kelbro
Alfred Spatchcock
Twining's Irish Breakfast Tea is great!
I gave up coffee. Now I drink tea. Any suggestions?
- Thread starter Toothpick
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I don't know if someone else has suggested it but Taylors Scottish Breakfast is my favorite go to tea. It just hit my mouth different than the English does or any other brand of tea. No disrespect to Twinings, its just not as good to me.
I drink Red Rose orange pekoe tea because my mum and granny drank it. Sometimes I’ll drink the Queen’s tea, an equal blend of Earl Grey and English Breakfast loose teas.
I bought a Breville BTM800XL One Touch automatic tea maker several years ago now and it was the best purchase for me in a long while, tea wise. Although the initial investment is high there is really nothing lacking operational wise. I enjoy mine immensely. Brews most any tea to perfection and I have tried many methods. I found by buying a better than average, store bought tea and using the supplied controls I can get delicious tea out of a basket of tea leaves and use those same tea leaves more than once or for at least 2 brew cycles while maintaining all the flavor and consistency of the tea leaves.
There is a strength selection/button with several levels. I just change the level between baskets still using the same leaves. So, I find I can get multiple brews using same basket of leaves and not suffer consequences of harsh or burnt out tea leaves.
This tea maker allows as much customization to a pot of tea I have ever encountered. I was hesitant for several years before I finally gave in to my urges and bought one. The main reason was based upon the price and was not really appealing to me at the time.
Sometimes a little patience and time will turn up a nice discount/coupon. Not sure if Breville has made any changes to this tea maker over the years since I have had mine but I really would not want to do without it now that I have experienced the convenience.
I used to use one of those fancy Bodum double walled hand blown tea pots and heat water in an electric kettle and add the hot water to the tea leave basket. That hand blown carafe was expensive by itself and did not last long. Add in the electric pot and I was half way to the cost of the Breville.
That double walled hand blown carafe did hold the heat well and was attractive tea pot. I do not know if they even still make them but I would never recommend one of those now after having experience with it.
One day and a light bump against the porcelain sink and it cracked beyond use. Buying another one of these would have brought the price of 2 hand blown pots up into the area of the Breville mentioned above. No doubt that would have broken again with minimal use also.
Of course, this tea maker is fashioned for leaves and tea leaves are not bags like you specified; but, my favorite loose leaf tea I found so far is “Jasmine” dragon balls. Takes a little getting used to dragon balls and dosage because these leaves like many other higher quality leaf will “unfurl or unravel” and increase in volume. Most cheap tea does not expand at all.
I’ve tried several types of Jasmine leaf and it is still my favorite no matter the presentation.
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If you come from coffee I would recommend starting out with a bold african/assam English Breakfast type blend. I personally prefer Bewleys Original Blend over any other, even over PG Tips, Yorkshire, Twinings and such.
If you want something more refined, get a loose leaf assam TGFOP, maybe even a single estate like Hunwal.
After that you can dabble into Ceylon, and after that into Darjeelings. From there, Oolongs like Tieguanyin are a next step, before going into the world of green teas.
If you want something more refined, get a loose leaf assam TGFOP, maybe even a single estate like Hunwal.
After that you can dabble into Ceylon, and after that into Darjeelings. From there, Oolongs like Tieguanyin are a next step, before going into the world of green teas.
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- #88
Thanks for the review and info!
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- #89
Some new tea. Never tried these before. The Earl Grey smells better than it tastes. But it’s ok.
I could never acquire the taste for Earl Grey. My boss, a Brit from Birmingham drank nothing but. If memory serves me (it’s been a few years), it had a perfume smell to it that I could not get past my nose.
I just tried the PG Tips Gold today and it is a really good tea. I have some Yorkshire Gold coming in a few days and I am anxious to compare. I also have some Ahmad breakfast tea I might try a little later. I bought my wife an electric tea maker with the presets for different teas and a 2 hour hold warm feature. It works really well.
That is the same one I just bought, works good
Upton Tea in Massachusetts. Best teas And selections I’ve ever had or seen.. Been drinking their tea for 20 years.
Supposedly that’s the tea that the queen of England drinks
Since I moved away from coffee, i wanted to expand my tastes beyond black assam tea and with the help f others here, bought some pur eh teas, an assortment of aged and newer . I have a cpl more orders coming in but recently I have been drinking a mix of china black yunan tea and a pur er tea, in the pot mentioned above. 1500 ml. brew, and make 3 - 16 oz cups , nice thing about the Decen pot is once I brew and remove the leaves I can reheat it up with no bitterness,
As I've been working at home since last March like so many others, I've started drinking tea during the day after my morning cups of coffee. I like herbal, green, and black teas. A few of my favorites:
- Bigelow Green Tea with Lemon
- Twinnings Lemon and Ginger
- Jasmine
- Celestial Seasonings Tangerine Zinger
- Twinnings Earl Grey
my favorite tea is Oolong. It's halfway between green and black tea and tastes great without any sweetner.
Some options:
a) The single estate versions (wooden caddy) of Fortnum & Mason's Assam (e.g. Itakhooli, Borpatra) and Ceylon (e.g. Lover's Leap) are consistently incredible, albeit pricey.
b) Lumbini Sinharaja Wiry Tips (directly) from Lumbini Tea Valley is outstanding and reasonably priced.
c) HOJO has fantastic China black teas (e.g. Keemun and non-smoky Lapsang Souchong Chi Zhong).
d) Kusmi Tea makes an excellent blended tea, i.e. Russian Morning No24.
a) The single estate versions (wooden caddy) of Fortnum & Mason's Assam (e.g. Itakhooli, Borpatra) and Ceylon (e.g. Lover's Leap) are consistently incredible, albeit pricey.
b) Lumbini Sinharaja Wiry Tips (directly) from Lumbini Tea Valley is outstanding and reasonably priced.
c) HOJO has fantastic China black teas (e.g. Keemun and non-smoky Lapsang Souchong Chi Zhong).
d) Kusmi Tea makes an excellent blended tea, i.e. Russian Morning No24.
I like coffee, but tea I like more. Especially when tea is herbal. Coffee I drink only in the mornings to wake up, but tea I can drink all day. I also try to limit myself in coffee because it has a bad effect on my heart.
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