I gave up coffee. Now I drink tea. Any suggestions?

[Toothpick]

Greetings folks

I gave up coffee. Yes, I know..what’s wrong with me? Been drinking it since I was 15ish. Crazy right?
I gave it up because I simply wanted to see if drinking less caffeine would make me feel any better. 3 weeks in and can’t say I feel a difference at all. But I’m going to push forward.

I didn’t think it wise to give up caffeine all together so I switched to tea. Mostly been drinking black tea because it has the most caffeine, but still a lot less than coffee.

So y’all got any suggestions on teas?

Here’s what I’m looking for:

• Tea bags...more convenient, but I’m not opposed to loose leaf
• Black tea suggestions
• Reputable tea selling websites
• MUST HAVE tea accessories.

Over the years I’ve tried various teas such as Pu-Erh, Early Grey, Matcha, Black, Green, Herbal, Fruity, yadda yadda. Basically all the popular widely available stuff.

I drink it in the morning. And sometimes in the evening.

Thanks!

 

[Acmemfg]

I always liked Twinings Earl Grey. Easy to find most places.
Only things you really need are a good infuser, proper teapot, and interesting cup.

 

[PLANofMAN]

I always liked Twinings Earl Grey. Easy to find most places.
Only things you really need are a good infuser, proper teapot, and interesting cup.

I agree. Twinning's Earl Grey blend of black tea with a hint of bergamot is good stuff. It's not your typical "black tea."

 

[Toothpick]

I have an electric kettle I use to heat the water.

 

[Dovo1695]

I'm a big fan of loose leaf tea. It's all I drink these days. Loose leaf tea is like DE shaving, the quality is much higher, the selection is broader, the price is much lower.

My biggest advice would be to use a thermometer, and brew your tea to the temperature specified by that particular tea. Dropping some teas into boiling water makes them bitter and awful. It really makes a big difference.

After a couple of times, you'll know how long to wait to add the tea for a specified mug and volume of water. To drop the temp faster, get a heftier mug, and so on.

Brewing time is the other important variable. Some teas respond well to a long steep, some need less than a minute. It makes a big difference.

As far as particular types of tea, I've really been enjoying some gun powder green tea recently. I liked it so much I bought a lb!

 

[Toothpick]

My biggest advice would be to use a thermometer

Any thoughts on the electric kettles with water temperature selections? There’s a few that offer 165, 175, 195, and boiling temperatures. For the various varieties of teas.

 

[Atlantic59]

I used to drink fancier teas, nowadays I usually have basic loose-leaf Assam, Ceylon, Darjeeling and a couple of green teas. If you drink your tea with milk/sugar an English Breakfast style tea is a good one to have. Earl Grey is a nice change of pace.

As far as gear goes, I don't use tea bags very often. Most often, I use a heavy teapot with a stainless steel basket infuser. I heat the water in an electric kettle with an adjustable thermostatic cut-off (also have a separate thermometer to check every so often). I would highly recommend you convert over to using loose-leaf tea, the quality and results are much better.

Best results I've found so far are with a heavy English-made teapot, a stainless steel infuser of large size that can hang on a chain inside the teapot and the electric kettle. A large infuser gives more room for the tea leaves to expand. Your better loose leaf teas resemble whole tea leaves instead of the powder you get in tea bags.

 

[Dovo1695]

Any thoughts on the electric kettles with water temperature selections? There’s a few that offer 165, 175, 195, and boiling temperatures. For the various varieties of teas.

I like the idea. A thermometer is still a good idea though. The key thing is not what temp the water came out of the kettle, it's the temp that it is in your mug or teapot.

For example, 8oz of water may come out of the kettle at 212 F, but after being poured into a really hefty 8oz ceramic mug that's 70 F, the water is cooled down to 145 in about 20 seconds. That's too cool for most teas.

I don't get too fussy with it, I just measure temp for the first couple times when I get a new mug, or when I'm experimenting with a new tea. I haven't used a thermometer for months.

 

[musicman1951]

I really like adagio teas: Loose Tea | Buy Online | Free shipping over $49 - https://www.adagio.com/

They have a wide assortment of tea by category and quite a few sample boxes. I just purchased an electric kettle from their site ($59, all the temp choices you need and short enough to fit in a kitchen cabinet).

I have my favorites, but I don't imagine that's worth much to you.

I've only purchased loose tea, but their offerings come in different sizes and also tea bags. Nice reward system as well.

 

[Cphobes]

I tried to like tea and I do when I'm lazy and don't want to brew coffee. Just never got over the sense that I was drinking hot water with a little flavor added.

I carry it hiking and will drink it at times but my regular days consist of three cups of hot coffee.

 

[KUfan]

Through the years I am on again/off again with tea, and drink tea mainly in winter, an Earl Grey/Constant Comment kind of thing. I heat the water in a pot, try not to reach the boiling point. Used diffusers for years, but moved on to bags. When I want a mild tea, usually go with green tea or herbal such as minty varieties. For me, coffee is to wake up in the mornig, tea is to relax/reflect in the afternoon or wind down with a decaf variety in the evening.

 

[JCarr]

I've always liked a tea from Bigelow called Constant Comment.

 

[Bklynboy]

As a replacement for coffee, I prefer strong teas. Two of my favorites are PG Tips and Lifeboat tea

 

[TexOkie Shaver]

Twinnings Breakfast Tea. You can get it in decaf and it still tastes like real tea. My wife won’t drink decaf because of the taste, but she will drink Twinings Decaf Breakfast Tea. I make it in my K cup machine so I can have one cup at a time. My daughter drinks it from bags, seeping in hot water.

if you still want coffee and reduce your caffeine, try Green Mountain Half Caff. It tastes the closest to real coffee and with half the caffeine.

I had to reduce caffeine on my cardiologist’s orders and this is how I did it.

 

[Mick]

Twinning is an excellent pedestrian tea label that you can find anywhere. Quality is high.

If you want something exceptional, order some Marage Freres Eros, lose or bag. I have not found a tea that I enjoy more. You can call around locally to see if anyone near you carries it.

I get mine from a shop in Texas (they move a lot of tea so everything seems to be fresher).

I have always used a brit Russell Hobbs kettle. Not found anything better. They no longer make this model so used is the only option. They are tanks and fast.

 

[Toothpick]

Thanks Mick. Never heard of Market Hall Foods but they had the tea in stock and it wasn’t shipped from overseas. So I ordered some

 

[EMG06]

Hi. Two good online retailers are:

Camellia Sinensis Teahouse | Tea, accessories and workshops

We offer a vast selection of world-class quality white tea, green tea, black tea, wulong (oolong), Pu er and Matcha, selected at source in the gardens of China, Japan, India, Taiwan by our team of tasters.

camellia-sinensis.com

Or

Brooklyn Tea - Sip Something Sensational

Brooklyn Tea creates an easily accessible escape for our customers through our high quality loose leaf tea, friendly service, expert tea education and serene tearoom. Brooklyn Tea Shop, Black owned business, breakfast, the best matcha, vanilla roobios, butterfly pea drinks, immune boosting tea...

brooklyntea.com

 

[BigFoot]

I keep trying to do this JJ it just seams I always fall back to coffee.

 

[FarmerTan]

I keep trying to do this JJ it just seams I always fall back to coffee.

Same.

But I've outlived my cardiologist.

 

[BigFoot]

Same.

But I've outlived my cardiologist.

Maybe that says something for coffee Dave.