I was in heaven with the estate teas from Special Teas, but they're no more. Wonderful single-estate assams from India and Kenya, and fabulous blends. Will have to try Upton next time. The new first flushes should be coming in a month or so.
Isn't "British tea" actually made up of teas from other countries?
I recently received an order from Harney and Sons and have been quite pleased with their teas so far.
http://www.harneyandsons.com
I grew up on teas blended in the British tradition or with that style of brewing.
I've been pleased with the blends from Uptons.
They have a nice Earl Grey that is one of the few I've found that doesn't go crazy with the flavorings and doesn't use artificial flavors here.
They also have an affordable British Blend Sampler that has a good representation of the various types of blends here.
The nice thing is these blends tend to be pretty affordable and are developed to be brewed in the western tradition. If you want to venture into teas of a single type from a particular region that take well to western brewing methods, take a look at Assam, [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Lapsang Souchong, and Yunnan Black teas.
[/SIZE][/FONT]
Care to elaborate? Seems like others agree...
I'm not a fool. I'm quite aware of where the tea comes from, but names like English Breakfast and Earl Grey don't exactly refer to the customary teas used in a Japanese tea ceremony. These types of blends are what I mean when I say British tea. You didn't get to my question, you just tried to paint me a fool.
I'm not a fool. I'm quite aware of where the tea comes from, but names like English Breakfast and Earl Grey don't exactly refer to the customary teas used in a Japanese tea ceremony. These types of blends are what I mean when I say British tea. You didn't get to my question, you just tried to paint me a fool.
Taiwanese oolongs are the next step toward green teas. Some Chinese black (red) teas are well suited to milk & sugar, but probably most aren't. You should try a few of them, too.
Interesting. This is a ignorant question, but has anyone on the larger Internet put together a roadmap or any sort of pictorial diagram that maps out the different teas and their relationship to each other? In terms of tastes, aromas, colors, caffeine, etc. If you asked me the same question about coffee I would look at you like so it is probably not a valid question. But I think the universe of tea is much broader than coffee. Even though coffee is better
British tea was always a blend of teas from around the world. They were brought to Britain by the famous tea clippers such as the Cutty Sark which can still be seen in London. They were very fast sailing ships that brought the teas here whilst they were still fresh. We also had opium clippers! Sherlock Holmes needed his fix.
These teas were/are blended in Britain.
The British actually introduced tea plants to India and Africa.
There is a tea plantation in Britain these days, at Tregothnan, near Truro, Cornwall, in the far south west of England!
Tregothnan
Gareth