.

 

I'm glad we could help inspire you.

 

I tend to undervalue black tea because all I knew growing up was the bagged Tetley and Red Rose crap that everyone tended to have. (And who knows how old the stuff was at any given time?)

I keep reminding myself that finer black teas produce an awesome cup of bliss.

 

I really love the Assam I picked up at my local tea shop. The tea shop is run by my friend's family, and they have wonderful relationships with their wholesalers, so they often get teas that no one else has that are excellent and reasonably priced, examples being this Assam and a Taiwanese High Mountain oolong that is thisclose to Ali Shan (yet half the price, because it's grown on the next mountain over or something). They're always willing to point out to me which is the "special" tea.

If it didn't cost $20 to ship to Canada, I'd send you some really awesome tea.

 

I'd like someone to recommend a good tea to make iced tea. I like a bottled brand called "Pure Leaf."
I prefer black tea, don't really care much for green.
In the stores it's hard to find either diet or plain unsweetened black tea. Plenty of diet green tea choices.
Any recommendations? Summer will soon be upon us.

 

Do you want loose leaf or bagged?

 

Bagged would be better, but I could do loose tea.

 

Teavana has this "tranquility" herbal blend that my friend gave me a big tin of. I have really been enjoying it of late.

 

Most blacks that are good for icing, and reminiscent of what you're looking for, are heavily Ceylon.

This tea, from Adagio, is very good iced: Ceylon Sonata Tea

I'd say hit up your local market, see what's available, then Google to see what the blends are comprised of. Tea is one of those things where the selection is different wherever you go--unless you're drinking Stash, Bigelow, or Celestial Seasonings.

 

I would say stick with a solid Ceylon orange pekoe if you go bagged. You don't need to go with anything expensive, but you don't want a cheap tea that's too "fanny" or dusty in grade. You can't really go wrong if it's orange pekoe grade, but you can go wrong with bagged tea in general, which may be filled with dustings and fannings if its not explicit in its grading.

[Editor's note: Typed while enjoying a fresh cup of Assam.]

 

Gonna brew a pot of Assam right now. I'm meeting my tea-loving friend for some socialization tonight, and though we'll be drinking beer, I'm sure tea will be a topic, because it always is.

Also, I had some oolong on Saturday that was decent, but it made me realize that I am totally out of Tieguanyin (Iron Goddess of Mercy), which is a pretty epic tea, and I also don't have any High Mountain any more. I'm very deficient in oolong at the moment.

 

It's been awhile since I've had Iron Buddha, mainly because I've been gifted with tons of other oolong over the past two years.

 

Contemplating what to brew today. I might just go buy some oolong. I'm in a mood.

 

I picked up some Ali Shan yesterday. It's fucking amazing. My tongue is dancing in happiness.